zooillogix | April 17, 2007Researchers in Mexico have documented wild spider monkeys rubbing themselves with fragrant, chewed up leaves. Though the exact purpose of this behavior is yet to be proven, it appears as if the scents "may play a role int he context of social communication, possibly for signaling of social status or to increase sexual attractiveness," according to an article in the online journal, Primates.
My name's Marcel...Sagitarius.
Laura Hernandez-Salazar of Veracruz University in Mexico and colleagues witnessed "20 episodes of self-anointing, that is, the application of scent-bearing material onto the…
zooillogix | April 16, 2007Researchers recently discovered a most unusual parenting method in Boulengerula Taitanus, a blind, worm-like amphibian called a caecilian. It feeds its young by letting them tear off its own skin with hooked white teeth. Scientists say this behavior has never been witnessed in any land-based animal.
Unlike most caecilians, B. Taitanus lays eggs. The skin of the female parent actually becomes thicker and nutrient rich when the eggs are about to hatch, preparing a delicious meal for her cuddly worm-lizard babies. Apparently in live-bearing caecilians, the fetuses feed on the womb-like oviduct…
zooillogix | April 16, 2007Crab spider preparing for take off, Misumenoides formosipes
Humans have known for quite a while that some spiders engage in a kind of flying called "ballooning." To balloon, spiders release a parachute-like web into the air (with themselves attached) and allow the wind to pick them up and deposit them in greener pastures. What humans did not know until very recently, however, is that these spiders actually check the weather before taking flight.
Biologists and mathematicians with Rothamsted Research in England first calculated the ideal flying conditions for spiders, finding cloudy fall and…
zooillogix | April 16, 2007I'm going to pretend this falls into the "exotic pet" category.
how postmodern
some sort of eclair?
Slow news day...
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zooillogix | April 13, 2007In February of this year Jill Pruetz, an anthropologist with Iowa State University, witnessed Kenyan chimpanzees break off branches from trees, sharpen them using their teeth, and then use these spears to hunt lesser bush babies, a kind of small primate. The bush babies sleep in the hollows of trees, and the chimps were repeatedly seen jabbing their spears into the hollows and pulling them back out with fresh bush baby babies impaled on the end.A chimpanzee, seen here, finishing up his degree in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix Online.
Pruetz recorded a video of the…
zooillogix | April 12, 2007The parasite Toxoplasma gondii is common in rats, but can only sexually reproduce inside the belly of a feline. The solution? Brainwash the rats into craving the scent of cat urine. Once infected by Toxoplasma gondii, rats who would normally have a phobia of cat urine actually seek it out, increasing their chances of getting eaten and transmitting the parasite into a feline gut.
"There are a million examples of parasites manipulating host behavior," said Robert Sapolsky, a Stanford University neuroscientist. Just see the related article "Suicide Grasshoppers Brainwashed by Parasite Worms".…
zooillogix | April 11, 2007A Chinese born, Paris-based artist hailed for his groundbreaking work that helped pave the way for a new generation of young artists in China is on the defensive after his most recent installation at the Vancouver Art Gallery. His work "Theatre of the World" features snakes, lizards, scorpions and a variety of dangerous insects trapped together inside a cage shaped like a turtle shell. The artist calls it a mirror of society's conflicts. Sadistic eight year olds call it a a rip-off of a favorite Saturday afternoon pastime. Regardless, it may be short lived as the SPCA has determined that the…
zooillogix | April 10, 2007You never touch me anymore. Is it because you think I'm fat? Damon diadema
Scientists have recently witnessed two species of arachnids that caress family members and seem to enjoy snuggling. Two kinds of whip spiders--dime-sized Phrynus marginemaculatus found in Florida and the larger Damon diadema which live in Tanzania and Kenya--spend their days in constant tactile touch with their relatives. In one experiment, siblings were put in a cage among many other unrelated whip spiders and within minutes had gathered back together in their family group. Mothers were routinely witnessed stroking…
zooillogix | April 10, 2007Leatherback sea turtles are almost 100 million years old but their rapid decline in population has led researchers to believe that they may be extinct in as few as 10. In an effort to learn more about these rare animals and bring attention to the cause, scientists outfitted 14 leatherbacks with satellite tags this past February as they lay their eggs on a beach in Costa Rica. On April 16th, the eleven turtle race begins as the leatherbacks head back to their Galapagos feeding grounds. Sponsor your favorite turtle and track its progress on the internet. Known for their fiercely competitive…
zooillogix | April 9, 2007Late last year, scientists discovered a new species of bat that has large flat adhesive suckers attached to its thumbs and hind feet. These suckers allow the bat to climb and adhere to large broad-leaf plants in the jungles of their native Madagascar.
