BioBrevia: Ancient Things Incredible

Some Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides) colonies in the Rocky Mountains are thousands of years old.

Photo: Mark Conboy

Check out this fascinating Ted Talk by Rachel Sussman on some of the world's oldest, and incidentally, weirdest, organisms. From the otherworldly Welwitschia mirabilis whose two massive leaves are never shed, even after centuries of growth, to the ridiculously ancient actinobacteria that remain active even in the coldest conditions of the Siberia tundra, it will blow your mind to meet some of the oldest organisms we share our little blue planet with!

BioBrevia: Climate Lessons from the Deep

A Stoplight Parrotfish (Sparisoma viride) crunches coral.

Photo: Sarah Larocque

Here's a newly posted TEDx talk by marine chemist Laura Robinson. She speaks on what fossilized corals can reveal about climate oscillations from Earth's past and how we might use that knowledge today in our own fight against climate change.

BioBrevia: Siberia

Baikal Seal (Pusa sibirica)

Photo: Per Harald Olsen (Wikimedia Commons)

Here's a fascinating documentary about the wildlife of Siberia, including the wondrous Lake Baikal, with its landlocked seals and sponge gardens. See it here.

BioBrevia: Serendipitous Snowy Owl

Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus)

Photo: Mark Conboy

Entirely by accident, a Snowy Owl (Bubo scandiacus) was captured on a Montreal traffic camera, earlier this week. The footage was released today. Check out this short story and video from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

BioBrevia: Amazing Galapagos

Swallow-tailed Gulls (Creagrus furcatus)

Photo: Philina English

Here's a beautiful look at the wildlife of Ecuador's Galapagos Islands, from irenaVision. A few of the archipelago's endemic species are shown, including Galapagos Tortoise (Geochelone nigra), Marine Iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus), Land Iguana (Conolophus subcristatus), Swallow-tailed Gull (Creagrus furcatus), the Galapagos subspecies of Short-eared Owl (Asio flammeus galapagoensis) and California Sea Lion (Zalophus californianus wollebaeki). Conspicuously absent, however, are the most historically important endemics, the mockingbirds and finches, which were so instrumental to Charles Darwin's early thoughts of natural selection. Enjoy.

BioBrevia: Finlandia

Osprey (Pandion haliaetus)

Photo: NASA (Wikimedia Commons)

 

You don't have to be a fan of classical music to appreciate this wonderful celebration of Nordic nature, set to Jean Sibelius's dramatic tone poem Finlandia, Op. 26. To me, a Canadian, Finland's wilderness of spruces, pines, rocks and lakes, looks very much like home. In fact, all of the animals featured in this video, aside from the Siberian Flying Squirrel (Pteromys volans), are shared between Finland and Canada: Grizzly Bear (Ursus arctos), Caribou (Rangifer tarandus), Common Goldeneye (Bucephala clangula), Red-throated Loon (Gavia stellata), Osprey (Pandion haliaetus) and Common Raven (Corvus corax).

BioBrevia: A Bird's-Eye View of Sockeyes

Spawning Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka)

Photo: William Rosmus (Wikimedia Commons)

Photographer Jason Ching gives us a bird's-eye view of a big Sockeye Salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) run on Lake Iliamna, Alaska’s largest lake. The imagery is beautiful, the fish abundant, and the resulting temptation to go see the run for oneself is real. Check out the video here.