Sponges are, healthy?

There are many benefits to use a sea sponge instead of a normal household sponge. A normal man made sponge usually consists of a petroleum base and has chemicals on it, such as triclosan, that effect the bodies nervous system and bodies hormones.  Sea sponges are biodegradable as well and produce no natural toxins. Sea sponges are better than normal sponges in many ways, such as they produce a natural lather that helps to nourish human skin. They are very soft and are hypoallergenic. Another reason is that they will save you money because they last longer than normal sponges and produce the natural lather. They also contain enzymes that inhibits the growth of mold and bacteria, so they are multi-purpose because they can now not only clean yourself but the area around it. Sponges also contain minerals. The minerals contained in sea sponges nourish and benefit the skin, they include, calcium, magnesium, sodium, iron, zinc, and potassium. Next time you think about buying a sponge go buy yourself a real sea sponge and save moolah.


Andrea. "Benefits of Natural Sea Sponges : Sustainable Skin Care." The Best Organic Skin Care. The Best Organic Skin Care, 22 Oct. 2015. Web. 23 June 2017.

Are Gorillas really that strong?

It's well known that Gorillas are pretty strong animals, their build alone is impressive. The way they pound their chest is also an indicator of their pure strength. But just how strong are they? not only that but, how strong are they compared to humans? To start, Gorillas don't use their back legs as much as humans do. Mainly because they move around on all fours, and not the classic two leg human stance. Also Gorillas weigh a whole lot more then humans, yet their still about to run at incredible speeds. Which shows that despite their huge weight difference, they can still out run a human.

Moving on to the upper body of a Gorilla, this is where they are their strongest. It is said that they are up to six times stronger in their upper body then their human counterpart. This gap is pretty significant, Gorillas are way stronger then humans. So if a Gorilla and a boxer decided to fight, ill take the Gorilla any day of the week.

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/articles/questions/how-strong-are-gorillas

Lemur tell you a tail

According to two new studies, the species' population of the ring-tailed lemur has fallen between 2,000 to 2,400 animals, which is a shocking 95% decrease since the year 2000. To put that number into context, there are now fewer lemurs living in the wild then there are living in the zoos around the world. Factors that have drove this decline were the rapid habitat loss, from deforestation, hunting, and the illegal pet trade that has been happening with the endangered species. The situation is so horrible that many of the sub populations now consist of fewer than thirty of the lemurs, and they have disappeared from at least 15 main sites that they used to call home since 2000. As a result of this research, ring-tailed lemurs are going to be included in the next editions of the biennial list of the world's 25 most endangered primates. And to stop this decline will only present numerous amount of challenges, although the situation can change, it can only be by the help of conservation efforts in Madagascar.


Citation:
Platt, John R. "Ring-Tailed Lemur Populations Have Crashed by 95 Percent." Scientific American Blog Network. Scientific American, 13 Jan. 2017. Web. 22 June 2017.

Stressing isn't the Bestest

Stress is a natural reaction the comes from our body's natural alarm system of the "fight or flight" response. This automatic response developed from our ancient ancestors in a way to protect themselves from potential dangers. Now a days we do not confront the threat of being eaten but we do confront other dead lines in our life. Stress is from when we are stuck in this fight or flight position and it can have long term or short term affects. There are short-lived minor stress that can have an impact on you like sweaty palms for example. But there is also Chronic stress, this stress is when it starts to interfere with your ability to live a normal life. The longer stress lasts the worse it can get for a person physically and mentally.

What we can do to prevent stress is:
-Identify what's causing the stress- You should monitor your state of mind throughout the day and make a list to organize your thoughts to become more efficient and to be able to set reasonable expectations for yourself.
-Build strong relationships- A relationships can be a source of stress but they can serve as stress buffers, so be sure to have somebody you can reach out to when you need a different perspective of life.
-Walk away when you're angry- Before reacting to a situation regroup your thoughts and reconsider, physical activities can also help work off stress too.
-Rest your mind- To distress yourself you should get the recommended seven or eight hours of sleep and to also cut off any distractions when you sleep at night. Also yoga and meditation is a good method to practice.
-Get help- Ask for help and consult with s therapist if you feel too overwhelmed.

Citation:

America Psychological Association. "How Stress Affects Your Health." American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association, n.d. Web. 22 June 2017

Eyes of the Mantis Shrimp.

