Bigger animals can eat a wider range of foods and be fiercer predators than their pip-squeak pals.
But because they eat more types of animals they also have more competition for those animals
and the ecosystem can support a lower population density of them since they need more resources including space to survive.
while the size of the biggest and smallest of the animals didn't change over time there were more of the bigger beasts during the later periods of its evolution.
and extinction of the top predator lineage that must have had a significant impact to the ocean ecology said Kenshu Shimada a paleobiologist at Depaul University in Chicago who was involved not in the study.
#Melting Sea Ice Keeps Hungry Polar bears On land Polar bears the iconic victims of climate change are shifting their migration patterns because of changes in sea ice.
The bears are arriving on land earlier and departing later a new study found and it's threatening their access to food.
A team of researchers studied the migration patterns of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in Hudson bay Canada using satellite-tracking data collected between 1991 and1997 and 2004 and 2009.
when the bears migrated onto or off of land. The findings are detailed today (March 19) in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
when polar bears move on and off the ice is an important aspect of monitoring the risks to the population associated with climate change study leader Seth Cherry a graduate student in ecology at the University of Alberta Canada told Livescience in an email.
Polar bears hunt their main food source seals primarily while on sea ice. Changes in the ice are driving the bears to spend more time on land where they have to go longer without eating
and rely on fat reserves to tide them over. Climate-induced changes that cause sea ice to melt earlier form later
or both likely affect the overall health of polar bears in the area Cherry said. 10 Odd Facts About Arctic Sea Ice Cherry
and colleagues fitted 109 female polar bears with tracking collars (males can't wear collars because their necks are wider than their heads).
Putting a tracking collar on a polar bear is quite a feat. The researchers located the bears from a helicopter
and flew in close to dart the bears. With the animals immobilized the researchers attached the collars
which were equipped with GPS transmitters that beamed their location. The scientists also took measurements in the form of blood samples and fat biopsies
which told them about the bears'diet and nutrition. When we look at the migration patterns of the collared bears it appears as though bears in recent years are arriving on shore earlier in the summer
and leaving later in the autumn Cherry said. These are precisely the kind of changes one would expect to see as a result of a warming climate.
The findings suggest that it's not only the distribution of sea ice that affects the bears'migration but how quickly that ice melts or forms.
When the ice melts in Hudson bay the bears spend longer on land where they are essentially fasting.
Pregnant females are particularly vulnerable Cherry said because when the other bears resume hunting in late November
or early December these females stay in dens on land to give birth to cubs and nurse them.
#MERS Virus Found in Camels Camels are carriers of the new Middle east respiratory syndrome (MERS) virus according to a new study.
The researchers used genetic sequencing methods to identify a strain of the MERS virus in camels on a Qatar farm where two people caught the disease.
The virus found in the camels was very similar but not identical to the MERS virus seen in people.
The study provides definitive proof that camels can be infected with MERS-Cov the researchers said using the official name of the virus
. However the study cannot prove that people caught the virus from camels. It's possible that humans gave the virus to the camels
or that both humans and camels were infected by an unidentified third source the researchers said.
Previously the researchers found that camels had developed antibodies against the MERS virus. So far health officials have reported 163 human cases of MERS including 71 people who died.
All of these cases could be traced back to the Middle east region n
#Mesa verde: Cliff Dwellings of the Anasazi The Mesa verde archaeological region located in the American Southwest was the home of a pueblo people who during the 13th century A d. constructed entire villages in the sides of cliffs.
The region they lived in is defined by researchers at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center. It encompassed almost 10000 square miles (26000 square km) of territory going across the states of Utah Colorado
but sometimes prolonged periods of drought writes a team of Crow Canyon researchers in a 2011 online article. oeliving off the land has always been
The Crow Canyon researchers note that after A d. 500 a people whom archaeologists refer to as the oebasketmakers (named from their finely woven baskets) moved from the peripheries of the Mesa verde archaeological area into the center.
The adoption of the bow appears to have increased their hunting proficiency resulting in some game animals like deer eventually becoming overhunted
or discussed issues important to the group the Crow Canyon researchers write. This way of life appears to have been quite successful at least for a time.
