Of all the memes inspired by Rachael "Raygun" Gunn, the B-girl from Australia who scored zero points in breakdancing at the Paris Olympics, my favorite spoof is this one shared by the Sydney Zoo, titled "Everyone is doing the Raygun!" The video features adorable otters showing off their Raygun-like moves, such as wriggling in the grass and squirming on the rocks. — Read the rest
The post Australian otter's tribute to Rachael "Raygun" Gunn appeared first on Boing Boing.
Of all the memes inspired by Rachael "Raygun" Gunn, the B-girl from Australia who scored zero points in breakdancing at the Paris Olympics, my favorite spoof is this one shared by the Sydney Zoo, titled "Everyone is doing the Raygun!" The video features adorable otters showing off their Raygun-like moves, such as wriggling in the grass and squirming on the rocks. — Read the rest
A toxin from one of the world’s most venomous animals could one day help treat diabetes and endocrine disorders. The toxin in snails called consomatin is similar to somatostatin in humans, a peptide hormone that regulates blood sugar. In cone snail venom, consomatin’s specific and long-lasting effects help the animal hunt its prey, but it could also lead to the development of better drugs for sometimes fatal diseases–if we can understand how it works. The findings are detailed in a study publish
Scientists have previously experimented with using cone snail venoms for creating less addictive opioid alternatives and new diabetes treatments. In 2016, scientists unlocked the structure of a fast-acting insulin that the snails use to stun their prey; a similar structure could be used to create an insulin that works faster in humans. In the new study, consomatin also exhibited enough precision to target single types of molecules. Researchers hope that drugs could be developed with the same amount of precision.
“Venomous animals have, through evolution, fine-tuned venom components to hit a particular target in the prey and disrupt it,” study co-author and University of Utah biochemist Helena Safavi said in a statement. “If you take one individual component out of the venom mixture and look at how it disrupts normal physiology, that pathway is often really relevant in disease.”
The team looked at the human hormone somatostatin that prevents the levels of blood sugar in the body from rising to dangerously high levels. The cone snail toxin consomatin also keeps blood sugar levels from increasing, but uses that as a way to stun and kill its prey. However, the team found that consomatin is more chemically stable and longer-lasting than the human hormone. This makes it a particularly promising blueprint for new drugs and treatment.
In the study, the team looked at one of the most toxic marine cone snail–the geography cone. They are found along reefs in the Pacific and Indo-Pacific, where the snails stun and eat small fish. The team measured how the cone snail’s consomatin interacts with somatostatin’s targets in human cells in a dish. They found that consomatin mingles with one of the same proteins that somatostatin does. While human somatostatin directly interacts with several proteins, consomatin only works with one. This fine-tuned targeting means that the cone snail toxin can affect blood sugar levels and hormones, but not hit the other molecules around it.
According to the team, the cone snail toxin can hit its targets even more precisely than most specific synthetic drugs designed to regulate hormone levels. However, in its current form, the consomatin’s effects on blood sugar could make it dangerous to use to treat diabetes in humans. Studying its structure could help researchers design drugs for endocrine disorders that have fewer side effects in the future.
Earth’s chemists
Consomatin and somatostatin share an evolutionary history. Over millions of years, the cone snail turned its own hormone into a weapon. Importantly, consomatin doesn’t work alone. A 2022 study found that cone snail venom also includes another toxin which resembles insulin. This lowers blood sugar levels so quickly that the cone snail’s prey becomes unresponsive. Consomatin will then keep blood sugar levels from recovering, and the prey will ultimately die.
“Cone snails are just really good chemists,” study co-author and University of Utah postdoctoral researcher Ho Yan Yeung said in a statement. “We think the cone snail developed this highly selective toxin to work together with the insulin-like toxin to bring down blood glucose to a really low level.”
Since several parts of the cone snail’s venom target blood sugar regulation, the venom may have other molecules with similar functions, including regulating glucose properties. A better understanding of the process at the molecular level could then be used to design better medications.
Among the numerous snakes on planet Earth, pythons are well known for their incredible ability to swallow their prey whole. Some python species have been spotted taking down deer, cows, and even alligators, but they don’t generally eat every single day the way that most animals do. While scientists have observed their eating patterns for decades, less is known about how this affects their hearts. It turns out that to eat this way, pythons rapidly increase their heart rate, body mass, and energy
Among the numerous snakes on planet Earth, pythons are well known for their incredible ability to swallow their prey whole. Some python species have been spotted taking down deer, cows, and even alligators, but they don’t generally eat every single day the way that most animals do. While scientists have observed their eating patterns for decades, less is known about how this affects their hearts. It turns out that to eat this way, pythons rapidly increase their heart rate, body mass, and energy output just for a meal.
In the wild, pythons must often go for months at a time without eating due to food scarcity. When they do eventually find food, they will really go for it and often eat a meal that can equal their body mass.
“It [is] crucial to their survival to be able to have long fasting periods that are not harmful to them and to be able to consume these large meals intermittently,” study co-author and University of Colorado biologist Leslie Leinwand tells Popular Science. “One adaptive response to such a lifestyle is that almost all of the organs in their body get much larger in the first week after such meal consumption and after the meal is consumed, their organs shrink back to a little bigger than their fasting size.”
To learn more about the effects that their feeding style has on their bodies, Leinwand and the team compared the hearts of ball pythons (Python regius). One group of pythons had fasted for 28 days. The other group ate a meal of whole rats that were equivalent to a quarter of the snake’s body mass.
A ball python from Leinwand’s lab. CREDIT: Yuxiao Tan.
In the fed pythons, the cardiac myofibrils–individual units in cardiac muscle cells that help the heart contract–had generated more force to eat. The cardiac myofibrils also relaxed more slowly and were less tense than myofibrils in the hearts of fasted pythons. The chromatin in the heart muscle cells that alters how genes respond to physiological stress in the fed pythons was also less condensed in the fed pythons compared to fasted pythons.
The cardiac ventricle tissues that help the heart pump blood were also less stiff in the fed pythons than the fasted ones. According to the study, it only took 24 hours after eating a large meal for the python heart to become much less stiff.
Stiffness in the heart can be troublesome in animal hearts because it can prevent blood from flowing properly. In humans, cardiac amyloidosis or “stiff heart syndrome” can lead to abnormal heartbeats and faulty heart signals. For pythons, their hearts appear to be avoiding the pitfalls of a stiff heart. Their hearts become much more stretchy while still producing the immense forces required to eat their prey.
“We have shown that this organ size increase is what we call physiological–or healthy,” says Leinwend. “In the heart, such an increase is what is seen in highly conditioned athletes.”
However, there is still more research needed to determine how this can be used to help human hearts.
“If we could apply the biology of pythons that do this healthy thing in their hearts, it could be very helpful to people with heart disease,” says Leinwend. “There is a lot of fascinating biology in the world that can lead to better understanding and treatment of disease.”
