The big word of the month is a hard one to talk about. Euthanasia comes from Greek and means “good death”. I doubt any two people can agree on what exactly a good death is, yet it is a discussion we have to have in the Animal Department from time to time. When an animal is ill and our veterinarians have run out of treatment strategies we have to consider quality of life issues. Deciding when an animal is sufferingRead more
Posts tagged: #BWOM
Big Word of the Month: Paradigm
Philosophers of science use the word paradigm (pair – uh – dime) to describe the set of ideas and practices that define a field of scientific inquiry. If you studied human anthropology and evolution in the last few decades you were exposed to the paradigm that humans evolved from an ape-like creature that resembles modern day chimpanzees. You might recall learning about Lucy, the 3 million year old hominid found in Ethiopia that belongs to the genus Australopithecus. A fossilRead more
Big Word of the Month: suprachiasmatic nucleus
I saw my first “V” formation of Canada geese of this fall and it got me thinking about migratory triggers. Here in North America the days are starting to get notably shorter, sunset is now about an hour earlier than it was in June. Most animals have circadian rhythms that are tuned to environmental cues like day length. In many species, the shorter day length along with cooler temperatures is the sign of coming winter and triggers migratory behavior. InsideRead more
Big Word of the Month: Acarology
Acarology is the study of ticks and mites. During the summer, all the animal keepers become acarologists. Given the amount of time we spend outdoors we inevitably run into some of these critters. Ticks and mites are not insects but rather arachnids, the same group of animals that contains spiders. All ticks are parasites that feed on the blood of their hosts by inserting a feeding tube through a small incision in the skin. Mites have more diverse lifestyles butRead more
Big Word of the Month: Piloerection
You may have recently read about our new pig, Miss Piggy; she just moved in with our older pig, Squealer. Pig introductions don’t usually happen without at least some scuffling to establish dominance. During the introduction, both pigs displayed quite a bit of piloerection, or raised hairs. The word piloerection comes from the Latin root pilus, which means hair. Piloerection occurs in many mammals and happens when the tiny muscles at the base of each hair follicle contract. Piloerection canRead more
Big word of the month: adapiforms
This month’s instillation of the BWOM is inspired by the recent unveiling of a phenomenal fossil from the Eocene epoch (approximately 55 to 35 million years ago). This period in geological history is notable for the emergence of many modern forms of mammals. The fossil, dubbed Ida by its discoverers, is from the Messel Pit in Germany which has yielded many exceptional fossils. Her scientific name, Darwinius masillae, honors Charles Darwin (one of the founders of modern evolutionary biology) andRead more