REALLY NEED in TODAY's Energyl HUNGRY WORLD? : ^A
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6/04 !.*;' "^•'''y REALLY NEED IN TODAY'S ENERGYl HUNGRY WORLD? : ^A The Flower Gardens of the Gulf of have been working to protect this Mexico. Home to some of the most magnificent area and other sensitive spectacular banks of coral and sponges marine environments. to be found in this port of the world. They're providing a habitat for all In fact, this National Marine Sanctuary forms the most northerly manner of marine life, so everyone from ecologists to school- reef on the U.S. continental shelf. Which is why, when Shell teachers has the opportunity to study this wonderful world firsthand. went looking for oil and natural gas in this region, we looked Because at Shell, we focus on energy but that's not our only for help from Jim Ray— a marine biologist and Shell employee. focus. To find out more, see the Shell Report at v^ww.shell.com. For some thirty years now, Jim and others just like him ^^:k M m JUNE 2004 VOLUME 113 NUMBER 5 FEATURES 26 AGE AND BEAUTY K'lw to both irises and onions, orchids have a loiis^ liistory and a hu^e repertoire of enticing tricks. KENNETH M. CAMERON 34 A TRANSIT OF VENUS Early on the niornin}^ of June 8. tlie sillionette of I enns irill slip across the Sun. ELI MAOR 40 GOLDEN MOLDIES Treasured by aficionados, fni{^i remain mostly anonymous subjects of distant kini^donts. underappreciated for their role as recyclers. GEORGE W. HUDLER COVER STORY 44 WHERE HAVE ALL THE FROGS GONE? Biolo^iists hare examined a rogues' gallery of possible culprits. A leading suspect is an infectii^efimgus. JAMES P. COLLINS ON THE cover: Bug-eyed stare of the red-eyed treefrog (.^^;l!/)'^/(///.^ aillidryiis) might serve to scare off predators. .L_ DEPARTMENTS 4 THE NATURAL MOMENT Calni Before the Song Photograph by Leon G. Higley 8 UP FRONT k Editor's Notebook 18 10 CONTRIBUTORS 12 LETTERS 15 SAMPLINGS News from Nature 18 NATURALISTS AT LARGE Dirty Little Secrets Bruce Lyon and Robert Montgomerie 24 BIOMECHANICS As the Whale Turns Adam Summers 50 THIS LAND Mono Mania Robert H. Mohleubrock 52 REVIEW The Fate of the Soul William H. Calvin 58 BOOKSHELF Laurence A. Marschall 63 nature.net Animals By Ear Robert Anderson 64 OUT THERE A Desert No More Charles Liu 66 THE SKY IN JUNE Joe Rao 68 AT THE MUSEUM 72 ENDPAPER )IL^.J^ Patricia], Wynne CREDITS: Page 6 Visit our Web site at www.naturalhistorymag.com OYSTER PERPETUAL EXPLORER ROLEX NEW YORK For an Official Rolex Jeweler call 1-800-367-6539. Rolex « Oyster Peipetoal.and Explorerll are trademarks. THE NATURAL MOMENT \ 1 ^' fftfv^^^B'-^ J : » ^ li P# J ,^ ••'^: iw-^ r u,. i . ^^^HR ^^fpr -»r^ ^'^ ;*«. % k' Calm Before the Song I" '' Photograph by Leon G. Higley V ^ THE NATURAL MOMENT -< See preceding pages An insect's age is Higley and his family typically mea- had to shout to be sured in days or heard above the 120- weeks, not years. Yet decibel calls. Females the periodical cicada cause significant tree ("locust" is a com- damage when they mon misnomer), like the one rake back the bark of twigs to lay poised here atop its recendy shed their fertilized eggs. A few weeks "skin," lives alone in the soil for after all the adults have died, new many years. Underground in their nymphs drop to the ground and flightless nymph form, the cicadas burrow down under their parents' slurp tree sap, biding their time. corpses for a long wait. Kevin Karlson Then, after thirteen or seventeen Such a long development pe- years (depending on the species), riod, followed by such a brief CALL the nymphs crawl to the surface window for mating puts all peri- OF into odical cicadas at risk. are and metamorphose red-eyed Yet they adults. Incredibly, all the cicadas in far from vulnerable. The insects THE WILD the same brood—a population Higley photographed were so connected geographically—emerge dense near the Platte River, north- to take How great in synchrony. Billions of them take east of Lincoln, that predators wildlife photos over many forests across eastern could gorge themselves without North America for a few raucous making a dent in the ability of Photographing wildlife is a unique weeks of mating before they die. the brood to reproduce. Another challenge. In addition to finding the Leon G. Higley, an entomolo- evolutionary hypothesis is that the right animal at precisely the right time gist and photographer from the thirteen- and seventeen-year cy- with the right light and a clean University of Nebraska—Lincoln, cles help the cicadas avoid preda- background, there's the difficulty of observed the 1998 emergence of a tors with