Category Archives: Animalia

All animals and general biology

Where the Bee Stings

Posted on July 16, 2016 by Roger Gosden

Bee stings … an occupational hazard for beekeepers. The price paid for hosting hives and stealing their honey. I score about three hits per season, and they are generally deserved from carelessly zipping my beesuit. But honey bee stings don’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, Bee-line | Tagged Africanized (killer) bees, bee hive, bee sting, bee venom allergy, beekeeping, Justin Schmidt, melittin, Schmidt Sting Pain Index, Sylvia Plath, tarantula hawk | Comments Off

Playing Possum

Posted on June 25, 2016 by Roger Gosden

Playing possum is something that Virginia opossums do, but so do some other animals—including humans. But because it can help animals to outsmart a threatening predator, can it save us from a terrorist shooter or a rapist or a grizzly … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, nature | Tagged acting dead, David Livingstone, playing dead, spadefoot toad, thanatopsis, thanatosis | Comments Off

Ghost of the Moa on Sanctuary Mountain (Maungatautari)

Posted on May 5, 2016 by Roger Gosden

We have been tramping up a gently sloping meadow and stopped to gaze through the gloaming at the fuzzy forest border fifty yards ahead. Looking back to the west, afternoon thunder-heads are dispersing into ribbon clouds braided with gold from … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, Environment, nature | Tagged brown kiwi, Maungatautari, moa, New Zealand, Sanctuary Mountain, Waikato | 7 Comments

Are Bats So Scary?

Posted on January 23, 2016 by Roger Gosden

Some animals have few human friends, like bats. We had a little brown bat tucked inside folded wings, like dead leaves, hanging over a rocker in our porch. It was a welcome guest. But ask the public about the most … Continue reading →

Posted in Animalia, Health | Tagged bats, chiroptophobia, Ebola virus, HIV-AIDS, mad cow disease, rabies, revenant, zoonosis | Comments Off

Mastodon in Our Town

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Roger Gosden

Not Mastodon the heavy metal band from Atlanta, but a heavy, leathery mastodon from Virginia. It is the first found east of the Blue Ridge. A local bricklayer was hunting on private land one day in 1983 when he found … Continue reading →