Andrew Bleiman's Blog

In just a few days, my good friend and fellow Zooillogix blogger, Julia, will leave the safety of Chicago for the violent, pineapple-strewn streets of Honolulu for a new job. Here are some things you should know about Julia: #1 - She is the best kickball player in the Midwest. #2 - She has a margay tattoo across most of her torso and Ernst Haeckel tattoos on her arms. #3 - Despite her PhD meets Sons of Anarchy bodywork, she is one of the sweetest people I know.

Among other activities, I have greatly appreciated her company for beer drinking, music listening, encasing wild mushrooms in clear resin (unsuccessfully), inadvertandltly inhaling resin fumes, introducing me to interesting zoo people, introducing me to people with beards in general, and fighting street thugs while in costume.

So long story short, let's introduce Julia to some of you (not the creepy ones) or your friends (not the creepy ones) that live in Hawaii. If you have someone to recommend, please send me an email at ableiman at gmail.com. I will be screening suggestions for creepiness and forwarding along only those folks least likely to murder Julia.

In summary, if you A - Live in Hawaii or know someone who does, B - Don't want to murder Julia or keep her in your basement (do they even have basements in Hawaii?), and C - Like long walks on the beach + beer... then please get in touch.

In just a few days, my good friend and fellow Zooillogix blogger, Julia, will leave the safety of Chicago for the violent, pineapple-strewn streets of Honolulu for a new job. Here are some things you should know about Julia: #1 – She is the best kickball player in the Midwest. #2 – She has a margay tattoo across most of her torso and Ernst Haeckel tattoos on her arms. #3 – Despite her PhD meets Sons of Anarchy bodywork, she is one of the sweetest people I know.

Among other activities, I have greatly appreciated her company for beer drinking, music listening, encasing wild mushrooms in clear resin (unsuccessfully), inadvertandltly inhaling resin fumes, introducing me to interesting zoo people, introducing me to people with beards in general, and fighting street thugs while in costume.

So long story short, let’s introduce Julia to some of you (not the creepy ones) or your friends (not the creepy ones) that live in Hawaii. If you have someone to recommend, please send me an email at ableiman at gmail.com. I will be screening suggestions for creepiness and forwarding along only those folks least likely to murder Julia.

In summary, if you A – Live in Hawaii or know someone who does, B – Don’t want to murder Julia or keep her in your basement (do they even have basements in Hawaii?), and C – Like long walks on the beach + beer… then please get in touch.

New YouTube research definitively proves that turtle society is highly altruistic and that Disney's heretofore refusal to make a movie about them is racism, pure and simple.

New YouTube research definitively proves that turtle society is highly altruistic and that Disney’s heretofore refusal to make a movie about them is racism, pure and simple.

We here at Zooillogix balked at the idea of 'Zombie day' on ScienceBlogs (and secretly loved it, too). What better example than the animal world to show TRUE zombie-ism at its best?

Parasites.

Need I even say more? We've posted and posted again and posted another time about zombies before this day of celebration. But in honor of the day, we have found a few more interesting parasite zombie stories to share with your children when they are misbehaving.

We here at Zooillogix balked at the idea of ‘Zombie day’ on ScienceBlogs (and secretly loved it, too). What better example than the animal world to show TRUE zombie-ism at its best?

Parasites.

Need I even say more? We’ve posted and posted again and posted another time about zombies before this day of celebration. But in honor of the day, we have found a few more interesting parasite zombie stories to share with your children when they are misbehaving.



Pillbugs. Potato bugs. Rolly pollies. Don’t we all remember these little innocuous guys? But did you know they could be zombified?! The acanthocephalon (Plagiorhynchus cylindraceus) is a parasite that lives in the intestinal tract of starlings. That’s right- birds. They don’t cause any harm to the bird; they just use its gut as an SRO. A self-cleaning SRO that flushes the parasite eggs out with the bird’s feces.

Pillbugs love them some feces. When they happen upon a pile of steaming yumminess, they strap on their bibs and feast. Now inside the pillbug, the parasite egg hatches and quickly takes control. While all its natural instincts would be to stay in dark shelter, the zombified pillbug sets out on a suicidal journey, making itself easily visible to predators. Predators such as starlings. Zombifying parasites are wicked smart!

Let’s take another example. The sweet little snail. Who wants to victimize a snail besides small boys with canisters of salt? How about the flatworm, Leucochloridium paradoxum? This flatworm, like P. cylindraceus, needs a bird to complete its life cycle. The larvae of the worm are excreted in bird feces, which are a delicacy to pillbugs and snails alike. Inside the snail, the larvae develop into sporocysts, which grow into long structures called broodsacs. These broodsacs then invade the antennae of the snail, transforming the once thin eye-stalks into swollen, colorful, pulsating grub-like appendages. To add insult to injury (or salt to the wound, I suppose), this transformation results in a reduced sensitivity to light, causing the snail to wonder about in plain view of avian predators. (On a side note, the meth test on these snails produced entirely different results.)

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you exhibit A….

Would you like one more? Wasps of the genus Glyptapanteles enslave caterpillars to not only be a host for their growing eggs, but to be a body guard for them while they are in cocoon! The wasp injects the unsuspecting caterpillar with its eggs, which then hatch and dine on caterpillar guts. Once they have fully developed, they eat their way through the caterpillar’s skin, attach to a nearby branch, and spin themselves a cocoon.

You’d think it’d be lights out for the poor caterpillar, now missing some guts and skin. But the wasp isn’t done using it, yet. Once the larvae have exited and formed cocoons, the caterpillar sticks around, standing guard over the vulnerable larvae. It forgoes any semblance of regular activity, even giving up eating, in order to ensure would-be predators are not able to get to the cocoons. Eventually, the larvae hatch and the caterpillar finally gives up the ghost. Scientists aren’t entirely sure how the wasp manages this mind control, but zombifiers across the globe could learn a lesson or two from it. Check out this video…

And with that, Zooillogix wraps up our participation in Zombie Day. Keep the challenges coming, ScienceBlogs! We love it!

Try this quiz. Pick out the titles of actual published scientific articles versus ones generated by a mad-libs-style algorithm....

Post your scores for bragging rights.

In case you need some cheering up after being squashed by this test of your mental acumen, check out these cuties at ZooBorns...

[image error]

Try this quiz. Pick out the titles of actual published scientific articles versus ones generated by a mad-libs-style algorithm….

Post your scores for bragging rights.

In case you need some cheering up after being squashed by this test of your mental acumen, check out these cuties at ZooBorns…

[image error]

In this nightmarish time lapse video, a gentle spider crab is internally consumed by a terrifying angry red spider crab who then dispenses of the empty husk of its former host.



... or maybe its just molting

Thanks to our Asian friend Kangatron for sharing.

In this nightmarish time lapse video, a gentle spider crab is internally consumed by a terrifying angry red spider crab who then dispenses of the empty husk of its former host.



… or maybe its just molting

Thanks to our Asian friend Kangatron for sharing.