Flora/Fauna

The Color Of Dinosaurs

Until last week, paleontologists could offer no clear-cut evidence for the color of dinosaurs. Thanks to melanosomes, researchers have provided evidence that a dinosaur called Sinosauropteryx had a white-and-ginger striped tail. Melanosomes are pigment -loaded sacs that survive for millions of years in fossil bird feathers. The shape and arrangement of melanosomes help produce the color of feathers, so scientists are now able to get clues about the color of fossil feathers from their melanosomes alone. The discovery, which the researchers reported last week in Nature, supports research showing that birds are dinosaurs, having descended from a group of bipedal dinosaurs called theropods. More at the NYT.

Posted: February 5th, 2010 under Flora/Fauna, History.
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Grigsby Prairie

Archived pictures from the Grigsby Prairie in Barrington, Illinois, the town that I grew up in.

Citizens For Conservation

Barrington Area Library Flickr Page

Posted: January 26th, 2009 under Flora/Fauna.
Comments: 1

In 2005, Steven Rinella won a lottery permit to hunt for a wild buffalo, or American bison, in the Alaskan wilderness. Despite the odds–there’s only a 2 percent chance of drawing the permit, and fewer than 20 percent of those hunters are successful–Rinella managed to kill a buffalo on a snow-covered mountainside and then raft the meat back to civilization while being trailed by grizzly bears and suffering from hypothermia.

“American Buffalo” is a narrative tale of Rinella’s hunt. But beyond that, it is the story of the many ways in which the buffalo has shaped our national identity. Rinella takes us across the continent in search of the buffalo’s past, present, and future: to the Bering Land Bridge, where scientists search for buffalo bones amid artifacts of the New World’s earliest human inhabitants; to buffalo jumps where Native Americans once ran buffalo over cliffs by the thousands; to the Detroit Carbon works, a”bone charcoal” plant that made fortunes in the late 1800s by turning millions of tons of buffalo bones into bone meal, black dye, and fine china..

Frank and Deborah Popper on BTBN

MP3: Pete Seeger – Home On The Range

Posted: December 5th, 2008 under Flora/Fauna.
Comments: 4

Magnapinna Squid

If you haven’t seen this already, be prepared for a total freak out.

80% of the world’s species are yet to be discovered. Crazy.

Posted: November 26th, 2008 under Flora/Fauna.
Comments: 2

Hawk Bay

MP3: Barton A. Smith – Akimbo

Posted: November 25th, 2008 under Flora/Fauna.
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Endangered Species

Here:

With less than four months to go before leaving office, the Bush administration has proposed changes to the Endangered Species Act that would end mandatory review by independent federal scientists. Under the proposed Bush rule, government agencies would be given the authority to “self-consult” when seeking approval for projects that could harm rare and threatened wildlife or their habitat. This plan would erase essential checks and balances between government agencies that have worked effectively for 35 years.

The Endangered Species Program

List of Endangered Species in North America

MP3: The Meters – Darling, Darling, Darling

Posted: October 16th, 2008 under Flora/Fauna.
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Blue Buttons

From here:

Blue Buttons are not true jellyfish, but are Chondrophores. These are actually colonies of polyps. In other words, they are like a tiny colony of animals. Each animal contributes something different to the colony. Some form the central disk, while others form the tentacles. Blue buttons exist in colonies, and mass beachings frequently occur since they are at the mercy of the wind and water currents. Blue buttons generally measure 1.5 inches across or less, and are generally dark blue or turquoise in color, although a lemon-yellow color variant sometimes occurs.

Blue buttons, like the Portuguese Man of War, and the By-the-wind-sailor (velella velella), are not true jellyfish, although they are closely related. They are all in the same phylum (cnidaria).

Well, it looks cool.

MP3: Michael Hurley – Blue Driver (Thx Justin)

Because you’re sweet and lovely, I love you.

Posted: October 1st, 2008 under Flora/Fauna.
Comments: 1