behavior
grrlscientist | February 17, 2009tags: kingfisher, dive bombing bird, bird attack, nature, streaming video
This streaming video shows what it looks like to be a fish attacked by a kingfisher -- from the fish's point of view [0:23]
grrlscientist | February 16, 2009tags: Dancing cockatoo, Little Corella cockatoo, Bare-eyed cockatoo, Cacatua pastinator, Frostie, Shake your Tailfeather, streaming video
This streaming video documents a Bare-eyed (Little Corella) cockatoo, Cacatua pastinator, named Frostie, dancing to the song, "Shake Your Tailfeather" [2:42]
grrlscientist | February 8, 2009tags: Charles Darwin, nature, evolution, streaming video
This video "has stunned scientists around the world" (really?) as this bird thinks critically, just like a human, to catch fish. Give this bird a piece of bread and watch it use it as fish bait [1:17]
Okay, a special question for all my mystery birds fans: can you name this species? What field marks led you to this identification? Oh, and have any of you ever seen something like this?
awild | February 6, 2009As if butterflies weren't flamboyant enough already, it seems that some of them actively impersonate queens.
Queen ants, that is. A report by Francesca Barbero et al in today's issue of Science documents a clever strategy employed by a European butterfly, the Mountain Alcon Blue Maculinea rebeli, to infiltrate nests of Myrmica schencki. The immature stages of the butterfly are parasites of ant colonies, and it seems the secret to their success is acoustic mimicry. The larvae and pupae squeak like queens, eliciting preferential treatment from the workers. Here's the abstract:
Ants…
grrlscientist | February 3, 2009tags: Luna the orca, Orcinus orca, orca, killer whale, wildlife, streaming video
This video is from my other home. This is footage of Luna, an orca ("killer whale") Orcinus orca, who was a southern resident (fish eating) whale who tragically died 10 March 2006 when she was hit by a large tugboat in British Columbia's Nookta Sound. Luna lived a solitary life after she found herself alone hundreds of miles away from her feeding grounds. Luna was lonely. She was very affectionate and social, making friends with boats, humans and other animals during her short and sad life [2:38].
grrlscientist | January 5, 2009tags: Burrowing Owls, Speotyto cunicularia, wildlife, nature, image of the day
Burrowing Owls, Speotyto cunicularia, Fighting in the Snow.
Image: Rance Rogers [larger view].
Rance Rogers captured this fleeting shot just after a heavy snow in Roswell, New Mexico. A pair of owls exploring outside their burrow were surprised when a third dropped in for a fight. Rogers enjoys photography that gives people a close-up look at nature, "so they can truly appreciate the beauty that surrounds us."
Go here to see more images. This image appears here with the kind permission of my friends at National…
grrlscientist | January 5, 2009tags: dog, pets, animal behavior, training, streaming video
This amazing video shows what must be the world's most obedient dog [1:22]
grrlscientist | January 3, 2009tags: golden eagle, Aquila chrysaetos, animal behavior, hunting strategy, streaming video
This astonishing video shows a Golden Eagle, Aquila chrysaetos, who has developed an unusual hunting strategy to capture and kill prey that is much larger than itself: grabbing and throwing live goats off a cliff [7:19]
grrlscientist | January 2, 2009tags: transformer owl, African Owl, animal behavior, humor, streaming video
This interesting video shows you the anti-predator behaviors of an African owl species -- her behaviors are different for different owl species (narration is in Japanese) [3:20]
Can you name all the owl species depicted in this video?
grrlscientist | December 19, 2008tags: evolution, behavioral ecology, parental care, egg incubation, dinosaurs, birds
The Oviraptorid dinosaur, Citipati osmolskae,
on a nest of eggs that was unearthed in the Gobi desert
of Mongolia by the American Museum of Natural History.
Image: Mick Ellison, American Museum of Natural History.
Oviraptors ("egg seizer") were given their name because their fossil remains were first discovered on top of a pile of eggs. Because of their close proximity to clutches of dinosaur eggs, it was initially assumed that these dinosaurs were eating them. However, in his 1924 paper, their…
grrlscientist | December 17, 2008tags: yawning, thermoregulation, budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus, animal behavior
Yawning human, Homo sapiens serving as a perch for a domestic budgerigar, Melopsittacus undulatus.
Image: Wendy (Creative Commons License).