The mantis shrimp is quite a interesting animal with quite the interesting set of eyes. The deep water predator has what is called a "compound eye" which is "made out of  thousands of small units that each detects light independently". Most humans have three types of cells called photoreceptors for detecting red, blue, and green light. However, within a mantis shrimps eyes there are "12 to 16 different  photoreceptors". This allows the mantis shrimp to see more colors but not in a way many would think. The mantis shrimp can detect ultraviolet light with their eyes in conjunction with the normal light spectrum visible to humans. Mantis shrimp react to this ultraviolet light in different ways; for example "they find some short wavelengths of UV so repulsive that they’ll avoid food that’s paired with those wavelengths".  Theories to why the mantis shrimp have ultraviolet vision are that it could do with "aggressive signaling" or it " might help it to process images very quickly without much contribution from its brain". This lack of more complex brain communication could be helpful for such a fast attacking predator. To add to the eyes complexity "The receptors that detect red to violet colours are connected to different nerves than the ones that detect UV, and both streams lead to different parts of the brain". This means that the mantis shrimp developed its over complicated way of sight two times.

Honestly the theory about how ultraviolet light could speed up and minimize brain function is both the most probable and also most interesting. I wonder if the ultraviolet light replaces or only adds to a reflex system like the spinal chord in humans. If it does it could be a twice as effective of a reflex system. Although if the ultraviolet reactions are involuntary than it would be pretty annoying to be a mantis shrimp who wants food under the wrong lighting. All I can say is it would be a really light - meal (pun always intended).

Yong, Ed. "Nature's Most Amazing Eyes Just Got A Bit Weirder." Phenomena. National Geographic |Phenomena, 04 July 2014. Web. 21 June 2017.



  

Why Feeding Dolphins Is a Terrible Mistake

When dolphins are fed in the wild, there is a greater risk of injury and death for them. Whether it is intentional or accidental, feeding  dolphins is illegal under the  U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.  Even  accidently dropping bait into the ocean poses a threat for dolphins. As dolphins learn that they can find food near/from humans, they come closer and closer to boats. Often times dolphins are injured by hitting a boat or getting entangled in fishing nets. Recently, many dolphins have been found dead with fishing hooks engorged in them or found in their stomachs along with many other injuries cause by human interaction. Around 20% of dolphins studied had interactions with humans and nearly a third of them died from injuries cause by the interactions. Over the years these encounters have increased as their has been a rapid increase of boats on the water that are in close proximity to dolphins habitats. This increases the possibility of injuries and deaths in dolphins. Studies have also shown that these habits in dolphins tend to stay once they realize they can get food from humans. Dolphins are highly intelligent animals and once they see a place to get food easily, they tend to stick around. I think this research is important to see how much of a devastating impact humans have on the wildlife, especially in the ocean. Just by carelessly dropping bait into the ocean or even feeding a "starving" dolphin can contribute to their painful death. I think it is crucial that humans learn to not feed animals in the water as it can cause many deaths of marine animals such as the dolphins.

Mote Marine Laboratory. "Feeding wild dolphins can hurt them, new study says." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 13 February 2017

Male Peacocks Mating Call

             


                Researchers wanted to get the reveal the total process of the male Peacocks mating call. They included a biologist Roslyn Dakin on this project and they studied a move that peacocks  do before the females arrive called "shivering". In other words they're just reshuffling their feathers. The researchers continued to studied feathers in a lab. They found out that Rattling birds shake their shorter stiff tail feathers which makes a chain reaction to the fan feathers making them vibrate at the same frequency. Studies show that male peacocks with a lot of eyespots on their wings have more luck with the females.

Reviving Dinosaurs

   Dinosaurs have been extinct for more than 65 million years. That's long before any humans were around to observe their behaviors.

    First researchers start with fossils. These are the preserved remanis of the dinosaurs or the foot prints and other traces they left behind. These remains can provide an idea of a creature's overall size and shape. The process is quided by subtile features on well-preserved fossils that indicate the size and location of a creature's muscles and tendons. such soft tissues normally don't get preserved as fossil(the way that bones sometimes do). So researches typically reconstruct a dino's musicals and tends based on what they see in living creatures today. 

     Now biomechanicists get to work. these scientists study how living things move. Working with computer programmers. they simulate how dinosaurs might have walked ripped open prey or tried to defend themselves from predators. These simulations can be quite detailed. And besides helping moviemaker. They can help scientists figure out what questions need to be answered.

