From A Kid's Toy To Science Experiment.

It is always fun for me to see how scientists get inspired. A former coworker of mine was inspired to study bees after watching a beekeeper remove a colony of wild bees from her house in an old record player case.

Well now it seems that a child's toy magic wand has inspired one scientist to look a little closer at the spider webs and how they work.   This research will make spiders even cooler than they already are.

Most people don't realize that spider webs are a very time consuming process and that every day most spiders consume their webs and then respin  them all over again. After all you can't catch a tiny gnat for lunch if there is a hole in your web large enough for it to fly through.  Since these webs take a lot of time and resources to build spiders want to protect them from possible damage.  Our human eyes sadly do not allow us to see spider webs really well unless the sunlight is hitting it at just the right angle, but to birds these webs stick out like giant neon signs warning them to pull up, go around, get out of the way!  Some spiders also create doorbells, a strand of silk between one of the spider's legs and the web, so they don't always have to sit in the center. As soon as the web starts moving doorbell rings and the spider darts onto the web and grabs hold of it's prey before holes get ripped in the web. 

Did you ever wonder how a spider can walk across a web and not get stuck but a fly gets stuck like super glue?  The secret is they have a coating on the hairs and their feet which creates a nonstick surface also by walking slowly across the web they have much less of a chance of getting stuck to it as they spin their webs and as they catch their prey. As a spider moves across their webs they are using their  many eyes to keep track of shadows and movement near by. While a spider can have anywhere from no eyes (cave dwelling spiders) to eight eyes they don't see very well and can mainly make out shadows and movement not what it is that is causing it.

Spiders are oh so cool.

And The Toughest Animal In The World Is.......

Every now and then someone will ask me either what my favorite animal is or what I think the toughest animal in the world is. Asking a naturalist this is a kin to asking a mother to pick a favorite child.   However the more I learn about this little bird the more impressed I am and it may be making the list of my top 10 coolest animals ever.

Standing a whopping 6-8 inches tall and weighing not much more than 1.5-2.4 ounces is the American dipper. 

 

 

 

This little pint sized song bird spends a lot of it time under water looking for aquatic insects.  Not just any old kind of water FAST moving water.  (Think of a human trying to stand up in some super heavy whitewater while trying to grab a cheeseburger off the bottom.)  To accomplish this herculean feat they have mighty long toes with some sizable toenails which allow them to grip rocks and pebbles underneath the water allowing them to walk along the bottom.  They  also have their own built in goggles called a nictating membrane which helps to protect their eyes from floating debris. Probably the most important adaptation is the extra-large preen gland which secrets oil to help waterproof their feathers.  Dippers can often be seen standing on rocks bobbing up and down. Scientists really don’t know why they bob up and down it may help them to see well.

 

 

Also these little birds are members of the polar bear club.  Then the weather starts getting colder and the rivers and streams they feed in start to freeze to they head for warmer climates.

 

Nope they just head for the nearest free flowing steam and plunge right in for a snack! 

This might just be the toughest animal anywhere!


Dippers can often be seen standing on rocks bobbing up and down. Scientists really don’t know why they bob up and down it may help them to see well. They are well   Dippers are active in this area even in winter seeking out streams which are not frozen. anding a

EVERYONE OUTSIDE!!!!

Over the last two weeks I have been stuck indoors in what is known as seasonal training. I define this a torture and I'm sure it is against the Geneva Convention to keep people normally used to being outside confined in a small space being made to watch hour after hour of PowerPoint presentations.   So after almost two weeks of this I needed to get OUT!  After a BBQ the other night I grabbed my camera and walked about 1/4 mile away from our hotel to a field just outside the entrance to Glacier National Park. I plunked my butt in the middle of a field full of flowers and sat there watching the sunset behind the famous Lewis Thrust Overfault.

I hadn't been there more than a few minutes before a coyote on his nightly rounds stumbled apon me.  He cocked his head a little to the side and gave me this look of "what are you doing in my field?"  After a few glances he went back on his way.  The sun sank lower towards the horizon painting the sky a vibrant pink and throwing the last rays of sun onto the snowfields.

