#Certain Starch May Reduce Colon-cancer Risk of Meat-Heavy Diet Eating your steak with a side of potatoes
those crop calories that don t end up in human mouths probably end up in the mouths of other mammals insects and birds.
#Woolly mammoths and Rhinos Ate Flowers Woolly mammoths rhinos and other ice age beasts may have munched on high-protein wildflowers called forbs new research suggests.
Pretty landscape In the past scientists imagined that the now-vast Arctic tundra was once a brown grassland steppe that teemed with wooly mammoths rhinos and bison.
and fossilized poop or coprolites of eight Pleistocene beasts woolly mammoths rhinos bison and horses found in museums throughout the world.
It's also possible that the vanishing of these high-protein plants hastened the extinction of ice age beasts such as the woolly mammoth.
Habits, Diet & Other Facts Rabbits are small mammals with fluffy short tails whiskers and distinctive long ears.
While many people think rabbits are about the size of a cat some rabbit species such as the jackrabbit can grow to be as big as a small child.
The largest rabbit breeds are checkered giant Flemish giant French lop and giant chinchilla. These mammals are known for their insatiable reproductive habits for good reason.
They breed three to four times each year. This is because only 15 percent of baby rabbits make it to their first birthday.
Bunny is just an affectionate name for a rabbit young or adult according to Small Pet Select.
While many rabbit species are populated over the Oryctolagus cuniculus or European rabbit is considered within near threatened range by the IUCN.
The population is currently dropping and in areas such as the Iberian peninsula the European rabbit populations have declined to as little as 5 percent of its 1950 numbers.
The white-tailed jack rabbits in Yellowstone are also becoming extinct. Rabbits can be very crafty and quick.
To get away from a predator a cottontail rabbit will run in a zigzag pattern and reach speeds of up to 18 miles an hour according to National geographic. Their ears can grow to 4 inches (10 cm).
Rabbit Breeds by Size Humane Society of the United states-Rabbit IUCN Red List-Oryctolagus cuniculus National geographic-Cottontail rabbit BBC Nature-Rabbi a
#Coyote Facts Coyotes are members of the Canidae family and share a lot of the same traits of their relatives:
wolves dogs foxes and jackals. There are 19 subspecies of coyote according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information system.
They have narrow elongated snouts lean bodies covered in thick fur yellow or amber eyes and long bushy tails.
Coyotes have gray white tan and brown fur. Their fur color depends on where they live.
Coyotes that live in the mountains have darker coats and ones that live in the desert have lighter coats.
Coyotes are about as big as medium-size dogs though they are smaller than wolves.
They are 32 to 37 inches (81 to 94 centimeters) from head to rump. Their tail adds another 16 inches (41 cm) to their length.
Coyotes typically weigh about 20 to 50 lbs. 9 to 23 kilograms. Coyotes live in North america
and roam the plains forests mountains and deserts of Canada the United states Mexico and Central america.
As humans take over more and more countryside coyotes are adapting to living in cities to find food.
In fact it is becoming more and more common to see coyotes in big cities like New york and Los angeles. Coyotes are solitary creatures and mark their territory with urine.
During the winter coyotes tend to become more social though. During the cold months they join forces creating hunting packs to find food more easily.
These hunters are nocturnal meaning they sleep during the day and hunt at night. This is why you usually only hear coyotes howling at night.
Coyotes howl to communicate their location. They also use other noises to communicate. They make huffing noises to call their pups
and they bark at others to tell them to stay away. Coyotes are not picky eaters.
They are thought typically to be only meat eaters but they are actually omnivores they eat meat and vegetation.
They eat small game such as rodents rabbits fish and frogs and larger game like deer.
When they aren't snacking on bigger prey they will eat snakes insects fruit and grass.
Coyotes are known for being pests because they will kill livestock and pets. In cities coyotes will eat pet food or garbage.
Breading season is February to March. In the spring females build dens in preparation for their young.
and each coyote baby is called a pup. How big the litter size is depends on where the coyotes Live in areas where there are a lot of coyotes there will be a smaller litter size.
