bear
dr. dolittle | December 21, 2015I read an interesting article in the Alaska Dispatch News which examined interactions between arctic grizzly bears and polar bears. They found that although polar bears are larger, they tend to leave food sources when grizzly bears are around. This may be because polar bears typically spend a lot of time on sea ice without the need to be aggressive towards competitors. Of concern is that the relatively passive nature of polar bears may be detrimental considering these animals are increasingly spending more time foraging on land during the summer and fall months.
North Slope bone pile in…
dr. dolittle | October 6, 2014 Image from the American Physiological Society's website.http://www.the-aps.org/mm/Conferences/APS-Conferences/2014-Conferences/…
As anticipated, the meeting today was excellent! Here are some highlights from today:
Dr. Michael Joyner (Mayo Clinic) spoke about how we should reconsider animal models that are used in research as laboratory rodents can be manipulated to match their genotype to their phenotype. In other words, researchers modify the animal's genome to produce a specific disease or attribute they are interested in studying. The problem with this approach is that genes can be…
dr. dolittle | September 29, 2014 Image from the American Physiological Society's website.http://www.the-aps.org/mm/Conferences/APS-Conferences/2014-Conferences/…
I am really excited about the comparative physiology conference that starts this weekend in San Diego! Here is a press release about the meeting (author Stacy Brooks from the American Physiological Society):
Bethesda, Md. (September 25, 2014) — More than 400 comparative and evolutionary physiologists will gather to present new research and discoveries in animal physiology at the American Physiological Society’s 2014 intersociety meeting “Comparative Approaches to…
dr. dolittle | May 23, 2014Check out the unique bond between this bear, lion and tiger (i.e. BLT) at Noah's Ark Animal Sanctuary in Locust Grove, Ga:
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dr. dolittle | December 16, 2013 Image of a grizzly bear at Yellowstone National Park from http://free-naturewallpaper.com/nature-images/animals/bears/Grizzly-at-…
I was so excited to see a story featuring grizzly bears (Ursus arctos horribilis) in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. The article was about how Dr. Kevin Corbit at Amgen Inc. is studying grizzly bears in the Bear Center at Washington State University to learn more about obesity. The 12 animals living in the facility were either rescued from places where they were captured after getting too close to humans or were born at the facility. Dr. Corbit was quoted in…
dr. dolittle | November 17, 2013A new study from Science Translational Medicine (DOI:10.1126/scitranslmed.3006534) presents data showing that tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), a compound isolated from the bile of bears, may actually slow the development of type 1 diabetes (in mice at least). It is thought to work by reducing stress responses from the endoplasmic reticulum in the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas which become defective in type 1 diabetes. Use of bear bile is common in traditional Chinese medicine, and at one time led to near-extinction of black bears in China. Fortunately, synthetic versions of…
esiegel | September 7, 2013“Some days you go bear hunting and you get eaten. Some days you come home with a nice rug to roll around on, and bear steaks. What they don't tell you as a kid is that sometimes you get the rug and steaks, but you also get some nice scars to go with them. ...once you realize what can go wrong, it's a lot scarier to go hunting 'bears'.” -Laurell K. Hamilton
Some of the most incredible stories in all of human experience come from struggles against nature. One of the greatest storytellers in all of music, Slaid Cleaves, sings an incredibly (and tragically, like all of his songs) memorable one…
dr. dolittle | August 26, 2013
Image of panda bear cub at its first exam from the National Zoo.
Exciting news from the Smithsonian National Zoological Park! Mei, a giant panda bear at the zoo has given birth to a cub weighing in at 137 grams (~4.83 ounces)-too cute!! DNA tests will determine the sex as well as the paternity of the panda cub, which is either Tian Tian from the National Zoo or Gao Gao from the San Diego Zoo.
You can follow the Twitter feed from the Smithsonian here: #cubwatch in additon to checking out the live panda cam at the zoo.
gregladen | September 27, 2011Animals eating1 people has always been an interest of mine, and bear attacks are among my favorite. As you know, I've got a few of my own stories, though I don 't know if I ever told this one. There were two of us canoe-camping in a state park in the Adirondacks. You had to park your car at a ranger station, sign in, get a canoe, and paddle across the lake to a distant spot. Turns out, I left the lights on in the car during that first part. This will become important in a moment.
