#7 Resolutions for a Better Planet 2013 is here and everyone is busy making (or already breaking) their New year's resolutions.
Mother Nature took a few minutes out of her busy schedule to share a few thoughts on how to improve the situation here on our planet with some New year's resolutions that should be taken up by mankind.
A total of 633 rhinos were killed in South africa in 2012 for exampleâ according to Reuters. Compare that with 448 killed in 2011 and 13 killed in 2007.
Most terrestrial animals aren't the big charismatic species like elephants and tigers often associated with the jungles butâ rainforest-dwelling arthropodsâ (a group that includes insects arachnids and crustaceans all of
which have hard exoskeletons). Arthropods are the most diverse group of animals in the world
which is like no other place in the world it is the only spot where lemurs
The poles are also home to magnificent animals like polar bears and penguinswhich are sensitive to environmental changes.
and marine mammals often when these creatures aren't targeted by fishermen. The worst of these techniques is the use of large nets (including dragnets seines and driftnets
and his flying reindeer can be traced to an unlikely source: hallucinogenic or magic mushrooms according to one theory.
and his reindeer. 1. Arctic shamans gave out mushrooms on the winter solstice. According to the theory the legend of Santa derives from shamans in the Siberian
3. Reindeer were shaman spirit animals. Reindeer are common in Siberia and Northern europe and seek out these hallucinogenic fungi as the area's human inhabitants have also been known to do.
Donald Pfister a Harvard university biologist who studies fungi suggests that Siberian tribesmen who ingested fly agaric may have hallucinated that the grazing reindeer were flying.
At first glance one thinks it's ridiculous but it's not said Carl Ruck a professor of classics at Boston University.
Whoever heard of reindeer flying? I think it's becoming general knowledge that Santa is taking a'trip'with his reindeer. 6 Surprising Facts About Reindeer Amongst the Siberian shamans you have an animal spirit you can journey with in your vision quest Ruck continued.
And reindeer are common and familiar to people in eastern Siberia. 4. Shamans dressed like Santa claus. These shamans also have a tradition of dressing up like the mushroom they dress up in red suits with white spots Ruck
said. 5. Mushrooms abound in Christmas iconography. Tree ornaments shaped like Amanita mushrooms and other depictions of the fungi are also prevalent in Christmas decorations throughout the world particularly in Scandinavia
It's amazing that a reindeer with a red-mushroom nose is at the head leading the others he said.
and reindeer are probably references to various related northern European mythology. For example the Norse god Thor (known in German as Donner) flew in a chariot drawn by two goats
which have been replaced in the modern retelling by Santa's reindeer Arthur wrote. Other historians were unaware of a connection between Santa
If you look at the evidence of Siberian shamanism which I've done Hutton said you find that shamans didn't travel by sleigh didn't usually deal with reindeer spirits very rarely took the mushrooms to get trances didn't have red-and-white clothes.
But Rush and Ruck disagree saying shamans did deal with reindeer spirits and the ingestion of mushrooms is documented well.
Siberian shamans did wear red deer pelts but the coloring of Santa's garb is meant mainly to mirror the coloring of Amanita mushrooms Rush added.
or the reindeer as the hallucinogenic compounds are excreted this way without some of the harmful chemicals present in the fungi
or the reindeer) Rush said. Â People who know about shamanism accept this story Ruck said.
><p>Credited with feats of strength including slaying a lion and moving the gates of Gaza Samson also exhibited almost all of the symptoms of Antisocial Personality disorder.
or hcg that's found only in pregnant women marking the first time a single compound was discovered that could indicate pregnancy status. To determine the presence of hcg a sample of the woman's urine was injected into an immature female mouse frog or rabbit.
