When you google image search “baby crow,” the first picture that pops up of an adorable, fluffy bird is not actually a crow! It’s a buff-banded rail, a species not even closely related to the crow. Real baby crows are born altricial, meaning they are under-developed, unable to feed themselves, and featherless. The buff-banded rail,…
Fractals Fractals Everywhere!
Unlike the geometry you learned in high school, which consists of smooth shapes and straight lines (circles, squares, triangles, etc.) fractal geometry …
Creature Feature: Hoatzin
The Hoatzin (Opisthocomus hoazin), pronounced “wat-sen,” is one of the strangest and most fascinating birds around. With an appearance like a miniature dinosaur, the hoatzin is the only extant member of its taxonomic order, the Opisthocomiformes. Hailing from South America, these prehistoric-looking birds are uniquely adapted to live in the swamps and mangroves of the…
Fun Fact Friday: Albatross Migration
Gray-headed albatrosses make journeys of up to 7,767 miles at a rate of 590 miles per day. Source: Croxall et al. (2005) Science 307: 249-250
Thanksgiving: Wild Turkey Families
This week take a moment to ponder the beast in your feast. The wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) has a sophisticated social system that rivals that of lions or primates.
Creature Feature: Butterflies of the Sea
There are butterflies floating in the oceans all around the world. Usually only about a centimeter long, these beautiful, tiny creatures are actually snails that live their whole lives as plankton in the currents near the ocean’s surface. Sea Butterflies (Suborder: Thecosomata) are members of the group Pteropoda, which means flying foot. They have this…
Fun Fact Friday
Monarch butterflies use the sun to navigate on their long seasonal migrations. Know what body part they use to sense the sun’s location in the sky?
Creature Feature: Chum Salmon
The Chum Salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) is not among the most desirable salmon in terms of human consumption, to the point that the euphemistic label of “Keta Salmon” is often used in supermarkets. While culinarily unexciting, the Chum salmon exhibits some fascinating behavioral and physiological adaptations to its environment.
The Drunken Monkey: Is Our Desire for Booze an Evolutionary Hangover?
The insatiable allure for alcohol comes in a variety of conspicuous forms, from severe alcoholism to the occasional beer with close friends, wine tastings, cocktail parties, and well…most of us remember those late Friday nights in college when you stumbled home *slightly* inebriated. As speculation has it, our alcohol intake may actually have an evolutionary…
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