The Aye-Aye, a Type of Lemur, Finds Food by ‘Warming’ his Finger

White-footed lepilemur (Lepilemur leucopus) in Madagascar. Photo by Rhett A. Butler Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2008/0225-madagascar.html#qiwp62fGKeCYeG85.99

Scientists recently discovered that the aye-aye, a type of lemur found on the island of Madagascar, has a special trick for finding food.

The aye-aye eats insects that live beneath the bark of trees. The aye-aye finds the insects by using his long middle finger to tap on the bark. Before he starts tapping, the aye-aye increase the energy flowing to its finger. As the finger heats up, it activates nerve endings that act like radar.

Madagascar is off the east coast of the African continent.Insects don’t stand a chance against an aye-aye’s warm finger.

Can you think of any other animals that find their food this way?

The answer is: none. The aye-aye is unique.

To learn more about the aye-aye and his special finger, read this mongabay.com story.

Leather Grown in a Lab is Coming, But Are You Going to Wear It?

Photo by Nata Sha/Shutterstock

Wearing a leather coat may be chic, but because of the animal slaughter involved, it’s a fashion no-no for a whole lot of people around the world.

But what if we told you that you could have your cake and eat it too? (Oops. Wrong metaphor.)

Let’s try that again: what if we told you that you could be both chic and environmentally conscious?

A US company called Modern Meadow is “growing” leather in a laboratory. The company says on its website that it has “invented a tissue engineering technique based on the 3D assembly of tissues driven by computer controlled processes.”

Think of a copying machine, then think about copies that are three-dimensional, and you have a rough idea of what tissue engineering is all about. (To learn more, read this Ecouterre article.)

Modern Meadow thinks it can have its lab leather ready for coats, belts, etc. in five years time, which raises the question: Would you buy a lab leather coat?

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Like Peacocks, Some Dinosaurs Used Their Tail Feathers to Attract a Mate

If you’re like us, your first reaction to the headline you just read is: “Say what?”

So let’s begin at the beginning:

There once was a group of dinosaurs called oviraptors. Not unlike modern-day birds, an oviraptor’s tail had had a rigged, blade-like tail structure called a pygostyle. (It’ll get more interesting in a moment.)

At least some oviraptors’ tails had feathers. According to new research by a University of Alberta (Canada) paleontologist, oviraptors used their feathery tails to attack mates the way peacocks do today.

You can find out more by reading this Science Daily story.

But after you’re finished reading, we bet your reaction will still be: “Say what?”

Need a Drink of Water? Ask a Namib Desert Beetle

Did you know that the air we breathe contains more than three quadrillion gallons of water, making it a huge and, until now, untapped source of H2O for a thirsty world?
Now that you do, look at our friend here. He’s a Namib Desert Beetle and, as the name suggests, he survives in very, very dry conditions.

Approximate boundaries of the Namib Desert on the African continent.The Namib Desert Beetle literally pulls water moisture out of the air thanks to his back, which has molecules that interact with air in a way that absorbs moisture from the air. 

A company called NBD has figured out how to do the same thing. It reportedly has created a water bottle that acts like the back of a Namib desert beetle. Just set it out and it fills up by itself. NBD hopes to start its self-filling water bottle in 2014.

To learn more, read and listen to an interview with NBD’s scientist-inventor, Deckard Sorensen.

 

Carbon Emissions ‘Dissolving’ Marine Creatures Known as Sea Butterflies

A scanning electron microscope of a sea butterfly with acute levels of shell dissolution. Photo by: Nina Bednarsek. Read more at http://news.mongabay.com/2012/1203-hance-ocean-acidification-dissolving-snails.html#1Ar4qst81Qd1yfjt.99

Last week we told you about climate change’s “evil twin,” ocean acidification.

Well, the evil twin has turned deadly.

Marine snails, or sea butterflies as they’re also called, are delicate creatures -- too delicate, we’re sorry to report, to withstand the growing amount of carbon emissions in ocean water.

According to a new study published in Nature GeoScience and reported on Mongabay.com and New Scientist’s website, sea butterflies literally are “dissolving” as their shells are eroded by the ever increasing amount of acid in the water.

New Scientists calls this the first evidence that man-made ocean acidifciation has already started harming marine life. “This is actually happening now,” the lead scientist on the study told New Scientist.

Fish, birds and even whales reportedly eat swarms of sea butterflies, which leads to the question: what happens to them if this bad thing keeps happening to the sea butterfly?

We have a question for you:

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