Odd Antlers of the Animal Kingdom

Deer are undoubtedly one of the most iconic creatures of the North American animal kingdom, I mean they are the logo of four big hunting outfitting brands, two fairly large fitness brands, and three large hipster beard care brands. It is without a doubt that the iconic feature which attracts everyone to these herbivores is their elegant antlers.

While there is not a person alive who doesn't recognize these classic symbols, most people don't have the slightest clue how they work, I mean they are one of the fastest growing bones in the animal kingdom and they extend from a structure that is extremely similar to one that we as humans have, that being the skull, so how does that happen?

The answer is certainly shocking: the same genes which promote cell growth and suppress cancer cell development not only allow antlers to grow at the impressive weight they do but also maintain their shape. In deer antlers you see the same the genes which would promote tumors in humans create the rapid growth we associate with antlers but this growth is prevented from reaching a level that is unbeneficial to life for the deer by tumor suppressing genes. As Edward Davis says in the below article "...antlers [are] using essentially a controlled form of bone cancer growth".This means that during mitosis antler cells display bone cancer-like traits, growing and dividing at an abnormally fast rate. However, unlike bone cancer the growth of these cells is checked by tumor suppressor and growth genes. The tumor promoting genes are a fairly simpler concept, they simply promote cell division occurring at a higher rate but the truly amazing part of this is the genes which control cancer growth, which would be of clear interest of study to many(How Cancer Genes relate to Antler Growth ). 

Antlers are also a very promising field of study due to their extremely rare regenerative properties, sprouting in the spring and shedding in the winter, so this research could be of much interest towards therapies for bone diseases and injuries in human beings. The way scientists have attempted to deepen their understanding of this is by identifying the specific genes which lead this process. Through their research scientists at Stanford University have determined two genes which lead this process, uhrf1 and s100a10, although these two have entirely different purposes. The gene uhrf1 supports a higher rate of bone cell formation and s100a10 leads to a faster rate of mineralization. For those who are not familiar with what mineralization means in this context, more simply put, mineralization means the hardening of bone tissue, specifically due to the bone matrix becoming filled with calcium phosphate nanocrystals. This means that these two genes work together with uhrf1 growing the antlers and s100a10 shaping them into the classic shapes we associate with deer antlers.(Genetic research into Antler growth)
The problem that then arises is the same one that arises with any gene, what happens when one of these genes is turned off?

Now obviously any genes which have been turned off accidently in the DNA of a cell can be detrimental, these mutations can lead to any number of genetic disorders which can sometimes be incompatible with life. Luckily with deer antler growth the effect of either of the two pertinent genes being deactivated is not too severe as has been typically observed in the wild. As has been observed when the uhrf1 gene is non-functional deer will not have antler growth at an equitable rate and when the s100a10 gene is non-functional the rate and form of antler growth will not be suppressed and so will behave more like normal tumor cells. The s100a10 is clearly the more interesting of the two and can lead to a number of interesting yet sometimes worrying mutations.

 Image 4+5:Two deer with non-functional s100a10 genes (Link)

While these mutation are certainly interesting they are not incompatible with life for the deer and could even be beneficial to them in some scenarios. Despite these genes sometimes failing in nature, they could still prove vital to us as humans, because as mundane as deers may seem their iconic antlers might just hold the secret to preventing any other human from suffering from cancer, bone disease, or a broken bone ever again.

Ecosystems Collapse: The Consequences of Inaction

In 2014 kelp forests off the coast of California suffered a drastic decrease in spore production due to a prolonged Pacific heat-wave that depleted their environment of vital nutrients. Since then, heat waves have become more common and more intense, and in the summer of 2019 a heat-wave allowed a disease to proliferate that destroyed the region's population of sunflower sea stars. Purple sea urchins, the sea star’s main food source, felt a population boom of 60 times their initial size. The urchins wreaked havoc on the unbalanced ecosystem, consuming nearly 90% of the bull kelp along 200 miles of California coastline. Red abalone sea snails suffered mass starvation, as the kelp was their main food source, and numerous fish species who nursed their young in the kelp suddenly were unable to foster new generations of fish. Bald eagles and harbor seals had to find new food sources and California was forced to close down abalone fisheries, worth around $44 million a year. Many commercial fisheries will not recover.

