Fish are socially intelligent creatures who do not deserve their reputation as the dim-wits of the animal kingdom, according to a group of leading scientists.
Rather than simply being instinct-driven, the group says fish are cunning, manipulative and even cultured.
The three experts from the universities of Edinburgh, St Andrews and Leeds said there had been huge changes in science's understanding of the psychological and mental abilities of fish in the last few years.
Writing in the journal Fish and Fisheries, biologists Calum Brown, Keven Laland and Jens Krause said fish were now seen as highly intelligent creatures.
They said: "Gone (or at least obsolete) is the image of fish as drudging and dim-witted pea-brains, driven largely by 'instinct',' with what little behavioural flexibility they possess being severely hampered by an infamous 'three-second memory'.
"Now, fish are regarded as steeped in social intelligence, pursuing Machiavellian strategies of manipulation, punishment and reconciliation, exhibiting stable cultural traditions, and co-operating to inspect predators and catch food."
Recent research had shown that fish recognised individual "shoal mates", social prestige and even tracked relationships.
Scientists had also observed them using tools, building complex nests and exhibiting long-term memories.
The scientists added: "Although it may seem extraordinary to those comfortably used to pre-judging animal intelligence on the basis of brain volume, in some cognitive domains, fishes can even be favourably compared to non-human primates."
They said fish were the most ancient of the major vertebrate groups, giving them "ample time" to evolve complex, adaptable and diverse behaviour patterns that rivalled those of other vertebrates.
"These developments warrant a re-appraisal of the behavioural flexibility of fishes, and highlight the need for a deeper understanding of the learning processes that underpin the newly recognised behavioural and social sophistication of this taxon," said the scientists.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
foreign consultant of the Beijing zoo
Carin，the Enrichment Consultant in Beijing Zoo, has been working in the Zoo for four years. Any animal constantly displaying stress behavior in captivity goes to the top of her animal list for having Home Improvements. An otter called Xin Xing meaning the new star became the number one on her hit list.
Carin told us that when she was a little girl, otter was her favorite animal. However, it made her sad to find a solitary otter in a small cage at Beijing Zoo four years ago.
Then, straight away Carin put Xin Xing onto the Enrichment teams’ hit list and started the action. The first step was to line the drain area with small stones. This enables the keeper to hose the small stones covering the concrete without the stones washing into the drain. They then built the sand pit initially with bricks, covered the bricks with concrete and then put small stones into the concrete to keep the natural appearance. The use of root systems of an old tree gave the otter a place to play as well as increasing the naturalization.
At the end of the day when the area was finished Carin and her team members opened the gate and Xin Xing sniffed suspiciously at the door. Then bravely he entered. They all watched as his behavior changed from stereotypic and inactive behavior to a beautiful exhibition of natural exploratory behavior and delight. He explored and dug in his new sand area and finally curled up around his new plants as if he had at last found heaven. Carin says this future enclosure will be greatly improved in terms of environmental, behavioral and social enrichment for the lovely otter.
In fact, Xin Xing is not the only lucky guy that has been put on Carin’s hit list. During her four years working in Beijing Zoo, Carin has seen a lot of changes taking place there.
Carin says, in the West, the public now expect animal welfare to be of a good standard and zoos must show they are working towards conservation.
Carin told us that when she was a little girl, otter was her favorite animal. However, it made her sad to find a solitary otter in a small cage at Beijing Zoo four years ago.
Then, straight away Carin put Xin Xing onto the Enrichment teams’ hit list and started the action. The first step was to line the drain area with small stones. This enables the keeper to hose the small stones covering the concrete without the stones washing into the drain. They then built the sand pit initially with bricks, covered the bricks with concrete and then put small stones into the concrete to keep the natural appearance. The use of root systems of an old tree gave the otter a place to play as well as increasing the naturalization.
At the end of the day when the area was finished Carin and her team members opened the gate and Xin Xing sniffed suspiciously at the door. Then bravely he entered. They all watched as his behavior changed from stereotypic and inactive behavior to a beautiful exhibition of natural exploratory behavior and delight. He explored and dug in his new sand area and finally curled up around his new plants as if he had at last found heaven. Carin says this future enclosure will be greatly improved in terms of environmental, behavioral and social enrichment for the lovely otter.
In fact, Xin Xing is not the only lucky guy that has been put on Carin’s hit list. During her four years working in Beijing Zoo, Carin has seen a lot of changes taking place there.
Carin says, in the West, the public now expect animal welfare to be of a good standard and zoos must show they are working towards conservation.
Secret of homing pigeons revealed: they go by road
The secret of carrier pigeons' uncanny ability to find their way home has been discovered by scientists: the feathered navigators follow the roads just like we do.
Zoologists now believe the phrase "as the crow flies" no longer means the shortest most direct route between two points. They say it is likely that crows and other diurnal birds also choose AA-suggested routes, even though it makes their journeys longer.
Researchers at Oxford University spent 10 years studying homing pigeons using global positioning satellite (GPS) and were stunned to find the birds often don't navigate by taking bearing from the sun.
Instead they fly along motorways, turn at junctions and even go around roundabouts, adding miles to their journeys.
"It really has knocked our research team sideways to find that after a decade-long international study, pigeons appear to ignore their inbuilt directional instincts and follow the road system," said Prof Tim Guilford, reader in animal behaviour at Oxford University's Department of Zoology.
Guilford said pigeons use their own navigational system when doing long-distance trips or when a bird does a journey for the first time.
"But once homing pigeons have flown a journey more than once, they home in on a habitual route home, much as we do when we are driving or walking home from work," said Guilford.
"In short it looks like it is mentally easier for a bird to fly down a road. They are just making their journey as simple as possible."
Zoologists now believe the phrase "as the crow flies" no longer means the shortest most direct route between two points. They say it is likely that crows and other diurnal birds also choose AA-suggested routes, even though it makes their journeys longer.
Researchers at Oxford University spent 10 years studying homing pigeons using global positioning satellite (GPS) and were stunned to find the birds often don't navigate by taking bearing from the sun.
Instead they fly along motorways, turn at junctions and even go around roundabouts, adding miles to their journeys.
"It really has knocked our research team sideways to find that after a decade-long international study, pigeons appear to ignore their inbuilt directional instincts and follow the road system," said Prof Tim Guilford, reader in animal behaviour at Oxford University's Department of Zoology.
Guilford said pigeons use their own navigational system when doing long-distance trips or when a bird does a journey for the first time.
"But once homing pigeons have flown a journey more than once, they home in on a habitual route home, much as we do when we are driving or walking home from work," said Guilford.
"In short it looks like it is mentally easier for a bird to fly down a road. They are just making their journey as simple as possible."
Two new dinosaur species found in Antarctica
Two new species of dinosaur fossils, one a quick-moving meat-eater and the other a giant plant-eater, have been discovered in Antarctica, U.S. researchers said.
The 70 million-year-old fossils of the carnivore would have rested for millenniums at the bottom of an Antarctic sea, while remains of the 100-foot-long herbivore were found on the top of a mountain.
They would have lived in a different Antarctica -- one that was warm and wet, the two teams of researchers said.
The little carnivore -- about 6 feet tall -- was found on James Ross Island, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Not yet named, the animal probably floated out to sea after it died and settled to the bottom of what was then a shallow area of the Weddell Sea, said Judd Case of St. Mary's College of California.
Its bones and teeth suggest it may represent a population of two-legged carnivores that survived in the Antarctic long after other predators took over elsewhere on the globe.
"For whatever reason, they were still hanging out on the Antarctic continent," Case said in a statement.
A second team led by William Hammer of Augustana College in Rock Island found the 200 million-year-old plant-eater's fossils on a mountaintop 13,000 feet high near the Beardmore Glacier.
Hammer and colleagues were scouring the area for fossils after having found other new species there in the 1990s.
The animal would have been a primitive sauropod -- a long-necked, four-legged grazer similar to the better known brachiosaurs.
The 70 million-year-old fossils of the carnivore would have rested for millenniums at the bottom of an Antarctic sea, while remains of the 100-foot-long herbivore were found on the top of a mountain.
They would have lived in a different Antarctica -- one that was warm and wet, the two teams of researchers said.
The little carnivore -- about 6 feet tall -- was found on James Ross Island, off the coast of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Not yet named, the animal probably floated out to sea after it died and settled to the bottom of what was then a shallow area of the Weddell Sea, said Judd Case of St. Mary's College of California.
Its bones and teeth suggest it may represent a population of two-legged carnivores that survived in the Antarctic long after other predators took over elsewhere on the globe.
"For whatever reason, they were still hanging out on the Antarctic continent," Case said in a statement.
A second team led by William Hammer of Augustana College in Rock Island found the 200 million-year-old plant-eater's fossils on a mountaintop 13,000 feet high near the Beardmore Glacier.
Hammer and colleagues were scouring the area for fossils after having found other new species there in the 1990s.
