Climate Change Could be Making Salamanders Smaller

Experts suggest that salamanders in North America are shrinking in size because of climate change - where warmer and drier seasons are forcing them to burn more energy on a regular basis. (Photo : Wiki CC0 - Brian Gratwicke)

Experts suggest that salamanders in North America are shrinking in size because of climate change - where warmer and drier seasons are forcing them to burn more energy on a regular basis.

According to a study published in Global Change Biology, salamanders within the past few decades are on average eight percent smaller than older generations.

"One of the stresses that warmer climates will impose on many organisms is warmer body temperatures," author Michael W. Sears said in a statement. "These warmer body temperatures cause animals to burn more energy while performing their normal activities. All else being equal, this means that there is less energy for growth."

According to the study, Sears and his colleagues used simulated minute-by-minute daily behavior of modern salamanders, and calculated energy burnt in these actions using weather records or sample salamander's natural habitats. They found that modern salamanders are just as active as their ancestors, but by doing so, are leaving less energy for growth.

Sears explained that salamanders cannot produce their own body heat, instead using the temperature around them.

"Their metabolism speeds up as temperatures rise, causing a salamander to burn seven to eight percent more energy in order to maintain the same activity as their forebears," he said.

Co-author Karen R. Lips adds that the rate at which salamanders have been shrinking in size is one of the largest and fastest rates of change ever recorded in any animal data. The study reveals a "clear correlation" with climate change, but she explains that it can also have genetic influences likewise driven by the conditions of changing habitat climate.

She goes on to say that if genetics are not a factor, and the salamanders are just simply physiologically adapting, "it gives us hope that some species are going to be able to keep up with climate change."

The team says their next step is to study the similarities and differences between salamander species that are just shrinking - like those seen in North America - verses ones that are disappearing entirely from habitats that were once crawling with the tiny creatures.

Shrinking Pelican Nesting Grounds May Pose a Problem

Rising lake levels are causing the pelican nesting grounds in the northern US to shrink, and though they have yet to affect nesting activity thus far, federal wildlife officials are concerned that it eventually means bad news for the animals. (Photo : Wikimedia Commons)

Rising lake levels are causing the pelican nesting grounds in the northern US to shrink, and though they have yet to affect nesting activity thus far, federal wildlife officials are concerned that it eventually means bad news for the animals.

About 30,000 pelicans returned to the 4,385-acre Chase Lake National Wildlife Refuge in North Dakota, known as North America's largest pelican refuge, to find several acres of their main nesting land submerged under water, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

Despite the cramped conditions, these birds - which weigh up to 20 pounds, have a wingspan of nearly 10 feet and measure 6 feet from bill to tail - seem to be coping with the shrunken space, even as the grounds are teeming with thousands of squawks and grunts.

American white pelicans descend on the tiny island each year to raise their young, coming from as far away as the Gulf Coast and California. Not only is this area prime nesting ground, but the lake is also shock full of fish and salamanders to feed on.

According to Neil Shook, a US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist and refuge manager, the lake has been diminishing by a couple of acres annually since the early 1990s. But this year in particular is causing concern because lake levels appear to have mysteriously decreased from 24 acres last year to about 15 acres this year - a loss in land mass equal to about nine football fields.

"As the water level at Chase Lake continues to rise, we're losing a little of the nesting island each year," Shook told the AP.

Not only that but Chase Lake, which is already known for having a high alkalinity that makes it unable to support aquatic life, is changing as water inundates the area.

"The lake is changing and becoming more of a freshwater lake even to the point that it now has a few minnows and salamanders but not enough for the pelicans to feed on," Shook added. "I don't think change in water chemistry is enough to make the birds leave but losing nesting habit - that could be an issue."

This is not the first time this pelican rookery has puzzled scientists. A decade ago, the Daily Digest News reported, a swarm of pelicans abruptly left their nesting grounds, abandoning their chicks and eggs. And the following year, there was a massive die-off of pelican chicks, followed by an exodus of their parents from the wildlife refuge.

In terms of this latest mystery, wildlife officials are not yet worried. The birds have been in this predicament before, when their previous nesting grounds were flooded, forcing them to Chase Lake instead. And rising lake levels can also form other small peninsulas adequate for nesting as well.

Emperor Penguins Marching Towards Extinction Due to Climate Change

Contrary to what other recent reports have said, a new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) says that emperor penguins are in danger of dramatic declines by the end of the century, and marching towards extinction due to climate change. (Photo : Reuters)

Contrary to what other recent reports have said, a new study by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) says that emperor penguins are in danger of dramatic declines by the end of the century, and marching towards extinction due to climate change.

According to the authors, these iconic animals are "fully deserving of endangered status due to climate change," and are currently under consideration for inclusion under the US Endangered Species Act.

Sea ice is vital to emperor penguin survival, and if climate change continues to warm the planet and melt their precious Antarctic wonderland, then most penguin colonies will decline by more than 50 percent at the end of the century, the study explains in the journal Nature Climate Change.

"None of the colonies, even the southern-most locations in the Ross Sea, will provide a viable refuge by the end of 21st century," added WHOI biologist and lead author Stephanie Jenouvrier in a news release.

The researchers' analysis of the global, continent-wide Emperor penguin population includes current and future estimates of sea ice concentration declines. Also, this 50-year study involved observing the mating, foraging, and chick-rearing patterns of the Emperor penguin colony in Terre Adélie, in eastern Antarctica, every year.

"Long-term studies like this are invaluable for measuring the response of survival and breeding to changes in sea ice. They provide our understanding of the role sea ice plays in the emperor penguin's life cycle," explained WHOI scientist Hal Caswell.

Though, the role of sea ice is a bit more complicated than you might think. There is such a thing as too much ice for these penguins. An abundance of sea ice means penguin parents have to travel too far to the ocean to hunt, also making a long trip home bringing back food to their chicks. And too little ice reduces the habitat for krill, a critical food source for penguins.

Though this study says that by the end of the century at least two-thirds of them will have declined by more than half, a recent study by the University of Minnesota insists that penguins may actually be more willing to adapt to a changing environment.

