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JEWELRY
SHOWCASE
MAGAZINE.COM
Cont’d from page
22
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 buoy-
ancy ... it walks along the river 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 intes-
tines ... 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 rap-
idly ... I imagine it would suddenly find
itself shooting forward ... as though
propelled from sling-shot ... unexpect-
edly airborne ... careening in zig-zag
fashion ...bouncing off the trees .. out of
control ... much akin to a rapidly deflat-
ing noisy balloon... wondering after it
landed in a bewildered crumpled heap
on the forest floor ... what intarnation
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 insem-
inates 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 real-
istic as to take in enough air to make
it buoyant as I would not want to be
around it in case of misfire.
This beautiful little enameled animal is
worth around $8000.00