The Rhode Island Natural History Survey is excited to announce the return of its periodic publication, the Rhode Island Naturalist. This publication covers local natural history stories written by professional and amateur scientists and naturalists. The Survey will publish two issues per year, Summer and… Continue reading
by Stephen S. Hale If you reached this page following a link to Stephen Hale’s blog about the Newport Natural History Society, you should know that he developed his blog into a full-fledged article and we published it in our bulletin, the Rhode Island Naturalist… Continue reading
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 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 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 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
by Robert D. Kenney Now where were we? Installment 6 in this series on the marine mammals of Rhode Island was on harbor seals. The next was supposed to be about harp seals to contrast the two species, but the unusual appearance of a beluga… Continue reading
by Robert D. Kenney Installment 7 in this series on the marine mammals of Rhode Island was supposed to be on harp seals, but recent events have forced us to let the beluga cut in line without waiting its turn. In June, on the afternoon… Continue reading
by Robert D. Kenney In a previous installment of “Marine Mammals of Rhode Island” we looked at the harbor porpoise, our smallest cetacean. We now turn to one of the largest—the sperm whale. Both species are toothed whales, or odontocetes; in fact the sperm whale… Continue reading
To put more of a face on the Natural History Survey, we are including profiles of board members, staff, and members among our Rhode Island Naturalist blog posts. This time the celebrity treatment goes to Pete August, Rhode Island’s bat-man and GIS pioneer. Pete August… Continue reading