Calves.

This past Easter weekend was very relaxing. Had a fab time at the lake - enjoyed the nice weather a little too much... got a sizable sunburn from sitting outside reading.

Cute little fuzzies.

Dom and I took a little adventure over to the farm to check out the brand new calves! It was a very informative morning, as neither of use really knew that much about cattle farming.

Hello, cow friend.

Cows are very curious, but pretty dumb. They will come within a couple feet of you, stare and sniff, but if you approach or move suddenly they run away.

#farmlife

Very, very pregnant.

Two days old!

Unrelated... but we visited horses too!

Shark Week.

Too busy to post this in a timely fashion, but... happy belated 25th anniversary of Shark Week!

In honor of this auspicious occasion, I attended a Shark Week party hosted by Girl Gone Wild Docs, complete with costumes, ocean-related snacks, and a thematic cake by yours truly.

I think I need a smaller icing tip to do writing...

Shark Week is a week-long celebration by the Discovery Channel dedicated to airing television specials themed around sharks as a way of promoting awareness. Shark populations have decreased rapidly over the last century, due to commercial and recreational fishing, and the popularity of shark fin soup, which leads to the horrific practice of finning.

For the unaware, Gordon Ramsay talks about shark fin soup here and exposes the reality of what happens in the industry several Asian countries. Everyone should watch this documentary.

Shark populations are not managed in the same way as other ocean creatures, so it is through increased awareness that policy change occurs. May Shark Week not need another 25 years.

Farming.

The animal kingdom is a pretty sweet place. We (humans) tend to think of ourselves are special and very different from the other creatures we share our planet with, but it's really not that true.

Checking out the sage bush.

While in Drumheller this weekend, I encountered something pretty neat. Dom, Heather and I were hiking in the Badlands when Dom noticed a strange looking sage bush with little black things all over it.

Turns out the black things were aphids. Aphids are little insects that suck the sap out of plants (making them the bane of gardeners). When the aphid taps into the sap-containing phloem in the plant, the high pressure phloem sap is forced through the gut and out the other end of the aphid. Sounds gross, right? This is known as honeydew, and it's irresistible to ants.

Crawling all over the aphids on the sage bush were ants. The ants are farmers of sorts; they eat the honeydew produced by the aphids, and in turn protect the aphids from hungry invaders in return. This is an example of a mutualistic relationship, one where both parties benefit from the interaction.

Lonesome George.

Sad news in the conservation world last week. Lonesome George, the last of the Pinta Island subspecies of Galapagos Tortoise died. Named because he was the last confirmed member of his subspecies, scientists had been trying for years to find a female Pinta Island tortoise for him to mate with, and when that proved fruitless, they attempted mating him with other Galapagos tortoise species. While George did eventually take to some of the ladies, the eggs were sterile.

Galapagos tortoises were among the animals observed by Charles Darwin to have adaptations that allowed them to be uncannily suited to their particular habitat. (Another being the more famous Darwin finches). The tortoises on each of the Galapagos islands all descended from a common ancestor, but evolved slightly different body structures and shell shapes to allow them to best survive on their particular island.

Tortoise populations were decimated when early explorers learned they could take the reptiles on their ships for long voyages because the tortoises can survive on little food and water, and aren't fast enough to escape pursuing sailors.

Lonesome George was an icon for conservationists everywhere, and a symbol of the devastating impact humans can have on the other creatures we share the planet with. At 100 years old, Lonesome George was different from other animals of species who go extinct- we didn't just learn of it, we struggled to stop it, but had to stand by, helpless, and watch it happen.

From here.

Snakes.

Hello, snakie.

Recently, I took some pictures of my friend, Jamie, with some snakes (ball pythons, to be specific), for her documentary project. 

Jokes about balls abound.

"Bumblebee Tuna! (Your balls are showing...)"

Elk Island National Park.

A dear friend of mine, Jamie, is in the midst of creating a documentary series showcasing some of the fantastic and diverse animal life we have here in Alberta. The other day, I went with her to Elk Island National Park, to do some filming for a web-isode on buffalo. (Her website is due up in about a week - I'll let you know when you can see the fruits of our labor!)

Most of the neat Plains Bison behavior moments were caught on video camera, but I managed to sneak a few shots in of my own...

There are two subspecies of Bison in Elk Island... Plains Bison are kept on the north side of the park, while Wood Bison are kept on the south side.

We spent all our time with the Plains Bison, because it was more convenient... clearly we will need to go back another day!




Plains Bison have one of my favorite latin names...
Bison bison bison (to distinguish them from the Wood Bison, which is Bison bison athabascae).

