Animals

[CaaC (John)+]

Indonesia covers up to protect orangutans from virus threat

Poaching and habitat loss have decimated Indonesia's orangutan population, but now coronavirus has emerged as another potentially deadly threat to the critically endangered species.

While there have been no confirmed cases of transmission from humans to the fuzzy-haired apes, they share 97 per cent of our DNA.

And the staff at a rehabilitation centre in jungle-covered Borneo are not taking any chances.

The Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation has closed its doors to visitors and told staff to step up precautions to avoid passing on the infection, including by wearing masks and protective gloves.

"There haven't been any confirmed cases of direct transmission, but it's caused other issues like a shortage of masks and disinfectant supplies for our orangutan caretakers," said foundation veterinarian Agus Irwanto.

For the apes, however, there hasn't been much change in their daily jungle jaunts.

"While the humans at our rehabilitation centres work hard to adjust to these new measures, the orangutans are going about their usual business," the foundation said.

Human-to-primate transmission fears are not limited to Indonesia.

France is taking precautions at its zoos, with caretakers keeping their distance from gorillas and chimpanzees.

Last month the forest-covered African nation of Gabon said it would stop allowing tourists to see its great apes over fears that humans could give them the virus.

The Ebola epidemic killed gorillas and chimpanzees as well as humans.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/indonesia-covers-up-to-protect-orangutans-from-virus-threat/ar-BB12cxgP

[CaaC (John)+]

Bird alarm calls help rhinos avoid people—and possibly poachers

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In sub-Saharan Africa, red-billed oxpeckers feed on the parasites of rhinos and more than 20 other species of mammal. Now, new research suggests the birds may also serve as sentinels that help rhinos avoid humans—and potentially poachers.

Though black rhinos have a good sense of smell and good hearing, they have notoriously bad vision. If you know where one is and stay downwind of it, you can often get quite close to the animal, says Roan Plotz, now a researcher at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia.

While Plotz was completing his doctoral thesis on black rhinos in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Park, in eastern South Africa, he began contemplating how black rhinos might avoid humans. In recent years, poachers have decimated the ranks of the black rhino, which in adulthood can weigh a ton and a half. Today, the critically endangered species’ population is a little over 5,000, a tenfold decline since the 1970s.

While studying black rhinos, Plotz found that those close enough for him to observe generally didn't have any oxpeckers on their backs. The birds have good vision and make hissing alarm calls when certain threatening animals—such as humans—approach. Is it possible, he wondered, that oxpeckers were alerting the rhinos to his presence? Such a phenomenon is hinted at in the oxpecker's Swahili name, Askari wa kifaru—which translates to the “rhino’s guard.”

When Plotz set up an experiment to test his hypothesis, it proved true: Rhinos accompanied by the birds were more likely to detect humans, and from further away, compared to animals without oxpeckers.

Testing the hunch

For the experiment, Plotz and colleagues put radio trackers on 14 rhinos in Hluhluwe-Imfolozi, one of the oldest nature reserves in Africa. They then conducted on-the-ground surveys for both tagged and untagged rhinos on a near-daily basis over the course of 27 months. The tagged animals were easy to locate using radio telemetry. Finding the untagged rhinos was more difficult, and required the researchers to roam the landscape looking for the animals.

Black rhinos have very poor eyesight, whereas oxpeckers do not. The birds help large mammals avoid humans, whether intentionally or not.

Of the hundred untagged rhinos the research team saw, only 17 had oxpeckers riding on them. “That seemed quite low,” Plotz says, and likely not representative of the true number of rhinos with oxpecker tagalongs. As a control for the experiment, the team located one of the 14 tagged animals on a hundred different occasions over the study period. Of those sightings, the majority—56—recorded oxpeckers perched on the animal’s hide.

The discrepancy strongly suggested that the oxpeckers on the untagged rhinos were warning their hosts about the scientists’ presence.

To better understand the rhino-bird relationship, Plotz and colleagues did further tests. They conducted 86 trials in which they approached tagged rhinos that were and were not accompanied by oxpeckers.

Every time that a tagged rhino had one or more oxpeckers on its body, it showed physical signs that it had detected a human: standing bold upright, facing downwind, and preparing to run. But when the rhinos were not accompanied by the birds, they showed signs of recognizing the human’s approach only 23 per cent of the time.

For detecting humans, having more birds on board seemed to be an advantage to the rhino. In the trials, each additional bird perched on an animal was associated with sensing the human 30 feet further away, on average.

When Plotz and colleagues did a mathematical analysis of all their research, they concluded that the oxpeckers reduced human’s likelihood of a rhino sighting by 40 to 50 per cent.

The research findings show that the oxpecker-rhino relationship is more complex and potentially mutually beneficial than previously thought, Plotz says. They also could have implications for conservation, suggesting that introducing the birds into areas where they’ve been depleted might help avert poaching.

Confirming traditional knowledge

Taken together, the results show that “black rhinos are able to eavesdrop on oxpecker alarm calls and by doing so, detect approaching humans at substantially greater distances,” says Daniel Blumstein, an ecologist at the University of California Los Angeles, who hasn’t involved the paper, in an email interview.

Blumstein was also fascinated by what he called the “dose-response”—the fact that each additional oxpecker on a rhino increased the distance at which it detected an approaching human.

The paper, published Thursday in Current Biology, is “a genuinely astonishing study,” said Darryl Jones, a researcher at Griffith University. But Jones acknowledged that “the local peoples of these regions would probably be less impressed, having 'known' about this relationship for millennia.

Indeed, that is one of this study's great achievements: confirming using contemporary methods an important example of traditional knowledge.”

A way to combat poaching?

As for the oxpeckers' motivations, Plotz says, it's unclear if the birds know they're alerting the rhinos. It’s possible they are merely alerting fellow oxpeckers to the presence of a potential predator.