The dodo is one of the most iconic—and misunderstood—extinct animals. Four hundred years after its extinction, the popular narrative remains that the flightless bird was simply too dumb, slow, and ungainly to withstand modern society’s arrival to its native island of Mauritius. But researchers are seeking justice for the unfairly maligned dodo and its extinct relative, the solitaire, by synthesizing centuries of scientific literature, historical accounts, and biological information into a single
The dodo is one of the most iconic—and misunderstood—extinct animals. Four hundred years after its extinction, the popular narrative remains that the flightless bird was simply too dumb, slow, and ungainly to withstand modern society’s arrival to its native island of Mauritius. But researchers are seeking justice for the unfairly maligned dodo and its extinct relative, the solitaire, by synthesizing centuries of scientific literature, historical accounts, and biological information into a single work providing clarification and revised taxonomic records.
In a study published in the August 2024 issue of Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, a team collaborating between the University of Southampton, Oxford University, and the Natural History Museum attempted to correct the record for Raphus cucullatus. According to an accompanying August 16 announcement, the paper represents “the most comprehensive review of the taxonomy of the Dodo and its closest relative, the Rodriguez Island Solitaire.” Neil Gostling, the study’s supervising author and University of Southampton professor of evolution and paleobiology, argues that most people’s idea of the dodo isn’t simply inaccurate—it ignores the larger issues behind its extinction.
“If you picture the dodo, you picture… this dumpy, slightly stupid bird that kind of deserved to go extinct. That’s not the case,” Gostling says in a university video profile. “It was neither fat nor stupid, it was adapted to the ecosystem in the isle of Mauritius that it had been living in for millions of years.”
What the dodo and its sister species, the Rodrigues solitaire, were not adapted for, however, was the violent, colonizing force of modern society. Dutch sailors first encountered the dodo in 1598 after arriving on the island, located roughly 705 miles east of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. Having evolved without any significant predators, the birds had no instinctual wariness of humans, making them easy prey for both hungry ship crews and international trade. In less than a century, the dodo was wiped out—but not due to their popularity on menus or in zoos.
The dodo’s main enemies weren’t humans themselves, but everything they brought with them while establishing a provisioning port for the Dutch East India Company on Mauritius. Livestock such as pigs trampled the ground birds’ nests, while rats devoured their eggs and small chicks. Meanwhile, dogs, cats, and other invasive animals preyed on the birds themselves while also competing for the island’s limited food sources. By 1662, the dodo was done. Barely a century later, the Rodrigues solitaire followed it into extinction. And with just 64 years of human documentation of the former, it didn’t take long before bird fact blended with bird fiction.
The dodo was critical to its native ecosystem. Credit: Julian Pender Hume
“The dodo was the first living thing that was recorded as being present and then disappeared,” Gostling said, adding that before their extinction, “it hadn’t been thought possible” that human beings could exert so much influence on the environment.
By the early 19th century, some circles even considered both the dodo and the solitaire “mythological beasts,” added Mark Young, a University of Southampton professor specializing in human transport and paper lead author. During the 1800’s, however, Victorian scientists finally proved both bird species did once exist. But over time, the dodo’s image transitioned largely from an emblem of humanity’s often disastrous environmental impact, to an inaccurate, misunderstood example of “survival of the fittest.”
Meanwhile, more than 400 years of subsequent taxonomic confusion led experts to debate just how many dodo and solitaire species originally existed—some biologists argued in favor of three separate variations, while others contended as many as five once roamed the region. These possibilities included the Nazarene Dodo, the White Dodo, and the White Solitaire, among others.
But after a painstaking review of four centuries’ worth of scientific writings and physical remains—including the only surviving dodo soft tissue—Gostling, Young, and their teammates believe they have some answers. Most notably, there were only ever the two species, dodo and solitaire, and they belonged to the columbid family along with pigeons and doves.
As for its “dumpy” reputation, a closer look at its anatomy indicates the dodo was far from a clumsy, slow-moving bird. Skeletal remains studied by the team show that the dodo possessed a tendon in its leg almost the same diameter as the bone itself. This feature can be found today in other avian species known for their speed and climbing agility, indicating the dodo was actually an incredibly fast and active animal.
“Even four centuries later, we have so much to learn about these remarkable birds,” Young said. “The few written accounts of live Dodos say it was a fast-moving animal that loved the forest.”
Researchers believe that further reevaluations of the dodo and the solitaire will not only help dispel inaccurate myths, but refocus their legacies. Ultimately, their extinction isn’t the result of any evolutionary failings, but rather the effects of humans when we are at our most environmentally reckless.
“Dodos held an integral place in their ecosystems. If we understand them, we might be able to support ecosystem recovery in Mauritius, perhaps starting to undo the damage that began with the arrival of humans nearly half a millennium ago,” Gostling explained, adding that, “There are no other birds alive today like these two species of giant ground dove.”
As the insect sentinels of summer, fireflies use their glowing bellies to communicate to other fireflies. Males from the species Abscondita terminalis use multi-pulse flashes with both of their lanterns to attract females. The females use single-pulse flashes with their one lantern. However, a new study found that some spiders may have decoded this signal and are using it to its advantage. This mimicry is detailed in a study published August 19 in the journal Current Biology.
When orb-weaving
When orb-weaving spiders (Araneus ventricosus) trap male fireflies in their webs, they manipulate the flashing signals to mimic the typical flashes made by female fireflies. These feigned flashes then lure other males into the web where they become the spider’s next meal. However, we still don’t know if the spider’s venom or a bite itself is manipulating the firefly’s signal.
The discovery arose after Xinhua Fu, a study co-author and entomologist at Huazhong Agricultural University in China observed several male fireflies entangled in orb-weaving spider webs while working in the field. He rarely saw a female firefly trapped in a web and additional field trips revealed this sexually skewed pattern. Fu hypothesized that the spiders may be somehow manipulating the fireflies’ behavior to attract others.
To test this hypothesis that the spiders are manipulating the firefly’s signal, he recruited behavioral ecologists Daiqin Li and Shichang Zhang from Hubei University. The team conducted field experiments where they observed the firefly signals and spider behavior. The observations showed that the spider’s web captured male fireflies more often when the spider was there, compared to when it was away from the web.
After further analysis, they found that the signals created by male fireflies in webs with spiders present looked more like the signals made by free flying females. The trapped males used single-pulse signals that use only one lantern and not both.
An orb-weaving spider (Araneus ventricosus) with two ensnared male fireflies (Abscondita terminalis), one of which has a luminescent lantern (right). CREDIT: Xinhua Fu.
Interestingly, the ensnared male fireflies very rarely lured other males when they were alone in the web and the spider was not around. This suggests that the males were not altering their flashes as a kind of distress signal. The team believes that the spiders are altering the firefly’s signal.
