Bald Eagles are Back in Squamish!

Well, it's that time of year again... The bald eagles are back! For my second consecutive year, I am volunteering with Eagle Watch, the local Squamish organization that provides free information and telescope use for any visitor wishing to see the eagles passing through our area. The Chum salmon this year was a small run compared to previous years. So on my first shift, there were "only" 60 eagles along the ~200 meter length of the dike in Brackendale. This is small in comparison to the 600 or so that were counted at that location last year at the same time. However, that was 2 weeks ago. I suspect the numbers are up since then, as judged by the numerous eagles I encounter on my morning jogs every day. My next shift is on boxing day, and I am looking forward to it!

In the meantime, here is a brief video I took a couple of weeks ago. It features a juvenile (less than 5 years old) eagle eating a salmon.



If this movie does not load, you can view it here.

Enjoy!

Neuroscience of Love

This month, I am doing some course development, and I am spending quite some time on a first year Neurosciences course. Studying the brain was my passion 10 years ago. I didn’t pursue it in graduate school because I was somewhat troubled by the ethics of cutting someone’s brain open while they were conscious, sticking electrodes in there, and sending electricity to “see what happens”. I’m being facetious, of course, because this sort of thing does help neurosurgeons map the brain of their patient during neurosurgery. …But it just seemed to me that we know very little about.. well, what makes us us.

Neuroscience of Love
For the past week-end, I have been preparing a class on sex and hormones. It’s fundamentally a class on the neurochemistry of love. This field has really blossomed since I last studied it. Using imaging technologies like functional MRIs, scientists have been studying what happens in the brain of people who say they are “in love”. I was astounded by some of the findings I read about, and I thought I would record them here. Perhaps someone else will find them amazing, too.

Love is Blind and Stupid
First, perhaps not surprisingly, it turns out that the portions of the brain involved in reward (yes, those are the ones that are affected by elicit drugs) get turned on. It feels good to be with someone you love. Ok, this is no surprise to me. But what I found really cool is that people seem to grow “a little more stupid” by being in love. A portion of their pre-frontal cortex, usually involved in making social judgements and decisions (critically evaluating other people) gets shut off when one is "in love". So in essence, love truly is blind and stupid!

You Smell Nice! - Advertising your Genome
On another related matter, that of choosing your lover… It turns out that people find the smell of people who have a different MHC gene (major histocompatibility complex – this is a gene that is involved in immunity – defending you against outside invaders like viruses and bacteria) more appealing. Why would that be? The idea is that by choosing a mate with a different MHC gene, a couple will increase the diversity of their babies’ MHC genes, increasing the babies’ odds of a good immune system. So, you ask, is this the elusive human pheromone? Not likely, since a pheromone is defined as a chemical that triggers a behaviour in another member of the species. Displaying your MHC scent does not make members of the opposite sex flock to you, it only advertises your genome to everyone. One might wonder then, why the perfume industry is doing so well. Wouldn’t perfume mask these kinds of intrinsic scents? It turns out that people tend to select commercially-available perfumes that complement and even enhance their MHC smell. So in essence, Chanel, Lancome, Elizabeth Arden and company are helping you advertise to the world: “Hey, there are my genes… Interested in what you smell?”

Isn’t that amazing?

Wild or Aquaria Encounters? - The lesser of Two Evils...

In Response to John's Comment
John posted an interesting comment last week (5 May 2007). In his comment, he asks the following questions: "Which is the lesser evil? An aquarium where a relatively few animals kept in captivity bring awareness and enthusiasm to a large population of humans? Or "Eco-tourism", where few humans encounter a large number of creatures in their natural habitat, and run the risk of disrupting the lives of a larger number of creatures?"

So Many People Have Pondered That Question...
It's an interesting question, on that has kept a large number of ethicist and biologists occupied over the years. Consequently, I feel capable of pronouncing myself only on my very own values and beliefs, and feel in no way that I hold the absolute truth.

