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Dialogue Magazine » Zoology
Koala Bears: The World’s Favorite Teddy Bear
One of the most popular mammals is the lovable and cuddly koala. Its appearance has given rise to calling them bears, often teddy bears and, although they are not bears but rather marsupials, the name has stuck. Their fluffy ears, large spoon-shaped nose, round body and bright button eyes make them appealing to everyone. Read the rest of this entry »
Seahorse Origin Baffles Evolutionists
A seahorse (family Syngnathidae, genus Hippocampus meaning “horse sea monster”) is like no other animal on earth. It is the only fish that swims upright. It is not just a fish that travels on its tightly curled tail, but its whole body is designed around how it swims. For example, its elaborate balancing mechanism uses an air bubble inside of a specially designed swim bladder to maintain upright posture. Read the rest of this entry »
Platypus: Sensational Swimmers
Nature is so full of wonderful creatures that it must be hard to focus on one for special study. However in recent years, a strange assortment of animals have enjoyed a brief moment of scientific attention. In each case the occasion for this special fame was the publication of the genome of that organism. The genome consists of details concerning the DNA molecules in each cell of the organism. DNA, or the genetic information, is made up of four special molecules (called nucleotides) strung together. It is the order of the nucleotides, like beads on a string, which determines the information content of the DNA for each particular organism. Read the rest of this entry »
Pandas: a Major Problem for Evolution
The giant panda, one of the most popular and lovable zoo animals, is in the top ten of animal favourites. Called a super large teddy-bear, the panda has appeared as toys and dolls, on calendars, and thousands of other items. Reasons why it is so popular include its cute baby bear face, its cuddly soft roundness, and its clumsy playfulness. It was called a white bear for years because it has black fur on its legs, ears and around its eyes on an otherwise white body. Read the rest of this entry »
Monarch Butterflies: Special Orienteers!
Every September, hundreds of thousands of Ontario butterflies converge on Point Pelee, a long peninsula which projects south into one of the Great Lakes. Then away they flutter, across the water and far beyond. Thus begins the amazing mass migration of an insect which unerringly navigates 4000 kilometers to a site where these individuals have never been. The Monarch butterfly, it turns out, is an astounding phenomenon. Read the rest of this entry »
Nature’s Amazing Wonder: The Gecko
The gecko, famous in some circles in car insurance commercials, is a very unique but average sized lizard. It is well known among biologists for its chirping vocalizations and its sophisticated adhesive toe pads that allow it to climb with ease up smooth vertical surfaces. Actually, the gecko’s ability to run vertically up and down at will has astonished almost everyone who has ever seen them, from Aristotle in the 4th century BC to today. Read the rest of this entry »
Why snakes are the way they are
How’d you like to live the life of a snake? For one thing, you’d find getting around much different without arms and legs. But then dust would be a big part of your diet. Blah! Scientists have learned that snakes use their forked tongues for tasting and smelling. Even with its mouth closed, a snake can stick out its tongue; an amazing feat indeed. These slithering reptiles smell their prey by picking up scents from the air and from dust on the ground in order to find their next meal. The tongue then carries these particles to a specialized organ located on the roof of the mouth, called the Jacobson’s organ. This sense organ performs a chemical analysis of the ingested particles. Think of the salivating smells from some fine cooking. A snake bites the dust of the ground not so much for nutrition but for smelling his way to his next meal. Read the rest of this entry »
Hibernation on Demand
Hibernation on Demand? Here is a question that has baffled me for quite some time. How could eight people on the ark look after so many animals? Consider this: Noah and his three sons had to look after all these animals for 53 weeks while living in the ark. Read the rest of this entry »
Animal Travel Plans
Since the advent of global positioning satellites, or at least since their availability to civilians, scientists have found many uses for these devices. One of the more interesting applications is to track animals, as in the “fish with chips” program. This is a multimillion dollar Census of Marine Life project. In conjunction with this program, thousands of marine animals in the Pacific Ocean, including many fish, have been fitted with electronic surveillance tags. Read the rest of this entry »
Box Jellyfish: Not Dainty Delights
Among living creatures, it does not take a specialist to realize that jellyfish are not dainty delights of the deep. Although they may be beautiful in appearance, jellyfish are successful predators. Read the rest of this entry »
Eerie Reflections
It was just a matter of time, of course, following the discovery of geckos’ amazing ability to stick to smooth surfaces by means of molecular forces (see Let’s Learn from the Best), that another such animal would be discovered. One might have expected that the next discovery would be in another reptile, similar to the gecko. Imagine our surprise, then when we heard that the second example is nothing like the first. An article published last year in the Journal of Experimental Biology reveals that such a phenomenon has been discovered in a jumping spider (Evarcha aracuata) commonly found in Europe. While many creatures such as flies use an adhesive fluid (ugh) to stick themselves to surfaces, these jumping spiders use ‘dry adhesion’ like the geckos. Read the rest of this entry »
Not Junk After All
Imagine that you found a hockey card. The pictured individual looks just like most other hockey players but you don’t recognize the name. It doesn’t look that exciting does it? You might be tempted to throw the card in the nearest garbage can. Your friend however advises caution. Why not investigate the value of the card? Suppose for the sake of argument that your card turns out to be extremely rare and worth a lot of money. Suddenly, what previously looked like junk, has now become a wonderful possession. The card has not changed, but your appreciation of what the card represents, has changed drastically. Such situations sometimes occur in real life. Not all of these instances involve things, some involve living creatures. Read the rest of this entry »
Let’s Learn from the Best
We might suppose our technology is first class. With computers, satellites and precision devices, our society happily adapts to ever more sophisticated machines. Each achievement provides the platform for new uses of technology and further inventions. Rather than giving thanks for these insights, all too often we pride ourselves for our knowledge. Read the rest of this entry »
Much Music
Truly there are few things as thrilling as beautiful music. Was it not Shakespeare who wrote “If music be the food of love, play on!” Indeed music not only fosters romance, but it can also make us laugh, or cry, or move with the rhythm, or all of the above at once. There are few things which play on our emotions the way music does. Music however is not a gift unique to people. There are other created creatures with wonderful musical talents. Consider the songbirds for example. Read the rest of this entry »
Home Sweet Home
Several years ago I tried my hand at bird’s nest building. It wasn’t actually my idea to do this. As mother helper of the day, it was my job to assist the kindergarten class in their various projects. One of these was the nest building. We were provided with grass, feathers, wet mud and so one. What we didn’t have was know-how. One person held grass in a rough circle while another tried to daub on wet mud. What a mess we made! One thing we did learn was a profound respect for birds. How do they manage with only beaks, feet and wings? The birds obviously know what they are doing. Who told the birds how, what, where and when to build their nests? This is a very good question. Read the rest of this entry »