“While the eyes of orb-web spiders typically support limited spatial acuity, they rely more on temporal acuity rather than spatial acuity for discriminating flash signals,” Li said in a statement. “Upon detecting the bioluminescent signals of ensnared male fireflies, the spider deploys a specialized prey-handling procedure involving repeated wrap-bite attacks.”
According to the team, the experiment reveals that some animals are capable of using indirect yet dynamic signaling to go after a very specific category of prey in nature. The team also believes that there could be many other undescribed examples of this kind of mimicry in nature waiting to be uncovered. Predators could be using sound, pheromones, or other means, and not just visual signals to fool their prey. This deceptive ability is not exclusive to the animal kingdom either. The South African daisy appears to trick flies into mating with it and depositing pollen.
“We propose that in response to seeing the ensnared male fireflies’ bioluminescent signals, the spider deployed a specialized-prey handling procedure based on repeated wrap bite attacks,” the team wrote in the study. “We also hypothesize that the male firefly’s neurotransmitters may generate a female-like flashing pattern.”
However, additional study is needed to determine what exactly is changing in the trapped firefly’s flashing pattern.
Kristy Murray was there at the very beginning. In 1999, the epidemiologist and tropical medicine expert, now a professor of pediatrics at Emory University, was part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team responding to the initial U.S. outbreak of West Nile virus in New York City. “It was my very first outbreak assignment,” Murray tells Popular Science. Thirty cases of unexplained encephalitis had been reported in the city, and it was up to Murray and her colleagues to figur
Kristy Murray was there at the very beginning. In 1999, the epidemiologist and tropical medicine expert, now a professor of pediatrics at Emory University, was part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) team responding to the initial U.S. outbreak of West Nile virus in New York City. “It was my very first outbreak assignment,” Murray tells Popular Science. Thirty cases of unexplained encephalitis had been reported in the city, and it was up to Murray and her colleagues to figure out why. The cause was initially baffling. People had symptoms of paralysis, “which is very unusual to see in encephalitis,” she explains, and older adults comprised the majority of those worst off, despite viral paralysis often being most common in children. None of the patients had any relation or apparent connection to one another.
To figure out what was happening, Murray says she and the rest of the CDC team acted as “disease detectives.” The first clue came from interviewing family members of those who were sick. “The one thing that kept coming up is that many of them were active, and spent a lot of time outside,” says Muray. From there, and through home visits, a CDC entomologist narrowed the potential sources down to Culex mosquitoes. More false leads and confusing test results finally gave way to a West Nile virus identification, after birds in the Bronx Zoo also began to fall ill with encephalitis. In total, the investigation took about three weeks, says Murray.
Though the initial mystery was resolved relatively quickly (“especially for 1999,” notes Murray), uncertainties surrounding West Nile have lingered. When and where the worst outbreaks will occur remains unpredictable. Exactly why some people have no symptoms, while other infections prove deadly is unclear. There’s still no available vaccine or proven treatment.
It’s been 25 years since the mosquito borne virus was first found in the U.S.. In that quarter century, the disease has spread from New York City across all 48 contiguous states. “It’s everywhere–all over the map, literally,” says Murray. “There is no place in the [lower 48] where you can really hide from this pathogen.” Each year, 2024 included, West Nile virus cases are reported, with a peak between late July and October. Here’s what to know as this year’s season unfolds, what we still don’t know, and how experts recommend you protect yourself.
How does West Nile virus spread?
Birds are the primary host and reservoir for West Nile virus. The pathogen is mainly passed from host to host via mosquito bites. Culex mosquitos, a genus found worldwide and especially common in major cities, are the primary vector, transmitting the virus between birds or from birds to humans or horses. People and other mammals infected with the illness don’t produce a high enough concentration of viral particles to act as a reservoir and subsequently infect additional mosquitos. “Humans are what we call a dead end host,” says Gonzalo Vazquez-Propkopec, a disease ecologist and professor of environmental science at Emory University. Only a small proportion of cases are transferred between humans through blood transfusions and organ transplants.
Yet though we can’t generally pass the virus on to each other, mosquitos do plenty of work to spread it themselves. “It’s the most widespread viral vector borne disease in the United States, without a doubt,” says Murray. “It far surpasses any other.” Other non-viral vector-borne illnesses, like tick-borne Lyme’s disease, may affect more people each year. But Lyme is a bacterial disease with an effective antibiotic treatment. There is no approved therapeutic for treating West Nile.
Is 2024 a bad year for West Nile?
The CDC tracks West Nile cases, along with other arthropod-borne illnesses, through ArboNET. As of August 13, the federal agency has confirmed 174 West Nile cases in 30 different states, with double digit numbers in Texas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Nevada, and Arizona. Of these, 113 have been “neuroinvasive,” or the more severe variant of infection that causes neurological symptoms like encephalitis (brain swelling), or meningitis, which is swelling of the membrane surrounding the brain. So far, eight of those reported cases have proved deadly.
If you look at past years’ West Nile case numbers, fewer than 200 cases nationwide may not sound like much. However, it’s relatively early in the season and each confirmed case at this point likely represents many more hidden ones, says Murray.
In general, cases are vastly underreported because many cases are asymptomatic and many symptomatic infections are mild and difficult to distinguish from other viral infections, she explains. Fever, a rash on the torso, fatigue, aches, and malaise are how the majority of symptomatic West Nile cases present. Often, those infected don’t seek any treatment or testing. A small proportion of infections, less than one percent, turn more serious, affecting the brain and nervous system and becoming “neuroinvasive.” These cases can be life threatening. Survivors of neuroinvasive illness often end up with lifelong disabilities, says Kiran Thakur, a neurology professor at Columbia University who studies neuroinfectious disease.
Yet even those severe cases are undercounted because providers don’t always test and tests don’t always come back positive, she says. In 2022, 827 confirmed neuroinvasive cases were reported to the CDC, but the agency estimates that between 24,810 and 57,890 neuroinvasive infections occurred. Up to 15 percent of neuroinvasive cases are estimated to be fatal, notes Thakur.
Delays in testing and reporting also mean that it takes time for the CDC to learn about a confirmed case. “There’s a lag in reporting cases, typically by about two weeks,” Murray says, and we’re just getting into the peak transmission time now.
Given those caveats, “we are seeing a few more cases than we [usually] would at this time of year, and some earlier cases,” says Erin Staples, a physician and medical epidemiologist with CDC’s Division of Vector-Borne Diseases. The biggest wave of illness onset tends to come at the end of August and beginning of September, Staples says.
However, that doesn’t mean we’re guaranteed to have a terrible West Nile season nationwide. Predicting how this year’s season will progress over the next couple of months “is very difficult,” Staples tells Popular Science. Trends can shift rapidly and lots of variables contribute to an outbreak’s severity.
Year-to-year, West Nile levels and epicenters vary a lot. The virus may spike in the Northeast one season and then the Southwest the next. In 2003, there was a major outbreak, another came in 2012. As a result, experts consider it “cyclic”, peaking in waves that come about once a decade, says Vazquez-Prokopec. “It seems, roughly, that we’re due for another spike,” he adds.
