The biggest animals on Earth–the biggest animals to have ever lived, in fact–are baleen whales. They can grow to over 100 feet long thanks in part to their ability to snarf colossal amounts of food. To do so, they swing open their toothless lower jaws, which inflate like a parachute with water. Then they haul their lower jaw shut again and then use a titanic tongue to push out a school bus worth of water through a filter. The filter is baleen: a set of fronds that hangs from their upper jaws. They trap shrimp and other tiny creatures in the baleen, which the whales then swallow before preparing for the next gulp. Each one of these operations can snag a blue whale up to half a million calories.
In tomorrow’s New York Times, I take a look at a new study on the generosity of chimpanzees. Check it out. (And also check out Ed Yong’s take at Not Exactly Rocket Science.)
[Image courtesy of Frans de Waal]
Originally published August 8, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.
I learned that Google has retooled its invitation system for Google+. Instead of manually adding names into a message field, I can just drop a link into this post and offer 150 invitations. So if you want to dabble in this new experiment in social media and enforced non-pseudonymity, please click here.
Originally published August 8, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.
The New York Times, August 8, 2011
When it comes to the evolution of humans, a lot depended on the kindness of strangers.
Our species is especially cooperative. We routinely help other people — relatives and strangers alike — even when there’s no immediate reward for us. The concern that humans have for each other is part of the foundation of complex societies, from neighborhoods to nations.
Scientists have long wondered how long ago our so-called prosocial behavior evolved. In a new paper published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a team of scientists at Emory University addresses that question with a study on chimpanzees, one of our closest living relatives.
Continue reading “Chimpanzees Clear Some Doubt After Generosity Is Questioned”
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Originally published August 7, 2011. Copyright 2011 Carl Zimmer.