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They had access to good horses giving them a military advantage. They appear to have made an effort to win over the people of Babylon oethey brought back the statue of the major deity Marduk
It included a throne room with a glazed brick panel showing palmettes floral reliefs and lions.
and for about 590 feet (180 m) had images of lions carved in relief. The mouths of the lions are open baring their teeth
and the manes of the creatures are finely detailed. Â Â The Tower of babel? Although largely destroyed today in ancient times the ziggurat of Etemenanki
while concertina wire left behind by the military is used to prevent visitors from climbing over a 2500-year-old lion statue an ancient symbol of the city the report reads.
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#Ancient Elephants Grazed Before They Had Teeth for It Ancient elephants switched from eating primarily leaves
The findings indicate that as the ancestors to modern elephants evolved anatomical changes significantly lagged behind habitat
Mammals Through Time What we find with a lot of mammal groups is that some species switched their diets Lister said.
During this time the earliest true elephants went from what we describe as'browsers'which eat mostly leaves from trees and shrubs to
Lister used data that looked for specific chemical signatures in the fossilized teeth of ancient elephants in east Africa.
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Until now there was only circumstantial evidence of Mesolithic hunter-gatherer ownership of domestic animals other than dogs in continental Europe.
Mesolithic hunter-gatherers definitely had dogs but they did not practice agriculture and did not have pigs sheep goats or cows all of
#Ancient Rodentlike Creature Once Dominated Earth A fossil of a chipmunklike animal discovered in China is now helping reveal how this group of mammals reigned
A group of mammals known as the multituberculates flourished across the planet from about 170 million to 35 million years ago a span of 135 million years.
Much like today's rodents multituberculates occupied an extremely diverse range of habitats such as below the ground on the ground and in trees.
& Other Ancient Mammals Some could jump some could burrow others could climb trees and many more lived on the ground said researcher Zhe-Xi Luo a paleontologist at the University of Chicago.
If you look at squirrels you see similar adaptations Luo said. In addition R. eurasiaticus had wrinkled teeth ornamented with ridges pits
A modern rodent species that had very similar ornaments on its teeth the African dormouse are seedeaters that also eat some fruit as well as worms arthropods creatures such as insects
#Antarctic Mission to Feature Robot Subs & Seals with Sensors A team of British scientists is preparing for a mission to Antarctica an ambitious journey that will involve sensor-carrying seals seafaring robots
seals. Fifteen seals with small sensors temporarily glued to their fur will help the scientists collect data
while the ocean surface is covered by sea ice making much of the region inaccessible for research ships.
The sensors attached to the Antarctic seals will gather information on ocean temperature and salinity or salt content.
when the seals molt their fur the scientists said. The observations may also help the researchers understand how changing Antarctic conditions are affecting seal populations in the region.
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and relate more positively to each other for instance by extending their tongue or proboscis. When they interact only with their left antennas on the other hand they are much more likely to respond negatively arching their body into A c-shape
But in the last 20 years however research has shown this asymmetry of function in many different animals from mammals to reptiles and fish he added.
and Asian nations embroiled in the illegal trade of ivory have agreed to take urgent action to crack down on poaching in an effort to protect vulnerable populations of elephants across Africa.
The pact was made at the African elephant Summit held this week in Botswana which was hosted in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
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#Anti-Science Riders Lurk in Pending Farm bill (Op-Ed) Celia Wexler is a senior Washington representative for the Scientific Integrity Initiative at UCS.
#Apes Have Temper Tantrums, Too Chimpanzees and bonobos have temper tantrums when their decisions don't play out as they'd hoped hinting that humans aren't the only species to let emotions influence their choices.
These nonhuman apes pout whimper scratch themselves and bang on things when a risky choice fails to pay off
or when they have to wait for a desired reward according to new research published Wednesday (May 29) in the journal PLOS ONE.
when making economic decisions seem to be shared with animals said study leader Alexandra Rosati a postdoctoral researcher in psychology at Yale university. 8 Humanlike Behaviors of Primates Emotional choices Humans have the power of logic
As humans'closest living relatives chimps (Pan troglodytes) and bonobos (Pan paniscus) were the perfect places to look.
