Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
You might be interested in the attached photograph of a mother and her ducklings on the tow path of the Grand Union Canal at Loughborough, UK. This time of year there are many ducks lined up along the tow path and while they are not ‘tame’ they are accustomed to people walking past only a couple of feet away. They keep an eye on you though and jump into the canal if they judge you are a risk. A fine balance of risk and energy saving perhaps?
Professor Ceiling Cat is exhausted from many speaking commitments, interviews, and the like, and will be glad to be back home in Chicago, chilling out at last. Things went well in Toronto, I think: I had a good interview with Steve Paikin for his t.v. show The Agenda, which, I’m told, will be broadcast on Tuesday and then again later that week (and archived), there was a large turnout for my talk, and many people bought books. But now it’s time to rest. Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili must have gotten into her staff’s Bible, as she’s quoting (or rather corrupting) Isaiah 11:6.
Hili: And a little cat shall lead you.
A: Where to?
Hili: Time will tell.
In Polish:
Hili: I kot będzie cię prowadzić.
Ja: Ale dokąd?
Hili: Czas pokaże.
Every once in a while I peek at the Search Terms that have landed people on this site. Here are some of the more entertaining ones that turned up in the last 30 days.
Penis – I’m mildly surprised that this turned up in only 15 distinct varieties in the last month, from penis snake to duck penis to penis size to just plain penis, and that’s not counting the person who was researching a more delicately stated “manhood” and the one who spelled it “penus”. Nice going, humanity. Never change.
True facts about Jesus – I’m guessing this reader left disappointed. Although it is the subject of many books and arguments by theologians, scholars and True Believers; none of them seem to be able to agree on anything at all, not even a simple full name and address. There are a lot of good debates and opinions to read on this site though.
Is masturbation a sin in Catholicism – yes, it is. It’s a sin against chastity, and the Catholic Catechism lists it alongside such things as rape. This should be sufficient to teach you that the Catholic Church is not a good go-to place for questions about morality.
Megalodon shark found – nope. It was a hoax. Discovery Channel does not like to let things like the truth get in the way of a good story.
Adam and Eve truth year born – Heh. Another person who probably left disappointed. There are a lot of interesting articles on the subject of Adam & Eve on this website though, that examine it from a biological and theological perspective.
Is religion bad – Yes. It’s different kinds of bad to different people, of course. To those people who are in jail or awaiting execution or are seeing their country get destroyed by war because of it in the year of 2015 it’s the very worst kind of bad there is. Then there are all sorts of other levels of bad from denying people the medical treatment they need to stifling open debate to oppressing people for their gender or sexuality to the relatively mild wasting of countless hours in the vain search for something that doesn’t exist. Like Bigfoot, only a whole lot less fun.
Heaven – make your own. As Death once said: “CATS ARE NICE“. Dogs are nice too.
Real devil – Well, the TasmanianDevil was real. Might still be, although it seems unlikely. Other than that, I got nothing.
can i eat pepper seeds 30 nos per day – If you want to. I wouldn’t.
female masturbation – Really? Unlike God and the devil, it is real though. This is probably a really disheartening and stubbornly uninstructive site though, if that’s what you’re looking for.
a picture of a dog going to heaven – I can do better than that. We have pictures of dogs in heaven. Here’s one of Cyrus and some of Deets.
satanic coloring page – I actually don’t know what to say. Y’all know that atheists think Satanism is just Christianity from the reverse angle, right?
creation museum discount tickets – This is not the site you are looking for.
famous trumpeter with puffy cheeks – I’m guessing you’re looking for Satchmo.
I think that is as good a place to leave it, for now.
[UPDATE]
The Collective has conferred and agreed that famous trumpeter with puffy cheeks refers to Dizzy Gillespie.
In today’s New York Times, there is a paean to a cast iron skillet with which Jocelyn Cooper, a music industry executive, prepares her grandmother’s traditional dishes. While we may marvel at the breadth of the Times‘ coverage that gives us a profile of a frying pan, what brings this to our attention is that in the accompanying, uncaptioned, photo, Ms. Cooper is joined in a pose exactly parallel to hers by her equally traditional tabby, who apparently has a similar, but appropriately downsized, skillet of its own.
Jocelyn Cooper and her cat (Dina Litovsky for the New York Times).
A caption in the online version identifies the cat as Jo Jo Cooper.
