Scientists Find Genes in Fish that Lures Females Into Mating

Scientist in Germany have recently discovered genes in male cichilds that are essential for reproduction. At the University of Konstanz, 19 cichild fishes were gathered for the study. Cichilds are known to mate in a way that many may find amusing. The male will deposit its sperm inside the females mouth. To achieve such feat the males have evolved yellow pigment cells on their anal fins. This is crucial for reproduction and now researchers have discovered the gene associated with the development of these cells.
The importance of these yellow cells are quite simple. They act as egg dummies, which means that they lead the females into believing that they are actual eggs. In this specie females will carry eggs in her mouth after she has laid them. The spots on males attract females that attempt to pick them up under the impression that these are actual eggs. Once the female is close enough, the male proceeds in releasing sperm fertilizing the eggs that the female carries in her mouth.
The gene is called colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor, and is believed to be the same one found in relatives of the cichild that exhibit this same trait. Furthermore, the discovery of this gene aids in finding out more about distant related species that have a similar mechanism. Some species not related to the cichild have the same type of spots in the pectoral fins. This can lead to a genetic pathway that could explain this morphogenesis in different species.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071115083711.htm

Bruno Karam (10)

Female Preference in Yellowthroats

Studies have shown that female yellowthroats prefer different traits in their males. Corey Freeman-Gallant and his team at Skidmore College found that females in his New York area prefer males with the most vivid yellow bibs. Because bright pigments are formed from carotenoids, which are antioxidants, this coloration is an indication of good health. In the same year though, researcher Peter Dunn of the University of Wisconsin showed that the females in Wisconsin were attracted to males depending on the size of their black masks. This seemed odd because the black mask showed no signs of better health. The biologists brought a sample of female yellowthroats from both areas together and tested how the females responded to the different traits of males. During their experiment in the aviary it was confirmed that both studies were correct; females from New York liked yellow bibs, and females from Wisconsin liked black masks. This variation in female preference for different traits in males shows that female mating preferences vary geographically. It has been theorized that this type of variation in preference could lead to speciation which they believe could be what is occurring in these populations of yellowthroats. More will be found as more research is done.
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Posted By Hollis Martin (10)

What’s The Buzz?

It turns out worker bees might not be as cooperative as once thought. Researchers have caught sneaking their own eggs into the queen’s chamber to be raised as royalty. A study done on South African Cape honey bees shows that intruders invade other honey bee colonies by wearing a "queen perfume" to smell like the colonies resident queen. This allows them to travel through without being attacked and to lay their own eggs in the chamber of the queen. In the study 23 out of 39 colonies had offspring of workers and not of the resident queen. Eight of those colonies were from the resident workers of their own colony and not that of invaders.
This is some competing evidence to relatives trying to protect relatives because they share DNA. In colonies most of the workers are females that were produced from unfertilized egg making them exact clones of their mother. There would be less need for those eight workers in the study to compete among their own colony because they have essentially the same genetic make up as the queen and would only pass on their genes, which are the same as the queens. Invading honey bees however have a lot to gain by laying their eggs in other colonies because it increases their reproductive fitness. These eggs with new genetic information have the potential to wipe out the original colonies own genetic line. The only way their larvae become queen is if they are put into the queens chamber and fed quality food like the highly nutritious royal jelly.
This shows that most individuals of the original colony care for the long-term prosperity of the colony and work to care for related offspring. There are self-ish individuals in the colony that are looking out for themselves over the colony, and if their genes get passed on and their young survive we might see more selfish individuals in colonies that would hinder the cooperation of all individuals. There may end up being several queens, or like the wasps, honey bees could become solitary parasitic insects...but that would be a long down the evolutionary ladder. As for intruder honey bees they don’t care at all for the colony they invade. Their offspring may carry a gene for this invading behavior and that too down the line could affect how colonies operate. Hives may have to become more defensive to protect the colonies prosperity and the genetic make up.

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By Jessica Johnson (10)

Reasons for Screaming Parrots

All parrots make noise. From the small parakeet or finch to larger birds such a macaws and cockatoos. The main and most noticable difference between the two is how loud each bird's vocalization are. Macaws and cockatoos are very loud, while parakeets and finches mostly make small chirps. A large parrots screaming is extremely loud and ear piercing. They will do this at any time of the day. It is important to understand that most parrots "call to the flock" several times per day, usually in the morning, around noon, at dusk, which is a completely natural behavior since birds are social animals. You cannot, and should not, attempt to stop this natural process. This "flock calling" is a parrot's way of determining which flock members are present or not present. It's the constant, ear-piercing, screaming that needs to be corrected. Parrots scream for many different reasons. Screaming is usually a sign of a medical problem, boredom or psychological problem. To figure out why the bird is screaming, it often helps to think back to when the negative behavior first started, and what happened in the bird's life/home environment at that time, such as loss of the bird's mate, loss/gain of a human in the home, cage location change, remodeling, addition/death of another pet, etc...Before attempting to resolve any screaming problem, you should have your exotic veteranarian perform a physical on the bird. If no medical problems found, you should look to other causes of the screaming. Improper lighting, stress, poor diet, improper cage size, lack of/not enough mental stimulation or human attention, and insufficient sleep are all other causes of this ear piercing scream. Some birds scream when they run out of food or water or when their cages need to be cleaned. Some birds scream when they see strangers outside or who come into the home, when they dislike or mistrust someone in the home. All in all, you should not attempt to discipline the bird until you know what the cause of the screaming is. Once you determine that the screaming is nothing more than a bad habit, you can put a cloth or blanket over the cage to simulate "night time" and the bird should quiet down.

Posted by Marielle Livesey (Week 10)

Canine Cognition

Dogs can classify photos into categories like humans can. Researchers from the University of Vienna in Austria have shown that dogs can classify complex color photos. The dogs were tested using a touch screen computer method, eliminating the human influence that is normally a confounding variable. In the training experiment done by Friederike Range and his colleagues, the dogs were shown a landscape and a dog photograph. If the dog chose the dog picture it was rewarded with a food pellet. In the first test the dog was shown a picture of a completely different dog and a landscape picture. In the second test, the dog was shown a new dog picture pasted on to a landscape and then shown a completely different landscape picture. Time and again the dog chose the dog picture showing that they can truly tell it was a dog. “Using touch-screen computers with dogs opens up a whole world of possibilities on how to test the cognitive abilities of dogs by basically completely controlling any influence from the owner to the experimenter.” says Range. The methods used allows researchers to compare cognitive abilities of different species using just one method. The cognitive understanding of other species is key to understanding our own cognition.



Springer (2007, November 29). Dogs Can Classify Complex Photos In Categories Like Humans Do. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November



Posted by Antonio Hernandez (10)

The Real Lion King

The lion is at one the most famous and the least typical member of the cat family. Sociality is probably the single most exciting aspect of lion life and, as compared to other cats, cannot be overemphasized. Other cats are solitary hunters; the lion is a cooperative group hunter. Other cats live alone, the lion lives in prides. The lions social level is closer to wolves and wild dogs than to the other cat species. In addition, with other cats the male and female do not look conspicuously different; with lions, the huge, dark mane of the male sets him clearly apart from the maneless female. Another small difference: the lion is the only cat species to have a knoblike tuft of dark hair at the tip of its tail. Studies of lions in the wild have rightly brought the female lion into the spotlight. Females are the basis of lion society: they are the hunters, cub rearers, and property owners and defenders. Female lions can survive on their own, but they only thrive as members of a kin group. As a communal creature, the female lion has few equals. That great symbol, the imposing male, is a loner by human design only. In reality, in the wild, a male's chances of survival alone are at best slim, and not helped by its all too visible mane that alerts enemies as well as prey.
Even in groups though, males have a hard life. They seldom live longer than 12 years in the wild while females sometimes reach 16 or older. Even when an old female loses most of her teeth the pride will wait for her and share with her, as long as she can keep up. When males are old, they are ousted from the pride by younger and stronger males. Exiled males can steal from most other predators but if they have to hunt on their own they fare poorly and often get terrible wounds from kicks and horns. When they lose their teeth or health, or, indeed, when they lose a team-mate they soon die.
Valerie Hines

