Danna Staaf
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I write science and fiction. Squid are my favorite.
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Articles by Danna Staaf
Only 50 Rice's Whales Are Left. Can We Do Enough to Protect Them Before It's Too Late?
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Only 50 Rice's Whales Are Left. Can We Do Enough to Protect Them Before It's Too Late?
Science | In 2021, researchers identified a new whale species and are now scrambling to save their natural habitat Imagine a species with fewer individuals than seats on a school bus. Now imagine that each weighs more than the bus itself. That’s Rice’s whale, the only resident baleen whale in the Gulf of Mexico—and one of the most endangered whales in the world. Scientists estimate that about 50 are left.
Review: ‘Nursery Earth’ By Danna Staaf
Get ready to second-guess everything that has been taught in high school biology for the past three decades. Prepare to be amused, horrified, and astonished by the gory details of embryonic development in everything from squids to squirrels. Because in Nursery Earth – The Wondrous Lives of Baby Animals and the Extraordinary Ways They Shape Our World by Danna Staaf, you will find very little that is cute and fluffy, and nothing at all that is conventional.
The best books about babies and parenthood—throughout the animal kingdom
I laughed so hard and learned so much from this collection of science-based answers to fictional letters from animals. The author uses an “agony aunt” advice column format to describe bizarre reproductive acts and the evolutionary history behind them. I found the structure incredibly easy to read, and I kept wanting to share snippets with my friends and family.
The Dugong, a Huggable, Seagrass-Loving Sea Cow, Has a New Best Friend: Drones Original
Keeping tabs on the species’ populations is surprisingly hard. A new aerial effort tracks the marks they leave behind To see a dugong is to want to hug a dugong, with its round body, gently curved flippers and gigantic smiling face. Along with their manatee cousins, these marine mammals have earned the nickname “sea cows” thanks to their grazing habits, consuming up to 85 pounds of seagrass a day. Seagrass, in turn, depends on the sunlight that illuminates shallow coastal waters.
The Dugong, a Huggable, Seagrass-Loving Sea Cow, Has a New Best Friend: Drones
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The Surprise Reappearance of a Rare Frog Has Scientists Leaping to Protect Its Habitat
The word “marsupial” typically evokes a kangaroo or perhaps a koala, something furry and warm-blooded that protects its babies in a pouch. But a surprising variety of creatures have evolved this unusual means of parental care, including crustaceans, seahorses—and frogs.
DANNA STAAF at Books Inc. Pruneyard
Books Inc. Pruneyard is thrilled to welcome local author and marine biologist Danna Staaf back to the shop for a celebration of her book Lives of Octopuses & Their Relatives, for World Octopus Day! Danna will be signing and / or personalizing all copies of Lives of Octopuses sold through Books Inc online! If you would like your copy made out to a specific name, simply include "Signed To" in your Order Comment at Checkout.
The Lives of Octopuses and Their Relatives: A Natural History of Cephalopods (Hardcover)
An engaging and beautifully illustrated introduction to some of the world's most interesting and charismatic marine creatures Dive deep into the fascinating world of cephalopods--octopuses, squid, cuttlefish, and the mysterious nautilus--to discover the astonishing diversity of this unique group of intelligent invertebrates and their many roles in the marine ecosystem.
The Lives of Octopuses & Their Relatives: A Natural History of Cephalopods
Popular Science New SPECIAL OFFER By: Danna Staaf(Author) 288 pages, 150 colour photos and colour & b/w illustrations Squid Empire author Danna Staaf provides a richly illustrated introduction to the amazing diversity of cephalopods.
Buy tickets to Nerd Nite SF in San Francisco on August 16, 2023
Nerd Nite SF Doors 7pm, show 8pm $10 online, $15 door All Ages "Nursery Earth: The Wondrous Lives of Baby Animals (and the Incredible Sacrifices of Their Parents)" By: Danna Staaf At any given moment, most animals on the planet are babies—from chicks and tadpoles to caterpillars and marine larvae. Their tiny, hidden lives reveal some of nature’s strangest workings: A salamander embryo breathes with the help of algae inside its cells. The young grub of a Goliath beetle dwarfs its parents.
