tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79275575321125674592012-01-26T14:50:42.212-06:00My life as an undergraduate ethologist and herpetologist.Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.comBlogger601100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-39776606129513681332011-02-09T13:59:00.000-06:002011-02-09T13:59:57.231-06:00

Photo by Ricardo B. Brazziell. © Austin American-Statesman  A week or so ago, students working with Dr. Ben Pierce, including myself, conducted a monthly visual encounter survey at the Twin Springs Preserve in Williamson County, TX. We do these surveys at two sites every month, and we look for a local species near and dear to our hearts: the Georgetown salamander (Eurycea naufragia). The

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-86313354301053580552011-01-24T23:50:00.000-06:002011-01-24T23:50:28.068-06:00

Niveoscincus ocellatus (Photo credit) Ever caught yourself wondering what it might be like if you could know the sex of your future children? Several methods allow for this to be determined with modest accuracy in the late stages of a human pregnancy, but what about early pregnancy? Before pregnancy? In other animals? Sometimes the answers to these questions can be predicted based on the

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-53378700626015303842011-01-13T00:45:00.001-06:002011-01-13T00:49:43.253-06:00

Hello again! My last semester was demanding, but I did not forget about this blog of mine. Instead, I have a lineup of several articles, reviews, short writings, and interesting animal behavior finds to be posted in the next couple of months. Second, I recognize that I am receiving a lot of new traffic to the blog. Welcome visitors! You are welcome to subscribe to the blog using the fancy RSS

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-33273308788203581102010-10-17T20:13:00.000-05:002010-10-17T20:13:13.283-05:00

Hey guys! Still don't have much time for full posts. I'm applying for graduate school in the field of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology (EEB). But, here as I type with one hand and holding my leopard gecko in the other, I share this wild video with you of a male jumping spider advertising to a female cadaver. Sound is highly recommended.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-84062454204063525582010-09-19T21:28:00.001-05:002010-09-19T21:36:18.296-05:00

Anecdotal evidence: oxymoron or label of necessity? Within the sciences, anecdotal evidence (i.e., untested claims and stories) is typically treated as only a beginning step in the means of answering a question or, more commonly, is disregarded as useless. The reasons for this mutual understanding begin at the roots of how modern science works: something is unknown, it is tested against an

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-25295654810984762272010-07-06T23:56:00.000-05:002010-07-06T23:56:04.066-05:00

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill is a very, very sad story. No matter how you look at it, the whole thing is spelling disaster. What is surprising to me is how the event is being labeled as an ecological disaster by the mainstream media. Even though the explosion of the oil platform has left 11 dead (plus 2) and 17 injured, these facts have been essentially forgotten as the yet-contained oil

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-15180271020498321202010-07-06T11:33:00.002-05:002010-07-06T11:34:39.095-05:00

This is a fun one. Last summer when I was at UNDERC, I came up with the concept of Ecological Drinking Words (EDW, for short). Like many drinking games before it, the concept simple: read an ecological or biological article and take a shot of your favorite drink (alcohol optional) every time you see one of these buzzwords. It works because many of these words are not seen anywhere outsite of

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-37329110205592910002010-07-06T11:20:00.000-05:002010-07-06T11:20:44.965-05:00

I recently found an interesting blog post and felt it was worth sharing. The Great Beyond: One fifth of 2008's research papers now open access According to this article and its associated primary literature article (find it here), roughly one in every five of 1837 sampled from a database of 1.2 million was open access somewhere on the internet. The article breaks down these numbers, but

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-33487195534924608482010-06-20T20:29:00.000-05:002010-06-20T20:29:57.640-05:00

Interesting video of the now: I hope you enjoyed that. I post it not only because of the interesting topic, but the simple manner by which a complex process is described. As I look into graduate school more and more, I'll probably be posting videos similar in feel to this one. This is simply because visiting research lab websites exposes me to, well, lab research.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-1921572414998684022010-06-16T01:17:00.000-05:002010-06-16T01:17:47.556-05:00

