What came first, longevity or the shell?

It is undetermined as to which came first, the tortoise shell or its longevity, but the both are codependent. The tortoise shell essentially protects the tortoise from predators and harsh environments. This is a big plus in outliving other animals around us. I mean if you were to face two knights together, one without armor and one with the full armor (chain link and all) which of the two would be expected to survive. Ummm, my money goes to the fully armored one, duh. It’s the same effect with giant tortoises. Other animals with protection, or a sort of self-defense against predators can outstand those that don’t have any sort of protection.

There are other determining factors that contribute to the lifespan of the giant tortoise. One obvious contribution is the speed of a tortoise. Speed with what??? Well speed of everything, referring to the slow speed of a tortoise’s life. Tortoises are slow at everything, running races against hares, metabolizing, and well they’re even slow at growing. Throughout a tortoise’s lifetime, all 220 years, it is growing slowly. While most large animals take about 1 year to develop into an adult the tortoise continues to grow constantly up until 18 years (varies with species). Since its sexual maturity develops so late in the game, there is less of a chance to die, the will to live is increased, I mean its life duty is, well, not accomplished until its genetic code is passed on. From an animal’s stand point, what’s the point in dying fast if you haven’t given a chance to reproduce yet? Animals that reproduce at an early age tend to die younger than those that reproduce at a latter age. Metabolic rate is also associated with lifespan. For example animals that burn energy fast, require more energy, and hence die faster than slow metabolizers. Take for example the hamster or shrew; they have a fast burning metabolism and a lifespan of about 2years. Tortoises require little energy, since they are so slow at everything, and burn metabolism slower. This is why they can survive long periods of time without drinking or eating.

So maybe instead of injecting botulinum toxin and killing the neurons responsible for muscle contractions of the face, scientist should develop a medication that will slow down metabolic process in humans hence creating longer life, just saying.

Wait…Hold Up…You Mean To Tell Me Bears Don’t Freaking Hibernate?

Leave it to college to change, yet again, something I was certain I thought I knew. I mean sure my political ideology has drastically changed from being conservative (aka under the influence of my very religious family) to a more liberal perspective. Somewhere out there one of my family members reading this is puzzled thinking to themselves, what you mean you’re not prolife?!? And sure on some things my experience at the university has expanded my thoughts on some of the issues my public education failed me in, BUT common, I never expected to learn something like this so late in the game. My whole life, since I can remember, I was taught that bears hibernate. This might not be shocking or irrelevant to you reading this but it shattered my world. My jaw dropped and I had to fight the urge to let out a high pitch gasp when my Mammology professor broke the news. I know I wasn’t the only one who was effected by hmm maybe the imagery of a sleepy bear cartoon, or the term hibernation loosely being used to mean sleep, because I saw a bunch of confused and “say wuuut?” faces in class.

Cold winter often activates this adaptive to climate state in mammals. Let’s face it no one likes to be out and about in the cold, we usually have to layer clothes on and psychologically convince ourselves to get out from under the warm blankets to get a move on in a cold day. So it’s no surprise that most mammals are the same. Winter usually yields less available food, especially for herbivores, and the energy cost for locating a meal in a cold day becomes way high. Solving this problem essentially leads to two solutions…1.) Dying or 2.) Adapting to the harsh winter by lowering your metabolism, respiration, and heart rate. The animal’s body temperature drops significantly low, often times matching the winter temperature outside. Large mammals, yes that includes bears, don’t go through true hibernation. The largest mammal that hibernates is the marmot which only weighs about 5kg.

So what do bears do in the winter?
If they are NOT hibernating then what the heck are these furry large suckers doing? They undergo a torpor state of sleep. During this “faux hibernation” their core body temperature doesn’t reach as low as what a true hibernator would reach but it does drop. Even though they do sleep for long periods of time they are still active on occasions, such as if they need to urinate or eat. True hibernators seem as if they are dead, they sleep entirely with no waking up. Since larger mammals have more surface area and volume it would take way too much energy, energy they don’t have, to warm their bodies up once out of the hibernating state. Which brings to mind an image of a snoring bear in a cage with a wander sneaking in to do lord knows what….yeah, BAD IDEA. Unless you are looking for a bear mauling then go ahead and make your way into a bear den while they sleep and pray that their torpor sleep isn’t somehow affected by your presence.

Learn something new every day, to bad this isn’t really new just something I can now be scientifically correct (SC) about. I sincerely wish I had the ability to stimulate my hippocampus to remember the bastards responsible for leading me to believe that bears effing hibernate.

Fusarium solani a suspect?

Humans are no longer the ONLY main cooperates for the 30 year decline of the Atlantic sea turtles (Caretta caretta), or at least that’s the claim done by a group of scientists working in Cape Verde, Africa. The study discussed in yesterday’s article in Science Daily states that the decline of the Atlantic sea turtles can be attributed to a fungus Fusarium solani. This particular fungus infects the soil, which contain perfect conditions for this fungus, in which the sea turtle eggs are covered. Scientist are attributing this newly discovery to the rapid decline in population of the sea turtle. This definitely marks the way for new measures in protecting the species and preventing this from declining the population. It took 30 years to make the connection, its funny how science is so quick to point the finger at Man and not take into consideration any other natural factors. By any means is this not defending Man, we still manage to pollute our beaches, leave fishing gear laying around, and tamper with turtle nesting sites but the connection with fungus and egg could have been identified earlier.