Climate and rainfall are important. Warm temperatures and the right level of moisture can contribute to a mosquito boom. Bird immunity levels also play a role, he says. If most birds in a region have antibodies and are avoiding illness in a given year, then there will also be fewer human cases, as the reservoir is smaller, Vazquez-Prokopec explains. “It’s a very complex cycle,” he adds– which makes accurate forecasting hard.
Regardless of what unfolds in the next couple of months, Staples notes that right now is a critical time to take preventative measures.
How can we manage West Nile virus?
Through surveillance of mosquito populations and birds, cities keep tabs on the viral threat year to year. In addition, many municipalities also treat for Culex mosquitos with pesticide sprays dispersed from fogging vehicles and by targeting the aquatic larvae. Mosquitoes need water to breed, so applying insecticide to drainage ditches and catchment basins can help reduce their populations without inadvertently killing beneficial insects like pollinators, says Vazquez-Prokopec.
The CDC is researching preventative vaccines and antiviral treatments (and has been for years), says Staples–though the development process, which requires large scale human trials to prove efficacy, is challenging for such an unpredictable virus. A silver lining of the Covid-19 pandemic is that it made alternate pathways to FDA approval and licensure clearer, she adds.
But in the meantime, without a vaccine or medication to rely on, iIndividual people can mitigate their own risk by eliminating sources of standing moisture around their homes (ex: emptying buckets and kiddie pools). Then, there’s behavioral interventions.
“We have to exercise–not panic, but caution,” says Vazquez-Prokopec. Mosquitoes are more than a nuisance, they’re a public health problem, he says. So, he advises that people take earnest steps to avoid bites.
Insect repellents, specifically ones registered with the Environmental Protection Agency and recommended by the CDC, are a critical tool. Wearing loose fitting long sleeve shirts and pants helps to prevent bites as well. And people should be particularly mindful when going out around dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active. “I have a can of repellent by my front door and another by my back door, so I remember to [apply] before I walk outside,” says Staples.
It’s still not completely understood why some people become very sick while others have asymptomatic infections. However, some trends are clear and certain groups are known to be more vulnerable to severe West Nile virus. People who are immunocompromised, including those who take medications for autoimmune diseases, should be more vigilant, says Staples. People over the age of 50 are also at higher risk, says Murray. Severe neuroinvasive illness is more commonly reported among men, though that could be because men share a higher level of other risk factors, like working outdoors or comorbidities such as diabetes, notes Thakur. And ultimately, anyone can end up with a severe case.
West Nile virus may be benign for most people, and the worst consequences may be rare, but preventative steps are simple and accessible. When the stakes are so high, it’s best to take the risk seriously, says Thakur. Plus, the same strategies for avoiding West Nile will also help to minimize exposure to other vector borne diseases like Dengue or Powassan, Staples adds. ” “Another great reason to use your repellent,” she says.
Getting in the habit now will be good practice for our warming future, where we’ll all want to take biting bugs more seriously. Under climate change, mosquito seasons are likely to grow longer, and vector–borne illnesses, including West Nile, are set to spread into new regions where people have no prior exposure or immunity. As global warming progresses, “it’s a disease category I worry about a lot,” says Thakur.
In Kenya, the Nairobi City County is proposing a new "cat tax" that feline fans are saying would be a cat-astrophe. The tax would require cat owners to pay 200 Kenyan shillings (US$1.50) each year and provide proof of vaccination. The regulation has other stipulations as well, including a requirement that the animals don't "scream or cry in a manner that disturbs the peace." — Read the rest
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In Kenya, the Nairobi City County is proposing a new "cat tax" that feline fans are saying would be a cat-astrophe. The tax would require cat owners to pay 200 Kenyan shillings (US$1.50) each year and provide proof of vaccination. The regulation has other stipulations as well, including a requirement that the animals don't "scream or cry in a manner that disturbs the peace." — Read the rest
Penguins can’t fly. And while their wings may seem to be purely decorative, these appendages actually play a larger role in their evolutionary history. A fossil penguin species named Pakudyptes hakataramea bridges a gap between penguins that have gone extinct and those living today. Some of its bones show how these wings evolved to help penguins become such speedy swimmers. The findings are described in a study published July 31 in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Pakudyptes
Penguins can’t fly. And while their wings may seem to be purely decorative, these appendages actually play a larger role in their evolutionary history. A fossil penguin species named Pakudyptes hakataramea bridges a gap between penguins that have gone extinct and those living today. Some of its bones show how these wings evolved to help penguins become such speedy swimmers. The findings are described in a study published July 31 in the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Pakudyptes lived in present-day New Zealand’s South Island about 24 million years ago. It was very small, roughly the same size as the little blue penguin–or kororā living today. At only 9.8 inches tall and 2.2 pounds, Pakudyptes are among the smallest known penguin species to ever live on Earth.
Interestingly, Pakudyptes did have the physical adaptations that allowed them to dive into the water, despite being such an early penguin species. In the study, a team of scientists from the University of Otago in New Zealand, and Japan’s Ashoro Museum of Paleontology, Okayama University of Science, and Osaka University examined three bones. The humerus, femur, and ulna were discovered during several field trips in 1987 by the late paleontologist Ewan Fordyce in the Hakataramea Valley, in the Canterbury region of the South Island.
They found that Pakudyptes fills in a morphological gap between modern and fossil penguins who are now extinct.
“In particular, the shape of the wing bones differed greatly, and the process by which penguin wings came to have their present form and function remained unclear,” study co-author and Ashoro Museum of Paleontology paleontologist Tatsuro Ando said in a statement.
The humerus and ulna bones show how the penguins’ wings have evolved.
“Surprisingly, while the shoulder joints of the wing of Pakudyptes were very close to the condition of the present-day penguin, the elbow joints were very similar to those of older types of fossil penguins,” said Ando. “Pakudyptes is the first fossil penguin ever found with this combination, and it is the ‘key’ fossil to unlocking the evolution of penguin wings.”
Top: Comparison of elbow joints in Pakudyptes and the little penguin. Pakudyptes has an angled wing. Bottom: A reconstructed image of Pakudyptes, one of the smallest penguins. CREDIT: Tatsuya Shinmura & Ashoro Museum of Paleontology.
Otago’s Faculty of Dentistry analyzed the fossil’s internal bone structure alongside data on living penguins from the Okayama University of Science. They found that Pakudyptes had microanatomical features that suggest they could dive. Modern penguins are well known for their excellent swimming abilities. Their bullet-like swimming skills are largely due to the dense, thick bones that add to their buoyancy during diving.
In Pakudyptes, the bone cortex was reasonably thick. However, the medullary cavity–which contains bone marrow–was open. This is similar to the living little blue penguin, which usually swims in shallow waters.
