Wild Biology News - April 2008 Archives

Are you looking at me? (4/30/2008)

Birds can tell if you are watching them - because they are watching you. ...> Full Article

New species discovered in Brazil (4/30/2008)

Legless lizard and tiny woodpecker among new species ...> Full Article

New mammal species for Ireland (4/29/2008)

A postgraduate student has discovered a mammal which has never been seen before in Ireland ...> Full Article

Smart buoys warn ships of whales (4/29/2008)

Endangered North Atlantic right whales are safer along Massachusetts Bay's busy shipping lanes this spring, thanks to a new system of smart buoys ...> Full Article

Freshwater Herring Had Salty Origin (4/28/2008)

Marine invasion which occurred in West Africa 25 to 50 million years ago, coincident with a major oceanic incursion into the region ...> Full Article

Road losses add up, taxing amphibians and other animals (4/28/2008)

When frogs hit the road, many croak ...> Full Article

Arctic marine mammals on thin ice (4/27/2008)

Experts outline primary risks of climate change to natives of the Arctic ...> Full Article

Are Ice Age relics the next casualty of climate change? (4/27/2008)

Wildlife Conservation Society launches new study of musk ox ...> Full Article

Ugandan monkeys harbor evidence of infection with unknown poxvirus (4/26/2008)

Researchers report this month that red colobus monkeys in a park in western Uganda have been exposed to an unknown orthopoxvirus, a pathogen related to the viruses that cause smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox ...> Full Article

Variety is the spice of life: too many males, too little time… (4/25/2008)

Female Australian painted dragon lizards are polyandrous, that is, they mate with as many males as they can safely get access to. ...> Full Article

Western Forests Highly Susceptible to Extensive Outbreaks of Bark Beetle (4/24/2008)

Lodgepole pine forests have characteristics that could lead to large bark beetle outbreaks in the western U.S. ...> Full Article

Insects use plant like a telephone (4/24/2008)

Communication between subterranean and aboveground herbivorous insects ...> Full Article

Computation Tools to Analyze Wild Animal Behavior (4/23/2008)

Professor to create software to analyze data from variety of common ecological tools. ...> Full Article

Can Certain Metals Repel Sharks from Fishing Gear? (4/23/2008)

Reducing bycatch could save millions of animals, reduce fishing costs ...> Full Article

Rare example of co-operative behavior in Nature (4/22/2008)

Birds shown to help each other survive ...> Full Article

Lizard hunting styles impact ability to walk, run (4/21/2008)

Foraging sheds light on evolution of biomechanics ...> Full Article

Deep-sea sharks wired for sound (4/20/2008)

Deep-sea sharks have been tagged and tracked and their habitats precisely mapped in world-first research to test the conservation value of areas closed to commercial fishing. ...> Full Article

'Extinct' elephant may have been found again - on a different island (4/20/2008)

The Borneo pygmy elephant may not be native to the island of Borneo after all. Instead, the population could be the last survivors of the Javan elephant race - accidentally saved from extinction by the Sultan of Sulu centuries ago ...> Full Article

Inbred males' scent gives them away (4/19/2008)

Female mice can steer clear of inbred males on the basis of their scent alone ...> Full Article

Lizards Undergo Rapid Evolution After Introduction To A New Home (4/19/2008)

Researchers has shown that introducing small, green-backed lizards, Podarcis sicula, to a new environment caused them to undergo rapid and large-scale evolutionary changes. ...> Full Article

Slowly Developing Primates Definitely Not Dim-Witted (4/18/2008)

Study ties big brains of humans and apes to extended growth and longer lives ...> Full Article

Study Finds Mice Can Sense Oxygen Through Skin (4/18/2008)

Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that the skin of mice can sense low levels of oxygen and regulate the production of erythropoietin, or EPO, the hormone that stimulates our bodies to produce red blood cells and allows us to adapt to high-altitude, low-oxygen environments ...> Full Article

