Den Camera Shows Baby Bears’ Birth

Thanks to fiber-optic camera technology, you can watch real-time footage of a black bear named Lugnut as she hibernates in a den beneath an upturned sugar maple in northern Maine. 

Just two weeks ago, the 8-year-old Lugnut gave birth to two cubs (watch video above.) Because of their demands, her hibernation won’t be as deep as usual, and she’ll wake regularly to check on them. Most of the time, however, the cubs will be curled up against Lugnut’s warm belly, nursing as she sleeps.

The cubs will likely stay in the den for several months, and with their mother for more than a year, departing only when they’ve learned enough to survive on their own. The camera is expected to stay on indefinitely, so viewers will have a chance to watch them grow up.

Original article here.

Bio-luminescent Spewing Shrimp

A shrimp named Acanthephyra purpurea spews a bioluminescent cloud from its mouth when attacked. The burst of bright substance is enough to put would-be predators off their mark.

The bright blue bioluminescent cloud the shrimp expels isn’t "vomit." Instead, luminous fluid probably originates in the hepatopancreas – an organ that plays roles similar to the liver and pancreas in us – and, depending on the species of shrimp, can come from the mouth or nearby organs.

Original article here.

Watch a Baby Condor Hatch and Grow on Live Webcam

You can watch a pair of California condors, among the most endangered birds in the world, as they raise a new baby in view of a webcam set up by scientists at the San Diego Zoo’s Safari Park.

Shatash, 21, and her partner Sisquoc, 28, will take turns caring for the 9-ounce egg until it hatches in early March.

The hatching process will take a day or two, and if the chick runs into trouble along the way, Sisquoc and Shatash will be standing by to help.

Right now, Shatash and Sisquoc are tending to a life-like faux egg while theirs sits in an incubator. Closer to the end of the 52-day incubation period, scientists will switch the artificial egg for the real one.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE CONDOR CAM.

California condors are very nurturing parents. They’re also very egalitarian: Both parents take care of their young. Sisquoc and Shatash will discipline, groom and play with their baby. They’ll give it feathers to play with and rub their baby’s soft pink face with their own.

 Five to six months after Shatash’s egg hatches, her chick will start to hop and flap around the nest as it learns to fly. By then, its wispy white feathers will have turned to grey. The fledgling will stay with its parents for about a year imitating them and learning how to pick up food and forage. During this time, the young bird will also learn how to interact with other condors.

Today there are only about 400 California condors left in the world.

Original article here.

High-Speed Animal Flight Videos Show Hidden Aerial World

A Dutch program called Flight Artists sent high-speed video tools to amateur photographers around the world.

The challenge was to capture nature in flight. Over the course of a year, the contest drew 460 amateurs who uploaded more than 2,400 slow-motion video clips shot with their complimentary cameras. A jury of scientists, philosophers and video experts then picked their favorites, which can be seen below.

For more information, including descriptions of all these videos, see the original article here.

High-Speed Video Shows How Hummingbirds Stay Dry

How does a hummingbird keep dry? A series of high-speed videos reveal that hummingbirds shake themselves like dogs. Of course, dogs don’t shake while balanced delicately in mid-air, flapping their wings 45 times per second. At a glance, that might not seem like a pressing problem. But for a bird that weighs a few grams and lives on a razor-thin margin of bioenergetic error, it’s a life-or-death matter. See more in the original article here.

Murmuration of Thousands of Starlings

The video above was taken at the River Shannon in Ireland. It shows thousands of starlings in shape-shifting flocks that are referred to as a "murmation."

Dolphins Blast Into School of Fish

Dolphins and gannets blast through a shimmering, pulsing vortex of fish known as "prey balls" in these up-close glimpses of an underwater buffet.

In a prey ball, tens or hundreds of thousands of fish cluster into a dense swarm, moving as a single entity. It’s not clear if they’re getting into this shape to reduce their chances of being eaten, or because dolphins are herding them to be in that shape.

Dolphins circled clockwise around prey balls — dolphins appear, like most humans, to favor their right sides — skimming bites off the edges rather than plunging straight in. Often two dolphins would attack at the same time, rather than individually. When prey balls tried to dive, dolphins herded them back up.

Original article here.

Slow-Motion Chipmunk

Inside the World's First Shark Sanctuary (CNN Video)

Watch the World’s Largest Shark Tank on Live Webcam

Until August 7, you can swim with sharks from your desk, thanks to a live webcam embedded in the world’s largest shark tank.  To get excited for Shark Week, the Discovery Channel teamed up with the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta to place a live streaming peephole in the aquarium’s Ocean Voyager exhibit.

The exhibit, which was designed to house whale sharks, holds 6.3 million gallons of seawater, enough to fill nine and a half Olympic swimming pools. It is home to seven different types of sharks, including enormous whale sharks, vicious-looking sand tiger sharks, and bottom-dwelling masters of disguise called spotted wobbegongs. It also holds several other species of fish and four manta rays, the only manta rays ever to live in a U.S. aquarium.

See the original article here.

Emperor Penguins Rotate Through Giant Huddle for Warmth

Massive huddles of male Emperor penguins are crucial to keeping warm during Antarctica’s brutal winter while they incubate their eggs.

These tightly packed penguins shuffle en mass every 30 to 60 seconds, reordering themselves so every individual gets to cycle through the warm, central part of the huddle.