The animal would have been a primitive sauropod -- a long-necked, four-legged grazer similar to the better known brachiosaurs.
NZ's famous sheep gets TV haircut
A renegade New Zealand sheep that managed to evade the shearers for six years has finally had a haircut.Shrek, the Merino sheep, was shorn live on national television by top shearers David Fagan and Peter Casserley.
The 10-year-old sheep had managed to roam freely on New Zealand's South Island for more than six years before being finally rounded up.
Shrek's giant fleece - possibly the largest ever - is to be auctioned off for children's medical charities.
Shrek went under the shearer's blade during a live half-hour news programme on TV New Zealand.
Correspondents said the contrast between the gigantic woolly mammal that entered the studio and the much leaner version that left could not have been greater.
Bendigo hill station owner John Perriam told reporters that Shrek had managed to evade capture for six years by hiding in a cave.
"We didn't know he was there," he said, adding that when he was finally spotted they did not immediately recognise him as a sheep.
"He looked like some biblical creature."
Mr Perriam said Shrek was shorn with scissors to ensure a thin layer of wool was left in place to protect him from the oncoming winter.
The 27kg fleece - enough to make 20 large men's suits - is to be auctioned off over the internet.
It is unclear what the future now holds for Shrek himself. He is too old to be sold for mutton, but a new career in marketing may now lie ahead - promoting New Zealand's lucrative trade in wool.
Smart border collie basks in limelight
border collie that scientists say may be proof that dogs truly understand human language laps up media attention, but lets his owners do the talking.
Rico, the German dog who outshone all human competitors in a popular TV talent show, remembers the names of more than 200 objects and can figure out which item his master wants -- even if he has never heard the word before.
German researchers who have studied Rico for several years say he shows a skill, normal in young children, to form a rough meaning of a new word.
As they enthused at a news conference about him and the significance of his mental skills, he lay uninterested and nearly motionless under a table -- until a toy crocodile appeared.
Then he barked, awaited instructions and shook the relevant toy to photographers and reporters lying obediently at his feet.
"He just loves the cameras. He only has to hear a shutter opening to react," said Witold Krzeslowski, husband of Rico's owner Susanne Baus.
Rico developed his skills while laid low for nearly a year after a shoulder operation, with Baus trying to engage his mind and let his body rest.
"I discovered this talent and told my husband, who thought I was mad. At the start it was three to four objects, but it's risen to 200 or 250," she said. "I don't know what the limit might be, but we've now run out of space."
Rico won the German "Wetten Dass" (Wanna Bet?) TV program for weird talents five years ago and went on to be voted the best performer in the show's first 20 years.
But would-be collie owners be warned, Krzeslowski said.
"It can be hard to come home and get on with work. You first have to play 'fetch' with 20 objects. The only thing he accepts is when you are in bed. But he also gets up early in the morning."
Rico, the German dog who outshone all human competitors in a popular TV talent show, remembers the names of more than 200 objects and can figure out which item his master wants -- even if he has never heard the word before.
German researchers who have studied Rico for several years say he shows a skill, normal in young children, to form a rough meaning of a new word.
As they enthused at a news conference about him and the significance of his mental skills, he lay uninterested and nearly motionless under a table -- until a toy crocodile appeared.
Then he barked, awaited instructions and shook the relevant toy to photographers and reporters lying obediently at his feet.
"He just loves the cameras. He only has to hear a shutter opening to react," said Witold Krzeslowski, husband of Rico's owner Susanne Baus.
Rico developed his skills while laid low for nearly a year after a shoulder operation, with Baus trying to engage his mind and let his body rest.
"I discovered this talent and told my husband, who thought I was mad. At the start it was three to four objects, but it's risen to 200 or 250," she said. "I don't know what the limit might be, but we've now run out of space."
Rico won the German "Wetten Dass" (Wanna Bet?) TV program for weird talents five years ago and went on to be voted the best performer in the show's first 20 years.
But would-be collie owners be warned, Krzeslowski said.
"It can be hard to come home and get on with work. You first have to play 'fetch' with 20 objects. The only thing he accepts is when you are in bed. But he also gets up early in the morning."
Australia's koalas face extinction, foundation says
Koalas, an iconic symbol of Australia, face extinction as rapid urbanization along the eastern seaboard destroys their fragile habitat, environmental activists have warned.
The Australian Koala Foundation has written to the government urging it to declare the koala a vulnerable species after a survey of 1,000 koala habitats found 30 percent no longer had a koala in them and 60 percent had suffered widespread destruction.
"I truly believe that in my lifetime the koala will become extinct unless we do something," Deborah Tabarat, executive director of the foundation, told reporters.
Koalas are protected by law but the eucalyptus trees they call home and which provide their only source of food are not.
There are about 100,000 koalas in Australia, down from an estimated 7 million to 10 million at the time of white settlement in 1788. In the 1920s 3 million koalas were shot for their fur.
Tabarat said the major problem facing koalas was that the majority of Australia's 20 million people and the majority of the koala population both call Australia's eastern states home.
She said that with 80 percent of Australia's east coast temperate forests destroyed and continued rapid urbanization, koalas along the eastern seaboard could be extinct in 15 years.
"This animal is in serious trouble," said Tabarat.
"In 15 years you will not see a koala west of the divide," she said, referring to the Great Australian Divide, mountains that divide east coast Australia from its rural outback.
Wild koalas only exist in four of Australia's six states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
The marsupial has no natural predator but has been in decline for decades due to urban sprawl and from car accidents and dog attacks.
More than 4,000 koalas are killed each year by dogs and cars, said the foundation on its Web site.
The most robust koala population on the Australian mainland exists in southeast Queensland and numbers about 10,000, but it too faces extinction in 15 years, said Tabarat.
Southeast Queensland is experiencing the most rapid population growth of any part of Australia. Over the past eight years 16,000 koalas in the area arrived dead or fatally injured in hospitals after accidents with cars or dog attacks and another 10,000 injured koalas probably died in the bush, said Tabarat.
The Australian Koala Foundation has written to the government urging it to declare the koala a vulnerable species after a survey of 1,000 koala habitats found 30 percent no longer had a koala in them and 60 percent had suffered widespread destruction.
"I truly believe that in my lifetime the koala will become extinct unless we do something," Deborah Tabarat, executive director of the foundation, told reporters.
Koalas are protected by law but the eucalyptus trees they call home and which provide their only source of food are not.
There are about 100,000 koalas in Australia, down from an estimated 7 million to 10 million at the time of white settlement in 1788. In the 1920s 3 million koalas were shot for their fur.
Tabarat said the major problem facing koalas was that the majority of Australia's 20 million people and the majority of the koala population both call Australia's eastern states home.
She said that with 80 percent of Australia's east coast temperate forests destroyed and continued rapid urbanization, koalas along the eastern seaboard could be extinct in 15 years.
"This animal is in serious trouble," said Tabarat.
"In 15 years you will not see a koala west of the divide," she said, referring to the Great Australian Divide, mountains that divide east coast Australia from its rural outback.
Wild koalas only exist in four of Australia's six states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
The marsupial has no natural predator but has been in decline for decades due to urban sprawl and from car accidents and dog attacks.
More than 4,000 koalas are killed each year by dogs and cars, said the foundation on its Web site.
The most robust koala population on the Australian mainland exists in southeast Queensland and numbers about 10,000, but it too faces extinction in 15 years, said Tabarat.
Southeast Queensland is experiencing the most rapid population growth of any part of Australia. Over the past eight years 16,000 koalas in the area arrived dead or fatally injured in hospitals after accidents with cars or dog attacks and another 10,000 injured koalas probably died in the bush, said Tabarat.
Lucky monkeys given fruit feast
A monkey enjoys a drink and fruits and vegetables during the annual Monkey festival in Thailand.The festival has been hosted since 1989 by a local businessman who believes the monkeys were behind his family's good fortune.A total of 2,000 kilograms of fruits were offered to the monkeys roaming the area.
Set in 3000 favor of a pet
The latest statistics show more than 70 percent of all U.S. households now have pets. They are part of the family and with summer vacations approaching, perhaps they are in line for a little extra attention and pampering.
For example, dog campers at Totally Dog Daycamp and Training for Dogs are given the run of five acres, including a bone-shaped pool where dogs can swim or be taken out for a paddle. Each morning, dogs can be seen making their way to the early-morning pickup at their houses in Pinecrest, Florida, to take them to the dog camp in Redland, which is owned by Elena Lopez de Mesa.
Also in Florida, at the Tail End Pet Resort and Spa in Davie, feline visitors can snag a cozy perch in a poster bed. And at Plantation, Florida’s Three Dog Bakery, dogs can dig into birthday cakes and other treats, proving that many families “baby” their pets and treat them just like one of the kids
For example, dog campers at Totally Dog Daycamp and Training for Dogs are given the run of five acres, including a bone-shaped pool where dogs can swim or be taken out for a paddle. Each morning, dogs can be seen making their way to the early-morning pickup at their houses in Pinecrest, Florida, to take them to the dog camp in Redland, which is owned by Elena Lopez de Mesa.