Evidence of emotional decisions in these apes would suggest humans share this tendency with other primate relatives.
If the apes were unemotional decision-makers however it might suggest emotional decision-making evolved later in the human lineage.
The researchers set up two experiments at the Tchimpounga Sanctuary for primates in the Republic of congo and Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of congo.
Both sanctuaries care for chimps and bonobos orphaned by the illegal bushmeat and pet trades. In the first experiment 23 chimps and 15 bonobos were given the choice between immediately getting a small reward (bananas for the chimps apple slices for the bonobos)
or waiting one to two minutes to get a reward three times the size. See Video of a Bonobo's Decision-making Angst Both species chose to wait more often than not though chimps exhibited more patience the researchers found.
In one-minute-delay trials chimps chose to wait and receive the larger option 64 percent of the time;
in two-minute-delay trials they picked the larger option almost 55 percent of the time.
Bonobos waited for the larger option 55 percent of the time when they knew it would only take one minute
and chose it 47 percent of the time in the two-minute-delay trials. Both species however exhibited emotional behaviors while waiting:
Chimps were more vocal in their impatience than the bonobos whimpering screaming and moaning 46 percent of the time compared with only 5 percent of the time in bonobos.
The animals could leave the experiment whenever they wanted so their participation was voluntary.)Risks and regret In the second experiment 24 chimps and 13 bonobos were shown a small pile of food under an overturned bowl
and then given the choice to eat either that pile or another unknown pile under a second bowl.
The foods varied in deliciousness at least from a primate perspective. The researchers determined that chimps preferred bread and bananas above all else while bonobos loved apples and bananas.
Chimps were excited least by papaya and cucumber while bonobos cared least about peanuts and lettuce.
The visible bowl contained middle-of-the-road foods for both species: peanuts for chimpanzees and papaya for bonobos.
The apes could chose this so-so food or decide to take a risk and pick the unknown food under the second bowl
which might be a delicious banana or a boring scrap of lettuce. The results revealed that chimpanzees were bigger risk-takers than the bonobos.
Chimps picked the unknown risky option 65 percent of the time compared with 39 percent of the time for bonobos.
Again both species got irritated when those risky choices failed to pay off with a favorite food.
They banged vocalized and scratched. The apes even showed a behavior that looked a bit like regret.
After choosing the unknown bowl and finding a disliked food the animals frequently tried to change their choice to the other bowl.
Primate psychology These findings confirm that humans aren't the only primates that get upset
The discovery that chimps were more willing to wait than bonobos and that they took more risks is also important she said.
In the wild chimpanzees tend to live in areas where food is seasonal and hard to find
while bonobos have an easier time foraging. The difference could explain why chimps are more patient
and more willing to take risks for a good payoff than are their bonobo cousins.
The kind of economic biases we see in different species including humans might really have a biological basis in terms of these species being prepared for different environments Rosati said.
Now that researchers know the apes do show emotional reactions to unwanted outcomes scientists hope to find out how those emotions might influence decisions Rosati said.
The study turned up a few hints that this kind of influence does indeed operate in apes.
For example bonobos who tried hardest to switch their choice after an unwanted outcome in the food bowl experiment were also the least likely to take risks in the first place.
Apes seem to have a really rich set of psychological skills for making their foraging decisions she said.
although not as well understood as for insects mammals birds and even in snakes. The recent study published in the Journal of Zoology shows that for crocodiles almost a quarter of the fruits consumed were of the oefleshy kind.
#Are Grapes Toxic for Dogs? They're small and sweet so they may seem harmless.
But for mysterious reasons grapes can be deadly for dogs. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
      Recently vets and dog owners noted that eating grapes
or raisins can cause fatal kidney failure in some dogs. The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ASPCA first noticed the danger in 1999.
