Fire Ant Raft

yall are crazy.

Part of why I think studying animals is awesome is because it encapsulates a broad interdisciplinary range of topics.  Now, engineers at Georgia Tech have delved into one of my favorite insect events  EVER: The Fire. Ant. Raft.  yes. 

Every now and then, the Amazon jungle has enough flooding to destroy the network of local fire ant tunnels.  So, in a typical mechanized insect fashion, all the ants collect their eggs and join together to float down the Amazon for days or even weeks--unharmed.  The rafts can be around 3 feet in diameter and are so air-tight that even the ants on the bottom of the raft never get submerged in water.  They will finally reach land, unload, and start a new colony wherever that may be. 

It's a quirk of the Amazon fire ants that has gotten fairly popular but, until now, has not been sufficiently studied.  

Maybe it's because I'm from Georgia, or maybe it's because I think fire ants are terrifying, but I was absolutely thrilled when I heard that this topic was being taking up for study.  So far, the engineers have found that...jeez, I'm so thrilled I don't even feel like putting this in my own words: 

"By freezing the ants, the Georgia Tech team observed that fire ants construct rafts when placed in water by gripping each other with mandibles, claw and adhesive pads at a force 400 times their body weight.

The result is a viscous and elastic material that is almost like a fluid composed of ant “molecules,” researchers said. The ants spread out from a sphere into a pancake-shaped raft that resisted perturbations and submergence techniques."-How Fire Ants Build Waterproof Rafts, Georgia Tech 

That's just a littClick above to read the whole thing...you really should!

So, in conclusion, ant colonies behave like super-organisms, this is awesome, and I can't wait to see all the crazy studies and technology that comes from it.  

WELL DONE GEORGIA TECH!

Sandy and the Storm Surge

Oh Sandy, why must you complicate things so?


<------ Pictured here is the Brooklyn Waterfront Arts Coalition gallery where I currently have the Dog with Penguins painting.  And this picture was taken when the water receded!  Apparently, it was 5 feet high on the bottom floor.  But luckily, our wonderful directors moved all of the art work to the second flood.  Still though, the damage is pretty bad…Oh Sandy.

My art show at the LaunchPad was cancelled due to the difficulty of everythingin New York right now.  The traffic, lack of gas, lack of electricity, lack of subways, and from all of that comes the anger of everyone.  For Brooklyn specifically, I would say lack of gas and subways is the pinnacle of our chaos.  The streets went from being grid-locked with angry honking drivers, to being lined with silent dead cars and no people.  Gas stations are blocked off with caution tape and long lines of people holding red gas cans go on for blocks.  Policemen and National Guardsmen look flustered and panicked and freak out if you walk on the sidewalk next to the gas station.  It's pretty surreal, but then again, I've just been trying to leave my apartment as little as possible so I really haven't seen much of it.  Apparently there has been a lot of shootings and from what I can hear from my apartment, lots of fights.

I had to get to Queens for a job interview on Friday.  Although I got there, it was the most difficult and frustrating trip ever.  Busses were full, taxi's wouldn't go out of Brooklyn, and people were obnoxious  and cops were nervous.  I finally made it there by telling the cab driver the name of an obscure street in Queens.  He looked at me suspiciously, asked if I knew how to get there, and let me in the cab.  After he started driving I told him that it was in Queens.  He was kinda pissed…but I gave him a good tip and expressed my gratitude.

Then on the way back I waited, along with maybe 50 others, at a bus stop in the freezing cold for about and hour and a half while full busses passed by.  They would open their doors at our stop, allowing one scared individual look at the crowd wide-eyed and nervous bracing himself against the edge of the bus doors, then everyone sighs, pissed off, the doors close, the individual relaxes and plasters himself against the glass, and bus drives off.  Then we wait for another twenty minutes till the process repeats itself.

I went to get a beer and a BLT.  I talked to some ridiculous men from Long Island that told pretty racist jokes, relentlessly flirted with the waitress and had really thick accents.  They both had daughters my age and gave me lots of sad eyes and pity smiles.  We talked a lot and I was secretly hoping they would pay for my beer, but they didn't.  So now I've decided that when I get a job I'm going to pay for some poor young persons beer on a cold, unemployed, subwayless day.

Then the altruism began.  I went back to the bus stop and waited and watched full busses drive by for about another half hour.  Then a car drove up and a girl around my age got out.  I saw her lean over and say to a woman waiting for the bus "hey, do you need to go to downtown Brooklyn?", then they both start going towards the car.  I ran over, "WAIT, are you going to downtown Brooklyn???" "Yeah…….wanna ride?" "YES."

