Blog Archives - THE BIOLOGIST APPRENTICE

THE BIOLOGIST APPRENTICE

first baby giant tortoise found on the Galapagos

1/19/2015

Imagen

Thanks to a recent rat eradication program, this is the first baby giant tortoise found on the Galapagos island of Pinzón in 150 years.

Gracias a un programa reciente de erradicación de ratas, esta es la primera tortuga gigante bebé que se encuentra en la isla de Pinzón en las Galápagos en 150 años.

Read more: http://bit.ly/1xltlTy

Tolkien’s Dragon Smaug

1/18/2015

The villain of J. R. R.Tolkien’s The Hobbit–the fearsome dragon Smaug–dwells deep in a cavern with a massive hoard of treasure and terrorizes nearby villages. Smaug is the new name given to a genus of girdled lizards from South Africa by Ed Stanley, a doctoral candidate at the Richard Gilder Graduate School at the American Museum of Natural History.

Though much smaller than the massive fire-breathing dragon of Tolkien’s tale, the real-world reptile bears thick scales of armor on its backs and has a weak underbelly that is vulnerable to predators, much like its novelistic namesake.

The natural predators of the Smaug genus may not be the biggest threat to the survival of the species, however. The exotic look of the lizards makes them attractive to wealthy pet collectors, and their habitat happens to intersect with valuable farmland.

Source: http://www.amnh.org/

El villano de El Hobbit, de JRR Tolkien: el temible dragón Smaug, mora en lo profundo de una caverna con una acumulación masiva de tesoros y aterroriza a los pueblos cercanos. Smaug es el nuevo nombre dado a un género de lagartos de Sudáfrica por Ed Stanley, un candidato doctoral en la Escuela Richard Gilder en el Museo Americano de Historia Natural.

Aunque mucho más pequeño que el dragón que escupe fuego de forma masiva en el cuento de Tolkien, el reptil del mundo real lleva gruesas escamas como armadura sobre su espalda y tiene un vientre débil que es vulnerable a los depredadores, al igual que su homónimo novelístico.

Los depredadores naturales del género Smaug pueden no ser la mayor amenaza para la supervivencia de la especie, sin embargo, el look exótico de los lagartos los hace atractivos para los adinerados coleccionistas de mascotas, y su hábitat pasa a cruzarse con valiosas tierras de cultivo.

Fuente: http://www.amnh.org/

Bee's Project

1/18/2015

Portuguese designer Susana Soares has developed a device for detecting cancer and other serious diseases using trained bees. The bees are placed in a glass chamber into which the patient exhales; the bees fly into a smaller secondary chamber if they detect cancer.

Scientific research has demonstrated that bees (Apis mellifera) have an extraordinarily acute sense of smell and can be trained to perform health checks by detecting a specific odour in peoples’ breath.

The project consists in a series of alternative diagnostic tools that use bees to diagnose accurately at an early stage of a vast variety of diseases.

Source: SusanaSoares

La diseñadora portuguesa Susana Soares ha desarrollado un dispositivo para la detección de cáncer y otras enfermedades graves utilizando abejas entrenadas. Las abejas se colocan en una cámara de vidrio en el que el paciente exhala; las abejas vuelan en una cámara secundaria más pequeña si detectan el cáncer.

La investigación científica ha demostrado que las abejas (Apis mellifera) tienen un sentido extraordinariamente agudo del olfato y pueden ser entrenados para realizar controles de salud al detectar un olor específico en el aliento de las personas.

El proyecto consiste en una serie de herramientas de diagnóstico alternativos que utilizan las abejas para diagnosticar con precisión en una etapa temprana una amplia variedad de enfermedades.

Fuente: SusanaSoares

Mud puddling

1/17/2015

Mud-puddling, is a behaviour most conspicuous in butterflies, but occurs in other animals as well, mainly insects; they seek out certain moist substances such as rotting plant matter, mud and carrion and they suck up the fluid. Where the conditions are suitable conspicuous insects such as butterflies commonly form aggregations on wet soil, dung or carrion. From the fluids they obtain nutrients such as salts and amino acids that play various roles in their physiology, ethology and ecology.

Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths) are diverse in their strategies to gather liquid nutrients. Typically, mud-puddling behavior takes place on wet soil. But even sweat on human skin may be attractive to butterflies such as species of Halpe. More unusual sources include blood and tears. Again, similar behaviour is not limited to the Lepidoptera, and for example, the various species of bees commonly called sweat bees are attracted to various kinds of sweat and tears, including that of humans, and other bee species have been recorded as doing so to various degrees.

Source: wiki

Pink Frogs

1/16/2015

Imagen

©Gerard Siatkowski.

This is an albino gray tree frog (Hyla versicolor), is a species of small arboreal frog native to the eastern United States and southeastern Canada. They feed on insects and larvae, they may become cannibalistic, eating others of their kind if they are smaller. The normal color of this species varies in shades of gray with spots that help camouflage, but albino frogs (therefore completely or partially devoid of melanin, the pigment responsible for the coloration of the body) are lighter, ranging between white and this pink color.

Source: malformalady

DYEING THE DEAD

1/16/2015

Unlike the stuffed birds and mounted deer heads of taxidermy, these specimens are transparent, offering a literal window into their skeletal structure, enhanced by the rich reds, purples, and blues that highlight their bones and cartilage. Scientists have been using diaphonization techniques for decades, but more recently, artists have also taken up the practice.

First developed in 1977 by the scientists G. Dingerkus and L.D. Uhler, the process of diaphonization has also been known as "clearing and staining." The animals are rendered transparent (the "clearing") by bathing in a soup of trypsin, a digestive enzyme that slowly breaks down their flesh. They also soak in several batches of bone, muscle, or cartilage dyes (the "staining"), with alizarin red and alcian blue the most commonly used.