Dogs that eat grapes will often vomit usually within a few hours. They may also suffer from diarrhea abdominal pain lethargy
or not at all due to the effects the grapes have on dogs'kidneys. Even a small amount of the fruit can cause a serious reaction
so dogs need immediate treatment if they ingest grapes. If you know your dog has eaten grapes
or raisins and the animal has thrown not yet up induce vomiting using hydrogen peroxide. Ask your vet about the proper procedure.
Whether or not your dog vomits immediately take it to the vet's office where additional treatments may include activated charcoal to absorb the toxin IV fluid treatment and dialysis.
Even with treatment some dogs don't survive. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
or size of dog but vets still don't know why certain dogs seem to have no reaction at all.
#Are Pigs as Smart as Dogs, and Does It Really Matter?(Op-Ed) Marc Bekoff emeritus professor at the University of Colorado Boulder is one of the world's pioneering cognitive ethologists a Guggenheim Fellow and cofounder with Jane Goodall of Ethologists for the Ethical
With the catchy title Pigs smart as dogs? Activists pose the question it attracted almost 2000 comments as of this writing.
but comparing dogs to cats or dogs to pigs says little of importance. I always stress that intelligence is a slippery concept
which to make the claim that dogs for example are emotionally more complex than pigs or other food animals.
Thus the claim that it's okay to slaughter pigs for example rather than dogs because dogs would suffer more is misleading and vacuous
and there are no data to support that conclusion. All of these mammals and all other mammals are sentient beings who share the same neural architecture underlying their emotional lives
and who experience a wide spectrum of emotions including the capacity to feel pain and to suffer.
All one has to do is look at available scientific literature to see that millions upon millions of mice
and other rodents are used in a whole host of studies to learn more about pain in humans.
Yet despite the fact that we know that mice rats and chickens display empathy and are very smart
Would you do it to your dog? Mr. Crary's essay does raise some important points that are worth noting.
and the second by Melanie Joy called Why We Love Dogs Eat Pigs and Wear Cows (Conari Press 2011).
if they would do something to a dog that would cause them prolonged and intense pain
Along these lines the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness underwritten by world-renowned scientists notes that available scientific data clearly show that all mammals
and orcas appreciate that we are good and decent people moving in the right direction and show some compassion for our obliviousness.
This article appeared as Are Pigs as Smart as Dogs and Does It Really Matter?
More of the author's essays are available in Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed (New world Library 2013).
These dogs were trained like to kill; trained to hurt and viciously attack people she said.
But do pit bulls deserve their reputation as vicious attack dogs? An overwhelming amount of evidence suggests they do.
and Reconstructive Surgery found that almost 51 percent of the attacks were from pit bulls almost 9 percent were from Rottweilers
In other words a whopping two-thirds of the hospital's dog-attack injuries involved just two breeds pit bulls and Rottweilers.
and Pathology revealed that pit bulls Rottweilers and German shepherds were responsible for the majority of fatal dog attacks in the state of Kentucky.
See What Your Dog's Breed Says About You And a 2011 study from the Annals of Surgery revealed that attacks by pit bulls are associated with higher morbidity rates higher hospital charges
and a higher risk of death than are attacks by other breeds of dogs. The authors of that 2011 study go on to say Strict regulation of pit bulls may substantially reduce the U s. mortality rates related to dog bites.
Pit bulls and the law Some states and cities have acted on the research: The state of Maryland has determined that pit bulls are inherently dangerous and all owners are liable for any injuries they cause according to the Baltimore sun. Even the U s army has acknowledged that pit bulls are high-risk dogs;
they are prohibited therefore in some military housing units. Pit bulls join several other breeds on the list of dogs that are recognized as more likely to attack
and cause significant injury: The Centeres for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed data and found the following breeds are implicated in a majority of dog-bite fatalities:
Rottweilers generally rank a distant second. Paying the price for pit bulls As a result of the overwhelming evidence against pit bulls home owners and landlords often must pay significantly higher insurance premiums
if they have a pit bull or other recognized bad dog breed on their property.