And that's how I got to Brooklyn.  A nice young couple listening to NPR in their snazzy sedan and 3 cold, lowly bus riders.

Of course, I don't live in downtown Brooklyn.  So, I started walking home.  I figured it would take a little over an hour.  And I think it did.  OH!  But I did end up catching a bus!  Five blocks from my house.  I think I did it just to make myself feel better.  I imagine the bus driver was confused.


Thanks Sandy. 

Frogs of Central America

I was looking up the Golden Frog because I read an article about how they wave to communicate.  Their beautiful pure gold color has given them legendary powers for good luck and made them sought after for poachers.  Needless to say, they're quite rare.

After searching the web for a little bit, I found out that they are most likely extinct in the wild.  So sad.  I thought I'd post 1) the video of the frog waving--brought to you by the amazing Sir David Attenborough, and 2) the video of the incredible, dedicated, and brilliant scientists trying to save the frogs of Central America.  

I typically think of frogs as twitchy and manic and am in awe after the video shows Golden Frogs so poised in their movements and interactions.  They really are beautiful.

But sadly, the Chytrid Fungus has spread throughout Central America and is threatening to spread further into North America, killing out mass amounts of amphibians.  It's thought to have affected 30% of amphibians world-wide.  Efforts to pass laws making the sale of frogs illegal has been halted by cultural groups that eat frogs as part of their historic diet.  Yet, in an article by the New York Times, out of 493 frogs from San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, 62% were infected with Chytrid.  Some of these frogs are eaten (an average of 2,280 metric tons of frog legs are brought into this country every year), some are kept as pets, but either way, the fungus has been spreading for the past 15 years and is not slowing any time soon.


Here's the video on scientists helping to save frogs in Central America. 

I need to write a blog about balancing cultural sensitivity with environmental protection…it's an obnoxiously reoccurring theme in so many topics I read about.

I'll get on that…

Something More Light-hearted

This is, perhaps, an ode to video pop-culture.
Whatever, we're all guilty of it.

I paint animals, sooooo inevitably when googling  ___(insert animal here)____  the little youtube tab pops up with ridiculous results that I have to sift through to find anything with substance.  I generally don't watch them until I begin procrastinating.  So….give it like ten minutes.

Here are some for your internet enjoyment!  Maybe I'll order them based on their Mind-Numbing Qualities….Least to Most.


#1!  The amazing Mimic Octopus….discovered in the 1990's.  Crazy and interesting.  The Internet at it's finest! 

Awesome.  Now for something a little less documentary-like and more feel-good.  Cue the Adorable Clueless Neglected Ducks!!  Awww, they're confused and freeeeee (sort of)

#3.  "Haaaahaaaaa" and "Oh that's interesting…" all at the same time

#4.  The worst, most hilarious, youtubey, amazing, video.  How do you know it's mind-numbing?  It involves a cat, theme music, and it is maaaayyyybe 45 seconds long.  This is what I watch when I've had a bad day. 

Ok, that's enough of that.
I feel horribly unproductive.  I'm going to go clean my room.

Art Show!!!

I'm showing all of my work at the LaunchPad in Brooklyn!!  I'm still working on the details, but hopefully there will be music, food, drinks, and maybe a speaker or two.  More info to come soon!!

New painting! "Waiting for Salmon"

"Waiting for Salmon" 36in x 26in Oil on Canvass   Every year in Alaska, starting around spring, salmon begin their journey up stream to spawn.  They bring nutrients from the ocean  through the web of streams etched into Alaska's coast, and into the mainland.  There, they are the source of fat and protein for countless predators like bears, wolves, otters, seals, and eagles.  Then, their bodies decompose, leaving minerals to soak the soil and seep through the watershed dispersing nutrients and sustaining the Alaska wilderness.   In essence, Alaska is a salmon-based ecosystem. And even though their presence is known, the weight of their influence can still slip by unnoticed or under appreciated.  But, this year, the danger of a salmon-less Alaska sat bold and ugly right in our faces. The La Niña weather system of 2010-2011 cooled the ocean and caused this years salmon run to be months later than usual.  Bears paced along the shoreline day after day and slowly began losing muscle mass.  Eagles sat in trees, searching for movement downstream.  Some predators went to find food elsewhere, like clams and crabs that are way less fatty and less abundant, but most waited.  Alaska sat tense and still, waiting for salmon. After a couple months, the salmon finally came.  Predators scarfed them down, salmon decomposed, minerals dispersed, and local people fished and ate.  Whew, close one. Here's Richard Nelson talking about salmon…he really, really loves salmon.  Of course, currently, Pebble Partnership is proposing to build North America's largest mine (possibly 150 square miles) right near a major salmon breeding ground.  They expect to find 80 billion pounds of copper, plus 100 million pounds of gold, adding up to roughly $800 billion dollars in minerals. Yes, the mine would be massive, but the multiple tailing dams built to hold the leftover toxic mining waste is of almost greater concern.  Since there is no method of disposing of the waste, it would sit forever, needing constant surveillance to prevent any leak which would destroy the water system.  Tailing dams fail at a rate of about 2 per year, and the threat of a spill is heightened in an earthquake zone like Bristol Bay. Pebble says they're producing the best science for the project.  That the toxic waste will be forever contained and that there is zero risk to the watershed and surrounding environment.  But local fisherman and tribes have called on the EPA to investigate and potentially stop Pebble, which has led to a division within Alaska, politically and socially. The New York Times does a great outline of the debate and the tension arising in Alaska: I didn't want to create an in-your-face political statement painting.  I wanted to show the beauty of an ecosystem that thrives on salmon and the subsequent dense weight that sits on it when this one animal isn't there.  It's dependency on a single yearly mass  migration is what makes this region so delicate and unique.  I was completely captured by this story and the surrounding debate and I hope that my painting does it justice.  << Previous

