22 posts · 15,350 views
Essays on science and nature, humans and animals; Highlighting some of the astonishing moments in time and place where we all converge.
Kimberly Moynahan
22 posts
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- March 29, 2013
- 09:21 AM
- 108 views
The Wisdom of Wolves: A Reason for Hope
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
As the reader will discover, the wolves—given just a fragment of chance and space—wove a story while we, with our supposedly vast powers of imagination, did well to just sit back and watch and learn. –Rick Bass, Preface to the Mariner Books edition of The Ninemile Wolves (2003) This post is a final analysis of [...]... Read more »
Axelsson, E., Ratnakumar, A., Arendt, M., Maqbool, K., Webster, M., Perloski, M., Liberg, O., Arnemo, J., Hedhammar, �., & Lindblad-Toh, K. (2013) The genomic signature of dog domestication reveals adaptation to a starch-rich diet. Nature, 495(7441), 360-364. DOI: 10.1038/nature11837
- December 1, 2012
- 05:31 PM
- 152 views
Want to engage kids in science? Then DO science.
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Science labs are to doing science like playing scales are to composing concertos. I used to hate science. However in seventh grade, Crossroads hired a new science teacher, and my view of science began to change. …. Dr. Faletra introduced us to Cypripedium reginae, more commonly known as the Showy Lady’s Slipper. (Ellie Pschirrer-West**) [...]... Read more »
Blackawton, P., Airzee, S., Allen, A., Baker, S., Berrow, A., Blair, C., Churchill, M., Coles, J., Cumming, R., Fraquelli, L.... (2010) Blackawton bees. Biology Letters, 7(2), 168-172. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.1056
- October 22, 2012
- 01:14 PM
- 260 views
Of Mites and Men
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
You know ear mites? Those pesky critters that infest your dog or cat’s ears causing them to scratch all night long? Well, if you have the stomach for it, check out this video of mites living in a man’s ear: Now those are not the kind of mites that infect cats and dogs. That [...]... Read more »
Liao, E., & Chang, K. (2012) Mites in the External Auditory Canal. New England Journal of Medicine, 367(14). DOI: 10.1056/NEJMicm1010983
- October 1, 2012
- 11:13 AM
- 196 views
Those Crafty Corvids: What will they think of next?
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
“Crows know which side of the white line to stand on.” That’s what my dad told me decades ago. He was talking about crows on the highway, and sure enough, in all my years of driving and watching crows, I found he was right. Pay attention some time. If a crow is on the highway [...]... Read more »
Bugnyar T, & Heinrich B. (2005) Ravens, Corvus corax, differentiate between knowledgeable and ignorant competitors. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society, 272(1573), 1641-6. PMID: 16087417
Bugnyar T, & Heinrich B. (2006) Pilfering ravens, Corvus corax, adjust their behaviour to social context and identity of competitors. Animal cognition, 9(4), 369-76. PMID: 16909235
Clayton NS, Dally JM, & Emery NJ. (2007) Social cognition by food-caching corvids. The western scrub-jay as a natural psychologist. Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences, 362(1480), 507-22. PMID: 17309867
Dally JM, Emery NJ, & Clayton NS. (2004) Cache protection strategies by western scrub-jays (Aphelocoma californica): hiding food in the shade. Proceedings. Biological sciences / The Royal Society. PMID: 15801583
- September 3, 2012
- 01:01 PM
- 245 views
Cave Fish Sisters an Ocean Apart
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Cave fish. It’s hard to imagine a less-assuming creature – pigmentless, eyeless, and only a few inches long. And yet, these little creatures hold a bunch of secrets that scientists just keep unraveling. Among the interesting traits discovered in various cave fish species is their ability to “tell time” without regulation from sunlight; the fact [...]... Read more »