Also in Florida, at the Tail End Pet Resort and Spa in Davie, feline visitors can snag a cozy perch in a poster bed. And at Plantation, Florida’s Three Dog Bakery, dogs can dig into birthday cakes and other treats, proving that many families “baby” their pets and treat them just like one of the kids
Famed New York Hawk to Regain His Perch
A celebrated red-tailed hawk evicted last week from his upscale New York digs can move back to the ritzy apartment building where his nest was perched following an agreement on safety arrangements, building management said on Tuesday night.
Pale Male's nest was abruptly removed from its Upper East Side site last week after complaints from building residents about falling debris, including gnarled remains of pigeons.
The removal sparked noisy protests from fans who had watched the hawk and his mates raise more than 20 chicks in the spot overlooking Central Park since 1993.
Late on Tuesday, New York City Audubon Society and the building's board said they had agreed to restore the metal spikes supporting the hawk's nest and erect a guardrail around its 12th-floor roost to safeguard residents and passersby.
An architectural firm was retained to consult on design and construction.
National Audubon Society President John Flicker said the arrangements would "help create a secure and stable environment that should enable the birds to return to their home of more than a decade."
Building resident and hawk supporter Mary Tyler Moore said she expected that the spikes would be put up on Wednesday.
"I'm hopeful that the birds will be peaceful enough to make another nest," the actress said, standing outside her apartment.
On Monday, bird lovers met with managers of the exclusive building to ask them to restore the nest and the metal spikes that supported it. The building's architect had examined how the nest could be rebuilt in a way that would satisfy bird lovers and eliminate the possibility of falling debris.
Pale Male's unusual decision to take up residence in Manhattan and raise his young 12 stories above the park has captivated bird watchers for the past decade and inspired a book and documentary film. Pale Male even has his own Web site, www.palemale.com.
Moore said the real reason the nest was removed was because residents didn't like the bird droppings or occasional pigeon carcass that would fall to the ground.
Bird lovers had urged the nest be reconstructed in its original spot as soon as possible to avoid interrupting Pale Male's mating ritual. The hawk and his current mate, Lola, have tried to rebuild, but without the metal spikes to support it, the twigs they have gathered would likely blow away.
Pale Male's nest was abruptly removed from its Upper East Side site last week after complaints from building residents about falling debris, including gnarled remains of pigeons.
The removal sparked noisy protests from fans who had watched the hawk and his mates raise more than 20 chicks in the spot overlooking Central Park since 1993.
Late on Tuesday, New York City Audubon Society and the building's board said they had agreed to restore the metal spikes supporting the hawk's nest and erect a guardrail around its 12th-floor roost to safeguard residents and passersby.
An architectural firm was retained to consult on design and construction.
National Audubon Society President John Flicker said the arrangements would "help create a secure and stable environment that should enable the birds to return to their home of more than a decade."
Building resident and hawk supporter Mary Tyler Moore said she expected that the spikes would be put up on Wednesday.
"I'm hopeful that the birds will be peaceful enough to make another nest," the actress said, standing outside her apartment.
On Monday, bird lovers met with managers of the exclusive building to ask them to restore the nest and the metal spikes that supported it. The building's architect had examined how the nest could be rebuilt in a way that would satisfy bird lovers and eliminate the possibility of falling debris.
Pale Male's unusual decision to take up residence in Manhattan and raise his young 12 stories above the park has captivated bird watchers for the past decade and inspired a book and documentary film. Pale Male even has his own Web site, www.palemale.com.
Moore said the real reason the nest was removed was because residents didn't like the bird droppings or occasional pigeon carcass that would fall to the ground.
Bird lovers had urged the nest be reconstructed in its original spot as soon as possible to avoid interrupting Pale Male's mating ritual. The hawk and his current mate, Lola, have tried to rebuild, but without the metal spikes to support it, the twigs they have gathered would likely blow away.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Did animals' 'sixth sense' save them from tsunami?
Wild animals seem to have escaped the Indian Ocean tsunami, adding weight to notions they possess a "sixth sense" for disasters, experts said on Thursday.
Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.
"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department, said on Wednesday.
The waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. "There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven," said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behaviour specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.
"There have been no specific studies because you can't really test it in a lab or field setting," he said.
Other authorities concurred with this assessment.
"Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon, especially birds. There are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters," said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.
Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.
The notion of an animal "sixth sense" -- or some other mythical power -- is an enduring one which the evidence on Sri Lanka's battered coast is likely to add to.
The Romans saw owls as omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes.
The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Sunday. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa.
Sri Lankan wildlife officials have said the giant waves that killed over 24,000 people along the Indian Ocean island's coast seemingly missed wild beasts, with no dead animals found.
"No elephants are dead, not even a dead hare or rabbit. I think animals can sense disaster. They have a sixth sense. They know when things are happening," H.D. Ratnayake, deputy director of Sri Lanka's Wildlife Department, said on Wednesday.
The waves washed floodwaters up to 3 km (2 miles) inland at Yala National Park in the ravaged southeast, Sri Lanka's biggest wildlife reserve and home to hundreds of wild elephants and several leopards. "There has been a lot of anecdotal evidence about dogs barking or birds migrating before volcanic eruptions or earthquakes. But it has not been proven," said Matthew van Lierop, an animal behaviour specialist at Johannesburg Zoo.
"There have been no specific studies because you can't really test it in a lab or field setting," he said.
Other authorities concurred with this assessment.
"Wildlife seem to be able to pick up certain phenomenon, especially birds. There are many reports of birds detecting impending disasters," said Clive Walker, who has written several books on African wildlife.
Animals certainly rely on the known senses such as smell or hearing to avoid danger such as predators.
The notion of an animal "sixth sense" -- or some other mythical power -- is an enduring one which the evidence on Sri Lanka's battered coast is likely to add to.
The Romans saw owls as omens of impending disaster and many ancient cultures viewed elephants as sacred animals endowed with special powers or attributes.
The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean on Sunday. It killed tens of thousands of people in Asia and East Africa.
Rats Can Tell Human Languages Apart, Study Shows
Rats can use the rhythm of human language to tell the difference between Dutch and Japanese, researchers in Spain reported Sunday.
Their study suggests that animals, especially mammals, evolved some of the skills underlying the use and development of language long before language itself ever evolved, the researchers said.
It is the first time an animal other than a human or monkey has been shown to have this skill.
For their study neuroscientists Juan Toro and colleagues at Barcelona's Scientific Park tested 64 adult male rats.
They used Dutch and Japanese because these languages were used in earlier, similar tests, and because they are very different from one another in use of words, rhythm and structure.
The rats were trained to respond to either Dutch or Japanese using food as a reward.
Then they were separated into four groups -- one that heard each language spoken by a native, one that heard synthesized speech, one that heard sentences read in either language by different speakers and a fourth that heard the languages played backwards.
Rats rewarded for responding to Japanese did not respond to Dutch and rats trained to recognize Dutch did not respond the spoken Japanese.
The rats could not tell apart Japanese or Dutch played backwards.
"Results showed that rats could discriminate natural sentences when uttered by a single speaker and not when uttered by different ones, nor could they distinguish the languages when spoken by different people," the researchers wrote.
Human newborns have the same problem, although tamarins can easily tell languages apart even when spoken by different people, the researchers said.
The study shows "which abilities that humans use for language are shared with other animals, and which are uniquely human. It also suggests what sort of evolutionary precursors language might have.
Their study suggests that animals, especially mammals, evolved some of the skills underlying the use and development of language long before language itself ever evolved, the researchers said.
It is the first time an animal other than a human or monkey has been shown to have this skill.
For their study neuroscientists Juan Toro and colleagues at Barcelona's Scientific Park tested 64 adult male rats.
They used Dutch and Japanese because these languages were used in earlier, similar tests, and because they are very different from one another in use of words, rhythm and structure.
The rats were trained to respond to either Dutch or Japanese using food as a reward.
Then they were separated into four groups -- one that heard each language spoken by a native, one that heard synthesized speech, one that heard sentences read in either language by different speakers and a fourth that heard the languages played backwards.
Rats rewarded for responding to Japanese did not respond to Dutch and rats trained to recognize Dutch did not respond the spoken Japanese.
The rats could not tell apart Japanese or Dutch played backwards.
"Results showed that rats could discriminate natural sentences when uttered by a single speaker and not when uttered by different ones, nor could they distinguish the languages when spoken by different people," the researchers wrote.
Human newborns have the same problem, although tamarins can easily tell languages apart even when spoken by different people, the researchers said.
The study shows "which abilities that humans use for language are shared with other animals, and which are uniquely human. It also suggests what sort of evolutionary precursors language might have.
Record warm winter stirs sleepy Estonian bears
Estonia's warmest winter for two centuries has woken some of its 600 bears several months early from hibernation, wildlife experts said on Friday.
The bears' early reappearance has raised concerns for the survival of this year's cubs.