BWAC Show "Coming To Brooklyn"!

Head over to Red Hook to view my "Sheepdog and Penguins" at the Brooklyn Waterfront Arts Coalition Gallery!  Open on weekends 1-6!

Flocks

This just baffles me.  I know sometimes large bird flocks (in this case European Starlings in video 1, Blackbirds in video 2) fly together in these organically transforming shapes to ward off predators, but other times, is it just....for fun?  Like the pretend synchronized swimming performances me and my sister used to do in my grandma's pool.  Except with millions of performers and in perfect, improvised form.  FUN!  

So, fish and birds....do any land animals do this?  Or, is the pattern creation completely dependent on the fluid-like essence of air and water?  It's just baffling!  And so freakin impressive!  There have been studies done with fish...and the results were that they are highly sensitive to water flow and can sense the push of water from the lead fishes' tail.  Yes, I can totally accept that as an answer, but....it's still so baffling!  There are simple questions like, Where are they going!? and WHY!?  and HOW?! uggghhhhh I can't take it!  But then I can because it's just so goddamn pretty... 

My living room/dining room/kitchen (New York apartments...sigh) is FULL of my paintings of birds.  And recently, someone came over and mentioned it.  "Oh, so you really like birds....like, that's what you paint..."  And I got kinda defensive and said "Pshhhh no! That's just....you know, what's here...you know, I sell stuff....sometimes...not, tons, but....birds, ha, no...sort of....mammals are better!"  smooooooth.

Birds are OK, but they're way creepy and bony and too prehistoric to relate to.  They blink and walk too fast, they seem smart but act too impulsively, their beaks and claws are threatening and their eyes--blank and evil.

That being said, I can't stop painting them.  I'm just constantly in awe of the things they do.  They got me in their creepy little trap and I can't get leave or they'll peck out my eyes!  But yes, it's true, birds are amazing.  Maybe the first step is admitting it.  

The Amazing Bee-Eaters

I have a new favorite bird.  And it's name is the Bee-Eater.   Beautiful, colorful birds that have got their killing methods down.  Like the pretty girl on the playground, they swoop in all elegantly and bright, then destroy bee's by squeezing their guts and bashing their bodies.  
I have always been afraid of bee's, wasp's, and most everything else that hurts and so, if I ever get another bird (RIP Dexter), maybe it will be a Bee-Eater.  It will be my guard bird.

Here's how you would eat a bee, if you were a Bee-Eater.

Step One:  Catch yaself a bee!  Just fly right at it, and snatch it on the torso!  Mid-air, easy-style, suck it up, don't be scared, it won't see you you're just RAINBOW COLORED.




<----- git em!


Next Step!  

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Take a perch, rest your wings.  Food Prep Time.  Like a tube of toothpaste, squish that torso till the poison comes out.   Then whack the crap out of the bee, wiping it's poison onto your perch.   It might take a few tries, but whatever, bee's sting and birds don't.



This is best illustrated in video form, see below: 

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Pop that bee back!  Man, I just love seeing bee's get eaten.  I mean, I think they're amazing and totally super important and all, but this is just great.  


 Bee-Eaters, lets hang out.

Sheepdog and Penguins

Just finished my newest painting!!!  It was quite a difficult one, too.  As usual, I've named it something rather bland, "Sheepdog and Penguins",  yet the work itself is based on an absolutely compelling story that I couldn't get out of my mind.  

There are countless articles on this story by news outlets around the world from NPR to Australia's Herald Sun (they win the award for cutest cover story picture, look below…awwww!!!) .
 

