Mayfly + Herbie = Bacon

That equation makes no sense you might say... but if you give a listen to the July 1st show, it will all become clear. I had a special guest in Pablo Andres Bacon, a graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Arkansas. He studies mayflies and their habitat here in Arkansas. He spoke to us about his project as well as his love for Herbie Hancock. We got to hear a lot from Herbie, including how he believes women are as delicate as butterflies.

As for the news in nature we learned about evolution heating up in the tropics and how salamanders keep from regrowing tails where their arms should be.

For the sound quiz, we covered the realm of crickets. Including the confused ground cricket pictured here. For more on singing insects of North America, visit this website.

Music featured included: Curtis Mayfield, Neil Young, The Maybelles, Elvis Perkins, Belle and Sebastian, and of course... Mr. Hancock himself.

Are ya hungry?

For the June 24th show, we talked about some questionably delectable dishes from the natural world. Could I interest you in a spot of blood? If you were a tick... you would say "Yes, please"! Ticks are a part of summer if you spend time in the woods of Arkansas. Just coming back from the field... I can say that I've had many ticks try to make a meal of me recently. Some have succeeded... others have met my friend the lighter. Whether you're a friend or foe of ticks, you have to admit that they are persistent and well-adapted little buggers. The folks at Living Healthy podcasts agreed.

Another "tasty" treat we featured were aquatic turtles... although I'll say right now that I'm not a fan of freshwater turtle harvests. But... apparently there are those who are because the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission recently shot down a proposal to ban freshwater turtle harvests for commercial purposes. What does this mean for our fine, scaled friends? That's just the problem... we don't know! We don't know how populations of Arkansas turtles are doing right now... which makes frequent harvesting a dangerous idea.

Stories featured in the news in nature included a study with evidence that suggests birds did not descend directly from reptiles, the big C in animal populations, and a 35,000 year old flute found in Germany.

For the sound quiz, we heard a random smattering of creatures from our stories of the day: tortugas making sweet love, beluga whales, elephants, canaries, and Stephen Colbert, Jr. (aka a Bald Eagle).

Music featured included: Devendra Banhart, The Knife, The Cure, Radiohead, Calexico, Tortoise, Johnny Cash, James Brown, and Aphex Twin.

Back in the saddle again.

Nature You Should Know is back this week - same day, DIFFERENT TIME. For the summer, we'll be on Wednesday nights 8-10pm CST.

Tune in this week for discussions on ticks and aquatic turtles and dinosaur-birds, oh my!

In the field and out of touch

I'm officially in the field doing my research on the effects of forest disturbance (e.g. fire, ice, oak decline) on breeding birds of the Ozarks. I regret that I wasn't able to post decent summaries of my final three shows before the break, but with family visits, graduations, and field prep... somehow I didn't find time. I will post the links to the shows now and hopefully get a chance to write standard recaps once I return to the world of technology. For now, it's all birds, vegetation, and arthropods for Mojo!

April 22nd: Earth Day Extravaganza

April 29th: 100% Pure New Zealand

May 6th: Baby's on Fire

"I love you" - Them's fightin' words

Love is in the air, and so is hate! On the April 15th show, we talked about the aggression that is born of the mating season. Many animals, like these male elephant seals, battle it out to secure mating rights to females. Often we see this combat in polygamous mating systems - where one male mates with many females.

It's thought that some animals have evolved elaborate visual, auditory, and olfactory displays as a strategy for avoiding costly conflicts. For example, through singing loudly and visibly from perches, male songbirds broadcast their presence to both males seeking their own territories and females searching for a mate. Lions rub their scent on trees and rocks to alert neighboring lions of their presence. Think of it as putting up a "No Trespassing" sign.

So do the ladies really just care about the biggest baddest boy on the block? Well, a male can woo a female in other ways. For example, male chimps have been shown to barter burgers for bonks. And in one ant species, the females have sworn off men completely!

For the sound quiz, we heard from some of these aggressive males: lions, elephant seals, chimps, moose, and the more showy peacock.

