River otters are some of the most social mustelids and show a greater geographic variability. River otters have both social and solitary systems that vary in each location. They have a complex social system; the American Society of Mammalogists exploring these systems in southeast Minnesota published a study. This study showed that the river otter populations in the study area had clear evidence of space sharing, which indicated that they were not territorial or solitary. Also, the otters that shared space with one another were attracted to one another and were near other otters. Furthermore, the home-range characteristics, static and dynamic interactions, and fidelity were evaluated. It was confirmed that males have a greater home-range
Deborah Butterfield's "Otter" (2014) horse sculpture expresses a realistic display of beauty and craftsmanship because of its life-size image, the symbol of strength and the spirit it exerts where it is displayed at the Art Hotel in Denver, Colorado. "Otter" is a massive horse, standing at the entrance of the hotel, gazing toward the patio, looking as if it is going to trot right out the patio door. Deborah, born in San Deigo, California now lives in Montana and Hawaii. Montana and Hawaii have provided Deborah with the resources to create numerous horse sculptures, beginning with natural twigs and stems from the area. These tree stem creations are then constructed into free-standing, life-size bronze sculptures. The artist says, "I first used the horse images as a metaphorical substitute for myself-it was a way of doing a self-portrait one step removed from the specificity of Deborah Butterfield".
Isle Royal is an island surrounded by the cool Lake Superior. Wolf and Moose are the two largest species on the island, and the wolf and moose interaction is the longest running large mammal predator-prey study on earth (USNPS, 2014). The two populations were once said to exhibit some kind of “balance of nature,” now that is not believed to be the case (Vucetich, 2012).
Conformity, the act of changing to fit in. Conformity can completely change a person whether it be their looks, such as their the way they dress, or their personality, like the way they act around certain people. In The Sociology of Leopard Man Logan Feys argues that being human has a right to it, and that right is to be who you are. Society pushes out certain people for not fitting in with everyone else, but also says that nobody should fit in, because everyone has a different personality.
An orca, more commonly known as a killer whale, is currently one of the largest marine animals held in captivity. Countless arguments are being made, supporting and opposing captivity of orcas to be exploited as circus animals in theme parks around the world. Throughout recent history, Sea World trainers have been injured and killed by the orcas and the whales, and the whales themselves have been observed as severely depressed. If Sea World releases the whales, they would undergo an immense economic downfall and the whales would be too weak to survive in the wild if they were freed. Since the first Sea World park opened in San Diego, California in 1964, common questions have arose concerning the well-being of orcas in captivity, the dangers of humans training them, the physical capability of whales theoretically being released, and the psychological differences between whales living in the wild versus whales living in Sea World's confinement.
Introduction Sea otters (Enhydra lutris) are marine mammals capable of spending their entire lives in water. Being carnivorous in nature, they feed on sea urchins, crabs, fishes, mussels and clams. They are referred to as keystone species due to their profound impact on marine ecology. The interaction between sea otters, sea urchins and kelp forests has been studied as a model for the impact of predator-prey interactions on community ecology. Sea otters are keystone predators, whose presence has a far-reaching influence on the marine food web by affecting the populations of sea urchins, which indirectly affects the populations of kelp forests & other marine organisms.
After watching The Planet of the Apes, everyone seemed to leave the movie with a message in mind. Be it the controversial subject matter of Science vs. Religion, animal cruelty, or the cries of the extremeness of war and nuclear weapons. The makers of this film clearly felt the importance of illustrating to the viewers how unjust this society of “superior” apes were towards the humans. It allows the viewer to leave the movie thinking about our own society, and the similarities in how certain people have been severely mistreated here in America.
Manatees are loved by many Floridians. Manatees are known as one of the state’s natural wonders. They were once marked as one of the endangered mammals in Florida. The federal government considers a species endangered when it is at risk of extinction. Therefore, the federal government is downlisting manatees from “endangered” to “threatened.” The manatees are now downgraded from endangered to just threatened, the level of protection for the manatees are also reducing. Since the federal government has spoken out that manatees are no longer endangered, does it decrease the risk of manatees being extinct?
