Why can’t we be friends?

Turn on the discovery or science channel and you might see a cheetah stalking a gazelle, moose locking antlers over mating rights or a territorial hippo challenging intruders.  However, that image of aggression is being challenged with more and more news stories and papers like this one about peacemaking orangutans.

In this study, Japanese scientists saw repeated displays of intervention by orangutans in a group in captivity when an older female attacked a younger female orangutan that had recently been introduced to the group.  Gorillas and Chimpanzees have also been seen to exhibit such behavior.  This episode also fits in what is a rapidly growing understanding of the animal kingdom’s propensity to engage in reconciliation and empathy as well as displays of altruism.   The Bonobo, another one of the great apes, have shown the ability to share food and also engage in reconciliation.  Social grooming has long been known to be a form of conflict resolution amongst primates and chimpanzees even kiss and hug after fights.

Such displays might not be limited to only primates either.  In one study, scientists found that mice that were housed with each other were more sensitive to pain due to the fact that they were able to see other mice in pain.  That display of empathy was believed to be an example of emotional contagion, whereby some of the mice were influenced by the emotions they saw in others.  In another example that probably won’t shock dog owners, scientists found that a human’s yawns may be contagious to dogs.  Empathy and altruism isn’t necessarily restricted to land based creatures, as scientists have repeatedly seen dolphins coming to the rescue of their own and even other species.  If you’re interested in more stories about the animal kingdom’s softer side look for The Age of Empathy by Professor Fans de Waal in your local library.

Maybe it is easy being green.

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….For the longest time, the debate over the color green in the animal kingdom has been dominated by a singular character.  While Kermit sang the first shot across the bow in the debate over green, a team of scientists led by Professor Sidney K. Pierce may have finally found a worthy adversary.  Meet Elysia chlorotica, the green sea slug which may change the way we think about the line between plants and animals and the merits of being green.

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….What makes Elysia choloritica organisms special is that scientists have discovered that not only do they contain chloroplasts which they can then use for photosynthesis but that their acquisition of those chloroplasts may also have given them their own photosynthesis supporting genes.  Elysia choloritica first obtains the chloroplasts (and turns itself from brown to green) by sucking them out from the interior of Vaucheria litorea, a specific type of algae that they feed on. Scientists had already known that they then retain the chloroplasts and use them to produce sugars while sunbathing!    However using radioactive tracing scientists were finally able to discover how they were able to maintain the chloroplasts for extended periods of time (up to 8 months) without ingesting any new material from algae.  It turns out that Elysia choloritica actually had its own photosynthesis supporting genes and even more amazingly that those genes were even in its egg and sex cells!

….The mechanism of acquisition of those genes by Elysia choloritica from the algae is believed to be Horizontal Gene Transfer.   Horizontal Gene Transfer is a mechanism whereby an organism acquires new genetic material from other organisms by means other than descent.  In this case the slug borrowed algal genes needed in the photosynthesis process just by consumption of the algae.  Besides highlighting a new selling point in the perpetual marketing campaign waged to get kids to eat their vegetables, such a discovery also may mean that evolution was more complicated than ever imagined.  Hybrid plant-animals or links between the two may suddenly be viable evolutionary pathways.  In any event, Elysia choloritica’s decision to go green clearly has been a great boon to its ability to feed itself and presents a very convincing rebuttal to Kermit’s salvo against the color.

Getting to know you – Pekin Ducks

….As the ducklings keep on growing bigger and older they are starting to display a lot of the features characteristic of their breed – the Pekin duck.  Most people know Pekin ducks from the image they have of them floating in a pond or from their most famous member:

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Donald Duck

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….However here are some facts about Pekin Ducks that will give you a more complete picture and might surprise you!

– Ancestors of the Pekin ducks originated from the canals which linked waterways in Nanjing, China (not Peking!) and originally had small bodies and black feathers.

– The first Pekins came to America in 1873.  Four Pekins were brought to Long Island for breeding and they took to the conditions on the island and began multiplying so well that they are often known as the ‘Long Island Duck’.

– The average lifepsan of the Pekin Duck is between 9 and 12 years.

– The average mature Pekin Duck weighs between 8 and 9 pounds.   They grow very fast and can weigh more than 5lbs at 8 weeks.

– Their plumage is white and they have orange bills, legs and feet.

– An adult Pekin can lay up to 150 to 200 eggs in one year.

– Pekins are one of the most popular breeds of duck as both pets and as a food source in the US.

– The scientific names for Pekins are Anas platyrhynchos domestica or Anas peking.

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.Here are some excellent sites to check out for more information on the Pekin breed:

Central Pets

Domestic Waterfowl

Wikipedia

Long Island Genealogy

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Sleep with One Eye Open

….There are a number of new videos of the ducklings that have been posted under the QHST Science account on youtube, including this one of the ducklings trying to get comfortable so they can catch some z’s.

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….While they all are pretty safe and nestled here (you can see one or two trying to jockey for position in the proverbial dog pile), we have found that some of the time when they are sleeping the ducks on the outside seem to be aware of any movement around them. Part of this may be due to a very interesting feature of the way ducks sleep.

….Ducks can actually control how alert they are during sleep through a unique type of sleep called unihemispheric slow-wave sleep.  The pioneer in the study of how ducks sleep this way is Dr. Niels Rattenborg, who published a paper in 1999 that appears to demonstrate how ducks can manipulate their type of sleep when they feel they are under risk of predation.  In the studies carried out by Dr. Rattenborg and his collaborators they videotaped a row of ducks as they were sleeping and observed that ducks at the ends of the rows would only partially rest as one side of the brain continued to operate at full capacity and by keeping one of their eyes open.   Ducks situated on the interior of a group of sleeping ducks experience full sleep and rotate with the ‘watcher’ ducks to share the responsibilities.  While this type of sleep phenomenon is rare there are some other animals that share the ability such as lizards, whales, penguins, seals and some other aquatic mammals.  You can read more about the trait and study at these links:

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Half-asleep birds choose which half dozes

Birds sleep with half brain off and rest on

Current Events Resources: Biology

Here are a variety of sources covering different areas in biology in which students can find current events articles.

Biology Resources

PLoS Biology

Royal Society News

Microbe World Articles

The Scientist

Microbe Magazine

Scientific American Biology

Nature News Biology

Science Daily Biology