The lion is at one the most famous and the least typical member of the cat family. Sociality is probably the single most exciting aspect of lion life and, as compared to other cats, cannot be overemphasized. Other cats are solitary hunters; the lion is a cooperative group hunter. Other cats live alone, the lion lives in prides. The lions social level is closer to wolves and wild dogs than to the other cat species. In addition, with other cats the male and female do not look conspicuously different; with lions, the huge, dark mane of the male sets him clearly apart from the maneless female. Another small difference: the lion is the only cat species to have a knoblike tuft of dark hair at the tip of its tail. Studies of lions in the wild have rightly brought the female lion into the spotlight. Females are the basis of lion society: they are the hunters, cub rearers, and property owners and defenders. Female lions can survive on their own, but they only thrive as members of a kin group. As a communal creature, the female lion has few equals. That great symbol, the imposing male, is a loner by human design only. In reality, in the wild, a male's chances of survival alone are at best slim, and not helped by its all too visible mane that alerts enemies as well as prey.
Even in groups though, males have a hard life. They seldom live longer than 12 years in the wild while females sometimes reach 16 or older. Even when an old female loses most of her teeth the pride will wait for her and share with her, as long as she can keep up. When males are old, they are ousted from the pride by younger and stronger males. Exiled males can steal from most other predators but if they have to hunt on their own they fare poorly and often get terrible wounds from kicks and horns. When they lose their teeth or health, or, indeed, when they lose a team-mate they soon die.
Valerie Hines

The cure to pathological aggression?

Researchers in the Netherlands have been studying the aggressive behaviour in feral rats and have recently come up with a "cure" for this type of behaviour. Male feral rats are aggressive in nature however, they will not attack female rats or anesthetized male rats they don't see as a threat. The scientists altered the aggressive behaviour of the male feral rats be repeatedly exposing them to other weak male rats whom they were bound to win a fight with. After repeatedly winning these fights for weeks, the male rats seemed to become a lot more violently, attacking weak males and females that were put in it's cage.
The researchers noticed that the hyper-aggressive males had decreased levels of serotonin in their brains. Low levels of serotonin have been linked to violent behaviour, and unusually violent people have been found to have lower levels of serotonin in their spinal fluid.
Researchers then experimented with altering the serotonin levels in the rats. The use of certain compounds brought the rats serotonin levels and aggressive behaviour back in check. Similarly, the aggression behaviors of particularly docile rats could be brought back to normal levels. The compound does not make the animals drowsy or lethargic like tranquillizers, but simply alters their aggressiveness.
Although this could be a step towards unlocking the clues to pathological violence in humans, the researchers doubt the compound could work entirely because it only targets a single brain receptor. The study does help scientists further understand the connection between serotonin levels and violent behavior. Similar studies about aggression have been conducted, and soon we will perhaps have a better understanding of human and animal aggression.

Posted by: Emily King (10)

Dogs Can Classify Complex Photos in Categories like Humans Do

We all know that dogs have very sensitive of olfactory. In addition, dogs can see well in both bright and dim light. Even though dogs are not quite good as cats, they can still see in light five times dimmer than a human can see in. Recently, researchers discovered that dogs can classify complex photos in categories like humans do. “And the dogs successfully demonstrate their learning through the use of computer automated touch-screens, eliminating potential human influence.”

Friederike Range and his colleagues from the University of Vienna in Austria discovered dogs could classify complex photos in categories like humans do. In the train phase, the dogs were shown with both the landscape and dog pictures, and the dogs got rewarded if they selected the dog pictures as a positive stimulus. In the first test, the dogs were shown with different kinds of dogs and different kinds of landscape pictures; the dogs could successfully use their training knowledge to choose the dogs pictures. At the second test, the dogs were given the new dog on a familiar landscape and a completely new landscape with no dog. The dogs ended up choose the new dog on the familiar landscape. Based on these data, the researchers suggested that dogs could form a concept.

Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071128105543.htm

Posted By Xuni Li (10)

The Best Offense is a Good Defense

Ground squirrels have gone through a sort of evolutionary arms race with rattlesnakes. Due to heavy predation of ground squirrels by rattlesnakes, the squirrels have evolved blood proteins that help their body neutralize the snake’s venom, helping prevent sure death from the poisonous snake. In addition to this adaptation, ground squirrels studied by Aaron Rundus at the University of California, Davis, have been found to be the first animals to use infrared signals to ward off predators.

When squirrels find a snake lurking, looking for a meal, they harass the snake by teasing it and whipping its tail around. Rundus used infrared videotape of the squirrels caged with different snakes in the lab, and observed any differences. He was surprised to find when the squirrels were harassing the rattlesnakes, they heated their tails up to 2° C at the base and at the tip. This was odd due to the tail usually being cooler than the rest of the body, but the warmer tail is beneficial to the squirrels when trying to deter the being a meal due to the rattlesnakes’ use of infrared sensors to locate prey. The most interesting observation was the infrared video of the squirrels performing the same behavior with gopher snakes. The gopher snakes, which do not use infrared to pinpoint prey, did not elicit the same reaction with squirrels, and they tail was shown to raise only 0.2° C during the behavior.

From the outside, it would seem squirrels are being quite brave when they harass snakes, but in actuality, adult ground squirrels are very well adapted to deal with this venomous predator and even use the snakes hunting senses for its own benefit.

Posted by Courtney Huffman (10)


Article

The Mating Ritual of Adelie Penguins

Who needs diamonds when you could get a nice big rock? Adelie Penguins present a rock at the foot of their future mate to secure their position as the penguins lover. The Adelie penguins are the smallest of the penguins living on the Antarctica continent. There are over 2.5 million breeding pairs living in the Antarctica region. Penguins are monogamous animals, meaning that they chose one partner and remain with this penguin for the rest of their lives. Once the rock has been laid at the foot of the female, the two partners will stand belly to belly and perform a mating song. The actually mating ritual is very selective. The male Adele penguin must chose one female out of a colony of more than a million penguins.

The Adelie Penguins are migratory animals. They travel from the winter quarters on the Antarctic ice pack and arrive at the rookeries during September and October. Once at this site, the penguins make the nests which consist of stones piled together. The male penguins must guard their pile of stones very carefully for other males often try to steal these stones and rocks to present them to their future love. Male Adelie’s attract the female by sounding out a low guttural noise followed by a cry. Males that have already found a mate and are simply reuniting, perform a different mating ritual. These reunited love birds will stand breast to breast, heads thrown back, singing loudly, with their flippers outstretched and trembling.

The female Adelie penguin lays typically two eggs. These eggs are laid around November. The eggs are brown or green in color. Both parents take turn incubating the eggs. The mother and father switch off keeping the egg warm. Typically, the female penguin returns to the sea before the male. In March, the Adelie penguin family returns to the sea and migrate to their spring home in the Antarctic. The mating ritual process continues every year, with a new collection of rocks for each new generation of penguins.

Posted by: Scotty Fay (9)

Now Your Speaking My Language

Everyone is familiar with the beautiful and hilariously awkward song of the humpback whales. The humpback whale song is very complex, as compared to other species of the cetacean family, and is exhibited only by males during the mating season. Therefore, the purpose of the song has always been hypothesized to supplement a way for sexual selection in an environment of low visibility. However, recent exploration into the complex song of the humpback whale reveals that maybe there is more to the song than originally perceived. Mathematical plotting suggests that humpback whales are coding information in the songs using similar methods to the human structure of language.

No, this doesn’t mean that that whale was hitting on you the last time you went whale watching. However, it does open an immense field of exploration and study. Whale song evaluation and mathematical plotting, performed by Ryuji Suzuki and colleagues, revealed that humpback whale song is broken down into a hierarchal system of coded information. Just as the human language can be broken down into paragraphs, paragraphs into sentences, sentences into clauses etc, whale song can be broken down from themes, to phrases, and to units of information. While whale song only emits coded information at about one bit of information per second (humans can communicate at ten times that rate), this does not detract from the possible variation or immense nature of humpback whale song. While this discovery cannot yet be qualified as a “language” further study will be performed in an attempt to understand this mode of communication, and understand its implication on whale behavior and evolution.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whale_song
http://animal.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060327/whalesong.html

Posted by David Mahoney

A Careful Deliberator

A recent study by scientists in the Netherlands showed that rats contemplate problems by carefully weighing the costs and benefits of a situation before making a decision. This study was the first to demonstrate that a non-human animal creates a desired ratio, or standard, to decide between options that require different levels of efforts and produce different rewards. Scientists tested the rat's behavior with a T-shaped maze, each side of the horizontal line having different amounts of sugar pellets. One side had a single sugar pellet while the other had three to five sugar pellets.
The scientists understood that energy rats spend foraging varies, depending upon the foraging season. With hot/cold temperatures, rain, and obstacles present after a storm, foraging situations vary for rats and they face various levels and forms of uncertainty all the time. With the T-shaped maze, rats that wanted the higher rewards with more sugar pellets had to climb steep barriers. At first, the rats went for the easy pickings but after finding more pellets were available on the other side of the maze, they exerted additional effort but only after a certain point. When too much energy used yielded little gain, they stuck with the smaller amount.
Researchers also noticed that rats seem to behave according to an internal constant standard, a relative ratio for each situation by which choices are measured. The scientists compared this to choices a human makes while considering buying a car at a dealership, the buyer having a costs budget in mind.

