14 Dec
Wild chimpanzees may not have menopause
A pioneering study of wild chimpanzees has observed that these close human relatives do not routinely experience menopause, rebutting prior studies of captive individuals which had postulated that female chimpanzees reach reproductive senescence at 35 to 40 years of age. Together with recent data from wild gorillas and orangutans, the finding — described this week in the journal Current Biology — suggests that human females are rare or even unique among primates in experiencing a lengthy post-reproductive lifespan……..
These photographs were originally slated to appear in August when the images were made, but after attempting to verify the identification of the plants, I discovered they weren'’t the species suggested by the label. The labeling error has since been corrected and I'’ve updated the names on the previous photographs I'’ve ………
A quick and cool way to help combat climate change is now available at www.conservation.org/carboncalculator. Lively videos and stunning images are featured in Conservation Internationals (CI) new online carbon calculator, which helps people easily calculate how much they are adding to global greenhouse gases. The CI carbon calculator offers a way to offset those emissions by helping protect tropical forests from being burned and cleared……..
DCOrganic compounds contain carbon and hydrogen and form the building blocks of all life on Earth. By analyzing organic material and minerals in the Martian meteorite Allan Hills 84001, researchers at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory have demonstrated for the first time that building blocks of life formed on Mars early in its history. Previously, researchers have thought that organic material in ALH 84001 was brought to Mars by meteorite impacts or more speculatively originated from ancient Martian microbes……..
Researchers at the U.S. Forest Service Redwood Sciences Lab and University of Vermont found scat sniffing dogs might be the best way to confirm the presence of rare carnivores in forested areas like the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. In 2003 and 2004, they compared the ability of dogs, remote cameras and hair snares to detect fishers, bobcats and black bears at 168 sites throughout Vermont. Dogs had the highest detection rate for targeted species and were the most cost-effective, as per findings published last summer in The Journal of Wildlife Management……..
Director Barry Dickson and his group are interested in the genetic basis of innate behaviour. They focus on the reproductive behaviour of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. Two years ago, the team was able to identify the fruitless gene as a key regulator of mating behaviour. For 20 years, researchers have been trying to identify another molecular switch which changes the behaviour of female insects after mating. It makes them lose interest in further sexual contact and start laying eggs. Mosquitoes, once fertilized, look out for a meal of blood and may transmit the malaria parasite along the way……..
EAST LANSING, Mich. Michigan State Universitys panda habitat research team has spent years collecting mountains of data aimed at understanding and saving giant pandas. Now a graduate student is working to catch crucial data thats black, white and furry. Vanessa Hull, 25, a Ph.D. candidate, is in the snowy, remote mountains of the Sichuan Province of China which also is the heart of panda habitat. Shes hoping to capture, collar and track up to four wild pandas using advanced global positioning systems……..
Geographic range maps that allow conservationists to estimate the distribution of birds may vastly overestimate the actual population size of threatened species and those with specific habitats, as per a research studypublished online this week in the journal Conservation Biology. “Our study observed that species ranges in general tend to get overestimated, but that this trend is especially pronounced for birds that are threatened, rely on specialized diets or have small habitats,” said Walter Jetz, an assistant professor of biological sciences at UC San Diego and the lead author of the study, which will appear in the recent issue of the printed journal. “This suggests that a number of threatened species of birds may be even rarer than we believe and are in greater danger of going extinct”……..
A number of fruit farmers in the United States rely heavily on “pick-your-own” (PYO) operations to realize profits and create repeat business. Pick-your-own fruit farms are an important market segment, and consumer satisfaction with the experience is critical to farmers eager to increase seasonal revenues……..
Where do you go when you’ve reached the top of a mountain and you can’t go back down? It’s a question increasingly relevant to plants and animals, as their habitats slowly shift to higher elevations, driven by rising temperatures worldwide. The answer, unfortunately, is you can’t go anywhere. Habitats shrink to the vanishing point, and species go extinct……..
