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Endangered Species FAQs
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 22:53:02 +0000
These FAQs will guide you through the basic concepts concerning endangered species, the Endangered Species Act, and protection of rare wildlife.
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Why Amphibians Are in Decline
Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:39:53 +0000
In recent years, scientists and conservationists have been working to raise public awareness of a global decline in amphibian populations. Herpetologists first started noting that amphibian populations were falling at ... Read Full Post
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Mediterranean Snail Found in Britain Isles
Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:08:39 +0000
During Victorian times, a tiny land snail from the Mediterranean found its way to the British Isles. Scientists are only now sorting out how the snail made the journey and ... Read Full Post
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Paper Wasps Frown on False Advertising
Mon, 23 Aug 2010 12:40:29 +0000
 Paper wasps punish their peers if they falsely advertise their fighting prowess. For wasps, such advertisement is writ on their faces—their facial markings indicate their fighting ability. Wasps with more complex, fragmented facial patterns are more aggressive than wasps with simpler facial patterns. These facial markings often save wasps the hassle of an argument—by simply reading each other's facial markings they can sort out which wasp is more likely to prevail in a scuffle and can therefore avoid conflict altogether.
If facial markings could enable wasps to avoid conflict, it would seem that gentler wasps might benefit if they were to have "aggressive" facial markings, even though they didn't have the ferocity to back it up. If a fight could be avoided, who would ever know that a fancy-patterened moth was really a wimp? But evolutionary biologists at the University of Michigan have discovered that this insincerity in facial markings—this mismatch between patterns and aggressive might—is not only outed by fellow wasps, it's also punished.
Read Full Post Paper Wasps Frown on False Advertising originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 12:40:29. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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Going Home - Rare Toads Return to Tanzania
Wed, 18 Aug 2010 12:18:24 +0000
One hundred rare, captive-bred toads recently braved a trans-Atlantic journey from breeding centers in US to their native country of Tanzania. Now in Dar es Salaam, the toads—Kihansi spray toads to be exact—are settling-in at a new, cutting-edge breeding center. Scientists there hope, at some time in the near future, to be able to release some toads back into their native habitat in Kihansi Gorge. But for now, the species only survives in captivity.
The Kihansi spray toad was discovered in 1996 living near waterfalls in Kihansi Gorge. The frog is picky when it comes to its habitat and prefers the misty patches next to the waterfalls. When a hydroelectric dam was constructed in 1999, the waterfalls fell to a trickle and much of the toad's habitat dried up. The last wild Kihansi spray toad was spotted in 2004 and conservationists declared the species extinct in the wild by 2009.
Read Full Post Going Home - Rare Toads Return to Tanzania originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife on Wednesday, August 18th, 2010 at 12:18:24. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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Bearded Gobies to the Rescue
Wed, 11 Aug 2010 05:03:57 +0000
 The bearded goby is an ecological superhero. In less than five decades, this six-inch fish managed to revive an entire marine ecosystem—one that had careened to the brink of collapse. Now scientists are beginning to unravel how the bearded goby stabilized the communities around it and capitalized on conditions seemingly too harsh for life.
Off the coast of southwest Africa there lies a region where strong ocean currents periodically churn nutrients from deeper waters producing what's known as the Benguela Upwelling. This upwelling of nutrients promotes the growth of plankton which, in turn, provides a rich supply of food that fuels an entire food web.
Read Full Post Bearded Gobies to the Rescue originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife on Wednesday, August 11th, 2010 at 05:03:57. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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Top 10 Cutest Mammals
Sun, 08 Aug 2010 00:44:33 +0000
Mammals are easily among the cutest of all animals. Who can resist the cuteness of a furry face or a bushy tail? Here we'll explore ten of the cutest of ... Read Full Post
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Prides and Coalitions - The Social Lives of Lions
Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:28:32 +0000
 Lions are definitely not loners. In fact, lions are unique among felids in that they are the only species of cat that forms social groups. All other cats are solitary hunters that, outside of mating season, shy away from others of their kind.
The two social groups that shape the lives of lins are prides and coalitions. A pride is a group of 1 to 18 female lions and their young. A coalition is a group of 1 to 9 male lions. A coalition of males competes with other male coalitions for exclusive access to a pride of females. A coalition that wins a pride remains associated with the pride for a period of about 3 to 4 years. After that time, challenges from other coalitions of nomadic males often prevail and the resident coalition is displaced.
When one coalition ousts another from its place within a pride, the consequences are fatal for any unweaned cubs sired by the previous coalition's males. The incoming coalition males kill the cubs and evict any subadult males from the pride. Adult females are thus hastened to return to estrous and mate with the new males.
Read Full Post Prides and Coalitions - The Social Lives of Lions originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife on Thursday, July 29th, 2010 at 02:28:32. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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Climate and the Lion's Magnificent Mane
Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:21:53 +0000
 A lion's mane is more than just a bushy bunch of fur framing a big cat's face. A mane is a declaration of a lion's vitality, fighting prowess and social status as well as an acknowledgement of the climate in which the lion lives. This is the conclusion made by scientists who studied nearly 300 lions in Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater and Serengeti National Park.
Only male lions grow manes—females lack the long fur around their face and neck. This difference in appearance between the sexes mean that lions are sexually dimorphic.
It was long thought that manes were shaped largely on the anvil of sexual selection. Males with more impressive manes won more mates and left more offspring. Of course, there were other tentative explanations as well. One was that a lion's mane creates an illusion of bulk, making a male lion appear bigger and fiercer than it would if it lacked a mane, as is illustrated in this picture. The mane thus is shaped merely by its ability to entice mates but also for its effectiveness in discouraging male rivals. Another explanation was that the mane provides a lion with protection during a fight, making it difficult for attackers to grasp at the lion's vulnerable neck area. Although there may be truth in all of these explanations, there's yet more to the story of the lion's mane.
In 2002, Peyton West and Craig Packer from the University of Minnesota published a paper in the journal Science exploring the many factors that influence lions' manes. The details they gathered revealed that a lion's mane communicates a wealth of information—the condition of the mane reflects the lion's nutrition, testosterone levels, fighting ability, health, age and the climate in which it lives.
Read Full Post Climate and the Lion's Magnificent Mane originally appeared on About.com Animals / Wildlife on Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 at 19:21:53. Permalink | Comment | Email this
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Plastics Pollution: Threats to Ocean Habitats
Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:44:27 +0000
Discovery News has a good article on The Great Atlantic Garbage Patch which highlights the concerns about ocean pollution, particularly the accumulation of plastics in our seas. You can also read more about the plastics pollution problem... Read Full Post
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