Reaction: This is interesting on a topic of creatures that don't exists anymore its all just a guess.      

Questions: Are they more reptile or mammal?

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/reviving-dinosaurs-computers-recreate-eating-walking-ancient-creatures

-Posted by Maverick Sumner 

These Killer Whales Exhale Sickening Germs

The article I read is " these killer whales exhale sickening germs." Veterinary pathologist Stephen Raverty studied whales off the west coast of the west coast of north america. he was trying to find out if the breath of killer whales was causing disease since the population of these whales had decreased by 20 over the post 20 years. Raverty decided to take to take samples of whale breath/saliva by using 95.5 meter pole and colet liquid droplets from 12 whales, Their exhaled breath did host disease causing fungi and bacteria since microbes lived in the whales lungs. possible reasons whales contracted disease may be due to farm run-off into the ocean of urine and faces.

Reaction: I didn't know they take samples of the whales breathe. its pretty cool that the researchers can stretch a 5.5 meter pole over a whales blowhole as it surfaced to collect fluid/ saliva to test whale breath for disease. 

Citation: Oosthoek Sharon, These killer whales exhale sickening germs May 15,2017 science news for student. org

-Posted by Ella Worthington

Protecting Pets

In March of 2017, San Francisco passed a law to help shelter animals find homes. It states that pet stores must sell dogs and cats from shelters and rescue groups only. I think that this new law will send a message to any breeders who treat animals cruelly, and protect against animal abuse. Some breeders run puppy and kitten mills, where they raise hundreds of animals at a time in cramped, unsanitary spaces. The animals often go without enough food or water, or proper medical treatment. This law was enacted to combat this treatment and provide a hopeful life for homeless pets. 

http://scienceworld.scholastic.com/Biology-News/2017/04/To-the-Rescue

DomestiCATed

DNA recently found at archaeological sites reveals that the origins of domestic cats are in the Near East and ancient Egypt. The DNA analysis also revealed that most of these ancient cats had stripes: spotted cats were uncommon until the Middle Ages, when they became more genetically diverse. They used the DNA from bones, teeth, skin, and hair of over 200 cats found at archaeological sites in the Near East, Africa, and Europe.The DNA analysis revealed that all domesticated cats descend from the African wildcat or Felis silvestris lybica, a wildcat subspecies found in North Africa and the Near East. Today, we have all different kinds of cats and can enjoy their domesticated nature.

KU Leuven. "Ancient DNA reveals role of Near East and Egypt in cat domestication." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 June 2017. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170619125825.htm>.

Why are octopuses suckers so strong?

Have you ever wondered how octopuses are able to cling their tentacles onto practically everything they come across? Probably not, but i'm gonna tell you how they do it anyways. Octopus use what is called their "suckers", or those white round things in that picture above. These "suckers" are responsible for the tentacles ability to cling onto things. Researchers from Livorno, Italy discovered through using a microscope that each and every sucker is rimmed with tiny concentric grooves responsible for sealing onto things in the deep sea. Scientists have since become fascinated with this discovery and have tried to replicate the octopuses sucker by developing soft-bodied robots. These robots were then used to simulate the ability of the sucker to latch onto different uneven objects at great water pressures. The results these scientists got from their experiments were magnificent as the suckers were able to latch onto every test object they placed the suckers on.

Courage, Katherine Harmon. "Octopus Suckers Have Groovy Secret for Strength." Scientific American Blog Network. SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, A DIVISION OF NATURE AMERICA, INC., 1 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 June 2017.

Is octopus ink the same ol' stuff as pen ink?

As you may or may not already know, most octopus have ink sacs. These sacs are a very important variable for the octopus as they use the ink to work as a defense mechanism when under attack. The ink acts as a distraction/eye and smell irritant againt the predator, putting them in a stINKY situation. So, what does this magical life-saving ink have in it? Simply put, this ink is composed of highly concentrated melanin, the same pigment humans have which conducts our beautiful skin and hair color.  Like most Cephalopods, a subgroup of marine invertebrates in which the Octopus family belongs to, this concentrated melanin is a natural dye that octopuses manufacture in the ink sac. So does this ink have any thing in common with the ink we use in school? Nope. This is because today's pen ink is made up of synthetic dyes and compounds, all of which are practically man made. How nutty is that?!

King, Nancy. "Is Octopus Ink Similar to Fountain Pen Ink?" The Octopus News Magazine Online. Deep Intuition, LLC, 28 Dec. 2013. Web. 20 June 2017.

