Zooillogix

Pygmy Jerboa

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 02:15:50 -0500

Suck on this video, squares.

Thanks, Lydia.

Squids May See with Organ as Well as Eyes

Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:58:53 -0500

A new study at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, has shed some light (oh... ZING!) on how squids may use another organ, along with their eyes, to see.

Some squids have a light organ on them which they use to camoflauge themselves from predators below them. The organ is filled with a luminous bateria that the squid can activate to light up. The idea is that the squids can illuminate their organs to match the light coming from the surface of the water, thus confusing a rising, hungry fish or giant crab monsters recently loose from attacking deep sea oil drilling stations.

By studying the molecules of this organ, however, researchers have discovered that it is both capable of emitting AND registering light from the environment. It contains a protein also found in the squids' eyes that is used to "see" light.

Are you made of star dust? Because your light is registering in my organ.

The scientists are speculating that the organ may use these proteins to register the surface light and then match the baterial glow to it in order to best camoflauge the squid. They are also enthusiastic that it will shed light on the "mechanisms of controlling and perceiving light." What a nice way to justify your grant research money.

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How to Kill Fire Ants: Step 1, Zombifiy. Step 2, Explode Heads.

Thu, 21 May 2009 13:59:34 -0500

It seems like we've been covering zombie bugs a lot lately. The newest story comes from Texas, where researchers are trying out a new form of pest control on invasive fire ants: using parasitic flies to lay eggs in the ants brains, zombify them, and then explode their heads with emerging larvae. Seems reasonable.

We're under attack!

Researchers at Texas A&M's AgriLife Extension Service in Overton, in East Texas are experimenting by releasing four different species of phorid flies (a native predator of fire ants from their native South America) into fire ants' new habitats. The flies apparently "dive bomb" the ants, and lay eggs inside of them. The fly larvae then move into the ants' brains, hollowing them out. The ants wander aimlessly for two weeks like zombies, essentially without brains, until the larvae burst out of their heads like the Kool-Aid guy through the wall of your living room when you were a kid.

What do we want? Braaaaiiins! How are we going to get them? Braaaaiiins!

While the results have been promising, it may take more than a decade to determine if the flies have any real effect. Hmmm...I wonder if there's a fly that zombifies and explodes the heads of Texans. I could DEFINITELY find a market for that.

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Monkey Juice

Tue, 19 May 2009 10:17:16 -0500

by Katie the Lowly Intern

Does the sinking feeling of knowing you could have gotten what you wanted had you made better choices in life sound familiar? Like how if in college, had you gotten a real degree, set goals for yourself, and not tried to buy friendships with your credit card, you could possibly now have a steady job, ambition, and friends? If it does, then you may rest easier tonight knowing there is a term for that: "fictive thinking". And guess what... monkeys get it too!

Researchers at Duke University have concluded that monkeys don't respond solely to direct punishment or rewards for their actions. They can, according to the scientists, actually adjust future behavior when shown the reward or punishment they would have received had they chosen to behave differently.

The guys at Duke demonstrated this by setting eight different cards face down in front of a single monkey, each of the eight cards corresponding to a certain amount of juice. Monkeys like juice enough to cooperate with this insultingly childish experiment, apparently. After the monkey picked his one card, he was shown what amounts of juice he could have gotten had he chosen one of the other cards. The wires that were stuck into the brain of these live monkeys showed that their little chimpy neurons fired like crazy when they were shown the bigger prizes they missed. In following trials, the monkeys tended to pick the card that corresponded to the biggest prize from the first trial.

It is thought that this research can be used to further our understanding of how compulsive gamblers think, and that it may correlate to their obsession with the "what could have been". The monkeys at Deep Sea News are hoping they further understand this really soon. In the end, the monkeys got their juice and the scientists got their fellowship funding.

Now here's Teka performing her dance hit, "Monkey Juice":

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Squirrels + Excitable UCLA Film Students

Thu, 14 May 2009 12:19:38 -0500

Thanks to the Shmata Kid for the link.

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FYI

Wed, 06 May 2009 11:16:16 -0500

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Training Circus Lobster

Wed, 06 May 2009 10:41:56 -0500

I cannot train my dog Mathman not to pee on the damned carpet but New England Aquarium's senior trainer, cryptically known simply as "Erin", can teach a lobster to score higher on the GRE than me.

As some readers of this blog may know, I have long been concerned with growing Lobster / Human tensions as illustrated in this alarmist Geocities site I created in 2000 while hungover in Belgium at "work." So the question I pose is this: will training lobsters lead to mutual understanding or merely create more efficient killers ala the CIA and Taliban circa 1985?

