Studies with primates and rats however suggest that some of our closely related animal cousins can also avoid decisions based on their own uncertainty.
These results are similar to those found with primates. So it seems that bees have the ability to monitor their uncertainty right?
Our results show that the capacity to respond adaptively to difficult choices is not unique to large brained mammals
or megafauna such as marsupial versions of lions rhino-size wombats giant kangaroos and flightless birds but about 90 percent of that megafauna disappeared during this time.
It's a favorite host plant of the zebra swallowtail butterfly whose larvae feed on the leaves.
Another preliminary study this one conducted in rats found coconut oil had some protective benefits for developing fetuses.
Rats that are accosted with bright lights and physically restrained during pregnancy typically give birth to pups with low birth weight and slower development.
However rats in the study that were stressed but also fed supplements of coconut oil had pups that had better development of their motor skills than the offspring of stressed rats that weren't given the supplement according to the paper published in the International Journal of Developmental Neuroscience.
For external use Ulbricht said coconut oil appears to be as effective as mineral oil. But more research is needed before conclusions can be made.
Humans bears badgers and other animals have long been raiding the winter stores of their winged friends to harvest honey.
In light of these findings scientists ran studies in mice and on human tissue to see
But the studies on mice or cells have signaled a potential weight loss effect. A 2005 study on mice fed a high-fat diet found raspberry ketone prevented weight gain in the liver
and gains of visceral fat (belly fat) that surrounds organs according to the paper in the journal Life sciences.
Research in mice and on cells growing in lab dishes often inspires more research. But for results that can be trusted doctors look for many human trials of a chemical with many participants.
or rhino horn in their jurisdictions. Just as with the King amendment where Congress in an even more sweeping way is trying to nix state anti-cruelty laws in the form of an amendment to the Farm bill this Administration is threatening meaningful animal-welfare lawmaking at the state level.
whether the bees extended their proboscis the strawlike mouthpart they use to suck up nectar within 10 seconds of exposure to the odor in the study chambers.
If the bee did not extend its proboscis then it was presumed to have lost the ability to recognize the smell.
The team found that bees were much less likely to extend their proboscis within 10 seconds in the contaminated chamber than the uncontaminated chamber.
Two New African Bamboos Pandas love themselves some bamboo and the plant makes up most of their diet.
Thousands of miles away in Africa bamboo is also an important food for mountain gorillas. Its existence there though is a bit of a mystery hidden away as it is up African mountains a long way from where most varieties live in Asia.
and the pandas who rely almost exclusively on the plant for food. Emailâ Douglas Mainâ or follow him onâ Twitterâ orâ Google+.
#Why Do Camels Have Humps? Contrary to popular belief the camel s humps are not full of water.
Instead these odd protrusions are mounds of fat allowing the gangly beast to travel days through the desert without stopping for a bite to eat.
A camel can carry up to 80 pounds of fat on its back (Baby camels don t get their humps until they start eating solid food.
When a camel consumes the emergency food supply the hump will shrink and fall to one side.
Meantime a camel can drink up to 20 gallons of water at a time if there is any water around.
#Why Do Dogs Eat Grass? Most dog owners have seen probably their canine friend graze on grass at one point or another.
A few theories exist to explain this seemingly odd behavior though no answer is definitive. The most common explanation for grass-eating is that it helps dogs purge their systems.
Like humans dogs can suffer from gastrointestinal issues including upset stomach nausea bloating and illness from pathogenic microbes.
If a dog is experiencing one of these problems you may see it frantically wanting to get out of the house.
Once out it will chow down on any grass available taking large bites and often swallowing the plants whole.
The grass causes gastric irritation that leads to vomiting which helps the dog feel better afterward the theory holds.
In a 2008 study in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science researchers found that while grass consumption didn't often lead to vomiting dogs that seemed ill before eating grass were more likely to vomit than dogs that appeared to act normally beforehand.
Another theory posits that dogs eat grass simply because they want to. In such cases a dog may appear to hunt for a specific type of plant rather than ingesting any grass it can find.
After identifying the correct grass it will calmly nibble on the plant. In this scenario the dog may even be seeking out grass to get additional nutrients it may not have in its normal diet such as fiber minerals or digestive enzymes.
A 2007 case study in the Journal of Veterinary Medical science reported that a switch to a high-fiber diet stopped a miniature poodle from regularly eating grass.
Wolves and other wild canids are known to regularly eat plant matter suggesting dogs'grass-eating behavior is innate and perfectly normal.