Sunflower sea stars looking very much like a predator, here

The sea urchin boom leading to a catastrophic loss of kelp forests, here

Now, I’m not going to waste time trying to convince you that climate change is happening. If you do not believe it’s happening, it’s human-caused, and it's reversible then you’re just wrong. But what is often ignored is just how catastrophic small changes in our environment can be for the Earth’s biodiversity and complex human society. The crisis is a snowball cascading down a hill towards a cliff, the longer we wait to stop it the faster and larger it is, and eventually it will be impossible to stop its fall if it is not dealt with immediately.

The collapse of the ecosystem above is just one of the many human-caused environmental crises that have been happening ever since we learned to walk on two legs (see hunting mammoths to extinction in the Americas). In a country like the United States at this point in history, the collapse of a food source like abalone snails or the local fish populations are just a financial hit, but thousands of communities around the world depend on the ocean as a food source and will starve if anything like this happens there. Food scarcity leads to migration leads to conflict leads to food scarcity, it's a very well documented cycle.

But, as the little anticipating potential questions man in my head might ask, “Well the collapse of these fish populations are sad but they’re not gonna cause any large societies to collapse, right?”, and to that point I agree, but these are not isolated. The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), a UN organization, produced a report in 2019 predicting that if warming is not kept below 1.5 degrees C (above pre-industrial averages), that we can expect to see a mass die-off of up to a quarter of species in the next 20 years. This includes 40% of amphibians, 34% of conifers, 33% of reef corals, 25% of mammals, and 14% of birds. If the collapse of one starfish population can destroy an ecosystem, imagine the scale of destruction that can be cause by those kinds of numbers. We have been seeing this since 2016 with coral bleaching of the Great Barrier reef, and these ecological scientists warn that if warming is not kept below 1.5 degrees that 70-90% of coral species would become functionally extinct, and if not kept below 2 degrees over 99%. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reports that 25% of all fish depend on coral reefs for food, shelter, and breeding grounds. Over half a billion people depend on coral reefs for food, income, and protection (from storms), and they also provide vital environments for research into new medicines. And that isn’t even the worst of it.

Some of the most at-risk populations are the ones that help plants reproduce. Due to habitat loss, agro-chemical pollutants, invasive species, and climate change, pollinator populations are dropping rapidly. It's estimated in the UK that three times the pollinator species populations are decreasing rather than increasing, and bee populations are nearly extinct. In Germany, scientists revealed a stunning 76% decline in flying insect biomass over 27 years. And globally, an invertebrate abundance index has shown a 45% decline in the global population over the last 40 years. This decline has led to a rapid decline in bird populations, as they feed on the insects. Rhetorical question man strikes again, asking, “Why do I have to care about some stupid insects dying.” Well first off, dude, they're living creatures. But second off, insects and birds are an essential part of nearly every plant ecosystem on the planet. Pollinators help plants reproduce by spreading their DNA, and birds help plants reproduce by spreading their seeds as well as keeping harmful insect populations from destroying the crops (does a swarm of locusts ring a bell to anyone? anyone? (here I was considering putting a blend of bible and Bueller but I couldn't do it convincingly)?). If these populations are collapsing, plant species will be less able to reproduce and more susceptible to pests that destroy harvests across hundreds of miles.

But anticipating questions man is not done yet, oh no, and yet for some reason we still have to listen to what he has to say (much like many television pundits!). He says, “That didn’t answer my question! I don’t care about plant populations collapsing! Why should I care?” Are you serious man? Do you like to eat? I know I like to eat. If you do not care about plant populations then you are welcome to let yourself starve. Human cultivated agriculture is incredibly prone to environmental changes because of its lack of genetic diversity, that's just the way we’ve made crops so much more profitable and easy to mass produce. So any major environmental disturbances could lead to decreased crop yield and food insecurity. While we produce enough food right now for 10 billion people, it is not distributed equally among the people (much to my disgust and dismay) because farmers and governments don’t make money that way. Food insecurity (and water insecurity by extension) is the most dangerous effect of climate changes we will see in the near future. In fact, we have already seen it.