Amanda Ridley, a biologist at the University of Western Australia, takes issue with framing this as the oxpeckers “warning” the rhinos about humans.

“Rhinos may have responded to the oxpecker alarm call, but there is no evidence that oxpeckers intentionally alerted them to it,” she says.

Judith Bronstein, a professor at the University of Arizona, agrees—but says that doesn’t diminish the importance of the paper.

“Eavesdropping on other species’ signals is a very well-documented adaptive behaviour, but its distribution in nature is not well understood,” she says. “The example here is carefully worked out and involves large solitary mammals, which is new.”

Whatever the intended purpose of the oxpeckers’ calls, they could help reduce poaching by alerting rhinos to humans’ presence at a greater distance where the accuracy of firearms would be reduced, Bronstein adds.

Plotz says that introducing the birds into areas where both oxpeckers and rhinos have been depleted could potentially reduce poaching and that potential intervention should be further studied. Red-billed oxpeckers have been extirpated from many areas; when pesticides are applied to livestock to kill parasites, the treatment also unintentionally kills the birds that feed upon those parasites.

In Plotz’s view, “There definitely could be a benefit to introducing oxpeckers back into black rhino populations.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/bird-alarm-calls-help-rhinos-avoid-people—and-possibly-poachers/ar-BB12pUGE#image=2

[CaaC (John)+]

Social distancing works – just ask lobsters, ants and vampire bats

Mandrills in captivity may have different social behaviours, but in the wild, the baboons practice strict distancing.

Social distancing to combat COVID-19 is profoundly impacting society, leaving many people wondering whether it will actually work. As disease ecologists, we know that nature has an answer.

Animals as diverse as monkeys, lobsters, insects and birds can detect and avoid sick members of their species. Why have so many types of animals evolved such sophisticated behaviours in response to disease? Because social distancing helps them survive.

In evolutionary terms, animals that effectively socially distance during an outbreak improve their chances of staying healthy and going on to produce more offspring, which also will socially distance when confronted with disease.

We study the diverse ways in which animals use behaviours to avoid infection, and why behaviours matter for disease spread. While animals have evolved a variety of behaviours that limit infection, the ubiquity of social distancing in group-living animals tells us that this strategy has been favoured again and again in animals faced with a high risk of contagious disease.

What can we learn about social distancing from other animals, and how are their actions like and unlike what humans are doing now?

FULL REPORT

[CaaC (John)+]

Coronavirus: Great apes on lockdown over the threat of disease

Great apes have been put on lockdown against the threat of coronavirus.

Gorilla tourism in Africa has been suspended, while sanctuaries for other apes, such as orangutans, have closed to the public.

It's not known if great apes can contract the virus, but there are growing fears that our closest living relatives might be equally at risk.

This week a tiger at Bronx Zoo tested positive for coronavirus.

New measures have been put in place to protect big cats and their caregivers.

Dr Kirsten Gilardi is the chief veterinary officer for Gorilla Doctors, which provides veterinary care to gorillas in the forests of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

"We don't know if it's infected mountain gorillas; we have not seen any evidence of that," she said. "But because mountain gorillas are susceptible to human pathogens, we know that they can develop a respiratory illness."

Mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei) are an endangered species of great ape found only in the forests of Rwanda, Uganda and the DR Congo. All three countries have seen human cases of coronavirus, with gorilla tourism currently suspended.

Social distancing

The work of vets and rangers who care for wild gorillas continues, but with added precautions. "Much of what we're practising right now, in terms of social distancing, and self-quarantine, is at the heart of the recommendations for protecting great apes as well," said Dr Gilardi, who is also a veterinary professor at the University of California, Davis.

Even before the outbreak, people were asked to stay seven metres away from gorillas at all times. New guidance from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) calls for a minimum distance of 10 metres from great apes, with visits by humans reduced to the minimum needed to ensure their safety and health. No person who is ill, or who has been in contact with a sick person in the preceding 14 days, should be allowed near them.

Habitat loss and poaching are big threats to the survival of great apes, but viruses are also a concern. Infectious disease is now listed among the top three threats to some great ape groups. Past research has shown that chimps can contract the common cold virus, while the Ebola virus is thought to have killed thousands of chimpanzees and gorillas in Africa.

Serge Wich, professor of primate biology at Liverpool John Moores University, UK, said many governments had closed down tourism with great apes, while researchers and sanctuaries were taking extra measures.

He said: "We don't know if they were to get infected, what the health effects would be, but obviously given the health implications for people it's a risk we do not want to take with great apes so these precautions everyone's taking are an important step to try to reduce that risk."

Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre on the island of Borneo is one of many sanctuaries for great apes that has closed its doors to the public.

Susan Sheward, founder and chairwoman of Orangutan Appeal UK, said in a statement: "This disease could be fatal for the already critically endangered orangutan, it is a risk that we cannot afford take. OAUK will do everything it can to make sure that the orangutans at Sepilok stay healthy and safe."

There are four types of great apes alive today: gorillas (Africa), bonobos (Africa), orangutans (SE Asia), and chimpanzees (Africa). Humans are closely related to great apes, sharing a common ancestor several million years ago.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52236493

 

[CaaC (John)+]

Zebra Gives Birth to Rare Baby 'Zonkey' After Mating With a Donkey

It’s a… zonkey!

Earlier this year, a zebra at the Chyulu Hills National Park in Kenya was spotted with a strange-looking foal by her side that had a brown body and stripes up and down its legs.

Caregivers initially thought the youngster was dirty from “wallowing in a mud bath.” However, after closer examination, they quickly realized that the baby was actually an “unusual hybrid between a zebra and donkey.”

They explained that prior to living at the Chyulu Hills National Park, the mother zebra had been found settling into a community bordering the Tsavo East National Park and had made herself an “honorary member of a local woman’s cattle herd.” There, she must have mated with a donkey.