Strauss, Bob. "10 Fun Octopus Facts." ThoughtCo. ThoughtCo, 28 Apr. 2017. Web. 20 June 2017.

The Echiura or spoon worms, are a group of marine worms, most of which live in burrows in soft areas. This annelid-like animal group was once considered as a separate phylum because of the absence of segmentation. Although recent molecular analyses have placed it within the annelids. This grouping agrees with the presence and absence of marked sexual dimorphism involving dwarf males and the paired/non-paired configuration of the gonoducts (genital sacs). Furthermore, the data supports the sister group relationship of Echiuridae and Urechidae. These two families share the character of having anal chaetae rings around the posterior trunk as a synapomorphy.

Goto, Ryutaro, Tomoko Okamoto, Hiroshi Ishikawa, Yoichi Hamamura, and Makoto Kato. "Molecular Phylogeny of Echiuran Worms (Phylum: Annelida) Reveals Evolutionary Pattern of Feeding Mode and Sexual Dimorphism." PLOS ONE. Public Library of Science, n.d. Web. 20 June 2017.

The Cnidaria phylum consists of 9000 different species of aquatic animals. The stingers of all cnidarians are used to capture prey. The majority of cnidarian species are not dangerous to humans. They tend to be symmetrical, and anemones resemble flowers but they have mouths. The two body types of cnidarians are called polypoid and medusoid. Polyploids have tentacles and mouths that face up, while the tentacles and mouths of medusoids face down.

http://www.oceanicresearch.org/education/wonders/cnidarian.html

Recent molecular phylogenetic analysis has shown that the marine animals known as peanut worms are not a separate phylum, but are definitely part of the family of annelids. Also known as segmented worms. This is a classification that seemed questionable in the past in view of the fact that peanut worms or the Sipunculids, to give them their scientific name and have neither segments nor bristles. The latter are considered typical characteristics of annelids, which include more than 16,500 identified species and to which our common earthworm belongs.
Google Search. Google, n.d. Web. 20 June 2017.

All About Arthropods:
I read an article call, All About Arthropods, and I learned new and interesting facts about Arthropods. First the beginning of the article talks about how we live with them almost everyday, even in the very cold winter months as well as how they are everywhere and are the largest animal phylum which is about 85% of all known animals in the world are part of the class. Also, there are far more species of arthropods than there are species in all the other phylum's combined. The middle part of the article states that they are spiders, insects, centipedes, mites, ticks, lobsters, crabs, shrimp, crayfish, krill, barnacles, scorpions and many, many others. The third part of the article says, that their bodies are body made up of more than one part. For example, spiders have two segments and flies have three segments. 

Author: Leanne Guenther
Year:1998-2017
Title: Worksheet For Kids/ All About Anthropods
Published: June 20, 2017
Link: http://www.kidzone.ws/animals/arthropod1.htm

Sponges-Zimmerman

What are Sea Sponges? Their is a common misconception that Sea sponges are plants. In fact Sea Sponges are one of the worlds most simplistic multi celled organisms, a sponges scientific name is porifera. Porifera literally translates to "pore-bearing."  Sponges come in all different shapes, colors, sizes and textures. In fact there are over 5,000 sponges known to exist but only 12 are used for commercial use. Sponges where confused with coral and other plant life until the 1700's, when a Greek philosopher renamed sponges to "Zoofitan." This translates to half animal half plant. But in fact Sponges are all animal, They live without a brain, digestive, circulatory, or central nervous systems. A sponge still eats food even without a digestive system. The sponge will plant itself on a stationary object and let the ocean current move small organisms through the sponge. The sponge then filters out the water and eats the organisms. A sea Sponge will reproduce asexually using a process called budding. A single sponge will start having abnormal growths off the side of it and its is forming a new sponge. That is a sea sponge, a very simple multi cellular pore bearing animal.

Inc., The Sea Sponge Company™. "What Are Sea Sponges?" The Sea Sponge Company™ Inc. The Sea Sponge Company™ Inc., n.d. Web. 20 June 2017.

Odonate

                                                                       Odonata 

• Large, with long bodies.
• Large eyes with up to 30,000 ommatidia (facets).
• Minute antennae.
• Specialised mouthparts with strong teeth.
• Legs end in a powerful pair of claws.
• Two pairs of similar wings finely veined.
• 4,900 species worldwide, 130 European, 45 British Isles.
• Fossil record goes back over 300 million years.

