View allAll Photos Tagged Doona
I took this capture today just before the sun went away and the black clouds came in! I like this capture, but i nearly cut Blacky off all together... I dont know what they were looking at but i got the capture from it.... As you can see Champaz is turning into a big fluff ball again... Cheers Michelle xxxx..
PS I will be back commenting on all your captures on Wed 13th / April....
Blacky was still asleep when i took the capture of Champaz.... The sun was already up and shinning on the bed..... Then i turned around and Blacky was awake, so i got this capture.... I love how his "fangs" are out perminately ..... So this is Blacky's i just woke up look.... "cute"... cheers Michelle xxxxxxx..
Don't shoot the picture until you see the colour of their doonas: living in an apartment boom in Melbourne CBD.
I took this picture from our apartment on the 40th floor - considering a design on this theme for a potential entry in Spoonflower's forthcoming Windows Contest.
[Living in an apartment boom_Melbourne CBD_IMG_7682]
Where I get out of bed in order to make a scene of my bed so I can tell the world I'm not getting out of bed...
(Part of my Daily Dolls House December challenge. Blogged about here: theshoppingsherpa.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/the-post-where-...)
Continued from:
www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52652388955/in/datepos...
The Belly of the Whale
فَنَادَىٰ فِى ٱلظُّلُمَتِ
أَن لَّآ إِلَهَ إِلَّآ أَنتَ سُبْحَنَكَ إِنِّى كُنتُ مِنَ ٱلظَّلِمِينَ
Then he, the Prophet Yunus (as), called in the darkness of the whale,
“There is no god except You, Glory be to You!
Indeed, I, I am of the wrongdoers.”
Surah Al Anbiya, Verse 87-88
Tafseer e Jilani
Fa nada: Then he invoked his Lord and prayed silently and humbly, scared, covered…
Fi dulumaat: in darkness which concealed him in layers because he was in the belly of the whale and the night was dark.
An: Indeed, He…
La ilaha: There is no God worthy of worship but Allah and deserving of worship which is the Right of His Essence and His Attribute…
Illa anta: except You, O Who in front of Whom necks bend and bow before the Veils of Your Majesty, the necks of the ones who are of intellect and reason…
Subhanaka: Glory is to You, O my Lord, I think of You as free of all flaws which are not mentionable with Your Essence and (all flaws) which are not worthy of mention with Your Grace.
Inni: Indeed, I am, due to my departure from my people without Your Permission and Revelation, while you had sent me to them and raised me among them in appearance as a Prophet, as a preacher and as a guide…
Kuntu min ad-daalimeen: I am of the transgressors of boundaries, the ones who departed from Your Orders and Your Commands so that’s why You made the matter one of distress for me and You imprisoned me and there is no one who can rescue me from this suffering except Your Forgiveness and Your Mercy.
One day, after meeting someone dear to me who seemed deeply unhappy, I wondered how people who had been living in a state of paranoia and doubt for too long would ever emerge from it. I asked Qari Sahib.
“There is only one way out,” he said. “Zikr Allah, remembering Him, being aware of Him, returning to Him again and again.”
Then he pointed me to a verse that blew my mind. For the verse was sent for a Prophet and the Prophets were ma’soom, innocent. They did not possess free will so everything that happened to them was out of their hands. Yet the words of the verse were saying, to teach us the ordinary, that the punishment for not returning to Him in regret praising Him was staying in that darkness forever.
Life would become like a grave and we would be like the dead!
فَلَوۡلَاۤ أَنَّهُۥ كَانَ مِنَ ٱلۡمُسَبِّحِینَ
لَلَبِثَ فِی بَطۡنِهِۦۤ إِلَىٰ یَوۡمِ یُبۡعَثُونَ
And if he was not of those who glorify,
certainly, he (would have) remained in its belly until the Day they are resurrected.
Surah As Saffat, Verse 143-144
Tafseer e Jilani
And overall:
Fa lau la annahu kana min al Mussabiheena: And if he was, indeed, not of the ones who glorify the Glory of Allah, Al Munkashifeena, the ones for whom is unveiled the One-ness of Allah Al Haqq and the one who thinks Allah Subhanahu is pure in totality from the several names and aspects assigned to Him…
La-labitha: then he would have remained and stayed in…
Fi batinihi: in the belly of the whale…
Ila youm-I yubathoon: till the Day of Resurrection and it would be for him, the belly, like a grave the way a grave is for the dead and overall there would be no deliverance from it ever.
I became scared. Even though I hardly ever saw such people, I became scared for them. Till death they would be like that?
“But why won’t someone, especially someone who does believe in God, remember Allah Subhanahu, if that is all that is needed to emerge from that belly? Why would someone want to be like that forever? The lack of happiness or joy or peace of mind or even feeling alive? That anxiety and restlessness? Why won’t someone seek a way out of it?”
“Because,” my young teacher said knowingly, “Satan has made them forget that remembrance.”
My eyes widened as I read the verse he asked me to look up.
ٱسۡتَحۡوَذَ عَلَیۡهِمُ ٱلشَّیۡطَـٰنُ فَأَنسَىٰهُمۡ ذِكۡرَ ٱللَّهِۚ أُو۟لَـٰۤىِٕكَ حِزۡبُ ٱلشَّیۡطَـٰنِۚ
أَلَاۤ إِنَّ حِزۡبَ ٱلشَّیۡطَـٰنِ هُمُ ٱلۡخَـٰسِرُونَ
Shaitaan has overcome them so he made them forget the Remembrance (of) Allah.
Those are the party (of) Shaitaan.
No doubt! Indeed, (the) party (of) the Shaitaan, they (will be) the losers.
Surah Al Mujadilah, Verse 19
Tafseer e Jilani
When…
Istahwada: he overcame, prevailed and took power…
Alaihimu Shaitaan: of them, Shaitaan, Al Mudill, the one who misleads, Al Maghwi, the tempter…
Fa ansaahum dikr Allah: so he made them forget the remembrance of Allah, Al Munqad, The Only Deliverer from deviation from the straight path, Al Murshid, The Only Guide towards guidance.
And overall…
Ulaika: they are the misfortunate, the miserable, the Al Matrodoona, the expelled…
Hizbo Shaitaan: the party of Shaitaan i.e. his army and his followers.
Ala inna hizba Shaitaan hum ul khasiroon: Are they not, the party of Shaitaan, the ones who are doomed, confined upon loss that has no end and humiliation everlasting, without the gain of Ma’rifat, Recognition of Allah and Yaqeen, certainty.
Ghaus Pak (ra) prays: May Allah give us refuge and his ordinary worshippers from the following of Shaitaan, the one who misleads, the one who is the seducer, the tempter. Ameen!
At first my focus just went to the words; the misfortunate, the miserable, the expelled, confinement to loss without end, an eternal humiliation, no knowing Allah, no certainty. Basically hell!
It didn’t take me too long to realize that I was also firmly ensconced in the belly of the whale. After all the verse descended for a believer. I thought I was in a state of remembrance. That was a delusion. My praying and the fasting and ticking the boxes of rituals, giving charity above what was obligatory, going to Medina and Mecca to perform countless pilgrimages, visiting other countries for the shrines of the Friends of God, none of it rendered me in a state of deliverance.
Then realize I was worse than all those others who I was inadvertently judging. The ones whose states I was so worried about.
The Façade of My Obedience
رَبَّنَا فَٱغۡفِرۡ لَنَا ذُنُوبَنَا وَكَفِّرۡ عَنَّا سَیِّءَاتِنَا وَتَوَفَّنَا مَعَ ٱلۡأَبۡرَارِ
Our Lord so forgive for us our sins and remove from us our evil deeds, and cause us to die with the righteous
Surah Aal e Imran, Verse 193
Tafseer e Jilani
Rabbana: O Our Lord, we became certain by his instruction (Nabi Kareem (saw)) in the rank of certainty of Recognition of the Essence of Your One-ness and after we became stable in it…
Faghfir: forgive us and cover…
Lana dunubuna: for us our sins of our ego which made us of those who were deprived of the court of Your Presence until we became steadfast by Your Lutf, Kindness and Your Taufeeq, granted ability in the rank of certainty of Witnessing Your Essence…
Wa: and after we became stable in that…
Kaffir: erase and purify…
An-na sayyi’atina: from us our sins, our characteristics which make us feel duality at all times until we become certain by Your Fazl, Favour and Your Jood, Generosity in the rank of the Truth of Your Essence…
Wa: and after that…
Tawaffana: make us die in the Realm of Your Dissolution…
Ma’a al ibraar: with the righteous, Al Faneena, the ones who dissolve in Allah, Al Baqeena, the ones who remain in His Remaining.
The person is particular who was creating a lot of angst and confusion in my life was lingering. Everything about their nature that was creating distress for me was identified yet I would keep forgetting it. Finally enough sense prevailed that I cut off all ties with them. I didn’t answer calls. I stayed away from occasions where we might meet.
That went against the grain of my nature. I consider myself a polite person. At least as far as communication in the modern age is concerned. I call people back promptly. I return their messages immediately. That combined with my being sensitive as well as finicky, made this a first.
The reason I was able to even execute this going against my nafs was that I had been told to do it. In the preceding weeks when I had been visiting the shrines and reading a page of the Quran at random, not once or twice but over and over, I had been told the state of these people. I had been told how to react to them.
The message had been clear. Turn away and let them be.
Allah Subhanahu would take care of it in the time He chose.
وَتَوَلَّ عَنۡهُمۡ حَتَّىٰ حِینࣲ
So turn away from them for a time.
وَأَبۡصِرۡ فَسَوۡفَ یُبۡصِرُونَ
And see, so soon they will see (what they don’t see now.)
Surah As Saffat, Verse 178-179
Tafseer e Jilani
Wa: And after that they are in a prolonged state of ghaflat, forgetfulness and state of being oppressive, tughyaan, and when they crossed the heights in conceit and desire for admiration of their personal attainments and (the heights of) disobedience…
Tawalla anhum: turn away from them, O Akmal Ar Rusul (greetings and salutations are sent upon you continuously by your Lord), The Messenger who completes Messenger-hood…
Hatta heen: for a time i.e. till the time of the completion of the promise of punishment.
Wa absir: And watch them after the descent of pain (upon them)…
Fasaufa yubsiroon: and they will soon watch i.e. what is it that will be the results of their opposing and their denial on the Day of Resurrection and they, who are of the misguided, will also see.
The Mukhaatib, the addressee, of the verse and the Quran was always Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon the softest heart and his blessed family that pour mercy upon the Universe as gifted to them by their Lord). The Quran, minus a handful of verses, is a dialogue between only the two.
Through his person it then speaks to the rest of us. The word that struck me most when I first read the verse was “prolonged.”
Being in a state of forgetfulness, cruel, crossing the heights of self-importance and desire for admiration of their own selves, not even others, being disobedient for too long.
Other verses were even more severe. One thing was common in all in terms of an open declaration. If someone was unkind to Allah’s Beloved (salutations and greetings upon him and his family by Al Muhayman, The One who protects him), Subhanahu stepped in Himself and the Jalali Attributes of His Awe and Wrath manifested.
Verses like the above starting appearing again and again. To show me eventually that my suffering was caused by own self. That it was because of false gods of hopes and expectations in my heart.
Nabi Kareem (salutations and greetings upon him and his blessed family by His Lord who is his only Guardian), on the other hand, was different from everyone in all of Creation. His sadness bore out of a yearning as the Mercy of the Universe that they, the wicked, the stubborn, the selfish, the refusers, the deniers, the ungrateful, the hypocrites, the worst of all of Mankind, would somehow become believers.
The distress that he placed himself in in that longing brought the descent of such verses in the Quran.
فَلَعَلَّكَ بَـٰخِعࣱ نَّفۡسَكَ عَلَىٰۤ ءَاثَـٰرِهِمۡ إِن لَّمۡ یُؤۡمِنُوا۟ بِهَـٰذَا ٱلۡحَدِیثِ أَسَفًا
Then perhaps you would be the one who kills yourself over their denial in grief, if they don’t believe in this Message.
