Zooillogix

The 6 Phases of a Tapeworm's Life

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 17:04:29 -0500

Zooillogix ran across some groundbreaking research being done on tapeworms. The linked abstract below takes you into the life of a tapeworm with extraordinary first hand detail. Enjoy.

I rate this PG-13

Truly, a remarkable piece of science. Only the best for Zooillogix readers.

Unlikely Friends

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:00:47 -0500

Get a room...

Special thanks to Hydia Blobinson for forwarding this along!

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Animals Gone Wild Web Cam

Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:42:24 -0500

Have you ever said to yourself, "Self, have you ever said to your self, 'What are African wild animals up to right now?'"
Now you can satisfy your self's overly demanding curiosity with National Geographic's WildCam. Don't worry, unlike most streaming webcam feeds, this is one you won't have to delete from your browser's history. The WildCam program is designed to inspire more talk about conservation by plopping viewers down right in the middle of the wild. Like, the real wild. Like, the no-messin-around-or-animals-gone-eat-you-up wild.

In an age where people are inundated with edited sound bytes, rapid-fire video clips, and computer-generated animation, WildCam's live streaming video gives viewers the time and space to develop a unique bond with the animals they watch. Some viewers even become "citizen scientists," making discoveries about animal behaviors and reporting them to local staff via the online WildCam forum.

And how they did it in remote places outside of any 3g network, I have no idea. I'm sure a series of tubes was involved. Check out the live feed here: http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/wildcamafrica/

And then, if you can handle it, watch the amazing "Animal Confrontation" highlight reel.
Warning: the 2:50 mark shows evidence of the carnivorous food-chain. Unfortunately, it's an auto play video, so I'm having to link to it instead of embedding. Here is it: Totally Radical Animal Confrontations

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WildAid Is Badass

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:39:31 -0500

I'm back. After a two month hiatus from posting due to the grand opening of Bullitt, my second bar in San Francisco, I have finally adjusted my schedule to accommodate posting, and I'm pumped.

First on my list: I have been looking for years for the best endangered species group to put my support behind. I think I've found it, WildAid. Do you know about them? If you live in Asia, then you have. If you live in the states, then maybe not. WildAid is, in my mind, the most badass endangered species preservation group in the world today. Started by wildlife investigators who were fed up with busting smuggling rings only to see the criminals walk free without prosecution, the group has evolved. Now not only do they work closely with governments to ensure bad guys are prosecuted for buying, selling, and moving endangered species animals and parts across borders, but they also have focused on quelling the demand for endangered species.

How, you ask? Only by securing over 180 million dollars of free media in Asia and enlisting some of Asia's biggest celebrities to kindly remind their country-people that ingesting, say, ground up tiger penis is tantamount to killing a beautiful, endangered tiger yourself.

We have no idea what this billboard says, but obviously it is yielding results.

Wildaid is currently working hundreds of celebrities in the U.S., China, India, and other Asian countries. Jackie Chan is spearheading the tiger issue and Yao Ming (among others) is helping to stop the Chinese huge demand for shark fin soup. Here's an English version of one of their...

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Biomimcry

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:41:50 -0500

Big news! Andrew and I have a new favorite institute! I've always said that Andrew has the same hair as a Cacajao calvus! I may give the Institute a small grant to study this bizarre similarity.

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Zartists Save the World, One Marmot at a Time

Sun, 10 Jan 2010 15:30:52 -0500

So you know how there aren't as many members of some species as there once was, and in fact some species that used to exist no longer exist? Well, some folks still haven't gotten the message.
In an attempt to bring more recognition (and funding) to the conservation cause, some mighty fine Zartists are collaborating on the Endangered Species Print Project. The project houses artwork that depicts endangered animals, but the print-run of each species' piece is limited to the number of individuals thought to still exist. For instance, a Zooillogix favorite: The Vancouver Island Marmot.

... there will only be 140 prints available.

In addition to the nature-geek eye candy, viewers of the artwork are can read information about the species' present status, habitat, threats to their survival, zodiac sign, and thoughts on the dwindling economy.
Each print purchase supports a conservation effort specific to that species. The above print benefits The Marmot Recovery Foundation (I wish I owned that domain name, marmots.org, so bad), and was created by Molly Schafer.

You must check them all out: http://endangeredspeciesprintproject.com/home.html

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My Shot Glass Collection Groweth

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 21:09:43 -0500

Atlantis. The Loch Ness monster. The National Aquarium. What do these things have in common? They were only fabled to exist, until now! I know what you're thinking, "I've been to the National Aquarium in Baltimore... and I love tater tots and also was once attracted to a cousin." Well, you'd be dead-wrong about the aquarium thing! How is that? Well that's because I'm not talking about the National Aquarium in Baltimore, but the actual 'National Aquarium ' which is in DC. DUH!

And who do we have to thank for proof of existence of this fabled institution? None other than Linda Lombardi of Animals Behaving Badly who was kind enough to venture forth to the National Aquarium and procure me a shimmering shot glass. From what I understand, her trip to the Aquarium was exactly like the plot of the film National Treasure, except without Nicholas Cage, who has sucked in every move since Leaving Las Vegas (yes yes The Rock. I know).

What's that you say? Your appetite for my wasting your time about my ridiculous shot glass collection is not satiated? Well, fear not because the venerable A.M. Barre of Star-Gazy Pie, an awesome blog with a laser-tight focus on "general stuff that lives underwater," was kind enough to get us (and by us I mean me) a PERSONALIZED shot glass from the Houston Aquarium. I can only assume that the Houston Aquarium contracted with a design firm and manufacturing facility to produce this heirloom-quality collectors treasure just for me.

The new tally: 41 zoo and aquarium shot glasses! Send me one I don't already have in exchange for fame and fortune on Zooillogix.

