Tag Zoology
Babbling brooks adding to climate change?
Studying stream bubbles isn't exactly a walk in the park - what with the mud and ticks, the long days hiking and swimming through mucky streams, the sun exposure and scratching brush.
Baby sea turtles spend ‘lost years’ in warm blankets of seaweed
Nosing their way out of eggs buried in sandy beaches from Florida’s east coast north into the Carolinas, baby loggerhead sea turtles race to the water as fast as their flippers will carry them and begin a swim frenzy to clear the predator-rich shore.
Seed dispersal gets a test in carved-out ‘habitat corridors’
Field ecologists go to great lengths to get data: radio collars and automatic video cameras are only two of their creative techniques for documenting the natural world. So when a group of ecologists set out to see how wind moves seeds through isolated patches of habitat carved into a longleaf pine plantation in South Carolina, they twisted colored yarn to create mock seeds that would drift with the wind much like native seeds.
‘Cabinet of curiosities’ captures nature through work of artists and scientists
Of all the places Sierra Swenson expected to end up during her first semester at college, precious few were lined with jars full of preserved reptiles.
Eavesdropping plants prepare to be attacked
In a world full of hungry predators, prey animals must be constantly vigilant to avoid getting eaten. But plants face a particular challenge when it comes to defending themselves.
A virtual elephant from a marriage of biology, engineering, and art
The solid aluminum cast of an elephant on Warren Porter's desk has been waiting for 25 years.
UW-Madison zoologist elected to prestigious academy
Anthony Ives, Plaenert-Bascom Professor of Zoology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, has been elected to membership in the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Precipitation, predators may be key in ecological regulation of infectious disease
A little information can go a surprisingly long way when it comes to understanding rodent-borne infectious disease, as shown by a new study led by John Orrock from the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Study: Mountain vegetation impacted by climate change
Climate change has had a significant effect on mountain vegetation at low elevations in the past 60 years, according to a study done by the University of California at Davis, the University of Wisconsin–Madison and U.S. Geological Survey.
Invasive shrubs increase spread of tick-borne disease
For a hungry tick, bush honeysuckle is as good as a drive-through.
Report casts world’s rivers in ‘crisis state’
The world's rivers, the single largest renewable water resource for humans and a crucible of aquatic biodiversity, are in a crisis of ominous proportions, according to a new global analysis.
Curiosities: Why do sharks have to swim constantly?
For two reasons, says James Kitchell, professor of zoology at UW–Madison. First, sharks lack the swim bladder that most fish use to adjust their buoyancy.
Curiosities: Why can birds eat hot peppers?
In the 1990s, scientists began to wonder why birds in the Southwest ate the hot-tasting fruits of a wild plant called the “bird pepper.”…
Curiosities: How can a polar bear survive in a Wisconsin zoo?
“Wisconsin bears in zoos may not be in an environment as extreme as something like a tropical zoo,” says Kurt Sladky, assistant professor of…
UW-Madison undergraduates make unwelcome discovery in Lake Mendota
On Sept. 11, a standard cruise on Lake Mendota's University Bay began for students in University of Wisconsin–Madison's Zoology 315, a course that introduces them to the study of lakes. With the sampling craft Limnos anchored about one-quarter mile offshore on a clear sunny day, four students pulled up a small net and began poking through its contents.
Monkeys get a groove on, but only to monkey music
Music is one of the surest ways to influence human emotions; most people unconsciously recognize and respond to music that is happy, sad, fearful or mellow. But psychologists who have tried to trace the evolutionary roots of these responses usually hit a dead end. Nonhuman primates scarcely respond to human music, and instead prefer silence.