Trouble in Paradise

evolution, the smaller island will contain few species and the island that is furthest away from

Speciation is when a population cannot exchange genes with another population. This occurs because of geographic, behavioral, and temporal isolation. The rodents in the St. Kitts island is a small species that has been threatened by development. The populace is extremely minuscule and the rodents are struggling in finding a mate. During my study, I noticed the Nevis rodent population were very healthy and could be used as potential mates for the rodents in the island of St. Kitts. Unfortunately, after 240 attempts to mate the populations no reproductive event was successful. The St. Kitts rodents and the Nevis rodents cannot exchange genes

This scientific report on Golden-Collared Manakins provided detailed information surrounding the experiment. Not only the predictions, known facts and assumptions before conducting the experiment were included, but also an extremely detailed procedure. By providing the procedure in such detail, the experiment can be re-produced and the hypothesis can be tested a second time under the exact same conditions. The experiment was designed to determine if the Golden-Collared Manakin’s behavior places specific demands on the brain, which would support the hypothesis that males and females have unique neural phenotypes that are specific to each sex. The scientists collected 12 manakin’s (6 female, 6 male) from Gamboa, Panama; after a short observation

After we did our research on the mice, there was a drought, causing lots of environmental changes. One of these changes was the grass perished leaving large dirt patches. This let the brown mice camouflage. In contrast, the gray mice were found very easily by predators and later consumed. Because of this, the ratios of gray mice decreased (As shown on the right). Naturalist Brett Holland also got similar results (As shown below).

This means that these two populations are not able mate with each other because of differences in their mating rituals. The servals that have long tails, longitudinal stripes on their backs, and short, sharp teeth include their urine in their mating process, whereas the other population of servals use scratching of trees to find a mate. Because of these differences the two populations of servals do not recognize each others message to mate, so they do not produce offspring together. Instead the servals on one side of the island mate with each other, and the servals on the other side of the island mate among

A total of 12 brown capuchins (Cebus paella) will participate in the study. Those subjects will be adolescent females between 4 and 6 years of age. All subjects will be born in captivity in the laboratory, and will have minimal contact with humans. To specify, they will be housed in semi-natural indoor and outdoor areas with constant temperature and humanity, regular feeding schedules, enrichment, and water ad libitum. They will neither be food nor water deprived during testing or at any other time. During the testing phase, six subjects will be actors that pair with an unknown partner of brown capuchin (Cebus paella) from another social group. Partners will be matched as closely as possible on the basis of sex and age.

They discovered full dominance in the homozygous DD allele, and an intermediate dominance in reflection in the heterozygote. Hoekstra et al (2014) found that the allele frequency of the Mc1r allele varied in accordance to the surrounding substrate the mice inhabited. There was strong selection against light mice found on a dark substrate as opposed to darker mice found on a lighter habitat. When looking at migration, Hoekstra et al (2014) had a few concerns. First, they feared the migration was unrealistic, despite the lava region functioning as islands. They also had concerns that new alleles were introduced through immigration among untested sites and the tested locations. Hoekstra et al (2014) concluded that immigration occurred more often than emigration among the populations by using their estimated migration patterns. Because of the selection against light mice on dark substrate, Hoekstra et al (2014) concluded that the light colored mice had adapted the melanic mutation as a cryptically colored, antipredator

The diurnal Lepilemur are similar to monkeys or apes, in the sense that they have established and permanent multi-male groups. In nocturnal Lepilemur there can be a group of females that live in the same area, with one male in the territory. Male Lepilemur are mostly the dominant gender, but when females band together they can become the dominant gender. Lepilemur have a very short mating window, usually about 3 weeks, and it is closely linked to the cost of raising the offspring. This short mating window can be linked to the fact that Lepilemur want to give birth so when they wean their offspring it is around the time of the with the most abundance of food.

We just read an article about prehistoric rodents, I was surprised by their size. Scientists recently discovered the remains of a rat—like creature called “Phoberomys” it was as big as a buffalo. It sat back on its large rear feet and fed itself with its smaller front feet in just the way rats and mice do now. This supersized rodent lived in South America but luckily that was nearly ten million years ago. At that time South America and North America were separated by the sea so there were also no large cats around to hunt and kill other large animals. Scientists believe that Phoberomys thrived and grew large because of the lack of predators and competitors for food. However the carefree lifestyle of Phoberomys eventually disappeared

In some situations, the Acheta domesticus increase their aggressive actions when a female is present (Buena and Walker 2008), but it was found that the mated males, who were mounted

Overall, my observational data falls in line to previous research on urban squirrel behaviors and mating rituals. Much like the research conducted by Parker and Nilson, large amounts of aggression were found in the grey squirrel population in the Gainesville area. The aggression appeared to increase in the middle of the breeding season, as my results show, and this increased aggression may be since males and females must compete for access to reproductive resources like trees for nesting and mates to pass on their genetic information with. This aligns with the ideas proposed by Edelman and Koprowski. After the breeding season had ended, I noticed a decrease in aggression, as well as a decrease in mating chases, which aligns with previous research

They reproduce rapidly, as generally it is the case with small prey animals. No matter how well they are cared for, they possess somewhat short life span. Generally they have short gestational periods and their quick sexual maturity makes effective rodent control decisive. The reproductive cycle and the number of these rodent’s offspring increases with sufficient water, food and harbourage.

As humans, we get the opportunity to share and coexist on this planet with some extraordinarily unique and diverse organisms. Of such organisms, the placental mammals are some of the most adaptable organisms on earth, residing in places as harsh as the Savannah Desert and the Arctic. Here in Minnesota, we have 75 species of mammals ranging from the large majestic Moose to the small and nimble Least Shrew. I got the opportunity to further research the Bobcat, in hopes of understanding their feeding behavior, reproductive patterns, seasonal movements, and communication interspecifically as well as intraspecifically. Bobcats belong to the order Carnivora, family Felidae and their scientific name is Lynx rufus. “Lynx in Latin means lamp, from

You are relaxing on a beautiful Island beach in the middle of the Caribbean. You’re reading your favorite book, and enjoying a nice fruity cocktail you bought from the bar. You set your drink down to turn the page, but when you reach back for another sip, your drink is mysteriously missing. Nobody else is in site, so where could it have gone? Then, you look towards the palm trees and in the distance you see a furry little critter scurrying on his hind legs indulging in your delicious cocktail. Now, this Caribbean island of St. Kitts is home to plenty of extraordinary things, like lush tropical rain forests, white-sand beaches, picturesque mountain tops, and striking volcanoes, but never have you seen anything like a furry little animal with such a taste for alcohol. A number of animals inhabit this island, including iguanas, bats, barracudas, sea turtles, and countless species of birds. Except, there is one particular animal wreaking havoc on this dreamy island getaway. That animal- the cheeky one that stole your cocktail- is none other than the vervet monkey.

Sexual dimorphism is any difference, morphological or behavioral, between males and females of the same species. Sexual dimorphism can include differences in weaponry, ornamentation, size, vocalization, chemical signal, gametes, behavior, and parental care. It is seen in exaggerated forms in the birds of paradise, though it is present in many other species as well. In mammals one way sexes are sexual dimorphic is in their size. In many mammalian species the males are larger than the females this is known as sexual size dimorphism or SSD. SSD is cause by many factors but this paper will focus only on those relating to reproduction and feeding.