 

I sat there and watched the dying light play across the sky, suddenly becoming aware of a commotion taking place about a mile down the road. A large female moose lumbered from the willows and strolled down the street ignoring the paparazzi gathered on either side.  I glanced back to the sunset in front of me and who should appear but mister fox with a mouth full of food heading probably back to his den site.

 

 

With the chill in the air growing more intense and twilight giving way to night I strolled my way back to the lodge not realizing I was being watched from behind. As I neared the lodge a coworker shouted

 


from the third floor balcony that there was a moose behind me.  I turned and sure enough there bolting for the nearby hillside was a female moose suddenly startled by a sudden group of two legged animals in her path.

This week get outside and find a spot near a pond, in a field, or even a city park. You never know who you might see. 

"Humans Tear Down These Fences!"

Last week I spent a lot of time driving across North Dakota, Wyoming, and Montana and there was nothing sadder than a group of pronghorns lined up near a fence just staring at it wishing and hoping they could just get on the other side.

For those of you who have never seen a pronghorn let me introduce you to this fine fellow.

Male Pronghorn in Yellowstone By Jen Heindel

 

Male and female pronghorn look similar, both have horns, but the easiest way to tell a male and female apart is by looking for a black patch of fur where you could imagine Elvis' lamb-chop sideburns, these are the males. Female's chin is all white no black patch.

 

Pronghorns are an interesting groups of animals because they are just so different from anything else. Pronghorns are antelope, but they are not like any other antelope on the planet, so scientist put them in a group all by themselves. Pronghorns evolved during a time when we still had very large "prehistoric" like cats roaming the grass lands, so they developed great speed to keep from becoming lunch.  Some reports say they have been clocked running at sustained speeds of 60 miles per hour, but most researchers put it a little closer to a little over 50 miles per hour. Now before you get any ideas about challenging a pronghorn to a race with you at the wheel of your car remember this; the pronghorn is the most laidback animal on the planet. Most of the time there are wild animals so unpredictability is their middle name. Fifty miles an hours is fast enough to outrun all of today's predators which roam the plains with them. They are built for great speed, but sadly lack the ability to jump. All the other ungulates (deer, elk, moose) can all jump fences quite easily, but sadly the same is not true for the pronghorn. Put a fence in front of  a pronghorn and they will have no choice but to walk the whole fence looking for an open gate.

 

There is another unique thing about pronghorns which makes them different from all horned animals. Horns are made out of keratin, the same stuff your fingernails are made from, and grow a little bit each year adding on another distinct growth ring.  But pronghorns have to be different, they shed their outer sheath of the antler each year.  The new horn is actually growing under the part which is falling off.  

 

Pronghorns are the coolest animals found on the prairie.

 

 

 

Female pronghorn on the left, male on the right. By Jen Heindel

 

 

For more information:

 

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/antelope/



http://www.wcs.org/saving-wildlife/hoofed-mammals/pronghorn.aspx

http://www.gpnc.org/pronghor.htm



Call Out The CSI Team!

There have been a series of murders in the yard over the last week leaving me feeling much distress.  I currently live in the suburbs of a small Midwestern city where the space between houses is about six feet at the most and much of the surrounding farm fields have been converted into condo subdivisions. With that said I have become sort of attached to some of the wildlife which does exist in the yard.

Murder #1 The Robins

The first animals to be murdered were a nest of unhatched  baby robins. Mr. & Mrs. Robin lovingly placed their nest in the branches of the pine tree in the front yard defending it from all would be intruders and those of us who dared walk near it to look at the blooming flowers. She then laid a clutch of 3 bright blue eggs and that's when things went to poop.  The nest now lays overturned under the pine tree the three blue eggs each of which has a tell tail beak sized hole in it. 

Murder #2 Mc Squidgey

Now Mc Squidgey was a rather cunning grey squirrel who spent the winter eating an entire HUGE block of peanut suet, put out for the birds. Once she had polished off the big one she ate not just one but 2 smaller suet blocks!

