You either have information about livestock coming though here or flocks of animals themselves. Each farmer or herder would have a bag with tokens to represent their flock.
In 1931 American chemist Arthur Fox accidentally released a cloud of phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) powder into his laboratory.
Some of this cloud went into Fox s mouth and that of one of his colleagues.
while Fox tasted nothing. They tasted it again with the same result. Fox went on to get others to taste PTC.
and smell scientists such as Fox approaching you and asking you to taste this#.#In 1991 American psychologist Linda Bartoshuk conducted experiments using PROP.
About one in four of us is a supertaster one in four is a non-taster (such as Fox)
Just like Fox and co s different experiences of PTC our experiences of smell (and therefore our perceptions of flavour) vary.
Trap More Wolves (Op-Ed) Zack Strong is an NRDC wildlife advocate in Bozeman Mont.
and Wildlife Service's (FWS) proposed plan to remove Endangered Species Act protections from gray wolves in most of the lower-48 United states. This was the largest number of comments ever submitted on a federal
because removing federal protections from wolves means handing their management over to state governments and their wildlife agencies.
Unfortunately many states have demonstrated hostility toward wolf conservation such as with overly aggressive hunting and trapping seasons the designation of predator zones where wolves may be killed year-round without a permit and large appropriations of taxpayer dollars doled out to anti-wolf lobbyists.
If states are allowed to take the reins now before wolves have had a chance to recover in places like the Pacific West southern Rockies
and northern New england wolves may never get the chance. Continuing the disturbing pattern of state aggression toward wolves Montana's Fish Wildlife
and Parks (FWP) Commission recently proposed several amendments to the state's wolf-management rules that would greatly expand the circumstances under
which landowners could legally kill wolves on their property. NRDC testified against and submitted a letter opposing many of the proposed changes
because they are unnecessary impossibly vague and would result in the trapping and killing of many non-threatening non-offending wolves and other animals For example one of the proposed amendments would allow landowners to kill any wolf anytime anywhere on their property without a permit
whenever the wolf constitutes a potential threat to humans or domestic animals. Yet the amendment does not define potential threat
or provide any clear examples of when a wolf is or is not acting potentially threatening.
This is a big problem because some landowners (as one sitting next to me loudly announced during a recent public hearing) consider all wolves on their property potential threats
despite for example the fact that wolves commonly travel near and among livestock while completely ignoring them.
And even if potential threat was defined clearly such a rule would be unnecessary. Montana law already allows a person to kill a wolf
if it is attacking killing or threatening to kill a person dog or livestock or to receive a 45-day kill permit for a wolf that has done already so.
Further the state pays ranchers the full market value of livestock losses when government investigators confirm
or even think it was probable that such animals were killed by a wolf. These measures already safeguard ranchers and their property;
allowing potentially threatening wolves to also be killed seems more a guise for further reducing the state's wolf population than providing needed assistance to landowners.
Another amendment would allow landowners with a kill permit to use foothold traps to kill wolves that have attacked livestock.
Such an amendment is unnecessary because kill permits already allow landowners to shoot these wolves.
Further foothold traps are non-selective and would be more likely to capture a non-threatening non-offending animal than a specific wolf.
In fact foothold traps are so indiscriminate and cause such prolonged pain and suffering that they have been banned in more than 80 countries
and banned or severely restricted in several U s. states. Allowing the use of foothold traps could also result in the capture
and killing of threatened and endangered species such as wolverines lynx and grizzly bears as well as black bears deer elk moose mountain lions eagles and yes landowners'own dogs and livestock the very animals
these traps would supposedly be protecting. The odds of incidental captures would be given particularly high that landowners would be allowed to leave these traps out a full month
and a half after the livestock attack had occurred. A third amendment would remove the requirement that FWP set quotas during the wolf hunting
and trapping seasons. Quotas when used properly help ensure against hunters and trappers killing unsustainable numbers of wolves entire packs wolves that primarily inhabit protected areas
and wolves that pose little or no threat to domestic animals (such as wolves that reside in wilderness areas
or in places where little or no grazing occurs). Given that this year FWP extended the season by two months increased the number of wolves one could kill from one to five and authorized the use of electronic calls (some
of which mimic the cries of pups) it should be proposing to institute more quotas not fewer.