Although it might not make Letterman's "stupid pet tricks" anytime soon, this video of a lobster trained to stick its claw through a hoop before getting fed is pretty cool. The lobster equivalent of "giving paw" perhaps...

Even cooler, here Erin has taught the lobster to roll-over.

Learn more about Erin's lobster walking, day care and grooming service here. I am eagerly awaiting a promised video of a lobster catching a Frisbee and returning it to the thrower, then barking "I Love You!"

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Kate Discovers that Dancing Can Cause Volvox

Mon, 04 May 2009 22:46:04 -0500

by Katie the Lowly Intern

Researchers at Cambridge University have debunked the long standing myth that freshwater algae can't dance. Volvox, while sounding like a herpes medication for mad scientists, is a spherical algae organism made up of only about 1,000 cells. They get their swerve from their flagella (think sperm tails) which they wag around until they create a flow of fluid. This flow of fluid causes them to stay in bound movements with each other; one movement being called a "waltz" and the other a "minuet." Scientists think that the oscillating dance moves make it easier for the microorganism to fertilize their foxy Volvox partner.

swing yer half a millimetre in diameter partner 'round

Professor Raymond E. Goldstein, the Schlumberger Professor of Complex Physical Systems in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics (DAMTP) said: "These striking and unexpected results remind us not only of the grace and beauty of life, but also that remarkable phenomena can emerge from very simple ingredients."
Mathematicians are very easily amused.

Take a look at these videos if you're looking for ways to freshen up your moves, Volvox style. I know mine have become a bit stale.

The Waltz:

The Minuet:

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Zombie Spiders Return from the Dead to Haunt Your Dreams

Tue, 28 Apr 2009 18:06:41 -0500

So you start out with a simple experiment, so simple in fact, that it sounds like Andrew and I came up with it when we were seven: How long do different species of spider survive underwater? You take 120 wolf spiders of three different species that live in marsh lands, and you submerge them underwater until they drown. Simple enough. Some live 24 hours, some 28 hours, and some 36. Ok, that's a long time, but it makes sense as these creatures live in marshes so they must have adapted to survive submerged for extended periods of time. It is then, however, that things take a turn for the horrifying.

As you're weighing out the dried out spider corpses, you notice that some of them start twitching. Then more and more begin twitching. Then all of a sudden, most of them are alive again. Not only are they alive, but they have grown to five times their normal size, have become exponentially more aggressive, and violently attack your entire research staff.

A scene from Left for Dead 3

While the last sentence of that previous paragraph was not, not false, the rest is completely true. Researchers at the University of Rennes in France had just this experience recently when conducting just such an experiment. It turns out the marsh dwelling wolf spiders are able to put themselves into comas, effectively changing their metabolic process to no longer require air, in order to survive long periods underwater.

"This is the first time we know of arthropods returning to life from comas after submersion," Julien Pétillon, one of the lead researchers told National Geographic.

I wish I could have put myself into a coma to survive Andrew's wedding last summer. Borrrrrring.

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Robotic Autonomous Flying Penguins. Festo = Skynet

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:59:46 -0500

Festo is officially my new favorite company, supplanting Gama-Go even with their squid wallets. With a seemingly limitless budget to create non-commercially viable robots, Festo is run by Morgan Freeman, who now goes exclusively by the moniker Lucius Fox.

As if flying death jellyfish weren't enough, Festo now brings us flying death penguins... Death March of the Penguins if you will.

Lucius you sly bastard.......

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Seasick Fish

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 14:33:13 -0500

A German scientist has been putting his funding to good use by placing a tank full of goldfish into a plane and then having the plane free fall to simulate zero gravity conditions in order to determine once and for all whether fish are susceptible to seasickness. A) They are. B) What the &%#@?

What is it with Germans and their experiments?

Dr. Reinhold Hilbig, a zoologist from Stutgart, tested 49 fish in the experiment. Eight of them, apparently, began turning in circles.

"The fish lost their orientation, they became completely confused and looked as if they were about to vomit. In the wild such a 'seasick' fish would become prey for others because they are incapable of fleeing from danger," Dr. Hilbig told the Telegraph.

Ok, let's see if we have this straight. If you put a fish into a plane and send the plane into a free fall and that fish is in the 16.326% of fish that are susceptible to free fall-induced seasickness and then you release the fish-- looking like it's going to puke and swimming around in uncontrollable circles-- back into the wild, it may be in danger of being eaten by a predator?

The answer is yes. It's called science.