Dog bite Incidents Fans of pit bulls are quick to assert that a dog's propensity for attack depends in large part on its owner
and other high-risk dogs are themselves high-risk people. A 2006 study from the Journal of Interpersonal Violence revealed that owners of vicious dogs were significantly more likely to have criminal convictions for aggressive crimes drugs alcohol domestic violence crimes involving children and firearms.
These findings were confirmed in a 2009 report published in the Journal of Forensic Sciences. The authors of that report wrote Vicious dog owners reported significantly more criminal behaviors than other dog owners
and they were ranked higher in sensation seeking and primary psychopathy. And a 2011 study also in the Journal of Forensic Sciences found that vicious dog owners reported significantly higher criminal thinking entitlement sentimentality and super-optimism tendencies.
Vicious dog owners were arrested engaged in physical fights and used marijuana significantly more than other dog owners.
What exactly is a'pit bull'?'The term pit bull is a general term encompassing three distinct though related breeds:
the American pit bull terrier the American staffordshire terrier and the Staffordshire bull terrier. They were bred originally as catch dogs for hunting
and attacking large animals like wild boar for herding livestock and for pit fighting. There's a myth that pit bulls have locking jaws that seize up when biting.
and like most dogs will hold onto their prey after biting it there is no evidence that a pit bull's jaws are anatomically different from those of other breeds.
Even fans of pit bulls acknowledge the breed is different from other dogs. I tell people right off the bat
if you want a dog-park-type dog a dog you can just run off-leash please do not get a pit bull Ami Ciontos founder
and president of the Atlanta Underdog Initiative a pit bull rescue group told CNN. com. I want to make sure that whomever
#At least 26 Elephants Killed by Poachers in Central africa At least 26 elephants were killed in Central africa after a group of armed poachers raided a protected sanctuary on Monday (May 6) according to wildlife officials.
The poachers made their way to the Dzanga Bai an open area where anywhere from 50 to 200 elephants gather daily to drink nutrients and mineral salts in the sands.
At least 26 elephant carcasses including four calves were counted in and around the Dzanga Bai on Thursday (May 9) WWF officials said.
Wildlife representatives described the Dzanga Bai scene as an elephant mortuary and it was evident that local villagers had started taking meat from the remains of the dead animals they added.
Elephant Images: The Biggest Beasts On land The killing has started Jim Leape WWF's international director general said in a statement.
Poachers continue to kill elephants and strip them of their ivory tusks to sell on global markets
According to the Wildlife Conservation Society some 25000 African elephants are killed every year. The elephants here face a sure death as criminals obtain ivory
which fuels even more violence in the Central african republic Cristiã¡n Samper the Wildlife Conservation Society's president and CEO said in a statement.
I watched hundreds of elephants gathering in this incredible area. WCS stands with our conservation partner WWF calling for immediate action to stop the killing of these elephants.
The Dzanga Bai area is known to locals as the village of elephants because of the herds of elephants that assemble there every day.
Because the poachers raided the sanctuary however no elephants have been seen at the Bai WWF officials said.
The Central african republic has been a hotbed of violence and political instability since the beginning of the year.
The events in Dzanga Bai are a vivid reminder of the existential threat faced by forest elephants in Central africa Leape said.
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Those remaining are introduced full of nasty predators like foxes and cats and invaded by weeds. Much work has been done to identify
and protect the remaining coastal habitat. However few of these sites still get parrots even though the birds have learnt to eat the weeds.
Fall can bring an especially noticeable change to the high-attitude-living male Siberian hamster.
That's because the rodent's testes swell up 17 times their size from short days to long;
Hamsters aren't the only creatures to herald in fall in strange ways. When autumn hits the black-capped chickadee goes gangbusters collecting seeds
From Wolf and Sturgeon to Hunter and Harvest full moons are named for the month or season in which they rise.
But the small furry mammals that burrowed underground survived. They had been living in the shadows of the dinosaurs all along
Eventually the mammalian lineage evolved into primates then apes then hominids and finally the Homo lineage that produced human beings.