Pakudyptes’ diving and swimming likely comes down to the distinctive combination of its bones. The humerus and ulna show spots for attachment of muscles and ligaments, which reveal how the wings were used to swim and move underwater.
“Penguins evolved rapidly from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene and Pakudyptes is an important fossil from this period,” study co-author Carolina Loch from Otago’s Faculty of Dentistry said in a statement. “Its small size and unique combination of bones may have contributed to the ecological diversity of modern penguins.”
A newly discovered extinct mollusk species that skulked along the ocean floor half a billion years ago is offering new insights into the early days of this diverse group of animals. Fossils from Shishania aculeata indicate that some early mollusks were flat, armored, slug-like creatures that didn’t have the signature shells we see on today’s snails and bivalves. This species was also covered with hollow cone-shaped spines called sclerites. The findings are detailed in a study published August 1
A newly discovered extinct mollusk species that skulked along the ocean floor half a billion years ago is offering new insights into the early days of this diverse group of animals. Fossils from Shishania aculeata indicate that some early mollusks were flat, armored, slug-like creatures that didn’t have the signature shells we see on today’s snails and bivalves. This species was also covered with hollow cone-shaped spines called sclerites. The findings are detailed in a study published August 1 in the journal Science.
Shishania was discovered thanks to some well-preserved fossils uncovered in the Yunnan Province in southern China. The newly named species dates back to the early Cambrian Period–roughly 514 million years ago. The specimens of Shishania that the team studied are a few centimeters long and the spiky cones are made of chitin. This crunchy material is also found in the shells of modern insects, crabs, and even some mushrooms.
The fossils that were preserved upside down, indicates that it likely had a muscular foot similar to a slug. Shishania would have used that leg to creep around the seafloor. Unlike most mollusks, it lacked a shell that covered its body.
Living mollusks come in a wide array of forms–snails, clams, and highly intelligent cephalopods like squids and octopuses. All of this biodiversity developed very quickly during the Cambrian Explosion. This event about 530 million years ago was when all of the major groups of animals were rapidly diversifying. However, due to this accelerated pace of change, few fossils have been left behind to tell the story of early mollusk evolution. The team believes that Shishania represents a very early stage in molluscan evolution.
“Trying to unravel what the common ancestor of animals as different as a squid and oyster looked like is a major challenge for evolutionary biologists and paleontologists–one that can’t be solved by studying only species alive today,” study co-author and University of Oxford in England paleontologist Luke Parry said in a statement. “Shishania gives us a unique view into a time in mollusc evolution for which we have very few fossils, informing us that the very earliest mollusc ancestors were armored spiny slugs, prior to the evolution of the shells that we see in modern snails and clams.”
Shishania’s body was made of soft tissues that typically don’t preserve well in the fossil record. This made the specimens a bit challenging to study, since several were poorly preserved.
“At first I thought that the fossils, which were only about the size of my thumb, were not noticeable, but I saw under a magnifying glass that they seemed strange, spiny, and completely different from any other fossils that I had seen,” Guangxu Zhang, a study co-author and recent PhD graduate from Yunnan University in China who discovered the fossils, said in a statement. “I called it ‘the plastic bag’ initially because it looks like a rotting little plastic bag. When I found more of these fossils and analyzed them in the lab I realized that it was a mollusc.”
Complete specimen of Shishania aculeata seen from the dorsal (top) side (left). Spines covering the body of Shishania aculeata (right). CREDIT: G Zhang/L Parry.
Shishania’s spines show an internal system of canals that are less than one hundredth of a millimeter in diameter. The cones were secreted at their base by microvilli–tiny protrusions of cells that increase surface area. Microvilli are found on the human tongue and in the intestines where they help the body absorb food.
“We found microscopic details inside the conical spines covering the body of Shishania that show how they were secreted in life,” said Parry. “This sort of information is incredibly rare, even in exceptionally preserved fossils.”
The team likens Shishania’s method of secreting hard parts to a natural 3D printer that can change its body parts depending on what the animal needs. This method allows several invertebrates to secrete hard parts that do everything from providing defense to helping it scoot around.
Chitons–the hard spines and bristles in some modern mollusks–are made of the mineral calcium carbonate instead of the organic chitin that is in Shishania. Similar chitinous bristles can be found in some more obscure groups of animals including brachiopods and bryozoans. These animals along with mollusks and annelids (modern earthworms and their relatives) form the group Lophotrochozoa. “Shishania tells us that the spines and spicules we see in chitons and aplacophoran mollusks today actually evolved from organic sclerites like those of annelids,” said Parry. “These animals are very different from one another today and so fossils like Shishania tell us what they looked like deep in the past, soon after they had diverged from common ancestors.”
While humans won’t be regenerating entire limbs like sea stars, some new genetic work with fruit flies has yielded some surprising results. A team from the University of Tokyo found that certain genes from simple organisms that help them regenerate body parts and tissues can be transferred into other animals. These genes then suppressed an intestinal issue in the flies and could potentially reveal some new mechanisms for rejuvenation in more complex organisms. The findings are detailed in a stud
While humans won’t be regenerating entire limbs like sea stars, some new genetic work with fruit flies has yielded some surprising results. A team from the University of Tokyo found that certain genes from simple organisms that help them regenerate body parts and tissues can be transferred into other animals. These genes then suppressed an intestinal issue in the flies and could potentially reveal some new mechanisms for rejuvenation in more complex organisms. The findings are detailed in a study published August 1 in the journal BMC Biology.
Some animals including jellyfish and flatworms can regenerate their whole bodies. While scientists still don’t really know how, there are possibly specific genes that allow regeneration. These same genes may also maintain long-term stem cell functions.
Stem cells can divide and renew themselves over a long period of time and are kind of like a skeleton key. While they aren’t necessarily specialized, they can potentially become more specialized cells, including blood cells and brain cells, over time. Mammals and insects who have very limited regenerative skills may have lost these genes over the course of evolution.
“It is unclear whether reintroducing these regeneration-associated genes in low regenerative animals could affect their regeneration and aging processes,” study co-author and University of Tokyo Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences biologist Yuichiro Nakajima said in a statement.
In this new study, Nakajima and the team focused on the group of genes that is unique to animals with high regenerative capacity like flatworms. These genes are called HRJDs, or highly regenerative species-specific JmjC domain-encoding genes. They transferred the HRJDs into the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) and tracked their health with a blue dye. They nicknamed the fly Smurf, thanks to this hue.
Initially, they hoped that these HRJD-boosted fruit flies would regenerate tissue if injured. This didn’t happen. However, the team had a fruit fly intestine expert Hiroki Nagai onboard, who noticed something else. There were some novel phenotypes–or the characteristics like eye color or hair color that comes from a specific gene.
“HRJDs promoted greater intestinal stem cell division, whilst also suppressing intestinal cells that were mis-differentiating, or going wrong in aged flies,” said Nakajima.
This is different to how antibiotics may suppress the mis-differentiated intestinal cells, but suppress intestinal stem cell division.
