Tuesday, January 08, 2008

Creature Curious


Monday my second favourite radio programme came back on air for a new season - Creature Curious on Resonance FM. Host Bridget Nicholls spoke with a behavioral scientist touching on topics including imprinting between mother and offspring and very early development. Some of which is relevant to plant growth as well. We've all seen the way that a check in the growth of a seedling (sudden cold or forgot to water) will have on it's later growth.
On the subject of animals adapting to urban life he referred to the large population of stray dogs in Moscow which now scoot under barriers and ride the tube out to suburban destinations with markets, chow down and head back into the centre at night. I 'googled' and found a first hand account on this blog. This story reminded me of Neville's cousin's dog Ratty up in Dunnington who got his 15 minutes of fame last year on breakfast TV. Unbeknownst to his owner Ratty was taking the bus to his local where he had (before the mangement change) been invited in for food and drink. If you can stomach the buffoons that present the piece, you'll get some idea of Ratty's shrewd and resourceful character.

1 comment:

izambard said...

My Mum watched a seagull join the queue at her local fish and chips bar. Does this count?