Surah Al Kahf, Verse 6
Tafseer e Jilani
After that their states in deception and disputing upon this course of action and the intensity of their anger and their enemity with Allah like this:
Falallaka: So perhaps you, O Akmal Ar Rusul (your Lord sends greetings and salutations upon you and your blessed family lovingly), O Messenger who completes Messenger-hood, with your love, unconditional, for their imaan, faith and their compliance and your hopes and your sympathy towards their pledge and their following…
Bakhi’un nafsaka: will kill yourself and devastate yourself…
Ala aasaarihim: because of them when they turn away from you and go…
Il-lam yu’minu: if they don’t believe and they don’t affirm…
Bi hadal hadith: in this Word of Allah i.e. the Quran…
Asafa: (in) traumatic grief i.e. destroy your self by excessive sadness and grief upon their leaving and their turning away from you and the absence of faith and obedience to you.
Even though He urges you (to love) their faith and their obedience and their richness and their kingdom and their elevation and their ranking and their wealth and their leadership among the people. So know that indeed, they don’t have any preparation nor do they have any certainty upon what is happening to them (as a result of your preaching).
The only words applicable for me were “will you kill yourself and devastate yourself because they turn away and go.” I couldn’t help but notice the end in particular. When Allah Subhanahu acknowledges, “Yes, I am The One who indeed sent you to possess this desire for them to be of the faithful and be obedient and have ranking and riches, but they are not of the ones who can respond.”
After that Subhanahu described to His Beloved (salutations and greetings upon his most kind soul) why they could never respond.
فَإِنَّكَ لَا تُسۡمِعُ ٱلۡمَوۡتَىٰ وَلَا تُسۡمِعُ ٱلصُّمَّ ٱلدُّعَاۤءَ إِذَا وَلَّوۡا۟ مُدۡبِرِینَ
So indeed, you cannot make the dead hear and cannot make the deaf hear the call when they turn, retreating.
Surah Ar Rum, Verse 52
Tafseer e Jilani
And overall: The ones who desire to harm people because of their in-born nature and are stone-like in their in-born character due to their being dead in reality and conceptually although they look like they are alive in form, do not care about them O Akmal Ar Rusul (peace and salutations upon you by your Lord with love) and (do not care about) their affairs and do not toil yourself over their guidance or their perfection.
Fa innaka la tusmi’ul mauta: So indeed you cannot make the dead hear, it is not in your power and your control to make the dead hear, but upon you is the conveyance and the inviting.
Wa la tusmi’u summa: And you cannot make the deaf hear, those who are deaf by nature…
Ad dua’a: the call and the invitation, especially…
Ida wal-lau: when they turn away and avoid you…
Mudbireen: turning their backs to you, evading you, denying you, rejecting your Messenger-hood and your invitation.
And again I just stared at the words, “When they turn away and avoid you, turning their backs to you, evading you…”
كَذَلِكَ یَطۡبَعُ ٱللَّهُ عَلَىٰ قُلُوبِ ٱلَّذِینَ لَا یَعۡلَمُونَ
Thus seals Allah the hearts of those who do not know.
Surah Ar Rum, Verse 59
Tafseer e Jilani
Kadalika: Like their natures and their seals, which you witness, Ya Akmal Ar Rusul, (peace and salutation upon you by your Muhibb, The One who loves you and your family), of the ones in jahla, ignorance…
Yatba’ullah: Allah Al Hakim, The Wise One, Al Muttaqin, The Possessor of All Certainty, has branded in their actions and has then sealed…
Ala qulubi: their hearts, all the Kafir, the deniers of truth and stubborn…
Alladina la ya’lamoona: they are the ones who do not know the truth and they do not believe in it because they are setup upon the stubborn-ness in their nature and the ignorance is such that it is kneaded which will not go by proofs and witnessing at all.
وَمَن لَّمۡ یَجۡعَلِ ٱللَّهُ لَهُۥ نُورࣰا فَمَا لَهُۥ مِن نُّورٍ
And (for) whom (has) not made Allah a light, then for him (is) not any light.
Surah An Nur, Verse 40
The words got me thinking of the nature of the crazy people I had come across in life. In the breadth of my experience they were mainly of two types; one was deceitful, the other honest, if perhaps only because they couldn’t hide their feelings because of lack of control. Superficially one appeared mild, the other cruel. The first was more dangerous, deadly. Their façade was calm. The other was a lunatic admittedly so, often proud of it. One was hidden, the other declared. One was passive, the other defiant. Both were stubborn and ignorant, insistent and persistent about their nature.
The truth is I was more like the former. My madness was hidden till it emerged. Anger used to instigate it. The only redeeming quality that I had been bestowed was that I felt regret. I expressed remorse. When I was not forgiven and my entreaties were rejected, I had breakdowns. It was related to abandonment issues which seemed universal but my reaction was at least consistent. I was always dying to be forgiven. Perhaps that is what saved me from that “prolonged” state.
Either way, they were in a prison and I was in a prison. More appeared in commonality than difference.
The Shirrk in My Heart
إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا یَغۡفِرُ أَن یُشۡرَكَ بِهِۦ
وَیَغۡفِرُ مَا دُونَ ذَٰلِكَ لِمَن یَشَاۤءُۚ وَمَن یُشۡرِكۡ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدۡ ضَلَّ ضَلَـٰلَۢا بَعِیدً
Indeed, Allah does not forgive that partners be associated with Him, but He forgives [what] other than that for whom He wills. And whoever associates partners with Allah then surely he lost (the) way, straying far away.
Surah An-Nisa, Verse 116
Tafseer e Jilani
Then said Subhanahu, entertaining the idea of sinners and drawing them towards remorse and returning (to Him)...
Inallaha: Indeed, Allah Al Mutalli’u, The One Perfectly Informed of the secrets of His Servants…
La yaghfir: does not forgive and does not pardon…
Ayy yushraka bihi: the partners that are associated with Him by anything from His Creation, (he does not pardon) that it be made worthy of worship and (he does not pardon) that the happenings of things are associated with that which is manufactured…
Wa yaghfir ma doona dalika la may-yasha’u: and He forgives everything else (other sins) for whom He chooses if, he, the sinner, may have felt compelled to do the other sin and he may have disliked it (like lying or stealing) and he was remorseful for it and he was not insistent upon it…
Wa mayy yushrik billahi: and the one who associates partners with Allah with the association of happenings in the world to others than Him…
Faqad dallah: so he is astray from the Place of Tauheed…
Dalalan ba’eeda: a waywardness distant, with no hope of guidance for him
In addition to the verses in the Quran I kept being given explicit signs by my blessed Master, Ghaus Pak (ra), that even my state of staying away, cutting off ties, a source of pride for me, was as fickle as a house of cards.
He revealed to me in minute details why it was a lie, why it was superficial.
Once Shaan had been admitted into the institute. I left for my village for a much needed reprieve. I was tired. I wanted to be alone. There I was informed of my state that I was completely unaware of.
Al Fath Ar Rabbani
…When this opening and closing (of the doors of others) is correct for the Servant, then the burden leaves him and he acquires seclusion. The honour comes to his heart and is dispersed upon him. Keys come to him and separated are for him the skins (useless things) and the marrow remains.
The path of lusts forbidden is closed and broken and he prevails upon it and the way to Al Haqq Azzo Jal is opened and the road appears which is the road of His desire, the road of the ones before you from the Prophets and the Messengers and the Friends of God.
What is this way? It is the road of purification without impurity, the road of Tauheed, One-ness, without shirrk, the road of surrender without dispute, the road of truth without lies, the road of Al Haqq Azzo Jal without Creation, the road of Al Musabbib, the Granter of Means, without the means.
This is the road which the elite of the religion and the Sultans of Ma’rifat, the Recognition of Allah, and the Kings were upon, who were the men of Allah Al Haqq Azzo Jal and the cleansed ones and the selected ones, the helpers of the religion, those who hold enemity (only) for Allah and love (only) because of Him.
Woe upon you! How can you be the one who claims to be on the way of such people when you are a mushrik, associate others, with Him and make others from Creation like Him?
There is no imaan, faith, in you upon the Earth while you fear someone or have hopes associated with someone.
There is no zuhd, detachment, for you while in this world there is a thing you desire.
There is no Tauheed, One-ness, for you while you look at anyone else in your way towards Him…
Then Ghaus Pak (ra) says: O hypocrite, Allah Azzo Jal makes appear who He wants from His Servants. He is Al Munaadi, The One who gives fame, for them. He is Al Jami’, The Gatherer, of the hearts of creation to love who He wants from among His Servants. He is Al Mussakhir, He makes subservient what He wants.
You want that with your hypocrisy you collect the hearts of people so that they incline towards you. This will achieve nothing.”
Every word was like an arrow but that line particular revealed my pathetic state to me. I did still want their hearts to incline towards me. It was horrifying and disgusting at the same time.
Then my Master explained the concept of maqsoom, that which has been apportioned for each person in their destiny. Why running after something that was not in it was the cause of humiliation.
Al Fath Ar Rabbani (cont’d): “O Listener! Leave your lusts under your feet and turn away from them with all of your heart. If there is anything in them that is destined for you in the Knowledge of Allah, it will come to you in its own time because in matters of destiny, zuhd, detachment is not correct and the Knowledge of Allah, it cannot be changed and altered.
Your share will come to you in its time, happily, in abundance, pure so you will receive it with the hand of honour rather than humiliation. And with that, you will, indeed, receive the reward of being a zahid in front of Al Haqq Azzo Jal and He will look at you with the eyes of respect because you were not greedy and there was no insistence on your desire being met.
Then however much you run from the share of your destiny, it will become attached to you and run after you and in this, detachment is not correct but it is an absolute must to turn away from it before it comes.
Learn from me zuhd, detachment, and giving and taking. Don’t sit in your isolation with your ignorance. Learn the faith, then isolate yourself. Learn the Commands of Allah, and practice them in deed, then turn away from everyone except the few from the scholars of Allah Azzo Jal. So meeting them and hearing them is better than being separate.
If you see one of them, then it is compulsory to grab onto him and learn from him the understanding of Allah’s Ilm,
Knowledge and Mari’fat, Recognition. Gain learning by hearing the words of knowledge from their mouth, which comes from the tongues of men who these men are who are the scholars of Allah.
When this state of yours becomes correct, then become alone without the nafs, your self that prompts towards wrongdoing and Shaitaan and desires and tabyat, your acquired secondary nature and aadat, habits and seeing of anything in Creation except Him...
Ghaus Pak (ra) then says: I am shafeeq, kind, for you for I lift your burdens and sew your ripped deeds and implore Allah Subhanahu to accepts your good deeds and forgive your mistakes. What is the reason you have no love for me even though I care for you, for your sake, not mine.
I want your benefit and to save you from this murderous and cunning world. How long will you run after it. Soon it will turn around and face you and it will kill you…
…So when your state becomes correct (of learning from them), then adopt seclusion without your nafs and without Shaitaan and without lusts and habits and seeing Creation. Once this state of seclusion becomes right, then the angels and the souls of the Saliheen, the ones who reformed themselves, their powers will surround you.
If your seclusion from Creation is not based on this principle, without it your seclusion is hypocrisy plus a waste of your precious time. You will gain nothing from it. Instead, you will be in fire in the world and in the Hereafter. In the world, the fire is of misfortune and in the Hereafter, it is the fire prepared for the hypocrites and the deniers of truth, the ungrateful.”
Then he prays: “O Allah! Forgive us again and again and forgive us and hide for us and overlook for us and (accept) our repentance. Don’t shred our veils that cover us and don’t hold us accountable on our sins, O Allah, O Kareem, who said:
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِی یَقۡبَلُ ٱلتَّوۡبَةَ عَنۡ عِبَادِهِۦ وَیَعۡفُوا۟ عَنِ ٱلسَّیِّءَاتِ
And He (is) the One Who accepts the repentance of His slaves and pardons [of] the evil, and He knows what you do.
Surah Ash Shura, Verse 25
Tafseer e Jilani
Wa: And how can He, Subhanahu, not know of the hidden in their breasts…
Huwalladi yaqbalu tauba-tan: who is The One who accepts repentance which is happening solely because of regret and sincerity, (how can He not know of) which are the actions of the heart…
An ibadihi: of His Servants, Al Mustarji’eena, those who want to return towards Him with perfect khashiya, humility and khudu’, submission.
Wa: And after the acceptance of their tauba, repentance, from them…
Ya’fu: He forgives and He overlooks…
An: in totality…
Assiyaat: the sins happening from them upon the path of ghaflat, forgetfulness.
Wa: And overall…
Ya’lamu: He knows from you all of…
Ma tafaloon: what you do with your overt and inner (beings).
Woe upon you! You claim to have knowledge and find happiness the way the ignorant find happiness and are angry like they are angry.
