It’s almost sea turtle nesting season! Did you know that during sea turtle nesting season you should avoid using white lights on beaches? White lights can disorient hatchling sea turtles making their way to the ocean.
Continue ReadingThe Galapagos Islands are home to a wide variety of unique animals, many of which are critically endangered.
Continue ReadingCRISPR-Cas9 is a molecular tool used for genome editing. The discovery of CRISPR was by two women, who recently won a Nobel Prize for their research on genome editing.
Continue ReadingSociality is a key component of primate culture and individual fitness levels. Primate social structures have an impact on both an individual’s mental and physical health, and social isolation in infants can have detrimental effects to development.
Continue ReadingSleeping has evolved in every animal despite it’s apparent lack of useful adaptation. When we’re asleep, we can’t run from predators, hunt food or do other activities necessary to survive. But, sleep is very useful for our overall health and brain health, so many animals have found a number of crazy adaptations to get the benefits of sleep and minimize the risk.
Continue ReadingSea star wasting disease is a viral epidemic that absolutely destroyed many of the sea star populations off the Pacific coast of North America a few years ago, and what we learn from this viral outbreak in sea stars may provide insight into other infectious diseases
Continue ReadingWINTER IS COMING. While we can layer up with puffy jackets, hats and scarves, not all animals can, and some animals live in especially frigid environments, like the arctic tundras. How do they stay warm? They have special physical adaptations, or traits, that enable them to keep their body temperatures high even when the surrounding environment is extremely cold.
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