It's been a while since I've posted any actual information about my life, so here goes.
Art fairs went okay, but not great. Bad weather for both of them. Earnings just barely covered expenses. But we learned a lot about running an art fair booth, and we'll be better prepared whenever next time is. Someday soon we'll become members of the Stevens Square Center for the Arts, so we can have our stuff in their gallery and make some connections in the art community. Looking forward to meeting more artists.
Birthday was fun. Spent it with various people, doing various things. Age getting close to 30, but at least it's mathematically satisfying. Goodbye, cube number 27; hello perfect 28, see you soon prime 29.
Going to Lake Superior over 4th of July weekend. Planning to stay in the Mathew S. Burrows bed & breakfast, which looks like a surprisingly nice place for as little as $95 a night. I'll let you know how we like it. But we'll try to spend most of our time outdoors. Hope to get in some serious rock hunting. I'm running low on good agates for my jewelry projects.
Anyway, enough boring real world details. I'll get back to you later when I have something totally weird to talk about.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Penguin parenting
You know how they say that penguins can recognize their babies' calls? How, in an ice field full of hundreds upon hundreds of penguins, mother and baby miraculously find each other by voice alone?
John and I have been wondering something. Do the penguins actually have the auditory acuity to distinguish each other's voices? Or is this all just a by-product of their well-known devotion to the community above all individual interests?
Think about it. In Antarctica, no penguin can survive alone. Cooperation is vital, even if it means putting aside one's own interests for the moment. When penguins huddle together to keep warm, each one takes its turn on the outside of the huddle to keep others warm, as well as taking its turn at the middle to warm itself. If a penguin community ever had a large number of individuals that were, well, individualistic, that community and its gene pool would die.
And it's documented that mother penguins whose babies have died will actually fight over a baby to adopt. They have no problem with raising babies that aren't their own.
So the question John and I are asking is, has anyone actually done a tagging or gene-testing study to determine that the penguins do find their own babies? Or is it possible that they just call out and adopt the first baby that answers?
I mean, that way, pretty much every baby gets a mother, and it happens faster than it would if they took the time to seek out their own young. From the point of view of the community, which is what matters for penguins, it would make sense.
I'm really curious. Any thoughts?
John and I have been wondering something. Do the penguins actually have the auditory acuity to distinguish each other's voices? Or is this all just a by-product of their well-known devotion to the community above all individual interests?
Think about it. In Antarctica, no penguin can survive alone. Cooperation is vital, even if it means putting aside one's own interests for the moment. When penguins huddle together to keep warm, each one takes its turn on the outside of the huddle to keep others warm, as well as taking its turn at the middle to warm itself. If a penguin community ever had a large number of individuals that were, well, individualistic, that community and its gene pool would die.
And it's documented that mother penguins whose babies have died will actually fight over a baby to adopt. They have no problem with raising babies that aren't their own.
So the question John and I are asking is, has anyone actually done a tagging or gene-testing study to determine that the penguins do find their own babies? Or is it possible that they just call out and adopt the first baby that answers?
I mean, that way, pretty much every baby gets a mother, and it happens faster than it would if they took the time to seek out their own young. From the point of view of the community, which is what matters for penguins, it would make sense.
I'm really curious. Any thoughts?
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