Like FWS's proposed delisting the FWP Commission's proposed amendments are rooted simply not in science or conservation.
Instead ironically two agencies tasked with recovering and sustaining healthy wolf populations have manufactured the species'newest threats.
Both proposals should be dropped and conversations begun anew about new ways to conserve and manage not kill these animals.
Let's discuss how to treat them as they deserve to be treated not as saints not as demons
As wolves. This Op-Ed was adapted from New Rules Would Allow Montana Landowners to Shoot Trap More Wolves on the NRDC blog Switchboard.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher.
since the sterilised airflow reduces pest invasion and the location of the system in arid regions away from other agricultural activities also reduces the risk of invasion.
#Explorers Eat Fried Tarantulas at Black-tie Gala NEW YORK Goat testicles earthworms python and jellyfish were on the menu here at the Waldorf Astoria hotel Saturday night (March 15).
But that wasn't out of the ordinary. The Explorers Club Annual Dinner has become famous for a cocktail hour that dares its adventurous attendees to be daring with their palettes though not all were up for the challenge.
Could I say that I gave up eating bugs for Lent? former NASA astronaut Mike LÃ pez-Alegrã a told Live Science last week ahead of the party.
A chef in another room cut thick slices of ostrich poultry that surprisingly looked and tasted like steak.
The crispy carcasses of muskrats alligators and snakehead fish populated the other carving boards and fried tarantulas were served on sticks.
Eaters in gowns and tuxedos found even the most innocuous-looking appetizers such as mozzarella and tomato skewers seasoned with mealworms crickets and other critters.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos joked that he had to pick cockroach out of his teeth as he got on stage during the more traditional sit-down dinner portion of the evening.
This reporter was too squeamish to sample the roaches but overheard someone saying the exoskeletons took an unsettling amount of time to chew.)
Bezos was accepting a Citation of Merit for the seafaring expedition he funded last year to recover fragments of the F-1 engines that launched giant Saturn V rockets to the moon during the Apollo era.
Grow them crossbreed them pick the best then grow and crossbreed them again. Scientific plant breeders do essentially the same thing
Nicole Sawyer and John Cairney at the University of Western Sydney have estimated the size of individuals of the Australian Elegant Blue Webcap (Cortinarius rotundisporus) at more than 30m in diameter about the size of tennis court.
Despite the impressive size of some species new species of fungi don t get the same recognition as a new species of mammal bird or reptile.
#Ostrich Facts: The World's Largest Bird Ostriches are large flightless birds that have long legs
and a long neck that protrudes from a round body. Males have bold black-and-white coloring that they use to attract females.
Ostriches are bigger than any other bird in the world. They can grow up to 9 feet (2. 7 meters) tall
145 kilograms) according to the African Wildlife Foundation and an ostrich's eyes are 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter the largest of any land animal.
The ostrich is the only bird that has two toes on each foot. All other birds have three or four toes according to the American Ostrich Association.
Wild ostriches live in the dry hot savannas and woodlands of Africa. They once roamed all over Asia Africa
and the Arabian peninsula but because they have been hunted so extensively wild ostriches'range has been reduced to Sub-saharan africa according to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
However ostriches can be found in captivity all over the world. Ostriches are omnivores which means they eat both vegetation
and meat Although they prefer plants especially roots seeds and leaves they also eat locusts lizards snakes and rodents according to the San diego Zoo.
They also eat sand and pebbles to help grind up their food inside their gizzard
which is a small pouch where food is crushed and ripped up before it reaches the stomach.
Ostriches don't need to drink water; they get all the water they need from the plants they eat.
However they do drink if they come across a watering hole. Male ostriches are called cocks or roosters and females are called hens.
A group of ostriches is called a flock. Flocks can consist of up to 100 birds though most have 10 members according to the San diego Zoo.
