Dr. Carin Bondar - Biologist with a Twist

Uncategorized

The Tree Frog That Can Lay Eggs In Water And On Land

The tree frog Dendropsophus ebraccatus utilizes a strange form of parental plasticity that is almost unique in the animal kingdom. These parents can deposit their eggs in either terrestrial or aquatic habitats. Photo by Charles [...]
Uncategorized

Dung Beetles: Dung Quality, Male Morphology, and Social Context Affect Parental Investment

Dung beetle (Onthophagus atripennis) parents provision their future offspring by collecting dung. They transport it to a series of underground tunnels that they have excavated for that precise purpose. Once at the blind end of [...]
Animal Reproduction

Pregnant Males: Seahorses and Pipefishes

A certain level of sex-role reversal is observed in insects, amphibians, and birds, but nowhere is it more clearly developed than in the seahorses and pipefishes. In these species, males get pregnant and give birth [...]

Animal Parenting

Can Males Lactate?

June 17, 2020 1

It is physiologically possible for males to lactate! As we know, the female investment in almost all animals is much higher than that of males based solely on the value of eggs versus sperm. However, […]

“Wasteful” Killing in the Insect World

June 10, 2020 0

A point about humanity that I find thoroughly upsetting is trophy hunting. If you have no plans to utilize what you are going to kill to improve your biological fitness, then in my opinion there […]

Lactation in Spotted Hyenas

June 3, 2020 0

Hyena societies are matriarchal, which means that females are the socially dominant sex. They live in groups of sexually mature females and their offspring. When young males reach sexual maturity they are kicked out of […]