O, Herald Sun, you know just how to tug on my heart strings…

Needless to say, this story made an impact for its' entertainment value, as well as it's value as BadAss Conservation News (I should trademark that).

 So, here it is:  The Little Blue Penguin, also called the Fairy Penguin, Little Penguin, and Blue Penguin, are a sort of, national symbol for the people of coastal Australia and New Zealand (those freakin' islanders and their interesting animals....so jealous).

Middle Island, off the coast of Australia, was home to a colony of Little Blue Penguins that seasonally rest on the islands' shores around mating time.  But, in 2005 a few foxes found a land-bridge to the island at low tide and killed off the penguins to a mere 10.   "Swampy", our wise, heroic, "chook" farmer in the story, describes the fox/penguin relationship as "it's like salt-and-vinegar chips to foxes, I reckon".

Snack food or not, "Swampy" decided to do something about the loss of a nationally popular shore bird.  He took his sheepdog, "Oddball"--a white, fluffy, Marrema, who usually protects his chickens--to the island in hopes that he would protect the penguins.  The first few tries backfired.  "Oddball" got lonely, swam home, and didn't seem to pay any attention to the penguins.

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 Local conservationists predicted that the dog would need sufficient training to know to protect and not to eat the penguin population.  But, after a few futile attempts, "Oddball" starting staying on the island, understanding his role as a protector.

He marked the area around the penguin colony and kept lookout for foxes, barking and chasing them away when he saw them.  Within weeks, the colony started growing.  Since 2005 the colony has bounced back, numbering in the hundreds.


Now, a few Marrema sheepdogs are on the island on rotating shifts so that they all have a break and don't get bored and swim home.  Middle island has gotten a huge grant to continue and study the project and conservationists are looking at using sheepdogs to protect other vulnerable species. 

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On Middle Island with a Marrema

Animal senses have been utilized for our advantage for centuries…War Pigeons (Woohoo! Buy my painting!) for delivering messages, scent tracking dogs, rats for land-mines, I'm pretty sure dolphins have been used on many occasions….All sorts of jobs for animals with sharp senses and a brain for human interaction.  My previous post was about a dog who finds whale scat in the ocean for scientists to test and depict food sources and stressors of whales off the coast of Oregon.   Plus, check out  www.workingdogsforconservation.org and you'll find a list of  dogs trained to search for things like invasive snails in Hawaii, bear, wolverine, and lynx scat, identifying Giant Pandas in China, gorillas in the Congo, and rare plant species around the world.  Pretty amazing stuff.


The story of "Oddball" and his penguins is obviously interesting, entertaining, and heart-warming.  But, it fascinates me because it highlight an even more dramatic shift in conservation thinking.  It shows the tilt toward setting up the parameters for biodiversity while not invading into it.   Which, I think is a very healthy and creative path to take.

Gerald Durrell was a pioneer in conversation because instead of killing the animals to take them home for study, he captured them, re-wrote and elevated the rules for an acceptable zoo, and then brought them home for study alive, well, and on display for the public to educate themselves about animals from around the world.  Now, that method seems archaic.  Now, the impulse is towards being as un-invasive as possible, getting a much broader picture of a targeted population, and utilizing your resources to keep the price tag down.

This story does just that.  A local dog, hardly any training or money necessary, and minimal human footprints.  It's an entirely intuitive and accidental approach that worked seamlessly.   "Swampy" is not a certified dog trainer, "Oddball" was not bred for penguin-watching or fox-scaring.  It was purely the right job, for the right species, for a good cause.  Plus, it caught the eye of the public which--in our world of low funding for science and high demand for the media spot-light--is a very, very good thing.

That massive grant was well deserved and hopefully will lead to more money for more projects with a focus on non-invasive conservation efforts in the future.

Hope you like the painting!

Jackie on ETSY!

My Etsy site is now up and running!!

Just click here or search JDpaintings on Esty and you'll find me!  All my paintings are there complete with prices and descriptions.  I admit, there is still work to be done--it's a pretty bland page right now--but it's only going to get better! 

Thanks Etsy!  Fingers crossed…..

Go Go Conservation Dogs, Go!

Click here to see the video posted on the New York Times website about a whale-scat sniffing dog doing research off the west coast!  One more shining example of dogs successfully working in conservation! 

Animal Funeral

I've often considered doing a series of animal funerals, but I haven't gotten around to doing the research yet.  This article on the BBC's website about a study in the journal Animal Behavior sites the findings about Blue Jay funerals.