In areas with fewer coyotes the litter size will be larger. Both the male and female participate in taking care of the pups.
The male will bring food to the female and the pups and help protect them from predators.
According to the National Trappers Association a female coyote will stay in her den with her pups until their eyes open.
Coyotes are usually ready to mate at 20 to 22 months old. In the wild coyotes live around 14 years.
Coyotes can also mate with dogs. The offspring are called coydogs. Coydogs don't have a very big population
because they tend to mate and have babies during the winter making it harder for the pups to survive.
Also males do not help the females take care of the pups which also lead to poor survival rates.
The taxonomy of coyotes according to the Integrated Taxonomic Information system (ITIS) is: Kingdom: Animaliaphylum: Chordataclass: Mammalia Order:
Carnivora Family: Canidae Genus and species: Canis latranssubspecies: There are 19: Coyotes are endangered not. In fact some believe that the coyote population has never been higher.
Farmers and ranchers have tried controlling the population with poisons guns and traps but the populations are still growing according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
In fact since 1861 500000 coyotes have been killed by the U s. government to hamper population growth. This is a task that cost taxpayers around $30 million according to The Educational Broadcasting Corp. Coyotes are very quick creatures.
They can run around 40 miles (64 kilometers) an hour. To distinguish the difference between coyotes
and wolves scientists looked at both species'DNA according to the Journal of Mammalogy. Males will travel up to 100 miles to find food
when their current home is overpopulated r
#Whoosh! Air Race Showcases Extreme Engineering At the Texas Motor Speedway in Forth Worth Texas 12 planes are gearing up for a high-flying aerial showdown Saturday (Sept. 6) on the sixth
leg of this year's Red Bull Air Race World Championship. Reaching speeds of up to 250 mph (400 km h) the planes'pilots are accomplished aerobatics experts from around the world.
But these pros will need more than just flying chops to navigate the challenging slalom course set up inside the speedway.
Whoever wins the race will be aided by advanced light aviation engineering according to Mike Mangold an American aerobatics pilot who won the Red Bull Air Race World Championship twice
and now serves as a test pilot and commentator during races. Supersonic! The 10 Fastest Military Airplanes We're flying with very high G forces at very high speeds and at very low altitudes.
the Zivko Edge the Breitling MXS-R and the Corvus Racer. While they may look slightly different all three planes have streamlined aerodynamic bodies that are designed to maximize speed
One pilot Peter Besenyei will be flying the Hungarian-made Corvus Racer a plane designed specifically for him.
on Fox Sports 2 (check local listings. Follow Elizabeth Palermo@techepalermo. Follow Live Science@livescience Facebook & Google+.
In Asia they are hacking into the signals from tigers'satellite collars to find and kill them.
and infrared goggles to kill elephants in the dead of night. What if unmanned arial vehicle (UAV) developers could imagine their inventions through the eyes of conservation field staff?
Already authorities are using fixed-wing conservation UAVS to successfully keep track of hard-to-see rhinos in Nepal
and to monitor elephant habitat and prevent the illegal expansion of palm oil plantations in Sumatra.
providing future generations with the awe that comes from knowing that iconic animals like elephants rhinos
and tigers continue to roam safely in the wild and with luck seeing them firsthand.
#China Destroys Part of Illegal Ivory Stockpile As part of an effort to discourage elephant poaching and the illegal trade in elephant ivory China this morning (Jan 6) destroyed part of its stockpile of confiscated ivory.
The ceremony largely symbolic was conducted in the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province and destroyed 6 tons of ivory (including tusks and various carvings) by burning according to news reports and a release from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
The ivory-burning event in China came just after an article in the Chinese newspaper Southern Weekly about Chinese demand driving much of the poaching of elephants in Africa lit up social media.
Elephant numbers have declined drastically across much of the continent with some 96 elephants killed each day on average mostly for their ivory according to the WCS.