Chakrabarty P, Davis MP, & Sparks JS. (2012) The First Record of a Trans-Oceanic Sister-Group Relationship between Obligate Vertebrate Troglobites. PloS one, 7(8). PMID: 22937155
- August 7, 2012
- 05:52 PM
- 370 views
Rattlesnake Roundups: Blatant Animal Cruelty
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Last week John F. Taylor asked me if I was aware of the practice of Rattlesnake Roundups. I was not, so he sent me a couple of links and what I learned horrified me. Ok, so I’ll be the first to admit, rattlesnakes are not the most endearing creatures. Snakes, in general, scare people. Add [...]... Read more »
Means, Bruce D. (2009) Effects Of Rattlesnake Roundups On The Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. Herpetological Conservation and Biology, 4(2), 132-141. info:/
Seifert SA, Boyer LV, Benson BE, & Rogers JJ. (2009) AAPCC database characterization of native U.S. venomous snake exposures, 2001-2005. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.), 47(4), 327-35. PMID: 19514880
Langley RL. (2005) Animal-related fatalities in the United States-an update. Wilderness , 16(2), 67-74. PMID: 15974255
Walter FG, Stolz U, Shirazi F, & McNally J. (2009) Epidemiology of severe and fatal rattlesnake bites published in the American Association of Poison Control Centers' Annual Reports. Clinical toxicology (Philadelphia, Pa.), 47(7), 663-9. PMID: 19640239
- July 26, 2012
- 12:13 PM
- 331 views
Exploring the Mind of the Mountain Gorilla
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
On July 17, 2012 several young mountain gorillas did an extraordinary thing: They dismantled a poacher’s snare. John Ndayambaje, a field data coordinator for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund was working in Volcanoes National Park, Rwanda near a group of mountain gorillas known as Kuryama’s group, when he noticed a snare. Snares are illegal (but [...]... Read more »
de Waal FB. (2008) Putting the Altruism Back into Altruism: The Evolution of Empathy. Annual Review of Psychology, 279-300. PMID: 17550343
Call, Josep., & Tomasello, Michael. (2008) (2008-5) Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? 30 years later. . Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 39(5), 906-192. DOI: 10.1016/j.tics.2008.02.010
Mulcahy, Nicholas J., & Call, Josep. (2006) Apes save tools for future use. Science, 1038-1040. DOI: 10.1126/science.1125456
Premack, David., & Woodruff, Guy. (1978) Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(4), 515. DOI: 10.1017/S0140525X00076512
- May 18, 2012
- 08:56 AM
- 300 views
Decay Fungi: Eaters of Forests, Painters of Wood
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Decay fungi are generally disdained, but wood is held in high regard. The meeting of both can create emotional conflict and challenges the viewer to reevaluate their position on functional wood and natural ornamentation processes. – Dr. Sara C. Robinson Gene handed me a small block of maple, maybe an inch across. “This is spalted [...]... Read more »
Rayner, A., & Todd, N. (1977) Intraspecific Antagonism in Natural Populations of Wood-decaying Basidiomycetes. Microbiology, 103(1), 85-90. DOI: 10.1099/00221287-103-1-85
Worrall, J. (2004) Armillaria root disease. The Plant Health Instructor. DOI: 10.1094/PHI-I-2004-0706-01
- May 18, 2012
- 07:56 AM
- 246 views
Decay Fungi: Eaters of Forests, Painters of Wood
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Decay Fungi: Eaters of Forests, Painters of Wood... Read more »
Rayner, A., & Todd, N. (1977) Intraspecific Antagonism in Natural Populations of Wood-decaying Basidiomycetes. Microbiology, 103(1), 85-90. DOI: 10.1099/00221287-103-1-85
Worrall, J. (2004) Armillaria root disease. The Plant Health Instructor. DOI: 10.1094/PHI-I-2004-0706-01
- March 19, 2012
- 11:27 AM
- 549 views
The Wool of Snowfall
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
