Rose, the skateboarding bulldog, having fun in Wrightwood in the US
Picture: BARCROFT MEDIA

Auklets and penguins: birds use feathers 'to touch'
5 February 2010
By Matt Walker
Editor, Earth News


A whiskered auklet feels in the dark

Birds may use their feathers for touch, using them to feel their surroundings just as cats use their whiskers.

The revelation that feathers have this hitherto unknown function comes from research on auklets, birds that sport prominent plumes on their heads. Auklets with bigger crests, that stick out further, bump into things less. A wider analysis suggests that numerous birds, from parrots, penguins, pheasants and hummingbirds, also use their feathers to feel their way. Details of the discovery are published in the journal Animal Behaviour.

Many species of bird sport elegant long feathers, either crests, beards or whiskers that adorn the head and face, or striking tail feathers. Many of these feathers are thought to have a sexual function, being used to advertise a bird's virility to potential mates. But Dr Sampath Seneviratne of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada and Professor Ian Jones of Memorial University in St John's, Canada suspect they may also have a tactile function.

Bumping heads

They explored why a group of birds called auklets have evolved such elaborate head feathers. Within the genus Aethia, a number of species have different shaped feathers, but both males and females tend to look the same. The birds usually breed in dark, rocky crevices.

The researchers placed individual auklets into a dark experimental maze, designed to resemble a natural crevice, and recorded how often they bumped into things. Both crested and whiskered auklets bumped their heads 2.5 times more often if their feathers on their heads had been artificially flattened. Also, "without the aid of the crest, naturally long-crested individuals had more head bumps than short-crested individuals," Dr Seneviratne told the BBC.

The two ornithologists then conducted a wider comparative analysis: checking which bird species sport long ornamental feathers against their lifestyles and where such birds live. What emerged was a striking pattern. "Birds that live in complex, cluttered habitats and are active at night tend to have a greater probability to express such facial feathers," says Dr Seneviratne. "We found a highly significant correlation for the observed trend."

Penguins to parrots

The pattern held true across all non-passerine birds, which comprise about half of all bird species. The researchers did not include passerine, or perching birds, in their analysis. That means that various species of penguin, parrot, cormorant, owl, hummingbird, kingfisher, woodpecker and game birds such as partridge and pheasant, may all use certain feathers for touch. Such species have facial feathers variously called crests, beards, whiskers, rictal bristles and orbital plumes.


Crested penguins copyright Daisy Gilardini

Dr Seneviratne and Prof Jones suspect that similar feathers, such as the long streamers found on birds of paradise or the pin and forked tails of other species, and even protruding feathers on some birds' wings, may fulfil a similar function.

Biologists have long wondered and debated why birds have long ornamental feathers. Many do so for camouflage, as a warning to startle predators, or to advertise their prowess. For example, "long facial feathers are generally thought to be 'sexy ornaments' used to seduce choosers and for assessment of the presenter," says Dr Seneviratne.

Cat's whiskers

But while such feathers may have acquired these functions, their original purpose may have been to provide a similar function as a cats' whiskers or a blind person's cane. By providing sensory feedback to a bird about its environment, such feathers can provide a distinct advantage, particularly to birds living in dark or crowded environments.

"Birds living in complex habitats are likely to encounter greater density of objects or clutter that they have to avoid." So such feathers could help birds avoid bumping into burrow ceilings, tree branches and undergrowth. Feathers around the face would prove especially useful, as they might stop a bird damaging vital organs, such as eyes, eardrums, nostrils and bill. "We describe the first comparative evidence for this widespread but entirely overlooked sensory function of long facial feathers. We argue that this provides a hitherto missing explanation for the origin of ornamental feathers," says Dr Seneviratne.

Source: BBC News.

Secrets of frog killer laid bare
14 February 2010
By Richard Black


Researchers found that chytrid infection on the frogs' undersides became fatal above a certain "load" of spores - backing findings from other research groups.

Scientists have unravelled the mechanism by which the fungal disease chytridiomycosis kills its victims.

The fungus is steadily spreading through populations of frogs and other amphibians worldwide, and has sent some species extinct in just a few years. Researchers now report in the journal Science that the fungus kills by changing the animals' electrolyte balance, resulting in cardiac arrest. The finding is described as a "key step" in understanding the epidemic.

Karen Lips, one of the world authorities on the spread of chytridiomycosis, said the research was "compelling". "They've done an incredible amount of work, been very thorough, and I don't think anybody will have problems with this. We suspected something like this all along, but it's great to know this is in fact what is happening," the University of Maryland professor told BBC News.


