We’re nearing the home stretch with this post in the bunny behavior series. Today, a somewhat more complex behavior I like to title “Getting the Humans’ Attention.”
You’ll note that the next behavior also falls under the area of bunny-human interaction, but I’m distinguishing between the two because “getting attention” seems pretty much to be “Noe tries to get what she wants,” rather than “Noe warns her fellow mammals about danger in a somewhat-altruistic manner.” But we’ll get to that next time…
Like many pets, Now seems to have three main “pay attention to meee!” behaviors: when she wants food, when she wants petting, and when she just wants to interact with us. Unfortunately, a lot of her attention-getting behavior is done by gnawing on something, ripping something up, or just going somewhere she’s not supposed to. If she could vocalize more, her attention-getting would probably cause less property damage.
"I'm in the laundry room. Are you paying attention to this?"
Another way she makes noise is by thumping. The thump is sort of the all-purpose rabbit action- she thumps when she’s startled, when she’s happy, or when she’s planning some mischief. She apparently gets bunny bonus points by combining a thump with another attention-getting behavior, like jumping on us to wake us up.
Thumping gives her a turbo bunny boost.
If noise doesn’t work, there’s the direct approach. When we’re sitting in herspot, or are just not looking at her, she’ll often come up to us and either bop us with her nose or paw at us. Occasionally, she’ll nip. If she wants petting, she’ll come up and put her head under a hand or foot. This usually has the desired result:
"You may pet me now."
Apparently, the last few habits are dominant rabbit behaviors– wild European rabbits live in large groups that have hierarchies, and house rabbits relate to humans in the same way. Noe’s occasionally bad attitude is a result of thinking she’s the alpha bunny.
…I wonder if there’s a market out there for a rabbit whisperer?
This year, two sets of ducklings are being raised in our pond. Two years ago, another duck raised a brood of ducklings- I wonder if either of these females is from that brood?
The older brood is on the bank, and the younger brood is in the water. (Y. Fernandez)
These are wild ducks- possibly Mottled x Mallard hybrids, or just plain Mallards. At least, the male who’s been hanging around and is probably the father is a hybrid, so we’re assuming the babies are. The first brood had 9 ducklings at first, though it’s just asking to be disappointed if we count them, since there are any number of predators around here. In these photos, they’re all mostly transitioned into adult feathers.
Trouble on the horizon... (Y. Fernandez)
The second brood hatched a few weeks later and is smaller- but the mother makes up for it by being seriously aggressive to the older ducks. It makes sense- her babies are younger, and if she didn’t defend them there would likely be trouble from the larger ducks. Our pond’s not that big, so space gets to be a factor.
Brood #2 paddles in. (Y. Fernandez)
The amount of biting, quacking, splashing, tail-pulling, and hysterical peeping would probably be less if people didn’t feed them. But when one parent sees the other ducks being fed, they swim over as fast as they can. The result: duck drama.
The duckling raft breaks up as they reach land. (Y. Fernandez)
I won’t post any dramatic photos here- let’s just absorb the cuteness and pretend they’re not pushy, loudmouthed jerks. And it is cute to watch them paddle around in tight duckling rafts. Even cuter when they sleep in little duckling piles at night. …And yes, the two families do sleep on opposite ends of the pond.
They're surprisingly good at synchronized swimming. (Y. Fernandez)
I just came across this infographic about the environmental and economic benefits of buying locally-produced products via Food and Tech Connect. The argument here is that we gain disproportionate environmental, economic, and social benefits from purchasing locally-sourced products (mainly food) or purchasing goods from locally-owned businesses, rather than purchasing goods produced far away or from large retail chains.
I don’t disagree with the general argument of the graphic, though I will point out that there are additional nuances to these issues that this graphic doesn’t explore. For example, the environmental costs of shipping produce a long distance via ship can be lower than shipping it a shorter distance via truck. But these types of arguments are notoriously difficult to make in a small space, and this graphic probably serves a purpose in getting people who are completely unaware of these issues to think about them.
I’m also not sure I like the top-down viewpoint and general “sprawl” of the graphic. Granted, it does a good job of conveying far-flung supply chains, but I’d probably want to create something a bit more compact. At any rate, it’s interesting to take a look at.
(Click to view larger original version at eLocal.com.)
Digging is a natural- and important- behavior in European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus), the rabbit species our domestic bunnies are part of (there are actually 19 rabbit species!). This species lives in groups in elaborate tunnel warrens in the wild.