Music featured included John Fahey, Tony Trischka, The Appleseed Cast, The Flaming Lips, The Shins, The New Pornographers, PJ Harvey, Pajo, and Marvin Gaye.

Great horny toads, and horny frogs for that matter!

For the April 1st show, we focused on the sounds and trials of frogs, toads, and other amphibians. First we heard from Nature Stories in an archived piece called Frogs on the Road.

Good news for froggers (is that what the people are called who like to compile lists of frog species they've seen in the wild?) - new species of frogs found in Papua New Guinea! This photo is of a green tree frog discovered (Genus Nyctimystes). This warrants an emoticon :D

I also played a wee joke on my listeners... it was April Fool's after all. I featured the following video clip, pretending that I was a believer. Of course, anyone familiar with the Onion knows better.

Then we busted the recently born myth that spider bites can cure paralysis. Where were these people's editors?

Other topics discussed: skewed sex ratios in the tropics and trouble for scientists in Madagascar.

The weekly sound quiz was all frogs and toads of course! The eastern narrowmouth toad goes out to my boy, Jason. His love of this toad was the inspiration for this show.

Some music featured included Mirah, Vivaldi, America (Last Unicorn Soundtrack, that's right!), Doc Watson, Tom Vek, Blur, the Police, the Flaming Lips, the Faint, and Dana Falconberry

Take a hike!

Oh Spring Break, how I wish I could have enjoyed you like so many other students. Alas, I was tied to my duties as teacher and researcher that week. I did, however, feature outdoor recreation during the March 18th show, because if I can't go play outside, I'm at least gonna talk about it!

First off, we covered some of the fantastic hikes you can do in Northwest Arkansas. Find out more at hikearkansas.com. Some of my favs include the Buffalo River Trail, Lost Valley, Cecil Cove Loop, and Whittaker Point.

We also learned about how to build a shelter of leaves from Gimme Shelter, a Nature Stories podcast, and heard about how to follow some of core principles of Leave No Trace ethics.

As usual, we ended the show with the weekly sound quiz, which featured mammals of Arkansas. Download the podcast linked to the date above and see if you can figure out which mammals are making the vocalizations!

Most Underrated Predators

It's all fun and games until someone loses a throat! On the March 4th show, we covered the top 10 underrated predators as seen on AskMen.com.

Dolphins were #10, so we spent some time learning about their vocalizations from the Dolphin Communication Project and then we heard a song about the diversity of dolphin species out there.

We ended with the domestic house cat, which most people tend to ignore when it comes to identifying vicious predators... which is exactly why they make this list. Most people explain away their killing rampages as natural, and therefore justified. But here's the deal... most domestic cats kill for shits and giggles... not because they need to eat (excluding the strays of course). And their human owners enable this killing by letting them roam outside. If you care about wildlife (e.g. backyard birds, moles, snakes, etc.) then you'll keep the killers inside. Besides, vets and the Humane Society recommend it for their health anyway.

Animal Oscars and the Battle of the Mammae!

For the February 25th show, I awarded Oscars to the best actors and actresses in the animal kingdom. Among the winners were female gorillas for their strategies in tricking males into thinking they're the baby-daddy. The superb lyre bird was awarded best actor for his ability to mimic sounds, both natural and unnatural. We also heard about some of the animals in the world that blow Octamom's birthing abilities out of the water! Go tailess tenrec and naked mole rats!

Learning to fly

'Nature You Should Know' is off the ground and flying, although it is more like a fledgling songbird than a soaring turkey vulture just yet! I've had a lot of fun getting the show organized each week, but I've also realized that it is more work than I expected. So the blog has suffered from lack of posts, but that should be changing soon! I can fly for short distances now... at least far enough to escape predation.

Podcasts of the past few shows are available through mediafire. Here's the special on Darwin, who celebrated his 200th birthday on February 12th. And here's the show from February 18th, which featured the topics: acute mountain lion denial syndrome in Arkansas, a super long snake discovered in the tropics, and cloacal breathing in bog turtles!

More to come soon! Listen tonight from 6-8pm on kxua.com