And as far as warmth and protection are concerned, there is a good deal of the virtue of wool in such a snow-fall. How it protects the grass, the plants, the roots of the trees, and the worms, insects, and smaller animals in the ground! It is a veritable fleece, beneath which the shivering earth [...]... Read more »
Hörnfeldt, B. (2004) Long-term decline in numbers of cyclic voles in boreal Sweden: analysis and presentation of hypotheses. Oikos, 107(2), 376-392. DOI: 10.1111/j.0030-1299.2004.13348.x
- January 19, 2012
- 01:52 PM
- 629 views
Death by sitting
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
As I sit here on my 5th ..6th ..7th .. (what day are we on?) day of marathon writing, trying to meet an impossible February 1st deadline, I can’t help but think about some recent studies and articles on the dangers inherent in our sedentary lifestyles. Then today, a fabulous video on the subject crossed [...]... Read more »
Patel, A., Bernstein, L., Deka, A., Feigelson, H., Campbell, P., Gapstur, S., Colditz, G., & Thun, M. (2010) Leisure Time Spent Sitting in Relation to Total Mortality in a Prospective Cohort of US Adults. American Journal of Epidemiology, 172(4), 419-429. DOI: 10.1093/aje/kwq155
Veerman, J., Healy, G., Cobiac, L., Vos, T., Winkler, E., Owen, N., & Dunstan, D. (2011) Television viewing time and reduced life expectancy: a life table analysis. British Journal of Sports Medicine. DOI: 10.1136/bjsm.2011.085662
- November 30, 2011
- 06:46 PM
- 873 views
Secrets of a Ginormous Egg
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
A story of two of the largest eggs in the world and what they reveal about the extinct elephant bird (Aepyornis maximus). Check out this picture: That, of course, is Sir David Attenborough. In his hand is an elephant bird egg. He, and that egg are featured in a 2011 BBC documentary on Madagascar that [...]... Read more »
Balanoff, A., & Rowe, T. (2007) Osteological Description of an Embryonic Skeleton of The Extinct Elephant Bird, Aepyornis (Palaeognathae: Ratitae). Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 27(sup4), 1-53. DOI: 10.1671/0272-4634(2007)27[1:ODOAES]2.0.CO;2
Birchard, G., & Deeming, D. (2009) Avian eggshell thickness: scaling and maximum body mass in birds. Journal of Zoology, 279(1), 95-101. DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2009.00596.x
Endo, H., Akishinonomiya, F., Yonezawa, T., Hasegawa, M., Rakotondraparany, F., Sasaki, M., Taru, H., Yoshida, A., Yamasaki, T., Itou, T.... (2011) Coxa Morphologically Adapted to Large Egg in Aepyornithid Species Compared with Various Palaeognaths. Anatomia, Histologia, Embryologia. DOI: 10.1111/j.1439-0264.2011.01100.x
- September 30, 2011
- 12:12 PM
- 837 views
Family Reunion after 10,000 years
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Imagine a complex society, maybe tens of thousands of members strong; an unusually long-lived society with extended families of 5 or even 6 generations that live, work, play, and travel together. Now imagine a geological and climatic change that effectively splits that society in two. A huge icy mass fills the only path between the [...]... Read more »
George, J., Bada, J., Zeh, J., Scott, L., Brown, S., O'Hara, T., & Suydam, R. (1999) Age and growth estimates of bowhead whales(Balaena mysticetus)via aspartic acid racemization . Canadian Journal of Zoology, 77(4), 571-580. DOI: 10.1139/z99-015
Givens, G.H., R.M. Huebinger, J.C. Patton, L.D. Postma, M. Lindsay, R.S. Suydam, J.C. George, C.W. Matson, & JW Bickham. (2010) Population Genetics of Bowhead Whales (Balaena mysticetus) in the Western Arctic. Arctic, 63(1), 1-12. info:/
Heide-Jorgensen, M., Laidre, K., Quakenbush, L., & Citta, J. (2011) The Northwest Passage opens for bowhead whales. Biology Letters. DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0731
Kelly, B., Whiteley, A., & Tallmon, D. (2010) The Arctic melting pot. Nature, 468(7326), 891-891. DOI: 10.1038/468891a
- August 27, 2011
- 06:27 PM
- 1,004 views