Also right up there are Gorilla gorilla, Naja naja (Indian Cobra) and Bufo bufo (European Toad).




Since Jamie and I were filming, we were the only people brave enough foolish enough to get out of the car in a field surrounded by bison. My job was to attempt to hold the camera still and attempt to keep an eye on the bison at the same time. We were very careful to not approach them, and stay very close to the car just in case. While the bison may look big and slow, they are quite dangerous and unpredictable. In fact, more people have been injured by the bison in Yellowstone National Park than bears.

Don't be decieved by their cute antics! This could be a lethal killing machine! (Awww look! He's scratching!)

Dragonflies.



Some kind of meadowhawk...
perched on a tiger lily bud.



Dragonflies are wonderful creatures. Most of the time, we don't notice them unless we are in a really bad mosquito year (like this one). 

Dragonflies are also remarkable feats of natural engineering - they can fly more than 50 km/h, have keen eyes which make them a formidable predator, and have the maneuverability of a helicopter, thanks to the design of their wings (they can hover and fly in all directions).



Superior wing design and mutlifaceted eyes.

 Alberta is home to many species of dragonflies and damselflies. Identifying them can be very tricky, as completely unrelated species will often have similar coloration, while closely related species might have very distinct coloring.

Most dragonflies you will see are either skimmers (like the meadowhawk in the first picture) or darners (often blue/black... I tend to find dead ones which make for very ugly pictures).

Skimmers are smaller than darners and often have a red/brown color scheme. Darners are the elusive behemoths that you hear before you see them, buzzing in like drones to go after prey (mosquitos, flies, moths, skimmers...). Skimmers are usually less than 2 inches long, while darners can be 3 inches long with a 4 inch wingspan!



Spreadwing damselfly.



Damselflies are significantly smaller than dragonflies (about 1 inch and very dainty), and not usually seen in cities. When perched, their wings are either closed, or held away from the body, while dragonflies leave their wings flat.

Both dragonflies and damselflies lay their eggs in water; the dragonfly spends most of it's life span in the water as a larva (nymph). The nymphs are voracious predators, and will feed on anything they can (including mosquito larva!).

July in Alberta was a mosquito nightmare... August, not nearly so much. Personally, I find it satisfying to watch these winged-wonders zipping around, knowing that it's thanks to them I can now enjoy sitting on my deck with few to no mosquitos.


Males fighting - reminds me of a dogfight between
Snoopy and the Red Baron...



Forked Tongues.

On a recent rainy evening, I found myself watching a PBS NOVA special on lizards. Monitor lizards to be exact. (I'm cool like that, I know.)

Monitors are a group of lizards that include Australia's goannas, and komodo dragons, and are more closely related to snakes than any other lizards. Like snakes, monitor lizards have a forked tongue.

Goanna - near Surfer's Paradise, Australia.

While I was watching this special on lizards, the part about the forked tongue made me sit up and take notice, mostly because there was no explanation whatsoever. The narrator tells the audience that "by flicking [the forked tongue] in the air, or touching them to the ground, they pick up scents. Every time they pull in their tongues, they read these scents with an organ in the roof of their mouthes. It's like tasting and smelling at the same time."

... and that's it! The narrator then goes on to tell us the other tracking strategies that the monitor uses, without ever explaining how a forked tongue actually works. We know what it does... but why bother having a fork in it at all?

A forked tongue provides it's bearer a distinct advantage when it comes to smelling things; regardless of whether or not the sense of smell is very acute, it allows the animal to determine very accurately the direction in which a smell came from. When humans smell something, we need to move our entire heads around, and sniff in all directions in order to say "I think the smell is coming from that way" (usually followed by vague, general hand motions). Since we're not very efficient "smellers", we don't rely on this sense as much as our other senses.

Forked tongue on a komodo dragon.
(Picture from Flickr)

Other animals, however, rely on smell/taste for tracking and detecting prey/enemies. With a forked tongue, less effort is needed to determine the direction a scent originates from, because it's like having two noses or tongues at once. Every time the tongue goes in and out, it gathers scent molecules on each side. By comparing the smells gathered on each side, the animal can determine which side has the stronger smell. The left side gathered more scent molecules than the right side? Well the smell must be coming from the left. If it's prey, go left; if it's an enemy, go right. When a snake moves it's head back and forth, it is attempting to gather as much information about it's surrounding as possible. The "organ in the roof of [the mouth]" merely translates the data gathered by the two sides of the tongue.

Explanation oversight aside, it was a great show. Less flashy than the stuff put out by BBC Nature, but I find that NOVA does a great job of highlighting the naturalists and biologists who do the field work that enables us to learn about the animals they showcase. (Also, did you know you can watch NOVA online?)