We congratulate China's government for showing the world that elephant poaching and illegal ivory consumption is said unacceptable WCS president and CEO Cristiã¡
and that elephants will once again flourish i
#France Crushes 3 Tons of Illegal Ivory France became the latest country to destroy its stockpile of confiscated ivory with three tons (2. 7 tonnes) of it turned to dust during a ceremony in Paris today (Feb 6).
More than 15000 ivory pieces were pulverized most of them trinkets seized at airports between 1987 and 2007 from tourists who are likely unaware that their souvenirs contribute to a grisly elephant poaching industry.
Elephant populations have been in decline across much of Africa with some 96 killed each day on average mostly for their ivory according to the Wildlife Conservation Society.
and businessmen that buying ivory as souvenirs directly contributes to the elephant crisis we face today Tom Milliken TRAFFIC s ivory trade expert said in a statement.
To keep the yard tick-free use landscaping that deters mice deer woodchucks and other rodents that carry ticks he said.
People should also remove tick habitat such as leaf piles shrubs and groundcover near the house.
because the dry material makes them dry out too much he said. 5. Check the dog Though American dog ticks don't usually harbor diseases that sicken people the lone star tick can often hitchhike on a pet into the home so pet owners should check pets for the bugs as soon as they come indoors.
AMNH/R. Mickens) Townsend's Big-eared bat The Townsend's big-eared bat has a face only a mother could love.
and the hundreds of other bat species. They shouldn't be. These bats would never attack a person there's no reason for them to do so said Micaela Jemison a bat ecologist
and author of a bat blog called theinvertedperspective. com. They'd only come near people if they are hunting the insects that are congregating around lights.
Bats do us a great service in eating insects like mosquitoes and agricultural pests. They are an important part of our environment.
If you see a sick bat do not touch it or try to kill it.
MP cz Shutterstock. com) Camel Crickets These basement-dwelling insects also known as cave crickets or sprickets often startle homeowners with their spiky legs and frenzied jumping.
Jakob Krieger University of Greifswald) Aye-aye Aye-ayes are nocturnal lemurs native to Madagascar. With their incredibly long fingers staring eyes
and batlike ears aye-ayes could easily frighten someone who stumbles across them in the dark.
or fear these nocturnal lemurs as omens of bad luck. But these creatures are completely harmless to humans.
when encountering a human said Charles Welch the conservation coordinator at the Duke Lemur Center.
See more images of aye-ayes Aye-ayes are extraordinary examples of evolution at its weirdest and maybe its best said Chris Smith an educational specialist at the Duke Lemur Center.
Aye-ayes tap along branches actually building mental maps of the hollow tunnels they find. They chisel a hole into the bark to reach inside with their thin flexible middle finger and extract beetle larvae.
The only bad luck they bring is to grubs hiding beneath the bark of a tree.
so they aren't as harmless as camel crickets or aye-ayes. Still Evangelista argues that American
and are thought to be the lineage that eventually led to mammals. Sauropsids had two skull openings
and teeth are closer to mammal skulls than to reptiles Another genus of Synapsids Lystrosaurus was a small herbivore about 3 feet long (almost 1 meter) that looked something like a cross between a lizard and a hippopotamus.
These animals were much closer to mammals. Their legs were under their bodies giving them the more upright stance typical of quadruped mammals.
They had more powerful jaws and more tooth differentiation. Fossil skulls show evidence of whiskers which indicates that some species had fur
Cynodonts are considered to be the ancestors of all modern mammals. At the end of the Permian the largest Synapsids became extinct leaving many ecological niches open.
That project which focused on studying mammals in Mars gravity could possibly be adapted for the study of plants.
#Most Interesting Science News articles of the Week<p>This week we have zebra stripes on the Earth the most accurate timekeeper and even weird techni-quarks.</
</p><p>The so-called zebra stripes form when the electric field around Earth generated by the planet's rotation previously thought to be too weak to impact the fast-moving particles creates a striped pattern in the inner electron belt.</
<a href=http://www. livescience. com/44583-earth-magnetic-field-zebra-stripes-source. html target=blank>'Zebra Stripes'in Earth's Magnetic field Have Surprising Source
Manure from horses cows pigs or chickens has the nitrogen phosphorus and other goodies that plants need.