Hundreds of amphibian species will become extinct unless a global action plan is put into practice very soon, conservationists warn. (Image: Glass tree frog - R.D.Holt)

Most species can breathe through it, and it is also used as a membrane through which electrolytes such as sodium and potassium are exchanged with the outside world. The mainly Australian research group took skin samples from healthy and diseased green tree frogs, and found that these compounds passed through the skin much less readily when chytrid was present.

Samples of blood and urine from infected frogs showed much lower sodium and potassium concentrations than in healthy animals - potassium was down by half. In other animals including humans, this kind of disturbance is known to be capable of causing cardiac arrest.

The scientists also took electrocardiogram recordings of the frogs' hearts in the hours before death; and found changes to the rhythm culminating in arrest. Drugs that restore electrolyte balance brought the animals a few hours or days of better health, some showing enough vigour to climb out of their bowls of water; but all died in the end.

Grail quest

Lead scientist Jamie Voyles, from James Cook University in Townsville, said the next step was to look for the same phenomenon in other species. "This is lethal across a broad range of hosts, whether terrestrial or aquatic, so it's really important to look at what's happening in other susceptible amphibians," she said.


Dead Atelopus frog - Ways to stop chytrid in the wild are the "holy grail" for researchers

Another step will be to examine how the chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis - Bd) impairs electrolyte transfer. "What this work doesn't tell us is the mechanism by which chytrid causes this problem with sodium," said Matthew Fisher from Imperial College London. "It could be that Bd is excreting a toxin, or it could be causing cell damage. This causative action is actually the 'holy grail' - so that's another obvious next step."

The finding is unlikely to plot an immediate route to ways of preventing or treating or curing the disease in the wild. Curing infected amphibians in captivity is straightforward using antifungal chemicals; but currently there is no way to tackle it outside. Various research teams are exploring the potential of bacteria that occur naturally on the skin of some amphibians, and may play a protective role.

Understanding the genetics of how Bd disrupts electrolyte balance might lead to more precise identification of protective bacteria, suggested Professor Lips, and so eventually play a role in curbing the epidemic.

Source: BBC News.

First footage of clouded leopard captured in Borneo
15 February 2010



The Sundaland clouded leopard, a newly identified and little understood species of big cat in Borneo, has been filmed for the first time.

The leopard, a healthy-looking animal a metre long (3 feet) and weighing about 40 kilos (90 pounds) was caught on video at night at the Dermakot Forest Reserve in Malaysian Borneo's Sabah state.

"What surprised us was that while clouded leopards are very elusive cats, this one was not scared at all," said Azlan Mohamed, a field scientist with University Sabah Malaysia. "Despite our powerful spot lights and the roar of our vehicle's engine, it walked around our vehicle calmly," he told AFP. "It is rare to see the big cat in the wild. These cats are usually shy of humans, it was by chance we caught it on video."

The Sundaland clouded leopard was classified as a new species through genetic studies several years ago and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature designated it as endangered in 2008. Previously all clouded leopards living across the Southeast Asian mainland were thought to be the same species.

Azlan said the Sundaland species is the biggest predator on Borneo, a resource-rich island split between Malaysia and Indonesia where wildlife habitats are under pressure from logging and plantations. Because of their nocturnal habits, secretive behaviour and small numbers, little is known about the beast, including how many of them are living in Borneo. However, Azlan said the researchers found the remains of a samba deer which had been killed by one of the big cats.

Azlan is a member of a research team focusing on carnivores in Sabah, led by Andreas Wilting of the Leibnez Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research based in Berlin, Germany.

This big cat can be found in lowland rainforest on Borneo and in small numbers in areas of logged forest. But environmentalist say that the clouded leopard faces the threat of poaching while rapid deforestation and the creation of rubber and oil-palm plantations in Borneo is destroying its natural habitat.

Azlan said Dermakot Forest Reserve, a 500 square kilometre (190 square mile) area which had been commercially logged but where replanting is now underway, is also home to four other threatened wild cats. Sixty cameras traps placed in Dermakot also captured images of the marbled cat, flat-headed cat, leopard cat and Borneo bay cat, all smaller in size than the Sundaland clouded leopard.

"These small cats feed on rats and mice," he said. Azlan said the research team was "surprised" to find all five cat species in Dermakot and four of them in the neighbouring Tangkulap Forest Reserve.

