and even dancing in a pot one of the stars of the film Guardians of the Galaxy bizarrely blends the plant and animal kingdoms.
Plants that can smell and animals that regenerate show that animal and vegetable kingdoms may not be as far apart as they first appear.
The strong scientific evidence is that plants have every sense familiar in animals except hearing.
-and-key mechanisms that resemble how animals smell. Plants have specific photoreceptors which are proteins that respond to different wavelengths of light.
Some plants can even hear able to distinguish the vibration patterns made by different chewing caterpillars according to a study detailed this summer in the journal Oecologia Gilroy said.
But senses serve the same function in plants as they do in animals: Plants take in information
Animals That Mimic Plants The familiar phenomenon of houseplants growing toward the window for example shows how plants sense
which responds with chemical changes to make itself less tasty to the predator Gilroy said. Not only can plants send signals within their own bodies
A disease or pest infestation in a neighboring plant sends out chemical signals that cause nearby plants to respond.
This woody best friend to a talking raccoon shifts around on mobile stumps and lifts alien bullies up by their nostrils.
Animals have squishy cells that can move past one another making muscles feasible Gilroy said. But a hard wall encloses each plant cell
The famous Venus flytrap shuts its jaws rapidly by essentially growing them shut Gilroy said.
Acid released at the flytrap's hinge softens cell walls and makes them expand quickly. Image Gallery:
which is why animals eat plants and other animals. To move around like Groot does on screen such a tree creature would have to eat other things too Gilroy said.
Clearly the movie speeds up such vegetable growth but real-life plants can indeed keep growing in ways animals can't Ed Rayburn an extension specialist
Animals by contrast grow to a predetermined size and shape and much of that happens in the womb Gilroy said.
Animals by contrast lack meristems and stem cells are much harder to come by as shown by the difficulties faced by cloning efforts Rayburn said.
Some animals do approach plantlike regenerative growth but usually those with simple body plans like the planarian worm Gilroy said.
Intelligent plants? Plant communication even has some researchers in the new field of plant neurobiology considering the potential for leafy intelligence.
Animals developed thought because of their searching strategy for finding food he told Forbes. Alien tree-thinkers would have to incorporate movement perhaps with some type of root system that can push itself out of the ground take three steps forward
and pens of domesticated animals the features that are associated typically with the dawn of agriculture at least in the Eurocentric view Hunt
#For cows he said it means we re not keeping these animals in an environment that allows them to be
These individually raised cows don t seem to know how to regulate their behavior around other animals at all.#
There are thousands of insect pheromones and there are probably at least hundreds if not thousands of mammalian pheromones
what we are learning is that it often has effects on other species. For instance there is a pig pheromone that stops dogs from barking Mcglone said.
which humans and animals interact with their environments. Where we see the world primarily through sight
Masses of dead barnacles and starfish proved the land had just been underwater. Plafker concluded the pattern could only have been caused by a hidden fault releasing tension about 9 miles (15 km) below the surface.
But other scientists argue that a gerbil-like rodent called the Persian jird may have brought the plants into the cave after the Neanderthal there had died.
I stood there staring at the amazing specter of Hyakutake's tail stretching across the entire darkening sky.
Observers stated that they had seen a strange sparking in and around the comet's tail.
I was to capture the sparking phenomenon in Lovejoy's tail. As time dragged on
And this small spark of a meteor was apparently close to comet Lovejoy's tail. A few hours later I fell sound asleep dreaming that perhaps I had done what
#Squirrels: Diet, Habits & Other Facts Squirrels are tailed nimble bushy rodents found all over the world.
They belong to the Sciuridae family which includes prairie dogs chipmunks and marmots. There are more than 200 species of squirrels according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information system (ITIS)
and they are categorized into three types: tree squirrels ground squirrels and flying squirrels. These three categories are broken further down into many squirrel types such as Albino Mountain Tree Antelope Spotted Grey American Red Douglas Fox Pygmy Northern Flying Southern
Arizona Gray Idaho Arctic Ground Albert s Franklin Richardson Rock White and Black squirrel. Since there are so many types of squirrels they range greatly in size.
The smallest squirrel is the African pygmy squirrel. It grows to 2. 8 to 5 inches (7 to 13 centimeters) in length
and weighs just 0. 35 ounces (10 grams). The Indian giant squirrel is the world's largest known squirrel.
