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Wild Biology News - February 2008 Archives
 | Researchers have known for awhile that little whirlpools of air stirred up by insects' wing motions can help keep these small organisms aloft as they fly slowly or hover, two activities essential for food foraging. But how a weightier organism-a bat-manages to stay aloft during slow flight has remained unclear. ...> Full Article |
 | The Svalbard Global Seed Vault opened today on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, receiving inaugural shipments of 100 million seeds that originated in over 100 countries. With the deposits ranging from unique varieties of major African and Asian food staples such as maize, rice, wheat, cowpea, and sorghum to European and South American varieties of eggplant, lettuce, barley, and potato, the first deposits into the seed vault represent the most comprehensive and diverse collection of food crop seeds being held anywhere in the world. ...> Full Article |
 | Seabird colonies on islands are highly vulnerable to introduced rats, which find the ground-nesting birds to be easy prey. But the ecological impacts of rats on islands extend far beyond seabird nesting colonies, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. ...> Full Article |
 | Study suggests salamanders are "keystone" species ...> Full Article |
 | With the support of the Fund for Creative Research Groups of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC), researchers from the CAS Institute of Microbiology (IOM) started a 5-million-yuan three-year research project on life in extreme conditions one year ago. Now the studies are making encouraging progress, announced the annual conference of the project held on 21 January in Beijing. ...> Full Article |
 | The return of the last of three Antarctic marine science research vessels marks the culmination of one of Australia's most ambitious International Polar Year projects, a census of life in the icy Southern Ocean known as the Collaborative East Antarctic Marine Census (CEAMARC). ...> Full Article |
 | Scientists have discovered Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) living and feeding down to depths of 3000 metres in the waters around the Antarctic Peninsula. Until now this shrimp-like crustacean was thought to live only in the upper ocean. The discovery completely changes scientists' understanding of the major food source for fish, squid, penguins, seals and whales. ...> Full Article |
 | Thousands of sick bats have been found in caves in New York state. While bat experts do not know what is causing the bats' demise, telltale signs include weight loss and white fungus around their noses. ...> Full Article |
 | Hunted to near extinction, sea otters are making a steady comeback along the Pacific coast. Their reintroduction, however, is expected to reduce the numbers of several key species of commercially valuable shellfish dramatically, such as sea urchins and geoducks. ...> Full Article |
 | How young migrating birds choose the nesting location of their first breeding season has been something of a mystery in the bird world. But a new study of the American redstart by the University of Maryland and Smithsonian Migratory Bird Center of the National Zoo suggests that the environmental conditions the birds face in their first year may help determine where they breed for the rest of their lives, a factor that could significantly affect the population as climate change makes their winter habitats hotter and drier. ...> Full Article |
 | The process of natural selection can act on human culture as well as on genes, a new study finds. ...> Full Article |
 | They may be considered pests, but beaver can help mitigate the effects of drought, and because of that, their removal from wetlands to accommodate industrial, urban and agricultural demands should be avoided when possible, according to a new University of Alberta study. ...> Full Article |
 | A new study by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society found that jack rabbits living in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have apparently hopped into oblivion. The study, which appears in the journal Oryx, also speculates that the disappearance of jack rabbits may be having region-wide impacts on a variety of other prey species and their predators. ...> Full Article |
 | One of the UK's rarest mammals - Bechstein's bat - will be surveyed and monitored under a new three-year project using technology developed by the University of Sussex. ...> Full Article |
 | The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Panthera Foundation announced plans to establish a 5,000 mile-long "genetic corridor" from Bhutan to Burma that would allow tiger populations to roam freely across landscapes. The corridor, first announced at the United Nations on January 30th, would span eight countries and represent the largest block of tiger habitat left on earth. ...> Full Article |
 | A team of scientists has just left the country to explore a very strange lake in Antarctica; it is filled with, essentially, extra-strength laundry detergent. No, the researchers haven't spilled coffee on their lab coats. They are hunting for extremophiles -- tough little creatures that thrive in conditions too extreme for most other living things. ...> Full Article |
 | Fatal shark attacks worldwide dipped to their lowest levels in two decades in 2007 with the sole casualty involving a swimmer vacationing in the South Pacific, according to the latest statistics from the University of Florida. ...> Full Article |
 | The "flying" lemur of Malaysia is the champion of all gliding mammals, able to drop from the forest canopy, glide more than the length of two football fields, execute 90-degree turns and then alight gently on a tree trunk. ...> Full Article |
 | New Research on American Alligators' Circulation Systems Finds that Crocodilians Bypass their Lungs to Improve Digestion. ...> Full Article |
 | For several years, scientists have been working to determine why so many male smallmouth bass in the Potomac River basin have immature female egg cells in their testes - a form of intersex. They are closer to finding an answer. ...> Full Article |
Impact of nitrogen on natural ecosystems could influence climate change
...> Full Article
 | A new online archive of more than 770 retinal topography maps covering 160 species has been launched by University of Queensland researchers. ...> Full Article |
 | The image of the chameleon as a shy creature, using camouflage to conceal themselves has been challenged by new research showing that colour change evolved to attract the attention of other chameleons. ...> Full Article |
 | Compelled to mate, yet firmly attached to the rock, barnacles have evolved the longest penis of any animal for their size - up to eight times their body length - so they can find and fertilize distant neighbours. ...> Full Article |
A primatologist at The University of Auckland has discovered a new species of monkey living in north-western Amazonia.