"It has been very warm and wet and many flooded rivers have forced bears out of their dens and out of hibernation," said Kalev Manniste, a senior official at the Baltic country's State Forest Service.
"Just a few days ago a hunter was telling me that he saw a she-bear with a very small cub walking across the field," he told reporters.
"The cub the hunter saw looked too small to survive the winter."
She-bears normally give birth to tiny walnut-sized cubs during their winter hibernation and suckle them for months as they grow, before the spring thaw awakens the mother and she leaves her den.
Local media and hunters writing on Internet sites say that across the country bears are moving about the forests at a time when they normally sleep and would not be seen for another two to three months.
Temperatures have stayed above freezing, compared with the average temperature of 23 degrees for January.
Neighboring Russia's normally ferocious winter has also been mild. Interfax news agency reported this week that a bear in a zoo awoke from hibernation two months early, while another did not go to sleep at all.
The bears' early reappearance has raised concerns for the survival of this year's cubs.
"It has been very warm and wet and many flooded rivers have forced bears out of their dens and out of hibernation," said Kalev Manniste, a senior official at the Baltic country's State Forest Service.
"Just a few days ago a hunter was telling me that he saw a she-bear with a very small cub walking across the field," he told reporters.
"The cub the hunter saw looked too small to survive the winter."
She-bears normally give birth to tiny walnut-sized cubs during their winter hibernation and suckle them for months as they grow, before the spring thaw awakens the mother and she leaves her den.
Local media and hunters writing on Internet sites say that across the country bears are moving about the forests at a time when they normally sleep and would not be seen for another two to three months.
Temperatures have stayed above freezing, compared with the average temperature of 23 degrees for January.
Neighboring Russia's normally ferocious winter has also been mild. Interfax news agency reported this week that a bear in a zoo awoke from hibernation two months early, while another did not go to sleep at all.
Animals Laughed Long Before Humans, Study Says
As the human brain evolved, humans were able to laugh before they could speak, according to a new study.
But here's the punch line: Laughter and joy are not unique to humans, the study says. Ancestral forms of play and laughter existed in other animals long before humans began cracking up.
"Human laughter has robust roots in our animalian past," said Jaak Panksepp, a professor of psychobiology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Panksepp has studied rats and found that when they "play," they often chirp—a primitive form of laughter, according to the scientist. In an article to be published tomorrow in the journal Science, he makes the argument that animal laughter is the basis for human joy.
In studying laughter, scientists have focused mostly on related issues—humor, personality, health benefits, social theory—rather than laughter itself.
New research, however, shows that "circuits" for laughter exist in very ancient regions of the human brain.
As humans have incorporated language into play, we may have developed new connections to joyous parts of our brains that evolved before the cerebral cortex, the outer layer associated with thought and memory.
Researchers say that the capacity to laugh emerges early in child development, as anyone who has tickled a baby knows.
There is ample evidence that many other mammals make play sounds, including tickle-induced panting, which resembles human laughter. Indeed, animals are capable of many emotional feelings, just like humans, some scientists say.
"The recognition by neuroscientists that the brain mechanisms underlying pain, pleasure, fear, and lust are the same in humans and other mammals underscores our similarity to other species and is extremely important," said Tecumseh Fitch, a psychology lecturer at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
In a 2003 study Panksepp and Bowling Green State University neurobiologist Jeff Burgdorf demonstrated that if rats are tickled in a playful way, they readily chirp. Rats that were tickled bonded with the researchers and became rapidly conditioned to seek tickles.
Understanding the chirping of the rats may help scientists better understand human laughter.
Robert Provine, a psychology professor at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, agrees there is an evolutionary continuity of laughter. Its origin is in tickling and rough-and-tumble play, he says.
Provine, the author of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, and other scientists have studied chimpanzees and found a link between their laughter-like noises and human laughter.
"Laughter is literally the sound of play, with the primal 'pant-pant'—the labored breathing of physical play—becoming the human 'ha-ha,'" Provine said.
By studying the transition between the panting of chimps and the human ha-ha, scientists discovered that breath control is the key to the emergence of both human laughter and speech.
But here's the punch line: Laughter and joy are not unique to humans, the study says. Ancestral forms of play and laughter existed in other animals long before humans began cracking up.
"Human laughter has robust roots in our animalian past," said Jaak Panksepp, a professor of psychobiology at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Panksepp has studied rats and found that when they "play," they often chirp—a primitive form of laughter, according to the scientist. In an article to be published tomorrow in the journal Science, he makes the argument that animal laughter is the basis for human joy.
In studying laughter, scientists have focused mostly on related issues—humor, personality, health benefits, social theory—rather than laughter itself.
New research, however, shows that "circuits" for laughter exist in very ancient regions of the human brain.
As humans have incorporated language into play, we may have developed new connections to joyous parts of our brains that evolved before the cerebral cortex, the outer layer associated with thought and memory.
Researchers say that the capacity to laugh emerges early in child development, as anyone who has tickled a baby knows.
There is ample evidence that many other mammals make play sounds, including tickle-induced panting, which resembles human laughter. Indeed, animals are capable of many emotional feelings, just like humans, some scientists say.
"The recognition by neuroscientists that the brain mechanisms underlying pain, pleasure, fear, and lust are the same in humans and other mammals underscores our similarity to other species and is extremely important," said Tecumseh Fitch, a psychology lecturer at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
In a 2003 study Panksepp and Bowling Green State University neurobiologist Jeff Burgdorf demonstrated that if rats are tickled in a playful way, they readily chirp. Rats that were tickled bonded with the researchers and became rapidly conditioned to seek tickles.
Understanding the chirping of the rats may help scientists better understand human laughter.
Robert Provine, a psychology professor at the University of Maryland in Baltimore, agrees there is an evolutionary continuity of laughter. Its origin is in tickling and rough-and-tumble play, he says.
Provine, the author of Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, and other scientists have studied chimpanzees and found a link between their laughter-like noises and human laughter.
"Laughter is literally the sound of play, with the primal 'pant-pant'—the labored breathing of physical play—becoming the human 'ha-ha,'" Provine said.
By studying the transition between the panting of chimps and the human ha-ha, scientists discovered that breath control is the key to the emergence of both human laughter and speech.
Don't Eat That Fish
New findings suggest that fish might be too smart to be eaten.Dr. Sylvia Earle wants you to stop eating fish. It’s not because fish are endangered, though wild fish stocks in many oceans are very low. It’s not because they’re bad for you, though fish in many areas are exposed to poisonous substances in the water. It’s because they’re smart.
“Fish are sensitive, they have personalities,” says the marine biologist. For Earle, eating a fish would be like eating a dog or a cat. “I would never eat anyone I know personally.”
There’s a lot more to fish than meets the eye: they talk to each other, they like to be touched, and they engage in behavior that can seem very human. They can remember things and learn from experience. Earle and a growing number of animal rights activists see these as strong arguments against eating fish altogether.
The activists also point out that fish feel pain and fish suffer horribly on their way from the sea to the supermarket. “While it may seem obvious that fish are able to feel pain, like every other animal, some people think of fish as swimming vegetables,” says Dr. Lynne Sneddon. “Really, it’s kind of a moral question. Is the enjoyment you get from fishing (or eating fish) more important than the pain of the fish?”
Fishermen and (fried) fish lovers are skeptical. “I’ve never seen a smart fish,” says Marie Swaringen as she finishes off a plate of fish at a Seattle seafood restaurant. “If they were very smart, they wouldn’t get caught.”
“For years, everyone’s been telling us to eat fish because it’s so good for us,” says another diner. “Now I’ve got to feel guilty while I’m eating my fish? What are they going to think of next? Don’t eat salad because cucumbers have feelings?”
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Butterfly wings are light-emitting diodes
Butterfly wings are light-emitting diodes
African Swallowtail Butterfly wings squamous-optical microscopy images Science was way behind nature in developing LED light technology, a new study finds.
The beautifully colored wings of African swallowtail butterflies manipulate light using engineering tricks similar to those found in digital displays. The butterflies have black wings with bright patches of green and blue, which they use to communicate across long distances. Microscopic scales covering the wings absorb ultraviolet light and then re-emit it.
The re-emitted light interacts with fluorescent pigments found on the butterflies’ wings to produce the vibrant green-blue color.
Like LEDs
Researchers investigating how the scales work found that they have many similarities to digital devices known as light emitting diodes, also known as LEDs, which are found in everything from computer and television screens to traffic lights.
The first LEDs invented in the late 1960s weren’t very bright. They produced a lot of light but most of it tended to either become trapped inside the device or to spread sideways and become diluted.
In the early 1990s, engineers came up with ways to get around these problems. They outfitted LEDs with tiny mirrors that could reflect and channel the light and made microscopic holes in them to help the light escape.
Behind the butterflies
While studying the wings of swallowtail butterflies, researchers discovered that there were a lot of similarities between the scale coverings and LEDs.