These researchers believe penguins are starting to move their colonies, not necessarily nesting in the same location each year.

Despite contradictory reports, the WHOI team is adamant that putting emperor penguins on the endangered species list is an important step towards combating declining populations as a result of climate change in the present and future.

Activists Fight to Shut Down Hawaii's Tropical Fish Aquarium Trade

Activists with the Sea Shepard Conservation Society have launched a campaign to put an end to Hawaii's tropical fish trade, which involves the annual buying and selling of these fish for aquariums. (Photo : Pixabay)

Activists with the Sea Shepard Conservation Society have launched a campaign to put an end to Hawaii's tropical fish trade, which involves the annual buying and selling of these fish for aquariums.

Scientists say the aquarium fishery off the Big Island is among the best managed in the world, but protesters argue that this practice, ranging from Hawaii to the Philippines, is destroying coral reefs where these fish flourish.

"In this day and age, where the ocean faces a crisis ... there's absolutely no justification for a fishery for hobby," Mike Long of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, said, according to the Associated Press.

Almost 30 million fish are scooped up from reefs around the world, scientists estimate, and Hawaii accounts for only two percent, with the bulk coming from Indonesia and the Philippines.

Some fishermen in these countries pump cyanide into the water to make fish slow and easier to catch - though this practice, as well as the use of certain fishing equipment that is harmful to coral reefs and other marine habitats, is illegal in the Philippines. This toxin leeches into the surrounding environment, poisoning other species of plants and animals while also significantly shortening the lifespan of captured fish.

The Seattle-based conservation group, which is spearheading the campaign, as well as local activists, has long pushed to stop this tropical fish trade, sometimes going to great lengths to do so.

In May, a Sea Shepherd diver recording the collection of fish for the aquarium trade was attacked by a collector 50 feet underwater.

"As they filmed from a distance, one of the collectors noticed the camera from afar and quickly 'rushed' diver Rene Umberger without warning and pulled the air regulator from her mouth. This device is what provides oxygen from a diver's air tank, and forcibly removing it from a diver's mouth can become deadly in a matter of seconds," Sea Shepard wrote on their website.

Aside from this incident, today collecting is prohibited on 35 percent of the Hawaii coast, but Sea Shepard hopes to bring their movement against harvesting of aquarium fish to the Philippines and Indonesia as well.

Monkeys Believe in Winning Streaks

Researchers have discovered that like humans, monkeys also believe in losing and winning streaks, even though these situations are, in fact, random. (Photo : Pixabay)

Researchers have discovered that like humans, monkeys also believe in losing and winning streaks, even though these situations are, in fact, random.

The results suggest that "hot-hand bias" is not just an artifact picked up from childhood, but a belief that's inherited. It's suggested that this deeply rooted predisposition is an evolutionary adaptation that may have provided our ancestors a selective advantage when foraging for food in the wild, according to lead author Tommy Blanchard.

To study this systematic error in primates and determine whether monkeys actually believe in winning streaks, researchers created a computer game that would be addicting to the animals.

"Luckily, monkeys love to gamble," Blanchard quipped, as stated in a press release.

The task consisted of rhesus monkeys choosing right or left, and receiving a reward when they guessed correctly.

The researchers created three types of play, two with clear patterns (the correct answer tended to repeat on one side or to alternate from side to side) and a third in which the lucky pick was completely random.

Monkeys quickly caught on to the correct sequence in the situations where there was a clear pattern; but in the random scenarios, they continued to make choices as if they expected a "streak." In other words, even when rewards were random, the monkeys favored one side.

Hot-hand bias was consistently obvious over weeks of play and an average of 1,244 trials per condition.

"They had lots and lots of opportunities to get over this bias, to learn and change, and yet they continued to show the same tendency," Blanchard said.

Researchers speculate the cause for this thought process is not only because our brains, as well as those of monkeys, are equipped to look for patterns, but in the case of our primate relatives, food may be the culprit.

"If you find a nice juicy beetle on the underside of a log, this is pretty good evidence that there might be a beetle in a similar location nearby, because beetles, like most food sources, tend to live near each other," explained co-author Benjamin Hayden, assistant professor brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester.

Hayden and Blanchard reported their findings in the July issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition.

Rare Wood Stork No Longer Endangered

The American wood stork, once a species on the brink of extinction, has now made such an impressive comeback after 30 years of conservation efforts that it is no longer considered endangered, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday. (Photo : Reuters)

The American wood stork, once a species on the brink of extinction, has now made such an impressive comeback after 30 years of conservation efforts that it is no longer considered endangered, the US Fish and Wildlife Service said Thursday.

These tall wading birds that nest in Southeast swamps, from Florida to the Carolinas, now don the less serious "threatened" label, given that the goal of a five-year average of 10,000 nesting pairs has not yet been reached, the agency said.

"It's a day for good news about an iconic bird from the Southeast that is doing a great job of recovering," Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told the Associated Press (AP) at a ceremony in Harris Neck National Wildlife Refuge in south Georgia. Though she cautioned: "There's still important work to do before we can propose to remove it from the list altogether."

Standing at four feet tall with a wingspan of about five feet, this iconic bird is the only stork species that nests in the United States. It depends on wetlands and lots of fish and surrounding trees to protect their nests from predators. So when wetlands in the Everglades were decimated, stork populations dropped drastically from 40,000 in the 1930s to about only 10,000 in the 1970s.

They were finally deemed endangered in 1984 when the population was dropping by five percent a year, Reuters reported.

Restoring wetlands through partnerships with state governments and conservation groups has been key to increasing the wood stork's population, expanding its range to parts of North Carolina and Mississippi. When the population was labeled as endangered, its habitat was limited to Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.

"One reason we're able to change their status is that the risk has been reduced because their numbers are more spread out," Billy Brooks, the Fish and Wildlife biologist in charge of the wood stork recovery program, told the AP. "They have improved their productivity by expanding their breeding range."

Since enacted in 1973, the Endangered Species Act has led to twenty-seven species being taken off the lists, including the bald eagle, American alligator and peregrine falcon.

