From bears slumbering through the winter in their dens to frogs sinking into muddy tombs of suspended animation, a wide spectrum of animals resort to hibernation to survive until spring. Just a mention of hibernation conjures images of snow-blanketed forests and ice-covered ponds, with animals hiding out from barren, dormant wintry landscapes. A group of small tropical primates is breaking the trend, however—recent research demonstrates that several dwarf lemurs in Madagascar undergo seasonal hibernation periods for up to eight months... Read more

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The contagious cancer currently ripping through Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) populations has captivated public attention and imagination. The reasons for this are understandable. First, in a world where cancer kills 7.6 million people every year, just the idea of tumor cells that can be passed along between individuals like a cold or flu is a horrific notion to contemplate—a concept straight out of a cheap thriller novel. Also, the irascible Tasmanian devil has a sort of anti-charisma—fearsome temper, frightening countenance... Read more

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Mesopredator release—the increase in abundance and/or density of small predators when large predator populations decline (Soulé et al. 1988)—is a core concept underlying my own PhD research in Kenya. Although there is solid evidence for mesopredator release effects in a wide variety of circumstances around the globe—from the increases in red fox populations following lynx declines in Sweden (Helldin et al. 2006) to the proliferation of cownose rays as a result of the decimation of shark populations in the Atlantic... Read more

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Charismatic animals are capable of stirring up strong emotional responses amongst the general public, and (hopefully) inspire people to take wildlife conservation seriously. These are your pandas, your tigers, your elephants, your gorillas, your baby seals—the “cover girls” of conservation. Fundraisers often laud these animals as “flagship species,” while advocates for less photogenic organisms lament that they distract people from more ecologically-based conservation issues. For example, far less media attention is granted to less glamorous organisms and processes that are... Read more

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In case you’re wondering why this blog has been a bit quiet, I am currently in Kenya conducting the first data collection session of my PhD. My research focuses on the effects of rainfall on mesopredator release responses, and so far things are going very well. The majority of what I’m doing right now is live-trapping mesopredators—in this case the cast of characters includes genets, several species of mongoose (dwarf, slender, and white-tailed), and black-backed jackals. For a discussion of... Read more

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Extreme adaptations seem to serve as canvases upon which people paint their various pet theories about evolution. The origin of the giraffe’s nearly two-meter long neck has long served as fodder for “just-so” stories, and has been featured in everything from Rudyard Kipling’s tales as a metaphor for self-improvement to countless biology textbooks as the default illustration for Lamarck’s theory of evolution via inheritance of acquired characteristics. Amongst the speculation as to why any reasonable species would develop such an... Read more

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