Imagine seeing an animal with slick fur, small ears, long tongue…is it a dog? But this animal also has super long claws and a golden crest on its chest…oh, it’s a sun bear!
Sunday Sketch: Ersatz Housing
A fact about finding shelter wherever you can in this world of ours
Field Frame Friday: Amazon Warriors… Assemble!
John Liu and Kirsten Sheehy brought their assembly A-game to the lab last week. These shelves are going to house the Laskowski Lab’s automated fish-tracking setup, which they will use to study the amazing Amazon molly’s (Poecilia formosa) behavior. They need to be strong enough to hold many gallons of water, but modular and flexible enough…
Arts & Crafts: Pollinator Pals
Celebrate pollinator week with these young explorers’ beautiful butterflies!
Field (Lab) Notes: Do pigeon parents get better with practice?
What can pigeons teach us about the parental brain? What do COVID-19 testing and animal behavior analyses have in common? Read more about Victoria’s Ph.D. research to find out!
Sunday Sketch: Zombie Cicadas
Periodic cicadas don’t wait 17 years before reappearing on this blog
Field Frame Friday: Leafy Langurs
This fluffy, adorable leaf-eater is a dusky langur (Trachypithecus obscurus)! These primates live in Peninsular Malaysia, Myanmar and parts of Thailand. The white circles around the eyes and mouth bring attention to their faces, and give them their alternative common name of speckled leaf monkey. I stumbled across the male pictured above while he was…
Ask a Scientist: Large and in Charge
What is the strongest apex predator and why?
Sunday Sketch: Protect your Noggin
A fact about defensive tool use by one of nature’s smartest critters
Field Frame Friday: To eat or to save for later, the eternal question
A very familiar sight for us up here at Davis, I believe this here’s a Fox Squirrel (Sciurus niger). These squirrels assess nut quality through handling and then make decisions on whether to cache the nut for later or eat it right away depending on its overall value. I also learned from an opening talk…
Arts & Crafts: Colorful Canary
Check out this young explorer’s bright bird craft!
Sunday Sketch: You Gonna Finish That?
A fact about bears being picky eaters
Field Frame Friday: Slug Appreciation Day ft. The Banana Slug
If you are at all familiar with hiking in the woods of central and northern California, you may have come across an octopus’s terrestrial mollusk relative, the California banana slug (Ariolimax californicus)! Banana slugs have a mucousy membrane covering their body that is essential for breathing, mating, and deterring predators. This golden, slimy, charismatic invertebrate…
Arts & Crafts: World Otter Day
Check out how this Pre-K class celebrated World Otter Day!
Creature Feature: Hawk moth
At first glance, the animal hovering near the flower looks like a hummingbird. She is colorful with whirring wings and can fly at speeds up to 25 miles per hour [1]. A closer look, however, reveals that she is a white-lined sphinx moth (Hyles lineata). Unlike many bees, she cannot bite or sting you [1]….
Newsroom: Crouching Crab, Hidden Parasite: How habitat structure affects predator-prey dynamics of parasitized crabs
Check out this new parasitized crab study by researchers at East Carolina University, including the Animal Behavior Grad Group’s own Christofer Brothers!
Sunday Sketch: Endangered Species Day
A fact for the recent Endangered Species Day
Field Frame Friday: Sun’s Out Tongue’s Out
Did you know that dairy calves perform a wide variety of oral behaviors? In this photo, you can see the calf beginning to stick her tongue out, right before she performs a tongue flicking behavior. These behaviors have been previously associated with coping with stress and can indicate frustration! Current work in the dairy industry seeks to…
Sci Hero: Dr. Asha de Vos
Dr. Asha de Vos uses teamwork, story telling, and curiosity to learn about blue whales and save the oceans!
Science Heroes: Dr. Asha de Vos
Science Heroes: the column highlighting incredible scientists and naturalists that if you don’t know, you should! This month highlights inclusive conservationist and blue whale biologist Dr. Asha de Vos!
Sunday Sketch: Whiplash
A fact about the multiple uses of a tail fin
Field Frame Friday: Dreamin of Field Work
The past year’s global pandemic has changed research timelines for us all. But it hasn’t stopped researchers from getting ready for upcoming field seasons! These bright, shiny new audio moths sit around dreaming of the day they’ll be deployed in the Peruvian Amazon and finally get to capture the songs of titi monkeys. Until then,…
Arts & Crafts: Unicorn Bear
Check out this young explorer’s mythical unicorn bear sketch!
