Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Interesting Stuff


Oceans aren’t only affected by winds and tides. They’re also mixed by jellyfish. That’s right, jellyfish. There was a study done that showed how far dye travelled when swum through. It’s now believed that movements of marine creatures play a much bigger role in distributing temperature and nutrients throughout the ocean than originally believed.

A toucan’s beak acts much like elephant ears in that it pulls heat from their bodies when temperatures rise. And you thought they were just to look cool!

Orchids are sneaky little devils. There’s one kind, the Dendrobium sinense that releases chemicals, mimicking the alarm pheromones produced by honeybees. Why would they do that? So glad you asked. Because the flowers have no nectar, thus no real bees. By emitting that scent they lure unsuspecting hornets into thinking they’re attacking honeybees and inadvertently pollinating the orchids. Pretty damn clever, aren’t they?

Ever heard of a tufted capuchin monkey? They’re cute little fruit-eating critters from South America. They live in groups of 7-30 and have a warning system of peeps and hiccups to alert each other of feline and serpentine predators. But that’s not all it’s used for. It seems some of these cuties issue false alarms when they spy extra-yummy food in order to hoard it for themselves. Yep, tactical deceptions aren’t just for humans anymore.

You guessed it. I got a new magazine!

1 comment:

Sandra Cox said...

Great blog, Barbara!
Sounds like a neat magazine:)