Readers’ wildlife photographs

May 28, 2015 • 7:45 am

Today we have an odd combination: Galápagos iguanas and squirrels. First the iguanas, from reader Kris Rossing, who is too humble about these lovely photos.

I am a practicing biologist and longtime reader. I greatly enjoy your website and find the community of regular commentators extremely thoughtful and respectful. I particularly enjoy the user submitted photos. It is clear that some readers have exceptional skill, transforming the mundane into magic; the trivial into transcendent.
As such, I’ve been nervous about posting these, but as I have yet to see pictures from the Galapagos [JAC: we have more coming from another reader soon], I hope that these images will still be enjoyable to the avid biologists among your readers. I thought I’d start by submitting some photos of one of the Galapagos’ most iconic species.
Our trip was during the first two weeks of October, at the onset of the breeding season of the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus). As the warm currents hit eastern-most San Cristobel first, the males on this island were beginning to don their full mating regalia, resplendent in green and red. This male eventually decided we were close enough and began his iconic head-bobbing dance, proclaiming his dominance of that particular rock for all to see.
Amblyrhynchus cristatus (Marine Iguana) 01
Further west, on Isabella, we encountered what the locals called a nursery; a huge and isolated tract of rocky shoreline occupied almost exclusively by the young. This photo was taken in the morning, as they bask to gain energy for the trials of the day ahead. As much as the lifestyle looks easy now, anyone familiar with their exclusive dietary habit is already cringing at the thought of plunging into the surprisingly cold waters below.
Amblyrhynchus cristatus (Marine Iguana) 02
After they gorge on algae, they haul themselves back on land to digest and warm up. We caught this fellow (first photo) on his way to a power-nap party among the mangroves (second photo).
Amblyrhynchus cristatus (Marine Iguana) 03
Amblyrhynchus cristatus (Marine Iguana) 04
Later in the evening we encountered this beast of a male. His mating colours are only just barely beginning to show, but he was easily the largest iguana we saw on our trip. He didn’t even flinch as I approached for the money shot (second photo). I can’t help but feel that the orc race of many fantasy worlds must have been modeled on this amazing animal. His salt-encrusted scales are simply striking.
Amblyrhynchus cristatus (Marine Iguana) 06
Amblyrhynchus cristatus (Marine Iguana) 05
To any readers who have ever considered going, I say “Do it!”. There will be precious few experiences in life that can top sharing a sunset on the beach with a marine iguana sitting on a log only a few inches away.
JAC: I fully agree with Kris. When I went to the Galápagos (as a lecturer on a wonderful Lindblad cruise), I thought I knew all about the islands and their inhabitants, and, as a jaded biologist, that I would be intrigued but not stunned. But I was stunned. It’s one thing to read about these animals from afar, another entirely to see them in the flesh, fur, and feathers. It’s simply astounding to step onto barren, black, and dry lava islands teeming with life: dancing blue-footed boobies, iguanas so thick on the ground that you must avoid stepping on them, sea lion pups so friendly they will waddle into your lap, the weirdly primeval giant tortoises, and finches so tame they will alight on a stick held in your hand. Not to mention the Galápagos penguins and the sea turtles (I once swam with both, including sea lions). It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one that both evolution mavens and anyone who loves animals (or lovely landscapes) must have. There’s nothing I’ve seen to compare.
*******

Reader Jason from Canada sent some odd but beautiful squirrels. Canada seems full of black and weird-colored squirrels (the Parliament grounds in Ottawa is full of black ones); I wonder why.

Here is a black squirrel with a blonde tail in Grange Park,Toronto (1 block north of City TV/Much Music HQ). We also had an albino squirrel in Trinity-Bellwoods Park which unfortunately died last year (down the street from the park there is a road “White Squirrel Way” that leads into the CAMH facility. We also have red squirrels in High Park and a few of the other forest areas of the city. The majority of squirrels are black and grey and a lot have different colour variations.

DSC_6019a

DSC_6035

DSC_6077a

Thursday: Hili Dialogue

May 28, 2015 • 5:49 am

I believe the book talk went well last night, though there were lots of questions from apparently miffed people, including one rabbi who said I needed to learn more about Judaism! (He didn’t tell me how my knowledge was deficient with respect to the thesis of my book.) I believe Jason Rosenhouse, who was kind enough to make the long trek to my talk from his Virginia digs, will write a report on his website about my talk, which I will link to in lieu of writing one myself. I also met several readers of this website I hadn’t known (lurkers, I think), one of whom informed me that she thought I was mean to Cyrus in these dialogues, and that I should respect the d*g more! Well, in Dobrzyn the d*g and the cat are playing Greek philosophers in the orchard, and this is a cute picture.