So, I'm sitting there in front of a little camp fire cooking up some stew. To my right is a bag of food…
jgoldman | December 31, 2010
Even though I'm on a mini-blogcation (owing to my temporary residence in the Cave of Open Lab), I'd like to take a moment to wish all of my readers and friends across the blogosphere, a very Happy New Year.
I plan on being back to a somewhat normal blogging schedule in about a week (something like January 10). Enjoy these hilarious animal videos (behind the fold), in the meantime.
Image source
jgoldman | August 12, 2010In most zoos and animal parks, polar bears (ursus maritimus) attract such a disproportionate amount of attention that they are referred to in the industry as "charismatic megafauna," or in other words, "really cool animals." Perhaps it is because it is especially rare for the average zoo-goer to happen upon a polar bear in the wild, or because they live in such an inhospitable environment. Perhaps it's just because polar bears are so damn cute.
Maybe we should just blame Coca-Cola.
Whatever the reason, psychologists Michael J. Renner and and Aislinn L. Kelly of West Chester University in…
jgoldman | August 11, 2010"The problem is that most bears don't like to get their ears wet." That is the problem, isn't it?
Another awesome video courtesy of the folks at BBC Earth "Life Is". Narrated by (who else?) David Attenborough.
gregladen | August 4, 2010Park mangers say they euthanized "an aggressive, habituated, and human-food-conditioned black bear" Tuesday out of "concern for visitor safety."
But it was also a result of stupid people making unnatural food available to the bear.
The adult female bear had been seen frequenting the Slough Creek area in the park's north central area. The bear was 4 - 5 years old and weighed between 100 and 125 pounds. Some observers had mistaken her for a grizzly since it was brown in color.
In mid-July, the bear entered an occupied backcountry campsite in the Slough Creek drainage. Attempts to chase her away…
laelaps | February 17, 2010
Detail of a Charles R. Knight mural depicting a family a mastodons.
Fossils often turn up in unexpected places. As people have dug swimming pools, tilled farms, blasted through mountains, and quarried the land for minerals traces of ancient life sometimes come to the surface, from isolated shark teeth to skeletons of our extinct hominin relatives. Even fossil graveyards are found this way every now and then, like the one found in a southern Pennsylvania quarry a little more than a century ago.
In late April 1907 William Jacob Holland, a paleontologist and director of Pittsburgh's Carnegie…
gregladen | November 1, 2009A Russian circus troupe were rehearsing for a performance in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, when the incident happened.
Workers had to drag the bear away during the attack, according to the director of the arena, Kurmangazy Isanayev.
The exits were closed off as staff waited for the emergency services.
Police shot the bear dead at the scene.
Russia has no animal cruelty laws that pertain to circuses.
story here
zooillogix | October 1, 2008A report published yesterday by the Wildlife Conservation Society shows that black bears living in urban areas weigh more, get pregnant at a younger age, and are more likely to die violent deaths.
The study tracks 12 bears living in Lake Tahoe over a 10 year period and compares them to 10 bears living in surrounding "wildland" areas. The urban bears weighed an average of 30 percent more because their diet was delicious, fatty, garbage - basically the same stuff you eat. While the bears in the wildlands typically gave birth between 7-8 years of age, some of the skanky city bears first…
zooillogix | June 15, 2008Spent the day at the Brookfield Zoo and was lucky enough to catch a resident polar bear inventing games for himself and doubly lucky my fiancee brought a video cam.
Polar Bear Takes a Dive
Polar Bear Tossing Around His Toy
More below the fold
Polar Bear Balances Toy on Nose and Paw
zooillogix | May 12, 2008When our mother upped and moved to New Mexico a few years back, my brother and I were thrilled to be spending holidays in such a rugged, wild, and frankly, weird place. She lives only a couple of miles from the center of Albuquerque, but regular backyard visitors include coyotes, black bears and lynx. Needless to say, the family cat, Lulu, quickly became an "indoor cat." After a few months the coyotes became more bold, trotting along the walls of the property, and my grandmother, Maggie, quickly became an "indoor grandmother."
These pictures were taken by a motion activated camera in the…
zooillogix | April 29, 2008Courtesy of CNN
In a moment of weakness, I have turned our site into Cuteoverload. What a shame...