04 Jul
A very notable birth at the Los Angeles Zoo
To kick off the Los Angeles Zoo’s summer activities, the Zoo is cutting admission prices for the July 4 weekend. From Friday, July 4, to Sunday, July 6, 2008 everyone can slash $4 off the price of Zoo admission! In addition to the discount, guests will also be able to buy a delicious BBQ meal, get free samples of Nestle Juicy Juice and enjoy the music of a local surf band. Take advantage of this special holiday deal to visit all of the Zoo’s adorable babies!…….
The ecology of penguins makes these iconic swimming and diving seabirds of the Southern Hemisphere uncommonly susceptible to environmental changes. Pronounced warming in the Antarctic, as well as commercial fishing, mining, and oil and gas development at lower latitudes, has led to declines in a number of species, as per P. Dee Boersma, of the University of Washington in Seattle. In the July/August 2008 issue of BioScience, Boersma provides a first-person account based on 30 years of studying the birds. Counts of the penguin populations at the 43 remaining breeding “hotspots,” even once every five years, could provide valuable insights into the variability of the ocean ecosystem and the populations’ viability, Boersma writes. Yet counts are carried out only rarely, if at all……..
Researchers from the LSU Museum of Natural Science, or MNS, recently participated in a project joining together the most prominent ornithological research programs in the world. This study the largest study of bird genetics ever completed has not only shaken up the avian evolutionary tree, but completely redrawn it. The results of this massive research project, which relied heavily upon the LSU MNS’ genetic resources collection, will be published in Science on June 27……..
Not a number of people think about what it’s like to be a bat, but for those who do, it’s enlightening and potentially groundbreaking for understanding aspects of the human brain and nervous system. Cynthia Moss, a member of the Neuroscience and Cognitive Science program at the University of Maryland, College Park, Md., is one of few scientists who spend time trying to get into the heads of bats……..
Having a good nose is essential to a Japanese beetle’s survival. The beetle’s sense of smell helps it avoid enemies and zero in on a mate. Meanwhile, the potential mate is programmed to release sex pheromones in exactly the right proportions. Like cheap perfume, there is such a thing as too much: Excessive pheromones can get the attention of a passing fly, leading her to the beetle. The fly can then lay her eggs on the beetle’s back, setting up emerging fly larvae for their first meal (fresh Japanese beetle)……..
Almost every June for 30 years, Terry McEneaney drove around Yellowstone National Park and listed every bird he heard along three routes. Park ornithologist at the time, he would drive to a designated spot and identify the birds there. Then he’d drive another half mile, repeat the process and continue until he had stopped 50 times in 24.5 miles for the North American Breeding Bird Survey. Trying to finish before the birds quit singing, he’d ignore the scenery as best he could and try not to let the traffic bother him……..
Though the slow moving purple sea urchin may look oblivious, lacking a head, eyes and ears, this prickly creature has an impressive suite of sensory receptors to detect outside signals. And don’t overlook this animal’s self-defense abilities: it has much more ammunition to activate its innate immune system than humans have. The starlet sea anemone lives in coastal areas that face increasing pollution, and it is better equipped than a number of land, ocean, and freshwater animals to tolerate environmental stress……..
Biologists at Harvard University have determined that some African frogs carry concealed weapons: When threatened, these species puncture their own skin with sharp bones in their toes, using the bones as claws capable of wounding predators. The unusual defense mechanism is described by Harvard’s David C. Blackburn, James Hanken, and Farish A. Jenkins, Jr., in a forthcoming issue of the journal Biology Letters…….
Perhaps judging a man by his cologne isn’t as superficial as it seems. Duke University researchers, using sophisticated machinery to analyze hundreds of chemical components in a ringtailed lemur’s distinctive scent, have observed that individual males are not only advertising their fitness for fatherhood, but also a bit about their family tree as well……..
One dose of an insecticide can kill three generations of cockroaches as they feed off of each other and transfer the poison, as per Purdue University entomologists who tested the effectiveness of a specific gel bait. It is the first time that researchers have shown that a pest control bait will remain effective when it’s transferred twice after the first killing dose, said Grzegorz “Grzesiek” Buczkowski, assistant professor of entomology. Passing the insecticide from one cockroach to the next is called horizontal transfer……..
