Ducks can fly. Ducks can swim. And, unusually, they’re pretty good at something in between – viz. hydroplaning (a.k.a. ‘Skeetering’). If you’ve seen them doing it, you might have wondered about the physics (and math(s)) behind it. In which case, you are not alone … “Common eiders (Somateria mollissima) are heavy sea-ducks that spend a […]
Tag: duck
Official program for the 2018 Dead Duck Day celebration (June 5)
Read, if you will, the official program [in Dutch] for this year’s Dead Duck Day celebration—which will happen June 5, at the Natural History Museum in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Dead Duck Day honors the mallard duck that became known to science as the first (documented) ‘victim’ of homosexual necrophilia in that species. The study that […]
The seasonal pulsing in size of skulls and penises
The gentle pulsing in size of body parts is one of Nature’s seasonal wonders. Evidence of this — with skulls and penises, respectively — is documented in two (well, three) studies published this year. Some Weasel Skulls Pulse Bigger and Smaller, Seasonally “Growth overshoot and seasonal size changes in the skulls of two weasel species,” […]
“Animal Electrocuted at Atom Smasher Gets New ‘Life’ in Morbid Exhibit”
Mindy Weisberger reports, for LiveScience: Deceased animals in a range of compromising poses share cautionary stories of times when wildlife interactions with humans turned deadly — for the wildlife — in the unusual exhibit “Dead Animal Tales” at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam (NHMR) in the Netherlands. Recently, NHMR welcomed a new addition to the […]