bats
gregladen | June 22, 2008Continuing with our discussion of the Evolution 2008 conference, I was hoping to meet T. Ryan Gregory yesterday. He is listed on the Evolution 2008 program as an author of a talk on genome size. Goodnews/badnews: Gregory did not show, but the talk, given by his coauthor working in his lab, was excellent, so we didn't need him.
The research was done, and the paper delivered, by Jillian Smith. The title of the paper was "Genome size evolution in mammals" but it was more focused on specific results Jillian had come up with regarding bats.
source The bottom line is this: Genome size…
grrlscientist | June 1, 2008tags: Mexican Long-tongued Bats, Choeronycteris mexicana, bats, Image of the Day
My good friend, Dave Rintoul, is on a much-deserved vacation camping in the
Chiricahuas and Gila Wilderness area at the moment, but he took a little time out from the fun and games to send me a couple images to share with you.
Two nectivorous Mexican Long-tongued Bats, Choeronycteris mexicana,
help themselves to nectar at a hummingbird feeder in Cave Creek Canyon in
the Chirichahua Mountains of Arizona and New Mexico.
Image: Dave Rintoul, 2008 [larger view].
zooillogix | February 15, 2008For years debate has raged amongst bat researchers as to whether or not bats were really just "flying rodents..." <--(NOT TRUE). At age 6 Ben was in the World of Darkness at the Bronx Zoo when he heard a mother tell her young children this totally incorrect animal fact. As bats were his favorite animal, he became angry and marched up to the mother and informed her that she was totally wrong, told her to "read the signs if she didn't know the facts" and then filled her in on a few million years of evolutionary history <--(TRUE). In fact many scientists believe that fruit bats, may…
grrlscientist | January 31, 2008tags: bats, little brown bats, Indiana bats, white nose syndrome, cavers, Alan Hicks
Hibernating bats suffering from the mysterious "White Nose Syndrome" (arrows).
Image: Alan Hicks, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation [larger view]
If you live in New York or Vermont, then you might have heard about the mystery disease that is killing tens of thousands of bats hibernating in caves and mines throughout these two states. The disease has been given the descriptive appellation, "white nose syndrome" because its most obvious symptom (besides death), is the peculiar ring of white fungus…