Ecology & Zoology

Elephant Seals Also Eat Squid

Despite my recent obsession with cetaceans, it's important to remember they're not the only cephalopod predators out there. Pretty much anything that can catch a squid will happily chow down on it, including other squid, fish, birds, and mammals. ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Oct 30 2010 - 12:01pm

Science For Halloween: Dracula Orchids And Goblin Spiders

Dracula orchids tempt flies by masquerading as mushrooms. Goblin spiders lurk unseen in the world's leaf litter. The natural world is often just as haunting as the macabre costumes worn on city streets, as highlighted by two studies published this ye ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 21 2011 - 11:03pm

Correction: Female Elephant Seals Eat Squid

Last night I had a fabulous evening with the Friends of the Elephant Seals, a remarkable collection of intelligent, informed, interested folks. And as often occurs, I learned at least as much information as I imparted, so now I can update my report on elep ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Oct 31 2010 - 7:44pm

Males More Considerate Than Stereotyped

Some males give back too- even when it comes to sex. Male worms plug females after copulation as a form of 'gift', a nice gesture, rather than to prevent them from mating again, as most had previously been thought, according to researchers writin ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 2 2010 - 10:31am

Land based plants get pushed back 10 million years

Let's be honest; life began on land.  I know, I know, that is blasphemy and Neil Shubin will stand on high and strike me down with my inner fish for saying such a thing, but while life began in water, life began on land.    And that took land plants. ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Nov 10 2010 - 4:00am

Bush Cricket Reveals Big Secret- "It's My Testicles!"

Because society demanded to know, researchers have discovered which species has the largest testicles in relation to body weight on the planet – and it's Tuberous Bush Cricket (Platycleis affinis) which has testes which are 14% of the male body mass. ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 9 2010 - 11:22pm

Stem Cell Research: Plant Biologists Have Been Successful For Decades

Plants often get shorted on attention among biologists.  Don't get me wrong-- there is a huge scientific community of plant biologists, field botanists, and agronomists out there, and plenty of research is conducted on plants.  For the bulk of biologi ...

Article - L.K. Tuominen - Nov 16 2010 - 10:02pm

Squid Can Fly, Hear, Teach, And Recover From (Over?) Fishing

I am 26,160 words into my squid racing novel, about halfway through the plot, and enjoying NaNoWriMo quite thoroughly. But I just had to pop out of my month of hibernation to link a few really cool squid-in-the-news stories. Evidence continues to build tha ...

Article - Danna Staaf - Nov 23 2011 - 7:28pm

Wi-Fi Is Making Trees Sick?

A study by  Wageningen University says radiation from wi-fi networks may be harmful to trees.    The researchers note that trees in urban areas in recent years have shown an increasing number of cracks, bumps, discolorations and various forms of tissue ne ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Nov 20 2010 - 11:40am

Pezoporus Flaviventris- New Species Of Ground Parrot Discovered

It used to be that broader understanding of zoology meant intuitively that new species would be harder to find and so it followed that there would be fewer of them when found- that is the nature of rarity. Now, because newer species are so rare, it is fash ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Nov 23 2010 - 11:36am