Natural Connections: Oxymorons on the river | Free – Ashland Daily Press
Posted: August 1, 2020 at 8:58 pm
I need a mental break, my friend Jamie told me. Shes an essential worker in a small city. Living in an apartment, feeling nervous to visit crowded city parks, dealing with rude customers, and being an extrovert in isolation, have all taken a toll on her mental health. Ive been realizing how privileged I am to have abundant access to uncrowded nature.
So, we hatched a plan for a socially distanced canoe trip on the Namekagon River.
The urge to give Jamie a hug as I pulled into the river landing was overwhelming, but our masks provided a constant reminder not to get too close. Unloading boats and organizing gear all took place as kind of an orbital dance. When we finally pushed off from shore, we got some odd looks.
Jamie, in my yellow kayak, looked as normal as she can ever look (yes, thats a poke at my veryuniquefriend). But then there was me, with my 16 foot canoe turned backwards so I could sit closer to the middle on what usually is the bow seat. This is a pretty common way for people to solo paddle a two person canoe. All of our camping gear nestled not touching in among the thwarts, with plenty of weight toward the front to balance me. At the last minute, Id thought to grab the paddle from my sea kayak, so I used its wooden blades to maneuver my loaded beast. It felt like I was paddling a tankor perhaps it could be better described as a party barge.
Hooting and hollering with joy, we swung out to the middle of the river and headed downstream.
Social distancing can seem like a pretty ludicrous oxymoron. Being social didnt used to mean keeping our distance. Its odd to feel anxious about getting together. Its odd to leave so much space between friends when we have conversations outdoors. Its odd to talk through a mask and leave half of our facial expressions covered when we (rarely) talk indoors at the office, coffee shop, or grocery store. Despite the incongruity, keeping our distance and wearing a mask are now the most caring ways we can be social.
Paddling side by side, instead of having Jamie breathing clouds of aerosols ahead of me in the canoe, is better for talking anyway. And for some reason, she was better at spotting wildlife from the kayak. Turtle! she shouted, and pointed across my bow (or was it my stern?) to a sunny rock. There, basking in the sun, was a very odd-looking reptile.
The tiny head, with a super pointy nose, faced upstream. The corners of the turtles wide mouth turned down at the corners like a grumpy Muppet. Her golden eye with a horizontal pupil gave the appearance of a perpetual squint. I could tell this turtle was female because of her large size and blotchy shell. Males are smaller, with spots. Her wide, flat body, like a lumpy old pillow with legs, was covered by an almost flat, brown shell, as if last Sundays burned pancake had been commandeered for use as a blanket.
And still, as you all knew I would, I squealed with delight, dug in my paddle to aim my course, and searched furiously for my camera. If only Jamie HAD been in the bow of my canoe to keep paddling while I photographed
Spiny softshell turtles are another foray into oxymorons. Who ever heard of a turtle having a soft shell? Isnt a hard shell kind of the point? And yet, there it was. Unlike the domed shelters of snapping turtles and painted turtles with their grid of protective, bony scutes softshell turtles have a leathery carapace. The flexible shell offers added maneuverability in open water, muddy lake bottoms, and on land, where they can move much faster than most turtles.
That pointy nose? Its a built-in snorkel on the end of a disproportionately long neck. It allows the turtles to breathe while the rest of their body is submerged in mud, sand, or water, a foot or more below the surface. In fact, they can exchange oxygen and carbon dioxide through many parts of their body, more than most turtles. That comes in handy as they lie in wait for prey like fish, frogs, and invertebrates to swim past. The same quick reflexes and powerful bite that help them catch prey can turn defensive in an instant so watch your fingers!
In a move thats odd for turtles, but common in other vertebrates, softshell turtles dont leave the sex of their babies up to the variation in nest temperature during egg development. Instead, males and females are determined by genetics.
As my canoe floated by and I snapped as many photos as I could, I finally saw the source of spiny softshells name. A fringe of pointy spines lined the edge of her carapace, just behind her head. From the other side of the river, Jamie admired her, too. I guess a softshell turtle can be spiny. And being social can be done from a distance. So much for oxymorons on the river. Our canoe trip was weirdly normal as we tried to act naturally and face the bittersweet new reality of traveling alone together.
