and cow cartilage tissue was funded by medical research charity Arthritis Research UK the Biotechnology and Biological sciences Research Council's (BBSRC) Diet and Health Research Industry Club (DRINC
#European hunter-gatherers owned pigs as early as 4600 BCEUROPEAN hunter-gatherers acquired domesticated pigs from nearby farmers as early as 4600 BC according to new evidence.
and breeding of livestock into their culture say the scientists. The research published in Nature Communications today (27 august) gives new insights into the movements of prehistoric humans and the transition of technologies and knowledge.
and did not have pigs sheep goats or cows all of which were introduced to Europe with incoming farmers about 6000 BC.
now that the hunter-gathers possessed some of the farmers'domesticated pigs. It is known not yet whether the hunter-gatherers received the pigs via trade
or exchange or by hunting and capturing escaped animals. However the domestic pigs had coloured different
and spotted coats that would have seemed strange and exotic to the hunter-gatherers and may have attracted them to the pigs.
Co-author Dr Greger Larson from the Department of Archaeology at Durham University added: Humans love novelty and though hunter-gatherers exploited wild boar it would have been hard not to be fascinated by the strange-looking spotted pigs owned by farmers living nearby.
It should come as no surprise that the hunter-gatherers acquired some eventually but this study shows that they did very soon after the domestic pigs arrived in Northern europe.
The team analysed the ancient DNA from the bones and teeth of 63 pigs from Northern Germany
which showed that the hunter-gatherers acquired domestic pigs of varying size and coat colour that had both Near Eastern and European ancestry.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Durham University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
--and how reducing use would affect cattle and crops. The aquifer supplies 30 percent of the nation's irrigated groundwater
Steward conducted the study with Kansas State university's Michael Apley professor of clinical sciences and an expert in cattle production;
and the effect it will have to cattle and crops. According to their model researchers estimated that 3 percent of the aquifer's water had been used by 1960.
while peak water use will happen around 2025 western Kansas will see increased corn and cattle production until the year 2040.
#Beetles modify emissions of greenhouse gases from cow patscattle contribute to global warming by burping
Some of the same gases are emitted also from cow pats on pastures. But now researchers from the University of Helsinki have found that beetles living in cow pats may reduce emissions of the key greenhouse gas--methane.
Agriculture is one of the biggest sources of the anthropogenic greenhouse gases responsible for global warming.
Among these cattle farming for meat and milk are major sources of methane a gas with a potent warming effect.
Much of this methane comes from the guts of ruminating cattle but some escapes from dung pats on pastures.
Now researchers from the University of Helsinki have found that beetles living in the cow pats may reduce emissions of methane.
Cow pats offer a prime food for a large number of organisms. In fact there are probably as many beetle species living in dung as there are bird species on this planet.
This will have a major impact on how carbon escapes from cow pats into the atmosphere. You see the important thing here is not just how much carbon is released explains Tomas Roslin head of the research team.
If carbon is first taken up by plants as carbon dioxide then emitted in the same format by the cows eating the plants then the effect of plants passing through cattle will be small in terms of global warming.
When you combine the current increase in meat consumption around the world with the steep declines in many dung beetle species overall emissions from cattle farming can only increase.
Working in three Chinese provinces researchers led by Yi Guan Ph d. of the University of Hong kong collected samples from the throats and digestive tracts of chickens ducks geese pigeons and quail.
Fecal and water samples from live poultry markets and the natural environment were collected also. From these samples the researchers isolated several influenza viruses and genetically sequenced those of the H7n9 subtype as well as related H7n7 and H9n2 viruses.
The resulting H7n9 virus began causing outbreaks among chickens in live poultry markets from which many humans became infected.
whose imposter chicks stab the chicks of their host birds (often little bee-eaters) to death
and kill their own chick should it hatch first. Evolution should then favour honeyguide females that lay eggs resembling those of bee-eaters
and over a month wasted raising the wrong chick! The research was funded by The Royal Society and the DST/NRF Centre of Excellence at Percy Fitzpatrick Institute University of Cape town.
or'fancy'poultry breeders to identify at fine resolution the exact location of the mutation in the genome in blue egg laying chicken.
#Eating poisonous plants saves life of gemsbok in Namibian desertin drought periods browsing springbok (Antidorcas marsupialis) feed on all plant material they can find
while grazing gemsbok (Oryx gazella gazella) in contrast switch their diet to a high proportion of poisonous plants
Researchers from theizw the University of Namibia and other Namibian partners found that gemsbok (also called oryx) adjusted its diet according to season.
