The "Ew!" Factor

By Claire Eamer

I have a new book out -- and it's so disgusting that it once put my editor right off her dinner. I'm proud of that! (Sorry-not-sorry, Stacey.)

The book is called Extremely Gross Animals: Stinky, Slimy and Strange Animal Adaptations, and it's exactly what it claims to be -- a book about the animals that make you go "Ew!" 

The thing is, once you get past the "Ew!" moment, these animals are fascinating. And adaptation itself is fascinating. 

For example, when I think of mucus, I mostly think of snot and all the unpleasantness that goes with a bad cold or (currently) my over-reaction to pollen in the air. As I blow my nose for the tenth time in a morning, I am not feeling all that friendly about snot. 

But when I learned about some of nature's snot-monsters, I started to change my mind. I'll be honest, I am just as likely as anyone to have a brief "Ew!" moment, but then.... Did you know that snot can be a primo defence mechanism? Or that snot can make a nice, safe place to sleep? Or a vehicle for travelling the world? Honestly, how can that not be fascinating?

And it's all true. Consider the hagfish, a far-from-beautiful eel-like fish with a mouth out of nightmares.

Pacific hagfish poking out of a hole 150 metres below the ocean surface. Credit: NOAA/CBNMS

Then think about picking up a hagfish, or sharing a tank with it as this fellow does. When a hagfish is attacked by a predator -- or even by a television commentator having an "Ew!" moment -- it can produce enough slime (mucus, snot, whatever you fancy) by the bucketful, enough to clog the gills of any fish that fancies it for dinner. Watch here to see some high school students have their own "Ew!" moment at a hagfish research lab at the University of Guelph.

But what about that snotty but safe place to sleep? That's not hagfish, that's the parrotfish, a much prettier denizen of the world's oceans. 

A rainbow parrotfish. Photo credit: Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble

A parrotfish spends its days pottering around coral reefs, eating algae that it has scraped off the coral with its bill-like mouth parts. At night, it sleeps safe and cozy in a cocoon of mucus freshly expelled from glands near its gills. Scientists aren't sure why. After all, you can't interview a parrotfish. However, the cocoon certainly keeps it safe from sharp encounters with coral, may protect it from parasites, and also would give it advance warning of any predator considering a midnight snack of parrotfish.

And the world traveller? Meet the violet sea snail, also called the purple bubble raft snail. 

This violet sea snail washed ashore in Maui with its bubble raft intact. Public domain photo.

As soon as it's born, the snail creates a raft of air bubbles enclosed in mucus to which its single foot is firmly stuck. The snail spends its life floating around the world's oceans upside-down, its foot attached to this mucus-and-bubble raft which keeps it safely at the water's surface. Both "Ew!" and "Awesome!"

And I haven't even begun to tell you what some animals can do with poop. Or puke. Or...well, you'll have to get the book for the rest of the grossness.

Enjoy!

 

Protecting Elephants in Zambia

Protecting Elephants in Zambia
By Margriet Ruurs
photos by Margriet Ruurs

If you visit Africa, you need to go on safari!
So when I toured international schools across Africa, I knew I’d want to see wildlife in the place where it belongs: the vast wilderness of the African continent.

Driving across the Serengeti I spotted a lion crouched low in the grass – both painted orange by the rising sun.
Seeing a white rhino in the Ngorogoro Crater was iconic and drove home the need to preserve this natural legacy for generations to come.

But perhaps the highlight was a visit to Zambia’s National Parks. Wildlife in Zambia is abundant. Even on the ride from the tiny airport to the lodge in a National Park, we saw the "big five" and more. Africa's big five animals include lions, leopards, elephants,  African buffalo, and rhinoceros.

During a walking safari, we learned about reading tracks and other signs. “A cheetah walked here about two hours ago, carrying an impala,” our guide would ‘read’ with confidence. But he also told us about poachers and how elephant populations are dwindling. We met with a poacher to hear his side of the story. And ended up financing a system whereby poachers who have served a jail sentence wear ankle bracelets that allow for tracking them to make sure they don’t sneak off again during the night.

And then we met Aaron. A young man who grew up in a poaching community, he explained how his family went hungry as herds of elephants came through his village, trampling rice crops and eating the mangos. How poaching allowed for a bit of income in a place without jobs. And how he had never known that elephants would be endangered. He had been forced to drop out of school to help his family’s income. Elephants were the enemy.

At the elephant orphanage, elephants bond into new families.

But one day, Aaron was involved in the rescue of a baby elephant at the resort where he had a menial job. That’s when he met people working for Game Rangers International and the Lilyai Elephant Orphanage outside Lusaka, Zambia.

“I thought there was black magic involved,” Aaron said when he first saw people working with elephants. But, upon visiting the orphanage to check up on the rescued baby, he not only learned about their work but was offered a job. Now Aaron is a skilled elephant caretaker who helps to save the lives of young, orphaned elephants who will later be released into the wild again. He also speaks to Zambian youths in schools about the need for preservation. “Tourists bring more resources than poaching,” he now knows.

