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Meet the common coquí
I am once again traveling (so this post may also be a little short)! This week I am in San Juan, Puerto Rico. And let me tell you, it is absolutely lovely. One of my favorite parts so far has been getting the chance to see new wildlife. Because Puerto Rico is an island, there…
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Meet the Florida scrub-jay
I’m in Florida this week for vacation, so this post will be a bit shorter. But I wanted to take the time to introduce you all to the Florida scrub-jay! I’m very excited about this bird. Why, you might ask? Well, the Florida scrub-jay is one of only 15 bird species endemic to the United…
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Meet the sea cucumbers
I was talking to my friend, wondering who I should write about this week. She told me I should write about sea cucumbers. I’ll admit, I was skeptical starting out. But friends, these animals are WILD. Some simple facts to start with. There are over 1,000 species of sea cucumbers. They live on the sea…
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Meet the hooded pitohui
This week’s animal comes courtesy of one of my old lab mates. I was chatting with her about science when she mentioned hearing about a poisonous bird. My reaction: what??? A poisonous bird???? I need to know more! It is with great pleasure that I introduce you to said poisonous bird, the pitohui. The name…
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Meet the European mink
Do you remember the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. I know, it’s hard to forget. But think hard. Do you remember when there was a big outcry about Covid-19 and mink farms? If you can’t recall, basically there was an outbreak of Covid-19 jumping from humans to mink and back to humans again. So Denmark…
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Meet the wandering albatross
Have you ever heard the saying, “there’s an albatross around your neck”? It’s a phrase that comes from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. It’s a long poem (~77 pages, would take the average reader ~28 minutes to read). But the TL:DR version is that a sailor killed an albatross that…
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The case for indoor cats
Today is a very important day: my cat’s birthday! Ori is turning 4 years old today. He’s a sweet black cat that my boyfriend and I have had since August 2021 and honestly, I don’t know how I lived without him. Cute things about Ori: He’s missing his canines on the right side of his…
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Meet the green turtle
This past October, I went to the New England Aquarium in Boston for the first time with some visiting friends. You should go if you’ve never been; it’s a solid aquarium! One of the coolest parts was this giant tank in the center. We’re talking four stories tall. 40 feet wide. 200,000 gallons of salt…
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Meet the central rock rat
As you may know, I studied rodents in during my PhD work. While I specifically studied prairie voles, I did some field work that exposed me to other rodents (i.e., rats, mice, shrews, etc.). So I thought I had a good handle on the types of rodents out there. But guess what? I just found…
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Meet the flamingo
I’ll admit, I had trouble deciding what animal to tell you about this week. Since its New Year’s Eve, I knew I wanted one that symbolized a new year and a new start. My head immediately went to the phoenix, the mythical bird that bursts into flame upon its death only to be reborn from…