The group has a dominant male and a dominant female and several other females. Lone males come
and go during mating season. To get a female's attention males bow and flap their wings outward to display their plumage.
When they are ready to mate the male's beak and shins will turn bright red.
Sometimes his neck will change to a red color to match. Females also change color
when they are ready to mate. Their feathers will turn a silvery color according to the American Ostrich Association.
Ostrich eggs are 6 inches (15 cm) in diameter and can weigh up to 3 lbs.
1. 3 kg. Eggs are laid in a communal nest called a dump nest which can hold about 60 eggs at one time.
Males as well as females sit on the eggs until they hatch which can take 42 to 46 days.
Ostrich offspring are larger than any other bird baby. At birth chicks can be as big as chickens.
The males and females share the responsibility of taking care of the young according to the San diego Zoo.
During an attack the male tries to lure the predator away from the chicks while they run for cover with the female.
An ostrich can live 50 to 75 years. Ostriches are in the same order as cassowaries emus kiwis and rheas.
The taxonomy of ostriches according to the Integrated Taxonomy Information system (ITIS) is: According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List most ostrich subspecies are endangered not though their populations are declining.
The Somali ostrich is listed as vulnerable though their population is unknown. It is believed that they are on a rapid decline.
It may seem amazing that an ostrich's thin legs can keep their large bodies upright.
Their legs are placed perfectly so that the body's center of gravity balances on top of its legs. Their thin legs give them great speed and maneuverability too.
They can run up to 40 mph (64.3 km h) for sustained periods of time according to the American Ostrich Association.
Contrary to popular belief ostriches don't bury their heads in the sand but they do lie down with their heads against the ground
when they feel threatened. It only looks like the ostrich has buried its head because its head
and neck blend in with the color of the sand. Ostriches fight with their feet. They kick forward because that's the direction in
which their legs bend according to the American Ostrich Association. A solid kick can kill a lion.
Ostrich feathers look shaggy because they hang loosely and don't hook together like feathers on other types of birds y
#Chimps Are Naturally Violent, Study Suggests For years anthropologists have watched wild chimpanzees go ape and attack each other in coordinated assaults.
But until now scientists were unsure whether interactions with humans had brought on this violent behavior or if it was part of the apes'basic nature.
A new 54-year study suggests this coordinated aggression is innate to chimpanzees and is linked not to human interference.
Violence is a natural part of life for chimpanzees Michael Wilson the study's lead researcher
and an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis told Live Science in an email.
They don't need to be fed bananas to kill each other. Image Gallery: Lethal Aggression in Wild Chimpanzees As one of humanity's closest living relatives chimps can shed light on the evolution of people such as
when humans adopted warlike behaviors Wilson said. Studies of chimpanzee violence have been especially influential in how people think about the origins of human warfare Wilson explained.
Some people have argued that human warfare is a recent cultural invention the result of some other recent development such as the origin of agriculture.
But observations of chimpanzees by legendary primatologist Jane Goodall and other researchers challenged the idea that warfare is a modern human development.
After all humans and chimpanzees are the only two species in the world known to attack each other in organized onslaughts.
Perhaps this behavior originated with a common ancestor some 5 to 7 million years ago Wilson said.
Yet other scientists counter that human intrusions are to blame for the chimps'coordinated lethal aggression.
As populations in Africa grow people are infringing on chimpanzee habitats. Loggers cut down forests; farmers clear land for crops
and hunters kill chimps for food. People have argued that these increasing human impacts could also be putting more pressure on chimpanzee populations leading to more chimpanzee violence Wilson said.
He and his colleagues collaborated with researchers who are studying chimpanzees and bonobos another ape that shares a common ancestor with humans.
In all the scientists collected data on 18 chimpanzee groups and four bonobo groups living in Africa.
The chimpanzees exhibited 152 killings including 58 that the scientists observed 41 that were inferred and 53 suspected killings in 15 communities the researchers said.
The bonobos had suspected one killing the researchers said. The different acts of violence did not depend on human impacts Wilson said.
Instead attacks were more common at sites with many males and high population densities. Also chimpanzees in East Africa killed more frequently than did chimps in West Africa the study found.
