All of Glenn Dreger’s Advent Calendar Photos
The 2019 Glenn Dreger advent calendar gallery of photos for your enjoyment. Click on each one to enlarge. And now some bonus photos. This post requires some additional work.
Continue reading →Category Archives: Naturalist Posts
Ancient Insects Ate Dinosaur Feathers
The new paper presents the earliest known evidence of insects feeding on feathers, and the authors suggest that this type of parasite evolved during or before the middle of the Cretaceous period, which occurred 145–66 million years ago. Ancient lice ate dinosaur feathers, similar to how modern-day lice eat bird feathers, according to a study published yesterday (December 10) in Nature Communications. Researchers led by Taiping Gao and Dong Ren at Capital Normal University in China, discovered the insect on dinosaur feathers fossilized in 100-million-year-old amber collected in northern Myanmar. The … Continue reading →
Granny Killer Whales Pass Along Wisdom and Food To Their Grandchildren
A new study published in Science is the first direct evidence in nonhuman animals of the “grandmother hypothesis.” The idea posits that females of some species live long after they stop reproducing to provide extra care for their grandchildren.
Continue reading →Wild Wednesday
Wildsafe BC produces videos on wildlife, some of which will be featured on the KNC site from time to time: Thanks to Frank Ritcey for his ongoing work with Wildsafe.
Continue reading →False Polytrichum
Reposted from A Wildflower Journal (April 9, 2019) by Mike Ryan (MSc, RPBio, Research Ecologist, Kamloops) On a walk out at Stake Lake I came across a rock face in a spruce forest that supported a wide variety of mosses and a few lichens. One of the more common species is false Polytrichum. It has the name Polytrichum because it superficially resembles haircap mosses that belong to the genus Polytrichum. There are four species of Timmia in North America of which all occur in BC. Timmia austriaca is by far … Continue reading →
Two Invasive Animals To Watch For
There is an invasive species alert in BC for two very damaging introductions, the American Bullfrog and the Red-Eared Slider turtle. American Bullfrog American Bullfrogs were originally introduced into B.C. by humans wanting to farm them for their meaty legs. They were also imported by aquatic garden supply companies for stocking backyard ponds. Populations can increase rapidly as females are able to lay up to 20,000 eggs per year. American Bullfrog dispersal is aided by their abilities to migrate over land, feed on a wide range of prey, thrive in … Continue reading →