You can read many more details about this true story in:
The Elephant Keeper, Caring For Orphaned Elephants in Zambia
by Margriet Ruurs
Kids Can Press
ISBN  978-1771385619
The book encourages schools and individuals to ‘adopt’ an orphaned elephant.
Check this website for details: https://www.gamerangersinternational.org

Muskrat Encounter

by Joan Marie Galat

I often think how time spent in nature is interesting and different, not only from season to season, but also in different types of weather. Varying conditions bring new, and sometimes surprising, outdoor experiences. One mild winter day, I spotted this muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus) crossing an Alberta country road between two swampy areas. I pulled over to have a look. To my surprise, the animal turned, walked over to my vehicle, and took a good long look at me through the open window.

It was fascinating to see his long toes up close. So that's how they dig into mud banks and build underwater tunnels! They also build houses, called push-ups, out of mud and cattails, bullrushes, and other aquatic vegetation. I could see why his rubbery-looking tale makes such a great rudder when navigating through water. Muskrats can stay underwater for up to 20 minutes. Their lips close behind the incisors, allowing them to chew underwater. Like beavers, muskrats may slap the water with their tails to warn of danger.

Muskrat: Ondatra zibethicus

This muskrat did not seem too concerned about possible danger. In fact, he walked beneath my vehicle during our encounter. (The last photo shows how my photography was impacted when I realized he was under the car.) As I turned off the engine and unbuckled to look out the opposite window, he finished inspecting the vehicle's undercarriage. Popping out, the muskrat resumed his waddling walk towards the frozen water.

Experiencing nature in winter may lead you to surprising encounters. Even if you don't spot animals, you might see signs of their presence. Look for tracks, paths, and depressions in the snow, where animals may have bedded.

If the weather is going to keep you indoors, check out Dot to Dot in the Sky, Stories in the Clouds. While waiting for your ideal day, you can discover the science of how different types of weather occur. You'll also find tales and folklore from around the world that reveal how ancient cultures first explained rain, thunder, wind, frost, and snow. You might even find a few tips for predicting the weather, so you can plan your next nature visit!

Dot to Dot in the Sky, Stories in the Clouds

Book Trailer (1 minute, 48 seconds.)  

So You Want to Work with Animals.....

Post by Helaine Becker

A lot of kids love the idea of a career working with animals. Who can blame them?Animals are cute, cuddly, funny, fascinating. But they're also hard to take care of!

For my recent book, Worms for Breakfast: How to Feed a Zoo,  I got the chance to interview several people who do work with animals, every day. They told me what their favorite parts of their jobs were, what they liked least, and how they got the job in the first place. While most agreed that their jobs had lots of hard bits, they all agreed that working with animals was everything they'd imagined it would be: challenging, exciting and rewarding.

Dr. Deb Schmidt, a Nutritionist at the St. Louis Zoo, had this to say, "The fun part of being an animal nutritionist is helping to solve problems. I like to figure out what nutrients animals need and at what levels. Sometimes, domestic animals (like cows, horses, chickens, dogs and cats) give us clues about what wild animals similar to them may need. But the diets of other animals (such as apes and reptiles) can be harder to figure out."

Dr. Schmidt went on to say that if you want to become a zoo nutritionist, you should be good at math and science. A strong background in biology or biochemistry wouldn't hurt!

You can find out more about careers that involve science and working with animals, check out Worms for Breakfast.  But also check out Sci-Why's very own giant list of super science resources (click the tab, above). You'll find a listing there specifically for Careers in Science.

Get Inspired for 2016!

Post by Helaine Becker

What better way to start the New Year off here at Sci-Why than with some inspiration?

I recently had the happy occasion to meet Filipe Deandrade, a nature filmmaker, while he was gathering footage for a new project with National Geographic. DeAndrade had won the 2015 Wild to Inspire film award, sponsored by the American Wildlife Foundation, National Geographic and the Sun Valley Film Festival for his short film, "Adapt." I think you'll like it, and hope we all find as much inspiration in our own work/lives in 2016!

 Happy New Year, everybody!

A Little Holiday Gift

Occasional Sci/Why contributor Margriet Ruurs sends in a couple of amazing links for your holiday pleasure.

First, this clever shorebird could teach human fishers a few lessons in patience and technique!

And here's a series of photographs by London-based photographer Tim Flach that challenges the way we see animals and ourselves.

Enjoy the links and the holiday season!

Genetics 101: Cross talk

By guest blogger Leslie Johnstone

What do you get when you cross a horse with a donkey? It depends!

A mule, like this one, results from crossing a horse and a donkey.

When a male donkey is crossed with a female horse, the resulting offspring is a mule. If a male horse is crossed with a female donkey, then the baby is called a hinny. Hinnies are much less common and tend to be smaller than mules and look more like horses.