Adults are strong fliers and eat other insects, especially mosquitos black flies and other small flies, that they catch. They have a row of stiff bristles on either side of their legs, so the three pairs form a basket to scoop flying prey. BUT because of the positioning of the front legs Odonata cannot walk or crawl. Males are highly territorial, and will chase off other males.

Dragonfly flight speed has been recorded as 7.0 metres per second with a wingbeat of 38 per second.

Females and males of the same species are often different colours, and younger adults are usually a paler colour than older ones.

They have about 10 or 11 abdominal segments. All males have a pair of claspers on segment 10, and their reproductive organs on segment 2 or 3. In females the ovipositor is in segment 8 or 9. When adults die the colours fade very quickly, and in many species the powdery blue colouration easily rubs off.

Smith, L. (n.d.). Odonata (dragonflies 1, 2, and damselflies). Retrieved June 20, 2017, from http://www.bumblebee.org/invertebrates/Odonata.htm

Cilli Centipedes

Stone Centipedes, lithobiomorpha or even stone dweller, are centipedes from the uniramia family. They are traditionally 1 to 2 inches longs and brown in their color. The most common have 18 body segments with fifteen pairs of legs. Stone Centipedes like to be under bark, on stones, in soil or under decaying material in gardens. There are about 500 species of stone centipedes and are primarily indigenous to Europe. They consume insects and other small invertebrates such as earthworms and have a lifespan of about 3 years. Stone centipedes are one of the fastest moving Centipedes and have venomous claws that are used to catch their prey. Stone centipedes are harmless to people and are rarely found indoors. Just ignore them when you find them in your garden or other places around the outside of your home. Should you find any in your home, physical removal is the only necessary control. Insecticides are not necessary. Centipedes are related to insects but are classified as their own group. There are many similarities between centipedes and that of millipedes,  which are closely related, but they are very easy to distinguish between. First, centipedes have one pair of conspicuous legs per body segment while millipedes have two pairs of very short legs per body segment. Centipedes also move more quickly while millipedes are slower. Centipedes have flattened bodies with a conspicuous pair of antennae while millipedes possess cylindrical bodies and very short antennae.

Viewing Families in the Order "Lithobiomorpha" (Stone Centipedes). (n.d.). Retrieved June 20, 2017, from http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/browse/order.php?bid=311#b

Stone centipedes. (n.d.). Retrieved June 20, 2017, from https://www.extension.umn.edu/garden/insects/find/stone-centipedes/

Super sneaky Cnidarian creature thingys

Cnidaria is a phylum containing over 10,000 species of animals found exclusively in aquatic environments: 

they are predominantly marine species. Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that they use

mainly for capturing prey.Most cnidarians prey on organisms ranging in size from plankton to animals several times 

larger than themselves, but many obtain much of their nutrition from dinoflagellates, and a few are parasites.

 Not all cnidarians reproduce sexually, with many species having complex life cycles of asexual polyp stages and 

sexual medusa.While reef-forming corals are almost entirely restricted to warm and shallow marine waters, other 

cnidarians can be found at great depths, in polar regions, and in freshwater. Fossil cnidarians have been found in rocks

 formed about 580 million years ago, and other fossils show that corals may have been present shortly before 490 

million years ago and diversified a few million years later.

Dead Eyes

The complexities of the nervous system will undoubtedly be a mystery for generations to come. In fact, often in the pursuit of an answer more questions are provoked. One example of this is when researchers at John Hopkins School of Medicine were conducting experiments with the optical nerve in mice. These researchers found that despite severing the connection to the brain, the cornea of the eye continued to dilate and contract depending on the light conditions of the environment. This came as a surprise since it had been previously believed that the complex system of muscles required in the sensory and response of this process was controlled by the brain. These discoveries imply that the majority of sight could be controlled by a photosensitive reflex arc. Ph.D King-Wai Yau, a neuroscientist at the Johns Hopkins said, "The traditional view of this reflex is that light triggers nerve signals traveling from the eye's retina to the brain, thereby activating returning nerve signals, relayed by the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, that make the sphincter muscle contract and constrict the pupil." This opinion was disproven by Yau research and experiments with the optical system. Yau has proven that the optical nerve does not affect the contraction of the sphincter, but the muscle itself has light sensitive components. John Hopkins conducted experiments by severing the optic nerve and blocking acetylcholine. If the muscle contracted under light then there is indisputable evidence that the sphincter is responsive.