More Than Cute: Inside the Complex World of Animal Infancy
Baby animals are undeniably cute: puppies tumbling over each other, joeys peeking out of kangaroo pouches, ducklings paddling in a wobbly line. Baby animals are also incredibly bizarre: Moth larvae mimic both snakes and feces, featherless finch chicks beg with beaks like Mondrian paintings—and let’s not forget baby humans, with our squishy skulls and taste buds on our tonsils.
These Babies are Parasites
When resources are scarce, some mothers can’t provide the care their newborns need, so their fledglings take advantage of other species to survive. “For all the animals that have brood care, there’s a parasite out there somewhere, parasitizing that care,” says Australian biologist Ros Gloag, who has spent the better part of two decades studying brood parasitism. Gloag began looking at the behavior of honeybees, then moved into South American cowbirds and Australian cuckoos.
How the California Condor Comeback Was Hatched
Excerpted with permission from Nursery Earth: The Wondrous Lives of Baby Animals and the Extraordinary Ways They Shape Our World, Humans have been raising the young of other animals since long before recorded history. We’ve raised them for food, for friends, and for fun. These days, we’re raising a greater diversity of species, and for a greater diversity of reasons, than ever before.
Nursery Earth: The Wondrous Lives of Baby Animals and the Extraordinary Ways They Shape Our World (Hardcover)
We are excited to be partnering with local author Danna Staaf to provide signed and personalized copies of Nursery Earth! Place your order and include the name for personalization in the comment section. We will do our best to get your copy signed and shipped in a timely fashion.
Animal Sex Determination Is Weirder Than You Think
My family of 4 went to LongHorn Steakhouse for the first time, and our $150 dinner felt like an incredible value
How Sex Gets Determined In Animals Is … Complicated
ADVERTISEMENT Nautilus Members enjoy an ad-free experience. or Join now . Evolution Parasites, weather, and luck can play a role in determining whether some animals are male or female. Sign up for the free Nautilus newsletter: The once-unfathomable octopus has revealed some of its most intimate details to science—its brain, its genome, its secret cities. But scientists are still in the dark about a supremely foundational aspect of this animal’s existence: its sex.
How An Argonaut Shell Is Spun Out Of Their Arms
Part 3 of our series on all things Argonauts! Danna Staaf is back to share some more of her extensive knowledge of Paper Nautilus. So far, we have learned that Argonauts like to hitch a ride on a jellyfish and how male Argonauts taught scientists all about octopus sex. Today, Danna is going to teach us all about the Argonaut shell! Is it true – do they make their own shells? Let’s find out. Have you ever collected seashells?
The Lady and the Octopus: How Jeanne Villepreux-Power Invented Aquariums and Revolutionized Marine Biology (Hardcover)
We are excited to be partnering with local author Danna Staaf to provide signed and personalized copies of The Lady and The Octopus throughout the holiday season! Place your order and include the name for personalization and/or your favorite cephalopod in the comment section for a special little doodle. We will do our best to get your copy signed and shipped in a timely fashion. $27.99 On Our Shelves Now - Please allow up to 48-hours for Curbside Pickup orders to be processed. Books Inc.
“Sperm Worms”: How Male Argonauts Taught Scientists About Octopus Sex
Argonaut octopuses are best known for what appears to be a beautiful, delicate spiral shell. We now know that female argonauts spend their whole lives growing these thin ‘shells’, which they use as buoyant submersibles and as brood chambers for their eggs. But what about male Argonauts?
Squid Empire: The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods
Before there were mammals on land, there were dinosaurs. And before there were fish in the sea, there were cephalopods-the ancestors of modern squid and Earth's first truly substantial animals. Cephalopods became the first creatures to rise from the seafloor, essentially inventing the act of swimming. With dozens of tentacles and formidable shells, they presided over an undersea empire for millions of years. But when fish evolved jaws, the ocean's former top predator became its most delicious snack.
Should You Pick Up An Argonaut Octopus Hitchhiker? Let's Find Out!
