Dormancy December 7, 2010
Posted by TattooedIntellectual in Nature Shit, Science.18 comments
Dormancy=brief cessation of growth and development (plants) and physical activity (animals)
- Predictive dormancy=happens before the beginning of adverse conditions, ie. using photoperiod and temperature to predict winter
- Consequential dormancy=happens after the adverse conditions start–this is a riskier strategy as the animal may get caught with its pants down, but in a year like this one where we haven’t had much actual winter weather, this strategy would pay off
Hibernation=a type of dormancy that may be predictive or consequential–characterized by significant decreases in heart rate and metabolism leading to significant decreases in body temperature and brain activity (these animals are actually asleep)
Hibernating animals may experience “sporadic euthermic arousals” or “interbout arousals” in which they wake up, their body temperature returns to normal and they feed and pass waste products.
Winter lethargy=characterized by a decrease in heart rate and metabolism leading to a decrease in body temperature—brain activity is decreased but these animals do respond to external stimuli (see the debate below)
Diapause=predictive dormancy common in insects (although embryonic diapause is common in a variety of vertebrates) and is known to occur in fish
Aestivation=consequential dormancy due to hot/dry conditions usually in arthropods although exhibited by mammals such as the tenrec in Madagascar
Brumation=predictive dormancy practiced by herps-characterized by decreased activity, the animals still need to drink, may eat, and do not enter true sleep
- The diamondback rattlesnake may be an exception to this and may be a hibernator (decreased brain activity indicating sleep)
The process through which animals obtain energy during this dormancy helps determine if it is hibernating or brumating, but it’s not like you can ask an animal which process it’s using so no help there.
Daily torpor (sometimes also called temporary hibernation) is a short term decrease in physiological activity (heart rate and temperature). Depending on conditions bats will enter torpor during the day and become active again at night.
Extended torpor aka hibernation is a long term decrease in physiological activity.
A hibernacula (pl: hibernaculum) is that spot where an animal brumates or hibernates.
There is debate on whether or not bears actually hibernate as their heart rate slows to a range of anywhere from 50 bpm to 8 bpm but their internal temperature stays fairly close to normal, and they are still responsive to external stimuli. Chipmunks are considered true hibernators as their internal temperature can reach almost 0°C and their heart rate slows from 350 bpm to 4 bpm. Surface area to volume ratios account for these differences. A rodent has a nearly equal surface area to volume ratio and can achieve very low internal temperatures; a bear has a small surface area in comparison to its volume and cannot achieve the same decrease in temperature. In addition for the bear, if a decrease in internal temperature to 0°C was achieved the fat reserves are not sufficient to then bring the internal temperature back to a normal range. In a true hibernator the excretory system still works and they must wake up to pass waste products. 90% of a true hibernator’s fat reserve is used during these “sporadic euthermic arousals”. However, depending on conditions, an animal that experiences winter lethargy such as a bear may actually sleep the entire winter, never waking, as their excretory systems does not work “properly” and their body actually recycles waste products.
Certain rodents (chipmunks and groundhogs as examples) and bats are true hibernators. Bears, skunks, and opossums experience winter lethargy.
It’s all a quibble at that point, like most things in nature it’s a sliding scale.
An interesting tidbit—rodent teeth cease to grow during hibernation.
And there’s your nature shit for the month.
*Special request:
Skinbad spent a slumberous evening in Michael’s arms.
The Most Egregious Classroom Abuse Since Curtis Got Slapped December 6, 2010
Posted by skinbad in Handblogging, News.6 comments
Unbelievable. A third-grade girl. Taped. To her desk.
You read that right.
What’s that? It was a six-inch piece of scotch tape across the wrist to remind the girl not to dig around in her desk while the teacher was talking?
Well, humiliation and emotional scaring are nothing to sneeze at.
Run that headline, Salt Lake Tribune!:
“Utah teacher cleared of neglect after taping student to desk”
The Batcave Crap Tree December 5, 2010
Posted by batbear in News.38 comments
Hi, it’s Batbear. It’s been a long time since I posted, but I thought you should know that I am guarding Michael’s awesome Crap Tree.
A few years ago, Cathy was so moved by Dave’s Crap Tree post that she decided to let Michael have a crap tree again, like the crap trees they had when they were first married. Which got banned eventually when Cathy and the kids wanted Nice Trees with white lights, like you see in department stores. So, now Michael has a crap tree he can decorate, as long as it stays out of sight in the Batcave, and does not distract attention from the Nice Trees on the first and second floors.
It’s a great crap tree, and I am protecting it from criminals.