The scales that cover the butterflies’ wings contain tiny structures called “photonic crystals,” which act very much like the microholes found in LEDs.
“[The scales] prevent the fluorescent light from being trapped inside the scales and from being emitted sideways,” said Pete Vukusic of Exeter University, a researcher in the study.
The scales on the wing also have a specialized mirror underneath them, which act very much like the tiny mirrors found in LEDs.
The mirror reflects all the scattered fluorescent light it receives upward, giving the butterflies control over the direction in which in the light is emitted.
The study was reported in the Nov. 18 issue of the journal Science.
The beautifully colored wings of African swallowtail butterflies manipulate light using engineering tricks similar to those found in digital displays. The butterflies have black wings with bright patches of green and blue, which they use to communicate across long distances. Microscopic scales covering the wings absorb ultraviolet light and then re-emit it.
The re-emitted light interacts with fluorescent pigments found on the butterflies’ wings to produce the vibrant green-blue color.
Like LEDs
Researchers investigating how the scales work found that they have many similarities to digital devices known as light emitting diodes, also known as LEDs, which are found in everything from computer and television screens to traffic lights.
The first LEDs invented in the late 1960s weren’t very bright. They produced a lot of light but most of it tended to either become trapped inside the device or to spread sideways and become diluted.
In the early 1990s, engineers came up with ways to get around these problems. They outfitted LEDs with tiny mirrors that could reflect and channel the light and made microscopic holes in them to help the light escape.
Behind the butterflies
While studying the wings of swallowtail butterflies, researchers discovered that there were a lot of similarities between the scale coverings and LEDs.
The scales that cover the butterflies’ wings contain tiny structures called “photonic crystals,” which act very much like the microholes found in LEDs.
“[The scales] prevent the fluorescent light from being trapped inside the scales and from being emitted sideways,” said Pete Vukusic of Exeter University, a researcher in the study.
The scales on the wing also have a specialized mirror underneath them, which act very much like the tiny mirrors found in LEDs.
The mirror reflects all the scattered fluorescent light it receives upward, giving the butterflies control over the direction in which in the light is emitted.
The study was reported in the Nov. 18 issue of the journal Science.
Arctic Ocean Depths Teeming with Life
The remotest depths of the Arctic ocean are surprisingly full of life, including previously unknown species of jellyfish and worms, a scientific team which just finished exploring the area said on Friday.
The scientists, led by the University of Alaska, used robot submarines and sonar to probe an isolated 12,470-foot (3,800-meter) basin off Canada's Arctic coast where they fear species could be at risk from global warming.
"We were surprised by the abundance and the diversity of life in this environment. Even at a depth of 3,000 meters we found animals on the sea floor, we found sea cucumbers ... and all kinds of jellyfish and crustaceans," said Rolf Gradinger of the University of Alaska, the chief scientist on the voyage.
"Some of the species that we saw are completely new to science, they have not been described in any area of the earth so far," he told reporters on a conference call. The species are a jellyfish and three kinds of benthic bristle worms.
The team also found unexpectedly high numbers of cod as well as the first squid, octopus and flea-like crustaceans ever seen in an icy environment.
Scientists from the United States, Canada, Russia and China spent 30 days on the U.S. icebreaker Healy as part of a $1 billion, 10-year global Census of Marine Life funded by governments, companies and private donors.
The Healy returned on Tuesday with thousands of specimens from the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and the Canada Basin, a vast bowl walled by steep ridges and covered with ice.
The team said the data would help measure the impact of climate change and, should polar caps continue receding, the damage done by increased energy exploitation, fishing and shipping.
"This is a benchmark and we hope that in the next 10, 20 or 30 years these kinds of studies will be repeated to see whether any kinds of changes have occurred in the composition and the abundance of animal life," said Gradinger.
The scientists, led by the University of Alaska, used robot submarines and sonar to probe an isolated 12,470-foot (3,800-meter) basin off Canada's Arctic coast where they fear species could be at risk from global warming.
"We were surprised by the abundance and the diversity of life in this environment. Even at a depth of 3,000 meters we found animals on the sea floor, we found sea cucumbers ... and all kinds of jellyfish and crustaceans," said Rolf Gradinger of the University of Alaska, the chief scientist on the voyage.
"Some of the species that we saw are completely new to science, they have not been described in any area of the earth so far," he told reporters on a conference call. The species are a jellyfish and three kinds of benthic bristle worms.
The team also found unexpectedly high numbers of cod as well as the first squid, octopus and flea-like crustaceans ever seen in an icy environment.
Scientists from the United States, Canada, Russia and China spent 30 days on the U.S. icebreaker Healy as part of a $1 billion, 10-year global Census of Marine Life funded by governments, companies and private donors.
The Healy returned on Tuesday with thousands of specimens from the Chukchi and Beaufort Seas and the Canada Basin, a vast bowl walled by steep ridges and covered with ice.
The team said the data would help measure the impact of climate change and, should polar caps continue receding, the damage done by increased energy exploitation, fishing and shipping.
"This is a benchmark and we hope that in the next 10, 20 or 30 years these kinds of studies will be repeated to see whether any kinds of changes have occurred in the composition and the abundance of animal life," said Gradinger.
Australian Surfer Fights off Shark
An Australian surfer fought off a shark with his hands on Sunday, the second attack in Australian waters in two days.
Josh Berris, 26, was surfing with friends off a remote beach on Kangaroo Island in South Australia when he was attacked by what ambulance officials said was a great white shark measuring up to 16 feet (5 metres).
Berris pushed the shark away with his hands before his friends quickly dragged him onto rocks and began first aid. He was later taken to hospital with cuts to both legs.
Emergency officials praised the quick thinking of Berris's friends in preventing what could have been a fatal attack.
On Friday, a 44-year-old man in Western Australia survived after repeatedly punching a small shark that attacked him while he was surfing off a popular Perth beach.
Josh Berris, 26, was surfing with friends off a remote beach on Kangaroo Island in South Australia when he was attacked by what ambulance officials said was a great white shark measuring up to 16 feet (5 metres).
Berris pushed the shark away with his hands before his friends quickly dragged him onto rocks and began first aid. He was later taken to hospital with cuts to both legs.
Emergency officials praised the quick thinking of Berris's friends in preventing what could have been a fatal attack.
On Friday, a 44-year-old man in Western Australia survived after repeatedly punching a small shark that attacked him while he was surfing off a popular Perth beach.
Danish Santa Paid for Reindeer's Death
The Danish Air Force said Thursday it paid about $5,000 in compensation to a part-time Santa Claus whose reindeer died of heart failure when two fighter jets roared over his farm.
The animal, named Rudolf, was grazing at the farm of Olavi Nikkanoff in central Denmark when the screaming F-16 jets passed overhead at low altitude in February.
The reindeer collapsed and died, leaving Nikkanoff with the prospect of only one animal pulling his sleigh next Christmas.
He complained to the air force, which agreed to compensate him for the cost of the reindeer and veterinary expenses.
"We got a letter from Santa complaining about his reindeer's death and looked into it seriously," air force spokesman Capt. Morten Jensen said. The air force checked flight data and veterinary reports and concluded the planes had caused the animal's death.
Nikkanoff said he would use the money to buy a new reindeer before Christmas.
The animal, named Rudolf, was grazing at the farm of Olavi Nikkanoff in central Denmark when the screaming F-16 jets passed overhead at low altitude in February.
The reindeer collapsed and died, leaving Nikkanoff with the prospect of only one animal pulling his sleigh next Christmas.
He complained to the air force, which agreed to compensate him for the cost of the reindeer and veterinary expenses.
"We got a letter from Santa complaining about his reindeer's death and looked into it seriously," air force spokesman Capt. Morten Jensen said. The air force checked flight data and veterinary reports and concluded the planes had caused the animal's death.
Nikkanoff said he would use the money to buy a new reindeer before Christmas.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Teacher Ants Show Students the Way to Food
Ants have a myriad of complex social behaviors despite possessing only teeny brains. Now new research suggests that teaching should be added to the list of ant accomplishments.Nigel Franks and Tom Richardson of the University of Bristol in England studied so-called tandem running in Temnothorax albipennis ants, during which two ants run a course between nest and food with various stops and starts en route. The researchers found that the lead ant who knows the way to the food slows down as the follower familiarizes itself with the route and will not proceed until the follower taps it on the back. The two also maintain a variable but matching speed and distance over time.
"This behavior is beautifully simple," Richardson says. "If one experimentally removes the follower and taps the leader with a hair at a rate of two times per second or more, the leader will continue."
Biologists have a definition of a teacher in the world of animals: any individual who sacrifices some potential gain in order to educate a naïve counterpart. In a report published today in Nature Franks and Richardson argue that true teaching also requires feedback between the teacher and the student. The ant duos qualify on both counts. "The teacher provides information or guidance to the pupil at a rate suited to the pupil's abilities and the pupil signals to the teacher when parts of the 'lesson' have been assimilated and that the lesson may continue," Franks notes. "True teaching always involves feedback in both directions."