Indeed a 2009 dog study in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior found that puppies were more likely to eat grass
if their mothers did while nursing. Follow Joseph Castro on Twitter. Follow us@livescience Facebook & Google
#Why Do People Drink Milk? Milk is recognized widely as a nutritious drink for people of all ages it's a good source of protein calcium Vitamin d potassium and other vitamins and minerals.
As all mammals do human infants produce hefty amounts of lactase an enzyme that allows the body to digest lactose without lactase babies can't digest their mothers'nutrient-rich milk.
A gray rhesus macaque made history yesterday (Jan 28) when the primate reportedly flew into space in an Iranian mission.
It also became part of a long line of animal astronauts. But since science has proved time and again that humans can survive the extraterrestrial trip why do countries bother sending monkeys and other living creatures up into space at all these days?
In the case of Iran the demonstration is more of a show said Kenneth Halberg a researcher at the University of Copenhagen who studies aquatic bugs'ability to survive spacelike conditions.
There's nothing new about sending a monkey in space. But sending other animals into space can provide valuable scientific lessons for interplanetary travel
10 Beastly Tales Front-line testers At the beginning of the space race countries sent chimpanzees dogs and rabbits into space as testers.
#Why Elk Are Robbing Birds Sonya Auer of the Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst recently won the Elton Prize from The british Ecological Society for her research and writing.
 This harm results not just from changing temperature but stem indirectly from climate impacts on elk small predators and even the forest the birds inhabit.
Less snow means it s easier for big animals like elk to hang around and find food
But elk opting to overwinter in the canyons is not boding well for the local plants and birds.
Warming Planet Pushing Species Out of Habitats Quicker Than Expected Elk eat plants and they especially like the tender new shoots of trees like maple and locust compared with conifers
So when elk hang around in the canyons all year it s harder for young saplings of these deciduous trees to grow large enough to then produce their own seedlings.
and elk and plants mean for bird species like the Red-faced Warbler? Each spring Red-faced Warblers along with two other related species the Orange-crowned Warbler and Virginia s Warbler build cupped nests of grass tucked into the ground at the base of trees.
and nestlings by squirrels and mice was lower. But now that the forest has changed and the birds are nesting in similar sites their nests are being detected more often by predators
 What we do know is that long-term increases in winter temperature are linked via elk migratory behavior
Its Ivory Stockpile To combat elephant poaching the United states is preparing to publicly pulverize its 6-ton stockpile of illicit ivory this week
Elephant Images: The Biggest Beasts On land Right now Africa is hemorrhaging elephants Patrick Bergin CEO of the African Wildlife Foundation said in a statement.
The only way to staunch the movement of illegal ivory is to wipe out the demand
and halt their domestic ivory trade until all elephant populations are threatened no longer. After poaching halved Africa's elephant population in the 20th century the international ivory trade was banned in 1989.
Domestic sales however continue in countries like the United states and China. These lucrative legal markets give a cover
Currently it's estimated that more than 30000 African elephants are killed for their ivory tusks annually. Last year a report from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species
or CITES found that elephant poaching was at its highest in a decade. The uptick in killings has been tied to an unsustainable demand for ivory especially in Asia.
and poverty in Africa has created a perfect storm with elephants at the center. What the rich person demands the poor poacher provides Bergin said in a statement.
CITES in their 2012 report on the poaching crisis said researchers have not found a link between these one-off sales and the recent rise in elephant killings.
Deer Joins Sheep Flock Even deer get lonely it seems. A young red deer in England has been accepted into a flock of about 100 sheep
and seems quite content living eating and sleeping with his new friends. Members of the National Trust (a British conservation group) discovered the young buck two weeks ago after the sheep had been moved onto a nature preserve northeast of London at Dunwich Heath according to the BBC.
I've never seen deer interact with them Andrew Capell the flock's shepherd told the BBC.
Animals have an uncanny ability to form friendships outside their own species. Polar bears and dogs elephants and sheep even tigers and black bears have found kinship.
The National Trust hopes the deer will rejoin his own herd if it wanders through the area the BBC reports.
But in the meantime it appears the deer and the sheep are getting along famously. Follow Livescience on Twitter@livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+l
#Wild Turkeys Are Back, A Century After Severe Decline In the early 1900s wild turkeys seemed to be on the road toward extinction as unregulated hunting
loud noises and dogs are effective at keeping the birds away he added. Furthermore the birds are blamed often for damage that they have not caused.
Animals that are active at night like deer and raccoons are more likely than wild turkeys to destroy most crops according to work by researchers at Purdue University.
One 2005 study for example found that less than 0. 1 percent of the crop damage in Indiana is caused by wild turkeys.