Don't mess with this tree!
The tree actually looks awesomer than this picture shows, because the flash kinda washed out the colored lights.
By the way, if you look at the most prominent position on the tree at top center, between Frosty the Snowman and the dog, Michael hung his U.S.S. Nimitz challenge coin that he got from Command Master Chief Petty Officer Airdale, with the help of a little tape. He did this because he has a Nimitz coin, and you don’t.
All of the ornaments on this tree are awesome. You can see a sample below the break.
‘We Are The World’ Remade By Weird Al, Sarah Silverman And Other Comedians For L.A. Food Bank December 4, 2010
Posted by Michael in Entertainment.add a comment
This is kinda cute. I like the guy who does the William Shatner impression (at 5:50).
Bonus, they start rapping. Plus, they call Obama “the Santa Clause of the United States.” Face it, California liberals can be funny.
The money joke:
We aren’t going to give any money. We gave our time. But we want you to give some money
That’s comedy gold right there.
Tax The Rich? December 3, 2010
Posted by Michael in Economics.28 comments
Sounds like a great way to deal with the deficit.
Except, it doesn’t work. The rich people have actually learned how to deal with this, in ways that do not help our economy. The top rate we can collect over time is around 19 percent.
oops
More here: The futility of tax hikes in pictures.
The bottom line:
Our federal deficit problem can not be solved by raising taxes. The expected revenues will never materialize. Cutting spending, shrinking government, and allowing for more economic growth is the only way we can climb out of the hole we are in.
How about a little Snow, Scarecrow. December 2, 2010
Posted by Retired Geezer in Handblogging, Nature Shit.85 comments
This was Mrs. Geezer’s Fall Tableau that she created last month.
(note that in Idaho, we use Elite Gray Tarps, to cover our haystacks, not Blue white trash tarps)
This is what it looked like yesterday after Record Breaking Snowfall.
It was only 8″ but it broke the record.
Here’s a picture of Mrs. Geezer’s truck, with random obligatory horse.
I was proud of myself for putting on the studded snow tires, 3 days earlier.
How are things in your town?
Why Texans Like Guns December 1, 2010
Posted by Michael in Economics, Politics.29 comments
Here’s what the Dallas Tea Party is circulating. I happen to know this, because I am connected through my wife, so I got this in my email.
Some people think that if they just keep saying something over and over that the rest of us will start to believe it. How many years have we been hearing how the state of affairs is Bush’s fault? Some continue to use that excuse. In fact I heard someone still blaming Bush for our financial woes just yesterday.
We know better and we’ve got facts to back it up. Check out these graphs created by the Heritage Foundation along with key information that shows just whose responsible for most of our financial woes right now. This issue is not about one political party fighting against another. This is a fight between those who want to stop out of control spending and shrink the size of government vs. those who want to keep spending and grow the size and power of government even more. The Tea Party has never been more essential. It can and will remain a key player in this fight.
Maybe you are not angry about this, but some of the people in Dallas are really pissed off. Here is what they are saying:
Budgets don’t come from the White House. They come from Congress and the party that has controlled Congress since January 2007 is the Democrat Party.
For FY 2009, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid bypassed George W. Bush entirely passing continuing resolutions to keep government running until Obama took office in 2008. At that time, they passed a massive omnibus spending bill to complete the FY 2009 budgets.
And where was Obama during that time? He was a member of that very Congress that passed all of these massive spending bills and he signed the Omnibus (stimulus) Bill as President to complete FY 2009. Let’s remember what the deficits looked like during that period:
If the Democrats inherited any deficit, it was the FY 2007 deficit. That deficit was the lowest in five years and the fourth straight decline in deficit spending. After that, Democrats in Congress took control of spending and that includes Obama who voted FOR those budgets. If Obama inherited anything, he inherited it from himself and his party!
PLEASE PASS THIS ON!
Maybe you have wondered why Texans are so serious about the right to own and carry a gun.
Now you know. We are just as worried about the federals as we are about the criminals. We are just as concerned about national security as we are about personal security (here, “national” = “Texas”). So, we take the right to bear arms really really seriously.
See, down here, where the economy is growing. and we have net in-migration while the earners are evacuating from California and New York, and Detroit is an urban wasteland, it’s easy to think the rest of the country is going to hell in a handbasket and is about to rip us off.
I know this sounds like a Texan being smug, given that we have weathered the recession with a lot less pain than others.
It’s true. We are smug. And heavily armed. We are pro-military, but just with deer rifles we actually have much more firepower than the local federal military bases.
Go figure.
