Wolves, Birds, and Other Animal News

It has been a busy week for animals so lets get to it.

• The gray wolf (Canis lupus) is not making it easy on hunters in Idaho. This year, the state of Idaho sanctioned a wolf hunt and issued 14,000 wolf hunting permits. This large number of permits is despite the fact that the population of the wolves is only estimated at less than 900. In the first 11 days of the hunt, only three wolves have been tagged (legal kills). Montana is due to start their wolf hunting season (population is only 500 there) this week. There are talks occurring as to whether or not the gray wolf should be on the endangered species list again.

• A missing bird was found flying at sea. This is not the booby I mentioned last time. This time it is the Fiji petrel. The bird is incredibly rare and only through a very thorough bird "hunt" were researchers finally able to see them. The only known specimen was an immature one from Gau, Fiji in1855. It wasn't until 1984 that the bird had a confirmed sighting again. You can read more about this elusive bird here.
  

• Honeybees are telling ants to "buzz off" quite effectively. For the first time on tape, a bee has been caught using its wings to blow away ants that are attacking them and their nests. The bees actually change their wing beat pattern to one far more powerful and aggressive to blow the ants away.

• A few new species have been found inside a crater in Papua New Guinea. Among them were various species of amphibians, plants, and one of the world's largest rats. Mount Bosavi crater was the subject of a recent expedition set up by the BBC. Most of these new species are believed to not exist anywhere else on Earth!
  

• This last snippet is a bit of local news. Recently, I wrote about turtle nesting in the VI. Well, as luck would have it, Brewers Bay (the location of my opening credits for many Potspoon! videos) has a turtle nest! Not just any turtle nest either. I have lost of luck spotting green turtles at this beach, but the nest is a leatherback nest! Leatherbacks are the fourth largest reptilian species behind three crocodilians. They are endangered worldwide. The picture above is said nest. I am so excited!
  

That's it for your animal news snippets.

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More Fantastical Ocean Discoveries

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) found new deep sea corals. In fact, they found seven new species while on a mission at Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument. Six of them may be entirely new genera.

The discovery is very exciting because corals of any kind have the tendency to be the basis fore any marine ecosystem. They are also the first ones affected by ocean acidification. Since these bamboo coral produce growth rings like trees, they can tell us a lot about conditions on the ocean floor and how they change.

Also among the discoveries were new coral beds and a large sponge dubbed the "cauldron sponge." It was about one meter across and tall. Other sponges were discovered as well and may also represent new genera. There were also coral graveyards found with dead coral of a variety that had never been documented in Hawaii before.

Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument is very studied because it is the largest preserve (US Protected) of ocean floor that is below SCUBA depth. 98% of it is "deep water" and must be reached by submersibles. This is an exciting year for deep sea discoveries and it's only March!

Photo courtesy of NOAA.

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Large Creatures in Hiding

I am sure cryptozoologists everywhere are having a field day with this as evidence of the ability of larger animals like the elusive bigfoot to remain in hiding. It has been confirmed that a new species of lizard, namely Varanus bitatawa, was discovered living in the treetops on the Philippine island of Luzon. The lizard can reach lengths of up to two meters in length (approx 6 ft) and has eluded scientists all this time. The lizard, a type of monitor lizard and closely related to the monitor lizard, is a vegetarian.

The lizard was first brought to scientists attention in 2001 when hunters went by with a large monitor lizard that they were only permitted to photograph. This spurred a two month expedition last summer. The hunt was successful and DNA testing revealed that this is, in fact, an entirely new species. What makes the find even more unique is that Luzon is a highly populated island and has suffered severe deforestation. Local hunters have always seen the lizard as a delicacy, but due to the small number of surveys done in this part of the world, the lizard had been unclassified by science.

The team from the University of Kansas was lead by herpetologist Rafe Brown. You can read more at National Geographic and ScienceNews.

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The Cost of Coltan

Coltan is something you may not have heard of. This is surprising because it is around you more than you think. It is a metallic or used in the production of capacitors... primarily the kind used in cell phones, video game systems, and laptops. Coltan is mined by hand in the Democratic Republic of Congo. If you remember some of my other posts, this is where many of the protected gorillas live. In fact, the mines are located in rebel-controlled areas in the National Parks. Not only that, but coltan is in incredibly high demand as we get more connected as a global market, making it valuable to both sides of the fight occurring in DRC. Some organizations and analysts have even gone so far as to state that coltan is at the center of this conflict because, besides being an ethnic war, it is also a war over resources.