Annie's Philosophy...
On the one hand, I came to love the sea life on the BC coast (which subsequently fueled my desire to SCUBA dive) through my involvement with the Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre. There is no doubt in my mind that I would have had NO IDEA how absolutely breathtakingly beautiful these sea creatures were without first coming into contact with them at the Aquarium.

However, having said this, I think I prefer encounters in the wild. My experience has been that despite disturbance of the wildlife, the encounters are fewer and more respectful in the wild. When you are playing with a one-ton sealion or a sharp-teeth shark or a powerful and inquisitive octopus in the wild (see attached picture of my friend offering his hand to a local octopus) , there is always the possibility that the animal will harm you. So you have to keep a respectful distance and appropriate behaviour in all encounters.

I counter the view that we should never be interacting with animals in the wild (lest we disrupt them) with the solemn reminder that WE ARE ANIMALS OURSELVES, and therefore, a certain degree of interaction with ANY wildlife is completely natural.

I have been fortunate enough to experience an encounter with dolphins while on a dive, and it was nothing short of magical. I have always thought dolphins "cool", but until I swam with them, I do not think I really, truly, appreciated them. These dolphins approached me out of their own volition. I will treasure this experience for the rest of my life - I am not so sure seeing a dolphin in an aquarium has the same power. And even though only a smaller percentage of the population is exposed to the wild life through natural encounters, there are always movies and pictures - I would wager a bet that Jacques Couteau's films have ignited more than a few people's passion for marine life.

So, to recap: I am not opposed to aquariums, but I think nothing beats a wild encounter in terms of raw emotional power and I don't think animals suffer too much from this as SCUBA divers are weak/hapless animals in their sea, and sea creatures can defend themselves!

Note: I realise this "we're not causing too much damage" attitude may not hold as well in popular dive destinations, particularly in warm, easily accessible tourist destinations. However, through tight regulations and monitoring, even these tourist destinations could remain fairly pristine...

Sealion Encounters, Part II

The most exhilarating experience I have had while SCUBA diving came from diving with sealions at Hornby Island, BC (one of the islands between the British Columbia mainland and the Island of Vancouver).



Natural History of the Hornby Sealions
Each winter, male sealions come to feed on the plentiful herring that is gathering to spawn in the Hornby Island area. It’s their vacation, leaving the females and young in Mexico and California. The local sand stone geology of the area makes for relatively good visibility and a shallow shelf on which SCUBA divers can rest. Sealions are *much* larger than seals, and they can stand on their front limbs. Although I’ve been told that three species of sealions can be found at Hornby, I’ve only ever encountered two: the Stellar sealion (much more playful, and featured in all of the videos that I am putting on this page), and the California sealion.



A Unique Experience – Time and Time again
After my first experience, I began an annual migration to Hornby Island myself, to swim with the playful sealions of the area. It can be a little intimidating have an animal that weights one tonne barrel through water heading straight for you… But they veer off at the last second, gracefully. They nibble on your hood and fins and gloves, they imitate your behaviour underwater. At the surface, they bark at you with their fishy breath. There’s no other feeling quite like it! On my last trip, I had a concussion and broken ribs (from a skiing accident the night before), so I could not SCUBA dive. I decided to snorkel with them instead. Imagine my delight when I discovered that they were just as interactive! I highly recommend the experience to anyone interested. Keep in mind that these are wild animals – keep a healthy respect, and recognize when their playfulness may be too much for a simple human to bear. The boat is always just a short swim away…

Annie and a Sealion, Kissing

My blog is lacking pictures of late... Here's one of Annie kissing a Stellar sealion at Hornby Island, BC.

In Response to Reid

Pour la version française de mon blog, visitez ce lien.