Caroline Collins

Emily the Cow

On November 14, 2005, Emily bolted from the killing floor and focused on survival by jumping over a 5-foot high gate out of a slaughterhouse. She escaped and spent a month in the snowy woods. She was very brave and very strong having eluded the police, slaughterhouse workers and animal control officers for forty days and forty nights.

This is a true story.

I met Emily and heard of her stories. When she escaped the slaughterhouse she was a two year old cow who could not produce milk, so the milk industry decided that she was not useful and unprofitable. Dairy cows are usually slaughtered when they are 5 or 6 years old because their milk production declines and those who cannot produce milk are immediately slaughtered. There are horrifying stories of how cows are treated before they are slaughtered.

Emily was found by the Randa family who recognized the connection between human suffering and animal suffering. They took her into their family and brought her to a sanctuary. The Randas bought Emily from the slaughterhouse and she was welcomed to her new home at the Peace Abbey on December 24, 1995.

Emily became the campaign for the Farm Animal Reform Movement, which is a non-profit public interest organization that promotes planetary health through plant based eating. This organization advocates plant-based vegan diets to save animals. Emily was involved in the conferences that voiced animals’ rights.

She was also an important member of the Hindu community. She attended religious events at the nearby Hindu Temple. In Hinduism, the cow is highly respected and worshiped. One of the reasons why Hindus worship the cow is because of a cow named Kamadhenu who was believed to be the mother of all the cows. In Hindu Mythology, Kamadhenu was a miraculous cow who could give her owner whatever he desired. Visitors from India came to bless her as a sacred cow and brought her a handmade sacred cow blanket. She was happy, healthy and safe.

Things began to change in early March. Emily began to lose weight and her abdomen filled with fluid…Emily had cancer. Her cancer had been growing inside of her since the age of two, which prevented her from becoming pregnant and producing milk.

The mammary gland of a calf and the udder is almost fully developed by six months of age. By this stage the udder has four separate glands and a median ligament, teat and gland cisterns. As the udder increases in cell size and cell numbers through lactations, the milk producing capacity increases. However, a cow cannot produce milk until she is pregnant. With Emily, a plausible explanation would be that as her udder increased in cell size and numbers, they must have produced and reproduced cancerous cells. These cells could have prevented her from becoming pregnant and prevented her from producing milk. There was very little that the doctors could do for her.

On Sunday, March 30, 2003 Emily died in her sleep of uterine cancer. The whole community came to give their respects to her. Lewis Randa summarized in his eulogy over Emily that “Emily was more that just a cow. She was, for people who loved her, an important creature who put them in touch with a greater understanding of animals and how humans should treat them. Her eyes would melt your heart and make you appreciate what animals have to offer.” She is now buried at the Peace Abbey in Sherborn, Massachusetts.

Information taken from The Story of Emily the Cow compiled by Meg and Lewis Randa

© 2007 The Peace Abbey

Posted By: Nelina Bridge (9)

Spice Attack

Spices have been used historically for many reasons including for killing and preventing bacterial growth. But for the first time wildlife experts in Northern India are using chili powder to drive away elephants. The chili powder used is ghost chili which is certified as the world’s hottest chili by the Guinness Book of World records. This new weapon is used to prevent marauding elephants from destroying homes, crops and trampling of villagers in North India. These increased attacks on human settlements by elephants are due to the human encroachment on their natural habitat. Over the time period of 1996 to 2000 over 691, 880 acres of de-forestation has occurred. This area which was cleared accounts for the world’s largest concentration of wild Asiatic elephants. Conservationists who are working on this project have put of fences smeared with automobile grease and ghost chili. And they are also using smoke bombs made from chili to keep elephants out from these human settlements. Officials say the strong pungent smell would be enough to repel the elephants and these attacks would not harm the animals.

Posted by: Balkrishna Gantyala (9)

Smelly Squirrels Are Not So Tastey

In a recent study done it was proven that snakes tend me to be picky eaters. Squirrels have picked up on the idea that they smell like a delicious meal and have started doing something to change it. Females squirrels will chew on rattlesnake skin that has been shedded and left on the ground. They will then lick their young and themselves so smell less like a squirrel. In a study conducted at the University of California at Davis, it was shown that snakes are not as interested in a squirrel after licking themselves with the snake skin as they would be with a squirrel that had not done this odd behavior. It is clear that the squirrels new behavior is a life saving one. Lets just hope that the rattlesnakes don't turn cannibalistic; that would be a problem for the squirrels...again.

Posted By: Katie Berthiaume

The Greatest Show on Earth

I am sure everyone has heard about the heated debate over circuses, especially the popular Ringling and Brothers: Barnum and Bailey. Some argue that the show is “The greatest show on Earth” and it is quite a family treat to bring the kids down every year to see the poodles riding unicycles and elephants dancing. Others insist the animals are being harmed in every aspect of their lives including socially, physically, emotionally, amd physiologically.

The debate over circuses is not just limited to the United States. Currently the RSPCA in the United Kingdom is frantically calling upon the government to end the use of wild animals in the circus. Dr. Rob Atkinson, is helping to lead this governmental proposal. He wants to see the remaining 50 animals that are still participating in traveling circuses in the United Kingdom, be given their freedom.

The Circus Working Group, has completely refused to agree that circus animals have poor welfare. They claim there is no good evidence available suggesting poor welfare, especially during time of travel. They agree that these wild animals are confined more then if they were in the wild, but compared to other animal facilities, like zoos for example, these animals have the same welfare.

Posted by: Kathryn DeLisle (9)

Invasion of the Flies!

In recent years a pest new to China and Australia has devastated crops and cost farmers millions of dollars. The invasive insect, believed to originate in the Middle East and Mediterranean, is a genetic variant of the native silverleaf whitefly Bemisia tabaci species, called "Biotype B." Biotype B flies have taken over an entire area of Australia in only 3 years and scientists have been wondering how this rapid population success occurred. It turns out it all has to do with a very unique mating system.

This species of fly (both the invaders and native flies) are haplodiploid meaning that all unfertilized eggs give rise to male offspring and all fertilized eggs give rise to female offspring. When the two populations come together they attempt to mate but their slight differences make fertilization impossible. Eggs are therefore left unfertilized, producing disproportionate amounts of male offspring. The two types of females respond to this drastic increase in potential mates in two different ways. The native females continue to mate normally with males, whereas the invader females become more promiscuous and mate with many males, producing a boom in the female population.

In addition to this rapid Biotype B population growth, it's also noteworthy that males of the invasive species still mate with native females, making native flies less likely to be mating with eachother. These elements combined have led to huge changes in the relative population sizes of these types of flies, and as the number of Biotype B female flies increases, the number native female flies decreases. In the long term this could mean extinction for China and Australia's native fly population.

Posted by Christina Breed (9)

Phenomenal Bully Picks on the Sea Snails

Everyone in the scientific community, as well as most of the global community, is aware of a phenomenon sweeping the Earth. Try as they might, skeptics are having a harder and harder time denying the existence of Global Warming and it's utterly detrimental effects. Though the climate is what gets the most attention from society, acidification of our oceans is an aspect that is slowly demanding respect.

Rising carbon dioxide levels means a rising level of dissolved CO2 in the seawater. This creates carbonic acid, which in turn lowers the pH of the ocean. Experiments thus far have looked at direct impacts, like on marine vertebrates and if and how their physiology is being effected. Dr. SimonRundle and colleagues from the University of Plymouth in England, however, decided to look at an indirect effect on the behavior of the animal. Their studies have shown that increasing acidity disrupts the common periwinkle (sea snail)'s defense mechanisms.