The find is particularly remarkable because the new bat belongs to a Family of bats, Myzopoda, that was previously considered to include a single rare species. In a rare success story, these endangered bats are thriving in recently cleared forests where the pioneering Traveler's Palm often replaces native vegetation after logging. The plant has…
zooillogix | April 6, 2007A 60lb, 44" shortraker rockfish was reeled in off the coast of Alaska last month. The fish has a bone in its ear that develops rings like a tree trunk, allowing scientists to approximate the fish's age to be between 90-115 years old.When I was your age, we didn't have "fins." Shortraker rockfish, sebastes borealisi
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zooillogix | April 5, 2007The US Navy routinely conducts silent war games beneath the North Pole with foreign nuclear submarines. Occasionally the subs must poke their conning towers through the ice for communications, energy and research. However, when they expose themselves, they open themselves to the possibility of a vicious polar bear attack!!! Well, maybe these bears are just curious, but they still look terrifying (adorable). These pictures are courtesy of the US Navy from the Arctic.Uraniumlicious... Polar Bears, Ursus maritimus
Stalking its prey...The vicious attack!
Another common maritime peril for the US…
zooillogix | April 4, 2007Apparently after a long night of drinking, Egyptian fruit bats wake up craving particular types of sugar. In a recent study, Francisco Sanchez from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Israel) showed that the bats prefer foods high in the sugar molecule, fructose, after eating slightly fermented figs and dates. Fructose is known to reduce the toxicity of ethanol. After eating the alcoholic fruit, the bats even show visible signs of inebriation, such as bumping into objects and having a higher susceptibility to predators. As of yet, Sanchez has not witnessed a group of bats singing "Tiny…
zooillogix | April 3, 2007A four-legged duckling named Stumpy has beaten the odds and survived into adulthood. Born with two extra legs behind his normal pair at the Warrawee Duck Farm in Hampshire, England, Stumpy has appeared in countless television shows and photo shoots across the globe. When Nicky Janaway, his owner, saw Stumpy's extra legs for the first time, she was "gobsmacked." As for the future? "We're making a very big pen for him to make sure he is kept very safe..." says Mrs. Janaway, "...He seems a very happy duck." (credit to H. Hancock)
"And this bird you cannot chaaaaaaaannnngggee!"
VIDEO OF STUMPY…
zooillogix | April 3, 2007Dr Melody Clark of the British Antarctic Survey recently presented two bizarre adaptations that arthropods use to stave off cold temperatures. At the Society for Experimental Biology's Annual Meeting in Glasgow last week, Clark showed how the Onychiurus arcticus, an Artic arthropod, copes with the freezing winters. As the surrounding temperatures fall, the Onychiurus arcitus literally dries up, leaving what Clark describes as "a normal looking head, and a body which looks like a crumpled up crisp packet when it is fully dehydrated. But add a drop of water and it all goes back to normal!"…
zooillogix | April 1, 2007Most jellyfish drift freely in the ocean current but the dangerous box jellyfish is an active swimmer. To help it navigate, the box jellyfish has 24 eyes that dangle from their cube-shaped bodies. One set of eyes is remarkably well developed and can detect color, size and shape, similar to our own eyes. At Lund University in Sweden, researchers recently set up a jellyfish obstacle course to test their vision and were surprised by how deftly the box jellyfish were able to avoid objects in the tank. However, their ability to jump through flaming hoops left much to be desire
Clearly there will…
zooillogix | March 30, 2007Not bizarre. Very normal. Happens tens of thousands of times everyday, I'm sure. Can't stop watching...Mesocricetus auratus
zooillogix | March 30, 2007To baaa or not to baaa?
Professor Esmail Zanjani from the University of Nevada unveiled a genetically engineered sheep- well, technically a sheep, we think -that has 15 percent human cells and 85 percent sheep cells this past week. Zanjani injects adult human cells into sheep fetuses to create these chimeras with the eventual goal of "growing" human organs inside the sheep for transplant into humans.
In an example given by Zanjani, he hopes one day to take bone marrow cells from a sick patient, implant the cells into a sheep fetus and literally grow bone marrow for the patient inside the…
zooillogix | March 29, 2007This is exhibit is right up our alley. For the next few months, the Pittsburgh Museum of Natural History is displaying strange prehistoric critters as part of its "Bizarre Beasts" series. Descriptions provided by the Museum.Helicoprion A coil of teeth caps the lower jaw of a sculpture of a 13-foot (4-meter) whorl-tooth shark, or Helicoprion, a fish genus that lived about 250 million years ago.
Artist Gary Staab depicts the animal's jaw as something of a spiral conveyor belt, in which new teeth would advance to replace old ones (concealed here by skin) . But the true arrangement and…
zooillogix | March 27, 2007Gandalf of the Marmosets, Emperor Marmoset, Saguinus imperator
Animals that carry cells from another individual, most often a fraternal twin (non-identical), are known as chimeras. Aside from marmosets, chimeras have been discovered in humans, cats and cows. Considered a rare fluke in most species, marmosets have a unique embryonic development that results in most of them sharing chimeric blood. Researchers recently discovered that the swapping goes even further: 50% of male marmosets carry their brothers' sperm and 10% of female marmosets have their sisters' ovaries. That means marmosets can…