It grows to 36 inches (1 meter) long and weighs up to 4 pounds (1. 8 kilograms).
Grey squirrels commonly found in North america are medium-size squirrels. They grow to 15 to 20 inches (38.1 to 50.8 cm) in length with their tails adding an extra 6 to 9. 5 inches (15.24 to 24.13 cm) to their length.
They typically weigh about 1 to 1. 5 pounds(.45 to. 68 kg. A group of squirrels are called a scurry or dray.
They are very territorial and will fight to the death to defend their area. Mother squirrels are the most vicious when defending their babies.
Some squirrels are crepuscular. This means that they are only active at dawn and dusk.
Squirrels live on every continent except in Australia and Antarctica according to the BBC. Tree squirrels typically live in wooded areas
since they prefer to live in trees. Ground squirrels live up to their names. They dig burrows a system of tunnels underground to live in.
Some squirrels also hibernate in burrows during the winter to keep warm. Flying squirrels make their homes in tree holes
or nests that are built into the crooks of branches To get from tree to tree
or from a tree to the ground flying squirrels spread the muscle membrane between their legs and body and glide on the air.
They can glide up to 160 feet (48 m) making it look like they can Fly on average squirrels eat about one pound of food per week.
Many people think that squirrels only eat nuts but this isn't true. Squirrels are omnivores
which means they like to eat plants and meat. Squirrels mainly eat fungi seeds nuts and fruits but they will also munch on eggs small insects caterpillars small animals and even young snakes.
To prepare for cold months squirrels will bury their food. In the winter months they have a store of food they can eat
when supplies are scarce. A female carries her young for a gestation period of 33 to 46 weeks
and gives birth to two to eight offspring at one time. Babies are called kits or kittens and are born blind.
They depend on their mothers for around two or three months. After seven to eight weeks the young are weaned.
When the kits leave the nest they don't travel farther than 2 miles from home according to the Massachusetts Department of Wildlife and Fisheries.
Some species of squirrel have new litters every few months or as little as twice per year. The taxonomy of squirrels according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information system (ITIS) is:
According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List these species are endangered:
San Joaquin antelope ground squirrel woolly flying squirrel Sipora flying squirrel Mentawi flying squirrel Siberut flying squirrel smoky flying squirrel Vincent's bush squirrel Baja california rock squirrel Idaho
ground squirrel Perote ground squirrel fraternal squirrel and Mearns'squirrel. The Namdapha flying squirrel is endangered critically. Squirrels have four teeth in the front of their mouth that constantly grow throughout their lives.
This ensures that their teeth don't wear down to nubs from gnawing on nuts and other objects.
These rodents have remarkable little bodies. For example a squirrel has padded feet that cushions jumps from up to 20 feet (6 meters) long.
Their eyes are high on their head and placed on each side of the head
so they can see a large amount of their surroundings without having to turn their head.
They are also fantastic runners. Squirrels can run 20 mph (32 kph. The gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) isn't just gray.
It comes in a variety of colors such as white gray brown and black. These little squirrels are great at planting trees.
They bury their acorns but forget where they put them. The forgotten acorns become oak trees.
Nina Sen contributed to this article. Other resources l
#Papadum the Goat and His Model Genome (Gallery)< p>Currently living on a farm In virginia Papadum was selected recently by the U s. Department of agriculture (USDA) to represent one of more than twenty distinct goat populations from the United states Africa and other
areas across the world.</</p><p>Researchers are collecting and sharing DNA and performance measures for the animals in an effort to identify unique genes with the goal of connecting performance traits with DNA from various breeds.
The resulting connections will help farmers breed their animals more efficiently yielding healthier more productive goats that will adapt well to their respective environments
and contribute to a more sustainable food system worldwide.</</p><p>In addition to aiding farmers and food systems the program called Feed the Future will also increase the biodiversity of goat breeds across the world making it a true win-win.
For Papadum and the San Clemente goat breed of which he is a part with a global population of just over 600 this opportunity is especially exciting.
San Clemente goats are known for their natural abilities in mothering foraging breeding and disease resistance and their hardiness short stature and gentle temperaments will make them prime candidates for a variety of terrains and conditions.</
</p><p>Papadum was born at SVF Foundation one of the world's top ten biorepositories
and the only organization working exclusively to preserve heritage breeds through long-term cryopreservation of embryos and semen.</
Forest overexploited for timber is likely to lose many species of animals its ability to absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere deteriorates
when the archaeologists discovered a broken hippo hip. In ancient Egypt hippos were considered nuisances as the animals ate crops at night.