While we humans like to see ourselves apart from the rest of the life on Earth, we also exist in ecosystems and our ecosystems are similarly susceptible to collapse. In the years leading up to the Syrian Civil War, Syria suffered one of the worst droughts in its history. As the Washington Institute puts it, “Before Syria produced war refugees, it produced climate refugees.” 85% of the livestock in Easter Syria was killed, while the size of harvests decreased by 21% in irrigated areas and 79% in rain-dependent areas. 800 thousand Syrian’s livelihoods were destroyed and tens of thousands fled the region, beginning the Syrian refugee crisis. The water scarcity combined with these huge populations of restless and homeless Syrians directly contributed to the Syrian Arab Spring revolt and Syrian civil war, which led to widespread suffering and the rise of ISIS. Water scarcity destabilized a region by turning a stable 40 year dictatorship into a divided mass of different states, militias, and terrorist organizations like ISIS in constant conflict in 3 years. The Syrian refugee crisis sent waves throughout the “west”, leading to reactionary right-wing groups taking power in many states across the continent through fear-mongering about refugees (and I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that they are mostly Arab). A UN report from December of 2014 states, "In Honduras and Guatemala, up to 75 per cent of maize and bean crop has been lost and thousands of cattle had died. In the coming months, food insecurity is expected to get worse as families deplete their food stocks." In the years since we have seen the worst Central American migratory crisis in American history (which created a large hysteria around Hispanic migrants and their dehumanization, which led to the rise of Donald Trump, so what I'm saying is President Trump is because of climate change).

A Syrian greenhouse heavily dependent on water for irrigation, here

A 2018 report from UNESCO highlights that at present, nearly 3.6 billion people are in areas that are potentially water scarce at least one month of the year each year. During a severe drought in Cape Town, South Africa in 2018, the city came within days of the city completely running out of water, even with extensive water rationing initiatives. This drought would be considered a “once in 300 years” event, but due to warming its likelihood has now increased 3-fold, and at 2 degrees C of warming it will have increased nearly 10-fold (1 in 33 years). The writing is on the wall, heat waves will cause droughts will cause water and food insecurity will cause migration will cause conflict will cause more food and water insecurity, and the heat-waves are only getting worse.

But oh look, it's anticipating questions woman! She’s taken some biology classes and she has a legitimate question! She says, “But I was taught that life is nearly infinitely adaptable and life will find a way to exist in the face of almost any environmental change, so why are you saying that won't happen?” You’re absolutely right! Life will adapt to this, life has survived five mass extinction events, it will do it again. But that does not mean that the life currently alive will remain alive. Billions of humans will die, along with an extremely large portion of the world's existing species. Human society is more fragile than we like to believe. While I do take comfort in life adaptability should we fail, I also like humans and the societies we have on this planet and do not want us to have to retreat underground as the surface becomes uninhabitable.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t even brought up the dangers posed by rising sea levels and increased bouts of severe weather, nor the direct effects of increased temperature on plants ability to photosynthesize (which rapidly breaks down above 35 degrees C, or 95 degrees F), nor the dangers of ocean acidification, nor future soil degradation, nor even denitrification and plastic pollution (you can read about most of these here). The world is about to see the worst ecological crash that humans have ever experienced regardless of actions taken immediately. Billions will be displaced, this is inevitable, we must prepare for this by creating a safe place for these refugees to settle. 1.5 degrees of warming is practically inevitable at this point, as the world's leaders still preach the need for a “transitionary fuel” like natural gas, or that there are other more pressing issues to deal with, or that it's happening but it's not man-made, or it's happening but there’s nothing we can do about it, or simply that it's a Chinese hoax. Agreements like the Paris Accord might have been effective in 2000 but in 2016 it was way too little and way too late. The fight is now to keep warming under 2 degrees, or even just to prevent a total runaway greenhouse effect.