In the case of the ants, the teachers sacrificed their own speed, as evidenced by the observation that they reached the food source four times more quickly on their own than when they had a student in tow. But the students found food more than a minute faster with the help of teaching and then often themselves became teachers for other ants. Sometimes, however, knowledge of a food source needs to be communicated faster than one-on-one training can accomplish. In those situations, large ant groups often broadcast such information through pheromone trails or other means. But tandem running proves that teaching may develop even in organisms that lack large brains, providing help for pupils with the tiniest of intellects. --David Biello
Germany's gay zoo penguins still fending off female advances
Six gay penguins at a German zoo are still refusing to mate with females of the species flown in from Sweden in 2005, the zoo said.
The problem was that the female Humboldt penguins have proven too shy in their advances, the director of the zoo in the northern port city of Bremerhaven said.
"The Swedes will not make the first move," Heike Kueck said.
The females were flown in last year in a bid to bring the males to mate and help save the Humboldt species from extinction.
Kueck said last year she was optimistic the initiative would be successful because zoo keepers had noticed that at one point a female penguin had managed to cause a couple of males to "separate".
The zoo has 10 male penguins of which six have shown strong signs of preferring male company and formed couples among themselves.
The initiative to "turn" the penguins and make them mate had prompted a furious response from gay rights groups.
In a statement posted on its Internet website, the zoo on Wednesday sought to defend itself from fresh criticism.
"We will be delighted if the penguins form even one heterosexual couple and manage to produce first an egg, and then a little one," it said."But of course we accept the male couples that have formed and we are not trying to enforce heterosexuality, as we were accused of doing last year."
What is a reptile?
A reptile is a vertebrate which, like amphibians, is ectothermic, its body temperature influenced by the temperature of its surroundings. Its body is covered with dry skin, from which grow scales.
Body wastes, eggs and sperm all leave the body of a reptile through the final section of the gut, which is called the cloaca. A reptile's kidneys can change body wastes from liquid to solid form. Land reptiles' urine forms part of the limy waste material passed out of their bodies, but aquatic reptiles usually pass fluid urine as well as solid wastes.
The sperm produced by a male reptile fertilizes a female's eggs inside her body (in amphibians, fertilization takes place outside the body). The fertilized eggs of most reptile species are enclosed in shells and are laid on land. However, some species retain their eggs within their bodies until the young hatch.
Most reptiles eat other animals, though a few eat plant material.
Most reptiles have four limbs. Snakes have no limbs (though pythons have remnants), and some lizards have reduced limbs, only two hind limbs, or scaly flaps instead of hind limbs.
Lungs and hearts
When it breathes, a reptile expands its ribs, drawing air into its lung. After oxygen and carbon dioxide have been exchanged in the lungs, the reptile breathes out by contracting its ribs. In a few water-living species, some exchange of gases takes place through the skin or even the cloaca.
Turtles, lizards and snakes have three-chambered hearts. In the single lower chamber, oxygenated blood coming from the lungs may mix with deoxygenated blood from the body.
Crocodiles have four-chambered hearts, like those of birds and mammals. Normally oxygenated and deoxygenated blood do not mix, but during a long dive, when fresh air is not available, a special valve allows deoxygenated blood to pass back into the crocodile's body tissues.
Desert survivors
Australia's many dry areas are full of reptiles which are adapted to arid conditions in a number of was:
·Their body wastes have very little water in them.
·They obtain water from their food, and from licking dew. The scales of some lizards channel water to the mouth.
·Because of their low energy requirements, reptiles can survive food scarcities during drought.
·Small reptiles feed on ants and termites, which are plentiful in the desert. The small reptiles are then eaten by larger reptiles.
·A reptile becomes active when the temperature is right for its species. In the desert, it may forage at night, and shelter in a burrow during the day, or spend daytime shuttling from sunshine to shade and back again. Some lizards climb some distance off the ground into vegetation to avoid ground heat.
Wetlands predators
The floodplains of northern Australia support a greater weight of predators in a given area than do Africa's Serengeti Plains.
The African predators are mammals such as lions and hyenas. The Australian ones are reptiles, such as water-living pythons, file snakes, freshwater turtles, crocodiles and a variety of lizards, including the Frilled Lizard. These creatures eat each other, as well as insects and other invertebrates, fish, frogs and small mammals.
Body wastes, eggs and sperm all leave the body of a reptile through the final section of the gut, which is called the cloaca. A reptile's kidneys can change body wastes from liquid to solid form. Land reptiles' urine forms part of the limy waste material passed out of their bodies, but aquatic reptiles usually pass fluid urine as well as solid wastes.
The sperm produced by a male reptile fertilizes a female's eggs inside her body (in amphibians, fertilization takes place outside the body). The fertilized eggs of most reptile species are enclosed in shells and are laid on land. However, some species retain their eggs within their bodies until the young hatch.
Most reptiles eat other animals, though a few eat plant material.
Most reptiles have four limbs. Snakes have no limbs (though pythons have remnants), and some lizards have reduced limbs, only two hind limbs, or scaly flaps instead of hind limbs.
Lungs and hearts
When it breathes, a reptile expands its ribs, drawing air into its lung. After oxygen and carbon dioxide have been exchanged in the lungs, the reptile breathes out by contracting its ribs. In a few water-living species, some exchange of gases takes place through the skin or even the cloaca.
Turtles, lizards and snakes have three-chambered hearts. In the single lower chamber, oxygenated blood coming from the lungs may mix with deoxygenated blood from the body.
Crocodiles have four-chambered hearts, like those of birds and mammals. Normally oxygenated and deoxygenated blood do not mix, but during a long dive, when fresh air is not available, a special valve allows deoxygenated blood to pass back into the crocodile's body tissues.
Desert survivors
Australia's many dry areas are full of reptiles which are adapted to arid conditions in a number of was:
·Their body wastes have very little water in them.
·They obtain water from their food, and from licking dew. The scales of some lizards channel water to the mouth.
·Because of their low energy requirements, reptiles can survive food scarcities during drought.
·Small reptiles feed on ants and termites, which are plentiful in the desert. The small reptiles are then eaten by larger reptiles.
·A reptile becomes active when the temperature is right for its species. In the desert, it may forage at night, and shelter in a burrow during the day, or spend daytime shuttling from sunshine to shade and back again. Some lizards climb some distance off the ground into vegetation to avoid ground heat.
Wetlands predators
The floodplains of northern Australia support a greater weight of predators in a given area than do Africa's Serengeti Plains.
The African predators are mammals such as lions and hyenas. The Australian ones are reptiles, such as water-living pythons, file snakes, freshwater turtles, crocodiles and a variety of lizards, including the Frilled Lizard. These creatures eat each other, as well as insects and other invertebrates, fish, frogs and small mammals.
Great White Sharks Travel
The great white shark, immortalized as one of the world's most awesome predators in the movie "Jaws," has long been considered a homebody, hunting in a narrow band of coastal waters and rarely venturing far from shore.
Now, a new study released on Wednesday shows that these massive sharks are actually world travelers, with some swimming thousands of miles into the open ocean on mysterious migrations that broadly expand the powerful carnivores' range across the globe.
"I was shocked by the results," said Burney Le Boeuf, a biologist and one of the authors of the new study published in the current edition of the journal Nature. "Going in to this, what we expected was that white sharks were just coastal animals that breed in Southern California, then migrate a few hundred miles north to feed on seals. But it turns out they've got a life at sea, and when they're in the open ocean, they're diving very deep at times."
The study used electronic tagging to track six adult sharks via satellite, revealing a surprisingly broad range for one of the most feared and misunderstood creatures of the deep. One male shark tagged by the team swam all the way from the California coast to the warm waters off Hawaii, a journey of some 2,280 miles.
The world's largest predatory fish, the great white can grow up to 21 feet in length and weigh as much as 4,800 pounds.
Usually found in temperate offshore waters ranging from California to Australia, Southern Africa and beyond, the great white has been tracked most frequently around coastal colonies of seals and sea lions which form the basis of its diet. But the migration patterns and environmental preferences of the sharks have remained elusive, increasing the mystery surrounding the giant hunter.
Now, a new study released on Wednesday shows that these massive sharks are actually world travelers, with some swimming thousands of miles into the open ocean on mysterious migrations that broadly expand the powerful carnivores' range across the globe.
"I was shocked by the results," said Burney Le Boeuf, a biologist and one of the authors of the new study published in the current edition of the journal Nature. "Going in to this, what we expected was that white sharks were just coastal animals that breed in Southern California, then migrate a few hundred miles north to feed on seals. But it turns out they've got a life at sea, and when they're in the open ocean, they're diving very deep at times."
The study used electronic tagging to track six adult sharks via satellite, revealing a surprisingly broad range for one of the most feared and misunderstood creatures of the deep. One male shark tagged by the team swam all the way from the California coast to the warm waters off Hawaii, a journey of some 2,280 miles.