(even if as we saw in the horse meat scandal the label does not always accurately describe the contents).
Lady Caravaner the Knight-captain began keeping wonderful composure-Knights are very good at that much like trained cats-my name is Captain Lynniac.
Remarkably prescient for a dog. I just wanted to say that all Dukes are traitors all Knights are liars
He had watched his men beaten by outlaws he considered less than dogs and without weapons. And apparently he had no more use for honor
Mini Hedgehog and Tiny Tapir Fossils Found in Canada A miniature hedgehog smaller than a mouse
and a pint-sized tapir are the first mammals ever found at a fossil site in British columbia known for exquisitely preserved plants insects and fish.
These are the first two mammals ever found at the dig site in Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park
See Images of the New Hedgehog & Tapir Fossils When they looked at it under a hand lens they realized it was a fossil vertebrate Eberle told Live Science.
The bone turned out to be a partial jaw and some teeth belonging to a previously unknown species of hedgehog dubbed Silvacola acares from the words for tiny forest dweller in Greek and Latin.
This little hedgehog would have been only about 2 inches (5 centimeters) long smaller than a house mouse.
Its molars were a mere millimeter (0. 04 inches) long so small that paleontologists declined to chip the animal's tiny jaw from the rock surrounding it.
The tapir was equally surprising. Greenwood and his colleagues found it in coal-rich rock beds in the park the site of a swampy spot in the Eocene
Balmy British columbia The tapir is a species of the Heptodon genus which is part of a group that is the oldest in the tapir lineage.
Species of Heptodon would have been about half the size of modern tapirs which weigh around 330 to 660 pounds (150 to 300 kilograms).(
During the time these creatures lived other animals were pipsqueaks too the earliest known horse
which started out evolutionarily the size of a mini schnauzer shrunk to housecat size during the warmest part of the early Eocene.)
Heptodon probably ate leaves which makes sense as it shows up in many forested Eocene environments Eberle said.
#Facts About Bats Bats are the only mammals that can fly. They are also among the only mammals known to feed on blood.
Common misconceptions and fears about bats have led many people to regard the creatures as unclean disease carriers
megabats and microbats. Megabats (formally bats in the Megachiroptera suborder) include flying foxes and Old world fruit bats.
They tend to be larger than microbats (Microchiroptera suborder) but some microbats are actually larger than some megabats.
Flying foxes (Genus pteropus) are the largest bats. Some species have wingspans of 5 to 6 feet (1. 5 to 1. 8 meters)
and weigh up to 2. 2 lbs. 998 grams) according to the Oakland Zoo. One of the smallest megabats the long-tongued fruit bat (Macroglossus minimus) has a wingspan of only 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) according to the Smithsonian Institution.
This bat weighs about half an ounce (14 g). Among microbats the largest species is the false vampire or spectral bat (Vampyrum spectrum) with a wingspan of up to 40 inches (1 meter.
It weighs 5 to 6. 7 ounces (145 to 190 g). The smallest bat is the bumblebee bat according to the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology.
It grows to only about 1. 25 inches long (3 cm) and weighs about 2 grams (0. 07 ounces).
Bats live all over the world except for some islands and the Arctic and Antarctica. They mostly prefer warmer areas that are closer to the equator
In this short-term form of hibernation a bat reduces its metabolic rate lowers its body temperature and slows its breathing and heart rate.
These mammals are also nocturnal meaning that they sleep during the day and are awake at night.
Flying Mammals: Gallery of Spooky Bats Most bats eat flowers small insects fruits nectar pollen
and leaves though it depends on the type of bat. Megabats usually eat fruits and microbats generally eat insects.
The Malayan flying fox has a big appetite. It can eat half its body weight every day. The vampire bat outdoes even that though eating twice its weight in one day.
The brown bat can eat up to 1000 small insects in an hour according to the Defenders of Wildlife organization.
