Monthly Archives: September 2009
Beware Those Yellow Crazy Ants, Christmas Island White-Eye…
An online report published in last week’s Biology Letters has revealed the damaging effect an invasion of ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes) is having on some of Christmas Island’s native bird and plant species. In this study, led by ecologist, Dennis O’Dowd … Continue reading
Filed under Animals, Insects, Science, Sea Creatures
It Pays To Be Nice To Your Tongue-Eating Isopod, Unfortunate Weaverfish.
The rare Tongue-eating louse (Cymothoa exigua) has been found inside a weaverfish by fishermen off the coast of the Minquiers, a small group of islands under the jurisdiction of Jersey. Although called a louse, it is actually a 2cm-long parasitic … Continue reading
Filed under Science, Sea Creatures
Those Great Tits Want Your Braaaains, Pipistrelle Bats.
As delicately pretty as it might look, the great tit (Parus major) has been gaining quite the reputation for being involved in some seriously gruesome behaviour. Driven by hunger when their normal diet of insects has grown scarce, the great … Continue reading
A Plague’s A Crowd, Bosavi Woolly Rat.
A three-week expedition into the heart of an extinct volcano in Papua New Guinea has produced some truly remarkable results, with the discovery of a significant number of previously unknown species of frog, insects, fish, birds, and mammals. A team … Continue reading
Filed under Animals, Insects, New Species!, Science, Sea Creatures
Umm Yale? Belemnotheutis Antiquus Called: He Wants His Sepia Back.
Recently, a team led by British Geological Survey palaeontologist, Dr Phil Wilby, uncovered a 155 million year old squid-like creature with a full and perfectly preserved ink sac. Found near the small village of Christian Malford, Wilshire, this slim-line cephalopod … Continue reading
Filed under Fossils, Museum Stuff, Science, Sea Creatures