The results showed that the melanopsin in the mice's eyes allowed them to be able to contract and dilate their eyes without a signal from the brain and optic nerve. While this result is revolutionary in the study of primitive vertebrates, it is believed that the optic nerve and brain became much more involved in the process. Humans and other primates rely much more heavily on the external signals rather than those from the sphincter.



Work Cited:

Johns Hopkins Medicine. "A no-brainer? Mouse eyes constrict to light without direct link to the brain." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 19 June 2017<www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170619092201.htm>.

King-Wai Yau, Ph.D." John Hopkins Medicine. John Hopkins Medicine, n.d. Web. 19 June 2017. <http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/results/directory/profile/7456451/king-wai-yau>.

A Toad Invasion

The Cane Toad is an invasive species that is natively found in Hawaii. After being introduced to fight the agricultural pests the Cane Toad became a prevalent pest that is wreaking havoc on the North-east Australian environment. Being highly poisonous in nature and having almost no predator in the Australian ecosystem has allowed the toad to spread unchecked for nearly eighty years.  The Queensland Quolls are one unfortunate victim of the invaders. Their population decreased dramatically and continues to decrease. Researchers from the University of Melbourne believe that the quolls can be trained to recognize the poisonous toads and avoid eating them and dieing. Ella Kelly, a researcher from U of Melbourne, said "Queensland quolls are toad-smart, which means they avoid cane toads as a prey item. 

National Geography            ABC 

The researchers are taking the quoll to an island heavily populated by the cane toad. In the future, the quoll will hopefully pass on the information through the generations. This does not solve the underlying problem, but at least for now the quoll will not be yet another unfortunate conclusion to humanity's impact on the global ecosystems.

Work Cited:

Morris, Lulu. "Quolls Trained to Stay Away from Poisonous Cane Toads." National Geographic. National Geographic, 22 May 2017. Web. 19 June 2017. <http://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/australia/quolls-trained-to-stay-away-from-poisonous-cane-toads.aspx>.

Schubert, Steven. "'Cane-toad-smart' Quolls to Be Bred in the NT." ABC News Australia. ABC News, 20 May 2017. Web. 19 June 2017. <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-05-21/cane-toad-smart-quolls-to-be-trained-in-the-northern-territory/8544956>.

Therapy Animals and Possible Health Risks

Many hospitals, elder care centers, and other types of government service centers employ the aid of therapy animals but their regulations vary widely, some not even following the recommended guidelines for animal visitation. These animal-assisted intervention (AAI) programs are increasing in number, which brings the question of "Is this healthy for patients and the animals" into play. Many have pet allergies and there is a risk that zoonotic disease made spread. Zoonotic disease is especially dangers when proper health protocols are not observed carefully. Different facilities were surveyed and seven percent were found to not require a rabies vaccination. 
More rigorously made and informed guidelines and rules need to be put in place in order to protect not only the patients in the care facilities but the animals used to help them. When the proper requirements are not put in place, many, especially those who may have immune system deficiencies. Hopefully, soon enough these types of regulations will be put in place to protect every thing. 


Could therapy animal visitation pose health risks at patient facilities? (2017, June 19). Retrieved June 19, 2017, from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/06/170619092208.htm

How a Flamingo Balances on One Leg

By: ScienceNewsforStudents

Susan Milius on June 12, 2017

Flamingos have balance aids built into their bodies. This helps them balance on one leg without much muscle effort. Even though flamingos look relaxed, they still work hard to stay upright. The flamingo’s pressure in their foot increased to 5.1 millimeters from an average of 3.2 millimeters when they were active compared to when the flamingo is resting. The knee does not bend when the flamingo bends their lef, it is the ankle that bends. The center of gravity was close to the inner knee. I thought this article was interesting because I had no idea how flamingos stood on one leg.

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/how-flamingo-balances-one-leg

-Posted by Jessica Ryan

Massive insect migration

In the journal post, written on December 23, 2016 it informs how scientists recently finished a 10-year study of insect migrations in the southern part of the United Kingdom. 3.5 trillion aphids, moths, flies and other arthropods (including spiders) were migrating high overhead each year. The total weight of all those critters flying over the United Kingdom alone is equivalent to some 30 blue whales swimming high in the sky.

