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Tag: animal behaviour

unforseen consequences of megafaunal removal

November 12, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, ecology, evolution, new science stories, scholarship biology

 It can be hard to predict the outcomes of human interference in an ecosystem, even when it’s done with the best of intentions. This paper looks at the unforseen consequences of removing large herbivorous mammals from part of an African savannah, & demonstrates just how complex ecosystem interactions can be.

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egg-eating foxes

November 6, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, ecology, new science stories

Animals may put food away for a rainy day – or at least, for a time when supplies are in short supply. Squirrels do it, storing nuts in hollow trees or holes dug in the leaf litter. How many they find later is another matter! But I didn’t know that foxes are also into caching […]

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long-legged (weta) males have more s*x

November 1, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, evolution, new science stories

Here’s a neat bit of research that I was alerted to while reading the newspaper: a team of scientists studying the Cook Strait giant weta (Deinacrida rugosa) found that smaller males with longer legs are much more successful in gaining copulations (Kelly et al. 2008). (There’s a lot of information & pictures on NZ soil invertebrates […]

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mating systems in takahe

October 16, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, genetics, new science stories

Takahe (Porphyrio hochstetteri) are one of the world’s most endangered birds. There are only around 120 still surviving in Fiordland, although a few more now live on predator-free islands off the New Zealand coast. (If you go to Tiritiri Matangi Island in the Hauraki Gulf you’ll be bound to see them.) But while the birds […]

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the joys of essay-marking (no, seriously)

October 15, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, evolution, new science stories, scholarship biology

One of the benefits of reading (& marking) students’ essays is that  you find a whole pile of new papers that are worth reading. (I expect them to go to the scientific literature for information & examples, and support for their ideas, & I will confess to getting just a leetle tetchy when they don’t….) […]

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culture in chimpanzees

September 25, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, human evolution, new science stories

When Jane Goodall observed chimpanzees making tools, it became clear that here was yet another example of the continuum between humans and non-human primates. Use and manufacture of tools was not something that distinguished humans from their close relatives, & chimps could be said to have a form of culture. Now here’s a paper that […]

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can ducks count?

August 22, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, ecology

Of course they can’t – they’re birdbrains! Right?

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interference competition in wolves & coyotes

July 29, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, ecology, new science stories

This post is based on an interesting paper that I’ve had in my blogging folder for a while now. The researchers (Berger & Gese, 2007) looked at the impact of interference competition between wolves and coyotes on the coyotes. The study was based in the Greater Yellowstone Ecological Area, & was possible because wolves were […]

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hormones, s*x, & fidelity…

July 26, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, genetics

At Scicon, Bernard Beckett talked about getting people excited about science by telling stories about cool science stuff. One of his examples was how he told one of his classes about what makes voles monogamous or promisuous. Racy stuff! I remember reading about this some years ago in a book by US author Natalie Angier, […]

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better s*x from headless males…

March 26, 2008 | Alison | animal behaviour, evolution, new science stories, scholarship biology

On Monday night a newspaper article caught my eye – the reporter had picked up on a study suggesting that, if you’re a female praying mantis, eating your partner during sex can actually be quite beneficial…

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Swan girl - portrait of the author as a young scientist This blog in response to comments from secondary school biology teachers. I hope to use it as a way of encouraging critical thinking, looking at scientific papers that are relevant to the Level 3 curriculum and to Scholarship.

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