The largest funnel-web spider ever seen by the staff at Australian Reptile Park was recently handed in by an anonymous donor. The spider can be milked to extract the venom needed to create an antidote for bites.
At 3 inches, it is almost twice the size of the average funnel-web spider.
The arachnid’s size also means it has fangs big enough to bite through a human fingernail. It will produce far more than the average amount of venom needed to produce life-saving antivenom.
Staffers are hoping they can find the anonymous donor who left it in a plastic container at one of their drop-off points, so other spiders might be found. The spider had been left in a container without any labels after being collected somewhere between Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle in Australia.
Nicknamed Megaspider by staff at the Reptile Park, the recent high humidity and rainy weather are perfect conditions for these spiders to thrive. There are at least 40 species of funnel-web spiders. While most funnel-webs are ground dwellers, a few live in trees.
The spider was probably donated by someone answering an appeal to catch them alive, so researchers can produce the antivenom, which saves hundreds of lives every year. The Australian Reptile Park is the only zoo in Australia that milks the spiders for their venom to make the serum.
An average funnel-web spider compared to “Megaspider” at the Australian Reptile Park. The larger the spider, the more venom is produced. (Australian Reptile Park/Zenger)
“Having Megaspider handed into the venom program is so amazing. In my 30-plus years at the park, I have never seen a funnel web spider this big,” Michael Tate, education officer of the Australian Reptile Park, said in a statement.
“She is unusually large, and if we can get the public to hand in more spiders like her, it will only result in more lives being saved, due to the huge amount of venom they can produce. We are really keen to find out where she came from in hopes of finding more massive spiders like her.”
The male of the Sydney funnel-web spider variety is believed responsible for all recorded deaths and many medically serious bites, according to the Australian Museum.
Promoting the drop-off points, Tate said: “People can bring any collected spiders to the Reptile Park itself. However, if they can’t get to us, we have drop-off zones around Sydney, the Central Coast and Newcastle. All facilities are provided with a spider safety kit to house the spiders until the Australian Reptile Park staff can come and pick them up each week.”
Mixed martial arts can turn the best of friends into the fiercest of enemies if they meet in a cage. That scenario could take place in the finals of Combate Global’s “USA vs. Mexico” eight-man lightweight tournament tonight.
Enrique “Baby Bull” Gonzalez (9–4) originally from Laredo, Texas, is part of the four-man U.S. contingent, while Hugo “The Hooligan” Flores (9–3) of Guadalajara, Mexico, will fight for Mexico. Both train at Valle Flow Striking Academy outside Chicago and both are coached by Mike Valle. They are training partners, roommates and good friends.
“Couldn’t have better company,” Gonzalez wrote on his Facebook page under a photo of him, Flores and MMA fighter Ignacio “La Jaula” Bahamondes departing Chicago’s O’Hare Airport on their way to tonight’s bouts in Miami, Florida.
Hugo “The Hooligan” Flores left Mexico last October and moved to Chicago to pursue an MMA career. He will fight in tonight’s eight-man showdown in Miami. (Courtesy Valle Flow Striking)
The Combate Global tournament format conceived by UFC co-founder and Combate Global CEO Campbell McLaren has the four U.S. fighters paired against each other in two one-round, 5-minute fights. The winners face each other in another one-round, 5-minute semifinal to decide who represents the U.S. in the finals scheduled for three 5-minute rounds. Same for the Mexico side, presenting the possibility of Gonzalez and Flores meeting in the title match.
“It makes it very interesting for us,” Piera Valle, Mike Valle’s wife and Gonzalez’s manager told Zenger. “We were thinking, ‘How is this going to work?”
The first order of business was to get the fighters to accept the possibility. The potential of fighting a friend isn’t a foreign concept in combat sports, especially if they compete in the same weight division on the professional level. Business is business.
“They have trained together every single day,” Valle said. “So the best possible scenario is that they fight each other in the finale because that means they both win.”
The contingency plan is that if both of his fighters reach the finals, Mike Valle will go from coach to a very conflicted spectator. Instead of selecting one fighter over the other, Mike Valle will leave the two fighters on their own with only someone to give them water between rounds. Bahamondes, who has fought for Combate, will be one of two water boys.