Depiction of the increases in severe weather over previous 4 decades, here

Depiction of the rates in which we could mitigate greenhouse gasses to remain below 1.5 degrees C, here

Depiction of tipping points that create a runaway greenhouse effect, here

So humanity has its very last chance to prevent a planetary environmental collapse that hasn’t been seen since the dinosaurs, and we will be just as likely to go extinct as they were (whatever a potential future equivalent of dinosaurs surviving and evolving into birds is for future humans, I'm totally here for it). The collapse will not magically stop once it reaches 5 degrees, it will progress to 8, 10, 15, and suddenly the Earth is uninhabitable (to humans) in less than 200 years (if you feel like wallowing in existential dread read this book). But there's still a chance. Not a single world leader is currently up to the task of mitigating this. We need to upend every existing power structure and dismantle the fossil fuel industry, major agribusiness, and the banks that keep them funded. Fossil fuels are some of the biggest welfare recipients in this country, their lobby’s have funded politicians that provided extensive government subsidies to keep this dying industry alive. We are addicted to fossil fuels. I am not going to ask you to drive an electric car or to go vegan or to bring reusable bags to the supermarket, all of those things are fantastic ways to decrease your individual carbon footprint but they will not fix the climate. This rhetoric is actively spread by the fossil fuel industry to deflect the blame onto individuals, best exemplified by the below tweet from British Petroleum (BP). We cannot let those be the only changes we make as a society. We cannot allow the institutions that are most responsible for intentionally ignoring this impending crisis to exist, if the problem is to be addressed they must be terminated. 

BP unveiling its carbon footprint calculator on Twitter, here

In 1978 a scientist working for Exxon Mobil named James Black wrote an internal briefing paper called "The Greenhouse Effect" (huh, wonder where I've heard that before). In the summary of the presentation, he writes “Present thinking holds that man has a time window of five to ten years before the need for hard decisions regarding changes in energy strategies might become critical.” Notes from a 1980 meeting of (then) fossil fuel giants like Exxon, Mobil (at the time 2 different companies), Amoco, Phillips, Texaco, Shell, Sunoco, Sohio and Standard Oil of California and Gulf Oil (the last two eventually merging into Chevron) shows that these companies knew the dangers of carbon emissions and that they were responsible. And yet they said nothing.

In the early 90s, anthropogenic (human-caused) Climate Change became a more mainstream idea (from politicians like Al Gore), as as such straight up silence was not protecting fossil fuel companies future profits anymore, so they had to change up their strategy. For example, fossil fuel companies funded the creation of "non-profits" like the Heartland institute, including $736,000 from Exxon Mobil from 1998-2006 and a whopping $5,875,500 from Donors Capital Fund (which is in turn funded by the fossil fuel billionaires the Koch brothers, as well as other billionaires like the DeVos') from 2014-2016. The institute has explicitly lobbied for "'providing [K-12 school] curriculum that shows that the topic of climate change is controversial and uncertain - two key points that are effective at dissuading teachers from teaching science'" and "'sponsor the NIPCC [Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change] to undermine the official United Nation's IPCC [International Panel on Climate Change] reports' including paying 'a team of writers $388,000 in 2011 to work on a series of editions of Climate Change Reconsidered'". In another story of brothers with catchy names who are fossil billionaires, the Wilkes Brothers (weird how that keeps happening)! They made their billions off of fracked gas and fund PragerU, a right-wing YouTube channel claiming to be a university that intentionally spreads misinformation to advocate a hyper-conservative agenda. Of course, they vehemently denies climate change. They spent millions on advertisements that guide people towards climate denial (among other things). They also helped fund the creation of the Daily Wire (of Ben Shapiro fame).

