Ponderings of a Scientist

Hey Check out this link for nursery room photos! share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AZM27Fs4YuGHv

The Zoological Society of London has created a new program entitled EDGE of Existence. This program highlights what they title “evolutionarily distinct and globally endangered” mammals. The top 100 list is out. Check out the site for a little flash video highlighting some of the creatures.

The top three: #1 Yangtze River Dolphin, #2 Long Beaked Echidna, #3 Riverine Rabbit

I haven’t posted any intriguing animal tale in a while, so here you go!  Fetal non-human mammals:

 

Dog                    Elephant

Check out the neat video footage! 

This week’s organism is the infamous Homo sapien.  This particular H. sapien is 28 weeks from birth, but amazingly at a wee 2 inches, already has all the necessary H. sapien organs and a personality to boot!  Thanks to being genetically disposed to stubborness my organism of the week refused to be heard by the doctors.  So instead we got an early view of him or her.  Enjoy! A new Monkey Scientist will be with us on or around May 3rd.

     

Scientist in Indonesia just discovered 50 new marine species .  It doesn’t seem like they looked that hard, yet came back with quite a reward.  Just goes to show their are still so many things to discover in the sea.  Let’s stop funding NASA and start funding NOAA!

  

Check out these organisms making the spotlight this week

Left: Twin pigmy marmosets babies. Pigmy marmasets are the smallest species of monkey, reaching an adult size of 5 inches. This pair is special because they are albinos.

Center: Hezbollian green sea turtle baby or is it Israeli? This little reptile highlights the silent victims of the lastest Middle East conflict. As a result of the war thousand of gallons of oil spilled onto beaches and into the water. Thanks to some scientists this little dude and his neighbors were escorted to safer lands.

Right: Everglades researchers stumbled upon this gluttonous site. Apparentely, the Python ate the six foot long croc. and literally busted a gut!

THE JACKASS PENGUIN

This week I’m giving props to the Reptiles.  Reptiles ruled the roost, so to speak (they are most closely related to birds), before a catastrophic event (likely a massive meteor hitting Mexico/the Gulf of Mexico) triggered a mass extinction some 65 million years ago.  This extinction event allowed for the lesser mammals, which had been religated to the worst earthy habitats, to take over space and food resources once dominatated by the reptilians.  From their, these rodent sized mammals spread and diversified, eventually covering most of the Earth’s ecosystems and spawning a lineage of prosimians later to evolve the primate destroyer species of the Earth, Homo sapien.  Thank’s reptiles for clearing the path for Mammailian Dominance….

Spotlight:  Alligator Snapping Turtle!  This grumpy looking guy is a walking fossil, like his reptile cousins the Crocs and Alligators, turtles haven’t done much evolving in the last 100+ million years.  Apparently, they figured out this survival of the fittest thing long before Darwin.  (Just think, had the Dinosaurs lived, mammals could still be a minimal family of misfits stuck in the dank and dark places of the world.)  While I personally prefer charismatic sea turtles, I wanted to highlight a lesser known species.  Alligator Snappers have a lure on their tongue that attracts their prey and then snap down the gullet!  How’s that for lazy (genius), sit and let dinner come to you!

oh wait, I have only 5-10 minutes to write this before going for a walk downtown to watch the Red Sox.  Quickly:

Again G.W. proves himself a silly, silly man (if only he didn’t have such a serious position).  He placed sanctions on a handful of companies today, located in India, Cuba and Russia, because they have sold “sensitive” nuclear related products to Iran, while at the same time Congress is voting on G.W.’s legislation to give nuclear related products to India (didn’t they refuse to sign non-proliferation treaties?)!

Organism of the Week: Red Langur Javan Leaf Monkey

“This monkey hails from the tropical rain forests and tropical dry forests of Indonesia where as an herbivore it lives on a diet of leaves and fruits. This species comes in two color varieties, which are found in different locations on the island of Java in Indonesia. They are very dexterous, able to move through the branches with ease, plucking at favoured fruits and leaves. These animals typically weigh around 15 pounds. Active in the daytime, Javan langurs live in groups, moving through the trees, walking along branches on all four limbs, looking for fruiting trees and choice leaves to eat. They range through the trees from low down to the upper canopy and rarely spend time on the ground. Like most primates, they make a range of calls, although the most obvious is the cackling alarm call uttered when potential danger (often a person) is sighted. ” - http://www.rbrc.org/call2recycle/animalspotlight/popups/info_pages/MONKEYInfo.htmlClick Here for more recycle animals! 

Pet Peeve of the Week:

People that think the left hand highway lane is for cruising 2 miles above the speed limit. Those people then refuse to acknowledge another car behind them and continue driving in the left lane.  The left lane is for passing only!  Passing on the right is illegal and is pet peeve # 1 1/2 for this week.  The only time right hand passing is acceptable is when pet peeve #1 is in place.

Yet another reason Zipy needs a new job: “A study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology found that poorly run meetings strain workers’ health… The study also found that while many people complain about meetings, a large number secretly enjoy the confabs and derive a sense of well-being from the interactions.” - As reported in National Geographic