In the wild, Andrew feeds on fish, sponges, small crustaceans, nematode worms and protozoans.
Benny's diet is very specialized, consisting mainly of the interior of Ramy nuts, nectar from the Traveller's Palm tree, some fungi and insect grubs. He is also known to raid coconut plantations, and has been seen eating lychees and mangoes, which are also plantation crops.
Now accepting donations in exchange for recognition and fame on Zooillogix!
Currently Featured: Seattle Aquarium from Jason Brunet of JeffTheFish.com - the official website of baby rats!
The List:
Adventure Aquarium
Aquarium of the Bay
Baton Rouge Zoo
Birch Aquarium at Scripps
Bronx Zoo
Brookfield Zoo
Cincinnati Zoo
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
Florida Aquarium
Georgia Aquarium
Knoxville Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo
Los Angeles Zoo
Maritime Center in Norwalk, CT
Milwaukee Zoo
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Mystic Aquarium
New England Aquarium
New York Aquarium
Newport Aquarium
North Carolina Aquarium
North Carolina Zoological Society
Philadelphia Zoo
Pittsburgh Zoo
Rio Grande Zoo
Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies
San Antonio Zoo
San Diego Zoo
San Francisco Zoo
Santa Barbara Zoo
Sea World San Diego
Seattle Aquarium
Shedd Aquarium
Smithsonian National Zoo
South Carolina Aquarium
Tennessee Aquarium
Vancouver Aquarium Feed me Seymour!
According to a paper to be released in the September issue of the journal "American Naturalist", the number of sperm a male ejaculates may be correlated to his attractiveness as measured by the females in the population. The idea came forth after scientists at University College London and the Oxford University mathematically modeled the optimal "sperm load" to maximize daddiness across a range of mating patterns. The research, which took place late one Friday night at the corner bar, was one of several proposed ideas to "settle a bet" between two of the scientists.
The results suggest that males who attract more females may produce fewer sperm per mating than those who aren't so lucky. Essentially, the model shows that the optimal way to get lots of offspring is to mate with as many females as possible, even if those matings involve fewer sperm and, thus, a lower probability of conception per 'bow chicka bow wow'. Conversely, males with fewer opportunities to mate should put all their sperm in whatever baskets they can woo. This increases the probability of conception per mating, an advantage when you can't get much.
This idea is in contrast to the assumption that higher quality males are more fertile. The authors recognize that the pattern may not hold true for all species, given the diversity of mating strategies across taxa. They also state that it is difficult to know how these findings apply to humans and other primates. However, we all know that was just a CYA statement and, in actuality, they nailed it.
Future studies will focus on comparing sperm load in males that are similarly attractive but with differing access to prime sperm-making resources. The authors do not mention which species will have the joy of settling this bet, but the odds of the results being apt for Homo sapiens is about 100:1.
Fig. 1 A schematic representation of optimal sperm load by relative attractiveness
Mr. Sprinkles
Exxon Valdez
Citation:
'The evolution of continuous variation in ejaculate expenditure strategy' by S. Tazzyman, T. Pizzari, R. Seymour, and A. Pomiankowski will be published in the September issue of the journal American Naturalist.
If millipedes were not adorable enough on their own, they are often teeming with special little mites. The millipede and the mites typically have a symbiotic relationship wherein the millipede provides the mites with a home and the mites provide an extra layer of terror in the event that an elementary school child on a field trip actually builds up the courage to hold the Giant African millipede.
Many of you have asked... what's up with Zooillogix? Over a month between posts... Rambling, incoherent responses to inquiries from the Royal Society... Dark bags underneath our eyes... Hair loss and tooth decay... Some of you might have thought it was drugs. Well you were right. It took Jane Goodall finding my brother, Benny, face down in a back alley puddle in San Francisco's Chinatown to get us back on track. She brought him home and nourished him with rare sunbittern soup, an old Amazonian home remedy. Restored to his former strength, but missing many teeth, I am proud once again to call him my brother so long as it's not in public.
So the above is only about 80% true. Other significant factors have included Ben's purchasing of a second bar in San Francisco (this time with 50% more yuppy!) and my utter distraction with the sucrose world of ZooBorns (a joint venture between the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Tachov Tank Munitions Factory).
But here's the good news, we're back in action with a little help from our friends. Firstly, "Katie the Intern" has been promoted to simply "Katie." Katie is overjoyed that she now will be referred to simply by her first name. Secondly, we have added another Zooillogix reporter, the inimitable Julia Chosy, Ph.D. Why would someone with an advanced degree join our ranks you ask? Because we have pictures. We'll leave it at that.
