Coral reefs are among the most productive and diverse ecosystems in the world (wanna learn more, check out our Creature Feature) and are attractions for human visitors. While human visitors use sunscreen to protect themselves from harmful UV rays, some ingredients have aversive affects on these corals, particularly oxybenzone. The protection of UV light causes…
Author: The Ethogram
The official blog of the UC Davis Animal Behavior Graduate Group.
Sunday Sketch: Blood Sharing Bats
As their name suggests, vampire bats need to consume blood often to stay alive. Female vampire bats roost in groups, and when some bats aren’t able to get a meal, others in the same group will regurgitate their own meals to share! Research revealed that females who shared meals with an extensive network of nonrelatives…
Field Frame Friday: Grazing or lazing
Beef cattle (bos taurus) display individual differences in grazing behavior on rangelands such as those in California. Even same-breed cattle can exhibit a variety of grazing patterns, such as traversing more terrain, traveling further from water, and climbing higher elevation than their fellow herdmates. [Photo by Nick Chudeau and caption by Maggie Creamer] References Bailey,…
Sunday Sketch: Learning to pick your battles
Northern elephant seal harems (Mirounga angustirostris) are a cacophony of noises with males vocalizing at each other and occasionally getting into physical battles; what information is coded within those noises? Researchers at University of California, Santa Cruz used playback experiments (i.e. recording vocalizations and then playing the vocalizations back to other individuals) to discover that…
Field Frame Friday: How do you like your eggs?
Due to warmer temperatures, egg incubation in tropical birds presents a different set of challenges than temperate species. To regulate temperatures, lesser noddies (Anous tenuirostris) will rotate the egg around the nest every 50 minutes, and when ambient temperatures get above 30℃ (86 ℉) , parents will actually lift off of the egg, and depend…
Newsroom: Counter culture
Does social learning help or hinder adaptive response to human-induced rapid environmental change? Human-induced rapid environmental change (HIREC), such as climate change, habitat fragmentation, and pollution, poses a potential threat to a variety of wildlife species. If or how it changes animals’ traits is a question of central importance bridging evolutionary ecology and conservation management….
Sunday Sketch: Stinging Sea Jellies
Planning on swimming at the beach this summer? Learn some facts about sea jellies before you ask a friend to pee on a sting wound! Sea jellies have specialized cells called cnidocytes on their tentacles that contain structures called nematocysts. Nematocysts act like harpoons that deliver a venomous sting. Though people say that urine can…
Field Frames Friday: Lactation station
Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) in the Antarctic can lose up to 60% of their body weight during the nursing period. Researchers found that females will begin diving two weeks after giving birth to their pups and the amount of diving varied depending on the body mass of the mother. Thinner seals diving more often and…
Sunday Sketch: Thought Bubbles
Pacific and Atlantic herring (Clupea pallasii and Clupea harengus) are a large part of the commercial fishing industry and are thus well studied by scientists. However, nighttime sounds coming from the herring left scientists stumped, until video analysis revealed the herrings’ elusive communication style. Described aptly as Fast Repetitive Tick (or FRT), herring use digestive gas…
Field Frame Friday: Heads or tails? TAILS!
Black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi) don’t have thumbs, but what they do have is the most mobile and dextrous of all primate tails! The underside of the tail is covered with ridges that help them grip branches as they swing. [Photo by Grace Davis and caption by Maggie Creamer] Reference Mittermeier, R. A. (1978). Locomotion…
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