Here is Mc Squidgey doing her best to scare people sitting at the kitchen table.



Murder #3 Pfeffernusse

Pfeffernusse was a rather large cottontail rabbit who spent much of the winter eating seeds, which the birds kicked onto the ground from the birdfeeder. Pfeffernusse would spend cold stormy nights under the stacked lawn chairs or the edge of the chimney.

Now I know what your thinking; how do I know that the other grey squirrels or rabbits that move through the neighborhood are not my beloved backyard friends? Simple they had very distinct markings on them.   Pfeffernusse had a stripe of missing hair on the middle of it's back on the left side and Mc Squidgey had bright white ears where as all the other squirrels have grey ears.

So what happened to them?

Murder #1 The Robins

Culprit: The European Starling. 
Bias Alert! I hate these birds! I may or may not have killed off some baby starlings my roommates had found laying in the lawn of our place of employment. I suggested feeding it to the raptors we had at the rehabilitation clinic, but they decided we needed to feed them and raise them. So for weeks we took turns feeding them mash (as prescribed by our wildlife biologist), changing the poopy paper, and keeping them warm. Until one day I running late for work, and forgetting it was my morning to feed the creeps, threw a hand full of mealworms into a cup of water. After the wiggling stopped I figured I was safe and grabbed the tweezers to stuff them in the gullets of the two noisy houseguests.  Full, I headed to work not giving them another thought until later that night I was accused of murder. See I hadn't left the meal worms in the cup of water long enough to actually kill them I merely had stunned them. And during the day they had chewed their way out of the starling's stomachs killing them (as confirmed by our wildlife biologist).   Now before you get all upset starlings are not native to the United States they were brought here in 1890 and released into Central Park. They are extremely aggressive bird which has been know to steal nest from other birds throw the eggs over the side and take over the nest as their own. Starlings will also peck open and eat the eggs of the nest they are taking over, but mainly they feed on insects.

Murder #2 Mc Squidgey
Culprit: Raptor or Heart Attack

I'm not a hundred percent sure what may have happened, but I'm sure it had something to do with the weight gain from eating too many suet block over the winter.  There are a lot of red-tailed hawks living in the neighborhood which I have seen chase after smaller speedier squirrels.  Yes, there has been a recent squirrel meets tire incident, but I checked no white ears.  So, if your a raptor cruising the hood who would you eat a small speedy squirrel or a fat slow moving squirrel.

Murder #3 Pfeffernusse
Culprit: Vulpes vulpes

I found clumps of rabbit hair while moving the yard and after I was done took a stroll through the neighborhood looking for headless rabbits hanging in trees. Didn't find any, so that ruled out the local area raptors.  Confused? I'll explain raptors, smaller than a great horned owl, will feed on prey items the size of a rabbit where they kill it because they are generally too heavy and awkward to carry to a perch to feed on.  However, raptors like the great horned owl or larger can carry heavy prey to a nearby tree and then feast until they are full leaving the rest to rot in the tree.  I once worked on Gallop's Island in the middle of Boston Harbor and often found some of our slower rabbits headless hanging in trees killed the night before by the population of Great Horned owls on the nearby Lovells Island.  Since I found hair, but no body, I checked nearby tall trees for left over rabbit. A few days later after coming back from a walk I saw a most curious sight. Vulpes vulpes bold as brass trotting through the neighbors back yards!

    Red Fox In Yellowstone National Park by Peter Zuzga

 

 

I tore out the back door thinking I was suffering from heat induced delusions only to hear the neighbor's scream as he trotted past them.  COOL!!! I know there are red foxes, coyotes, and occasionally wolves in the area, but I have never seen them EVER.  It is entirely possible my dear rabbit became lunch for the local fox and he was probably in the area scouting for another meal when he was spotted by the two legged locals.  I'm hoping to see him or her again  (goodness knows there are still many many many more rabbits to eat) because watching them pounce is pretty fun.  Feast well my friend!