Since the conflict began in 1998, many farmers were pushed off their land and sought jobs in the mines. In order to access more of the mines, they have gotten rid of valuable habitat and have killed off African elephants and eastern lowland gorillas. Both are protected species, but with a lack of serious funding and visibility in the media, there is only so much the park rangers can do. There is, however, something WE can do.

When many people get new cell phones or new electronics, they simply throw the old one away.Most people don't realize that many of the electronic devices are recyclable or reusable. Many companies will refurbish older units for resale or actually break down the pieces into it's components and use the raw materials in making something new. The EPA has an entire section of their site devoted to recycling electronics.

Many of the cell phone companies will simply take any old phones and parts. Big chain stores like Staples and Best Buy also have electronics recycling. If you don't have any of those around, call your local waste management. Chances are, they have an electronics collection program.

If we can reduce the demand for coltan, we can reduce the impact that its mining has had on some really amazing creatures.

You can find out more about coltan here.

Picture of the gorilla by nailbender on Flickr and is licensed under Creative Commons.

Remember, you can find out more about gorillas by click the link at the top of the page or by visiting Year of the Gorilla.

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A Little Late on the Uptake

Remember the weird little invertebrate I posted about in January? The new species of carnivorous sea squirt was written about yesterday in ScienceDaily. I feel sad because this is where I get my inspiration for a lot of my posts. I hope this isn't going to be a usual thing. I really enjoy their site for articles, but if I am finding out about these things from other sources much earlier, I may have to rethink using them as a source. Obviously I get a lot of the same news from other places... However, some of those other places are oddly slow for certain things as well. Discovery News did an article yesterday about the woes of tequila. Sound familiar? Obviously these people need to read their inboxes a bit sooner if little blogs the net over are posting news more timely than the big papa sites. Or maybe I am being persnickety today and need to calm down. Today is a beautiful day. I should go outside and check my tomatoes. Sorry about the grumbles.

Update: 3:33 pm

ScienceDaily just (as in a few hours ago) posted about olive oil cancer research done by Catalonian Institute of Oncology and the University of Granada... since they were my source for my other olive articles about the exact same thing, I can only assume they are recycling articles for better readership.

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Sorry and Science

Sorry about the delay between posts. I am actually trying to line up some special things for the new year for us here at Potspoon! Productions locally. Without further ado, however, more science food for thought...

In association with my previous posts about gorillas, I have more primate news. Normally I use my own photos or photos licensed under creative commons, but this photo was so amazing I had to break my rules for a sec. It is from the BBC News article that this post is about.

The Tonkin snub-nosed monkey is a critically endangered animal thought to have had fewer than 250 individuals in the wild. Most of these were located in northeastern Vietnam. Scientists just discovered a group of about 20 in northwestern Vietnam. While the numbers aren't fantastic, this means that there are more than anticipated and with proper control, we can save this species.

More Info

Scientific Name: Rhinopithecus avunculus

• There is not too much information on these stunning creatures. They have only wieghed four of them with the females around 8 kg (18 lbs) and the one male around 15 kg (32 lbs) so they are not very big.

• Their diet is primarily (as recorded so far) leaves, especially from bamboo, and fruit. They are found in very small groups in northern Vietnamese lowlands.
  

• They group like most primates having one male to many females. Other males form "bachelor" groups. It is unknown if the females are unrelated as in the gorillas or if there is kinship like chimpanzees.
  

• They have lost more than 70% of their habitat since 1986.

• In 1994, they were placed on the endangered species list. In 1996 they were moved to critically endangered.
  

Biologists from Fauna and Flora International are the ones that found this new group. Loss of habitat and use in medicines (really?!) are what have lead to this primate's decline.

That is it for now... Happy Monday!

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New Deep Sea Species

In National Geographic, there was an article showing three new deep sea species that they have found. This one is my favorite.

It looks like some strange breathing apparatus or something. Apparently it is a sea squirt living 4006 meters underwater. It was about 20 inches long and was found to be carnivorous. The funnel is used to trap small fish and other things. This is strange because other ascidians (sea squirts) we are familiar with simply siphon plankton from the water as filter feeders.

This strange creature, and more, were found off the coast of Tasmania in the Tasmania Fracture Zone. You can read the rest of the article and see the original picture here.

