#New research reveals how wild rabbits were transformed genetically into tame rabbitsthe genetic changes that transformed wild animals into domesticated forms have long been a mystery.
The domestication of animals and plants a prerequisite for the development of agriculture is one of the most important technological revolutions during human history.
Domestication of animals started as early as 9000 to 15000 years ago and initially involved dogs cattle sheep goats and pigs.
In fact Charles darwin wrote In on the Origin of Species that â#no animal is more difficult to tame than the young of the wild rabbit;
scarcely any animal is tamer than the young of the tame rabbit. Darwin used domestic animals as a proof-of-principle that it is possible to change phenotypes by selection.
and other animals--by paying land owners on a large scale to set aside land for conservation.
Wildlife instead of cattlescientists from the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) can give the all-clear:
wherever there are carnivorous wild animals farmers are concerned about their livestock. In Namibia the concern refers to the possible threat from cheetahs on cattle.
When farmers in Namibia are missing a bovine calf cheetahs are regularly under suspicion--nowhere else in the world are there as many animals of this vulnerable species as on commercial farmland in Namibia.
Traditionally carnivore diet is determined by examining samples of fresh faeces. Faecal samples only provide a snapshot of the diet based on the detected hair and bone samples of prey animals.
One cannot therefore conclude which food items cheetahs devour in the long run explains Christian Voigt from the IZW.
Herbivores have different food webs. One is based on shrubs trees and herbs whose photosynthesis contains intermediate products with three carbon atoms (C3).
Herbivores typically only belong to one food web and the isotope ratio hence deposits in their body tissue.
The study shows that herbivores of the C4 food chain to which cattle belong are nearly irrelevant to the cheetah's diet.
when they occur in groups of two or three animals. In this project the IZW scientists collaborated closely with the farmers.
The farmers passed on their experience in dealing with these big cats as cheetahs cannot be lured simply with bait like many other carnivores she adds.
while earning her doctorate in the Warnell School said people often don't fully realize how much structural changes in an environment can affect how animals interact.
and welfare of beef cattle and other ruminant animals suffering from lameness and following castration dehorning and other painful but necessary management procedures.
A comparison of herbivore response to urban and global warming is published in the journal Global Change Biology.
The outcome of the study at the University's Roseworthy campus published in the journal Animal Reproduction Science is an important finding for pig producers.
Sows don't usually start their oestrous cycles again during lactation only coming on heat after their piglets have been weaned says Ms Alice Weaver Phd candidate with the School of Animal and Veterinary Sciences.
'There are numerous applications for this knowledge such as crowd control cleaning up the environment herding of livestock keeping animals away from sensitive areas
'It was said completely serendipitous Mcglone who works in the Animal and Food Sciences department of the College of Agriculture and Natural sciences.
It's best used as a training tool rather than a circus act to stop animals from doing
Scientists from the German Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (IZW) investigated the effect of antimicrobial peptides in cooperation with the Leibniz Institute of Molecular Pharmacology (FMP) and the Institute for Reproduction of Farm animals
The canonical view stated there was a sweet receptor present in animals much smaller than the large families of receptors involved in smell and bitter taste perception--vital for sensing safe food or dangerous predators.
Some animals have lost certain taste abilities. The panda for example feeds exclusively on bamboo and lacks savory taste receptors.
Carnivores notably cats are indifferent to sweet tastes. The gene for tasting sweetness is present in their genomes
Images of the fishbone deforestation in Rondã'nia state were publicized widely and have become the visual shorthand for tropical deforestation worldwide as evidenced in this Aqua image.
Plants are superior to humans and animals in a number of ways. They have an impressive ability to regenerate
but obtain resources by hunting large and small animals and gathering fruit nuts insects and other available resources.
Because predator species are animals that survive by preying on other organisms they send ripples throughout the food web regulating the effects other animals have on that ecosystem.
and the University of Edinburgh have found that an animal's ability to endure an internal parasite strongly influences its reproductive success. Reported in the journal PLOS Biology the finding could provide the groundwork for boosting the resilience of humans and livestock to infection.
The level of infection was determined by the number of nematode eggs per gram of the animal's feces.
While all of the animals lost weight as a result of nematode infection the degree of weight loss varied widely:
These sheep provide a unique opportunity to study the effects of parasites weather vegetation changes and other factors on a population of wild animals.
Expending energy to fight infectionnematodes puncture an animal's gut and can impede the absorption of nutrients.
Tolerant animals might invest energy in gut repair but would then be expected to incur costs.