Your happiness with the world and your inclination towards Creation will make you forget wisdom and harden your heart. The Mo’min is only happy with Allah and nobody except Him.”
I was in the village for five nights. In those five days, I read the above then translated it from the Arabic with Qari Sahib. In the quiet, I took it all in slowly.
Each word gave me pause. The crux of the matter was this: I wanted happiness in what they found happiness. Which was only and only the world. I was angry like they were angry. What made me the saddest was that the behaviour hardened my heart. Made me forget everything I tried to learn.
Every single thing I did on my spiritual joutney was with only one goal in mind. One intention alone: I wanted a softer heart. That was the nisbat, the association, that was dearest to me with my Nabi Pak (salutations and greeting upon the one called Ar Rahim by Allah Ar Raheem and his blessed family who transfer that Mercy to others). I wanted a heart that was in a continual, constant state of becoming softer and softer.
What else was there?
And I wanted ease. I had even studied those verses that showed me the way.
فَأَمَّا مَنۡ أَعۡطَىٰ وَٱتَّقَىٰ
وَصَدَّقَ بِٱلۡحُسۡنَىٰ
فَسَنُیَسِّرُهُۥ لِلۡیُسۡرَىٰ
Then as for (him) who gives and is mindful,
and believes in the best,
then We will ease him towards the ease.
Surah Al Layl, Verses 5-8
Tafseer e Jilani
Fa amma man aa’ta: So as for the one who gives from that which he was given from Al Haqq from rizq, sustenance, in (both) form and meaning, along with khushu, humility and khudu, submission and khuloos, sincerity, of intention and inner most feelings and different kinds of obedience and worship commanded for him…
Wa attaqa: and is mindful in totality of that which is forbidden and that which is prohibited about which Allah’s warnings of restraint have come in them…
Wa saddaqa bil husna: and he affirms the limitless demands of the Names of Allah and the effects of His Exalted Attributes which can never be counted and never be enumerated…
Fa sanuyassirruhu: then We will prepare for him and give him ability…
Lil yusra: for ease towards the way, which is easy, connecting towards the goal of Tauheed, One-ness and Ma’rifa, Divine Recognition, that brings deliverance from the darkness of doubts and the shadows of paranoia.
Every single thing that was was troubling my heart was being shown to me in pages of the Quran. I would pick the verses and I was told what was wrong. But being told something is not enough for the ones hiding idols in their hearts. For the ones who claim love for their Creator but no fear of displeasing Him.
The Fire of Possibilities
وَمِنْهُم مَّن يَقُولُ رَبَّنَآ ءَاتِنَا فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةًۭ
وَفِى ٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ حَسَنَةًۭ وَقِنَا عَذَابَ ٱلنَّارِ
And from those who say, "Our Lord! Grant us in the world good and in the Hereafter good, and save us from the punishment of the Fire.”
Surah Al Baqarah, Verse 201
Tafseer e Jilani
Wa minhum mayyaqoolu: Amongst them are those who have union in their overt and inner beings, (zahir and batin) and keep this world and the Afterlife together...
Rabbana a’tina fi duniya: who say, “O our Lord, Grant us goodness which makes You pleased with us in this life…
Wa fil akhira: and grant us goodness in the Hereafter, which connects us with Your One-ness (Tauheed)…
Waqina: and by Your Favour and Mercy upon us…
Adaab an naar: save us from the possibilities that cause paranoia and doubt.
I returned to Lahore. The circumstances then became such that almost everyone I knew started meeting said person and casually bringing them up in conversation. That started a thought in my head. That thought began to appear in recurrence and I wasn’t able to avoid it. It ran like a tape.
“They’re mean,” I would say to myself when I felt hurt.
Then a moment later, I would ask my nafs. “But are they really mean?”
And it would reply sounding reasonable, “No, they are not.”
I would agree. They were not really mean. They just had issues like everyone else. They were just one of those who pretended like they were “unaware.” Which is the biggest façade of all. Otherwise they should also be unaware when others did the same to them but in those instances they were always hyper sensitive, upset and terribly hurt. The contrast in their emotional states between being on the receiving end and doling it out is what betrayed their state of deception, with their own self and others.
But at the time I was stuck in my own nightmare!
For a few moments later the thought would reappear like a flash card. “They’re mean.”
Then the self-doubt “But are they mean?”
“No, they are not.”
“Yeah, I guess they’re not.”
And repeat!
I spent one whole day in that state. Distractions from activities did not make it better. By the end of the second evening, I was mentally exhausted. The constitution of my nerves is such that I can take on a continual state of emotional stress for about 48 hours. After that I collapse. It was the sole reason I had to exit relationships that others might allow to linger on for decades.
When I saw that moment looming on the horizon, dangerously close, I became anxious in its anticipation. Still at least I knew what would happen, having been through it before, so I decided to wait for it. There was nothing else to do. I didn’t know how to stop the tape.
Even worse was the truth that I did still wonder if they thought about me. If they realized what they had done. It shouldn’t have mattered. They were sticking to their guns. That was why they were called stubborn and persistent. But the shackles of my nafs were so tightly wound around my neck, even in that state of suffocation, it remained curious about one scenario or another. Like the insane person, I was considering the source of my torment to also be the cure of it.
Leading up to those hours before what I thought was going to be my folding I continued translating verses hoping they would cure the disease of my heart. What they did do was hold up a mirror to the truth of my state. In that intense anxiety though, in each read I would only see the others.
I only focused on the words that were placing them in the negative category Subhanahu was describing to His Beloved (salutations and greetings upon him and his family from the beginning till the end of times). How they would burn in their fires of desires and wealth and power and claims of abundance.
لَهُم مِّن جَهَنَّمَ مِهَادٌۭ وَمِن فَوْقِهِمْ غَوَاشٍۢ ۚ
وَكَذَٰلِكَ نَجْزِى ٱلظَّـٰلِمِينَ
Hell will be their resting place and their covering as well.
And this is how we recompense the wrong doers.
Surah Al-Araaf, Ayaat 41
Tafseer e Jilani:
Lahum min jahannama: Hell is the torture of imkaan, possibility which is doubt…
Mihaad: and they will burn in these fires of their false desires.
Wa min fauqihim ghiwash: They will be covered with the fires of their power and wealth and claims of being great and possessing abundance.
Wa ka daalika najzi ad-dualimeen: And the zalimeen, the ones who transgress the boundaries of Allah due to their nafs, who are unjust, will drown in the addiction of their senses, their paranoia and their delusion.
I didn’t feel better. On top of that I totally missed the line which was about my hell; that it is the torture of imkaan, possibility, which is doubt…
The verses were in a series and about the differences between two and started with a verse ma’roof, well known.
There are two kinds of seas, salty and sweet and they cannot be equal.
وَمَا یَسۡتَوِی ٱلۡبَحۡرَانِ هَـٰذَا عَذۡبࣱ فُرَاتࣱ سَاۤىِٕغࣱ شَرَابُهُۥ وَهَـٰذَا مِلۡحٌ أُجَاجࣱۖ
وَتَرَى ٱلۡفُلۡكَ فِیهِ مَوَاخِرَ لِتَبۡتَغُوا۟ مِن فَضۡلِهِۦ وَلَعَلَّكُمۡ تَشۡكُرُونَ
And not are alike the two seas.
This (is) fresh, sweet, pleasant its drink, and this salty (and) bitter…
…so you see the ships in it, cleaving, so that you may seek of His Bounty, and that you may be grateful.
Surah Fatir, Verse 12
I read the translation. As soon as I realized through the tafseer that the description is in fact of a state, I felt desperate for mine to be that of the Mo’min.
What I wanted most of all was that sip of the water sweet which would “break the persistent feeling of ill will.” It would stop the tape from playing in my head.
Tafseer e Jilani
Then exemplified Subhanahu both of the groups, the Mo’min, the believer and the Kafir, the denier of truth, as two seas sweet and salty, so He said:
Wa ma yastawi al bahraane: And the two seas are not alike in advantage and benefit received from them both because…
Hada: the (state of the) Mo’min, the attester to the sea of Imaan, faith and Irfaan, Divine Recognition, the one upon whom is poured water from the Sea of the Essence of One-ness…
Adb-un: is like water fresh and delightful, giving pleasure to the mind, sweet in perfect sweetness…
Furat-un: sweet, it breaks the persistent feeling of ill will (to harm and avenge people) for those burning with thirst in the mirage of the world with the coolness of Yaqeen, certainty…
Saa’ighun sharaabuhu: easy is its drinking i.e. easy is its going down, for those set up on the nature of Tauheed, Allah Subhanahu’s One-ness.
Wa hada: And this (the other sea/group) i.e. the Kafir, the denier of truth/ungrateful, malevolent, unkind, is in the sea of ghaflat, unawareness and carelessness…
Milh-un: (is like water) salty, it does not reform a person who wants to reform themselves, whoever tastes from it, instead…
Ujaaj-un: (it is) burning, bitter, corrupting for the disposition. The one who tasted from it was destroyed, devastatingly, forever such that there is no rescue for him, instead…
Wa: the sea of bitterness, in it is still an advantage, but there is no benefit for the Kafir, the denier of truth, and the one who refuses to be guided at all.
The thought continued in the verses that followed. What else was never going to be equal? Not the blind and the seeing.
Not the darkness and the light.
وَمَا یَسۡتَوِی ٱلۡأَعۡمَىٰ وَٱلۡبَصِیرُ
وَلَا ٱلظُّلُمَـٰتُ وَلَا ٱلنُّورُ
And not equal (are) the blind and the seeing,
And not the darkness[es] and not [the] light,
Surah Fatir, Verse 19-20
Tafseer e Jilani
Wa: But…
Ma yastawi: they are not equal in closeness and rank according to Allah…
Al a’ma: the blind, Al Ghafil, the forgetful ones, Al Jahil, the ignorant, about how to make the returning and attention…
Wal baseer: and the seeing ones, Al Arif, the ones who recognize Allah, Al Aleem, the knowing ones, seeing with the signs of reaching and ascension.
Wa la dulumaat: And (they are also not equal) the darkness, which is layered upon each other, thick and these are the darkness of tabyat (nature acquired from habits), and the darkness of chaos, and the darkness of what is superficially created, and the darkness of the egos different, which become heavy until it becomes a curtain, hard and a veil heavy, making blind the eyes, which were set up upon seeing and pondering upon the demands of matters of Allah’s Wrath and Awe.
Wa la noor: (with) the one radiant, upon whom come unveilings from the Essence of One-ness according to His Will, Subtle and Beautiful.
They were not equal, the shadow and heat. Nor the dead and the alive. For they may be alive but it was like they were living in a grave.
Now I started noticing the word “possibilities” as it sprung up everywhere. The burning of that heat was “flowing from the possibilities of hopes…the dead were destroyed by the essential nature of possibilities.”
وَلَا ٱلظِّلُّ وَلَا ٱلۡحَرُورُ
وَمَا یَسۡتَوِی ٱلۡأَحۡیَاۤءُ وَلَا ٱلۡأَمۡوَٰتُۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ یُسۡمِعُ مَن یَشَاۤءُۖ
وَمَاۤ أَنتَ بِمُسۡمِعࣲ مَّن فِی ٱلۡقُبُورِ
And not the shade and not the heat,
And not equal (are) the living and not the dead.
Indeed, Allah causes to hear whom He wills, and not you can make hear (those) who (are) in the graves.
Surah Fatir, Verse 21-22
Tafseer e Jilani
Wa la dillu: And (they are not equal) the Shadow of Allah Al Ilahi, The Lord, the Shadow being like Al Mirwah li Arwah, a fan giving tranquility to the souls of the people of love and compliance by the fragrances of the breezes of the different kinds of Divine Treasures and Honour…
Wa lal haroor: and the heat i.e. the burning which destroys rising, flowing from the possibilities of hopes, which are mixed with the darkness of the tabyat (secondary nature) rising from the clouds of desires and the fires of lusts.
Wa: And overall…
Ma yastawi: they are also not equal, according to Allah Al Aleem, The All Knowing, Al Hakeem, The Only Possessor of Wisdom…
Al ahya: the alive with the life of Ma’rifa, His Recognition, and Imaan, faith, and Yaqeen, certainty and irfaan, His Knowledge, a life from the beginning to the end, everlasting. There is no command for that life that it is completed (because it is in the Hereafter and therefore eternal) and there is no occurrence for it that it becomes nothing.
