Aminals
purepedantry | January 10, 2007Everyone hates on the Ig Nobel awards, but I think they are pretty cool. It is a lot of science that would go totally unrecognized. Just because it has no practical relevance whatsoever doesn't mean it isn't cool. Take this work on how woodpeckers cushion their heads so that they don't get hurt when drilling into trees:
Last fall, [Ivan] Schwab [from UC Davis] was honored with an Ig Nobel award, the irreverent version of the Nobel Prize, for his research on how woodpeckers avoid headaches, published in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.
Along with their straight-as-an-arrow strikes at…
purepedantry | November 27, 2006There you go, lemurs! Way to speciate:
The number of known species of the mouse lemur, the world's smallest primate, has increased by 25% with the description of three new species, bringing the total to 15.
Mouse lemurs are wide-eyed nocturnal animals that scamper around the forests of Madagascar, an island that harbors a tremendous diversity of wildlife.
Finding new examples of the tiny animals isn't a huge shock -- two new lemur species were reported in Madagascar just last year...Nonetheless, says Jorg Ganzhorn, head of the department of animal ecology and conservation at the University…
purepedantry | November 26, 2006This was forwarded to me in an email, and it is just too "dam" funny for me not to post. It is a letter that was sent to a man named Ryan DeVries by the Pennslyvania Department of Environmental Quality and his letter in response. Make sure you read the first letter first.
SUBJECT: DEQ File No.97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20;
Lycoming County
Dear Mr. DeVries:
It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who…
purepedantry | November 17, 2006Sounds like the kids I used to babysit:
Panbanisha the bonobo is up to her tricks again.
For the second time in as many months, the ape triggered a fire alarm at the Great Ape Trust of Iowa research center.
The trouble started Wednesday morning, when Panbanisha wanted to go outside but the staff was too busy to let her out, trust officials said. Panbanisha then apparently lost her temper and pulled the alarm, officials said.
It's a trick Panbanisha initially learned in October when she saw a welder start the alarm. It took her less than a day to learn how to duplicate the excitement.
When…
purepedantry | November 7, 2006Wow. That is not something you hear everyday:
Australian scientists unveiled three test-tube koala joeys on Monday as part of an artificial insemination program to preserve the vulnerable mammal.
The scientists said the program would lead to the creation of the world's first koala sperm bank, which will enable researchers to screen out koala diseases.
Scientists from the University of Queensland said a total of 12 koala joeys were produced using test-tube insemination.
The koalas were conceived using a new breeding technology that uses sperm mixed with a special solution to prolong the sperm…
purepedantry | October 14, 2006Previously, not cute. Now, cute.
Let the swooning media attention begin.
purepedantry | October 13, 2006CNN is reporting that mammals have been sighted in Europe:
Using DNA testing, scientists have discovered what is believed to be the first terrestrial mammal found in Europe in decades: a mouse with a big head, ears, eyes and teeth that lives in a mountainous area of Cyprus.
The mouse was native to the eastern Mediterranean island, survived the arrival of man on Cyprus and could be considered a "living fossil," experts said.
I assume they mean the discovery of a new species of mammal rather than that mammals had been observed where they were not previously believed to exist. I have been to…
purepedantry | October 12, 2006There are intruders invading from our Southern border! No, not illegal immigrants -- jaguars. Having not been seen in the Southwest for some time, some of them have started to filter in from Mexico. The NYTimes reports:
Using the same clandestine routes as drug smugglers, male jaguars are crossing into the United States from Mexico.
Four of the elusive cats have been photographed in the last decade -- one as recently as last February -- in the formidable, rugged mountain ranges of southeastern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.
And while no one knows exactly how many jaguars are here, or…
purepedantry | October 11, 2006Conservationists have discovered a new species of bird in the cloud forests of Colombia:
A colorful new bird has been discovered in a previously unexplored Andean cloud forest, spurring efforts to protect the area, conservation groups said Monday.
The bright yellow and red-crowned Yariguies brush-finch was named for the indigenous tribe that once inhabited the mountainous area where it was discovered.
For conservationists the discovery of the species came at a crucial time -- the government has decided to set aside 500 acres of the pristine cloud forest where the bird lives to create a…
purepedantry | September 26, 2006Scientists in FL are trying to make a prosthetic tail for a dolphin, Winter, who lost hers after getting tangled in a fishing line:
Winter learned how to swim without her tail, amazing her handlers with a combination of moves that resemble an alligator's undulations and a shark's side-to-side tail swipes. She uses her flippers, normally employed for steering and braking, to get moving.
Winter can't keep up with wild dolphins that can swim up to 25 mph with strokes of their tail flukes. She will be a permanent resident at the aquarium, even if she gets a prosthetic tail.
In the tank, she swims…
purepedantry | August 23, 2006Did you know that ants snap their mandibles together so fast that they can throw themselves in the air? Check out this (click on the video link to watch it):
When trap-jaw ants need to get out quick, they use their heads, not their legs to escape. This large species of Costa Rican ant smashes its jaw into the ground, causing the ant to catapult up and away from danger.
Videos of Odontomachus bauri show that this ant can propel itself 8 centimetres up into the air using jaws that snap shut at a speed of nearly 65 metres per second -- perhaps the fastest predatory strike measured.
Brian Fisher…
purepedantry | August 8, 2006That's a lot of Panda:
A giant panda in China has given birth to the heaviest cub born in captivity after the longest period in labor and elsewhere twin pandas each gave birth to twins, Xinhua news agency reported.
Six-year-old Zhang Ka delivered the baby on Monday at the Wolong Giant Panda Research Center in the mountainous southwest, Xinhua said.
The cub weighed just 218 grams (half a pound), but was still the heaviest panda ever born in captivity, where most cubs are born at between 83 and 190 grams, Xinhua said.
Chinese keep busting out Panda at this rate, they are going to be hawking…
purepedantry | August 8, 2006There is a manatee in the Hudson; which is interesting because I had always associated the Hudson with industrial waste, bad smells, the periodic dead person, and kayakers who seem to have no problem floating amongst those things:
Over the past week, boaters and bloggers have been energetically tracking a manatee in its lumbering expedition along the Atlantic Coast and up the Hudson River.
John H. Vargo, the publisher of Boating on the Hudson magazine, put out an alert last week, much to the incredulity of some boaters.
"Some were laughing about it, because it couldn't possibly be true," Mr.…