By taking small, 2- to 4-inch steps every minute or so, the penguins achieve maximum packing density. It’s like tapping on a can of flour to jiggle everything into the bottom.

But the shuffling also results in a wave of movement that rolls through the group and rotates every bird through the warmest parts of the huddle. Penguins can join the group on one end, cycle through the huddle and exit on the other end.

Read more in the original article here.

There's no such thing as a jellyfish

The video above is from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute.  It illustrates how organisms commonly referred to as "jellyfish" are actually quite varied and diverse.  See the rest of the institute's videos here.

Ghostly ‘Winged’ Octopus Caught on Camera

A rarely seen white deep-sea octopus has been captured on camera in high definition by researchers. The octopus features two “wings” which make it look just like the ghosts from Mario videogames, aka Boos.

The Grimpoteuthis bathynectes octopus, also nicknamed the Dumbo octopus, was filmed with an HD video camera at a depth of more than 6,500 feet about 200 miles off the coast of Oregon.

Little is known about the deep-sea octopuses, which live near the hydrothermal vent fields — fissures in the Earth’s surface generally found near volcanically active places that release geothermally heated water.

Original article here.

World’s Biggest Gathering of Whale Sharks

To see a single whale shark — the world’s largest fish, a solitary behemoth that can grow to school-bus size — is a rare experience.

Seeing hundreds gathered in one place is unprecedented.

The so-called "Afuera gathering" took place in August 2009 off the northern tip of the Yucatan Peninsula, not far from the waters around Cabo Catoche. Dozens of whale sharks have converged there each summer since 2002, drawn by crustaceans that feed on massive plankton blooms fueled by upswellings of nutrient-rich deep-sea water.

The Afuera whale sharks are just eating, not mating; the mating habits of whale sharks are a mystery to biologists. The gathering contained no juveniles, only adults; biologists don’t actually know where juvenile whale sharks live, where they’re born or even how they’re born. Whale sharks are literally a colossal mystery.

Read more in the original article here.

High-Speed Video Shows How Hummingbirds Really Drink

New high-speed videos of hummingbirds overturn nearly two centuries of conventional wisdom on how they drink.

Researchers previously thought tube-like channels in their tongues sucked up fluid by capillary action. But the new analysis shows that their tongues actually trap nectar by curling around it.

Read more in the original article here.

Salamander Has Algae Living Inside Its Cells

In a symbiotic union more complete than any previously found in vertebrates, the common spotted salamander lives with algae inside its cells.

Such a degree of cross-species fusion was long thought to exist only among invertebrates, whose immune systems are not primed to destroy invaders. But algae live inside the salamanders from before birth, possibly passed down from parent to offspring.

That spotted salamanders and algae live in symbiosis was first noted in the 19th century, and in the 20th century researchers worked out the relationship’s mutual benefits. Salamander eggs provide a nitrogen-rich environment for algae to grow; algae oxygenate the embryos, which develop deformities without them.

But algae were believed to float outside the embryo itself, in the egg’s nutrient broth.  Now scientists have noted that algae’s distinctive green glow didn’t just emanate from eggs, but from inside embryos.

Algae invade spotted salamander embryos early in their development, when individuals are just beginning to take shape inside their eggs, as the brain folds up and tissue layers-to-be first organize themselves. As an embryo develops, algae suffuses its body, but most becomes concentrated along its gut and alimentary canal.

Read more in the original article here.

Baby Bald Eagles Will Hatch on Live Webcam

Live video chat by Ustream

Three bald eagles are expected to hatch in Decorah, Iowa, between March 30 and April 1, 2011, and you can watch it happen on the above webcam.

The nest was built 80 feet up a cottonwood tree near the Decorah Fish Hatchery in 2007, and all 8 of the parents' children have entered the world on camera.

Viewers will be able to see tiny cracks lacing through the eggs before they hatch. The zoomed-in view gets so close, you can count the scales on the eagles’ feet.

The mother eagle laid the eggs on Feb. 23, Feb. 26 and March 2. All three were caught on camera and are up on YouTube.

Original article here.

Video: Hike the 2,200-Mile Appalachian Trail in 4 Minutes

Green Tunnel from Kevin Gallagher on Vimeo.

Above is a video comprised of the 24 daily pictures that hiker Kevin Gallagher took during his six-month hike of the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in the spring of 2005.

Elephants Lend a Helping Trunk, Pass Cooperation Test

Asian elephants have passed a test of cooperation with flying colors, one that cognitive psychologists say demonstrates an ape-level awareness and sense of teamwork. Their collaboration isn’t just the product of rote learning, but the result of careful thought.

In the experiment, ropes were arranged so that if one elephant pulled alone, its partner couldn’t reach the rope. To get a banana treat, both had to pull simultaneously.

The elephants pick the trick up quickly. Then, in the study’s key step, they demonstrated patience. If only one elephant was present, it would wait for a partner to arrive. Until then, it wouldn’t try to pull the rope, and often wouldn’t pick it up.

If the elephants pulled automatically, it would be evidence of reflexive behavior. Waiting indicated something more. They understood that their own effort wasn’t enough. They understood their partner’s role. (One elephant, seen in the video below, even figured out how to cheat. By standing on her end of the rope rather than pulling, her partner had to do all the work — not very nice, perhaps, but smart.)

Read more in the original article here.

Lemurs' Knack for Numbers

An interesting CNN video on Lemurs: