Thousands of walruses die in stampede

This past summer and fall on the Russian side of the Bering Strait an estimated 3,000 to 4,000 walruses out of a population of 20o,000 died in stampedes. Walruses are susceptible to stampedes when they congregate in huge numbers. Sight of a polar bear, a hunter, or a low-flying plan can cause them to flood into the water. Some scientists see this as another consequence of global warming. Walruses dive into the water to eat clams and snails, but since they cannot swim indefinitely, they often rest on sea ice or land for a few weeks at a time. However warm weather, ocean currents and winds contributed to ice disappearances. This caused walruses to stay ashore on land eariler and longer and in greater numbers. Lack of sea ice in the summer could cause walruses to strip the coastal areas of food and further reduce their numbers. Most of the animals that were crushed were young and weak including many calves that were born in the spring.

Posted by: Gina Sciartilli (12)

Fearless Mice Cuddle with Cats

Scientists in Japan were able to genetically engineer fearless mice that are unfazed by felines. This new finding will allow mammal behaviorists to understand the nature of fear and how it develops. The researchers at Tokyo University claim to have successfully turned off the instinct of the mouse to flea in the presence of cat odor. This is a very interesting find because the fear of mice towards cats was thought to be a learned trait because cats prey on them, not hardwired as these findings suggest.

Naturally, mice will flea or panic when they smell a cat. In this study, researchers were able to remove certain nasal cells in the mice using genetic engineering, and observed their behavior with cats. In their experiments, they observed that the mice would approach the cats, snuggle with the cats, and would even play with the cats!

This interesting study will allow scientists to understand what fear is, and will also allow them to observe the neuronal networks and associate certain areas of the brain with fear. This association will be important in understanding the root of fear and how it is controlled.
Source.

Posted by Christine Tauras (12)

SONIC the HEDGEHOG


Who doesn't remember playing Sonic the Hedgehog when you were little? Did you ever want to own a real hedgehog? Well now you can. Hedgehogs are legal to own in most of the States. They make a unique pet and good learning experience. The hedgehog has a lot of behaviors to tell you just how he's feeling.
You all remember how Sonic rolled into a tight ball and went wheeling superfast around a course, right? Well a real hedgehog can't go speeding through loops and turns, but they will roll into a tight ball when they are scared. In case you didn't remember, hedgehogs have spikes or spines just like a porcupine. They aren't as dangerous as a porcupines quills, but they can still hurt. When the hedgehog is afraid, it will roll into a tight ball with all the spines sticking straight out - who would want to mess with that!
Sometimes when a hedgehog is uncertain about its surroundings, it will make the spikes on its head stick up. Kind of like a warning to anything that might potentially hurt it. They also warn predators or "scary" things by hissing or making a clicking noise. If you really start to irritate the hedgehog it might start to puff up a bit and snort. It may even make a sneezing type noise.
How about when a hedgehog is happy? Hedgehogs can actually purr! If you haven't noticed a pattern, hedgehogs hiss, purr, and puff up. Another animal that does this is a cat. Hedgehogs also are diurnal like cats. This means that they will sleep a few hours during the day and a few at night.
So if you're looking for an affectionate, easy to care for animal, why not get a little Sonic for yourself? (Or you could just stick to the video game!)


Posted by : Christine McConville (11)

Be Careful: The Elephants Can Smell You Coming

How do you remember who is a danger to you and who is not? This is a question applicable to all organisms big and small. To know a characteristic of your predator, and to detect it before the predator is within close range can make the difference about laughing about the “near catch” with the pack at night, or being the main entrée at the pack that night. So what would….oh lets see……the elephant use? The answer might be surprising. Professor Byrne of the University of St. Andrews recently conducted a study in Kenya to determine how elephants detect their biggest predator, humans. In Kenya, there are two main human groups, the Maasai and the Kamba. The Maasai are a hunting tribe, and as you probably already guessed, are the main predator of elephants. On the other hand, the Kamba are an agricultural people, and do not harm the African Elephant.

