Animal Behavior - Tumblr Posts

A very quick doodle (I know it’s a mess) based on the bizarre courtship displays of the superb bird of paradise and drawn very roughly in the style of Kate Beaton (my apologies). The lyrics are from Closer by NIN, and while it isn’t exactly my favorite song, it did inspire this comic. I’m posting this now because I’ve been seeing this fantastic animation by oliviawhen passed around tumblr and realized that I hadn’t actually posted this comic from a few months ago.

Ingo Arndt Animal Architecture

“Every day, all over the world, animals and insects set about the purposeful tasks of designing their homes, catching their prey, and attracting their mates. In the process they create gorgeous nests, shelters, and habitats. Capturing 120 of these wonders in all their beauty and complexity, Animal Architecture presents a visually arresting tribute to the intersection of nature, science, function, and design.”

Leopard slugs (Limax maximus) mating! While dangling on a thick line of mucus, both slugs extend their male reproductive organs from their heads and twine them together to exchange sperm.

Source. And diagrams of those dreamy sex organs.

Or violin strings...

This just in: spiders tune the silk threads of their webs like guitar strings

… and they use the distinct vibrational frequencies to help them locate meals and mates. Hear the full story of these good vibrations, from NPR’s Christopher Joyce, here. 

And watch our video!:

Major Migration

Q: Which animal has the longest migration route?  Bonus question: Since the [above animal] travels so much, their year is rather unique. What two things does it get in a year, that the rest of us miss out on? 

A: The Artic Tern (Sterna paradisaea)

(x)

The Arctic Tern’s convoluted migration route lands them the title of Longest Migration in the animal kingdom! Recent studies have placed the average length around 70,900 km (44,300 miles) for birds nesting in Iceland and Greenland and approximately 90,000 km (55,900 miles) for those nesting in the Netherlands! (x, x)

Every year they travel from the Arctic breeding grounds to the Antarctic, and back again.This means that they get two summers a year! The Northern hemisphere summer is spent at the Arctic breeding grounds, and they winter during the Southern hemisphere summer at sea, just North of the Antarctic ice! 

Because they get two summers per year, Arctic Terns also receive more daylight than any other animal on Earth! 

Breeding grounds (red) during the Northern Summer, wintering grounds (blue) in the Southern Summer, and migration routes (green). (Wiki Creative Commons)

If all that wasn’t impressive enough, just remember that Arctic Terns can live approximately 34 years. So if they average 70,900 km each year, that adds up to a whopping 2.4 million km in their lifetime. That’s equivalent to 60 trips around the world or 3 trips to the moon and back! (x)

Additional Reading:

Arctic terns’ flying feat: Same as three trips to Moon. (Reuters)

Egevang, Carsten, et al. “Tracking of Arctic terns Sterna paradisaea reveals longest animal migration.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences107.5 (2010): 2078-2081. (x)

A team of researchers has found a simple and unique way to considerably reduce stress levels and increase the welfare of monkeys living in a popular zoo.

The study, carried out by Durham University with Chester Zoo, found that planting a metre-wide barrier of tropical shrubs between the monkeys’ glass-fronted enclosures and the visitors’ viewing platforms reduced the animals’ stress-related behavior (such as showing their teeth and pacing) by more than half.

In addition to the significant overall improvement in the animals’ welfare after the shrubs were planted, the researchers found that stress-related behaviour specifically directed at the visitors, such as approaching the glass, reduced by 54 per cent. Instead, the type of behaviour monkeys would show in the wild, such as climbing and eating, increased by 13 per cent. The study also showed a 16 per cent rise in sociable behaviour, such as playing and grooming each other. (Source)

Photo by Fiona Rogers.

i wish birds brought ME presents

[Image source/ article]

The Genetics of Domestication

If you’ve ever owned a cat, you know that sometimes they feel only half domesticated, ready to become wild animals the second they make it out the door. But housecats are, in fact, genetically distinct from their wild cousins, having been domesticated some 10,000 years ago, right around the time that humans developed agriculture and settled into what became the beginnings of human civilization.