But it's not just straight up denial from conservatives. Democrats and Republican both are bought by oil money, and the only way to make real change is to tear down this established pattern of denial and delay. Both of Montclair's democratic representatives have been payed off. Donald Payne Jr. (NJ-10) receives $5k from the fossil fuel company Phillips 66 every election cycle, a company that owns (among other things) a quarter of the Dakota Access pipeline, the controversial pipeline at the center of the Standing Rock protests (Payne is a bit of a lame duck from my perspective, not a very present legislator). Mikie Sherrill (NJ-11) has received since her 2018 campaign tens of thousands of dollars from law firms with extensive fossil fuel investments (including one that backed a foreign oil company against a Latin American government), fossil fuel investing megabanks like Goldman Sachs and Chase, and fossil fuel companies like PBF Energy, who owns refinery's across the country that have been reported to process oil from the Amazon River Basin. She also took money from BP (the opensecrets page for her 2018 campaign disappeared, and the page that does have them only shows the top 20). All this has culminated in a tremendously weak environmental policy. Sherrill uses the progressive environmental rhetoric to piggyback off the popularity of environmental reform movements. She stresses the need to make the US more energy self-sufficient and a transition to a "clean" economy, which is democrat-speak for natural gas is less emitting than coal and oil so its "clean". She has vocally supported offshore wind in NJ but has never wrote any legislation for it, though she wrote a piece of legislation nicknamed the "Mitigate Methane Now Act" that provides federal subsidies to natural gas pipeline companies. She has refrained from meeting with local climate organizations and deflected their questions about campaign finance, claiming "My vote is not for sale". For a better case study of this, lets talk about this years democratic primary for Texas'  28th district. 

The primary race was between Henry Cuellar (incumbent) and Jessica Cisneros, Cuellar being dubbed "Trumps favorite democrat" by Cisneros. Over his last 5 elections, fossil fuel companies have been his number one contributors by industry, with his campaign receiving nearly $720k (and his individual top contributor those years being GEOgroup, a private prison company), and a whopping $172k just this election cycle, which is far from over. He votes with Trump 70% of the time in congress and has received funding and an A rating from the NRA. Jessica Cisneros ran on a progressive platform across the board, centering a strong Green New Deal and even being endorsed by multiple national climate activism organizations. On election day she received more votes than Cuellar, but lost the election due to mail-in ballots cast weeks before. Nancy Pelosi, democratic Speaker of the House, endorsed Cuellar, saying "I'm very, very proud of Henry's work in congress, and I'm proud to support him-", and personally campaigned for him in Texas 10 days before the primary.

If you care at all about this earth then you must demonstrate, do not support corporate democrats that are bought by fossil fuels (trust me, it's more of them than you think). Find alternative candidates in your representatives districts and make sure they support a strong Green New Deal (in NJ-10, which is Montclair south of Watchung Ave, a progressive named John Flora is running against Donald Payne; a Newark native named Larry Hamm is running against Cory Booker as well and he is a much better candidate). Support local organizations (like the Montclair Sunrise Hub perhaps, find us on insta @sunrisemontclair) and force our government to listen. Joe Biden, while undeniably better than Trump, still supports fracked gas as a transitionary fuel, and if he does not appropriately strengthen his environmental platform he will likely miss out on many environmentalist votes (among other issues and other voters). We must pressure our officials to make the necessary changes.

The most important things to keep in mind are: (1) these politicians and political machines work against action only if we allow them to, if people are more politically conscious and demonstrate that they will not tolerate inaction those officials will have to adapt or be voted out; (2) that you can influence elections even if you cannot vote via electoral organizations (join the Montclair Sunrise hub please!); (3) that while it is important for individuals to reduce their carbon footprints, it is incredibly damaging to paint that as the solution or the only thing that people can do; (4) and finally, that pessimism never got us anywhere, if we are to prevent a mass extinction that includes humans (because we are already in the midst of one) we have to believe and act like it is. Do what you can, be that talking to your families, posting on social media, reducing meat consumption or even going vegan, and organizing to make legislative changes. It's easier than you think.

Positive Change in Population Control

I am sure all of you have had that experience of wandering the neighborhood, or driving down the street, and you spot a cat. It was most likely alone, minding its own business, looking for its next meal, or just simply strolling through the town it calls its home. Have you imagined that cat yet? Now, let me ask you a question about your experience: did you notice if its ear was tipped? 

If you're someone who's never looked for a cat with a tipped ear, you're not alone! It's not something most people think about when they first see a cat, but the reason for that is because people don't know the meaning behind it. I myself never looked for that noticeable mark until the summer of 2018. This was when I started volunteering for CPAW NJ. CPAW NJ is a nonprofit organization based in Montclair. The organization's sole purpose is Trap Neuter Vaccinate and Release, or TNVR (more about this later), in the cat communities in our area. 