I want to respond to Reid, who posted a very thoughtful response to my last blog. He raises a few very important points, and I thank him for bringing them up. Here is my reply…

Pesticides are Not Evil

First, I realized from reading his comments that I need to qualify my position on DDT, lest it be misunderstood. I hope I was not perceived as “jumping on the bandwagon” and promoting a strictly evil perception of pesticides. I am not advocating a complete ban on pesticides. DDT and other pesticides are needed to control insects, most notably malaria. Furthermore, agriculture simply could not produce as much unspoiled food as it does without the use of pesticides and herbicides. However, the important point is that we must use these chemicals responsibly, because once released into the environment, they do not decay easily and they influence the ecosystems in which they are released. In addition, insects WILL develop a resistance to any pesticide we use, so responsible use is necessary to ensure that pesticides will work when we really need to defend ourselves against a bug invasion.

How Do I Know What I Know?

Ok, onto the question of whether DDT is benign or whether it really causes physiological effects in animals, most notably birds and mammals. First, by pointing out the references that he did, Reid is providing me with an excellent opportunity to talk about the importance of SOURCE of information. You cite a report from the American Council on Science and Health. Is this organization impartial? Who are they? Who sponsors this organization? In fact, I had never heard of them before, so I did a bit of research and discovered that this organization receives a significant portion of its funding from the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. Knowing this, how much credibility do you want to ascribe to their reports? As for the webpage whose link Reid provided, it is a person’s personal webpage, expressing this person's opinion. He is entitled to them, and he makes a case for them, but personally, I prefer to go to government-sponsored sources of information, preferably peer-reviewed, when I seek impartial information. Websites you may want to consider to research health information are the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is the US’s foremost health research agency, Pubmed which is a database of most of the published, peer-reviewed health research ever produced (it is maintained by the NIH for the scientific community), and the World Health Organization (WHO), which is the United Nation’s agency for health. Researching these sites, I think you will find little doubt that DDT is linked to thinning of eggshells, and that while it has never been conclusively demonstrated that DDT causes cancer in humans, it has been shown to cause it in other mammals (Find the NIH report HERE). From this information, I have decided that we should be careful about using DDT without restrictions.

Climate Change, DDT, Cigarettes, and Other Controversial Issues

On the grandeur question of which information you should be listening to when you are bombarded with often contradictory information, sometimes from several trustworthy sources… well, that is the world we live in, isn’t it! People have been examining the evidence for and against global climate change for at last 40 years and not being able to reach any decisive conclusion… but now, the evidence seems to be finally swaying in one direction. The responsibility of an educated person in the 21st century is to be mindful of the credibility of the sources of information one gets, to weigh the evidence from those sources that are trustworthy, to make your mind based on the evidence presented, and finally, to keep an open mind, if new evidence challenges your previous decision. That sort of flexibility and critical thinking is what’s needed to lead a judicious life in the 21st century.

Reid: A Critical Thinker in the 21st Century

Reid - I hope this answers your questions and concerns. Thank you again for bringing this up. This was an excellent question (triggered by your own critical mind!), and I will be expecting more of these from you and others in the future!!! :)

Eagles and Valentine's Day - the DDT Connection

Allow me to attempt a tour de force and link the subject of the last blog entry, bald eagles, with the holiday on everyone’s mind this month (whether you want to admit it or not), Valentine’s Day.

DDT is the Link
The 1950s were blessed with a wonderful new chemical called DDT (Dichloro-Diphenyl-Trichloroethane), which killed every insect known to man, and hence could be used in a myriad of industries from agriculture to head lice treatments. Unfortunately, like everything that seems too good to be true, DDT turns out to be… well, let me put it to you this way: its use is now completely banned in North America. The red flags were first noticed when the number of bald eagles started dwindling in the United States. Pretty soon, the link was explained: DDT causes thinning of eggshells, and hence lost eagle clutches. The eagle population was nearly decimated, but luckily the problem was caught in time, DDT banned, and eagles are now rebounding.