The world's largest predatory fish, the great white can grow up to 21 feet in length and weigh as much as 4,800 pounds.
Usually found in temperate offshore waters ranging from California to Australia, Southern Africa and beyond, the great white has been tracked most frequently around coastal colonies of seals and sea lions which form the basis of its diet. But the migration patterns and environmental preferences of the sharks have remained elusive, increasing the mystery surrounding the giant hunter.
Study: T. Rex No Speedster
Tyrannosaurus rex, the mighty predator that lived about 85 million years ago, was probably just a plodder and not the quick-footed killer depicted in Hollywood blockbusters, scientists said on Wednesday.
Far from chasing its prey at speeds of up to 45 mph, as some studies have suggested, the fearsome creatures may not have been able to run at all.
"These animals were no speed demons," John Hutchinson, of Stanford University in California, said in an interview.
The biologist who specializes in the evolution of movement said the science of how animals move shows that big creatures do not go fast. At about 40 feet long, up to 20 feet tall and weighing about 13,000 pounds, Tyrannosaurus rex was very big.
Hutchinson and Mariano Garcia, of Borg-Warner Automotive in Ithaca, New York, created a computer program to analyze animal motion and determine how fast large dinosaurs could move. Writing in the science journal Nature, they calculated that two-legged T. rex would have needed impossibly massive leg muscles to generate enough force to support its huge body at a very fast running pace.
"It has been known for a long time that as things get bigger, they don't move as fast relative to their size and in fact as they get really, really big, they can't run at all," said Garcia. "But until now, no one that I know of has tried to predict the cutoffs, which is what we are doing."
Because dinosaurs are extinct the scientists had very little to go on. Fossils of smaller dinosaurs indicate that they moved fast but there is no similar evidence for their bigger cousins. Hutchinson and Garcia incorporated the impact of posture, center of mass, leg weight, total weight and torque, the twisting force that muscles need to apply about the joints, into their program. They tested its accuracy by using data from living animals.
When they tested the model on a T. rex running about 45 mph their calculations showed it would have needed 43 percent of its body weight in each leg as supportive muscle.
"Our model shows that these really fast speeds of 50 mph and probably down to even 25 mph just don't hold up when you really scrutinize them and look at the physics," Hutchinson explained. "It doesn't make a lot of sense that these animals could go that fast. There's really no good evidence that they could."
To prove their point they scaled up a chicken to the size of T. rex and found the giant chicken probably would not have been able to stand.
Far from chasing its prey at speeds of up to 45 mph, as some studies have suggested, the fearsome creatures may not have been able to run at all.
"These animals were no speed demons," John Hutchinson, of Stanford University in California, said in an interview.
The biologist who specializes in the evolution of movement said the science of how animals move shows that big creatures do not go fast. At about 40 feet long, up to 20 feet tall and weighing about 13,000 pounds, Tyrannosaurus rex was very big.
Hutchinson and Mariano Garcia, of Borg-Warner Automotive in Ithaca, New York, created a computer program to analyze animal motion and determine how fast large dinosaurs could move. Writing in the science journal Nature, they calculated that two-legged T. rex would have needed impossibly massive leg muscles to generate enough force to support its huge body at a very fast running pace.
"It has been known for a long time that as things get bigger, they don't move as fast relative to their size and in fact as they get really, really big, they can't run at all," said Garcia. "But until now, no one that I know of has tried to predict the cutoffs, which is what we are doing."
Because dinosaurs are extinct the scientists had very little to go on. Fossils of smaller dinosaurs indicate that they moved fast but there is no similar evidence for their bigger cousins. Hutchinson and Garcia incorporated the impact of posture, center of mass, leg weight, total weight and torque, the twisting force that muscles need to apply about the joints, into their program. They tested its accuracy by using data from living animals.
When they tested the model on a T. rex running about 45 mph their calculations showed it would have needed 43 percent of its body weight in each leg as supportive muscle.
"Our model shows that these really fast speeds of 50 mph and probably down to even 25 mph just don't hold up when you really scrutinize them and look at the physics," Hutchinson explained. "It doesn't make a lot of sense that these animals could go that fast. There's really no good evidence that they could."
To prove their point they scaled up a chicken to the size of T. rex and found the giant chicken probably would not have been able to stand.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Bees: take life in exchange for security
It is the job of the most mature worker bees to leave the hive to collect nectar from flowers. Upon returning to the hive, they deposit the nectar into pockets, called honeycombs, in the hive’s walls. It is from here that we get honey.
But before you go putting your hand into a beehive, remember this: The hive is the center of the bees’world. It is not only where they store the products of their hard work, but also where they raise their young. The hive is, therefore, so important that every worker is willing to lay down its life to protect it, should its safety be threatened. A group of worker bees can kill an animal--or even a person--with their stings.
This defense, however, comes at a high price. Soon after stinging its victim, a honeybee will die. These little soldiers make this sacrifice without a second thought, as they are driven by instinct alone. So remember, when you are near a beehive, you can’t“bee”careful enough!
But before you go putting your hand into a beehive, remember this: The hive is the center of the bees’world. It is not only where they store the products of their hard work, but also where they raise their young. The hive is, therefore, so important that every worker is willing to lay down its life to protect it, should its safety be threatened. A group of worker bees can kill an animal--or even a person--with their stings.
This defense, however, comes at a high price. Soon after stinging its victim, a honeybee will die. These little soldiers make this sacrifice without a second thought, as they are driven by instinct alone. So remember, when you are near a beehive, you can’t“bee”careful enough!
Beaver Goes to College to Get New Teeth
If a beaver needed dental work, where would it go? In this case, a beaver who lost her four front teeth in an encounter with a car has been checked into Washington State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital to recuperate.
The 41-pound animal, nicknamed Bailey, lost her chewing teeth when struck by a car last week near Lewiston, Idaho, about 30 miles southeast of Pullman. A retired Idaho Fish and Game agent brought the injured beaver to the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine.
Nickol Finch, the veterinarian who heads the veterinary hospital's Exotics and Wildlife Department, said the beaver's prognosis is good, and treatment will be to let nature take its course as her choppers grow back.
"Her four front teeth are expected to grow back in about three months, and she should be able to be released into the wild without any problems," Finch said.
A beaver's front teeth grow continually throughout its life and require constant gnawing to keep them at a healthy length. Beavers in the wild usually eat the bark of poplar, willow, birch and maple trees, using the wood for their dams.
So what does a beaver without teeth eat?
"Since she doesn't have her incisors, we've been feeding her salad greens, applesauce and vegetable-based baby foods," Finch said by e-mail Wednesday. "She's not eating much on her own, doesn't recognize what we have as a food source, so we've been syringe-feeding her."
Once the bumps and bruises she suffered from the encounter with the car are healed in a few weeks, Bailey will be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation facility for long-term care and eventual release near where she was found, Finch said.
Meanwhile, Bailey is recuperating by spending time swimming in a hydrotherapy sink.
The 41-pound animal, nicknamed Bailey, lost her chewing teeth when struck by a car last week near Lewiston, Idaho, about 30 miles southeast of Pullman. A retired Idaho Fish and Game agent brought the injured beaver to the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine.
Nickol Finch, the veterinarian who heads the veterinary hospital's Exotics and Wildlife Department, said the beaver's prognosis is good, and treatment will be to let nature take its course as her choppers grow back.
"Her four front teeth are expected to grow back in about three months, and she should be able to be released into the wild without any problems," Finch said.
A beaver's front teeth grow continually throughout its life and require constant gnawing to keep them at a healthy length. Beavers in the wild usually eat the bark of poplar, willow, birch and maple trees, using the wood for their dams.
So what does a beaver without teeth eat?
"Since she doesn't have her incisors, we've been feeding her salad greens, applesauce and vegetable-based baby foods," Finch said by e-mail Wednesday. "She's not eating much on her own, doesn't recognize what we have as a food source, so we've been syringe-feeding her."
Once the bumps and bruises she suffered from the encounter with the car are healed in a few weeks, Bailey will be taken to a wildlife rehabilitation facility for long-term care and eventual release near where she was found, Finch said.
Meanwhile, Bailey is recuperating by spending time swimming in a hydrotherapy sink.
Dolphins "have their own names"
Dolphins communicate like humans by calling each other by name, scientists in Fife reported on Monday.Scientists have long known that dolphins' whistling calls include repeated information thought to be their names, but a new study indicates dolphins recognize these names even when voice cues are removed from the sound.
St Andrews University researchers studying in Sarasota Bay off Florida's west coast Florida discovered bottlenose dolphins used names rather than sound to identify each other.
The three-year-study was funded by the Royal Society of London.
Dr Vincent Janik, of the Sea Mammal Unit at St Andrews University, said they conducted the research on wild dolphins.
"We captured wild dolphins using nets when they came near the shore," he said.