Crow Canyon archaeologists note that these room blocks were made of adobe stone and plant materials with stone masonry becoming more important as time went on.
The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center archaeologists note that oelike great kivas great houses were public structures probably used for community-wide ceremonies
Another thing the people appear to have brought from their time outside Mesa verde was connections to a vast trade network. oethe presence of Chaco-style pottery vessels macaw-feather sashes
but much more distant locations in Mexico as well write the Crow Canyon archaeologists. The researchers who wrote the American Antiquity article note that the population in their study area continued to grow almost continuously after A d. 930 spiking in the 13th century.
For example chocolate coyote tomato and avocado all originated in Nahuatl. Religions of Mexico Close to 90 percent of Mexicans identify themselves as Catholic
#Monkeys Shun Selfish Others Capuchin monkeys are known for their ability to recognize when they're being treated inequitably
but it now appears the primates can even spot unfairness in situations that don't involve themselves.
The fluffy-faced monkeys judge the social interactions of others and hold biases against individuals behaving poorly new research shows.
In a pair of studies researchers investigated how capuchin monkeys in captivity reacted to different third-party social interactions.
In one study capuchins watched two actors engage in reciprocity exchanges in which one actor handed over several balls to another who then either reciprocated or selfishly kept all the balls.
After each scene the monkeys chose a treat from one of the actors they consistently avoided treats from actors who refused to reciprocate or help.
Capuchins in the wild may keep tabs on group members to figure out whom to avoid interacting with on a specific day researchers said.
The research implies capuchin monkeys are judging other individuals even when they aren't involved in the action something that humans do said all the time Sarah Brosnan an ethnologist at Georgia State university who wasn't involved in the new research.
It suggests the behavior may be rooted deeply in the primate family tree. Video: Watch the Monkeys Judge Selfish Humans In all fairness In 2003 Brosnan
and her colleagues discovered capuchin monkeys have a sense of fairness. They trained captive monkeys to hand them an object in exchange for a cucumber slice or the preferable grape.
If a capuchin saw another monkey receive a grape while it was given a cucumber it would refuse the reward or even throw the cucumber at the researcher.
Subsequent research showed other cooperative primates including chimpanzees also know when they're being treated unfairly
but nobody has looked at whether nonhuman primates can spot inequity in situations that don't involve themselves.
So we wondered if they're sensitive to third-party interactions said James Anderson a primatologist at the University of Stirling in Scotland
and lead author of the new studies. Can they form impressions of individuals based on how those individuals behave towards one another?
To find out Anderson and his colleagues tested capuchins'reactions to scenes of reciprocity. Two actors began with two containers each one
After each scene both actors offered an identical treat to the monkey the capuchin chose a treat by reaching toward one of the outstretched hands.
The primates showed no preference when both actors reciprocated but they consistently avoided taking treats from non-reciprocators the researchers found in the study detailed online recently in the journal Cognition.
The monkeys showed no significant preferences in either cases but were overall more likely to accept treats from impoverished than incomplete reciprocators
as if the monkeys accepted her intention to fully reciprocate Anderson said. Showing biases In a companion study published today (March 5) in the journal Nature Communications the researchers tested how capuchins regard unhelpful people.
Here one actor struggled to open a container and requested help from the second actor who either helped
Similar to before the capuchins avoided accepting treats from unhelpful actors. No Fair? 5 Animals With a Moral Compass The researchers then investigated
what happens when both actors have a container. Again if the second actor refused to help the monkeys showed a sharp bias against her and accepted treats only from the other actor.
However if the actor didn't help because she was occupied too with her own container the capuchins showed no biases further suggesting the monkeys considered the actors'intentions.
The team also tested if the act of turning away rather than being unhelpful was specifically to blame for the monkeys'biases;
it wasn't.)Importantly the objects handled in both studies had no relevance to the monkeys Anderson said.
If actors handled food the monkeys would likely choose whoever they thought would give them the most treats.
Brosnan agreed: Using food could have changed the capuchins'behaviors. A widespread behavior? I think it's a really interesting study with implications for helping us understand how cooperation comes about said Malini Suchak a primatologist at Emory University who wasn't involved in the research.
