As humans we think of men and women as entities with a fixed genders. Other species do not see things the same way. Fish do things a little differently from what we might think of as normal. Most of us along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts have eaten grouper for dinner or in a sandwich at some point in our lives. But, did you know that most groupers change their gender as they mature. They are called protogynous hermaphrodites. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
19
Humans and Armadillos (non-US species) are the only known reservoirs of leprosy.
Mar
17
I stayed in the Colorado Mountains for a few weeks in the summer of ‘05. The locals in Crested Butte where I stayed have one thing primarily on their minds other than the tourist business of course and that is water. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
16
Pacific sea urchin populations were dramatically reduced when their roe became commercially valuable.
Mar
15
With the recent surge in compact fluorescent light bulb advertising and purchases we may be seeing the first highly obvious and nationally visible step in combating global warming. This not to say that recycling of household waste and industrial pollution controls are not important. But, rather it is something that people can easily do, see an immediate effect and know that they are helping to reduce global warming. Read the rest of this entry »
Mar
12
In our distant past mankind looked to farming, any type of farming, as a way to help him get past those times when there were not enough of the planet’s wild resources available to meet his needs – mammals, fish and plants. As our societies expanded these wild resources began to vanish which promoted the expansion of farming. As the trend to farming continued simple husbandry of domesticated animals and plants was not enough to meet the growing needs of our species. New areas of farming research were explored to help us with our farming, which has gone from something extra in our lives to something that is a requirement. Read the rest of this entry »