Friday cephalopod: Colossal squid

New Zealand fishermen in the Ross Sea carefully reeled in the largest Colossal Squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) ever seen. Fisheries minister Jim Anderton announced:

“The vessel was skippered by the world renowned captain John Bennett, inaugural winner of the Golden Albatross, an international award made for outstanding commitment to mitigation of seabird bycatch.

“The squid was almost dead when it reached the surface, and the careful work of the crew was paramount in getting this specimen aboard in good condition.”

The vessel was long lining for toothfish and the squid was eating a hooked toothfish when it was hauled from the deep.

“The crew stopped winching in the long-line for two hours, while the squid was manoeuvred into a cargo net and hauled aboard. It was then stored safely in the hold. The diligence shown by the crew and the fisheries observer has preserved this exciting specimen for scientific study. This is one of the many deepwater specimens our commercial fishing fleet has provided to science over the years.”

The species is known from only six specimens, and most of the others were found in the stomachs of whales. They are a major part of the diet of sperm whales.

Mighty huntress

Chimpanzees in Fongoli, Senegal, make and use weapons. On 22 occasions, they were seen making or using spears.

The chimps used the spears to hunt other primates that were hiding out of reach in hollows of trees or branches. They were stabbing, not probing, possibly with the intent to injure prey so that it could not flee. They often smelled or licked the points, and then stabbed again. One chimpanzee was seen drawing a bushbaby out of a hollow with a spear.

In most cases, the Fongoli chimpanzees carried out four or more steps to manufacture spears for hunting.

In all but one of the cases, chimps broke off a living branch to make their tool. They would then trim the side branches and leaves.

In a number of cases, chimps also trimmed the ends of the branch and stripped it of bark. Some chimps also sharpened the tip of the tool with their teeth.

Young or female chimps were seen to fashion spears more often than adult males. Dr. Preuetz said,

“It’s classic in primates that when there is a new innovation, particularly in terms of tool use, the younger generations pick it up very quickly. The last ones to pick up are adults, mainly the males.”

Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani are publishing their findings in the Feb. 22 issue of Current Biology. You can read a Eureka alert here.

Quirks & Quarks book lists

Quirks & Quarks, CBC Radio’s weekly science program (Saturdays at noon), has on its Web site recommended books for several science topics:

• Biology
• Biographies of men and women of science
• Cosmology & Physics
• Ecology
• Evolution
• Fun
• For Kids

Quirks & Quarks wins science award

CBC Radio’s Quirks & Quarks has won an award at the Commonwealth Broadcasting Association annual conference in Nairobi for a show explaining the science behind biofuels. CBC’s weekly science program won the award Monday for the documentary Biofuels: Greening Our Energy Future, which examined the use of biomass as a clean, renewable energy source.

Jim Lebans, one of the producers of Quirks & Quarks, wrote the program and Bob McDonald presented it.

This is the first year for the CBA-UNESCO Award for Science Reporting, which goes to a radio or television program on science or technology which “promotes a better public understanding of science and technology as powerful tools for national development.”

Quirks & Quarks is heard on Saturdays on CBC Radio One from 12:06 – 1pm in Canada, on shortwave and also by satellite. You can also listen to the MP3 audio files here on our web page or subscribe to our podcast.” CBC also has a pilot project for podcast subscriptions and they want your feedback.

For an audio file, paste this link into your RSS reader or podcast program: http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/includes/quirks.xml

Science Friday archives

Science Friday appears to be a science program on national public radio. You can also listen to a live audio stream of the program. On today’s program, Ed Hume, author of Monkey Girl, and Randy Olson, director of A Flock of Dodos, talked about educating people about evolution.

Follow the link for the archives of previous programs on the Web.