African Elephants. Part 01: Death.

I absolutely love african elephants. Hands down, one of my favorite animals. Why? First, seeing them in their territory feels magical. I suddenly forget anything going on in the world, and am genuinely mesmerized with how majestic they are. Since I love them so much, I'm going to break this post up so 1. I can show you more of my pictures (this is one of the few posts I actually have pictures for!), 2. I can organize all the things I think are fascinating about them. Today's topic:

Death.

Why? It gives me perspective. The lifespan of an elephant is ~70 years, and outside of poaching, they aren't attacked by most animals, and the few that do only do out of desperation. So it's safe to say most elephants that are born are going to make it outside of human threats. Now think about the fact that for the 70 years that an elephant roams plains and forests, going from food to water to shade. In that same 70 years, somehow people have had WWII, internet, bad pop music, Vietnam, Kim Jong Il, civil rights, you name it. It's a nice reminder to know that while we are getting worked up about, no doubt important issues, there are things going on outside of the realm of human politics, culture and injustices. That's why it gives me perspective.

On to the story. Elephants deal with death on a level beyond most animals. In the 2nd picture, you see a matriarch tending to her 2 week old baby who just collapsed and died within minutes. She is trying to get the baby back on his feet, but he keeps falling over. Then some sort of realization; she trumpets, calling over other elephants. The others walk toward her, bringing up dust moreso than usual, seen in picture 3. They then cover the deceased with dust, twigs, leaves -- anything around. While doing this, several elephants trumpet and then start showing signs of stress: a liquid trickles down their face behind their eyes (though it is not fully understood and they are not quite the same as tears, they do this in stressful situations and in situations where one would imagine extreme relief, like finding a waterhole after days of searching). This is seen in picture 4. Here's where it gets crazy. Every day, this herd will come to the same site, and cover the baby until one day, it's just bones. When that happens, the elephants will pass around the bones with their trunks in a ritual, then eventually go back to its daily needs. After sometimes years and years (some have been recorded to come to the death site for as many as 6 years), the bones will be so scattered from passing them around that they no longer pinpoint the death to a specific spot -- this is when they stop coming.

Even crazier: studies have been done that suggest that elephants actually recognize individuals even if just bones are left. If one strayed, died, and they later came across it, they would perform the ritual. If they are traveling, they will rest there overnight, then continue their journey in the morning. If they handn't interacted with that elephant, they likely won't stop for long. It's fascinating that they can recognize bones as specific to elephants and even more fascinating that they can recognize. Crazy.

Final fact. As I said, most elephants die at around 70 years old, if living in a healthy environment. This isn't due to a lack of brain function or old age in sorts, it's because of hunger. Elephants have 6 sets of teeth, replacing themselves about every 10 years. When they're 70, they no longer have teeth coming in, so their teeth wear out an they can no longer chew twigs and hence, can't swallow much food. At this point, they pretty much seclude themselves to river banks, where trees might be moist, making it easier for them to eat food. And this is where they die -- hence, and elephant graveyard. Picture 5 is of an elephant's worn out set 6 teeth, found by a graveyard.

That's all for today.

Next time I'll tell you more about elephants, like how herds function, protect young, what the males do, warning signs before attacks, interactions with humans and how to become instant friends with an elephant in the wild.

I hope it's becoming clear to you why I think elephants are fantastic.

Shameless plug: If you liked the pictures, visit my website!

Drosophila melanogaster.

yea yea yea, get your whining out of the way. It's a fruit fly. But a really useful one.
My coworker, Rob, is leaving today and wanted to request this animal for his last day of work. Partly because they're talked about all the time in biology, partly because he wanted to be annoying. Scratch that; really annoying. Well done, sir. If you want to complain about it, his email is: robglot@gmail.com .

So some things about this fly: Apparently the name comes the Greek meaning something along the lines of "dark-bellied dew lover" and in the wild, I think that's about the only thing I can think of that stands out. And their wings beat at about 220 times per second.

So why so interesting? They're the most common eukaryotic genetic lab subject and were important for scientists to figure out how chromosomes worked. With a generation of 10 days, they are ideal for studying how genes are passed. That paired along with the fact that they're easy to maintain makes them ideal candidates. They've helped people discover all sorts of cool things like how genes on the same chromosome interact, how dominant and recessive genes interact, etc. A lot of the first tests looked at differences wing shapes, eye colors and that sort of thing. If you've ever taken biology, you know them. If you were a biology major, you know them really well.

On a side note, the last picture is of a highly replicated drosophila chromosome. Perhaps that's easier on the eye.

Horseshoe Crabs.

Oh, horesshoe crabs. We've all seen their exoskeleton on the beach or seen them in the touching area of an aquarium. They are great reminders of earth's history as they have changed seemingly little over the past 445 million years.

Contrary to what you might think based on their name, these arthropods are more closely related to spiders, ticks and scorpions. In fact, and old name for them was "sea scorpions." Which I think makes some sense when you look at them.

There are couple of really interesting things about them:
1. Their blood has been extremely useful for medical research. They are often used to inhibit the growth of cancer cells. Their blood also contains no hemoglobin (no iron on blood molecules) which gives it interesting chemical properties, and might be used to diagnose lukemia, as it reacts to to red and white blood cells, identifiable to medical experts.
But don't worry, they'll live. When little blood is extracted, their levels quickly return to normal once re-entering the ocean. And in fact, the medical worth a horshoe crab might provide over its lifetime is roughly $2500. there are a lot of other medical uses, like being an option to combat bacteria resistant to penicillin, but I won't go on for now.

