#First detailed map of global forest changea University of Maryland-led multi-organizational team has created the first high-resolution global map of forest extent loss and gain.
#U s. Fish and Wildlife Service crushes stockpiled illegal elephant ivorythe Wildlife Conservation Society's President and CEO Cristiã¡
which six tons of illegal elephant ivory were to be crushed. Samper one of eight members of the Advisory Council on Wildlife Trafficking appointed by President Obama
WCS recently launched 96 Elephants a public outreach campaign aiming to bolster elephant protection and educate the public about ivory trade and consumption.
WCS is also part of a Clinton Global Initiative commitment to end the elephant poaching crisis. Today the U s. Fish
and Wildlife Service takes the unprecedented step of pulverizing nearly six tons of elephant ivory stored at the National Wildlife Property Repository in Colorado.
This trade increasingly the domain of large global criminal syndicates has been responsible for the loss of some 76 percent of all African forest elephants in the past decade.
Across Africa elephant range states are calling for a moratorium on the sale and purchase of ivory.
To end the elephant poaching crisis we know that we must take a three-pronged approach:
More can be done domestically to stop trafficking including instituting a moratorium on all ivory sales within the U s. African elephants alone are being lost at an unprecedented rate
Approximately 35000 elephants were killed by poachers last year--some 96 elephants each day. Our government is increasingly sending a clear message to ivory traffickers.
The team also found they could reduce the negative effects of these lipids in mice by feeding the animals a new genetically engineered tomato being developed at UCLA that is designed to mimic HDL (good) cholesterol.
Scientists found that mice fed a high-fat high-cholesterol diet (21 percent fat) showed a twofold increase in the amount of LPAS in the small intestine over mice fed normal low-fat
mouse chow (4 percent fat. When researchers added LPAS at only one part per million (by weight) to the normal low-fat low-cholesterol mouse chow they observed the same increase in LPAS in the small intestine as
when the mice were fed the high-cholesterol high-fat diet. Surprisingly with the addition of LPAS to the low-fat diet the UCLA team also found alterations in the patterns of gene expression in the small intestine changes in cholesterol levels (increases in LDL
and decreases in HDL) and increases in blood markers of inflammation typically seen when the mice consumed a high-fat high-cholesterol diet.
The findings suggest that some of the factors leading to atherosclerosis occur in the small intestine and not just the liver.
Researchers added 2. 2 percent (by weight) of freeze-dried tomato powder from the peptide-enhanced tomatoes to low-fat low-cholesterol mouse chow that was supplemented with LPAS.
and dogs cattle domestication was probably also a complex process rather than a sudden event.
The drawings depict an assemblage of animals including armadillos deer large cats birds and reptiles as well as humanlike figures and geometric symbols.
Also preliminary testing in rats showed that the tearless onion could help control weight gain--more so than regular onions or garlic.
Chitosan is nontoxic to mammals making it suitable for use as an antifungal in various applications Luã s Vicente LÃ pez adds.
We have documented previously the cardiovascular benefits of a polyphenol-rich wild blueberry in a rat model with impaired vascular health
and improve the balance between relaxing and constricting factors in the vascular wall improving blood flow and blood pressure regulation of obese Zucker rats with metabolic syndrome.
and temperature at the bottom of the ice sheet before selecting a final drill location.
#Elusive bay cat caught on camerathe world's least known cat has been caught on camera in a previously unsurveyed rainforest by scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and Imperial College London.
Until now the bay cat (Pardofelis badia) had been recorded on camera traps just a handful of times in its Borneo forest home
But more images of this animal have been captured than ever before together with evidence of four other wild cat species in a heavily logged area of forest where they were expected not to thrive.
--which has so far been reported to have all five species including the Sunda clouded leopard (Neofelis diardi) leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) flat-headed cat (Prionailurus planiceps) and marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata).
Camera traps have transformed how information is collected for many species of mammals and birds including some of the most charismatic species in existence like tigers.
Many of these species are exceedingly good at spotting and avoiding conservationists who spend time in the field seeking them.
For example I've seen the clouded leopard just twice in three years of fieldwork whilst my cameras recorded 14 video sequences of this enigmatic cat in just eight months.
All five cat species mentioned are charismatic and important components of the forest ecosystems and predators of a wide range of other animals.
They are threatened also highly: four of the five species are listed as threatened with global extinction on the IUCN Red List.
