Celebrating Plants and the Planet:



Plants, like us, can be said to be the sum of the relationships they are
part of. No tomato is an island.



August's links (at www.zooplantman.com under NEWS) look at lesser-known
plant relationships.



· Small mammals drinking the alcoholic fermented nectar of
Malaysia's bertam palm pollinate the flowers. Anyone ever have a night like
that? (Some neat videos of tree shrew and loris here.)

· Then there's the tree that does not produce anything to attract
pollinators. Instead, its flowers are infected with a common fungus that
attracts midges to pollinate it. When does sexy musk become rank?

· Researches in Southern Chile think that 14,000-year-old seaweed
proves that early humans in the Americas spread first down the coast. Follow
the sushi!

· We have learned quite a lot about the bushmeat crisis in recent
years. Yet, what is the impact on the forests when the monkeys disappear?

· Has a tropical biologist ever met an ant he didn't love? Neither
have many tropical plants.



Please share these stories with associates, staff, docents and - most
importantly - visitors!



Want to solve a puzzle? Put on your zoologist specs and take a look at what
washed ashore in New York:
http://www.asylum.com/2008/08/01/paranoia-alert-monster-washes-up-on-new-yor
k-shore/



Rob





Zoo Horticulture

Consulting & Design

Greening design teams since 1987



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