Creature Feature: Aye-ayes

Primates are known for their behavioral diversity, but perhaps no primate is as bizarre as the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis). Their black-grizzled fur, combined with bat-like ears, rodent-like incisors, and long middle finger, make them look quite spooky—right on time for Halloween!

Field Frame Friday: Looked cute, might delete later.

While titi monkeys (Callicebinae spp.) are generally neophobic (i.e. afraid of new things), they do show wide variability in personality. This more adventurous coppery titi monkey (Plecturocebus cupreus) wanted to get a closer look at the camera lens! Pictured in the back is his six-month-old son. [Photo by Alexander Baxter, Caption by Allison Lau] Savidge,…

Ask a Scientist: Feeling Salty

Mild-mannered Manatee asks, “Why can’t fresh water fish survive in the ocean?” What a great question Mild-mannered Manatee! To answer your question, we need to learn a little bit about osmosis. Osmosis is the movement of water from less salty areas to more salty areas across a membrane. Cells, like the ones in your body,…

Sci Hero: Dr. Roger Arliner Young

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…

Science Heroes: Dr. Roger Arliner Young

Welcome to Science Heroes, the column highlighting the incredible and diverse scientists and naturalists that if you don’t already know about them…you should! Our inaugural post features Dr. Roger Arliner Young, the first Black woman to graduate with a PhD in 1940!

Field Frame Friday: Summer Fieldwork Forecast?

I study how bird songs influence mating strategies in white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) and am interested in how traffic noise impedes the ability to assess bird songs and subsequently affects their reproductive success. During this summer’s fieldwork at Tioga Pass in Yosemite, we woke up to something very unexpected…a snowstorm had hit overnight- in JUNE!…