Ruminant animals, like cows, don’t have upper incisors like many other animals, and instead have what is called a dental pad. This pad helps the cows to pinch the grass from the ground. The combination of the dental pad and tongue makes a very efficient system for grazing.  Eubanks, D. L. (2012). Dental Considerations in Cows and…

While the joys of fieldwork are many, sometimes field research involves a lot of time staring at immobile study subjects high in the trees. I study coppery titi monkeys (Plecturocebus cupreus), who spend much of their day in the canopy foraging or resting. While titis do move throughout the day, they spend multiple hours at…

Just like this spooky little cormorant (Phalacrocoracidae), Field Frame Friday is back just in time for October! After a brief hiatus, Field Frame Fridays will now be posted every other Friday. This is no trick, but we are hoping these posts will be more of an anticipated treat with our slower schedule. See what I…

Vegetation sampling is a crucial part of research involving rangeland cattle grazing. It is a way to quantify how much and of what type forage cattle are consuming throughout the grazing season. It can help range and animal scientists understand grazing patterns and preferences of cattle while also looking at the environmental impact of grazing…

Before my field season, my garage turns into a Santa’s workshop- if Santa were a seal and the workshop made only food puzzles. Prepping for my field season means lots of trips to the hardware store and getting confused looks from the employees on why I have my arms full of PVC pipes while I…

Spotted on the border of Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo, this male African Paradise Flycatcher (Terpsiphone viridis) uses his long tail feathers to attract a mate, for life. During the mating season his 2 central tail feathers will grow to be 30 cm (or almost a foot) long, so that he can put on…

The best part of my field season is seeing the subjects that I worked with while they were in rehabilitation get released back into the ocean! These harbor seal pups came to The Marine Mammal Center (MMC) in Sausaltio, CA as young as a few days old, malnourished, and separated from their moms. But after…

Ever been tidepooling and poked your finger in a squishy sea anemone just to see its petal-like arms grasp your finger? You may have noticed a somewhat sticky feeling as you shake those arms free, but how can something be sticky underwater? That sticky sensation you feel are actually nematocysts, which are microscopic stinging cells…

It is pretty amazing the amount of enrichment supplies “The Manatee” (the name of my trusty Prius) can hold! While all this equipment may not look anything like what a seal interacts with in the ocean, to quote Aristotle, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” From PVC pipes to milk crates…

Rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus moluccanus) are nectarivores (i.e. feed on nectar, pollen, flowers, and soft fruits) that use contingencies to remember what flowers they have recently fed at, so they do not waste energy returning to a nectar-depleted flower. This requires cognitive abilities to encode, retain and integrate relevant information while foraging! [Photo and caption by…

Like many caterpillars in the family Papilionidae, spicebush swallowtails (Papilio troilus) are masters of deception. Young caterpillars mimic bird poop, while older caterpillars scare predators off with intimidating fake eyes (aka “eyespots”). During the day, they rest inside carefully constructed leaf rolls. The one you see above was made on one of its host-plants: sassafras (Sassafras albidum)….

For us terrestrial bound land-lubbers, going under the coastal waters of the eastern Pacific can be daunting; it is cold and quite dark! However, this is not a problem for harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) and other pinnipeds (i.e. seals, sea lions, and fur seals), who have sensory adaptations to thrive in this dark and murky…