To readers with ophidiophobia, or the fear of snakes, Ireland should be high on your vacation destination list. Popular legend attributes the Emerald Isle’s lack of legless reptiles to the actions of St. Patrick. He is said to have banished all snakes from Ireland in the 5th century AD after the serpentine critters attempted to…
Sunday Sketch: Thumbless but not helpless
Most primates have opposable thumbs that that help them grasp and manipulate objects. However, the spider monkey, Ateles geoffroyi, is one exception in which their hands have no thumbs at all! Instead, spider monkeys have a specialized prehensile (grasping) tail that is hairless on its underside and has a fleshy pad that is unique to each monkey…
Field Frame Friday: Karma Karma Chameleon
Many chameleons (especially of genus Furcifer) can change color extremely rapidly not only for camouflage, but also for communication, courtship, and contests. A recent study finds that complex and quick color changes are attributed to two layers of skin that contain crystals that reflect light. The double layer of skin also may provide thermal protection…
Field Notes: The Inconvenient Truth (about field work)
Hello Ethogrammers! Maggie and Karli here, your editors who work behind the scenes with all the wonderful Field Notes writers each month. For many of us, field seasons are fast approaching, and while Field Notes gives you the glamorous, adventurous parts of our contributors’ science adventures, there is a lesser-known but equally important part of…
Sunday Sketch: Get Ready for Aardvark Week
Aardvarks, Orycteropusafer afer, are ant eaters but aren’t anteaters. In other words, Aardvarks in Africa do primarily feed on ants and termites but actually aren’t very closely related to their anteater counterparts in South America. Many of their similarities arise due to convergent evolution associated with their diets. Aardvarks use their long, sticky tongue to…
Field Frame Friday: A Sunrise Serenade with Song and Smells
Many bat species sing complex ultrasonic songs to attract mates and repel rivals [1]. An extremely eloquent singer is the neotropical great sac-winged bat (Saccopteryx bilineata). Males of this bat species sing year round during dusk and dawn, but singing is most intense during the annual mating season [2]. Then, harem males will sing for…
Creature Feature: World Wildlife Day
Biodiversity encompasses all life on Earth: from the adorable birds in your backyard to the terrific trees that provide shade each summer, the fresh fish in your tacos to the sneaky squirrel that tries to snag your snack . . .
Sunday Sketch: Get ready for World Wildlife Day!
This Tuesday, March 3rd, is World Wildlife Day! The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 1, 12, 14, and 15 commit to preventing biodiversity loss by reducing poverty, promoting sustainable use of our planet’s resources, and conserving all plant and animal life on land and below the water. Join The Ethogram this Tuesday for a full…
Field Frame Friday: Not So Busy Bee
Busy bee? Not so much. This bee is taking a nap in this flower, which is more common than you may think! Social bees like honey bees have a nest to come home to every night and only sleep outside if they get lost during sundown or become too cold to fly back to the…
Sunday Sketch: Child Labor
Like almost all activities in a social insect colony, nest building involves team work. Weaver ants, Camponotus (Myrmobrachys) senex, build elaborate nests made of stitched together leaves that are subdivided into small interconnected chambers. The work of tying these leaves together involves a surprising joint effort by both adults workers and larvae. Adult workers will carry individual…