Today’s domestic cats are directly descended from the Near Eastern Wildcat (also called the African Wildcat) about 10,000 years ago, when it is thought that the desert dwelling wildcats started hunting the rodents that were attracted to the newly established grain stores that came with agriculture. Cats kept the rodent population down and in return were given a warm, dry place to sleep and a steady supply of food, leading to a sort of self-domestication where “they just hung out […] and humans tolerated them.” The more social the cats became, the more stable their place with humans was, leading eventually to cats becoming the most popular pets in the world.

A new study published recently in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science examined the genomes of 22 domestic cats and compared them to the genomes of two European and two Near Eastern Wildcats. The researchers identified at least 13 genes linked to domestication, as they have clearly changed between wildcats and housecats. These genes are linked to things like learning, memory, and behavior: all things that make housecats more social than their solitary cousins. The idea that housecats are social may surprise some of you, but try petting that adorable wildcat next time you’re on the African savannah and you’ll see just how social Professor Snugglepants really is.

Another important set of genes uncovered by this study is involved with the migration of neural crest cells, stem cells that are immensely important in the developing embryo and control everything from skull shape to fur color. This finding supports the hypothesis that these cells are the ultimate controller of domesticity, something that would explain why domesticated animals share many similar traits such as smaller brains and certain coloration patters.

This is important because the main trademark of domestication is sociability, not only with other cats in this case but with humans and other animals such as dogs as well, which were domesticated some 30,000 years ago. The genes that control domestication may also control social development on an evolutionary scale, which could tell us something about how early humans evolved to be the social butterflies we are today.

References:

http://news.sciencemag.org/archaeology/2013/12/when-cats-became-comrades

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_wildcat

Submitted by Kelsey M., Discoverer.

Edited by Jessica F.

Video: Dolphins surfing

So fun! Have a nice weekend!

Video credit by Dave Riggs

Fact 5067: Japanese honeybees kill hornets by enclosing them in a ball of bees, and then shaking so fast and generating so much heat that they cook the hornet at 115°F.

Picture from here, video from here, and song by Jason Derulo feat. Snoop Dogg

(waggle waggle waggle)

Seeing Without Eyes

The octopus has a unique ability. It can change the color, pattern and even texture of its skin not only for purposes of camouflage but also as a means of communication. The most intelligent, most mobile and largest of all mollusks, these cephalopods use their almost humanlike eyes to send signals to pigmented organs in their skin called chromatophores, which expand and contract to alter their appearance.

A new study by UCSB scientists has found that the skin of the California two-spot octopus (Octopus bimaculoides) can sense light even without input from the central nervous system. The animal does so by using the same family of light-sensitive proteins called opsins found in its eyes — a process not previously described for cephalopods. The researchers’ findings appear in the Journal of Experimental Biology.

“Octopus skin doesn’t sense light in the same amount of detail as the animal does when it uses its eyes and brain,” said lead author Desmond Ramirez, a doctoral student in the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Marine Biology (EEMB). “But it can sense an increase or change in light. Its skin is not detecting contrast and edge but rather brightness.”

As part of the experiment, Ramirez shone white light on the tissue, which caused the chromatophores to expand and change color. When the light was turned off, the chromatophores relaxed and the skin returned to its original hue. This process, Ramirez noted, suggests that light sensors are connected to the chromatophores and that this enables a response without input from the brain or eyes. He and his co-author, Todd Oakley, an EEMB professor, dubbed the process Light-Activated Chromatophore Expansion (LACE).

In order to record the skin’s sensitivity across the spectrum, Ramirez exposed octopus skin to different wavelengths of light from violet to orange and found that chromatophore response time was quickest under blue light. Molecular experiments to determine which proteins were expressed in the skin followed. Ramirez found rhodopsin — usually produced in the eye — in the sensory neurons on the tissue’s surface.

According to Oakley, this new research suggests an evolutionary adaptation. “We’ve discovered new components of this really complex behavior of octopus camouflage,” said Oakley, who calls cephalopods the rock stars of the invertebrate world.

