Most Commented Animals Blogs (472)

Welcome back, young nubile people. Just another point first on seating and attire. As to the latter, those helpful three young ladies, now sitting right in front of your professor, yes, the ones with those shiny red high heels, and who are loudly chewing/snapping their bimbo brand bubble gum, have kindly volunteered to demonstrate how to dress here, based on how they looked at the last talk. Mark well their advice, as they have already earned the highest grades of this semester. If enough of you go along, including with advice on your positioning of those lovely legs, we may rename the front row the Busy BEAVER" zone. Now then, where was I?
The name of this key public health science comes from key words in the languages of ancients, and means " On the People", ie, Epid---Demios. In this talk, we present the more technical aspects of the craft. Many of you have expressed interest in "just how do they make those often misleading "predictive" models", and is there a better way?
Of the five key measurements needed to do valid Epid, we've already mentioned populations; and ratios/proportions; and exposures/outcomes. Two others remain. The first is so called assessment of intermediate variables (confounders and effect modifiers}, and the controls, to the extents possible, of the same. And the fifth, where politics and policy enter, involves the statistical ANALysis and interpretation of results of various study designs/public health interventions.
FLASH! FLASH! Class is suspended until further notice. My ex, next door, mom of our twins, and cat afficionada extraordinaire, just called to let us know that Miss Lilly, 20 pound calico supreme, just passed away, after longstanding on and off illness.. I'll go down to support all for the loss, and to help arrange for cremation, etc.. Later...

If you live in the coastal area of Norway, you may have seen Freya, a 1,300 pound walrus.
Freya became an icon for both good and bad as this walrus had climbed on back of some boats to sunbathe and sank a few.
It was determined that sightseers were getting too close and it was feared an endangerment for people, so as a "last resort," spokesman for the Directorate of Fisheries Vegard Oen Hatten said they had to put the animal down.



Link:

I have a lot of trees on my property.
They provide a lot of shade and some mulberries.
There's also some raspberries and blackberries growing too,
thanks to the birds.

Often when I wake up in the morning I go into the bathroom to pee.
When standing there, I look out a window.
Many times I see birds, a rabbit or two, a hawk on occasion
and I have a groundhog, who had 2 babies this year.

Also this year for the first time I saw a doe, "a deer, a female deer..."
It was while I was taking some table scraps to my compost heap in the back
of the property. She bolted out of there.

Well, this morning as I was in the bathroom, standing there, I looked out the window and
to my surprise was a 6 point buck lying down less than 10 feet from the house in the shade.
So, rather than peeing in the water, I aimed for the side of the bowl, so I wouldn't startle him.
I don't know if it made a difference, but the end result is, that he is still there.

Apparently, I am opening a bed & breakfast for deer.
Plenty of shade and a berry comfortable stay.
We'll leave the light.......off.

A couple of weeks ago, I took a walk in nature near Princeton
and saw a redtail hawk soaring over the lake.
So, I walked across a bridge to get to the other side of the lake,
where the bird had perched high in a spruce tree.
But, by the time I crossed the bridge, the hawk was airborne again.
I did get a photo of the bird soaring from a great distance and eventually
found him perched in another tree. However, I was never able to get close enough
to get great photos.

Nonetheless, along the way to that second tree, I discovered a "doe, a deer, a female deer" resting on the ground below some shrubbery. It was a hot day and she was
peacefully cozy in the shade. Although I don't believe I ever met her before, she was very patient with me, allowing me to get within 20 feet of her without her exhibiting any fear. I figured the high heat & humidity that day probably contributed to her lethargy.

Thus, I took a couple of shots with the camera and thanked her with a whisper and walked uphill
to where the hawk was perched. The bird did not allow me to get close and flew.
Thus, I proceeded to explore and heard some other unfamiliar bird call.
I never found that bird. However, I ended somewhat behind where the doe was.
As I walked through an opening, I saw the doe standing up looking at me.
She was initially much more aware on my presence, than I was of her.
But, she stood there facing me and not running away.
So, I whispered; "sorry. sorry. My bad." and I walked backwards through the opening
and circled below to my right to look out on the lake.

Almost immediately, the doe walked towards me and walked into the edge of a little
wooded area that had a lot of ivy and other growth. I just stood there taking pictures
and she kept walking closer to me. At one point she was less than 10 feet from me.
Eventually, I whispered a thank you again and walked away.

Here's some of the pictures from that encounter that day.
Perhaps you'll enjoy them.

Three body parts, head, thorax and two compound eyes, antennae and a proboscis. Six legs and wings covered in scales. Not approached by other creatures due to its sour taste and is poisonous. Female moths produce scents called pheromones to attract males.

(continued below in my first comment)

I just got done watching a PBS presentation of the title above.
Despite the catchy title, whales never actually walked.
But, their early evolutionary progenitors did.
Think about it. Whales are mammals.
Most of the mammals that live in the ocean are closely related to whales, such as dolphins.
Indeed, both the bone structure and DNA testing reveals this.

One can speculate that life itself may have started in water and much later some amphibians evolved and later full land dwellers evolved.
So, did an amphibian evolve back to full time water dwelling.
That would seem like an easier move than a land dweller doing so.
Indeed, that is closer to the truth with manatee. They appear to be closely
related to hippos, which aren't really amphibians, but do spend a large part of their life in water.

However, when one studies the bone structure, especially teeth, and DNA testing on all the known fossils,
it is discovered that whales are related to a mammal that lived sort of like a crocodile.
It had a large head, a belly that practicly dragged on the ground, and while it lived on land,
it foraged in the water. When one examines older fossils, there is another mammal
that was the size of a house cat, that appears to be an earlier progenitor.
That animal eventually gave rise to different branches that include hippos, and deer as well as the croc like mammal.

So, why would mammals move from the land to the ocean ?
Two evolutionary pressures, would be the escape from predators, and the availability of food.

Now here's the kicker. When looking at the teeth. These 2 progenitors are the closest related to elephants. During their evolution they produced elongated teeth, tusks. One extinct branch had 4 tusks. The tusks enabled them to move large objects, such as trees. Other than humans, elephants are the evolutionary branch, that most directly
changes the landscape. Indeed, as they created pathways through the forest,
it enabled our progenitors to come down from the trees and band together to travel
the savannahs via the elephant 'paved' paths. Thus, our progress is linked to the
success of elephants, and yet, humans are responsible for bringing that species
to the brink of extinction, by both elimination of habitat and slaughter while hunting for the tusks, that ironicly enabled us to come down from the trees.

I strongly suggest you watch the well done PBS video, which enables you to witness the fossils and listen to the paleontologists, as well as see the recreations of the long gone progenitors in addition to seeing the gorgeous animals & scenery.

However, that isn't available on Youtube.

But, the following quick 6 minute summary is;