 



Red Fox Pounce by Peter Zuzga

 

Murders Solved. Case Closed. 









Rub John Harvard’s Foot Without Fear?

If I say the words Periodic Table of Elements what is your first reaction? Sweaty hands, dry mouth, panic attack, horror flashbacks to high school or college classes of hours of boring lectures?  I will admit right now I hated chemistry in high school and college. I almost flunked out of college because of my inability to remember if certain elements bonded covalently or how may p or s orbitals they had in their atoms.  And truly the only thing I remember from high school chemistry was our chemistry teacher accidentally setting the Periodic Table of Elements chart on fire the first day.   

However, I am beginning to come around to the fun side of the Periodic Table of Elements since reading The Disappearing Spoon. I thought that the only fun you could have with the Periodic Table of Elements could be listening to the renowned mathematician and professor Tom Lehrer sing his song “The Elements.” (If you haven’t heard it click the link.)  I applaud the author, Sam Kean, for his ability to collect and use so many FUN stories and information about the Periodic Table of Elements. Do you know why  Gandhi hated iodine, how solving a math equation wrong and then sending your wrong answer to Einstein can win you a Nobel Prize, why  a noted astronomer in 1564 who lost his nose in a sword duel had it replaced with one made out of silver, and what’s the deal with copper piping?  

Sam Kean’s section on the oligodynamic properties of copper and silver got me to thinking about the time I once visited the famous statueof three lies while showing a friend around Boston. We stood on the Harvard campus watching students and others needing luck, rub, lick, and kiss John Harvard’s left foot.  Yuck, I though why would you touch that after watching someone lick the statue? Millions of germs spreading from person to person……..or maybe not?  There are certain metals in the Periodic Table of Elements; silver, copper, aluminum, zinc, and tin which have been shown to kill certain bacteria, algae, and fungi within a few hours.  As these organisms move across the surface of these metals they pick up metal atoms which once they get into the cells disrupts their metabolism and in some cases messes up their cell’s DNA causing the cells to die. Scientists call this the oligodynamic effect. Scientists still are not 100% sure how the oligodynamic effect works but people have been using and experimenting with different metals since 1000 BC.  People in 1000 BC left river water in silver pots sitting in the sun then filtered the water to remove sand and bits of plant matter and found the water was drinkable.  Silver coins were dropped into milk jugs to keep the milk from spoiling as people moved westward across America.  Since 1976 copper tubes have been put in air conditioners to kill harmful bacteria growing in the warm moist environment.  One recent research paper shows copper can kill drug resistant salmonella in water in 4-8 hours, while tin is less effective at killing nasty organisms which make us humans deathly ill. 

Back to John Harvard.  His statue is made up of bronze which is a mixture of copper and tin, both have oligodynamic properties.  A group of researchers showed bronze plates (94% copper 6% tin) to be slower at killing harmful organisms when submerged in contaminated water then pure copper plates.  So, I think this callsl for an experiment! All I need to do is fly to Boston swab John Harvard’s left foot and grow the swab on a culture medium plate (something which looks a little like Jello which scientists grow bacteria on) to figure out what types of bacteria are on his foot.  While the bacteria are growing keep everyone from touching the foot and then at 4 hour intervals swab his foot and grow those swabs to see if the oligodynamic properties of bronze help to kill all the nasty stuff I think maybe on John’s foot.  If the oligodynamic effect works maybe his foot would self-sterilized by morning if no one touched it at night. Who knows? Anyone near Harvard who has access to a bacteria lab and who can figure out how to control for all the experimental variables I have not thought of please run this experiment and then tell me what your results are. I wait with baited breath! 

Do Elk Fight In Heaven?

This is the first thought which came to mind when I read in a friend's Facebook post of the passing of the famous (or infamous) elk #10.  #10 was killed by a local wolf pack at the ripe old age of 15-18 years old.