“The gestation period of a zebra is twelve months, so it’s not difficult to connect the dots. During her time living within the community last year, she had obviously become acquainted with an amorous donkey,” the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, one of Africa’s oldest conservation organizations, wrote in a statement on their website last week. “The zonkey combines the sturdy body of its donkey sire and the striped legs of its zebra mother, which makes for a striking creature.”

Caregivers said they were “happy to report that mum and baby are thriving.”

“Their home is in an area that isn’t plagued by heavy predation and thanks to the lush conditions, water and, plentiful grass, it is a good place to call home,” they added.

Officials explained that they plan to take care of the pair until the animals are discovered by a zeal, or a herd of wild zebras, as the species are highly social and typically live in groups.

“Until that day comes, they seem quite content to spend their days grazing side-by-side, a sight that makes us all stop and marvel at the wonders of nature,” officials wrote.

According to the trust, the foal is expected to live a normal life. However, since it is a mule, it will be unable to successfully breed once it reaches maturity.

“Working with wildlife, one learns to expect the unexpected,” officials with the trust wrote. “Even the most seemingly straightforward story can eventually reveal its true stripes and end up surprising us all.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/zebra-gives-birth-to-rare-baby-zonkey-after-mating-with-a-donkey/ar-BB12zSoI?li=AAnZ9Ug

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by CaaC (John)

[Carnivore Chris]

Next door neighbour just told me that a bird of prey was literally outside my gaf this morning with a bird, eating it. I wish I saw that, it would have been amazing.

He will be telling the truth as well as I've seen them flying around in recent years as they come closer into towns and cities where there are smaller birds feeding in gardens and yards. Over time they are adapting and you now see them in places where you wouldn't have in the past. It also makes you wonder if the lock down has made them more daring given how quieter the streets are.

He said it was a Peregrine Falcon, but it won't have been one of those. Definitely a Sparrowhawk. I've seen Sparrowhawks, Kestrels and Buzzards from time to time around here but you can rule out Kestrels and Buzzards. Sparrowhawks are the only 1 of the 3 with the ability to catch birds(well Kestrels can as well but are better adapted to catching mice and other rodents). They are also the most common to end up in a garden or a yard.

 

 

Edited April 14, 2020 by Carnivore Chris

[Azeem]

Do vultures count as raptors ?

[Stan]

Clever fucker

 

[CaaC (John)+]

On 22/04/2020 at 08:50, Azeem said:

Do vultures count as raptors ?

[CaaC (John)+]

Coronavirus: Fears for future of endangered chimps in Nigeria

An award-winning conservationist says she fears for the future of some of the world's most endangered chimps.

Devastated by hunting and deforestation, they now face a threat from coronavirus, says Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh, project director of The South-West/Niger Delta Forest Project.

The pandemic is bringing to the fore issues such as wildlife trade and consumption, she says.

And it's time for conservationists to speak up and advocate change.

"There should be changes, there should be regulations, and there should be policies that would bring an end to wildlife trade, and especially the bushmeat markets," she told BBC News.

With forests lost to farming and logging, chimpanzee habitat has been fast disappearing across Africa. And poaching is also a grave threat, with chimps hunted for their body parts or taken alive and sold as pets.

The forests of southwestern Nigeria harbour populations of the most endangered of all chimp groups, the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee subspecies (Pan troglodytes ellioti).

About 100 chimpanzees live in two forested areas, making up an "extremely precious and extremely endangered" distinct population, says Rachel Ashegbofe Ikemeh, who has won a "Green Oscar" from the Whitley Fund for Nature for her work.

She will use the money to work with the government to establish conservation areas and to advocate for tougher laws to protect wildlife. Many wildlife preservation laws in the region were created decades ago and are now in need of reform.

A reserve in the Ise Forest has recently been approved by Nigeria's Ekiti state government, following years of campaigning. Despite this "good news", she fears for the chimps' future if coronavirus strikes.

"The fears for the chimps are great because chimpanzees share about 98% of human genetics," she says. "They are very vulnerable to contracting or being infected by any disease that humans have."

• Coronavirus: Calls to protect great apes from the threat of infection

• Coronavirus: Great apes on lockdown over the threat of disease.

It's not known if great apes can contract the virus, but precautionary measures are being taken.

Gorilla tourism in Africa has been suspended, while sanctuaries for other apes, such as orangutans, have closed to the public.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52471595

[CaaC (John)+]

First giant panda born in the Netherlands

Wu Wen, a giant panda loaned to a Dutch zoo by China, has given birth in a first for the Netherlands, Ouwehands animal park announced Saturday.

Mating took place in January and the cub, which belongs to Beijing just like the mother and father Xing Ya, was born on May 1.

"The mother and her cub are staying in the maternity den and are doing well," the zoo in the central city of Rhenen said in a statement said.

"This cub was born and conceived naturally," said Ouwehands owner Marcel Boekhoorn.

"Male or female? The cub's gender will remain a surprise for the time being," he added.

"The keepers are leaving Wu Wen and her cub alone. When the cub leaves the maternity den after a few months, we will be able to see what the gender is.

"When that happens, the little giant panda will be named," Boekhoorn said. The cub will go to China after four years to join the breeding programme.

The mother and father were loaned to the Netherlands in 2017 for 15 years.

Giant pandas are found only in the wild in China where their habitat is shrinking.

However, since 2016 they are no longer considered in danger of extinction but remain "vulnerable".

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/first-giant-panda-born-in-netherlands/ar-BB13vOQj

 

[Stan]

 

[CaaC (John)+]

‘Murder hornets’ found in the U.S. for the first time ever

© Provided by New York Daily News Asian giant hornets, known by some researchers as “murder hornets,” have been spotted in the US for the first time ever, the New York Times reported.