Oh, and lots of people said “Maru” and demanded that I draw a cat in their book. They must read this site, or have acquired the secret word in samizdat.

Hili: Are there still any genuine peripatetics in the world?
Cyrus: Probably just the two of us.

P1020822
In Polish:
Hili: Czy są jeszcze na świecie prawdziwi perypatetycy?
Cyrus: Chyba już tylko my dwoje.

Squirrels of a different color

May 28, 2015 • 5:00 am

by Greg Mayer

Squirrels are, of course, perennial favorites here at WEIT, being known as honorary cats. They also present a number of interesting phenomena of within and among population variation in easily observable traits like pelage color. Because these variations are often known even to casual observers, I often use squirrels as examples when explaining what species are. In eastern North America, gray squirrels, fox squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, and woodchucks provide many informative examples of the differences within and among species.

We’ve had occasion to comment here on albino, parti-colored and black squirrels, all of which are gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis). I was thus intrigued when my Toronto correspondent sent along a photo, taken in Port Huron, Michigan, of a black squirrel with a brownish tail.

Gray squirrel that is balck with brownish tail.
Gray squirrel that is black with brownish tail.

The body looks like a typical melanic squirrel– black, although when seen up close, they often have some reddish/brownish in them– but the tail is brown! Black is usually the result of the pigment eumelanin, while browns and reds often are due to the presence of phaeomelanin, so melanics can have both pigments present. In the Port Huron squirrel, the tail (although not the underside of the base, which is black) perhaps has only phaeomelanin. There were “tons” of regular melanics in Port Huron, but just one with the lighter tail.

I have seen melanics and albinos in the wild, but I had never seen– in the wild, in a museum, or just in a photo– a melanic with a brown tail. I consulted a colleague with a great deal of field experience in Wisconsin, especially northern Wisconsin, and he too had not seen them. I was surprised to learn after consulting a standard reference (Fiona Reid‘s volume on mammals in the Peterson Field Guide series– highly recommended) that such squirrels are in fact well known, especially from further north in the range of the squirrel.

My Toronto correspondent also sends a photo of a black squirrel from Toronto itself. Black squirrels are quite common in Ontario: my correspondent writes, “[I]n Toronto, I feel as if I see a black squirrel every time I turn around!” The interest of the pictured squirrel is that it seems to have light spots on the forehead and back; she said it looked “spotted”.

Spotted black squirrel in Toronto.
Spotted black squirrel in Toronto.

You can see the white spot on the forehead; there’s another, just barely visible in this photo, in the middle of the back. I have never seen this pattern either. I did find though, through a link provided by Jerry, the opposite pattern: a photo of a white squirrel with darker spots on forehead and mid-back from Brevard, North Carolina, where white (and mostly white) squirrels are common.

A Brevard, NC white squirrel with some dark markings on forehead and mid-back.
A Brevard, NC white squirrel with some dark markings on forehead and mid-back.

The reptile-mammal transition

May 27, 2015 • 1:07 pm

by Greg Mayer

Update: An alert reader, has objected to the theory presented below, or at least the specific evidence used; he has proffered what he contends is “much more pertinent evidence”, which I append below.

Jerry posted a couple of days ago on a specimen of an early tetrapod, Ossinodus, which seems to have had a partially healed injury to the radius of its right forearm. The authors who described the injured specimen interpreted the injury as a fracture that could only have occurred on land, arguing that Ossinodus therefore is the oldest tetrapod that can confidently be said to be terrestrial. (The first tetrapods, from the upper Devonian, are considerably older than Ossinodus, which is from the following Mississippian subperiod of the Carboniferous; but these earlier tetrapods, which had caudal fins and functional gills, may not have been terrestrial.) Ossinodus is thus potentially an important point in the transition from fishes to amphibians.

Another major transition in the history of vertebrate life was that from reptiles to mammals, which we have discussed here before at WEIT. As important as the morphological changes which can be seen in the fossils, are the changes in ecology and behavior, which, along with environmental changes, lead to changes in the extent to which one group or another dominates the ecosystems of its time. Although mammals originated in the mid-Mesozoic era, it was not until the Cenozoic (colloquially known as the “Age of Mammals”) that the mammals became the dominant terrestrial vertebrates. Most ideas on the rise of mammals to ecological dominance focus on the fate of dinosaurs and other large reptiles at the end of the Cretaceous, when the disappearance of the latter may have been caused or accelerated by the impact of an extraterrestrial body. I was recently forwarded another theory, visually expressed, about how it was that mammals replaced reptiles as the dominant land animals on Earth.

https://i.imgur.com/ilRV9QO.jpg
A mammal and reptile engage in a vigorous contest for dominance.