Wa la al-amwaat: and the dead (with the alive) because of the death of jahl, ignorance and adlaal, being astray and the different kinds of ghaflat, carelessness and nisyaan, forgetfulness, the ones who are Haalikeen, destroyed in the essential nature of possibilities, forever abiding in the corner of wasting away and humiliation.
Innallaha: Indeed Allah is, Al Aleem, The All Knowing, Al Hakeem, The Only One with Wisdom, Al Muttaqqin, The One Perfect in His Actions…
Yusmae’u: He causes hearing and He guides…
Mayya sha’u: who He wills from His Servants, bestowing for them and giving favours to them which leads them towards the Path of His One-ness…
Wa maa anta: and you are not, O Akmal Ar Rusul, O Messenger who completed Messengerhood (salutations and greetings upon you and your family continuously by the Heavens and its Angels)…
Bi musmi’-in: able to make them hear, as the guide and the instructor…
Man fil quboor: the ones in the graves i.e. the one who was permanently fixed, whose abode has been made in the hole of jahl, ignorance, (like a) knot, and the fire of possibilities and the happenings from negligence and forgetfulness because they are set up upon the state of being beguiled by their unaware nature and animalistic tendencies. There is no accountability for you regarding giving them guidance or instructing them at all.
By the end of the fifth verse, it was confirmed that I was not in the clear either. As much as my nafs wanted to delude itself that I must be part of the seeing and the light. And the shade and life. Certainly not in a grave. I wasn’t. The one thing I identified undeniably was that the tape in my head was a result of wondering about one imkaan or another. It was a deluge of possibilities.
And still my nafs did not want to let go of them. It didn’t want to let go of the cause of that anxiety. It didn’t want to let go of the idols in my heart. It didn’t want to let go of its associations of hope and expectations with others, its shirrk. That is the nature of the beast. It does not know how to against its wishes. How to refuse them.
So the nightmare continued. That persistence of a careless, deliberate state finally brought my Master’s patience with me to an end.
Continued on: www.flickr.com/photos/42093313@N00/52650032173/in/datepos...
Allergies...ever spreading and more and more feared.
Often these are caused by the chemicals used to treat fabrics and to wash feather and down.
Piumini Danesi's products are manufactured to respect the highest European standards.
The filling is treated with natural process and sterilised at a temperature of 120° Celsius.
The cover is made of pure 100% Cambric weaving; its weave (NM 56x48 100/100) is so thick that it does not allow for the down fill to escape, or mites to enter.
Piumini Danesi pooq dene ensures untroubled peaceful sleep.
It's a beautiful sunny day today!
Hendrix and Sadie are lounging on their big fluffy doona bed. Coulee the cat is sunning in the window sill and i'm enjoying a nice cup of organic white chai tea.
After that, i'm off to town for some business, groceries at the market and to meet a girlfriend for sushi. Fun, fun!
Enjoy your Wednesday everyone! xo
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This image is not available for use on websites, blogs or other media without the explicit written permission of the photographer.
Our bedroom in Richmond. Ikea Malm bed, Malm bedside tables and Malm chests of drawers = C$427 before tax. Mattress was another C$699. Pillows were another C$27. Sheets from Perth. Grono lamps + bulbs were C$17.98 each. There's an Ikea comforted/doona in the cover, but I can't remember how much it was. Not much.
This was a farm stay in Dunedin. The kids were in a converted garage, we were in another bit of the main house which was still being built - so it had chip board stairs and an unbuilt room above it, sort of taped off. To get there you had to duck under the washing line, through a garage full of junk and spiders and avoid half a dozen kittens, chooks and a goat. The washing line was in the garage itself.
The first night, Dr B complained that the bed was musty on his side and it was setting off his asthma. So I suggested we changed sides - and realised that it wasn't so much musty as, let's say, covered in kitten pee. Still damp with it, actually. It was late, the owners were in bed, so we held our noses, turned the bedding around and did our best to ignore it. It was pretty cheap accommodation for 5, after all.
Next morning, we noticed the kittens climb a stack of bricks and play with the washing on the line.
The owners were terribly embarrassed and changed the doona for us, but the shine had been taken off.
Anyways, this was the scene out the back. Very pretty.
'Incomparable on apple green + palest green diagonal stripes by Su_G': a tribute to Sinéad O'Connor: “fight the real enemy" + the young people (ages 5 to 22 years) who did just that and won their climate lawsuit against Montana's use of fossil fuels [www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/montana-youths-win-climate-...]. Entry in Spoonflower's 'Tween Spirit Bedding' Design Challenge. © Su Schaefer 2023
The typeface is Catholic Schoolgirl.
The brief was to "design bedding that would make any tween feel like they’ve got the coolest room in town". Enough said!
Bed sheets mockup c/o Spoonflower.
New voting system still a PITA... www.spoonflower.com/design-challenge/tween-spirit-bedding-2023-08/vote may be the link for voting. May be slow to get past the gray boxes stage - voting generally open for a week. Expect >1500 entries, patience is a virtue... or so I've heard (I wouldn't know - I don't have any).
Please share your thoughts on the voting experience - what works, what doesn't work - so I can pass them on: thank you so much! :-)
[Incomparable_by Su_G_ duvet-cover_mockup]
I've just enjoyed a nostalgic visit to the area I grew up in. This particular morning I could hardly see to drive in the dark and fog as I left on an early morning photography excursion. As I continued along a road that took me up a nearby mountain, I emerged above the cloud. The whole valley below this property seemed to be covered in a softly folded doona and I felt that my home area was all snug and comfy under it.
But dodging the morning roos was not a comforting part of the drive!
ODC - COMFORTS OF HOME
Hello from the west of Ireland!
Many thanks for likes and comments!
Please link if you wish to use!
More photos on my Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/mike.kinsella.520
© Mike Kinsella.
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Hola desde el oeste de Irlanda!
Muchas gracias por gustos y comentarios!
Por favor, enlace si desea usar!
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Ciao da ovest dell'Irlanda!
Molte grazie per simpatie e commenti!
Collega se si desidera utilizzare!
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Olá a partir do oeste da Irlanda!
Muito obrigado por gostos e comentários!
Por favor, link, se você quiser usar!
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Bonjour de l'ouest de l'Irlande!
Merci beaucoup pour les passions et les commentaires!
S'il vous plaît lien si vous souhaitez utiliser!
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Hallo aus dem Westen von Irland!
Vielen Dank für Vorlieben und Kommentare!
Bitte verlinken Sie, wenn Sie verwenden möchten!
Me Made- skirt from vintage pattern blogpost here sewamysew.com/2013/04/25/scout-tee-and-80s-skirt-from-a-d...
grey tshirt - Target
black and brown flats
Where I get out of bed in order to make a scene of my bed so I can tell the world I'm not getting out of bed...
(Part of my Daily Dolls House December challenge. Blogged about here: theshoppingsherpa.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/the-post-where-...)
Champaz was on the bed during the day, the sun was shining through the window.
So I went and grabbed the camera. At this stage Champaz was cleaning himself, so I focused on his head and this is what I got. When I called his name.
In this capture he looks like a fat Buddha, but it's all his winter fur....cheers Champaz XXX
MY EYE UPDATE....
My eye has been playing up really bad today, very light sensitive, still weeping. And this has caused me to be off the computer for the next 2-3 days. When I get back on I will catch up with comments.
Thanks for all the concerns you have shown me my friends.. Cheers Michelle , Champaz and Blacky xxxx
Around 12 years ago, Lady Lottie, the Lovely, came into my life. She was given to me as I was about to travel and her previous owner had nowhere to keep her.
I left Tasmania and journeyed to Victoria and headed up to Tin Can Bay in Queensland, and Lady Lottie came along with me. When I was a child we had dogs at home and it was probably 50 years previously when our last dog, "Snifter" finally passed on - and he was a very special part of our family.
So here am I - and Lady Lottie - heading off to catch the Spirit of Tasmania, beginning a wonderful journey together. She was an amazing mate. we would walk morning and night, in the cold nights she would slide down under the doona with me - on hot nights she would sleep on the top - and what a time we had.
If I was in the bus (I lived in a motor home for 10 years) and a visitor came to the door, she would go ballistic!!! If she was in the bus alone, SILENCE!!! Maybe she had the "please do not disturb" sign out - I am not sure!!!
One morning we were walking the foreshore and she came very proudly with this toy she had found on the beach. We had this game that she would place it on the ground and I would bend down very slowly, moving my hand toward this toy and she would go rigid, waiting for me to pick up the toy and throw it. My hand is just out of reach and this is her tense look - very apt I think!!
What a beautiful lady she is. I believe she is still alive. When I left to live in the Philippines, a friend of mine, who had lost her dog a year before, decided the time was right to take on another dog and she chose Lottie - they are now as inseparable as I was with Lady Lottie.
Thanks my dear friend for the many hours of enjoyment you brought into my life. I shall always remember you with incredible love - unconditional - for between us we managed to live in that wonderful environment!!
In Greek Mythology Libra is sometimes identified as a Warrior Goddess named Astraea who tired of the wars of men and gave up combat in the service of Justice.
Model: Doona Hollis
Outfit: Megan Lacki Wardrobe
Makeup: Studio Facade
Helmet: Dávid Koronthály
Sword: David Witwer
Buckler: Aaron Locke
an old photo i took or myself after my year 12 formal.
had to black-out the fan and doona bag in the background.
now that my subscritpion has expired see all of my art here www.flickr.com/groups/463498@N21/
JAMHUURIYADDA FEDERAALKA SOOMAALIYA
GOLAHA WADATASHIGA QARAN (GWQ)
WAR-MURTIYEED
27-31 October 2022
Muqdisho – Soomaaliya
HORDHAC
Madaxweynaha Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya Dr. Xasan Sheekh Maxamuud ayaa guddoomiyey shirka 3aad ee Golaha Wadatashiga Qaran (GWQ) kaas oo lagu qabtay Muqdisho 27-31 October 2022. Shirka waxaa ka soo qaybgalay Ra’iisul Wasaaraha XFS Mudane Xamsa Cabdi Barre, Ra’iisul Wasaare K/xigeenka XFS Mudane Saalax Axmed Jaamac, Madaxweynaha Puntland Mudane Saciid Cabdullaahi Deni, Madaxweynaha Jubbaland Mudane Axmed Maxamed Islaan, Madaxweynaha Koonfur Galbeed Mudane Cabdicasiis Xasan Maxamed (Lafta-gareen), Madaxweynaha Galmudug Mudane Axmed Cabdi Kaariye (Qoorqoor), Madaxweynaha Hirshabeelle Mudane Cali Guudlaawe Xuseen iyo Guddoomiyaha Gobolka Banaadir Sheekh Yuusuf Xuseen Jimcaale (Madaale).
Ugu horeyn Golaha Wadatashiga Qaran wuxuu tacsi u dirayaa shacabka Soomaaliyeed, ehelada iyo qoysaska ay ka baxeen dadkii ku shahiiday weeraradii argagixiso guud ahaan dalka gaar ahaana weerarkii 29 Oktoobar ee agagaarka Zoobe ee magaalada Muqdisho. Sidoo kale, Goluhu wuxuu Allah uga baryayaa inta dhaawacantay inuu u booga-dhayo, inta ku hanti beesheyna bedel kheyr qaba Alle siiyo. Goluhu wuxuu canbaareynayaa gummaadka ay khawaarijtu ku hayso ummadda Soomaaliyeed ee Muslimiinta ah.
BOGAADIN
Golaha Wada-tashiga Qaran waxa uu:
•Bogaadinayaa guulaha isdaba joogga ah ee ay gaareen Ciidanka Qalabka-Sida oo kaashanaya kacdoonka Shacabka Soomaaliyeed ee guud ahaan dalka lagaga ciribtirayo khawaarijta.
•Ammaaney gargaarka bani-aadannimo iyo gurmadka dadka ay abaaruhuu saameeyeen ee ay waddo XFS oo kaashaneysa shacabka, DXDF iyo beesha caalamka.
•Goluhu wuxuu bogaadinayaa dhaqanka deganaanshiyaha siyaasadeed, wada-nolaanshiyo iyo dimuqraadiyadda ee ay Somaliland ku soo caano maashay, wuxuuna ugu baaqayaa madaxda iyo shacabka Somaliland inay ilaashadaan xasiloonida iyo nabadda.
•Bogaadiyay ganacsatada Soomaaliyeed iyo Dowladda Puntland ee hirgeliyey dekadda Garacad oo noqotay isku-tashi ku dayasho mudan.