The young troops go out and they harpoon them and spear them he told the Toronto audience.
and bound hippo is harpooned to death. This ritual could have taken place at Giza at a public place such as the harbor the hippo meat (apparently quite tasty) being consumed afterwards by the troops in the galleries.
These troops didn't always get the best food. The hippo meat would have been a nice respite from their everyday diet.
The bones the archaeologists found in the galleries indicate they consumed lots of goat and sheep as well as oily bony catfish said Richard Redding chief research officer at Ancient Egypt Research Associates in another symposium presentation.
Despite being extraordinary simple it possessed the necessary qualities for supporting the economic expansion of ruminant animal herding into Eastern Eurasia the authors write in the paper
which is found in the guts of ruminants and is used to make hard cheeses such as cheddar.
#Pandas'Latest Threat: Horses? The 1600 pandas left living in the wild face a new threat:
Horses. Seeking a safe investment farmers in China's Sichuan Province have been increasingly buying up horses
and allowing them to graze in the protected panda habitat of Wolong National Nature Reserve new research finds.
These horses clean out the bamboo groves that pandas rely on for food. It didn't take particular panda expertise to know that something was amiss
when we'd come upon horse-affected bamboo patches Vanessa Hull a doctoral student at the Center for Systems Integration
and Sustainability at Michigan State university said in a statement. They were in the middle of nowhere and it looked like someone had been in there with a lawn mower.
Threatened pandas Giant pandas are finicky about both food and habitat. They require a secluded forested range
and eat bamboo almost exclusively. Photos: A Newborn Giant panda Logging has threatened long panda habitat and conservationists have focused on limiting forest cutting to save the black-and-white bear.
But Hull and her colleagues noticed increasingly that bamboo was vanishing from protected areas. The researchers talked to local farmers
and found that they'd heard from farmers in other areas that horses were to mix livestock metaphors veritable cash-cows.
Horses are banned from grazing in cattle areas so farmers would set them free in the Wolong preserve
and round them up to sell when they needed quick cash. Between 1998 and 2008 the number of horses in Wolong rose from 25 to 350.
Overlapping needs These 350 horses live in perhaps 30 herds. Hull and her colleagues approached four herds
and fitted one horse in each with a GPS collar. They found that the horses'range overlaps with the pandas
and that both animals are drawn to the same sunny slopes and bamboo patches. But while a single horse and a single panda eat about the same amount of bamboo each 20 horses descending on a patch at once cleans out the buffet leaving little for solitary pandas that come later.
Livestock affect most of the world's biodiversity hotspots Jianguo Jack Liu a human-environment scientist at Michigan State said in a statement.
They make up 20 percent of all of the Earth's land mammals and therefore monopolize key resources needed to maintain the Earth's fragile ecosystems.
The findings published in the Journal for Nature Conservation this week have made a difference however.
When Liu Hull and their colleagues presented the results to Wolong Nature Reserve officials they banned horses from the reserve.
Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter and Google+.+Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.+Original article on Live Science c
#Polar bear Caught on Camera with Eerie Musk ox Horn (Photo) In the blue light of the Russian Arctic scientists captured a rare photo of a polar bear approaching a musk ox carcass Thursday (March 27.
Joel Berger a senior scientist with the Wildlife Conservation Society and chair of wildlife biology at the University of Montana posted the picture on Twitter from eastern Russia's remote Wrangel Island.
Located 300 miles (483 kilometers) north of the Arctic circle Wrangel Island boasts the highest biodiversity in the Arctic including the biggest population of Pacific walruses and the greatest density of polar bear dens.
While most woolly mammoths died out in Siberia about 10000 years ago dwarf mammoths survived in Wrangel Island until 3700 years ago.
Several factors including predation by grizzly bears hunting access to winter habitats winters with freezing rain
Entire groups of 30-50 animals have died during spring floods storm surges and lake ice break up.
#Animals Could Become Human Organ donors Some Day, Researchers Say Advances in transplant technologycould pave the way for the use of animal organs in people some day
In a new study scientists transplanted hearts from genetically engineered pigs into baboons whose immune systems had been suppressed to prevent them from rejecting the transplants.
Transplanting organs from animals known as xenotransplantation could replace human organs completely or provide a stopgap until a human organ becomes available.
