The renewal of intestinal cells only takes a few days in mammals but takes several weeks in salmon.
The Bahamian rock iguana is among the world's most endangered lizards due to habitat loss introduced mammals illegal hunting threats related to increased tourism and smuggling for the illicit pet trade.
#First in depth analysis of primate eating habitsfrom insect-munching tamarins to leaf-loving howler monkeys researchers at the University of East Anglia (UEA) have compiled the most thorough review of primate
Findings published today in the journal Oikos show how some monkeys consume their'five a day'within a single hour
and diversity of fruit consumed by primates in neotropical forests of South and Central america. The team compiled data from 290 primate dietary studies spanning 42 years of research across 17 countries.
They reveal how primate body mass and the amount of fruit consumed are linked--with small monkeys such as marmosets
and tamarins eating more insects and less fruit. The amount of fruit eaten gradually increases with greater body size
and peaks at medium-sized primates such as saki monkeys. But fruit intake then declines in favour of leaves in larger-bodied primates such as howler and woolly spider monkeys.
Lead researcher Dr Joseph Hawes from UEA's School of Environmental sciences said: We examined dietary data to quantify how much different primate species feed on fruit leaves and insects--particularly in relation to their body size.
We found that different species vary widely in the amount and diversity of fruits that they eat as well as the overall contribution of fruit to their diets.
We found that the diet of medium-sized primates is most likely to be dominated by fruits.
Meanwhile smaller primates which have high metabolic requirements eat more insects as they provide a high-quality source of nutrients and calories.
Larger monkeys eat a lot more foliage because their guts can tolerate high levels of cellulose and toxins
--which are unpalatable or indigestible to smaller primates. Many primates easily consume their'five a day'often within a single hour of active foraging.
For example a single group of several Amazonian primate species can consume as many as 45-50 species of fruit in a single day!
One of the most surprising things that we found was that primates with wide geographic ranges do not necessarily consume a wider diversity of fruits as expected perhaps
because these species tend to be generalist feeders. Another surprise was that primates with higher prevalence of fruit in their diets were historically among the most poorly studied meaning we still have a lot to learn about their importance as consumers and seed dispersers.
Co-author Prof Carlos Peres also from UEA added: Having a good understanding of nonhuman primate diets in the wild is very important for the conservation planning of threatened and area-demanding species with forest habitat loss and severe forest degradation a major concern
throughout the New world tropics. This is also critical to evaluate the roles of primates within forest food webs particularly as seed dispersers for tropical forest plants.
The research was funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of East Anglia.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference e
#Proteins passing phases revealeda new method to identify previously hidden details about the structures of proteins may speed the process of novel drug design according to scientists at Rice university.
A unique combination of computational techniques and experimental data helped Rice theorists predict intermediate configurations of proteins that until now have been hard to detect.
#First evidence of primates regularly sleeping in cavesscientists have discovered that some ring-tailed lemurs in Madagascar regularly retire to limestone chambers for their nightly snoozes the first evidence of the consistent daily use of the same caves and crevices for sleeping among the world's wild primates.
The ring-tailed lemurs may be opting to sleep in caves for several reasons said University of Colorado Boulder anthropology Associate professor Michelle Sauther who led the study.
because it provides safety from potential predators it also can provide the primates with access to water
or hot weather and provide refuge from encroaching human activities like deforestation she said The remarkable thing about our study was that over a six-year period the same troops of ring-tailed lemurs used the same sleeping caves on a regular daily basis
What we are seeing is a consistent habitual use of caves as sleeping sites by these primates a wonderful behavioral adaptation we had known not about before.
Funding for the project came from Primate Conservation Inc. the International Primate Society the American Society of Primatologists the National geographic Society CU-Boulder the University of North dakota Colorado College and the National Science Foundation.
Although sleeping in caves by ring-tailed lemurs--which are found only in Madagascar--has likely been going on for millennia it is only now being recognized as a regular behavior said Sauther.
