Swallowtails

Last week I observed an interesting behavior in swallowtail butterflies. I know very little about insects so it is possible what I observed is very common. There was a dead butterfly in the road and upwards of 8 butterflies were flying around it in a way that can be interpreted as mourning. There was one individual in particular who stayed near the dead swallowtail. It circled around the lifeless wings, seemed to nudge it once or twice, flew around it(never going more than a foot away) and repeated the whole process again. The images are of this individual with the dead butterfly and another flying around it(top) and of the individual on one of its flights around its dead companion(bottom). There was no aggressive behavior observed.

Once Upon a Pine...

I found a raccoon! Last Monday my dog and I went on a walk to a waterfall so that I could take some photographs. Afterward I decided to continue along the old dirt road into less traversed land up in the mountains. By chance I looked up and discovered this raccoon lounging on a branch in the afternoon heat. It was barely perturbed by our presence but it did give us a look as if to say 'please don't make me move.' Maybe that's anthropomorphic but I think scientists need to stop being so pretentious because everything is how we interpret it. The only reason scientists are generally disinclined to interpret animal behavior the way they interpret human behavior is because it scares them to consider that the animals they do tests on may not be as different as themselves as they would hope. Being ignorant of contradictions to one's morality is the same as being amoral. I'd argue that in order to be as accurate as possible observations must be made in the manner most easily related. Anything else is censorship regardless of how unconsciously it is done.

Three

Just a few pages from a book I wrote from a bird's perspective. The book also reflected on how humans impact this world. The story behind the deer, observed by the birds in the woods, leans towards the opinion that human involvement is almost a tragedy. The bird on the left, the endangered bobolink, is more confused and slightly bitter. The robin is unaffected by humans and goes about its day with not a care in the world. There is always food and habitat for robins.

Studies of Canine Anatomy

These studies were done roughly a year ago and were meant as an exploration of the canine form. There's the external anatomy of the paws(top) that were drawn after the close examination of the (left) front leg's bone structure(bottom) as well as a simple study of the skull(right). This artwork is mine, so duplicate and die. Glad we have an understanding.

c fern

Alright, time for some of those promised pretty pictures. Observations of the Polka Dot mutant and wildtype gametophytes of the aquatic C. ferns. These grew into a handful of little plants still developing in a coke bottle terrarium. As I am very fond of my photos please do not copy and paste them and call them your own. Cool. Thanks.

At the top is a hermaphroditic gametophyte. It is a polka dot mutant because the chloroplasts can clearly be seen clumping around the edges of the cells giving them a silvery, clear appearance.
In the middle is a close up of a mutant. The individual cells are more easily seen. The green dots around their edges are the chloroplasts.
At the bottom are two wild type gametophytes. A male gametophyte covered in antheridia is on the left. On the right is the larger hermaphrodite with both antheridia and archegonia.

Spring 2010 Research

No the text does not come separately. Essentially we found that within the length of our experiment birds were unable to associate palatability of a prey to an auditory cue. We looked at mimicry in avian prey and designed an experiment expanding upon the typical visual warning coloration. We used the same colored bait only occasionally it was mixed with distasteful quinine. We went out every morning and afternoon for two months and observed wild birds as they chose baits. We remained there, rain or shine (more often snow), until at least half of the baits were gone or until an hour had passed. We started thinking we could go out three times a day starting at 7am but that just didn't work. We switched our times to 8am and 4pm. We observed random behaviors in the birds which though interesting, were irrelevant to our experiment- which took three or more attempts to complete. We used a trilling bell-like noise as our sound cue. We began at the beginning of February, so yes, often it was very cold,though that was occasionally useful on the first early mornings.

N.Y.O.S.

Dear Viewer,
This blog was created as a way to compile photographs, artwork, and research related to biology. It is meant to be accessible to any individual but hopes to lean towards more professional work. This means that yes, there will be pretty pictures, but there will also be large, unnecessary words that every biologist strives to use as a way of confusing English majors. Also, no humor will be allowed. Ever. And no sarcasm of any type. Occasionally, I predict, there will be controlled rants but they will be censored dutifully so as not to alarm anyone. Because obviously we don't want that. Again the will be NO SARCASM. None. That is all dear viewer. Don't steal. Don't judge. Don't leave without learning anything- even if that's just learning that this blog is terrible.
I suppose I should also mention the reasoning behind the name of this blog. Despite my multimedia involvement I'm 'not your ordinary scientist' because my mind is more similar to the mind of a white tailed deer or bobcat than to the mind of a human. In other words I have the animal perspective. I consider the subject or research as an individual. I do not think it degrades from my observations. Because I also like to make specific case studies of people I think I've developed the ability to separate the individual personality from the object of study.
For now, that is all.
Your Wild and Unruly,
Black Cat Shining