And just when things were going so well.

Asian giant hornets, known by some researchers as “murder hornets,” have been spotted in the US for the first time ever, the New York Times reported.

The murder hornets, which can grow up to two inches long, didn’t get their name from murdering people, but instead from their brutal decapitations of honeybees.

Scientists in Washington first spotted the hornets back in December, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture. The murderous insects were also seen north of the border in Br© Provided by New York Daily News

While the hornets usually stick to murdering bees, they can kill up to 50 people a year in Japan, according to the Times. Their stingers are longer than a run-of-the-mill honeybee’s.

“A few hornets can destroy a hive in a matter of hours, according to the WSDA. “The hornets enter a ‘slaughter phase’ where they kill bees by decapitating them. They then defend the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young.”

Multiple beehives in Washington were wiped out by the murder hornets, the Times reported.

With bees already dying at an alarming rate, the Asian giant hornets could put an even deeper sting in the American honey industry. A similar hornet invasion in Europe dropped honey production by more than 60%, Time reported.

And just when things were going so well.

Asian giant hornets, known by some researchers as “murder hornets,” have been spotted in the US for the first time ever, the New York Times reported.

The murder hornets, which can grow up to two inches long, didn’t get their name from murdering people, but instead from their brutal decapitations of honeybees.

Scientists in Washington first spotted the hornets back in December, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture. The murderous insects were also seen north of the border in British Columbia.

While the hornets usually stick to murdering bees, they can kill up to 50 people a year in Japan, according to the Times. Their stingers are longer than a run-of-the-mill honeybee’s.

“A few hornets can destroy a hive in a matter of hours, according to the WSDA. “The hornets enter a ‘slaughter phase’ where they kill bees by decapitating them. They then defend the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young.”

Multiple beehives in Washington were wiped out by the murder hornets, the Times reported.

With bees already dying at an alarming rate, the Asian giant hornets could put an even deeper sting in the American honey industry. A similar hornet invasion in Europe dropped honey production by more than 60%, Time reported.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/murder-hornets-found-in-us-for-first-time-ever/ar-BB13w2M2

 

[Azeem]

Dolphins were swimming in bioluminescent waters in California while it was beautiful it will scare the shit out of me for a while 

[CaaC (John)+]

UK’s largest bird of prey returns to England for the first time in 240 years

Britain’s largest bird of prey has returned to the English skies for the first time in 240 years.

White-tailed eagles, which have a wingspan up to 2.5 metres, were once a common sight across southern England until the 18th century when they were wiped out by illegal killing.

They were last recorded in England in 1780 at Culver Cliff on the Isle of Wight, before becoming extinct in the whole of the UK in 1918 when the final bird was shot on the Scottish Shetland Islands.

European populations of the sea eagle also suffered from heavy persecution, which led to significant declines and extinction in several countries, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

But thanks to Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation this lost species is making a comeback.

Last summer, six young white-tailed eagles were released on the Isle of Wight as part of a five-year project to restore the species to southern England.

The birds were collected from the wild in Scotland, where the species was reintroduced in the 1970s under a similar scheme before they were brought to the island.

They have been fitted with GPS trackers and the team behind the programme have been tracking four of the young birds as they make their first trips.

The satellite data has given the team fascinating insights into the behaviour of the birds, who were largely sedentary over winter but have begun to explore further afield, including Norfolk, Kent and Somerset, now spring has arrived.

Two of the eagles, G393, a male, and G318, a female, flew as far the North York Moors.

The pair stayed in the national park for days, but also took a trip out to the coast where they spent four hours exploring a 12-mile stretch between Whitby and Saltburn-by-Sea.

Another male bird, G274, completed a 325-mile tour of southeast England for three days and appears to have bonded with G324, a female, on the Isle of Wight over the winter months.

SLIDES - 1/20

G324 has generally been the most sedentary of the four birds since release but was spotted soaring with paragliders over the west Wight along with G274.

White-tailed eagles do not breed until they are about four or five years old, however, it is hoped G274 and G324 might form a breeding pair if they survive until then.

Satellite data has given the team fascinating insights into the birds’ behaviour, showing they choose days with the best conditions to make their big moves, preferring a tailwind and clear skies.

The birds are known as “sit-and-wait" foragers, who prefer to wait and watch their prey rather than fly great distances for food, which saves valuable energy.

Roy Dennis, founder of The Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation said: “I have spent much of my life working on the reintroduction of these amazing birds and so watching them take to the skies of the Isle of Wight has been a truly special moment.

“Establishing a population of white-tailed eagles in the south of England will link and support emerging populations of these birds in the Netherlands, France and Ireland, with the aim of restoring the species to the southern half of Europe.”

Bruce Rothnie, from Forestry England, added: “We are immensely proud that the woodlands we manage on the Isle of Wight and surrounding South Coast are now home to these incredibly rare birds as they return to England’s coastline.”

Anyone who thinks they have spotted one of the birds can report it online at http://www.roydennis.org/report-white-tailed-eagle-sighting/

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/environment/uks-largest-bird-of-prey-returns-to-england-for-first-time-in-240-years/ar-BB13ziXk?li=AAnZ9Ug

Edited May 5, 2020 by CaaC (John)

[Carnivore Chris]

On 04/05/2020 at 09:06, CaaC (John) said:

‘Murder hornets’ found in the U.S. for the first time ever

© Provided by New York Daily News Asian giant hornets, known by some researchers as “murder hornets,” have been spotted in the US for the first time ever, the New York Times reported.

And just when things were going so well.

Asian giant hornets, known by some researchers as “murder hornets,” have been spotted in the US for the first time ever, the New York Times reported.

The murder hornets, which can grow up to two inches long, didn’t get their name from murdering people, but instead from their brutal decapitations of honeybees.