See the original post:
Natural Connections: Oxymorons on the river | Free - Ashland Daily Press
- Saudi women making their mark in science - Arab News - January 19th, 2021
- Cannabis Genetics: Study Reveals Genes Related To Sex Modification In Feminized Plants - Benzinga - January 19th, 2021
- Biden picks geneticist as science adviser, puts in Cabinet - The Associated Press - January 19th, 2021
- Challenging The World! Meet The Saudi Women Scientists - Al-Bawaba - January 19th, 2021
- Low levels of alcohol intake linked to greater risk of atrial fibrillation - Hospital Healthcare Europe - January 19th, 2021
- Everything You Need To Know About Migraines - The Swaddle - January 19th, 2021
- Anorexia nervosa: Symptoms, causes, and treatment - Medical News Today - January 19th, 2021
- Girls and Autism: One of Lynne Malcolm's favourite programs - ABC News - January 19th, 2021
- Bryan Sykes, Who Saw the Ancient Past in Genes, Dies at 73 - The New York Times - January 9th, 2021
- Identical Twins Are More Genetically Different Than We Thought: Study - The Swaddle - January 9th, 2021
- A thematic analysis of experiences of HIV risks among female sex workers in the Yunnan-Vietnam Chinese border region - BMC Blogs Network - January 9th, 2021
- A Look at the Subversive Art of lisabeth Vige Le Brunand the One Gender-Bending Portrait That Has Kept Historians Guessing - artnet News - January 2nd, 2021
- Big rewards for Section II girls as basketball avenues increase - The Daily Gazette - January 2nd, 2021
- 2021 in books: what to look forward to this year - The Guardian - January 2nd, 2021
- Sex, Genetics, and the Relationship Between the Two in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension - AJMC.com Managed Markets Network - December 30th, 2020
- What Is the Average Shoe Size for Women? Its Bigger Than You Might Think - Footwear News - December 30th, 2020
- 'Keep calm and develop vaccines': Meet the scientists behind the Oxford jab - Telegraph.co.uk - December 30th, 2020
- IAEA Highlights and Achievements in 2020 a Year in Review | IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency - December 30th, 2020
- New Year honours 2020: citizens awarded for response to pandemic crisis - The Guardian - December 30th, 2020
- St. Paul authors Fossil Men is a tale of discovery thats anything but old and dry - TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press - December 30th, 2020
- East Idaho ranchers find strength in unified bull auction - Post Register - December 24th, 2020
- Burning sensation in lower abdomen: Causes and treatments - Medical News Today - December 24th, 2020
- World-record mountain goat shot with bow by Kansas native in Alaska - The Topeka Capital-Journal - December 24th, 2020
- How Researchers Hope to Save the Florida Scrub-Jay From an Inbreeding Crisis - National Audubon Society - December 21st, 2020
- Eddie Izzard praised after fans notice use of she/her pronouns in latest TV appearance - The Independent - December 21st, 2020
- Special report: Twenty extraordinary women blazing trails in biopharma R&D Covid-19 and beyond - Endpoints News - December 11th, 2020
- Hyperemesis Gravidarum researcher Dr. Marlena Fejzo is on a mission to understand women's health - Motherly Inc. - December 11th, 2020
- Loeffler claims she is the candidate who will create jobs - Yahoo News - December 11th, 2020
- Nobel Prize history from the year you were born - Albany Democrat Herald - December 4th, 2020
- Nobel Prize history from the year you were born - Kenosha News - December 3rd, 2020
- Genomics, gene-editing and the Blue Revolution - Pursuit - December 3rd, 2020
- How breeding can improve lice-eating efficacy of lumpfish in salmon farms - The Fish Site - December 1st, 2020
- 5G and 'Biohackers': Technology rules! (Is that a good thing?) - People's World - December 1st, 2020
- Aspira Women's Health, Inc. Announces a Collaborative Agreement with Baylor Genetics for the Co-Development of an Ovarian Cancer Early-Detection Test... - November 23rd, 2020
- New genetic tools will deliver improved farmed fish, oysters, and shrimp. Here's what to expect - Science Magazine - November 23rd, 2020
- Fitter and Faster: U of O alum Rachel McBride is breaking through barriers and championships - The Fulcrum - November 23rd, 2020
- Fearn farming family to run first online breeding cattle sale at turn of year - Northern Times - November 23rd, 2020
- A key to the mystery of fast-evolving genes was found in junk DNA - Science News - November 23rd, 2020
- The role of a data-analytics director in genomic discovery - Siliconrepublic.com - November 23rd, 2020