Normally, these sea snails respond to predators (crabs) by either thickening their shell to protect against being crushed by a claw, or they practice an avoidance behavior where they crawl out of sight. The shell thickening behavior is thought to be caused by chemical signals emitted by the crab that is detected by the snail.

When Dr. Rundle examined the effect of more acidic water only on shell thickening, the result was null. There was no effect on shell thickening from more acidic seawater alone. However, once crabs were introduced to the experiment,the results quickly changed. The snails in normal water increased their shell thickness when crabs were present, but the snails in the more acidic water did very little thickening or none at all. This shows that the acidity disrupts the behavioral process in some way.

These same researchers found that the snails in the acidic water with crabs present increased their avoidance behavior. This is rather interesting because is seems that there is a trade off present. This is an important find because it shows that unless scientists are looking for behavioral changes and indirect effects, the results of acidification of seawater may go undetected.

This article is from the New York Times Science Section and can be found here.

Posted By: Katie Ensor (9)

The Invasion of the Wild Turkeys!

In the 1930's these native birds were almost hunted to extinction in North America. Thanks to reintroduction efforts there are about seven million wild turkeys and are living in suburban America. Some of these wild turkeys have been spotted strolling around downtown Manhattan and other areas of New England. Many biologists are surprised with how well they have adapted to the suburban America and how they do not need the thought 6,000 acres of contiguous forest habitat.

The public has had some mixed feelings about them (some say that these animals are big and scary and others are entertained by their presence). Gregonis, wildlife biologist with the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection, tells frightened callers that they have to show the aggressive birds who's boss. Gregonis stated that conflicts between the birds and humans are rare so you do not have to harass them. The few conflicts are caused by young birds trying to establish their domain and one should not be threatened, they are just trying to show you that they are in charge. Gregonis also added that people should not feed them because this might increase their aggressiveness. Other than that, they are harmless and very fun to watch.

Article from: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/11/071119-wild-turkeys.html

Posted by Carmen B. Arsuaga (9)

Apes Dispersed From Africa?

In Nakali, Kenya a 10-million-year-old jawbone with teeth was found in deposits of volcanic mud. Yukata Kunimatsu of Kyoto University in Japan and colleagues reported that this fossil is the first vintage to be found in the region since 1982. The discovery of this jawbone is believed to represent a new genus of great ape which has been named Nakalipithecus nakayama. Researchers say that this fossil bears resemblance to a slightly younger, less prehistoric fossil found in Greece. The finding of Nakalipithecus nakayama suggests that there were at least some large apes in East Africa before the human-gorilla divergence. All of these findings suggest that apes were most likely dispersing out of Africa.


Posted by Kayla Carrero(9)

Plankton to the Rescue?

Of all the carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases we have released up until this point, half of them have been absorbed into the ocean. You might wonder why and where it all goes to in there. Apparently, plankton have the ability to increase their carbon dioxide intake as more and more of the gas dissolves into water. In relation to global temperatures, this definitely bodes well. However, it could have negative, possibly even catastrophic affects on deep-sea ecosystems.

Led by Ulf Riebesell, he and a team of scientists held a series of experiments using three water samples collected from the Raunefjord in Norway. Into the first sample, they simulated the amount of carbon dioxide present in the oceans today, and into the other two their estimates of the amount of carbon dioxide in the years 2100 and 2150. Remarkably, they found that as the amount of gas increased, the faster the plankton incorporated it into photosynthesis and even increased the amount they took in by up to 39%. Then, when the carbon dioxide-enriched plankton die and sink to the bottom of the ocean, they essentially make way for more carbon dioxide to be absorbed, leading Riebesell to conclude that “…the biology in the oceans is significantly affecting the global climate system.”

While this may be a positive thing for those of us above the surface, it may be at the expense of those below it. As the carbon dioxide sinks with the plankton, it will seriously deplete the amounts of oxygen found at the very bottom of the sea. This will have serious consequences for the ecosystems found at there, over time possibly wiping them out. Also, it has been found that crustaceans that feed on the carbon dioxide-enriched plankton matured slowly and were unable to radiate as well. It makes you wonder what may happen over time to other, larger marine life that also feed on plankton, but may not have such visible consequences at this time. While much more research is needed in order to look into the benefits and consequences that the plankton will provide, it is easy to see that they will be both great and tragic.

Posted by Elizabeth Adams (9)

Rats Weight Cost and Benefit

Van den Bos, a scientist at Utrecht University in the Netherlands and his tem text whether or not rat weight the cost of benefit when they forage for food like humans. For human, we will weigh the costs and the benefits of a situation before making decisions to buy something or get something. We always comparer the value of the item and the cost of it before decide to buy it or not. And Van den Bos tried to see if rat think like human on decisions making.

He and his team used Wistar rats as the object of this experiment. They first put the Wistar rats at the bottom of the T-shaped maze, and then they set up one arm of the maze with low reward but easily to get to, while the other arm of the maze with high reward but had to climb steep barriers to get to. By using this maze, he and his team can conclude whether Wistar rats do decisions making or not.

At first the Wistar rats will go for the low reward but when they notice there is high reward on the other arm, they will go for higher reward even they need to go though obstacles. But when the pain yields too little reward with too much effect, they will go back to the low reward instead. And the result of this experiment is that Wistar rats do weigh costs and benefits of a situation before making decisions to go which way.

Animal Planet News --Study: Rats Weight Cost and Benefit
http://animal.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060612/smartrat.html

Posted By: Kyle Chiang (9)

The Problems with Zorses

If you were to ask a zoo keeper which animal was the most dangerous, what answer would you expect? Would you expect them to talk about the tigers? Or maybe the grizzlies? Heck, even the bobcats can take their fair share of kills right? Would you believe him if he told you it was the zebras?

I mean...come on...they're just striped horses, right?

Zebras have actually earned the nickname “keeper killers” and they take that honor seriously. Most animals will run away once your down, but a zebra won't leave you alone until you are dead. There have been cases of zebras biting people and not letting go. Most people think that because a zebra looks like a horse, it most likely acts like one, however that could not be further from the truth. Zebras did not get along on the plains without learning a good healthy fear for primates and a few natural defenses to go with it. A good kick from a zebra has been known to kill a pursuing lion or hyena. Zebra stallions are particularly dangerous, and in zoo situations are known for attacking anything unfamiliar in a new habitat.

Unfortunately, there has been a recent trend in horse-people buying and breeding zebras as though they were merely striped horses. Here is one example. In fact, the link also raises hybrids called Zorses (and yes, zebras and horse can interbreed).Zorses and the like even have their own registry!Sadly, if you google “pet zebra” you get too many hits to name. The sites get even better when you add “sale” to the search field

Personally I think that this is a ridiculous endeavor to breed freaks that might put human life at risk. Wild animals are not domesticated and an animal as large and dangerous as a zebra should never be kept as a pet. Many of these zebra fanatics tell that zebras are trainable if you don't treat them like a horse. They do comment that the fight or flight instincts are always at the surface though. They spook more easily, and react more violently when the “fight” response is triggered. The websites selling them gloss over their more dangerous behaviors telling that it's the handlers fault when things go wrong. I agree, it's the handler's fault. It's the handler's fault for being dumb enough to buy a wild animal and keep it in a barn as a pet! Many of the people buying these animals are by no means experts on the species, which quickly becomes apparent through looking at the links that pop up.

Domesticated animals are the result of many generations of selective breeding, choosing the animals with the best temperaments to produce calm progeny so that eventually the animals are docile enough to be handled regularly. Not all domestic horses are easily handled, some can be very dangerous, especially some stallions. However, unlike the zebra, we have specific methods of dealing with domestic stock that do not work on their wild brethren. Zebras are physically stronger than horses, and their horse-looks and small stature makes many underestimate what they are capable of.Although there is a class for them in the american donkey and mule association, they strongly encourage anyone looking to get one to gain a lot of experience beforehand.

The people that promote the zorse and zonkey breeding programs tout that this is an “incredible research opportunity” to learn about hybrids. They talk about how much can be learned by studying their behaviors. This may be the case, however none of the websites are written by or deal with real scientists. Most sell their stock as pets into homes (most are being sold and used as “pasture ornaments”).