Surprisingly gemsbok diet also consisted of up to 25%of Damara milk-bush (Euphorbia damarana) an endemic large succulent plant
When food was plentiful gemsbok specialised exclusively on grasses and more ephemeral succulent species. In contrast springboks fed on a higher proportion of shrubs and trees than grasses and succulent plants irrespective of environmental conditions.
As the researchers expected springbok opportunistically adjusted their diet in response to variation in food sources availabilities preferring e g. grass sprouts during the wet season and browsing predominantly on leaves of bushes when grass quality decreased during drought.
Springbok therefore adopted a different dietary strategy than gemsbok when facing a shortage of food sources.
The potential effects of the Damara milk-bush on gemsbok health are still unknown. However by extensively using this poisonous plant gemsbok succeed in surviving environmental challenges.
Gemsbok seem to be well adapted to the toxic effects of special plants growing in dry regions
and they benefit from their high water and nutritious content. Because global climate change increases drought periods and enhances desertification in Southern Africa it is crucial to understand how wildlife species respond to the impoverishment of their natural environments and the decline of their food sources.
Furthermore gemsbok and springbok are two of the main protein sources for local communities who would be affected negatively by declining wildlife population sizes.
Knowledge about feeding behaviours of local species like gemsbok and springbok is therefore fundamental to establish sustainable wildlife management plans.
#The secret of male beauty (in turkeys) The essence of male beauty is down to the way males use their genes rather than
what genes they have according to a new study into the sexual attractiveness of turkeys. Geneticists have puzzled long over why individuals of the same sex show a greater or lesser degree of sexual attractiveness.
In a new study published today in the journal PLOS Genetics scientists turned to male wild turkeys to solve the problem.
They found that among turkeys that are brothers (and therefore share the majority of their genes)# dominant males show higher expression of genes predominantly found in males
#Male wild turkeys come in two kinds; dominant males have exaggerated sexually attractive traits while subordinate males are less ornate.
which some male turkeys become dominant or submissive but suspect that the concentration of male hormones or androgens may play a role in gene expression.
The study appears in the August issue of the journal Oryx. Authors include Jonathan Slaght of the Wildlife Conservation Society R. J. Guti rrez of the University of Minnesota and Sergei Surmach of the Institute of Biology and Soils (Russian Academy of Sciences.
and mammals like the endangered Amur (or Siberian) tiger Asiatic black bear and wild boar. Listed as Endangered by IUCN Blakiston's fish owl is restricted to riparian areas in Russia China Japan and possibly North korea.
Focusing on the avian flu virus strain H5n1 research published today in the journal PLOS ONE identifies key stages in the poultry trade chain which lead to its transmission to other birds animals and humans.
The H5n1 avian flu strain has been responsible for the deaths of millions of poultry as well as 375 confirmed human deaths.
Areas of Southeast Asia have been hardest hit with more than 2500 reported outbreaks among domestic poultry in Vietnam alone.
However the way that the virus transmits from poultry to humans has been understood poorly. The UEA research team adopted a system widely used in the food production industry known as Hazard Analysis of Critical Control Points (HACCP)
They investigated Vietnam's poultry trade system and identified four key stages within the poultry trade chain
which pose high risks for the transmission of HPAI viruses in human and poultry populations:
-Contact within poultry flocks which act as viral'mixing pots'.'Examples include at markets which act as huge reservoirs for the virus at bird vaccination centres and at cock fighting contests.
-Transportation and sale of poultry and eggs. -Purchase and slaughter of poultry from markets. -Preparation of poultry for consumption--particularly in unhygienic conditions and when meat is undercooked raw
or. Preventative measures outlined in the report include isolating and quarantining flocks using protective equipment such as masks gloves
and sterile utensils when slaughtering and preparing carcases for consumption and using social media to promote good hygiene standards.
The research was led by Dr Diana Bell and Dr Kelly Edmunds from UEA's school of Biological sciences.
We identified poultry transportation slaughter preparation and consumption as critical control points in response to HPAI H5n1 outbreaks in Vietnam.
and soft tissue infections in humans originally came from cattle according to a study to be published in mbio the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology.
The findings highlight the potential for cows to serve as a reservoir for bacteria with the capacity for pandemic spread in humans.