Horses are half of the equation that makes a mule or a hinny.

When two different species of animal, such as horses and donkeys, are bred, the offspring are called hybrids. Both donkeys and hinnies are hybrids. Donkeys have 62 chromosomes in their cells, but horses have 64. Mules and hinnies both have 63 chromosomes, being  a blend of both parents.

Mules and hinnies can't be successfully bred to other mules and hinnies, but there have been some cases of female mules giving birth to babies sired by horses or by donkeys.

The other half of the equation is a donkey, like this one.

Mules are usually very smart, strong animals and are used as pets, for transportation, and for farming. They have harder hooves and stronger coats than either of their parents. Mules and hinnies are also generally longer living than their parents and more resistant to diseases.

Leslie Johnstone and her writing partner, Shar Levine, are co-authors of dozens of fun practical-science books for kids. Leslie took the photos appearing with this post.

Robot Animals? GadZOOks!!!!

Post by Helaine Becker

I'm delighted to announce my newest STEM-related book, Zoobots, has just been released by Kids Can Press. It's a pretty exciting (if I do say so myself) survey of the latest developments in robotic research. Glorious, hyper-realistic illustrations by Australian Alex Ries are totally wow-worthy whether you're a transformer-transfixed kid or a formerly jaded grown-up.

I'm just as happy to announce that the book has already been picked up by the Junior Library Guild, and nominated by Capitol Choices for its Noteworthy Books for Children and Teens list.

If robotic animals fascinate you - and really, how can they not?  -  check out my Pinterest board, Cool Robots, where I've posted lots of links to articles about all kinds of amazing mechatronics.

And don't forget to watch out for cockroach-bot overlords. They're on their way to a kitchen counter near you.

...And Eight Tiny Reindeer

By Claire Eamer



Zeus Box Studio image

Reindeer feature prominently in the media at this time of year -- especially that very rare subspecies of reindeer that flies through the air and pulls a sled carrying a fellow in a red suit.
But more about that them later.

Most reindeer roam the forest and tundra of Scandinavia and Russia and other parts of northern Europe and Asia, as far east as eastern Siberia and northern China. There’s even a small herd of reindeer on a mountain in Scotland.

In the same kind of habitat in northern North America, you find caribou. They look like reindeer and behave pretty much like reindeer. So what’s the difference?

Essentially none, says Don Russell, a Yukon caribou biologist and founding coordinator of the CircumArctic Rangifer Monitoring and Assessment Network (CARMA), an international organization concerned with the state of the Arctic's wild caribou and reindeer.

"The reindeer is just an Old World caribou. They are the same species, Rangifer tarandus," he says. And they're the dominant large herbivore, or plant-eater, in the circumpolar ecosystem. In fact, in most parts of the North, they're the only large herbivore.

That’s not to say that all reindeer and caribou are identical. There are quite a few variations in body shape and appearance, but those variations depend more on the kind of habitat the caribou and reindeer live in than what continent they come from.

There are three general groupings of reindeer and three matching groupings of caribou. Marine reindeer and the very similar Peary caribou of northern Canada live on Arctic islands or near the Arctic coast. Tundra reindeer and barrenground caribou tend to gather in large herds and migrate across vast swaths of territory, mainly north of the boreal forest. Forest reindeer and woodland caribou live in the northern regions of the boreal forest itself, usually in smaller herds than the tundra animals.



Looks can be deceiving. These reindeer, grazing peacefully in the middle of
town on the Norwegian islands of Svalbard, are actually wild animals.
Claire Eamer photo

We tend to think of reindeer as domestic animals, but that's not always the case. True, people in Scandinavia and Russia have been keeping domesticated reindeer for thousands of years. However, one of the world’s largest herds of wild Rangifer tarandus is the Taimyr reindeer herd, which lives on the Taimyr Peninsula in central Siberia and numbers many hundreds of thousands of animals.

The caribou of North America have never been domesticated, but not because they are genetically different from reindeer. The aboriginal peoples of North America simply never felt the need to domesticate caribou. Instead, they adapted their lifestyle to fit the seasonal wanderings of the wild herds.

Perhaps the oddest member of the Rangifer tarandus tribe is the Svalbard reindeer. Russell calls it the Shetland pony of the reindeer world. Svalbard is Norwegian territory, a small group of rocky islands about halfway between the Norwegian mainland and the North Pole. Isolated by hundreds of kilometres of ocean from any other land, Svalbard is home to a distinct population of reindeer, small, with short legs, snubbed muzzles, and chubby, barrel-shaped bodies.


Caribou biologist Don Russell calls Svalbard reindeer the Shetland ponies
of the Rangifer world. Their short legs and chubby bodies serve them well
on the islands of the remote Svalbard archipelago.
Claire Eamer photo

Svalbard reindeer aren't designed for speed, but they don't need to be. The only large predators on Svalbard are polar bears, and they're rarely interested in reindeer. On the other hand, those chubby bodies are important. Svalbard is a tough place to be a reindeer.