DDT Affects Sexual Behaviour, Too!
But wait – DDT had other interesting effects on animal development and behaviour. It turns out that DDT is mistaken for estrogen (the “female sex hormone”) by the body of many animals. On a strongly DDT-contaminated site in California, male gulls developed oviducts (typically a female reproductive organ). Many males also failed to engage in reproductive behaviour, and the scarcity of reproductively competent males meant females had few males to help them rear their young. As any single-parent will tell you, it is difficult to do it all on your own. To solve this conundrum, some female-female pairs arose to care for the young, the so-called “lesbian gulls”. (Ref.: Fry & Toone, 1981). If you think that’s unexpected, check out this BBC article about a similar environmental pollutant that is transforming polar bears into hermaphroditic mammals (having both male and female sex organs!).

Your Woes?
DDT takes a long time to decay in the environment, and while it has been banned since 1972 in the United States, it can still be detected in most of our bodies (yes, YOUR body too – In fact, 4 prominent Canadian politicians were recently tested for pollutants in their bodies and found to be “contaminated” (link to the CTV report HERE). DDT is thought to affect the reproductive behaviour of many amphibian, reptile, bird, and mammal populations, but the big question on everyone’s mind is: Is it affecting OUR sexual development and behaviour?

Are Men Becoming Extinct?
In the recent movie Children of Men, the human species has become infertile, leading to hopelessness and the collapse of civilization. Is this science-fiction or a preview of things to come (yikes!)? The incidence of cryptorchidism in human males (a condition where the testes fail to drop after birth – a vital development since the testes need to be at a slightly lower temperature than the body to ensure the sperms’ survival) appears to be on the rise, more than doubling since the 1950s (Ref.: Carlsen et al., 1992). Testicular cancer has tripled in the last 50 years (Ref.: Giwercman & Skakkebaek, 1992). Sperm count also appears to be declining across the board in all human populations (Ref.: Carlsen et al., 1992). Whether the environmental estrogen mimics are causing these alarming trends is a matter of some debate, but it is one that needs to be resolved soon!

Of Eagles of Men
DDT almost wiped out eagles from the face of this planet, and it is possible that the same thing is happening to us now. More studies are required, but evidence is accumulating that environmental pollutants affect sexual behaviour in many animal species. Humans are part of this biosphere – we cannot escape it. So this Valentine’s Day, as you celebrate the fact that your sexual behaviours are still intact, take a moment to ponder that every chocolate you eat may contain traces of DDT…and may be altering the behaviour you will display in future Valentine’s Day…

Of Eagles, of Men

Pour la version française de mon blog, visitez ce lien.

An American in Squamish

One of the ironic things about working with many Americans is that none of them have ever seen a bald eagle in the wild (the bald eagle being the national bird of the United States). Ever since moving to Vancouver ten years ago, I have done an annual pilgrimage to Squamish, a location that boasts the largest grouping of bald eagles in North America (if only for the duration of the Holiday period (December-January)).

Eagles and Celebrity Watching

Since a pilgrimage to Squamish was not necessary this year (I moved here last summer!), I decided that I should involve myself with the Eagle Watch Program. This is a community-organized, volunteer-run program made available to tourists and other eagle enthusiasts that come to view the eagles. The dike, built along the Squamish River, makes for a perfect viewing area, and on a good day, a visitor may see up to 600 eagles across the river at any given time. The volunteers are there to adjust binoculars made available free of charge to the public, and answer questions. This year was my first year as a volunteer interpreter. I was highly impressed by both the dedication of the volunteers who organize and run this program, and the visitors, whose wonder and awe reminded me of just how lucky I am to be living here. There are also bonuses. Apparently, the highlight of last year’s volunteers was a chance to chat with Justin Timberlake and Cameron Diaz as they stopped to see the eagles on their way back from Whistler..!

A Feast of Salmon

The humans come here to see the eagles…but what is it that brings the eagles here? The Squamish River has a few very healthy salmon runs. The eagles congregate here from many different places because the salmon is plentiful, and they can feast on it. Having spawned, the salmon dies, and this very nutritious meal is easy pickings for eagles.