Romeo: A Lone Wolf’s Tragedy in Three Acts
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Act I: Into the covert of the wood Many a morning hath he there been seen, With tears augmenting the fresh morning dew. Adding to clouds more clouds with his deep sighs — Romeo & Juliet In April of 2003 a female Alexander Archipelago wolf was hit by a taxi near the Mendenhall [...]... Read more »
Szepanski, M., Ben-David, M., & Van Ballenberghe, V. (1999) Assessment of anadromous salmon resources in the diet of the Alexander Archipelago wolf using stable isotope analysis. Oecologia, 120(3), 327-335. DOI: 10.1007/s004420050866
WECKWORTH, B., TALBOT, S., SAGE, G., PERSON, D., & COOK, J. (2005) A Signal for Independent Coastal and Continental histories among North American wolves. Molecular Ecology, 14(4), 917-931. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-294X.2005.02461.x
Weckworth BV, Dawson NG, Talbot SL, Flamme MJ, & Cook JA. (2011) Going coastal: shared evolutionary history between coastal British Columbia and Southeast Alaska wolves (Canis lupus). PloS one, 6(5). PMID: 21573241
- July 11, 2011
- 08:40 AM
- 1,131 views
Who wants to see the baby sneeze?
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
That’s what my brother-in- law used to call out as he’d carry his infant daughter, a soft blanket draped over her face, out into the yard. With that, all the little kids at my sister’s daycare would run over and gather around the baby. When they were all ready, my brother-in-law would whip off the [...]... Read more »
Eriksson, N., Macpherson, J., Tung, J., Hon, L., Naughton, B., Saxonov, S., Avey, L., Wojcicki, A., Pe'er, I., & Mountain, J. (2010) Web-Based, Participant-Driven Studies Yield Novel Genetic Associations for Common Traits. PLoS Genetics, 6(6). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1000993
Langer, N., Beeli, G., & Jäncke, L. (2010) When the Sun Prickles Your Nose: An EEG Study Identifying Neural Bases of Photic Sneezing. PLoS ONE, 5(2). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0009208
- July 6, 2011
- 01:54 PM
- 1,035 views
For the Love of Chemicals
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
I fell in love with my work from the very first day, although it entailed nothing more at that stage than quantitative analysis of rock samples: attack with hydrofluoric acid, down comes the iron with ammonia, down comes nickel (how little! A pinch of red sediment) with dimethylglyoxime, down comes magnesium with phosphate, always the [...]... Read more »
Diane Canovaa,, Matthew L Myersb,, Daniel E Smithc,, & John Sladed. (2001) Changing the future of tobacco marketing by understanding the mistakes of the past: lessons from “Lights”. Tobacco Control, 10(Supplement 1). info:/10.1136/tc.10.suppl_1.i43
Friedman, L. (2007) Philip Morris's website and television commercials use new language to mislead the public into believing it has changed its stance on smoking and disease. Tobacco Control, 16(6). DOI: 10.1136/tc.2007.024026
Petrie, K. (2004) Getting well from water. BMJ, 329(7480), 1417-1418. DOI: 10.1136/bmj.329.7480.1417
Simon, A., & Jerit, J. (2007) Toward a Theory Relating Political Discourse, Media, and Public Opinion. Journal of Communication, 57(2), 254-271. DOI: 10.1111/j.1460-2466.2007.00342.x
- June 21, 2011
- 08:28 AM
- 1,190 views
And Then There Came Fungus
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
This post is dedicated to the misled folks on a 2012 doomsday forum who are using terms like “suspicious” and “creepy” to describe .. well .. a common fungus. They’re musing that the tornado in Joplin “spawned” it … or maybe it’s a “sign of …” well, I don’t know what. They lost me there. [...]... Read more »
Lim PL. (2005) Wound infections in tsunami survivors: a commentary. Annals of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore, 34(9), 582-5. PMID: 16284684
Patiño, J., Castro, D., Valencia, A., & Morales, P. (1991) Necrotizing soft tissue lesions after a volcanic cataclysm. World Journal of Surgery, 15(2), 240-247. DOI: 10.1007/BF01659059