Prof. Byrne’s hypothesis was that elephants use smell in order to detect their predators. In order to test this hypothesis he had both indigenous groups wear the exact same shirts in order to give them a distinct “scent profile” They then placed these shirts in front of the elephants and observed their reactions, which were overwhelming. The shirts of the Maasai, when placed in front of the elephants, elicited a “fear response” in which the elephants ran in the other direction until at a safe distance from the shirts. When they did the same with the shirts of the Kamba, the elephants were considerably less likely to flee. The Maasai wore brightly colored shirts (red) when hunting, so the researchers believed that this could be a possible reason. Maybe the elephants had an aversion to the color. They tested this hypothesis, but it had less conclusive findings than that of the scent profile. Yes, the elephants did tend to flee from red colors, but it was not a consistent response.Could the scent profile really be that dramatic? Apparently so. They are currently studying what particular aspect the elephants smelled in order to elicit the flee response.

Posted by Doug Zelisko (12)

A Tail that Tells it All

Researches have argued that humans are the only animals who show signs of brain assymetry, referring to the different behavioral functions assosiated with the left and right brain hemispheres. But in the more recent years, studies have shown that "simpler" species (such as animals who lack complex behaviors such as speech and comprehending language) have been displaying behaviors that lead scientists to lean more towards the idea that many animals have brain assymetry.

In humans, the left side of the brain corresponds with behaviors such as approach and energy enrichment and is associated with emotions like attatchment, love, and safety. The right hemisphere specializes with behaviors like fleeing and energy expenditure and assosiated with emotions such as fear and depression.

Since the right hemisphere controls the left side of the body and visa versa, animals will preferably

"seek food with their right eye (left brain/nourishment) and watch for predators with their left eye (right brain/danger)."

"Male chameleons show more aggression, reflected as changes in body color, when they look at another chameleon with their left eye. A toad is more likely to jump away when a predator is introduced to its left visual field (right brain/fear). The same toad prefers to flick its tongue to the right side when lashing out at a cricket (left brain/ nourishment)."

These are are more specific examples of the brain symmetry in animals. Even your pet dog will display this phenomenon as well.

Tail wagging in dogs is a trait that tells more than you think. Many assume that a wagging tails means the dog is happy, but there is more to it.

Dr. Vallortigara of the University of Triesty in Italy performed an experiment in which him and his collegues placed 30 pet dogs in a cage and throughout the time span of 25 days, he introduced them to 4 kinds of stimuli with 90 second resting periods intermittenly: their owner, an unfamiliar human, a cat, and an unfamiliar alpha dog.

"When the dogs saw their owners, their tails all wagged vigorously with a bias to the right side of their bodies,"

Dr. Vallortigara said.

"Their tails wagged moderately, again more to the right, when faced with an unfamiliar human. Looking at the cat, the dogs’ tails again wagged more to the right but in a lower amplitude."

"When the dogs looked at an aggressive, unfamiliar dog — a large Belgian shepherd Malinois — their tails all wagged with a bias to the left side of their bodies."

All the results lead to the verification of their original hypothesis:

"The muscles on either side of the tail apparently reflect emotions like fear and love registering in the brain."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/science/24wag.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/split.html

Posted By: Natalie Nicholson (11)

Is the Juice Worth the Squeeze?

Rats weigh out decisions just like humans do, according to a new study conducted on Wistar mice, which are rodent specifically developed for research. This study serves as the first to show that a non-human animal is capable of carefully analyzing the potential costs and benefits of a situation and then make a decision based on the conclusion. They are able to do this be creating a ratio or standard enabling them to decide between options that require different levels of effort and yield different levels of rewards. Ruud van den Bos, who led the research, has said that in a natural habitat rats are constantly facing a degree of uncertainty because little is under their control. Examples of this are the amount and quality of patches of food that are available to the rats, which varies over time due to things like locations and weather conditions.

