Ecology & Zoology

A group of biologists have discovered seven previously unknown species of mammals on Luzon Island in the Philippines.  All of the species are forest mice, and each species lives only in a small part of Luzon.   Two of the new species live only in the Zambales Mountains (on Mt. Tapulao), two live only on Mt. Banahaw (south of Manila), two only in the Mingan Mountains of Aurora Province, and one lives only in the Sierra Madre of northeastern Luzon.According to Dr. Lawrence Heaney from The Field Museum, project leader and lead author of the publication, "These are wonderful little…

The last wild Arabian Oryx (Oryx leukoryx), an antelope species found only on the Arabian peninsula, (see figure 1) was shot in 1972, causing the species to be labled 'Extinct in the wild' by the IUCN (or the International Union for Conservation of Nature). A few days ago, a press release stated that this animal is the first ever to return from this precarious label to the less depressing category of 'Vulnerable' (after receiving an upgrade to the 'Endangered' stage in 1986). Figure 1: The Arabian Oryx (Source: IUCN) Due to successful breeding programs in captivity and re-…

Artists, man! They'll cut a square of sod out of your front yard, stick it on the wall, and call it a masterpiece. No, but actually this is quite cool: Film is said to be a dying medium, and Christopher Colville took that to heart for the "No Mirrors" exhibit that opens Thursday at RayKo Photo Center. He laid out a piece of photo paper and on it he placed a decomposing squid. The only light source was the natural phosphorescence given off by the animal as its body broke down. The result is a bizarre underwater dreamscape in black, blue, and white -- like a San Jose Sharks logo on LSD.…

One of the most exciting things about working with kids on science is that suddenly you have a dozen curious and eager eyes, much sharper than yours and much closer to the ground, who are alert to things that older eyes might have missed.  This summer, while we're teaching at the Trinity River Audubon Society, I am taking the opportunity to use these sharp eyes and bright minds to help me investigate patterns of biodiversity at TRAC. Trinity River Audubon Center is built on the old Deepwoods Lanfill, a notorious spot in Dallas that was a major source of pollution through the 80's and 90'…

Usually, you have to be insanely, insanely lucky to name a species. Not only that, after the ages spent finding and researching your animal, you then have the laborious process of getting your new species published. Well, here is your chance to cut out all that boring crap, and moreover, dispense with the latin pleasantries, and personally bestow a common name on a species. But not just one - there are 10 species names up for grabs, and it couldn't be easier to submit your name: simply post your name in the comments section of the relevant Guardian article. Last years organisms finally to be…

Domesticated rice, Oryza sativa indica (indica) and Oryza sativa japonica (japonica), are major staple crops in Asia.   Evolutionary biologists and historians have long wondered if both once had an original point of domestication in common, or they were domesticated independently twice.   The answer may be both.   Researchers from Sun Yat-Sen University, Beijing Institute of Genomics (BIG) and the University of Chicagostudied the kinship of rice by examining the 50,000 or so genes in the Asian wild rice O. rufipogon genome and comparing it to its domestic descendants. They…

My pal Julie Stewart tags Humboldt squid. She catches squid, attaches little recording devices to them, then drops them back in the ocean and waits for the tag to pop off a few days later. When it pops off, it's supposed to chirp out a satellite signal. That's Julie's cue to hop in a boat, pick up the tag and (hopefully) decode all the tag data to learn about the day-to-day lives of the squid. That's the ideal model, and it doesn't always work out. Tags malfunction and the ocean is unpredictable, and a certain number are lost at sea. It happens. What almost never happens is that a tag written…

The diving bell spider, Argyroneta aquatica, spend their entire lives underwater - they even lay their eggs in their 'diving bells'. A new study shows that each spider constructs a net of silk in vegetation beneath the surface and fills it with air carried down on its abdomen - and the spiders can use the diving bell like a gill to extract oxygen from water to remain hidden beneath the surface. Having already used an oxygen-measuring device called an optode to discover how aquatic insects extract oxygen from water through thin bubbles of air stretched across their abdomens,   Roger…

Wooo! I won a bloggy award thing from Steve Jackson Games! If you're not familiar with them, you should be. Zombies! Conspiracy! Cthulhu! What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, and hackers too. Apparently, SJ Games runs a news blog called the Daily Illuminator, and they use it to "spotlight some of the more interesting, weird, or otherwise Illuminated sites elsewhere on the web." This week, they chose Squid A Day! Face it, however much fun we have with squid, dedicated and singleminded blogger Danna Staaf is having even more. That quote is going on my profile right now. Meanwhile, here is…

Last seen in 1898, the red-crested tree rat (or Santamartamys rufodorsalis) has turned up in an ecolodge at a nature reserve in Colombia. Showing up at the front door and calmly posing for pictures, the red-crested tree rat can get 18 inches long and possesses a mane-like band of reddish fur around its neck and a black and white tail.         The red-crested tree rat (Courtesy of Lizzie Noble/ProAves,  http://www.abcbirds.org/newsandreports/red_crested_tree_rat_photos.html) The assumed-to-be-extinct animal made its comeback appearance at the El Dorado…