Some bats will squeeze fruits in their mouths and drink the juices. Vampire bats like a juice of a different type though.
They do indeed drink blood mainly from cattle and deer but they don't suck blood like the legends say Rather they make A v-shaped cut and then lick up the blood according to the San diego Zoo.
Bats have some unique mating behaviors not seen in other animals. Male and female bats meet in hibernation sites called hibernacula where they breed.
Bats'swarm'around in huge numbers chasing each other and performing spectacular aerobatics biologist John Altringham told Live Science in a 2013 article.
Related: Animal Sex: How Bats Do it It's not clear how the bats choose their mates Altringham said
Researchers have found that female short-nosed fruit bats perform oral sex on their mates to prolong the act;
male Indian flying foxes do the same thing to females. Mating occurs in the late summer and early autumn
Young bats drink milk from their mothers to survive much like other mammals. The mothers and pups stay in groups separate from the males.
Many bat species around the world are threatened with extinction. The Red List from the International Union for Conservation of Nature identifies more than 250 species as endangered vulnerable or near threatened.
Bulmer's fruit bat is the world's most endangered bat. It is only found in one cave in Papua new guinea.
Research at the University of Bristol in the United kingdom published in 2011 in the journal Behavioral Processes shows that the angle at which sound bounces back can tell the bat the object's size.
Some horseshoe bats can hover and pluck insects from spider webs according to the BBC. An anticoagulant in vampire bat saliva has been adapted for use in increasing blood flow in patients with stroke or heart disease
#Banned Drone May have damaged Yellowstone Spring The U s. National park service has an important message for visitors: Leave your drones at home!
but you might have spotted a giraffe or an elephant taking a drink at the bank of the river.
At that time the Nile wasn't surrounded by desert; rather the warmer wetter landscape resembled the current scenery of sub-Saharan East Africa.
Today Egypt's elephants and giraffes are extinct. So are its cheetahs and aurochs and wildebeests.
But animal bones and images of animals on ancient artifacts reveal what creatures once roamed the region.
There are rock art drawings of hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses from the early Holocene. The tombs of Egyptian pharaohs are decorated with hunting scenes that show
Import records of cheetahs and lions reveal when certain animals might have been considered exotic after disappearing locally.
The researchers found that Egypt was home to 37 large-bodied mammals (those over 8. 8 lbs. or 4 kilograms) during the Late Pleistocene and early Holocene.
Today just eight of those creatures remain: the golden jackal the ibex the Barbary goat the Egyptian fox the Dorcas gazelle the wild ass the striped hyena and the slender-horned gazelle
which is on the verge of extinction. Our simplest observation was that the community changed in a very nonrandom way Yeakel said.
and overhunting might have driven the decline of large herbivores such as elephants giraffes and native camels
and pig-deer may be the oldest ever found or at the very least comparable in age to cave art in Europe.
This painting of fruit-eating pig-deer known as a babirusa was discovered in an Indonesian cave and dates back around 35400 years ago.
But the pig-deers miniature buffalos and other creatures depicted by prehistoric artists in Indonesia could change that narrative.
But while prehistoric paintings in places such as Chauvet Cave in France depict cave lions horses and hyenas the animals represented in Sulawesi include fruit-eating pig-deer called babirusas Celebes warty pigs and midget buffalos also known as anoas.
Prehistoric'popcorn'Adam Brumm an archaeologist at Australia's University of Wollongong first noticed small cauliflowerlike knobs on some of the hand stencils
That means this pig-deer could be known the oldest figurative work of art in the world older than the beasts that line the walls of Chauvet Cave.
and are known best for their collection of saber-toothed cats and mammoths. In the new study researchers used high-resolution micro-computed tomography (CT) scanners to analyze two fossils of leafcutter-bee nests excavated from the pits.
Understanding climate change Unlike other types of fossilized animals such as mammals and birds insect fossils can provide valuable clues to ancient environments
#Wolf Facts: Gray Wolves, Timber Wolves & Red Wolves Wolves are large carnivores the largest member of the dog or Canid family.
