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Archive for April, 2014


Asian Elephant Parental Care

April 30th, 2014 by clk5

 

I observed three Asian Elephants (Elephas maximus) at the Houston Zoo on a clear, temperate day. I focused my observations on interactions between the three elephants; a mother and her two children. The elephants were held in a large fenced-in enclosure with a pond, grassy areas, and sandy areas. The mother elephant I observed exhibited many examples of well-known elephant parental care strategies.

When I first arrived, only the mother elephant was in the enclosure. She was drinking from the pond when her two children were released into the enclosure one by one. The mother greeted her children by running her trunk over their faces. According to some studies, elephants use this “mouth check” to determine the health and mood of their companion. Scientists believe that elephants have distinct chemical differences in their breath that another elephant can pick up through their trunks (reviewed in Langbauer 2000). The calves also greeted each other in this fashion.

"Elephants-OregonZoo” by StuSeeger is licensed under the terms of the cc-by-2.0.

The elephants seemed to rely heavily on touch throughout my observation. The initial “mouth check” greeting was then followed by many more instances of contact. (more…)

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Posted in Natural history, Spring 2014 | Comments Off on Asian Elephant Parental Care

Foraging from Caches

April 28th, 2014 by akm6
File:Sciurus niger (on fence).jpg

An eastern fox squirrel (Sciurus niger). Image by Markus Krötzsch (CC BY-SA 3.0).

I observed the eastern fox squirrel, Sciurus niger, at various locations on the northern end of Rice University campus on February 3, 2014 in the early afternoon starting at 2:20 pm. On this day the skies were grey but not cloudy and the temperature was 46 degrees Fahrenheit. The wind was not that strong, but still very few squirrels were out. The squirrel habitats I observed were the woody and grassy areas of campus in front of the Lovett Hall building along Main Street. I observed squirrels in areas near human traffic such as university bus stops and in areas more isolated from human contact. During observation, I was initially at least 10 feet away from the squirrel subject at all times. However, there were instances when the squirrels traveled towards me in my direction.

I was most intrigued by a pair of squirrels in a grassy area by the bus stop that were both initially digging into the dirt and grass. The two squirrels were in their separate patches about eight feet apart and they were using their forepaws to remove the dirt from the ground. The digging action was very rapid and vigorous, as I could hear them scraping the grass and dirt away. Sometimes, the squirrels would stop digging and move a few inches and dig another hole. At other times, the squirrels would stop and put something into their mouths and start chewing. I assumed these objects to be cached food; however, I could not determine what type of food it was from the distance I was standing. The reason I believe the objects to be cached food is because the squirrels were digging in the grass for it, where no other types of plants besides the grass were growing. If the squirrels were eating grass roots, then I believe they would not have had to dig several holes in their respective grassy patches to search for the roots. Therefore, I believe they were foraging on previously stored foods. I saw this same digging/searching and eating behavior in two more squirrels that I observed that day.

What would cause the squirrel to store food? (more…)

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Posted in Natural history, Spring 2014 | Comments Off on Foraging from Caches

The Effects of Light Pollution on Tropical Rainforests by Proxy of Fruit-Eating Bats: A Comparative Review of Primary and Secondary Literature

April 18th, 2014 by avn3

 

Ever played a game of telephone? Indubitably, the more complex the starting message, the greater it is warped in the end. However, what if, at every point, the next person was able to review the original message? To add another condition, what if there were only two people playing: the beginning and the end? Scientific papers are often too complex and dense for a general audience, so it is up to another middleman, journalists, to convey the messages of the papers, often resulting in distortion of the researchers’ findings. Let us examine an article by Mark Kinver that summarizes a study conducted by Daniel Lewanzik and Christian C. Voigt about bats, light pollution, and seed dispersal.

The original study begins by highlighting that the impact of artificial light at night on animals is worth examining because many nocturnal animals are sensitive to the natural lighting of the night already, and the presence of artificial light could be an all-night experience for these animals. Dr. Lewanzik and Dr. Voigt chose to study one of the most famous nocturnal animals: the bat (famous enough to warrant its own superhero).  An aside explains that fruit-eating bats are highly critical to seed dispersal in tropical rainforests, which, as many know, are experiencing a decline.  In particular, Sowell’s short-tailed bats (Carollia sowelli) were studied due to their important role as the main disperser of pepper seeds, making them key players in the regeneration of forests.

Carollia brevicauda, a relative of Sowell's short-tailed bats. Photograph by Diego Lizcano (CC BY 2.0).

(more…)

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Posted in Science communication, Spring 2014 | Comments Off on The Effects of Light Pollution on Tropical Rainforests by Proxy of Fruit-Eating Bats: A Comparative Review of Primary and Secondary Literature

Antsy Ants and Their Group Movement Patterns

April 16th, 2014 by avn3

Neivamyrmex bohlsi. Image by: Alexander Wild (www.alexanderwild.com)

Ever watched ants forage for food? No? Do not fret then, for I have already done it for you. One afternoon on a partly cloudy day, I went to a local park and observed some rather small, vicious-looking red ants (order Hymenoptera, family Formicidae) as they traveled on the concrete of the sidewalk. Nearby was a field of grass, where their home probably was. What interested me about these ants was the way they traveled. There were two apparent intermixing groups of the same ants traveling in opposite directions, which can be seen in the rough diagram below. (more…)

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Posted in Natural history, Spring 2014 | Comments Off on Antsy Ants and Their Group Movement Patterns