Scientists in Washington first spotted the hornets back in December, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture. The murderous insects were also seen north of the border in Br© Provided by New York Daily News

While the hornets usually stick to murdering bees, they can kill up to 50 people a year in Japan, according to the Times. Their stingers are longer than a run-of-the-mill honeybee’s.

“A few hornets can destroy a hive in a matter of hours, according to the WSDA. “The hornets enter a ‘slaughter phase’ where they kill bees by decapitating them. They then defend the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young.”

Multiple beehives in Washington were wiped out by the murder hornets, the Times reported.

With bees already dying at an alarming rate, the Asian giant hornets could put an even deeper sting in the American honey industry. A similar hornet invasion in Europe dropped honey production by more than 60%, Time reported.

And just when things were going so well.

Asian giant hornets, known by some researchers as “murder hornets,” have been spotted in the US for the first time ever, the New York Times reported.

The murder hornets, which can grow up to two inches long, didn’t get their name from murdering people, but instead from their brutal decapitations of honeybees.

Scientists in Washington first spotted the hornets back in December, according to the Washington State Department of Agriculture. The murderous insects were also seen north of the border in British Columbia.

While the hornets usually stick to murdering bees, they can kill up to 50 people a year in Japan, according to the Times. Their stingers are longer than a run-of-the-mill honeybee’s.

“A few hornets can destroy a hive in a matter of hours, according to the WSDA. “The hornets enter a ‘slaughter phase’ where they kill bees by decapitating them. They then defend the hive as their own, taking the brood to feed their own young.”

Multiple beehives in Washington were wiped out by the murder hornets, the Times reported.

With bees already dying at an alarming rate, the Asian giant hornets could put an even deeper sting in the American honey industry. A similar hornet invasion in Europe dropped honey production by more than 60%, Time reported.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/murder-hornets-found-in-us-for-first-time-ever/ar-BB13w2M2

 

The Wuhan killa bees.

@DeadLinesman called this in Feb..

[CaaC (John)+]

How did ancient frogs move between America and Australia? Easy: They hopped across Antarctica.

It’s no secret that millions of years ago, the world looked wildly different than it does today. Continents now separated by massive oceans were once next-door neighbours, and today’s frozen wilderness was temperate and green.

And back in those days, it wasn’t cute emperor penguins hopping around Antarctica—it was ancient horned frogs. Swedish scientists discovered 40 million-year-old fossils of the little amphibians on Seymour Island, the only Antarctic spot where sediments aren’t hidden under masses of ice, and published their findings in Scientific Reports last week.

“Frogs, nowadays, are known on all six other continents,” says Thomas Mors, the lead author of the study and senior curator at the Swedish Museum of Natural History. “Now we know they were also present on the seventh.”

The little croakers that inhabited the icy wasteland millions of years ago weren’t exactly a one-of-a-kind species. The newly discovered amphibian’s skull and ilia, a part of the pelvis, were a dead ringer for the same body parts in a South American frog genus called Calyptocephalella. Just one species from this genus remains in the modern world—the helmeted water toad, which hops around the Andes in Chile.

Up until now, the closest cousins to the Calyptocephalella were found in Australia, which is quite a hike from Chile. This newly discovered frog “ties” the two in a way, Mors adds, which provides support for the existence of Gondwana—an ancient “supercontinent” that formed after the original landmass of Pangea split in two.

Millions and millions of years ago, Gondwana included what we now call South America, Africa, Arabia, Madagascar, India, Australia, and Antarctica. By the Jurassic period, about 180 million years ago, this giant continent started splitting up into slightly more recognizable chunks.

So while it sounds wild that close froggy cousins might be found all the way from South America to Australia, back when these creatures started evolving, Antarctica was a perfectly accessible midway point between the two locales.

This study shows how these frogs got their start on one massive ancient continent, allowing them to branch off around the world, says David Wake, an amphibian expert at the University of California Berkeley who was not involved in the study. “It represents the breakup [of Gondwana].”

Because the lost Antarctic critters are close cousins of frogs we’re already familiar with, their remains also provide insight into what the area’s climate was like back before it froze over. Using climatic analysis, the researchers hypothesize that ancient Antarctica was wet and temperate, with annual precipitation of around 900 millimetres per year.

For Wake, this kind of study is a perfect example of palaeontology in action. There’s more to the field than just bouncing around the globe, digging up things, and hoping for the best. Without knowledge of Gondwana, it’d be pretty bizarre to posit that a frog ever hopped around Antarctica—let alone a specimen extremely similar to frogs spotted today in Chile. Understanding the geological context allows people studying fossils to actually understand them.

One aspect of the discovery that Mors finds particularly intriguing is the fact that this fossil predates the freezing over of Antarctica by six million years. Now, he’s curious about how close to the freezing point these frogs survived, and what other animals might have been cosying up in Antarctica’s ancient freshwater ecosystems alongside them.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/how-did-ancient-frogs-move-between-america-and-australia-easy-they-hopped-across-antarctica/ar-BB13CTCh?li=AAg17eQ#image=1

 

[CaaC (John)+]

On 05/05/2020 at 13:38, Carnivore Chris said:

Asian giant hornets, known by some researchers as “murder hornets,” have been spotted in the US for the first time ever, the New York Times reported.

The murder hornets, which can grow up to two inches long, didn’t get their name from murdering people, but instead from their brutal decapitations of honeybees.

Bug experts dismiss worry about US 'murder hornets' as hype

Insect experts say people should calm down about the big bug with the nickname “murder hornet” — unless you are a beekeeper or a honeybee.

The Asian giant hornets found in Washington state that grabbed headlines this week aren’t big killers of humans, although it does happen on rare occasions. But the world's largest hornets do decapitate entire hives of honeybees, and that crucial food pollinator is already in big trouble.