Capuchins and some other primate species are very cooperative so knowing who in their community will be the most reciprocal
or helpful is important. If you choose the wrong partner a cheater you've lost at that point.
If social evaluation isn't widespread among primates it may mean the behavior evolved from some kind of selective pressure she said.
if the behavior exists in other animals such as birds and fish that have been shown to gather information by eavesdropping on others.
if capuchins really do judge the actions of their own kind. I would want to see what they could get the capuchins to understand about two other capuchins Proctor said adding that the studies'results suggest the monkeys evaluate each other in the wild.
For now Anderson is investigating what capuchins think of people who over-reciprocate. Can monkeys develop a positive bias for a person who behaves generously?
he said. Follow us on Twitter@livescience. We're also on Facebookâ & Google+.+Original article onâ Livescience. com v
#More than 30,000 Miles of Roads Built in Amazon in 3 Years How long does it take to build a little more than 30000 miles (50000 kilometers) of new roads through the rain forest?
This includes changes in the temperature and humidity of air and soil and the movement of animals.
A 2011 study funded by the National Science Foundation found that a fishbone configuration for example offers a solution that merges development with forest livelihood.
Such a network allows roads to be built far enough away from one another that animals and connected ecosystems can continue to thrive despite the intrusion of human infrastructure.
#Most Ancient Romans Ate Like Animals Ancient Romans are known for eating well with mosaics from the empire portraying sumptuous displays of fruits vegetables cakes and of course wine.
#Most Interesting Science News articles of the Week<p></p><p>A mystery blob scorpion-eating mice and trees of gold?
></p><p>The sting of the Arizona bark scorpion is so fierce that humans say the pain is like being hit by a hammer.
But the tiny grasshopper mouse shakes off the sting like it's nothing.</</p><p>Now researchers have found for the mouse the sting really is nothing.
Instead of causing pain the scorpion venom blocks it a fact that could lead to the development of new pain-blocking drugs for people.</
</p><p>Full Story:<<a href=http://www. livescience. com/40684-scorpion-eating-mice-no-sting. html target=blank>Scorpion-Eating Mice Feel No Sting</a p><p
></p><p>Trees may turn golden for reasons that have nothing to do with the onset of autumn:
</p><p>This Cretaceous-era herbivore<i>Parasaurolophus</i>walked the Earth some 75 million years ago.
or perhaps to amplify the animals'calls. The little specimen dubbed Joe was so young that its crest was a mere bump on its head.</
<a href=http://www. livescience. com/40628-animals-predict-earthquakes-oarfish. html target=blank>Can Oarfish Predict Earthquakes?</
Amazonian Butterflies Drink Turtle Tears The sight of butterflies flocking onto the heads of yellow-spotted river turtles in the western Amazon rain forest is not uncommon at least
if one is able to sneak up on the skittish reptiles. But the reason why butterflies congregate onto the turtles may be stranger than you think:
to drink their tears. The butterflies are attracted likely to the turtles'tears because the liquid drops contain salt specifically sodium an important mineral that is scant in the western Amazon said Phil Torres a scientist who does much of his research at the Tambopata Research center in Peru
and is associated with Rice university. Unlike butterflies turtles get plenty of sodium through their largely carnivorous diet.
Meat contains significant levels of the salt Torres told Livescience. But herbivores sometimes struggle to get enough sodium and other minerals he added.
They end up needing this extra mineral source he said. Photos: Butterflies Drink Turtle Tears Drinking tears Turtle tears are not the only source of such salts for butterflies;
the insects also readily get the salt from animal urine muddy river banks puddles sweaty clothes
and sweating people said Geoff Gallice a graduate student of entomology at the Florida Museum of Natural history who has witnessed butterflies flocking to turtle tears in the western Amazon rain forest.
This region is lower in sodium than many places On earth because it is more than 1000 miles (1600 kilometers) from the Atlantic ocean a prime source of salt
Does the butterfly feeding help hurt or have no impact on the turtles? Torres said it's not completely clear
but the teary endeavor probably has little impact on the turtles other than perhaps making them more vulnerable to predators like big cats
since the butterflies can obstruct their vision. In fact the turtles blinded and drowning in butterfly kisses are sometimes easier to photograph than unadorned animals which may be able to spot an approaching photographer more easily.
