news bits
Camas pocket gophers are easy to see right now below the NE overlook in Ankeny NWR, Oregon. The best time is the last two hours before dawn. You need moonlight as they are extremely wary of spotlights.
A study in Chile found that melanistic cats are more nocturnal than spotted ones. I wonder how it works: is activity pattern genetically linked to color, or do cats somehow understand when they are least visible? Cool either way.
Also, HMW has finally realized that attempting to cover all rodents in one volume would be a disaster, and is conducting a poll on splitting the volume in two. Please vote for two: one would be a waste of money 🙂
Vladimir Dinets
8 Comments
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Jurek
I think it is learned mechanism. Cats learn that their hunt at daytime is not successful but at night is, and so switch their strategy.
In moths, even simpler mechanism makes sure that it always roosts on a cryptic background. A moth cannot see itself or its roost in much detail. It lands anywhere, and is disturbed and flies again, until it lands on a place matching its colors.
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Farnborough John
The most likely selection mechanism for melanism being more common in night-hunting cats is simply that black cats would be more visible in daylight and would therefore hunt less effectively: so that black cats “preferring” night hunting would have increased breeding success. No self-awareness of their colour, or direct genetic link to activity pattern is necessary to achieve this. Just the operation of the laws of statistics.