Numerous bug experts told The Associated Press that what they call hornet “hype" reminds them of the 1970s public scare when Africanized honeybees, nicknamed “killer bees,” started moving north from South America. While these more aggressive bees did make it up to Texas and the Southwest, they didn’t live up to the horror-movie moniker. However, they also do kill people in rare situations.

This time its hornets with the homicidal nickname, which bug experts want to ditch.

“They are not ‘murder hornets.’ They are just hornets,” said Washington Agriculture Department entomologist Chris Looney, who is working on the state's search for these large hornets.

The facts are, experts said, two dead hornets were found in Washington last December, a lone Canadian live nest was found and wiped out last September and no live hornets have yet been seen this year.

Looney has a message for Americans: These hornets are not coming to get you. “The number of people who are stung and have to seek medical attention is incredibly small,” he said in an interview.

While its nickname exaggerates the human health threat, experts said this hornet is especially big — two inches long — so it does carry more and stronger toxin.

“It’s a really nasty sting for humans,” said University of Georgia bee expert Keith Delaplane. “It’s like the Africanized bee ... A dozen (stings) you are OK; 100 not so much.”

University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum said of the worry: “People are afraid of the wrong thing. The scariest insect out there are mosquitoes. People don’t think twice about them. If anyone’s a murder insect, it would be a mosquito.”

Mosquitoes are responsible for millions of yearly deaths worldwide from malaria, dengue fever and other diseases, according to the World Health Organization. Asian giant hornets at most kill a few dozen people a year and some experts said it's probably far less.

Hornet, wasp and bee stings kill on average 62 people a year in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In Japan, Korea and China, “people have co-existed with this hornet for thousands of years,” said Doug Yanega, senior scientist at the University of California Riverside Entomology Research Museum.

Yet bug experts across the country are getting worried calls from people who wrongly think they saw the Asian hornet.

“This is 99% media hype and frankly I’m getting tired of it,” said University of Delaware entomologist Doug Tallamy. “Murder hornet? Please.”

Retired University of Montana bee expert Jerry Bromenshenk said in an email, “One nest, one individual hornet, hopefully, does not make an invasion. ... Do we want this hornet — surely not. But the media hype is turbocharged.”

For bees and the people who rely on them for a living, this could be yet another massive problem, but it is not one yet.

The number of U.S. honeybees has been dropping for years, with the winter of 2018-19 one of the worst on record. That’s because of problems such as mites, diseases, pesticides and loss of food.

The new hornets would be different. If they get into a hive, they tear the heads off worker bees and the hive pretty much dies. Asian honeybees have defences — they start buzzing, raising the temperature and cook the invading hornet to death — but honeybees in America don’t.

The worry for beekeeping in Washington is based on a worst-case scenario that officials have to take seriously, Looney said.

Yet even for bees, the invasive hornets are far down on the list of real threats, not as big a worry as the parasitic “zombie fly” because more of those have been seen in several states, Berenbaum said.

For people, the hornets are scary because the world is already frightened by a coronavirus and our innate fight-or-flight mechanisms are activated, putting people on edge, said risk expert David Ropeik, author of “How Risky Is It, Really?”

“This year is unbelievable in a horrible, horrible way. Why shouldn’t there be murder hornets?” Berenbaum said.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/bug-experts-dismiss-worry-about-us-murder-hornets-as-hype/ar-BB13LD4E

[CaaC (John)+]

Meet the güiña—a six-pound 'mystery cat' vulnerable to extinction

Tiptoeing through scrubby woodlands and fern-rich rainforests in Chile and a sliver of Argentina is a tiny feline called the güiña.

Half the size of a house cat, with a bottlebrush tail and a cartoon-cute face striped with black, the güiña holds the record for the smallest wildcat in the Americas. Its petite stature—just under six pounds—combined with its extreme shyness and scientific obscurity means most people don’t even know it exists.

Until now.

The güiña, named Pikumche, marks the 10,000th animal in National Geographic’s Photo Ark, a quest by photographer Joel Sartore to document every species living in zoos and wildlife sanctuaries around the world.

Pikumche is a male northern güiña who was orphaned and raised by people. He was a sweetheart during his photoshoot, photographer Joel Sartore says, even rubbing against his legs.

As with most of the planet's 33 small wildcat species, the güiña, whose spotted fur ranges in hue from silver to russet, is “very much a mystery cat. They live in the shadows,” Sartore says. (Read more about little-known small wildcats.)

For Photo Ark, Sartore has immortalized all creatures great and small—from mussels and beetles to ostriches and elephants—in more than 50 countries. He won’t stop, he says, until he photographs every one of the 15,000 captive species.

“Ten thousand is a big number—it represents a little bit of light in the tunnel of us finishing the project within 10 to 15 years,” says Sartore, who hopes his photographs will motivate the public to care about the extinction crisis before it’s too late. “I feel like people are paying attention now.”

As with many members of the Photo Ark, the güiña, which comes in two subspecies, is considered vulnerable to extinction. That’s mostly because of the degradation of their 115,000 square-mile range, the smallest of any Latin American cat. The southern leopardus güiña, güiña,  inhabits the dense, mossy forests of southern Chile and is smaller and darker than Leopardus guigna tigrillo, the northern güiña of central Chile’s matorral shrubland.

For his milestone photo, Sartore travelled to what’s likely the only place on Earth that has captive güiñas: Fauna Andina, a licensed wildlife reserve and rehabilitation centre in south-central Chile. Here, founder Fernando Vidal Mugica looks after güiñas that were injured in the wild, sometimes releasing them back into the forest.

Pikumche, a male northern güiña and the subject of Sartore’s portrait is a special case. Orphaned at 10 days old when a predator killed his mother, he was hand-reared at the centre. Now two-and-a-half years old, he’s so habituated to people that he can’t be reintroduced to the wild. After having such a difficult start in life, “he is a very confident cat,” Vidal Mugica said in a text message. His name honours the Pikumche, a pre-Columbian native culture in what is now northern Chile, he says.