The researchers implanted hearts from these pigs into the abdomens of baboons without replacing the monkeys'original hearts but still connecting the pig hearts to the baboons'circulatory system.
The transplanted hearts survived in the baboons for more than 500 days with the baboons taking immunosuppressive drugs the researchers reported.
The next step will be to perform transplants that replace the baboons'hearts with the genetically engineered pig hearts.
if they show that the process works in baboons Mohiuddin said. Besides the heart other tissues could also potentially be transplanted from animals to humans including the liver kidneys pancreas
and lungs Mohiuddin said. Follow Tanya Lewis on Twitter and Google+.+Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google+.
This included diverse small animals such as hares fish turtles hedgehogs and partridges as well as larger prey such as deer boars horse goats sheep extinct wild
oxen known as aurochs and the onager also known as the Asian wild ass. However by 8200 B c. the meat in the diet shifted overwhelmingly to sheep and goats.
These animals once made up less than half of all skeletal remains at the site but gradually increased to 85 to 90 percent of these bones with sheep bones outnumbering goat remains by a factor of three or more.
Moreover analysis of dung in the mound revealed that plant-eating animals were held captive inside the settlement probably in between buildings.
Eventually people will have to travel farther afield to get large animals. The alternative is to raise animals yourself.
In future studies the researchers would like to examine the consequences of holding animals captive in the settlement for people.
What advantages and problems did that bring? Stiner said. Did their nutrition and health improve?
How did the people reorganize their labor to make sure the animals were fed? What kinds of structural modifications were made within the site to protect
and constrain these animals? Stiner Ãbaå aran and their colleagues detailed their findings online today (April 28) in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
but conservationists are taking small steps to bring the animals back into the wild. Seven female bison raised in captivity in The british Isles will be reintroduced to a forest in Romania officials with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (RZSS) announced.
This is an excellent example of how zoos within the European Zoo Association's coordinated breeding programs are helping save species from extinction.
European Bison bison bonasus) are the largest herbivores in Europe. The animals went extinct in the wild in 1927
but small populations were maintained in zoos. The first captive-bred bison was released into its natural habitat in 1952.
Because of continued conservation and reintroduction efforts the total wild population reached over 3000 by 2012.
Bison had a similar trajectory in the United states. Tens of millions of the animals once roamed the Great plains
Today there are estimated to be hundreds of thousands of the animals across the nation. Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+.
#Monkeys: Facts, Types & Pictures Monkeys live all over the world and come in various shapes sizes and colors.
As one of our closest relatives these mammals are very intelligent and have opposable thumbs allowing them to use tools and play games.
There are more than 260 different types of monkeys. They are separated into two major categories: New world and Old world.
The New world monkeys live in The americas while Old world monkeys live in Asia and Africa. One difference between the two categories is that Old world monkeys don't have prehensile tails;
New world monkeys do. Old world monkeys have special pouches in their cheek where they can store food. Old world monkeys have rump pads
but New world monkeys do not. Also Old world monkeys'nostrils are curved small and and set close together; most New world monkeys have round nostrils set far apart.
Monkeys are varied as in shape and size as humans. The world's smallest monkey is the pygmy marmoset according to the University of Wisconsin.
It weights only around 4 ounces (113 grams) and is only around 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) tall.
The world's largest monkey is the mandrill. It weights around 77 pounds (35 kilograms)
and is around 3 feet (1 meter) tall. Many people think that monkeys just eat bananas
but that isn't true. Monkeys are omnivores. This means that they eat meat and plant-based foods.
Most monkeys eat nuts fruits seeds and flowers. Some monkeys also eat meat in the form of bird's eggs small lizards insects and spiders.
Most monkeys live in trees but there are some that live in savannas or mountain areas. Monkey tribes stay on the move to find food so one location isn't home for very long.
Monkeys are very social creatures. Groups of monkeys are called missions tribes troops or cartloads. A troop will work together to take care of the young monkeys in the group.
They also like to play cuddle and protect each other. The strongest and largest of the male monkeys is the leader of the troop.
In monkey genus groups that practice polygyny the leader will mate with multiple females. The gestation periods for monkeys vary depending on the genus. For example the gestation for a rhesus monkey is 164 days Baboons have a similar gestation period of around 187 days.
Chimps on the other hand have a much longer gestation period of around 237 days according to the San jose State university.
Once born baby monkeys are cared primarily for by their mother. If the monkeys are monogamous the baby monkey may be cared for by both parents.
