In the zone

Paul was very tolerant of our questions and interruptions in the lab, but apparenty others are not so patient.

Paul in the hood

and Paul, well, in the hood.

Paul's Companion

While visiting Paul last weekend, we had the opportunity to spend a few hours in the UGA lab with some trypanosoma, and we also got to meet one of Paul's lab mates. We aren't sure what the status of their relationship is though....he claims not to see her much. It is hard to keep up with him I must admit.

Our "new" camera

 

Everything appears to be working so far with our repaired camera. Daru got a new flippy flopper since she reduced the flippy flopper she got for Christmas in 2005 to a broken rubber ring. I tried to get some pictures of her catching it, but most are pretty blurry. It's hard to throw the frisbee and take the picture too.

Crazy cockatoo!

 
This bird may look calm in this shot, but these aves were crazy when we saw them in Australia. One went off on my sister and me.

This should be one of our last archive shots for awhile since our camera has been returned safe and sound as of today- although I have not tried it yet.

What is up with the weather?

 
We celebrated Easter yesterday with below freezing temperatures in the morning- yes we were in SC. My sister and Ryan enjoyed a lovely picnic in their 70 degree weather- yes they were still in MT. My parents had snow on their picnic with the fam- no they weren't in PA, they were in MD. Weird! We had an indoor picnic since 2 young children attended. This picture has nothing to do with Easter; it's an old picture from the Duck Pond in Boston.

Excessive posting

Okay I know this is twice in 1 day, but Kristine sent me a link....to an otter video. This is not from the GA Aquarium, but we did see Southern Otters like the one below there. I picked the remix of the video so you did not all have to listen to 1:40 of "that is so cute!" though I would be surprised if you could make it through the video without even thinking it. I, as a cynical scientist, followed that thought with, "Well, they must be doing it because otters like to hold on to kelp or wrap themselves in it to keep from drifiting while sleeping." Click on the otter to see the video from YouTube or it is embedded below

The real attraction

Whale sharks! Rhincodon typus! The largest fish in the world! The GA Aquarium has 3 half grown whale sharks (4 until January) in a 6.2 million gallon tank and they say they have room for six full grown ones. GA Aquarium is the only aquaruim in the Western Hemisphere with whale sharks so it was worth the trip I think. They are pretty cool animals to watch though they are not vicious killers. They can grow to be 40+ feet long. Ralph, the larger one of the male whale sharks, died of a stomach infection, but the other male, Norton, is about 20 feet. They hope that the sharks will breed, but that has never happened in captivity and they have to be 25, as I learned in the video below that Andrew sent.

Japanese Spider Crabs

This was one of my favorite animals we saw there (though I did not take the picture since we don't have a camera!) This is a Japanese Spider Crab which lives deep in the Pacific Ocean- this picture was taken apparently at 278 m. They can weigh 15-20 kg and grow to 3m from one side to the other. They are pretty creepy looking, but pretty amazing at the same time. Doug contemplated how many people it would take to eat one.

(picture from http://www.jamstec.go.jp/jamstec/organi/goin4-1.html)

The Aquarium

Doug and I went to the Georgia Aquarium this weekend in Atlanta, but we had no camera so this is from our trip to Australia a few years ago.