Almost nothing is known about the habits of the mysterious bay cat but it is thought to be at risk of extinction due to widespread loss of its habitat on Borneo.
Dr Robert Ewers from the Department of Life sciences at Imperial College London leads the SAFE tropical forest conservation project in Borneo where the bay cats were seen.
We were surprised completely to see so many bay cats at these sites in Borneo where natural forests have been logged so heavily for the timber trade.
but we now know this land can be home for many endangered species. Our study today shows solid evidence that even large carnivores such as these magnificent bay cats can survive in commercially logged forests Dr Ewers added.
ZSL and Imperial College London conservationists will continue to study the effects of logging on wildlife populations looking more broadly than just the highly charismatic cats towards other mammal species both large and small.
More detailed work aims to gather the information palm oil producers need to make their plantations more mammal-friendly
and assess whether saving patches of forest within such areas might be a viable option for saving Borneo's mammals.
stalky and hairy with big heads long snouts and beady eyes. So scientists had no reason to suspect Israeli wild boars were any different than their brothers
#Fossil of largest known platypus discovered in Australiano living mammal is more peculiar than the platypus.
It has a broad duck-like bill thick otter-like fur and webbed beaver-like feet.
The platypus lays eggs rather than gives birth to live young its snout is covered with electroreceptors that detect underwater prey
and male platypuses have a venomous spur on their hind foot. Until recently the fossil record indicated that the platypus lineage was unique with only one species inhabiting Earth at any one time.
This picture has changed with the publication of a new study in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology that describes a new giant species of extinct platypus that was a side-branch of the platypus family tree.
The new platypus species named Obdurodon tharalkooschild is based on a single tooth from the famous Riversleigh World Heritage Area of northwest Queensland.
While many of Riversleigh's fossil deposits are now being dated radiometrically the precise age of the particular deposit that produced this giant platypus is in doubt
but is likely to be between 15 and 5 million years old. Monotremes (platypuses and echidnas) are the last remnant of an ancient radiation of mammals unique to the southern continents.
A new platypus species even one that is highly incomplete is a very important aid in developing understanding about these fascinating mammals said Phd candidate Rebecca Pian lead author of the study.
Based on the size of tooth it is estimated that this extinct species would have been nearly a meter (more than three feet) long twice the size of the modern platypus.
The bumps and ridges on the teeth also provide clues about what this species likely ate.
Like other platypuses it was probably a mostly aquatic mammal and would have lived in and around the freshwater pools in the forests that covered the Riversleigh area millions of years ago said Dr. Suzanne Hand of the University of New south wales a co-author of the study.
Obdurodon tharalkooschild was a very large platypus with well-developed teeth and we think it probably fed not only on crayfish
The oldest platypus fossils come from 61 million-year-old rocks in southern South america. Younger platypus fossils are known from Australia in what is now the Simpson Desert.
Before the discovery of Obdurodon tharalkooschild these fossils suggested that platypuses became smaller and reduced the size of their teeth through time.
The modern platypus completely lacks teeth as an adult and instead bears horny pads in its mouth.
The name Obdurodon comes from the Greek for lasting (obdurate) tooth and was coined to distinguish extinct toothed platypuses from the essentially toothless modern species. Discovery of this new species was a shock to us
because prior to this the fossil record suggested that the evolutionary tree of platypuses was relatively linear one said Dr. Michael Archer of the University of New south wales a co-author of the study.
Now we realize that there were unanticipated side branches on this tree some of which became gigantic.
The specific epithet of the new species tharalkooschild honors an Indigenous Australian creation story about the origin of the platypus.
because Bigoon the Water-rat would have wicked his way with her. Scoffing she disobeyed her parents
and egg-laying habit of a duck along with the fur and front feet of a rodent--the first Platypus.
Wolves control elk populations. Sea otters protect kelp forests by eating sea urchins. These are what ecologists call keystone species:
critters that control an ecosystem and have a disproportionate impact on other species. And in the forests of New england
#King of beasts losing ground in Ugandas paradiseconservationists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of St andrews warn that Uganda's African lions--a mainstay of the country's tourism industry
and a symbol of Africa--are on the verge of disappearing from the country's national parks. According to the results of a recent survey African lions in Uganda have decreased by more than 30 percent over the past 10 years in some areas of the country mostly the result of poisoning by local cattle
The downward trend in lion numbers has concerned conservationists about the species'long-term chances in the country often described as the Pearl of Africa for its natural wonders.