Attaching the word 'funeral' to an action done by animals is tricky because for us, a funeral serves only an emotional purpose, and so, I don't know if that is the best way to describe actions taken post-death in the animal world.  It varies by species but, with Blue Jays, the funeral seems to be a cautionary routine to warn that something has killed their own.

But it's easy to understand scientists conundrum when studying animal behavior.  The most popular and relatable animal funeral is from elephants.  This video by National Geographic outlines the funeral and almost immediately tags it as human emotions.  I can't say I disagree, but I do think it's important to be consistent and mention the other animals like geese, sea lions, dolphins, wolves, foxes, gorillas, baboons, llamas, and others that have some version of a 'funeral' with the death of one of their own.   And then, to remember that jumbled mix of confusion that comes with the death of a human.

If we say animals have human-like emotions towards death, lets give them the whole range of emotions, not just the ones that we like to awe at.

Oh feelings!

Capuchin Fairness Test

Did I never post this?!?!?
My goodness, my apologies!!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Capuchin Fairness Test:  

So, if you didn't quite catch that, cucumbers=meh.  Grapes=GOOD.


And, there you have it!  
Jealousy, envy, fairness, anger, equality….all those beautiful arguably human things smack-dab in a Capuchin!  Is this just another hopeful example of scientists dwelling in anthropomorphism?  I don't know….!  Seems pretty compelling to me!!  This experiment was presented at a Ted Talk by Frans de Waal on moral behavior in animals.  Great talk if you have the time to waste on the interwebs.

But wow, what an incredible study.  Whether you believe or don't believe that animals possess some sort of moral behavior, it's such an amazing experiment to watch.  And yes, I watch this way to often to admit.  Well done, Scientists!!  

Transitional Species

I've been a fan of transitional species ever since I read about the desolate Flightless Cormorant.  Hundreds and thousands of years after the common Cormorant found itself on the benign shores of the Galapagos, it slowly began evolving to accommodate its new home.  It's feathers grew softer, thicker  and more fur-like, its  bone density increased and, most noticeably, it developed short, stubby, un-usable wings.  

I painted the flightless cormorant standing with his relative, the regular, full-winged cormorant, in an unexpected encounter after thousands of years of distance.  It's like when a gorilla raised by humans first meets another gorilla.  The same, but completely different.  Lucy, anyone?




Disclaimer: I need to update this photo because I've made some changes to the painting since it was taken. Woops!

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Some naysayers claim that evolution isn't real because they don't see it.  Well, I spend a lot of time looking at animals that are blatantly "in transition" because they tend to be some of the most bizarre and interesting creatures. It gives me a good healthy dose of time and space reality to see an animal and know that you are viewing  a snapshot of it's evolutionary process.  Take a look a few thousands of years later, and it will be something else.
 
The Glass Lizard.  Head of a lizard, body of a snake.   It still has the ear holes and eye lids that make it completely lizard-like, yet it lacks legs.  It often gets mistaken for  a snake, until you see it blink.  Also, it still has bones under it's skin that decrease its' flexibility, something that snakes have adapted away from.

The "glass" part of it's name comes from the lizard ability to break off it's tail, allowing it to escape when attacked from behind.  


Next!
The Arizona Pocket Mouse. 

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Clever little mice….when times got tough, they got tougher!  And change colors!  Most of these tiny pocket mice are the same sandy color as the harsh desert they frantically scurry around in.  And that's good.  Because they are every predators favorite desert snack.

Then some decided to wander over and make their homes in areas of lava rocks in the desert.
But, What?! Light mouse, dark rock?  Snack be served, predators!
Over time and genetic mutation, the little tan mouse turned dark grey to blend into it's lava rock homestead.  Keep in mind, though, just beyond the lava rocks little tan pocket mice still scurry around.   University of Arizona scientist have studied this down to the specific gene caused for this color adaptation.  Interestingly, because the dark lava flows are separated by miles of light desert, each population of dark Pocket Mice has presumably evolved separately.  Ooooo, crazy!


There are so many examples of these that I eventually paint a series based on my original Cormorants.  Hmmm…Dark Pocket Mouse, meet Light Pocket Mouse.

Thanks Light & Space Online Art Gallery!

Thanks for giving me a Special Recognition Award for my Manatee painting!  Awesome!

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Look! They say you ARE special!

Cute and Cuddly Koala's (lies)

oh stop it.

I never questioned my assumption that Koala's are sweet, adorable little "bears" until I watched Cracking the Koala Code on PBS and whoaaaa.  Of course that video is about an hours long, so watch this one.  It starts slow but by the end it certainly shows the wrath of the Koala.  And, as with most YouTube videos, sorry about the dumbass comments by the narrator:  

yep, truth.

