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Categories: Anthropology: General, Ecology: Animals
Published Tiny ant species disrupts lion's hunting behavior
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Data gathered through years of observation reveal an innocuous-seeming ant is disrupting an ecosystem in East Africa, illustrating the complex web of interactions among ants, trees, lions, zebras and buffaloes.
Published Unexpected biodiversity on the ocean floor
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Hydrothermal vents and manganese nodule fields in the deep oceans contain more biodiversity than expected.
Published New research challenges hunter-gatherer narrative
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Analysis of the remains of 24 individuals from the Wilamaya Patjxa and Soro Mik'aya Patjxa burial sites in Peru shows that early human diets in the Andes Mountains were composed of 80 percent plant matter and 20 percent meat.
Published DNA from preserved feces reveals ancient Japanese gut environment
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source DNA from ancient feces can offer archaeologists new clues about the life and health of Japanese people who lived thousands of years ago, according to a new study.
Published When conditions cool down, a bacterial prey species becomes the predator
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In a new study, two species of bacteria grown in a lab reversed their predator-prey relationship after one species was grown at a lower temperature.
Published Three-year population study supports fight to save Cameroon's Kordofan giraffe
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Crucial new data about the numbers of Critically Endangered Kordofan giraffe living within Cameroon's B nou National Park has been released, supporting conservation efforts to save the subspecies from extinction.
Published Blue tit population booms with moths on the menu
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers found that years when moth numbers were up resulted in increased population growth for the blue tit.
Published Gulls swap natural for urban habitats, machine-learning study finds
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The study is the first of its kind to compile a three-year dataset using a citizen science-based, opportunistic research method to include a large sample of gulls and other sub-Arctic birds in urban Alaska. The study provides a current snapshot of the habitat shift to an urban landscape.
Published New research into hedgehogs injured by robotic lawn mowers discovers a significant but solvable animal welfare and conservation problem
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Scientists analyzed 370 documented cases of hedgehogs being injured (cut) by electric gardening tools in Germany. Almost half of the hedgehogs found between June 2022 and September 2023 did not survive the injuries. The data reveal a serious animal welfare and conservation issue for these specially protected animals, as most hedgehogs were only found hours or even days after the accidents.
Published Complex green organisms emerged a billion years ago
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Of all the organisms that photosynthesize, land plants have the most complex form. How did this morphology emerge? A team of scientists has taken a deep dive into the evolutionary history of morphological complexity in streptophytes, which include land plants and many green algae. Their research allowed them to go back in time to investigate lineages that emerged long before land plants existed.
Published A window into plant evolution: The unusual genetic journey of lycophytes
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source An international team of researchers has uncovered a remarkable genetic phenomenon in lycophytes, which are similar to ferns and among the oldest land plants. Their study reveals that these plants have maintained a consistent genetic structure for over 350 million years, a significant deviation from the norm in plant genetics.
Published Why animals shrink over time explained with new evolution theory
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The new theoretical research proposes that animal size over time depends on two key ecological factors.
Published Despite intensive scientific analyses, this centaur head remains a mystery
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source For almost 200 years, archaeologists have been puzzled by a mysterious brown stain on the ancient Greek Parthenon temple in Greece. Now, researchers have conducted new scientific analyses, and their verdict is clear: The mystery remains.
Published Males of newly described Australian burrowing scorpions have a big tail to tell
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A study has found some surprising features in two new species of burrowing scorpions, including a very strangely shaped 'tail tip' and some 'sexy' anatomy features. Terrestrial biologists have taken a closer look at two new species of the mysterious Urodacus genus of burrowing scorpions endemic to Australia -- only to find a big difference in their tails compared to other species.
Published Tiny AI-based bio-loggers revealing the interesting bits of a bird's day
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have developed a bio-logger for seabirds that enables long-term observation of rare behaviors. The bio-logger employs low-power depth sensors and accelerometers to identify rare behavior using a light-weight outlier detection model and records the behavior in a 5-min video. Observations using the bio-loggers on Streaked Shearwaters revealed novel aspects of head-shaking and foraging strategies. This approach will enable a wider range of animal behaviors in various environments to be observed.
Published Surprise discovery: For most animals, sperm quality does not reduce with age
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source In humans, male fertility and sperm fitness decline with age, but scientists have made the surprising discovery that this pattern is not consistent in other animals. The team assessed the results of 379 studies which covered a wide range of animals, including mammals, insects, birds, and fish.
Published Study uncovers mechanics of machete-like 'tail-whipping' in thresher sharks
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Like Indiana Jones, thresher sharks have mastered the art of the whip using their tails. Now, new research provides intricate details showing that vertebrae anatomy might support the mechanics of extreme body bending in thresher sharks, enabling these expert hunters to weaponize their tails. Using micro-CT scanning similar to CAT scans in humans, and two-dimensional shape analysis, results of the study suggest vertebral anatomy and mineralized microstructure meet the demands required for fast swimming and tail-whipping behavior seen in these species.
Published Woolly mammoth movements tied to earliest Alaska hunting camps
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers have linked the travels of a 14,000-year-old woolly mammoth with the oldest known human settlements in Alaska, providing clues about the relationship between the iconic species and some of the earliest people to travel across the Bering Land Bridge. Isotopic data, along with DNA from other mammoths at the site and archaeological evidence, indicates that early Alaskans likely structured their settlements to overlap with areas where mammoths congregated. Those findings, highlighted in the new issue of the journal Science Advances, provide evidence that mammoths and early hunter-gatherers shared habitat in the region. The long-term predictable presence of woolly mammoths would have attracted humans to the area.
Published Thermal vision shows endangered numbats feel the heat of warming climate
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Research using thermal imaging of numbats in Western Australia has found that during hot weather the endangered animals are limited to as little as ten minutes of activity in the sun before they overheat to a body temperature of greater than 40 C.
Published The first assessment of toxic heavy metal pollution in the Southern Hemisphere over the last 2,000 years
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Human activity, from burning fossil fuels and fireplaces to the contaminated dust produced by mining, alters Earth's atmosphere in countless ways. Records of these impacts over time are preserved in everlasting polar ice that serves as a sort of time capsule, allowing scientists and historians to link Earth's history with that of human societies. In a new study, ice cores from Antartica show that lead and other toxic heavy metals linked to mining activities polluted the Southern Hemisphere as early as the 13th century.