And now, the more pertinent evidence:

Leo battles velociraptor.
Leo battles velociraptor.

I will allow as the mammal in the new evidence does seem to have a more dominant position over the reptile.

h/t: C. Mayer, J.B. Losos

After the party: what the Yes vote in Ireland means for the Catholic Church and its position on homosexuality

May 27, 2015 • 11:04 am

by Grania Spingies

Quite a lot of headlines around the world announced that Ireland’s voting for equality by endorsing same-sex marriage last week was the dawn of a new era for the position of the Catholic Church in Ireland. The truth of the matter is that it was really just the most recent and most public display of how things have already changed in the country. In spite of a comfortable 87% of the population self-identifying as Catholic and around 90% of Irish citizens having attended a Catholic school for 12 years; the referendum result on the 24th of May was undeniable evidence that the average Irish Catholic pays little to no attention to what the Vatican or its Bishops advise.

In itself, it isn’t really news. Regular church attendance in Ireland is poor (as low as 5% in some areas to 30-40% at best), and getting poorer amongst the younger generations; and has long been a cause for concern amongst Irish priests and bishops. So it is no surprise that whatever does influence the Irish electorate, it probably won’t be the Catholic Church.

In fact, even church-attending Catholics cannot be relied on to listen let alone endorse the official party line. When local parish priests were required to read their Bishop’s letter to their congregation urging them not to support equality for same-sex couples, some of the faithful walked out. One of the attendees said afterwards:

When he started speaking he talked about God and love and I thought it was going in the right direction and that they (the Church) were going to come into the 21st century, but then he read out the letter and I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t in all conscience sit there and listen to it. I never thought I’d be someone that would walk out of Mass but I had to leave. I couldn’t believe we were being told what way to vote. I got into such a temper I couldn’t even stay and listen to it all.

When even the faithful are prepared to publicly shun the Church, it is worth noting. The Archbishop of Ireland, Diarmuid Martin said much the same:

I ask myself, most of these young people who voted yes are products of our Catholic school system for 12 years. I’m saying there’s a big challenge there to see how we get across the message of the Church.

It appears that as many as a third of Irish Catholic clergy may have also voted Yes in the referendum. The Association of Catholic Priests consists of liberal clergy who frequently butt heads with the traditional Church hierarchy on issues that have long been sticking points in the Church such as celibacy, the ordination of women etc. The Irish talk show radio station NewsTalk surveyed 100 priests to poll their views on this.

http://www.newstalk.com/content/000/images/000097/99713_60_news_hub_multi_630x0.jpg

Clearly, there is certainly no unanimous agreement on the issue.

In spite of promising sounds from the pope last year on the subject of homosexuality, as well as the apparent crisis within the Church’s own ranks – or at least the European parts of it; the Vatican appears to be standing by their position and have called the Irish referendum results a “defeat for humanity”.

The Church never ceases to amaze me as an ex-Catholic, at its dogged insistence of ignoring the concerns and interests of its own people as well as the advances in secular morality in the society in which it exists. But it appears that if there is going to be any change, it is not going to happen in the foreseeable future. Talking may happen. Change is going to be a lot less likely. At least the Vatican can find a small measure of support in the lunatic fringe group Westboro Baptist Church, who would no doubt at least agree in principle with their verdict on the referendum. On the other hand, the Church may not really want support from a group that clearly does not get out much, as this exchange with writer J.K. Rowling demonstrates.

wbc

I would almost pay money to see that, cos that would be awesome ¹.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Yes, I am using the word awesome, because watching two of the world’s most famousest of wizards take on a grubby band of haters would be, well, thing.

West Virginia lawsuit filed to ban teaching evolution since it’s a “faith”

May 27, 2015 • 9:30 am

To paraphrase Clarence Darrow, creationism is always busy and needs feeding, and their lawsuits and incursions into the schools won’t stop until religion is no longer with us. Fortunately, this latest lawsuit, reported by the National Center for Science Education (NCSE), is a bull-goose loser. (The short 3-page complaint is here.) The state is West Virginia, and Kenneth Smith is asking for his daughter not to be taught evolution in her public school because it’s a “faith” that will hurt his her education. The claim is that teaching evolution itself violates the First Amendment. The relevant bit:

Screen shot 2015-05-27 at 8.46.26 AM

This is not really novel, as lots of creationists—and even some secular folks—claim that science itself is based on faith (or is a faith) and I’ve heard people argue (one of them, I believe, is my friend Larry Moran) that while teaching that the Earth is 4.6 billion years old is legal, teaching that it is not 10,000 years old is unconstitutional in the U.S.. The latter is supposed to be an unwarranted attack on religion, but I’m not convinced.