In winter, Svalbard reindeer have to eat whatever they can find. Most other Rangifer eat lichens, which are available in winter under the snow. On Svalbard, however, there are few lichens. Svalbard reindeer eat the first green shoots of sedges emerging in the spring. Through the summer, they work their way through lush tundra plants, packing on as much fat as possible. The fat has to last them through the lean times of winter when they go on a crash diet, often losing almost half their autumn weight by spring.

Meanwhile, about those flying reindeer. They seem chubby enough, but science has remarkably little to say about them. Perhaps it's the shortage of confirmed sightings. Nevertheless, given their unusual reported characteristics (flying, occasional appearance of a glowing red nose), they clearly deserve more research.

If you want to know more about wild caribou and reindeer, explore the CARMA website.

To hear from the people who depend on caribou and reindeer -- in their own words -- watch some of the videos at Voices of the Caribou People. It's a great resource for teachers and students studying life in the Arctic.

About those seasonal reindeer.... Here's a site devoted to the history of Santa Claus and his flying Rangifer team.

And the one with the unusual nose? That'd be Rudolph, eh?

Finally, remember those reindeer on a mountain in Scotland? Here they are, the Cairngorm reindeer.

Great White (Northern) Science – LINKS and a CHALLENGE

By Claire Eamer

There’s lots of great science happening in the Great White North. (Actually, it’s not very white today – gorgeous fall colours instead – but you know what I mean.) And a lot of that science is being done by Northerners themselves. So I decided to spread the word.

Here’s the LINKS bit: I’ve dug out a few kid/teacher/librarian-friendly links for you. You’ll find them below, with short notes about where they lead.

And here’s the CHALLENGE bit: Hey, all you Northerners, scientists, science freaks (that’s me!), geeks (young and old), and wizards of Google-fu - let’s find some more! If you have a favourite science link to something that’s taking place in northern Canada, post it in the Comments section at the bottom. We can build something here.

So, here’s my first kick at the can - a mostly-but-not-entirely Yukon contribution.

This scimitar cat once roamed the Yukon grasslands. Today,

it snarls at visitors to the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre

in Whitehorse. Claire Eamer photo

Would you like to learn about the amazing animals that roamed the Yukon 20,000 years ago, when most of Canada was buried under kilometres of ice? Check out the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre's Education Corner. There's everything from educational materials for senior grades to colouring sheets for the little kids. And check back regularly. I was talking to the Beringia Centre folk yesterday, and they're planning some great new additions to the site.

If I've got you hooked on mammoths, giant sloths, and scimitar cats, there's more information about the latest research (and lots of cool photos) in the online (pdf) booklets Ice Age Klondike and Ice Age Old Crow, published by the Yukon Government.

By the way, if you want to know what life is like today at Old Crow, the Yukon's most northerly community and home of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, check out the community website. It offers a sampler of the Gwich'in language, traditional stories, culture, history, cooking (lots of caribou recipes!), and a whole lot of other entertaining bits and pieces of information, including a collection of videos made by Old Crow students.

Back to ice ages and climate: how about climate change? The climate is warming faster in the North than anywhere else in Canada. What do northerners think about that? In 2000, the Inuvialuit people of Banks Island talked about their lives and how climate change is affecting them in a video called Inuit Observations of Climate Change, which is online in both a short version and a long version.

All that warming has turned up a few surprises. High in the  mountains of the Yukon and the Northwest Territories, there are patches of permanent ice, too small to be glaciers but too big to melt over the short summer. Until recently. Now many of them are melting and revealing a record of plant, animal, and human life going back thousands of years. I blogged about the ice patch discoveries here last year. The online (pdf) booklet The Frozen Past has both information and photos of Yukon finds. And Archaeology magazine has an online article about ice patch finds in other parts of the world.

For first-hand accounts at what it's like to live and do research at the northwest edge of Canada, check out this series of podcasts produced by the Wildlife Management Advisory Council (North Slope). You'll find everything from elder Danny C. Gordon's account of a lifetime of travel across the Yukon North Slope and park ranger Richard Gordon's song in praise of Herschel Island to permafrost researcher Chris Burn's musings on using both scientific and traditional knowledge to understand the land and its future.

Okay, that's my contribution - for now. I won't promise not to come back and add more links in the Comments section, but I'll let you guys have a chance first. What's your favourite science link for the North? And don't think just about the northern territories. Besides the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, there's Labrador, Nunavik, and the northern regions of most of the provinces. Have I left anyone out? If so, add it in below.

CONTEST CONTEST CONTEST!!! And a couple of new books.