•Bogaadinayaa dadaalka ay Dowladda Puntland ugu jirto horumarinta hannaanka dimuqraadiyadeynta iyo qabashada doorashooyin qof iyo cod ah.
• Bogaadinayaa dadaalada Dowladda Federaalka Soomaaliya ay ugu jirto xoojinta xiriirka kala dhexeeya saaxiibada caalamka.
QODOBADA SHIRKA KA SOO BAXAY
Iyada oo la tixraacayo qodobadii ka soo baxay Warmurtiyeedyadii shirarkii Golaha Wadatashiga Qaran ee 12 June iyo 12 September 2022, Goluhu wuxuu ka wada hadley kuna heshiiyey qodobada soo socda:
1.SUGIDDA AMNIGA IYO LA DAGAALANKA ARGAGIXISADA
•Golohu wuxuu isla qaatay ka ciribtirka kooxaha khawaarijta dhammaan dhulka Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya. Golohu wuxuu isku raacey in howlgallada la waafajiyo istratejiyad qaran ee la dagaalanka khawaarijta la iskuna dubarido dadaalada kala duwan.
•Golohu wuxuu isla qaatay dhaqan-gelinta heshiiska Qaab-Dhismeedka Amniga Qaranka ee la saxiixay April 2017, wixii farsamo ahna waxaa ka shaqayn doona guddi farsamo.
•Golohu wuxuu dhiirigelinyaa dardargelinta qorshaha kala guurka ee ciidamada qaranka ay kagala-wareegayaan mas’uuliyadda amniga ciidamada ATMIS si dhameystiran.
2.GURMADKA ABAARAHA IYO LA TACAALIDDA SAAMEYNTA ISBEDDELKA CIMILADA
•Goluhu wuxuu diiradda saaray saamaynta abaaraha soo noqnoqonaya ee dalka ka jira iyo raadka ay ku reebaayaan hab nololeedka bulshada Soomaaliyeed. Goluhu wuxuu hay’adaha gargaarka farayaa dardargelinta gurmadka abaaraha.
•Goluhu wuxuu sidoo kale isla qaatay baahida weyn ee loo qabo maareynta iyo la tacaalidda saameynta is-baddelka cimilada iyo dhisidda kaabayaasha u adkaysiga aafooyinka.
3.DARDARGELINTA DIB-U-EEGISTA DASTUURKA
•Goluhu wuxuu isla qaatay in mudnaan gaar ah la siiyo qodobada wada-xaajoodka siyaasadeed u baahan si loo dhameystiro dib-u-eegista dastuurka KMG.
•Goluhu wuxuu isku raacay in XFS iyo DXDF ay soo dhammaystiraan xubnaha ka dhimman Guddiyada u xilsaaran Dib-u-eegista Dastuurka KMG.
4.DIMUQRAADIYEYNTA IYO DOORASHOOYINKA
•In dalka laga dhaqan-geliyo nidaamka xisbiyada badan iyadoo dib loo milicsanayo xeerarka xisbiyada iyo doorashooyinka.
•In dalka oo dhan laga hirgeliyo doorashooyin xor ah oo hufan kuna saleysan codbixiyeyaal diiwaan-gashan iyo xisbiyo u tartama goleyaasha heerarka kala duwan.
•In dalka laga qabto laba doorasho; mid Heer Federaal ah iyo mid Dowladaha Xubinta ka ah Dowladda Federaalka.
5.JADWALKA IYO HABRAACA SHAQO EE GOLAHA WADATASHIGA QARAN
•Golohu wuxuu isku raacay in uu samaysto habraac shaqo oo qeexaya hannaanka loo marayo heshiisyada, qaab-dhismeedkiisa, hawlaha golaha, qodobada wada-xaajoodyada iyo dhaqan-gelinta go’aamada Golaha.
•Goluhu wuxuu isku raacay in labada shir ee soo socda ay qabsoomaan Disember 2022 iyo Febraayo 2023.
Dhammaad
Wixii faahfaahin ah, fadlan kala xiriir;
Abdikadir Ali Dige,
Xafiiska Warfaafinta & Xiriirka Warbaahinta,
Madaxtooyada Jamhuuriyadda Federaalka Soomaaliya
E-mail: media@presidency.gov.so
Flicker: www.flickr.com/photos/vilasomalia/
Facebook: www.facebook.com/VillaSomaliaOfficial/
Twitter: @TheVillaSomalia
Champaz is doing alot better now... He isn't sick any more...
Thanks for all the support that i recieved while my baby was ill, you are all true friends..
Cheers Champaz and Michelle xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox..
I posted a "thank you" card up , please go check it out...
Some birdwatching just happens. I haven't made any COVID-19 checklists and didn't expect much from lockdown. And yet king parrots came in for the last of the olives that I didn't pick. A wedge-tailed eagle caused a high altitude disturbance and some unidentified raptor killed and dismembered a crested pigeon outside my front door. Mixed feeding flocks of grey fantails, wrens, thornbills and silvereyes mounted raids on the insects in the garden, a grey butcherbird flew through, striated pardalotes have been calling as has a grey shrike thrush . I could go on. But making lists is just, well, making lists. Doing something with knowledge turns it into power.
Now that the COVID-19 constraints are relaxing, for better or worse, getting out more in an environment with a lessened risk is a real possibility. Casual ornithologist's chatlines have plenty of reports of late and out of season breeding in a lot of birds. but it's mostly the ducks that have been obvious in these conversations.
We know nothing happens in isolation! These late duck breeding events are not unique. Ducks are noted for breeding opportunistically when water is available. So we can't emphasise this singular event of these wood ducks as representing anything new. Cumulatively, these little ducklings spread out everywhere are symptomatic of the cause of the lack of breeding when it should have happened if things were normal. They don't speak to climate change directly. And yet they are here because the effects of climate change amplified the drought and the temperature extremes of Summer.
You've had time in lockdown to think about this stuff. It's just little things like seeing what climate change is doing to the ducks, and talking about it, that makes you a climate warrior.
This pandemic hasn't made the climate crisis go away. Don't let the deniers brush this aside and hide inaction under the pandemic doona.
Bombyx mori, the domestic silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkmoth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silkmoth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even osage orange. Domestic silkmoths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silkmoths are different from their domestic cousins as they have not been selectively bred; they are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, whence it spread to India, Korea, Japan, and the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domesticated silkworm derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.
Silkworms were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic age. Before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.
Domestic silkmoths are very different from most members in the genus Bombyx; not only have they lost the ability to fly, but their color pigments are also lost.
TYPES
Mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine ("uni-"=one, "voltine"=brood frequency) and bivoltine categories. The univoltine breed is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, and cross-fertilize only by spring, generating silk only once annually. The second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea. The breeding process of this type takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates and the resulting two life cycles. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be found in the tropics. The eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate life cycles throughout the year.
PROCESS
Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.
After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few — the Bombycidae, in particular the genus Bombyx, and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus Antheraea — have been exploited for fabric production.
If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, but not silk cocoons used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.
As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semi-wild silk moths.
The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild B. mandarina and other Bombyx species, whose males fly to meet females and for evasion from predators. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. This is because their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings. However, some silkmoths can still fly. Silkmoths have a wingspan of 3–5 cm and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs) but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouthparts and do not feed, though a human caretaker can feed them.
COCOON
The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.
RESEARCH
Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual worm.
Currently, research is focusing on genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described. Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet. Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. Bombyx mori females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.
Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the worms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.
Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models. Antibiotics such as lysocin E, a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 and GPI0363 are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.
ON THE MOON
As of January 2, 2019, China's Chang'e-4 lander brought silkworms to the moon. A small microcosm 'tin' in the lander contained A. thaliana, seeds of potatoes, as well as silkworm eggs. As plants would support the silkworms with oxygen, and the silkworms would in turn provide the plants with necessary carbon dioxide and nutrients through their waste, researchers will evaluate whether plants successfully perform photosynthesis, and grow and bloom in the lunar environment.
DOMESTICATION
The domesticated form, compared to the wild form, has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domesticated moth cannot fly, so it needs human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments are also lost, so the domesticated moths are leucistic since camouflage isn't useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made the domesticated strains entirely dependent upon humans for survival. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.
SILKWORM BREEDING
Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum outpu. It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and cross breeding.Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworm from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (shorter larval duration lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors including genetics.
Hobby raising and school projects
In the US, teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising silkworms in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insect from egg stage to larvae, pupa, moth.
The silkworm has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silkworms. The practice of raising silkworms by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silkworms, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.
GENOME
The full genome of the silkworm was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.
The genome of the silkworm is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs.
High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silkworms, though this is less than that among wild silkmoths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild worms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data". Research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.
CUISINE
Silkworm pupae are eaten in some cultures.
In Assam, they are boiled for extracting silk and the boiled pupae are eaten directly with salt or fried with chilli pepper or herbs as a snack or dish.
In Korea, they are boiled and seasoned to make a popular snack food known as beondegi (번데기).
In China, street vendors sell roasted silkworm pupae.
In Japan, silkworms are usually served as a tsukudani (佃煮), i.e., boiled in a sweet-sour sauce made with soy sauce and sugar.
In Vietnam, this is known as con nhộng.
In Thailand, roasted silkworm is often sold at open markets. They are also sold as packaged snacks.
Silkworms have also been proposed for cultivation by astronauts as space food on long-term missions.
SILKWORM LEGENDS
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress Lei Zu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor and the daughter of XiLing-Shi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.
The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD. About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.
SILKWORM DISEASES
Beauveria bassiana, a fungus, destroys the entire silkworm body. This fungus usually appears when silkworms are raised under cold conditions with high humidity. This disease is not passed on to the eggs from moths, as the infected silkworms cannot survive to the moth stage. This fungus can spread to other insects.
Grasserie, also known as nuclear polyhedrosis, milky disease, or hanging disease, is caused by infection with the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. If grasserie is observed in the chawkie stage, then the chawkie larvae must have been infected while hatching or during chawkie rearing. Infected eggs can be disinfected by cleaning their surfaces prior to hatching. Infections can occur as a result of improper hygiene in the chawkie rearing house. This disease develops faster in early instar rearing.
Pébrine is a disease caused by a parasitic microsporidian, N. bombycis. Diseased larvae show slow growth, undersized, pale and flaccid bodies, and poor appetite. Tiny black spots appear on larval integument. Additionally, dead larvae remain rubbery and do not undergo putrefaction after death. N. bombycis kills 100% of silkworms hatched from infected eggs. This disease can be carried over from worms to moths, then eggs and worms again. This microsporidium comes from the food the silkworms eat. Mother moths pass the disease to the eggs, and 100% of worms hatching from the diseased eggs will die in their worm stage. To prevent this disease, it is extremely important to rule out all eggs from infected moths by checking the moth's body fluid under a microscope.
Flacherie infected silkworms look weak and are colored dark brown before they die. The disease destroys the larva's gut and is caused by viruses or poisonous food.
Several diseases caused by a variety of funguses are collectively named Muscardine.
WIKIPEDIA
throwback to an outtake from day 287, 'live bed show', from my 2007-2008 365 days project.
a noisy, noisy, noisy image.
Bombyx mori, the domestic silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkmoth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silkmoth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even osage orange. Domestic silkmoths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silkmoths are different from their domestic cousins as they have not been selectively bred; they are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, whence it spread to India, Korea, Japan, and the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domesticated silkworm derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.
Silkworms were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic age. Before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.
Domestic silkmoths are very different from most members in the genus Bombyx; not only have they lost the ability to fly, but their color pigments are also lost.
TYPES
Mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine ("uni-"=one, "voltine"=brood frequency) and bivoltine categories. The univoltine breed is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, and cross-fertilize only by spring, generating silk only once annually. The second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea. The breeding process of this type takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates and the resulting two life cycles. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be found in the tropics. The eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate life cycles throughout the year.
PROCESS
Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.
After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few — the Bombycidae, in particular the genus Bombyx, and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus Antheraea — have been exploited for fabric production.
If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, but not silk cocoons used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.
As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semi-wild silk moths.
The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild B. mandarina and other Bombyx species, whose males fly to meet females and for evasion from predators. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. This is because their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings. However, some silkmoths can still fly. Silkmoths have a wingspan of 3–5 cm and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs) but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouthparts and do not feed, though a human caretaker can feed them.
COCOON
The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.
RESEARCH
Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual worm.
Currently, research is focusing on genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described. Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet. Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. Bombyx mori females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.
Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the worms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.
Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models. Antibiotics such as lysocin E, a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 and GPI0363 are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.
ON THE MOON
As of January 2, 2019, China's Chang'e-4 lander brought silkworms to the moon. A small microcosm 'tin' in the lander contained A. thaliana, seeds of potatoes, as well as silkworm eggs. As plants would support the silkworms with oxygen, and the silkworms would in turn provide the plants with necessary carbon dioxide and nutrients through their waste, researchers will evaluate whether plants successfully perform photosynthesis, and grow and bloom in the lunar environment.
DOMESTICATION
The domesticated form, compared to the wild form, has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domesticated moth cannot fly, so it needs human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments are also lost, so the domesticated moths are leucistic since camouflage isn't useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made the domesticated strains entirely dependent upon humans for survival. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.
SILKWORM BREEDING
Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum outpu. It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and cross breeding.Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworm from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (shorter larval duration lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors including genetics.
Hobby raising and school projects
In the US, teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising silkworms in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insect from egg stage to larvae, pupa, moth.
The silkworm has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silkworms. The practice of raising silkworms by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silkworms, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.
GENOME
The full genome of the silkworm was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.
The genome of the silkworm is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs.
High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silkworms, though this is less than that among wild silkmoths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild worms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data". Research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.
CUISINE
Silkworm pupae are eaten in some cultures.
In Assam, they are boiled for extracting silk and the boiled pupae are eaten directly with salt or fried with chilli pepper or herbs as a snack or dish.
In Korea, they are boiled and seasoned to make a popular snack food known as beondegi (번데기).
In China, street vendors sell roasted silkworm pupae.
In Japan, silkworms are usually served as a tsukudani (佃煮), i.e., boiled in a sweet-sour sauce made with soy sauce and sugar.
In Vietnam, this is known as con nhộng.
In Thailand, roasted silkworm is often sold at open markets. They are also sold as packaged snacks.
Silkworms have also been proposed for cultivation by astronauts as space food on long-term missions.
SILKWORM LEGENDS
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress Lei Zu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor and the daughter of XiLing-Shi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.
The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD. About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.
SILKWORM DISEASES
Beauveria bassiana, a fungus, destroys the entire silkworm body. This fungus usually appears when silkworms are raised under cold conditions with high humidity. This disease is not passed on to the eggs from moths, as the infected silkworms cannot survive to the moth stage. This fungus can spread to other insects.
Grasserie, also known as nuclear polyhedrosis, milky disease, or hanging disease, is caused by infection with the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. If grasserie is observed in the chawkie stage, then the chawkie larvae must have been infected while hatching or during chawkie rearing. Infected eggs can be disinfected by cleaning their surfaces prior to hatching. Infections can occur as a result of improper hygiene in the chawkie rearing house. This disease develops faster in early instar rearing.
Pébrine is a disease caused by a parasitic microsporidian, N. bombycis. Diseased larvae show slow growth, undersized, pale and flaccid bodies, and poor appetite. Tiny black spots appear on larval integument. Additionally, dead larvae remain rubbery and do not undergo putrefaction after death. N. bombycis kills 100% of silkworms hatched from infected eggs. This disease can be carried over from worms to moths, then eggs and worms again. This microsporidium comes from the food the silkworms eat. Mother moths pass the disease to the eggs, and 100% of worms hatching from the diseased eggs will die in their worm stage. To prevent this disease, it is extremely important to rule out all eggs from infected moths by checking the moth's body fluid under a microscope.
Flacherie infected silkworms look weak and are colored dark brown before they die. The disease destroys the larva's gut and is caused by viruses or poisonous food.
Several diseases caused by a variety of funguses are collectively named Muscardine.
WIKIPEDIA
Bombyx mori, the domestic silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkmoth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silkmoth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even osage orange. Domestic silkmoths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silkmoths are different from their domestic cousins as they have not been selectively bred; they are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, whence it spread to India, Korea, Japan, and the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domesticated silkworm derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.
Silkworms were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic age. Before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.
Domestic silkmoths are very different from most members in the genus Bombyx; not only have they lost the ability to fly, but their color pigments are also lost.
TYPES
Mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine ("uni-"=one, "voltine"=brood frequency) and bivoltine categories. The univoltine breed is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, and cross-fertilize only by spring, generating silk only once annually. The second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea. The breeding process of this type takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates and the resulting two life cycles. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be found in the tropics. The eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate life cycles throughout the year.
PROCESS
Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.
After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few — the Bombycidae, in particular the genus Bombyx, and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus Antheraea — have been exploited for fabric production.
If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, but not silk cocoons used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.
As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semi-wild silk moths.
The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild B. mandarina and other Bombyx species, whose males fly to meet females and for evasion from predators. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. This is because their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings. However, some silkmoths can still fly. Silkmoths have a wingspan of 3–5 cm and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs) but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouthparts and do not feed, though a human caretaker can feed them.
COCOON
The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.
RESEARCH
Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual worm.
Currently, research is focusing on genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described. Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet. Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. Bombyx mori females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.
Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the worms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.
Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models. Antibiotics such as lysocin E, a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 and GPI0363 are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.
ON THE MOON
As of January 2, 2019, China's Chang'e-4 lander brought silkworms to the moon. A small microcosm 'tin' in the lander contained A. thaliana, seeds of potatoes, as well as silkworm eggs. As plants would support the silkworms with oxygen, and the silkworms would in turn provide the plants with necessary carbon dioxide and nutrients through their waste, researchers will evaluate whether plants successfully perform photosynthesis, and grow and bloom in the lunar environment.
DOMESTICATION
The domesticated form, compared to the wild form, has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domesticated moth cannot fly, so it needs human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments are also lost, so the domesticated moths are leucistic since camouflage isn't useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made the domesticated strains entirely dependent upon humans for survival. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.
SILKWORM BREEDING
Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum outpu. It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and cross breeding.Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworm from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (shorter larval duration lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors including genetics.
Hobby raising and school projects
In the US, teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising silkworms in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insect from egg stage to larvae, pupa, moth.
The silkworm has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silkworms. The practice of raising silkworms by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silkworms, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.
GENOME
The full genome of the silkworm was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.
The genome of the silkworm is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs.
High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silkworms, though this is less than that among wild silkmoths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild worms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data". Research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.
CUISINE
Silkworm pupae are eaten in some cultures.
In Assam, they are boiled for extracting silk and the boiled pupae are eaten directly with salt or fried with chilli pepper or herbs as a snack or dish.
In Korea, they are boiled and seasoned to make a popular snack food known as beondegi (번데기).
In China, street vendors sell roasted silkworm pupae.
In Japan, silkworms are usually served as a tsukudani (佃煮), i.e., boiled in a sweet-sour sauce made with soy sauce and sugar.
In Vietnam, this is known as con nhộng.
In Thailand, roasted silkworm is often sold at open markets. They are also sold as packaged snacks.
Silkworms have also been proposed for cultivation by astronauts as space food on long-term missions.
SILKWORM LEGENDS
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress Lei Zu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor and the daughter of XiLing-Shi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.
The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD. About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.
SILKWORM DISEASES
Beauveria bassiana, a fungus, destroys the entire silkworm body. This fungus usually appears when silkworms are raised under cold conditions with high humidity. This disease is not passed on to the eggs from moths, as the infected silkworms cannot survive to the moth stage. This fungus can spread to other insects.
Grasserie, also known as nuclear polyhedrosis, milky disease, or hanging disease, is caused by infection with the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. If grasserie is observed in the chawkie stage, then the chawkie larvae must have been infected while hatching or during chawkie rearing. Infected eggs can be disinfected by cleaning their surfaces prior to hatching. Infections can occur as a result of improper hygiene in the chawkie rearing house. This disease develops faster in early instar rearing.
Pébrine is a disease caused by a parasitic microsporidian, N. bombycis. Diseased larvae show slow growth, undersized, pale and flaccid bodies, and poor appetite. Tiny black spots appear on larval integument. Additionally, dead larvae remain rubbery and do not undergo putrefaction after death. N. bombycis kills 100% of silkworms hatched from infected eggs. This disease can be carried over from worms to moths, then eggs and worms again. This microsporidium comes from the food the silkworms eat. Mother moths pass the disease to the eggs, and 100% of worms hatching from the diseased eggs will die in their worm stage. To prevent this disease, it is extremely important to rule out all eggs from infected moths by checking the moth's body fluid under a microscope.
Flacherie infected silkworms look weak and are colored dark brown before they die. The disease destroys the larva's gut and is caused by viruses or poisonous food.
Several diseases caused by a variety of funguses are collectively named Muscardine.
WIKIPEDIA
Lunch Lady vs Aeroplane Jelly Chocolate Flavoured Mousse. I'm in bed under the weather (and the doona) today, so please feel free to whip up many batches of this delicious mousse and send them to me! #iamthelunchlady
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Looks like a big job ahead, doesn't it…
Well, I used to set about with a towel, resignedly and laboriously rubbing and squeezing out all the water, didn't make one bit of difference.
Was like trying to wring out a wet doona.
Now I just let her do what she wants to do in the first place... she just takes herself on a mad run - I call it her 'Spin Dry' cycle - and it all sort of falls out of all that fur.
Just as well…Nature provides..
No edits
………………………..
We said goodbye to Jessie today. She was ready to go and she let us know that. The vets came to our house and it was over very quickly.
Now I'm just sitting around staring at photos of her because I can't believe I'll never hold her again or get that strong nudge from her nose when she wants a pat. I'll never get to watch her chase down one of her puppy friends at the park to bark right in its ear so it jumps or watch her face down larger stronger dogs when she thinks they're a threat to Lisa or her friends. She'll never jump up on the bed with me, paw the doona up into a little nest, turn around three times and sit down so tightly against me that we're pushing each other.
None of those things will ever happen again, but we still have our memories and our photos. Here are Lisa's and here are mine.
Click here for the Fly Butterfly quilt cover set and more beautiful girls bedding sets available at Kids Bedding Dreams
Bombyx mori, the domestic silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkmoth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silkmoth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even osage orange. Domestic silkmoths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silkmoths are different from their domestic cousins as they have not been selectively bred; they are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, whence it spread to India, Korea, Japan, and the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domesticated silkworm derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.
Silkworms were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic age. Before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.
Domestic silkmoths are very different from most members in the genus Bombyx; not only have they lost the ability to fly, but their color pigments are also lost.
TYPES
Mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine ("uni-"=one, "voltine"=brood frequency) and bivoltine categories. The univoltine breed is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, and cross-fertilize only by spring, generating silk only once annually. The second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea. The breeding process of this type takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates and the resulting two life cycles. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be found in the tropics. The eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate life cycles throughout the year.
PROCESS
Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.
After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few — the Bombycidae, in particular the genus Bombyx, and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus Antheraea — have been exploited for fabric production.
If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, but not silk cocoons used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.
As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semi-wild silk moths.
The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild B. mandarina and other Bombyx species, whose males fly to meet females and for evasion from predators. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. This is because their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings. However, some silkmoths can still fly. Silkmoths have a wingspan of 3–5 cm and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs) but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouthparts and do not feed, though a human caretaker can feed them.
COCOON
The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.
RESEARCH
Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual worm.
Currently, research is focusing on genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described. Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet. Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. Bombyx mori females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.
Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the worms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.
Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models. Antibiotics such as lysocin E, a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 and GPI0363 are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.
ON THE MOON
As of January 2, 2019, China's Chang'e-4 lander brought silkworms to the moon. A small microcosm 'tin' in the lander contained A. thaliana, seeds of potatoes, as well as silkworm eggs. As plants would support the silkworms with oxygen, and the silkworms would in turn provide the plants with necessary carbon dioxide and nutrients through their waste, researchers will evaluate whether plants successfully perform photosynthesis, and grow and bloom in the lunar environment.
DOMESTICATION
The domesticated form, compared to the wild form, has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domesticated moth cannot fly, so it needs human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments are also lost, so the domesticated moths are leucistic since camouflage isn't useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made the domesticated strains entirely dependent upon humans for survival. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.
SILKWORM BREEDING
Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum outpu. It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and cross breeding.Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworm from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (shorter larval duration lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors including genetics.
Hobby raising and school projects
In the US, teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising silkworms in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insect from egg stage to larvae, pupa, moth.
The silkworm has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silkworms. The practice of raising silkworms by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silkworms, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.
GENOME
The full genome of the silkworm was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.
The genome of the silkworm is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs.
