My first-year students & I are currently studying plants. This is actually something of a balancing act from my perspective as a reasonably large proportion of the class didn’t study the ‘diversity in plant structure & function’ standard back in year 12 (or don’t remember doing so), so I’ve got to bring them up to […]
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the oversized naughty bits of female spotted hyenas
When I visited Pharyngula today I saw that PZ had posted a video about spotted hyenas. Female spotted hyenas. And that reminded me of one of the late Stephen Jay Gould’s wonderful essays on the same subject. (Gould remains one of my favourite science writers -although, having said that, I do find some of his later […]
Continue readinggrumpiness is best?
Today’s Herald carried a story from the UK’s Telegraph, which looked at some research into the social behaviour of chimpanzees & bonobos (‘pigmy’ chimanzees). And – as usual – extrapolated from this to people… Grumpiness, it told is, was a sign of a more ‘advanced’ nature, whereas the happier, more peaceable bonobos were ‘less evolved’.
Continue readingrather nice zoological videos
Over at Terrapin Procrastination there is a lovely long list of zoological videos for you to watch. (I don’t know whether or not to thank PZ for directing me there – right now I don’t have time to procrastinate!). My favourite description from the list would have to be ““sea angel” (pelagic nudibranch) kills and […]
Continue readinga wide froggy mouth – but not on a frog
When I was an undergraduate a joke about wide-mouthed frogs went the rounds… Frog mouths are quite interesting, actually. Look into that gape & you’ll see a tongue (which is rooted at the front of the mouth, allowing it a greater forward reach). Back of the tongue is the glottis, opening into the trachea, & […]
Continue readingcassowaries: crucial to rainforest ecology
This is the only photo we got of a cassowary, on our recent jaunt to Australia. (I’ll stop rubbing it in soon, I promise!). She was sitting in the corner of an enclosure at the Habitat in Port Douglas. Like our own kiwi, cassowaries belong to the ancient flightless group of birds known as ratites. Cassowaries […]
Continue readinggreat balls of sand
We went for quite a few walks on the beach while we were in Port Douglas, usually in the early morning before things got too hot! We were surprised by the near-total lack of shells washed up on the sand (the copious cuttle-fish ‘bones’ didnt’ count). And fascinated by the way that the sand between […]
Continue readingof ant hotels and homicidal figs
One of several highlights of our holiday was a guided tour of part of the Daintree National Park. There was so much to see! But we’d probably have walked straight past some wonderful plants & animals if it wasn’t for our guide, Ross. For example, the first time we encountered a Boyd’s forest dragon, all […]
Continue readingdo flies do housework?
Some more entertaining & educational reading for you while I’m away 🙂 This time it’s from the Bug Girl’s Blog, where the eponymous Bug Girl describes as ‘egregious’ the headline Fruit Fly Sperm Makes Females Do Housework After Sex. Visit the Bug Girl’s place to find out not only what egregious means, but also why she’s so annoyed about the headline. […]
Continue readinggannet monogamy model moot
When you studied animal behaviour in year 13 you probably learned about the different mating systems: polygamy (polygyny & polyandry), promiscuity – & monogamy: a bond between a single male & a single female. You may also have heard that in some species, such as swans, that bond is life-long. It turns out things are more complex than […]
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