Look Ma, No Hands

Another week, another fish story. This one's about a little fish with big fang-like teeth. Except that the teeth aren't teeth, they're extensions of the jaw bones. And I used to think a tooth was a tooth was a tooth. Move over all ye zebrafish, here comes the "Smilodon" fish.

Drinking like a fish can make you reel a bit, but try drinking like an elephant sometimes. Elephants in the Kalahari Desert have been observed using their trunks to skim clean water off the surface of waterholes -- another example of good honest science being done by natural history film units. What big trunks they have, see how they skim !

I can attest to the peskiness of baby macaque monkeys - these little bounders would often get too close to sleepy students, promptly get scared and run back wailing to their mums, following which the said mums would bring reinforcements and start fights with you. Remind you of human toddlers ? Well, this should convince you how little we differ from our primate cousins - apparently baby monkeys throw tantrums, which their mothers usually ignore, unless someone's watching ! So the next time you see kids bawling their heads off in a crowded supermarket, have a care - they're just monkeying around.

Haven't seen Bucky around in a while, and I hope it's not because of these folks. I caught these two red-tailed hawks (Buteo jamaicensis oxfordstreeticus) last Sunday, enjoying the sun like most other Cambridgers. And with the trees still leafless, even an utter dunce like me managed to spot and photograph them - almost like Birdwatching for Dummies. Now all we need are some names for these local dinosaurs: I'm sure you can come up with less appalling ones than Manny the (mani)raptor (and his mate Womanny), so do write in with your suggestions and save these poor birds from needless cruelty !

Cheerio, and have a lovely week.