“It looks like the existing cellular mechanism for light detection in octopus eyes, which has been around for quite some time, has been co-opted for light sensing in the animal’s skin and used for LACE,” he explained. “So instead of completely inventing new things, LACE puts parts together in new ways and combinations.”

Octopuses are not the only marine mollusks whose skin can sense light, but scientists don’t know yet whether the skin of those other animals contains the light-sensitive opsins. If they do, Ramirez wants to understand how these two groups are related.“Do they all come from the same ancestral source or did they evolve multiple times?” he asked. “What kind of behaviors do the different groups share and what kind of behaviors does the skin sensing light underlie?”

Ramirez and Oakley are conducting new experiments that will seek to answer those questions and more.

So there is a dating sim about Angler Fishes (with accurate science!) called Benthic Love. It seems like a thing you would enjoy.

Oh my god

OH MY GOD

PLAY THIS GAME EVERYONE

What you all think about this? I think it brilliant. The cat can fulfill his desire to hunt and get some food.

Picture from here, video from here, and song by Jason Derulo feat. Snoop Dogg

(waggle waggle waggle)

We all know whether we’re left-handed, right-handed, or ambidextrous, but what about our cats? Thanks to Japan’s beloved Scottish Fold, Maru (previously featured here) and his younger tabby friend Hana, we’ve just learned how to figure it out. It’s cat science!

Maru and Hana’s human friend, YouTuber mugumogu, conducted an experiment offering each of them single pieces of food in a tall drinking glass. Watch and learn which hands paws the kitties favor. As always, Maru is full of surprised:

[via RocketNews24]

Bird of Paradise mating dance.

Home on the Road: This Octopus Just Loves Life in a Shell

Is this the original RVer? The veined or “coconut” octopus’s home is wherever it puts down its, well, shell. And we’re glad to announce there’s one parked in our Tentacles exhibit right now.

But it’s not just a coconut shell that this cephalopod settles down in. Our Curator of Husbandry Operations, Paul Clarkson, says that the veined octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) will “pick up anything at its disposal” to make a home on the road. This includes old cans, bottles, boots, shells and yes—coconuts. In fact, it’s proud to take up residence in any recently foreclosed property on the ocean floor. It’s all home as far as this cephalopod is concerned.

It could just be the ultimate recycler.

Octopus odyssey

Paul was recently part of a trip to the Philippines,  and his sole goal was to collect this curious cephalopod. The trip was organized by the California Academy of Sciences, which also happens to be the only other aquarium in the U.S. to have displayed them.

The dive site was near an old pier, which—unfortunately for the ocean, but perhaps not so much for the octopus—was rife with trash. He said they would often find the animals closed up in clam shells, with just their eyes poking out, surveying the scene. If spooked, Paul said, the octopus would “just duck down and close up the shell.” To move, it would pick up the shell and just hit the road.

This made life easy for the scientists on the trip. “To collect these octopuses, we would just take the whole house, with the animal inside. It was good for them, and easy for us.” The shell also furnished first-class accommodations on the flight to California.

Paul found that, if he was patient, the octopuses were quite sociable. “If we just sat still, with a crab or other prey, they would come right over and eat out of our hands.”

About the veined octopus

The veined octopus is found in Indo-Pacific waters, has a fist-sized body and lives to be a year old. Common prey items include crustaceans and small fishes.  

You can find it in our Tentacles exhibit, in the spot formerly occupied by the two-spot octopus, which has been moved behind the scenes. Don’t be surprised to find this vagabond displayed with some of the junk that commonly forms its home in the wild.

Watch a veined octopus make a home out of a coconut shell

Learn more about our Tentacles exhibit

This is Superman.

Superman is a tiny tiny little rooster who unfortunately was a little bit stunted in the growth area when he was a little chick.   

Brother and sister, born at the exact same time.

He eventually caught up but by then the flock had basically bullied him so much for being tiny he’d been entirely ostracized and turned into a complete loner so now he has to live all by himself over with the cows, but he doesn’t care one bit because now he’s the leader of four big brown four legged chickens and honestly who can say that.

Also he’s super-cuddly.

The URL links here.

From Franco and Monge-Nájera (2016).