Elementary, middle and high school students can participate in the annual Endangered Species Day Youth Art Contest, a part of the national Endangered Species Day (May 18).
Through the Youth Art Contest, students can learn about endangered species and express their knowledge and support through artwork. Young artists who are home-schooled and participate in youth groups are also eligible. Entries must be postmarked by March 15.
The contest will be judged by a prestigious panel of artists, photographers and conservationists. Winners will be chosen in four age/grade categories and will receive plaques and art-supply gift packs. One grand-prize winner will receive a special trophy and a flight to Washington, D.C., with a guardian to attend a reception in May.
The Youth Art Contest is organized by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Endangered Species Coalition, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and the Ogden Museum of Southern Art/ University of New Orleans.
www.endangeredspeciesday.org.
Jumping spiders see world differently
Jumping spiders do not weave webs. Instead, they jump about and then pounce on their prey. For this reason, depth perception is very important to their survival.
Now Japanese researchers have discovered these spiders use an unusual technique to estimate their distance from an object.
The technique - called image defocus - involves blurring out objects in the distance while keeping closer ones sharp. Jumping spiders are the only animals known to use it, but a camera with a good lens demonstrates the same principle - keeping a person's face sharp in the foreground while blurring the background.
Takashi Nagata and Mitsumasa Koyanagi of Osaka City University write about the jumping spiders in the current issue of Science.
The researchers studied the four layers of the retina in the spider's eye. They found that green light is never in focus in one of the layers; in another layer it is always in focus.
"So the spider seems to capture a sharp image and a blurry image and compare the information to estimate the distance of an object," Koyanagi said.
New York Times
Humpback whales sing different songs
Humpback whales on different sides of the southern Indian Ocean are singing different songs, according to a new study conducted by American and Australian researchers. The report challenges the past assumption that whales in the same ocean basin sing songs with similar themes.
The humpback songs were recorded during the 2006 breeding season along the coasts of western Australia and Madagascar. The analysis was published in the January edition of the journal Marine Mammal Science.
"Songs from Madagascar and western Australia only shared one similar theme; the rest of the themes were completely different," said lead author Anita Murray at the University of Queensland in Australia. "It could be the influence of singing whales from other ocean basins, such as the South Pacific or Atlantic, indicating an exchange of individuals between oceans, which is unique to the Southern Hemisphere."
The findings could provide insight into how whale culture spreads. Washington Post