High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silkworms, though this is less than that among wild silkmoths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild worms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data". Research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.
CUISINE
Silkworm pupae are eaten in some cultures.
In Assam, they are boiled for extracting silk and the boiled pupae are eaten directly with salt or fried with chilli pepper or herbs as a snack or dish.
In Korea, they are boiled and seasoned to make a popular snack food known as beondegi (번데기).
In China, street vendors sell roasted silkworm pupae.
In Japan, silkworms are usually served as a tsukudani (佃煮), i.e., boiled in a sweet-sour sauce made with soy sauce and sugar.
In Vietnam, this is known as con nhộng.
In Thailand, roasted silkworm is often sold at open markets. They are also sold as packaged snacks.
Silkworms have also been proposed for cultivation by astronauts as space food on long-term missions.
SILKWORM LEGENDS
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress Lei Zu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor and the daughter of XiLing-Shi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.
The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD. About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.
SILKWORM DISEASES
Beauveria bassiana, a fungus, destroys the entire silkworm body. This fungus usually appears when silkworms are raised under cold conditions with high humidity. This disease is not passed on to the eggs from moths, as the infected silkworms cannot survive to the moth stage. This fungus can spread to other insects.
Grasserie, also known as nuclear polyhedrosis, milky disease, or hanging disease, is caused by infection with the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. If grasserie is observed in the chawkie stage, then the chawkie larvae must have been infected while hatching or during chawkie rearing. Infected eggs can be disinfected by cleaning their surfaces prior to hatching. Infections can occur as a result of improper hygiene in the chawkie rearing house. This disease develops faster in early instar rearing.
Pébrine is a disease caused by a parasitic microsporidian, N. bombycis. Diseased larvae show slow growth, undersized, pale and flaccid bodies, and poor appetite. Tiny black spots appear on larval integument. Additionally, dead larvae remain rubbery and do not undergo putrefaction after death. N. bombycis kills 100% of silkworms hatched from infected eggs. This disease can be carried over from worms to moths, then eggs and worms again. This microsporidium comes from the food the silkworms eat. Mother moths pass the disease to the eggs, and 100% of worms hatching from the diseased eggs will die in their worm stage. To prevent this disease, it is extremely important to rule out all eggs from infected moths by checking the moth's body fluid under a microscope.
Flacherie infected silkworms look weak and are colored dark brown before they die. The disease destroys the larva's gut and is caused by viruses or poisonous food.
Several diseases caused by a variety of funguses are collectively named Muscardine.
WIKIPEDIA
Bombyx mori, the domestic silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkmoth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silkmoth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even osage orange. Domestic silkmoths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silkmoths are different from their domestic cousins as they have not been selectively bred; they are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, whence it spread to India, Korea, Japan, and the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domesticated silkworm derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.
Silkworms were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic age. Before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.
Domestic silkmoths are very different from most members in the genus Bombyx; not only have they lost the ability to fly, but their color pigments are also lost.
TYPES
Mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine ("uni-"=one, "voltine"=brood frequency) and bivoltine categories. The univoltine breed is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, and cross-fertilize only by spring, generating silk only once annually. The second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea. The breeding process of this type takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates and the resulting two life cycles. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be found in the tropics. The eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate life cycles throughout the year.
PROCESS
Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.
After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few — the Bombycidae, in particular the genus Bombyx, and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus Antheraea — have been exploited for fabric production.
If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, but not silk cocoons used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.
As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semi-wild silk moths.
The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild B. mandarina and other Bombyx species, whose males fly to meet females and for evasion from predators. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. This is because their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings. However, some silkmoths can still fly. Silkmoths have a wingspan of 3–5 cm and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs) but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouthparts and do not feed, though a human caretaker can feed them.
COCOON
The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.
RESEARCH
Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual worm.
Currently, research is focusing on genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described. Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet. Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. Bombyx mori females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.
Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the worms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.
Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models. Antibiotics such as lysocin E, a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 and GPI0363 are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.
ON THE MOON
As of January 2, 2019, China's Chang'e-4 lander brought silkworms to the moon. A small microcosm 'tin' in the lander contained A. thaliana, seeds of potatoes, as well as silkworm eggs. As plants would support the silkworms with oxygen, and the silkworms would in turn provide the plants with necessary carbon dioxide and nutrients through their waste, researchers will evaluate whether plants successfully perform photosynthesis, and grow and bloom in the lunar environment.
DOMESTICATION
The domesticated form, compared to the wild form, has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domesticated moth cannot fly, so it needs human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments are also lost, so the domesticated moths are leucistic since camouflage isn't useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made the domesticated strains entirely dependent upon humans for survival. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.
SILKWORM BREEDING
Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum outpu. It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and cross breeding.Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworm from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (shorter larval duration lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors including genetics.
Hobby raising and school projects
In the US, teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising silkworms in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insect from egg stage to larvae, pupa, moth.
The silkworm has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silkworms. The practice of raising silkworms by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silkworms, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.
GENOME
The full genome of the silkworm was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.
The genome of the silkworm is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs.
High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silkworms, though this is less than that among wild silkmoths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild worms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data". Research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.
CUISINE
Silkworm pupae are eaten in some cultures.
In Assam, they are boiled for extracting silk and the boiled pupae are eaten directly with salt or fried with chilli pepper or herbs as a snack or dish.
In Korea, they are boiled and seasoned to make a popular snack food known as beondegi (번데기).
In China, street vendors sell roasted silkworm pupae.
In Japan, silkworms are usually served as a tsukudani (佃煮), i.e., boiled in a sweet-sour sauce made with soy sauce and sugar.
In Vietnam, this is known as con nhộng.
In Thailand, roasted silkworm is often sold at open markets. They are also sold as packaged snacks.
Silkworms have also been proposed for cultivation by astronauts as space food on long-term missions.
SILKWORM LEGENDS
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress Lei Zu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor and the daughter of XiLing-Shi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.
The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD. About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.
SILKWORM DISEASES
Beauveria bassiana, a fungus, destroys the entire silkworm body. This fungus usually appears when silkworms are raised under cold conditions with high humidity. This disease is not passed on to the eggs from moths, as the infected silkworms cannot survive to the moth stage. This fungus can spread to other insects.
Grasserie, also known as nuclear polyhedrosis, milky disease, or hanging disease, is caused by infection with the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. If grasserie is observed in the chawkie stage, then the chawkie larvae must have been infected while hatching or during chawkie rearing. Infected eggs can be disinfected by cleaning their surfaces prior to hatching. Infections can occur as a result of improper hygiene in the chawkie rearing house. This disease develops faster in early instar rearing.
Pébrine is a disease caused by a parasitic microsporidian, N. bombycis. Diseased larvae show slow growth, undersized, pale and flaccid bodies, and poor appetite. Tiny black spots appear on larval integument. Additionally, dead larvae remain rubbery and do not undergo putrefaction after death. N. bombycis kills 100% of silkworms hatched from infected eggs. This disease can be carried over from worms to moths, then eggs and worms again. This microsporidium comes from the food the silkworms eat. Mother moths pass the disease to the eggs, and 100% of worms hatching from the diseased eggs will die in their worm stage. To prevent this disease, it is extremely important to rule out all eggs from infected moths by checking the moth's body fluid under a microscope.
Flacherie infected silkworms look weak and are colored dark brown before they die. The disease destroys the larva's gut and is caused by viruses or poisonous food.
Several diseases caused by a variety of funguses are collectively named Muscardine.
WIKIPEDIA
Bombyx mori, the domestic silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkmoth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silkmoth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even osage orange. Domestic silkmoths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silkmoths are different from their domestic cousins as they have not been selectively bred; they are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, whence it spread to India, Korea, Japan, and the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domesticated silkworm derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.
Silkworms were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic age. Before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.
Domestic silkmoths are very different from most members in the genus Bombyx; not only have they lost the ability to fly, but their color pigments are also lost.
TYPES
Mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine ("uni-"=one, "voltine"=brood frequency) and bivoltine categories. The univoltine breed is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, and cross-fertilize only by spring, generating silk only once annually. The second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea. The breeding process of this type takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates and the resulting two life cycles. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be found in the tropics. The eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate life cycles throughout the year.
PROCESS
Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.
After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few — the Bombycidae, in particular the genus Bombyx, and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus Antheraea — have been exploited for fabric production.
If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, but not silk cocoons used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.
As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semi-wild silk moths.
The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild B. mandarina and other Bombyx species, whose males fly to meet females and for evasion from predators. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. This is because their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings. However, some silkmoths can still fly. Silkmoths have a wingspan of 3–5 cm and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs) but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouthparts and do not feed, though a human caretaker can feed them.
COCOON
The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.
RESEARCH
Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual worm.
Currently, research is focusing on genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described. Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet. Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. Bombyx mori females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.
Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the worms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.
Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models. Antibiotics such as lysocin E, a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 and GPI0363 are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.
ON THE MOON
As of January 2, 2019, China's Chang'e-4 lander brought silkworms to the moon. A small microcosm 'tin' in the lander contained A. thaliana, seeds of potatoes, as well as silkworm eggs. As plants would support the silkworms with oxygen, and the silkworms would in turn provide the plants with necessary carbon dioxide and nutrients through their waste, researchers will evaluate whether plants successfully perform photosynthesis, and grow and bloom in the lunar environment.
DOMESTICATION
The domesticated form, compared to the wild form, has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domesticated moth cannot fly, so it needs human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments are also lost, so the domesticated moths are leucistic since camouflage isn't useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made the domesticated strains entirely dependent upon humans for survival. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.
SILKWORM BREEDING
Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum outpu. It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and cross breeding.Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworm from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (shorter larval duration lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors including genetics.
Hobby raising and school projects
In the US, teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising silkworms in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insect from egg stage to larvae, pupa, moth.
The silkworm has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silkworms. The practice of raising silkworms by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silkworms, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.
GENOME
The full genome of the silkworm was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.
The genome of the silkworm is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs.
High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silkworms, though this is less than that among wild silkmoths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild worms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data". Research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.
CUISINE
Silkworm pupae are eaten in some cultures.
In Assam, they are boiled for extracting silk and the boiled pupae are eaten directly with salt or fried with chilli pepper or herbs as a snack or dish.
In Korea, they are boiled and seasoned to make a popular snack food known as beondegi (번데기).
In China, street vendors sell roasted silkworm pupae.
In Japan, silkworms are usually served as a tsukudani (佃煮), i.e., boiled in a sweet-sour sauce made with soy sauce and sugar.
In Vietnam, this is known as con nhộng.
In Thailand, roasted silkworm is often sold at open markets. They are also sold as packaged snacks.
Silkworms have also been proposed for cultivation by astronauts as space food on long-term missions.
SILKWORM LEGENDS
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress Lei Zu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor and the daughter of XiLing-Shi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.
The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD. About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.
SILKWORM DISEASES
Beauveria bassiana, a fungus, destroys the entire silkworm body. This fungus usually appears when silkworms are raised under cold conditions with high humidity. This disease is not passed on to the eggs from moths, as the infected silkworms cannot survive to the moth stage. This fungus can spread to other insects.
Grasserie, also known as nuclear polyhedrosis, milky disease, or hanging disease, is caused by infection with the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. If grasserie is observed in the chawkie stage, then the chawkie larvae must have been infected while hatching or during chawkie rearing. Infected eggs can be disinfected by cleaning their surfaces prior to hatching. Infections can occur as a result of improper hygiene in the chawkie rearing house. This disease develops faster in early instar rearing.
Pébrine is a disease caused by a parasitic microsporidian, N. bombycis. Diseased larvae show slow growth, undersized, pale and flaccid bodies, and poor appetite. Tiny black spots appear on larval integument. Additionally, dead larvae remain rubbery and do not undergo putrefaction after death. N. bombycis kills 100% of silkworms hatched from infected eggs. This disease can be carried over from worms to moths, then eggs and worms again. This microsporidium comes from the food the silkworms eat. Mother moths pass the disease to the eggs, and 100% of worms hatching from the diseased eggs will die in their worm stage. To prevent this disease, it is extremely important to rule out all eggs from infected moths by checking the moth's body fluid under a microscope.
Flacherie infected silkworms look weak and are colored dark brown before they die. The disease destroys the larva's gut and is caused by viruses or poisonous food.
Several diseases caused by a variety of funguses are collectively named Muscardine.