Been a while since my last post. Perhaps I've taken some time off? Nope! School's out for sure, but I'm currently working full time (+ some) with Dr. Ben Pierce in SU's biology department. I spend most of my time in front of a computer, and after a long day of quality excel time, I'm usually just not in the mood to do blahg stuff. But I'm here for you, right? Yeah. So today's news isn't

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-81586845236782730382010-05-02T14:14:00.001-05:002010-05-02T14:15:07.756-05:00

Every now and then, someone has a truly great idea about how to explain science to the general public. Sometimes the topic is animal mating behavior. This is the setup for the Sundance Channel's two recent series: "Green Porno" and "Seduce Me." "Green Porno" explores wild and weird animal mating behaviors while "Seduce Me" acts out animal courtship - a whole other bag of worms. You can view

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-40482850398927924202010-04-30T16:18:00.002-05:002010-04-30T16:19:39.745-05:00

I'd like to direct your browsers to the online home page for international wildlife and natural history artist Karen Carr and Karen Carr Studio, Inc. Here artwork is incredible and demonstrates a world-class level of care for her topics. I even read (but lost the source) that when she worked with traditional media and was attempting to portray a scene or organism underwater, she would snorkel

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-59694823688496842412010-04-28T15:11:00.001-05:002010-04-28T15:22:13.682-05:00

As summer approaches, I am getting mixed news about what I'll be doing for the next few months. I had applied to several internships, but none of them had positions open :/ One place that I am interested in is the Forth Worth Zoo. I had a post at the beginning of the year which described the zoo and a new exhibit - the Museum of Living Art (MOLA). This exhibit replaces their Herpetarium built in

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-75410187132115602682010-04-25T13:21:00.004-05:002010-04-25T13:35:37.641-05:00

Here's the setup.  Whenever I find something I think would make an interesting post on this blog, I bookmark it with intentions of writing an article at some point.  That happens for the things with some substance, but over time, I have accumulated all kinds of internet knick-knacks that I'd like to share in one large post. Here's a neat one. On this website, you can view high-quality, color,

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-3095620307628158552010-04-25T12:15:00.000-05:002010-04-25T12:15:00.728-05:00

With much that I talk about on this blog being so seemingly obscure, perhaps you can take comfort in something much more mainstream. :) I recently wrote a review of the DreamWorks Animation's most recent film "How to Train Your Dragon." You can read the review here. This movie has been all I've been thinking about for the past two weeks. I highly recommend it and, if you have the opportunity,

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-51813520850715539252010-04-24T02:04:00.001-05:002010-04-24T02:04:55.644-05:00

One of my interests as an ethologist is animal communication. I can find almost infinite wonder in pondering how whales thousands of miles away can tell each other about their location for breeding, how bees communicate food locations, or how birds signal conspecifics for a predator alert. This interest was one reason why I took pause at an article published via ScienceDaily a few years ago.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-19089916132442907302010-04-24T00:36:00.004-05:002010-09-19T20:10:07.506-05:00

What a find! Ethnobiologists in the Philippines recently discovered a whopper of a lizard. Now introducing the Northern Sierra Madre Forest Monitor Lizard (Varanus bitatawa)! This large (~10 kg) lizard is apparently one of only three known fruit-eating species in the world. To learn more, check out this article from ScienceDaily. According to this article, the fruit-eating lizard lives in the

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-2602765744479153232010-04-18T14:35:00.000-05:002010-04-18T14:35:51.403-05:00

This post is a short one. I'd just like to share with you an online ornithology course I found recently. The free course is in the form of a blog and can be viewed here. The blog is offered via the ornithologist and retired biology professor Dan Tallman, one of my favorite bloggers (view his blog here). I have not read the whole blog, but a couple hours of flipping through it tell me that the

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-18817560265289000872010-04-18T02:04:00.000-05:002010-04-18T02:04:28.131-05:00

Today's article is an interesting one, even if it might require a bit of background in genetics. From grade school, you probably know that in sexually-reproducing species (includes most animals), a combination of male and female DNA (in the form of compressed chromosomes) crosses and creates new combinations of genetic information. This process is very complex from an evolutionary standpoint,