Many times a young monkey will ride on its mother's back or hang from her neck.
The baby is considered an adult between four and five years old. The taxonomy of a monkey depends on
what type of money it is. The higher categories are the same for all monkeys:
After order the classifications become specific to the type of monkey. Here are some example classifications for two types of monkeys.
Pygmy marmoset Howler monkey While many monkey species are not in danger there are some that are very close to extinction.
For example there are only 150 Tonkin Snub-nosed monkeys in existence. Another monkey on the list is the Tana River Red Colobus.
There are fewer than 1000 of these monkeys left in the world. Both are listed on the 25 Most Endangered Primates list published by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Species Survival Commission Primate Specialist Group.
The Hainan Black-Crested Gibbon is considered one of the most critically endangered species. There are only 20 of these monkeys left in the world.
If there is a lack of food female monkeys will stop mating until there are better circumstances for getting pregnant.
Even when conditions are right a mother will only give birth once every two years. Proboscis monkeys only eat unripe fruit.
This is because the sugars in ripe fruit ferment. The fermentation causes bloating in the stomach that can kill them.
According to NASA the first living creature in space was named a rhesus monkey Albert I. His launch took place in White sands New mexico on June 11 1948.
The bright blue and red colors on a mandrill's face get brighter when they are excited.
They also have pouches in their cheeks where they store food for snacks. When a troop of howler monkeys yell they can be heard for up to three miles.
Grinning or pulling the lip is a sign of aggression in monkeys along with yawning head bobbing
and jerking the head and shoulders forward. Monkeys express affection and make peace with others by grooming each other.
South american Titi monkeys are rare among primates because they mate for life. They show affection by grooming each other intertwining their tails holding hands cuddling and lip smacking.
Capuchins are skilled tool users. They can smash nuts with rocks insert branches into crevices to capture food and use large branches to club snakes.
They are used often in lab experiments because of their intelligence. A spider monkey is named after its long tail and lengthy spidery limbs.
These monkeys can quickly walk on two legs across a tree branch. Old world monkeys and humans share a common ancestor.
Scientists say the evolutionary split may have occurred between 20 and 30 million years ago. Nina Sen contributed to this article e
#The Navajo Nation s Shifting Sands of Climate Change The Front lines of Climate Change: Global warming is by definition global
but the impacts of climate change touch everyone on a local level. How each community responds depends on its unique mix of people and geography.
This story is part of a Climate Central series that looks at how communities are facing the challenges ahead.
FARMINGTON N m. Cindy Dixon was unloading bales of hay into a metal shed on a blustery afternoon in Mid-march
when the landscape around her Navajo Reservation homestead was as brown and bleak as the open-pit coal mine a few miles to the west and well within earshot.
Normally Dixon s sheep would subsist on the flora of the sandy desert floor but this winter was
so dry that there was no forage for them to eat.##oesince it s all dry
and bare and deserted no vegetation I have to constantly buy hay and grain to keep the sheep fed#Dixon said looking at the land around her trailer.
This is a bad bad area for livestock.##Dixon s northwest New mexico homestead has neither electricity nor running water.
She and her sheep breathe the coal dust blowing in the warm dry air across the desiccated late-winter landscape where the brush of the desert floor appeared as lifeless as the dirt underfoot.
Navajo people raising livestock in one of the poorest regions of the U s. during the Southwest s 20-year drought have to shell out more and more money to keep their traditions of living close to the land alive.#
#oei have to keep buying hay grain and salt blocks#Dixon said. It s gotten really expensive each year.
It gets me in a financial bind. Sometimes I don t have much left for our own grocery.
Dixon s plight is isolated hardly to her homestead. Drought touches every place in the Southwest.
It touches the big cities of Los angeles Phoenix and Albuquerque. It threatens agriculture in California s Central Valley.
It stands to diminish the region s biggest rivers the Colorado and the Rio grande. But drought and climate change have been especially hard on the Navajo Nation the largest Native american tribe in the U s. with more than 170000 people living on the reservation in New mexico Arizona and Utah.
The Four Corners region where those states and Colorado meet at the edge of Navajoland is truly the front line of climate change.
Two horses. That s our kids future.##He said he has been writing to both the Navajo
and many of them want to know how it will affect their ability to raise animals in the future.#
They describe winters where the snow was#chest high on horses. The snowfall snows a significant decline over the 20th century
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