But this lawsuit has no legs. As the NCSE reports:

Absent from the complaint is any mention of the relevant case law. In McLean v. Arkansas (1982), for example, the court commented, “it is clearly established in the case law, and perhaps also in common sense, that evolution is not a religion and that teaching evolution does not violate the Establishment Clause.”

Similarly, in Peloza v. Capistrano School District (1994), the court characterized the Supreme Court’s decision in Edwards v. Aguillard (1987) as holding “unequivocally that while the belief in a divine creator of the universe is a religious belief, the scientific theory that higher forms of life evolved from lower forms is not.”

Let us be clear: the only reason people like Kenneth Smith characterize evolution as a “faith” is because it contravenes their own religion. As tons of evidence attest, evolution is a fact, and evolutionary biology is a well-established branch of science, no more a “faith” than organic chemistry, quantum mechanics, or cell biology. Frankly, I’m surprised the lawsuit isn’t just dismissed out of hand.

h/t: Lauren

Jesus ‘n’ Mo ‘n’ hornets

May 27, 2015 • 8:15 am

Once again the Jesus and Mo author, in a strip called “nest,” manages to convey in four panels a complex behavior: the double standard of coddling the feelings of Muslims when their prophet is insulted, while turning a blind eye to criticisms of other faiths:

2015-05-27

 

Reader Cindy, by the way, called my attention to a nice article in the Atlantic (by Tanya Basu) on the meaning of “Islamophobia”. The odious Reza Aslan makes an appearance at the end, defending the word as meaning “racism and bigotry against Muslims.” I think the word is confusing, and constantly conflates hatred of Muslims as people with criticism and intense dislike of the tenets of their faith.  “Muslimophobia” would be a better word.

Readers’ wildlife photographs

May 27, 2015 • 7:15 am

We have moar hippos today, this time from reader Richard Bond:

I am not sure that these hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) photographs are up to Bob Lundgren’s standard (WEIT 23/05/15), but, after his and your encouragement, here they are anyway.

The first three were taken in the Masai Mara [Kenya]. We were standing on a bank above the Talek river (a small tributary of the Mara river of gnu migration fame) which forms part of the north-eastern border of the reserve. Hippos are susceptible to sunburn, so during the dry season they tend to spend most of the day under water. Typically, in a pool perhaps 25 x 10 metres, all we could see for about fifteen minutes was an occasional head surfacing for breath. Suddenly, two hippos had a row and 30-40 heads shot above the surface to see what was happening. I like the way in which the bottom left hippo in the third photograph is slyly inspecting us.

Hippo_1

Hippo_2

Hippo_3

The fourth photo is not very good, and you might not want to use it, but there is a story behind it. We stopped right on the edge of a small lake in the Nairobi National Park, and a hippo surfaced some way out, looked at us, then submerged. For a minute or so we could see a slight trail of bubbles and small eddies on the surface heading our way, then the head popped up to stare at us again. This was repeated a few more times; it was quite eerie, and a bit intimidating in its purposeful approach. That is why the photo is rather poor: it was taken through the car windscreen, because I had no intention of getting out!

Hippo_4

Most people on holiday visit Kenya in the dry season, when the most reliable way to see hippos out of the water is at Haller Park, just north of Mombasa. (Wikipedia has a good article about the history of this park.) The park has several functions, one of which is to provide a temporary or permanent home, as appropriate, for rescued animals. The male and female in photos 5 and 6 were “rescued” from zoos in Europe. While not in a totally natural environment (they cannot roam long distances) they seem do do well. They have about a ten hectare enclosure with a lake of nearly one hectare, and, of course, their natural climate. The park attracts plenty of other wildlife, and the handsome bird in the foreground of photo 6 is a grey crowned crane (Balearica regulorum gibbericeps).

Hippo_5

Hippo_6

I am somewhat confused about the subject of photo 7. At the time (April 2005) we were told by a park guide that she and her parents were victims of the 2004 tsunami, found on a beach after being washed down the Galana river. The parents could not be rescued. However, most of the online references mention a young male, found alone on a reef after the tsunami. I doubt that the guide was wrong; perhaps two were rescued, and the male gets all the attention because of his celebrated bonding with a giant tortoise. Anyway, one interesting thing is how pink she is compared with adults.

Hippo_7

And a lagniappe cardinal from reader Jeremy Frost:

Here’s a picture of Cardinalis cardinalis, the Northern Cardinal. I took this outside my home in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. The little fella has made this particular spot his morning song perch. His volume is impressive (and somewhat grating!).

cardinal-1