Edward Okot Omoya Tutilo Mudumba Paul Mulondo and Andrew J. Plumptre from WCS and Stephen T. Buckland of the University of St andrews. African lions are a vital component
and population distribution of lions and spotted hyenas in Uganda's three major conservation areas conducted by researchers between November 2008 and November 2009.
Previous survey methods used to count lions have included counting roars identifying individual cats and mark-recapture methods
Overall the call station surveys attracted a total of 66 lions 176 spotted hyenas and seven leopards.
The broadcasts also attracted a host of smaller predators including side-striped jackals black-backed jackals white-tailed mongooses and large spotted genets.
Using the data of animals observed the analysis generated an estimated lion population of 408 animals in the three main strongholds for lions in Uganda nearly two hundred fewer lions than estimates made in 2000-2002 (a statistical
) In Queen Elizabeth Conservation Area estimated lion numbers have decreased from 206 to 144 over the past decade (a 30 percent drop.
In Murchison Falls Conservation Area the team estimates a nearly 60 percent drop (from 324 to 132 lions in the past decade.
Only in Kidepo Valley National park did the researchers detect an increase in estimated lion numbers (climbing from 58 to 132.
Lions are the species tourists most want to see in Uganda's savannas according to research by WCS.
if they couldn't see lions and if they did visit they would want to pay less for the experience.
The study also represents the first survey of hyena numbers from these areas generating a population estimate of 324 hyenas (the researchers suspect
--but cannot prove--hyenas to be in decline as well). Conservation areas such as Queen Elizabeth and Murchison Falls which formerly contained the highest biomass of mammals On earth depend on the delicate balance between predators
and prey said Dr. James Deutsch Executive director of WCS's Africa Program. Their loss would permanently alter two of Africa's great ecosystems.
The crisis in lion conservation in Uganda reflects the status of the species across Africa where lion populations have dropped by 30 percent over the past two decades as a result of illegal killing and the loss of both habitat and prey.
The most recent estimate of Africa's total lion population is approximately 32000 animals. A group study led by WCS estimated that 42 percent of major lion populations are in decline.
The species is nearly extinct in West and Central africa. The species is listed as Vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature
In a paper to be published online Oct 24 in Immunity the researchers show that mice injected with a small dose of bee venom were later resistant to a potentially lethal dose of the same venom.
To find out whether adaptive immune responses could help mice resist bee venom Marichal and Starkl first injected mice with a low dose of venom equivalent to one or two stings.
The mice developed more venom-specific immune cells and higher levels of Ige antibodies against the venom than control mice injected with a salt solution.
Three weeks later they injected both groups of mice with a potentially lethal dose of venom similar to five bee stings.
The immunized mice had less hypothermia and were three times more likely to survive than the control mice.
Moreover they did not develop the anaphylactic reactions characteristic of severe allergies. To determine whether Ige antibodies were required for this protection the team tested mice with three types of mutations:
mice without Ige mice without functional Ige receptors on their mast cells and mice without mast cells.
The Ige-deficient mutant mice were developed previously by Hans Oettgen MD Phd associate professor of pediatric immunology at Harvard Medical school
and a co-author of the study. In all three groups of mutant mice pre-immunization with a low dose of bee venom did not confer protection against a lethal dose suggesting that the protection depends on Ige signaling and mast cell activation.
That was pretty exciting for us said Marichal. It was the first time we could see a beneficial function for these Ige antibodies.
Pre-immunization with a low dose of venom from the Russell's viper also protected mice from a higher dose of venom from this snake which is one of the big four species responsible for most snakebite
deaths in India. So the researchers believe the response could be generalized to different types of toxic venoms.
Our findings support the hypothesis that this kind of venom-specific Ige-associated adaptive immune response developed at least in evolutionary terms to protect the host against potentially toxic amounts of venom such as would happen
At the same time mammals have evolved immune responses to venom which in some cases escalate into maladaptive allergic reactions. We experience allergies in a much cleaner world where we don't have the same threats of venomous creatures
A mouse for example can mate with more than one male and have a litter with two or more fathers.
what's happening below the surface without the need to drill. It's a more targeted way of searching for minerals that reduces costs and impact on the environment.
