by Stephen Hale Every state has a list of official state symbols, but Rhode Island is unique in having an official state appetizer. At least seventeen of Rhode Island’s state symbols relate to plants and animals and rocks (see table and images). Relative to the… Continue reading
by Robert D. Kenney Humpback whales were not scheduled to be the next installment in this series, but a lot of things have been happening recently, so it seemed like a timely idea to let them cut in line. [Editor’s Note: this was sent to… Continue reading
Way back in 2009 I wrote a blog about Emerald Ash Borer at a time when it was becoming clear it would indeed break out of attempted containment areas in the Mid-west and spread across the east. Well, since then we’ve watched it move inexorably… Continue reading
by Robert Kenney Mother Nature is never quite as neat as we’d like her to be. Common dolphins are a good case in point; over the years they have given me quite a headache. Although I first learned as a graduate student that there was… Continue reading
by David Gregg The $5 term for the ticks and mosquitoes, no-see-ums, deer flies, horse flies, and all that literally bug us while we’re enjoying our outdoors pursuits, collectively, is “haematophagous arthropods.” Mites are in the Acari, a sub-class of the Arachnida (spiders and kin)… Continue reading
By Keith Killingbeck From the annals of Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show and The Magnificent Carnac, the answer is … KIRI. The question is: What is … a) a genetically engineered fruit from New Zealand similar to the kiwi? b) Google’s version of Siri? c) a… Continue reading
by Robert D. Kenney Wait a minute. Who cares about barnacles washing up on a beach? Isn’t the beach where barnacles are supposed to be? But what if they’re attached to a whale? Everyone gets excited about a dead whale on the beach, but sometimes… Continue reading
by Robert Kenney We’ve reached the point in this series where we need to talk about the differences between a dolphin and a whale. The truth is that there isn’t a real definition; it’s pretty much arbitrary. In general, bigger animals are called whales and… Continue reading
by Todd McLeish When a northern copperhead snake was reported to have bitten an East Providence resident in his driveway last week, it raised a number of concerns among Rhode Islanders about the state’s snake population. The bite from the venomous snake resulted in a… Continue reading
by Robert Kenney Although they don’t get the publicity that North Atlantic right whales or wandering belugas do, or the love from the public that humpback whales do, fin whales (also known as finbacks) are the most common large whale species in New England waters…. Continue reading