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Fish and beer- a nifty trick to dissect scientific articles

Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:12:20 -0500

There's a really good point that has been brought up many times about scientists. We suck at sharing our results with the public. Or sometimes we share, but in a way that very few people (scientists included) could understand. One of the problems may be a lack of emphasis on the big "So what?" People are much more interested if they understand the relevance of the findings to normal life. I find it helps to relate the concepts to more familiar things in my life.

For example, fish researchers from the University of New South Wales recently published a paper on the effects of small temperature increases on fish behavior. Here's how I translated the results to better understand the concepts presented in the study...

"The idea that fish have personalities may seem surprising at first, but we now know that personality is common in animal populations, and that this phenomenon may have far-reaching implications for understanding how animals respond to ecological and environmental challenges."

Some people are a-holes and some people aren't. This often depends on where they are.

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Who Doesn't Love Jello?

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 10:22:37 -0500

Spider monkeys + Jello = good times at the Bronx Zoo

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Speech by renowned primatologist and neurobiologist Robert Sapolsky

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 02:11:39 -0500

If you go through our archives, you won't find too many posts that rise above toilet humor or self-depreciation (I mean, why would you want to?), but I present the exception below. It's a long one, however it's incredibly interesting. I'm sure you'll feel smarter when you're done. And don't worry, we'll be back to posting about Benny's bat obsession or Andrew's batboy resemblance soon.
So we can look back on 2009 and know we didn't waste ALL of your time:

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Elusive half-man half-ape caught on video!!!

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 02:39:17 -0500

(c) NDR Naturfilm

Well, almost. Here's some info from the Wildlife Conservation Society's press release:

"With the assistance of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Cameroon Program, a film crew from the Hamburg-based NDR Naturfilm managed to video the elusive Cross River gorilla earlier this year in a stand of montane trees after weeks of effort in the Kagwene Gorilla Sanctuary. The protected area was created in 2008, with the guidance of WCS, specifically to protect the world's rarest great ape.

"These gorillas are extremely wary of humans and are very difficult to photograph or film," said Dr. Roger Fotso, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society's Cameroon Program. "Eventually, we identified and staked out some of the gorillas favorite fig trees, which is where we finally achieved our goal."

"It's unbelievable that one great ape subspecies has never been filmed for TV so far," said Jörn Röver, Head of NDR Naturfilm. "We hope that our international production helps to raise awareness for these magnificent creatures and the work of the WCS."

The only previous footage available of the rare apes was taken from a long distance with a shaky, hand-held camera in 2005 by a field researcher."

This clip is the first professional video of the elusive and highly endangered Cross River gorilla. It is the world's rarest great ape, numbering fewer than 300 individuals along the border of Nigeria and Cameroon.

(c) NDR Naturfilm

Too bad the only apparent video equipment the team had on hand was my dad's camcorder...

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Dats not a cave! You gots two coconuts and yous bangin em togetha

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:21:56 -0500

A research team led by Julian Finn of the Museum of Victoria in Melbourne has discovered octopuses using coconut shells as portable protection. Not only do they hide under single halves but will actually pull two halves together and hide inside, like some sort of Super Mario baddie. The video is remarkable.

Using tools means octopuses now join an elite club of wise animals including chimps, dolphins, and Tim Allen.

Thanks to Salem for sending this along.

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What do you mean he's my brother?

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:58:28 -0500

Research on the subject suggests that somewhere, somehow our squirmy reaction to incest can be expressed genetically. Because of natural selection and all that blah blah, it's thought that there exists a biomechanism that triggers incest avoidance in humans. Well, it looks like some very bold scientists have found a solid starting point for furthur research: lemur hoo-ha's.

Christine Drea, Marylene Boulet, and Marie Charpentier from Duke University carefully obtained genital gland secretions from 17 sexually mature female ring-tailed lemurs.
Side note: most species of lemurs live in completely female dominated societies. The only other mammal to consistently do the same is the hyena.

Those samples were compared to previously gathered samples from 19 males. Turns out they found the first molecular evidence of relatedness markers in the gland secretions. The scents of the lemur hoo-ha's were more similar the more closely related they were, thus providing a biomechanism to tell the lemurs who to wink at, and who not to.
The whole article can be found on the BMC website.

And I thought it was my brother's bathing and eating habits.

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Time to Play: Identify the Blurry Ant

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 11:07:41 -0500

An Indonesian Zooillogix reader, Harianto Talim, grossly overestimated our entomological abilities and asked us to help him identify an Indonesian ant that he has never seen before. In this blurry series of photos, you can see that the ant is bright orange and green and may or may not smoke cigarettes. It should be noted however that when confronted about the lighter in the ant's pocket by its mother, the queen, the ant claimed it just carries the lighter around to light other ants' cigarettes to look cool.

So nerdy readers, time to prove your mettle by identifying this random blurry ant! There will be a prize for whomever figures it out or, alternatively, whomever provides the most patently untrue answer.

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Census of Marine Life

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:32:03 -0500

Surely, you've heard about the Census of Marine Life, a 10 year long effort to "assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of marine life." You may have wondered why it took until 2000 to launch such a project, or why you didn't think to do it first.

This epic venture (which we've posted about here and here) is quickly coming to a close... snorkles are being given one last clean-out blow, goggles are getting a final spit rub, and wetsuits are being signed with "be-cool-stay-in-fish-schools." To mark the occasion, COML provided an end of the year press release last week, the full version of which is a Zooillogix-Recommended read. The following incredible video was included in the press release.
My favorite comment on the YouTube page: "Damn nature, you scary!"

We're eagerly waiting to see the whole thing be revealed in London on October 4, 2010. We'd do live reporting if Andrew was allowed to leave the lower 48.

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