How others see..

Ever wondered how a cat, dog or even a shark really see? Well this clever video gives you that answer.

Now that revision procrastination  is slowly kicking in, there is nothing better than endless youtube to help avoid the dreaded subject.

Exciting News

After returning from an amazing Ski trip in Les Arcs (there will be a post later) I arrived home to a letter from Chester Zoo!

Earlier this year I applied to Chester Zoo for a 3 month placement which would be part of my year in Industry. In November I had my interview and with the nervous wait of a month or so I have finally been given a placement to work with the Rhinos for a whole 3 months and I couldn't be more excited.

Why not big cats you say? Well, a 3 month placement at Chester for big cats would mean that I wouldn't be able to go anywhere near either tigers or lions as they are dangerous species and only people are there a year or longer would be able to. This meant that I wouldn't really gain as much hands on experience bar brushing and prepping food. Instead I mentioned my love for Rhinos and if I'm honest, any animal of that magnitude that lives in Africa which I love and to my amazement I was offered a place which means that I will get to work along side Rhinos but also Giraffes and other animals.

My interview went on, somehow for an hour, in which we discussed the types of questions you would expect when going to volunteer at a zoo, from the roles of a Zookeeper to why are Zoos important and much more. The whole interview experience made me feel very comfortable and welcome. Everyone who I met was so friendly that it meant I wasn't as nervous as I expected.

I still cant believe I have a placement, all it means now is that I need to find 2/3 more so bring it!!

Strictly Come DanceSport

So....
I have had the honor of taking part as a 'Celeb' representing Cheerleading in Strictly Come DanceSport to raise money for Leeds Marrow, an amazing charity that aids the recruitment of bone marrow donors as only 50% of people diagnosed who require a donor will find one and it costs £100 to add a person to the register!

I have been training hard learning the Pasodoble, a Latin dance which tells the story of bull fighting, and the girl acts as the cape, the male as the bull fighter for the past 3-4 weeks. It was such an amazing experience to get to take part in and the show was incredible! It really did feel like we were on strictly.

Everyone who took part were incredible and it was amazing to see what we had all managed to achieve in under 4 weeks!! Some of the judges were ridiculously harsh which really was like strictly but over all a fun filled night.

My performance was 9th out of the 10 competitors and it definitely felt like a nervous wait. We finally went onto the floor and all I kept thinking was that I need to be angry!! I believe that I may have done a good job to. After badly injuring my back last week I was really nervous about injuring it more but somethings are worth the risk and the dance with all the lifts certainly was plus my medication certainly took the edge of any pain!

The dance went AMAZINGLY and we got scored two 9s and two 10s!!! I  really couldn't believe it, and it was such a proud moment when all the hard work at training and going over or the silly details like which direction a foot should face meant something. We then had the nervous waiting for the spectators votes to be counted.
The results were in and Jordan and I had won! I really couldn't believe it as everyone was so good! Charlotte Warner, LUU Welfare Officer came second, her performance was truly amazing and I need her to teach me to shimmy (its her secret skill). Its been such a brilliant thing to do and as I said to some it up 'Different'. Doing something different than what you would normally can be the most rewarding thing possible and taking part in LUU's Strictly really was.
Everyone who performed and took part were winners really though as we all got to help raise money to an important cause, after all it is Christmas and whats Christmas unless you can do good  deeds for others!!

To see the show the links below..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxx4WnHk3tQ&feature=c4-overview&list=UUXiQ_pewQZq7pwV-dsw-4SQ


So... Keep Dancing, Smiling and a Very Merry Christmas to everyone.

Ross Piper Talk

Last Wednesday Leeds University were lucky enough to have zoologist Ross Piper come into talk to us all about his trip to Burma which has been shown on BBC 2. The show is all about trying to find as many species as possible in the short time they were there so that they could show the Burmese Government that the land really does need protection.

Ross's talk told us all about the animals that were not shown in the series especially the wide variety of insects there. He went on to tell us how although the show makes out that the land is untouched, when he was there many of the pieces of land which were meant to be protected had already had many roads cut into to aid with deforestation of the natural habitats. Learning about a place I had never heard anything about was truly fascinating.

