Nerdy Science Blog

The giraffe (Giraffa camilopardalis) is the tallest land animal in the world. Interestingly, it is also one of few animals which require minimal amounts of sleep (average 1.9 hours of total sleep time a day, compared to 7.75 hours for a human according to sources for BBC). Scientists have observed that giraffes sleep in short naps at nights, and usually sleep while standing (an ability shared by other ungulates, or hoofed animals). They rest their long necks on their hind legs, thus arching their long necks over their backs. They may also rest with their necks down at nights. When entering the phase of REM sleep (Rapid Eye Movement), giraffes must lie down on the ground (in a state of recumbency) to prevent from collapsing, as REM sleep causes muscular atony.
The sleeping behavior of eight giraffes in captivity at a zoo was observed for 152 nights by by Tobler and Schwierin (2003), and it was found that their timing for sleep is fragmented. The giraffes slept in intervals of 6 – 35 minutes, with older giraffes sleeping more while standing than lying down. If they had napped in the day, the giraffes showed an increase in sleeping while standing at nights. Their main sleeping hours were between 2000 and 0700 hours. Their daily total sleeping times were also quite constant, and not dependent on the age of the giraffes.
References:
Tobler, I. and Schwierin, B. (2003). Behavioural sleep in the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis) in a zoological garden. Journal of Sleep Research, 5 (1): 21 – 32.

“Grrrrrrr~ Ain’t you horny?”  This is how male cheetah turns on female cheetah, in a language human beings like us won’t understand.

Although we can’t understand their seductive language, scientists have observed that specific bark from male cheetahs triggers female cheetahs’ reproductive system to ovulate.  Unlike their cat cousins, female cheetahs don’t have a regular reproductive cycle.  A team of bioacoustics experts noticed that male’s falter bark may boost the reproduction of cheetahs.  The barks raised the reproductive hormones estrogen and progesterone responsible for ovulation in the female cheetahs.

An ecologist at the San Diego Wild Animal Park, Fred Berkovitch said that this finding show that ‘telephone sex evolved before telephones’.  This old telephone sex technique can be exploited and increase the breeding of the rare endangered cats.

(news [you can click in to listen to the stutter barks])

Baby baboon, “Daddy, can we have banana for dinner?”

Daddy baboon, “No!  We’ll be having mash banana for dinner.”

Baby baboon, “But we’re having mash banana for dinner since you’re the king.”

Daddy baboon, “I said MASH BANANAAAAA!”

A report published in the November 20th issue of Current Biology shows that baboons are loyal animal who follow what their leader tell them, for example, where to eat and what to eat.  This study is done by researchers of Zoological Society of London, which includes Andrew J. King, Caitlin M.S. Douglas, Elise Huchard, Nick J.B. Isaac, and Guy Cowlishaw.  The findings show that this can provide a lowest cost (in this case, food) compared to the ‘democratic’ in short-term.  The followers can also gain long-term benefits, such as reduced risk of being eaten by predators.  This study also helps us understand how a group makes decisions, how leaders emerge, and the psychology of followers.

(news [pic])

ScienceDaily:

Asteroid impacts or massive volcanic flows might have occurred around the time dinosaurs became extinct, but a new arguemet is that the mightiest creatures the world has ever known may have been brought down by a tiny, much less dramatic force — biting, disease-carrying insects.

I watched Alien VS. Predator 2 last night. Honestly, AVP2 sucks. Whole movie is about some dumb alien who only know how to oral sex to have more oral-sex-addicted offsprings, and they can’t even control their salivary gland.

I’m a panda fan, and I’ve lots of panda related lame jokes. Here’s the development of a new born panda. Life is amazing, panda is cute.

From…

To…

and when it’s old…

(link [pic])

Received an email from PK Tan, editor in chief for Malaysia Travel Guide, hoping more people are aware of the wildlife conservation.

• 14% of Malaysia’s mammals are listed by The World Conservation Union (IUCN) as endangered
  30 species of turtle ever discovered, only 7 are left.
• Less than 1,500 Borneo Pygmy elephants are found in the world.
• It is estimated that there are less than 20 Sumatran rhinoceros left in Borneo.
• The Bornean species of orangutan is highly endangered, and the Sumatran species is critically endangered, according to the IUCN Red List of mammals, and both are listed on Appendix I of CITES.

How can you help?

• On the 1st Jan 2008: Blog / Write a post that relates to the Malaysia wildlife conservation. It can be to do with your usual topic or totally just about a Malaysia wildlife conservation issue.
• Inform other people about this campaign and explaining it in terms they understand.
• Support the campaign: Add our banner to your site and spread the word.

I will be writing one post on both my personal blog and this blog to support this campaign. Hope you all can participate in this campaign as well. We can’t re-educate people, but we can make people aware of this issue through mouth spreading.

Visit: Malaysia Wildlife Conservation Awareness Campaign

Youzi witnessed macaque raped a cat (poor cat). The monkey must be desperate. Today I read this piece of news revealing why monkeys shout during sex.

Female monkeys may shout during sex to help their male partners climax, research now reveals.

Without these yells, male Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus) almost never ejaculated, scientists found.

I guess maybe the macaque youzi saw just need cats’ high pitch miaws to help it to reach the climax.

Research also revealed that female monkey only shouts when they’re at the most fertile stage.

When I was at China Airport, I saw this box of chocolate, “China Panda Chocolate”. This triggered my imagination, whether it’s made of the panda itself, or its poop.

Vanessa Hull, 25, a Ph.D. candidate, is in the snowy, remote mountains of the Sichuan Province of China — which also is the heart of panda habitat. She’s hoping to capture, collar and track up to four wild pandas using advanced global positioning systems.

Coincidently, I saw this piece of news.

By the way, that box of chocolate ain’t cheap. It costs at least RMB 100. Its taste is bad too.

Just read this news:

By tweaking genes to disable certain functions of the olfactory bulb — the area of the brain that receives information about smells directly from olfactory receptors in the nose — the researchers were able to create a “fearless” mouse that does not try to flee when it smells cats, foxes and other predators.

Maybe cats can also be modified not to ‘hate’ mouse too. I always think that if science and technology is not used for the right purpose, it can bring disastrous results to earthlings. Maybe this finding of ‘fearless’ gene will be used to create fearless spies and armies.

Note: the gene is just making the mouse not to fear of the scent of cats, we don’t fear things by the scent TV programmes give out.

(link)

EARTHLINGS is a feature length documentary about humanity’s absolute dependence on animals (for pets, food, clothing, entertainment, and … all » scientific research) but also illustrates our complete disrespect for these so-called “non-human providers.” The film is narrated by Academy Award nominee Joaquin Phoenix (GLADIATOR) and features music by the critically acclaimed platinum artist Moby.

I think everyone ought to watch this documentary. After watching it, I had stopped eating meats for a week long (just simply horrified by the video). Everytime I smell something fishy in pork, my mind just flashback to the pig farm in the video, that’s so disturbing. I had dissect animals, I had seen real life operation, those don’t freak me out. This video, just freaking disgusting. I’m disgusted by how those people act in the video (though not every meat farm are acting like that). The part that upset me the most is some dude just throw a healthy living dog into the truck and crushed it to death.

After watching the video, I wondered are those meats Americans’ daily meats supply? Are those meats leading to Americans’ obesity? Are those meats the contributors to the dysfunction of many Americans’ brains and making them ignorant?