Tune in regularly as Zooillogix is restored to its former glory and you once again can regale friends at keg parties with your knowledge of ant sex, fish clairvoyance, and my brother's scent-based defense mechanisms.
A new study in one of our favorite bathroom reading publications, Insectes Sociaux, has revealed that ants are indeed taking over the world and our role as ants' masters will soon be upended. The group looked at a species of Argentinian ant, Linepithema humile, that has hitchhiked to other continents in the last century or so on human vessels (ships, planes, etc.) to form invasive colonies. Previously, scientists had examined the relationship between these different colonies within countries and continents. When Linepithema humile from different colonies come into contact in Argentina, they attack each other. The scientists discovered, however, that when Linepithema humile living on foreign soil meet, they react behaviorally as if they are part of the same family i.e. no fighting, only greeting.
Wait, you're from Darien? Do you know George Cabbott? Yeah, he went to Bucknell. He's a good guy. Hey, what about Betsy Rosen?...Hahaha, yeah I wasn't going to say it, but she IS a total slut!
The newest study focused on how Linepithema humile from different colonies and from different continents treat one another when meeting for the first time. To the scientists' surprise, these ants also treat each other as if they are part of the same colony. The researchers are citing lack of genetic variation as the main cause for their familiar behavior. Still, it is not too far a stretch to imagine these super colonies all connecting some day and causing some serious environmental havoc and/or putting humans to work in their sugar mines.
A new study at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has shed some light (oh... ZING!) on how squids may use another organ, along with their eyes, to see.
Some squids have a light organ on them which they use to camoflauge themselves from predators below them. The organ is filled with a luminous bateria that the squid can activate to light up. The idea is that the squids can illuminate their organs to match the light coming from the surface of the water, thus confusing a rising, hungry fish or giant crab monsters recently loose from attacking deep sea oil drilling stations.
By studying the molecules of this organ, however, researchers have discovered that it is both capable of emitting AND registering light from the environment. It contains a protein also found in the squids' eyes that is used to "see" light.
Are you made of star dust? Because your light is registering in my organ.
The scientists are speculating that the organ may use these proteins to register the surface light and then match the baterial glow to it in order to best camoflauge the squid. They are also enthusiastic that it will shed light on the "mechanisms of controlling and perceiving light." What a nice way to justify your grant research money.
It seems like we've been covering zombie bugs a lot lately. The newest story comes from Texas, where researchers are trying out a new form of pest control on invasive fire ants: using parasitic flies to lay eggs in the ants brains, zombify them, and then explode their heads with emerging larvae. Seems reasonable.
We're under attack!
Researchers at Texas A&M's AgriLife Extension Service in Overton, in East Texas are experimenting by releasing four different species of phorid flies (a native predator of fire ants from their native South America) into fire ants' new habitats. The flies apparently "dive bomb" the ants, and lay eggs inside of them. The fly larvae then move into the ants' brains, hollowing them out. The ants wander aimlessly for two weeks like zombies, essentially without brains, until the larvae burst out of their heads like the Kool-Aid guy through the wall of your living room when you were a kid.
What do we want? Braaaaiiins! How are we going to get them? Braaaaiiins!
While the results have been promising, it may take more than a decade to determine if the flies have any real effect. Hmmm...I wonder if there's a fly that zombifies and explodes the heads of Texans. I could DEFINITELY find a market for that.
Does the sinking feeling of knowing you could have gotten what you wanted had you made better choices in life sound familiar? Like how if in college, had you gotten a real degree, set goals for yourself, and not tried to buy friendships with your credit card, you could possibly now have a steady job, ambition, and friends? If it does, then you may rest easier tonight knowing there is a term for that: "fictive thinking". And guess what... monkeys get it too!
Researchers at Duke University have concluded that monkeys don't respond solely to direct punishment or rewards for their actions. They can, according to the scientists, actually adjust future behavior when shown the reward or punishment they would have received had they chosen to behave differently.
The guys at Duke demonstrated this by setting eight different cards face down in front of a single monkey, each of the eight cards corresponding to a certain amount of juice. Monkeys like juice enough to cooperate with this insultingly childish experiment, apparently. After the monkey picked his one card, he was shown what amounts of juice he could have gotten had he chosen one of the other cards. The wires that were stuck into the brain of these live monkeys showed that their little chimpy neurons fired like crazy when they were shown the bigger prizes they missed. In following trials, the monkeys tended to pick the card that corresponded to the biggest prize from the first trial.
It is thought that this research can be used to further our understanding of how compulsive gamblers think, and that it may correlate to their obsession with the "what could have been". The monkeys at Deep Sea News are hoping they further understand this really soon. In the end, the monkeys got their juice and the scientists got their fellowship funding.
Now here's Teka performing her dance hit, "Monkey Juice":