Rhinos and elephants for example are shot often near watering holes where they predictably return to drink and the poaching of elephants and rhinos is at an all-time high in many areas.
Poaching has pushed already rhinos to extinction in Vietnam for example. Black market Horns: Images from a Rhino Bust Andrew Lemieux a scientist at The netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law enforcement has outfitted rangers in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National park with GPS-enabled cameras that allow them to cheaply document signs of crimes
like poaching setting animal snares or harvesting of firewood. The project which began earlier this year will help rangers know where to go to best prevent these illicit activities he said during his presentation.'
'Hot products'Animals like parrots are also desirable to poachers in the same way certain hot products like cellphones
First he advocated building more fences around large reserves a suggestion that was met with some resistance by at least one ecologist at the conference who questioned Leakey after his talk about the fence's ability to stop elephants.
Fenced reserves have helped South africa prevent more poaching than many of its neighbors Leakey added (athough even in South africa rhino poaching is at a record high.
One of the main reasons that poaching of elephants and rhinos has shot up in the past few years is due to growing demand in China for ivory
and medicinal products (although rhino horns are made of the same material in finger nails and have no curative properties they are desired for their supposed healing powers in traditional Chinese medicine).
and almost single-handedly suppressing elephant poaching for nearly two decades Clarke said. Perhaps it's time to do something similar he said.
Many dry and wet dog pet foods also contain rice wheat and other plants not to mention added vitamins and minerals.
#Will poisoned Mice Solve Guam's Snake Problem? In a desperate bid to reduce Guam's population of poisonous brown tree snakes officials with the U s. Department of agriculture believe they've hit on a foolproof plan:
airdropping dead mice onto the Pacific island. It gets weirder: Before the airdrop the dead mice will have stuffed their bodies with Tylenol (acetaminophen)
which is toxic to the snakes according to the Guardian. Wait it gets weirder still. Each mouse will be fitted with a tiny parachute
so they'll be more likely to get snagged in trees where the snakes live.
That will also reduce the risk that the dead mice will poison other animals. The brown tree snake a native of Australia Papua new guinea
When rats were introduced accidentally to Hawaii the rodents quickly became pests since they had no natural predators.
So sugar-cane plantation owners brought over a group of mongooses to control the rat population. But nobody knew that the mongoose generally hunts during the day
and rats are primarily nocturnal according to the New york times. So while the rat population continued to soar the mongooses proceeded to destroy Hawaii's native bird and turtle populations.
And Florida's attempts at controlling another invasive snake the Burmese python have met with limited success. The state recently sponsored a much-ballyhooed Python Roundup with rewards offered for the biggest snake
and the most snakes caught. Their total haul? Just 68 snakes out of several thousand according to ABC News. The poison-mouse trick has been used before in Guam:
In 2010 the USDA airdropped mice at military installations on the island according to CNN. com. That program's effectiveness led to the current airdrop program
which will be limited to Guam's Andersen Air force Base. Contact Marc Lallanilla at mlallanilla@techmedianetwork. com. Follow him on Twitter@Marclallanilla. Follow Livescience on Twitter@livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+l
The lowland Mayan forests of northern Guatemala teem with wildlife toucans macaws howler monkeys and even the fabled jaguar.
#Wolves in Yellowstone Help Grizzly bears Fatten up The reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone national park has unexpected an upside:
It's helping to fatten up the bears new research suggests. The wolves have kept the park's population of elks (prey for wolves) in check
which in turn limits how many berry-producing shrubs the elks consume. As a result the bears have more tasty berries to eat finds a study published today (July 29) in the Journal of Animal Ecology.
The study points to the need for an ecologically effective number of wolves said co-author Robert Beschta a researcher at Oregon State university in a statement.
As we learn more about the cascading effects they have on ecosystems the issue may be more than having just enough individual wolves
so they can survive as a species. In some situations we may wish to consider the numbers necessary to help control overbrowsing allow tree
and shrub recovery and restore ecosystem health. Wolves were removed first from Yellowstone national park in the 1920s after
which the elk population soared. The huge herds of elk heavily browsed aspen and willow in the park and reduced the berry-producing shrubs.
Past studies showed the reintroduction of wolves in 1995 has led to willow and aspen populations rebounding.
Photos: The Wonders of Yellowstone national park The reintroduction seemed to have a beneficial effect on bears.
Now Beschta and colleagues have found the amount of fruit in grizzly bear scat doubled in August in recent years
which means the bears were eating more of it. The grizzlies love to graze on the park's many wild berry species such as serviceberry chokecherry buffaloberry twinberry and huckleberry.