“For this reason, HRJDs had a measurable effect on the lifespans of fruit flies, which opens the door, or at least provides clues, for the development of new anti-aging strategies,” said Nakajima. “After all, human and insect intestines have surprisingly much in common on a cellular level.”
Fruit flies are famous test subjects in biological research. They share 75 percent of the genes that cause diseases in humans, reproduce quickly, and their genetic code is fairly easy to change. However, even with their relatively short lives and rapid-fire reproduction and maturating rates, it still took about two months to study their full aging process.
In future studies, the team would like to take a closer look at how HRJD’s work on a molecular level.
“Details of the molecular workings of HRJDs are still unresolved. And it’s unclear whether they work alone or in combination with some other component,” said Nakajima. “Therefore, this is just the start of the journey, but we know now that our modified fruit flies can serve as a valuable resource to uncover unprecedented mechanisms of stem cell rejuvenation in the future. In humans, intestinal stem cells decrease in activity with age, so this research is a promising avenue for stem cell-based therapies.”
What are the current Party Animals redeem codes? Take Fall Guys and add puppies, and you’ve got yourself a hit party game. Party Animals is full of hilarious shenanigans as you go head to head with strangers or friends, online or offline. With so many exhilarating games like these, we have come to expect codes for currencies and costumes.
If you’re jumping (or kicking, flopping, or rolling) into Party Animals, one of the first things you need to consider is which of the cute pets to cho
What are the current Party Animals redeem codes? Take Fall Guys and add puppies, and you’ve got yourself a hit party game. Party Animals is full of hilarious shenanigans as you go head to head with strangers or friends, online or offline. With so many exhilarating games like these, we have come to expect codes for currencies and costumes.
If you’re jumping (or kicking, flopping, or rolling) into Party Animals, one of the first things you need to consider is which of the cute pets to choose as your avatar. It’s like walking into a pet store and only picking one pet to take home… it’s nearly impossible. Well, once you have chosen who to play in the multiplayer game, you’re going to want the coolest outfits for them, and in-game currency to kit them out. That is where Party Animals codes come in, so here’s every current code and how to redeem them in the game.
The question of why the chicken crossed the road is of secondary importance to who gets to claim the bird's carcass if it's killed while attempting the crossing. For a long time, the rule in a majority of the country was the government got to keep the deceased animal. State laws prohibited drivers from claiming the meat of animals killed on public roads and highways for food. Instead, ownership of the corpses defaulted to whichever agency maintai
The question of why the chicken crossed the road is of secondary importance to who gets to claim the bird's carcass if it's killed while attempting the crossing.
For a long time, the rule in a majority of the country was the government got to keep the deceased animal. State laws prohibited drivers from claiming the meat of animals killed on public roads and highways for food. Instead, ownership of the corpses defaulted to whichever agency maintained the roads, wasting countless tons of farm-fresh, slightly battered flesh to rot.
In recent years, a growing number of states have been loosening their highway harvesting bans. The Associated Press reported in 2022 that "30 or so" states now allow people to harvest roadkill. The pace of reform doesn't appear to be slowing down.
Come July, a new Virginia law allowing anyone to claim roadkill all year round will go into effect. Current law allows only the driver who the killed animal to claim the carcass, and only if they hit the animal during hunting season.
Liberalizing roadkill harvesting also stands to unite animal rights activists and fiscal conservatives.
The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has endorsed roadkill as superior to supermarket-sold meat.
"Animals killed on the road were not castrated, dehorned, or debeaked without anesthesia, did not suffer the trauma and misery of transportation," says the organization on its website.
Virginia Del. Tony Wilt (R–Harrisonburg), the author of Virginia's new law, advocated for the policy change as a way of reducing the burden on the state's transportation department.
"Currently, if nobody takes the animal, it falls back onto [the Virginia Department of Transportation]. There are certain times of the year when those things can stack up," he said during a committee hearing earlier this year, per reporting from WRIC.
Libertarians would obviously be on board with these policies as well. Under an ideal regime of privatized roads, it's possible that road companies might claim animal carcasses for themselves. But so long as the public owns and operates the highways, it seems only fair that the public be allowed to harvest whatever animals are killed on them as well.
The open road, and all it has to offer, has long been associated with a particularly American vision of freedom. Expanding that freedom to what lies on the side of the road can only be considered a win for individual liberty.
In case its name isn't clear enough, snapping turtles snap. And so, obviously, it's best not to touch them — as one TikToker learned the hard — aka painful — way.
"Whatchya doin' little man?" she asked sweetly, talking to a cute snapping turtle who was trying to mind its own business. — Read the rest
The post Ouch! TikToker tries to pet a snapping turtle — and guess what happens next? (video) appeared first on Boing Boing.
In case its name isn't clear enough, snapping turtles snap. And so, obviously, it's best not to touch them — as one TikToker learned the hard — aka painful — way.
"Whatchya doin' little man?" she asked sweetly, talking to a cute snapping turtle who was trying to mind its own business. — Read the rest
When I came across an ad for Porpoise Jaw Oil in the August 1965 issue of Popular Mechanics, I doubted whether it was really oil derived from porpoises (small toothed whales). However, after reading the fine print — "The incomparable lubricity of the dolphin oils has led to over 100 years use as superb lubricants for timepieces, micrometers, fine instruments, electrical contacts, and all delicate mechanisms" — I realized that the oil did, in fact, come from porpoise jaws. — Read the rest
The po
When I came across an ad for Porpoise Jaw Oil in the August 1965 issue of Popular Mechanics, I doubted whether it was really oil derived from porpoises (small toothed whales). However, after reading the fine print — "The incomparable lubricity of the dolphin oils has led to over 100 years use as superb lubricants for timepieces, micrometers, fine instruments, electrical contacts, and all delicate mechanisms" — I realized that the oil did, in fact, come from porpoise jaws. — Read the rest
Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl is one of my favorite things in the world and the best thing on TV on Superb Owl Sunday. Watching adorable rescue pups (kind of) play football while encouraging adoption is way more wholesome than watching people acquire CTE in real time. — Read the rest
The post Move over Puppy Bowl, here comes the Stanley Pup appeared first on Boing Boing.
Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl is one of my favorite things in the world and the best thing on TV on Superb Owl Sunday. Watching adorable rescue pups (kind of) play football while encouraging adoption is way more wholesome than watching people acquire CTE in real time. — Read the rest
Have you ever heard a ferret snoring? I hadn't until very recently when I stumbled upon "FerretTok" and discovered TikTok user "Ferret Daddy," who describes himself as "Just a streamer with 3 ferrets Twitch: Zennvin."
Ferret Daddy posts adorable videos of his ferrets playing, eating, and just generally being cute. — Read the rest
The post Ferret snoring is the ASMR you never knew you needed appeared first on Boing Boing.
