zooillogix | March 16, 2008Climbing Insect Robot
Official roboty info:
RiSE is a small six-legged robot that climbs vertical terrain such as walls, trees and fences. RiSE's feet have claws, micro-claws or sticky material, depending on the climbing surface. RiSE changes posture to conform to the curvature of the climbing surface and a fixed tail helps RiSE balance on steep ascents. RiSE is about 0.25 m long, weighs 2 kg, and travels 0.3 m/s.
(more below the fold)
Each of RiSE's six legs is powered by two electric motors. An onboard computer controls leg motion, manages communications, and services a variety of sensors…
zooillogix | March 14, 2008Zooillogix is sad to report the not-entirely-unexpected passing of a local celebrity from rural New Mexico. Bentley was born on Pat King's bird ranch in the summer of 2007 and quickly charmed her way into the hearts of all seven of Zooillogix's readers at the time. As the pictures show, Bentley was born with a twisted neck that basically had her looking at right angles for most of her life. It took her a few weeks before she had mastered the art of walking in a different direction from the one her head was facing, but master it she did. Eventually, her indominitable spirit was proven once and…
zooillogix | March 13, 2008
What's different about this than people swimming with Whale Sharks? Fundamentally... probably nothing. However, I think this falls into the lighter shades of gray that the zoo and aquarium world must operate in, and ultimately I'm OK with, for the following reasons:
1. Walrus training is fairly common and does not pose a physical threat to the animal
2. Dolphin and sea lion training is enjoyed by the animals, obviously because their is a slimy fish reward involved, but also because new physical activity breaks up the monotony of life in a fish tank
3. I'm assuming that there is an…
bleimanb | March 12, 2008Aptly named by whoever started this viral email...
Hmmm...what's that moose up to?
The images below the fold are morally reprehensible, even by moose standards.
Special thanks to Alan "B.A. Baracus" Bleiman for forwarding this along to us...
bleimanb | March 12, 2008A Japanese research vessel bonanza.
Note that there is no sound on this vid so as not to wake the whales...
bleimanb | March 12, 2008A mother and baby pygmy sperm whale in New Zealand appeared disoriented this week, repeatedly stranding themselves on a sandbar off of Mahia Beach. After multiple attempts by the locals to guide the whales back to sea failed, the human rescuers were starting to get worried. All of a sudden, a well known, local dolphin named Moko appeared and seemed to communicate with the whales. Before long, Moko was guiding the whales back to sea!
"The whales made contact with the dolphin and she basically escorted them about 200 metres parallel with the beach to the edge of the sandbar...Then she did a…
bleimanb | March 11, 2008Almost a year ago we posted the Dramatic Chipmunk. Turns out he's got a cousin...
zooillogix | March 10, 2008"Hunting Trophies" is an art project designed as a sort-of protest against hunting while also raising "questionings on the relation between Human and Animal and Human and Non-Human." The aptly named French artist, France Cadet, states that she is also trying to "grant them back for a moment the right to life, to free expression and to judgment."
Well whatever she's doing, we want one for the mantle. Cyberdoll via We-Make-Money-Not-Art
French Cadet clearly never saw the hunting lodge scene from Evil Dead 2...
More below the fold...
From Cyberdoll: The robots are able to eye the nearby…
zooillogix | March 10, 2008This picture of a rare white orca was taken off the coast of Alaska's Aleutian Islands last month by researchers on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship. Looks like he could use a bleaching. The whale had been spotted years ago but has eluded researchers since.
According to the Jaws-inspired masterpiece Orca (1977) - "The killer whale is one of the most intelligent creatures in the universe. Incredibly, he is the only animal other than man who kills for revenge. He has one mate, and if she is harmed by man, he will hunt down that person with a relentless, terrible…
bleimanb | March 10, 2008Definitive proof of a wolverine living in California has emerged for the first time since the 1920's. Kate Moriarty, a graduate student at Oregon State University was hoping to snap a picture of an American marten in Tahoe National Forest, but instead she captured this image of a wolverine. Her motion sensing camera took the photo on February 28th.
Hey, bub.
