animals
edyong | August 20, 2008Owls may be are known for their trademark hooting noises, but a new study shows that they don't just rely on sound for communication. With some species having very large and sensitive eyes, you might expect that they would use visual signals too and that's exactly what a pair of Spanish biologists have found. Vincenzo Penteriani and Maria del Mar Delgado studied the eagle owl, and found that it marks its territories by recycling its meals - in more ways than one.
The eagle owl is the world's largest and is found in mountains and hilly forests throughout Europe and Asia. As breeding pairs…
grrlscientist | August 17, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, animal books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase. This edition is absolutely packed with book titles that you will want to read!
FEATURED TITLE:
James, Jamie. The Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge. 2008. Hyperion. Hardbound: 260 pages. Price…
edyong | August 12, 2008An international group of scientists have recruited a team of unlikely research assistants to help them study the Southern Ocean that surrounds Antarctica - elephant seals. Boldly going where current buoys, satellites and ships cannot, the intrepid fieldworkers will help to fill blind spots in our knowledge of this most inaccessible of oceans.
Our knowledge of the effects of climate change at the planet's poles is heavily skewed towards the Arctic. There, it's clear that the sea-ice cover is gradually shrinking. But at the opposite end of the world, in Antarctica, data is harder to come by…
grrlscientist | August 10, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
FEATURED TITLE:
Newton, Ian. The Migration Ecology of Birds. 2008. Academic Press. Hardbound: 976 pages. Price: $74.95 U.S. [Amazon: $67.46]. SUMMARY: An up-to-date, detailed and thorough review of bird migration.
New and…
edyong | August 9, 2008
Feeling exhausted after a long day is an all too familiar part of modern life. We drag ourselves into bed, hoping to shut down our minds for a night, waking up recharged the next day. But contrary to popular belief, your brain does anything but shut down during sleep.
Science is beginning to reveal that sleep is a crucial chance for the brain to consolidate the massive amount of sensory information it receives during the day. It acts as a time-out between periods of consciousness and gives the brain a chance to weave lasting memories from experiences.
For something that is so crucial…
edyong | August 6, 2008Dogs may be known for their skills at catching sticks, but new research shows that are just as adept at catching our yawns. The result probably comes as no surprise to dog-owners but it's the first time that it's ever been demonstrated under experimental conditions.
Yawning is famously contagious - if one person does it, the chances are that someone nearby will start too. A variety of back-boned animals yawn, but until now only three species are known to catch them from each other - humans, chimps and stumptail macaques. The new study provides the first evidence that yawns can be contagious…
edyong | August 5, 2008Thanks to Hollywood, the jaws of the great white shark may be the most famous in the animal kingdom. But despite its presence in film posters, the great white's toothy mouth has received very little experimental attention. Now, Stephen Wroe from the University of New South Wales has put the great white's skull through a digital crash-test, to work out just how powerful its bite was.
A medium-sized great white, 2.5m in length and weighing in at 240kg, could bite with a force of 0.3 tonnes. But the largest individuals can exert a massive 1.8 tonnes with their jaws, giving them one of the most…
grrlscientist | August 3, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
FEATURED TITLE:
De Roy, Tui, Mark Jones and Julian Fitter. Albatross: Their World, Their Ways. Due out: Sept. 2008. Firefly Books. Hardbound: 240 pages. Price: $49.95 U.S. [Amazon: $32.97]. SUMMARY: A well-illustrated account on…
edyong | August 2, 2008
The next time you buy salmon from your local supermarket, think about the hidden costs in each succulent fillet. Compared to wild fish, farmed salmon is far less likely to burden your wallet. But by buying it, you may be placing a much larger burden on the environment. Fish stocks around the world are declining due to over-fishing and 'aquaculture' - the farming of fish - was originally thought to help. But farming brings with it a host of ecological problems.
If the farmed fish are meat-eaters, as salmon are, they must be fed on the proteins and oils of wild fish, which does nothing to…
tqa | July 31, 2008
Every now and then I'm reminded of just how awesome the world we live in is. Today's reminder came during a walk on the beach, as I watched a young osprey hunting for lunch just offshore.
I had my camera, and was able to get a few pictures of the dive and catch. One's above the fold, and there are a few more below. As always, you can click on the pictures to see a larger version.
edyong | July 31, 2008They say that all's fair in love and war, and that certainly seems to be the case of Atlantic mollies (Poecilia mexicana). These freshwater fish are small and unassuming, but in their quest to find the best mates, they rely on and Machiavellian misdirection.
