Olduvai George on NPR

I was lucky to be in the car at the right time this morning to catch a story about Mastodons in Manhattan: A Botanical Puzzle, i.e., why honey locust trees in NYCity have long thorns - an interesting story (click on the link and click on "Listen Now") which, among others, features our blog-friend Carl Buell.

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Remember the Millionth Comment Contest? Remember that Peggy Kolm won it?
....drumroll.... Peggy Kolm! You can find Peggy on Biology in Science Fiction and Women in Science blogs.
Mrs.Coturnix and I will be in NYCity this week. My main business is the Open Science panel at Columbia on Thursday afternoon, which I hope you can attend.
I grew up in the big city. I like visiting big cities. The moment you drop me in NYCity, San Francisco, or London, I get into my "city mode" - the quicker pace of walking, a different demeanor. It's fun - for a few days. I don't want to move into and live in a big city again.

Gosh, I woke up to that story this morning. Not a great image to start the day with....

And just last night I was joking with some friends over dinner about muscle development and mouse and cow tongues. Rather odd coincidence.

Locusts are beautiful, their flowers smell beautifully, and the locust honey is the best thing ever! But do not try to lick the tree!

Neat! This reminds me of the Science paper from a two months ago or so about how megaherbivores can change the landscape in Africa. What I would like to know, then, is if the tree produces more thorns/defenses when its being actively browsed versus trees that are not (the acacia trees in the Science study produced more thorns when they were being "attacked" by the herbivores; it's a plastic response). Thanks for sharing this, Bora!