By Claire Eamer

Free books are on offer at Sci/Why - and free Skype visits by author L. E. Carmichael, if you're a teacher or librarian. Just go to Talk About FOX TALK Contest and leave a comment. Every comment between now and August 20th (12:01 AM, Atlantic Time) will be entered to win an autographed copy of L. E. Carmichael's brand new book, FOX TALK. Everybody who spreads the word gets an extra entry, so share on Facebook, Twitter, or anywhere else. 

Hurry hurry hurry! This deal is too good to miss. Also, there are Foxes of Great Cuteness.

In more new-book news, two Sci/Why bloggers launched their own brand new books at When Words Collide in Calgary last weekend. It was an awesome, multi-genre festival of reading and writing -- consider signing up for next year. In the meantime, you can check out our freshly-launched books.

Claire Eamer launched her new book for Annick Press, BEFORE THE WORLD WAS READY: STORIES OF DARING GENIUS IN SCIENCE. Read about what happened when people weren’t ready to listen to innovators who came up with revolutionary ideas. And about the folks with the amazing ideas. 

And Helaine Becker launched her beloved comic poem ODE TO UNDERWEAR, out in a new, picture-book format from Scholastic. 

As Helaine says, "From boxers to bloomers and briefs to bikinis, whether they're frilly, silly, or saggy, you'll find them all in this silly romp through your top drawers. That's a pun, BTW. Did you get it?"

And if you missed this book launch, watch out for more opportunities to celebrate the arrival of new books by the Sci/Why crew. We'll let you know.

But it will be hard to top Calgary. There were cupcakes. REALLY GOOD CUPCAKES! Honestly, you shoulda been there, folks.

Diving into an Alien World

By Claire Eamer

In a couple of months, I'll be touring schools and libraries in Ontario, talking about some of the marvellous and strange animals in my book, Lizards in the Sky: Animals Where You Least Expect Them. So I've been thinking about critters and presentations and cool pictures and things like that... and, well, one thing led to another, and I found a whole raft of new, cool, and utterly weird critters in one of my favourite habitats, the deep ocean.

The ROV Hercules operates deep in the Atlantic Ocean.
Photo credit: Mountains in the Sea Research Team;
the IFE Crew; and NOAA/OAR/OER

We're talking deep, here--really deep. So deep and so strange that exploring the deep ocean is like exploring an alien planet. In fact, you need the equivalent of a space ship to go to the deep ocean, something that can see in the absolute dark and survive pressures that would crush the toughest submarine.

But, oh, the wonders when you get there!

How about this? Five full kilometres below the sunny surface of the Caribbean Sea is the Cayman Trough. It's utterly dark and very cold down there, but not everywhere. Just last month, scientists released video taken by a remotely operated undersea vehicle. It shows mineral chimneys at tall as four-storey buildings, belching smoky black water as hot as 400 degrees Celsius, four times the boiling point of water.

Even more astounding were the creatures lurking around those vents: fireworms that look like woolly caterpillars and delicate, almost-colourless shrimp with special organs for detecting hot water.

Super-heated water and rocks billow up from an undersea
volcano in the Pacific Ocean near New Zealand.
Photo credit: Submarine ROF 2006, NOAA Vents Program.

Over in the Pacific Ocean, there's an even deeper spot--Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench, on the west side of the Pacific. At about 12.5 kilometres, it's the deepest spot in all Earth's oceans. And even there, where the pressure is 1000 times the pressure we experience at Earth's surface--even there, you'll find life. A lot of it! Tiny life, to be sure--bacteria. But they swarm there far more densely than in the shallower water at the edge of the Trench.

You don't even have to go super-deep to find the super-weird. Over the last couple of years, scientists have been finding some spectacularly strange creatures in the ocean surrounding Antarctica. National Geographic compiled a list of the five weirdest Antarctic species, including a transparent fish and sea spiders that breathe through holes in their bodies.

This feather-pen-like coral lives almost 2.5 kilometres 

below the ocean surface at Davidson Seamount, California.

Photo credit: NOAA/Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.

Not to be outdone, the biologist who writes one of my favourite science blogs, The Echinoblog, compiled a list of the ten weirdest Antarctic invertebrates. His list includes a 30-centimetre worm with serious teeth!

Me, I'm waiting eagerly for the next list--maybe longer and even weirder.

In the meantime, I guess I had better get back to what started all this, preparing some presentations about my own favourite weird beasties. Seeya!

Over, Under, and On the Arctic Sea Ice

By Claire Eamer

The shrinking sea ice of the Arctic Ocean has been in the news a lot lately, along with photos of polar bears stranded on ice pans or wandering hungrily along bare shores. But what does the disappearing ice affect, apart from polar bears and some shipping companies that see a shorter sea route opening up?

Claire Eamer photo

Arctic sea ice supports a huge and complex ecosystem that ranges from polar bears, birds, and humans down to organisms too small to see without a microscope. Here are a few sites about that world - and a lot of gorgeous photographs!