The researchers sequenced the genomes of 43 different CC97 isolates from humans cattle and other animals and plotted their genetic relationships in a phylogenetic tree.
Corresponding author Ross Fitzgerald of the Roslin Institute and the University of Edinburgh in Scotland says strains of CC97 found in cows appear to be the ancestors of CC97 strains from humans.
This led us to conclude that the strains infecting humans originated in cows and that they had evolved from bovine to human host jumps says Fitzgerald.
Although the CC97 strains from animals were quite genetically diverse the human isolates cluster together in two tight distinct clades
or relatedness groups indicating that S aureus CC97 in cattle crossed over into humans on two separate occasions.
This sequence of events contrasts with the case of A s. aureus strain from pigs Fitzgerald points out since a study in 2012 revealed that MRSA ST398 strains evolved the ability to resist methicillin before they crossed over into humans.
Any number of factors could create these differences making pigs--but not cattle--a source of a drug-resistant bacterium.
whether differences in the S. aureus strains differences between pigs and cattle or differences between swine and dairy farming practices might be responsible.
These brightly coloured mothers also experienced relatively lower levels of stress hormones during arduous periods of chick rearing.
UV plumage can signal maternal quality in blue tits so a male choosing a brightly coloured female will gain a good mother for his chicks and a less stressed partner.
and both parents feeding the chicks. The researchers looked at the relative UV reflectance of the crown feathers of female blue tits
and number of chicks fledged--as well as the birds'maternal state. Dr Arnold said: With up to 14 chicks to care for blue tit mothers in our study were feeding their broods every couple of minutes.
We showed that dowdy coloured females found this level of hard work twice as stressful compared with brighter mothers.
Also the mothers with more UV-reflectant crowns were highly successful fledging up to eight more chicks than females with drabber feathers.
Methane the main component of natural gas is released from leaking pipelines coal mines oil wells cattle rice paddies and landfills.
The veterinary fences--which had been built to keep wild buffalo from transferring diseases to cattle--were taken down in 2004.
Most cases appear to have visited live poultry markets or had close contact with live poultry 7-10 days before illness onset.
Currently no definite evidence indicates sustained human-to-human transmission of the H7n9 virus. The study reports a family cluster of two patients (father and daughter) with H7n9 virus infection in Eastern China in March 2013.
The first (index) patient--a 60 year old man--regularly visited a live poultry market and became ill five to six days after his last exposure to poultry.
He was admitted to hospital on 11 march. When his symptoms became worse he was transferred to the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) on 15 march.
The second patient his healthy 32 year old daughter had known no exposure to live poultry before becoming sick.
Environmental samples from poultry cages water at two local poultry markets and swans from the residential area were tested also.
They believe that the most likely source of infection for the index case was the live poultry market and conclude:
or canola oil supplemental lipids from algae sources and amino acid supplements such as taurine. An amino acid used in energy drinks taurine plays a critical role in the metabolism of fats stress responses
and muscle growth and is found in high levels in carnivorous fish and their prey.
The study Taurine Supplementation of Plant Derived Protein and n-3 Fatty acids are Critical for Optimal Growth
to retaliate against lions that kill livestock or to engage in a cultural rite of passage.
unless the hunt is to eliminate a lion in defense of life or livestock. Still lion hunting regularly occurs in both countries usually without the hunters'following the law.
They found that Maasai hunt lions for multiple overlapping reasons some relating to predation on livestock and some not.
In some cases Maasai said they hunted lions to prevent the potential killing of livestock especially by lions that had killed livestock before rather than just as retaliation.
In Kenya for instance conservation programs aim to curb Maasai lion hunting by financially compensating Maasai for livestock killed by lions.
because we do not have cattle to be killed every day an elder Maasai told the researchers.
because the lion will keep coming back to eat cattle until all the cattle are gone. And then what will we do with the money?
to reaffirm the protective role of young warriors to help select brave leaders among warrior groups to allow individual warriors to gain prestige to eliminate lions that prey on livestock
and to prevent lions from becoming habituated to eating livestock and sometimes harming people. The multiple reasons illustrate the limitations of explaining Maasai lion hunting as either a cultural manhood ritual
Goldman also a faculty research associate at CU-Boulder's Institute of Behavioral Science is the first author on the study that was published recently online in the journal Oryx
The tiny algae of the greenhouse world were just too small to support big animals said Norris. It's like trying to keep lions happy on mice instead of antelope;
The tree is harvested heavily for its leaves to feed cattle and for its bark which is used medicinally to treat many ailments from stomachaches to reducing malaria fevers.
