■

More than Simians Monkeyed Around

1981 was an Ahtk Year in tb§) Anigim Kingdom

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Those field mice infected with bubonic plague that threatened President Reagan on his California ranch and the stranded shark that got roped by Vice President Bush on a Maine beach were not the only wild creatures, that

made news in 1981.

An assortment of animals that Noah would be proud of crept into headlines around the world by causing trdu6le for some humans, helping others, and by just struggling to survive — sometimes unsuccessfully — in a world dominated by humans, the National Wildlife Federatidn found in Its annual survey of animal antics during lite past

year,

Medflies on the West Coast, gypsy moths in the Kast, a duck .with an arrow through her breast, a baboon that turned in a false fire alarm, and a deadly snake that pulled duty as a night watchman were among non-human newsrtiakers. DONNA THE DU/CK WAS THE VICTIM, and then heroine, of one of the most bizarre wildlife stores. The tiny mallard became a national celebrity when she appeared at a Las Vegas country club with an hrrow through her breast. After two weeks of trying, veterinarians finally caught her, removed the ari;ow, and released her. At last report Donna was continuing her charmed life on a pond in the middle oMhe club’s golf course. Nipper, a ferret, made news — and ferreted out some news — by r lending a hand, or paw, to the British Broadcasting Corporation. The tiny weasel-like creature pulled TV cables through a twisted underground duct connecting Buckingham palace to commentators outside and thus enabled BBC to broadcast to the entire planet a part of the - commotion surrounding the wedding-of Prince Charles and Lady Diana. Novell animals were so helpful, the NWF survey found. Aletfis. a baboon, brought six fire trucks racing to the scene when she grabbed the lever on a fire alarm box next to her quarters in a Baltimore research lab. Trouble is, there was no firw Jonathan, a horse in Del Mar, Cal., turned in two false alarms before his owner Stopped the horsing around by fencing off an alarm box i ALL KINDS OF CRITTERS tangled with electricity. An owl knocked out a power system in Klamath Falls, Ore., when it landed on a hot line with a snake in its beak. Tbe snake caught fire and 5,200 homes went dark. In a prison at Dallas, a hungry four-foot king snake, looking for prey, knocked out three generators for three hours. In Washington. D.C.. it was an errant squirrel that caused a blackout on Thanksgiving Day Another invention of man, the drainpipe, nearly cost the life of a black and white cat named Squeaky in Reston, Va Instead he cost his owner $1,500 when it took two crews of plumbers two days to dig Squeaky out of an underground trap into which the drainpipe — and his curiosity — had led him .On the other hand, a 45-pound alligator got out of his outdoor pen at the Denver Zoo without any help from humans. The 'gator, inevitably named Albert, was captured 28 days later in a park pond. A mess of reptiles made news when a Georgia dealer in Critical Thinking (From Page 26' critical thinking in our Bird School of America, do you understand!” GUS LOOKED AT THEIR sad faces and offered to step down from his position as headbird, but the majority of the birds wouldn't hear of it. After all Gus was the onfy bird who ever attended four years of college and we were certainly impressed with his background. For in spite of all his knowledge Gus had, somehow, managed to retain his common sense -And it was this common sense that he taught at the Bird School of America. "Everything else you can learn from humans, but edmmon sense is one thing you won’t learn from them," Gus said as he perched himself on the bulkhead and put on his little black educators cap he had received at college. "Don't you see," he reasoned, "if you put all this knowledge in a bird’s head and he forgets the simple things like using his brain in an emergency, then he isn't worth a feather. Common sense is something most humans forget. In their search of innovative ways, for approaches to stir the minds and imaginations of their children, they overlookihe beautiful simplicity and worth of plain old common sense. Often children of humans have superior brains. They can figure out complex situations, but when it comes to making their breakfasts or stirring their tea, they are at a loss at how to do that. And when they put on their shoes they sit there for hours trying to figure the mathematical possibilities of getting it on the wrong foot. Their natural instincts, their common sense is swept away by the great quest for facts," Gus said, GUS MADE HIS POINT and most of the birds went back home to talk to their children about common sense. Many of them decided they would no longer attend classes outside the Middle Township School. But one bird, Rover, said he didn't agree with Gus. "Why can't we have both, knowledge and common sense,]” he persisted. "Why, why, why]" Gus looked at him and moved closer to the little fellow. "I understand your frustration Rover and there's no way you can't have both as long as you're aware that common snese is the most important of the two. You go ahead and keep on attending those classes. But while you do, observe those mortals with all their critical thinking and see if it's affecting their common sense. See if it changes them." Rover said he’d do just that. He wasn’t about to give up. "You can't have progress without change," he said as he flew off into the morning sunlight. Gus looked at the little fellow and smiled. "It wouldn’t surprise me if that little bird becomes headbird someday and it wouldn't surprise me*if he brings some critical thinking along with his common sense."

