Hey Guys

Umm, I've decided that I want to, how do I say it, re-invent myself so I've created a new blog. This one will stay, but it will be more for things like reports or experiments. My new blog is a book blog by the name of Ink and Paper. If you wish to contact me on it, use my new name "Rogue".
Plus, if the name changes to something you don't remember, it's because I'm still working on the title. : )

Oh and don't mention this blog there, please : )

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Plant seeds aren't always easy to get too.The Tufted Capuchin monkeys of the Amazon Basin have an amazing adaptation. These monkeys have learned to use stones tools to get to their food.

The nut palms seeds have a hard layer of fiber-like layer much like the coconut. This is to keep unwanted animals out. But the Tufted Capuchins have a solution to this. First they look for the ripest seed. They need the ripest seeds because after they strip the fibrous layer, they let the seeds bask in the sun for up to one week. 

Once the seeds are dry, the Capuchin brings the nut(s) to his 'anvil' which is a flat rock. These usually have lots of pock marks from previous smashings. On the 'anvil' is heavy rock or the 'hammer'. He lifts the 'hammer' and brings it down on the nut. The monkey does this a few times till the nut breaks and he can eat the oily seed.

The young monkeys (who would be toddlers in human years) imitate the adult monkeys, which is similar to what human children do. This is how the monkeys learn, but this is not accidents. The monkey's rocks sometimes fall off the 'anvil and fingers are sure to be squashed. It can take up to 8 years to master the art of nut breaking.

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Other tools the Capuchins use include containers to hold water, sticks (e.g to dig nuts, to dip for syrup, to catch ants, to reach food) using sponges to absorb juice, using stones as hammer and chisel to penetrate a barrier and using stones as hammers and and  to crack nuts.
While some of these tasks are relatively simple by cognitive standards (e.g. using a stick to catch ants), others, like cracking nuts with 'hammers'  and 'anvils' are only exceeded in complexity by chimpanzee.

But, even though the Capuchin monkeys had to adapt to make these tools it does not imply that they understand cause and affect. It merely means that the monkeys are only able to learn from successful efforts but not from failures. It also means that they can not/ do not refine or improve much.

This is one example of the amazing and unique adaptations of life.



SOURCES:
Life Episode : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABqRg_RbQlM
http://zoologicalwildlifefoundation.com/animals/mammals/primates/new-world-monkeys/tufted-capuchin/
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Cebus_apella.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tufted_capuchin

The Japanese Red Bug: Motherhood can kill, literally

Most animals and insects do not care for their young, but this insect does. The Japanese Red Bug cares for her young until they are old enough to get the food by themselves. They eat the fallen fruit from only one rare type of tree. The Schoepfia jasminodora produce a fleshy fruit called a drupe. These are only available for two weeks, so by the time the fruit are ripe, the little bugs are there.

      The newly hatched,  little bugs like only the most perfect ripe fruit and the job of finding them could take hours. But that's not the only trouble, stealing fruit from another Red Bug can be more effective than spending time looking for them. When the parent loses the fruit and don't get one fast enough, they could be coming home to an empty burrow. The lucky parent who comes back to double the baby bugs, will be forced to satiate their hunger. That is not an easy task though. Sometimes, the mother will be worked to death by the time the bugs leave the burrow. The bugs last meal at home would be her carcass.

The Amazing Waterfall Toad





Gave up on drawing it

In the rainforest at the borders of Brazil and Venezulea lives the Waterfall Toad. This toad is 1 inch long or about the size of a postage stamp. Unlike many toads and frogs,  the Waterfall Toad has not developed the ability to hop. So, how does it get away from hungry snakes? This little fellow is an expert skydiver. Once the snake comes close to the leaf which the toad is on, the Waterfall Toad falls off the leaf. The Waterfall Toad bounces of leaves until it finds a suitable vine to catch. It's strong hands grab on to the vine and it pulls itself up (which looks alot like pull ups).

This is one example of the amazing and unique adaptations of life.

LINK TO THE LIFE VIDEO* - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTD7DRTMu5o

*Couldn't find actual one, this will work-VERY GOOD SHOW, A MUST WATCH

Arizona Saguaro Flowers

The flowers on the cactus in Arizona have evolved to only bloom at night, for one night. The bloom of the flowers is timed almost exactly for the time of the arrival of it's nocturnal pollinators, the bats. At night the bats come for the nectar, and along the way the pollen catches onto the fur of the bat. As the bats go from flower to flower, the plants get pollinated.   Before the sun rises, one of the bathes of flowers die. The next night, the second batch will bloom and die. This goes on for 3 weeks and by the end a single cactus will have 200 or more flowers pollinated. Under the flower grow fruit, the animals like tortoises, birds, and and ants love them because of the fruits sugary, juicy red flesh. The seeds survive in the stomach and in the feces of these organisms. the seed have their own special fertiliser.After the first rain, the seeds begin to germinate.