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Cuddle-less Cuttlefish

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 10:59:24 -0500

by Katie the lowly intern

Just when you started to feel comforted by the surge of popular culture embracing cephalopods on TV, apparel and porn, scientists spoon out a dose of brutal reality. Researchers from University of Melbourne, University of Brussels and Museum Victoria have revealed another terrifying fact about octopuses. It's not enough that they can squirt ink, have beaks, move by jet propulsion, change colors in seconds, turn their eyes to keep their pupils horizontally oriented, have no bones and most horrifically: have eight arms... but give very few hugs*.

The original octo-mom.

Dr. Brian "Frightening" Fry, from U. of Melbourne, and his fellow octologists found that genes obtained from tissue samples showed that someone somewhere early in the evolution of cephlopods produced a venom protein. With each new generation, more proteins were added until now- as Dr. Fry puts it rather bombastically- they "have assembled their arsenals" of toxins.

Meaning that while the blue-ringed octopus is known to be extremely poisonous to humans, causing paralysis and respiratory arrest, it turns out many many more species are venomous. Just not so much to humans. Or maybe its like the daddy-long legs which has "the most powerful venom in the world, but just can't pierce human skin" which I learned on good authority from the kid down the block. Whatever the case, other creatures, like clams and crabs, aren't so lucky. The venom quietly shuts down their nervous system so the octopus can leisurely peck out their insides.

Big banks are not the only thing with toxic assets.

The team of researchers claim, of course, that this could lead to advancements in the treatment of cancer. It could also lead to the advancement of my nightmares.

* video of an actual octopus hug:

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For Thine Shot Glasses Are the Power and the Glory

Sun, 19 Apr 2009 22:10:03 -0500

New giftuses from Zooillogix readers and friends and, I must say, they are freakin outstanding. First and foremost, a long long overdue thank you to Liz of Surplus Cats who sent a Pittsburgh Zoo shot glass so long ago Ben hadn't even had his "operation" yet. It's an instant classic if I do say so myself, and I do.

Secondly, reader Emma has really outdone herself, and pretty much everyone else (except Liz who is exempt from being outdone) by sending four separate Vancouver Aquarium shot glasses and, as if that was not enough, a letter with shiny bird stickers!

Check out this sick letter

Emma asked if I might point out the work of Greyhaven, an exotic bird sanctuary in Canada, which looks like a place Zooillogix should be bringing attention to even if there wasn't a massive shot glass bribe involved. Emma told us a bit about Greyhaven:

"I'm a big fan of their work. They are super small but work their tail-feathers off to take in abandoned and unwanted parrots. They have a permanent resident named Spook a Patagonian Conure. Poor thing was illegally brought into Canada and lost an eye in transport. It is suspected he was stolen from his nest. When he came to Greyhaven, he had plucked nearly all his feathers out. Sounds like he had a real wanker of an owner. So he has one eye, a pretty head of feathers and otherwise looks like a walking mini butterball turkey." So if you're in the market for bird adoption, check them out!

So here is the collection as it now stands:

Adventure Aquarium
Aquarium of the Bay
Baton Rouge Zoo
Birch Aquarium at Scripps
Bronx Zoo
Brookfield Zoo
Cincinnati Zoo
Cleveland Metroparks Zoo
Florida Aquarium
Georgia Aquarium
Knoxville Zoo
Lincoln Park Zoo
Los Angeles Zoo
Maritime Center in Norwalk, CT
Milwaukee Zoo
Monterey Bay Aquarium
Mystic Aquarium
New England Aquarium
New York Aquarium
Newport Aquarium
North Carolina Aquarium
North Carolina Zoological Society
Philadelphia Zoo
Pittsburgh Zoo
Rio Grande Zoo
Ripley's Aquarium of the Smokies
San Antonio Zoo
San Diego Zoo
San Francisco Zoo
Santa Barbara Zoo
Sea World San Diego
Seattle Aquarium
Shedd Aquarium
Smithsonian National Zoo
South Carolina Aquarium
Tennessee Aquarium
Vancouver Aquarium

Send me shot glasses from your local zoo or aquarium in exchange for fame and fortune on Zooillogix!

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Newly Discovered Dolphin Spits at Prey

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:27:53 -0500

A new species of dolphin dubbed the snubfin has been witnessed displaying some very unusual feeding behavior off the northern coast of Australia. Apparently the dolphins were witnessed chasing fish to the surface of the water and then streaming jets of water out of their mouths to round the fish up before eating them.

I'm more of a Copenhagen mammel, myself.

"This incredibly unusual behavior, first seen in Australia off the Kimberley Coast, has only been noted before in Irrawaddy dolphins, which are closely related to this species," Lydia Gibson of WWF Australia told the Northern Territory News.

The snubfin was discovered officially in 2005.

Video of the snubfin in action below the fold...

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This Is How Giraffes Fight

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 16:10:56 -0500

You like that, son?

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