The Old and the New

The most common question I was asked this year was the distinction between the “completely brown” eagles and the ones “with the white head”. Are the brown ones the female? Answer: No! The brown ones are the immature eagles. Until the age of approximately 4-5 years of age, eagles have mottled, brown feathers that make them difficult to see among the branches of the tree (camouflage!), and also signal to other eagles that they are not a threat. I’m going to try to embed two videos in this blog (bear with me, it’s my first time using U-Tube) – one of an immature eagle feeding on a salmon, and one of a mature eagle feeding on a salmon. Can you tell them apart?


If you are having trouble seeing these videos, you may have beeter luck by going directly to the U-Tube website:
HERE || and HERE

Squamish: Eagles Capital

Having traveled up and down the coast on diving trips, I have some serious doubts about the validity of the claim that Squamish holds the largest number of eagles. I recall quite clearly seeing many many many more eagles near Port Hardy at the northern tip of Vancouver Island one summer. However, getting to Port Hardy is no walk in the park. It is probably fair to say that Squamish is the most easily accessible town from which the largest concentration of eagles may be seen… And that is something to boast about…

P.S. All of my American co-workers have now seen an eagle!

P.P.S. Check out this cool site, which contains a link to a live camera aimed at an eagle’s nest.

P.P.S.S. Please, please, please, leave me comments! It would be nice to know I am not just writing to myself... :)

Captivated by the Underwater Realm of BC

Vous trouverez la version française de mon blog en suivant ce lien

Why British Columbia

After graduation, what kept me in B.C. was not the beautiful mountainous landscapes, the serenity of the temperate rainforests, the laid-back life style, or the delicious Vancouver asian cuisine that most people will cite you. As a (somewhat fanatical) SCUBA diver, I feel privileged to have witnessed the dazzling array of colours created by the arrangement of a multitude of critters that colonize every rock and crevice in the coastal waters of the Pacific Northwest.

My First SCUBA Dive

I remember my first dive quite vividly (in the Squamish area, site of my new home, coincidently). What struck me then was how alien the life forms were. Gravity is not a factor in the development of an underwater body plan. Air and food are extracted directly from the surrounding medium, so respiration and digestion systems are radically different. I might as well have been on Mars. I remember thinking that most people, who only get the opportunity to look at the surface of the ocean, had never seen these creatures; most people didn’t even imagined that these bizarre and beautiful animals lurked mere meters away from the surface of the ocean.

I was Hooked

I felt privileged to have caught a glimpse of an unexplored part of our planet. I was hooked, and I wanted to learn more about these weird and amazing creatures. This was the launch of an 8 year quest for me, one that culminated in me authoring a chapter on marine life in a book on Stanley Park ecology.

Underwater Chemists

I’m sure you’ve often heard that one of the reasons to save the Amazonian rain forest is because it may contain some species as yet unknown to science that could hold the key to a cure for cancer. It turns out that the same is true of the marine critters that inhabit our coast. Nudibranchs (sea slugs) and sponges are quite common in our waters (see some representative snapshots I brought back from my little expeditions). Both types of organisms are expert chemists: they produce a lot of novel organic compounds that they use to repel would-be predators.

Fighting Cancer and Other Illnesses

I have a friend whose Ph.D. project involves collecting sponge and nudibranch species, grinding them down, separating the various chemical components that they produce and applying them to cancerous cells (click here to view her laboratory's website). It is her hope that one day, she will find one chemical that will inhibit the growth of cancerous cells, offering a potential treatment for this dreadful disease (everyone in my family eventually succumbs to this disease, so here’s hoping she finds something soon! :) ).

Protecting the Environment

Personally, I would advocate preserving marine habitats for the simple reason that they are beautiful to behold, but for those pragmatics out there, the cure to your future disease may soon come from the ocean. Knowing this, can anyone possibly argue that our oceans are not worth preserving?