House rabbits who don’t have access to the outdoors still have the instinct to dig. For Noe, this means either digging madly at the newspaper in a corner of her cage, digging her way under our blankets, or clawing her way through a pillowcase so she can squeeze between it and the pillow. We strongly try to discourage that last behavior!
This video shows some serious bunny digging action (has sound):
I have to say that someone who would let their rabbit do this to their lawn is a really dedicated pet owner.
There’s an interesting article in the most recent edition of Physics Today about the founding of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Thomas Jaggar, its first geologist.
Wiew across Kilauea Caldera, 1997. Halema'uma'u is the crater on the left. HVO is probably the tiny white specks on the crater rim at the upper center of the photo.(J. Kauahikaua/USGS)
The Hawaiian Volcano Observatory (HVO) was founded in 1912 for the purpose of studying Hawaii’s active volcanoes. Located right on the edge of Kīlauea Caldera, HVO has contributed a huge amount to our understanding of volcanoes- both how they function and how to predict their activity. The science of vulcanology has saved hundreds of thousands or even millions of lives worldwide in the last century, and many research techniques have been tested and refined at HVO.
Lava fountain from Kamoamoa eruption, Kilauea: 8 March, 2011 (USGS)
According to the Physics Today article, by John Dvorak, Jaggar was largely inspired to study volcanoes after the 1902 volcanic explosion on the Caribbean island of Martinique, which killed tens of thousands of people in minutes. After working in Italy and Alaska, Jaggar was eventually lured as a tourist to the then-Territory of Hawaii to see the relatively non-explosive Kīlauea Volcano.
At that time, Halemaʻumaʻu crater was much more active than it is today, its bottom covered by a massive lava lake:
The crater was a quarter mile in diameter, with steep inner walls that made descent impossible. At the bottom of the crater, 200 feet below the rim, was a gray metal-like surface made up of large, irregular slabs of solidified lava. The slabs, separated by lightning-like cherry-red lines of molten rock, were in constant motion. Occasionally two slabs would collide, one plunging beneath the other, and send a jet of molten material into the air. The disturbance would send waves of orange-red molten material rolling across the entire surface of the lake. After a few minutes, the lake would calm, the surface would cool, and the slabs would reform. It was a stupendous sight that visitors would eagerly describe to friends and family when they returned home. Jaggar’s description, however, was more poignant than most—for him it was “as if everything within me converged.”
See here for a video of the much smaller currently active vent in Halemaʻumaʻu. Then imagine that view, only about 25 times larger, for a sense of what it looked like at the time…
Lava lake at Kilauea Iki in 1954: about 1/4 the size of the historical Halema'uma'u lava lake. (USGS)
While the article suggests that the experience of Halemaʻumaʻu was a life-changing epiphany for Jaggar, his road to founding HVO was certainly not smooth (euphemistic “domestic infelicities,” anyone?) But Jaggar did persevere, and became the first director of HVO.
Halema'uma'u at night, January 2009 (Mila Zinkova).
Today, HVO has quite an active online presence. General information about the volcanoes it monitors is here. There are several Kīlauea webcams here of active eruption sites- daytime offers the best views, but the glow from lava is often visible at night. And there are archived photos and videos here. It’s an interesting site to check out, and provides an invaluable service to the public.
Rabbits are extremely efficient eating machines. However, they eat a diet that’s quite high in fiber- cellulose, to be exact. Cellulose is a primary component of plant cell walls that’s extremely strong and difficult to break down for digestion.
Molecular model of cellulose strands (red & gray structure), with clingy hydrogen-bonds between strands. These H-bonds help make cellulose strong. (image: Wikipedia)
Most mammals can’t break down cellulose, which is why:
The proper function of our (mammals’) digestive systems often depends on getting a certain amount of cellulose in our diets, in order to build bulk that helps things pass through the system. If rabbits don’t get enough fiber, they can go into gut stasis and die.
Herbivores, especially grazing animals that eat a lot of grass, have symbiotic bacteria in their guts that do the cellulose-breaking down for them. If you’ve ever seen a cow chewing its cud, it’s re-processing partly digested grass courtesy of the bacteria, and swallowing it for a second round of digestion.