We got to see many brilliant camera trap photos and pictures. It really reminded me why I wanted to be a Zoologist and help animals in the first place! We got to talk about what people want to watch tv and that its a shame that one person gets to decide what everyone in the country watches.

He then gave us a small career talk. He spoke about how he did a phD, then went to do extras and then decided that he has done enough academic studies so went on to do a normal job so he had time to write his books. Now he has writen 12 books. His time is taken us doing ecological surveys, writes his books, completed the bbcs burma program and doing publicity work for his book.

It was great to find out about another Zoologists life style and what they became and how they got there.

If I got to to travel to Burma like Ross did, I would be the happiest person in the world!
As Ross says, you make your own luck and you only need to have one lucky break!

The Oldest Big Cat

P.blytheae really was beautiful

So, as I'm a huge big cat person, (little ones are nice too) I couldn't not cover the story that the oldest fossil to date of a big cat, named Panthera blytheae, has been found in the Himalayas, Tibet, of all places.
The fossil discovery changes the belief of where cats originated from,  which was thought to have been Africa but the new finding suggests that they spread from Asia instead. The fossils  found are believed to be part of a 'sister' group to the snow leopards seen today but a little smaller with some facial features differing in size.
The subfamily group Pantherinae consists of Lions, Jaguars, Tigers, Leopards including snow and clouded leopards and the findings from the fossils discovered that the subfamily diverged from Felinae earlier than expected, around 6.37 million years ago!
The fossils were found in 2010 and there was thought to be  3 individuals present,  all of different ages.

The fact that we now have a deeper understanding of the origin of big cats is exciting but if the hypothesis that they originated in Asia is true  then it seems a sad state of affairs that the place the animals developed into such beautiful, majestic and powerful creatures is the place that is likely to drive them to extinction due to the demands for their skin, bone and livelihood.

To read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24913291
http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/281/1774/20132686 - Scientific Paper

BUDS- A Snowrider Weekend in Edinburgh

Day One

If i told you that I was going to spend the majority or 2 days on a very cold hill side in Edinburgh you would probably tell me that firstly I was mad and secondly, how could that be fun? Well originally I would have thought the same but throw in 40 Leeds Snowriders, plenty of incredible racing and freestyle skills for your eyes to witness along with fun with capes, cheesecake fights and a crazy antics, you find that your weekend is up there in the best of the year!

The View from the top

Henry Racing

We set of at 1am on Friday 8th November to a very rowdy coach, after eventually falling asleep I awoke to be sat outside a dry ski slope in the wonderful Scottish city of Edinburgh. After unloading we found our selves perched at the top of a very large hill, (it would need to be large if people are skiing on it) in the full sun of a very chilly morning. The races began and we cheered and wooped all day long. We were given some amazing tshirts and red capes to wear all day, which I definitely feel will need to come out more often. As the day came to a close, Iona was in the Freestyle final in which she performed AMAZINGLY. Then followed a quick bus ride and we arrived at our hostel.

The Caledonian Backpackers has got to be the nicest Hostel I have even stayed in, from breakfast being served (included in your stay) until 12 and all the rooms feeling personal and cosy it was an absolute treat to stay there. The added bonus that it really is about 15 steps away from the main high street just adds to its brilliance. We got back and after a quick change, some snowrider antics and a long walk we and the rest of the UKs snow sports teams headed to a club by the station. A fun night was had by all and far to many shots were consumed. I have never heard a DJ ask people to repeat what he does so many times in one night either!

Beauty everywhere

Day two- Exploring Edinburgh

How very Scottish

Instead of heading straight to the slopes some of us decided to wander round. As i have never been to Edinburgh I felt like it was a great opportunity to explore! We headed down the main street and got to see the beautiful memorial set as it was Memorial Day the following day (Sunday 10th November). We then wandered into some of the Scottish shops and the temptation for buying shortbread was very real.

After meeting some others we went to find lunch up at the cafe The Elephant House, where J.K Rowling famously wrote Harry Potter but as it was a Saturday Lunch time it was ridiculously busy. Instead we found ourselves in a little cafe further down the street whos hot chocolate were to dye for and you could get a toasty and a large bowl of soup for only £6!! A real bargain.

