Recent comments in /f/askscience

Antikickback_Paul t1_j9jvvwy wrote

Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator

SciComm from a molecular biology perspective has been... tricky. Ecology and zoology has the benefit of incredible imagery to capture an audience-- predators chasing down prey, elaborate mating rituals, exploring animals like coyotes that people can literally see in their back yards. It's hard to make poking-and-zapping-cells-in-a-dish-please-believe-me-its-real-i-swear captivating, relatable, and accessible. I've always felt it challenging on my team's science news show. Do you work with or have thoughts you can share on this type of communication, where you're faced with difficulties in captivating an audience or with a topic that isn't so intuitive and therefore tough to explain to a lay-ish audience? Thanks!!

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QuakerZen t1_j9jvocr wrote

Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator

Does global warming and the resulting impact on vegetation push typically omnivorous animals into more of a meat based diet? Have we seen any animals shift the core of their diet? Has the opposite been observed where vegetation has taken the bulk of an animals diet?

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jj4-5 t1_j9jtfaq wrote

Reply to What makes bats a good disease vector? by JustJustinInTime

There a lot of misconceptions about bats, especially spreading rabies and other diseases. They actually are very valuable for pest control and excellent pollinators—better than bees. Dr. Merlin Tuttle has been studying bats for decades, hear him discuss this topic here

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borg2 t1_j9jt089 wrote

Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator

I've seen two videos where coyotes play with badgers and I've read that they might have a symbiotic relationship. Badger digs out a burrow and the coyote kills what's in it. Is this a common thing? Is it observed often? How would such a symbiotic relationship commence?

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Sylvurphlame t1_j9jrs1k wrote

Reply to comment by annul in What are more accepted hypotheses that similarly explain the aspects of hominid evolution that the "pseudoscientific" aquatic ape theory does? by KEVLAR60442

> feeding them extra DHA, over multiple generations?

If you have a few hundred thousands years to spare, sure. It’s possible. Anatomically modern humans, genus Homo, as in “could walk down the street in clothes and you probably would not notice” have been around between 100,000 - 250,000 years depending on who defines “anatomically modern.”

But upright walking ape hominids have been around much longer, like a million plus.

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eye_spi t1_j9jra96 wrote

Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator

Coyotes are pretty common in my city. What is the real level of risk having them roam my neighborhood, and his can we be good neighbors to them?

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Tac_Bac t1_j9jq45u wrote

Reply to AskScience AMA Series: I'm Dr. Christine Wilkinson, National Geographic Explorer, carnivore ecologist, human-wildlife interactions specialist, and performer. Want to know why a coyote wanders through your city? What happens when hyenas chew your tires during research? How to get into SciComm? AMA! by AskScienceModerator

What are your thoughts on population management for mesopredators moving into sensitive habitats because of human expansion/influence? Also, management for them impacting the growing list of endangered and imperiled species in our world? A good example would be the coyote expanding basically from one coast to another of the US, impacting listed birds, mammals, and herps. Traditionally, we had mesopredators in these areas, like wolves, which we have since expatriated. However, species population and density were higher, so our now imperiled species could take the predation hit (not so much anymore).

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