Rabbits don’t chew their cud, but they do “recycle” their own poop- at least some of it. Most rabbit poop consists of hard, dry, grassy pellets (assuming the bunny is getting a good hay-filled diet). Because this poop is not broken down very far, there is a lot of it. Some of the poop has been processed for an extra long time in the rabbit’s cecum, a specialized intestinal chamber where the symbiotic bacteria reside. This poop, called cecal pellets, is soft and vitamin rich. While rabbits typically don’t re-eat their regular poop, they do eat these cecal pellets again. This is how they gain nutrients from a mainly grassy diet.
So fiber- and poop- are obviously important for bunnies. Luckily, the little beasties are litter-trainable, so there is some place for the large quantities of poo to go.
"You'd better not be putting this on your blog!"
One benefit of the large amounts of partially-processed plant matter is that it makes great fertilizer! If you have a garden, you can just add the poop to the soil, and the poo quanta will break down over time. For houseplants, you can either crush up the poo manually and add it to plant pots, or soak it in water for a bit till it breaks down, then water the plants with the poo-water. I’ve only tried the water trick once, and it was pretty stinky- I now just go the crushing up route.
This weekend, we did a bit of bike riding and birding at Orlando Wetlands Park. OWP is a water treatment facility that circulates treated wastewater through a series of ponds with natural vegetation to clean it further before releasing it into the St. Johns River. It attracts a lot of wildlife, and is a fairly popular place to walk or bike along the berms. We didn’t see any unusual species this time, but had a nice time getting outside while the weather’s not too hot in Florida.
Glossy Ibis in breeding plumage (photo: J.M.Garg, Wikipedia)
As we were biking along, we caught some looks at very shiny Glossy Ibises in breeding plumage. This reminded us of an episode last spring, when a White-faced Ibis was reported at OWP on a birding listserv. White-faced Ibises are rarely found in Florida; their typical range in the US is in the western states (and occasionally in Hawaii). I decided to go out and try to find the ibis.
White-faced Ibis (photo: Kevin Cole, Wikipedia)
White-faced Ibises are dark-plumaged long-billed wading birds. They’re pretty similar to the typical dark ibis found in Florida, the Glossy Ibis. When the birds aren’t in breeding plumage, you have to tell the species apart by looking at the skin on their face. Glossy Ibises have blue skin and dark eyes; White-faced Ibises have pink skin and red eyes. As you might guess, this means you should really be close to the bird, or have a spotting scope, if you want to identify it.
Of course, when I got out to the park, all the ibises were way, way back in the marsh- completely unidentifiable with just binoculars. That day was hot, and very sunny, meaning there was heat shimmer on the water making everything blurry, and the birds were just not coming any closer. I spent an inordinate amount of time out there trying to see the postage-stamp sized piece of face skin on each and every ibis, but in vain. I’m sure I saw the White-faced Ibis, but could not confirm that I did. I ended up going home a bit disappointed, without being able to add the ibis to my list.
I suggest that are three reasons that birders are considered a bit geeky. First, they have a hobby, about which they can be obsessive. Hobbies are often regarded as geeky among non-hobbyists. Second, they frequently carry a lot of equipment (e.g., binoculars, spotting scope, tape recorder/iPod/etc., bird ID books, notebook, camera with very long lens). Up to a certain point, accessories carry a sort of panache- but past that point, they apparently become geeky. While I personally consider, say, wearing oversized designer sunglasses geeky and non-functional, I recognize that those wearing them probably consider them a status symbol. Similarly, I realize that the designer-sunglasses set probably considers my wide-brimmed hiking hat geeky. To each her own. Anyway. The third reason that birders are considered geeky is their penchant for keeping a list of all the birds they’ve seen.
List-keeping falls under that most obsessive of human behaviors: categorizing and classifying. To some extent, we do this automatically (this fruit is good to eat; that leaf is probably not too tasty). For birders (and scientists, natural historians, stamp collectors, designer shoe aficionados, etc.) the list can become the focus of the hobby. Some birders focus more on adding species to their lists than on observing the behavior or biology of the birds they observe, or walking through the forest in Zen-like contemplation of the world around you.
Now, I’ll be the first one to say that I have no problem with keeping lists. Especially if birders share this information with others- this information can become valuable for understanding what’s happening with bird populations over time. I also consider birding a hobby that has less net negative impact on the environment than the hobby of conspicuous consumption. Even compulsive bird listers get out and interact with nature in ways that help stitch together the natural and human spheres of our experience that sometimes seem to be slipping apart.