WIKIPEDIA
Bombyx mori, the domestic silkmoth, is an insect from the moth family Bombycidae. It is the closest relative of Bombyx mandarina, the wild silkmoth. The silkworm is the larva or caterpillar of a silkmoth. It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm's preferred food is white mulberry leaves, though they may eat other mulberry species and even osage orange. Domestic silkmoths are closely dependent on humans for reproduction, as a result of millennia of selective breeding. Wild silkmoths are different from their domestic cousins as they have not been selectively bred; they are not as commercially viable in the production of silk.
Sericulture, the practice of breeding silkworms for the production of raw silk, has been under way for at least 5,000 years in China, whence it spread to India, Korea, Japan, and the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silkmoth Bombyx mandarina, which has a range from northern India to northern China, Korea, Japan, and the far eastern regions of Russia. The domesticated silkworm derives from Chinese rather than Japanese or Korean stock.
Silkworms were unlikely to have been domestically bred before the Neolithic age. Before then, the tools to manufacture quantities of silk thread had not been developed. The domesticated B. mori and the wild B. mandarina can still breed and sometimes produce hybrids.
Domestic silkmoths are very different from most members in the genus Bombyx; not only have they lost the ability to fly, but their color pigments are also lost.
TYPES
Mulberry silkworms can be categorized into three different but connected groups or types. The major groups of silkworms fall under the univoltine ("uni-"=one, "voltine"=brood frequency) and bivoltine categories. The univoltine breed is generally linked with the geographical area within greater Europe. The eggs of this type hibernate during winter due to the cold climate, and cross-fertilize only by spring, generating silk only once annually. The second type is called bivoltine and is normally found in China, Japan, and Korea. The breeding process of this type takes place twice annually, a feat made possible through the slightly warmer climates and the resulting two life cycles. The polyvoltine type of mulberry silkworm can only be found in the tropics. The eggs are laid by female moths and hatch within nine to 12 days, so the resulting type can have up to eight separate life cycles throughout the year.
PROCESS
Eggs take about 14 days to hatch into larvae, which eat continuously. They have a preference for white mulberry, having an attraction to the mulberry odorant cis-jasmone. They are not monophagous since they can eat other species of Morus, as well as some other Moraceae, mostly Osage orange. They are covered with tiny black hairs. When the color of their heads turns darker, it indicates they are about to molt. After molting, the larval phase of the silkworms emerge white, naked, and with little horns on their backs.
After they have molted four times, their bodies become slightly yellow, and the skin becomes tighter. The larvae then prepare to enter the pupal phase of their lifecycle, and enclose themselves in a cocoon made up of raw silk produced by the salivary glands. The final molt from larva to pupa takes place within the cocoon, which provides a vital layer of protection during the vulnerable, almost motionless pupal state. Many other Lepidoptera produce cocoons, but only a few — the Bombycidae, in particular the genus Bombyx, and the Saturniidae, in particular the genus Antheraea — have been exploited for fabric production.
If the animal is allowed to survive after spinning its cocoon and through the pupal phase of its lifecycle, it releases proteolytic enzymes to make a hole in the cocoon so it can emerge as an adult moth. These enzymes are destructive to the silk and can cause the silk fibers to break down from over a mile in length to segments of random length, which seriously reduces the value of the silk threads, but not silk cocoons used as "stuffing" available in China and elsewhere for doonas, jackets etc. To prevent this, silkworm cocoons are boiled. The heat kills the silkworms and the water makes the cocoons easier to unravel. Often, the silkworm itself is eaten.
As the process of harvesting the silk from the cocoon kills the larva, sericulture has been criticized by animal welfare and rights activists. Mahatma Gandhi was critical of silk production based on the Ahimsa philosophy "not to hurt any living thing". This led to Gandhi's promotion of cotton spinning machines, an example of which can be seen at the Gandhi Institute. He also promoted Ahimsa silk, wild silk made from the cocoons of wild and semi-wild silk moths.
The moth – the adult phase of the lifecycle – is not capable of functional flight, in contrast to the wild B. mandarina and other Bombyx species, whose males fly to meet females and for evasion from predators. Some may emerge with the ability to lift off and stay airborne, but sustained flight cannot be achieved. This is because their bodies are too big and heavy for their small wings. However, some silkmoths can still fly. Silkmoths have a wingspan of 3–5 cm and a white, hairy body. Females are about two to three times bulkier than males (for they are carrying many eggs) but are similarly colored. Adult Bombycidae have reduced mouthparts and do not feed, though a human caretaker can feed them.
COCOON
The cocoon is made of a thread of raw silk from 300 to about 900 m long. The fibers are very fine and lustrous, about 10 μm in diameter. About 2,000 to 3,000 cocoons are required to make a pound of silk (0.4 kg). At least 70 million pounds of raw silk are produced each year, requiring nearly 10 billion cocoons.
RESEARCH
Due to its small size and ease of culture, the silkworm has become a model organism in the study of lepidopteran and arthropod biology. Fundamental findings on pheromones, hormones, brain structures, and physiology have been made with the silkworm. One example of this was the molecular identification of the first known pheromone, bombykol, which required extracts from 500,000 individuals, due to the very small quantities of pheromone produced by any individual worm.
Currently, research is focusing on genetics of silkworms and the possibility of genetic engineering. Many hundreds of strains are maintained, and over 400 Mendelian mutations have been described. Another source suggests 1,000 inbred domesticated strains are kept worldwide. One useful development for the silk industry is silkworms that can feed on food other than mulberry leaves, including an artificial diet. Research on the genome also raises the possibility of genetically engineering silkworms to produce proteins, including pharmacological drugs, in the place of silk proteins. Bombyx mori females are also one of the few organisms with homologous chromosomes held together only by the synaptonemal complex (and not crossovers) during meiosis.
Kraig Biocraft Laboratories has used research from the Universities of Wyoming and Notre Dame in a collaborative effort to create a silkworm that is genetically altered to produce spider silk. In September 2010, the effort was announced as successful.
Researchers at Tufts developed scaffolds made of spongy silk that feel and look similar to human tissue. They are implanted during reconstructive surgery to support or restructure damaged ligaments, tendons, and other tissue. They also created implants made of silk and drug compounds which can be implanted under the skin for steady and gradual time release of medications.
Researchers at the MIT Media Lab experimented with silkworms to see what they would weave when left on surfaces with different curvatures. They found that on particularly straight webs of lines, the worms would connect neighboring lines with silk, weaving directly onto the given shape. Using this knowledge they built a silk pavilion with 6,500 silkworms over a number of days.
Silkworms have been used in antibiotics discovery as they have several advantageous traits compared to other invertebrate models. Antibiotics such as lysocin E, a non-ribosomal peptide synthesized by Lysobacter sp. RH2180-5 and GPI0363 are among the notable antibiotics discovered using silkworms.
ON THE MOON
As of January 2, 2019, China's Chang'e-4 lander brought silkworms to the moon. A small microcosm 'tin' in the lander contained A. thaliana, seeds of potatoes, as well as silkworm eggs. As plants would support the silkworms with oxygen, and the silkworms would in turn provide the plants with necessary carbon dioxide and nutrients through their waste, researchers will evaluate whether plants successfully perform photosynthesis, and grow and bloom in the lunar environment.
DOMESTICATION
The domesticated form, compared to the wild form, has increased cocoon size, body size, growth rate, and efficiency of its digestion. It has gained tolerance to human presence and handling, and also to living in crowded conditions. The domesticated moth cannot fly, so it needs human assistance in finding a mate, and it lacks fear of potential predators. The native color pigments are also lost, so the domesticated moths are leucistic since camouflage isn't useful when they only live in captivity. These changes have made the domesticated strains entirely dependent upon humans for survival. The eggs are kept in incubators to aid in their hatching.
SILKWORM BREEDING
Silkworms were first domesticated in China over 5,000 years ago. Since then, the silk production capacity of the species has increased nearly tenfold. The silkworm is one of the few organisms wherein the principles of genetics and breeding were applied to harvest maximum outpu. It is second only to maize in exploiting the principles of heterosis and cross breeding.Silkworm breeding is aimed at the overall improvement of silkworm from a commercial point of view. The major objectives are improving fecundity (the egg-laying capacity of a breed), the health of larvae, quantity of cocoon and silk production, and disease resistance. Healthy larvae lead to a healthy cocoon crop. Health is dependent on factors such as better pupation rate, fewer dead larvae in the mountage, shorter larval duration (shorter larval duration lessens the chance of infection) and bluish-tinged fifth-instar larvae (which are healthier than the reddish-brown ones). Quantity of cocoon and silk produced are directly related to the pupation rate and larval weight. Healthier larvae have greater pupation rates and cocoon weights. Quality of cocoon and silk depends on a number of factors including genetics.
Hobby raising and school projects
In the US, teachers may sometimes introduce the insect life cycle to their students by raising silkworms in the classroom as a science project. Students have a chance to observe complete life cycles of insect from egg stage to larvae, pupa, moth.
The silkworm has been raised as a hobby in countries such as China, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Iran. Children often pass on the eggs, creating a non-commercial population. The experience provides children with the opportunity to witness the life cycle of silkworms. The practice of raising silkworms by children as pets has, in non-silk farming South Africa, led to the development of extremely hardy landraces of silkworms, because they are invariably subjected to hardships not encountered by commercially farmed members of the species. However, these worms, not being selectively bred as such, are possibly inferior in silk production and may exhibit other undesirable traits.
GENOME
The full genome of the silkworm was published in 2008 by the International Silkworm Genome Consortium. Draft sequences were published in 2004.
The genome of the silkworm is mid-range with a genome size around 432 megabase pairs.
High genetic variability has been found in domestic lines of silkworms, though this is less than that among wild silkmoths (about 83 percent of wild genetic variation). This suggests a single event of domestication, and that it happened over a short period of time, with a large number of wild worms having been collected for domestication. Major questions, however, remain unanswered: "Whether this event was in a single location or in a short period of time in several locations cannot be deciphered from the data". Research also has yet to identify the area in China where domestication arose.
CUISINE
Silkworm pupae are eaten in some cultures.
In Assam, they are boiled for extracting silk and the boiled pupae are eaten directly with salt or fried with chilli pepper or herbs as a snack or dish.
In Korea, they are boiled and seasoned to make a popular snack food known as beondegi (번데기).
In China, street vendors sell roasted silkworm pupae.
In Japan, silkworms are usually served as a tsukudani (佃煮), i.e., boiled in a sweet-sour sauce made with soy sauce and sugar.
In Vietnam, this is known as con nhộng.
In Thailand, roasted silkworm is often sold at open markets. They are also sold as packaged snacks.
Silkworms have also been proposed for cultivation by astronauts as space food on long-term missions.
SILKWORM LEGENDS
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress Lei Zu, the wife of the Yellow Emperor and the daughter of XiLing-Shi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.
The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a Khotan prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD. About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have smuggled silkworms, in a hollow stick, out of China and sold the secret to the Byzantine Empire.
SILKWORM DISEASES
Beauveria bassiana, a fungus, destroys the entire silkworm body. This fungus usually appears when silkworms are raised under cold conditions with high humidity. This disease is not passed on to the eggs from moths, as the infected silkworms cannot survive to the moth stage. This fungus can spread to other insects.
Grasserie, also known as nuclear polyhedrosis, milky disease, or hanging disease, is caused by infection with the Bombyx mori nuclear polyhedrosis virus. If grasserie is observed in the chawkie stage, then the chawkie larvae must have been infected while hatching or during chawkie rearing. Infected eggs can be disinfected by cleaning their surfaces prior to hatching. Infections can occur as a result of improper hygiene in the chawkie rearing house. This disease develops faster in early instar rearing.
Pébrine is a disease caused by a parasitic microsporidian, N. bombycis. Diseased larvae show slow growth, undersized, pale and flaccid bodies, and poor appetite. Tiny black spots appear on larval integument. Additionally, dead larvae remain rubbery and do not undergo putrefaction after death. N. bombycis kills 100% of silkworms hatched from infected eggs. This disease can be carried over from worms to moths, then eggs and worms again. This microsporidium comes from the food the silkworms eat. Mother moths pass the disease to the eggs, and 100% of worms hatching from the diseased eggs will die in their worm stage. To prevent this disease, it is extremely important to rule out all eggs from infected moths by checking the moth's body fluid under a microscope.
Flacherie infected silkworms look weak and are colored dark brown before they die. The disease destroys the larva's gut and is caused by viruses or poisonous food.
Several diseases caused by a variety of funguses are collectively named Muscardine.
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