CT Eco-Trivia and Awesome Nature Facts for Grownups

08/26/2026

It should go without saying that killing individual spotted lanternflies isn't so vital that it excuses killing native bugs. It should, right? What do y'all think?

08/24/2026

As you can see, spotted lanternflies don't hate milkweed. Milkweed leaves are generally considered toxic to non-adapted bugs, and the latest evidence suggests that SLF are no exception. They just don't know milkweed is toxic, so they feed on it anyway. Planting more milkweed is good for monarch butterflies and could possibly help decrease SLF populations. (Source: https://projects.sare.org/sare_project/lne25-494r)

Photo by me.

08/24/2026

Please don't use AI to generate science images. Even the human is wrong 🤦🏻‍♀️

Fishing for AI use in science education using modern knowledge of fishes. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a new reality in education, presenting many opportunities and challenges for educators, students, and researchers alike. While it can be effective and ethical use can be context-specific and, at times, a bit murky, its general appeal is easy to understand. AI can boil down hours of note review, literature searches, and synthesis into a few taps on a keyboard, and this will inevitably revolutionise the educational landscape. But beware, there’s a snag: AI can fail at fish biology, and that tempting AI-generated content may just have a hook in it!

𝗥𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗧𝗶𝘁𝗹𝗲
Fishing for AI use in science education using modern knowledge of fishes

Open-access - https://academic.oup.com/fisheries/advance-article/doi/10.1093/fshmag/vuag044/8740520

𝗖𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Glenn T Schumacher, Christina A Murphy, Michael T Kinnison, Fishing for AI use in science education using modern knowledge of fishes, Fisheries, 2026, vuag044, https://doi.org/10.1093/fshmag/vuag044

𝗔𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a new reality in education, presenting many opportunities and challenges for educators, students, and researchers alike (Crompton & Burke, 2023). While it’s effective and ethical use can be context-specific, and at times a bit murky, it’s general appeal is easy to understand; AI can boil down hours of note review, literature searches, and synthesis into a few keyboard taps and this will inevitably revolutionize the educational landscape (Adiguzel et al., 2023; Strielkowski et al., 2025). But beware, there’s a snag: AI can fail at fish biology, and that tempting AI-generated content may just have a hook in it!

𝗣𝗵𝗼𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁
Vertebrate biology as seen through the lens of AI. Notice the variety of examples of “Biceps” seen throughout the vertebrate lineage. Prompt: “Generate an image of vertebrate biology” (Model: Google Gemini Version 2.5, generated: September 2025). This is an unmanipulated AI-generated image, and we do not claim that any component is scientifically accurate.

© 2026 the Author(s). Published in the journal Fisheries. An open-access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC-BY-4.0) deed. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

08/23/2026

This is a real two-headed gecko! No, it’s not AI. Nicknamed Simon and Garfunkel, this gecko was born at the end of June. Apparently, “The left head is a bit more grumpy.”

You may wonder whether these developmental abnormalities may occur in fossils. Well, so far, we have just one extremely rare example of a two-headed fossil from a prehistoric reptile called a choristodere. The fossil is roughly 125 million years old and comes from the Cretaceous of China.

To consider how rare bicephalism (having two heads) is in the world today, and given that fossilisation is incredibly rare, this fossil is truly exceptional.

The extreme nature of this fossil is what led to it being featured on the cover of my latest book, where I dive into often exceedingly rare and highly unusual fossils that reveal evidence of behaviours and unusual phenomena, unravelling a unique story of life in deep time.

The gecko photo is by Tracie Kelley from Rockstar Geckos Bob Nicholls Art.

08/23/2026

Fascinating.

Great crested flycatchers line their nests with shed snakeskin, and birdwatchers have been finding it inside their cavities and writing it down since at least 1893. A nest card from that year described a crested flycatcher nest lined with snake skin as usual in a hole in an oak tree. As usual. For over a century, naturalists assumed the birds were attracted to the texture or the shine. Some proposed they simply liked long flat translucent objects. In December 2024, Cornell researchers proved the snakeskin is a security system. Nests with it had zero predation over the test period. Nests without it had 20 percent.

Vanya Rohwer, senior research associate in Cornell's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and curator at the Cornell University Museum of Vertebrates, led the study published in The American Naturalist. His team combined three approaches: historical nest records dating back to the late 1800s, comparative analysis of which bird species use snakeskin and which do not, and a field experiment at the Monkey Run Natural Area near Ithaca, New York, that tested whether the skin actually deterred predators or just looked interesting.