“We’ve made it very clear that when they make it to the finale there’s no coaching whatsoever,” Piera Valle said. “It would be an unfair advantage for the person that would be coached by Mike. So it’s no coaching, just water.”
Gonzalez didn’t want to forecast the potential finale, saying he was focused mainly on his own game. “May the best man win,” he told Zenger.
Enrique “Baby Bull” Gonzalez will represent the USA tonight in an eight-man Combate Global tournament in Miami. (Combate Global)
Still, it poses an intriguing ending to what could be the biggest night of each fighter’s life. Their journey is typical of those of many young men and women who want to attempt a professional career in MMA.
Gonzalez left his hometown of Laredo after graduating from high school in 2015 and moved to Chicago to train at Valle’s gym. Mike Valle and Enrique’s father were friends, and the younger Gonzalez had shown promise, having studied karate, boxing, jiu-jitsu and other forms of martial arts.
Flores made his way there from Guadalajara and has been in Chicago for about a year. It’s a dedicated lifestyle where dreams are big and opportunities to get noticed can be few.
“We sponsor athletes from all over the world and give them the opportunity to train with us and stay rent-free to see if they have promise,” Piera Valle said. “People are starting to understand that these athletes train all day long, and live a clean lifestyle. The sport is more legitimate and competitive than it was even three or four years ago.”
Gonzalez has been at this for six years and still shows plenty of potential. “He is very athletic, and is able to pick things up very quickly,” Valle said. “He has the will. When he’s on point, he’s unbeatable. He has a very bright future in front of him.”
Flores arrived in Chicago last October after leaving his friends and family in Mexico. “I’m happy with the decision I made a year ago, and I don’t regret it for a second,” he wrote on the Valle Flow Striking Facebook page. “I’m excited. For so long I waited on having opportunities that are now coming and even more so to know that I’m in the right place to develop and overcome every challenge.”
Gonzalez sees this tournament as a chance to prove he can contend for a title and have a long and successful career in MMA. “I’m focused on this,” Gonzalez told Zenger. “I want to make the company proud and get a couple of bucks out of them.”
Gonzalez and Flores must get past the first two rounds to reach the finals. The concept of a one-round, 5-minute fight is far different from the normal three-round fight, those involved say.
“What’s interesting about this is that anything can happen in one round,” Valle said. “Over three rounds, the person with the highest skill set is normally going to wind up the winner. But when it’s one round, anything can happen. And having to fight three times is a mental challenge that not a lot of people can endure. The mental game matters more in this type of competition.”
Live coverage on Paramount Plus begins with a preshow at 9:30 p.m. ET with live action beginning at 10 p.m. ET. Univision’s broadcast begins at 11 p.m. ET. The show will also air in Mexico on TUDN MEX beginning at 10 p.m. local time.
Two Russian supersonic bomber jets and several Belarusian fighter jets have carried out a joint patrol over the latter country’s airspace. The move comes amid rising tensions over an immigration crisis on the border Belarus/Polish border.
“Two Tu-160 strategic missile carriers of the Russian Aerospace Forces performed patrols in the airspace of the Republic of Belarus, during which issues with the fighter cover by Su-30SM jets of the Belarusian Air Force were worked out. The pilots successfully completed the assigned task,” said the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation.
Video of the mission shows the takeoffs, joint patrol and landings of the Tu-160s, along with a quick interior shot of a crew member carrying out a calculation with a slide rule, an analog computing device not often seen in today’s era of handheld digital calculators.
The Nov. 11 joint flight lasted more than four-and-a-half hours. During this time, the strategic missile carriers covered a distance of over 3,000 kilometers (roughly 2,000 miles). “These activities have been performed in order to ensure the military security of the Union State [created by the two countries in 1999] and are not directed against other countries,” the defense ministry said.
A pair of Belarusian Su-30SM jets as seen from a Russian Aerospace Forces Tu-160 strategic missile carrier during a recent joint air patrol. (Russian Ministry of Defense/Zenger)
Earlier this week, Russia sent two supersonic Tu-22M3 bombers into Belarusian airspace in a similar show of support for its western neighbor amid rising tensions on the border with Poland.
That dispute centers on allegations that Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has been encouraging migrants, mainly from the Middle East, into his country only to send them to the Polish border in an alleged attempt to provoke a migrant crisis in Europe.