Sartore also filmed a video of Pikumche vocalizing, possibly the first güiña sounds ever recorded. The low repetitive noises are likely expressions of pleasure or excitement, according to Vidal Mugica’s observations, while the meow announces Pikumche’s presence to the seven other güiñas at Fauna Andina.

“This cat is serving as the Rosetta Stone for the species,” Sartore says of Pikumche. That’s because the cat’s vocalizations add to scientists’ limited understanding of the animal; even its population numbers and basic biologies, such as mating and reproduction, remain enigmatic. (Learn about Sartore’s most memorable Photo Ark assignment.)

Versatile hunters

Güiñas is one of eight species of Latin American small wildcat and are most closely related to ocelots, a better-known species with a much bigger range—including parts of the southern United States.

As generalists, güiñas eat pretty much anything they can get their claws on—from marsupials to insects to frogs to birds. They especially like rodents, which are abundant in the thick understory. Agile climbers, the cats readily scramble up tree trunks to pluck small mammals and birds from their cavities. (A recent study showed they also prey on baby birds inside nest boxes.)

Güiñas also kill poultry if given a chance, and their reputation as henhouse raiders provokes farmers to kill them sometimes, says Jim Sanderson, who did his PhD research on güiñas in Chile in 1997.

At the time, the species was “virtually unknown” to modern science, says Sanderson, now a program manager at Global Wildlife Conservation, a Texas-based nonprofit that works to protect rare wildlife. “We had a single photograph of one cat and specimens from 1919—the sum total of our knowledge,” he says.

During his research in Chiloe, an island off the Chilean coast, Sanderson found that simply patching up holes in henhouse chicken wire prevented the cats from getting in—an example, he says, of how working closely with local people can help a threatened species. (See more Photo Ark species in peril.)

Farmers should welcome güiñas, which are “incredibly harmless” to people, says Luke Hunter, executive director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Big Cats Program and author of the book Wild Cats of the World. One güiña can likely kill thousands of crop-raiding rodents a year. “They’re providing this undocumented benefit to anyone who has ever had a problem with rodents,” he says.

Losing their land

Retribution killings are less frequent these days, but güiñas still die as a result of attacks by free-ranging dogs, rodenticide poisoning, and car collisions. But the biggest threat by far, Sanderson says, is habitat loss and deforestation, particularly in central Chile.

Widespread cutting of forests to make way for commercial tree plantations, vineyards, and livestock rangelands has marooned the cats—which are too shy around humans to venture into the open and move between forest patches—in isolated groups.

“They depend on the native forest to exist,” says Vidal Mugica. “Protecting [it] is the main goal.”

To that end, Constanza Napolitano, a National Geographic Explorer and ecologist at the University of Chile, in Santiago, is working to make the biodiverse Valdivian rainforest in central Chile safer for güiñas.

In partnership with the government, she’s designing wildlife corridors so the animals can move between forest patches and are engaging with local companies to develop cat-friendly land-use policies. Napolitano is also conducting environmental education programs for local children to learn about their native cat.

‘Little emblem of the wild’

Both Hunter and Sanderson agree that the güiña’s addition to the Photo Ark will boost the cat’s image.

Sanderson praised Sartore’s dedication to photographing so many small rare wildcats—from Iberian lynx to African golden cats. “He loves his cats,” Sanderson chuckles. “He waited for 10,000 to put the güiña on top.”

Says Hunter, “it’s great that this [Photo Ark] project has brought such a significant profile to these little-appreciated species.”

It’s ironic and sad, he adds, that so many people cherish their house cats yet know next to nothing about their untamed kin on every continent but Antarctica.

“If you were fortunate enough to see this beautiful creature in the wild, you’d be thinking immediately of the parallels with your own pet cat,” he says. “It’s this little emblem of the wild.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/meet-the-güiña—a-six-pound-mystery-cat-vulnerable-to-extinction/ar-BB149qzn

[CaaC (John)+]

Meet the baby orangutans learning to climb trees

While much of the world is in lockdown, youngsters in one very unusual classroom are still having lessons.

At a forest school in Borneo, baby orangutans learn tree-climbing skills from their human surrogate parents.

The orphans spend 12 hours a day in the forest, preparing for a new life in the wild.

The orangutans were filmed and photographed before coronavirus struck, for the TV series Primates, on BBC One.

With human contact routinely kept to a minimum, life goes on much as before for the animals, says Dr Signe Preuschoft, leader of ape programmes for the charity Four Paws, which runs the rehabilitation centre in East Kalimantan.

As a precaution, the staff now have temperature checks, wear facemasks and change into uniforms on site.

The pandemic has disrupted many conservation programmes around the world but Dr Preuschoft says it also offers an opportunity to bring positive change.

"There are great opportunities here to protect wildlife better from illegal wildlife trade and from (consumption of) bushmeat," she says. "It's very much about education."

The young orphaned apes climb high into the treetops with their caregivers to help them acquire the skills they would have learned from their mothers in the wild.

They would otherwise spend more time on the ground than is natural for a species that feeds, lives and sleeps in the canopies of trees.

Baby orangutans have a huge advantage when it comes to climbing, as they can hold on "like an octopus", says Dr Preuschoft.

"I think the orangutans were really completely thrilled when they realised that they could actually be in a canopy together with one of their moms," she adds.

As soon as the rescued orangutans have moved out of quarantine, they spend long hours in the forest in as natural an environment as possible. They are taught essential forest survival skills in a large forested area between the cities of Balikpapan and Samarinda.

The aim is to provide sanctuary to illegally captured or directly threatened orangutans, as well as to rehabilitate orphaned orangutans, with the goal of releasing them back into the wild.