As a case in point, I’ll go back to the White-faced Ibis again. While I never did see the one that was hanging out at OWP last spring, I did end up unexpectedly seeing several of them on Maui a few months later. And that was pretty cool- they’re pretty uncommon in the Hawaiian Islands.
More recently, a White-faced Ibis was spotted in Massachusetts. This bird’s story does not end well. The following (somewhat disturbing) video documents one college ornithology class’s field trip to see the ibis, and how a local Peregrine Falcon decided to take the opportunity for a bit of lunch. From the reactions on the video, I think the college students were a bit traumatized by this particular example of the food chain in action. (via Birdchick)
Well, today I’d planned to proceed to the next bunny behavior list item and discuss pooping. Which is quite an important bunny activity, as we shall see! However, today continues the very busy trend of this entire week, so I’ll have to delay this critical topic till later…
On today’s menu for me: working on dissertation, trying to get to Titusville and fight traffic for STS-134 launch (final launch of Endeavour) (well, the launch was apparently scrubbed, so that means more time to work on dissertation stuff), then proceeding to downtown Orlando (fighting more traffic) for opera this evening (La Boheme).
On today’s menu for Noe: snack of lettuce, a long nap, then dinner of timothy pellets followed by orchard grass hay, then a nice forehead rub from humans.
I can already tell who will have the more relaxing day!
While Noe has a few favorite places to nap, she’ll pretty much nap anywhere. Her favorites currently are on a chair under the dining room table and under a chair on the porch. Lately, she’s been crawling between the side of the bed and the blanket that drapes over it down to the floor, and napping there. Though that has to get pretty hot for her.
Like cats, rabbits can nap pretty much anywhere.
Wild rabbits are most active at dawn and dusk, and those are also Noe’s preferred active times. But she can also be up and around during the day and after dark, especially if we’re doing things that suggest there’s even the remotest chance she might get a snack (like walking to the kitchen). The rest of the time, she naps.
The bathroom floor is conveniently located next to her hay bin.
Rabbits do sometimes sleep with their eyes open- they’re alert little critters. Noe will often nap with her back to a wall, so she has a good view (though her sense of hearing is more important) of the room. She also likes sleeping in doorways, so she can keep an ear to each room.
Extreme velvety nose close-up!
Probably the cutest thing she does is go into REM sleep and dream. Her nose and whiskers start twitching, her ears move back and forth, and she makes little chewing motions. She’s usually in “loaf mode” when she does this, so we don’t see paw twitching like sleeping dogs have. But it’s still very cute.
We don’t have good bunny dreaming videos, so here’s a random one from YouTube. Use it for a Friday moment of relaxation.
An interesting article posted yesterday at Mother Jones looks at the psychological research behind why we often believe information that agrees with our previously held beliefs, and reject information that challenges those beliefs. The article, by Chris Mooney, builds on the psychological theory of “motivated reasoning:”
The theory of motivated reasoning builds on a key insight of modern neuroscience: Reasoning is actually suffused with emotion (or what researchers often call “affect”). Not only are the two inseparable, but our positive or negative feelings about people, things, and ideas arise much more rapidly than our conscious thoughts, in a matter of milliseconds—fast enough to detect with an EEG device, but long before we’re aware of it. That shouldn’t be surprising: Evolution required us to react very quickly to stimuli in our environment. It’s a “basic human survival skill,” explains political scientist Arthur Lupia of the University of Michigan. We push threatening information away; we pull friendly information close. We apply fight-or-flight reflexes not only to predators, but to data itself.
We’re not driven only by emotions, of course—we also reason, deliberate. But reasoning comes later, works slower—and even then, it doesn’t take place in an emotional vacuum. Rather, our quick-fire emotions can set us on a course of thinking that’s highly biased, especially on topics we care a great deal about.
What’s interesting (and disturbing) is that, for scientific issues that are deeply tied to our sense of identity, education based on evidence actually often makes us less likely to believe the evidence:
…one insidious aspect of motivated reasoning is that political sophisticates are prone to be more biased than those who know less about the issues. “People who have a dislike of some policy—for example, abortion—if they’re unsophisticated they can just reject it out of hand,” says Lodge. “But if they’re sophisticated, they can go one step further and start coming up with counterarguments.” These individuals are just as emotionally driven and biased as the rest of us, but they’re able to generate more and better reasons to explain why they’re right—and so their minds become harder to change.
While the article focuses on science, there are political and ethical implications of this article as well. It’s a good introduction to this active area of research, with timely examples. Check it out!
