Worry Dog

"There are so many things to worry about - the mortgage, job security."
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Hypnotic Dog

"You are feeeeling sleepy, veeeery sleepy."
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Humans Wiped Out Australia's Megafauna

Humans destroy more things in the environment than climate change. This is especially the case in Australia where over the last 50,000 years people have wiped out the county's megafauna. Before Aboriginals arrived flightless birds, large reptiles and giant marsupials lived a carefree existence.

Humans slaughtered the large animals in a very short period of time. More accurate dating of bones shows that megafauna died out abruptly. When the giant creatures were in large numbers there is no evidence of human tools. After the Diprotodon, Australia's largest marsupial, large kangaroos and flightless birds died out stone tools appeared. Accurate dating shows they did not exist at the same time even though they were found together at certain locations. When humans became settled the large animals were gone. The odd thing is that humans and megafauna must have coexisted for at least 5,000 years. But this is a very narrow window to find evidence of both living side by side.

This gives weight to the theory that the arrival of modern Man in the Americas caused the demise of the mammoth. Though there is a problem with the American story. Megafauna "ruled" during the ice age which occurred 12,000 years ago. Its seems that when the ice ages ended life changed for the large animals. The climate was then well and truly against the survival of mammoths, short-faced bears, giant bison and sabor-toothed tigers. Some megafauna, however, continued to survive in Kansas, and Nebraska after the ice age period. The skeleton of a giant beaver has been found dating from 10,000 years ago. So Man could still be the culprit.
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Cat Going Out

"They are always going out without me. So this time I'm ready."
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Singing Pets

"We sing for our supper. Lah, luh, lah, luh, lah."
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Fish Are Intelligent and Can Remember

For years scientists told us what we wanted to believe - that fish have short memories in line with one lap of the fish bowl. Now the truth has got out. They are intelligent creatures who can learn to do things and can even deceive other animals. Once attacked, if they escape, they remember which predator tried to kill them. Unlike humans, however, there is a cost when they use they intelligence. If they are given one fish for food they are very efficient in catching it, but if given two types of prey they apparently become confused and their effectiveness declines.

Fish interact in a social way. They recognize familiar others and modify their behavior accordingly. Siamese fighting fish will take advantage of a weak fighter by observing fish fights and readily attacking the weaker fish. Fish that clean others act busy when potential "customers' are watching. In a way they advertise.

The myth about fish having no memory or even intelligence is most likely promulgated to justify fishing, when fishermen say it is alright to jab in a hook or gut a fish because they don't feel any pain.

An example of fish learning occurred when Professor Charles Erikson fed fish after calling to them by saying "fish-fish". When he returned five years later he called to them and some fish came to the surface expecting food. Other examples include trigger fish which use tools to trick prey that hunt them, and frillfin which jump back into rock pools to avoid birds.
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Mop Head Duck

"Stop calling me mop head."
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Fossil Find Throws Light on an Ancient Whale

A fossil find in Victoria, Australia, throws light on the origin of baleen whales. The artifact is 25 million years old. It is the 45 cm long skull of Mammalodon colliveri. Information about it has remained open since its discovery in 1932.

Though it had teeth it spent its time sucking mud in the search for prey on the seafloor. A short, blunt snout made this possible. This type of feeding led to the filter method of modern whales. The baleen whale was only three meters long, a far cry from the monsters that followed. Its ancestors though were also very large.

Other fossils have been found in Torquay, Victoria, notably Janjucetus hunderi which was unique to the area. This region is believed to be the cradle of tiny whales. Some form of isolation must have occurred for this to happen.


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