In other recent reports, the State of Alaska is requesting that the NOAA remove the humpback whale from the endangered species list, citing recent population growth.

Car Exhausts Mislead Moths, Study

A pollinating moth Manduca sexta, this one with a wing span of about 4 inches, feeds from a Sacred Dutura, or Datura wrightii, flower. (Photo : Kiley Riffell/ University of Washington )

Car fumes and other vegetation scents are distracting moths from finding their favourite flowers, a new study suggests.

University of Washington researchers and colleagues have found that strong odors prevent Manduca sexta moths from pollinating flowers such as Sacred Datura or Datura wrightii. Nectar from a flower energises a moth for only about 15 minutes. Losing a track of next feeding spot might be deadly for the organism.

"Local vegetation can mask the scent of flowers because the background scents activate the same moth olfactory channels as floral scents," said Jeffrey Riffell, UW assistant professor of biology, according to a news release. "Plus the chemicals in these scents are similar to those emitted from exhaust engines and we found that pollutant concentrations equivalent to urban environments can decrease the ability of pollinators to find flowers."

Researchers used proton-transfer reaction mass spectrometer to track scents emitted by flowers in the wild. The team found that scents produced by other flowers and car exhausts masked the scent of flowers like Sacred Datura, or Datura wrightii, which are moths' favourite plants.

Moths' sense of smell is comparable to that of dogs. Experiments conducted in lab also showed that background scents misled moths into choosing wrong flowers.

"We'd assumed that the moth's ability to smell the flowers would be more specific. Instead, other volatiles also activated those same olfactory pathways," Riffell said.

In the next part of the study, researchers want to explore whether urban pollutants confuse other pollinators such as honeybees.

The study shows that odors from cars and trucks could be distracting insects that play a vital role in pollination, Alex Smith, a biologist at the University of Guelph in Ontario told The Verge.

The study is funded by University of Washington is published in the journal Science. 

Chimpanzees Prefer African, Indian Beats over Western, Japanese Music

An animal keeper plays with 2 and a half year old female chimpanzee Anphisa in the Royev Ruchey zoo in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk (Photo : REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin)

Chimpanzees prefer Indian and African tunes over strong beats of Western music, a new study has found.

Researchers at the Emory University also found that chimpanzees opt for silence over Western beats. Previous research has shown that baby chimpanzees have an innate ability to recognize pleasant sounds.

The study team tried to explore whether other rhythms piqued chimpanzees. Related research on music and primates has focused on Western melodies. According to researchers - blues, pop or classical might sound different to casual listeners, but they all follow the same musical patterns. The team explored different acoustic patterns of African and Indian music.  

"Our objective was not to find a preference for different cultures' music. We used cultural music from Africa, India and Japan to pinpoint specific acoustic properties," said study co-author Frans de Waal, PhD., of Emory University. "Past research has focused only on Western music and has not addressed the very different acoustic features of non-Western music. While nonhuman primates have previously indicated a preference among music choices, they have consistently chosen silence over the types of music previously tested."

For the study, researchers conducted experiments on 16 adult chimps who were split into two groups. The chimps underwent tests at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center of the Emory University.

Each morning for 40 minutes for 12 days, the chimpanzees were exposed to African, Indian or Japanese music. The music was played via a portable stereo placed near their outdoor enclosure. Researchers placed a second stereo, which didn't play any music, at a different location near the cage. The second stereo was used to rule out the possibility that the chimps were attracted to the object rather than the music.

Researchers played different types of music in a random order. The team observed each chimpanzee's reaction to the music.

The team found that chimps preferred African and Indian music over Japanese and Western music. According to researchers, Indian and African music have both strong and weak beats, whereas Japanese and Western music have regular strong beats.

"Chimpanzees may perceive the strong, predictable rhythmic patterns as threatening, as chimpanzee dominance displays commonly incorporate repeated rhythmic sounds such as stomping, clapping and banging objects," said de Waal, in a news release.

The study is published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Animal Learning and Cognition. 

Scientists Realize What Gives Electric Fish their Jolt

Electric fish, via evolution, acquired their jolting abilities by converting a simple muscle into an organ capable of generating a potent electrical field, scientists have discovered. (Photo : Wikimedia Commons)

Electric fish, via evolution, acquired their jolting abilities by converting a simple muscle into an organ capable of generating a potent electrical field, scientists have discovered.

This electric organ evolved independently over six lineages in a wide variety of environments, ranging from the flooded forests of the Amazon to murky ocean waters.

"The surprising result of our study is that electric fish seem to use the same 'genetic toolbox' to build their electric organ," despite the fact that they evolved independently, Jason Gallant, an assistant professor of zoology at Michigan State University, added in a statement.

Hundreds of different species of electric fish exist in six broad lineages, and Darwin himself cited these fish as a prime example of convergent evolution - where unrelated animals independently evolve similar traits to adapt to different environments.

The electric organ is used to communicate with other fish, navigate and stun prey. The electric eel can deliver up to 600 volts - several times more powerful than the standard electrical outlet.

"A six-foot eel is a top predator in the water and is in essence a frog with a built-in five-and-a-half-foot cattle prod," explained study leader Michael Sussman of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"Since all of the visceral organs are near the face, the remaining 90 percent of the fish is almost all electric organ."

At least 100 million years ago these fish began realizing their untapped zapping potential when some started evolving electrolytes - a type of cell organized in sequence and capable of generating much higher voltages than those used to make muscles work. They acted like "batteries stacked in series in a flashlight," Sussman said.

By examining their lineages, the scientists found all species used the same genetic tools and cellular development pathways to become electrified.

"Our study demonstrates nature's creative powers and its parsimony, using the same genetic and developmental tools to invent an adaptive trait time and again in widely disparate environments," Sussman added.

The findings were published in the journal Science.