Have you ever heard of an octopus hitchhiker going for a ride on a jellyfish? It’s wild but true! Danna Staaf, the author of Monarchs of the Sea, is here to share her knowledge of Argonauts and their method of transportation. Let’s give her a big howdy Octonation! Suppose you’re a gelatinous marine creature like a jellyfish or a salp, drifting through the blue expanse of the open ocean. You pass blooms of red and green algae, schools of silvery fish, and the occasional sea turtle or whale.
Nursery Earth
Review quotes Praise for Monarchs of the Sea “Cephs rule! [Monarchs of the Sea], like its protagonists, is nimble, fast, surprising, smart, and weird in the very coolest sense of the word. What could be more fun than jetting back in time to primordial seas with the monsters who really ruled our planet? In these pages, Danna Staaf makes every dino-lover and every undersea adventurer’s dream come true.
Seafood Ethics, Or Why I Don't Eat Squid (Part II)
Back in April, a well-known fisheries biologist named Ray Hillborn published an op-ed in the New York Times that was titled (by the editors, not Hillborn) "Let Us Eat Fish." The gist of it was: our fisheries are doing great, so chow down on seafood with a clear conscience! As you can imagine, this sparked some responses, both in the time-honored forum of Letters to the Editor and in these new-fangled things called blogs.
Monarchs of the Sea: The Extraordinary 500-Million-Year History of Cephalopods|eBook
From the author of Nursery Earth, a “nimble, fast, surprising, smart, and weird in the very coolest sense of the word” (Sy Montgomery) exploration of the sometimes enormous, often bizarre creatures that ruled the seas long before the first dinosaurs—a Science Friday Book Club Pick Cephalopods, Earth’s first truly substantial animals, are still among us: Their fascinating family tree features squid, octopuses, nautiluses, and more.
Monarchs of the Sea
From the author of Nursery Earth, a “nimble, fast, surprising, smart, and weird in the very coolest sense of the word” (Sy Montgomery) exploration of the sometimes enormous, often bizarre creatures that ruled the seas long before the first dinosaurs—a Science Friday Book Club Pick Cephalopods, Earth’s first truly substantial animals, are still among us: Their fascinating family tree features squid, octopuses, nautiluses, and more.
Monarchs of the Sea
Review by Roberta R, Reviewer Last updated on 28 Aug 2020 My Recommendation This was a really great book. It took my rather glancing interest in cephalopods (produced mostly by reading Gail Carriger’s Parasol Protectorate series, though I do have a general interest in any biology, human or animal), and complete lack of interest in history (particularly such ancient history), and transformed it into a far greater interest in both cephalopods and fossilised history.
Scientists Invented a Lice Comb for Urban Sea Lions in Chile
Sea lions lying on a pontoon along Valdivia’s waterfront. Jeremy Richards / Alamy In Valdivia, Chile, where three rivers converge before flowing to the Pacific, sea lions swim in freshwater and prowl the fish market like stray dogs. A young scientist leans out of a solar-powered water taxi, reaching a stick toward one massive mammal. As the sea lion sniffs the lice comb taped to the stick, the scientist offers his palm and murmurs soothingly, “Alles ist gut.” Valdivia is no stranger to German.
Squid Empire
The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods Narrated by: Emily Durante Length: 7 hrs and 18 mins 4.4 out of 5 stars 4.4 (162 ratings) Access a growing selection of included Audible Originals, audiobooks, and podcasts. You will get an email reminder before your trial ends. Your Plus plan is $7.95 a month after 30 day trial. Upgrade or cancel anytime. Buy for $17.49 Publisher's Summary Before there were mammals on land, there were dinosaurs.
Humane studies of octopuses get a boost
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use. Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
Legendary Viking crystals, and how to put an octopus to sleep
A millennium ago, Viking navigators may have used crystals known as “sunstones” to navigate between Norway and Greenland. Sarah Crespi talks with Online News Editor David Grimm about how one might use a crystal to figure out where they are. Sarah also interviews freelancer Danna Staaf about her piece on sedating cephalopods.