"Then in the shallow water we recoded their whistles before synthesising them on a computer with the caller's voice features removed so that we had a computer voice of a dolphin
"Then we played it back to the dolphins through an underwater speaker and we found they responded strongly. This showed us that the dolphins know each other's signature whistle instead of just the voice
"Now we know they have labels for each other like we do
The findings are published in the US journal the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
China's golden monkeys make a comeback
China's golden monkeys, a species more endangered than giant pandas, have made a surprising comeback with populations quadrupling in the past two decades. The snub-nosed monkeys, which are found only in southwestern Guizhou province, have risen in number from 200 in the early 1980s to around 800, Xinhua news agency said.
Despite its growing numbers, the animal is still endangered, Xinhua cited experts saying Sunday. Poaching and forest fires are two of the main causes for the decrease in population, according to Yang Yeqin, director of Guizhou's Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve, where most of the monkeys live.
The gregarious animals are also vulnerable to human diseases, such as tuberculosis, cholera and measles, Yang said.
Researchers believe that the number of the snub-nosed monkeys would not rise rapidly even if their habitats were enlarged.
However, the numbers would drop dramatically if their habitats dwindled, which may lead to their extinction, said the researchers.
Wildlife experts said the animals' living space must be extended, monitoring and protection of their environment must be strengthened and a breeding base should be established to save the animals.
Whales
The concern throughout the world in 1988 for those three whales that were locked in the Arctic ice was dramatic proof that whales, several species of which face extinction, have become subjects of considerable sympathy.
These are the recorded voices of whales. These monstrous creatures have been trumpeting their songs, one to another, in the world's oceans since the dawn of time, while overhead, great empires and civilizations have come and gone. Now, their time of decline has come. It began a long time ago.
Four-thousand-year-old rock carvings show that the people who lived in what is now Norway were probably the first to seek out and kill whales in the sea. By around 890 AD, 3,000 years later, the practice had spread to the Basque people of France and Spain, who hunted whales from boats in the Bay of Biscay. In the centuries that followed, Whaling became an important industry in Denmark, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and, finally, in what would become America.
Whaling went into dramatic decline, beginning around 1900. Today, whales are hunted commercially only by Norway, Iceland and Japan. The world's fascination with them, however, is at an all-time high, because so few of them are left. Given their tragic history.
Richard Ellis writes about whales, takes pictures of whales in the open sea, and sketches whales stranded on the beach. He says it's a 20-year obsession that began in the mid-1960s, when he designed a model of a great blue for the Museum of Natural History in New York.
"As I began to do the research. I realized that nobody knew anything about whales. And I couldn't really find any pictures of what they looked like: all I could find was pictures of dead whales. And I became very excited at the prospect of doing what seemed to be original research on something that was so peculiar, which was the largest animal that has ever lived on earth. "
So large, he discovered, that the largest dinosaur weighed only half as much as the female blue whale. As he continued his research he boarded scientific vessels. Dove with whales in the Pacific, and even watched whales die at the hands of modern. explosive-tipped harpoons. His sketches appeared in magazines and encyclopedias and at the center of what was then the beginning of a movement to save the whales.
"I was one of those people who used to stand on street corners and ask for people to sign petitions, which at that time were directed towards the Japanese and the Soviets. Because in that period of time - late 60s, early 70s – the Japanese and the Soviets were killing tens of thousands of sperm particularly in the North Pacific. And we thought that getting the world's opinion on paper would make them say, 'Oh look, all these people don't like what we are doing. We will stop.' Well, of course, they didn't stop"
Not at first, Commercial whaling peaked in the mid-1960s, with more than 60,000 whales killed each year. The International Whaling Commission, a group of member nations aimed at regulating the industry, began to make recommendations to end commercial whaling entirely. Why kill whales for soap, or fuel or paints and vernishes, even margarine, if we had substitutes for all those products? The seemingly senseless slaughter focused the world's attention on the whale and consequently the International whaling Commission or IWC.
"And since it's said nowhere in the constitution of the IWC that you had to be whaling nation to join you have countries like Kenya and the Seychelles. Switzerland is a member of the IWC, a country not known for its whaling history. Countries joined because they felt that this was something that needed to be done. "
By 1986, the Commission had passed a moratoriunm on commercial whaling. But since the organization had no enforcement powers, it could and can not impose sanctions on violators. Only a few nations-Japan. Iceland, and Norway-continue to hunt whales commercially.
Richard Ellis says there is something magical about this animal caught in the net of life and time. and we must continue to fight to preserve it, because in the end we are really protecting a small part of ourselves and our earth.
These are the recorded voices of whales. These monstrous creatures have been trumpeting their songs, one to another, in the world's oceans since the dawn of time, while overhead, great empires and civilizations have come and gone. Now, their time of decline has come. It began a long time ago.
Four-thousand-year-old rock carvings show that the people who lived in what is now Norway were probably the first to seek out and kill whales in the sea. By around 890 AD, 3,000 years later, the practice had spread to the Basque people of France and Spain, who hunted whales from boats in the Bay of Biscay. In the centuries that followed, Whaling became an important industry in Denmark, England, Germany, the Netherlands, and, finally, in what would become America.
Whaling went into dramatic decline, beginning around 1900. Today, whales are hunted commercially only by Norway, Iceland and Japan. The world's fascination with them, however, is at an all-time high, because so few of them are left. Given their tragic history.
Richard Ellis writes about whales, takes pictures of whales in the open sea, and sketches whales stranded on the beach. He says it's a 20-year obsession that began in the mid-1960s, when he designed a model of a great blue for the Museum of Natural History in New York.
"As I began to do the research. I realized that nobody knew anything about whales. And I couldn't really find any pictures of what they looked like: all I could find was pictures of dead whales. And I became very excited at the prospect of doing what seemed to be original research on something that was so peculiar, which was the largest animal that has ever lived on earth. "
So large, he discovered, that the largest dinosaur weighed only half as much as the female blue whale. As he continued his research he boarded scientific vessels. Dove with whales in the Pacific, and even watched whales die at the hands of modern. explosive-tipped harpoons. His sketches appeared in magazines and encyclopedias and at the center of what was then the beginning of a movement to save the whales.
"I was one of those people who used to stand on street corners and ask for people to sign petitions, which at that time were directed towards the Japanese and the Soviets. Because in that period of time - late 60s, early 70s – the Japanese and the Soviets were killing tens of thousands of sperm particularly in the North Pacific. And we thought that getting the world's opinion on paper would make them say, 'Oh look, all these people don't like what we are doing. We will stop.' Well, of course, they didn't stop"
Not at first, Commercial whaling peaked in the mid-1960s, with more than 60,000 whales killed each year. The International Whaling Commission, a group of member nations aimed at regulating the industry, began to make recommendations to end commercial whaling entirely. Why kill whales for soap, or fuel or paints and vernishes, even margarine, if we had substitutes for all those products? The seemingly senseless slaughter focused the world's attention on the whale and consequently the International whaling Commission or IWC.
"And since it's said nowhere in the constitution of the IWC that you had to be whaling nation to join you have countries like Kenya and the Seychelles. Switzerland is a member of the IWC, a country not known for its whaling history. Countries joined because they felt that this was something that needed to be done. "
By 1986, the Commission had passed a moratoriunm on commercial whaling. But since the organization had no enforcement powers, it could and can not impose sanctions on violators. Only a few nations-Japan. Iceland, and Norway-continue to hunt whales commercially.
Richard Ellis says there is something magical about this animal caught in the net of life and time. and we must continue to fight to preserve it, because in the end we are really protecting a small part of ourselves and our earth.
Australian scientists plan to put into the sea shark people tremble with fear
In a scheme that smacks of carrying coal to Newcastle, scientists have proposed importing sharks to Australia's east coast - causing consternation among tourism and beach safety authorities. Researchers say grey nurse sharks are critically endangered in waters off New South Wales and Queensland and have suggested relocating some specimens from Western Australia, or Africa, to boost the gene pool. .
Biologists from Macquarie University in Sydney insist that grey nurse sharks, while terrifyingly toothy in appearance, are mild creatures which will bite humans only if provoked.
However, organisations charged with protecting swimmers and surfers are unenthusiastic about having more predators in the water.
"Basically they are big fish with big teeth and they scare people," said Sean O'Connell, of Surf Life Saving Australia, the nation's principal water safety and rescue authority.
"They don't have very big brains and they could quite easily take a bite at someone thinking they were a fish."
Grey nurse sharks can grow to 10ft in length and Mr O'Connell said that lifeguards sighting any large shark off a popular surf beach would automatically evacuate the sea. "We are not going to make a judgment call based on what sort of shark it is, or how harmful it is. We would just get people out regardless," he said.
Adam Stow, a member of the university research team, said: "They do look fairly formidable, but they are not people-eaters. Those long, pointy teeth that hang out of the side of their mouths are designed to catch slippery fish rather than large mammals."
Only 300 to 500 grey nurse sharks remain in eastern Australian waters after they were ruthlessly hunted in the 1960s and 1970s because of their ferocious appearance.
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