#Long-term memory helps chimpanzees in their search for foodwhere do you go when the fruits in your favourite food tree are gone
whether chimpanzees aim their travel to particular rainforest trees to check for fruit and how they increase their chances of discovering bountiful fruit crops.
The scientists found that chimpanzees use long-term memory of the size and location of fruit trees and remember feeding experiences from previous seasons using a memory window
For their study the researchers recorded the behaviour of five chimpanzee females for continuous periods of four to eight weeks totalling 275 complete days throughout multiple fruiting seasons in the Taã National park CÃ
They found that chimpanzees fed on significantly larger trees than other reproductively mature trees of the same species especially
The researchers found that chimpanzees checked most trees along the way during travel but 13%were approached in a goal-directed manner.
which of nearly 16000 potential food trees with different crown sizes were approached actually by the chimpanzees.
and hence the minimal memory window of chimpanzees required for effective monitoring activities could vary from two months to three years.
The present study on chimpanzees is the first to show that our close relatives use long-term memory during their search for newly produced tropical fruit
This study helps us to understand why chimpanzees and other primates should remember events over long periods in time.
And guess what? It also shows they do! says Christophe Boesch of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
#Camera traps reveal Andean bears hate paparazzia series of camera-trap images released by the Wildlife Conservation Society today shows rare Andean bears acting like angry Hollywood celebrities--at least
The stop-action images reveals adult bears and cubs repeatedly surrounding and attempting to dismantle the Reconyx camera traps secured to trees.
One series of images shows a particularly determined bear attacking a camera and leaving it torn open and dangling.
The remote cameras were set by WCS scientists studying Andean bears and other wildlife in Apolobamba National Natural Area of Integrated Management--a Bolivian protected area that borders Madidi National park and Natural Area of Integrated Management considered one of the world
This allowed images from one camera to take images of the marauding bears while they attacked the other cameras.
Andean bears are very curious animals says Dr. Lilian Painter WCS's Bolivia Country Director.
Still we were able to record important images that will allow us to better understand their distribution abundance and behavior and conserve these delightful bears into the future.
Andean bears are Latin america's only bear species. Also known as a spectacled bear they often have light fur resembling glasses around their eyes.
The Andean bear's preferred habitat are high-altitude pã¡ramo grasslands and especially the adjoining dense cloud forests in steep remote regions where the bears are seen rarely.
The wide-ranging Andean bears once had a safe haven in the undeveloped habitat of Andean cloud forests
but land is increasingly being fragmented for agriculture grazing lands and human settlements. The future of this wondrous but vulnerable species depends on the creation
and effective management of a network of protected areas that can sustain the bears in the wild.
Fortunately for the photographed bears and thanks to the Bolivian government they live in one of largest continuous protected patches of cloud forest across three national protected areas:
Madidi National park alone contains 11 percent of the world's birds more than 200 species of mammals 300 types of fish and 12000 plant varieties.
and wildlife including Andean bears including road construction logging unsustainable natural resource use and agricultural expansion. In addition WCS conserves the Andean bear across its range from Ecuador to Venezuela.
WCS aims to develop local capacity to conserve the habitat of the species and mitigate a variety of threats to them including human-wildlife conflict
Foundation the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and Cleveland Zoological Society the Andean Bear Conservation Alliance Woodland Park Zoo and other generous
WCS's Queens Zoo exhibits Andean bears as part of a Species Survival Plan a cooperative breeding program that helps to maintain healthy populations of the animals in zoos throughout the U s. Video:
They did however come across additional evidence that the U s. strains share several genetic features with a bat coronavirus--findings which point to an evolutionary origin from bats and the potential for cross-species transmission.
and tigers can coexist are emerging in rural Nepal where the government has committed to doubling populations of the critically endangered big cat by 2022.
when Nepalese villagers are empowered to make some local land management decisions the resulting landscape changes can benefit both people and tigers.
Few wildlife species face more potential conflicts with humankind than tigers which require large areas for hunting
Tiger populations have plummeted from an estimated 100000 worldwide at the beginning of the 20th century to perhaps as few as 3000 remaining in the wild.
Carter studies the interactions between humans and tigers in Nepal's Chitwan National park and its environs.
In the latest research Carter and his colleagues showed that in areas near the national park border where local people were permitted to harvest some of the natural resources they needed such as timber and grass the amount of tigers'preferred type of habitat increased.