So, in this video the female is the one screaming at the beginning when the male's about to attack her, then the male is the one with the terrifying primal grunt-wheeze towards the end.  Obviously. 

Ew Male Koala, EW.


It's true that majority of the time they eat and sleep (due to a strict low-carb diet of highly indigestible Eucalypt leaves), but that last 10% of their existence is super feral and super intense.

Koala Dominance: Territorial with both their Land and their Ladies. 

Male Koala's have a harem that they guard closely and aggressively mate with frequently.   When a young male gets old enough, he ventures out on his own to find a mate.  Thus, he has to either fight or sneak past an alpha male to get to the ladies.  This "transient" life can go on and on for years, inching along the Eucalypt trees and testing dominant males until he's either dead or finally gets a harem of his own.  FUN!  I love how kind and gentle testosterone is in nature.

Yet, as recorded in DNA testing, the sneakiness of the transient male Koala's is remarkable given that "analysis of parentage found that both resident and transient males sired about equal numbers of offspring".    

Sneaky...reminds me of a flamboyant Cuttle Fish.....

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Ah, I digress!  Isabella, stop it with your seduction! 

So, after the biting and scratching and howling that is Koala Warfare the dominant male barks away his opponent, rubs his "scent patch" on a tree to mark his territory, and goes back to the ladies.  All of them.  Oh, then gives them all Chlamydia which is rampant in the Koala community (about 50% show signs of Chlamydia in populated areas of Australia). 

It's funny, I usually refer to Koala's as just "Koala's", but now I've started adding the "bear" part to it. 

Bye Bye Lonesome George

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18574279


The last Pinta giant tortoise of the Galapagos died in June of this year at about 100 years old.   So sad.  

A Post For Those Who Don't Think Spiders Are Adorable

It's wonderful to come across an animal that shuffles your image of a species.  I saw this video of a Peacock Spider online and it's really quite incredible.  The males are big-eyed and flashy and the females are like little fuzzy 8 legged squirrels.  So cute!  I like spiders.  I've converted. 

Manatee in California

Here's a photo of one of my manatee paintings hanging up in California! Thanks Matt!!

Radiolab!

Did I ever post my shout-out on radiolab's blog??  I don't think so!  Click here!

Thank you for your amazing stories, Radiolab!!  

Colors and Colours and Mantis Shrimp

Radiolab's most recent podcast Colors is, first of all, Amazing.  I highly recommend listening to it if you have the time and desire. Which you should.  
In it, they talk about the....wait for it.....

BAM!
Mantis Shrimp!
They are

• Huge.  Up to a foot long and a strike from it's claw can inflict major pain and sometimes can even break through aquarium glass. 
• Aggressive.  Super territorial and into ritualized fighting.
• And  Soooo Pretty!!!

But the reason why they are talked about on Radiolab's Color episode is because of their remarkable eyes.  So, we have 3 color receptors in our eyes: blue, green, and red. And Mantis Shrimp have 16.  Yup 16.  They see all sorts of ulta-violet and god knows what else.  They have the most complicated visual system of any animal.  Pretty!!! 

There are a number of speculative reasons for this.  They're major hunters living in coral reefs where colour plays a huge role, especially if your a predator.  If you consider the iridescent quality of fish scales, being able to see more depth in colours would be helpful in distinguishing one fish from another.  So, ya know, it makes sense. No biggie.

But,
then I came across an article "Changes in the colour of light cue circadian activity" that kind of blew my mind.  In the article (I couldn't read all of it because I would have to pay a fee which I can't because I'm poor), researchers discover that behavior in underwater species is highly controlled through colour change, rather than from light to dark transitions like us.

The example they give is that fish are calm when the lighting is blue and aroused when the lighting is orange.  And night and day are not determined by light intensity but by color variations.  If this is true, then imagine the incredible increase in life complexity that the Mantis Shrimp must have if it's seeing more colours than anything else in the ocean. 

If color equals a specific mood or activity to lots of ocean animals, and most fish see (this is a guess) lets say 6 colors and Mantis Shrimp see 16 then by god! What are their days like?!  How many complex social and non social functions do they have?

Here's how it would work:

Normal Fish: "It's Blue outside. I'm tired"
Mantis Shrimp: "Dumbass, it's Blue-Purple-Green!  I was tired like 10 minutes ago and now the colors say it's dinner time and I'm going to eat you."

Or,

Normal Fish: "It's super Yellow today. I'm going to swim in circles.
Mantis Shrimp: "Yellow? Whatev. It's crazy neon Yellow-Orange with undertones of ultra-violet Green today! I'm going to become involved in a monogamous relationship then, if the ultra-violet green dies down, I'll swim around my property and fight anyone to the death that enters.



