it looks like there’s going to be an encore for the 1990 book by douglas adams:

Stephen Fry is here for a week filming the follow-up to the 1990 book and radio series Last Chance To See, featuring endangered animal species around the world.

The extremely rare native Kakapo – there are less than 100 of the big green flightless parrots left – has been top on the list of species for Fry to visit, but he’s also met weta, tuatara and… Peter Jackson.

source: gaynz.com

the BBC television series of 6 episodes (scheduled for late 2009) will be concentrating on the progress of conservation efforts for some of the most endangered species in the world.
in the case of the kakapo, numbers have risen from less than 50 to 90 birds!
zoologist mark carwardine, who was on the original expeditions with douglas adams, is also on board again.

i strongly doubt that there will be a legal way to watch the series here in austria, though…
 

related articles:

• Stephen Fry in Wellington for the birds at stuff.co.nz
• Fry filming threatened parrot breed at PA/google
• other kakapo-related blog posts at thinkoholic.com

in the past weeks, i’ve heard quite a bit about animal planet’s new series called whale wars.
the show documents sea shepherd’s anti-whaling campaign in antarctica.

the official website seems to limit video access to a the US (or at least they’re blocking austria), so i wasn’t even allowed to watch the official preview.
however, i eventually found a youtube user who’s uploaded the episodes – here’s the link: whale wars – operation migaloo.

the footage gives you a good feeling of what the sea shepherds are doing to protect the whales. the amount of compassion for their cause is remarkable. admittedly, some of their methods are pretty much on the outer edge of borderline. however, they’re the only organization that atcively stops illegal whaling in international waters!

in episodes #2 (“nothing’s ideal”) and #3 (“international incidents r us”), the animal planet team also provides first-hand insight on last january’s “kidnapping” incident that has made news around the world.
eric cheng has an informative article with a set of links in his blog.

i have to say: this is one of the most compelling, thrilling documentaries i’ve seen in a long time.

meanwhile, the institute of cetacean research is publishing press releases critizicing animal planet (PDF) and their new series (PDF).

last week, i took part in a practical class dealing with specific kinds of microscopy – namely confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
while we’re still waiting for the results of the second part, we’ve had plenty of time to play around with the CLSM.

here’s one of the numerous animations:

it shows part of a leaf of arabidopsis thaliana, that was genetically modified in a way that makes certain structure molecules within the cell walls visible.

to be more specific, the sequences of the green fluorescent protein (GFP, originally a gene of the crystal jellyfish, aequorea victoria) and a corresponding microtubule binding domain were inserted into the plant’s DNA, so that the cell walls would emit green light when exposed to light of a particular frequency (not all cells actually produced these molecules).
autofluorescense of chloroplasts is displayed in red.

using the CLSM, about 20 images were recorded at different levels of the leaf. these layers were then rendered in an animation that highlights its tridimensionality.

the image width equals 150 μm, that’s approx. 1/7th of a millimeter.

i think that botanical gardens are great in showing different plants of all over the world in one spot. they give you the opportunity to actually see something that is usually only growing thousands of kilometers away.
on the other hand, there’s often a huge difference between what you can see in a greenhouse, and what the same plant looks in the wild.

having spent some time in the greenhouse of innsbruck’s botanical garden, i’ve come to notice that i’ve seen quite a bit of the world.
here are three examples of plants that i’ve also had a chance of seeing in their natural habitat.

[view photos:here and there - juxtaposition]

related albums:

• drosera binata: flora on codfish island, new zealand
• welwitschia mirabilis: swakopmund and welwitschia plains
• hoodia gordonii: (not online yet)

while travelling in thailand, i was able to observe the fascinating phenomenon that is called bioluminescence:

bioluminescence at the beach, ko wua ta lap, ang thong national park

bioluminescence is caused by a small group of algae (dinoflagellates) in marine plankton.
in response to mechanical stress (motion in the water), they are able to produce weak flickers of blue light.
according to wikipedia, it may be a way of self-defense:

When a predator of plankton is sensed through motion in the water, the dinoflagellate luminesces. This in turn attracts even larger predators which will consume the would-be predator of the dinoflagellate.

however, nothing you can read about it comes close to seeing it in the wild, ideally on a tropical island.

after a few minutes trying to find out whether my eyesight had gone completely bonkers, i spent a good hour whirling my arms and feet around in the water, swimming forth and back in an ocean of blue sparks, and, eventually, trying to capture it on photos (which didn’t prove too successful, due to the low level of bioluminescent light).

one week later, i experienced the beauty of sparkling plankton one more time, during a night dive. at one point, everybody blocked the light of their flashlights, and we followed the divemaster around, just keeping track of his flickering bluish traces.

i’ve recently had the chance to see the ASIB: Algensammlung am Institut für Botanik der Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck (algal collection of the institute of botany).
in the little laboratory room, there are some 1500 specimens of aeroterrestrical algae and cyanobacteria (cyanoprokaryotes) stored and cultivated. every strain is grown in its own little test tube, and the entire chamber is cooled down to 12 degrees celsius to slow down their metabolism and make them low-maintenance.
the oldest specimen was collected in 1920.

apart from the scientific importance of such collections, i was impressed with the beautiful array of algae in nearly every colour.
 

[view photos: algal collection of the institute of botany]

there seems to be a lot going on in the world of the kakapo again:

Kakapo Update
The Kakapo is one of the rarest parrot species in the world, with only 91 known to exist. A native of New Zealand, the Kakapo is the only flightless and nocturnal parrot. It is also the heaviest, weighing up to 3.5 kilograms (8 lbs).
Why is the Kakapo threatened with extinction?
(…)
Update on Conservation efforts
(…)

source: www.birdbrains.ca
 

Poisoned kakapo fighting fit again
“When Lee arrived, we didn’t have tremendous expectations for him because we didn’t know what was wrong with him, and he was at a dangerously low weight,” Auckland Zoo vet Dr John Potter says in a statement.
They found he had toxic levels of lead in his system.

source: www.stuff.co.nz, video at 3news.co.nz
 

Eau de kakapo pulls the birds
Massey University biologists are researching the role of the native parrot’s sense of smell on breeding, raising the possibility of developing a synthetic kakapo perfume.
Associate Professor Dianne Brunton said it was likely body odour played a significant role in female kakapo mate choice.

source: nzherald.co.nz
 

update 2008-10-29:

Rare kakapo dies ahead of return to wild
A kakapo that had successfully been treated for lead poisoning has died a day before it was due to be returned to an island sanctuary.
The male kakapo Lee was due to return to Codfish Island today but he died suddenly at Auckland Zoo last night from a small tear in the side of his crop, the sac-like part of the digestive system where food is stored before it enters the stomach.
(…)
Just 90 kakapo (44 female and 46 male), the rarest parrot species in the world, are alive today.

source: 3news.co.nz
 

see also: kakapo-related blog posts at thinkoholic.com (including photos)