2. From a conservationists perspective, they demonstrate relationships very well. Loggerheads (turtles) and Red Knots (shorebirds) depend on healthy crab populations for food. When these diminish, you quickly see the others diminish. Every year, hundreds of thousands of crabs surface on beaches in the deleware bay for spawning,then return to the seas. This is been consistent for as long as people have known about them, and it occurs over the course of a couple weeks in may/june. So consistent that the red knots expect them to be there in certain numbers, and various other places along the coast. If they don't show up, they obviously can't eat them. Uh-oh! It's one of the well-understood creatures that we can directly tie to the survival of specific species through research. Every year, volunteers count the crabs in the bay around now to try to get an idea of whether or not the crab population is doing ok.

Speaking of, you can go see them this weekend! And perhaps the tail end of it over the next couple weeks. Just look for nature centers in Deleware Bay and they'll likely point you in the right direction for best locations and times to see this spawning event (pictures in the bottom 2 pictures).

Armadillo Lizard.

To show you just how similar Pangolins can look like reptiles instead of mammals (or perhaps how reptiles can look like mammals?), here is the armadillo lizard. As you can see, like the pangolin, it has scales and its defense is to curl up in a ball. They're found in southern Africa.

Some interesting facts about these:
Females give birth to live young (rare for reptiles -- most lay eggs). They also, on occasion, feed their young, which is even more rare to find a reptile caring for young.

Also, their defense, as I said before, is to curl in a ball. It helps that its scales are awkwardly shaped for a bird of prey to grab them, so they've got that going for 'em, too. For some reason, to curl, they must bite their tail and curl (see picture #2). It is thought that the Greek symbol for self-reflexivity "Ouroboros" (see picture #4), made of a serpent / dragon biting its tail to make a circle, derives from lizards like this one that perform the same behavior.

Pangolin.

8 species of Pangolin live throughout the tropics of Africa and Asia. It was originally thought these were related to anteaters / sloths / armadillos. However, it turns out its not really closely related with any living groups. If traced far enough, it's related to cats, dogs and bears -- but that's quite a long time ago that they shared an ancestor. Before discovering this different, they were thought to be related to anteaters and armadillos because of their scales, shape and lack of teeth (so they slurp up termites).

They're the only mammal with keratin scales as their defense, and often remind people of reptiles, though they are not.

Their defenses: scales / armor, claws and finally, an odor secretion similar to those of skunks.

Their name comes from the Malay "Pengguling" meaning "something that rolls up." More creative than when Americans name things that roll up ("fruit roll-up").

Pangolins face many threats: Bush meat in Africa, habitat destruction (deforestation), use of hide and scales for making armor for kings and finally it is sometimes used in traditional chinese medicine to supposedly help blood circulation and produce more milk for breast-feeding mothers.

UPDATE: New report about illegal trading.

Temminck's Tragopan.

WEEKEND SURPRISE!

I saw this video a few minutes ago, and think it's the greatest thing in the world.
I couldn't wait until monday to share. (shhh don't tell anyone at work). They're in SE Asia / China. And the DC Zoo. And they're conservation status? Least Concern. Perfect.

Basically, this bird is in the pheasant family, which are known to have impressive courtship display. This one is no exception. Not even close. Best thing ever.

Here's Video #1 (Watch from :48 seconds in):


And for Video #2, this is, well, just too entertaining to pass up:

Bumble Bees.

Bumble Bees are not, in fact, one species, but rather a genus. With over 250 species falling under it. Behaviorally, it's pretty much what you'd expect: They live in colonies, they live in nests, etc. They rely heavily on flowers for food, which brings me to why I'm really posting this animal.

I'm going to do something a bit unusual today on the blog. Rather than focus on a specific animal, I'm going to tell you about a relationship between a specific animal and a specific plant. Risque, I know.

The animal: Bumble bees (Bombus spp.)
The Plant: Bee Orchid (Ophrys apifera)

The orchid, located along the southern rim of the Mediterranean (bottom picture), has evolved to look like a bee. Now, orchid flowers generally take on unique shapes that often pair with other animals, but this one stands out. In this case, bees confuse the petal for a female bee, attracting the male to mate. While the bee is struggling to mate, the motion allows the orchid to drop pollen all over the bee's body, sending the bee away with a little present for the next orchid it is tricked into mating with.

Evolution has selected for petals most resembling bees over time, because obviously the closer the match, the more likely it is to land on it. Sounds simple so far, but remember, these plants are competing with real bees. So beyond just the shape, colors and texture matching with that of bumblebees, they even emit pheromones that female bumble bees emit to attract mates. Crazy, no?

While many orchids have shapes similar to beak shapes, few seem to be as specific to an animal beyond shape. So why bumble bees? Why is competition to win them over advantageous? One word: hair. Unlike beetles, flies, and even other types of bees, bumble bees are fuzzy by all insect standards. That means it can carry more pollen on its hairs and the pollen stays on these bees better than almost any other animal that might visit an orchid.

Finally, here's a video to help you visualize this. It might seem cruel for the bee, but don't worry, they'll live: