This Rodent Eats With Needles

This rodent is one tough customer, and a cactus's nightmare. Recent research has found that the very spines and needles that normally act like a deterrent for potential predators actually draws one species of woodrat in, as if the needles point their way to the best meals. (Photo : Flickr: Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith)

This rodent is one tough customer, and a cactus's nightmare. Recent research has found that the very spines and needles that normally act like a deterrent for potential predators actually draws one species of woodrat in, as if the needles point their way to the best meals.

The white-throated woodrat (Neotoma albigua) is a relatively small and unassuming rodent commonly found in the deserts of the south-western US. In harsh regions like that, hardy grasses and cactus are one of the few means of survival for tiny mammals. However, while most rodents will avoid cactus with long spines and needles for fear of harm, the white-throated woodrat seem to almost enjoy the danger, carefully sliding between needles in order to get at soft cactus flesh.

In order to prove that these little daredevils actually prefer eating needled cactus over smooth ones, researchers simply offered a spiny cactus alongside one of the same species whose spines has been removed to a host of the rats.

The results were recently published in the journal Oikos.

"The results were extremely clear," researcher Kevin Kohl of the University of Utah told New Scientist. "Every animal preferred the spiny cacti over the ones without spines."

So why is this? Kohl and his colleagues believe that the rodent is choosing spines over an easier meal because the flesh of spiny cacti generally has a higher protein content and less fiber compared with naturally non-spiny cacti. In that sense, the woodrats are using the spines almost as a simple nutrition label.

Even more interesting, after the brave rodents are done with their meal, they gather the leftover spines and use them to line their nests, so intruders unfamiliar with the structure will be in for a painful surprise

"It's the ultimate workaround," added the study's senior author, Denise Dearing. "This research demonstrates the unpredictable twists and turns that evolution can yield in the arms race between plants and herbivores."

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Iberian Orcas' Search for Tuna Leaves Them Trapped

Iberian orcas' search for tuna, their main food source, is leaving them trapped in certain waters off of Spain, causing researchers to worry over this already vulnerable species, a new study says. (Photo : CIRCE [Conservation, Information and Research on Cetaceans])

Iberian orcas' search for tuna, their main food source, is leaving them trapped in certain waters off of Spain, causing researchers to worry over this already vulnerable species, a new study says.

Until now, little was known about the movements of this small population of orcas (Orcinus orca), but thanks to a new study model and more than 11,200 sightings of cetaceans over the course of 10 years, Spanish and Portuguese researchers are coming to understand their distribution, and they are concerned.

Their findings indicate that these particular orcas, or killer whales, are swimming in waters in the Gulf of Cadiz, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Alboran Sea, directly in line with the migration of red tuna in the region.

"It is possible that this group of marine mammals travels in waters close to the migration route of the tuna," the researchers said in the Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom.

"This limits their distribution to the Gulf of Cadiz in spring and the Strait of Gibraltar in summer," lead author Ruth Esteban explained in a statement.

Specifically, in the summer months the population will be found in the most westerly part of the center of the Strait of Gibraltar, and in the spring the most easterly area of the Gulf of Cadiz - in shallow waters around Spain and Morocco - and in southern Portugal.

Meanwhile, during the autumn and winter months, orcas have barely been seen in the most regularly populated areas.

By limiting themselves to only a certain area, Iberian orcas - which are listed as "vulnerable" and included in the Spanish Catalogue of Endangered Species - are putting themselves at risk.

"Any reduction in the abundance of tuna could endanger this population of orcas," added Esteban.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

Record Numbers of 'Exotic' Orcas Visit Pacific Northwest

Record numbers of "exotic" orcas have mysteriously been frequenting waters in the Pacific Northwest, typically unchartered territory, and researchers are trying to figure out why.
(Photo : Flickr: Rennett Stowe)

Record numbers of "exotic" orcas have mysteriously been frequenting waters in the Pacific Northwest, typically unchartered territory, and researchers are trying to figure out why.

Transient killer whales are comprised of two populations - an estimated 304 individuals inhabiting the inner coast and another 217 on the outer coast, according to The Vancouver Sun. The outer-coastal cousins, or "exotic" orcas, commonly swim off the edge of California and as far north as Alaska.

But since September, The Seattle Times reports, these whales have abandoned the Puget Sound where they feed on salmon and made their way to the inland waters of Washington and British Columbia instead.

Mark Malleson of the Victoria-based Prince of Whales Whale Watching says he has spotted the outer-coastal orcas five times - more than he's ever in his 18 years in the business.

"Frankly, we don't know a lot about the movement of these whales on the outer coast," Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist for the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, told The Times.

Experts don't know for sure what's driving their unique movements, but they suspect that a boom in seal and sea lion populations may be attracting these whales in unprecedented numbers.

Given that outer-coastal orcas eat everything from Dall's porpoises to northern fur seals and northern elephant seals, it's likely they would not want to miss a feast like this.

"Harbor seals were very scarce," expert John Ford told The Sun. "There are now 10 times more harbor seals in the Strait of Georgia. It's definitely on their [whales'] radar."

Harbor seals, hunted for their pelts, were once low in numbers, but when a law passed in the 1970s prohibited killing them without a permit, they bounced back. Seal populations are at their highest usually in August and September when pups are born, luring in any hungry predators nearby.

But while the exotic orcas seem to be fat and happy, the Puget Sound population of resident orcas is suffering. There are only 78 left in the area, the lowest it's been in the last 30 years, and their numbers still continue to drop.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

Endangered Hammerheads Are Swimming Away From Protection

A new study of specific hammerhead migration routes has found that these sharks are often swimming straight into unprotected waters - a worrying fact that experts are using to help argue for more protective zones to close the gaps. (Photo : Flickr: istolethetv)

A new study of specific hammerhead migration routes has found that these sharks are often swimming straight into unprotected waters - a worrying fact that experts are using to help argue for more protective zones to close the gaps.

Hammerheads have been seeing drastic declines in numbers in recent years , where some of these shark populations have dropped by up-to a stunning 90 percent.

"In Mexico in the eighties, the sea of Cortes was one of the best places to see these beautiful and majestic animals but at present it's hard to see even a few," researcher Mauricio Hoyos from Pelagios Kakunjá said in a statement. "The key to protecting this species is detecting their nursery grounds and protecting them in their more vulnerable stages."

To detect when these sharks are most threatened, Hoyos and his colleague recently captured and tagged tree juvenile hammerhead sharks in the hopes of tracking their development and migration patterns. The sharks were tracked for more than 10 months, with data from one female shark revealing a stunning 3,350 km journey from the Gulf of California. (Scroll to read on...)

(Photo : Mauricio Hoyos)

"This is the first time ever that we have an idea of the behavior of this life stage in this zone and this information will be important to design management plans to protect this species in Mexico," Hoyos said.

According to the study, tag data revealed that the young female hammerhead swam within a school of fellow hammerheads at an offshore island during the day, but migrated away at night, diving to greater depths to feed on fish and squid, sometimes as deep as 270 meters.

The tag also revealed an unexpectedly wide range of where she foraged, suggesting that food resources for the sharks are scarce, with pressures from human fishing operations largely to blame.

That's why the researchers are saying that current measure to protect the food supply of these young sharks are insufficient, and must be widened to help give the little guys a fighting chance.

The tagging results are detailed in full in the journal Animal Biotelemetry.

Stopping Disease With Drugged Marshmallows

Let's talk about raccoons. It's not exactly a secret that these midnight bandits can often carry dangerous diseases such a rabies and even parasites. A particularly nasty roundworm parasite has found its way into US raccoons, and now researchers are proposing to combat it with marshmallows, of all things. (Photo : Flickr: John Morgan)

Let's talk about raccoons. It's not exactly a secret that these midnight bandits can often carry dangerous diseases such a rabies and even parasites. A particularly nasty roundworm parasite has found its way into US raccoons, and now researchers are proposing to combat it with marshmallows, of all things.

That's at least according to a study recently published in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases, which details how the roundworm parasite Baylisascaris procyonis could be quickly cornered in the United States if experts start leaving marshmallows packed full of medication out for these hungry scavengers.

B. procyonis is a pretty nasty parasite. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this bug finds its way into the body of its victims after its eggs are ingested. As these incredibly tiny eggs can often be found in the feces of infected raccoons, they can then be transmitted to humans who accidentally ingest the feces, which mixes into soil. As young children may occasionally eat dirt, they are the most at risk of such an infection.

Once the ingested eggs hatch they can burrow into a victim's eyes and brain, causing blindness and even death. Thankfully, there have only be 30 US cases of this harmful infection in the past three decades.

Still, to prevent it from occurring in the future, a team of researchers recently studied 60 sites where raccoon sightings are common around the city of Chicago. A stunning 13 percent of the feces collected from these sites contained roundworm eggs.

However, after baiting these sites with drugged marshmallows for about 12 months, that rate of infection dropped to a mere three percent, according to the study.

Research leader Kirisgten Page told NPR that this is a far more environmentally friendly way to prevent infections, whereas current methods actually involve taking blowtorches to heavily infested land.

"The eggs are really resistant to temperature change," Page said. "A Midwestern summer won't kill them and certainly our winters won't kill them."

But marshmallows? They seem to get the job done.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

'Extinct' Wallaby Caught on Camera

Yawuru Country Managers and an experts from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) say that they have found compelling evidence that the Spectacled hare-wallaby, and threatened species which had been feared locally extinct , is back in Roebuck Plains, Australia. (Photo : Yawuru PBC and WWF-Aus)

Yawuru Country Managers and an experts from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) say that they have found compelling evidence that the Spectacled hare-wallaby, and threatened species which had been feared locally extinct, is back in Roebuck Plains, Australia.

The wallaby in question, Lagorchestes conspicillatus, is not a global concern for conservation, as it boasts healthy populations that dot the Australian countryside. However, a great number of changes in Australia have been linked to steady declines and even local extinctions of these nocturnal marsupials.

Competition for limited food resources with grazing livestock, as well as the introduction of cats and foxes in some regions, has kept this wallaby in danger. In the Yawuru-owned Roebuck Plains Station, it was thought that the last of this species had been struck by a motor-vehicle in 2004 after feral cat populations boomed in the region.

However, that fact didn't stop WWF ecologist Alex Watson from looking for the animal.

"Their shelter and feeding requirements make them highly sensitive to habitat changes, so assessing their numbers is a good indicator of overall health of a local environment," he said in a recent release.

As part of a training module, Watson showed Yawuru Country Managers how to set eight cameras in likely habitats near the road kill site, now a decade old. The motion-triggered cameras were left running for two months.

Watson was stunned when his trainees returned with two clear photos of the supposedly 'extinct' animal.

"The [managers] showed me photos of probably two animals so we've got definite proof that there's spectacled hare wallabies there," he told Science Network of Western Australia.

"We now have an opportunity to rescue these animals and their habitats through the implementation of sustainable land management practices," Yawuru Corporation Board Director Dean Mathews added in the WWF release. "The Yawuru Indigenous Protected Area.. will enable the regeneration of the country in partnership with the Indigenous Land Corporation's environmentally sustainable rangeland management program so that this wallaby and other threatened species can thrive as they once did."

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

Turkeys May Hold the Next Medical Miracle

As if a good meal, a little relaxation, and family together weren't enough, here's another reason to be thankful for that bird on your table this coming Thanksgiving. The turkey commonly plays host to a particularly "good" bacteria - one that could create a potentially life-saving antibiotic. (Photo : Pixabay)

As if a good meal, a little relaxation, and family together weren't enough, here's another reason to be thankful for that bird on your table this coming Thanksgiving. The turkey commonly plays host to a particularly "good" bacteria - one that could create a potentially life-saving antibiotic.

That's at least according to a study recently published in the Journal of Bacteriology which details how the MP1 antibiotic is produced by a bacteria commonly referred to as "Strain 115."

MP1 has been known to target roughly half of all infectious bacteria that affect humans, even the causes of staph infection, strep throat, and several gastrointestinal diseases. Researchers have known that strain 115 can be found in turkeys, and has been keeping the birds healthy on farms for years.

Now, a team of scientists claim to have discovered how this "good" bacteria strain produces this mysterious antibiotic - a process that could potentially help experts craft a similar functioning antibiotic in humans.

"Our research group is certainly thankful for turkeys," research lead Joel Griffitts said in a recent statement, as these birds have allowed his team to study the strain and its mechanisms in live organisms at their leisure.

According to the study, the research team used mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to identify exactly how Strain 115 makes MP1 without killing itself in the process, as the antibiotic should normally attack the strain as well.

"It's sort of like outfitting a car with special tires that protect against unusual road hazards," Griffitts said - road hazards the car is laying ahead of itself.

The team found that when producing MP1, the bacteria also produces a protective plasmid, effectively shielding it from its own medicine. This mechanism is what likely allowed researchers in the past to craft powerful bacterial vaccines to protect farm turkeys.

Now, several decades after the first turkey vaccination, Griffitts and his team are trying to see if a similar mechanism can be crafted in humans, which would be a life-saving boon in a world where traditional antibiotics are becoming increasingly useless.

New Bird Species Discovered in Indonesia

A new bird species was discovered in Indonesia, but what's remarkable about this finding is that it comes 15 years after having first observing the bird in the wild, according to a new study. (Photo : Martin Lindop & Ticiana Jardim Marini)

A new bird species was discovered in Indonesia, but what's remarkable about this finding is that it comes 15 years after having first observing the bird in the wild, according to a new study.

This elusive animal, identified by its unique mottled throat and short wings, is called the Sulawesi streaked flycatcher (Muscicapa sodhii). It was first found in the forested lowlands on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, and researchers at the time mistook the bird for migratory gray-streaked flycatchers (Muscicapa griseisticta).

Since its discovery in 1997 by local villagers, sightings of the animal have evaded scientists, and they have waited years for the species to be officially confirmed as a new breed. But after researchers from Princeton University, Michigan State University and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences sought out and found the newly named Sulawesi streaked flycatcher in 2011 and 2012, they knew they had found a new species.

"Considering that 98 percent of the world's birds have been described, finding a new species is quite rare," co-author J. Berton C. Harris, from Princeton University, said in a statement. "And despite being a globally important avian hotspot, Sulawesi has largely gone unstudied by ornithologists."

In contrast to other flycatchers, M. sodhii has shorter wings, a more strongly hooked bill and a shorter tail. Its plumage also is distinct in that it has a plainer face and streaked throat. And despite its resemblance, DNA analysis shows that the bird is only distantly related to the gray-streaked flycatcher, and actually most closely resembles the Asian brown flycatcher (M. dauurica siamensis) of Thailand.

"The discovery of this previously unknown bird demonstrates once again how much we have yet to learn about the biodiversity of this planet and, especially, the biodiversity of the tropics," said researcher David Wilcove. "Birds may well be the most intensively studied class of vertebrates on Earth - with millions of birdwatchers looking for them - yet scientists are still discovering new species."

And luckily for this hardy bird, despite land development for cacao plantations in Indonesia, degrading the birds' habitat, the species is not currently at risk for extinction. Now that it has been properly identified, any future conservation efforts, if necessary, may be easier to implement to ensure the species' survival.

The study findings were published in the journal PLOS ONE.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

Aerobatic Hummingbirds: How They Do It

If you have ever had the pleasure of witnessing a hummingbird flit around in the real world, you understand a very simple fact: these little guys are masters of flight. Now a team of researchers has used advanced computer simulations to help illustrate exactly how these birds fly with such nimble precision. (Photo : Pixabay)

If you have ever had the pleasure of witnessing a hummingbird flit around in the real world, you understand a very simple fact: these little guys are masters of flight. Now a team of researchers has used advanced computer simulations to help illustrate exactly how these birds fly with such nimble precision.

The details of this work were recently published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.

Interestingly, this latest flight simulation found that hummingbirds boast flight strategies more akin to insects than birds that utilize a unique set of aerodynamic forces.

Because hummingbirds are so unique in their ability to flit around, hover, and turn on a dime, researchers have long struggled to find a point of reference from which to better understand how they fly. Some past models and simulations have found evidence that suggest hummingbird wings function almost like helicopter wings than anything else. However, this latest work, coming out the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill and Vanderbilt University (VU), has found significant evidence that the insect comparison is stronger.

According to the study, although the structure of their wings is radically different, both insects and hummingbirds make use of unsteady airflow mechanisms to generate vortices that produce the lift they need to fly.

You can watch a video of how these birds churn the air around them achieve their aerodynamic control in the video below.

[Credit: VU/UMC]

To capture the stunning details, a UNC researcher dabbed the wings of a female hummingbird with a non-toxic paint that high-speed video software would easily be able to detect and track. This footage was taken from four different angles, and allowed the formation of a detailed 3D video model.

Using super-computers at the National Science Foundation's Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE), and at Vanderbilt's Advanced Computing Center for Research and Education, the models were processed and build into a stunning simulation that showed each of the thousands of tiny air vortices as they wink in and out of existence.

500 Dead Sea Lions Mysteriously Found on Peruvian Beach

A hoard of 500 dead sea lions was mysteriously found recently on a Peruvian beach, leaving scientists puzzled.
(Photo : Reuters/Mariana Bazo)

A hoard of 500 dead sea lions was mysteriously found recently on a Peruvian beach, leaving scientists puzzled.

Bodies of adults as well as young juveniles were scattered across Anconcillo beach in the Santa Province, Ancash region, located just 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital, Lima, BBC News reports.

Environmental experts told local news agency Andina that they suspect fishermen of poisoning the sea mammals, which usually come close to the shore looking for food. However, Peruvian police are looking into other possible causes of these rotting corpses as well, including disease, entanglement in fishing nets and the accidental ingestion of plastic.

Due to a possible public health hazard, city workers quickly hauled away the bodies and took them to a local dump.

Interestingly, this isn't the first incident of dead sea lions to occur in Peru. According the Agence France-Presse, earlier this month in the Piura region farther north, the bodies of nearly 200 sea lions, along with four dead dolphins, sea turtles and dozens of pelicans, washed ashore.

Officials are still investigating the causes of those mysterious deaths. Given the similarity between these two recent cases, it's possible the same rational can explain them both.

Not to mention, BBC notes, that in 2012 hundreds of dolphins were found dead along a stretch of Peruvian coastline.

While the environmental group named Orca blamed the deaths on the noise and pressure waves caused by ongoing oil exploration in the area, a government report said otherwise.

The Sea Institute of Peru (IMARPE) at the time ruled out oil exploration as a possible explanation, as well as infection by a bacteria or virus for these puzzling fatalities, and instead blamed natural causes.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, sea lions are vulnerable to the effects of climate change on ocean currents, which impacts the number of feed they rely on for food. They are also victims of bycatch in fisheries and subject to diseases spread by other species, such as dogs.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

Cold-Stunned Sea Turtles Saved from Frigid Waters

Numerous cold-stunned sea turtles, among them the critically endangered Kemp's ridley, were saved from frigid waters off the East Coast on Thursday.
(Photo : Pixabay)

Numerous cold-stunned sea turtles, among them the critically endangered Kemp's ridley, were saved from frigid waters off the East Coast on Thursday.

Sea turtles are cold-blooded reptiles that rely on their environment to control their body temperature, a press release reports. Usually during the fall season sea turtles migrate to warmer waters. But if they are unlucky enough to get caught in coastal waters when water temperatures drop, they suffer from hypothermia - also known as cold-stunning.

And the recent Arctic blast is causing situations of cold-stunning along the East Coast far earlier than usual, resulting in sea turtle strandings.

A band of 15 sea turtles were admitted to the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Rescue Program after Boston's New England Aquarium was inundated with more than 150 cold-stunned sea turtles this past week. The new batch of hypothermic turtles included 14 Kemp's ridleys and one green turtle.

"All are being evaluated, with some in more serious condition than others," Dr. Terry Norton, director and veterinarian at the Georgia Sea Turtle Center on Jekyll Island, which also received 16 turtle patients, told The Brunswick News.

"There will definitely be more coming here for treatment, and if this early batch is any indication, we will need more room and tanks to help them," he added.

The turtles will remain at the center from two to four weeks before being released in warmer waters off Florida.

Symptoms of cold-stunning include decreased heart and respiration rates, decreased circulation and lethargy, all followed by shock, pneumonia and, in worst case scenarios, death.

This is bad news especially for Kemp's ridley turtles, the most endangered of all the sea turtles. There are only 1,000 females left able to nest and contribute to the species' survival, according to National Geographic. And if they didn't have enough to worry about with the frigid East Coast waters, a recent study also showed that the infamous 2010 BP spill may be contributing to their decline.

Rare Deep-Sea Anglerfish Caught on Camera

In the dark waters off the California coast, a rare deep-sea anglerfish [not pictured] was caught on camera for only about the sixth time in history, according to reports.
(Photo : Flickr/NOAA)

In the dark waters off the California coast, a rare deep-sea anglerfish was caught on camera for only about the sixth time in history, according to reports.

So needless to say scientists with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) were surprised to find one lurking 2,000 feet below the surface in Monterey Canyon. The researchers hope that their footage can tell them more about this still widely mysterious and fearsome predator.

"We've been diving out here in the Monterey Canyon regularly for 25 years, and we've seen three," Bruce Robison, MBARI division chairman, told the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

"A video would tell us a lot about how it moves, swims, orients to gravity," added Ted Pietsch, a professor at the University of Washington.

Perhaps well recognized from the Pixar movie "Finding Nemo," Melanocetus, an anglerfish species, is a bizarre, and frankly ugly deep-sea creature. There's a reason why it's nicknamed the black seadevil. Males are tiny in comparison to the alpha females, who are the ones famous for the luminescent orb dangling from the "fishing rod" on their forehead, used to attract prey like small fish or squid. They also boast a vicious gape with numerous razor-sharp teeth.

Besides the fact that they can live in freezing, crushing water four times deeper than where this latest anglerfish was found, along with details of their life span and reproductive biology, not much is known about these deep-sea denizens.

Robinson described the anglerfish as being "among the most rarely seen of all deep-sea fishes," according to the Daily Mail.

To learn more, MBARI researchers have captured the 3.5-inch-long fish for further study. It is being kept in a dark tank with near-freezing water similar to temperatures of its ocean habitat, however it is not expected to live.

The deep sea is a vast and widely unexplored environment - we know more about the surface of the Moon than the deep sea - so the chance to learn more about one of its inhabitants is a rare and remarkable opportunity. Especially considering that deep-sea creatures, which are adapted to low oxygen waters, are more vulnerable to climate change and warming temperatures compared to other marine life.

In the past three decades, the bay water has warmed a tenth or two tenths of a degree.

"Animals that live in the oxygen minim zones are adapted to low oxygen, but they might be close to their limit," Brad Seibel, an assistant professor of marine biology at the University of Rhode Island, told the Sentinel.

You can watch the MBARI team's video footage here.

Wild Leopards Prowl Very Close to Human Homes

In the first-ever real-time tracking of leopard populations in India, researchers have determined that the big cats are surprisingly fearless when it comes to wandering near human neighborhoods. This was determined in a new GPS study, which has uncovered how these animals try to thrive in a man's world. (Photo : Pixabay)

In the first-ever real-time tracking of leopard populations in India, researchers have determined that the big cats are surprisingly fearless when it comes to wandering near human neighborhoods. This was determined in a new GPS study, which has uncovered how these animals try to thrive in a man's world.

Most large predators, like tigers, wolves, and mountain lions, try to avoid human contact at all costs, only wandering near human settlements when food and territory are scarce.

However, this may not be the case for leopards. According to  a study recently published in the journal PLOS One, researcher observed how these big cats of the eastern hemisphere are crafty and adaptable enough to live off even human land with little notice, much like coyotes do half-a-globe away.

The study details the activity of five leopards (two males and three females) who had been captured as "problem animals" despite the fact that they had not attacked people.

Collared with GPS and radio units, the animals were rereleased into the wild so they could be tracked for up to 12 months. (Scroll to read on...)

(Photo : www.projectwaghoba.in)

Stunningly, the animals did not move further into the wild. Two of the leopards stayed very close to human residents, even following their capture.

"This could have in fact, aggravated the conflict, as these animals passed through highly-human dominated (even industrial) areas," the study authors wrote.

However, the animals were amazingly never noticed. The researchers observed that they employed clever tactics to avoid human aggression, including hunting at night, and ran an almost "hit-and-run"  strategy to scrounge for food.

"This gave them an access to people's livestock, and yet kept them safe from people," study co-author Vidya Athreya explained in a statement.

By day, they stalked much further away. However, the wide home-ranges of the animals encompassed human residential areas more often than not. Two of the females even gave birth to cubs during the course of the study, indicating that the leopards were there to stay.

Of course, with these animals preying on livestock, they are as much a threat to peoples livelihoods as their behavior is to themselves. In North America, coyotes are allowed to be shot and killed as their populations remain high.

But Indian leopards are far lower in number (about 1,150 since the last WWF census), and have moved into residential areas for lack of wide hunting territories. Still, the authors stress that this clear adaptation of the animals needs to be discouraged at all costs.

The Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported earlier this year how a leopard in the city of Meerut caused utter panic after it wandered into a hospital and a cinema. Another leopard even killed a five-year-old boy in central Chhattisgarh state before it was hunted down, highlighting the dangers of the natural-born killers.

Horse, Rhino Origins Tracked in India

The evolution of odd-toed animals like horses and rhinos has long remained a mystery to researchers, despite previous discoveries of their remains, but a new study has tracked their origins in India, solving a piece of the puzzle. (Photo : Pixabay)

The evolution of odd-toed animals like horses and rhinos has long remained a mystery to researchers, despite previous discoveries of their remains, but a new study has tracked their origins in India, solving a piece of the puzzle.

The breakthrough came from a treasure trove of fossils belonging to what is believed to be an ancient ancestor of the group Perissodactyla.

Perissodactyla, made up of "odd-toed ungulates" such as horses and rhinos, likely originated on the subcontinent when it was still an island headed swiftly for collision with Asia. They are not only identified by the uneven number of toes on their hind feet, but also by their distinctive digestive system.

Fossils of Perissodactyla have been found as far back as the Eocene epoch 56 million years ago, and yet the details of the beginnings of their evolutionary history have eluded scientists. But in an open-pit coalmine northeast of Mumbai, a Johns Hopkins University-led team uncovered a rich deposit of ancient bones. Lead author Ken Rose and his colleagues decided to explore this area in western India after hearing word that perissodactyls and some other mammal groups might have originated there.

This fossil treasure trove revealed more than 200 teeth and bones belonging to a little-known animal dubbed Cambaytherium thewissi. Living about 54.5 million years, Cambaytherium may be slightly younger than the oldest known Perissodactyla remains, but according to Rose, it provides a picture of what a common ancestor of all Perissodactyla would have looked like, shedding light on their evolutionary history. (Scroll to read on...)

(Photo : Elaine Kasmer) An artist's depiction of Cambaytherium thewissi.

"Many of Cambaytherium's features, like the teeth, the number of sacral vertebrae, and the bones of the hands and feet, are intermediate between Perissodactyla and more primitive animals," Rose explained in a statement. "This is the closest thing we've found to a common ancestor of the Perissodactyla order."

These findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, may have filled in a major gap in science's understanding of the evolution of a group of animals that includes today's horses and rhinos.

The Origin of the Baby New Year

Every year it's the same thing. Some diapered little baby is paraded around wearing a sash with the new year written on it. Who hasn't been to a New Year's Party that ended that way, huh? Okay, me neither. But the Baby New Year is still an iconic image that even popped up in a really bad sequel to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Baby. Usually in concert with the Baby New Year there is also a wizened old man with a ZZ Top beard. But this article isn't about that. It's about that naked baby.

 

 

The use of an infant as a symbol of the start of the new cycle that begins with the passage of the year dates back to ancient Greece. The festival of Dionysus, who was the god of wine, song and merriment let us not forget, was a big thing for the Greeks. No doubt the festival of Dionysus often ended long after the womenfolk had been sent to bed and each male reveler had left his male Greek friends behind to unsteadily walk home to the little woman.

Before these parties got down to the good stuff, however, it was the custom of the time to parade a newborn baby around in a basket. The baby was a symbol and a herald for fertility of the crops. (Probably just the crops since Greek style doesn't produce much in the way of offspring.

None so's you want to keep, anyway.) Across that big lake, the Egyptians were also fond of holding a ceremony of rebirth that involved the use of a young baby. In fact, there was a specific ceremonial ritual involving a young man and an older bearded man carrying a baby inside a basket that was discovered on the lid of a sarcophagus that is now on display in a museum.

The symbol of a Baby New Year was ubiquitous throughout the pagan religions so it should come as no surprise that the Catholic Church disallowed it for centuries. Finally, thanks to a fact that Bush seems incapable of grasping---that it is next to impossible to kill an idea that people cleave to with all their might---the Catholic Church gave in and allowed infants to be used in New Year celebrations. Okay, they made one adjustment. The Baby New Year was transformed from a pagan symbol into a symbol of the Baby Christ.

The contemporary image of the Baby New Year comes to us, like the Christmas tree, courtesy of those fun-loving, always-with-the-joke Germans. It was the Germans, you see, who first slapped a diaper on the Baby New Year. The newly diapered Baby New Year first cropped up in German woodcarving illustrations in the 1300s. When the German immigrants poured into Pennsylvania they brought with them the Christmas tree, Groundhog Day and our current image of the Baby New Year.

 

Discovered: the Stunning 'Glow Worm' of the Amazon

The Amazon rainforest is full of some amazing things, but you've never seen this before. A wildlife photographer and a team of entomologists recently confirmed the existence of a beautiful and deadly (for prey, anyways) glowing worm. (Photo : Jeff Cremer)

Imagine that you're a small insect fluttering or crawling around. It's particularly dark this night, but up ahead you notice the glow of a tiny light. You are drawn to it, and the welcoming light increases. And then, as you draw nearer, disaster strikes. The earth around that glow erupts to reveal the body of a large glowing worm. Terrible mandibles are the last thing you see before it's dark forever more.

That nightmare could be just another Friday night in the Amazon rainforest, where a mysterious glowing worm has been discovered to dwell.

Wildlife photographer Jeff Cremer first stumbled upon this strange predatory worm several years ago. He snapped a couple pictures, but after a little investigation, failed to identify the worm. Later, Cremer learned about the sub-Reddit "whatsthisbug," an online forum where entomologists and wildlife enthusiasts work together to identify insects.

He quickly posted the photos and was stunned to find that entomologists canvassing the Amazon stumbled upon a similar bioluminescent worm just last year. It was Identified as Alampoides alychnus - click beetle (Elateridae) larva, and detailed in a study published in association with the Museum of Zoology at the University of São Paulo. (Scroll to read on...)

(Photo : Rosa et al./ Museu de Zoologia, Universidade de São Paulo )

However, Cremer wanted to be absolutely sure. That's when entomologist Aaron Pomerantz and his colleagues Mike Bentley and Geoff Gallice from the University of Florida contacted the photographer asking if he wanted to go back to find the worms once more.

This past October, the small team set out.

"These larvae may glow using a chemical known as luciferin, which is the same chemical found in many firefly species," Pomerantz later reported in a Rainforest Expeditions video.

"We noticed that the larvae are also able to control when they glow," the entomologist added, as the insects stopped glowing when disturbed or removed from their holes in the ground.

This indicates that the glowing of these insects could be used as a kind of lure - much like seen in the angler fish - in which the light draws in prey close enough to where they can be snatched up in the worm's impressive mandibles.

To test this theory, the team even dragged a stick and then a live ant across the hole where one of these glow worms resided. In both cases, the glowing creature lurched out of its hiding spot to drag its prey away.

"Yup," said Pomerantz, "they definitely appear to be predators."

You can find out more about the glowing worm, the expedition, and other bioluminescent species at the Rainforest Expeditions blog.

Saving the Louisiana Black Bear

There is some good news in the nature world. Saving the Louisiana black bear, a species that is currently considered threatened, may be possible if conditions remain stable, the US Geological Survey revealed Wednesday in a new study. (Photo : Jim Urquhart/Reuters)

There is some good news in the nature world. Saving the Louisiana black bear, a species that is currently considered threatened, may be possible if conditions remain stable, the US Geological Survey revealed Wednesday in a new study.

Along with alligators and brown pelicans, black bears could also be one of the state's iconic species to recover. According to the study, things are looking up for the animals that inspired teddy bears, with findings suggesting they will survive for another century.

"We're super excited," Maria Davidson, head of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, told The Associated Press (AP).

Led by associate professor Joseph Clark of the University of Tennessee, and his colleague Jared Laufenberg, the research team found that bear numbers jumped from a sparse 80-120 in the 1950s to 450-600 animals today.

In order to learn the movements of the Louisiana black bear - mostly to determine whether or not populations were inbreeding, which can hinder recovery - Clark's team used barbed wire to (harmlessly) snag hair from live bears around the state, from 2002-2012, to study their DNA.

The study showed that almost one-third of today's bears are in the lower Atchafalaya River Basin in south Louisiana, while over 10 to 15 percent are in an area located northwest of Baton Rouge called the Upper Atchafalaya River Basin.

Researchers also said that in the 2000s, almost 48 female bears and 104 cubs were moved from Tensas into central Louisiana in order to bridge a gap between the upper Atachafalaya basin and the small stock northwest of Baton Rouge.

Clark and his colleagues could not be more hopeful for these cuddly omnivores, especially after extensive habitat loss and hunting by humans drove it to being an endangered species.

Paul Davidson, executive director of the Black Bear Conservation Coalition, however, is a little skeptical.

"I might question some of the assumptions, but overall, it represents a very good study," he told the AP.

Louisiana black bears, one of 16 sub-species of American black bears, are the smallest bears found in the United States. Though there are just three core populations left in Louisiana, the state's Department of Wildlife and Fisheries notes, these mammals once ranged in parts of Mississippi, Arizona and Texas as well.

How Mosquitoes 'Smell' Human Prey

It may be winter in the North, but mosquitoes are still very much a nuisance south of the equator. Now researchers are investigating how exactly these disease-carrying pests home in on humans in the hopes of finding a way to make us essentially invisible to the bloodsuckers (Photo : Pixabay)

It may be winter in the North, but mosquitoes are still very much a nuisance south of the equator. Now researchers are investigating how exactly these disease-carrying pests home in on humans in the hopes of finding a way to make us essentially invisible to the bloodsuckers.

Nature World News has previously reported about how experts are experimenting with various ways to fight the spread of mosquito borne diseases, such as Dengue fever or the dangerous West Nile virus.

These strategies often have to do with the mosquitoes themselves, either controlling their population numbers or modifying how their bodies react to the presence of a virus. However, if scientists could simply take humans off the mosquito menu, researchers would no longer have to tamper with nature so directly.

"What's emerging... is a picture of exactly how mosquitoes are navigating their environment to locate humans, and in the end, we may able to use that knowledge to fine-tune a line of attack that distracts their preference for humans altogether," researcher Felix Baier, at Harvard, explained in a statement.

Baier helped author a study recently published in the journal Nature, which details how a key genetic variation in female (bloodsucking) mosquitoes helps the insects "smell" humans.

According to the study, humans regularly emit a compound called sulcatone. Various expressions of the gene Or4 encode for receptors in a mosquito's antennae cells that detect this compound, urging the pests towards humans.

"Humans emit it much more than any of the other animals we tested," Baier said. "And that makes sense - it's something a mosquito could use to distinguish between human and other mammals."

According to Baier and his colleagues, there may be a way to hide human sulcatone from mosquitoes. "Blinding" mosquitoes to the compound directly, such as by attacking the development of their sulcatone receptors, is one such idea.

Obviously, Baier adds, doing that won't be easy.

Wind Farm Files Lawsuit to Hide Bird-Death Data

It's come to the public's attention that a wind farm company operating in the United States filed a lawsuit last month in an attempt to hide the number of bird deaths that occurred from their energy-saving turbines. (Photo : Pixabay)

It's come to the public's attention that a wind farm company operating in the United States filed a lawsuit last month in an attempt to hide the number of bird deaths that occurred from their energy-saving turbines.

Pacificorp of Portland, Oregon, is seeking an injunction in US District Court in Utah to prevent the Interior Department from releasing this confidential information, The Associated Press (AP) reported.

Wind farms contain clusters of turbines that can reach 30 stories tall and spin up to 170 mph. With spinning rotors creating tornado-like vortexes, it's no wonder that migratory birds, including protected species like the bald eagle, get caught in their line of fire.

Last year, a study surfaced revealing that 573,000 birds and 888,000 bats were being killed each year by wind turbines, more than 30 percent higher than federal government estimates.

This latest lawsuit suggests that that may be in part due to companies like Pacificorp trying to keep their real wind farm birds deaths under wraps.

When the government informed Pacificorp and other similar companies last month of their intent to release this information, Pacificorp then retaliated with a lawsuit filed on Oct. 17. It argued that keeping the number of bird deaths secret was actually in the public's best interest because it will promote "open communication," the AP reports, between it and the government.

However, the government deemed this excuse as "insufficiently convincing."

It's been reported that at least 20 eagle carcasses have been found on Pacificcorp wind farms in Wyoming in recent years - and that's just on one farm. Dozens more deaths have occurred in California, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington and Nevada as well.

The dangers of wind turbines to birds - as well as bats, which confuse them for trees - is not a new issue. Back in May the American Bird Conservatory announced its intent to file a lawsuit when the federal government granted wind farm companies 30-year permits to kill eagles without legal repercussions.

Tags Could Make Fish 'Easy Prey' For Seals

Tags that help researchers track the survival of fish may actually be making these animals more vulnerable to marine predators with hypersensitive hearing, such as seals. That would then make these tags little more than tiny "dinner bells," and could seriously skew survival data. (Photo : Pixabay)

Tags that help researchers track the survival of fish may actually be making these animals more vulnerable to marine predators with hypersensitive hearing, such as seals. That would then make these tags little more than tiny "dinner bells," and could seriously skew survival data.

That's at least according to a study recently published in the journal Proceeding of the Royal Society B, which details how even seals unfamiliar with tagging are quickly drawn towards fish who boast an acoustic tag.

This was demonstrated in 20 trials, in which young seals were exposed to a pool containing 20 boxes with fish hidden inside. Over and over again, the seals had far greater success finding tagged fish than they did finding those that were untagged, suggesting that these acoustic tags were letting the sensitive animals home in on potential prey.

"Our results... illustrate the importance of considering the auditory sensitivities of all animals in the environment when designing an acoustic tagging study," the researchers wrote.

Acoustic tagging is widely used in capture-and-release studies intended for tracking aquatic populations. Unlike with sharks, dolphins, or whales, fish are often far too small to be able to swim with a GPS tag strapped to their back. Likewise, even large fish species swim too deep for satellites to consistently pick up the GPS ping, making tracking difficult.

Acoustic trackers, however, are far easier to design and are much smaller. Tagged to these fish, these trackers repeatedly send an ultrasonic frequency through the waters that receivers can then measure to determine the distance and position of a fish.

However, while fish appear unbothered by this signal, the sensitive ears of predators like seals may be able to pick up on it, leading to a "dinner bell effect," as the researchers call it.

Because the tags are often used to track average fish mortality, these tags may be leading to skewed data, meaning the situation of a "ringing" meal with fins is certainly not average.

"We showed that acoustic tags... aid prey detection, potentially increasing predation of tagged animals and potentially skewing study finding," the study authors wrote. "When introducing artificial sound sources into an environment, it is important to take into consideration all potential effects on local species, both detrimental and beneficial."

How Young Bees Order a Kid's Meal

Infants, toddlers, and tweens all have different nutritional needs. For humans, motherly intuition certainly helps, but a large part of getting a child what he or she needs comes from doctor recommendations. Bees, however, don't have pediatricians. So how do little larvae get the right nutrition when they need it? A new study investigates. (Photo : Pixabay)

Infants, toddlers, and tweens all have different nutritional needs. For humans, motherly intuition certainly helps, but a large part of getting a child what he or she needs comes from doctor recommendations. Bees, however, don't have pediatricians. So how do little larvae get the right nutrition when they need it? A new study investigates.

The study, recently published in the journal Animal Behavior, details how it's a lot more simple than you would imagine.

While no bee truly "talks," they communicate with chemicals, telling one another when there is danger near, where the nest needs tending, and where to forage for pollen.

It's these same chemical signals, called pheromones, that give baby bees an edge over a human's own talkative tot. Unlike in the case of baby babble, nurse bees can understand the signals from larvae pheromones, literally taking the baby's order for the day and bringing them food laden with just the right protein content.

This was determined after researchers took a closer look at how nurse bees handled larvae of various ages and castes. They found that nurses gorge pollen and produce feed for queen larvae with copious amounts of protein and sugar throughout development. However, for worker larvae, nurse bees split this diet into two parts: a young worker receives protein for growth, while older larvae are exclusively fed a diet with a high sugar component to facilitate final development.

However, it was also discovered that that protein-rich diet requires more pollen than a sugar-based diet. That's why when adult worker bees are exposed to the pheromone e-beta ocimene - exclusive to younger larvae - twice as many foragers return to the colony laden with pollen.

Even without actual larvae around, researchers found that the hive will still react to this pheromone, launching into escalated pollen collection.

According to the researchers, taking advantage of this system could even offer bee keepers a new means to boost pollination services - a process essential to fruit and seed production.

The Emerald Ash Borer is 'Winning' Along East Coast

Even as winter closes in, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) continues to be a threatening nuisance to states across the East Coast, destroying ash trees and jacking up the price of firewood just before we need it. Now it has spread to new states and Canada, sparking renewed efforts to keep it contained. (Photo : David Cappaert/USDA)

Even as winter closes in, the Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) continues to be a threatening nuisance to states across the East Coast, destroying ash trees and jacking up the price of firewood just before we need it. Now it has spread to new states and Canada, sparking renewed efforts to keep it contained.

As of late last week, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) confirmed the concentrated presence of EAB in the Municipality of Notre-Dame-de-Laus, Quebec. Disturbingly, this discovery is well outside regulated boundaries, marking Canada's first case of the invasive insects breaking through pre-established quarantines.

And while the EAB is relatively new to North America, first showing up in 2002, the United States and the Canadian regions of Ontario and Quebec have already been deeply affected by the harmful eastern Asian beetle.

A whopping 23 states, largely in the eastern US along the East Coast, are currently being affected by the tiny green beetle. And while the adult EAB itself is not a huge problem, its larvae feed just below an ash tree's bark, interfering with the plant's water and nutrient uptake and causing it to die. (Scroll to read on...)

(Photo : USDA) click to expand

Because the EAB has little-to-no natural predators in North America, it's free to reproduce en masse, posing a serious threat to the ash tree industry.

The spread of this pest is also proving particularly difficult to contain. At the start of this month, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced that the borer was spreading further into the state, invading two new counties.

Then just last week, Massachusetts's Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) announced that the EAB was still spreading within its borders, and promptly announced a state-wide quarantine. Much like a quarantine that New York launched several weeks ago, this restriction limits the movement of certain wood products (primarily firewood) outside of regulated areas.

"The Emerald Ash Borer poses a very serious threat to ash trees across the Commonwealth," said DCR Commissioner Jack Murray. "We believe a state-wide quarantine provides the best chance for slowing the spread of Emerald Ash Borer."

However, for states that have already seen what the EAB can do, a firewood quarantine just doesn't seem enough.

In Connecticut, local news stations are reporting that "it looks like the Emerald Ash Borer has won."

That's because starting Friday, Dec. 5, restrictions on moving firewood within the state are being rescinded for anyone with the right paperwork, where quarantine boarders are being expanded to all of the state's eight counties.

"The reason why we are expanding the quarantine is simply because we've found that eradication of this insect is not possible," Deputy State Entomologist Victoria Smith told WNPR News.

This expansion is adding Connecticut to a larger quarantine zone that extends all the way to Iowa and Missouri. However, interstate firewood transport remains restricted. (Scroll to read on...)

(Photo : pixabay)

And while this may be some pretty bad news for ash tree owners and farmers, lightening restrictions could be a silver lining for homeowners this winter.

That's because quarantine conditions have been limiting the availability of purchasable firewood. In New York, for instance, retailers are limited to moving firewood up to only 50 miles from its source. That's a problem for some retailers, who normally travel far longer distances to pick up treated logs from areas like the Adirondacks or even just along the Pennsylvanian boarder.

"Some of the sources that may have been farther away have dried up because they just can't transport it," said Joyce Meiler, office manager for Craft Tree and Land Clearing, told New York's Democrat & Chronicle.

Looking for quality logs then becomes a very expensive hassle, in which demand heavily outweighs supply. A face cord alone - one third of a full stack of wood - can cost about $95 this holiday season. That's nearly $10 more than last year.

Still, it might be a small price to pay to at least slow the spread of a harmful new pest.

Unmasking the Pacific's Sea Star Killer

Researchers have identified the cause of an illness that is leaving starfish populations in shambles. The disturbing disease, which makes starfish lose their limbs and exude their own organs, is being caused by a newly discovered virus that is sweeping through invertebrates. (Photo : Neil McDaniel)

Researchers have identified the cause of an illness that is leaving starfish populations in shambles. The disturbing disease, which makes starfish lose their limbs and exude their own organs, is being caused by a newly discovered virus that is sweeping through invertebrates.

That's at least according to a study recently published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which profiles the virus that has caused the largest die-off of sea stars ever recorded.

The die-off was first noticed in 2013, affecting at least 20 species of sea stars along the Pacific coast. Since the mass-death's discovery, experts have been scrambling to reveal what was behind it.

"I was driving off the University of California, Santa Barabara campus in January and came across hundreds of sea stars that were contorted and disintegrating," co-author Lafferty, a specialist in marine diseases, said in a recent release.  "It looked like a battlefield. I've seen no sea stars since."

According to Lead author Ian Hewson, a microbiologist at Cornell University, identifying the root of a disease that was so recently noticed does not come easy.

"There are 10 million viruses in a drop of seawater," he explained in a statement, "so discovering the virus associated with a marine disease can be like looking for a needle in a haystack." (Scroll to read on...)

(Photo : Phil Garner) The disease, Sea Star Associated Densovirus, leaves the animals in utter taters.

According to the study, Hewson and his colleagues analyzed both live samples and samples from the past century - collected from museum starfish and other seafloor invertebrates.

They eventually identified the Sea Star Associated Densovirus (SSaDV) virus as the microbe responsible for Sea Star Wasting Disease (SSWD) - a first of its kind among sea stars.

Stunningly, the researchers found that the virus has actually been quietly circulating around the Pacific for the last 72 years - detected in preserved sea stars collected in 1942, 1980, 1987, and 1991. However, why the disease saw this sudden and disastrous boom remains to be seen.

The authors of the study suggest that the disease may have recently risen to epidemic levels because of sea star overpopulation, environmental changes, or mutation of the virus.

This research lays the groundwork for understanding how the virus kills sea stars and what triggers outbreaks. The stakes are high, according to Hewson, as the sea star is a keystone seafloor predator in the Pacific.

The Evolution of Eels May be Limited by How They Feed

In an examination of physical diversity among eel species, researchers have found that biters are far more varied than eels that use suction to snatch up food. Now it has been suggested that this is an example of how certain feeding habits can limit how a species physically changes over time. (Photo : Flickr: Malcolm Browne)

In an examination of physical diversity among eel species, researchers have found that biters are far more varied than eels that use suction to snatch up food. Now it has been suggested that this is an example of how certain feeding habits can limit how a species physically changes over time.

That's at least according to a study recently published in the journal Nature Communications, which details how an analysis of more than 800 species of eel shows that diversity in skull shape adaptations is closely tied to how these electric fish eat.

"When you look at the skulls of biters, the diversity is astounding compared to suction feeders," study author Rita Mehta said in a statement.

According to the study, the biters are in fact about three times more diverse than suction feeders, and this is to be expected. Eels evolved from suction-feeding ancestors, but biting appeared early in their evolution, and the vast majority of eels today are biters. However, some species of eels re-developed the suction feeding strategy later on, and while the skulls of their biting counterparts continue to change, skull development among these suckers practically came to a grinding halt.

"It's an incredible increase in diversity just from a shift in feeding strategy," Mehta added about biters. "The suction feeders evolve the same traits over and over again, whereas the biters go in a lot of different directions."

So what does this mean? The complexity of a specific feeding strategy may have a lot to do with how easily the associated bones and muscles can adapt.

"All these different parts of the anatomy have to work together to generate suction, so there are only a few ways you can evolve suction feeding," Mehta explained. "Biters have hyoids of all different sizes, short and long skulls, all types of teeth in different places in the mouth cavity - it's a much more variable and flexible feeding strategy."

Interestingly, the researchers found that suction wasn't entirely limiting. Changes in sucker species still occurred at the same rate as in biting eels. However, where and to what extent those changes occurred was predictably more limited, showing evolution simply didn't want to mess with the delicate and complicated process of suction feeding.

Red Meat Contains 'Hidden' Emissions

Though we usually picture the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, or everyday traffic when it comes to the buildup of greenhouse gas emissions, the production of livestock is also a factor. A new study has for the first time estimated the amount of these "hidden" emissions found inside our cows and pigs. (Photo : Pixabay)

When we think of factors that lead to the harmful buildup of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere, usually we picture the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, or just your everyday traffic. Rarely would red meat from livestock be considered, but a new study has for the first time calculated the amount of emissions "hidden" inside our cows and pigs.

Scientists have known for some time that the production of beef, as well as chicken and pork, results in heat-trapping gases like methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), but how much to be exact remained undetermined. According to the study, published in the journal Environmental Research Letters, embodied or "hidden" emissions in these livestock have increased by 19 percent over the past 20 years - though some countries produce more emissions than others.

Russia, for example, was singled out as the biggest importer of embodied emissions in meat over the study period. It consumed more emissions than the country produced, and received the majority of its emissions from Brazil and Argentina.

Researchers behind the study believe the results support the idea of "consumption-based accounting," meaning countries keep track of the amount of emissions they produce as well as consume.

"A developing country, for example, may lack specific infrastructure and therefore emit large amounts of GHGs [greenhouse gases] when producing meat from livestock. These emissions can be increased when demand from more developed countries is placed on this country to produce more meat," lead author Dr. Dario Caro said in a statement.

"At the moment," he added, "all existing policies neglect any emissions embodied in trade, so countries are not accounting for the emissions they may be causing in other countries."

Furthermore, the study highlights that countries and scientists should pay more attention to CH4 and N2O, not just the ever-infamous GHG carbon dioxide (CO2) - especially because they account for nine percent of all anthropogenic GHG emissions.

The research team does note, however, that CO2 is also a by-product of meat production, though CO2 emissions were not included in this study.

Scientists Attempt to Explain Southern Right Whale Die-Offs

In an attempt to explain southern right whale die-offs, scientists behind a new study are using satellite tags to remotely track the massive mammals in Argentina and record their every movement.
(Photo : Flickr: Ross Huggett)

In an attempt to explain southern right whale die-offs, scientists behind a new study are using satellite tags to remotely track the massive mammals in Argentina and record their every movement.

Southern right whales are known to have breeding and calving grounds in the sheltered bays of Península Valdés, Argentina, however the area where they choose to feed remains unknown, supposedly located somewhere in the western South Atlantic. Researchers believe this information could eventually provide clues to the cause of one of the largest great whale die-off ever recorded.

Over the past decade, about 400 whale calves have died for reasons that still remain unclear. Scientists suggest disease, certain pollutants, and wounding by kelp gulls - a common occurrence in Península Valdés - as possible explanations, but they cannot say for sure.

So, in an attempt to get to the bottom of this conundrum, researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), along with a host of other institutions around the world, have been attaching satellite tags to southern right whales over the last month. So far, they have done so successfully on five of these ocean giants, with hopes of attaching more.

By determining where the whales are feeding, researchers hope to find any threats to the whales along their migration route or on their feeding grounds. Additional research may also establish any issues associated with food or nutritional stress causing calf loss by some mothers.

"Satellite telemetry is the best method to understand the long-term movements and behavior of whales. Tagging individuals of different sex and age classes will let us explore potential differences in how they migrate and use their habitats," Sais Alex Zerbini, a whale telemetry expert from NOAA who was involved in the study, said in a statement.

Growing up to 55 feet in length and weighing up to 60 tons, the southern right whale is the most abundant species of the world's three species of right whale. Unlike the North Atlantic and North Pacific right whales - which are both endangered - southern rights have managed to rebound from centuries of hunting by humans. Once on the verge of extinction, their numbers have now grown seven percent annually since 1970. But with these latest mind-boggling die-offs, conservationists worry it may impede their recovery.

"As the tags continue to transmit," added Dr. Howard Rosenbaum of WCS, "we hope our whales lead us to new insights about their lives in the vastness of the South Atlantic and provide possible clues related to the die-off."

Aggressive Male Chimps Get to be Fathers

It seems that female chimps are essentially bullied into mating, as new research shows aggressive males of this species are more likely to father offspring over time.
(Photo : Joseph Feldblum)

It seems that female chimps are essentially bullied into mating, as new research shows aggressive males of this species are more likely to father offspring over time.

According to findings published in the journal Current Biology, paternity tests indicate that this type of sexual coercion is a strategy that males have adapted over the long term, realizing the effectiveness of sheer intimidation.

"These results seem to suggest that males are selected to be aggressive toward females to increase their paternity success, which explains why male-female aggression is observed in so many chimpanzee populations," lead author Joseph Feldblum of Duke University said in a press release.

Male chimpanzees have long been known to exhibit aggressive behavior towards females, but previous research has been contradictory, with studies finding evidence both for and against the presence of sexual coercion in wild chimps.

To settle the debate once and for all, Feldblum and his colleagues observed a chimpanzee community living in Tanzania's Gombe National Park that had been under close observation for the last 50 years. Using this particular population proved to be advantageous for researchers who could thus determine not only which chimps had mated with each other, but also who the biological fathers were of nearly all the individuals born in the community since 1995.

Further analysis showed that male hostility during a female's sexually receptive, or swollen, period led to more frequent mating, but not greater paternity success. So even though these instances created more opportunities to father offspring, the males could not capitalize.

On the other hand, high-ranking males that exhibited violence towards females when they weren't swollen were actually rewarded for their bullying behavior, resulting in more offspring and reproductive success.

Though the results establish that male sexual coercion works to sire more offspring among these primates, it in no way suggests that the same behavior can apply to humans, despite our close evolutionary ties with chimps.