Where passion for animals, science, and medicine lives…
Drug resistance affects all species, across the spectrum of all drug classes. Antibiotic resistance appears in the news frequently. Less popular, but just as concerning, is resistance to common antiparasitics. Small ruminant producers are acutely aware of rapid development of resistance to the avermectins.
Continue Reading
Fun Facts on Plague You are at risk for plague! Well, in the same way, that you are at risk of being struck by lightning… twice or being eaten alive by alligators. Unless you work in the veterinary field in the southwest region of the United States, then it should be a concern albeit not […]
Continue Reading
When you see a person wearing a mask at an airport, why are they doing it? Should you be wearing one? Some look like simple surgical masks, and others look fancy. Which is better? To begin with, let’s separate masks from respirators. Masks provide more protection for the non-user than the user unless you are […]
Continue Reading
Superfamilies. The answer is yes! As an ape, you are a card-carrying member of the superfamily Hominoidea. Taxonomy classifies all living beings from three domains of life through 8 different levels to the most specific final categories of genus and species. At times, eight levels just aren’t enough to properly group. When this occurs, we […]
Continue Reading
How do you pronounce "proboscis?" One of my favorite teachers, a forensic entomologist, held a pet peeve for pronouncing the mosquito’s mouthparts as “pro-baa-skus (prəˈbɑːskɪs)” instead of “pro-baa-sis” (prəˈbɑːsɪs). She would remind everyone we study “Science,” not “Sky-unce.” Long before I learned about this controversy, I remember stabbing my juice box with my dinosaur-mosquito mouthpart […]
Continue Reading
Would you kiss a rabbit? How much poo do you want to make? Sounds weird but this is an important evolutionary question. A food-to-poo ratio appears pre-set, but it isn’t. For instance, rabbits have such a short intestinal tract that they need to send their food through twice. And how is that accomplished? You guessed […]
Continue Reading
Tick sex is gross but other aspects are more disturbing As I studied the respiration of ticks, I found the process uncomfortable. At first, I couldn’t figure out why I felt my lips purse, noticed some tension in my back, and found my focus returning to the cheap faux-leather of my armrest. I wanted distance, […]
Continue Reading