Source: Breitbart.

Cold snap killing Florida's coral reefs
15 February 2010


A Green sea turtle is seen in a climate controlled tank as it is treated for "cold stun" at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center in January 2010 in Boca Raton, Florida.

The polar snap enveloping much of the United States in record cold has been killing off coral reefs in the normally balmy warm waters off the Florida Keys, experts said Monday.

The unusually chilly weather so far this year has seen sea temperatures plummet in southern Florida -- a fatal development for the coral, which dies when exposed for an extended time to temperatures below 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit). Especially in the lower Keys, "temperatures have been lower... there is higher mortality," Diego Lirman, a University of Miami expert on coral, told AFP.

Florida's usually mild and sunny winter weather has given way to record low temperatures during the historic cold snap in recent weeks. In Miami, the thermometer in January and February regularly dropped below 35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.6 Celsius), the coldest temperatures since 1970.

The cold snap also has led to "bleaching," in which the coral loses pigmentation and ultimately dies. Destruction of coral having a negative effect on delicate tropical eco-systems in the region, Lirman added, with micro-algae living within the coral forced to leave their habitat for lack of a food source. Some of the worst affected species are the large brain and star coral, which can take several hundreds of years to grow into the vibrant underwater colonies.

"The Keys have not seen a cold-water bleaching event like this since the winter of 1977-78, when acres of staghorn coral perished," said Billy Causey, southeast regional director of NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries.


Manatees huddle together in the warm waters of a Florida power plant

Florida's coral reefs are considered a unique natural heritage area in the United States for their proximity to the coast and their expansiveness, running from north of Miami in the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The state's myriad of tropical animals also have been impacted by the cold snap so far this year, with iguanas dropping from trees and manatees huddling around waters warmed by power plants.

The cold-blooded iguanas' comfort level begins at 73 degrees Fahrenheit (23 Celsius) and they positively thrive at 95 degree Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius). But when temperatures drop below about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius), they become immobile, and below about 40 degrees Fahrenheit (five degrees Celsius), they become completely immobile due to a lack of blood flow. Unable to hold on, the helpless mohawked lizards that shelter in tree branches have been seen falling to the ground, and wildlife officials have offered guidelines to revive them.

Source: Breitbart.

The hoof, the whole hoof...Swiss to vote on legal rights for animals

Referendum on crusade to enhance legal rights for animals expected to win 70 per cent support

By Tony Paterson in Zurich
6 March 2010


Zurich with the lake in background

Is fishing as cruel as bullfighting? Antoine Goetschel thinks so. The Swiss lawyer carries the distinction of being the first man in the world to stand up in court on behalf of a dead (and eaten) 22lb pike.

The crucial issue, according to the sole animal advocate in Europe, was the 10-minute battle between angler and giant fish before the pike was finally hauled out of Lake Zurich and landed on the bank. Mr Goetschel insisted that the fisherman should have cut the line after the first minute of the battle to save the pike from unnecessary suffering. "Angling is as barbaric as bullfighting," he told a Zurich court as a public gallery of curious and bemused fishermen listened on.

Mr Goetschel was widely ridiculed in the Swiss media before last month's trial and subsequently dismissed as a batty and interfering animal fundamentalist. He lost the case. For the fish, the result was immaterial: the angler and his friends had already dined on the prized catch in a presumably celebratory meal at a local pub. "All the same I had those anglers worried," Mr Goetschel told The Independent this week. "For the first time, they were made aware of the possibility that they could face legal consequences for what they were doing."

Mr Goetschel is one of a kind in Switzerland. The passionate animal rights advocate fulfils the role of a state-funded public prosecutor for abused pets and farm animals in his home canton of Zurich. He represents an average of 150 to 200 abused animals a year. But if a national referendum goes his way this weekend, there will soon be scores of lawyers like him all over Switzerland fighting in courts up and down the land for the rights of animals. In contrast to the negative publicity the country has received over attitudes to foreigners and Muslims, the Alpine nation may soon win renown as the most animal-friendly country on earth.

Opinion polls have indicated that 70 per cent of the Swiss population support the scheme. It is already illegal to keep lone goldfish, guinea pigs, canaries and budgerigars in Switzerland because they could become lonely and suffer as a result. Dog owners have to take training courses and from 2013 it will be against the law to keep horses tied up in their stalls. The poll has been set in motion by the campaign group, Swiss Animal Protection, which gathered the necessary 100,000 signatures to force the nationwide vote. It argues that despite big increases in reported animal abuse, the cases often fail to make it to court because they are not taken seriously enough by the local authorities.

