#These Adorable Fur Balls Survived a Raging Forest fire SACRAMENTO Calif. Johanna Varner thought a devastating forest fire meant the end of her pika research on Oregon's Mount Hood.
Instead she discovered that the pint-size pikas survived the fire providing new insight into their resiliency to environmental change.
Varner is studying pikas in Oregon's Columbia river Gorge where this rabbit relative munches on moss instead of grass and flowers.
She compares these unusual low-elevation pikas with a more typical group living at high elevation on Mount Hood.
Consider a spherical mammal Pikas live in crevices on relatively bare rocky slopes called talus and gather piles of plants to eat during the long alpine winters.
The mammal's body is shaped like a ball to help conserve heat. Furry Bundles: The World's 5 Smallest Mammals Because of their temperature sensitivity pikas are bellwethers of climate change.
Studies have documented that pikas in Nevada and eastern Oregon have moved already to higher-elevation homes as temperatures warm.
Other mountain populations have vanished frozen out because less winter snow means colder winter temperatures snow insulates the pika's homes.
The trees and shrubs surrounding the Pinnacle Ridge talus slope were burned 100 percent meaning a high-temperature fire
She assumed all of the pikas were dead. However the year before Varner had cached temperature sensors in the talus boulders.
but inside the crevices where pikas live the heat never exceeded temperatures recorded in the summer days before the fire she reported Thursday (Aug 14) here at the Ecological Society of America's annual meeting.
These data suggest the pika could have survived the fire Varner said. If I ever get stuck in a wildfire
Small mammals like pikas can't flee a forest fire like deer and Varner's research is the first evidence that sheltering in place helps the species endure a fire.
Even if some pikas perish enough survive that they can recolonize areas wiped out by the flames.
Pikas'future Forest fires are predicted to grow more frequent in the West in the next 50 years especially in areas where pikas live.
While the Mount Hood pikas were a healthy bunch Varner wonders whether a pika population already stressed by climate change would bounce back as quickly.
The take-home message is that pikas may be more flexible in their habitat than we thought Varner told Live Science.
They make the most of whatever is there. But in places where they are stressed they might not respond the same way.
and she has watched as pikas repopulate the research sites. Varner is also overseeing citizen science projects to keep a close eye on the Oregon pika population.
The most severely burned sites still have fewer pikas than lightly burned talus does. There are early hints that a vegetation threshold may exist Varner said meaning that pikas need a certain number of plants to maintain a population.
I thought my thesis had gone up in flames but it has yielded new insights Varner said.
Email Becky Oskin or follow her@beckyoskin. Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Live Science e
I attended a grizzly bear conference at a ranch just outside of Yellowstone national park. And the first and only other time I visited the state was 35 years ago when
In 1979 when I was fending off mosquitoes at the Continental divide the official National park service estimate was down to 75 glaciers
At that 2004 conference I learned that global warming is making it harder to keep a key item in the grizzly bear pantry in stock.
The bears like to feast on high-protein seeds from whitebark pine cones in the fall to fatten up before hibernation time
but the tree is being ravaged by the mountain pine beetle which develops faster and survives winter more easily thanks to warmer temperatures.
To be sure the beetles have been around for a long time and they aren't the whitebark pine's only problem.
Since my last visit the Forest Service estimates the beetle has killed more than 4. 5 million whitebark pine trees in Montana alone.
The fate of the Yellowstone region's grizzlies meanwhile has teetered back and forth in recent years. In 2007 the FWS concluded that they had recovered sufficiently
Regardless the FWS is again considering delisting the roughly 700 bears in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem contending they are supplementing their diet with more meat.
#Facts About Cobras Cobras with their threatening hoods and intimidating upright postures are some of the most iconic snakes On earth.
Cobra is the common name for a group of poisonous snakes in Africa and Southern Asia.
The word comes from the Portuguese cobra de capello which means hooded snake. There is some controversy about
what exactly a cobra is and the number of cobra species ranges from 28 to about 270 depending on how a cobra is defined.
Genetically true#cobras are members of the Genus naja but many other snakes including the black mamba
and king cobra while not members of this genus are considered commonly cobras because they possess hoods poisonous fangs
and the ability to raise the upper part of their body. Cobras are Elapids a type of poisonous snake with hollow fangs fixed to the top jaw at the front of the mouth.
They have an excellent sense of smell and night vision. In addition to their trademark hoods cobras have round pupils and smooth scales.
