This is a bizarre story that can make one wonder about the sanity of researchers, but at the same time it’s interesting.

Bees will apparently form a bee ball around hornets in order to kill them. How?
a) It heats them up and
b) It increases the carbon dioxide until said hornet is dead.

To research this there was taping of hornets in spots that would get them killed, then measuring the heat and carbon dioxide levels inside the bee balls.

1) A spider that builds life size decoys of itself. Click through for the photo. It’s a little creepy as the face looks human like to me.

2) A deer that hides underwater when confronted. For up to 5 minutes at a time. Again, click through for a photo.

I don’t have fish in a tank and can barely keep a spider plant alive, but here is an article suggesting that if you do have fish in a tank, you need a school of your different kinds vs singles in order to keep them the happiest and stress free.

As Dr Katherine Sloman from the University of Plymouth explains ‘fish kept alone or in pairs show higher levels of aggression than those kept in groups of ten or more; large groups are also more likely to exhibit natural behaviours such as shoaling’.

At least for neon tetras and white cloud mountain minnows.
It makes sense to me.

Can you imagine??

Wow.

Apparently a number of pods grouped up for greater benefit as a big “bait ball” of fish came through.

I’m just now reading In Defense of Dolphins and 1500 is not mentioned as a normal sized group!

A couple things on this front today.

1) Chimpanzees can learn from watching videos. Look out world – unlike cats, these guyshave hands too!
Click on through for a little video yourself!

2) Honey bees when they switch “jobs” after aging can keep their brains young and even more agile.
This is good to know as I decided this morning to attempt re-doing the counter top in my kitchen myself vs hiring a professional. I want to learn how!

It can’t be helped. We are human and we will see things in human terms.

What I don’t get is why scientists don’t a) work to overcome this problem or b) get multiple opinions on potentially humanlike behavior so that you can at least have some perspective.

I bring this up because today there is another story out about an animal, the great white shark, and how it acts like a “bad” human. Vs a normal human.

First there was a couple of studies going around about female simians “prostituting themselves” by putting out for those males who were nice. Yes, “prostituting” themselves vs choosing nice mates. Oh brother.

Today we get the great white who chooses a spot from which to search out his kill. Like “serial killers” do.

Great white sharks do not aimlessly wander the ocean waiting to stumble upon their next meal.
Instead, the biggest sharks identify a location from which to strike, and then search the surrounding killing zone for their next victim.
That suggests that the sharks use a premeditated hunting strategy akin to that used by some human serial killers.

Puleasse.
This is what hunters do Mr/Ms scientist! You find a good spot, you stake it out and you look for your target from there. It’s hunting.

It’s not serial killing!!!!

Learning by example in fish.

There’s a reason there is all those schools of fish, right?

This ability of picking the best quality food patch by comparing how successful others are at getting food from it against their personal experience has not been shown before in animals, say the scientists.

These kinds of studies always make me laugh.

Why? Because instead of a “study” all they need do is ask people who work with animals.

This, from the United Egg Producers, is laugh out loud funny in a crying way. Here’s a snippet.

We care about the health and welfare of our hens. We want them to be well-cared for, with plenty of
nutritious food, clean water, fresh air, light, and room to stretch their wings, walk around, and lie down.
We also want to protect them from their natural predators like fox, hawks, coyotes, and even stray cats and
dogs; and we want to make sure they are protected from the weather … snow and ice in the winter, searing
heat in the summer and thunderstorms and hail almost any time of the year.

And that my friends is why we like to put them in safe/clean cages with three of their best friends so that when they lay eggs, the eggs are healthy and not disease ridden and the hens themselves are safe and happy.

See…just look at our cartoons!

Then maybe you’ll want to read about our cages!

(ht A Thinking Reed)

This was an interesting article about how predators will ignore prey that is peculiar.

Because they’re weird and they’re not sure how they’ll taste?
Or because they’re not actually recognized as the food source?

Either way it keeps genetics interesting!

And will keep these guys alive! (link to top 10 mutant animals)