Wild fruit is typically an important part of grizzly bear diet especially in late summer when they are trying to gain weight as rapidly as possible before winter hibernation said study co-author William Ripple a forest ecosystems researcher at Oregon State university in a statement.
Berries are one part of a diverse food source that aids bear survival and reproduction and at certain times of the year can be more than half their diet in many places in North america.
Because bears have made up for the decline in berries by eating more elk in the last 50 years the berry bounty may also help offset the decline in elk.
Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+.+Â Followâ Livescience@livescience Facebookâ & Google+.+Original article onâ Livescience. com i
#World's Largest Owl Exposes Health of Russia's Forests The world's largest owl requires equally huge trees a finding that reveals that this salmon-devouring predator could be a key sign of the health of some of the last great forests of Russia
's Far east researchers say. Blakiston's fish owl (Bubo blakistoni) is one of the rarest owls in the world an endangered bird restricted to Russia China Japan and possibly North korea.
and trout species that spawn in the rivers there some of the 12 other owl species found in Primorye and mammals such as the endangered Siberian tiger Asiatic black bear and wild boar.
#Worst-Ever Right whale Die off Continues to Puzzle Scientists still don't know why hundreds of baby southern right whales are turning up dead around Patagonia a decade after observers first saw signs of the worst die off on record for the species according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS.
With no evidence of infectious diseases or deadly toxins in whale tissue samples scientists are scrambling to determine a cause of death.
The whales come to the peaceful Atlantic bays around Peninsula Valdes along Argentina's Patagonian Coast to give birth
At least 605 dead right whales have been counted in the region since 2003 WCS officials say. Of those 538 were newborn calves.
Last year the mortality event was especially severe with a record-breaking 116 whale deaths 113 of them calves.
Whale Album: Giants of the Deep in 2012 we lost nearly one-third of all calves born at the Peninsula said Mariano Sironi scientific director of the Instituto de Conservacion de Ballenas in Argentina.
Southern right whales have their first calf when they are nine years old on average. This means that it won't be until a decade from
now that we will see a significant reduction in the number of calves born as all of the female calves that died will not be contributing any new offspring to the population Sironi who is also an advisor to the Southern Right whale Health Monitoring program added in a statement.
Sironi and colleague Vicky Rowntree who is co-director of the monitoring program have studied a strange phenomena that could be stressing southern right whales.
They say kelp gulls at Peninsula Valdes land on the backs of the cetaceans to eat their skin and blubber.
As a result right whale mothers and their calves are expending much precious energy during a time of year
The southern right whale population is still only a small fraction of its original size and now we have reason to worry about its recovery Rowntree said.
Though the southern right whale is endangered not listed as conservationists warn that the species'sister populations could go extinct
For instance there are thought to be just about 500 North Atlantic right whales remaining. Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+.
Bears deer foxes bald eagles raccoons and more may be seen amidst the wildflowers and lush grasses. The most popular meadows which have boardwalks
while canvas-and hard-sided cabins at Curry Village White wolf Lodge and others provide a back-to-nature feel without the tents.
In both rats and humans for example early painful experiences have been linked to changes in pain sensitivity later
In humans and rats the hormones and brain circuits that influence the stress response are affected by early life experience Mendl said.
#Facts About Wolverines Wolverines look something like a mixture of a dog a skunk and a bear with short legs long hair and elongated snouts.
Though wolverines are the biggest of the weasel family according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information system (ITIS) they are still very small.
Typical meals for a wolverine include large game like caribou moose and mountain goats; smaller animals like ground squirrels and rodents;
and even birds'eggs and berries. They like meat best though and will go to great lengths to get it.
Other members of the weasel family include skunks sea otters badgers and ferrets. The wolverine's scientific name Gulo gulo comes from the Latin word gulo
which means glutton. M56 is a wolverine that was fitted with a tracking device near Grand teton national park in Wyoming.
Wolverines are called also skunk bear quickhatch (of Native american origin) carcajou (French for wolverine) glutton and stink-bear.
A 2009 Johns Hopkins study on mice found that broccoli sprouts are especially good at helping in this way.
Mice that were fed broccoli sprouts daily for two months reduced the levels of H. pylori in their stools by more than 40 percent.
#In Africa, Anthrax Lures Animals to Their Death Areas contaminated with anthrax germs lure grazing animals like zebras
Scientists investigated zebra carcasses over a 115-square-mile 300 square kilometers) area at Etosha National park in Namibia from 2010 to 2013.
Most anthrax cases seen in Etosha are in zebras; the disease can kill grazing herbivores within days after the animal is exposed to a lethal dose.