They found that animals with strong antibody responses produced fewer offspring each year but also lived longer.
if the most tolerant animals were at a disadvantage under particular conditions. While the PLOS Biology findings provide strong evidence that natural selection favors infection tolerance they do raise questions such as how the tolerance is generated
and selectively breeding those animals that exhibit a heightened parasite tolerance said David Schneider an associate professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford university.
Six of the eight countries identified by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna
These and other finds--from the bones of various animals and birds to numerous worked
The cows would have harvested their blood plasma every two weeks to produce 30-60 liters of serum every month from one animal--the equivalent of 2000 doses. The vaccinated cows would produce polyvalent antibodies--antibodies that can recognize many
This limits exposures in animals that consume the caribou--including humans. This is good news for the wildlife
and other animals said Adam Morris a Phd student in the School of Environmental sciences and lead author of the study published recently in Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry.
and mammals and in turn are consumed by other animals and humans. The substances can become biomagnified
and fluorinated surfactants suggested that CUPS might be found in the vegetation and animals. Caribou are among the most important subsistence animals for people living in the North
and the Bathurst caribou herd is particularly critical to the area's socioeconomic security. Wolves like people are a top consumer of caribou.
The concentrations were even lower in wolves suggesting sufficient metabolism of CUPS in both animals to prevent significant biomagnification.
Transfer of disease from animals to humansthe fact that MRSA can spread from animals to humans where they may result in infections has caused great concern in recent years.
i e. it can be transferred directly from animals to humans and cause disease. Thus it is not sufficient to eradicate the bacteria from humans.
We still don't know which specific genetic factors in this MRSA type facilitate the spread from animals to humans.
which can be found in humans animals and our surroundings. Staphylococcus aureus is part of the normal nasal and skin flora of approximately 50%of the population.
because the animals can hide from predators like dingoes in older bush grass and spend most of their time eating shoots and fruits in patches of younger vegetation.
The study doesn't suggest that hunting kangaroos helps the animals but that any harm to kangaroo populations by hunting is outweighed by
By burning when many animals are active fires in the late spring can devastate wildlife.
Small sturdy cows as draft animalsscientists from the University of Basel by accident found a very small metacarpal bone from a Neolithic cattle among other animal bones found in the lake settlement Twann in Switzerland
The animal to which the bone belonged was exceptionally small with a withers height of only 112 centimeters.
And how many generations did it take to develop such small animals? explains the archaeogenetics specialist Angela Schlumbaum in regards to the significance of the discovery.
#Light pollution may affect love lives of birds in the Viennese Forestsartificial light in cities exerts negative effects on humans animals and their environment.
In consequence it could help developing concepts minimizing negative effects on the lives of animals and the ecological system by reducing light sources in specific regions.
If the natural day and night rhythms are affected by artificial light the natural behavioral patterns of the animals may also change.
The Viennese research team is one of the first to experimentally test the effects of artificial light in the natural environment of animals by actively manipulating ambient light conditions.
and night rhythm in order to make the animals lay more eggs. Does light pollution affect the honesty of sexual signals?
or even fatal for grazing animals says York U Biology Professor Dawn Bazely who worked with University of Cambridge researcher Andrew Tanentzap and York U researcher Mark Vicari
Working in partnership with the Toronto Zoo the team collected saliva samples from moose and reindeer
We know that animals can remember if certain plants have made them feel ill and they may avoid these plants in future says Bazely.
This study the first evidence to our knowledge of herbivore saliva being shown to'fight back 'and slow down the growth of the fungus.
and off in the progeny of an exposed animal even though its DNA and gene sequences remain unchanged.
which displayed variation in other words where the animals have different letters. Currently CRV uses approximately 50000 variants the so-called single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) for genomic selection by linking SNP patterns of a very large number of animals to characteristics
which are important for robustness. Together with CRV and the other partners in the Breed4food programme the researchers are investigating
and other pest species. The research on scale insect abundance is published in Urban warming trumps natural enemy regulation of herbivorous pests which is forthcoming from the journal Ecological Applications.
The research on the overall impact of urban heat on red maples is in The effects of urban warming on herbivore abundance and street tree condition
and grow it is important for adult animals to leave the place where they were born
an animal is not competing with its relatives and dispersal minimizes inbreeding. We have found that it is increasingly difficult for Maine
and roadsides may support rabbit dispersal as they provided the animal's preferred scrub habitat.
Scott Nichols institutional veterinarian at NAU and another key player in the preservation efforts drew blood samples from 11 gartersnakes from Oak Creek in order to establish a baseline for the blood levels in the animals.