Have you ever heard a ferret snoring? I hadn't until very recently when I stumbled upon "FerretTok" and discovered TikTok user "Ferret Daddy," who describes himself as "Just a streamer with 3 ferrets Twitch: Zennvin."
Ferret Daddy posts adorable videos of his ferrets playing, eating, and just generally being cute. — Read the rest
Enlarge / A kitty named Clover prepares to play with a robot arm in the Cat Royale "multi-species" science/art installation . (credit: Blast Theory - Stephen Daly)
Cats and robots are a winning combination, as evidenced by all those videos of kitties riding on Roombas. And now we have Cat Royale, a "multispecies" live installation in which three cats regularly "played" with a robot over 12 days, carefully monitored by human operators. Created by computer scientists from the U
Enlarge/ A kitty named Clover prepares to play with a robot arm in the Cat Royale "multi-species" science/art installation . (credit: Blast Theory - Stephen Daly)
Cats and robots are a winning combination, as evidenced by all those videos of kitties riding on Roombas. And now we have Cat Royale, a "multispecies" live installation in which three cats regularly "played" with a robot over 12 days, carefully monitored by human operators. Created by computer scientists from the University of Nottingham in collaboration with artists from a group called Blast Theory, the installation debuted at the World Science Festival in Brisbane, Australia, last year and is now a touring exhibit. The accompanying YouTube video series recently won a Webby Award, and a paper outlining the insights gleaned from the experience was similarly voted best paper at the recent Computer-Human Conference (CHI’24).
"At first glance, the project is about designing a robot to enrich the lives of a family of cats by playing with them," said co-author Steve Benford of the University of Nottingham, who led the research, "Under the surface, however, it explores the question of what it takes to trust a robot to look after our loved ones and potentially ourselves." While cats might love Roombas, not all animal encounters with robots are positive: Guide dogs for the visually impaired can get confused by delivery robots, for example, while the rise of lawn mowing robots can have a negative impact on hedgehogs, per Benford et al.
Blast Theory and the scientists first held a series of exploratory workshops to ensure the installation and robotic design would take into account the welfare of the cats. "Creating a multispecies system—where cats, robots, and humans are all accounted for—takes more than just designing the robot," said co-author Eike Schneiders of Nottingham's Mixed Reality Lab about the primary takeaway from the project. "We had to ensure animal well-being at all times, while simultaneously ensuring that the interactive installation engaged the (human) audiences around the world. This involved consideration of many elements, including the design of the enclosure, the robot, and its underlying systems, the various roles of the humans-in-the-loop, and, of course, the selection of the cats.”
Here's a video of two guinea pigs playing a serious round of tug of war with a blade of grass that they both decided to snack on at the same time.
Although these little rascals are surrounded by a field of grass, this particular blade of grass was clearly the most important one. — Read the rest
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Here's a video of two guinea pigs playing a serious round of tug of war with a blade of grass that they both decided to snack on at the same time.
Although these little rascals are surrounded by a field of grass, this particular blade of grass was clearly the most important one. — Read the rest
The post Guinea Pigs playing tug of war with a blade of grass appeared first on Boing Boing.
Here's a video of two guinea pigs playing a serious round of tug of war with a blade of grass that they both decided to snack on at the same time.
Although these little rascals are surrounded by a field of grass, this particular blade of grass was clearly the most important one. — Read the rest
The post Guinea Pigs playing tug of war with a blade of grass appeared first on Boing Boing.
If you're looking for a political message in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, consider the following: The story begins "many generations" after the death of the previous reboot trilogy's hero, Caesar. Caesar was the first ape to speak, following the spread of a strange virus. Eventually, he became the leader of the apes in a war against the remnants of humanity. Caesar's teachings—apes should not kill each other, and apes are stronger together—
If you're looking for a political message in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, consider the following: The story begins "many generations" after the death of the previous reboot trilogy's hero, Caesar. Caesar was the first ape to speak, following the spread of a strange virus. Eventually, he became the leader of the apes in a war against the remnants of humanity. Caesar's teachings—apes should not kill each other, and apes are stronger together—have become quasi-religious dogma (ape-ma?) amongst the apes who live on in the post-apocalyptic world.
But those beliefs have been perverted by an authoritarian sect run by Proximus, a strutting, vainglorious bonobo bent on unifying and dominating the fragmented ape clans into something greater. Proximus preaches strength and glory; it turns out the bonobos, like all men, are obsessed with Rome. But his footsoldiers massacre peaceful ape clans, and his murderous forces wear face coverings and are known as "masks." His whole kingdom appears to be built on personal whim and something resembling slavery. Talk about a banana republic.
Masks, mad dictators, post-pandemic chaos, power fantasies of restoring Rome? Perhaps this is a story about Trump? About antifa? About revolution and empire? But no, not really. It's just a story about a bunch of animated monkeys fighting.
The sociopolitical notions about an ape society built atop the ashes of human civilization are the most interesting concepts in Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes—and the least well-explored. Rather than dig in and engage with the story's fundamentally political underpinnings, the story is, instead, content to nod in their direction while pursuing a notably less thoughtful action-adventure story.
The end result isn't bad: Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is a solid enough summer blockbuster, with top-notch special effects and a family-friendly emotional core that most movies of this class lack. But what's frustrating is that the movie gestures at something much more interesting than what ends up on screen.
The story starts with a trio of young chimpanzees who belong to a peaceful, idyllic clan devoted to the raising of eagles. But soon their village is attacked by masked-wearing outsiders, including a silverback brute named Sylva. Truly, it's gorilla warfare.
Noa, the son of the eagle clan's leader, manages to escape. The movie then becomes a sort of road movie in which Noa must return to his tribe and free them from Proximus' authoritarian rule. Easy rider, raging apes.
Noa is no Caesar, but he's a chimp off the old block: thoughtful, full of moral conviction, yearning to grow into something more. After the attack on his village, he runs into Raka, a wise old Orangutan who has studied Caesar's teachings, and who steals every scene he's in. The pair are soon joined by Mae, a human woman who initially appears to be a mute scavenger but turns out to be something more. All of this comes to a head when Mae and Noa reach Proximus' kingdom, which consists of a gigantic, rusted-out ship that's been beached near a massive, locked bunker that he believes holds tools that will make him more powerful. There's a sort of Mad Max parallel here, but with inquisitive monkeys instead of leather-clad car fiends; perhaps this picture should have been called Furious George.
Proximus has been studying ancient Rome, with the help of Trevathan, an older human man (William H. Macy) who has accepted the notion that apes will rule the earth. Some of the movie's most interesting scenes involve Trevathan arguing with Mae about whether to accept ape dominion. But until the movie's final moments, it's not at all clear what Mae's alternative is, or why she even thinks there is an alternative. What is Mae even fighting for? Too much of the movie's worldbuilding is shuffled into what are effectively footnotes.