Petrikkos, G., & Drogari-Apiranthitou, M. (2011) ZYGOMYCOSIS IN IMMUNOCOMPROMISED NON-HAEMATOLOGICAL PATIENTS. Mediterranean Journal of Hematology and Infectious Diseases. DOI: 10.4084/MJHID.2011.012
Prabhu RM, & Patel R. (2004) Mucormycosis and entomophthoramycosis: a review of the clinical manifestations, diagnosis and treatment. Clinical microbiology and infection : the official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, 31-47. PMID: 14748801
- June 8, 2011
- 06:15 PM
- 1,114 views
World Oceans Day: A Lesson from a Seahorse
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
In search of a souvenir On a warm August day in 2008, at the busy Helsinki Kauppatori, I was on the hunt for affordable souvenirs that the kids could bring home to Canada. I searched with my stepson, up and down the crowded aisles of the outdoor sea-side market. The stalls on either side displayed [...]... Read more »
Baum, J.K., Meeuwig, J.J., & Vincent, A.C.J. (2003) Bycatch of lined seahorses (Hippocampus erectus) in a Gulf of Mexico shrimp trawl fishery. Fishery Bulletin, 721-731. info:/
Nijman, Vincent. (2010) An overview of international wildlife trade from Southeast Asia. . Biodiversity and Conservation, 18(3), 1386-1114. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-009-9758-4
Giles, Brian G. (2007) The catch and trade of seahorses in Vietnam. Biodiversity and Conservation, 15(8), 2497-2513. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-005-2432-6
Amanda C.J. Vincent, Melissa Grey, & Anne-Marie Blais. (2005) Magnitude and trends of marine fish curio imports to the USA. Oryx, 413-420. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605305000967
- June 6, 2011
- 08:01 PM
- 1,120 views
The Monarch Butterfly:Emmisary of 3 Nations
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
An exciting thing happened a couple weeks ago. I got email from Donald Davis, one of the leading Monarch Butterfly aficionados in Ontario, asking me if I was the Kimberly Gerson who tagged a monarch butterfly in Whitby Ontario, in September of 2006. If so, he went on to say, my tag had been recovered [...]... Read more »
Brower, A. V.Z, & M. M Jeansonne. (2004) Geographical populations and subspecies of new world monarch butterflies (Nymphalidae) share a recent origin and are not phylogenetically distinct. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 97(3), 519-523. DOI: 10.1603/0013-8746(2004)097[0519:GPASON]2.0.CO;2
Brower L. (1996) Monarch butterfly orientation: missing pieces of a magnificent puzzle. The Journal of experimental biology, 199(Pt 1), 93-103. PMID: 9317405
- May 31, 2011
- 01:28 PM
- 1,323 views
Spiderlings and the Mystery of Web Writing
by Kimberly Moynahan in Endless Forms Most Beautiful
Check out these little guys from my garden. A whole bunch of websites and photo collections identify these as baby European Garden Spiders (Araneus diadematus), but the colour of the babies do not match the adults. My spidey senses tell me that’s not right. Other folks have identified them as baby Black and Yellow Argiopes [...]... Read more »
Blackledge, T., & Wenzel, J. (1999) Do stabilimenta in orb webs attract prey or defend spiders?. Behavioral Ecology, 10(4), 372-376. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/10.4.372
Watanabe, T. (1999) Prey attraction as a possible function of the silk decoration of the uloborid spider Octonoba sybotides. Behavioral Ecology, 10(5), 607-611. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/10.5.607
Blackledge, T. (2000) The evolution of cryptic spider silk: a behavioral test. Behavioral Ecology, 11(2), 142-145. DOI: 10.1093/beheco/11.2.142
Bruce, M., Herberstein, M., & Elgar, M. (2008) Signalling conflict between prey and predator attraction. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 14(5), 786-794. DOI: 10.1046/j.1420-9101.2001.00326.x
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