- Triangle headliners: Previewing 50 webinars & events coming up rest of this month - WRAL Tech Wire - November 23rd, 2020
- Face Shaving for Women: Pros and Cons, Best Practice Tips - Healthline - November 4th, 2020
- NASCAR's only female track president ready to host championship - The Athletic - November 4th, 2020
- Four Black WomenAll CEOsHave Created A 'Call To Action' To Close The Health Gap For Black Americans - Forbes - November 4th, 2020
- Breeding program 'being worked on' to boost caribou population in Jasper National Park Jasper's source for news, sports, arts, culture, and more -... - November 4th, 2020
- Angelika Amon, cell biologist who pioneered research on chromosome imbalance, dies at 53 - MIT News - November 3rd, 2020
- Berkeley Talks transcript: How Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' took on a life of its own - UC Berkeley - November 3rd, 2020
- UKZN boast its first black female graduate with a PhD in leisure and recreation - IOL - October 31st, 2020
- This Young Farmer Has Advice for Anyone Who Wants to Grow Food - Global Citizen - October 31st, 2020
- Help your health by taking breaks from stress - The Robesonian - October 31st, 2020
- Poor intimate hygiene linked to being one of the biggest causes of cervical cancer - Microbioz India - October 23rd, 2020
- Breastfeeding Won't Cause Your Breasts to Sag and Nine other Surprising Facts about Breasts - PR Web - October 23rd, 2020
- Female moles are intersex they have testicle-like tissue that helps them grow big and tough - CBC.ca - October 20th, 2020
- How to Stop Growing Taller and Why You Shouldn't - Healthline - October 20th, 2020
- Republican voters are taking a radical internet conspiracy theory into the mainstream - Economic Times - October 20th, 2020
- BreakPoint: Inventors of CRISPR win Nobel Prize, but should we 'rewrite the code of life'? - Chattanooga Times Free Press - October 18th, 2020
- Genetics of Height and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation: A Mendelian Randomization Study - DocWire News - October 18th, 2020
- Women Rise Above with Launch of Pink Haze - PRNewswire - October 18th, 2020
- Female Moles Have 'Ovotestes' that Produce Testosterone That Make Them Excellent Diggers - News18 - October 18th, 2020
- New bison to join Catalina Island herd The Log - The Log Newspaper - October 18th, 2020
- More bison to join island herd - The Catalina Inslader - October 18th, 2020
- Woman with rare disease delivers healthy baby - The Hindu - October 10th, 2020
- Working-class ants take the reins when the Indian jumping ant queen dies - Massive Science - October 10th, 2020
- City of Hope leads novel clinical trial to treat cancer patients with COVID-19 - The Cancer Letter - October 10th, 2020
- Andrew Gammie's Westpit Limousin herd makes its mark - The Scottish Farmer - October 10th, 2020
- Everything About Hair Loss & DHT - The Ritz Herald - October 6th, 2020
- Sexcel The basis of a new plan! - Farming Life - October 6th, 2020
- Scientists use 16 genes to distinguish between two types of lethal pancreatic cancer - Massive Science - October 6th, 2020
- We Discovered a Missing Gene Fragment Thats Shedding New Light on How Males Develop - Gizmodo Australia - October 6th, 2020
- Lactose tolerance spread through Europe faster than previously thought - Massive Science - October 4th, 2020
- DNA found in caterpillar guts points to what they are eating - Massive Science - October 4th, 2020
- What is the COVID-19 polyclonal antibody treatment that President Trump took? - Massive Science - October 4th, 2020
- RCC partners with Upswing to provide increased academic support services - The Robesonian - October 4th, 2020
- How hybrids have upturned evolutionary theory - The Economist - October 2nd, 2020
- In Rita Colwell's Memoirs, a Reminder That Discrimination in Science Is Universal - The Wire Science - October 2nd, 2020
- The Science of Joint Health - What Causes Pain and How to Ease It - GoodHousekeeping.com - October 2nd, 2020
- In Disorders of the Heart and Brain, Does Sex Matter? - Medscape - October 2nd, 2020
- One Case of a Rare Eye Cancer Was Weird. When 4 More Appeared, the Town Knew Something Wasn't Right. - Mother Jones - October 2nd, 2020
- This years SN 10 scientists aim to solve some of sciences biggest challenges - Science News - October 2nd, 2020
- The aquatic chicken: tilapia genetics and their parallels with poultry - The Fish Site - September 30th, 2020
- Mutations That Affect Aging May Be More Common Than Previously Thought - Science Times - September 30th, 2020