How to put an octopus to sleep-and make cephalopod research more humane
"You're doing your surgery, but you don't know if the animal still feels it and you've just stolen its ability to respond," says biologist Robyn Crook of San Francisco State University (SFSU) in California. Until recently, researchers working with octopuses, squids, and other cephalopods routinely faced this dilemma, an ethical and, in some cases, legal challenge to studying these intelligent creatures in the laboratory.
Special Event at SSF Library Sat Feb 3rd Author Talk: Squid Empire by Danna Staaf
Squid Empire The Rise and Fall of the Cephalopods is an epic adventure spanning hundreds of millions of years, from the marine life of the primordial ocean to the calamari on tonight’s menu. Anyone who enjoys the undersea world—along with all those obsessed with things prehistoric—will be interested in the sometimes enormous, often bizarre creatures that ruled the seas long before the first dinosaurs. Books will be available for purchase.
A New Species of Giant Octopus Has Been Hiding in Plain Sight
The frilled giant Pacific octopus. Photo Courtesy D. ScheelYou wouldn’t think a giant octopus could hide in plain sight for decades. But researchers have now learned that the giant Pacific octopus (GPO)—the largest known octopus on Earth, ranging from California to Alaska to Japan—is actually two species. Now that we’ve been properly introduced to the new “frilled giant octopus,” we’ll need to learn more about it to ensure its survival.This discovery isn’t a total surprise.
Why are our oceans filling with squid?
The future is full of tentacles. Even now, both giant and colossal squid writhe throughout the deep, while hooked and flying squid migrate from sea to sea in swirling swarms. Otherworldly glass squid and jewel squid proliferate in the open ocean. And market and common squid blanket shorelines with their egg capsules and their own dying bodies. Then, of course, there are the octopuses: giant and pygmy, intertidal and abyssal, deadly and benign.
Zoology: The joys of spinelessness
It was love at first sight. On 21 January 1973, I saw my first octopus at Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in Los Angeles, California. I was almost nine, and totally smitten. Almost 20 years later, at the very same place, jellyfish stole my affection. The popular-science gods don't normally smile on those of us with an interest in 'the other 99%' of animals — invertebrates.
New ‘Smart’ Material Mimics Color-Changing Squid Skin
Squid skin is packed with thousands of tiny chromatophores, which can be switched on and off to change the animal's color and pattern. (Andrew David/NOAA) Artificial squid skin, made from electrically activated molecules, may herald a revolution in “smart clothing.” Military camouflage could blend into any number of different environments; a rescue worker’s uniform could display bright attention-grabbing patterns during a search for victims of a natural disaster.
Why Poop-Eating Vampire Squid Make Patient Parents
Squid and octopuses are famous for their “live fast, die young” strategy. At one-year-old or younger, they spawn masses of eggs and die immediately. But scientists have just discovered a striking exception, reported April 20 in the journal Current Biology. Females of the bizarre species known as “vampire squid” can reproduce dozens of times and live up to eight years. This strategy is probably related to the vampire squid’s slow metabolism and its habit of eating poop.
PBS and the BBC present ‘Big Blue Live’
PBS and the BBC present 'Big Blue Live' Humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) adult breaching. (Bertie Gregory)From breaching humpback whales to fuzzy sea otters, great white sharks, kelp forests and an underwater canyon deeper than the Grand Canyon, Monterey Bay is one of the world’s most amazing ocean destinations. Now, in an unprecedented collaboration, PBS and the BBC present “Big Blue Live,” a three-night live broadcast airing on KQED 9 at 8 pm Aug. 31 to Sept.
An Unusual Stanford Art Exhibit Draws Upon Disease for Inspiration
May 6, 2014 Failed to save article Please try again From left to right: A computer scan of Rodin’s sculpture “Left Hand of Eustache de St. Pierre.” Inner anatomy. Exterior scan and inner anatomy combined for an augmented reality view. (Sarah Hegmann/Stanford School of Medicine) Art often idealizes the human body, sidelining messy reality. Imagine entering a museum only to recognize on display a disease or disability that you've struggled with.
