bleimanb | August 28, 2008After a recent heat wave in China's Sichuan province, local cats sprouted strange appendages resembling wings, as reported in the Bill Moyer's Journal of England, the Daily Mail. The Daily Mail claims to have spoken with genetic experts (i.e. Nigel in the mail room) who said that these growths come from "poor grooming, a genetic defect or a hereditary skin condition." Note: They also said that though the wings do contain bones, they do not not interfere with quality of the cats' lives.
"Mutated ally cats are where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."
More pics below the fold…
zooillogix | August 28, 2008Imaginative but effective ads from the Buenos Aires Zoo. Via Toxel and thanks once again to Kevin Z.
"Get Much More for Less" Ads
"The Kangaroos Have Arrived" Ads
Many more below the fold
"Now We Are Open Late" Ads
"115 Years" Ads
Together Video (note that we cannot endorse the historical accuracy of this friendship...)
Argentine readers please take note: I still do not have a shot glass from this zoo and Labor Day is coming soon, which is a HUGE gift giving holiday up here in the States.
zooillogix | August 26, 2008After reviewing thousands of images of cows on Google Earth, the new gold standard in data collection, scientists have determined that cows generally point north. Lest you think this is some crap news my brother grabbed from the Daily Mail, Dr. Sabine Begall and colleagues from the University of Duisburg-Essen published this discovery in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal.
When you Google "Cow Compass" this is what happens.
After factoring out variations like wind, terrain, sun, time of day, time of year, temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, dew point, breed of…
bleimanb | August 26, 2008For centuries local villagers who lived around what is now Komodo National Park in Indonesia fed slaughtered animals to their neighbors, giant Komodo dragons. The locals believe that the dragons are the reincarnation of their ancestors and townsfolk, and would leave offerings of dead meat at the jungle's edge to keep the massive predators at bay. About a decade ago, however, they were forced to stop by their own government working with the American non-profit, the Nature Conservancy. Now they're blaming these groups for a recent spate of Komodo dragon attacks (including the death by bone-…
zooillogix | August 26, 2008Some people look at this and see a terrifying undersea monster with potrusible jaws like our old pal from Alien. I see my dog Izzy playfully tugging on my sleeve... after some sort of horrible experiment that mutated her into a nightmarish killing machine. Kidding kidding.
The goblin shark is a fascinating resident of the deep sea. They are most commonly associated with the waters around Japan where most specimens are recovered as by-catch from fishing trawlers. When a goblin shark finds its prey, it protrudes its jaws and uses a tongue-like muscle to suck the victim into its sharp front…
zooillogix | August 25, 2008The Georgia Aquarium just unveiled the latest addition to it's bigger-is-better strategy: Nandi the manta ray. Apparently rescued from shark nets off the Coast of South Africa, Nandi spent the last few months living at uShaka Marine World in Durban, South Africa. When it became clear that Nandi was going to outgrow her enclosure and that the Georgia Aquarium could house her (and maybe pay handsomely for her?), the wheels were set in motion. Nandi will be the first manta ray to be exhibited in the United States.
Nandi doing her thing. Photo credit to John Bazemore, AP Photo
Currently 9ft…
bleimanb | August 22, 2008Rumor has it that New Zealand's colossal squid is a refined killing machine, hunting down prey at lightening speed deep in the murky Antarctic depths. Turns out rumor may be wrong. Scientists working on the largest ever whole specimen of colossal squid have made some curious discoveries. Far from being a fearsome deep sea warrior, this specimen appears to be an overweight blob suited only for floating slowly and pumping out eggs.
The 1000+ pound squid was hauled in accidentally by a fishing boat last winter. Click here to see our coverage when the story initially aired. These findings…
zooillogix | August 22, 2008It's long overdue. Time for a Zooillogix writers, friends, and lowly readers party.
On Friday, Sept. 26th, we will be having our get together at Tonic, in San Francisco, starting at 9:00PM. We think it will be fun to see what weirdos (that's you!) come out of the woodwork. At worst, Ben and I will get quite drunk alone. Actually, that's not true. At worst one of our readers will be insane and will knife us. But either way, we are forging ahead with this plan.
Craig from Deep Sea News will also be there and there is a good chance that some of your other favorite science-type bloggers will also…
zooillogix | August 21, 2008Some incredible early morning shots of wet insects by German photographer Martin Amm.