The findings are reported in the journal Animal Behaviour. Tagging the bees revealed that about 20 percent of the foraging bees in a hive brought home more than half of the nectar
Are the other animal or animal-derived foods better or worse? New research at the Weizmann Institute of Science conducted in collaboration with scientists in the US compared the environmental costs of various foods
Dr. Ron Milo of the Institute's Plant sciences Department together with his research student Alon Shepon in collaboration with Tamar Makov of Yale university and Dr. Gidon Eshel in New york asked which types of animal
Though many studies have addressed parts of the issue none has done a thorough comparative study that gives a multi-perspective picture of the environmental costs of food derived from animals.
In total eating beef is more costly to the environment by an order of magnitude-about ten times on average-than other animal-derived foods including pork and poultry.
and that beef cattle are responsible for far more greenhouse gas emissions than other types of animals. It is published by Climactic Change.
Animals release methane as a result of microorganisms that are involved in their digestive processes and nitrous oxide from decomposing manure.
The developing world is getting better at reducing greenhouse emissions caused by each animal but this improvement is not keeping up with the increasing demand for meat said Caro.
because cattle emit greater quantities of methane and nitrous oxide than other animals. Sheep comprised 9 percent buffalo 7 percent pigs 5 percent and goats 4 percent.
and now widely banned pesticides and other toxic chemicals--called legacy contaminants--can become magnified in an animal that eats contaminated food.
and other animals said first author Adam Morris . But this is still only a small part of a much larger picture regarding replacement contaminants
bacteria in the gut--and not just liver enzymes--are crucial in allowing herbivores to feed on toxic plants says biologist Kevin Kohl a postdoctoral researcher
which they use as a defense against herbivores or plant-eating animals. A toxic resin coats the leaves of the creosote bush;
Most mammals are herbivores. Some face serious challenges: their bodies must handle up to hundreds of toxic chemicals from the plants they consume each day.
Plant toxins determine which plants a herbivore can eat says Kohl. Liver enzymes help animals detoxify such poisons.
Researchers previously isolated toxin-degrading microbes from herbivores but Kohl and Dearing say that until now scientists have lacked strong evidence for
what has been conventional wisdom: Gut microbes also help some herbivores eat toxic plants. The study involved desert woodrats (Neotoma lepida)--grayish rodents native to western North american deserts.
Woodrats somehow acquired novel toxin-degrading gut microbes to adapt to climate and vegetation changes that began 17000 years ago.
Though slow evolutionary genetic changes in herbivores play an important role in adapting to new diets.
Other possible places to get microbes include leaf surfaces the soil or feces that woodrats collect from other animals.
Antibiotics kill about 90 percent of the gut microbes in animals severely impairing their ability to consume toxic foods.
Trace gases called greenhouse gases warm the surface making it habitable for humans plants and animals.
People plants and animals live in the lowest layer of the atmosphere called the troposphere. In this layer the temperature decreases with altitude as mountain climbers experience.
and distribution of plants and animals around the globe big data has yet to make a mark on conservation efforts to preserve the planet's biodiversity.
The crop calories we currently feed to animals are sufficient to meet the calorie needs of 4 billion people.
We also are the first to reprogram a heart cell in a living animal in order to effectively cure a disease.
On the second day after the gene was delivered to the animals'hearts pigs who received the gene had significantly faster heartbeats than pigs who did not receive the gene.
We also are the first to reprogram a heart cell in a living animal in order to effectively cure a disease.
On the second day after the gene was delivered to the animals'hearts pigs who received the gene had significantly faster heartbeats than pigs who did not receive the gene.
The UW Arboretum long a refuge for Wisconsin's native plants and animals is confirmed the first site for Amynthas agrestis an invasive worm believed to have arrived in the United states from its native range in Japan
You either have information about livestock coming through here or flocks of animals themselves. Each farmer or herder would have a bag with tokens to represent their flock said Macginnis.
Since both animals appear to have been healthy at the time of death a traumatic demise involving the inhalation of mud
and it initiates physiological changes that enable animals to stay underwater for extended periods of time.
Abundance and species richness of the endemic arboreal fauna were lower in the A. gracilipes invaded area
The current restricted distribution of A. gracilipes in this ecosystem combined with lower abundance of endemic fauna in the invaded area highlight the need for further research.
Many ambiguous aspects of the fossil's pelvis forelimbs hind limbs and tail were confirmed while it was discovered that it had elongated tendons along its tail vertebrae similar to Velociraptor.
It has numerous unambiguous birdlike features such as elongated forelimbs wing and hind limb feathers wing membranes in front of its elbow half-moon shaped wrist-like bones bird-like perching feet a tail with short anterior vertebrae
and claws that make tree climbing possible. The researchers specifically note the primitive elongated feathers on the forelimbs and hind limbs.
