Music that calms monkeys

According to a study by a professor at the University of Wisconsin, monkeys are calmed by Metallica and by music composed specially for them, reports the Washington City Paper.

Lampreys getting a bad rap?

On Boing Boing, an interesting article about the differences between native river lampreys and invasive sea lampreys in the Great Lakes region, and developments in the poisoning methods being used to control the latter in order to minimize harm to the former.

Spread of invasive snakes in the U.S.

Wired reports on the growing problem of large, non-native snake species such as the Burmese Python that have established breeding populations (or could in the near future) and threaten to spread in Florida and other warm regions.

Surprisingly, alligators are monogamous to a large extent

As reported by Wired.

New findings on Australian megafauna extinctions

Research described in Wired Science finds that large mammals were going extinct in Eastern Australia during the period from 120,000 to 55,000 years ago, before humans arrived.  Climate change is hypothesized as the primary cause of these extinctions.

Genius bear hacks “bear proof” food protector

This is an interesting item from a few weeks back in the New York Times.

Quagga extinction

Wired marks the anniversary of the extinction of the quagga in 1883.  The last specimen of the southern African zebra variant died in an Amsterdam zoo.  The quagga competed with commercial livestock, and was also hunted for its hide.  Efforts are underway to selectively breed a zebra that looks like the quagga.  Picture below from literarymind’s Flickr stream, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

Darley Stud

Nice photo essay from Wired.

Tokyo’s crow problem

From last Sunday’s WaPost, it appears that Tokyo Governor Ishihara is losing his battle with the crows. Late weekend mornings in restaurant districts aren’t pleasant.

Blue koi

Neat picture of a blue koi on the Japan Photo Journal site. Via Japundit.