Despite its merits, diaphonization is not widely used in the field, due to its finicky and time-consuming nature. Advancements in imaging technology have also rendered the practice uncommon. However, diaphonization is increasingly becoming an art form.

Source: atlasobscura.com

A diferencia de los pájaros disecados y cabezas de venado montados de taxidermia, estas muestras son transparentes, ofreciendo una ventana literal en su estructura esquelética, realzado con rojos, púrpuras y azules que ponen en relieve huesos y cartílagos. Los científicos han estado utilizando técnicas de transparetado durante décadas, pero más recientemente, los artistas también han tomado la práctica.

Desarrollado por primera vez en 1977 por los científicos G. Dingerkus y LD Uhler, el proceso de transparentado también se ha conocido como "compensación y tinción." Los animales se vuelven transparentes (la "limpieza") por bañarse en un líquido compuesto de tripsina, una enzima digestiva que descompone lentamente la carne. También se remojan varios lotes de hueso, músculo, cartílago , en colorantes (la "coloración"), con alizarina roja y azul alcián, que es el más comúnmente utilizado.

A pesar de sus méritos, el transparentado no se utiliza ampliamente en el campo, debido a su naturaleza laboriosa y el requerimiento de mucho tiempo. Los avances en la tecnología de imágenes también han hecho que la práctica poco común. Sin embargo, el transparentado es cada vez más es tomado una forma de arte.

Fuente: atlasobscura.com

Red and Black Spider (Ambicodamus sp.)

1/15/2015

Imagen

Photo credit: ©Simon Grove

Due to their typical coloration, spiders of the Australian genus Ambicodamus belong to the family Nicodamidae, whose members are commonly known as red and black spiders. They are small to medium-sized spiders found in small sheet webs close to the ground in eucalypt forests. They have eight eyes, small, in two straight rows. The single cheliceral tooth is highly unusual amongst spiders.

Debido a su coloración típica, las arañas del género australiano Ambicodamus pertenecen a la familia Nicodamidae, cuyos miembros son conocidos comúnmente como arañas rojas y negras. Son arañas de tamaño medio que se encuentran en pequeñas telarañas en hojas cerca del suelo en bosques de eucaliptos. Tienen ocho ojos, pequeños, en dos filas rectas. El único diente queliceral es altamente inusual entre las arañas.

Source: libutron

Wildlife crossing

1/13/2015

Wildlife crossings are structures that allow animals to cross human-made barriers safely. Wildlife crossings may include: underpass tunnels, viaducts, and overpasses (mainly for large or herd-type animals); amphibian tunnels; fish ladders; tunnels and culverts (for small mammals such as otters, hedgehogs, and badgers); green roofs (for butterflies and birds).

Wildlife crossings are a practice in habitat conservation, allowing connections or reconnections between habitats, combating habitat fragmentation. They also assist in avoiding collisions between vehicles and animals, which in addition to killing or injuring wildlife may cause injury to humans and property damage.

Los ecoductos o puentes verdes son estructuras que permiten a los animales cruzar las barreras artificiales de forma segura. Estos ecoductos pueden incluir: túneles, viaductos, pasos a desnivel y pasos a desnivel (principalmente para los animales de tipo manada grande o); túneles de anfibios; escalas de peces; túneles y alcantarillas (para pequeños mamíferos como nutrias, erizos, y tejones); techos verdes (por mariposas y aves).

Los puentes verdes son una práctica en la conservación del hábitat, lo que permite conexiones o reconexiones entre los hábitats y la lucha contra la fragmentación del hábitat. También ayudan a evitar colisiones entre vehículos y animales, que además de matar o herir a la vida silvestre pueden causar daño a los seres humanos y daños a la propiedad.

Source: wiki

Pink fairy armadillos (Chlamyphorus truncatus)

1/13/2015

Photos: Mariella Superina

Pink fairy armadillos (Chlamyphorus truncatus) have small eyes, silky yellowish white fur, and a flexible dorsal shell that is solely attached to its body by a thin dorsal membrane. In addition, its spatula-shaped tail protrudes from a vertical plate at the blunt rear of its shell. This creature exhibits nocturnal and solitary habits and has a diet that is mainly composed of insects, worms, snails, and various plant parts.

Los armadillos hada rosa (Chlamyphorus truncatus) tienen ojos pequeños, sedoso pelaje blanco amarillento, y una concha dorsal flexible que está exclusivamente unido a su cuerpo por una membrana delgada dorsal. Además, la cola en forma de espátula sobresale de una placa vertical en la parte posterior romo de su caparazón. Esta criatura exhibe hábitos nocturnos y solitarios y tiene una dieta que se compone principalmente de insectos, gusanos, caracoles y diversas partes de plantas.

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Cingulata
Family: Dasypodidae
Subfamily: Euphractinae or Chlamyphorinae
Genus: Chlamyphorus
Species: C. truncatus

Source: wiki

The Giant Birdsnest For Humans

1/12/2015

The Giant birdsnest aka “Giant Birdsnest for creating new ideas” was conceived and created as a prototype for new and inspiring socializing space: a fusion of furniture and playground: A comfortable informal and sensual soft space. The wooden nest is filled with highly comfortable egg-shaped sitting poofs which allow ergonomic sitting positions and various configurations for informal meetings and social exchange.

Designed by the Israel-based design firm OGE Creative Group, It’s a multifunctional piece of furniture that can be used for resting, browsing the web, reading, talking and doing almost anything. It comes in 4 different sizes (ranging from 2,700 – 7,900 Euros) and, at its largest, can accommodate up to 16 people at a time.

Source: oge-group