The international row started over a strong crackdown on anti-government protesters initiated by Lukashenko, who is widely known as “Europe’s last dictator.” The European Union recently accused Belarus of taking part in “state-sponsored trafficking.”
At left in this image is one of the two Russian Tu-160 supersonic bombers flying over Belarus; to its right and at a lower altitude is a Belarusian Su-30SM jet. (Russian Ministry of Defense/Zenger)
In a similar vein, the United Nations’ refugee agency, the UNHCR, and the International Organization for Migration issued a joint statement calling on governments to ensure “the safety and human rights of migrants and refugees.”
With several immigrants’ deaths recently recorded at the border area amid the onset of winter temperatures, the U.N. agencies reminded states that it is “imperative to prevent further loss of life’ and to treat migrants and refugees humanely, as the highest priority…
“Our two organizations have publicly stated on several occasions that the instrumentalization of migrants and refugees to achieve political ends is deplorable and must stop,” the joint statement said. “Taking advantage of the despair and vulnerability of migrants and refugees by offering them unrealistic and misleading promises is unacceptable and has severe human consequences.”
New York — In 2018, CBD-infused products sales totaled $1.9 billion, according to research by Colorado-based BDS Analytics in partnership with Arcview Market Research. That number is forecasted to grow to a whopping $20 billion by 2024, spurred by greater accessibility and an ongoing introduction of new products.
Setting the stage for that explosive growth was the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized industrial hemp cultivation for products manufactured with cannabis sativa plants containing less than 0.3 percent THC, the main psychoactive compound in cannabis. As a result, the active compound in hemp, CBD (cannabidiol) has infiltrated the beauty, health, and food markets. While THC and CBD are both natural compounds found in plants of the cannabis genus, the latter does not produce a “high” or euphoric sensation for users only seeking to alleviate pain or anxiety.
Casco Bay Hemp product lines (Lisa Chau)
Evidence of the expected rapid growth in the CBD product category was on display at the White Label World Expo New York, an online retail sourcing show held earlier this fall at the Javits Convention Center.
There, Andre Addison explained that his Canaboxx invention is a CBD products vending machine, known as a “dispensary in a box.”
“The technology automates the way consumers purchase CBD products much the same way banks integrated ATMs as a system for convenience,” said Addison, the company’s owner and president. “Additionally, the Covid pandemic has created a greater need for no-contact sales and social distancing.” He imagines a world where such vending machines will be on every street corner once all 50 states have deregulated marijuana usage.
Canaboxx President Andre Addison explains how his vending machine works. (Lisa Chau)
Meanwhile, Milkweed Cannabis Confections’ Will Fleming is focusing on the top end of the spectrum, with edibles for luxury clients.
“The vast majority of cannabis edibles in the market today are commodity products: mediocre quality, mediocre ingredients, lackluster flavors,” said Fleming, the company’s director of sales and operations. “Milkweed Cannabis Confections is the brain-child of former New York City pastry chef Andrew LeStourgeon, whose mission is to bring luxury cannabis edibles to the market… utilizing local and high-quality ingredients, creating unique and compelling flavor profiles, and executing all of this at a top-tier level.” His team imagines a world where their products are widely enjoyed at upscale weddings.
Carolindica CEO and Founder Chris Karazin launched his company in 2019 as a craft CBD manufacturer, specializing in tinctures and vape cartridges. Over time, he branched out into a variety of other product types, including gummies, capsules, topicals and candy.
“Like tectonic plates, being involved at this time in the hemp industry means we get to fill in the huge cracks that develop as the industry shifts, flowing like lava to adapt to the emerging niches,” Karazin said. “Currently, the market for pure CBD products is extremely saturated, so the industry is trending towards working with the more unique hemp compounds in order to expand the benefit offerings and stay ahead of the curve.”
Milkweed Cannabis Confections (Lisa Chau)
Carolindica segments itself by working with just about anything they can extract from the hemp plant, including CBD, but also CBG, CBC, CBN and Delta 8 THC. Each of these compounds has different properties. For instance, CBN is the most sedative and provides the best benefits for sleeping, while Delta 8 offers the most recreational value to consumers.