World's oldest living tree discovered in Sweden (4/17/2008)

The world's oldest recorded tree is a 9,550 year old spruce in the Dalarna province of Sweden. The spruce tree has shown to be a tenacious survivor that has endured by growing between erect trees and smaller bushes in pace with the dramatic climate changes over time. ...> Full Article

Novel living system recreates predator-prey interaction (4/15/2008)

The hunter-versus-hunted phenomenon exemplified by a pack of lionesses chasing down a lonely gazelle has been recreated in a Petri dish with lowly bacteria. ...> Full Article

Insects evolved radically different strategy to smell (4/14/2008)

Scientists find that insects use fast-acting ion channels to smell odors, a major break with the ideology of the field -- and evolution ...> Full Article

New conservation map maximizes species protection in biodiversity hotspot (4/13/2008)

An international team of researchers has developed a remarkable new road map for finding and protecting thousands of rare species that live only in Madagascar, considered one of the most significant biodiversity hot spots in the world ...> Full Article

Madagascar conservation map protects species in biodiversity hot spot (4/12/2008)

An international team of researchers has developed a remarkable new roadmap for finding and protecting the best remaining holdouts for thousands of rare species that live only in Madagascar, considered one of the most significant biodiversity hot spots in the world ...> Full Article

Why migratory birds from Asia land in Europe (4/11/2008)

Migratory birds make mistakes in terms of direction, but not distance ...> Full Article

Tiny Bug Found In Grand Canyon Region Cave Suggests Big Biodiversity (4/10/2008)

The discovery of a new genus of a tiny booklouse from a northern Arizona cave may lead to further protection for cave ecosystems ...> Full Article

Playing dead is no game for ant survival (4/9/2008)

New study shows the age of victims determines how fire ants respond to aggressors ...> Full Article

First lungless frog Found (4/8/2008)

Researchers have confirmed the first case of complete lunglessness in a frog ...> Full Article

High-flying moths don't just go with the flow (4/7/2008)

Enormous numbers of migratory moths that fly high above our heads throughout the night aren't at the mercy of the winds that propel them toward their final destinations ...> Full Article

One large organic shade-grown coffee, please - with extra bats (4/6/2008)

Bats and birds work night and day to control insect pests that might otherwise munch the crop ...> Full Article

Researcher says habitat destruction may wipe out butterfly migration (4/5/2008)

Intense deforestation in Mexico could ruin one of North America's most celebrated natural wonders - the mysterious 3,000-mile migration of the monarch butterfly. According to a University of Kansas researcher, the astonishing migration may collapse rapidly without urgent action to end devastation of the butterfly's vital sources of food and shelter. ...> Full Article

Preliminary DNA analysis completed on California wolverine (4/4/2008)

Preliminary results from DNA analysis of wolverine scat samples collected on the Tahoe National Forest do not match those of historic California wolverine populations ...> Full Article

Darwin Told Us So: Researcher Shows Natural Selection Speeds Up Speciation (4/3/2008)

In the first experiment of its kind conducted in nature, an evolutionary biologist has come up with strong evidence for one of Charles Darwin's cornerstone ideas -- adaptation to the environment accelerates the creation of new species. ...> Full Article

New fish has a face even Dale Chihuly could love (4/3/2008)

A fish that would rather crawl into crevices than swim, and that may be able to see in the same way that humans do, could represent an entirely unknown family of fishes ...> Full Article

Some Migratory Birds Can't Find Success In Urban Areas, Study Finds (4/2/2008)

New research finds fresh evidence that urbanization in the United States threatens the populations of some species of migratory birds ...> Full Article

Octopus sex more sophisticated than arm-wrestling (4/1/2008)

For decades, scientists have viewed octopuses as unromantic loners, with mating habits nearly devoid of complex behavior. But new research from the University of California, Berkeley, has found that at least one species of octopus engages in such sophisticated lovemaking tactics as flirting, passionate handholding and keeping rivals at arms' length. ...> Full Article