Van den Bos, who is a scientist in the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Utrecht University in The Netherlands also added that because of the varying obstacles, an amount of energy must be used to obtain different items. Along with his research team, he attempted to recreate these challenges by constructing a “T” shaped course in which the rats would be able to receive certain rewards depending on the route that they took. At the end of each arm of the “T” were different rewards- one arm containing little obstacle and little reward, while the other contained much more obstacle but a much higher reward. At first the rats immediately went for the easier route, which contained one sugar pellet. After realizing that more treats could be possible, they opted for the opposite route, but only until a certain point. The other route had 3 to 5 sugar pellets available, but also had steep barriers that the rats would have to climb in order to seek out the reward. When the effort surpassed a certain point, the rats stuck to the smaller treat. The researchers also believe that the rats behave according to an internal constant standard. The standard varied which each situation and is possibly part inherent and part determined by the individual. This research is important in understanding how animals other than humans are capable of determining choices and making decisions that are in their best interest.

Posted by amolina (11)

When testing a predication, false assumptions can render results invalid. It is necessary to scientifically determine the answers to questions whose results may have seemed inherent. Fortunately, this provides an opportunity to increase awareness of an ongoing study or phenomenon that is worth note. While this paper was primarily concerned with the affect of a "brood" hormone on the rate of return of foragers, it shed light on a wealth of literature describing how the colony successfully coordinates more than 10,000 individuals.

I stumbled across an article published earlier this year about a proximate mechanism that controls the amount of pollen foraged by individuals based on the colony need (Pankiw, 2007). This was a simple study that showed how an easy manipulation of hormone levels within the colony affected how fast a forager would return from a trip. Additional brood hormone, that would normally be present in the food given to developing larvae, was given to the colony. It was already known that the number of larvae developing affects the number of colony members that forage so that when the demand for pollen increases, the amount of pollen foraged increases to meet demand. In this study, the hormone was added to colonies in liquid form on glass slides that were placed inside. The response of foragers was measured by recording departures and arrival of individuals through a Plexiglas-covered runway affixed to the entrance of the hive. Other affects of this "brood" pheromone had already been determined,discussed and published in a series of other works.


Involved in studying bee pathogens myself, I am always fascinated by what we know about their life history. Honey bees are so important in our lives that we dedicate significant resources towards gaining understanding of their behaviors and life history.

posted by: Morkeski (11)

Aggression Pheromone Found

Lisa Stowersand her colleagues at the Scripps Research Institution in La Jolla, California have found the pheromone that elicits aggressive behavior in mice. It was suspected that pheromones in urine were the cause of some aggressive behaviors, but they were not isolated until now. The pheromone has been isolated to a group called the major urinary proteins, which are larger than the other proteins in urine.

The vomeronasal organ, which is located behind the nostrils and different from the olfactory sensors, then picks up the proteins. Aggressive behaviors such as biting, chasing, kicking and wrestling are then triggered when the mouse sees an intruder. This was the first pheromone specifically for aggression that has been found. Researchers are doubtful that human aggression works using similar triggers, and do not think this will lead to future treatments.

-Henry Rafferty
http://www.nature.com/news/2007/071205/full/news.2007.354.html

Knifefish Stop and Shop

Northwestern researchers have recently worked on a study attempting to quantify two types of spatial volumes involved in an animal’s environment. One is the stopping motor volume, which is the amount of space it takes for an animal to come to a complete stop. The other is the sensory volume, which is the amount of space an animal sense around it. Using these volumes, researchers classified three possible modes that an animal could find itself in relation to another object: collision (collide every time), reactive (won’t collide if aware), and deliberative (perceived and processed much earlier than potential onset of collision).

The researchers applied these concepts to the black ghost knifefish, commonly found in the Amazon River. Instead of using the sense of sight or hearing to hunt for prey, the knifefish generates a weak electric field around its body. Any perturbations of the electric field will be sensed by specialized receptors and the knifefish will be informed of any potential prey items. Observations showed that not only could the knifefish swim both forward and backward, but it was also omnidirectional with respect to its three-dimensional volumes for movement and sensation. Video analysis of prey capture behavior showed that the two volumes (stopping motor and sensory) are roughly equal.