Even a smaller partial shift from crop-intensive livestock such as feedlot beef to food animals such as chicken or pork could increase agricultural efficiency
#Rubber slat mats could improve animal well-beingnew research shows that rubber slat mats could improve swine health.
According to the researchers flooring is one of the main factors in production systems that cause locomotory problems in swine.
Julia Calderã n-DÃ az a Phd candidate at University of College Dublin said pregnant sows placed on cushioned flooring would have a lower risk of being compared lame with sows placed on concrete.
Sows housed on rubber mats had reduced a risk of swelling and wounds on the limbs.
In the European union pregnant sows must be housed group four weeks after breeding until one week before farrowing.
Calderã n-DÃ az said other countries are likely to use group housing for pregnant sows in the near future.
and grass-fed livestock--can have worsened effects over consecutive generations especially affecting teens according to a University of Pittsburgh study.
and grass-fed livestock--can have worsened effects over consecutive generations especially affecting teens according to a University of Pittsburgh study.
and algae much of today's grain-fed cattle contain less of these essential fatty acids.
Before going extinct in the American Southwest by the early 1900s grizzly bear diets shifted toward livestock depredation the report noted
because of lack of plant-based food caused by livestock overgrazing. And in the absence of wolves black bears went extinct on Anticosti Island in Canada after over-browsing of berry shrubs by introduced while-tailed deer.
Livestock grazing in grizzly bear habitat adjacent to the national park and bison herbivory in the park likely also contribute to high foraging pressure on shrubs
In addition to eliminating wolf-livestock conflicts retiring livestock allotments in the grizzly bear recovery zone adjacent to Yellowstone could benefit bears through increases in plant foods.
The amount of time orangutans spent on the forest floor was found to be comparable to the ground-dwelling pig-tailed macaque Macaca nemestrina
The amount of time orangutans spent on the forest floor was found to be comparable to the ground-dwelling pig-tailed macaque Macaca nemestrina
and January and these same individuals produced a calf a year later. We concluded that this is a pretty strong indication of a mating ground
Using genetic data gathered in other field work known fathers seen in the surveys were identified as were known mothers who were identified by association with a calf.
The good news is that calf production has been fairly good with 22 calves born in 2011 7 in 2012 and 20 this past winter.
It will be interesting to see how many calves are born next year. Most of the North Atlantic right whale population spends the spring and summer on feeding grounds off the northeastern U s. and the Canadian Maritimes.
Mothers and calves are detected during intensive aerial surveys conducted from December through March off the coasts of Florida Georgia South carolina and North carolina.
Mothers and calves return to the northeast feeding grounds in the early spring and the calves stay with their mothers for a year following birth Recovery of this endangered species depends on successful reproduction
but current reproductive rates for North Atlantic right whales are much lower than those for the recovering populations of southern right whales.
Pig receiving chemotherapy for lymphoma successfully recoveringplayful as a puppy even at 730 pounds Nemo a rescued black-and-white Hampshire pig became a porcine pioneer after lymphoma struck.
Nemo is believed to be the first pig to be treated for lymphoma. The pig's medical treatment began
when his owner George Goldner saw his friend fall ill. I want to do everything humanly possible for my animals said Goldner.
and laid down in the snow Goldner drove Nemo nearly four hours to Cornell's hospital where the pig was diagnosed with presumptive B-cell lymphoma a blood cancer.
In the first such procedure ever done to treat a sick pig surgeon Jim Flanders who had performed similar procedures in smaller animals joined large-animal surgeon Susan Fubini to surgically implant a vascular access port.
Although lymphoma has been documented in swine there aren't any documented cases of pigs being treated for it said Cornell hospital oncologist Cheryl Balkman.
Though little is known about the prognosis for pigs with cancer Nemo has the notable distinction of establishing a precedent giving veterinarians valuable information for helping large animals.
The study finds that as pastoralists expand goat herds to increase profits for the cashmere trade in Western markets wildlife icons from the Tibetan Plateau to Mongolia suffer--including endangered snow leopard wild yak chiru saiga Bactrian camel
gazelles and other remarkable but already endangered species of remote Central asia. Ecological effects of the growth in goat herds include increasing conflicts with pastoralists predation by dogs on wildlife retaliatory killing of snow leopards and displacement of wildlife away from critical food habitats.