Within the park where local resource harvests are prohibited the amount of highly suitable habitat for tigers declined--perhaps due to illegal harvests.
Chitwan National park was established in 1973 to protect tigers and other keystones of the area's biodiversity but it has had significant costs for people living in the area.
and management of the buffer zones affected tigers the researchers used camera traps--motion-sensitive cameras mounted along animal trails--that snapped photos of 17 different adult tigers at sites
By superimposing their photographic evidence of tiger movements onto the land cover maps the researchers showed that tigers have a distinct preference for grasslands near water
That's probably because the grasslands and water attract animals for tigers to prey on the grasses conceal them
and the connected patches of habitat accommodate the big cats'need for relatively large home territories. The researchers used satellite photos taken between 1989 and 2009 to track changes in land cover inside
and outside the park and compare it to the habitat that tigers prefer. Throughout that 20-year span the park offered more habitat suitable for tigers than the buffer lands did.
But the amount of good tiger habitat in the park declined between 1999 and 2009.
Meanwhile tiger habitat outside the park took a turn for the better. From 1989 to 1999 tiger habitat suitability outside the park was relatively constant.
But from 1999 to 2009 the suitability of tiger habitat increased in the area between human settlements and the park boundary.
The tiger habitat gains happened after the buffer zone was created and local people gained some control over land uses outside the park the researchers noted.
In Nepal we're finding that there is this middle ground where you can have people using the land
and still not only keep land from degrading but can improve habitat quality said Carter. Policies in Chitwan's buffer zone such as prohibiting livestock from freely grazing in the forests and community-based forest management improved habitat quality.
In July 2013 the Nepalese government announced the nation's tiger population had jumped 63%in four years with an estimated 198 tigers now living in the wild--many of them in
Park managers are doing a tremendous job of conserving tigers and their habitat in the face of relentless pressure from the human population agreed Carter who has worked in the area since 2008.
As Nepal and other countries work to pull tigers back from the brink of extinction the study provides a relatively straightforward way to measure how humans affect endangered animals'habitat across space
The next step is to model how tiger habitat and human livelihood strategies will interact and change in the future under different conservation policy scenarios.
Bhim Gurung of the Nepal Tiger Trust in Chitwan; and Jhamak Karki of Nepal's Department of National parks and Wildlife Conservation.
#Habitat research methods give a new peek at tiger lifefrom a tiger's point of view yesterday's thoughtful conservation plans might be today's reason to branch out.
An international team of researchers has found a useful way to better understand the tiger's take on policy.
Twelve years ago a team led by Jianguo Jack Liu at Michigan State university (MSU) showed that China needed to revisit how it was protecting its pandas.
Now research on tiger habitat in Nepal published this week's Ecosphere journal of the Ecological Society of America again shows that conservation demands not only good policy but monitoring even years down the road.
and requires innovative methods Liu said Now we're learning that Nepal's outstanding efforts to protect tigers are supported best with close monitoring
Carter has spent years studying endangered tigers in Chitwan National park in Nepal's Himalayan lowlands. The park established in 1973 to protect both the tigers
and the area's biodiversity was not without cost to the people who live around the area.
In Ecosphere Carter reports a unique approach to monitoring the condition of the tiger's habitat by combining satellite images
and camera trap data on where the tigers were hanging out. Tigers like grasslands which support high prey numbers
and likely give tigers cover to hunt their prey. Because tigers require large areas they prefer their cover not be broken too up.
Turns out that growing human populations around Nepal are growing and with that increasing unauthorized human use of local natural resources is reducing the quality of tiger habitat inside Chitwan National park. The tigers are finding friendly neighborhoods outside the park--which is important input both for the buffer's policies
and the park's policies. Many animals have their ranges extending outside of protected areas Carter said.
They don't know and they don't care where the border signs are. So areas outside protected areas are important as well.
and grasslands it allowed Carter to see where tigers were hanging out and insight into why.
It turns out that over a 20-year span Chitwan National park still is a desirable place for tigers.
But it is the buffer's tiger habitat that has improved gradually while the park's habitat has degraded gradually.
Then he published a paper in Science magazine showing that panda habitat was being destroyed quicker inside the world's most high-profile protected nature reserve than in adjacent areas of China that are protected not enabling the Chinese to realign their policies.
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