Nature & Wildlife
At the end of the year, many of our holiday celebrations revolve around food, such as a Thanksgiving feast or a Christmas dinner. This food-intensive season reminds me of a new concept in nature studies: “nature’s chefs.” In essence, nature’s chefs are organisms that provide food—or the illusion of food—to other organisms.
Nature & Wildlife
Every year, without fail, Thanksgiving and Christmas seem to come right on top of each other. The four weeks between the two holidays fly by, with hardly enough time to savor one before the other is upon us. Magical, flying reindeer, in other words, quickly follow the turkey feast.
Nature & Wildlife
For most of us, Thanksgiving is the only holiday of the year centered on giving thanks for what we already have, our families and our friends. It is also the only holiday I know of that has food as its major focus. For a lot of us, the holiday means eating turkey.
Nature & Wildlife
Much like us, other animals have “languages” that they use in order to communicate with members of their own species. For example, prairie dogs have developed different “words” to describe various predators—barks, squeals and squeaks that contain different numbers of rhythmic chirps and frequency modulations to distinguish which one is currently after them.
Videos
When someone says he or she wants to “talk turkey” with you, it usually means that you’re in for a frank, straightforward and serious discussion. But if you’re with Joe Hutto, he literally means speaking the language of the birds.
Nature & Wildlife
Despite what you may have learned in elementary school, there were probably no turkeys at the first Thanksgiving. The written menu listed fowl, but this most likely meant ducks, goose, grouse, passenger pigeons, swans—or maybe even bald eagles.
Videos
It’s Thanksgiving morning 2016, and many of you are probably looking forward to enjoying a rather bountiful lunch or dinner later today. For a lot of you, the starring item on the menu will be a big turkey.
Videos
Native to the United States and Mexico, the turkey has become our traditional main course on Thanksgiving all across our nation. So, how did a strictly North American bird come to share a moniker with a Eurasian country?
Videos
In theatrical circles, a “turkey” is a failure or a flop, but nothing could be further from the truth in the natural world.