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-83837047601984012552010-04-17T22:47:00.003-05:002010-04-17T22:59:07.320-05:00

Long time no see. It's busy season here at SU, but I have lots to share. The topic of the day is like something out of a science-fiction story. Imagine an insect that lays its eggs inside an organism so that its larvae eats its hosts brain from the inside. Sound far-fetched? Read this article from EcoTone. Pretty insane, huh? These insects, phorid flies, apparently specifically target imported

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-11207637406136648602010-02-20T18:21:00.004-06:002010-02-20T18:26:12.795-06:00

You remember being an inocent kid, right? You were told by mom and dad that dinosaurs are extinct and perhaps even that dinosaurs were reptiles. As a young adult, you might have learned that birds evolved from dinosaurs. It seems believable: feathers could be highly evolved scales, and dinosaurs (which could have been endotherms, rather than ectotherms). These topics of thermoregulation in

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-21792759726859808992010-02-10T17:56:00.002-06:002010-02-10T17:56:45.850-06:00

I've recently discovered an incredible website, Science Daily. The incredible thing about this website is that the cumbersome task of finding interesting science news is changed to being an explorable adventure with new information always just around the corner. This has led me to find a bevy of fascinating articles I will be sharing over many of my next few posts. One such article, Lizards Pull

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-69594072606431819672010-02-08T18:47:00.001-06:002010-02-08T19:33:12.918-06:00

Trying out some new blog templates. Should be up to speed shortly. UPDATE:  Finished setting up the new look of the site.  Let me know if you encounter any dead links, weird errors, or poltergeists jumping out of your computer screen.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-17490625875217493122010-02-08T12:51:00.002-06:002010-02-08T17:37:07.833-06:00

As a follower of Save the Frog's "Frog Blog," I get interesting articles about amphibian conservation and news from the field of herpetology. One recent post concerned a summary of several newly discovered species recently found in Ecuador, including thirty new species of frogs. You can read the article HERE. It continually amazes me that there are so many species yet unknown to science.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-43449947025704697502010-02-05T12:04:00.001-06:002010-02-08T17:38:01.059-06:00

More free stuff today. This isn't just any free stuff - it's Cosmos - the whole thing. You can watch it here on Hulu. For those not in the know, if you were alive thirty years ago, Carl Sagan was a dinner-table celebrity. His narration of "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" touched the hearts of millions. Hundreds of millions, that is. According to one website, "His television series 'Cosmos' became

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-74328604850545385222010-02-05T11:42:00.001-06:002010-02-08T17:38:19.308-06:00

It's been a busy school week, but I've got a lot to share with you guys. I'll try to keep posts succinct to maintain your viewership. Up today is free stuff. We all like that, right? Cued in from the awesome folks over at Deep-Sea News I came across a free-to-download book, "Handbook of Deep-Sea Hydrothermal Vent Fauna." (fear not, although the website uses a hint of German, the book is

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-46812691352265081432010-01-28T19:27:00.001-06:002010-01-28T19:27:59.877-06:00

2009 was a rough year for everyone. Possibly the least popular year of the decade. One of the biggest let-downs I experienced in 2009 was the delayed opening for the Fort Worth Zoo's Museum of Living Art. Before I explain, allow me to remind you that my family visited the Ft. Worth Zoo last year with intentions of seeing some progress on this world-class project. Unfortunately, it appeared

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-56242704982099392572010-01-27T19:34:00.001-06:002010-01-27T19:36:50.291-06:00

I love combining topics. My field of study is a combination of biology, psychology, and ecology; I'm attending a liberal arts institution, as a Boy Scout I earned over 60 merit badges (far above average), and the list goes on. When all is said and done, my favorite combination of two topics is animals and artwork (as can be witnessed by a previous post of mine). I'm just giddy to see two of my

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-59804175113602947172010-01-27T11:27:00.003-06:002010-02-08T17:38:35.598-06:00