This suggests that Scansoriopteryx is a basal or ancestral form of early birds that had mastered the basic aerodynamic maneuvers of parachuting
and animals it has today. However it can also help us understand how the world may change as the global climate continues to warm.
The study published online on July 7 2014 in Current Biology is expected to contribute to the improvement of production of animals along with the deepening of our understanding on the evolution of eyes and photoreceptors.
In order to adapt animals change their physiology and behavior such as growth metabolism immune function and reproductive activity.
In order to breed during this particular season the animals are actually sensing the changes in the seasons based on changes in day length.
and are the key photoreceptors that control breeding activity in animals which is what many biologists have been looking for over 100 years elaborates Professor Yoshimura.
and we believe that this research will contribute to learning how animals regulate their biological clocks
Professor Yoshimura's quest to clarify how animals measure the length of time continues. Story Source:
Besides this conventional technique the stable isotope analysis (SIA) has been used successfully in recent years to study animals'diet
Many animals are thought to deter eavesdroppers by making their signals revealing the location or quality of resources less conspicuous to outsiders.
To Nieh whose research has focused on the evolution of communication strategies among bees eavesdropping is part of the information web the signals and cues that surround animals and play a key role in shaping ecosystems.
and cues shapes pollination informing animals about where and when food is available. Researchers have thought in general about eavesdropping as a force that makes signals less conspicuous leading to the evolution of'whispers'to counter spying.
This is particularly important for animals such as the bees I studied because their movements determine plant pollination.
or indirect using volatile substances that attract the natural enemies of the herbivores says lead scientist Dr Ted Turlings (University of Neuchã¢tel Switzerland).
and makes the animal vulnerable to pneumonia and other respiratory diseases. Identifying persistent infectionswhen a pregnant cow becomes infected the developing calf is at risk.
The animal will shed the virus for its entire life. Approximately 0. 5 percent of all cattle in the United states are infected persistently according to Chase.
and creating a persistently infected animal that is a threat to the entire herd. Story Source:
The findings of the study led by Edwin van Leeuwen of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in The netherlands are published in Springer's journal Animal Cognition.
Van Leeuwen suggests that those animals that find a specific behavior somehow rewarding will continue to do
Very heavily used by mobile animals as breeding grounds and as places to feed lagoons are highly sensitive to human disturbance.
an acoustic camera which logged patterns of the animals entrances and departures from the lagoons;
The study's findings highlight the impact that events during the period after birth can have on an animal in later life
As mammals are warm-blooded animals that maintain a constant body temperature it is unlikely that temperature overtly affects the nutrient quality of their diets.
and how climate change may affect dietary preferences of herbivorous insects. This research was presented at the Society for Experimental Biology Annual Meeting 2014 held at Manchester University UK from the 1st--4th of July.
#Foodborne bacteria can cause disease in some breeds of chickens after allcontrary to popular belief the foodborne pathogen Campylobacter jejuni is not a harmless commensal in chickens
Oxygen isotopes in ancient bones and teeth reflect the water animals are living in or drinking said Kim a former postdoctoral researcher at the University of Wyoming.
Previous studies by Eberle and colleagues showed the fauna there included ancestors of tapirs hippo-like creatures crocodiles and giant tortoises.
We now know a fair amount about the terrestrial animals and plants that were living in the Eocene Arctic greenhouse period said Eberle.
How to protect your animal from skin damageexcessive sunbathing damages the skin. Humans are not the only ones who need to monitor their exposure to UV rays:
animals are at risk too. Dogs and cats with white or thin coats are at particular risk as are animals with very closely shorn fur
or with certain preexisting conditions. Dermatologist Christa Horvath-Ungerbã ck from the University of Veterinary medicine Vienna explains
which animals are particularly sensitive how to prevent sun damage to the skin and how to treat a sunburned animal.
Human or animals skin with little or no pigmentation is very sensitive to the sun in general.
Hairless pets or pets with very short or thin fur can also be vulnerable. For dogs and cats this applies in particular to those parts of the skin that are exposed regularly to the sun. These include the ears the bridge of the nose the skin around the eyes
and the back. â#oesome animals particularly enjoy lying on their backs to bask in the sun. This exposes the skin on their bellies
In summer animals with shorn fur can also have a problem. The short hair allows UV rays penetrate down to the sensitive skin and cause sunburn.
and darker animals are less vulnerable to UV rays. Owners of vulnerable breeds should take particular care to protect their animals from the sun. Sun protection for animalsâ#oeas a rule animals should have a shady place to lie in.