Hansueli Huber, Swiss Animal Protection's director, said that his organisation received some 5,000 reports of animal abuse in Switzerland in 2008 alone. The figure was 1,000 up on 2007. "As long as the abuse of animal rights is considered a trivial offence, we will continue to get nowhere," he said.

Mr Goetschel has been Zurich's animal lawyer since 2007, a post created 18 years ago. He insists that it has had profound consequences for animal welfare. "It has meant that everyone, especially the police, the local veterinarians and the animal welfare organisations, now takes animal rights seriously." A confirmed vegetarian, Mr Goetschel developed his passion for animal rights while doing compulsory military service with the Swiss army. "I had to look after a group of men and I grew so hoarse from shouting commands at them, that I had to have my vocal cords operated on," he said. "After the operation I was forbidden to talk for over 10 days. I suddenly began to realise what it must be like to be an animal – unable to communicate in a world dominated by humans."

His experience coincided with some legal work he was doing on a case involving battery hens, which shocked him into becoming fully committed to the animal cause. Since then, Mr Goetschel has worked on some grim cases, including malnourished pets and currently one involving the mutilation of three horses with knives.

Stiff opposition remains to the idea of animal lawyers operating countrywide. The government, which is dominated by the right-wing Swiss People's Party, has called on voters to reject the proposal and says that existing animal welfare laws are sufficient. Predictably, a majority of farmers, hunters and pet breeders also oppose the idea, believing that it will result in more unnecessary legislation. Some have even formed a "No to the useless animal lawyers" campaign.

Mr Goetschel is nevertheless optimistic about the outcome of tomorrow's vote, believing it will send an important signal about the needs for better animal rights to the rest of Europe, including Britain. "You may have your famous RSPCA but the organisation has no real legal bite, it is all about people in nice uniforms," he said. "With a noble tradition like that, I am astonished that the UK does not have its own animal-rights lawyers already."

Source: The Independent UK.

'Astro-squirrels' use coconut shells as helmets

These two squirrels looked like astronauts after putting coconut shells on their heads.

7 March 2010


Squirrels wearing cocunut shells Photo: MIKE WALKER

The pair look more like starved spacemen tucking into the tropical treats at the back of Jane Robert's home in Fareham, Hants.

Miss Roberts, 46, leaves out two coconuts a week and suspends them on pieces of string from her washing line and watches her furry friends dig in. She said: "The first time I saw them feeding I nearly died laughing, they looked like a pair of astronauts and even now I can not stop chuckling every time I see them. I make a large hole in the coconut so they can get to the flesh. They cannot get enough of them. I worry they might get stuck up there one day but they are clever little things."

Source: Telegraph UK.

A monkey catches falling snow flakes in his mouth at Xiangshan Zoo in Huaibei, Anhui province, China
Picture: CHINA FOTO PRESS / BARCROFT

A Macaque monkey grooming ginger tom cat, Koh Phangan, Thailand
Picture: NED WIGGINS / REX FEATURES

Orissa, India: An olive ridley turtle lays its eggs on the Rushikulya beach.
Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images

This tiny starling didn't stand a chance when a hungry bald eagle swooped in for a mid-air snack. The bird flies on, unaware of the enormous predator closing in behind it...
Picture: ROB PALMER / SOLENT


In one swift movement the hunter's razor-sharp claws have closed around its prey. Professional photographer Rob Palmer captured these incredible pictures on a cattle yard in Colorado, USA
Picture: ROB PALMER / SOLENT

An impala strolls around blissfully unaware it has become a home for a contented spider. Photographer Frank Solomon captured the bizarre image while on safari at Kruger National Park, South Africa
Picture: FRANK SOLOMON / SOLENT

Rangsdorf, Germany: Hundreds of dead carp float near the shore on Lake Rangsdorfer, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) south of Berlin, March 24, 2010. Local fishermen report having removed around 300 tons of dead fish in the last few days. The fish died due to oxygen deficiency when the lake froze over in the winter months.
Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/Reuters

Iceland's eruptions could have global consequences
22 March 2010



REYKJAVIK, Iceland (AP) - Blasts of lava and ash shot out of a volcano in southern Iceland on Monday and small tremors rocked the ground, a surge in activity that raised fears of a larger explosion at the nearby Katla volcano.