Wolverines are the biggest member of the weasel family. They are known for their reclusive nature, their tenacious fighting spirit (when cornered or threatened ) and their mutant healing factor which allows them to heal their wounds…
zooillogix | March 10, 2008After our miniature pigs post last week, an astute Zooillogix reader reminded us that there already are mini-pigs native to India. Weighing only about 10-20lbs, the Pygmy Hog is critically endangered with less than two hundred thought to be left in the wild. Once native to India, Bhutan and Nepal, these little guys were thought extinct from the 1950s-60s, until a small population was discovered. They can now be found only in the northwest Assam region in India.
The pygmy hog is notable as it is the only surviving member of the genus Porcula - which would make an awesome bad horror movie…
bleimanb | March 7, 2008After over 100 hedgehogs were killed by murderous McFlurry containers in Germany, the powerful German hedgehog lobby sprang into action. In perhaps the first example of hedgehog irony, the creatures were entering the cups, getting stuck, and then dying by starvation inside a McFlurry container. The lobby, called BUND (Ballerinas, United, Naked and Dead) brought the full force of its influence down on the lowly McDonald's Corporation. The result? Newly redesigned lid flaps and sizes to allow hedgehogs both access and exit from the delicious containers.
In this article on msnbc.com, Alexander…
bleimanb | March 5, 2008A new study by American and German scientists, published in the Physical Review Letters, has shed light on a classic zoological mystery: how do snakes hear?
For quite a while, researchers did not believe that snakes could hear, until tests performed in the 1970's proved otherwise. Still, those tests did not explain how the snakes managed to pick up sound. "They ain't got no ears," one prominent snake-eologist from Hope, Arkansas was noted to say. As later studies revealed, they actually do have ears, but a study released this week shows a second way for them to register noise, using their…
bleimanb | March 4, 2008This six-legged octopus- the first ever known to science -was hauled in from a catch off of the coast of Wales. His lack of two limbs appear to be the result of a birth defect not an insurgent IED.
The hexapus has been named "Henry" and now resides at the Blackpool Sea Life Centre in Northwest England.
zooillogix | March 4, 2008Don't usually do this but the Wikipedia Picture of the Day is just too cool.
Glaucus atlanticus
Info from Wikipedia: These two Glaucus atlanticus, a species of nudibranch, were washed up on Surfers Paradise Beach in Queensland, Australia. The larger one is about 35 mm (1.4 in) in length. G. atlanticus preys on the Portuguese Man o' War and other surface-dwelling sea animals. Occasionally Glaucus will feed on others of its kind.
This guy looks like a ship from Star Trek... or so I would imagine if I ever watched that kind of show... The fact that they prey on Portugese Man of Wars makes them…
bleimanb | March 3, 2008The smartest person in England has bred a new kind of pet pig, one that fits in the palm of your hand! Chris Murray's Pennywell Miniature pigs recently gave birth to eight piglets at his farm in Devon. According to this article on abcnews.com, Murray wanted a kind of pig "that children can enjoy giving...a cuddle." Hmm....creepy.
This is where the meat for those tiny little sandwiches they serve at tea time comes from...
Anyhoo, Murray is trying to sell them in pairs so they always have a companion and claims that they are easy to house train. He just sold a couple to some British celebrity…
bleimanb | March 3, 2008When Andrew and I were five and six years old, we used to sit on the old, dusty couch in our living room and try to memorize a 1,300 page, illustrated animal encyclopedia. Not in our wildest dreams would we have imagined anything like the Encylopedia of Life. With 30,000 entries up so far and a whopping 1.77 million on the way, the EOL boldly plans to document every living species on this planet of ours.
But the much anticipated site debuted last week to some technical glitches- it was so popular with 11.5 million hits the first day that the site crashed- and some pointed criticisms. We're…
bleimanb | March 3, 2008As long as we're on the subject of fascinating interviews, we thought our readers might be interested to see this conversation with one of the world's leading experts on anteaters.
Expert On Anteaters Wasted Entire Life Studying Anteaters
Special thanks to Danno Robinson for forwarding this video to us, and for his selfless commitment to researching and preserving the habitat of wild sea turtles.