***For the record, I don't think the color-to-action effect is actually this literal...it's just interesting to think that life could be based on such a different time-line and concept underwater than above water.  So alien! Just wanted to clear that up so I don't look like an idiot.***

Forreal, these animals need to be studied more. 

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Pink Pigeon painting

Just posted my new painting of pink pigeons!

I read about the pigeons in Gerald Durrell's book Golden Bats and Pink Pigeons.  
Pink Pigeons are from the island of Mauritius off the west coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean.  It's the same island where the Dodo (another type of pigeon) lived as well as lots of other cool birds and reptiles such as the flightless parrot and some really colourful lizards whose names I've forgotten.  But, of course, then people landed on the Island, ate all the slow, fat, ground-dwelling Dodo's, released monkey's and other predators, and pretty much ruined everything.
According to the Durrell Conservation Wildlife Trust, by 1991 only 10 were left on the island and today, pretty much solely because of Gerald Durrell, there are 350 on the island. 

The reason I painted them them though, is because of the description of the Pink Pigeon in his book.  After describing their long necks, tiny heads, and pink feathers, Durrell says:

"As we approached the wire, they peered at us in the mildly interested, oafish way that pigeons have, and then, dismissing us from what passed for their minds, they fell into a doze. I felt that even though their rarity made them of great biological and avicultural importance, one could hardly say that they had personalities that inspired one."

Gahhh I love it!  The honesty!  I mean, really, some animals just aren't there to thrill.  And, unless you're a completely and constantly self-assured person, sometimes you may wonder, "ugh. is this thing really worth it?".  

That question was brought up in an episode of Radiolab that was somehow so troubling and confusing to me that I have never forgotten it.  To listen to the episode (which I really recommend) click here.  I won't ruin the story, but it's basically about the lengths people will go to in order to protect one species--even if that means killing another species.  But, if we believe in the "survival of the fittest" how can we tell which animals are "fit" and which are un "fit" if so many animal populations are struggling to survive?  Where do we draw the line? Or, should we just try and to save everything?  Or nothing? 

It really represents the uneasy question of prioritizing the existence of species--something no one wants to do, or can do.

I think Durrell's reaction to the Pink Pigeon is such a beautiful example of this uneasy and probably very guilty doubt that people in probably many fields face every now and then. 

Panda's (and art cards)

First, I'll start with a super cool animal fact I recently learned.

I'm reading this book called Dark Banquet by Bill Schutt about blood-feeding animals.  I'm not too big a fan of his writing style, but I do love the crazy information on Vampire Bats, Leaches(ew.), and other animals.  The info on blood-suckingers is, of course, very interesting (I'll probably write a post about that once I finish the book), but a quick tid-bit of info on Panda's is what really amazed me.

It was known for a long time that panda's have opposable thumbs that it uses to grasp bamboo stalks and rip leaves off and things like that.  This alone was odd, given that we like to tout opposable thumbs as a sign of a higher form of evolution and human success.  But, what's even more strange about panda hands is that they have 5 fingers in addition to their thumb. 

This lead anatomists to research and discover that the panda's thumb was not a finger at all, but actually an extension of a section of it's wrist bone that was so enlarged it ended up looking and functioning like a thumb.  Which...is crazy! 

The science world took notice to this discovery in an awesome essay by Stephen Jay Gould where he describes this quirky bone arrangement as "familiar bits of anatomy remodeled for a new function".  Even the muscles around the "thumb" are actually wrist muscles that just slightly adjusted their function to move more like the finger muscles.  Gould argues that  "odd arrangements and funny solutions are the proof of evolution".

So. Incredibly. Awesome.  I haven't stopped thinking about the panda thumb since I read this like a week ago...this just may be my #1 Favorite Animal Fact of the Month.  Congrats Pandas! You Win!


On an artsy note, I got my new business cards in the mail!! Check it out!

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Super special thanks to Corey for designing them for me. Thank youuuuu!

BWAC's Spring Show: Celebrate!

Saturday was BWAC's Spring Show opening.  It was lots of fun and an incredibly beautiful day to be our in the Redhook waterfront district.  I got to meet some other wonderful and talented artists and had great feedback on my work.

The show will be up until June 17th, but only open on weekends.  Fingers crossed, I hope it goes well!!

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A view of my panel.  I had these 2 paintings in the show, then 2 more in a silent auction.  It's a lovely gallery space. 

I'm really not angry!  I didn't know Corey was taking this picture and the sun was in my eyes.  But it's a beautiful view of Manhattan. 