Colors vary widely from species to species. There are red yellow black mottled banded and many other colors and patterns of cobra.
Cobras are large snakes; many species reach more than 6 feet long (2 meters. The forest cobra is the largest true cobra reaching 10 feet (3 m)
and Ashe s spitting cobra is 9 feet (2. 7 m) making it the world s largest spitting cobra.
The smallest species is the Mozambique spitting cobra which is about 4 feet long (1. 2 m). King cobras the longest of all venomous snakes can reach 18 feet (5. 5 m). Cobras typically live in hot tropical areas
but are also found in deserts grasslands forests and farming areas in Africa and Southern Asia.
They like to spend time underground under rocks and in trees. Cobras have several scary-looking behaviors designed to scare off potential threats.
They spread their famous hoods which are made of flaps of skin attached to long ribs when feeling angry or threatened.
At the same time cobras raise the upper part of their body which in addition to signaling a willingness to attack helps them search for food.
Cobras may hiss loudly at predators and other threats and some species also spit. Countdown:
7 Shocking Snake Stories Cobras reproduce by laying eggs. Females typically lay 20 to 40 eggs at a time
which incubate between 60 and 80 days. Cobras will stay near the eggs and defend them until they hatch.
Wild boars and mongooses are known to steal cobra eggs. The mongoose is the best-known enemy of the cobra.
Mongooses have thick fur to protect against cobra fangs and often defeat cobras in fights using their speed and agility.
They can bite the cobra s back before the snake can defend itself. Cobras are threatened also from other snakes and humans.
Cobras are typically opportunistic hunters chowing down on whatever prey comes their way. Often they eat birds small mammals lizards eggs carrion
and other snakes They slither through the wilderness silently following their prey until they are ready to attack.
Most cobras hunt at dawn or dusk though some species forage during the heat of the day.
Like other snakes cobras have a very slow metabolism that allows them to go for days or even months without feeding.
Cobras are highly venomous and potentially deadly. Many species have potent neurotoxic venom which attacks the nervous system of the prey leading to respiratory paralysis if untreated.
Humans attacked by these cobras may stop breathing within 30 minutes. If no antivenom is available lives can be saved by putting victims on an artificial respirator.
Some cobras including all spitting cobras have cytotoxic venom that attacks body tissue and causes severe pain swelling and possible necrosis (death of cells and tissue).
Spitting cobras also have the ability to shoot venom from their fangs directly into the eyes of the victim with terrifying accuracy.
Venom in the eyes can lead to blindness if not washed out well. These 18-footers are the longest of all venomous snakes.
Their warning hiss sounds similar to a growling dog. Like other cobras they rear up the front third of their body
when threatened and in the case of the king cobra that third can be as tall as a person.
Angry king cobras can literally look you in the eye! Though there are other snakes with more potent venom the amount of neurotoxin that a king cobra can emit in one bite is enough to kill 20 people or one elephant.
Fortunately king cobras are shy and avoid people. King cobras are the only species of snake to build nests for their young
which they guard ferociously. They reside in trees on land and in water and are found in the rain forests and plains of India southern China and Southeast asia.
Their coloring varies from region to region. King cobras are a popular species for snake charmers in South Asia though the cobras cannot actually hear the music (being deaf to ambient noise.
They are enticed by the shape and movement of the flute l
#Coloring Easter eggs with Natural Dyes Fun Science Experiments Easter is the time of year when many of us do something special with our breakfast food.
In this experiment we are going to use science to color eggs using natural dyes. While using natural dyes is a bit more time consuming than those little tablets you buy at the store gathering
and preparing them can be an interesting alternative. Begin by looking through your kitchen for brightly colored materials that stain
when spilled. Coffee tea grape juice and red wine make interesting egg dyes. Plant materials from fruits vegetables
and kitchen spices can also be used to make interesting dyes. To get different colors use these materials:
Other materials that you can try include spices like cayenne pepper dill seed and turmeric. You could also try grated orange or lemon peels.
It is helpful to chop or grate the plant materials into small pieces as you prepare your dye.
You also may want to add white vinegar to your dye. With liquids use 1 part vinegar to 3 parts dye.
With vegetables and fruits use 1 cup of water and 2 or 3 teaspoons of vinegar for every handful of plant material.
