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Categories: Archaeology: General, Ecology: Animals

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Biology: Evolutionary Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: General Ecology: Nature Ecology: Research
Published

How food availability could catalyze cultural transmission in wild orangutans      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The proverb "necessity is the mother of invention" has been used to describe the source from which our cultural evolution springs. After all, need in times of scarcity has forced humans to continually invent new technologies that have driven the remarkable cumulative culture of our species. But an invention only becomes cultural if it is learned and spread by many individuals. In other words, the invention must be socially transmitted. But what are the forces that drive social transmission?

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: General Archaeology: General
Published

Prehistoric mobility among Tibetan farmers, herders shaped highland settlement patterns, cultural interaction, study finds      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Using advanced geospatial modeling to compare environmental and archaeological evidence, researchers found evidence that connects ancient mobility and subsistence strategies to cultural connections forged among Tibetan farmers and herders in the Bronze and Iron Ages -- adding to understanding of how and why ancient communities built social relationships and cultural identities across the extreme terrain in Tibet.

Biology: General Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

Clown anemonefish seem to be counting bars and laying down the law      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

We often think of fish as carefree swimmers in the ocean, reacting to the world around them without much forethought. However, new research suggests that our marine cousins may be more cognizant than we credit them for. Fish may be counting vertical bars on intruders to determine their threat level, and to inform the social hierarchy governing their sea anemone colonies.

Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals
Published

Relocated songbirds can successfully learn the diversity of song they need to survive      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

New research focused on a population of cirl bunting reintroduced into Cornwall from 2006 as part of a major conservation program. It suggests that if the translocation of nestlings is deemed necessary for conservation purposes, it may not lead to long-term problems for communication and population persistence.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Nature Environmental: Biodiversity Environmental: General Geoscience: Environmental Issues
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Climate change threatens older elephants most, jeopardizing African elephants' future      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A collaborative team of researchers has conducted first-of-its kind research into how global climate change affects African elephants. The work shows that older elephants will have markedly decreased chances of survival, which will not only drastically reduce the species' overall ability to weather the changing climate but will send ripple effects throughout the surrounding landscape. The team has also modeled possible mitigation scenarios.

Archaeology: General Paleontology: Fossils
Published

Did dementia exist in ancient Greek and Rome?      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Did the ancient Greeks and Romans experience Alzheimer's? Medical texts from 2,500 years ago rarely mention severe memory loss, suggesting today's widespread dementia stems from modern environments and lifestyles, a new analysis shows.

Archaeology: General Environmental: General
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Archaeological evidence of seasonal vitamin D deficiency discovered      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Rickets ran rife in children following the Industrial Revolution, but new research has found factory work and polluted cities aren't entirely to blame for the period's vitamin D deficiencies.

Biology: Marine Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Sea Life
Published

Floating algae a raft for juvenile pelagic fish      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Floating macroalgal acts as a raft that provides habitat for a diverse array of juvenile oceanic fish a new study has found. The study conducted in the Ningaloo Coast World Heritage Area, Western Australia, revealed that fish were more abundant around macroalgal rafts than in open water, with eleven species of juvenile fishes associated with Sargassum rafts, and one species of both juveniles and adults.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Archaeology: General
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Neanderthals and humans lived side by side in Northern Europe 45,000 years ago      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Archaeologists have debated whether Neanderthals or modern humans made stone tools that are found at sites across northern Europe and date from about 40,000 years ago. A new excavation at one site in Germany turned up 45,000-year-old bone fragments that, when analyzed for mitochondrial DNA, proved to be from Homo sapiens. This is the earliest evidence that modern humans overlapped with Neanderthals in northwest Europe, thousands of years before Neanderthals went extinct.

Anthropology: Early Humans Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Biology: Evolutionary Paleontology: Early Mammals and Birds Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

How did humans learn to walk? New evolutionary study offers an earful      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

A new study, which centers on evidence from skulls of a 6-million-year-old fossil ape, Lufengpithecus, offers important clues about the origins of bipedal locomotion courtesy of a novel method: analyzing its bony inner ear region using three-dimensional CT-scanning. The inner ear appears to provide a unique record of the evolutionary history of ape locomotion.

Biology: Biochemistry Ecology: Animals Ecology: Sea Life Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and Animals
Published

First-ever sighting of a live newborn great white      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

Great whites, the largest predatory sharks in the world with the most fatal attacks on humans, are tough to imagine as newborn babies. That is partially because no one has seen one in the wild, it seems, until now.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Microbiology Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Invasive Species
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West Nile virus emergence and spread in Europe found to be positively associated with agricultural activities      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The spread of West Nile virus in Europe is strongly linked to agricultural activities, urbanization, and bird migration, according to new research.

Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Botany Biology: General Ecology: Animals Ecology: Invasive Species Ecology: Trees Offbeat: Earth and Climate Offbeat: General Offbeat: Plants and 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.

Anthropology: Cultures Anthropology: General Archaeology: General Geoscience: Geochemistry
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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.

Archaeology: General Biology: Biochemistry Biology: Evolutionary Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Invasive Species Paleontology: Climate Paleontology: Fossils Paleontology: General
Published

Ancient brown bear genomes sheds light on Ice Age losses and survival      (via sciencedaily.com)     Original source 

The brown bear is one of the largest living terrestrial carnivores, and is widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike many other large carnivores that went extinct at the end of the last Ice Age (cave bear, sabretoothed cats, cave hyena), the brown bear is one of the lucky survivors that made it through to the present. The question has puzzled biologists for close to a century -- how was this so?

Biology: Microbiology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Nature
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.

Ecology: Animals Ecology: Endangered Species Ecology: Extinction Ecology: Nature
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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.

Biology: General Biology: Zoology Ecology: Animals Ecology: Nature Environmental: Ecosystems
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.