After the show Corey, Sarah, and I sat by the water till sunset.  You can't see it, but to the right of this picture is the Statue of Libery and to the left is Staten Island.  It's a wonderful place to be on a nice day.



Now, time to get ready for the BWAC Summer Show in July!!

Dexter Part II -- The Final Chapter

Dexter, in his box, the day we found him.

Well...Dexter died at some point Friday night. 
I'm not sure how it happened, but I woke up Saturday morning and realized that I had slept in.  Dexter always woke me up at around 6:30 so I knew something was wrong when the clock said 10.   I woke Corey up, and after looking in the cage, he confirmed that Dexter had died.
 We were definitely confused.  The night before we were teaching him how to fly and he was such a trooper.  Jumping off the cage into blankets over and over again--he was getting really good, too. 
But also, the night he died he went to bed really early.  We had given him a bath, bundled him up in a towel, had the heater gently blowing on him, and put him in his cage with a blanket covering it.  He went to sleep fast.  I figured the bath wore him out and the cage being dark and cozy made him fall asleep.  That was around 9PM.  Then around midnight, I checked on him before going to sleep.  I pet him and stroked his wings, which woke him up.  He started walking towards my hand, and I noticed that he was walking oddly.  He leaned to his right against a towel in his cage so that his left food went sliding away from him with every step.  It was weird, no doubt, and I said something like "whoa, Dexter's walkin funny" to Corey, but then I passed it off as him being delirious after waking up from a deep sleep.  He may have died shortly after that.

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The only other warning sign was that he was also pooping a lot.  Like, every 10 minutes.  For the past 2 days.  I'm not sure if that is normal or not, but on a few occasions I thought that he may have an intestinal issue.  He would first get into a fit of extreme panic-y hunger, then when I would feed him he would immediately fall asleep.  So immediate that he would only get 1 or 2 bites down. Then he'd wake up 10 minutes later, poop a lot, and then start the panic of hunger again.  This could all be normal, but it's my only idea of what could have been wrong with him.

The only thing I deeply hope, is that I did nothing to kill him.  Maybe he wasn't supposed to eat cat food...that's what I read and what advice I got, but maybe it was a bad brand or he was allergic to it.  Or maybe it was the bath...he was certainly fully feathered and we made sure to keep him warm, but maybe it was still too cold for him to handle.  Or maybe he was sick the whole time.  I might have to go with that theory just for my own selfish well being.

Rest in Peace Dexter! Although we only had 3 short days together, you will be missed.

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Dexter (5/8/2012--5/12/2012)

Groups

After reading a lot about European Starlings (Dexter's fam), I started thinking about the amazing things some animals do in groups.  There are countless incredible examples of this, but here's a little list I compiled of some that I didn't know about.

Asian Honeybees
There's this giant hornet in Asia that is about 2 inches long and has venom that can kill a person regardless of if you're allergic or not.  This hornet loves to eat honeybee larvae so when it comes up to a honeybee nest it goes around decapitating dozens honeybees with its huge sharp mandibles to get at the larvae.
Pretty terrifying.
But, Asian honeybees have discovered a defense. When the honeybees sense the hornets Hunting Pheromones, hundreds will guard the front of the nest and when the hornet enters, they swarm! The bees pack around the hornet, buzzing and vibrating denser and denser until the temperature around the hornet reaches 115 degrees Fahrenheit and the carbon dioxide level raises to a point that the hornet cannot survive.
What is also so incredible is that this defense is so successful that the bees give a warning sign, signaling that they see the hornet and are ready to swarm if needed. The Journal of Animal Behavior has a recent study that shows this. The bees give a shaking warning signal, then it's up to the hornet if he wants to risk it or not.



Ants (obviously)
Ants do pretty much everything with incredible group mentality. I know everyone knows that. But, but, I just can't resist this ant raft! It's crazy! Ooooo....and it'd make a pretty sweet painting...(this is why I research) 

Also, fun ant fact that I leaned watching the Lord of the Ants on NOVA; ants emit a decaying scent after about 3 days after one dies. Then the rest of the ants smell it, pick it up, and throw it in the trash pile. But, if you apply that same scent (it's some sort of chemical) onto a live ant, the other ants still pick it up and throw it in the trash pile. The live ant has to clean itself off, till the smell is gone, and then join the others. If it hasn't cleaned itself enough, it'll be picked up and thrown away again.
Oh ants, you're too funny.



Goats

In yet another study posted by the Journal of Animal Behavior, scientists found out that kid goats change their accents depending on social groups. And to this I say, "awwww!!" 

After recording the voices of young goats, scientist found that, "genetically-related kids produced similar calls...but the calls of kids raised in the same social groups were also similar to each other, and became more similar as the kids grew older."