What are cell membranes? Every human is composed of billions of cells. Cells perform a multitude of important activities, like making energy, digesting nutrients, and managing our immune system. To operate these processes without interference, each cell protects itself with an outer shell called a cell membrane. These shells do a plethora of activities for…
Sunday Sketch: Lamprey Immunity
Suddenly we are all spending a lot more time thinking about our immune systems—but what about the immune systems of the animals around us? For a long time it was thought that only animals with jaws and vertebrates had lymphocytes, but research with sea lampreys suggests otherwise. Researchers found lymphocyte-like cells in the gut of these charming…
Field Frame(s) Friday: COVID-19 Edition
COVID-19 Edition: While navigating through uncharted waters of a pandemic, scientists are dealing with physical isolation, the inability to run lab experiments, the uncertain fates of upcoming field seasons, and learning how to work from home! In the upcoming weeks, unable to resist our scientific endeavors, we will be sprinkling in how animal behavior researchers at UC Davis continue research in the “field.”
Newsroom: Animals poop – a critical ecological function!
Check out this week’s newsroom piece, featuring Alex McInturf and her review on the ecological importance of animal defecation.
Creature feature: Common poorwill
At a time when people are encouraged to isolate themselves and remain indoors to slow the spread of the 2019 coronavirus, many of us are feeling antsy or idle. But sitting inactive for long periods of time is the name of the game for the common poorwill. These birds are a member of the nightjar…
Sunday Sketch: Social Distancing
We are all adjusting to a new normal, but for some animals social distancing is a way of life. Take the slow loris for example. These guys are happiest hanging out at home by them selves. One study found that these guys only spend 3% of their time in association with other slow lorises and…
Field Frame Friday: Beauty in Decay
I found this violet bellied hummingbird (Juliamyia julie) in Panama shortly after it died. The iridescence in hummingbird feathers does not come from pigmentation; it is structural. Microscopic “bubbles” in hummingbird feathers refract light; the size and arrangement of the bubbles determines the colors that escape, creating brilliant patterns like the rainbow seen on this…
Newsroom: Do Sharks Abide by the Tide?
Check out this week’s newsroom about Alex McInturf and her study on how sharks move around in the San Francisco Bay!
Sunday Sketch: International Day of the Seal!
Did you know that March 22 is the International Day of the Seal? Seals are a part of the phylogenetic suborder Pinnipedia that consist of seals, sea lions, and walruses. Seals (Family: Phocidae) live in both the northern and southern hemispheres of our planet, from the cold, polar regions of the arctic and antarctic, to the…
Field Frame Friday: Tread carefully to avoid becoming a snake snack.
When your fieldwork requires traipsing through the forest understory, you often need to keep your eyes open for elusive dangerous creatures you may encounter. Since I conduct my fieldwork in peninsular Malaysia, I need to look out for creatures such as the wagler’s pit viper (Tropidolaemus wagleri). Also known as the “temple viper”, these snakes…
theethogram.com 