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2009 is the Year of the Gorilla

It's official. UN has made 2009 the Year of the Gorilla. This was done in an effort to raise awareness for this closely related to us endangered species. Initiatives include education about the animal and efforts on conserving their habitats as well. This is quite important as many experts believe that gorillas will be extinct in the wild in the next 10 years. This is believed because in the past ten years the population has dropped from 17,000 to just 5,000 in the Eastern Lowland Gorillas in the Congo. That is a frightening number. The decline is staggering and has a number of contributing factors. Conflicts, habitat loss, disease and poaching for bushmeat are some of their biggest threats.

The picture here is a Mountain Gorilla (Gorilla beringei). The species was first describe in 1847 by Thomas Staughton Savage, an American physician missionary. The males blue-black saddle (back side) turns white or silver with age, hence the term "silverbacks." Mountain Gorillas like high altitude terrains and are found in protected areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda and Uganda. These gentle giants are herbivorous meaning they only eat plants.

The social groupings they form are called harems. They are called such because the one or two dominant males surround themselves with unrelated females. This is unusual because in many other primates the females are all related. It is usually the kinship bonds between the females that allow for stable groups in these other primates, but in these gorillas the relationships are based purely on the individual relationships of the females to the silverback. When young gorillas reach maturity they leave the group. A young female will attach herself to another young male or find a new harem to incorporate herself into. Young males will remain solitary until they can attract females to themselves and start a harem of their own.

The mountain gorillas have some of the smallest populations of gorillas and it is estimated that between 650 and 680 individuals exist in the wild (Gray et al., 2003 and McNeilage et al., 2001).

To find out more, click the links above or go to Year of the Gorilla, Koko.org, or the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. Just to help you remember, Koko is the gorilla who has an amazing vocabulary in American Sign Language and Dian Fossey wrote the book Gorillas in the Mist. The movie was based on her life.



Photo is copyright under Creative Commons Non-Commercial-Attribution License from YoungRobV's Flickr Photostream. You can find the original here.

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News Snippets: Grapes, Ginger, Beetles and Butterflies

Three snippets that I found interesting today follow: two are about food and one about butterflies. The second one also has to do with beetles. Woo, invertebrates! Could my day get any better?

• Grapes made the news again. Well, actually, resveratrol did. I have posted about this interesting compound a few times on Potspoon! and I am still waiting on the reveratrol beer. Well, besides the fact that this compound is good for its anti-aging properties, it also appears to display anti-obesity and anti-insulin resistance. You can read the article here. 

Fig 1. Yum

•  In an article published in Insect Conservation and Diversity, good news was found for the UK's incredible stag beetle and good news come in the form of a root. Ginger is useful in the kitchen, sure, but it is also useful as bait to lure stag beetles. Researchers have also devised a method using tiny microphones to hear larvae underground. This all helps determine numbers of the rare beetle and can aid in its conservation. You can read more on ScienceDaily as well.

Fig. 2 Not the right species of butterfly, but a butterfly nonetheless

• Squinting bush brown butterflies, Bicyclus anynana, seem to have a bit of role reversal in mating behaviors. This confusion only seems to occur when changes of weather happen. When it's cool, females act as the aggressors and flash their wing patterns. In this species the males and females have the same eye spots, but the UV patterns change dependent on temperature. In warm moist conditions, the males have more flashy designs while the females are dull, but when the temperature drops, new males and females are opposite. It's the females that are flashier and spend time displaying. You can read more here.

 Hope you all are having an awesome Monday!

Photos: Grapes from Google Creative Commons search and butterfly from Paraflyer's photostream. Both lisenced through Creative Commons.

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Updates

Hi all! Things are still moving a bit slowly for me here in Florida, but I think I finally have time to do more science posts. I have been looking at my schedule and I think I can work in a few posts a week now from Mom's laptop. I may steal her digital camera for a bit as well. This is a great area for birds and the like and there are a lot of native plants I could really do some posts on as well. I also finally got my camcorder and have a few opportunities to record some stuff. I have been riding the Pinellas Trail a bit and should be able to come up with something on my rides to and from the shop. I finally saw my first Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly. I also saw two different Battus species. This is very exciting for me. Now I have to chase them down and attempt to take pictures. Many of the others I have come across are also native to St. Thomas so nothing new, but I am really excited about a lot of what I have seen.

Things at the deli seem to be getting into a steadier pace. We have more than a few "regulars" now which is always nice. The menu is coming along and we have added soup. Our house soup will be a tomato basil that is absolutely delicious. I promise that it is very unlike tomato soups you may have had in the past. We have coffee and tea service as well and our daily specials are finally gaining popularity. We are also working on game nights and things of that nature to bring in people after work. Scrabble is definitely at the top of the list!