                                                             #10 Copyright Peter Zuzga

It was with much anticipation I spent my first season in Yellowstone National Park waiting for the elk rut to start. Late August I started hearing the buzz among staff: “Monster was up at Africa Lake last night” or “#6 was seen out by the high bridge”, this news was often met with a mixture of excitement and dread among my coworkers who had been there many more seasons than I.  I had heard stories of Mammoth Hot Spring’s most famous elk the car smashing duo of #6 and #10, but surely I thought these stories were greatly exaggerated. Right?  I hadn’t seen any bull elk all summer, and while yes I had watched visitors get chased and charged by female elk I had no idea what I was in for.

Bull or male elk stick to themselves up in the high country protecting their growing antlers and packing on the pounds all summer long.  Come late August or sometimes not until mid-September, depending on the weather, the bull elk head to their favorite breeding grounds to round up a harem of female elk to mate with.  Once a bull has his harem he has to protect them and keep them at all costs. Bulls can and will steal other females from their rivals.   A bull elk can lose as much as half of their body weight during the rut trying to ward off would be rivals and keep their harems together.  But bull elk have an arsenal of ways to keep their harems together and I have witnessed it all while trying, often in vain, to keep the elk and the tourist separated.

1)      The Antlers: I use to tell tourist that the rut was all about the antlers.  The bull with the most impressive rack wins the females. Female elk will size up the health of the males in the area by the size and symmetry of their antlers.  Male elk will use their antlers to destroy shrubbery, rip up grass, and in the case of elk #6 and #10 bash out car windows, break out trail lights, rip off mufflers, and chase visitors all as a way of showing other male elk how tough they are and impress lone female elk.  #6 chased me twice and I watched him destroy car after car which stopped to take his picture. (65 cars in his last mating season.)

 

#6

 

2)      The Bugle: An elk bugle carries for ¼ of a mile or more depending on the wind conditions. It is by far the easiest way to tell where the elk are if for some reason you can’t see them.  Bull elk spend A LOT of time, especially in the evening and nighttime hours, bugling.  Bugling is the elks way of saying “this is my spot go find your own and I WILL defend my spot!” The sexually mature males have a bugle which starts low (almost sounds like a growl) and ends high. Younger males have mainly the high pitched end of the bugle.

 

                                        Copyright Peter Zuzga

3)      The Size up: Every now and then two bulls will size each other up by doing what’s called paralleling. They will run or trot alongside each other antlers laid back almost horizontal to their backs sizing each other up. They may do it two or three times and then one elk will decide the other guy is bigger and wander away on his own.  Sometimes when the “looser” makes his way back into the ceded turf the “victor” will give chase at speeds of 30 miles an hour until the looser has been driven far enough away.  Every so often when two elk are sizing each other younger smaller males will sneak into their harems and mate with their females and make a run for it when they see the big guy coming back.

4)      The Fight: In six seasons of watching elk during the rut I saw only one fight.  They are rare no elk wants to damage their rack of antlers. If they break you could lose all of their females, like I said it is all about the antlers!  This particular fight lasted maybe 5 minutes at the most. These two elk had stood all day on either side of the road bugling at each other as they guarded their harems in tight groups. I had seen these two elk size each other up on numerous occasions and the smaller of the two had always wandered off.  Today junior was feeling his oats and decided to take on his much larger competitor. The larger of the bulls pushed his competitor up the hill as the smaller of the two tried to dig in his heals. They released a few times only to lock antlers again.  As they smashed into each other each elk lost at least two antler points each which is pretty impressive when you think that this is the hardest part of the antler.  Antlers are made from bone and can grow as much as a ¼ of an inch per day.  They smashed into and moved picnic tables which are so heavy it takes about 6 people to move one. After the fight was over the looser went and “sulked” alone on the other side of the road while the victor went back to his females.    

Copyright Peter Zuzga

Copyright Peter Zuzga

 

So, while #10 and #6 have gone to the great prairie in the sky their offspring roam the hills and valleys around Mammoth Hot Springs in Yellowstone National Park. Visitors beware.

 

Photographs used with the permission of Peter Zuzga.  

More Information:
http://www.rmef.org/ElkFacts.aspx