Only about 50,000 Bornean orangutans are left in the world, with numbers plummeting over the last 70 years. Loss of rainforest to oil palm plantations or coal mining leads orangutans into conflict with humans.

Orphans are snatched from their dead mothers and are sold or held illegally as pets.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52565566

[Carnivore Chris]

They should stay at home, be alert, save vets...

 

[CaaC (John)+]

These creatures are masters of disguise — see if you can spot them camouflaged in these photos

SLIDES - 1/33

 

[CaaC (John)+]

First wild white stork chick 'in centuries' hatches in the UK

A wild white stork chick has hatched in the UK for the first time in what is believed to be hundreds of years.

Three nests containing eggs were being monitored at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex.

In one nest, five eggs were laid and the parents were seen incubating them before removing eggshell from the nest.

The parents, which were thought to have attempted to breed last year, have been seen regurgitating food for their offspring.

The project to breed wild white storks in the UK is a partnership of private landowners and conservation organisations.

It aims to restore a population of at least 50 breeding pairs across the south of England by 2030.

About 250 birds are being released in Sussex after a successful breeding programme at the Cotswold Wildlife Park near Burford, Oxfordshire.

Sounds of the Middle Ages

Lucy Groves, project officer for the White Stork Project, said: "After waiting 33 days for these eggs to hatch, it was extremely exciting to see signs that the first egg had hatched on 6 May.

"The parents have been working hard and are doing a fantastic job, especially after their failed attempt last year."

She said the nest would be inspected more closely over the next few days to determine how many of the five eggs had hatched successfully.

Isabella Tree, the owner of the Knepp Estate, said she was looking forward to the storks "bill-clattering" on their nests.

"It feels like a sound from the Middle Ages has come back to life."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-sussex-52675922

[CaaC (John)+]

A newly released film offers a final glimpse of the extinct Tasmanian tiger

Footage has been released of what is thought to be the last images of the extinct Tasmanian tiger.

The 21-second film was released by the National Film And Sound Archive Of Australia and is part of a forgotten travelogue, Tasmania The Wonderland, made in 1935.

It shows a tiger named Benjamin pacing around his enclosure at Beaumaris Zoo in the Tasmanian city of Hobart.

The zookeeper rattles the tiger's cage seeking a reaction and the narrator says: "[The Tasmanian Tiger] is now very rare, being forced out of its natural habitat by the march of civilisation."

The NFSA said the film was probably made by Brisbane-based Sidney Cook, although there are no end credits.

The date was confirmed by other events in the travelogue - the annual Regatta Day on the River Derwent and the presence of a goods steamer - Tacoma Star - which docked in Hobart in March 1935.

Benjamin was the last known surviving thylacine in captivity, as London Zoo's specimen died in 1931.

He was acquired by Beaumaris Zoo that same year and died on 7 September 1936, a day which is now National Threatened Species Day.

Mr Cook died in March the following year.

There are fewer than a dozen films of the elusive predator, all recorded at either London Zoo or the now-defunct Beaumaris Zoo.

Previously, it was thought that footage of Benjamin from December 1933 was the most recent.

There is no known footage of a Tasmanian tiger in the wild or any footage that reveals the sound made by the animal.

NFSA curator Simon Smith said: "The scarcity of thylacine footage makes every second of moving image really precious. We're very excited to make this newly digitised footage available to everyone online."

But, as the animals were shown at other Australian zoos and zoos in the US, UK, Brussels and Germany, there are hopes more footage could surface in coming years.

According to the Australian Museum in Sydney, Tasmanian tigers became extinct on the Australian mainland no less than 2,000 years ago.

Its extinction in Tasmania was mainly due to humans seeing it as a pest and also the introduction of dogs to the island.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/newly-released-film-offers-final-glimpse-of-extinct-tasmanian-tiger/ar-BB14mOzQ

[CaaC (John)+]

Animals have mysterious ways of finding their way back home

SLIDES - 1/3

For some species, neighbourhood pride is more about survival than sentiment. Many creatures travel hundreds of miles to find resources before returning home to mate. How do they know where to go? Signature smells and magnetism help migrators, but some parts of the process are a mystery.

Aquatic animals generally just follow currents to open waters, but aromatic awareness comes in handy when it’s time to reverse course to reproduce. Lake sturgeon, for one, hatch in the pebbled depths of Wisconsin’s Kewaunee River and wend up to 100 miles to the Great Lakes, where they mature for a decade or two before the big paddle back. Less than 4 per cent settle somewhere new. “They imprint on the river they’re born in,” explains Jessica Collier, a biologist at the US Fish and Wildlife Service in Green Bay. Sturgeon may use their whiskerlike barbels to sense proteins in the water, allowing them to sniff out their route.

Species covering larger distances can tap Earth’s magnetism instead. Arctic terns fly 12,000 miles from pole to pole; loggerhead turtles cruise 8,000 miles from Japan to Baja, and Bogong moths flit 600 miles across Australia to winter in caves. The bugs are so precise that they often mate and die on the same stretch of rock where they were born.

Still, the moths don’t rely entirely on the planet’s pull, says Eric Warrant, a zoologist from Lund University in Sweden. He likens them to hikers handling a compass: They set a course with cardinal directions, then adjust based on visual landmarks. But even this multisensory system doesn’t tell the whole story. “Their parents have been dead for three months when they’re ready to take wing,” Warrant says. They’ve never been taught where to go yet somehow inherit the instinct to seek specific waypoints.

Cracking these gene-driven impulses will provide a fuller picture of how more animals navigate, as well as help us assess if DNA-encoded intuition can withstand human changes like dams and light pollution. And if we do get in the way, research can offer ideas for how to help critters get where they’re going.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/offbeat/animals-have-mysterious-ways-of-finding-their-way-back-home/ar-BB14joN6

Edited May 21, 2020 by CaaC (John)