Japan Kicks Off Whaling Season with Public Carving

To kick off the beginning of Japan's whaling season, workers in the coastal town of Minamiboso on Thursday publicly carved up one of the animals while a crowd of schoolchildren and local residents watched, later offering samples of its fried meat. (Photo : Reuters)

To kick off the beginning of Japan's whaling season, workers in the coastal town of Minamiboso on Thursday publicly carved up one of the animals while a crowd of schoolchildren and local residents watched, later offering samples of its fried meat.

The annual event took place in the district of Wada, just after an International Court Justice (ICJ) ruling halted Japan's Arctic whaling in March - which the country has asserted is all in the name of scientific research.

Japan also maintains that whales are an important part of their food heritage, and this town - located about 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of Tokyo - took the opportunity to teach children about its local history and culture.

"Here in Wada we eat whales. Every family eats whale at least once during the summer whaling season," said Michiyo Masuda, the students' teacher, Reuters reported. "If we are eating whales, we have the responsibility to see and learn how they're prepared."

Workers used ropes and a pulley to drag a nine-meter whale - killed the previous night - up a concrete ramp amidst both engrossed and nervous onlookers.

"This part is the fat. If you're scared, close your eyes," said Yoshinori Shoji, president of the Gaibo Hogei whaling company, as one of the workers sawed off the whale's skin and fat, exposing its meat and entrails.

In the past week, the company has killed six Baird's beaked whales, the type sliced up on Thursday, and has plans to catch 14 more before the whaling season ends in August.

Though environmentalists might disagree, Japan claims that many whale species are not endangered, and they show no signs of budging on their long-held tradition.

"It's our right to take and eat whale within our waters," Shoji added.

That said, the recent ICJ ruling prompted Japan to cancel whaling in the Southern Ocean for 2014-2015. Meanwhile, reports emerged that 30 minke whales had been killed during the April-June whaling season as part of the country's "research hunts" in the northwest Pacific Ocean.

Monkeys Avoid Interbreeding with Differing Faces

Monkeys have undergone incredible facial evolution in order to differentiate themselves and avoid interbreeding with closely related and geographically proximate species, according to new research from New York University (NYU) and the University of Exeter. (Photo : Wikimedia Commons)

Monkeys have undergone incredible facial evolution in order to differentiate themselves and avoid interbreeding with closely related and geographically proximate species, according to new research from New York University (NYU) and the University of Exeter.

"Evolution produces adaptations that help animals thrive in a particular environment, and over time these adaptations lead to the evolution of new species," senior author James Higham, an assistant professor in NYU's Department of Anthropology, explained in a news release. "A key question is what mechanisms keep closely related species that overlap geographically from inter-breeding, so that they are maintained as separate species."

The researchers looked at guenons - a group of more than two dozen species of monkeys native to Central and West African forests. Many different species of guenons are sympatric, meaning they live very close to one another, often feeding, traveling and sleeping side-by-side. Therefore interbreeding is a worrisome likelihood, and can result in infertile offspring.

Guenons have great facial diversity, including differently colored eyebrow patches, ear tufts, nose spots, and mouth patches. Oxford zoologist Jonathan Kingdon previously tried to explain this differentiation, suggesting it was an evolutionary tactic to tell one another apart, given they all live in close proximity.

NYU and University of Exeter scientists attempted to prove Kingdon's theory in this study by using facial recognition algorithms that can identify and quantify detailed features in faces.

Over 18 months, they took over 1,400 photographs of nearly two dozen species of guenons in various settings, including US zoos and a Nigerian wildlife sanctuary.

As predicted, the results, published in the journal Nature Communications, showed that the face patterns of guenon species have distinctly evolved from other neighboring species to avoid overlap and therefore hybridization.

"In other words, how you end up looking is a function of how those around you look," added Higham. "With the primates we studied, this has a purpose: to strengthen reproductive isolation between populations."

Alaska's Humpback Whale Making a Comeback, May Lose 'Endangered' Status

Alaska's humpback whales, federally protected for over 40 years, came close to losing their "endangered" status on Wednesday as reports surfaced of their growing numbers, a US agency said. (Photo : John Moran, NOAA Fisheries, Alaska Fisheries Science Center)

Alaska's humpback whales, federally protected for over 40 years, came close to losing their "endangered" status on Wednesday as reports surfaced of their growing numbers, a US agency said.

In a Feb. 26 petition, the State of Alaska asked the NOAA to delist the central north Pacific population of humpbacks, which migrate between Alaska and Hawaii, under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA). They cited population growth as a result of their "endangered" status and noted existing regulations that are still able to protect the animal.

At that time, the entire north Pacific population had been estimated at nearly 22,000 whales, up from just 1,000 in the late 1990s, and the central north stock was just under 6,000 whales, the NOAA reported.

The federal fisheries agency said Wednesday in a statement it found "substantial scientific or commercial information indicating that the petitioned action may be warranted."

This "positive ruling" comes after the agency's similar response in August when the Hawaii Fisherman's Alliance for Conservation and Tradition filed a separate petition requesting to delist all north Pacific whales.

Under the ESA, the NOAA's 90-day finding warrants validation of the humpback's comeback. They will do a year-long, comprehensive investigation of the species' status, taking into account projected population growth rates and threats, such as fishing gear and potential ship strikes, said agency spokeswoman Julie Speegle.

It will then make a decision whether to reduce the central north Pacific and entire north Pacific populations' status to "threatened," or to take no action at all, despite the petition.

Though, the agency is seeking public input about the matter until July 28, during which time opposition may arise, especially from environmental groups.

"Simply put, they no longer need ESA protection. They should be removed and effort focused on species needing protection," said Doug Vincent-Lang, an Alaska wildlife conservation official.

Invasive Water snakes in California Might Threaten Local Wildlife, Researchers Warn

Southern water snakes commonly eat mole salamanders, a group that includes two endangered species in California. (Photo : J.D. Willson/University of Arkansas)

Invasive water snakes in California might threaten local snakes and amphibian species.

According to researchers at the University of California, Davis, water snakes - which are commonly found in rivers and lakes in Eastern U.S. - have the potential to compete with native species.

Researchers don't know exactly how many of these snakes are lurking in the waters of California. Biologists have found at least 300 snakes belonging to two species in Sacramento area (Roseville and Folsom), and 150 in Long beach. The two species are common water snake and the southern water snake.

Water snakes are non-venomous, who belong to the genus Nerodia and are often confused with venomous Water Moccasins (Agkistrodon piscivorus). According to researchers, water snakes were probably introduced in California by snake owners.

"The issue is not yet out of control," said lead author Jonathan Rose, from the UC Davis Graduate Group in Ecology, according to a news release. "However, we recommend that action be taken now to control emergent populations of these non-native snakes while they remain somewhat restricted in California. Waiting until they become entrenched could cost more ecologically and economically."

In the present study, researchers identified areas where water snakes could gain a stronghold. The team found that the potential territory of the snakes could overlap with the region of garter snake and the California tiger salamander - both of which are already on the federal list of threatened species. The water snakes could act as predators or competitors of the local species, pushing them out of existence.

According to researchers, water snakes are expected to not only spread in Central California, but also travel to Oregon's Willamette Valley and to central Washington. Southern water snakes require certain climate conditions to thrive so it might not move out of California. But, water snakes can interbreed and reproduce offspring that might tolerate wider climatic conditions.

 "Water snakes are not picky eaters," said co-author Brian Todd, a conservation biologist in the UC Davis Department of Wildlife, Fish and Conservation Biology. "With their predatory nature and generalist diets, our already imperiled native fish, amphibians and reptiles have much to lose should introduced water snakes become more widespread."

The study is published in the journal PLOS One. 

An Unexpected Feast: Africa's Poison 'Apple' Provides a Win-Win for Elephants and Livestock

The interest of fauna and farmer, trying to protect their livestock, may finally be unified by Africa's poison "apple," a toxic invasive plant that has overrun vast swaths of East African savanna and pastureland. (Photo : Wikimedia Commons)

The interest of fauna and farmer, trying to protect their livestock, may finally be unified by Africa's poison "apple," a toxic invasive plant that has overrun vast swaths of East African savanna and pastureland.

The "Sodom apple," which isn't even an apple at all but a relative of the eggplant, smothers native grasses with its thorny stalks, while its striking yellow fruit provides a deadly temptation to sheep and cattle.

New research suggests, however, that certain African wildlife, particularly elephants, can withstand the plant's toxic effects, and may be the answer to a symbiotic relationship with livestock.

A five-year study led by Princeton University researchers found that elephants and impalas, among other wild animals, can not only safely gorge themselves on the plant, but can efficiently regulate its otherwise explosive growth, according to a report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"The Holy Grail in ecology is these win-win situations where we can preserve wildlife in a way that is beneficial to human livelihoods," lead author Robert Pringle, an assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology, said in a statement.

The researchers set up 36 enclosures - which are designed to keep animals out rather than in - that fell within four types: one type open to all animals; another that excluded elephants; one in which elephants and impalas were excluded; and another off limits to all animals. The researchers used cameras to capture 30,000 hours of foraging activity by elephants, impalas, small-dog-sized antelopes known as dik-diks and rodents. The Sodom apple proliferated with each group of animal that was excluded.

By devouring this toxic fruit, these wild animals are preventing the plant from spreading, as well as provide less of a temptation for livestock who would succumb to the plant's toxicity.

"It's a nice example of how conservation needn't be about sacrifice. It often is - let's be honest. But there are situations where you can get a win-win," Pringle said.

Elephants and impalas can withstand Solanum campylacanthum because they belong to a class of herbivores called "browsers" that survive on woody plants and shrubs that are usually toxic.

There is a catch to the elephants' and impalas' appetite for the Sodom apple, however. They eat the fruit on one end, but its seeds come out the other, and most have the potential to germinate once again.

Scientist Discovers Source of Disco Clams' Underwater Light Show [VIDEO]

Scientist Lindsey Dougherty, four years after being dazzled by the disco clam, has finally discovered the source of this mollusk's underwater light show. (Photo : Lindsey Dougherty)

Scientist Lindsey Dougherty, four years after being dazzled by the disco clam, has finally discovered the source of this mollusk's underwater light show.

The secret lies in its mirrored lips, packed with tiny nanospheres of silica that serve as light reflectors.

Dougherty, a University of California, Berkeley graduate student and diving instructor, first encountered the two-inch clam in 2010 while diving in Wakatobi, Indonesia.

"I've dived with humpback whales and great white sharks," Dougherty said in a statement, "but when I saw the disco clam, I was enamored. I said then, 'I'm going to do a Ph.D. on the disco clam.'"

It didn't take her long to confirm that the flashing was not, as most people assumed, a form of bioluminescence - a chemical reaction inside animals like plankton that produces light similar to that of a glow stick. Instead, she realized the rhythmic light show came from the furling and unfurling of its highly reflective mantle lip. When the clam unfurls its lip - typically twice a second - the millimeter-wide mirror is revealed and reflects the light like a disco ball.

Even underwater the disco dance scene is impressive because the 340-nanometer-wide silica on its lips are effective at reflecting the blue light that penetrates the deep ocean.

The outside of the lip contains no silica nanospheres, so when the lip is furled, no light is reflected - allowing for flashing patterns.

Dougherty used high-speed video, transmission electron microscopy, spectrometry, energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy and computer modeling to study the detailed internal structure of the margin of the clam's lip.

She could find no other animal that uses silica nanospheres as flashing reflectors like clam, called Ctenoides ales, does. Dougherty speculates that the clam, also referred to as the electric clam, uses its light show to attract prey (mostly plankton) or other clams as potential breeding partners, or to scare away predators.

Dougherty is currently studying the clams to find out the answer, as well as is studying their eyes - all 40 of them - to determine whether these underwater creatures can see their own disco light.

This research was published in this week's issue of the British Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

RIP Frostie: The Baby Goat with Wheelchair is Dead

Frostie the goat melted the hearts of all of those around him. The adorable baby goat, who suffered from an umbilical infection, was fitted with a wheelchair. Frostie is dead. (Photo : Facebook)

Frostie - the cute baby goat fitted with customized wheelchair - is dead.

The adorable baby goat was in news late May when Edgar's Mission released images of Frostie running around in his wheelchair.

Edgar's Mission is a non-profit organization that cares for rescued farm animals outside of Melbourne. The Mission announced Frostie's death via a blog post.

"Frostie's legacy will long be a reminder that animals will always stand as one of humanity's greatest tests. When we see a creature suffering or learn of their plight we can seek to protect them, ease their pain or torment or we can choose to look the other way and ignore them," the Mission said.

Frostie was two months old and had started walking without using his wheelchair about a week ago, Daily Mail reports. But, Monday morning, he lost his battle to an infection and died.

Frostie's autopsy revealed that he had abscesses in his spinal column. One abscess was so large that it was pressing against his rumen.

Edgar's Mission had rescued Frostie last month. The baby goat was covered with lice, dehydrated and had a serious infection that spread from his umbilical cord and entered his bloodstream. The infection is called a joint navel ill and is common among newborn calves.

Frostie was given antibiotics, which helped him cope with the infection. But, he was unable to use his hind legs. The mission then fitted him with a customized wheelchair that allowed him to hop and play.

"Every animal at the sanctuary has a story to tell. All of them have different stories of some kind act that got them to the sanctuary," said Pam Ahern, founder and director of Edgar's Mission, according to the Daily Mail. "These stories are really lovely. It shows the goodness of the human heart, because people see an animal in pain and they want to help, they don't like to see another animal suffer."

The Man Inside the Machine: Tokyo Museum Unveils Human-Like Robot Guides

Japanese scientists at a Tokyo museum unveiled Tuesday the world's first robotic newscaster, an eerily human-like android that can speak clearly and smoothly, for the most part outdoing any human. (Photo : Flickr)

Japanese scientists at a Tokyo museum unveiled Tuesday the world's first robotic newscaster, an eerily human-like android that can speak clearly and smoothly, for the most part outdoing any human.

Robotics expert Hiroshi Ishiguro, an Osaka University professor, says they will be useful for research on how people interact with robots and on what differentiates the person from the machine.

"Making androids is about exploring what it means to be human," he told reporters, according to the Associated Press, "examining the question of what is emotion, what is awareness, what is thinking."

The girlish-looking "Kodomoroid" - a combination of the Japanese word "kodomo" (child) and "android" - delivered news of an earthquake and an FBI raid to a throng of reporters at the Miraikan museum in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Kodomoroid was joined by its fellow robot companions Otonaroid and a minimally designed Telenoid.

With their silicon skin gleaming and using artificial muscles, the robots moved their pink lips in time with a voice-over, even performing human-esque mannerisms such as twitching their eyebrows, blinking and swaying their head from side to side.

They even have a wide range of voices they can use, from a deep, masculine one to a high-pitched girly one. The speech, articulated flawlessly, can be input by text, according to Ishiguro.

Although, like humans, these remote-controlled machines are not perfect. Some technical glitches included their lips not moving while the robot spoke, or remaining silent when asked to introduce itself.

The life-sized robots will be on display in the Miraikan museum, or the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation, starting Wednesday, allowing visitors to interact with them.

Robots seem to be going mainstream in Japan. The Japanese Internet company Softbank Corp. recently showcased a robot named Pepper, and will sell it for less than 200,000 yen ($2,000).

"That's the same price as a laptop computer," Ishiguro told the Agence France-Presse (AFP). "It's incredible."

"We will have more and more robots in our lives in the future," he added.

Kodomoroid even said it dreams of having its own television show one day.

Monarch Butterflies Migrate with a Magnetic Compass

Monarch butterflies are famous for their remarkable annual migration, traveling 2,000 miles from eastern United States to central Mexico every Autumn. Now researchers have determined that these butterflies find their way much like some birds do, using an internal magnetic compass. (Photo : Pixabay)

Monarch butterflies are famous for their remarkable annual migration, traveling 2,000 miles from eastern United States to central Mexico every Autumn. Now researchers have determined that these butterflies find their way much like some birds do, using an internal magnetic compass.

A study published in the journal Nature Communications details how researchers from the University of Massachusetts and Worcester Polytechnic Institute identified the use of a light-dependent inclination magnetic compass in migrating monarchs.

"Our study shows that monarchs use a sophisticated magnetic inclination compass system for navigation similar to that used by much larger-brained migratory vertebrates such as birds and sea turtles," co-author Robert Geagear said in a statement.

His colleague and senior author Steven Reppert adds that understanding this mechanism can help researchers better protect the monarch butterfly, which has been facing declining numbers thanks to climate change and loss of fir tree groves from wintering in Mexico.

"A new vulnerability to now consider is the potential disruption of the magnetic compass in the monarchs by human-induced electromagnetic noise," he explained.

Many migratory birds, like the European robin, face a similar problem - as described by a small-scale investigation published last month in the journal Nature - where overlapping electromagnetic frequencies in urban settings can interfere with magnetic orientation.

(Photo : Flickr: Luna sin estrellas ) Monarch butteries migrating. [Credit: Luna sin estrellas]

According to this latest butterfly study, researchers determined monarch butterflies use a similar navigation guide after observing them in a controlled setting. Using flight simulators equipped with artificial magnetic fields, the study's team determined that monarchs would orient themselves to a strong magnetic field.

Interestingly, they found that these internal magnetic compasses are light dependant, using light-sensitive molecules called cryptochromes. The molecules can detect small changes in Earth's magnetic field, and work only when exposed to light waves that can even penetrate cloud cover in invisible ultraviolet frequencies.

"[This] reveals another fascinating aspect of the monarch butterfly migratory behavior," said Reppert, who admits to having long wondered how these butterflies knew where they were going under even when the Sun was tucked away on overcast days.

The study was published in Nature Communications on June 24.

Environmental Crimes Fund More Terrorism Than You'd Think

A report released by the United Nations (UN) has revealed that environmental crimes such as poaching, exotic animal and plant trade, and illegal logging make hundreds of billions of dollars each year. They speculate that the majority of this revenue goes straight into the pockets of terrorists and infamous militia groups around the world.
[PICTURED: Two poachers (left) detained by law enforcement in South Luangwa national park.] (Photo : Wiki CC0 - Lord Mountbatten)

A report released by the United Nations (UN) has revealed that environmental crimes such as poaching, exotic animal and plant trade and illegal logging make hundreds of billions of dollars each year. They speculate that the majority of this revenue goes straight into the pockets of terrorists and infamous militia groups around the world.

In a report presented this week at the first United National Environment Assembly (UNEA), INTERPOL and UN investigators declared that the prevalence and profitability of environmental crimes around the globe has made the problem an international crisis.

The report details how the illegal animal, plant and raw material (coal, lumber, etc.) trade is estimated to be worth about $213 billion each year, and is not the problem of INTERPOL and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) alone.

"Beyond immediate environmental impacts, the illegal trade in natural resources is depriving developing economies of billions of dollars in lost revenues just to fill the pockets of criminals," UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner said at the UNEA. "Sustainable development, livelihoods, good governance and the rule of law are all being threatened, as significant sums of money are flowing to militias and terrorist groups."

According to the report, the unregulated charcoal trade alone - a trade that gets very little public and political attention - costs developing African countries nearly $2 billion a year. The illegal wood and charcoal industry profits up to an estimated $9 billion - nearly four times the $2.6 billion illegal drug trade in the region.

Amazingly, the illegal trade of fauna and flora is estimated to be worth even more - up to $23 billion - and includes the exportation of a massive range of exotic species largely from Africa and Asia.

The ivory trade, which surprisingly makes the least amount of money among environmental crimes, eliminates up to 25,000 elephants and 1,000 rhinos annually.

Worst yet, these activities are not just lining the pockets of petty thieves and desperate parties. Infamous militia groups in Africa are vastly funded by these illegal endeavors, while terrorist groups are hugely benefitting from the illegal charcoal trade.

One terrorist group based out of East Africa was found to be making up to $56 million a year off charcoal alone.

In his concluding statements, INTERPOL's Executive Director of Police Services, Jean-Michel Louboutin, called for the help of the international community, saying that INTERPOL and the UNEP cannot contain the rapidly growing environmental crime sector by themselves.

"While there is growing awareness of the dangers posed by wildlife crime, it will require a dedicated and concerted international effort among law enforcement and partner organizations to effectively combat this threat to global security," he said.

Me, Myself and I: Crows Choose Partner that Look like Them

No they aren't conceited. A new study by Uppsala University found that crows like to select mates that look like themselves, but that this behavior may be rooted in their genetic makeup, revealing a likely common evolutionary path that allows for separating populations into novel species. (Photo : Flickr)

No they aren't conceited. A new study by Uppsala University found that crows like to select mates that look like themselves, but that this behavior may be rooted in their genetic makeup, revealing a likely common evolutionary path that allows for separating populations into novel species.

This large-scale genomic study, published Thursday in the journal in Science, takes another look at an idea put forth by scientist Charles Darwin, who said that all species are subject to evolutionary change. We now know that the driving engine behind biodiversity is the genome, yet how new species emerge from slight genetic changes is a question still unanswered.

For instance, crows are all black or grey coated, and they exhibit a strong tendency to select partners that look like themselves.

Using crows and ravens of the genus Corvus, researchers aimed to find out the genetic foundations of speciation. Specifically, they looked at all black carrion crows and grey coated hooded crows that still hybridize along a hybrid zone stretching across Europe and Asia.

Both species of birds, despite living in such narrow hybrid zones, have somehow managed to still keep separate. Previous small scale genetic analysis showed hardly any genetic differentiation between carrion and hooded crow across the entire species range compared to what is typically seen between populations of the same taxon.

Screens of the more than one billion base pairs in their genomes revealed very little difference between the two birds. Only 82 base pairs were diagnostically different, and 81 of them were involved in coding for coloration and visual perception.

"This finding suggests the exciting possibility that a mate-choice relevant trait, like coloration, might be genetically coupled to its perception which could be common one evolutionary path allowing for separating populations into novel species," lead author Jochen Wolf said in a statement. "Such a mechanism could be common for many other species with visually oriented mate choice."

Great White Shark Populations on the Rise Along East Coast

Great White shark populations are on the rise in the western North Atlantic, a new study reports. However, don't let this be a cause for concern. Shark attack rates are as low along the Eastern United States as they have always been. (Photo : Flcikr: Tam Warner Minton (travelswithtam.com))

Great White shark populations are on the rise in the western North Atlantic, a new study reports. However, don't let this be a cause for concern. Shark attack rates are as low along the Eastern United States as they have always been.

The study, published in the Journal PLOS One, details what experts are calling one of the most comprehensive shark population studies ever completed.

Conducted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, researchers tracked shark populations in the field and compared their findings to data collected since conservation efforts to protect Great Whites began in 1997.

According to the study, North Atlantic white shark populations along the east coast of the US and Canada have climbed to about 2000 - a very healthy number.

This is great news for conversationalists worried about the apex predator, as past studies have shown declining populations and a worrying absence of spottings in both Atlantic and Pacific waters.

They were "worried for a good reason," claims James Sulikowski, an expert of marine science from the University of New England, who talked about the study with the Associated Press. As a top predator in most waters, these sharks are an ideal reflection of the rest of the ocean's health, he explained.

According to the study, Great white populations have still declined since their peak in abundance in the 1960s and 1980s. Current populations are estimated to be only about 69 percent of that peak population - which is still higher than estimated several years ago.

"The species appears to be recovering,," concludes Cami McCandless, one of the authors of the study. She believes that this recovery has a lot to do with conservation efforts taken by officials and enthusiasts alike.

Still, not everyone agrees that the large predators were ever as threatened as some claim. White sharks are noxiously difficult to track, as they don't surface for air. What's worse, solo-swimming sharks break migration patterns all the time, making it very difficult to measure their numbers.

Only a year ago the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) denied public requests to make Great Whites an endangered species after several studies reported alarming low population numbers in the Eastern North Pacific.

