Elasmobranchs are an evolutionarily ancient group of cartilaginous fishes that can hear underwater sounds but are not historically viewed as active sound producers. Three recent reports of several species of rays producing clicks in response to approaching divers have cast doubt on this long prevailing view and resulted in calls for more research into sound Read more about Turns out that sharks do actually make sounds[…]
As our planet warms up and rain patterns shift, the feathers and skin of many species are changing colors, often getting lighter. Snails in the Netherlands are going from brown to yellow. In a species of tropical bee in Costa Rica, the proportion of orange to blue individuals is increasing. Lizards in France are turning Read more about Climate Change Is Altering Animals’ Colors[…]
Scientists have recorded electrical activity in the brains of awake cats for the first time, thanks to specially crocheted wool caps that hold the electrodes in place. The technique gives researchers a way to assess chronic pain in cats and could lead to novel treatments, says Aude Castel at the University of Montreal in Canada. Read more about Cats have brain activity recorded with the help of crocheted hats[…]
Beekeepers across France say it has been a disastrous year for honey, with bees starving to death and production plummeting by up to 80 percent. Mickael Isambert, a beekeeper in Saint-Ours-les-Roches in central France, lost 70 percent of his honey and had to feed his colonies sugar to help them survive after a cold, rainy Read more about ‘Bees starving’ in disastrous year for French honey[…]
Scientists in South Africa are now injecting the horns of live rhinos with non-toxic radioactive isotopes to make the horns unfit for human consumption and allow for easier tracking at international border crossings, according to a press release from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Launched on Tuesday by the university’s Radiation and Health Read more about Injecting Rhino horns with radioactive isotopes safe for the animals but poisons people eating them and sets off alarms at (air)ports[…]
[…] The behavior of the 248 Siberian tigers observed through a personality test showed that the endangered cats had unique traits influencing both their success in reproduction and survival, researchers reported in the journal Royal Society Open Science. “We found that tigers are very individual, and that people who’ve worked with them and know them Read more about Study shows Tigers have distinct personalities[…]
Addition and subtraction must be hard for fish, especially because they don’t have fingers to count on. But they can do it—albeit with small numbers—a new study reveals. By training the animals to use blue and yellow colors as codes for the commands “add one” and “subtract one,” respectively, researchers showed fish have the capacity Read more about Fish can learn basic arithmetic[…]
The Elephant Ethogram is a uniquely detailed catalogue, or library, of the behavior and communication of African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana). It is based on decades of ElephantVoices behavioral studies, photographs, and audio and video recordings, the referenced research of other elephant biologists, as well as professional and amateur footage made available to ElephantVoices. You can read more Read more about The Elephant Ethogram – Google Translate for Animals[…]
Belgium has detected an outbreak of bird flu, leading authorities to order all poultry farmers and individual bird owners to keep the animals confined, the country’s food safety agency AFSCA said Saturday. Avian influenza has recently spread to western Europe after outbreaks in Russia and Kazakhstan this summer. “Three wild birds that stayed in a Read more about Belgium announces measures for bird flu outbreak[…]
In a draft law seen by AFP, the country’s environment ministry has drawn up a number of new measures to protect insects, ranging from partially outlawing spotlights to increased protection of natural habitats. “Insects play an important role in the ecosystem…but in Germany, their numbers and their diversity has severely declined in recent years,” reads Read more about Germany plans to dim lights at night to save insects[…]
A team of researchers at the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) and Istituto Italiano di Technologia (IIT) have devised a mathematical approach for understanding intra-plant communication. In their paper, pre-published on bioRxiv, they propose a fully coupled system of non-linear, non-autonomous discontinuous and ordinary differential equations that can accurately describe the adapting behavior and growth Read more about A mathematical approach for understanding intra-plant communication[…]
For people, and many other animals, family matters. Consider how many jobs go to relatives. Or how an ant will ruthlessly attack intruder ants but rescue injured, closely related nestmates. There are good evolutionary reasons to aid relatives, after all. Now, it seems, family feelings may stir in plants as well. A Canadian biologist planted Read more about Once considered outlandish, the idea that plants help their relatives is taking root[…]
The Pando aspen grove, located in central Utah, is the largest organism on the planet by weight. From the surface, it may look like a forest that spans more than 100 U.S. football fields, but each tree shares the exact same DNA and is connected to its clonal brethren through an elaborate underground root system. Read more about Pando, One of the world’s largest organisms is shrinking[…]
Raptors are one of the most important causes of fatalities due to their collisions with aircrafts as well as being the main victims of collisions with constructions. They are difficult to deter because they are not influenced by other airspace users or ground predators. Because vision is the primary sensory mode of many diurnal raptors, Read more about Wide-eyed glare scares raptors: From laboratory evidence to applied management[…]
Plants may lack brains, but they have a nervous system, of sorts. And now, plant biologists have discovered that when a leaf gets eaten, it warns other leaves by using some of the same signals as animals. The new work is starting to unravel a long-standing mystery about how different parts of a plant communicate Read more about Plants communicate distress using their own kind of nervous system[…]
The New Zealand government has announced a “world-first” project to make the nation predator free by 2050. The prime minister, John Key, said on Monday it would undertake a radical pest extermination programme – which if successful would be a global first – aiming to wipe out the introduced species of rats, stoats and possums Read more about No more rats: New Zealand to exterminate all introduced predators[…]
“In Athens-Clarke County, we found that about 30 per cent of the sampled cats were successful in capturing and killing prey, and that those cats averaged about one kill for every 17 hours outdoors or 2.1 kills per week. “It was also surprising to learn that cats only brought 23 per cent of their kills Read more about Killer cats are killing[…]
Last month, marine biologist Luke Tipple, armed with a career in the study of sharks, accepted the request from handheld laser manufacturers, Wicked Lasers, to attach a Wicked Lasers laser beam to a shark’s fin, which he did with success. On a diving trip in the Bahamas, he fit a laser device onto a lemon Read more about Lasers on sharks!!![…]
Monsanto, the massive biotechnology company being blamed for contributing to the dwindling bee population, has bought up one of the leading bee collapse research organizations. Recently banned from Poland with one of the primary reasons being that the company’s genetically modified corn may be devastating the dying bee population, it is evident that Monsanto is Read more about Blamed for dwindeling amount of bees, Monsanto Buys Leading Bee Research Firm[…]
If you’re a birdwatcher, eBird is the site for you to go – huge maps of species and countries, you can follow the birds as they’re reported in by other eBirders. Birding News and Features — eBird.
This is bizarre – teach your cat to use your toilet bowl to take it’s shits and pisses, and never have to clean the litter again! YouTube – Litter Kwitter Cat / Kitten toilet training system amazing.
SCIENTISTS have grown meat in the laboratory for the first time. Experts in Holland used cells from a live pig to replicate growth in a petri dish. The advent of so-called “in-vitro” or cultured meat could reduce the billions of tons of greenhouse gases emitted each year by farm animals — if people are willing Read more about The Future is Here! Vat-grown meat![…]
What a fantastic concept: basketball on donkeyback – 4 vs 4. Of course PETA has a problem, but then again, what do they know about animals?
Of course, the ignoramusses at PETA – who kill animals to make you pay them – are against this (and very special care indeed is being taken with the sharks) but I think it’s a totally awesome idea: Sharks under you as you dance.
Quite incredibly it seems that not only did PETA only find homes for 7 out of some 2216 animals given into it’s care over 2008, it killed the rest! Of course, in order to showcase just how inhumane people can be, they went and killed a whole load of animals to make commercials showing how Read more about PETA’s Pet Slaughterhouse[…]