Women in Science: Meet a Mathematician, a Physicist and a Geologist Through Art
Oct 23, 2012 Failed to save article Please try again Last week was Ada Lovelace Day, a celebration of women in science, technology, engineering, and math. Historically dominated by men, these fields have recently grown more welcoming of women, though sadly a few challenges linger.
How Exactly Could a Squid 'Inseminate' Your Mouth?
The internet was shocked and astonished a couple weeks ago, when we all learned that a woman ate some parboiled squid — which managed to inseminate her mouth, because its spermataphores were still functioning. How could this happen? Danna Staaf from Squid a Day, who first brought this cringe-making phenomenon to light, explains the science of squid sperm... and human mouths. Here's a story that could put you off calamari for a while.
Squid In The Bahamas
Could there be a healthy squid population living in local waters? has a fantastic opening: Is it a possibility that there is a healthy squid population in waters around Grand Bahama? Although, at this point, there is no official answer to the question from the proper authority, this daily will continue to search and keep our readers updated. Mystery! Intrigue! The authorities may be ignoring the situation, but never fear, the journalists will poke and prod until it all comes out.
Slow Fishing For Squid In The Adriatic
Slow Food's Michele Rumiz has posted a ruminative piece about squid fishing on Unije, a Croatian island in the Adriatic Sea: Every November, the island calls its aficionados to fish squid (called lignjada in Croatian). . . . No sounding leads, nets or electronic devices: they fish using togna - line, and totanara as bait. This is why the more than 20 fishermen involved could manage to fish only a little more than 50 kg of squid in 4 hours.
Baby Squid Like It Warm
My thesis is now officially half published*! Can we have a party or something? Marine Ecology Progress Series has just put out my paper, "Effects of temperature on the embryonic development of the Humboldt squid Dosidicus gigas." Or, as I said in the title--Baby Squid Like it Warm. Just-hatched baby squid next to unfertilized egg. Ruler increments are millimeters. That's very small. Humboldt squid have been invading California, and lands further north, for a decade or two.
What Killed Florida's Giant Squid?
A few years ago, it was a half-eaten carcass found floating in Monterey Bay. Every teuthologist dreams of a giant squid sighting in her backyard, but Fate's wicked sense of humor had me taking a summer course in Friday Harbor when my dream came true. So while I was playing with worms, my labmates back home were eagerly dissecting the largest giant squid ever seen in Monterey Bay. Not that I'm bitter or anything.
Freshwater Squid . . .
. . . don't exist. But because it's finger squid season in Texas, I've been reading up on the closest approximation to a freshwater squid: the Atlantic brief squid, Lolliguncula brevis. It's a pretty great name for a pretty great squid. The latin name just rolls off the tongue: lolly-gunk-you-lah. And "brief"? Like these? Oh wait, those are squid briefs, not brief squids . . . I think the brief squid was named for its diminutive size. Who knew brevity could be measured in centimeters?
What Was That Cephalopod I Just Ate?
Accurate seafood labeling is a constant problem, largely due to the length of the supply chain. Customers have to trust what the restaurant or supermarket tells them, and the buyers for those businesses in turn have to trust what their suppliers say. This game of fish telephone can go around the world, as globalization shuttles seafood between distant markets. Among seafood, cephalopod labeling is some of the least informative.
Squid Egg Chemical Related To Human Semen?
Covered in the popular media with the engaging headline Scientists discover how to make squid go completely berserk is a recent study about squid pheromones. Squid species of a particular family, Loliginidae, are famous for their spawning aggregations. They gather together in certain areas at certain times of the year, and the females lay eggs in elongate capsules attached to the seafloor.
Recipe: Squid Embroiled In International Politics
If you're not familiar with it, this history of the Falklands/Maldivas makes for a fascinating read. The short version is that the United Kingdom and Argentina have been fighting over it, and so far the UK has won. Okay, so what does this all have to do with squid? Well, that huge fishing economy is based primarily on two species of squid: Possibly some of the more hotly contested fishing grounds in the world occur around the Falkland Islands, just off the Atlantic coast of South America.
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