Perusing some other blogs, I discovered a fascinating NOVA series on monitor lizards titled "Lizard Kings." http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lizard/ NOVA is well known for their awe-inspiring filming, and this program certainly does not come up short. I'm posting this because it's free to watch online, visit their website and click "Watch online." The whole program runs at 52 minutes.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-86937736013711183502010-01-26T23:18:00.004-06:002010-02-08T17:39:40.424-06:00

Here's a semi-random animation of bat echolocation I found while learning about neuroethology. I hope you find it as cool as I did: http://www.bsos.umd.edu/psyc/batlab/headaimmovies/nsf_challenge/nsf4.wmv Bats are cool.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-46030906150615567002010-01-26T17:13:00.001-06:002010-01-26T17:26:47.126-06:00

Scientists often ask the question "How many species are there currently living on Earth?" How many do you think there are? 50, ooo? 100,000? 1 million? Estimates vary from study to study, but conservative estimates point to 7-10 million species, and other studies claim up to 100 million species. That's a lot!Certainly, the ability to understand just how many species are currently on our planet

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-42591070647951092010-01-26T11:53:00.000-06:002010-01-26T16:41:58.055-06:00

Check out this cool article about normally-solitary reptiles laying eggs in communal nests.Communal nesting!? What's that, Alex? For one, it has traditionally been thought of as a non-reptilian behavior. Communal nesting is simply the laying of eggs by a female animal into the nest of a conspecific (same species) animal. This behavior is different than cooperative breeding, which could be

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-88110522684587996332010-01-25T23:50:00.000-06:002010-01-25T23:50:47.434-06:00

Prepare for the onslaught - I've promised myself to update this blog at least once a day for the next week. I have lots of ideas to share. Let's start:"The Diversity of Life" is a most wonderful book I recently read by E.O. Wilson.Where to begin?For those not in the know, E.O. Wilson is a senior professor of Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and is the world expert on myrmecology (the

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-30396821110166560212010-01-24T11:53:00.005-06:002010-01-24T11:59:10.080-06:00

Haven't posted in a while. Last semester was rough.To make it up, here's a cute slideshow of animals in the snow from zoos worldwide:http://news.discovery.com/animals/zoo-animals-in-the-snow-slide-show.html

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-12191609022955824532009-09-28T23:49:00.002-05:002009-09-28T23:51:20.919-05:00

Our planet is incredible.It is incredible because it has water, has a reasonable temperature, a protective atmosphere, and solid ground amongst other things.A unique facet of Earth's supremacy in the known cosmos is it's biodiversity, or richness and abundance, of species. Maybe you take biodiversity for granted when you walk out your door to grab the morning paper and see a well-cut lawn, shady

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-90561392805737326112009-09-08T12:22:00.006-05:002009-09-08T12:43:39.041-05:00

I recently read this fascinating article posted on Tampa Bay Online.If I told you it was an article about reptiles in the Florida Everglades, I'll give you three guesses as to what the article is about. Due to grossly over-inflated media attention, you probably guessed it's an article on invasive Burmese pythons.From what I've gathered by reading the article, U.S. government agencies are

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-69923878501606604452009-09-08T10:46:00.000-05:002009-09-08T10:46:21.548-05:00

"Zoo: Animals in Art" by Edward Lucie-Smith is a neat little coffee table-type book succinctly reviewing depictions of non-human animals in human-made art.By categorizing groups of images and works into categories such as "Water World" and "Microcosmos," the author organizes the books contents into an easily-digested format.I compliment the Lucie-Smith's variety of animal species (and inclusion

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-2738605998106224092009-09-03T23:01:00.008-05:002009-09-04T16:09:57.178-05:00

According to an Associated Press article by David McFadden, the Bahamas recently banned the sale or catch of any species of marine turtle.Culturally popular for human consumption, sea turtles have required this sort of legal protection for too long. The five species of sea turtle inhabiting the waters of the Bahamian waters are listed as either endangered or threatened species. Previous to the

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-48327085838143997812009-08-31T17:51:00.004-05:002009-09-04T16:09:40.562-05:00