#Can Animals Be Too Happy, or Have Too much Fun?(Op-Ed) Marc Bekoff emeritus professor at the University of Colorado Boulder is one of the world's pioneering cognitive ethologists a Guggenheim Fellow and cofounder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals. Bekoff's latest book is Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed (New world Library 2013).
This Op-Ed is adapted from one that appeared in Bekoff's column Animal Emotions in Psychology Today.
He contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights Last month I was asked to write an essay for a forthcoming issue of the journal Current Biology on the biology of fun.
because when animals human and nonhuman play it's clear they are happy and having fun.
and we've had great discussions about the evolution of nonhuman animal (animal) and human-animal emotions.
Can animals be too happy or have too much fun on the run? All of this led me to wonder:
Can animals be too happy or have too much fun to their detriment? For example can a dog running here and there with reckless abandon injure herself?
Can a happy wolf enjoying fits of happiness overstep bounds of play and put himself at risk by violating the rules of the game say by biting too hard with an individual who can harm him?
Can a marmot or a mouse who is playing fail to detect the presence of a predator?
Can a chimpanzee too full of himself put himself at risk by ignoring social cues from others who are not as taken with him?
Can a young animal spend too much energy playing rather than putting energy into growth and maintenance?
It also may be that in addition to the intensity of the unbounded exuberance there is a risk associated with the context of the excessive positive feelings in that they express themselves in the wrong time or in the wrong place.
Gruber also pointed me in the direction of the research she has done with Dacher Keltnerat the University of California Berkeley on discrete positive emotions asking
Based on a field study of Golden Marmots in Pakistan's Khunjerab National park UCLA biologist Daniel Blumsteinsuggested that play might expose individuals to predation.
In his book Play Playfulness Creativity and Innovation (Cambridge 2013) Cambridge university's Patrick Batesonmentions Macquarie University's Rob Harcourt's data showing that Southern fur seals are more likely to be killed by Southern sea lions
Eighty-five percent of the sea lions Harcourt observed being killed were killed while playing in shallow water.
Of course loud vocalizations could attract predators. Additionally Tim Caro at the University of California Davis noted that
when young cheetahs play it reduces the hunting success of mothers. Despite these observations the comparative database is scant.
For more on possible risks and costs to play see Robert Fagen's Animal Play Behavior (Oxford 1981) Animal Play:
Animals work hard to maintain fair play and fair play may be related to individual reproductive fitness.
Nonetheless young animals in particular engage in vigorous social and locomotor self-play during which losing oneself in the activity can be detrimental.
if animals can be too happy or have too much fun to the point that it's costly to them.
I can well imagine that animals can indeed be too happy or have too much fun
Bekoff's most recent Op-Ed was Do Zoos Really Teach Visitors Anything? This article was adapted primarily from the post Can Animals Be Too Happy
or Have Too much Fun? in Psychology Today. The views expressed are those of the author
When scientists account for the world's carbon dioxide their totals suggest some of the greenhouse gas disappears into land-based carbon traps.
#Mysterious'Fairy circles'Not Explained by Termites, Study Suggests Fairy circles that form in the arid grasslands of Namibia have baffled scientists for decades.
which might rule out the popular theory that termites are the creators. The occurrence of such patterning in nature is rather unusual study researcher Stephan Getzin of the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in Leipzig Germany said in a statement.
Their explanations have ranged from grass-killing seeps of hydrocarbons to carnivorous ants to termite feeding patterns.
His results detailed in the journal Science last year revealed a species of sand termite Psammotermes allocerus lived at the majority of patches.
He concluded that the insects seemed to be feeding on the grass roots creating the characteristic rings.
Getzin and his colleagues however say termites are distributed typically in irregular clusters in the wild;
they argue that the insects couldn't create patterns as consistent as the ones they observed in their aerial photos.
There is up to now not one single piece of evidence demonstrating that social insects are capable of creating homogenously distributed structures on such a large scale Getzin said in a statement.
the animal is locked inside a gestation crate and impregnated. For the four months she is gestating the sow lingers in the cage essentially immobilized day and night.
The cycle repeats for nearly four years after which the animal is sent to slaughter. This announcement from Cargill is the latest in a series of triumphs for animal protection advocates veterinarians food companies
and other pork-production stakeholders who oppose enclosing animals to such an extreme degree. We believe it is the right thing to do for the long term future of pork production in the U s
Putting aside for a moment the animal-welfare implications of locking animals in cages and lining them up like parked cars the industry's trajectory is clear
Temple Grandin a well-known and highly regarded pork-industry animal welfare expert believes the crates have got to Go in Improving Animal Welfare:
Confining an animal for most of its life in a box in which it is not able to turn around does not provide a decent life.