The historical records established the pattern. Cavity-nesting birds, species that build inside tree holes, nest boxes, and enclosed spaces with small entrances, were far more likely to incorporate shed snakeskin than birds that build open-cup nests in branches or on the ground. The great crested flycatcher was the most consistent user, coiling entire shed skins inside the cavity and sometimes draping a second skin visibly outside the entrance so anything approaching the hole would see it before deciding to enter.

The experiment tested whether the skin worked. Rohwer's team placed two quail eggs inside more than 60 nest boxes and 80 inactive American robin nests across the study area. Some received shed snakeskin. Some did not. Trail cameras recorded every visitor.

The cameras revealed why cavity nests benefit and open nests do not. The robin nests sitting in the open were attacked by a wide range of predators including American crows and blue jays, large birds that are not eaten by snakes and have no reason to fear snakeskin. The nest boxes were attacked exclusively by small mammals, primarily southern flying squirrels and American red squirrels. Small mammals are eaten by snakes. A flying squirrel approaching a dark cavity, reaching the entrance, and encountering the scent or sight of snakeskin inside is a flying squirrel making a decision about whether to enter a space that smells like something that kills flying squirrels.

Rohwer described the logic directly: if you are a nest predator that is small enough to fit into a cavity and also small enough to be regularly eaten by snakes, this is probably an effective defense. The snakeskin does not fool the squirrel into thinking a live snake is inside. It introduces doubt. A cavity that smells like snake is a cavity that might contain one. The squirrel's survival depends on never being wrong about that assessment. Leaving is cheaper than checking.

The geographic overlap reinforced the interpretation. The southern flying squirrel's range across eastern North America matches the great crested flycatcher's range with striking precision. Where the squirrel lives, the flycatcher uses snakeskin. Where the squirrel does not, the behavior is less common. The bird's defense evolved in direct response to the predator it was designed to deter.

Image is for illustration purposes only

Source: Rohwer et al. (2024), The American Naturalist / Cornell University / Audubon / Phys.org / Sci.News.

08/21/2026

Present on your expertise, your research, your fieldwork, or your passion at a future Eco-Trivia event!

08/21/2026

What did New Haven look like 200 million years ago? Join us for Eco-Trivia followed by a fossil-filled talk by Southern Connecticut State University paleontologist Adé Ben-Salahuddin that takes us back to the last days of Pangea, when terrestrial croc cousins roamed a landscape of tropical forests and lava flows, and early dinosaurs left their mark on ancient lake shores. We will have real fossils graciously loaned by the Yale Peabody Museum!

$5 admission - 100% will benefit a very cool local organization called Black Wing Coalition, of which our presented is a founding member. Check out Black Wing Co on Instagram for more information. As always, the event is 21+.

08/20/2026

Amen. Urban and suburban wildlife is still wildlife. Leave them be.

Our culture has a lot of weird ideas about predators, among them being the idea that they only belong in the forest or “the mountains,” and that the ones found in the suburbs are starving or displaced.

Wild animals live alongside us whether we live in a cabin in the Smokies or an apartment in downtown Nashville. Just as familiar urban animals like squirrels, rabbits, mockingbirds, and lizards are a normal and natural part of a healthy suburban neighborhood, so, too, are the critters who make a living higher on the food chain.

We’ve often heard concerns that animals like foxes, bobcats, and coyotes won’t be able to find enough food in the city and need to be fed, but nothing could be further from the truth. Suburbs are a cornucopia of natural food sources for wildlife— we’ve certainly never heard of a neighborhood where there were no rats or mice to be seen. If a neighborhood doesn’t have enough of these smaller prey animals, a predator will naturally move along and find better hunting grounds.

The best way to help animals in your community is to give them the space and respect they need. Secure food sources like garbage and pet food so that they don’t become accustomed to handouts, and keep your small pets indoors or otherwise adequately contained. This is their home too.

08/19/2026

"So the infection prevalence in the nymphs really depends on how all the larval tick meals are distributed across all the hosts," explained Ostfeld. "It would have been convenient if one host predicted that for us, but that has not been the case."

Tick-borne diseases are on the rise in the United States. Lyme disease is the most commonly reported, with nearly half a million people diagnosed each year. Caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, it is most often spread by bites from blacklegged ticks. Lyme can be treated with antibiotics, bu...

05/11/2026

Happy 100th to David Attenborough! I just learned this bit of trivia today!