After a delay in returning to Earth (one that Samantha Cristoforetti was delighted about), she’s coming home on Thursday. As the Daily Mirror reports, she’s set a record:
European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has been on the International Space Station for almost 200 days, meaning she’s now spent longer in space (continuously) than any other female astronaut.
Cristoforetti has smashed the record of 195 days set by NASA’s Sunita Williams back in 2007. And, by the time she descends back to Earth inside the Soyuz spacecraft on Thursday (June 11), she’ll have spent a full five days more than Williams in space – bringing her total to exactly 200 days.
The achievement was only possible because of an unexpected delay to her mission after Russia’s Progress 59 resupply spacecraft failed to arrive at the orbiting laboratory.
Unless you’re a n00b, you’ll know she’s our Official Website Astronaut™, and we wish her CeilingCatSpeed on her voyage back to the pale blue dot. Here’s a tw**t showing her environmental consciousness (she’s mentioned global warming several times on her mission):
Here are some more photos I took at the Vancouver Aquarium, with today’s concentrating on the beasts shown me by frog researcher and conservationist Kris Rossing, my host.
Arriving at Stanley Park to walk to the Aquarium, I was struck by the number of black squirrels. I noticed a lot more yesterday on the campus of the University of Toronto. Canada is FULL of black squirrels, and I have no idea why:
One of the missions of the Aquarium is to save endangered frogs, by either breeding them in captivity for hoped-for later release, or simply preserving nearly extinct species for people to see. One of the endangered ones is the Oregon spotted frog (Rana pretiosa), which appears to be found in only three ponds in British Columbia. It’s endangered because of habitat loss and, especially, non-native bullfrogs (introduced for food!), which have the habit of eating the spotted frogs. They are raising them en mass in the Aquarium, but they are shy, so I didn’t get a good photo. This one is taken from the California Herps site:
Another endangered species in BC (habitat loss again) is the Northern Leopard Frog (Lithobates pipiens, formerly Rana pipiens). It’s a gorgeous animal and they’re not shy in aquaria, so I was able to take this photo. Look at those lovely golden eyes!
The frog shown below is almost certainly extinct in the wild; it sings with the choir invisible. It is the gorgeous Panamanian golden frog (Atelopus zeteki), which is really a toad. Its extinction is largely due to the infectious fungus “chytrid,” which has wiped out so many frogs. It’s also toxic, as you might tell from its color. Unlike many “poison arrow frogs,” though, its toxin is manufactured in its body. Other such frogs, like dendrobatids, manufacture their poison from their food and lose their toxicity in aquaria:
David Attenborough took one of the last videos of this frog in the wild, showing its bizarre behavior of male arm-waving” to find females and intimidate other males, for their territories are near waterfalls that drown out their calls. Waving is hard for a frog since its front limbs aren’t designed for that behavior!
This frog will probably never again exist in the wild.
The species below, the red-eyed tree frog (Agalychnis callidryas) is, fortunately, not endangered, and is a favorite on frog tee shirts and calendars. It’s an arboreal (tree-dwelling) species found in the Neotropics. In aquaria they tend to cling to the sides of the tank using capillary action of their wet bellies. That gives you the chance to take cool photos like this, taken from the top of a tank. Yes, that’s the whole frog, pressed flat on the glass:
A more conventional view; they spend a lot of time resting on leaves:
And an indication of its size:
The Aquarium is the holding place for a lot of animals imported illegally into Canada, where they wait until court cases are resolved. This is Kris holding a baby green anaconda (Eunectes murinus):
Walking through the vet clinic, I saw a green parrot undergoing an operation. It had either cancer or an infection, and was under anesthesia. I forgot the species, but I hope the bird made it:
Finally, when I was waiting for the bus into town, this little bandit walked brazenly up to the garbage bin next to me and inspected it for noms. Not finding any, it walked away in disgust. The raccoon (Procyon lotor) was not at all afraid of humans:
Today’s Jesus and Mo, called “Defy,” came with the email message, “It’s not funny because it’s true.” And indeed, it’s both true and not nearly as rib-tickling as other strips:
Reader Gina sent this swell video of burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia). I don’t know where this is, but it sure looks like the group I saw in Davis, California in April, 2014.
As J. A. Baker wrote in his magnificent book The Peregrine, owls always look affronted.
