Tag: invertebrate
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Meet the hermit crab
My partner and I are in the process of buying a house. It is not fun. So, this week, we’re escaping to the world of an animal that always has its house with it: the hermit crab. A widespread species for aquarium tide pool exhibits, there are over 800 species of hermit crabs worldwide. The…
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Meet some Daphnia
I’ve been collaborating with another scientist to finish up some of my graduate school work. However, unlike me, he doesn’t work with voles. He works with Daphnia. What are Daphnia, you ask? Daphnia are a genus of small crustaceans that are surprisingly cute. Also called water fleas because of their flea-like movement, there are more than 200 species of Daphnia that…
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Meet the bumblebee
I found a fantastic scientific paper this week that made me so happy. It was about how bumblebees PLAY. Isn’t that just so cute??? I’ll tell you more about this paper and its finding in a second – first, I want to introduce you to the humble bumblebee. Bumblebees (also spelled bumble bee, bumble-bee, and…
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Meet the Japanese flying squid
I have something to admit: I think mammals are the coolest. I just really like mammals, with birds as a close second. But I really want to make sure that I give all cool animals their due, so I’ve been trying to make sure I mix in some non-mammalian or non-avian species on this blog.…
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Meet the monarch butterfly
My 6th grade teacher really liked monarch butterflies. Like, a lot. We grew monarch butterflies in our classroom: there was a big butterfly net where we watched caterpillars grow, make a chrysalis, and hatch into butterflies over the span of just a month. At one point I think we let the monarchs fly around in…
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Meet the sea spider
I do not like spiders. I know, I know. They’re important for catching insects like mosquitos and they serve as an important food source for other animals, like bats. But I still don’t like them. They just have too many legs. So imagine my horror when I learned about sea spiders. There are over 1,300…
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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…