By blending these cannabinoids together with terpenes, the company creates formulations that target specific issues like sleeping difficulties, pain and anxiety, while blending the lines between recreational enjoyment and pure medicinal value. There are well over 100 cannabinoids in the hemp plant, and the industry can only work with a tiny percentage of them currently. Karazin fully believes that the future of this industry will revolve unique compounds focused on both the medicinal and recreational values offered by the hemp plant.
Deborah and her son Stephon Morton entered the industry in 2019, by launching four major products: Mor-Hemp CBD coconut oil, “Ladi Mary” smokable CBD Flower, and TUSK Hemp-infused Vodka and Rum. As a new liquor brand, they’ve found it difficult to partner with distributors in major states because the company cannot provide a proven track record of consistent profits.
Moreover, their family-owned business Mor-Hemp has faced challenges getting grants for minority farmers to purchase farming equipment, supplies and facilities needed to effectively expand. For example, they applied for a grant for disadvantaged farmers in Halifax County, Virginia.
“We submitted all the proper paperwork and patiently awaited the outcome. After months of no pertinent feedback or information, we did our due diligence of communicating with the office. Only when we reached out were we informed that the agency was changing directors and our paperwork suddenly went missing, and we were not awarded the grant,” Deborah Morton said.
In 2018, CBD-infused products sales totaled $1.9 billion. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
As explosive as the growth of the CBD has been in recent years, there are still many unknowns and hurdles to overcome. Trojan Horse Cannabis Founder and CEO Christopher Fontes currently serves on the Government Affairs Committee for the National Industrial Hemp Council. He says the next big trend for the industry is the realization that Delta-9 THC is a legal product, so long as it is hemp-derived from a Farm Bill-approved program and remains below the federal threshold of 0.3 percent Delta-9 THC by dry weight. If that happens, attempts to create THC alternatives like D8, D10 and THCp will start to slow down or disappear.
More and more manufacturers are realizing that FD&C [Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act] regulations will treat their products like dietary supplements regarding safety and truth-in-labeling, Fontes said. “The industry fully expects hemp-derived ingestibles to be regulated as a dietary supplement at some point by the Food and Drug Administration. Doing so creates a regulatory framework of consumer safety, and is welcomed by the good actors in the industry. This could also have significant impacts on the hemp supply chain.”
Recent laws legalizing commercial hemp farming have led to an explosive growth in the CBD industry. However, the marketplace is still is its infancy as many obstacles and unknowns remain.
Minority farmers need grants, and a stigma still remains— some studies have shown that CBD “users were frequently labeled as irresponsible and unreliable ‘potheads’ by a variety of people including employers, colleagues, and even healthcare providers”. Consumers are increasingly interested in the benefits of CBD, but quality control and safety need to be addressed and regulated quickly.
Two Australian freshwater crocodiles relax in their vivarium at a Swiss Zoo, the first zoo outside Australia to successfully breed the species in nearly 30 years.
The little crocs hatched at Basel Zoo in Switzerland and the video shows them in their new home.
The zoo said it is only the second zoo outside of Australia to successfully breed the species. Europe has 13 aquariums and zoos keeping freshwater crocodiles.
The parents of the younglings were hatched in Frankfurt Zoo in Germany in 1994 and became the first freshwater crocodiles born outside of Australia.
The female freshwater crocodile, also known as the Australian freshwater crocodile, laid 10 eggs on March 11. Of the 10 eggs laid, four hatched between May 17 and May 21.
Zookeepers then took the eggs from the sand nest, which is not suitable for incubation, and placed them in a specialized incubator. The female does not actively watch over her eggs. She only returns to her clutch when the eggs are hatching, which allowed the zoo to transfer them without danger.
One of the freshwater Australian crocodile offspring hatched at the Basel Zoo. The sex of the baby is determined by the incubation temperature. The zoo is only the second outside of Australia to successfully breed the species. (Zoo Basel/Zenger)
Temperatures often determine the sex of the croc and, in the wild, the ratio is four females to every male.
European zoos also have majority-female populations. For this reason, Basel Zoo decided to try to breed male crocs. When incubated at 89.6 to 90.5 degrees Fahrenheit, males have their highest chance of hatching. Lower temperatures lead to more female hatchlings, the zoo said.
The period of incubation is between 63 and 108 days. The first croc poked its head out of the broken eggshell after 67 days.
The crocs are able to communicate while they are incubating, which allows them to hatch at the same time. Synchronized hatching is a defense mechanism. A group hatching makes them less vulnerable to predators than an individual.