 I then went of exploring, I firstly found a quaint little book shop which smelt amazing and I bought myself a copy of Sense and Sensibility which is nearly 100 years old! I then wandered on to the castle. Its £16 to go into the castle and if I had had more than an hour I probably would have but even a trip to stand outside is definitely worth it as the views of the city are incredibly. I then wandered back along the river. We headed back to the cold hilltop slope later that afternoon and got to witness some of the boys racing in relay and then all the amazing freestyle including the RedBull train which involved incredibly talented freestylers taking to the air one after the other with no breaks. Sounds dangerous and definitely was!

No Hands

To finish the weekend of we all went to the BUDS ball where we were given a two course meal and an awards ceremony.  The meal was delicious but there were different rules that apply. The most entertaining is that for desert you are not able to use your hands. Eating cheesecake with just your mouth isn't always as easy as it seems and we were prewarned that a cheesecake fight often break out. Well this year didn't disappoint! This was then followed with the random game of who can pick the cup of the floor which was unfortunately a draw as we got down to picking up £2 of the floor. Although we may not have won any of the competitions we definitely won which university could have the most fun, and if I'm honest that suits me just fine!

Will covered in Cheesecake!

Overall the weekend was BRILLIANT. I got to meet so many amazing people, freeze my fingers of taking pictures, take part in sprints down Edinburgh's main street, carry round my purple blanket with me all day and generally have an amazing time.

If there's ever any doubt that a weekend in Edinburgh isn't  fun then you really are doing it wrong!!

Apes Have Feelings Too

Bonobos are one of the most human looking apes I feel. Scientific research has discovered emotional development similarities between children and Bonobos. This idea suggests that emotions in great apes are regulated in a human way to some extent. Tests were able to be performed to guess the response that they believed if human type emotions were present would take place and in this study it was proven correct. Bonobos were found to often give body comfort to though in distress such as hugging and kissing! Now it cant get much cuter than that.

This finding will enable scientists and researchers to study how behavior and social frameworks developed as well as proving to people that these beautiful and unique apes really are just like us in far more ways than you may have ever expected.

And a question to leave you pondering, if Bonobos are that similar to us, share so much in common and even feel and comfort each other as we do, how do people not only kill them but eat them? How do we feel that this is acceptable when all they really are are slightly underdeveloped humans. Hey we were like that 3.5 million years ago too!!

To give the paper a read click the link below,
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/10/09/1316449110
or just a little more detail
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131014155739.htm

Lion Bones Are Not For Sale

I have read many a story about how, now, due to tigers being so far and few between that the East Asian trade, especially of course China have turned towards Lions!
In the past year the sale of Lion bones have rocketed. Now private breeders of Lions who not only sell poor Lions for hunting where they release the animals 3 days before and then track the poor creature and kill it and now selling the bones of the animals after it has been killed for up to $5000. This trade has reached a level unacceptable. There is around 5000 captive lions along with the 2000 that live in national parks in South Africa. This means Lions are a much easier target than Tigers.
South Africa are yet to place a ban on Lion bones trade which is crucial for them to be able to survive. Rhino trade has already caused the species to become extinct in many areas.
Although educating China that there pointless medicines have no healing effect but are just destroying the nature around us is the most important thing its crutial that South Africa stop the sale of Lions!
No money is worth a species so beautiful and majestic. Not one penny!!

To read more Click the links below:
http://forcechange.com/64275/protest-the-use-of-lion-bones-in-chinese-medicine/
http://www.iol.co.za/news/south-africa/boost-for-war-on-lion-bone-trade-1.1601337#.Ungf-_m-068
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/apr/16/south-africa-lion-bones-trade

Wicked

So feeling very Halloweeny after a brilliant night dressed as a Zombie Dorothy I headed to Manchester to see the INCREDIBLE theatre show of Wicked at the Palace Theatre. We had brilliant seats and as the show was starting I couldn't help but feel the buzz from all the audience as the lights started to dim.