The photos were taken by Jeff Cremer marketing director for Rainforest Expeditions an ecotourism company that hosts guests in the Peruvian Amazon
and organizes trips to the jungle. Gallice said based on his observations that the feeding likely does little direct harm to the turtles.
The turtles have enough tears to feed the butterflies simply because the butterflies are taking so little he said.
They simply uptake salts through a process similar to absorption by placing the proboscis on the salt-laden tears and passively'feed.'
'Torres has witnessed also bees drinking turtle tears. Bees appear to annoy the turtles more than the butterflies perhaps due to their buzzing wings he said.
 The lack of salt in the region has driven other animals to exhibit unusual behaviors.
For example macaws visit clay licks to well lick clay which contains sodium and other minerals Torres said.
Certain types of monkeys also eat dirt for the same reason he added. The Top 10 Weirdest Animal Discoveries Swabbing turtle eyeballs The butterflies also may be seeking other minerals in the turtles'tears
and perhaps even amino acids the building blocks of proteins Torres said. He plans to study this in the near future to find out what's going on.
Potentially they could be getting other resources out of those eyeballs that we don't even know about Torres said.
Basically we have to go start swabbing turtle eyeballs and see what we get. The tear-drinking phenomenon doesn't appear to take place often outside this region.
I have been studying turtles in the wild from the northern U s. Mexico and Amazonas for over 50 years and have seen never butterflies drinking tears of turtles said Richard C. Vogt a researcher at the National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus Brazil.
Juarez Pezzuti a turtle specialist at Brazil's Federal University of Parã¡hasn't seen it either.
However neither he nor Vogt doubt that it happened and they said it makes sense as some turtles eliminate excess salt through their tears.
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#Mysterious Elk Deaths Plague New mexico Officials with the New mexico Department of Game and Fish are puzzling over the mysterious deaths of more than 100 elk apparently all within a 24-hour period in rural New mexico.
The elk were found Aug 27 on a 75000-acre ranch north of the city of Las vegas. Livestock deaths by themselves are not unusual there are many things that can fell large animals including predators poachers
a natural or man-made toxin disease drought heat starvation and even lightning. Spooky! Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena
But so far wildlife officials have ruled seemingly out most of these possibilities: The elk weren't shot (nor taken from the area)
so it was not poachers. Tests have come back negative for anthrax a bacteria that exists naturally in the region
and can kill large animals. There seems to be no evidence of any heavy pesticide use in the area that might have played a role in the die off.
Though lightning strikes are not uncommon in the Southwest and in New mexico specifically killing over 100 animals at one time would be an incredibly rare event.
It might be unidentified an as yet disease though killing so many at once and so quickly would be very unusual.
Mass animal deaths are not uncommon. In just the past few weeks massive die offs of various animals have made news around the world.
China's Fuhe River was clogged last week with over 100 tons of dead silvery fish.
what had begun mysteriously to kill off a type of salamander in The netherlands beginning in 2010. The culprit turned out to be Batrachochytrium salamandrivorans a contagious fungus that eats the salamander's skin.
Odd livestock attacks also abound. Last December an unknown animal attacked livestock in Shelby County Ky. leaving many of the victims with gnawed
or detached ears including a goat named Polka-dot. In 2010 the Hispanic vampire beast el chupacabra (of course never proven to exist) was blamed by some for the deaths of more than 300 goats in rural Mexico.
Officials found feral canines were the real culprits. Whatever killed the New mexico elk was apparently neither a chemical spill nor a flesh-eating fungus though the deaths remain a genuine mystery at least so far.
Tissue and blood samples are still being analyzed and scientists hope to have answers soon. Benjamin Radford is deputy editor of Skeptical Inquirer science magazine
#Mysterious'Fairy circles'in African Desert Get New Explanation The bizarre circular patches of bare land called fairy circles in the grasslands of Africa's Namib desert have defied explanation with hypotheses ranging from ants to termites
Earlier this year University of Hamburg biologist Norbert Juergens claimed to have found evidence for a termite theory of fairy circles.