As the report found Research comparing group housed sows to those in crates found that the animals unable to exercise due to stall confinement have lower bone strength muscle mass and decreased physical fitness and cardiovascular health.#
And last January Tyson foods announced it had advised the farmers in its system that future sow housing should allow animals to turn around
So our animals can t turn around for the 2. 5 years that they are in the stalls producing piglets Dave Warner spokesman for the National Pork Producers Council once remarked in a National Journal interview.
Warner's and the Pork Council's callous statements about how animals should be treated are out of step with both what mainstream Americans want for animals and
what 21st-century science tells us animals need. Cargill's announcement is one more blow to the pork industry s most extreme form of routine abuse.
Those of us in a civil society who value a healthy sustainable food system one that treats animals as more than factory widgets believe that this move toward a more humane way of farming
Evidence is emerging that specific wavelengths of light have distinct effects on crop yield quality and even pest and disease resistance.
In fact these strains may have been brought to The americas by seals and sea lions researchers say. A new analysis of three ancient Peruvian human skeletons that date to between A d. 1028 and 1280 well before Europeans landed on American shores shows evidence of tuberculosis including skeletal lesions
and curved spines. 8 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries It looked as though tuberculosis was present in the New world before European contact based on these skeletons said Kirsten Bos the study's lead researcher and a postdoctoral fellow
Instead it was branching with the animals'strains of TB Bos told Live Science. The new study also suggests that the common ancestor of the M. tuberculosis complex is just 6000 years old
Seals of the World TB is known to jump across species and there have been cases of people who have caught bovine TB Brown told Live Science in an email.
The reason why there are fewer reports of humans catching TB from seals is because we don't come into contact with seals so much Brown said.
There have been previous speculations among archaeologists that this might have been a source of TB infections in coastal areas of South america where seals were hunted
and possibly even farmed. But with only three human skeletons it's unclear whether the seal strains of tuberculosis infected many people or just an isolated few.
whether the strains transmitted from seals and sea lions were widespread in the early Americas experts agreed.
What's more the 6000-year-old birth date of tuberculosis needs further scrutiny researchers said.
#Why Sloths Leave the Trees to Poop Sloths are the quintessential couch potatoes of the rainforest
and these sluggish tree-dwellers also serve as a hotel for moths and algae. Three-toed sloths descend from the trees once a week to defecate providing a breeding ground for moths that live in the animals'fur
and nourishing gardens of algae that supplement the sloths'diet new research finds. Leaving the trees burns energy
and makes sloths easy prey for predators but the benefits of a richer diet appear to be worth the perils.
Important interspecific interactions between sloths their moths and algae-#seem to be reinforcing or even dictating important aspects of sloth behavior especially their ritualized behavior of descending the tree to defecate wildlife ecologist Jonathan Pauli of the University of Wisconsin-Madison leader of the study published today (Jan 21) in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society
B told Livescience in an email. Daring Duos: Photos of Unlikely Animal Friends Very few mammals are based tree herbivores.
Such animals must be small and light enough to perch in trees but large enough to digest a lot of plants
because plant matter contains few digestible nutrients. Sloths known in Spanish as los perezosos (the lazies) have evolved adaptations to the constraints of life in the trees.
Two-toed sloths have relatively large home ranges and consume a varied diet of animal matter fruit and leaves.
By contrast three-toed sloths have limited much more ranges and eat only leaves. They have the slowest digestion rates of any mammal
and expend very little energy at rest. Pauli and his colleagues thought they knew why these tree-dwellers come down from the canopy to relieve themselves.
We hypothesized that this behavior sustains an ecosystem in the fur of sloths which confers cryptic nutritional benefits to sloths the researchers wrote in their journal article.
Pauli and colleagues captured two-toed and three-toed sloths near San Josã Costa rica and counted the number of moths as well as the amount of nitrogen phosphorus and algae in each animal's fur.
The team also collected digested material from the sloths'forestomachs where food collects right after it's swallowed to see
whether it matched algae in the fur which would indicate the sloths were consuming it.
The researchers found more moths in the fur of three-toed sloths than in that of their two-toed relatives.
In addition the team found larger amounts of inorganic nitrogen and algae in the fur of the three-toed sloths.