Especially at midday when the sun is at its strongest and presents the greatest risk not just for the skin
Particularly sensitive animals require sun protection in the form of a waterproof sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30
  For longer hikes through the mountains where the sunâ##s rays are particularly aggressive sensitive animals should wear a t-shirt coat or hat for protection.
or if an animal is highly sensitive it is up to us to protect it from further damage. â#Treating sunburn in animalsif sunburn is reddened visible as warm
or flaking skin the animal should be moved to the shade as quickly as possible. Cool compresses and ointments to soothe the skin can help relieve the initial symptoms.
The affected animal will need to be protected well from the sun in future to prevent permanent damage.
Animals with autoimmune skin diseases must be protected carefully from the sun for example. And areas of the skin that were covered by fur
and shielded as needed Damage caused by sun exposurein animals sunburn results in an acute inflammation of the skin that can cause itching
Modifying the consumption of animal-based foods can therefore be a feasible and effective tool for climate change mitigation and public health improvements the study concluded.
and wheat along with such livestock products as ruminant (animals like cattle goats and sheep that subsist on plant matter) pork and poultry.
if competition from other animals for the same habitats is restricted according to new research by Durham University.
As the global climate warms many animals are moving to higher latitudes and altitudes where it is cooler.
We often think of climate as the major determinant of where animals live. However this study shows that the effects of species interactions could be more important than the predicted impacts of climate change.
Fauna changes as wellwhen the ground vegetation changes from heath to grass there are impacts on the animal life.
and water resources for their animals the interests of fauna and farmer might finally be unified by the Sodom apple a toxic invasive plant that has overrun vast swaths of East African savanna and pastureland.
however that certain wild African animals particularly elephants could be a boon to human-raised livestock because of their voracious appetite for the Sodom apple.
and impalas among other wild animals can not only safely gorge themselves on the plant but can efficiently regulate its otherwise explosive growth according to a report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Without elephants ripping the plant from the ground
Similarly Princeton researchers published two studies in 2011 that showed that allowing livestock to graze with wild animals such as zebras greatly improved the quality of the domesticated animals'diet.
because they belong to a class of herbivores known as browsers that subsist on woody plants and shrubs many species
These animals easily succumb to the Sodom apple. A 2011 study on sheep published in the journal Kenya Veterinarian showed that the plant caused emphysema pneumonia bleeding ulcers brain swelling and death among other effects.
Then they remove the animals that eat the plant. Ricardo Holdo a savanna ecologist and assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of Missouri said that the researchers present enough data to potentially determine the amount of pastureland that wild Sodom-apple eaters would be able to keep free of
but had no role in it said that beyond removing the Sodom apple animals such as elephants
and wild animals compete for the same scarce resources he said. There is enough quantitative information in this paper that they can probably model this effect in a meaningful way Holdo said.
When you add the wild herbivores they have a negative effect on the Solanum so they're actually promoting a higher biomass of high-quality habitat for livestock.
and wild animals and probably actually increase your yield for livestock. The researchers report that they have presented one of the first studies to examine functional redundancy in land animals.
Functional redundancy refers to the situation in which one species declines or goes extinct and another species steps in to fulfill the same ecological role This consideration helps ecologists predict the overall effect of extinction on an entire ecosystem.
In this case the effect of large mammals such as elephants and impalas on the Sodom apple population--and perhaps the populations of other plants--is unlikely to be duplicated by another animal species the researchers found.
and we need to understand to what extent these threatened animals have unique ecological functions. The majority of studies on functional redundancy have been conducted in aquatic systems
because large land animals can be hard to control in an experiment Holdo said. The Princeton-led study is made more robust by being unusually long by ecology standards he said--the researchers observed similar patterns year after year.
--which are designed to keep animals out rather than in--totaling nearly 89 acres (36 hectares) at the Mpala Research center in Kenya a multi-institutional research preserve with
one type open to all animals; another where only elephants were excluded; one in which elephants and impalas were excluded;
and another off limits to all animals. It was in the sites that excluded elephants
I saw them in the experiment I knew some animal was otherwise eating them. I just didn't know which one Pringle said.
The Sodom apple proliferated with each group of animal that was excluded. At one point the plant's density was three times greater in areas restricted to all animals than those that permitted all of them the researchers report.
In February 2011 the researchers counted an average of less than one fruit per plant in the exclosure open to all animals meaning that nearly every fruit produced by the plants was being consumed.
In the plots closed to elephants that average increased to three fruits per plant. When both impala and elephants were kept away the average jumped to around 50 fruits per plant
The model weighed the cost to the plant of being consumed partially against the potential benefit of having healthy seeds scattered across the countryside in an animal's droppings.
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