The Census of Marine Life's Arctic Ocean Diversity website has great information and amazing images. Click on Species to see some of the creatures that make use of the Arctic Ocean and its ice, from top to the ocean bottom.

The US National Earth Science Teachers Association’s page on Arctic Marine Life gives a quick overview of Arctic Ocean biology, from algae to polar bears.

A young Russian scientist and photographer, Alexander Semenov, has been photographing Arctic sea life and sharing his photos with the world. There’s an article about him (with lots of lovely photos) and here's his own website and gallery.

How about the people who live with the ice all their lives? What can they tell us about it? The Inuit of northeastern Canada have been collecting traditional information about sea ice and sharing it at Inuit siku (sea ice) Atlas.

What does it really look like up there, around the Arctic Ocean, both above and below the ice? The photo galleries of Canada’s ArcticNet research program can give you a good idea.

And if you’re a student or a teacher and you want to see the Arctic for yourself, it just might be possible. Check out ArcticNet’s Schools on Board program.

Children and Dogs

This summer, my family and I spent a lot of time with small children who were relatives of one stripe or another. During several occasions, I noticed all of the toddlers had one in common: they were dog crazy. In June, an 18 month old and a four year old, along with their parents, came camping with us and our two Jack Russells. The bond was instant. The four year old spend virtually every waking moment cohorting with FrankieTexas as she calls them, squashing their names together into one. She never took her hand off the handle of the leash, she sat with them, cuddled with them, even French kissed them amidst an avalanche of giggles. After about 24 hours, the dogs lay stretched out in the grass and fine ash surrounding the fire pit, exhausted. Their little keeper held onto the leash, threatening to drag them on a walk the moment they were able to stand. I wondered if the attraction is about the dogs being about the same size? Though I was assured that the little girl is just as enthralled with an aunt and uncle’s Rhodesian ridgeback, who is nearly twice as tall as she is. Perhaps it is just my niece’s personality, I thought; an animal lover who is starting early. This idea was supported by the behaviour of the 18 month old, who was terrified rather than enamoured, despite no scary past experiences with canines. She’s slight of build, delicate in fact, with delicate features to match. She’s sweet, always smiling and usually gets fought over among the motherly segment of family gatherings. The entire camping trip, she spent all her time in her mother’s arms pointing at their adorable noses saying “doggie,” “ruffruff,” “bite me,” and most often “no.” She cried and whined and yelled “no” much louder if she was put down in their vicinity. Clearly, not all children like dogs. Several weeks later, another four year old came to visit. Shy, unspeaking and most interested in engineering feats – how to nail boards together and that sort of thing – he, too, surprised me by quietly taking the leash out of my hand. He spent the next two hours taking the dogs for walks around and around the house. Being mechanically minded, his main focus was the leash. During breaks, he tangled and untangled the leads around chair legs, and clipped and unclipped them to their collars. He discussed the best way to hold them, and the relative strength of leather versus nylon. He couldn’t remember their names, but he loved them just the same. Not long after, me and Frankie and Texas were at yet another family get together. A bigger one this time; all of the young ones were gathered in one place, a small, pleasant backyard. Unlike home, the dogs could not wander off into the fields to find the perfect patch of timothy grass to poop on. And so, it was to my utter embarrassment that my brother –in- law found a large pile of dog poo while standing barefoot on the manicured lawn. A cousin laughed at my genuine astonishment – I don’t know how it happened, I don’t know how it could be my dogs, I kept a close eye on them the entire time, they were never off their leashes. But, here it was. And two more piles close by. I felt all 30 pairs of eyes watch as I bent and picked it up. I’m not a dog person, I told myself. This was my husband’s idea. As soon as their time is up, that’s it. No more dogs. Then, the eighteen month old arrived. Approaching in her mother’s arms, she pointed at their poo-sniffing noses and said, “doggie” and “ruff-ruff.” And immediately, and delicately, reached out to grasp the leash in my hand. “You want to hold onto Texas?” I asked in astonishment. She nodded, wriggled to get down, and proceeded on wobbly feet to take them for a walk around the yard. I patted Frankie and said “good boy,” and he cocked his head in the way he does that makes his ears flop and makes me laugh. My dog poo-hardened heart melted. His tail wagged and the back half of his body wagged with it. And I wondered yet again, why it is that we have such a strong and seemingly innate connection with these meat-eating troublemakers.

Your Daily Dose of Science - Now With Bonus Cute

How do scientists learn about animal behavior? Sometimes animals are outfitted with collars that allow scientists to track the animals in order to learn about their daily life, the food they eat, hunting, nest building and much more.

In this wonderful video, Rick Mercer accompanies park wardens as they tag new born bear cubs in the wilderness of northern Ontario.