The endangered Fusui langurs slender long-tailed Asian monkeys roughly 2 feet tall also have been documented sleeping in caves
There also have been isolated reports of South african baboons sleeping in caves. Ring-tailed lemurs are identified easily by their characteristic black and white ringed tails
which can be twice as long as their bodies. They weigh roughly 5 pounds with a head-body length of up to 18 inches
Sporting fox-like snouts and slender frames they are unusual among lemurs spending a considerable amount of time on the ground feeding on leaves
In gallery forests near rivers ring-tailed lemurs regularly sleep high in the canopies of tall trees.
The lemur observations were made at the 104000-acre Tsimanampesotse National park and the Tsinjoriake Protected Area in southwestern Madagascar between 2006 and this year.
The research team used field observations and motion-detector camera traps to chart the behavior and movements of 11 different troops of ring-tailed lemurs.
One of the early clues to the cave sleeping by the lemurs was their presence on limestone cliffs adjacent to spiny forest trees
The primary predator of the lemurs is a catlike carnivorous mammal called a fossa native only to Madagascar that is closely related to the mongoose
Fossil evidence shows a cougar-sized relative of the fossa that only became extinct several thousand years ago likely preyed on lemurs as well she said.
and some fossil bones have evidence of damage consistent with the bite of saber-toothed cats.
We think cave-sleeping is something ring-tailed lemurs have been doing for a long time she said. The behavior may be characteristic of a deep primate heritage that goes back millions of years.
Co-authors of the new study included Associate professor Frank Cuozzo of the University of North dakota Ibrahim Antho Youssouf Jacky Lova Ravelohasindrazana and Jean Ravoavy of the University of Toliara in Madagascar Krista
Sauther co-directs the Beza Mahafalay Lemur Biology Project in southwestern Madagascar with Cuozzo a former CU-Boulder doctoral student.
Centered at the roughly 1500-acre Beza Mahafalay Special Reserve the research focuses on how climate-and human-induced change affects lemur biology behavior and survival.
I never thought I would have a chance as a CU undergraduate to conduct research in an exotic place like Madagascar said former UROP student Anthony Massaro who was part of a team that trapped ring-tailed lemurs measured their physical characteristics including dentition
Ring-tailed lemurs are listed now as an endangered species by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Species Survival Commission.
Today she has several CU-Boulder doctoral students working with her including James Millette who is studying how the tooth wear of lemurs relates to their foraging behaviors.
because without the support of these people there would be no lemur conservation. We consider Beza where we have been working with the community for several decades to be a real success story.
and the African wild dog and African lion have vanished from the Sahara. Other species have fared only slightly better:
the dama gazelle and addax are gone from 99 percent of their range; the leopard from 97 percent and the Saharan cheetah from 90.
Only the Nubian ibex still inhabits most of its historical range but even this species is classified as vulnerable due to numerous threats including widespread hunting.
which harbors most of the world's 200 or so remaining wild addax and one of a handful of surviving populations of dama gazelle and Saharan cheetah.
#Culling vampire bats to stem rabies in Latin america can backfireculling vampire bat colonies to stem the transmission of rabies in Latin america does little to slow the spread of the virus
Vampire bats transmit rabies virus throughout Latin america causing thousands of livestock deaths each year as well as occasional human fatalities.
since the 1960s in attempts to control vampire bat populations but those culling efforts have failed generally.
Last year a team of U-M researchers and their University of Georgia colleagues reported the results of a long-term vampire bat field study in Peru.
and data from infection studies using captive vampire bats to show that culling has minimal effect on containing the virus
The findings suggest that geographic coordination of vampire bat control efforts in Latin america--taking into account the interconnectedness of seemingly isolated colonies--might reduce transmission to humans and domestic animals.
The team's new paper scheduled for online publication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Dec 2 also establishes that rabies is usually not lethal among vampire bats.
In the paper last year we demonstrated that bat colony size wasn't a predictor of rabies prevalence
Developing effective control strategies for vampire bat-transmitted rabies virus in Latin america requires an understanding of the mechanisms that have allowed the highly virulent pathogen to persist
Then they tested the models against data from the University of Georgia-led field study of rabies exposures in wild vampire bat colonies across Peru.