Further places to go for information

A fact sheet from the Philadelphia zoo

Animal Science 103 goes into zebra behavior a little, Lecturer Nancy Malcuit's speech on zebras is quite funny.

Moose Develop Innovative Birthing Strategies in Response to Grizzly Population Boom

A recent rise in the grizzly bear population of Yellowstone, bringing them out of the realm of being endangered, has led to an interesting habit of pregnant female moose. Over the past few years, as grizzlys became more numerous, park rangers began to notice more and more females give birth to young within a relatively short distance of the few roads that run through the massive national park. Joel Berger of the Wildlife Conservation Society did his own study of the situation, tracking the roaming habits of moose that had, or were about to have, offspring. He found that those that lived in areas with a high bear population tended to wander much closer to roads than those that lived where there were fewer bears. His theory is that moose mothers that have had their children preyed on by grizzly bears have learned of the bears' fear of roads, a fear that park rangers have devised means to encourage throughout the years in order to avoid bear-human confrontations. So, in essence, the moose are using people as a tool to avoid grizzlys. Savvy.

Posted by Jeff Smith

Pollution Without A Solution

Animals are begining to act strange and it is partially caused by environmental pollution. Fish are more active, frogs are becoming dumber, seagulls are falling over and mice are no longer afraid. Endocrine disrupters, including heavy metals and PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls, have been linked to the bizarre behaviors being noticed more often in different animal species. These chemicals are knownn to have some effects on wildlife and their behaviors but now it has been seen that these pollutants can affect an animals' physiological chemistry and even change animal sex organs.

Research on many different bird species including egrets, quials, gulls, and falcons, fish species such as minnows and mosquito fish and a variety of other species including macaques, frogs, rats, and snails has proven to reveal starting changes in their behaviors. Some of the particular behaviors altered have been noted including, mating, parenting, nest building, learning, avoidance tactics, foraging and even balance. One particular example includes male starlings and a %50 decrease in singing, displaying, flying and foraging activities when introduced to a dicrotophos insecticide. Another bird example is seen in male western gulls who try to mate with each other after hatching. This is seen in comparison with the level of DDT exposed to them while in the egg. It has also been noted that lead affects the ability of a gull to balance itself both in the air and on land.

Regretably, these behaviors often go unnoticed by many toxicologists and are only recently being linked to the strange new activities of different species. Ethan Clotfelter of Amherst College states,

You might see behavioral effects long before you see a population crash

and Dustin Penn of the Konrad Lorenz Institute of Comparative Ethology at the Austrian Academy of Sciences in Vienna also says,

The most important point is the incredible amount of evidence that this is a widepsread problem.

Not only are these endocrine disrupters affecting animal behavior but it has been revealed that different concentrations of chemicals can have different effects. AN an example would include male mice who increase their scent-marking behavior while exposed to low doses of pesticides but decrease it when expose to much larger concentrations of the the same pesticide. More tests need to be run and more research to be done but there is now more evidence that pollution is causing problems and we need to clean up after ourselves.

iRoach a Useful Tool to Manipulate Behavior

Cockroaches are a very interesting model system for many aspects of animal behavior. In a recent study conducted at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium, cockroaches swarming behavior can be controlled by tiny robots designed to smell and behave like roaches. When a group of roaches were placed with these tiny robots they usually stay around it, even when they were in undesirable conditions (such as brightly-lit areas).

The researchers programmed these tiny roach-sized robots to behave like cockroaches by having them move back and forth in several different "shaded" regions in a small area with a group of cockroaches. The cockroach robots would then stop in between two shaded regions and the researchers observed the cockroach behavior. The cockroaches followed the robot, and stayed in the lit area even though it is against their behavioral rules to stay in a lit area when there are other darker areas in the environment.

This study is interesting to behaviorists because it shows that even the most difficult to tame animals can be controlled using robotic mechanisms.

Source
Posted by Christine Tauras (8)

Death Adder's Eating Habits

For some snakes the ingestion of their prey could be the recipe for their own death. In the case for one Australian snake it has evolved a specific behavioral trait that enables it to continue on with its life. The death adder likes to dine on frogs, however some of these desired meals are highly toxic. In response to this the death adder altered its feeding pattern by simply waiting to ingest its prey. The death adder stabs its prey with its hollow fangs and injects its venom into it killing it instantly. In response to this the frogs native to that area have evolved certain traits that aid in their survival. Some frogs have evolved longer legs for bigger jumps or chemical substances that taste bad and or kill its predator.

Two ecologists Ben Phillips and Richard Shine from the University of Sydney in Australia decided to study the snake’s general feeding behavior. They placed it into a glass tank and fed it a variety of different types of frogs. Some of these frogs were poisoness while others were not. When the non-poisoness ones were dropped in their tanks they attacked and killed it and instantly ingested it. For two other species the death adders knew to alter their habits. The marbled frog produced a gluelike substance on its skin when irritated. In response the death adder would kill it and wait ten minutes to eat it. These ten minutes were a specific amount of time that the gluelike substance needed in order to degrade and loose its stickiness. When the adder would eat the deadly Dahl’s aquatic frog, it would wait 40 minutes after killing it to ingest it. The reason being is, it takes at least 40 minutes for the frogs poison to degrade into something that the snake can safely eat. These results revealed the snakes unusual ability to adapt to its habitat and out evolve other species quicker.

Posted by Francis Rogers

Parasites Linked to Odd Breeding Habits in Amphibians

Most people know that frogs lay their eggs in streams and ponds, where they then hatch as tadpoles and develop into the adult form over time. There are many benefits to this type of breeding behavior but the main reason is the large food supply. There is also some disadvantages, one being risk of exposure to parasites. When many amphibians are forced to breed in the same place, the likelihood that they will be exposed to parasites is raised dramatically. One researcher from the University of Georgia believes that these parasites have sparked some very odd evolutionary paths relating to the breeding patterns of certain amphibians.

Brian Todd, the Ecologist behind the idea, notes that there are many strange amphibian breeding habits to be found in nature:

"Take, for instance, the Darwin’s frog, the species that swallows its eggs and, a few weeks later, regurgitates its young. Or the marsupial frog, a species that carries its eggs on its back until they hatch. Several species lay eggs in small puddles on land or high up in trees where they hatch as miniature versions of adults, bypassing the larval stage entirely."

He suggests that such habits could be adaptations that have been naturally selected for due to the threat of parasites in lakes and ponds. With enough parasites present, the cost of being inside the pond outweighs the benefits.

Todd hopes that his hypothesis will be tested in the future and even offered a few ideas to help speed up the process. He believes that parasites have been overlooked by most scientists when it comes to their effect on evolution and hopes that people will begin to realize the effects they can have. Amphibians, he predicts, will play a key role in this realization.

Source: Science News

Posted by Ben Tummino (8)

Killer Whales Attempt to Put the Past Behind Them

A recent study conducted by Michael Noonan suggests that much like humans, killer whales show “making up” behavior. This new information comes from over 2,800 hours of videotape recordings, form MarineLand in Niagara Falls. Although aggressive behavior among these marine mammals is normally rare, the footage captured 21 brief disputes. Most of the quarrels identified were complicated because they were between a few different whales. However 8 of these spats were apparent and occurred between mother and father killer whales.

In each of these interactions the mother whale would chase the father until he would perform tricks to evade his partner and get away. Then the two would separate for a “cooling off period” for about 10 minutes. After this occurs one might assume that the whales would just go about their normal routines as if nothing had happened but surprisingly the two would join again and begin to swim together side by side. This synchronous swim is referred to as “echelon swimming”. This peacemaking display would go on for another 10 minutes or so.

It is important to mention that the behavior I’ve just described has only been observed with killer whales in captivity. Apparently wild Orcas do not display these scuffles with family members. However in the wild pods of whales have been observed doing this echelon swimming after conflicts with another pod. This behavior seems to both calm the group and mend social bonds.

Posted By: Caitlin Sanders

Source:
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2006/816/3

Heating Things Up

It has been known that squirrels often shake their tails at snakes while defending their young from them. However a recent study has shown that squirrels heat up their tails when warding off rattlesnakes, utilizing the reptile's infared vision. The squirrels shake their tails more vigorously in the presence of a rattlesnake than a gopher snake who cannot see infared. Researchers used an infared camera to document the tail waving which included a temperature raise of four degrees Farenheit. They also used a robotic squirrel with a heated tail to observe rattlsnake reactions. The snakes were especially alert when the robotic tail was raised to the same temperature as that of a living squirrel's. Squirrels are partially immune to rattlesnake venom, and the results suggets that they have developed heated tails specifically for rattlesnake communication. The study is a good example of a type of animal communication that humans are essentially blind to.