</p><p></p><p>By about 5 million years ago certain apes in Africa had mastered the art of upright walking these were the hominids.
</p><p></p><p>Jared Diamond popularized this descriptor in his book The Third Chimpanzee (1992)
and adjacent areas by a Twin Otter airplane that collects ecological measurements with state-of-the-art remote-sensing instruments.
Releasing Captive-Bred Pandas This Behind the Scenes article was provided to Livescience in partnership with the National Science Foundation.
Only about 1590 giant pandas remain in the wild distributed among a few mountain ranges in Central China.
Because the giant panda an endangered species is among the world's rarest animals the Chinese government has established more than 50 panda reserves.
Nevertheless only about 61 percent of China's surviving panda population is protected in these reserves.
 Home At last Experts in China and Michigan State university are feverishly working together to increase the size of populations of wild protected pandas.
Their work includes breeding captive pandas via artificial insemination in veritable panda-ariums. It also includes reintroducing young captive-born pandas into Southwestern China's Wolong Nature Reserve where they are protected.
Once a young panda arrives at Wolong it initially lives in a section of the reserve that has been converted into something like a survivalist boot camp for pandas.
Expansive panda enclosures within the boot camp are located on steep panda-friendly hills and are filled with trees and bamboo.
With mother serving as drill sergeant each new panda recruit learns survival skills such as how to forage for food
and avoid predators. Dressed for panda success keepers who monitor and care for the pandas wear panda suits as camouflage to help the animals maintain a healthy fear of humans.
When deemed ready for the real world each young recruit in Wolong boot camp is released to the wild.
Habitat Habitat Habitat With funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Jianguo Jack Liu who holds the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability at Michigan State university is contributing to the Wolong re-introduction program
by helping to improve panda habitat in Wolong. He and his team are generating multi-disciplinary analyses of panda habitat that incorporate information about the habits of local villagers demographic changes in the labor force the current state
and anticipated availability of bamboo and panda activity obtained by tracking collared pandas in the wild.
The successes of Liu and his students include laying the foundation for a policy to subsidize the cost of electricity used by the reserve's human residents;
the goal is to discourage residents from chopping down trees in panda habitat for use as firewood.
In addition Liu recently discovered that reserve residents have been keeping horses in the reserve mostly to bolster panda tourism.
But these horses have been consuming large amounts of bamboo and thereby destroying panda habitat. We have been focusing on identifying how panda habitat changes over time
and across space says Liu. This is very important because when you release pandas you need to know where the good places to release pandas are.
We need to release pandas in good habitat so that pandas can survive and sustain themselves for a long time.
Black and white and Wanted All over Threats to panda survival include poaching and smuggling which is promoted by the black market for panda fur.
In addition the panda's primary habitat is located in the forests of China's Yangtze Basin region the capital of China's economic boom.
As a result panda habitat is increasingly being fragmented by roads and railroads that isolate panda populations
and prevent mating across groups. In addition an adult panda must eat about 28 pounds of bamboo per day to fulfill its nutritional needs.
Unfortunately however pandas must increasingly compete for their needed bamboo with people who use this plant as food for livestock an ingredient for medicines and raw material for musical instruments.
What's more research conducted by a research team that includes Liu and is funded partially by NSF indicates that by the end of the 21st century climate change may kill off swaths of bamboo that pandas need to survive.
Another problem: the natural cycle of bamboo growth involves massive periodic die offs. To cope with a die off in any particular area pandas must move to non-impacted areas.
However such movement is obstructed sometimes by the shrinkage and fragmentation of panda habitat. An Online Panda-thon For more information about pandas as well as videos and photos of pandas see Michigan State university's Web site on pandas.
Editor's Note: The researchers depicted in Behind the Scenes articles have been supported by the National Science Foundation the federal agency charged with funding basic research and education across all fields of science and engineering.
Any opinions findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. See the Behind the Scenes Archive A
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