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An amazing creature. Let's talk about its swimming techniques. It comes upon a narrow stream or river ... it walks in ... and because it has no buoyancy ... it walks along the rived bed till it reaches the other side. However ... let us suppose the river is wide and our creature is unable to hold its breath for as long as is required in order to travel across this new great span. What does it do? It gulps down air into its intestines ... and then more air ... till it is now so filled with air that it can float ... and it can now swim across the river. But here's the thing of it. Once on the other side ... it can take a few hours for it to get rid of the excess air it has taken in. I think this is a good thing ... for if it were to release all that air rapidly ... I imagine it would suddenly find itself shooting forward ... as though propelled from sling-shot ... unexpectedly airborne ... careening in zig-zag fashion ... bouncing off the trees ... out of control ... much akin to a rapidly deflating noisy balloon ... wondering after it landed in a bewildered crumpled heap on the forest floor ... what the hell happened? Mother nature clearly knows what she's doing.
But there are more amazing facts in regards to this creature. Aside from humans ... it is the only other mammal in the world that can contract Leprosy. It is for this reason ... sadly for them ... that they are used by the medical profession for leprosy research.
How long ... you may well ask ... does it take from the moment the male inseminates her to the time she gives birth? The answer ... pretty much as long as she wants ... for she has the ability to delay implantation for as much as two years ... giving the illusion of a virgin birth.
And then there are the children. Ah yes. The children. Life often comes down to that. Well ... there are always four. And they are always an identical set of quadruplets. Here's how it works. The babies are conceived from a single egg. The initial embryo divides into two and those two divide into two more ... making four from one egg ... a.k.a. identical quadruplets ... always ... no exceptions.
Yeah yeah. And what ... pray tell dear Benjy ... what has this to do with jewelry? Hmmm? Yes. Well. Funny you should ask. I'll tell you what it has to do with jewelry. I have an image of an 18 karat gold plique-à-jour enameled automated Xenarthra--also known as an armadillo--designed by Asprey. It's body is additionally enhanced with diamond spacers and fringes. It has cabochon emerald eyes and it comes with a key which winds the concealed mechanism which makes it walk and bend to the ground for food. As an aside ... may I add that it's a good thing the critter is not so realistic as to take in enough air to make it buoyant as I would not want to be around it in case of misfire.
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And there ya have it. That's it for this week folks. Catch you all next week. Benjamin Mark
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