The researchers conclude that these conditions often place the knifefish in reactive mode, critical if the fish wants to eat and/or not collide with its prey. This reveals that the knifefish invest just enough energy into active sensing to be able to detect prey in the time required. It may be too expensive for the knifefish to evolve a greater sensory space, since the way in which it senses disturbances is not a passive process. Further studies have also shown that the knifefish prefers to keep its motor volume roughly equal to the sensory volume. When they are placed in water with increased conductivity, which decreases the fish’s sensing ability, they modify their behavior by swimming more slowly.

Posted by Mayur Patel (11)

A Breath of Poisonous Gas

Caenorhabditis elegans, is a free living nematode, which is about 1mm in length, lives in temperate soil environments. Research into the molecular and developmental biology of C. elegans was begun in 1974 by Sydney Brenner and it has since been used extensively as a model organism. It’s entire genetic code has been sequenced, and still widely used for research purposes. These worms do not have a long life time. Each worm is only expected to live for few weeks. Research has proven that their life span can be increased dramatically if they live in an environment of atmosphere with small quantities of hydrogen sulfide which is thought to be a poisonous gas in general. It is seen through experiment that if the worm is in about a 50 ppm concentration of this gas, its life span can be increased as high as 10 days or more.

Also according to biologist Mark Roth of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, they seem to be able to withstand higher temperatures than animals that did not have hydrogen sulfide and also are known to live longer than them. "They lived 70 percent longer, which is considerably longer. If you add 70 percent to your own life that's a lot." said Mark Roth. Now the next important question that comes to mind is how useful is this for human life and if it has any affect on humans, this article immediately states that is no current research or any reason to believe that hydrogen sulfide has the same effect on humans. Research by the same team of Mark Roth and Dana Miller proved that this has an effect on mice, they go into a sort of suspended animation state.

Roth and his colleagues are currently researching the safety of low concentrations of the gas in humans in order to assess its potential to place removed organs into a state of suspended animation for longer,, which will prove to be a better storage prior to transplant or even to put critically injured patients into the state to enable more time for lifesaving interventions. This remains unproved at the moment. On the contrary, with the C.elegans the worms thrived instead of entering this so called suspended animation state. When they were put in very high temperatures like 95 degrees Fahrenheit the worms with more sulfurous gas in them lived up to eight times longer than the ones that did not.

Also biologists at this point are very unsure of the biological reasoning behind this unusual effect. But one very interesting discovery in C.elegans they noticed is that this advantage they have is genetically linked. When a certain gene namely the sir-2.1 is removed from these worms they seem to have lost this effect. This gene is therefore known to be linked to long life. "It's a demonstration of the requirement or need for that gene product to have sulfide work its magic," says Roth. Finally the objective of this sort o research is to better understand this slight advantage the C.elegans have and how this can be incorporated into humans and other living beings. Historically it is believed that the H2S gas has always seemed to have natural healing effects.

Source: http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=secret-to-longer-worms-life-is-poison-gas

Posted by: Swetha Raghavan (11)

Communication Style of Koala Bears


From so many different animals on Earth, Koala bears are the cutest. They are small animals that look very much like bears and are only about 9 kilograms or 20 pounds in eight. There are large populations of koala bears in Southern Australia. These bears are very fuzzy eaters and like to eat gumleaves. Scientists have found different patterns in the communication style of these bears which varies from situation to situation. All the males of this specie make sounds that the scientists called "big grunting bellow", which means they basically shout or roar whenever they are expressing the feelings of aggression. Females however don't do this often, they make these big grunting bellows from time to time also for the same reason. These sounds are common in many animals but the interesting thing is hearing the sounds that the females (mothers) make when they're talking to their infants. Mothers make the squeaky, soft humming, sometimes soft grunting and murmuring sounds to their infants to show or express annoyance and even anger sometimes. It's just really cool to see that the mothers' sounds vary so much when it comes to their babies even though they're expressing the same emotion.