Unsurprisingly the bonobos showed little violence. We didn't find any definite cases of killing by bonobos though there was one case of a male bonobo who was attacked severely by members of his own group
and never seen again Wilson said. Into the woods Many of the researchers including Dave Morgan a research fellow with the Lester E. Fisher Center for the Study
and Conservation of Apes at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago have followed the chimpanzees in the study for years.
When Morgan first arrived in 1999 the chimpanzees were not afraid of humans suggesting that this was the animals'first encounter with people he said.
Chimpanzees can live in groups made up of as many as 150 individuals but group size varies Wilson said.
Some study sites had about 55 chimpanzees living together he said. Grooming Gallery: Chimps Get Social This is a very important study
because it compiles evidence from many sites over many years and shows that the occurrence of lethal aggression in chimpanzees is not related to the level of human disturbance Joan Silk a professor in the school of Human Evolution
and Social Change at Arizona State university who was involved not in the study told Live Science in an email.
Because chimps and bonobos do not have the same levels of coordinated lethal aggression it's impossible to say how the common ancestor acted Silk said.
But we can learn something about circumstances that may favor the evolution of this type of aggression such as opportunities to encounter members of neighboring groups
when they are on their own she said. Wilson and his colleagues followed the chimps
and noted the apes'daily activities such as mating feeding grooming resting and fighting. During the 14 years it spent following the apes Wilson's team saw two killings one
when a neighboring community killed an infant and another when a male chimpanzee consumed an infant.
But chimps an endangered species are not always warlike he said. Overall aggression makes up a small percentage of their daily lives Wilson said adding that our behavior affects them
but it's not affecting them as people have suggested in the past resulting in aggression. The study was published today (Sept. 17) in the journal Nature.
Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter@Laurageggel and Google+.+Follow Live Science@livescience Facebook & Google+.
and some carried drug-resistant strains of the bug including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus or MRSA.
Over the past several decades it's become standard practice for farmers to give animals such as chickens and pigs regular doses of antibiotics.
but rather to promote the animals'health and speed up their growth. However the increasing use of antibiotics has encouraged the evolution of drug-resistant strains of bacteria.
and is known for spreading among hospital patients. 6 Superbugs to Watch out For About one-third of people in the general population carry the human-associated strain of Staphylococcus aureus in their noses at any given time according to the Centers for Disease Control
whether the fat was from animals. A textile found on each of the skulls may have been used to cover part of the head.
#19 New Swift & Clever Praying mantises Discovered Swift deadly hunters lurk in the trees many camouflaged to look like lichen or bark.
That's the life of 19 new praying mantis species discovered in Central and South america. The findings announced today (March 18) in the journal Zookeys suggest the world of praying mantis diversity is largely mysterious.
Based on this study we can predict that mantis groups with similar habitat specialization in Africa Asia
and Australia will also be far more diverse than what is known currently study researcher Gavin Svenson an invertebrate zoologist at The Cleveland Museum of Natural history said in a statement.
Svenson discovered the new mantises part of a group called bark mantises in museum collections and in tropical forests.
or development encroached on habitat. 6 Strange Species Discovered in Museums Neotropical bark mantises live on tree branches
They're fleet of foot dashing around tree trunks like lizards when spotted. The mantises have flattened mottled bodies that mimic bark moss lichen or dead leaves.
They fly poorly so their last line of escape is to leap to the ground
He named two of the mantises Liturgusa tessae and Liturgusa zoeae after his daughters Tessa and Zoey.
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky the 19th-century Russian composer is renowned world for Swan Lake and the 1812 Overture among other pieces.
#Wild Chimps Prefer a Firm Bed Chimpanzees are quite choosy when it comes to their sleeping arrangements
and new research suggests the apes prefer a firm bed made from stiff resilient wood.
Like humans chimpanzees depend on a good night's sleep to function well the next day but chimps don't tuck themselves into the same bed each night.
