Wikipedia Trail: Otolaryngology to Squalene

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    I chose to look up otolaryngology. I’m taking fourth semester Spanish and one of our assignments is to speak with someone from another country for thirty minutes on video chat, four times throughout the semester. Well, today, I asked my conversation partner to tell me a new word that he thought I was unlikely to know, and I wasn’t disappointed. He taught me the word “Otorrinolaringología”, which means otolaryngology. He explained what it was during our conversation but since I’m very interested in the medical field and I thought it was such a fun word, I wanted to include it in a Wikipedia trails post!

     I then jumped over to the Wiki page for otitis externa, which is apparently an ear infection known more commonly as “swimmer’s ear”. I’ve heard of this before but I never knew the technical word for it, so that was kind of neat. Also, there is a pretty gross picture on this Wiki page. You’ve been warned!! Lol.

     Then I noticed another word I didn’t recognized and jumped over to the Wiki page for “cerumen”, which is apparently the fancy medical term for earwax! What I did not know is that one of the major elements that makes up ear wax is fatty acid. There is a picture of a huge chunk of earwax on this page, so not as gross as the infected ear but still not really something you really look forward to seeing. Haha.

     I also didn’t know that squalene was part of what makes up ear wax and I didn’t even know what squalene was, so I figured that would be the perfect place to end my Wikipedia trails post, so I jumped over to the Wiki page for that. Squalene is a natural 30 carbon organic compound. Although it is found in many places, the primary source is shark liver oil. We have a compound in our ear that is also very prominently found in shark liver oil. So there, now that’s something you know…

(Squalene; online source, www.compmed.com)

Wikipedia Trail: Galápagos Islands to the House Sparrow

(North Seymour Island; web source, Wikipedia)

1. In her introduction, a fellow Mythology and Folklore student, Kasandra Schemel talked about visiting the Galápagos Islands when she lived in Ecuador. I have always loved to travel and see beautiful places, so I thought this was a perfect opportunity to explore another area that I may want to add to my “must see” list. I learned that the official name is Archipiélago de Colón. I also read that the islands are recognized for a number of endemic species that happened to be studied by Charles Darwin and subsequently contributed to the creation of Darwin’s theory of evolution! This was of particular interest to me, as I started my college “career” as a biology student and even now, as a biological anthropology student, my studies are pretty grounded in biology. So, I chose to click on “endemic species” and jump over to the Wiki page about “endemism”.

2. An endemic creature is one that is unique to a specific location or habitat type. If a species can be found in multiple habitats or geographic area, it is not considered endemic. Endemic animals are also known as precinctive animals. I then chose to explore the opposite of endemism.

3. Cosmopolitan distribution refers to a group of organisms that can be found across all or most of the world, within appropriate habitats. Cosmopolitan distribution can be applied to a species or a subspecies and many factors, such as temporal variations may be taken into account when considering whether a species falls within this definition or not. Next, I chose to jump over and learn about a specific species that falls within cosmopolitan distribution; house sparrow.

4. You are more than likely familiar with this species. The house sparrow is a very common bird seen all over the world. I know I have seen sparrows quite frequently in different parts of Oklahoma (although I can't be 100% certain that I've ever actually seen the "house" sparrow subspecies). I learned that the males are typically a bit more colorful, as are the younger birds in the species (fun fact, that’s a pattern I’ve noticed among a good portion of the birds around the world)! Another not so surprising fact about these birds is that one of its major predators is the domestic cat. Something that may be slightly more shocking though, is that there are other predatory birds out there that have deemed the house sparrow as valuable prey. 

(Male house sparrow; web source, Wikipedia)