Essentially he discovered colonies of the sand termite Psammotermes allocerus were nearly always found in the centers of fairy circles where he also found increased soil moisture.
He reasoned that the termites feed on the grasses'roots killing the plants which usually use up the soil's water
Michael Cramer a biologist at the University of Cape town in South africa and lead researcher of the current study which was published recently in the journal PLOS ONE also thinks the termite theory falls short.
There's no real reason why termites would produce such large circles that are spaced so evenly.
Experimental tests Cramer notes that termites may still be involved in fairy circles. What sets up the circles is the competition between plants he said Termites are a secondary phenomenon
and their role is to serve as a maintenance for the circles by killing off the grasses that spring up in the center of the circles.
and their pests and also about the history of the people who grew these plants Yoshida said.
Follow Denise Chow on Twitter@denisechow. Follow Livescience@livescience Facebookâ & Google+.+Original article onâ Livescience. com L
#Nature Aids Science to Take on Bed bugs This Research in Action article was provided to Livescience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Taking up the fight against bed bugs research scientists have looked to old European folk practice kidney bean leaves.
First they identified precisely how the leaves trap the bugs and then they created synthetic leaf traps or biomimetic plastic surfaces.
Traditionally in Bulgaria Serbia and other southeast European countries households with infestations of bed bugs have thwarted the evasive little bloodsuckers by strewing kidney bean leaves on the floor at night.
In the morning the bed-bug-studded leaves are swept up and burned in piles. This method was documented scientifically in the 1940s.
But WORLD WAR II interrupted that line of inquiry and with the advent of the pesticide DDT bed bugs became less of a problem in many places.
But as many people are aware the 1990s saw the beginnings of a bed bug resurgence in cities all around the world
and the parasites remain a growing problem. Hotels motels airports movie theaters hospitals and many more public and private spaces have been affected.
What's worse the bugs demonstrate increasing pesticide resistance. Entomologist Catherine Loudon and her colleagues at University of California Irvine with fellow researchers at the University of Kentucky used videography and scanning electron microscopy to investigate the possibility of creating synthetic leaf traps as a sustainable and nontoxic
After tipping the bugs out of vials onto the underside of kidney bean leaves the scientists found that tiny sharp-edged hairs known as trichomes actually impaled the bugs'feet.
When you put a bed bug on a bean leaf and it takes a few steps and this actually happens fairly rapidly I was astonished rather...
Unfortunately these biomimetic surfaces don't do the trick quite yet--they snag the bugs but don't trap them.
or twisting in the precise way needed to pierce the bugs'feet and hold them...
T he tip of a more flexible hollow natural trichome could more readily skitter along the cuticle of a bug's surface until the sharp point ended up in a crevice
Hopefully Loudon said this technology could help relieve some of the problems that the burgeoning pesticide-resistant bed bug populations are causing internationally.
Although health officials still haven't confirmed the species of animal that is the source of the H7n9 bird flu outbreak in China most people who fell ill had contact with birds or pigs according to a new report.
whether they had been in contact with animals 59 patients or 77 percent reported recent exposure to animals the report said.
Most (76 percent) had contact with chickens (including four who were poultry workers) while 20 percent reported exposure to ducks and 7 percent to swine the report said.
The researchers said they suspect the source of H7n9 infections to be poultry. This agrees with the result of a study published today
A ban on the sale of poultry in market stalls disinfection of markets or market closures may need to be considered to prevent the spread of the virus from animals to people the researchers said.
Aninvestigation of 82 people infected with the new bird flu virus shows most who fell ill had contact with birds or pigs.
In a series of experiments in people and mice scientists for the first time demonstrated that carnitine from foods as well as from supplements influenced cardiovascular risk.
Hazen's group also compared mice fed their normal chow which is basically a vegetarian diet with mice
whose food was supplemented with carnitine. We saw that carnitine supplements doubled the rates of atherosclerosis in the mice Hazen said.
It did this by dramatically increasing levels of TMAO which is produced by gut bacteria that metabolize l-carnitine.
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