Posted by Gina Sciartilli (8)

A FISH WITH ALL SORTS OF TRICKS UP ITS SLEEVE HAS RESEARCHERS BAFFLED.

Scientists on a trip to Guatemala City have come across the weirdest yet most fascinating discovery so far. They had kicked over a log and to their surprise had fish jumping at them from everywhere. Scientists were baffled at this, and wondered where these fishes came from? There was not enough water anywhere near there for there to support fish as we know. But this species known as The Mangrove Rivulus, has a very key animal behavior. It can breathe underwater and on land, and it can do so for many months.

It has been discovered that this species of fish can live on land when there habitat dries up. They are found to live on logs and they have been recorded to have grown as long as 3 centimeters. More interestingly, they have also been found living in crab burrows, coconut shells, and my favorite old beer cans. It seems that the fish is able to breathe in the air through its skin, instead of its gills, till it finds water again. They took the fish into the laboratory and were shocked to discover that the fish could survive for up to 66 days without water and food. Somehow, their metabolism is still functional.

Even though other fish have been known to be able to breathe out of water, such as the walking catfish, this is the first case of a fish living up to 66 days without water. They drop their metabolic rate down significantly to survive without food for so long. Another interesting feature of these fish is their sex life. It seems that they have both testes and ovaries present in their system and thus basically lay fertilized eggs.

To the scientific community, this discovery is important for many reasons. Again the boundaries of what we know and believe have been pushed beyond our previous belifs. Also its a pretty cool fish, and seems to be very interesting. However the main importance is the impact it has on our evolution. It is theorized that there was life in the water first and then eventually it moved out onto the land. This fish could be a link to this transition and thus has raised eyes. It seems the enviornment the fish live in now could be similar to that of millions of years ago, and thus such an ability is strongly selected for. Hopefully more studies will come soon with more interesting fishes like these.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSN1421612420071114?feedType=RSS&feedName=scienceNews&pageNumber=1

Posted By, Kirubakaran Sivagurunathan (8)

Crustacean Mitigation:
How the invertebrate lobster uses magnetic fields for orientation.




Animals use a variety of mechanisms in order to move around in space. Many vertebrates use odor, sun and magnetic compasses in order to perceive direction. One of the best examples of this is with the homing pigeon, which uses the Earths magnetic field in order to orient itself on its journey. If these sophisticated vertebrates have evolved these sensory systems, what have the lowly invertebrates devised to cope with their environment? The answer for one invertebrate, the Caribbean Spiny Lobster, might be surprising.

Recently researchers from UNC noticed something peculiar with the Caribbean Spiny Lobster, a crustacean indigenous in the western Atlantic( around Brazil), the fact that it seemed to possess some form of navigation capabilities that allowed it to return to its “home” when displaced by researchers. Tests of this particular lobster documented its exceptional navigation but what did it use? When the researchers caught a lobster and transported it in a convoluted trip to another spot, in order to “try” to disorient the lobster, they noticed that the tethered lobsters continuously oriented in the compass direction in which they were taken from. The theory was that the lobsters used the Earths magnetic field in a manner similar to that of the Homing Pigeon, so to test this theory they caught over one hundred lobsters and performed a series of experiments. Some of the captured lobsters were transported to another location and simply tethered to see which direction they would orient while other lobsters were placed into an “induced” magnetic field around where they were tethered. The tests conclusively showed that the lobsters tethered with the “induced” magnetic field were incapable of orienting to the location where they were displaced from while their brethren without the induced field were successfully able to orient toward their home. Their findings proved that the Caribbean Spiny Lobster did possess a “magnetic compass” similar to that of the homing pigeon. So far, only the spiny lobster has been shown to posess the magnetic compass, but other crustaceans have yet to be fully studied, so the jurys out. Apparently invertebrates are more sophisticated than we might have perceived :-)

Posted by Doug Zelisko (8)

Vampire Moths!?!?

Maybe you folks don't find insects as inherently interesting as I do, but I'll share my findings from a recent article published in Insect Behavior anyway, because I think it's pretty cool.

The existence of blood-feeding moths was unknown to me until reading this highly informative paper (Zaspel et al., 2007), despite the existence and behaviors of this genus (Calyptra) having been known since at least 1983. This article describes a species of vampire moth that has been found in Russia, whereas previously species with blood-feeding species had only been reported from southern Europe and Asia and eastern Africa.

The vast majority of Lepidopterans (moths and butterflies) do not even have the ability to digest protein (they lack proteinases), and while no analysis of the digestive capabilities has been completed, it seems as if this group must have evolved this trait.

This study only determined that this species (C. thalictri) will feed on blood under experimental conditions, although other members of the genus have been documented feeding on ungulates and even humans under natural conditions. The flesh-piercing, blood-sucking traits seem to have been derived from fruit-piercing behaviors. It was also observed by this study that only the males can be induced to feed on blood. This is unusual in insects because it is normally the female who is a obligate blood-feeder because the protein is required for the development of offspring (mosquitoes and other Dipterans). Other moths of this genus are not obligate blood-feeders, but rather only facultatively or opportunistically feed on blood when other substrates (fruit or nectar) are not available. It should be noted however, that these moths have the morphology to pierce fruit and even skin, because the proboscis is more heavily sclerotized than Lepidopterans that only feed on nectar. The proboscis of C. thalictri is even equipped with "tearing" barbed hooks, a feature most moths and butterflies lack.

One of the best features of this article was all of the color graphics that were included. If you are in this class then chanced are you are UMass student and therefore have access to this article through E-journals. You really should check out the eerie pictures of moths feeding on peoples' hands and the coiled mouthparts dripping with blood. There is even a neat picture of the barbed proboscis.

I'm not sure I would have liked to have participated in this study however, because some people agreed to let these moths feed on their blood despite the possibility of the moths being a vector for some vertebrate disease. These people were not even identified in the acknowledgments.

posted by: Morkeski (7)

Another Way For Frogs To Communicate

Animals have a unique ability to overcome the obstacles created by their enviroment. However only a small percentage have developed the use of usltrasound as a mechanism for hunting and communication. We can now add the Concave Torrent Frog to the list.
This frog lives in Huangshan Hot Springs in Shanghi. In this area there are mountains and waterfalls. The waterfalls must be a beautiful sight but presented a problem for the local frogs. The load roar of the water mask the lower frequency of mating calls. These frogs then evolved a mating call in males are composed of ultrasound. Albert Feng of the University of Illinois studied these frogs by recording them. The calls at times went beyond the recorder's 128 kilohertz range. addition to the mating calls Feng also was able to disover why frogs don't have external eardrums.
"Thin eardrums are needed for detection of ultrasound," said Feng. "Recessed ears shorten the path between the eardrums and the ear, enabling the transmission of ultrasound to the ear."
The concave torrent frog is an example of how animals evolve to adapt to their enviroment. Before this frogs were never considered to be an animal capable of producing ultrasounds. That role was saved for bats,dolphins and whales. It seems that we need to keep an open mind with the abilities of other animals and how they communicate.

Source:http://animal.discovery.com/news/afp/20060313/frog.html

posted by Kelly Pollard(7)

Bee Stings

Different animals and habitats call for different and specialized defense mechanisms. Some animals bite, others scratch, some use poisons, and others sting. Honeybees sting and have specialized their stinging method to target mammals. Bees, ants, wasps, and sawflies are all part of the order of Hymenoptera. Honeybees are the only insect in the order to have a barbed stinger. The original use of the stinger was for "bee to bee combat". Over time the bees evolved so that barbs grew on the stingers and would be stuck into a mammal or bird's flesh. Honeybees will only sting if they fell their hive is being threatened. After stinging their victim the stinger may detach from the bee's abdomen; this leads to the bee's death within minutes. When stung by a bee the victim is injected with apitoxin. This honeybee venom acts as an anticoagulant and causes inflammation at the site of the sting. When a bee stings, it releases pheremones which are picked up by other bees in the hive and this may lead to numerous other bees joining in on attacking the "predator". No matter how large or small, all organisms have a specialized defense mechanism.