The study appears in the August issue of the journal Conservation Biology. Authors include: Joel Berger of WCS and University of Montana Bayarbaatar Buuveibaatar of WCS Mongolia and Charudutt Mishra of the Snow leopard Trust.
Goats from this region produce high-quality fibers that when processed into cashmere are sought highly by western consumers.
and wild yak Przewalski's horse chiru saiga antelope Tibetan gazelle kiang khulan and snow leopard are increasingly dominated by domestic goats and other livestock.
The study results from fieldwork in India western China and Mongolia and builds upon economic data including herder profits changes in livestock numbers and the relative abundance of wildlife.
In particular mammals such as forest elephants gorillas forest antelopes and others play a major role in seed dispersal for most tree species;
and ending the practice of burning forests to support agriculture and livestock. Loss of trees could impact on climate change as forests store carbon in their stems
The paper appears in the July 17 issue of the journal Oryx. Authors are Tim Davenport of the Wildlife Conservation Society Katarzyna Nowak of the Udzungwa Elephant Project and Andrew Perkin of the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group.
The study suggests that Neolithic farmers used the dung from their herds of cattle sheep goats and pigs as a slow release fertiliser for crops.
and technologies that are not more fertilizer-demanding such as new varieties improved rotations integrated crop-livestock practices
The study found that increasing livestock yields was more effective at reducing greenhouse gas emissions than increasing yields from crops that people eat.
and 25%for livestock would lead to a 12%savings in greenhouse gas emission per calorie produced.
However says Valin Increasing livestock yield is not as beneficial to food security as can be increase crop yield just
and livestock greenhouse gas emissions and the trade-offs and co-benefits of different pathways of crop yield improvement.
#Surprising benefits about dairy cow inflammationinflammation. The word typically has a negative connotation. Arthritis#infection#numerous maladies come to mind.
But a Kansas State university researcher found that inflammation that occurs naturally in dairy cows the first few days after giving birth may play a surprisingly beneficial role in the complex process of going from late pregnancy to lactation.
and going into the lactating phase dairy cows naturally experience some degree of inflammation said Barry Bradford associate professor in the university's department of animal sciences and industry.
Thinking that reducing inflammation during this period might be beneficial for the cow's transition from gestation to lactation plus limit metabolic disease Bradford
or SS) for the first seven days of lactation would prevent liver fat accumulation improve the supply of glucose for lactation and limit metabolic disease in dairy cows entering lactation.
Our findings suggest that mild inflammation may be a necessary part of a cow's adaptation to lactation Bradford said.
Similarly anti-inflammatory treatment led to a dramatic drop in plasma glucose concentration in mature cows. Both of these responses are associated often with metabolic disease in early lactation cows.
The study improved our understanding of the re-prioritization process by suggesting that inflammatory pathways promote a temporary state of insulin resistance in dairy cows resulting in conservation of glucose for use by the mammary gland Bradford said.
The results of the study which was funded by the U s. Department of agriculture's National Institute of Food
And it's not just cattle that experience the shift in demands on the body: Many species experience these dramatic shifts Bradford said.
#Lesser prairie-chicken nest survival may decline by 2050lesser prairie-chicken nest survival may decrease to a level considered too low to sustain the current population by 2050 according to a new report by Texas Tech
and precipitation change on lesser prairie-chicken reproduction on the Southern High Plains. The authors noted that these findings do not suggest that the prairie chicken will become extinct
but rather indicate potential for population declines in New mexico and West Texas if no actions are taken.
and offset effects of changes in climate on the lesser prairie-chicken. Scientists looked at modeled predictions of climate change
Scientists focused on prairie chicken habitat in the southwestern part of their distribution in New mexico and West Texas. The study assessed the potential changes in number of eggs laid in a nest incubation start date
Increased temperatures and reduced humidity may lead to lesser prairie-chicken egg death or nest abandonment. The research showed that warm winter temperatures had the largest negative effect on reproductive success. Scientists suggest that above-average winter temperatures were correlated with La Niã a events
Lesser prairie-chicken survival relies on the combination of habitat and climate and larger areas of habitat provide more opportunities for them to survive a difficult climate said USGS scientist
The lesser prairie-chicken has experienced widespread declines in abundance and distribution with some estimates suggesting greater than a 90 percent decrease of the population.
This is the first study to examine how seasonal weather affects reproductive conditions of the lesser prairie-chicken.
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