There is no question as to whether the show was good or not, the plot of friendship, bonding and love makes it out to be a fantastic extravaganza. I was so thrilled though, that the individuals cast for main roles were so strong! Usually there is likely to be one or two which arn't quite as good as another but this show was in a league of its own. Just as I thought I figured out who I personally felt was the best it changed. The singing was phenomenal and the girl who played Elphaba,Nikki Davis-Jones could challenge Idina Menzel which is sure saying something as I never thought I would comprehend anyone being as talented with their vocal chords as she is. Glinda played by Emily Tierney was exactly what I expected her to be and with out fail, she made you laugh during her hair flicks and 'Popular', and cry a little, when they both sang 'for good'!
My only downside was I couldn't watch it on repeat or that I now have such an urge to get back on a stage whether its to dance or just have fun. Its amazing how one show can make you remember just how much something has always been part of your life.

If you ever get the opportunity to see the show of Wicked I would highly recommend it. Its a brilliant show with a very talented cast for everyone in the family. Even my Nan couldn't comment that the music and microphones were to loud! A brilliant feat on its own.

There's more Dolphins

So last week came the very excited news that a new species of dolphin has been discovered of the coast of Australia. Although the species is yet to be named it has been a decade long DNA and data analysis task for scientists to reach the point where they have finally concluded that there is not just 2 species of humpback dolphin but in fact 4 or possibly more. This idea is know as splitting where the new species have come from the two original species but are now to different to be placed together.
Over 200 tissue samples were analysed before the conclusion could be drawn but it now means that conservationists will be able to study the animals behavioural and social groups with greater knowledge and gain an understanding of whether in fact there are any differences between the individual humpback dolphin species.

The paper about the findings was published in Molecular Ecology
and if you wish to just do a little more reading follow the links below

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/10417002/New-species-of-humpback-dolphin-discovered-in-Australia.html
http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/new-species-humpback-dolphin-discovered
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14921665

Breeding hope for Wildcats

Wildcat numbers have been in steep decline due to cross breeding with feral cats, their habitat being destroyed and diseases. The number is now only believed to be around 100 pure bred individuals left in the wild to date.

The lottery fund in September donated money for a new conservation programme to aid with the neutering of feral cats and reducing risks to the rare breed. There has also become a captive breeding programme set up in which the first kittens have been born at Highland Wildlife Park at Kincraig. These are the first 2 individuals to be born since the Wildcat Conservation Action Plan was created and it is thought that the Highland Wildlife Park will be one of the main breeding centers to breed wildcats in Scotland with the hope that, individuals will be released into the wild if the breeding programme is successful.

The Action Plan consists of 3 big ideas: Identify 5 areas where wildcats can be conserved, reduce risks in those 5 protected areas and then the captive breeding programme along with ecological research to aid the knowledge of the cats. This hopeful action plan is aiming to of halted decline within 6 years giving the Scottish Wildcat a fighting chance against extinction.

To read more about the kittens, the Action Plan and to learn more about the species see the links below

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24613855

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24208759

http://www.rzss.org.uk/media-centre/press-releases/press-release?urlName=more-puuurr-fect-highland-kittens

http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/publications/wildlife/wildcatconservationactionplan.pdf

http://www.scottishwildcats.co.uk/

Photography - Week 1,2 & 3

This year I have taken a Photography Elective so that I could learn more about photography, different skills and techniques along with getting to have fun taking more pictures and experimenting of how to use my camera.

The first project we were given was a 'self portrait' although your face didnt have to be in it. I decided to take photographs of me dancing as dance was such a huge part of my life when I was younger. I hadn't stepped on a stage for 2 years so getting to put my shoes back on was definitely liberating even if it was just to take some pictures.

The second project was to tell a story with a photograph, which was certainly harder. When I was at home at the weekend though i dragged my six year old brother out into the garden and photographed him. The result was the picture below.

The third project was to photograph something funny. This was really hard. I originally wanted to get a picture of my cat scooping out his cat buscuits from the go cat box but sadly there was no such luck. It ended up though that our house fridge broke and I captured my flat mate with the door that had fallen. People laughed so at least it worked, I can hardly say that its a 'good' picture though. 3 week of photography down and so far I feel like I really need to get Photoshop! 