That study tracked rabies exposures in individually marked Desmodus rotundus vampire bats from 17 colonies in four regions of Peru between 2007 and 2010 and yielded the most complete dataset on rabies exposure patterns ever collected for any bat
and the most successful models demonstrated that a single isolated vampire bat colony cannot maintain the rabies virus over time Frequent movement of infectious bats between colonies is needed to keep the rabies virus at levels consistent with the field observations.
The critical role of immigration between bat colonies predicted by our analysis indicates that current culling practices often reactive to outbreaks in livestock
or haphazardly implemented are unlikely to eliminate VBRV (vampire bat-transmitted rabies virus) the researchers said. While programs targeting specific colonies may limit local spillover from bats to humans
or domestic animals regional viral persistence will likely remain unaffected due to high connectivity between bat colonies Rohani said.
Rohani and colleagues say that such a phenomenon has recently been observed in controlled badger culls in the United kingdom where disruption of badger social dynamics and subsequent dispersal led to increased tuberculosis transmission in cattle at neighboring sites.
The bat study's other main finding is that the vast majority of rabies virus exposures among vampire bats--in
which an infectious bat bites a susceptible individual--are nonlethal and actually immunize the bitten bat
thus helping to prevent colony extinction and sustain the virus. The probability of a vampire bat developing a lethal infection upon exposure to rabies is around 10 percent much lower than the 50-to-90 percent mortality rate seen in previous experimental challenges studies that involved inoculating vampire bats with rabies virus
according to the researchers In Latin america coordinated efforts to eliminate human rabies transmitted by dogs began in 1983 and led to a roughly 90 percent reduction in human and canine rabies according to the U s. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Since 2000 vampire bats have been the leading cause of human rabies there especially in remote areas of the Amazon region in Peru Ecuador and Brazil according to the CDC.
Continued growth of the livestock industry likely exacerbates rabies outbreaks in the region by providing an almost unlimited food source for the blood-feeding bats fueling population growth and range expansion.
The combination of large vampire bat populations and frequent contact with livestock contributes to losses of about $30 million annually in Latin american livestock mortality Of more than 1200 species of bats worldwide only three are vampires
and all three live in Latin america according to Bat Conservation International. Two of the species feed primarily on the blood of birds
and one--the common vampire bat D. rotundus--prefers mammals especially livestock. Common vampire bats hunt only when it is fully dark
and listen for the regular breathing sounds of sleeping mammals which serve as their main food source.
Once a target is located the bat lands and approaches it on the ground. Vampire bats use heat sensors on their nose to locate warm spots where blood flows through vessels near the skin's surface.
They use razor-sharp upper incisors to create small wounds. An enzyme in the saliva prevents clotting as the bat feeds
and a specialized groove in the tongue keeps blood flowing without the need for sucking
or slurping. Movies notwithstanding vampire bats do not suck blood. They lap it like kittens according Bat Conservation International.
Worldwide more than 55000 people die of rabies each year according to the World health organization. More than 95 percent of the human deaths occur in Asia
and Africa and dogs are the source of infection in nearly all of those deaths according to THE WHO. Story Source:
The above story is provided based on materials by University of Michigan. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
#Bonobo: Forgotten ape threatened by human activity and forest lossthe most detailed range-wide assessment of the bonobo (formerly known as the pygmy chimpanzee) ever conducted has revealed that this poorly known and endangered great ape is quickly losing space in a world with growing human populations.
The loss of usable habitat is attributed to both forest fragmentation and poaching according to a new study by University of Georgia University of Maryland the Wildlife Conservation Society ICCN (Congolese Wildlife Authority
) African Wildlife Foundation Zoological Society of Milwaukee World Wildlife Fund Max Planck Institute Lukuru Foundation University of Stirling Kyoto University and other groups.
and remote sensing imagery the research team found that the bonobo--one of humankind's closest living relatives--avoids areas of high human activity and forest fragmentation.