The freshwater Australian crocodile offspring that hatched at the Basel Zoo. The parents are so protective of their younglings that zookeepers can no longer get near them. (Zoo Basel/Zenger)
After successfully hatching, the little crocs were returned to their parents on May 26.
When fully grown, a male freshwater crocodile measures between 7.5 feet and 9.9 feet, while a female can reach 6.9 feet in length.
Zookeepers are no longer able to remain close to the younglings, as their parents will not permit it. However, they can feed them a controlled diet, making it possible to monitor the change in weight and size of the offspring.
Australian freshwater crocodiles are native to northern Australia where the population is stable and not endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.
However, the species is vulnerable to invasive species, such as the poisonous cane toad, which the crocs eat.
Two women accused of stealing a car with a baby inside, from the parking area of a daycare center, have been arrested following a pursuit that ended shortly after the driver crashed the vehicle and fled on foot. The details of the charges the women face have not been released.
The Placer County, California, Sheriff’s Office said the parents had briefly stepped away from their car to take their 2-year-old child into the daycare center in Newcastle on the morning of Nov. 11. Their 7-month-old child was still in the car, in a child safety seat, when the two women stole the car, the sheriff’s office said.
“Within minutes, a sheriff’s deputy located the stolen vehicle traveling west on Interstate 80 near Auburn. As the deputy attempted to stop the car, the driver sped away, exiting on Highway 193,” the sheriff’s office said. “The pursuit ended when the driver crashed the vehicle into a power pole.
“The suspect passenger, identified as 23-year old Anastacia Andino of Folsom, was detained almost immediately. The driver suspect, 29-year old Roniqua Wartson of Elk Grove, fled into a nearby wooded area. She was located and arrested about 30 minutes later, thanks to air support from the California Highway Patrol, our deputies on the ground, and officers from Roseville and Auburn police departments.
“Thankfully, the child was not injured and was quickly returned to the parents,” the sheriff’s office said.
The driver of the stolen car was identified by the Placer County Sheriff’s Office as Roniqua Wartson. (Placer County Sheriff’s Office/Zenger)
The parents were not named in the sheriff’s office report posted online.
The California Highway Patrol Valley Division Air Operations posted video online of Wartson being arrested in the woods. The message accompanying the video says: “This morning, a woman stole a car in the Newcastle area which had a 7-month-old in the back seat. As she fled the area, Placer County Deputies located the vehicle. Deputies attempted an enforcement stop, but the suspect fled from deputies before crashing into a pole on Highway 193.
“The suspect then fled into a field, hiding from responding officers. Placer County deputies maintained a perimeter, as Roseville Police Department had a K9 officer assisting in the search. California Highway Patrol helicopter (H-20) arrived overhead and located a heat source hiding in dense brush. The K9 was able to crawl through the brush, locating the suspect. She was then taken into custody.”
“It is unknown at this time what the suspects were doing in the area,” the sheriff’s office said.
Video shows an injured golden eagle that was rescued after it broke its wing when it hit a train.
The golden eagle was saved in Kazakhstan’s largest city, Almaty, by a woman identified only by her first name, Evgeniya. No date was given for the rescue, but video was posted by a local animal rescue group on Nov. 10.
“The golden eagle was found near a train depot,” Evgeniya said. “Based on the nature of its injuries and on the location where it was found, it is believed that it collided with a locomotive.”
Evgeniya said the golden eagle might have been hunting in the area before crashing “into a locomotive at flying speed.” She said it was left with a broken “and almost torn-off wing.”
One video shows the eagle during the rescue in the train depot. It can be seen being held by one of the members of the team, with a blanket over its head so it does not panic. The team member lifts the blanket to reveal the large bird of prey.
Another video shows the eagle resting on a blanket after having been given something to drink, while a final piece of footage shows the eagle appearing to be doing much better.
The wounded golden eagle in Almaty, Kazakhstan, is regaining its strength under the care of rescuers. (@almaty_pomosh_zhivotnym/Zenger)
A third video shows the eagle being picked up by one of the animal rescue team members while a man speaks next to them. They get a bit closer, and the bird, which seems to have regained some strength, appears to attempt to bite the man’s fingers, prompting everyone to laugh.