Save the World: Save the sea otters During the 18th and 19th centuries, sea otters were hunted for their luxurious pelts, and by the early 1900s, the species was believed to be extinct in California. (Carswell) Why do we care you ask, well not only are they super cute and eat with their hands. Apparently, a healthy population of sea otters keeps the sea urchin population in check. An unhealthy or small population of sea otters allows the sea urchin’s number to explode thus decimating kelp beds, which is the sea urchin’s food source, and causing a “chain reaction that depletes the food supply for other marine animals consequently causing their decline.
A third threat to the sea otter populations is predation from killer whales. It was observed that in certain areas of Alaska many sea otter populations had been decreasing since the early 1990s. Killer whale predation is believed to be cause of their decline for the following reasons. The first line of reasoning being, an increased number of sightings of attacks on sea otters by killer whales. The first attack was reported in 1991, but since then an additional nine attacks had been reported. From this it was determined that killer whales had been preying on sea otters, since the probability of actually seeing an attack in such a large area was extremely low and a number of attacks had already been seen. Second, it was observed that in areas occupied by killer whales, sea otter populations have been decreasing; whereas in areas inaccessible to killer whales, sea otter populations were constant. Lastly, by extrapolating the number of sea otters that have been killed by killer whales based on the decreasing population rate and comparing it to the observed number of attacks. The results showed that the estimated number, 5.05, was very similar to the observed number, 6, of killer whale attacks over a 6-year period (Estes, et al., 2016). It is estimated that in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands, 40,000 sea otters have been consumed by killer whales; a 95 percent reduction in the population (Garshelis and Johnson, 2013).
We are social animals that interact with others and form a close relationship. Close relationships are sometimes called interpersonal relationships. These relationships are found within families, co-workers, and small circle of best friends. According to the book The Social Animal, interpersonal relationships consist of interpersonal attraction. Interpersonal Attraction states that there are four reasons why you will like a person, such as the similarities you have with the other person, skills/ability of another, quality, and simply because they like you. Interpersonal relationship is not difficult to acquire but to maintain your relationship it takes a lot of commitment. To demonstrate this, I chose the movie Silver Linings Playbook and related concepts from chapter 8. Few concepts that I will discuss are exchange relationship, ego protecting
Chimpanzees (Figure 1) are the closest living relatives to us, and they share 99 percent of our DNA (1). Chimpanzees have distinct group territoriality. Male chimpanzees “patrol” near the boundary between the two ranges, at that time they move very carefully and quietly, and they can cease to listen and observe the range of their neighbors. Patrolling individuals are likely to face cruel and violent attacks, injuries, and even deaths. Intense excitement and aggressive display can occur if the two parties of two communities encounter each other. Usually, the larger group holds its ground, and interaction between different chimpanzees communities may also lead to gang attack. Expanding the community range is necessary to their social organizations, the males cooperation can defend the territory and increase the reproductive rates of the resident females by excluding female and male competitors. Body contact is common in their social life such as grooming (1). Usually, chimpanzees groom each other as a way to show harmony and solidarity in their society (Figure 2). Grooming each other demonstrates the deep bonds and close relationship between them. In addition, they can even hug, hold hands, touch, kiss each other as a way of emotional expression (2).
The project at Yellowstone was met with some apprehension. Biologists there feared that without the fear of predation during the past few generations, the resident moose at Yellowstone would not fear the wol...
Haag mentions that foxes will often crave more social interaction even after just speaking with someone. This is quite
Studies show that wolves play a significant role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, and could even help stave off some of the effects of climate change. They help keep large animal herd populations in check, which can benefit numerous other plan...
Sikes, Roberts. and William L. Gannon. "Guidelines of the American Society of Mammalogists for the Use of Wild Mammals in Research." Journal of Mammalogy 92.1 (Feb. 2011): 235-253. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 5 Oct. 2011.