As little as 28 percent of the bonobo's range remains suitable according to the model developed by the researchers in the study
This assessment is a major step towards addressing the substantial information gap regarding the conservation status of bonobos across their entire range said lead author Dr. Jena R. Hickey of Cornell University
and the University of Georgia. The results of the study demonstrate that human activities reduce the amount of effective bonobo habitat
and will help us identify where to propose future protected areas for this great ape. For bonobos to survive over the next 100 years
or longer it is extremely important that we understand the extent of their range their distribution
Bonobos are probably the least understood great ape in Africa so this paper is pivotal in increasing our knowledge and understanding of this beautiful and charismatic animal.
The bonobo is smaller in size and more slender in build than the common chimpanzee.
The great ape's social structure is complex and matriarchal. Unlike the common chimpanzee bonobos establish social bonds and diffuse tension or aggression with sexual behaviors.
The entire range of the bonobo lies within the lowland forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo the largest country in Sub-saharan africa
and currently beset with warfare and insecurity. The research team created a predictive model using available field data to define bonobo habitat
and then interpolated to areas lacking data. Specifically the team compiled data on bonobo nest locations collected by numerous organizations between the years 2003-2010.
This produced 2364 nest blocks with a block defined as a 1-hectare area occupied by at least one bonobo nest.
The group then tested a number of factors that addressed both ecological conditions (describing forests soils climate
and mapped the most important environmental factors contributing to bonobo occurrence. The researchers found that distance from agricultural areas was the most important predictor of bonobo presence.
In addition to the discovery that only 28 percent of the bonobo range is classified as suitable for the great ape the researchers also found that only 27.5 percent of that suitable bonobo habitat is located in existing protected areas.
Bonobos that live in closer proximity to human activity and to points of human access are more vulnerable to poaching one of their main threats said Dr. Janet Nackoney a Research Assistant professor at University of Maryland and second author of the study.
Our results point to the need for more places where bonobos can be safe from hunters
which is an enormous challenge in the DRC. Dr. Nate Nibbelink Associate professor at the University of Georgia added:
The bonobo habitat suitability map resulting from this work allows us to identify areas that are likely to support bonobos
The fact that only a quarter of the bonobo range that is currently suitable for bonobos is located within protected areas is a finding that decision-makers can use to improve management of existing protected areas
and reserves in order to save vital habitat for this great ape said Innocent Liengola WCS's Project Director for the Bonobo Conservation Project
The future of the bonobo will depend on the close collaboration of many partners working towards the conservation of this iconic ape said Dr. Liz Williamson of the IUCN/SSC Primate Specialist Group
and coordinator of the action planning process which instigated the bonobo data compilation for this study.
In 2012 the International Union for Conservation and Nature (IUCN) and the Congolese Wildlife Authority (ICCN) published a report titled Bonobo (Pan paniscus:
#Guard dogs reduce killing of threatened speciesresearch from the University of Kent has revealed that guarding dogs can significantly reduce conflict between livestock
and large carnivores such as cheetahs or leopards helping to reduce unwarranted killing of endangered species in South africa.
In a paper published in Wildlife Society Bulletin entitled Perceived Efficacy of Livestock-Guarding Dogs in South africa:
Implications for Cheetah Conservation researchers from the University's School of Anthropology and Conservation studied the effect guarding dogs have on the protection of farm animals across South africa.
The research revealed that livestock guarding dogs eliminated livestock losses from predators on 91%of the farms studied with each farmer saving over $3000 per year due to the reduction in killed livestock.
The team also investigated the tolerance farmers have towards cheetahs roaming their land when they have a guarding dog present.
They found that farmers were noticeably more tolerant of predators resulting in a greater prevalence of cheetahs
and other predators on their land compared to farmers that did not have livestock guarding dogs.
Nikki Rust of the University's Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) said:''This research has shown for the first time that livestock guarding dogs can successfully be used in South africa to protect livestock from attack by predators as large as leopards or small as jackals.'
'This is a true win-win solution to reduce conflict between livestock and predators because it almost eliminates livestock losses to predators saving the farmer a lot of money
'Retaliatory killing by farmers is a major threat to the survival of many large carnivore species. This study shows that livestock deaths can be avoided through the deployment of highly trained dogs and
I am sure that there are many similar situations around the world where such dogs could make quite a difference to the survival chances of large carnivores.'