Wolves are common to all parts of the Northern hemisphere. They are usually shy and cautious around humans
but unlike the dog have not been domesticated at all. The most common type of wolf is the gray wolf or timber wolf.
Adult grey wolves are 4 to 6. 56 feet (120 to 200centimeters) long and weigh about 40 to 175 pounds (18 to 79 kilograms).
Just like its name the gray wolf typically has thick gray fur although pure white or all black variations exist.
Another common species the red wolf is a bit smaller. They grow to around 4. 5 to 5. 5 feet long (137.16 to 167.64 cm) and weight 50 to 80 pounds (23 to 36 kg) according to the Defenders of Wildlife organization.
The Eastern wolf also known as Great lakes wolf Eastern timber wolf Algonquin wolf or deer wolf has been deemed a distinct species from their western cousins according to a review by U s. Fish and Wildlife Service scientists.
Eastern wolves used to live in the northeastern United states but now remain only in southeastern Canada.
Wolves are found in North America Europe Asia and North africa. They tend to live in the remote wilderness though red wolves prefer to live in swamps coastal prairies and forests.
Many people think wolves only live in colder climates but wolves can live in temperatures that range from minus 70 to 120 degrees F (minus 50 to 48.8 degrees C) according to the San diego Zoo.
Wolves hunt and travel in packs. Packs don't consist of many members though. Usually a pack will have only one male and female and their young.
This usually means about 10 wolves per pack though packs as large as 30 have been recorded.
Packs have a leader known as the alpha male. Each pack guards its territory against intruders
and may even kill other wolves that are not part of their pack. Wolves are nocturnal
and will hunt for food at night and sleep during the day. Young wolves are called pups.
The leader of the pack and his female mate are usually the only ones in a pack that will have offspring.
They mate in late winter. The female has a gestation period of nine weeks and gives birth to a litter consisting of one to 11 pups.
When the pups are born they are cared for by all of the adult wolves in the pack.
Young pups start off drinking milk from their mother but around five to 10 weeks they will start eating food regurgitated from adult pack members.
At six months wolf pups become hunters and at 2 years old they are considered adults.
On average a wolf will live four to eight years in the wild. Wolves are voracious eaters.
They can eat up to 20 pounds (9 kg) of food during one meal. Since they are carnivores their meals consist of meat that they hunted.
Gray wolves usually eat large prey such as moose goats sheep and deer. Normally the pack of wolves will find the weakest
or sickest animal in a herd circle it and kill it together. Wolves are known to attack
and kill domestic animals as well as animals they find in the wild. Red wolves eat smaller prey such as rodents insects and rabbits.
They aren't afraid of going outside their carnivorous diet and will eat berries on occasion too.
Class: Mammalia (Mammals) Order: Carnivora Family: Canidae Genus: Canis Species: C. lupus (gray wolf) C. rufus (red wolf) C. lycaon (Eastern wolf) Though wolves once roamed far and wide they are very scarce today.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural resources lists red wolves as critically endangered.
According to the National parks Conservation Association there are 20 to 80 red wolves currently living in the wild.
The Eastern wolf is listed as a Species of Special Concern under Canada s Species At Risk Act (SARA)
and is protected. Gray wolves are considered not endangered. Packs of wolves don't like to stay in one place.
They are known to travel as far as 12 miles (20 kilometers) per day. Wolves have friends.
Wolves howl to communicate with other members of the pack Researchers have found that they howl more to pack members that they spend the more time with.
There are many names for gray wolves. Besides timber wolf they are called also common wolf tundra wolf Mexican wolf and plains wolf.
To help with the red wolf population wild wolves are given pups that are born in captivity. This is called fostering.
Wolves also communicate by leaving scent marking such as urine or feces on a trail. Wolves are very similar to dogs in behavior.
They love to play chew on bones but will growl or snarl when threatened d
Overtext Web Module V3.0 Alpha
Copyright Semantic-Knowledge, 1994-2011