Red veined darter
Horsefly
more below the fold
Emerald damselfly
Breakfast
Check out more of his work here
zooillogix | August 21, 2008There's no interesting news. It appears all the world's animals have finally been discovered, their strange mating behaviors documented, and their interest in acting all crazy for YouTube evaporated. But we are undaunted. We will make the logical transition and become a knitting blog.
Once again, we bring you critters from Mochimochi Land complete with their creator's commentary. Past installments here and here.
Evolving Punk
Evolution is still a pretty radical idea - just ask this little Evolving Punk. He recently made the big step onto dry land from the primordial ooze of a dirty toilet.…
bleimanb | August 19, 2008A German researcher has proven that a species other than a mammal is capable of recognizing its own reflection: the magpie. In order to test this theory, Chancellor Helmut Prior of the Goethe University stuck stickers on a group of hand-reared magpies in places that the magpies could only see in a mirror. When the magpies noticed themselves in the mirror, with stickers attached, they immediately attempted to remove the stickers with their beaks and claws. Red and yellow stickers elicited this reaction; black stickers did not. Either way, when no mirrors were present the magpies carried on…
bleimanb | August 15, 2008Scientists have turned to elephant seals to collect data on the changing climate of Antarctica, one of the areas most sensitive to climate change. Previously, the scientists had what they called a "blind spot" under the sea ice, particularly in understanding how quickly sea ice forms during the winter months. The team, led by Jean-Benoit Charrassin of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, attached data collecting sensors to local elephant seals, which then dove distances up to a mile below the surface of the water in search of food.
Scientists outfit an elephant seal with a data…
zooillogix | August 13, 2008A ScienceFriday video podcast from over a year ago on how the star-nosed mole and other mammals can actually sniff for prey underwater.
I wonder if this is what my dog is doing and she sticks her nose to the base of the door and snorts as people approach.
bleimanb | August 11, 2008Researchers at the New England Aquarium have stepped into a totally new method of studying Atlantic's threatened population of right whales - collecting and analyzing floating feces to test the population's health!
I didn't know whales ate corn!
Right whales got their name because they were the "right" whale to catch during whaling's hey day, when exterminating an entire species was jolly good form. Despite rigorous efforts to protect them against whaling interests, including Japanese "research" vessels, right whale populations have not increased noticeably in the last 65 years. In…
zooillogix | August 8, 2008The French love their raw oysters. In fact, the French consume the most herpes, I mean oysters, per capita in the world; an average of 2kg! That's a lot of raw oyster.
Well the French were horrified to learn last week that their care-free raw oystering lifestyle had finally hit the rocks. 40 to 100 percent of oysters aged 12 to 18 months have died this summer in all but one of the regions breeding beds. After a few weeks of research, French scientists have determined that their oyster population is unhealthy because they have been too well fed, an irony that only French oysters were…
zooillogix | August 8, 2008The firm Site Specific Design, creates furniture inspired by arthropods (particularly chilopoda), mollusks, and the other critters that live under decaying leaf matter. Creative Director, Rui Docouto, explained that as a child he was fascinated with "bugs." "The goal with the bug-lamps was to give them a feeling of movement as though they were alive and in the process of movement, as they still are in the artist/designers memory." Check out their elegant, creepy-crawly furniture which is sure to be a huge hit within the fabulously wealthy entomologist market.
Formiga
Nymph
more below the…
bleimanb | August 6, 2008Henry the Tuatara has recently knocked up one of his mates, Mildred, who's only 70-80 (scaaaandal!), in their museum enclosure/retirement complex at the Southland Museum on New Zealand's South Island. The couple now have a stack of 12 eggs.
Ladies, a little known fact about Henry...My dentures are removable. Yup, you heard me right.
Henry had shown little interest in reproduction since he arrived in the museum, a raucous young scamp of only 73. But after a recent bout of genital cancer was removed, he's back in the sack both figuratively and literally, and enjoying a healthy sex life with…
zooillogix | August 6, 2008Fascinating video from the PBS special, Dogs that Changed the World, on the changes that took place when foxes were bred for tameness in the former Soviet Union. This was originally posted on Greg Laden's Blog but I had to repost it here.