The pillar which still stands bears an inscription documenting a visit by Emperor Asoka to the site of The buddha's birth as well as the site's name--Lumbini.
cats dogs or other animals; insect bites or stings; foods; and medications. Of the 79300 VITAL participants who filled out the questionnaires more than 66000 individuals were selected after eliminating those who had a prior history of malignancies other than non-melanoma skin cancers and missing information on baseline cancer history.
There was also an increased risk of plasma-cell neoplasms for participants who reported a history of allergies to cats dogs or other animals.
study in locusts suggestsa team of scientists has shown how the environment shapes learning and memory by training locusts like Pavlov's dog to associate different smells with reward or punishment.
The study recalls the work of Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov who famously studied dogs salivating in anticipation of food.
Pavlov rang a bell every time he presented the dog with food. After a few'training sessions'ringing the bell alone was sufficient to make the dog salivate as it had come to associate the sound of the bell with getting food.
The scientists trained the locusts just like Pavlov trained his dog except that the unfamiliar smell replaces the bell in Pavlov's experiments:
they gently blew vanilla or lemon odour at the restrained locust while they spoon-fed it with artificial food.
which unlike the imported vaccines has been demonstrated to provide protection against bacterium infection in the small ruminants like goats and sheep.
Only scant research data are available on the effects on the lipid metabolism of ruminants of the forage conventionally used to feed dairy cows.
i e. become saturated in the rumen. In addition as a result of feed fermentation fat precursors are formed in the rumen
which develop into saturated fatty acids in the mammary glands. Feeding can be used to affect the lipid metabolism of the rumen
and the mammary glands and thereby the fat composition of milk Halmemies-Beauchet-Filleau explains. The effect of the forage conservation method was examined in two tests using fresh grass hay
The changes in ruminal lipid metabolism are based on the differences between plant species in terms of digestion kinetics and microbial flora in the rumen.
Replacing grass silage with red clover accomplished a distinct decrease in the saturation of fatty acids in the rumen
and neck cancer cell growth in the mouse model reducing the growth of the tumor. In a controlled lab setting Ray found that bitter melon extract regulated several pathways that helped reduce the head and neck cancer cell growth in the animal model.
#Combating key viral livestock diseases in Ethiopiagelagay Ayelet Melesse's doctoral research reveals that there are several serotypes of the virus causing foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and the African horse sickness virus (AHSV
Typical diseases in this respect are foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) African horse sickness (AHS) lumpy skin disease (LSD) and camel pox.
Melesse isolated several types of AHS virus and also studied the occurrence of camel pox
which has serious repercussions in the main camel-breeding areas of Ethiopia. Melesse's doctoral research has provided us with valuable information about virus types disease distribution in relation to season and geographical region and the economic significance and risk factors for FMD LSD AHS and camel
pox in Ethiopia. Using his findings vaccine-based control strategies can be implemented which may lead to the country becoming more self-sufficient in food.
#Dogs likely originated in Europe more than 18,000 years ago, biologists reportwolves likely were domesticated by European hunter-gatherers more than 18000 years ago
and gradually evolved into dogs that became household pets UCLA life scientists report. We found that instead of recent wolves being closest to domestic dogs ancient European wolves were directly related to them said Robert Wayne a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology in UCLA's College of Letters and Science and senior author of the research.
This brings the genetic record into agreement with the archaeological record. Europe is where the oldest dogs are found.
The UCLA researchers'genetic analysis is published Nov 15 in the journal Science and featured on the journal's cover.
In related research last May Wayne and his colleagues reported at the Biology of Genomes meeting in New york the results of their comparison of the complete nuclear genomes of three recent wolf breeds (from the Middle east East asia
and Europe) two ancient dog breeds and the boxer dog breed. We analyzed those six genomes with cutting-edge approaches
and found that none of those wolf populations seemed to be closest to domestic dogs Wayne said.
because they represent wolves from the three possible centers of dog domestication but none was.
