Let them Eat Pie

A sweet victory for the winning pie! (photo: Laura Dippold)

National Pie Day is January 23rd (it’s true! honest!), but here at Moss Landing we operate on a, shall we say, more flexible calendar.   Pie lovers gathered from across the lab yesterday to observe this most solemn occasion with a lab-wide bake off, featuring pies ranging from the sweet of apples, blueberries and chocolate, to the savory of eggs, bacon and tamales.    Kudos to the judging committee for creating such creative prize categories to accomodate the potpourri  of entries, including “Most likely to raise your cholestorol” and “Most likely to taste better than it looks.”  Congrats to Zea Walton for her grand-prize winning lemon tart, that was also voted “Most Dreamy,” and to runner up Mike Gordon, whose blueberry pie was voted “Most likely to be made by a grandma.”

Hats off to National Pie Day! (photo: Laura Dippold)

No marine organisms were harmed in the making or eating of these pies.

Charging Penguins!

You’ll never see a penguin soaring in the sky since they’re one of many groups of flightless birds (can you think of others?).   With their dense torpedo-shaped bodies, penguins are adapted for speedy swimming, and do all of their flying underwater.  But did you know they can also run? Enjoy this video of a penguin chase taken while MLML alum Cassandra Brooks was down in Antarctica.  Two Gentoo penguin chicks are running after their mom – and they’re about as (un)coordinated as some human kids I know!  Why do you think they’re in such a hurry?

Filmed at the Copacabana field camp on King George Island, South Shetland Islands, Antarctica. Video by Lara Asato, 2006.

Report Peculiar-Acting Pelicans

Disoriented pelicans are wandering far from home (photo: Josh Pederson / SIMoN NOAA)

Soaring in “flight formations” above the ocean on its 6-foot wingspan, plunging straight down into the water in a spectacular dive, swallowing fish its large pouch of a bill -  these are all very normal behaviors expected of a brown pelican.  But wandering alone around inland parking lots, back alleys and farmfields, appearing skinny and sickly, or even turning up dead –  most decidedly not normal behavior.  Which is why  record numbers of sick and dead brown pelicans since late December, which have been filling wildlife rehabilitation centers along the California coast to their capacity since late December,  have many researchers puzzled and worried.  The California population of these great  birds are federally listed as endangered, having been nearly wiped out by DDT before the pesticide was banned in 1972.  They have since made a successful recovery, but the recent spike of birds exhibiting odd behaviors and turning up dead has scientists scrambling to find a cause.  Some birds tested positive for domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by photosynthetic algae, but their symptoms do not include the seizures normally triggered by domoic acid poisoning, leading scientists to believe this may only be part of larger problem.

People are reporting that affected pelicans  look emaciated and disoriented, and the usually-social birds are showing up alone in unusual places far from home.  If you see any sick or dead pelicans, please contact WildRescue at 866-WILD-911.

Adult (white head) and juvenille (dark head) brown pelicans (photo: Josh Pederson / SIMoN NOAA)

What’s in a Great White Shark Stomach? Watch a Live Dissection!

Find out what a great white's been eating! ((c) Terry Goss 2006/Marine Photobank)

Ever wondered what a great white shark has munched for lunch? The Aukland Museum of New Zealand is inviting the public to join them at 11 am on January 8th (NZ time) as they dissect a 9-foot-long female great white shark found dead in a fishing net. Partnering with their Department of Conservation, they hope to to raise awareness about threats facing white sharks, and to dispel some unfortunate, deep-seeded myths about this species.

Can’t make the next trans-Pacific flight for a dockside seat? Never fear! The whole necropsy (an animal autopsy) will be broadcast on the web at 5 pm tonight, California time! (that’s after 2 pm tomorrow, New Zealand time!)

[update: Here's the whole video.]

more about “Live Dissection of a Great White Shar…“, posted with vodpod

Best of The Drop-In from 2008

As we gear up for a new year of splashy Moss Landing graduate student adventures, check out some Drop-In highlights from our first 10 months of kicking around in 2008:

We flocked from pole to pole, from Nate Jones’ surveys of seabirds in Alaska’s Bering Sea, to Kristen Green still rubbing elbows with penguins down in Antarctica.  Kyle Reyonlds warmed things up with a trip to the hot vents of Fiji’s deep sea, and Jeremiah Brower brought us up close and personal with some very old rocks.

Amanda Kahn regaled us with the multifaceted lives of sponges, even writing about them for the popular Deep Sea News blog.  Danielle Frechette showed us why balloons can spell bad news for wildlife, while Erin Loury waxed poetic about scurvy and poked around in kelp holdfasts.  To round things off, we hosted a successful Science Cafe at the labs, drummed up some coverage in the local press, and responded to some exciting questions from you!

Thanks for reading The Drop-In and getting curious about our research and experiences!  We look forward to bringing you along for the ride in 2009.

Get ready to dive back into the marine mix with us!