Bee Sting <-- link to original article

i thought it was interesting to compare the bee "attack" to mobbing. i would say it is a form, i too thought it was interesting that pheromones were released that "called" the other bees to attack as well.... who knew bees were so complex!?

thank you for the awesome comments!!!

Posted by Jennifer McGrath (7)

Back Stabbing Bears

Something has changed in the Polar Bears over in the Beaufort Sea. Studies have shown that some Polar Bears are going to desperate measures to overcome the struggle that Global Warming has bestowed upon them. The big, white mammals have resorted to cannibalism- yet another red flag to emphasize how severe and problematic Global Warming really is.

For the past 24 years in the sea regions of Alaska and 34 years in Canada, never had scientists seen a polar bear stalk, hunt, kill, and eat one of their own kinds. The first incident occurred in January 2004 when a male Polar Bear pounded through the roof of a den where a mother and her two baby cubs were. During the attack as the snow came crumbling down, the cubs were buried and suffocated under the snow. He then mauled the mother polar bear, holding down her smaller body while biting her neck and head. He dragged the dead carcass 245 feet away to eat.

In a span of four months (January-April 2004), there were three accounts of Polar Bears preying each other, a new phenomenon that is shocking environmentalists and scientists.

As glaciers and sea ice melt, Polar Bears are losing their areas to feed, mate, and give birth. Steven Amstrup of the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Sceince Center said that,

“Polar bears kill each other for population regulation, dominance, and reproductive advantage, the study said. Killing for food seems to be less common,”

insinuating that as their living space is decreasing, there is simply not enough room or even food—and the animals are picking up and acting on this fact.

The longer seasons without ice keep them from getting to their natural food. An article from www.terradaily.com states that

“Bears in the region were "noticeably" thin because they had been forced to spend the summers either on ice over deep water, where there were fewer seals to hunt, or else on land, where foraging opportunities were poor,”

insinuating that as their living space is decreasing, there is simply not enough room or even food—and the animals are picking up and acting on this fact.

The other mangled Polar Bear carcasses (both of cubs and adults) found in seas near both Alaska and Canada are leading scientists to expect to see more and more of this backstabbing behavior as the ice cap continues to melt.

It is very clear now how the lack of resources due to Global Warming has affected these particular animals. But the drastic climate changes will also inevitably alter other parts of the food chain and Polar Bears will not be the only species struggling and turning on each other to survive. It is only a small example of the problems that Global Warming will continue to bestow on our environment.

Posted By: Natalie Nicholson (7)

How Graceful They Soar through the Sky

Thought I was talking about birds, huh? Nope. Sharks. How many people can say they've seen a shark fly?
Everyone has heard of great white sharks. Fearsome predators of the sea, who are know to have about 3000 teeth at one time. They have an average length of 7 to 20 feet. Although they are found in numerous different places, including Florida, the largest number of great whites can be found around Africa. There is a place, right off the tip of South Africa, where you will find the most unique great white sharks you've ever seen.
In a place called Seal Island, False Bay, South Africa great white sharks can be seen regularly doing a "flying" behavior.
Around this part of Africa, the great white sharks have learned to "fly" out of the water, or breach. It is a hunting behavior. The majority of Great White breachings can be seen from May through October, the height of hunting around South Africa. The great white shark will come from deep in the ocean. When it finds its prey of choice, usually a seal, it will shoot out of the water (at about 35 mph), catching its prey on the way up. The seal never saw it coming. Though there have been reports of humans killed by sharks, there are no reported breaching shark attacks. There was a report of a seal being chased by a great white trying to jump into a boat of marine biologists. The shark bit into the side of the boat, but no one (including seal) was hurt.
Though great white sharks are the most commonly seen breaching, Mako sharks are also capable of flying out of the water. Both of these sharks have been seen soaring out of the water and even doing somersaults in the air.


Posted by: Christine McConville (7)

As we all know, Chickadees are small birds with black capes and they live throughout the US. They get their name from their bird call. When they sing, they're actually saying Chika-dee-dee-dee. Chickadees are usually found in small groups when they are nesting, and when the nesting period is over, they flock in groups of a dozen to forage until spring. When the Chickadees do not have mates, they normally move to another flock to find mates. They are usually found in a normal suburban backyard. Chickadees can store their food in the spring and go back to the exact hiding spot even after two months. This is what makes them very amazing.



Posted by: Peanutbutter& Jelly

The Beautiful Color of Neurons

Scientists have developed a new way to map the structure of the brain. They have genetically altered neurons in mice so that they can trace each neuron when it fires. They did this by extracting genes from coral and jellyfish which make glowing proteins, and then inserting them into the mice. When a mouse has a thought the glowing proteins spread across the neural network. The mouse is then euthanized and its nervous system sliced into viewable portions. These portions are analyzed with a confocal microscope under different lasers creating fluorescent images. These images are affectionately called "Brainbows" by Dr. Jeff Lichtman of Harvard University.

In the images each neuron shows a different shade of color allowing signals to be traced through the brain. This allows the researchers to map the neuronal traffic through the brain. Understanding this neuronal map and its different connections will hopefully provide a deeper understanding of behavioral disorders that may stem from erroneous "wiring" in the neural network.

I imagine that this will also allow for a deeper understanding of animal behavior and the neuronal process that occurs under different situations. This could be a great leap over studies which have only been able to look at a relatively small amount of neurons at a time, like in insects or crayfish. And at the very least I think it produces some great images. It is unfortunate that each mouse has to die, but perhaps that can be circumvented in the future as the method is improved.

Posted by Kyle McCarthy (7)

Making decisions while considering the cost and benefit

A study conducted by Ruud van den Bos on Wistar rats evaluated the process by which decisions are made, and was able to show that rats use similar processes as human in order to estimate the cost versus benefits of a particular option before choosing it.

Unlike humans, rats are often placed in a position where they are obligated to make most of their decisions under a great amount of stress, because many factors that have to be considered are usually not under their control. In other words, a human who is considering buying a car must take into consideration the cost of the car with their ability to be able to make payments every month. If an expensive car is wanted, one has the ability to work the number of jobs necessary to pay for it. On the other hand, "In its natural habitat, rats are facing the problem that little is under their control, so they are facing various levels and forms of uncertainty all the time. For instance, the quality and amount of food items at patches varies over time and between different patches, thus benefits are not always the same", says Ruud Van Den Bos.

To support the statements above, Van Den Bos’ study was done by constructing a T-shaped maze with different steepness barriers that had the ability to be controlled by the experimenter. The maze was connected with two arms, one possessing a pellet of sugar while the other had three or more sugar treats. At first, rats climbed the less steep barriers in order to get to the pellet of sugar that was on the other side, but after attempting to climb the steeper barrier that resulted in a reward of three or more pellets of sugar they decided that it was worth the extra energy, therefore, continued to only climb the steep barriers that resulted in a bigger reward. This behavior was discontinued after signs of pain were manifested in the limbs, thus making the rodents stick with the barrier resulting in one pellet of sugar considering that the pain yielded to little gain after no longer being hungry.

This experiment enabled researchers to support the hypothesis that rats behave by calculating what the cost and benefit of their action will yield. Going back to the car purchaser example above, if a car is purchased over one’s budget, one will have to expend more energy to pay for it since more than one job will be required. Is it worth it?
Most human would say no. This study also had the ability to examine how much energy an individual is willing to expand in order to be rewarded.

Posted by Vanessa Raphaël (7)

Another Reason to Watch What You Eat

There’s something in the water, and it’s not a good thing. A new study conducted by the University of Pittsburg has found that extracts from channel catfish caught from heavily polluted waters can cause estrogen-sensitive breast cancer cells to multiply. The fish tested in the study were caught from the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers close to Pittsburg. The channel catfish can concentrate fat soluble chemicals from their environment in their bodies, which gives an insight to what is going on the water. The chemicals found indicate the possibility that pharmaceutical waste, specifically estrogen and xeno-estrogen chemicals are ending up in the water supply, which supplies drinking water to the surrounding areas.

The study was conducted by Dr. Conrad Volz principal investigator of department of environmental and occupational health at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. Along with colleagues, he exposed extracts of channel fish to estrogen-responsive and estrogen non-responsive human breast cancer cells. In the estrogen-responsive cells, the exposure the extracts caused a multiplying of cells by binding and activating estrogen receptors. The extracts had no effect on the estrogen non-responsive cells.