The males always prefer larger females but not if they are being watched. Under the voyeuristic gaze of a rival male, Atlantic mollies will either feign disinterest or direct their attentions toward a smaller, less attractive female.
Deception is par for the course in the animal kingdom. Plovers will try to lure predators away from…
edyong | July 29, 2008Imagine being able to drink ludicrous amounts of alcohol without getting drunk and without the nasty consequences in the morning. For some people, it would be a dream come true but for the pen-tailed treeshrew (Ptilocercus lowii), it's just part of everyday life.
The treeshrew lives in the rainforests of Malaysia and its local drinking establishment is a large plant called the bertam palm. The palm develops large stems a few metres in length, each of which sprouts about a thousand flowers. These are loaded with an alcoholic nectar with a maximum alcohol concentration of 3.8% - as strong as…
grrlscientist | July 28, 2008tags: twin baby moose, sprinkler, Anchorage Alaska, streaming video
Here's a sweet little video showing twin baby moose playing in a sprinkler in the back yard of a resident of Anchorage, Alaska. Mom also gets in on the fun. June 2008. [3:52]
grrlscientist | July 27, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase.
FEATURED TITLE:
Huxley, Robert (editor). The Great Naturalists. 2007. Thames and Hudson. Hardbound: 304 pages. Price: $39.95 U.S. [Amazon: $26.37]. SUMMARY: Covers the naturalists from Classical times to the end of the 19th…
edyong | July 26, 2008
In a (very) loose tie-in with the recent release of the Dark Knight, it's Bat Weekend at Not Exactly Rocket Science, where I'll be reposting a few old but relevant pieces. If you were a biologist looking for astounding innovations in nature, you could do much worse than to study bats. They are like showcases of nature's ingenuity, possessing a massive variety of incredible adaptations that allow them to exploit the skies of the night.
They are the only mammal group capable of true flight and are one of only four groups of animals to have ever evolved the ability. As a result, they have…
edyong | July 22, 2008A complete ban on fishing can save coral reef communities in more ways than one. A few weeks ago, I blogged about a study which found that the coral trout, a victim of severe overfishing, was bouncing back in the small regions of the Great Barrier Reef where fishing has been totally forbidden. It certainly makes sense that fish will rebound when fishing ceases, but a new study reveals that the bans have had more indirect benefits - they have protected the corals from a predatory starfish.
The crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) is a voracious hunter of corals and a massive problem…
edyong | July 21, 2008
Social spiders are an arachnophobe's nightmare. While the vast majority of spiders work alone, the odd few live communally and cooperate to hunt and feed. Their numbers, along with the massive webs that they all have a spinneret in creating, allow them to tackle prey far larger than themselves. The aftermath of a kill opens up new conflicts for the spiders that other cooperating hunters like lions or wolves don't share. They don't divide up the carcass to eat separately, for like all spiders, they digest their prey outside their bodies.
All the colony members spit their digestive enzymes…
grrlscientist | July 20, 2008tags: Birdbooker Report, bird books, natural history books, ecology books
"One cannot have too many good bird books"
--Ralph Hoffmann, Birds of the Pacific States (1927).
Here's this week's issue of the Birdbooker Report by Ian "Birdbooker" Paulsen, which lists ecology, environment, natural history and bird books that are (or will soon be) available for purchase. If you despair of ever having enough summer reading material, this issue is just for you because you will find that the total page count in these books is 4277 pages!
FEATURED TITLE:
Olsen, Penny. Glimpses of Paradise: The Quest…
edyong | July 19, 2008
In April 1998, an aggressive creature named Tyson smashed through the quarter-inch-thick glass wall of his cell. He was soon subdued by nervous attendants and moved to a more secure facility in Great Yarmouth. Unlike his heavyweight namesake, Tyson was only four inches long. But scientists have recently found that Tyson, like all his kin, can throw one of the fastest and most powerful punches in nature. He was a mantis shrimp.
Mantis shrimps are aggressive relatives of crabs and lobsters and prey upon other animals by crippling them with devastating jabs. Their secret weapons are a pair…
edyong | July 17, 2008New Scientist's Feedback section has a running series of items on "nominative determinism", that strange phenomenon where a person's bears eerie witness to their occupation, such as a neurologist called Lord Brain, or an article on urology authored by Splatt and Weedon. Well here's another example for them - a new paper about a singing fish from a scientist called Bass.
Beyond the wall-mounted horrors of Big Mouth Billy, fish are not exactly known for their vocal stylings, but one group - the toadfishes and midshipmans - are very noisy indeed. They make a range of dull grunts and hums by…