Instead the primates build a new nest each evening from scratch. High up in the forest canopy the animals interlace strong stems
and foliage into a basketweave creating a thick springy mattress that sinks in the middle. Scientists have known that chimpanzees build these sleeping platforms
since Jane Goodall famously studied the apes in Tanzania's Gombe Stream National park in the 1960s.
There seem to be several advantages to snoozing high off the forest floor. In 2011 one intrepid Cambridge researcher who slept in wild chimpanzee nests for six nights reported that the nests kept her warm and relatively free of bug bites;
they also eased her worries about the hyenas she heard calling in the night. Sleep Soundly:
Images of Primate Nests And now another group of researchers has looked at whether chimpanzees are picky about the type of wood they use for their nests.
Anthropologists David Samson of the University of Nevada Las vegas and Kevin Hunt of Indiana University in Bloomington examined 1844 chimpanzee nests in western Uganda's Toro-Semliki Wildlife Reserve.
They found that 73.6 percent of the nests were built with the plant species Cynometra alexandri
despite the fact that this tree was hardly the most common species in the area representing just 9. 6 percent of the local arboreal population.
C. alexandri is known locally as ironwood because it is dense and resilient properties that make it a popular construction material.
Those same qualities seem to attract sleepy chimpanzees the researchers wrote in their report published April 16 in the journal PLOS ONE.
Samson and Hunt's tests proved that C. alexandri was not only the stiffest but also had the greatest bending strength of the seven trees most commonly used by the apes.
Ugandan ironwood may have other advantages too. With its small densely packed leaves branches of the tree may be more insulating
In a study published last year in the journal Primates Samson and Hunt found that mosquitos were less likely to congregate around C. alexandri
The results suggest that chimpanzees might consider several physical traits of trees when choosing their bedding including stiffness strength
and leaf surface area and that they select species that provide the widest range of advantages including predator avoidance postural stability thermoregulation
A study in mice published last year in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that chlorogenic acid in green coffee bean extract didn't help prevent weight gain in mice fed a high-fat diet
This compound found in raspberries has been tested in animals and in cells in the lab but never for weight loss in humans.
Some research in animals has suggested that it might increase some measures of metabolism. Still there is no reliable scientific proof that it improves weight loss in people
To kill fecal contamination on chicken flesh factories typically drench bird carcasses in chlorine. It is a practice so unappetizing that the nation's trading partners like Russia
To understand why U s. poultry companies would rather risk export markets than stop dipping birds in chlorine it's helpful to understand how bad the fecal contamination is.
which the animals have little to do but eat and sit down mostly in their own feces.
These chickens animals who are normally quite athletic are manipulated genetically to grow so obese so fast that many can't take more than a few pitiful steps before collapsing under the enormous weight of their oversized breasts.
As Superbugs Rise New Studies Point To Factory Farms (Op-Ed) Awful indeed as is the amount of time the animals spend wallowing in manure often not only their own.
When producers bring a new flock of birds into a shed standard practice is to leave the manure-laden litter from past flocks on the ground.
So every couple months new birds are living on top of prior generations'waste. To make matters worse just in time for grilling season the U s. Department of agriculture (USDA) was proposing rules that could have increased further contamination.
At those slaughter plants workers often haphazardly shackle live birds on already fast-moving lines.
It's such an imprecise process that nearly a million birds are stunned inadequately and slaughtered every year according to the USDA.
Those animals end up in defeathering tanks essentially vats of scalding-hot water while fully conscious.
As a first order of business in those tanks the birds let loose all their waste. It's the same water that countless other birds will then be put through spreading feces from bird to bird like a wildfire on a dry day.
So faster moving lines could mean even more birds will enter the scalding tanks while conscious resulting in more fecal contamination and as the Washington post described more potential for animal suffering and food safety problems at chicken slaughter plants.
The USDA is now seemingly backing off its poultry line speed acceleration proposal but is still aiming to cut 800 government inspectors at poultry plants allowing further self-regulation in the chicken industry.
This not only will reduce the amount of suffering inflicted upon these animals but move the country toward a more humane society and one hopefully where people are more likely to encounter chlorine in the pool than in their meals.
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