All the wolves formed their own group and all the dogs formed another group. The UCLA biologists also hypothesized at that conference that a now-extinct population of wolves was more directly related to dogs.
For the current study in Science the researchers studied 10 ancient wolflike animals and eight doglike animals mostly from Europe.
By comparing this ancient MITOCHONDRIAL DNA with the modern mitochondrial genomes of 77 domestic dogs 49 wolves
and four coyotes the researchers determined that the domestic dogs were grouped genetically with ancient wolves or dogs from Europe--not with wolves found anywhere else in the world or even with modern European wolves.
Dogs they concluded derived from ancient wolves that inhabited Europe and are now extinct. Wayne said that that the domestication of predatory wolves likely occurred among ancient hunter-gatherer groups rather than as part of humans'development of sedentary agricultural-based communities.
The wolf is domesticated the first species and the only large carnivore humans ever domesticated Wayne said.
This always seemed odd to me. Other wild species were domesticated in association with the development of agriculture
and then needed to exist in close proximity to humans. This would be a difficult position for a large aggressive predator.
But if domestication occurred in association with hunter-gatherers one can imagine wolves first taking advantage of the carcasses that humans left behind--a natural role for any large carnivore--and then over time moving more closely into the human niche
The idea of wolves following hunter-gatherers also helps to explain the eventual genetic divergence that led to the appearance of dogs he said.
Wolves following the migratory patterns of these early human groups would have given up their territoriality
and would have been less likely to reproduce with resident territorial wolves. Wayne noted that a group of modern wolves illustrates this process.
We have an analog of this process today in the only migratory population of wolves known existing in the tundra
and boreal forest of North america he said. This population follows the barren ground-caribou caribou during their thousand-kilometer migration.
When these wolves return from the tundra to the boreal forest during the winter they do not reproduce with resident wolves there that never migrate.
We feel this is a model for domestication and the reproductive divergence of the earliest dogs from wild wolves.
We know also that there were distinct wolf populations existing ten of thousands of years ago Wayne added.
One such wolf which we call the megafaunal wolf preyed on large game such as horses bison and perhaps very young mammoths.
Isotope data show that they ate these species and the dog may have been derived from a wolf similar to these ancient wolves in the late Pleistocene of Europe.
In research published in the journal nature in 2010 Wayne and colleagues reported that dogs seem to share more genetic similarity with living Middle Eastern gray wolves than with any other wolf population
which suggested a Middle east origin for modern dogs. The new genetic data have convinced him otherwise.
When we previously found some similarity between Middle Eastern wolves and domestic dogs that similarity we are now able to show likely was the result of interbreeding between dog and wolves during dog history.
It does not necessarily suggest an origin in the middle East Wayne said. This alternative hypothesis in retrospect is one that we should have considered more closely.
As hunter-gatherers moved around the globe their dogs trailing behind probably interbred with wolves.
Wayne considers the new genetic data persuasive but said they need to be confirmed with an analysis of genetic sequences from the nucleus of the cell (roughly 2 billion base pairs)--a significantly larger sample than that found in MITOCHONDRIAL DNA (approximately 20000 base pairs).
This is not the end-story in the debate about dog domestication but I think it is a powerful argument opposing other hypotheses of origin he said.
when dogs were domesticated and whether it was linked with the development of agriculture fewer than 10000 years ago
In the new Science research Wayne and his colleagues estimate that dogs were domesticated between 18000 and 32000 years ago.
and Jennifer Leonard who earned her doctorate from UCLA. Approximately 80 percent of dog breeds are modern breeds that evolved in the last few hundred years Wayne said.
But some dog breeds have ancient histories that go back thousands of years. Wolves have been in the Old world for hundreds of thousands of years.
The oldest dogs from the archaeological record come from Europe and Western Russia. A dog from Belgium dates back approximately 36000 years and a group of dogs from Western Russia is approximately 15000 years old Wayne said.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by University of California-Los angeles. The original article was written by Stuart Wolpert.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference r
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