Wildlife photographers' challenges are many: know a species, be there, avoid disturbing the species, use the right equipment, and prepare for failure. In my case, failure is simply avoided by taking several photos, but you can't always use such a low-effort solution.Sometimes you have to go to great lengths to get the right photograph - like going to Vietnam.I encourage you to experience

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-41125153296461611222009-08-17T23:20:00.003-05:002009-08-17T23:34:46.067-05:00

Be not afraid to find yourself in awe:via The Beagle Project Blog.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-74140275515574724952009-08-17T23:15:00.001-05:002009-08-17T23:34:10.762-05:00

I recently read this neat article by Craig Lemoult via NPR and got to thinking about fanatical naturalists.After much creative thinking about what it would be like to search for invisible animals, mythical beings, and possibly-extinct species, my ending stance reads: Go get 'em!

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-11434738861161004972009-08-15T23:00:00.010-05:002009-08-17T23:36:24.151-05:00

For the man who has everything, give him a leopard gecko cake on his birthday.The cake was inspired by my own pet leo, Bob.Here he or she is:PETA mustn't know about this ;)Here are some older birthday pictures ofmy mom's nifty animal cakes (I'm nine in this first one):And a dolphin, too!If you like cakes or laughing until your belly hurts, check out this awesome blog.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-82894242666139919552009-08-11T16:03:00.006-05:002009-08-11T18:55:01.016-05:00

I recommend reading this fascinating article from the New York Times written by Carol Kaesuk Yoon.Taxonomy is dying, not with a bang, but with a whimper.Thanks to Dr. Jessica Hellmann for sharing this article with me.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-73884104375750720772009-08-04T14:47:00.002-05:002009-08-04T14:50:15.380-05:00

via Cephalopod Tea Party.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-33702165207960653682009-08-04T13:20:00.000-05:002009-08-04T13:21:05.291-05:00

The Fascination of Reptiles by Maurice Richardson is nowadays innaccurate and historical, at best.This book is a decent read for the only the most enthusiastic herpetologist.Reptiles is written from the author's personal experiences as a herp enthusiast, with a fond eye focused on all things reptilian. Species descriptions and anecdotal accounts of reptilian behavior swap places back and forth

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-20501691954567127732009-08-02T22:12:00.002-05:002009-08-02T22:14:37.743-05:00

More Bill Nye. This time he hops around like a frog and gets impassionate about the difference between reptiles and amphibians. Enjoy!

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-16251830642308523582009-08-02T21:55:00.001-05:002009-08-02T21:58:04.343-05:00

Niko's Nature, by Hans Kruuk, is the most impassionate biography I've read to date - regardless of the subject's occupation or importance.Kruuk sucessfully orchestrates compelling accounts of the life, personality, and famous research of the Maestro (Tinbergen's affectionate title bestowed by his graduate students).For those not in the know, Niko Tinbergen was one of the four men awarded a Nobel

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-50126882075092618472009-08-01T23:28:00.001-05:002009-08-01T23:28:37.993-05:00

My family took a trip to the Fort Worth Zoo just after school was out. Rather than drone on and on about a zoo many of you have never visited, I'll post some pictures. For larger images, click on the thumbnails.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-62193223264551651092009-08-01T22:41:00.001-05:002009-09-04T16:11:06.441-05:00

What I expected: A dry account of scientific literature on the title's namesake.What I got: Way more than that.Ecological Consequences of Artificial Night Lighting, edited by Catherine Rich and Travis Longcore, is one of the most readable, yet thorough, summaries of a specific topic within science writing that I have read to date. Beyond paraphrased accounts of the drastically-underappreciated

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-51578114195138360932009-07-30T23:01:00.003-05:002009-08-04T13:23:14.444-05:00

Be on the lookout for "wild reptile parties." Haha.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-31041837906204064102009-07-28T00:26:00.002-05:002009-09-04T16:11:17.810-05:00

"Vernal Pools: Natural History and Conservation" by Elizabeth A. Colburn is by far the most comprehensive and easy-to-understand account of the worlds's vernal pools.What are vernal pools, you ask? Vernal pools or ponds are seasonal pools of water characterized by completely drying up seasonally. Filling up with early spring rains, snow melt, or ground water, most vernal pools dry up with summer