This brings up serious questions says Dr. Volz, “In Pittsburgh alone, 16 billion gallons of raw, untreated sewage are deposited into area rivers every year with major implications for public health.” The next step in research will be to identify the specific chemicals that are mimicking estrogen, as well as their sources and how they are getting into the water in the first place. This research will be extremely important for women because the environment is increasingly emitting estrogen through the breakdown of various substances, including plastics.

Posted by amolina (7)

WATCH IT TOM! EXPERTS FIND FEARLESS JERRIES

As we all know from watching Tom and Jerry, they dont get along much, as it is in real life. Mouses are well known for their sense of fear, and their quick response to any signs of danger. Scientists in Japan believe that the main cause of this is their excellent sense of smell. To test this they decided to shut down certain receptors in the brain that deal with smell and were suprised at their results.

The scientists removed parts of the brain, especially certain receptors on the olfactory bulb. The results end up making Jerries that have no fear of Tom. The brown mouses are seen an inch of cats, playing with the cats and sniffing up the ear and kissing the ears. It is believed that mouses have ability to smell their predators, and the smell triggers a signal that alerts them of danger. But with the part of their brain that can detect these smells gone, they have virtually created mouses that have no fear, for they can not sense it.

To test their hypothesis, they had two lines of mouses. One with the operation, and the other control wild type. They exposed the mice to urine samples of their predators. The control mice smelled the urine then ran the other way. However , the mices with the operation did not react at all. The only response was curiosity, but no sign of fear. Later when the mouses were put next to cats, they reacted playfully and with curiosity. It is important to note however, the cats had to be fed before introducing them to the mouses, so as to prevent any accidents.

Posted By, Swetha Raghavan (7)

Can our coral reefs recover?

Coral reefs are the center of the marine environments ecosystems. They are colorful, rich in nutrients, and the home of many algae and fish within the marine environment, but the coral reefs existence could be short lived, proving devastating consequences to the marine environment. A research team from the universities of Exeter and California Davis discovered that over fishing, seaweed, and sewage management are devastating the coral reefs in the Caribbean. Professor Peter Mumby of the University of Exeter http://www.sciencedaily.com and his team tested weather or not coral reefs that were overgrown with algae, like seaweed could overcome its impact if factors such as over fishing and pollution were eliminated.

Peter Mumby and his team found that coral reefs could not overcome any contamination brought on by algae, pollution or over fishing leaving them permanently unhealthy. These findings suggest devastating consequences for the marine environment. If one aspect is eliminated or becomes overgrown in an ecosystem it causes a domino effect to other contributing factors in the ecosystem. This was shown in the 1980’s on the coral reefs, with the over fishing to near extinction of the herbivorous urchin, Diadema antillarum. This grazing urchin along with the parrotfish, who are now being over fished, control the seaweed growth in the environment allowing the corals appropriate space to grow to full development, and with the extinction of these grazing urchin’s the coral reefs lifespan is in great danger.

In order to allow the coral reefs to thrive, actions such as stopping over fishing of the parrotfish and Diadema antillarum need to be regulated and pollution needs to be eliminated. If regulations can be put in place and enforced then the coral reefs can keep contributing nutrients, algae, and homes to the marine environment. But without such actions then we will see a great decline in all aspects of the marine ecosystem.

Posted By: Rachel McMahon (7)

The Identity Crisis of Black Sea Bass

Today, the Black Sea Bass can be found on many restaurant menus, which is probably why their populations in the wild are starting to decline. In order to satisfy the popular demand, they have become a candidate for aquaculture on the east coast, the only problem being that they have a tendency to unpredictably change their sex while in captivity.

Assistant professor of zoology, David Berlinsky, at the University of New Hampshire has been granted funding from the NH Sea Grant to study what triggers the sex reversal in the black sea bass. According to Berlinsky, black sea bass are first born as females and then turn into males somewhere between 2 and 5 years old. However, it seems that the bass tend to turn into males faster when brought into captivity. Due to some of the research he has conducted, Berlinsky believes that the temperature of the water and the sex ratio of all the sea bass in captivity play a key role in the sex change of the sea bass. For example, Berlinksky discovered that the fish were more likely to become males if raised at constant temperatures. Additionally, females were more likely to change sex when there were no males present in the tanks or when there too many fish in the tanks in general.

Posted by Luzviminda Maurillo (6)

On Lemurs and Primates
Flying lemurs, or colugos, are currently the primates’ closest relative. The primate includes the human species along with monkeys, and apes. Researchers from the biological field are currently racing to sequence the genes of primates’ nearest relative. In fact these lemurs, which aren’t really lemurs at all, are really closely related to the squirrel family. Colugos could possibly finish the evolutionary tree puzzle that would inform scientists when and where the different primate groups branched off from one another. Scientists estimate that the colugo, the primates’ closest relative, branched from primates some 86 million years ago. Today colugos are divided in two different species, the Cynocephalus in the Philippines which is listed as vulnerable, and Galeopterus in southeast Asia. In fact lemurs, which the colugos so deceptively get their name, are primates themselves. The sequencing of the colugo genes could give the scientific community the ability to compare more primate genes, therefore leading us to the first primate species to have evolved off of the tree of life. A clearer picture of what we may have been like in the beginning, what we may have been before we diverged.

The closest ancestor between the order dermoptera, thats colugos, and primates, thats us, is euarchonta a superorder that is divided into four orders including colugos and primates. The euarchonta is an early mammal that is shrew-like, and diverged into the four orders that include primates and colugos. Of the three other orders the colugo happens to be our closest relative. Now that we understand the relationship between the dermoptera and the primate, it is imperitave that we sequence the genes of the colugo.

So where can we move with such information? Where can we take the biological field with information about the colugos? With such advances in DNA sequencing allowing further insight to our own species we may one day be able to find our origins as a human species.

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071101/full/news.2007.213.html

Posted by Antonio Hernandez (6)

I was reading an article online about African Killer Bees and i have to say that i am pretty scared of what they can and are about to do. African Killer Bees originate from southern Africa and were imported in 1956 when a Brazilian scientist tried to colonize them with European honey bees. They escaped the quarantine in 1957 and have been colonizing central and southern America ever since. Even reports have shown that California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona have reported AKB deaths and attacks.
Their venom in not any more hurtful then a regular honey bee, but they do tend to attack in much more larger units. When they first started to attack, people just thought that it was because people were "invading" their territory, but more studies have shown that they can even attack when they hear noises and vibrations. They usually colonize in places like hollow trees, porches, walls, sheds, utility boxes, attics, garbage containers and abondened vehicles.
I think that there could be a way for us to minimize this problem, especially if they are planning to move to north America soon. I think there should be scientists that could be well prepared to take on these vicious creatures and eventually exterminate them. I don't know about you, but i could live without bees. I could live without honey if that meant that bees would be exinct as well. We are coming up wit enough technology so that in a few years we will not need bees to get the honey for us.
Valerie Hines
http://www.desertusa.com/mag98/sep/stories/kbees.html

Numerical Perception of Monkeys

We all are aware of the numerous abilities of monkeys and their close mammalian features to humans. One particular feature that was recently explored and researched was a monkey’s advanced abstract numerical concepts. Scientists at Duke University played the sound of a natural “coo” call made by unfamiliar monkeys to the experimental monkeys. The scientists played the “coo” call from either two or three monkeys and had two videos playing simultaneously; one with two monkeys and the other with three. The researchers found that monkeys overwhelmingly chose to look at the video image that matched the number of monkeys they were hearing.
One might ask why a monkey’s ability of perception of numerical values tied to the sense used to perceive the number would be an advantage to the animal. Living in the wild and having territory to defend, it is a remarkable advantage for the monkey.
Out in the wild, a monkey might hear different monkeys vocalizing and not yet seeing the other monkeys, the monkey will not know how many there are. Within territorial disputes, the monkey will want to know how many monkeys are about to enter in it’s boundaries to make sure the territory can be properly defended.
This study provided evidence to the scientists that monkeys detect a correspondence in number between two different sensory modalities, and that implicated that language is not necessary to represent number abstractly.
http://www.dukenews.duke.edu/2005/06/BrannonCurrBio.html
Caroline Collins