shorter, multiyear life cy- shooting a moving subject. seventeen-year cicada brood. The cles. Both 13 and 17 are prime Here's how to take picture-perfect insects were so thick, he recalls, numbers, divisible only by them- photos of animals in the wild or in that "you crunched them under- selves and 1. A predator in sync your own backyard: foot and were pelted by them from with the cicadas one year could Know your subject. Learn about the above." So perfect is the cast of not benefit fi-om them again soon animal's habits and habitats to discover the cicada's shed skin in Higley's enough to become a threat. the best time and place to find them. photograph that a mold of the This June the largest known insect's respiratory vessels, or tra- brood of seventeen-year periodi- For difficult lighting situations, use the cheoles, is visible (see the white cal cicadas, dubbed Brood X, will Canon EOS ELAN 7n. Its 35-zone stringy-looking strand of chitin at emerge across fifteen states in the evaluative metering allows pinpoint the left of the image). midwestern and eastern United accuracy when combining light, Males announce the mating States. Their next hurrah won't be shadow and strong backlight. frenzy with deafening noise; the until 2021. Don't miss out! Go quietly. Choose a camera with loudest choristers attract mates. —Erin Espelie whisper-drive technology to minimize CREDITS Ctna: ©E Kaw-Surmil/OSP/Aiimk AmiiiyEiith Semes +-5: ©Leon G. Higty: 12 ©)c6eph Rinis 15(lDp), 26. and the risk of the animal's flight—and pp f. p p p28(2). p 32(top):®JudyWlTire/GaidenPhotofLcoin;p I5(lx«om):Crinise«ofdieNaQondMiBeumsofSo3dand;p 160dt):©RAnnarDi^Robati/CORBIS;p maximize your safety. 16(n^):0rhomasMang^sen/M]ndenPiauiEs;p 17{topldi):CiBobCcuKtDn/Ami]akAninnk/ETil]iSci3ios;p 17((DpriEjTt):CMaigiinaR.inios.Tulane UniwEity;p 17(bottDm):CiypdcCiraniTCs(a.handc):CTmiFfcdiTim/MindaiPictuiK(d):*^GtTT>'I^ pp l8-20and21-aDui1Esyof Be fast and flexible. Since your dieauix)cp27,M,31..Tnd,i:!<lx)ODiii:C'K™nSchafep28(l):C(«iiyEllk'Mi^ courttsy d'&te author, p 32(top): 't-Mnk Mofiett^Mmdcn Ph-tints; p M and p 59: l^hry E\t]ib Ptunv Libnm'; p. 35: <C Wilker An Gallery Liverpool subjects are on the move, make sure Meise>^de, UK/Nanona] Min-Idib Lftcrpool/Brie^nan An Library, p 36: Innge Sdect/An RfsoLace, NY; p 37: Prr\-.ite CoBecDon/Biidganajr An Ij- hary, p 38: Mitchell Library State Library oiNew South WJcs/Bndgmian Art Library p .KI(top), p 42(bottoin telt .-ind rifijit), p 43(bottoiii): (SJean-Y\e can up. the your camera keep With Giospai/Bios/Raer Arnold, Inc.; p 40(botrom). p 42{top), p. 43(tDp left): ©Jean-Louis LeMoigne/BicK/Ftter Arnold, Inc; p.41: ©Jean-Philip DcLobeHe/Bia/Hacr Amokl Inc.; p 4.XlDp right): ©Mx Lihaidt^icfc/Rtcr Amjld, Inc; p 44, 45. :uid 49: ©2002 Michael & Pjlrida Evjgden; p 46(top): fastest AF performance in its class, the ©Eiwin & R^i^y Bauer/Anintils Anuiitk: p 46<hottoni): decnon niiaopaph 'E^^WS TTie Naaoral Acadenry of Saaiccs; p 47: CStephen Dalton/Aniinak 50-5 1 Canon EOS ELAN 7n tracks with Anitnals p. 48: ©Doiig TOdiskiyAiTiiiiak Aiiaiiik; pp : (COrrCHliDn; p 52: cT)urteS)'l>riise Bilm) fijK" Art NY ;iiil1 Co!^ p 55: Pholodieque R. M.ignlte-ADAGP/An Remrtce; NY e2CW C Heiscovia. Dnisds/Aflias Rifjils Sodcti' (ARS), NY; p 58: Sinitboniin American precision, speed and accuracy, taking up Art MiBeum WBhinffoii DC/An R<5ouice, NY; 'CaWT H Bcraon .and R_ R Benton Tesoiricnary TiTS^^ Ne\v York, NY; 62; Cltilxxly E*o; Salenx Libiary iliBIiation by P.ilncia p Museum. MAyUSA/Bridgenaan An p W: J. Wynne to approximately 4 shots per second. Canon NATURAL HISTORY June 2004 WARNING: May cause film lovers to drool, have bouts of ecstasy and go completely gaga VN^^* \ at. ^^^ continuous shotiting, 1/4(XK)'^ focus point automatically as you scan the scene, giving you ConsiJer this your tirst warning — the new features high-speed, 4fps level uaseen in other cameras in this class. and 1 1 shcwting mtxles whidi, a of control C.inon EOS ELAN 7n/7ne is here. The film camera sec top shutter speed under the most functions, make it unusaiUy For fast, accurate control thar gives photographers the speed, accuracy and ,ilong with its 13 aistom EL.\N 7n/7ne features its "-point wide .irea autofivus uses difficult lighting conditions, the rcliabilit)' they've been craving. nesponsiw. In f.ict, EOS-lv ,V^-zone evaluative metering, new distance-based The EOS ELAN 7n/7ne has the fastest autofcxus ^^_ .AF technology similar to tile (.jnon and EOS-.^, .lUowing you to tr.ick F-TTL II flash metering and is fully compatible with in its class* The new backlit display and all EOS accessories and EF lenses.