Field Notes: Risky Business
Read all about how California ground squirrels assess risk in a human-dominated environment with our newest Field Notes piece by our own ABGGer Chelsea Ortiz.
Creature Feature: Superb Lyrebird
Anything you can do, I can do better! Found frequently in Australia’s wet and temperate forest, male superb lyrebirds (Menura novaehollandiae) have evolved to produce an ever-escalating array of vocalizations and dance moves to impress females and stand out against other males. BBC Wildlife first showcased these intelligent, mimicking birds in a video that has…
Sunday Sketch: Gone Fishing
A fact about how birds that can’t dive find food on the shallow end of the pool
Field Frame Friday: Come on kiddo, momma needs a snack!
Most seal species have enough stored energy to be able to fast during nursing periods, staying out of the water for up to 6 weeks without food. Harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) moms, on the other hand, will take their pups on foraging trips while the pups are still nursing- sometimes even hours after birth! [Photo…
Ask a Scientist: Dog Demeanor
How do I understand my dog?
Sunday Sketch: Make way for Brood X
A fact about a huge event that may be currently underway right now
Arts & Crafts: Tiger Portrait
Get up close and personal with this young explorer’s tiger art!
Creature Feature: Feral Cats
Cats that live outside? Check out this week’s creature feature to learn more!
Sunday Sketch: World Penguin Day
A fact for World Penguin Day
Sci Hero: Rachel Carson
The Ethogram believes that science should be accessible and diverse in order to increase the sense of belonging within the science community. As a part of our continuing effort to make science a more inclusive field, we will be highlighting a “Sci Hero” each month so that the next generation of scientists and naturalists may be inspired and identify with the diverse community that came before them.
Science Heroes: Rachel Carson
Welcome to Science Heroes, the column highlighting incredible scientists and naturalists that if you don’t know, you should! This month highlights science writer and environmentalist Rachel Carson!
Sunday Sketch: Monogamous Mommies
A fact about same-sex parenting in birds
Field Frame Friday: Stop Copying Me!
The Northern Mockingbird is the ultimate copy-cat. #stopcopyingme #mockingbird #animalbehavior
Arts & Crafts: Hippo Photo Shoot
Check out this young explorer’s hippo as it walks down the runway!
Field Notes: California Plants and Pollinators
At least 87.5% of flowering plant species rely on animal pollinators such as bees, birds, bats and butterflies for help with reproduction [1]. Plant-pollinator mutual relationships contribute to biodiversity, ecosystem stability, and promote food security through crop pollination [2]. Much of the food and medicine we use comes from plants that need pollinators to reproduce….
Creature Feature: River dolphins
River dolphins? Find out more about the less-famous cousins of the oceanic dolphins in this week’s creature feature.
Sunday Sketch: The sum of its parts
A fact about how no man-of-war is an island
Field Frame Friday: If you hear this, I am not aMOOsed!
Dairy calves may be adorable and photogenic, but they are also very noisy animals! Research has shown that their vocalizations can indicate their affective state and emotions! [Photo and caption by Isabelle McDonald-Gilmartin] Green, A. C., Johnston, I. N., & Clark, C. E. F. (2018). Invited review: The evolution of cattle bioacoustics and application for…
The Cat Who Caused an Ecological Disaster
From the humor they provide in funny pet videos to the physical comfort of waking up next to a furry friend in the morning, your ordinary housecat is probably a source of great joy in your life. Unfortunately, cats have had a mostly negative impact in the ecosystems we’ve introduced them to. Many cats are…
Newsroom: Fish of a Feather, School Together—Understanding how group membership affects behavior in stickleback fish
Read all about exciting new fish personality research conducted by UC Davis scientists, including the Ethogram’s own Amelia Munson!
Newsroom: New article in The Conversation
Check out this new article on fish species consuming plastic written by Alex McInturf (our former editor-in-chief)!
Field Frame Friday: But first, let me take a selfie!
A young male baboon takes a selfie with a high-resolution thermal camera. Before this teenager got excited about his photo shoot in the middle of the night, the thermal camera was videoing him and his group-mates (background right) as they moved around their sleeping cliff. Baboons face a significant risk of being eaten by leopards…
Arts & Crafts: Giraffe on the Move
Did you know giraffe’s ride trains? … Or do they? Check out this young explorer’s April Fools’ Day artwork to find out!