CPAW NJ logo from http://cpawnj.org/

Karen Shinevar, the president of this charity, gave me the opportunity to help socialize a couple kittens and adult cats that they had rescued from the street. In this adventure, I was able to interact with cats who changed my opinion of feral cats and their impact on our community. Karen was honest to me in revealing that their plan was no longer to try to get cats adopted, but rather facilitate TNVR anywhere they could spread it. 

Jack and Turner photographed by me :)
both have been luckily adopted 

 All the cats I met while working this program were absolutely delightful. I worked with Jack and Turner, two siblings who both sustained injuries to their eyes pictured above, and with Oreo, he was abused when he was younger due to him being the only black kitten to come out of his mom's litter. Since then, Oreo has been rescued by Karen and is still looking for a home (if you are please send an email here)! I'm sure all of you want to keep hearing about my adventures with the cats I worked with, but I want to highlight the true purrrpose of CPAW NJ. After all, it wasn't the experiences with the kittens that I value most from CPAW. 

Picture of Oreo photographed by Alina (another volunteer)

Overpopulation can easily occur in cat communities due to the sexual behavior of female cats.  Cats reach sexual maturity at around 4 months old, so they have kittens much faster than a lot of animals. Cats, like rabbits, have heat cycles which occur every 12-22 days causing a release of hormones and a change in behavior that attracts new mates. In their period of heat, which can last from 2 days to 2 weeks, many male cats will mate with the female causing a large mix of genes. Once the cat gives birth, they can be fertilized again in as little as 2 days. This means that the cat population can get out of hand quickly. This cycle can also have effects on the mother because she can over exert herself when having litters so often. Cats can give birth to new litters 5 and a half times a year. This quick birth rate is all supposed to give cats a higher chance to pass on their genes, thus having high fitness. Currently, there are 500,000 cats on the streets of NYC, imagine in the entire US! Of course, governments have taken measures to try to regulate this cat population.

Cat population statistics brought to us by the CPAW NJ Facebook page

Traditionally, it is common for governments to utilize the option of trap and kill to handle their overpopulation of community cats. Trap and kill is when the government orders their animal control officers to lower the population of cats through the mass murdering of the population. However, this has shown to be ineffective due to the scientific phenomenon known as the vacuum effect. The vacuum effect is a description of what happens when a large piece of a population is removed: in some time, the population will bounce back because the resources in the community are now available. Immigration occurs as more animals try to take advantage of open shelters and plentiful food. Some people may be then drawn to the idea of adoption for these cats, however, this solution is also problematic. 

Yes, we always love to see a rescue mission that involves finding an animal a home. But sometimes, that is not always possible. There are strays on the street who would do much better in a home, these cats are usually banged up and ill prepared for defending themselves on the streets. Feral cats, however, have been raised in the wild. They are usually unfit for adoption because they have not been socialized. Cats need proper socialization with humans as kittens in order to become pets. If a cat is not properly socialized at the beginning of its life, it is likely that cat can never be a house pet. Without socialization, a feral cat will become stressed around humans and display aggressive behavior like hissing, spitting, and running away. Cats like Jack and Turner were lucky to be socialized as kittens because they can be adopted. However, if a cat shows any sign of being feral, they are usually euthanized in shelters for being wild. Statistics show that over 70% of cats are euthanized in shelters. 

This image shows a pyramid of actions to best reduce the cat population
https://www.communitycatspodcast.com/introducing-the-community-cat-pyramid/

This is why Karen started to spread the message of TNVR. This practice provides a humane way to handle outdoor cats while also fixing the communities' overpopulation issue. Instead of killing the cats caught by animal control officers, the goal is for cats to be neutered/spayed, vaccinated, allowed to heal, and then released back to where they were found. There are many benefits of TNVR for the cats's health and human life. For one, studies have shown that TNVR instead of trap and kill improves morale and happiness in animal control employees. The amount of euthanasias in shelters decreases significantly after a TNVR practice goes into effect. Not only that, but community cats play an important role in our environment's ecosystem. They fill in a specific niche that we should all be grateful for: small animal control. They hunt rats and mice so that the rodents cannot enter our houses. If not for community cats, our town could end up like Chicago did when it had a 3 month wait list for community cats due to a lack of rodent control. In that same matter, TNVR also prevents overconsumption of small birds and other wildlife by keeping a limited number of predators. TNVR also promotes cheap spay and neutering for pet owners. This means that humans can have easily accessible surgery that benefits the lives of their pets. In Montclair, CPAW NJ runs a monthly spay/neuter van in their campaign called Beat the Heat.

