seal
dr. dolittle | June 20, 2016
Image of hooded seal from NOAA Fisheries (File:Hooded seal.JPG) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Heart rate decreases during diving in seals and other animals. Thus the ascending aorta becomes very important during diving as it helps to maintain blood pressure during prolonged dives. A new study published in the American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology was designed to examine the ascending aorta of hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) and the tiny blood vessels that supply nutrients to it, called the vasa vasorum.
The ascending aorta of the…
dr. dolittle | August 30, 2014 Image of seals from www.fanpop.com/clubs/the-animal-kingdom/images/14060694/title/seal-wall…
Paleogeneticist Dr. Johannes Krause (University of Tübingen, Germany) and colleagues were interested in the origin of tuberculosis (TB) in the Americas. Since strains of TB found in the Americas are related to strains found in Europe, prior theories held that Spaniards may have introduced it to the Americas while colonizing South America. The problem with those theories is that pre-Columbian skeletal remains showed signs of TB much earlier.
Dr. Krause was quoted in Scientific American, “Pathogens…
dr. dolittle | April 21, 2013
The Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section held their Scholander Poster competition for young comparative physiologists today! It was exciting to see all of the students present their work.
Here are some of the highlights:
Raffaele Pilla, Dominic P, D'Agostino, Carol S. Landon, and Jay B. Dean from Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL. These researchers demonstrated that a ketone body, often thought of as waste products resulting from the use of fats for energy, can have protective effects against seizures caused by exposure to hyperbaric…
bleimanb | November 17, 2009Feast your eyes on this, squares...
Big up to Ben Thorne for passing this along. And big up to his business, Sneaky's BBQ, the best ribs and pulled pork in the Bay Area. Check them out at www.sneakysbbq.blogspot.com.
kthompson | November 12, 2009A clip from Werner Herzog's Encounters At The End Of The Earth:
Here's what they look like:
Richard warms up:
edyong | April 22, 2009
Seals and sea-lions gracefully careen through today's oceans with the help of legs that have become wide, flat flippers. But it was not always this way. Seals evolved from carnivorous ancestors that walked on land with sturdy legs; only later did these evolve into the flippers that the family is known for. Now, a beautifully new fossil called Puijila illustrates just what such early steps in seal evolution looked like. With four legs and a long tail, it must have resembled a large otter but it was, in fact, a walking seal.
Natalia Rybczynski unearthed the new animal at Devon Island, Canada…
zooillogix | May 1, 2008As reported in the May 2008 Journal of Ethology, researchers in the sub-antarctic Indian Ocean on Marion Island, recently observed some fascinating and disturbing behavior. A young adult Antarctic fur seal was witnessed forcing itself upon an adult king penguin for upwards of 45 minutes. While young adult fur seals are known for aggressive sexuality that sometimes spans species between pinnepeds, this is the first documented case of a seal "[bridging] the level of vertebrate class in their copulatory attempts." i.e. getting it on with a freakin penguin.
The seal was first spotted subduing the…
zooillogix | December 19, 2007A pod of Orcas surrounds a seal on an ice sheet and creates waves to try and knock it off. This reminds me of when you buy a candy bar and it gets stuck by the wrapper and you have to shake the machine to get it out.
Thanks to Zooillogix reader extraordinaire Don Quixjote (aka ali) for forwarding along.
zooillogix | June 15, 2007Ever wonder where sea creatures have been or where they're headed? Thanks to marvelous modern technology and an ambitious team of prestigious scientific organizations, now you can watch in almost real-time! Since 2002, Tagging of Pacific Pelagic (TOPPS) research project has tagged over 2,000 animals with tiny microprocessors and sophisticated remote sensing systems to track exactly where, when and how deep they're traveling through the ocean.
Movements of twelve tagged salmon sharks over the last 60 days.
The results are fantastic maps showing up-to-the-minute movements of mako sharks…
zooillogix | May 17, 2007Per Gizmodo's Jack Ventura, the Japanese government has spent $12,000,000 over the past two years developing "silver technology." For those of you, like every single person reading this, unfamiliar with this term, apparently it refers to robots designed to help lonely old people. The seal was on display at the recent RoboBusiness 2007 conference in Boston and is meant to resemble a baby harp seal. Equipped with internal motion sensors, it responds to cuddling, petting and scratching. It also emits nauseatingly cute baby seal squeals and apparently sheds its fur... for some reason. The $3,500…
zooillogix | May 8, 2007In a sad follow up to the story posted this morning, Hope, the bearded seal who swam all the way from the Arctic to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, died at Sea World this afternoon. Scientists do not yet know his exact cause of death, but he was significantly dehydrated, malnourished and exhausted when he was captured.
zooillogix | May 8, 2007Hope was reportedly on his way to Zihuatanejo, Mexico to meet his old prison buddy, Red, when he was captured
A 350-lb bearded seal--named "Hope" by his cheese-ball human rescuers--has been taken into captivity off the coast of Florida, near Ft. Lauderdale. After eluding his rescuers for two days, Hope finally succumbed to their efforts, and now is in critical condition at Sea World. A staff veterinarian described Hope as "thin and dehydrated but...responsive and resting quietly" according to KVOA.com. Hope's caretakers hope to rehabilitate him and release him back into the North Pole from…
zooillogix | April 25, 2007Are you talking to me? I said....Are you talking to me? Northern elephant seal, Mirounga angustirostris
Sometime in late March, "Nibbles" --a 2,500 lb. elephant seal living on the Sonoma Coast in Northern California-- snapped. In the ensuing month, the adolescent seal has bitten a surfer and a pet pit bull, attacked a kayaker and killed a number of harbor seals (12 according to a park ranger), apparently crushing the skulls of the females and disemboweling the males. Officials have gone public with a warning, speaking out to the press and posting signs all around the mouth of the Russian…