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-44789513934893559342009-07-28T00:01:00.000-05:002009-07-28T00:27:31.569-05:00

Kuroshio Sea - 2nd largest aquarium tank in the world from Jon Rawlinson on Vimeo.Retrieved from: TGIF: Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Japan

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-76037152889363306412009-07-19T18:30:00.012-05:002009-09-04T16:10:34.269-05:00

Talk about things I'm thankful for...For the past 10 weeks of this summer, I've been trekking around night and day through the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center (UNDERC-East).My reason for making the 1,500-mile journey by train and van was a program aimed at training the ecological researchers of tomorrow. Five concentrated module weeks focus on Mammalogy and Ornithology (

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-51861134558309730462009-07-12T18:49:00.002-05:002009-09-04T16:10:17.935-05:00

Now for one of my favorite things about being a student at SU - anuran call survey research!What are anurans, you ask? Anurans are frogs, all in the order Anura. Toads, which are just specialized frogs, are also in this order.Along with SU student Giulia Giuffre, Dr. Pierce and I conducted NAAMP (North American Amphibian Monitoring Program) surveys at 40 sites in central Texas. Once a week, we

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-28380386478087392532009-07-12T18:15:00.000-05:002009-07-12T18:15:16.101-05:00

Field trip time!This past April, Dr. Romi Burks took those interested (mostly SU Animal Behavior Society folk) to see the Lake Waco Wetlands.After meeting up with a grad student working on the BEAR (Baylor Experimental Aquatic Research), Dr. Burks showed us first hand the invertebrate community living in a natural central Texas wetlands.Highlights of the trip were:1) Ecological learning

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-62574537411541927032009-07-12T17:29:00.001-05:002009-07-12T17:30:34.010-05:00

Sharing with you today some of the research I did in the past year.In coordination with Dr. Fay Guarraci's psychology research methods course, I helped run both a correlational experiment, "The Flirty Flirts: The Relationship between Proceptive Behaviors and Time Spent with a Male Rat," and a drug manipulation experiment, "Specific Effects of Morphine on Sexual Behavior in Female Rats."Dr.

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-35655731003083021792009-07-08T01:27:00.011-05:002009-07-09T13:17:42.082-05:00

In early March 2009, Dr. Kevin Woo took his animal behavior class and anyone interested to the Austin Zoo. What a great time!The premise for the field trip was to test constructed animal stimulation projects his class had constructed. Although I was not in his class, I joined in watching a black bear fiddle with their weave basket and various other assundry.My heartthrob order of animals,

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-53287791302180892872009-07-08T00:50:00.005-05:002009-07-08T01:19:50.612-05:00

You know the spiel.Charles Darwin sailed the seas aboard the HMS Beagle on an historic journey. The face of science was forever changed when he and Alfred Wallace independently developed their theories of evolution by natural selection. However, with the publication of 'Origin,' Darwin got the foot in the door necessary to inseparably tie his name with the theory of evolution.First things first:

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-71057177033657474922009-01-26T16:19:00.014-06:002009-07-22T21:29:52.812-05:00

The book Kicked, Bitten, and Scratched gets the point across hot off the press. Jobs in animal care are tough!The author, Amy Sutherland, gives an in-depth year long report of life at the affectionately titled EATM (Exotic Animal Training and Management Program). Sutherland, a successful reporter and author, has already published three well-received books and numerous articles appearing in the

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7927557532112567459.post-61481831692889315082009-01-17T00:42:00.009-06:002009-08-01T23:30:57.766-05:00

Just who am I, and why do I have a blog? Allow me to introduce myself.A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, rogue walls of text flew threw space. It was a happy time - a better time... perhaps. On August 15th of a certain year, several people were born. I happened to be one of these people. The expectations were intense from day one! Breathe! Speak! Tap R or L twice to do a barrel

Alex H.http://www.blogger.com/profile/12939896758410865404noreply@blogger.com0