...> Full Article
 | Fatherly contacts during children's younger years found to increase their reproductive fitness as adults, especially among daughters ...> Full Article |
The assignment of duties in a single cell, ocean life or even a small business does not have to be defined by a division of labor where every individual has a specific role, according to biologists at Ohio State University.
...> Full Article
Although there is unquestionably much left to be discovered about life on Earth, charismatic animals like mammals are usually well documented, and it is rare to find a new species today-especially from a group as intriguing as the elephant-shrews, monogamous mammals found only in Africa with a colorful history of misunderstood ancestry. Like shrews, these small, furry mammals eat mostly insects. Early scientists named them elephant-shrews not because they thought the animals were related to elephants but because of their long, flexible snouts. Ironically, recent molecular research has shown that they are actually more closely related to elephants than to shrews. Members of a supercohort called Afrotheria that evolved in Africa over 100 million years ago, their relatives include elephants, sea cows, and the aardvark. Until recently, only 15 species of elephant-shrews, also called sengis to avoid confusion with true shrews, were known to science. However, in March of 2006, Galen Rathbun of the California Academy of Sciences, Francesco Rovero of the Trento Museum of Natural Sciences, and a team of collaborators confirmed the existence of a new species that lives only in two high-altitude forest blocks in the mountains of south-central Tanzania.
...> Full Article
 | The beeps, chirps and whistles made by some hummingbirds and thought to be vocal are actually created by the birds' tail feathers, according to a study by two students at the University of California, Berkeley. ...> Full Article |
 | What drove the evolution of color change in chameleons? Chameleons can use color change to camouflage and to signal to other chameleons, but a new paper shows that the need to rapidly signal to other chameleons, and not the need to camouflage from predators, has driven the evolution of this characteristic trait. ...> Full Article |
 | For thousands of years, human beings have relied on commodity barter as an essential aspect of their lives. It is the behavior that allows specialized professions, as one individual gives up some of what he has reaped to exchange with another for something different. In this way, both individuals end up better off. Despite the importance of this behavior, little is known about how barter evolved and developed. ...> Full Article |
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Ancient DNA from rare fossil reveals that polar bears evolved recently and adapted quickly
'Anaconda' meets 'Jurassic Park': Study shows ancient snakes ate dinosaur babies
Scientists locate apparent hydrothermal vents off Antarctica
Mars Express heading for closest flyby of Phobos
Artificial bee silk a big step closer to reality
Predicting the fate of stem cells
Artificial foot recycles energy for easier walking
New fiber nanogenerators could lead to electric clothing
What drives our genes? Researchers map the first complete human epigenome
Juggling enhances connections in the brain
Tracking down the human 'odorprint'
Fill 'er up - with algae
Scientists discover quantum fingerprints of chaos
Researchers help identify cows that gain more while eating less
Why female moths are big and beautiful
Exotic flowers help bees stay busy in winter
American pika are thriving in the Sierra Nevada and southwestern Great Basin
Decoding the long calls of the orangutan
Barnacles prefer upwelling currents, enriching food chains in the Galapagos
Bringing bison back to North American landscapes
If bonobo Kanzi can point as humans do, what other similarities can rearing reveal?
Pesticide atrazine can turn male frogs into females
How can accidental captures of loggerhead turtles be reduced?
A convincing mimic: Scientists report octopus imitating flounder in the Atlantic
Study shows natural antioxidants give top barn swallows a leg on competitors
Fish can recognize a face based on UV pattern alone
New clues found linking larger animals to colder climates