mammals
laelaps | July 25, 2008
A giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
laelaps | July 24, 2008
A tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus sp.), photographed July 23th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
laelaps | July 23, 2008Given that today is a weekday and the weather forecast predicted a 90% chance of heavy thunderstorms I thought that the Bronx zoo would be mostly empty. I was way off. At times the crush of the crowds, vacationers and neon-clad elementary school groups, was almost too much to bear and I was actually a bit relieved when I made it home just as the storm broke.
Oddly enough it seems that many of the animals were frustrated today, too; snow leopards, rock hyraxes, small-clawed otters, and other animals were tussling with each other throughout the day. Still, despite the frequent bumps, jostles,…
gregladen | July 23, 2008The phrase "genomic imprinting" has come to refer the turning off of a gene (a particular instance of a gene on a particular chromosome duplicated across the cells in a body) so that the gene is not expressed at all, with the turning off of the gene not caused in the body in question, but rather, during the previous generation by a process happening in the soma of one of the parents. A maternally imprinted gene is passed on to junior, but will not be expressed in junior. a paternally imprinted gene is passed on to junior, but will not be expressed in junior. Typically (as far as we know) a…
laelaps | July 23, 2008
A young prairie dog (probably Cynomys ludovicianus), photographed July 15th, 2008 at the Philadelphia zoo.
laelaps | July 22, 2008
A male Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), photographed July 15th, 2008 at the Philadelphia zoo.
laelaps | July 20, 2008
A Plains zebra (Equus quagga), photographed July 15th, 2008 at the Philadelphia zoo.
laelaps | July 20, 2008
A young Verreaux's Sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi), photographed July 15th, 2008 at the Philadelphia zoo.
gregladen | July 19, 2008This probably happens a few times a day in Australia, but for some reason we rarely hear about it.
An Australian woman has been saved by a pet dog which leapt to her aid after she was attacked by a large kangaroo, her son has said.
The marsupial assaulted Rosemary Neal, 65, at her farm near Mudgee in New South Wales, 265km (160 miles) north-west of Sydney, her son, Darren, said.
"The kangaroo just jumped up and launched straight at her," he said.
"My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off. If it wasn't for the dog, she'd probably be dead."
Can you imagine? Dead!
Details…
laelaps | July 19, 2008
A giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), photographed July 15th, 2008 at the Philadelphia zoo.
laelaps | July 18, 2008
You all are way too good. The "mystery creature" from yesterday is indeed a fishing cat (Prionailurus viverrinus), photographed July 15th, 2008 at the Philadelphia zoo.
laelaps | July 17, 2008
A male cougar (Puma concolor), photographed July 15th, 2008 at the Philadelphia zoo.
laelaps | July 16, 2008
Two of the three male Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica) born at the Philadelphia Zoo last year. Photographed July 15th, 2008.
laelaps | July 15, 2008
Small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinerea), photographed July 5th, 2008 at the Bronx zoo.
edyong | July 14, 2008Evolution dances to the tune of death. Killers - be they predators, diseases or competitive peers - can radically shape a species' life cycles by striking down individuals of a certain age. The survivors respond by changing their "life histories" - a collection of traits that defines their reproductive cycles, including how often they breed, when they start to do so and how many young they have.
If an animal's adult life is short and brutal, they tend to grow quickly and become sexually mature at a young age - a strategy that maximises their chances of siring the next generation. The…
laelaps | July 13, 2008
A female snow leopard (Panthera uncia). Photographed at the Bronx zoo on July 5th, 2008.
This snow leopard is another female, the sister of the one pictured above.
laelaps | July 12, 2008
A Przewalski's horse (Equus ferus przewalskii). Photographed at the Bronx zoo on July 5th, 2008.
laelaps | July 11, 2008
Feeding "the littles" that were here a few weeks ago.
I think I have confused Charlotte, a diminutive female cat my wife and I adopted about two years ago. She was just a little runt when we took her in and she never had kittens, yet she has been acting a lot like a mother as of late. Given that it is the summer and there is a seemingly never-ending supply of kittens that need temporary foster homes, there have been "itty bitty kitty cats" in the apartment since April. With the last pair (Eliza and Madeline) Charlotte started acting a bit strange. Other than just wanting to constantly…
laelaps | July 11, 2008
Dun, dun. Dun, dun...
A Malayan tapir (Tapirus indicus). Photographed at the Bronx zoo on July 5th, 2008.
laelaps | July 10, 2008
A gelada (Theropithecus gelada, right) and a rock hyrax (Procavia capensis, left). Photographed at the Bronx zoo on July 5th, 2008.