The algae in the sloths'forestomachs also matched that found in their fur. When the sloths relieve themselves their insect tenants lay eggs in the dung
which later hatch and fly up to recolonize the sloths. Fungi in the sloths'environment may be decomposing dead moths fostering the growth of algae.
Or the moths may be directly transferring nutrients from the sloth dung to their fur where algae can grow.
The sloths consume the algae which is rich in fatty compounds and gives them energy. In addition to being a tasty nutritional supplement the algae may serve as camouflage against predators from above such as the Harpy eagle.
The symbiotic relationship among sloths moths and algae could explain why it's hard to keep three-toed sloths well nourished in the highly sanitized environments in captivity.
Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+.+Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Livescience L
#Marijuana vs. Alcohol: Which Is Really Worse for Your Health? The question of whether alcohol or marijuana is worse for health is being debated once again this time sparked by comments that President Barack Obama made in a recent interview with The New yorker magazine.
As has been documented well I smoked pot as a kid and I view it as a bad habit
and a vice not very different from the cigarettes that I smoked as a young person up through a big chunk of my adult life Obama said during the interview.
I don't think it is more dangerous than alcohol. But how apt is the comparison between these substances?
While both are used intoxicants recreationally their legality patterns of use and long-term effects on the body make the two drugs difficult to compare.
but avoided red meat had a lower risk of being overweight or obese than their more carnivorous counterparts.
The ruminants Americans eat mainly cows pose the biggest threat to the climate according to an article in this month's edition of the journal Nature Climate Change.
As you may remember from your high school biology class ruminants have chambered a multi stomach. They swallow their food regurgitate it as cud chew it again
and fart methane an odorless gas that is about 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in its ability to trap radiant heat in the atmosphere.
or anthropogenic sources of methane rice production landfills and burning fossil fuels for example domesticated ruminants are the largest source worldwide.
Reducing the emissions from ruminants which are associated mostly with beef production could make a big contribution to preventing the worst impacts of global warming said Doug Boucher director of climate research
Globally ruminants contribute 12 percent of all anthropogenic carbon emissions and 80 percent of those emissions are from cattle.
and debated mass extinction of large mammals such as ground sloths in North america. But the effects of this so-called Big Freeze weren't limited to North america:
Researchers have suggested these centuries of cold helped wipe out most of the large mammals in North america as well as the so-called Clovis people
#Straw Could Power Jets Straw is thought often of as a fuel for horses but if a French research project pans out passenger jets could soon fuel up with biofuels derived from this agricultural byproduct.
Leopard Teeth, Calf bones Found in Ruins Near Pyramids TORONTO The remains of a mansion that likely held high-ranking officials some 4500 years ago have been discovered near Egypt's Giza Pyramids.
Bones from young cattle and teeth from leopards suggest its residents ate and dressed like royalty.
and nearby mound containing the hind limbs of young cattle the seals of high-ranking officials which were inscribed with titles like the scribe of the royal box and the scribe of the royal school and leopard teeth (but no leopard).
The house containing at least 21 rooms is part of a city that dates mainly to the time
Leopard teeth Besides cattle bones the archaeologists found two leopard teeth in the house and another two in the nearby mound.
They however found no leopard bones leaving them with a puzzle. Redding consulted ancient drawings that date to the Old Kingdom (the age
when pyramid building was at its height) between 2649 and 2150 B c. He found that some high-ranking individuals including members of the royal family wore leopard skin that still had attached the head.
while the wearer was passing by but no leopard bones. High-ranking clergy known as sem priests were allowed to wear these leopard skins
and they could be members of the royal house noted Mark Lehner the director of Ancient Egypt Research Associates in an email to Livescience.
Redding was puzzled also that many cattle hind bones yet few forelimbs were found. For some reason the people of the house avoided eating the forelimbs of the cattle.
Again Redding turned to ancient drawings. There he found numerous examples of scenes where people presented forelimbs as offerings to deities
but almost no examples of hind limbs being offered. As such the people of this house were likely eating the remains of offerings.
Clues to a priestly complex This discovery may help the archaeologists identify offering places and dwellings of ancient priests.
Since the elite house is full of hind limbs (the remains of offerings) Redding suspects that bone deposits that contain mainly forelimbs would be located in places where the offerings were being made.
My analysis of the bones from the small excavations at (the building complex) in 2012 showed a strong bias towards forelimb elements as to be expected in priestly garbage Redding wrote in an email to Livescience.
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011