Yawning. Everybody does it. In fact, I am yawning now as I write this piece. Yawning is interpreted to have a variety of meanings, ranging from tiredness to boredom. Perhaps more interesting is the fact that yawning is contagious among humans, at least: watching someone else yawn, seeing a photograph or reading about -- and even the mere thought of -- yawning is…
grrlscientist | December 13, 2008tags: hypomania, bipolar disorder, manic depression, mood disorders, mental health, psychology
Image: Michael Witte/NYTimes [larger view].
Have you ever met a person who seems to be on a perpetual caffeine high, without all the shaking? You know the type, those few hyperactive extroverts who are always doing things or meeting people, who have an expansive and optimistic mood yet are easily irritated, and who have an overactive libido or who enjoy really risky pastimes, like jumping out of airplanes or climbing buildings. According to some reading I've been doing, these are apparently…
grrlscientist | December 9, 2008tags: encephalon, brain, behavior, cognition, neurobiology, neuroscience, blog carnival
The last frontier: The brain.
Image: Orphaned. Contact me so I can provide credit and linkage.
Welcome to Encephalon! This is the blogosphere's neuroscience blog carnival that focuses specifically upon the brain, neuroscience, perception and behavior. If you sent me an essay or video about the brain and its relationship to behavior, perception, cognition, or learning, then it is included here! Also, please accept my sincerest apologies for the one day delay in publishing Encephalon: a police action in…
grrlscientist | December 4, 2008tags: peer-reviewed paper, psychology, gift wrapping, wrapping paper, behavior, holidays, holidaze
Besides bright lights, my favorite thing about the holidays is wrapping gifts. I love covering a boxed gift with colored papers (or even with plain brown paper bags), I get tremendous satisfaction from folding the paper so it makes precise corners and then I especially enjoy decorating the wrapped gift with bows, ribbons and toy flowers and birds, christmas ornaments or other decorations. I also enjoy figuring out how to wrap unusually shaped objects. However, my most favorite thing to do is…
grrlscientist | December 3, 2008tags: Indonesian Mimetic Octopus, invertebrates, behavior, streaming video
This fascinating creature was discovered in 1998 off the coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia, the mimic octopus is the first known species to take on the characteristics of multiple species. This octopus is able to copy the physical likeness and movement of more than fifteen different species, including sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crabs, sea shells, stingrays, jellyfish, sea anemones, and mantis shrimp. This animal is so intelligent that it is able to discern which dangerous sea creature to…
grrlscientist | November 18, 2008tags: gentoo penguin, Pygoscelis papua, Orca, killer whales, Orcinus orca, streaming video
This gripping video details the real-life story of a gentoo penguin, Pygoscelis papua, being chased by a pod of hungry orcas, Orcinus orca, in Antarctica [5:01].
The submitter, Antarctica. SRSLY. writes: This has got to be one very, very relieved penguin! Probably thinking something along the lines of "I don't know if these strange creatures in the black rubber iceberg will eat me, but I KNOW the things in the water will eat me!"
This video was given to me by the chef at Vernadsky, the Ukrainian…
grrlscientist | November 14, 2008tags: ravens, Bernd Heinrich, genius bird, National Geographic, streaming video
This interesting National Geographic video shows how Bernd Heinrich designed an experiment to test the intelligence of ravens [2:07].
grrlscientist | November 3, 2008tags: Irene Pepperberg, Alex, Alex the African grey parrot, talking parrot, cognition, behavior, streaming video
As you know, I went to Irene Pepperberg's reading last night from her new book about her friend and colleague, Alex the African grey parrot. This is an interesting video interview with Pepperberg about Alex, shortly after he died [3:29]
grrlscientist | November 2, 2008tags: Irene Pepperberg, Alex, Alex the African grey parrot, talking parrot, cognition, behavior, streaming video
Tonight, I will attend Irene Pepperberg's reading where she will read from her new book about her friend and colleague, Alex the African grey parrot. Below is an interesting video showing some of what Alex was capable of doing, and it also provides a small glimpse into the relationship between Alex and Irene [2:06]
grrlscientist | October 31, 2008tags: bird behavior, emotional lives of animals, ornithology, birds, avian, photoessay
The bird calls out after realising that his (her?) mate is dead
Image: Wilson Hsu, AbuNawaf.com [larger view].
There are many inexplicable and tragic events in nature, yet few are captured on film. Here is an interesting series of photographs depicting a pair of swallows, Hirundo rustica (known as the Barn Swallow in the United States). In this series of images, we watch the story that unfolds after one of the birds was fatally injured, yet the bird's mate remains nearby, delivering food or water and…