Scientists say history has proven that when the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupts, Katla follows—the only question is how soon. And Katla, located under the massive Myrdalsjokull icecap, threatens disastrous flooding and explosive blasts when it blows.

Saturday's eruption at Eyjafjallajokull (AYA-feeyapla-yurkul)—dormant for nearly 200 years—forced at least 500 people to evacuate. Most have returned to their homes, but authorities were waiting for scientific assessments to determine whether they were safe to stay. Residents of 14 farms nearest to the eruption site were told to stay away. Several small tremors were felt early Monday, followed by spurts of lava and steam rocketing into the air.

Iceland sits on a large volcanic hot spot in the Atlantic's mid-oceanic ridge. Eruptions, common throughout Iceland's history, are often triggered by seismic activity when the Earth's plates move and when magma from deep underground pushes its way to the surface. Like earthquakes, predicting the timing of volcanic eruptions is an imprecise science. An eruption at the Katla volcano could be disastrous, however—both for Iceland and other nations.

Iceland's Laki volcano erupted in the mid-1780s, freeing gases that turned into smog. The smog floated across the Jet Stream, lowering temperatures and changing weather patterns. Many died from gas poisoning in the British Isles. Crop production fell in western Europe. Famine spread. Some even linked the eruption, which helped fuel famine, to the French Revolution.

"These are Hollywood-sort of scenarios but possible," said Colin Macpherson, a geologist with the University of Durham. "As the melt rises, it's a little like taking a cork out of a champagne bottle."

There are three main places where volcanoes normally occur—along strike-slip faults such as California's San Andreas fault line, along areas where plates overlapping one another such as in the Philippines and the Pacific Rim, and in areas like Iceland, where two of the Earth's plates are moving apart from each other in a so-called spreading system. Unlike the powerful volcanos along the Pacific Rim where the slow rise of magma gives scientists early seismic warnings that an eruption is imminent, Iceland's volcanos are unique in that many erupt under ice sheets with little warning.

Magnus Tumi Gudmundsson, a geologist at the University of Iceland who flew over the site Monday, said the beginning of Saturday's eruption was so indistinct that it initially went undetected by geological instruments. Many of the tremors were below magnitude 2.6. Using thermal cameras and radar, Gudmundsson and other scientists were able to determine that the lava from Eyjafjallajokull was flowing down a gorge and not moving toward the ice caps—reducing any threat of floods. He said he and other scientists were watching Katla but Monday's trip was meant to assess any immediate risk.

"A general expectation is that because of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption, the fissure would widen and in that sense, there's a greater risk of extending into or underneath the glaciers and prompting an eruption at Katla," said Andy Russell with Newcastle University's Earth Surface Processes Research Group, who went with a team to Iceland before the eruption. "From records, we know that every time Eyjafjallajokull erupts, Katla has also erupted."

Russell said past Katla eruptions have caused floods the size of the Amazon and sent boulders as big as houses tumbling down valleys and roads. The last major eruption took place in 1918. Floods followed in as little as an hour. Those eruptions have posed risks to residents nearby, but most of Iceland's current population of 320,000 live in the capital of Reykjavik on the western part of the island.

Southern Iceland is sparely populated but has both glaciers and unstable volcanoes—a destructive combination. The last time there was an eruption near the 100-square-mile (160 square-kilometer) Eyjafjallajokull glacier was in 1821, and that was a "lazy" eruption that lasted slowly and continuously for two years.

Iceland is one of the few places in the world where a mid-ocean ridge actually rises above sea level. Many volcanic eruptions along the ocean basin often go undetected because they can't be easily seen. First settled by Vikings in the 9th century, Iceland is known as the land of fire and ice because of its volcanos and glaciers. During the Middle Ages, Icelanders called the Hekla volcano, the country's most active, the "Gateway to Hell," believing that souls were dragged into the fire below.

The last major volcanic eruption in Iceland occurred in 2004 with the Grimsvotn volcano.

Associated Press writer Paisley Dodds contributed to this report from London.
On the Web: http://en.vedur.is/earthquakes-and-volc ... rniceland/
Source: Breitbart.

A female osprey returns to its nest in Loch of Lowes, Scotland, after a 3,000 mile migration from west Africa. The bird, thought to be the oldest breeding female of its kind ever recorded in the UK, has returned for the 20th consecutive year to the Loch of Lowes Wildlife reserve. This osprey is estimated to be 25 years old, over three times the average lifespan of an Osprey
Photograph: Russell Cheyne/Reuters