Worms and Stars and Lots of Water

By Claire Eamer

I fell in love with marine critters long ago when I was taking a summer-school biology course at the University of British Columbia. The highlight of the course was a field trip to Long Beach, on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

We did intertidal transects: surveys of organisms along a line from the low tide line to the high tide line. I spent hours balancing on barnacle-covered rocks while trying to keep the waves out of my rubber boots, crouching over tidepools and watching for the movements of tiny crabs, struggling to identify and count anemones and clumps of seaweed -- and generally having a blast!

How can you not fall in love with marine invertebrates? Gooseneck barnacles, sea anemones, crabs, limpets, worms, sea stars: the variety of ways marine organisms have solved the fundamental problems of eating, growing, and reproducing astonishes and delights me.


When I started researching science books for kids, I fell in love with marine invertebrates all over again, especially when I was researching my book SPIKED SCORPIONS AND WALKING WHALES, which is all about life, evolution, and water.

That's when I discovered a whole new group of species to adore. Over the last few years, scientists have been venturing deeper and deeper into the sea, either in person or via remote-controlled vehicles loaded with cameras and sensing gear. They've found organisms we've never seen before in habitats we never imagined.

The discoveries just keep coming. Early in January 2012, pictures were released of amazing new creatures from a volcanic vent in the deep ocean off Antarctica. A few weeks earlier, it was other new species from the depths of the Atlantic. There are too many discoveries to list, so I'm posting some links where you can go and admire them for yourselves. Enjoy!

Pictures from the mid-Atlantic: here and here

Creatures from the Indian Ocean: here and here

Discoveries in the Antarctic: here

And a whole collection of stories and pictures: here

Ten Random (But Fascinating) Facts I Learned While Researching A Magazine Article

By L E Carmichael

1. Dogs were the first domestic animal species.  Unambiguous archaeological evidence for dogs is about 12,000 years old, but domestication may have started 20,000 years or more before that.

2. Ancient Egyptians had at least three dog breeds: a greyhound type, a mastiff type, and a small Spitz type.

Shetland sheepdogs - note the floppy ears!

3. The modern concept of breeds, and of deliberately breeding animals for specific traits, developed in Victorian England.  Which means that most of the 400-ish dog breeds recognized today are less than 200 years old.

4. Scientists aren't entirely sure whether house cats are actually domesticated.  It's possible they're nothing but "delightful profiteers," to borrow a phrase from Stephen O'Brien, well-known expert on the evolution of the cat family.

5. Dingos are a breed of domestic dog.  People took dingos with them to Australia several thousand years ago.

6. Floppy ears are found in almost every domestic species.  The only wild species with floppy ears is the elephant.

7. Chimpanzees are humans' closest relatives.  Dogs are better at interpreting human gestures, such as pointing.

8. Crop species are considered domesticates of wild plants.

9. Domestication is a type of evolution.  Natural, artificial, unconscious, and conscious forms of selection are all involved.

10. A group of Russian scientists once attempted to domesticate otters.  It did not go well.  Neither did attempts to domesticate zebras, despite their close relationship to horses.

And this is how one article pitch becomes two, and two become a book proposal...

Seek Animal Signs Instead of Animals

Alone or with children, when it comes to enjoying nature, it’s natural to hope you might spot animals, especially big game. Depending where you live and how safe your surroundings are, you might hope to see a bear, moose, or deer. It’s always fun to catch a glimpse of wildlife but I challenge you to explore nature with a different plan in mind. Next time you walk a trail, make it your goal to look for animal signs instead of animals.

Use as many senses as you can. Close your eyes and listen. Can you hear birds, insects, or frogs? Sniff the air. You’re sure to notice if a skunk is nearby. You might also smell a stinkbug! These winged insects release a nasty smell when defending their homes. More pleasant nature smells to seek include wild mint, wild roses, or the scents that accompany fresh water. I’ve noticed wild cranberries waft a wonderful scent through the woods after an autumn frost.

Now look up into the trees! Can you see a bird nest or woodpecker hole? Perhaps you notice signs of insect life. You may spot leaves full of holes or eggs on vegetation. Look on willow trees for pale-green pine-cone willow galls. These odd growths form when midge larvae secrete a chemical that causes a part of the host tree to grow differently. The gall becomes a home for the midge which must chew its way out when it becomes an adult! Some insect galls look like small warts, spindles, or round growths on leaves. Others form bulbous growths along plant stems. Many different kinds exist.

If you come across spruce, pine, or other evergreens, check beneath the branches for signs of squirrels. Where I live in Alberta, red squirrels drop scales from cones as they feed from the branches above. They drop so many scales, great piles form into a midden. You may see tunnel entrances in a midden and even hear the chattering squirrel start to scold if you get too close! You will also know squirrels are nearby if you see small branches of needles on the ground. And if you glimpse a mushroom in a tree, you know a squirrel is saving a snack for later.

As you walk along, look into the underbrush to see if you can spot animal trails. Rabbits, deer, coyotes, and many other animals use these paths to travel through wooded areas. If you find a trail and look at the trees growing alongside, you may notice places where deer or moose have bitten shoots off tree branches. You may also see their scats on the ground.