Migrations of insects do not look the same as bird migrations. Birds usually make roundtrip flights, from one location to another and back, each year. Insects have much shorter lives. As a result, their migrations usually are a one-way trip from their home to a new destination. The next generation of insects might make a return trip back to their parents’ home. 

Scientists showed medium-size and larger insects could migrate seasonally in the same direction, regardless of wind direction. These animals have specialized body parts that give them an advantage when flying against the wind.

Hu, Gao, Ka S. Lim, Nir Horvitz, Suzanne J. Clark, Don R. Reynolds, Nir Sapir, and Jason W. Chapman. "Mass Seasonal Bioflows of High-flying Insect Migrants." Science. American Association for the Advancement of Science, 23 Dec. 2016. Web. 19 June 2017.

Otters' Major Role

In the 1700s, otters were endangered because they were hunted for their thick, warm fur. By the time hunting of otters was banned in 1911, only 2000 otters were left.  To combat this decrease in population, scientist began moving otters to places where they had disappeared. This serves as a warning for poachers that are in operation today. I believe the same thing will happen to certain species like elephants who are hunted for their ivory tusks. Today there are around 125,000 otters, mainly in Alaska. The importance of otters should not be overlook, otters are a key factor in the environment. One of the otters' major food source is sea urchins. Without otters, there would be an overpopulation of sea urchins, which eat kelp. Without the otters the sea urchins would eat all of the kelp and leave many animals, such as seals and fish, without their major food source. Kelp also helps absorb carbon dioxide released in the air by cars and cause problems for other marine animals. This makes me realize how important one species, such as the otters, is to the environment, and without one species an entire ecosystem could be destroyed.


Kellaher, Karen. "All Classroom Magazines." Otters on the Job. Scholastic, Web. 19 June 2017.

Animal selfies!

In Cave Creek Regional Park, a park ranger named Mark Paulat set up a camera near a water basin because the water level was significantly decreasing and he wanted to know why. The water basin was home to a desert tortoise named Piccolo. Cave Creek Regional Park is within the Sonoran Desert, a historically dry and hot area with diverse wildlife. Many of these animals came from significant distances because they can smell the water in a pretty wide range. On the recordings, Paulat found animals ranging from rabbits to bobcats to owls and posted the videos on the park's Facebook page. He hoped those videos would encourage those that live near by to visit the park and those who maybe live farther away to explore outdoors more and experience nature themselves and not just through a computer screen. Paulat posts the videos along with a few factoids about the different animals pictured and some of the animals even take "selfies" as they inspect the camera, like this fawn. 

I think it's absolutely amazing how such a simple thing attracts so much attention. Animals visiting a water basin in the middle of a desert is not an uncommon occurrence, but so many diverse species caught on film drinking out of the same watering hole is insane. It's also interesting to see how the different animals drink. One of the animals that visited the water basin was an owl named "The Queen" who simply stood right in the water and bent down to drink, unlike a coyote who looked around cautiously and then began to drink that one would expect a dog to. The pictures of the animals are definitely worth the look, you may see something that you can declare as your new favourite animal. 




Sanders, R. L. (2017, June 18). Animal selfies: Hidden camera captures desert animals hamming it up. Retrieved June 19, 2017, from http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-science/2017/06/18/animal-selfies-hidden-camera-captures-desert-animals-hamming-up/390872001/

Can animals anticipate natural disasters?

 After a series of intense earthquakes struck Italy last year,  Martin Wikelski, a German scientist, rushed there to test an age old theory of whether or not animals can predict natural disasters. Wikelski tagged multiple farm animals on Pieve Torina, a farm in the Marches region of central Italy, to monitor their behavior looking for some drastic change in a consistent way before an earthquake.

The goal of this experiment was to hopefully find a change consistent in many animals and use that to predict several types of natural disasters and potentially save hundreds of thousands of lives. The data that Wikelski was able to reveal to the public showed a good deal of the animals moving in a distinctive way hours before each earthquake. He stated that “the animals predicted the major volcanic eruptions during these two years between four to six hours before”. Most of the animals did approximately the same thing before the disasters: “At night, the animals woke up and nervously walked around, and in daytime, they moved to a safe area”. Wikelski is now moving to publish his data to save hundreds of thousands of lives in the near future. So just remember, not only do animals make great pets, they could also save your life someday.

Povoledo, Elisabetta. "Can Animals Predict Earthquakes? Italian Farm Acts as a Lab to Find Out." The New York Times. The New York Times, 17 June 2017. Web. 19 June 2017.