SCIENCE SCAN

CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

Nature at its best

"Nature's Best Photography,"

Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History

This exhibition of 48 color wildlife photographs, selected from more than 20,000 entries, represents the winners of the Nature's Best Photography Windland Smith Rice International Awards competition. Visitors are greeted by the grand prize winner: New Jersey photographer John Reiter's shot of a stately mountain gorilla in Rwanda. In text next to his photo, Reiter writes, "Observing this nearly 500-pound, chest-beating silverback was one of the most thrilling experiences of my life." Vienna's Alex Modyproduced the adjacent photo in the exhibition, which won him the title "Youth Photographer of the Year." The 19-year-old's winning entry shows a heart-faced owl poised for takeoff from a tree in Everglades National Park. (See page E1.) The exhibition runs through May 2.

WEIRD ANIMAL TRICKS

Making scents of orchids

"Sexy Orchids Make Lousy Lovers"

(The University of Chicago Press, $25)

Need some quirky icebreakers to make it through a holiday season's worth of awkward party conversations? Look no further than behavior ecologist Marty Crump's new collection of weird animal behaviors, a follow-up to 2005's "Headless Males Make Great Lovers." Her new book focuses on unusual relationships in nature between animals and plants. The title essay describes how, "from an orchid's perspective, all is fair in love and cross-pollination." One-third of orchid species offer their pollinators no nectar. But by swaying seductively in the breeze or mimicking the smell of female insects, the orchids trick horny male insects into pollinating them. Elsewhere in the book, Crump even explains why dogs roll in stinky spots, a behavior that has perplexed many a pet owner: Turns out Fluffy is masking her own scent, enabling her to sneak up on prey undetected or, some experts think, helping her attract more attention from other dogs.

-- Rachel Saslow