^MONTGOMERY COUNTY. Md„ a medical resea

cher wds fined $3.0

both Saturday and Sunday so students can complete a course in six weeks compared to ACC’s regular

16-week semester

For more information, contact the Registrar's of fice, 625-1111 or €46 4958.

ext 308.

Slonr Harbor Dupliralr Rridgr (lob January Tfl 'Matrr* A Ma\ln I'nlnU awardrdi

Overall

I Belly Demy A Carolyn Klden 25 12 'lirt June A (JeorRp Franrr*. Libby Toner A Bibb Coan II 'The public i* invited to attend the weekly duplicate ACB1. Bridge (tames. 7 M p m Wednesday in the Stone Harbor Kirehouse Manager

Gene Fisher. MB 1421

MAYS LANDING! - A special, one-timb-only registration will be held Saturday, Feb. 6. for persons who want to ertroll in Atlantic Community College's week-end college Registrations will!be accepted from 11:30 a m to 12:30 p.m. at the Registrar's Office on the campus here. Persons may also register now through Friday. Feb. 5, from|9a m to 4:30 p.m. at the

Registrar's Office.

CLASSES BEGIN jSaturday, February 6, arid will be held here Each threecredit course will rr^eet on

Reaganspeak

(fr’rom Page 261

William French Smith reversing an earfier stance by the Carter administration that the Justice Department defend federal agencies from Freedom of Information suits only when disclosure wpuld be "dcmonsfrably harmful. But with French, the demonstrably harmful test is erased and defense against such suits is to be routine. Great strides backward have been made by the Reagan team in squelching information to consumers. Things like easing up on meat-labelling requirements; suppressing The Cor Book, which to Detroit's dismay had told of auto shortfalls, and wiping out-funding for public-interes # t gxoups that foster public input to government have been the name of the new game in Washington Maybe one of these days I’ll quote a bit from George Orwell's fiction classic, 1984. which describes life under a secretive government, where history is rewritten and semantics are redesigned with phrases like. "War is Peace " In calendar terms, this administration extends

right into 1984

David Moore is e^ecuti\>e'director of the N.J Consertia

tion Foundation.

VW TUustratlon by K. C. Chartrand

protected wildlife handed over a bag containing a dozen eastern indigo snakes in exchange for $1,200 His customer turned out to be a federal agent who had videotaped the "snekcscam" transaction. Other reptiles illegally traded and seized by the feds included Indian pythons. Gila monsters and a Jamaican boa. IT WAS IN LONDON THAT A "very venemous" cobra was placed inside a showcase containing the world’s third largest star sapphire to discourage theft of the rare gem from Sri Lanka Other animals that did people's work-in-cluded two dolphins named Lady and Molly whose services were sought by a Florida ship salvager to locate silver bars .in the Wreckage of two Spanish galleons that sank off Key West ih 1622. Several species of wildlife made news for their roles in scientific research. At Athens, Ohio, biology researchers transferred the genes of rabbits to mice and then to their offspring — a breakthrough in genetic engineering that could lead to the transfer of traits from one species to another. In an oak Ridge, Tenn. laboratory, crickets gave scientists some clues to dangerous side effects of contaminants in synthetic fuels by sprouting extra eyes and heads. Not all lab critters enjoyed their assigned roles, the NWF report showed In an experiment reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association, a ferret injected with a respiratory virus got even with the experimenter when the scientist bent over to check the animal for watery dyes and other symptoms. The ferret , sneezed and the researcher caught the virus. A California brain surgeon sued the University of Oklahoma and others for $2.75 million,! claiming he was "permanently disabled" when a chimpanzee named Washoe bit off the middle finger of his eight hand during a visit to the University’s Institute for PYimate Studies. Week-end Signups