Evgeniya said that though she and her team rescued the bird, it will not be able to return to the wild because “its wing is shattered.”
“In the wild, with such injuries, the predator usually dies because it cannot continue to hunt. After rehabilitation, the golden eagle will continue its life in the zoo together with other disabled birds.”
While golden eagles are listed as animals of least concern by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species, Evgeniya said that the birds are listed in the “Red Book in Russia and Kazakhstan” and that “the population is small and constantly declining.”
The Red Book is officially the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation, the government database that documents rare and endangered animal and plant species.
While golden eagles can be found in many countries in the Northern Hemisphere, their numbers have recently experienced sharp declines in many parts of the world.
Golden eagles may be found in forests, scrublands, cliffs and mountain peaks and even deserts.
Astronomers believe that a near-Earth asteroid is a long-lost fragment that broke off the moon, according to a new study.
The asteroid known as Kamo`oalewa is a quasi-satellite: a subcategory of asteroids that orbit the sun but stay near our planet. Discovered in 2016 by the Pan-STARRS telescope in Hawaii, Kamo`oalewa is about 150 to 190 feet in diameter and most closely approaches the Earth at approximately 9 million miles. It bears a name taken from native Hawaiian creation myths and alludes to an offspring that travels alone.
In a paper published in the journal Nature, University of Arizona graduate student Ben Sharkey and his team determined that the asteroid’s spectrum, or pattern of reflected light, matches the rocks brought back to Earth by NASA’s Apollo missions to the moon.
From Earth, Kamo`oalewa can only be observed during April because of its orbit. Because it is small, only one of the largest telescopes on Earth can see it. A research team can spot it from the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham in southern Arizona, which is managed by the University of Arizona.
The Large Binocular Telescope, managed by the University of Arizona, consists of a set of two identical 28-foot mirrors, side by side and operating on a common, steerable mount. Located in southeastern Arizona’s Pinaleño Mountains, the telescope is part of the Mount Graham International Observatory. (Courtesy University of Arizona)
Kamo`oalewa is about 4 million times fainter than the faintest star the human eye can see in a dark sky. The tremendous power of the twin telescopes of the Large Binocular Telescope to gather light made the observations possible.
While the reflected light suggests a lunar origin for Kamo`oalewa, the researchers are not certain how it broke away from the moon. There are no other asteroids known to have come from the moon.
“I looked through every near-Earth asteroid spectrum we had access to, and nothing matched,” said Sharkey. Astronomers have previously theorized that the asteroid may have formed from material thrown into orbit by a meteorite strike on the lunar surface.
A bright, young ray impact crater blasted in the eroded wall of the partly buried crater Hedin on the lunar surface. The unnamed crater, just over a mile across, is too small to see from Earth with unaided eyes. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera imaged this crater on Nov. 3, 2018. (NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
University of Arizona Professor Vishnu Reddy and Sharkey searched for an explanation for Kamo`oalewa for years. “We doubted ourselves to death,” said study co-author Reddy. Having started the hunt in 2016 and after missing an opportunity to observe the asteroid in April 2020 due to a COVID-19 shutdown, the astronomers got a glimpse of the puzzle in April this year.
“This spring, we got much-needed follow-up observations and went, ‘Wow it is real,’” Sharkey said. “It’s easier to explain with the moon than other ideas.”
Kamo`oalewa’s orbit is similar to Earth’s, but has a little tilt. According to study co-author Renu Malhotra, its orbit is not typical of other near-Earth asteroids. “It is very unlikely that a garden-variety near-Earth asteroid would spontaneously move into a quasi-satellite orbit like Kamo`oalewa’s,” she said.
“It will not remain in this particular orbit for very long, only about 300 years in the future, and we estimate that it arrived in this orbit about 500 years ago,” said Malhotra, a professor of planetary science who led orbit analysis for the study. Her team is conducting further investigation of Kamo`oalewa’s mysterious origins.
Latinos in the United States are performing economically far beyond expectations, contradicting long-held stereotypes.
That’s according to the 2021 State Latino GDP Report, which reveals their GDP in 2018 amounted to $2.6 trillion. If Latinos were an independent nation, they would rank eighth in the world, with a GDP higher than Italy, South Korea or Brazil.