See Images of the Namibia Zebras and the Carcass Sites I revisited a carcass site in 2007 from a zebra that
I had found dead of anthrax one year previously and saw a patch of lush green grass growing up through the skeleton in an area that was
and 13 sites without carcasses to monitor the grazing activity of herbivores such as elephants wildebeest and zebras.
and her colleagues faced several challenges along the way including inquisitive animals knocking down cameras fires raging across the sites a run-in with a pride of lions on foot long hikes to sites in sweltering heat
I returned to the field the next year to start the study only to discover that PVC pipe is an excellent hyena chew toy
Zebra like anthrax grasses The scientists found that the soil fertilized by the carcasses they studied was rich with nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen.
The scientists also discovered that anthrax spores were found on grasses up to two years after the zebras had died.
Zebra wildebeest and springbok (a small gazelle) were up to four times more likely to graze at a potentially infectious site where a zebra had died within the last year than at a random grassland patch nearby.
Carcass sites became less attractive 1. 5 to 2. 5 years after a zebra had died once the nutrients from the corpses faded away.
and from primates called gelada baboons and found that bacteria fed with predigested grass produced a smaller amount of compounds called short-chain fatty acids
although the baboons mainly eat grass they seem to be producing more of these appetite-suppressing products on the potato diet as well Barraclough told Live Science.
To obtain the gut bacteria for the study the researchers took fecal bacterial samples from three human vegetarian volunteers and three gelada baboons
which are the only modern primates that eat mainly grasses. The researchers wanted to imitate the real-life digestion process
and the environment in the human and baboon guts as closely as possible so they fed the bacteria
#Wild Monkeys Learn to Puzzle out Banana Video The wild marmosets living in the Brazilian forest have seen never a television show
When scientists showed the newbies a short flick of a marmoset stranger opening a box to get a banana slice they were likely to copy
The study provides a glimpse into how these new world monkeys learn from each other in the wild said the study's lead researcher Tina Gunhold a cognitive biologist at the University of Vienna.
See Marmosets Watching a Video in the Brazilian Forest (Video) Marmosets are social by nature. They live in small family groups typically ranging from five to 15 monkeys
and they live and forage in a defined home range. But marmosets are territorial and may fight each other
if another group encroaches on their home range. Within the group however marmosets are social creatures.
The whole group will help raise a new infant. This social learning can help young marmosets understand what foods to eat
and how to recognize predators such as snakes birds and wildcats. Learning from watching a video
however is another lesson entirely. Marmosets as well as other monkeys in captivity can learn from watching their peers in videos research suggests.
But Gunhold and her colleagues wanted to see whether common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) living in the wild could also learn from the silver screen.
Gunhold's group designed a clear box that could hold a treat such as a tasty banana.
The marmosets could reach the fruit either by opening a drawer or by pushing a lid upward a difficult feat she said.
and images of unfamiliar marmosets opening the box. The researchers took a miniature movie theater composed of a laptop screen in a box to the home ranges of 12 family groups.
In all 108 marmosets participated. Six of the groups simply watched a still image of a female marmoset opening the drawer
or a male marmoset pushing up the box's lid. The other six groups saw a 5-minute video of the marmosets doing the same thing.
The video presented a double whammy not only was the marmoset in the film a stranger
but the video itself was likely confusing as the marmosets had seen never one before said Lydia Hopper a research scientist at Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago who was not involved with the study.
Even young human children take time and need experience with videos and 2d images to learn how to interpret them
and how to understand them Hopper said. However the marmosets that watched the videos tended to interact more with the box
and successfully open it to win the banana prize compared with marmosets that just saw the images.
In all just 13 percent of the marmosets 11 marmosets in the video group and one in the still-image group managed to open the box.
Those that watched the video tended to open it in the same way that the monkey in the video did the study found.
In Photos: Wild Marmosets Watch Videos of Banana Puzzle This emphasizes the importance of them receiving the video demonstration Hopper said adding that it was possible that those that were did successful really learn from the video
because it really was a hard task. The one marmoset that saw the still image and managed to accomplish the task on his own was just simply very excited about the box Gunhold said.
He was trying on his own and interacting with it and through trial and error he figured out how to open the drawer.
Younger monkeys tended to spend more time near the box than older monkeys did likely because of their increased curiosity Gunhold added.
The sex of the marmosets in the video and still image had no bearing on the results.
what the monkeys watching the video were thinking but say it seems unlikely they considered a real monkey was living in the screen.
If they really thought this was an unknown individual at least we would have seen more agonistic
The study paves the way for new research on cognition in wild marmosets Hopper said.
For instance do marmosets copy any monkey or do they tend to selectively copy other individuals that are dominant
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