cher wdxTined $3,015 for failing to provide adequate care for six mhqkeys in his lab. But in Ann Arbor. Mich . another medic operated, on a 3 l/2-pound Boston terrier named SweetiA Pie and removed half a pound of metal, in

eluding 80 cents in coins, from her stomach

.The National Zoo in Washington. D C., imported a male phnda named Chia-Chifl all the way from Ixnidon to mate with ifs famed but shy female, Ling-Ling. All that happen ed was that Ling-Ling got-beat up. But in Green County. Wis., a judge had to sign a court order to restrain a bull owned by Glen Schmid from mating Schmid's bull, his neighbors charged jumped their fehee and "immaturely impregnated’ eight of theiii heifers. And in Miami the pink flamingos that ornament that infield at the Hialeah race track mated successfully for the first time in nine years An amorous bird (Nought to be extinct made news by reappearing in the mountains of New Guinea Ornithologist Jared Diamond first heard a bjrtlcall that sounded like "someone shoveling gravel," then spied a bird that more than a dozen*expeditions had failed to find since the turn of the century — a yellow-fronted gardener bowerbird. Courting a female perched nearby, the rare bird had built a four-fool-high bower of sticks and frond* in the shape of a maypole around a saplihg Stacked in the bower were three piles of-brightly-colored fruit To express his arbor, the orange-crested male held a bright blue fruit in his bill, pointing it toward the female The 20-minute wooing ended sadly for the bower builder The

female, apparently unimpressed, flew away

A Yale /biologist called the bowerhird's behavior "without parallel in the animal worjd." But Dr Diamond saw some parallels between the exotic birds and domestic

playboys with expensive pads and vans

"The males with the dullest plumage build the fanciest bowers,’ he said. "It’s like the dull young man with a fan

cy sports car...T ’

The Art of Shadow Picture*. Before television—or even radio—came along, adults often amused 'children (and themselves) on long winter evenings by casting hand shadows.on the wall. This simple pastime is still entertaining .. . and at least as stimulating as the average TV shoot->m-up. You’ll need n white or lightly colored wall on which to ■■project" the imaginary figures, using a good, bright light. Position the lamp close enough to the "screen" to produce sharp, clear shadows. Some suggested illusions are shown here, and many others are described in children’s books. By wiggling'your thumbs and fingers, you'll soon be able to make your figures appear to move. talk, eat, and react in>a surprisingly lifelike manner Complete the illusion with sound effects, and you'll be the absolute center of attention of any waist-high audience you’re likely to encounter.

Make An '"Eye of God". When you've finally called intermission in your shadow act, set the little ones up with some yam and sticks and let them design "Kyes of God”. I<ay a strand of yarn (the exact length needed,, of course, will depend on-the*size of your planned creation) straight nut on a table. Place tw/> sticks (twigs, pencils, or any kind of-thin r,ods) side by side across tne thread near one end, tie a single tight knot around them in the middle of both, and then make a second knot over the first. Now twist the sticks so they form a cross and wind both the long piece of yarn and the short leftover end once around one stick . . then begin to wind over, under. and around (once) the next stick to the right. Continue working in the same direction, going from stick to stick. If you want to change colors midway through, merely cut the yarn you’re working with and hide the end securely among your'finished "stitches". Then secure the beginning of the next piece of colored string in the same manner, and readme winding. To compete the handicraft, just clip the yarn and hide the loose end behind the design as you did when changing colors. ' *1 Fof mtE information on «int«f pai|im«a or on THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS* maoa/ina s*n<j your nama and addraia and at* for Rnormt Noi 803 A Gama of Stuff Mail lo Doing MORE ; W>fh LESS 1 f O OoA 70 Handaraonvnie.NC ZSfot.or caraof tmt pa'par