….Almost six weeks ago QHST Science had the worldwide exclusive pictures of the new ducklings at the school. Since then they’ve grown quite quickly and are nearly ready to head to the duck pond that has graciously accepted them. Here are pictures of the ducklings all taken within the last week and a half!
June 30, 2009
June 18, 2009
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:
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May 30, 2009
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
May 21, 2009
May 20, 2009
Duckling Hatching Video
Here’s a video from QHSTscience’s very own youtube channel that shows one of the ducklings hatching from it’s egg!
You can find more QHSTscience videos here:
May 19, 2009
QHST: Now at least 8 times cooler than Seasame Street!
Some people might dispute the title of this post because of
But as of this morning QHST had welcomed in 6 8 new ducklings to the family (and there are more on the way). Here are some pictures of the eggs, hatching and the rambunctious little ducklings:
May 12, 2009
The Chick and Duckling Hatching: Incubation
We’re beginning to hear some pecking inside one of the eggs so for the time being this post will be the introduction to the dozen (each!) chicken and duck eggs we currently have incubating at QHST. To give some background information we have had the chicken and duck eggs incubating for about 3 weeks at this point in a Model# 1588 Genesis Hova-Bator. Information on the incubation process including the steps one has to take with particular eggs can be found here. They should be hatching soon and we’ll then cover their growth in a series of posts.
In the meantime here are some pictures of the eggs being incubated. The green marked ones are the chicken eggs and the orange marked eggs are the duck eggs.
May 11, 2009
More Newt photos and its best friends!
After being lavished with all the attention from the introduction post, our newt asked us to release additional pictures (you can double click the thumbnails to view each picture full sized):
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- A great picture of the characteristic red spots!
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- Catching the ‘down low’ of the high five.
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- Three of the newt’s best friends and caretakers.
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- Insisting on getting a picture of its best side.
May 8, 2009
Meeting the QHST Family: The Newt
This Red-Spotted Newt (Notophthalmus viridescens) has the distinction of being one of the only (and probably THE only) QHST residents that can regenerate its body parts and that has the ability to use an internal compass as a homing device.
The resident QHST newt.
Both of those features are a characteristic shared by all members of this particular subspecies of the Eastern Newt. The ability to regenerate lost limbs is a hallmark of salamanders, which is a group to which newts belong. The homing ability of the newts is believed to be due to a combination of an innate magnetic compass and a sun dependent compass. The interesting details are provided in several different papers, some of which even suggest that the newts may have ferromagnetic material in them which give them their magnetic compass ability.
Red Spotted Newts typically have a lifespan of 12-15 years and can grow up to anywhere between 2.5 inches to 5 inches long. They typically undergo three different stages of life. The first is the aquatic larvae stage (where they look like tadpoles) after they are born from the eggs laid in a pond or lake. They then move onto land during the red eft stage, during which they become a bright red-orange color. Finally, they mature into an aquatic adult stage where they can live both on land and in water and by which time they will have changed to their olive-green skin color with red spots.
Red Spotted Newts typically eat insects, leeches, worms, tiny mollusks and crustaceans, young amphibians, and frogs’ eggs. Our newt has been feasting on a diet that consists mainly of earthworms (one small earthworm every three days). However, it has shown evidence of a sophisticated palate based on the occasional different species of worm that it demands.
The map here shows that the sub species our newt belongs to is quite common in our local area and generally in the northeast. For more information on the characteristics of the species our local newt belongs to check out this link. Otherwise enjoy a couple more action shots of our newt:
The newt loves to be the center of attention.
Relaxing on the table.
Mad Science @ QHST 