However, another PLOS One  study has revealed that the NMFS may have been right in their decision, showing that the sharks number "well over 2000" and may have simply been difficult to track in previous years.

"Listing species that are not under the threat of biological extinction diverts resources away from species genuinely at risk," the Pacific study's author said. "We want to use our resources for the neediest species."

The Atlantic study was published in PLOS One on June 11.

AIDS Monkey Model Offers Promise of New Treatment

Researchers have developed a new monkey model for AIDS that has made clinical study of the disease easier, and offers the promise of new, effective treatments and vaccines in the future. (Photo : Reuters)

Researchers have developed a new monkey model for AIDS that has made clinical study of the disease easier, and offers the promise of new, effective treatments and vaccines in the future.

According to the study, published in the journal Science, The Rockefeller University team was able to slightly modify the virus HIV-1, responsible for most cases of AIDS, to not only infect pigtailed macaques, a species of monkey, but to cause full blown AIDS in the primates for the first time.

This specific virus to very selective, and so does not readily infect species other than its two usual hosts - humans and chimpanzees. While this may be good news for everyone else, for humans it makes studying the diseases difficult without an accurate animal model.

"HIV-1 only causes AIDS in humans and chimpanzees, but the latter are not a practical model and are no longer used for HIV/AIDS research. Our goal has been to figure out how HIV-1 could cause disease in a new host," lead author Paul Bieniasz said in a statement.

As part of the disease, human AIDS patients lose immune cells known as CD4+ T-cells. To develop a new animal model to study the disease, scientists induced AIDS from HIV-1 infection in otherwise resistant monkeys.

Although pigtailed macaques have fewer defenses against HIV-1 than most other primates due to lack of a certain protein, researchers still had to alter both the virus and the macaque immune system in order to induce AIDS.

This involved both bolstering the virus with a defense-disabling protein and weakening the monkeys' immune systems by depleting a type of white blood cell, known as a CD8 T-cell, that destroys AIDS-infected cells.

"When we depleted their CD8 cells, the infected monkeys developed disease closely mirroring that of human patients," co-author Theodora Hatziioannou explained.

"By accomplishing this with macaques, we have taken a step toward establishing a new model for AIDS that can be used universally in prevention and treatment research," Bieniasz added.

The Smell of Success: Africa's Endangered Wild Dogs Saved by Artificial Urine

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have come up with a rather unusual approach to saving Africa's endangered wild dogs: artificial urine. (Photo : Craig Jackson)

Researchers from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology have come up with a rather unusual approach to saving Africa's endangered wild dogs: artificial urine.

These wild dogs - which aren't strays but a genetically separate species that cannot interbreed with domesticated dogs - are increasingly coming into conflict with humans as Africa's population grows.

In the middle of the last century, there were as many as 500,000 African wild dogs (Lycaon pictus) roaming across 39 countries. But now, the species is dwindling across nearly its entire range south of the Sahara. Today, there are somewhere between 3,000 and 5,500 left, in fewer than 25 countries - that's roughly one percent remaining.

Even though this species is currently protected, that doesn't stop humans, often farmers, who see them as a nuisance from killing them. It is not uncommon for entire packs to be poisoned, and other times their dens are destroyed, sometimes with young pups still inside, according to lead researcher Craig R. Jackson, as stated in a news release.

Neighboring predators like lions and hyenas, who compete for local resources, also contribute to half of wild dog deaths.

What makes protecting these animals so difficult is that wild dogs are too smart for their own good, and so conventional fences that keep other animals out cannot stop them.

"We're trying now with biological barriers," Jackson said.

Researchers exploited the fact that wild dogs avoid other dog packs at all costs. They collected sand that had been sprayed with urine by wild dogs and moved it near to other packs, successfully keeping them within the desired area.

"We found that the scent marks from foreign packs kept the wild dogs from moving into those areas," Jackson explained.

The method, while effective, poses its own problems.

"The problem is not to spreading the urine around. The problem is collecting it," Jackson commented.

Dr. Tico McNutt in Botswana, who was not involved in the study, is working on a project that is experimenting with creating artificial urine to keep wild dogs away from populated areas, in combination with traditional fencing.

Pollinator Plan: Obama Commits to Saving Declining Honey Bees

The White House announced Friday its commitment to saving the mysteriously declining honeybee population, putting a task force of federally-backed scientists on the case. (Photo : Pixabay)

The White House announced Friday its commitment to saving the mysteriously declining honeybee population, putting a task force of federally-backed scientists on the case.

Many theories exist for why honeybees and butterflies are dropping like flies - pesticides, viruses, parasites, habitat loss - with little scientific consensus to back them up.

President Barack Obama charged participating experts with the task of coming up with a strategy within 180 days for addressing the issue of rapidly declining honeybees, butterflies and other pollinators, according to the presidential memorandum.

The Pollinator Health Task Force will also undertake efforts to increase public awareness of the issue and boost conservation partnerships between public and private sectors.

"Given the breadth, severity, and persistence of pollinator losses, it is critical to expand Federal efforts and take new steps to reverse pollinator losses and help restore populations to healthy levels," the president wrote.

Honeybees pollinate fruit, nuts and vegetables, and are crucial for the nation's food industry, adding more than $15 billion to the US economy.

Over the past few decades, pollinator losses have been severe. The number of managed US honeybee colonies, for instance, dropped from six million in 1947 to just 2.5 million today, according to a White House fact sheet - a real problem considering the bees enable the production of at least 90 commercially grown crops in North America.

"Pollination is integral to food security in the United States," the memorandum wrote.

The plan also calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to research the role of neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides that have been implicated in the bee decline - though Obama has yet to ban its use.

"He could restrict neonicotinoids today as the European Union has done and he should do that if he wants to protect our pollinators, our food systems, and our environment," Tiffany Finck-Haynes, food campaigner for Friends of the Earth US, said of the president, according to The Guardian.

The move by the White House bolsters the president's previous budget request for $50 million to study the factors behind bee losses and to protect pollinator habitat on federal lands.