Evidence for a midlife crisis in great apes

Evidence for a midlife crisis in great apes consistent with the U-shape in human well-being

When humans in midlife reside,
We oft feel a bit off our stride
But it’s not our society
That brings this anxiety:
It’s just that we’re great apes inside.

Alexander Weiss, James E. King, Miho Inoue-Murayama, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, and Andrew J. Oswald.
Evidence for a midlife crisis in great apes consistent with the U-shape in human well-being.
PNAS 2012 : 1212592109v1-201212592.

(Note: Why did all the media coverage of this talk about men and male apes when the article emphasizes that sex is not a factor?)

Optimum Mating Rates under Traumatic Mating

Female Fitness Optimum at Intermediate Mating Rates under Traumatic Mating
online at PLoS ONE

A sea slug’s two sexes in one;
Screw and get screwed’s how it’s done.
And with buns in the oven,
They’re game for more lovin’!
I guess getting screwed is just fun.

Lange R, Gerlach T, Beninde J, Werminghausen J, Reichel V, et al. (2012) Female Fitness Optimum at Intermediate Mating Rates under Traumatic Mating. PLoS ONE 7(8): e43234. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043234

(note: “getting screwed is just fun” was not the conclusion this article came to, I just like it better than theirs.)

Salmon and Science

Salmon, Science, and Reciprocity on the Northwest Coast
Available online (html) through Ecology and Society

Give some fish to a neighbor who’s poor,
And he’ll eat for a year– that’s the score.
As for teaching him, now–
We still haven’t learned how.
We’d do better to look to before.

Johnsen, D. B. 2009. Salmon, science, and reciprocity on the Northwest Coast. Ecology and Society 14(2): 43. [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art43/

The 52-Hz Whale

Twelve years of tracking 52-Hz whale calls from a unique source in the North Pacific
PDF available online through the Defense Technical Information Center

Our hydrophones show us the trail
Of a Whale with a wondrous wail;
Though long it may call,
There’s no answer at all;
It is The World’s Loneliest Whale.

Watkins, W.A., Daher, M.A. and George, J.E. 2004. Twelve years of tracking 52-Hz whale calls from a
unique source in the North Pacific. Deep-Sea Research, Part I, pp. 1889-1901

The Cryptic African Wolf

The Cryptic African Wolf: Canis aureus lupaster Is Not a Golden Jackal and Is Not Endemic to Egypt
Online at PLoS ONE

For a jackal, the Striped or Black Backed’ll
Do fine, but if Goldens you tackle,
Remember C. aureus,
Always notorious,
Is sometimes a wolf, not a jackal.

Rueness EK, Asmyhr MG, Sillero-Zubiri C, Macdonald DW, Bekele A, et al. (2011) The Cryptic African Wolf: Canis aureus lupaster Is Not a Golden Jackal and Is Not Endemic to Egypt. PLoS ONE 6(1): e16385. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0016385