The Yin Blog

Call me a speciest if you must . . . .

If we could eliminate insects from the world without messing up the food chain, I'd be all for it.  But it appears that the Endangered Species Act doesn't just protect charismatic mammals like elephants and bears and lions, but also picture-wing flies:

Picture-wing flies are about two to three times the size of common house flies and are considered harmless to humans. Other species of picture-wing flies are found outside Hawaii.

The flies are named for the intricate markings on their clear wings and are known for their elaborate performances when protecting their territory or courting a mate.

Two to three times the size of common house flies?!?  Yuck!

"Kill the wabbit, kill the wabbit. . . ."

While raking leaves this afternoon, I noticed a dead rabbit in our backyard.  I didn't get very close, but it didn't seem to have suffered any fatal wounds, so perhaps it died of old age, disease, or internal trauma.  In any event, is it a biohazard?  Do I just bag it up and dispose of it with the trash?  Or do I call Animal Control or some such equivalent city department?

See wildlife in Botswana!

Courtesy of Nat'l Geographic's "wildcam" . . . . available here.  I'm looking at a herd of elephants drinking at the water right now!

Is it okay to feed these zoo animals?

The London Zoo has a new species on display . . . homo sapiens:

The scantily-clad volunteers will be treated as animals and kept amused at the central London zoo with games and music.

Bringing elephants home?

I used to joke about this, but apparently some scientists are serious about a proposal to repopulate North America with large African mammals:

The scientists say that not only could large tracts of North America act as breeding sanctuaries for species of large wild animals under threat in Africa and Asia, but that such ecological history parks could be major tourist attractions.

"Africa and parts of Asia are now the only places where megafauna are relatively intact, and the loss of many of these species within this century seems likely," the team, led by Josh Donlan from New York's Cornell University, said.

"Given this risk of further extinction, re-wilding of North American sites carries global conservation implications," the team wrote in Wednesday's issue of the science journal Nature.

Maybe some of the Asian mammals can live in that stupid Coralville indoor rainforest project. . . .

I'm not going to complain about sleep deprivation anymore

Not after reading about what dolphin and killer whale parents go through:

Sleep-deprived mothers of newborn babies should spare a thought for bottlenose dolphins and killer whales.

A study has shown the young of those two species do not sleep at all during the first month of life. They are active 24 hours a day -- and their mothers have learned to cope.

That's just scary.  Though I note that the study concludes that the "mothers" have learned to adapt.  Does that mean that dolphin and killer whale dads don't share equally in the raising of the little ones?

Exhausted

I've just had 7 hours of committee or faculty meetings in the last 29 hours.  I'm too wiped out to blog about much, but here are some quick links:

- Judge tosses Lynndie England's plea: This isn't meant to be any defense of England if she did what she is accused of doing (and what the pictures seem to substantiate), but I noticed that an earlier version of this story had a picture of her with her baby.  The plea, had it been accepted, would have capped her sentence at something less than 11 years, but the cap was secret.  Still, presumably there was some significant prison time involved.  I can't imagine being kept from my little guy for any amount of time like that. . . .  What a true punishment, if she's convicted in her court-martial.

- My son the tease: My baby son has a new trick where he extends his finger food like he's going to give it to me, actually touches my palm, and then quickly takes the food back, smiles and chortles, and then eats it.  Where do babies learn things like this?

- "American Idol," what's wrong?: Ann Althouse has it right; this is the worst season of "American Idol."  It's been too many weeks of boring songs sung boringly to be anything but the fault of the performers.  They're not bad, but they just aren't good the way that Kelly, or Fantasia, or even Clay and Reuben were.

- "24": still loving the ending of the last episode.

- Kevin Brown looks done as a major league pitcher.  I had drafted him in the 14th round of my fantasy baseball league, but I cautiously kept him on the bench until he showed me something.  All he showed me was that he was throwing batting practice in the first inning of his starts.  I cut him even before yesterday's debacle and added Erik Bedard of the Orioles.  At least Brown didn't cost me anything other than the opportunity cost of whoever I could've picked and the roster spot; I didn't get saddled with any of his outings.

UPDATE: Another random thought:

- Why is it never charismatic mammals thought to be extinct that are rediscovered?  Instead, it's three species of snails. . . .

. . . where the buffalo roam . . . .

I see rabbits in my backyard all the time, and I've heard of people in Iowa City having problems with raccoons.  And don't get me started on deer -- I see them all the time in the fall.  But as much of a wilderness as eastern Iowa is, I've never seen bison roaming free in the streets . . . .

(Yes, the song refers to those creatures as "buffalo," but they're really bison.)

Elephants to the rescue

Pretty neat story about how Asian elephants are helping tsunami recovery efforts:

BANG NIENG, Thailand - A year ago, they were filming battle scenes for the movie "Alexander." Now six elephants are pitching in to help with the massive cleanup from the tsunami that devastated many of Thailand's prime tourist destinations.

Maybe this pachyderm needs a low-carb diet

I'm more or less troubled by conventional zoos, even more so when animals naturally found in desert/savannah climates are kept in ALASKA. . . .

There's only one elephant in Alaska (which makes for a lonely life), and she's a bit overweight:

At a hefty 9,120 pounds, Maggie could stand to lose a little weight. Zoo officials are talking with engineers and manufacturers about building Maggie her very own exercise equipment.

"Elephants are just like people. They will be as lazy as they can be and still eat," Edwards said.

The improvements, to be completed in two to three years, will cost an estimated $500,000 and are part of a $4 million campaign to improve the zoo. Designing and building the first elephant treadmill could cost between $150,000 and $250,000, Edwards said. The zoo has talked with mining experts because they know about heavy loads, conveyers and belts.

"We hope to be the first zoo in the world with an elephant treadmill," Edwards said.

Elephant keeper Rob Smith has been taking Maggie on walks around the zoo's 20-acre property after-hours for exercise.

Off-the ground feeding stations will be built so that Maggie will have to stretch for her food.

"She won't get any food she doesn't work for," Edwards said.

Yeah, and if that doesn't work, maybe a low carb diet. . . .