Another interesting thing is that all the koalas whether it's a male or a female make the same crying sound to show fear. They are like little babies (human babies) who cry when they fear something because they can't talk. Until now, it was thought that after humans, elephants are the only animals on earth that cry but after observing the behavior of the koalas we now know that koalas also display this same behavior often seen in elephants. Some of them even leave their scent on certain trees to communicate and this is usually seen in the male koalas. The koala rubs his home trees with his scent to let other koalas know that those trees marked with his scent are his territories and no one can take over. Most koalas don't take over the trees that have been marked with another koala's scent. Another fact found about koalas, not related to communication, is their ability to digest things that mostly all animals are unable to digest. Koalas eat leaves called the eucalyptus leaves which are high in fiber but very low in nutrition and are said to be very poisonous. These animals eat these leaves all the time and are able to digest them with no negative effects on their body. I picked this animal because I find them really very cute and everything about them just sounded very interesting especially after reading about the way they communicate with each other. All of you should read this or at least visit the website below because I'm sure you will also find these animals adorable and amazing and you might even want to learn more about them, who knows! :-)



http://www.thekoala.com/koala/


Posted By: Peanutbutter & Jelly :)

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader Chimp

Most humans would laugh at a chimp being smarter than a human. Of course many of us laughed at a fifth grader being smarter than an adult until Jeff Foxworthy showed us the truth. Just like Jeff, Dr. Matsuzawa and colleague, Sana Inoue, have now knocked another chip off of the humans oh so mighty shoulder. In recent tests they have shown that young chimpanzees have a superior memory compared to humans.

The researchers began by training chimps to recognize the numbers 1 – 9 in sequence. An adult female was shown to have a memory for these numbers equal to that of a human. When the researchers went on to test younger chimps, less than 6 years old, they set up a more complex test. They showed the young chimps a scattered assortment of numerals on a touch screen for less than a second and then masked them with white squares. The young chimps had to remember the numbers and then touch the white squares according to a provided numerical sequence. The chimps had an accuracy rate of 80% compared to the lowly adult human’s average score of 40%.

Dr. Matsuzawa explains that this is a similar ability to one seen in human children who are considered autistic. He speculates that in the past both humans and chimps may have exhibited this skill, but through evolution it has been replaced with other functions in human behavior, i.e. complex speech.

Posted by Kyle McCarthy (11)

Photo Credit (c)1996 David Farely

Driver's License for a man's best friend
Vienna is now issuing drivers license to dog owners at a cost of 25 euros. The process includes a written and practical exam in order to examine the dog owner's competence. The written component is used in order to test whether or not the owner is able to identify their responsibilities when it comes to their dog's behavior and health. On the other hand, the practical component of the exam requires a walk through town in order to test the owner's response when faced with different situations. For example, the pet's owner may be tested on whether or not a muzzle is place when using public transportation or whether or not the owner picks up feces done by their companion. After the test has been successfully completed, the owner will be exempt from an annual dog tax of 43.60 euros.
Although not literally a driver's license, this document is used in order to diminish the fear that non dog owners have toward dogs, by testing the knowledge of owners on basic rules needed to lead a dog in order to create an amicable relationship between canines and humans. So far, this process has been somewhat successful but very popular considering that the incentive helps owners save money.

Posted by Vanessa Raphael (11)

Global Warming's affect on the Polar Bear

A disturbing event documented by Steven Amstrup of the U.S. Geological Survey Alaska Science Center in January of 2004 found that polar bears are turning to cannibalism. A male polar bear preyed on a female bear in her den soon after giving birth. This is not the only act of cannibalism found in polar bears. American and Canadian scientists have found three other incidents between January and April of 2004.

Scientist believes that global warming and the polar bears cannibalistic acts are highly correlated. Global warming is decreasing the amount of ice found in the polar bears habitat each year, making it impossible for bears to get to their nature food source of seals. The bears also use ice for travel, mating, and giving birth.

The effects of global warming are heavily affecting the polar bears that scientist believe that they will become extinct by the end of the century. But if polar bears become extinct, who will coca-cola use in their Christmas commercials?

