Animals like painted turtles use different parts of their bodies to send distinct messages. Backs and bellies are designed to mislead predators, while faces, with their fine details, advertise a turtle’s identity and quality to nearby competitors and mates.
Lichen Partnerships
Those splotches on rocks, tree trunks and twigs? Lichens! Lichens are actually a symbiosis between two major divisions of life, neither of which is a plant. And you can find them everywhere, as long as the air is not polluted.
How to Build a Bird’s Nest
If you ever have the opportunity (and permits) to dissect an abandoned bird nest, you’ll discover that female birds are ingenious architects of solid, well-insulated, camouflaged homes for their eggs. They’re able to do it without practice or instruction, using found objects like rootlets, feathers, twigs and mosses.
Faith in Trees
Trees provide us shelter, fuel, food, protection from climate change, and beauty. But they also have deep spiritual importance. In a treetop conversation, forest ecologist Nalini Nadkarni points out the connection between trees and religion.
Galls, Cankers and Witch’s Brooms
Have you ever noticed tumor-like growths on plants? Fungi, insects, mites and bacteria are like “body snatchers,” penetrating plant cells and manipulating them to produce galls, cankers and witch’s brooms for the parasites’ benefit. Fortunately, most are benign.