Dr. David Hayes-Bautista, co-author of the study and director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA, says the report debunks the idea that Latinos come to the United States to commit crimes or live on public assistance. “We are not lazy or criminal, we come to work, and these figures prove it,” he said.
The U.S. Latino GDP grew 21 percent faster than India and 30 percent faster than China. In California, the statistics are just as staggering. In 2018, the state’s Latino GDP was $706.6 billion, higher than Ohio’s total economic output.
Latinos are an enormous source of economic vitality because of their hard work, family values and solid health profile, Dr. Hayes-Bautista says.
His new report offers estimates of the economic contribution of Latinos in Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Texas, states where nearly three-quarters of the country’s Latino population live.
An essential component of the great economic performance of Latinos is consumption — $1.36 trillion in 2018 alone in those eight states.
From 2010 to 2018, real consumption in this group grew 135 percent faster than non-Latinos, primarily due to population growth and strong participation in the labor market.
Between 2010 and 2018, in California, the non-Latino population grew 3 percent, while Latinos increased 13 percent. Growth was driven by a high fertility rate, not migration, Dr. Hayes-Bautista says.
The report also highlights that from 2010 to 2018, the educational level of Latinos grew 2.5 times faster than that of non-Latinos in the state. In that same period, Latinos’ labor force participation averaged 4.6 percentage points higher than that of non-Latinos.
In addition, Latinos in California have a longer life expectancy than non-Latino whites, too — 83.6 years compared to 80.8. Dr. Hayes-Bautista says credits their health habits.
Still, the pandemic represented a special challenge.
“In the case of the pandemic, Latinos were very affected because they did not have the same access to COVID-19 vaccines as other groups, and they could not be confined to their homes because many are essential workers,” he said.
Filmmaker Natasha Kline treasures her childhood memories with her many Mexican-American cousins and is turning those “recuerdos” into a new animated comedy series.
Disney Branded Television has ordered Klines’s “Primos,” a series exploring family relations and children’s empowerment.
“‘Primos’ is set in childhood summers spent with my cousins … and the comedy that is born from that wonderfully hectic setting,” said the Latina artist.
“As a kid, I didn’t see myself or my culture represented on screen, so I’m excited to share my family dynamic through these new Disney characters and stories.”
Disney’s greenlighting of the show is a significant accomplishment for Kline, who has worked on two other Disney Channel animated series. She directed, wrote, and storyboarded a few episodes of “Big City Greens” and worked briefly as a writer on “Star vs. the Forces of Evil.”
JUST ANNOUNCED: #DisneyBrandedTelevision orders “Primos,” an original animated comedy series created and executive produced by Natasha Kline. The story is based on her childhood experiences with her extended multicultural Mexican American family. #DisneyPrimospic.twitter.com/isFKN0FMBl
With “Primos,” Kline is now donning the hat of executive producer, her first major production credit. She is also credited as a writer.
The show introduces Tater, an eccentric 10-year-old girl with big dreams but unaware of her exceptional qualities. That changes when her 12 cousins, “primos” in Spanish, move in for the summer, helping her discover what is so special about her.
“It’s been especially gratifying to see Natasha directing more than 30 episodes of our number 1 series ‘Big City Greens,’ while also creating her own new show that bears her authentic comedic voice and her family’s culture and values,” said Meredith Roberts, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Television Animation with Disney Branded Television. “We’re looking forward to delivering it to kids and families worldwide.”
Produced by Disney Television Animation, each half-hour “Primos” episode will consist of two 11-minute stories. Tater’s aspirations and larger-than-life imagination permeate her super-secret diary entries, which turn her most profound thoughts into grandiose animation sequences.
Kline has more than a decade of experience in animation. She spent six and a half years as a storyboard artist and designer on Comedy Central’s multiple-Primetime Emmy-winning series “South Park.” Before coming to Disney, she freelanced for various animated projects like Nickelodeon’s “Hey Arnold!, The Jungle Movie” and “Pinky Malinky,” and DreamWorks Animation’s “Home: The Adventures of Tip and Oh,” “Too Loud!” and “Harvey Street Kids.” She also worked as a story artist in Warner Bros’ “LEGO Ninjago” movie and as a storyboard artist in Netflix’s “Bojack Horseman.”
The filmmaker is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton, where she earned a degree in illustration and studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts.