 

Decorating Doors

Sophia is quite forgetful to say the least and we are constantly wondering where she is.
For this exact reason I decided to create her a fun Calendar to put on her door with little funny memos, like her Birthday, Christmas, Exams, Terms and other such things. Around this there I placed photos of all of us and a few sketches and magazine cut outs.
I got the free calender print outs for Sophia's calendar from http://heidiswapp.com/shop/index.php?route=product/product&path=59&product_id=80 a great website if you are in to smashbooking as well!
As we are not at uni for July and August i only have printed out 10 months which I then stuck to card.

For Rachael's door I went down the theme of Nature. Rach LOVES frogs and has lots of butterflies in her room so I decided that i would create origami butterflies and frogs using some online tutorials on youtube and http://www.origami-instructions.com/origami-yoshizawa-butterfly.html . I also covered hers in some butterfly sketches I did and some photos.

Hannahs was easy to decide what to do as she LOVES pigs and teeth, bizarre combination but never the less I went about creating her a movable jaw. I found what I was looking for on http://skulladay.blogspot.co.uk/ where i downloaded the template, stuck in onto card and then scored and cut according to the idea. This Skull template would also be good on a larger scale to use at halloween as you could attach string and potentially move it without the need to touch creating a very scary idea! Along with this I printed of photos of piglets covered in paint and wellington boots, you can find them on google!

Kasturi studies energy engineering and has a labrador back in India so, luckily glamour awhile ago had a photo shoot and interview with Diana Kruger in which she was photographed with a beautiful labrador.  I also hand drew a big periodic table just because who doesn't want to learn their elements.

The boys doors were a little different but I found funny quotes to stick on theirs along with embarassing pictures from last year

Zoology Field Course to Dale Fort

Being stuck out in the middle of no where with no phone reception when in bed and wifi that crashes when any more than 3 people wish to log on is hardly what I would have considered fun when we were told that we, Leeds 2nd Year Zoologists, had a compulsory field course to a small town called Dale in Wales at least a 20 minute drive from civilization and if I'm honest I still cant say that the majority of the trip was a barrel of laughs either. After arriving after a 8 hour coach journey and being told we had a 20 minute walk to the Fort as buses were unable to drive there the trip wasn't of to the best start.

I found a baby crab

 The first day we had lecturer Ian Hope. I LOVED the stuff we got to do with him, a lot of people didn't seem as bothered but I got to create life!. I personally don't think I could have been any more excited as when I looked down that microscope for 4 days in a row seeing my fertilised egg change into a small embryo and then to see the larvae hatch has got to be one of the most remarkable experiences! The sperm of sea squirts is also very unusual in that its tail is over 6 times longer than the body and is a tear drop shape for the main body where the bottom of the tear is connected to the tail.

Alison Dunn was our tutor for the second day where we went down to the shore and examined multiple rockpools for the variation of wildlife with in them. Once we returned to the lab we had a mad dash of a write up to complete followed by a poster. Later on we did get to have some fun where we played a quiz and got to learn all about different shore wildlife that we had collected during the day
On the 3rd day we had Sarah Zylinski. We went to the shore again but investigated whether the size of the trapdoor is ratio to the height of the spire and if its larger when close to the tide. We must have measured at least 120 purple topshells and our hypothesis was proved false. After a report writing we all got to have a nice movie night before crashing into bed.

Our Experiment

The last two days were taken over with Group projects, ours was "What are dog whelks choice of prey?" After we had collected MANY topshells, winkles, limpets and topshells we went about placing the prey in the corners and the dog whelk in the middle and monitoring them every hour to see which the dog whelk had moved towards. Sadly we didn't get any significant results which is very frustrating after you have stayed up till 3 am monitoring the stupid things!! The report writing was the ridiculous part as we were in such a rush to get it finished that we made silly mistakes but hey ho.

TO MUCH REPORT WRITING

The last day we were there everyone had to give presentations on what they had discovered from their mini research projects. Following this everyone headed to the pub and we had a brilliant bonding night for all Zoology students, learning things that I never thought I would about my fellow course friends which is definitely not going to leave my mind any time soon.

But it was all smiles in the end 

So just as we finished the presentations with a rap, I will finish this blog post with the wonderful song that we wrote talking about our project using the Price of Bel-air and silly Dog Whelks!