Posted on 03/30/2023 6:54:40 AM PDT by Twotone
Rare female lizards that reside around Colorado’s Fort Carson Army base are “stress eating” to cope with military aircraft fly-over noise, a new study has found.
These uncommon reptiles, called Colorado checkered whiptails, are engaging in compensatory feeding behaviors when low-flying Apache, Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters — and sometimes F-16 fighter jets — swoop over their habitat, according to the study, published on Wednesday in Frontiers in Amphibian and Reptile Science.
Lizards tend to have excellent hearing and are sensitive to much lower frequencies than humans are, the study authors explained.
Colorado checkered whiptails are members of a species considered “at risk” by the Army and “of special concern” by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, the researchers noted. The species, which lives in shrubs along dry creek beds, consists exclusively of females who reproduce asexually.
As several populations of Colorado checkered whiptails inhabit the 212-square-mile tract of land that belongs to Fort Carson, the scientists coordinated with the U.S. Army to explore how these animals react to noise.
Army pilots flew over a 0.02-square-mile portion of the base known as “Training Area 55” at pre-selected times for three days in June 2021, after abstaining from doing so earlier in the week, according to the study.
During the flyover days, noise readings at ground level ranged from 33.9 to 112.2 decibels — what the authors described as “the sound level of an orchestra or a power saw.”
On non-flyover dates, noise levels hovered between 30.1 and 55.8 decibels, or about the range of a humming refrigerator, they explained.
The researchers observed the behavior of 82 lizards and then brought them in for weight measurements and blood tests, as well as ultrasounds to determine whether they were pregnant and the quantity and size of developing eggs, according to the study.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
Not many things one can’t get grant money for think I’ll get one to test if paper clips snore.
Must be a LOT of crickets and other food items around that base to allow these whiptail lizards to up their consumption. It’s interesting to find out that noise increases their appetite. Whiptails are very interesting lizards, with dog-like hunting behaviors. I have kept several species of them and always found them interesting pets. Some of the species have males and females, and other species are parthenogenic (all female), being able to reproduce without males.
...
Army pilots flew over a 0.02-square-mile portion of the base known as “Training Area 55” at pre-selected times for three days in June 2021, after abstaining from doing so earlier in the week, according to the study.
Yeah, nah!
I live right next to Ft. Carson.
As the article says, they flew three days out of the entire month of June. That sounds about right.
The truth is that military flights over and around Ft. Carson are rare. So rare, I've never seen an F-16 or any other military jet fly over the area, much less, "swoop."
While I was stationed in Alaska, the commander at Fort Wainwright figured out a way to stop this kind of crap. Keep whining complainers off the base. The idiots in Alaska bought cabins off the military base but at the end of the active runways. Unfortunately, the only way they could reach their cabins was to drive across Wainwright. They couldn’t get home for a while until after they stopped their whining about the sound of freedom that had been flying over that area for decades. The idiots knew that before they built their cabins.
The species ... consists exclusively of females who reproduce asexually.
This has already been studied and further study is useless.
Why the federal government spent $3 million to study lesbian obesity
If folks are so danged twisted up over it, then go out and capture the lizards and re,ocate them elsewhere. ,if can’t stop because some whiny eco-nut is worried about a smal. Local population of lizards for crying out loud. The enviro-whackos could have spent the money relocating and e suring the precious, title critters had comfy surroundings and plenty to eat.
Oh NO!!!! We must dismantle the United States Air Force to save the female lizards in Colorado!!!!!! (sarcasm off)
The eviro-nuts want the base shut down so that the chinese can come In and buy it and do whatever they want on the land , regardless of any enviro impact. The enviro-nuts won’t say a word about it then.
I say the lizards are stressed out and stress eating over a
how asinine the enviro- nuts are. I say if it weren’t for enviro-nuts, the lizards would be just fine... as whatshisname would say, “prove me wrong”
Until someone comes along and abducts them for probing.
Great Lesbian Leaping Lizards! Wait until the alphabet people hear about this!
That sounds Reptilphobic!!! 🦎 😱
I remember growing up as akid and going out in the desert and launching lizards into “orbit” in Estes Rockets. Fireproof wadding is needed, or else, when the nose cone is blown off, the lizards get welded to the plastic parachute.
The lizards are probably watching “The View “ and scarfing down Bon-bons.
I launched a few Anoles on Estes rockets. You could buy them with a clear payload compartment on top that prevented them from getting bbq’ed.
This is the Bee, right?
Yes. Now all these lizards relatives run the government.
They would find snowy plover and least tern nesting areas near the test facilities, conveniently, every time they searched for them. Oh, and coincidentally, just before an announced test.
Clown world.
This is what the Left has come to. Reads like Mad Magazine.
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