What's left is a relatively simple narrative about a young ape struggling to free his clan and finding himself in the process. It's competently told, and the computer character animation is consistently excellent, with everything from wet fur to minor skin blemishes convincingly rendered. Yet that impressive level of detail doesn't extend to the story, which at two and a half hours long threatens to turn this into Kingdom of the Planet of Bored Apes.
In many ways, it's a relief that the movie doesn't really attempt to be a Trump-era political tract. (Remember the Gorilla Channel?) But I do wish the story had taken its own ideas about politics and civilizational conflict a little more seriously. The movie is fine, but simian swagger aside, it doesn't have much thematic heft; Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes amounts to little more than a couple hours of monkeying around.
Say happy birthday to four-year-old miniature dachshund Willow! I've been watching the videos of Willow that her human, Tray, has been posting on social media, and I can't stop laughing.
When she was younger, to help with her house training, Willow learned to ring a bell to alert Tray that she had to go outside. — Read the rest
The post Bell-ringing "Salamancas' dog" demands to be let outside appeared first on Boing Boing.
Say happy birthday to four-year-old miniature dachshund Willow! I've been watching the videos of Willow that her human, Tray, has been posting on social media, and I can't stop laughing.
When she was younger, to help with her house training, Willow learned to ring a bell to alert Tray that she had to go outside. — Read the rest
Enlarge / A Day octopus (Octopus cyanea) named Scarlet parachutes her web over a coral head while Dr. Alex Schnell observes. (credit: National Geographic/Disney/Craig Parry)
With Earth Day fast approaching once again, it's time for another new documentary from National Geographic and Disney+: Secrets of the Octopus. It's the third in what has become a series, starting with the remarkable 2021 documentary Secrets of the Whales (narrated by Sigourney Weaver) and 2023's Secrets
Enlarge/ A Day octopus (Octopus cyanea) named Scarlet parachutes her web over a coral head while Dr. Alex Schnell observes. (credit: National Geographic/Disney/Craig Parry)
With Earth Day fast approaching once again, it's time for another new documentary from National Geographic and Disney+: Secrets of the Octopus. It's the third in what has become a series, starting with the remarkable 2021 documentary Secrets of the Whales (narrated by Sigourney Weaver) and 2023's Secrets of the Elephants (Natalie Portman as narrator). James Cameron served as producer on all three.
Secrets of the Octopus is narrated by Paul Rudd. Per the official synopsis:
Octopuses are like aliens on Earth: three hearts, blue blood and the ability to squeeze through a space the size of their eyeballs. But there is so much more to these weird and wonderful animals. Intelligent enough to use tools or transform their bodies to mimic other animals and even communicate with different species, the secrets of the octopus are more extraordinary than we ever imagined.
Each of the three episodes focuses on a specific unique feature of these fascinating creatures: "Shapeshifters," "Masterminds," and "Social Networks." The animals were filmed in their natural habitats over 200 days, and all that stunning footage is accompanied by thoughtful commentary by featured scientists. One of those scientists is Dr. Alex Schnell, a native Australian and self-described storyteller who has worked at Macquarie University, the University of Cambridge, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, among other institutions. Her research focuses on the intelligence of marine animals, particularly cuttlefish and octopuses.
If not, here's your chance! In this video, you can see an absolutely adorable rabbit first check out the water, and then jump right in. It immediately starts doing the rabbit version of a doggie paddle—I guess that'd be called a bunny paddle? — Read the rest
The post Have you ever seen a rabbit swim? appeared first on Boing Boing.
If not, here's your chance! In this video, you can see an absolutely adorable rabbit first check out the water, and then jump right in. It immediately starts doing the rabbit version of a doggie paddle—I guess that'd be called a bunny paddle? — Read the rest
This is one of the cutest things I've seen in a while! Meet Kiki, an adorable ewe who seems to love Taylor Swift!
In this video, you can see Kiki watching a video of Taylor Swift (often at Boing Boing) singing, and Kiki is absolutely enraptured—she just can't get enough! — Read the rest
The post This sheep and duck are obsessed with Taylor Swift appeared first on Boing Boing.
This is one of the cutest things I've seen in a while! Meet Kiki, an adorable ewe who seems to love Taylor Swift!
In this video, you can see Kiki watching a video of Taylor Swift (often at Boing Boing) singing, and Kiki is absolutely enraptured—she just can't get enough! — Read the rest
Stop what you're doing and go look at this absolutely precious newborn baby gorilla. I cannot get over how cute she is! The baby, who was born at the Forth Worth Zoo in Texas, is named Jameela—which means "beautiful" in Swahili. — Read the rest
The post Newborn gorilla miracle: Fort Worth Zoo's tiny survivor beats the odds appeared first on Boing Boing.
Stop what you're doing and go look at this absolutely precious newborn baby gorilla. I cannot get over how cute she is! The baby, who was born at the Forth Worth Zoo in Texas, is named Jameela—which means "beautiful" in Swahili. — Read the rest
This video is as sweet as it is hilarious. Watch as three pigs try to climb on a couch at the same time, to cuddle with their human dad. The first piggie, Charlotte, is peacefully taking a nap with her dad, when the second piggie, Pumpkin, approaches to try to join the party. — Read the rest
The post Three pigs try to share a couch with their human dad, hilarity and chaos ensue appeared first on Boing Boing.
This video is as sweet as it is hilarious. Watch as three pigs try to climb on a couch at the same time, to cuddle with their human dad. The first piggie, Charlotte, is peacefully taking a nap with her dad, when the second piggie, Pumpkin, approaches to try to join the party. — Read the rest
While most doggos might whine or sit by their bowl with sad puppy-dog eyes to let you know when they're hungry, one hilarious chihuahua came up with a much sillier way to get his butler's attention.
He noticed a weird springy thingamajig sticking out of the wall just inches from the floor and realized he could use it as his own personal buzzer. — Read the rest
The post Chihuahua hilariously uses a found tool to get his human butler's attention (video) appeared first on Boing Boing.
While most doggos might whine or sit by their bowl with sad puppy-dog eyes to let you know when they're hungry, one hilarious chihuahua came up with a much sillier way to get his butler's attention.
He noticed a weird springy thingamajig sticking out of the wall just inches from the floor and realized he could use it as his own personal buzzer. — Read the rest
Meet Ella, a gorgeous kangaroo who lives at the Kangaroo Pouch Animal Orphanage. But sshh, she's sleeping, so be very quiet! I just love watching this cutie sleep. If you watch the video, you can see how her ears and nose and mouth and eyes and paws are all twitching—she clearly looks like she's dreaming about something. — Read the rest
The post Do kangaroos dream of eclectic sheep? appeared first on Boing Boing.
Meet Ella, a gorgeous kangaroo who lives at the Kangaroo Pouch Animal Orphanage. But sshh, she's sleeping, so be very quiet! I just love watching this cutie sleep. If you watch the video, you can see how her ears and nose and mouth and eyes and paws are all twitching—she clearly looks like she's dreaming about something. — Read the rest
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