Source: http://animal.discovery.com/news

Posted By: Rachel McMahon (11)

Cannibalism in Bee Species

Until recently, I was under the impression that Queen bees were the only organisms in a bee colony that were able to reproduce and have offspring. Apparently, I was mistaken. It turns out that in many different species, worker bees have functional ovaries and are able to lay eggs. The only con being that they can't mate, which is why they end up producing unfertilized eggs. However, I found it really interesting that if the worker bees produced an unfertilized egg, the egg would eventually become a male if it was raised! In fact, this was exactly how male bumblebees were born!

However in certain bee species, such as the honeybee, some of the other worker bees would keep each other in check by killing and eating eggs that were laid by other workers or "confronting" them.

In 1964, William Hamilton an English biologist proposed his "relatedness hypothesis". It basically said that worker bees did not reproduce because most of the worker bees were half sisters. Instead the workers favored the queen's sons because she had mated with multiple males, ensuring variation in the species. Therefore, Hamilton's hypothesis predicted that in a bee species where the queen bee had multiple male partners, there would be a higher rate of cannibalism (consumption of the unfertilized eggs) within the worker bee population of that bee species' colony.

To prove this hypothesis, two scientists from the University of Sheffield: Tom Wenseleers and Francis Ratnieks, studied and compared 90 different bee species and found that worker bee's sons are reared 100 times less in a species where the queen bee has had several mating partners AND that in all of those species, the Queen Bee also took part in consuming the unfertilized eggs of the worker bees.

Posted by Luzviminda Maurillo (10)

Cockroach Slaves and Their Wasp Masters

There is a species of wasp found in tropical regions of Africa, India and the Pacific Islands that has a unique method of trapping prey. Their sting puts their prey, most often cockroaches, into a slave-like state that allows the much smaller wasp to lead the cockroach willingly back to its nest. The wasp will then lay its eggs on the cockroach so that the larvae will have food at hand when they hatch, and the cockroach is never able to resist.

Scientists have always assumed that the wasps' venom had some effect on chemicals on the brain to bring about this effect, but the mechanism was never known until now. Researchers have found evidence that demonstrates the venom blocks a neurotransmitter called octopamine. They started with an observation that the wasps often stung the cockroach first to subdue them, and then followed up with a second more precise sting directly to the brain. From there they were able to reproduce the effects of the wasp toxin by injecting an octopamine blocker into cockroaches. They were also able to reverse the effects of the wasp toxin by injecting the cockroaches with a chemical that restores octopamine receptors.

Posted by Jon Hicks (10)

Reading a Pigeon’s Brain

A Pigeon uses many methods to find their way around. These methods include the magnetic fields, the sun, and possibly scent. It was speculated that pigeons used landmarks to help in their homing abilities. With the use of small electrical caps that were implanted into the heads of pigeons, researchers were able to support this idea.

The small electrical caps are able to pick up brain frequencies and record them. The researchers also attached a GPS unit to the pigeon so that they could track their progress. Once these were in place on the pigeons, the pigeons were brought 50 kilometers away from their loft and released. Once the pigeons reached their home, they analyzed the information from their GPS units and brain frequency records. The results showed that the pigeons do in fact use landmarks as a helpful way to navigate. Pigeon’s brain waves were very low or high over the ocean, mostly due to the fact that there are no landmarks to be used while flying over it. This changed as soon as the pigeons reached land. As soon as the pigeons were flying above land, their brain frequency dropped into mid frequency waves. Mid frequency waves are waves that show that an animal is paying attention, and in this case the pigeons may have been paying attention to the landmarks around the city.

To test this hypothesis further, researchers once again released the birds but this time only 5 kilometers away from their home. Due to past experiments the researchers knew that the pigeons used a certain highway sign as a landmark. Once the pigeons arrived back, their information was analyzed and it was shown that the pigeons were paying attention at the point they were near the highway sign. This showed that they were using the highway sign as a landmark.

This study will hopefully be adapted to many other animals that may or may not use landmarks as a navigational tool. It would be quite interesting to find out if this is true in other species.

Posted by Chris Kennedy(1o)