Besides that, there isn't too much to talk about. I did get to see the hubs this past weekend, which was nice. It was hard when he left again, but I know this will all work out. I also found out that there is a botanical gardens close by and the best part is it is FREE to visit. I smell a video along the lines of the Viscaya one brewing! Probably better quality by now. You would think, at least, considering that was my FIRST video on this site! Well, I hope you all are doing well. Now that I have worked out a somewhat workable "break" break into my day, I will begin stopping by all of your blogs more regularly again. Have a great week!

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New Mammals Discovered

Here we are: in the Philippines, again. Luzon, again. Like last time, we are finding more critters, too! This time, seven species of mammal. Mice. All very genetically different; some only found on ONE mountain. This increased the number of known mammals (excluding bats) from 42 to 49. They increased mammalian integration by 17%!

Where were these mice all this time? Apparently they are very shy and liked to hide. They aren't pests and prefer to eat earthworms and bugs and seeds.

A Dr. Scott Steppan, head of one of the labs conduction the DNA part of the survey, said,

"The Philippines is an ideal place to study the evolution of animal diversity, even better than the famous Galapagos Islands. These animals have been evolving in the Philippine archipelago for millions of years."

Do you think we, as humans, have made the mistake of assuming a place like Panama is a biodiversity hotspot because it actually is, or is it because that is where everyone does research?

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Animal News Snippets

Apparently there is a lot going on in the kingdom Animalia. Since I don't have the time to do an individual post on everything I have found interesting just this morning, I am going to summarize it all and let you pick what you want to read!

• Australia- A team of scientists finds that fiddler crabs lie. The crabs' giant claws can regenerate, but some of the males have HUGE fake claws with no teeth and are quite flimsy. These claws are used to attract females and convince males that it is not worth fighting them. I guess this is along the lines of fake muscle implants.

• United States- Thousands of wild mustangs (as in the one I got to see on my adventure in the West) may have to be slaughtered. These wild horses are kept in holding pens by the Bureau of Land Management and the cost to keep them is getting too high. They won't release them into the wild because their populations increase rapidly and the public land they live on needs to be used for ranching and farming. Really?!?! THAT'S the excuse they came up with??? "I'm sorry, Spirit, we want sheep here instead." Anyway, you can adopt on of the majestic creatures here.

• Japan- The supposedly scientific whale hunts that Japan has been conducting have started again. This year, however, the research vessel left without the usual fanfare. The boat left quietly and spokesmen said they would not disclose whether or not the boat was again going on its whale hunt for safety of the crew. This is all after a disagreement the Japanese government had with Australia over approval to kill, excuse me, cull some 50 humpbacks. You can watch Sea Shepard's campaign against the whaling on the new Animal Planet show, Whale Wars.

• Washington D.C.- A cute little baby gazelle was born at the National Zoo. This is a big deal as it is estimated that less than five hundred of this particular species exist in the wild. You should see the pictures. Really cute!
  

All the links in purple are the main articles. Everything else is extra information. Thanks for reading!

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End of Week Animal News Snippets

This has been an exciting week for animals in the news so we will just get to it:

• First off, there was that weird spider thing in Oklahoma. In the end, the body was destroyed (stupid) so we still don't know if it really was a Brazilian wandering spider or a Huntsman spider. People from the University of Tulsa and the Tulsa Zoo seem to disagree on the identification of it. Since there is no body, we may never know.
  
  

• A lizard that had not been found on mainland New Zealand for 200 years was finally found! The tuatara can grow to be up to almost 3 feet in length from nose to begining of tail. That is about the size of our giant iguanas on island. It was found by people at the Karori Sanctuary.

• Brown University led research found that all bats land differently.

• Scientists are figuring out why some birds are disappearing. Many of the factors causing the disappearance of our feathered friends include climate change, disease, invasive species and habitat loss.

• A pink elephant has been caught on camera. The super cute thing may be an albino which does not bode well for the little calf. The harsh environment of Botswana may give the calf skin problems, blindness, and more. Elephants are smart though and the little calf already only walks in the shade of it's mother.

• More proof of primates using tools has been recorded on film. Chimps in the Republic of Congo are on video making clubs out of branches and breaking open hives to reach the honey inside. If that wasn't enough, they then scoop the honey out using "dipping wands."

I hope this helps with your science fix. I know it helped mine.

Sorry I have been so absent. More hours at work has me a bit exhausted by the time I come home. There is only so much science you can teach in a day.

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