In the fall, look for deer rubs and scrapes. Along trails, whitetail deer bucks rub their antlers on tree trunks, as well as break branches above the scrape. They paw at the ground until the soil is exposed and then leave their scent to mark their territory.

If your walk takes you along soft soil, sand, or a place where mud has dried or snow has fallen, look for animal tracks. But don’t just look for big prints from large animals! Look carefully for smaller prints from rabbits, squirrels, mice, and birds.

Other things to watch for on a nature walk:

·         acorns or other nuts with teeth marks

·         animal dens

·         anthills

·         antlers

·         bones

·         cocoons

·         egg shells

·         feathers

·         insect tunnels in fallen logs

·         porcupine quills

·         snail shells

·         tufts of fur

·         wasp nests

The better you get at searching for animal signs, the better you will become at spotting the animals themselves!

Very, Very Fishy

Posted by Vivien Bowers

In late September, I’m off to the salmon spawning creeks along the west coast of Haida Gwaii (Queen Charlotte Islands). For the third year in a row, I get to tag along with a fish biologist who is walking the streams to count the returning fish.

F-words
Fishy. Fecund. Fetid. The first time I walked these salmon spawning creeks I dredged up vocabulary I’d never used before. The moist air stinks of rotting fish, bear musk, bird droppings and compost. Hundreds of eviscerated salmon carcasses (which must also be counted) litter the banks. The bears sometimes just tear out the rich fish brains, leaving the rest to scavengers. Crows peck out the eyes, before the eagles chase them off. I’ve seen seagulls so glutted on fish they can hardly take off.

One little, two little, three little salmon...
I scramble after my biologist friend as he makes his way up the creek, eyes alert to shifting underwater shapes and shadows. He tosses a leaf onto the surface of a deep pool, and fish boil to the surface. In amongst the bigger chum there are fleeting dark silhouettes of coho. He uses his little hand-held clicker to record the count.

The rocks in the creek are slippery and scummy. Some of these watersheds have never been logged and we clamber over an obstacle course of moss-covered giant spruce deadfalls. Wading from one bank to another through tannin-brown water, I feel salmon bumping up against my legs.

Do-si-do with Bear
Bears and salmon go together. A researcher on Haida Gwaii found that a single bear will take about 1600 kilograms of salmon from a creek in one season. It will eat only about one half of what it catches; much of the rest decomposes on the forest floor. That’s how bears transfer massive amounts of nutrients from the ocean to the land. They are handy that way.

I appreciate the bears’ important niche in this ecosystem, but it’s a bit unnerving how many of them we meet. Haida Gwaii bears are particularly big. Last year I was on my own, counting fish in a tributary stream, when I came across a large bear scooping fish out of the water. I stomped on a dead branch, hoping to sound like a REALLY BIG bear and scare him off. Instead, the bear was curious and headed towards my noise. Quickly changing strategies, I stood up with a loud, “Hey bear!” He looked startled and fled. I continued upstream, following the salmon's journey deep into the primeval forest.

Vivien Bowers is the author of Wow Canada!, Crime Scene and other books for children. The cartoon panels are from "Swimming Upstream," an episode of the 'WebVoyagers' comic strip, written by Bowers and illustrated by Mike Cope, that appears in each issue of The Canadian Reader, published by LesPlan Educational Services Ltd. Vivien Bowers lives in Nelson, BC.

Book Review: Jurassic Poop by Jacob Berkowitz

Title: Jurassic Poop
Author: Jacob Berkowitz
Publisher: Kids Can Press
ISBN: 9781553378600


Book Source: library

That's right.  It's an entire book about fossil feces - more formally known as coprolites.  And what a book it is.   As the jacket blurb says, "Funny and informative, Jurassic Poop is flush with amazing facts, stories, and activities."

The puns, they write themselves - and I'm pretty sure Berkowitz uses most of them.  His tone throughout is light and funny - I'd call it tongue-in-cheek but under the circumstances that's a pretty disgusting thought - and perfectly suited to his middle-grade target audience.

There's a lot more to this book than scat jokes, however; it's full of wide-ranging and totally fascinating information.  Berkowitz covers everything you never knew about fossil doo - its formation, its discovery, and the identification of its sources.  He then goes on to discuss some of the wealth of information that can be gained by studying it.  The book also contains profiles of scat scientists and several activities - including a recipe for scent-free coprolite crafts.

Still not quite convinced?  Jurassic Poop won the 2007 American Institute of Physics Children's Book Award.  And when I hear giggling in the 9-12 nonfiction section at the bookstore, it's usually a sign this book's getting browsed.

For more information on Jacob Berkowitz and his books, you can visit his website, or watch for his posts right here on Sci/Why!

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Posted by Lindsey Carmichael.  For more of her children's book reviews, check out her blog, Ten Stories Up.