Mossel Bay, South Africa is a known hotspot for great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias). More mature individuals gather in this area during the winter months in this region, likely drawn by the abundance of pinnipeds (seals and sea lions) that are found on small rocky islands, as seen in the background here. This photograph was taken…
Field Frame Friday: Gelada battles
Herein lies one of the many fights between the dominant leader male of the “D” group, Demon, and his predecessor turned “grandpa”, Devil. The geladas (Theropithecus gelada) of the Simien Mountains in Ethiopia typically live in one-male unit groups, however, the dominant male occasionally allows a predecessor to stay on or a follower to tag…
Field Notes: The sensory world of sea otters
Sarah McKay Strobel, a PhD researcher at University of California Santa Cruz, highlights the world according to sea otters and how it’s not just about knowing your study species, but knowing the individual animals as well.
Creature Feature: Euhaplorchis californiensis
Euhaplorchis californiensis are trematodes that can modify the behavior of their host!
Sunday Sketch: Dung Beetle Navigation
In addition to birds, seals, and humans, the nocturnal dung beetle (Scarabaeus satyrus) uses the stars as orientation and navigational cues. The dung beetles may not be able to discriminate between individual stars, but can use clumps of bright stars and the Milky Way for nocturnal migration. Sketch and fact contributed by Karli Chudeau Source: Dacke,…
Mental Health and Graduate School
A note about the author: Ryane Logsdon is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Animal Behavior Graduate Group at UC Davis. She has dealt with generalized anxiety for most of her life, with bouts of depression throughout her undergraduate and graduate career. May is Mental Health Awareness month and while May has passed, the conversation about mental…
Sunday Sketch: Anemone Piggyback
Did you know that some animals get by with a little help from their “friends”? Certain species of marine hermit crabs have a symbiotic relationship with sea anemones, meaning they mutually use each other for their own benefit. Riding along the hermit crab shell, sea anemones get the opportunity to be mobile and have more…
Field Frame Friday: Beach baboons
A threat display from an olive baboon (Papio anubis) produces a submissive response from a second individual. Dominance (relative rankings of animals) is a major guiding force in many animal societies. In fact, in male olive baboons, more certain dominance hierarchies is associated with lower average levels of cortisol, a hormone that is typically associated…
Creature Feature: Bald Uakari
Uakaris’ bright red heads are hypothesized to be an indicator of health to potential mates…
Sunday Sketch: Harbor Seal
While our facial whiskers have little tactile functionality, harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) whiskers, or vibrissae, have comparable sensitivity to human hands! Just as we use our hands to explore our environment, pinnipeds use their vibrissae to gather environmental information both above and below water. Harbor seals can discriminate different surfaces and shapes of objects as…
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