 As for the cats, the vaccinations allow the cats to become resistant to rabies, which also benefits us. The trap, neuter, and release practice allows for behavioral changes like reduced territorial fighting. The cats live a safer life with less injuries and resistance to diseases that would normally spread quickly in communities. When the cars are sterilized, they usually stop their sexual behavior. This prevents vocalized mating, a common behavior that many people are irritated by. In addition, cats can no longer have kittens in the cold outdoors where most of them usually die. To ensure they don't mistakenly attempt a second sterilization on the same cat, TNVR organizations tip one ear of the cats who have already been neutered. This is why it is important to look for that tip! Not only does TNVR result in a cheaper and practical solution to overpopulation, it also has countless studies that support that TNVR is beneficial for all parties. 

community cat inside a trap about to be checked up. The cover allows
for the cat to calm down. Photo from the CPAWNJ facebook.

With all these benefits for TNVR, it's crazy that it hasn't been implemented widely. Sadly, the true issue that prevents TNVR from spreading is the lack of knowledge. Many officials in government often say that spay/neutering will not solve the problem. This is why CPAW NJ tries to spread this awareness in communities. It solves the long term problem of overpopulation while giving cats the best chance of surviving in the outdoors. TNVR organizations also face additional challenges. Traps require food for the cat to eat as bait. Without it, no cat would enter the trap and no neutering would happen. Karen told me recently that many towns will tell her they believe in TNVR, but will not legalize feeding feral cats. Notably, another issue is that many governments mandate TNR registration. People who run TNVR efforts are forced to share their personal information. The government also considers the cats that are recovering in the operator's care as the operator's personal property. This in turn makes them violate maximum cat allowance ordinances.  

tipped ear cat from CPAW NJ website.

If you have been particularly inspired to help with this message, please check out the CPAW NJ get involved page! The people here are kind, considerate, and willing to teach you. CPAW not only handles spay/neuter and TNR, they also handle surrender prevention by providing behavior advice, cat care for beginners, and even lost cat aid. CPAW NJ has taught me how important a cat can be to our human-made ecosystem. That, and gave me the important job of teaching about the tipped ear. 

More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Grass

I sat in the grass in Rand Park. Whatever would I write my blog post about? What was important enough to demand a full post on the MHS Biology Blog? The grass had recently been cut (after months of overgrowing) and I was inspired by it's freshly chopped smell.

This is a pretty familiar sight, right? Grass is so common in our everyday lives. Go grass.

Grass covers over 20% of the earth’s land surface. It’s everywhere. And as it turns out, grass has a semi-interesting history.

Here’s how it goes:

Grass began to evolve in South America and Africa 60 million years ago, as is evidenced by the pollen fossils found from around that time. Grasses are classified by their unique pod shapes and their age of maturation - far earlier than other plants of the time. Soon after, the grasses evolved the ability to thrive in dry and open areas. This began their takeover of the earth.

Soon, grasses covered the plains of the world. (Soon being a relative term, I’m talking in terms of 10s of millions of years). Animals evolved to eat the grass - the ancestors of cows, sheep, zebras and the like. Grasses outputted a different form of carbon gas that was easily digestable by the animals -- but not humans. Don't worry though, soon, own ancestors began to creep onto the grass-covered plains, intrigued by the food source the herbivores themselves might provide.

Of course, there was one problem. ¡Predators! Grass had not evolved to be incredibly tall, and those crossing the grasslands were at risk of being attacked by the ancestors of lions and other big cats. Only some could survive in these conditions. Only the bipedal ones, who could run much faster through the plains. Early humans thus evolved their current stance.

Look at how the sun shines on it. So majestic. And with such a rich history. 

So it turns out grass and us go way back. Nowadays it’s pretty comfortable to lie on and decorates the ground here in Rand Park, and I think we take it for granted. So here's a quick thank you: Thanks Grass!