Great Blue Marble » Animals

A battle of the vampires, 20 million years ago?

creative — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 20:24:24 +0000

They are tiny, ugly, disease-carrying little blood-suckers that most people have never seen or heard of, but a new discovery in a one-of-a-kind fossil shows that “bat flies” have been doing their noxious business with bats for at least 20 million years.

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A battle of the vampires, 20 million years ago?

Caribbean lizards settle ‘founder effect’ controversy

publisher — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:11:11 +0000

In the first experimental study of the founder effect in a natural setting, researchers found that natural selection does not overwhelm the founder effect.

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Caribbean lizards settle ‘founder effect’ controversy

Treasure trove of wildlife found in Peru park

publisher — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:08:08 +0000

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Peru program recently announced the discovery of 365 species previously undocumented in Bahuaja Sonene National Park in southeastern Peru.

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Treasure trove of wildlife found in Peru park

New species of ancient crocodile discovered; ‘Sheildcroc’ was ancestor of today’s species

elegant — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 03:56:56 +0000

A new species of prehistoric crocodile has been discovered. The extinct creature, nicknamed “Shieldcroc” due to a thick-skinned shield on its head, is an ancestor of today’s crocodiles.

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New species of ancient crocodile discovered; ‘Sheildcroc’ was ancestor of today’s species

Volunteers clear tiger snares in China

elegant — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:54:54 +0000

Volunteers working in northeast China have cleared 162 illegal wire snares in an ongoing effort to protect the nation’s remaining population of critically endangered Amur (Siberian) tigers.

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Volunteers clear tiger snares in China

Severe declines in Everglades mammals linked to invasive pythons, researchers find

elegant — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:52:52 +0000

New research links precipitous declines in formerly common mammals in Everglades National Park to the presence of invasive Burmese pythons.

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Severe declines in Everglades mammals linked to invasive pythons, researchers find

Ancient DNA holds clues to climate change adaptation

elegant — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:25:25 +0000

Thirty-thousand-year-old bison bones discovered in permafrost at a Canadian goldmine are helping scientists unravel the mystery about how animals adapt to rapid environmental change.

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Ancient DNA holds clues to climate change adaptation

Severe python damage to Florida’s native Everglades animals documented in new study

publisher — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 05:32:32 +0000

Precipitous declines in formerly common mammals in Everglades National Park in Florida have been linked to the presence of invasive Burmese pythons, according to new research. The study, the first to document the ecological impacts of this invasive species, strongly supports that animal communities in the 1.5-million-acre park have been markedly altered by the introduction of pythons within 11 years of their establishment as an invasive species. Mid-sized mammals are the most dramatically affected, but some Everglades pythons are as large as 16 feet long, and their prey have included animals as large as deer and alligators.

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Severe python damage to Florida’s native Everglades animals documented in new study

Livestock, not Mongolian gazelles, drive foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks

creative — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:24:24 +0000

Wildlife health experts from the Wildlife Conservation Society have published evidence which supports the conclusion that Mongolian gazelles — one of the most populous large land mammals on the planet — are not a reservoir of foot-and-mouth disease, a highly contagious viral disease that threatens both wildlife and livestock in Asia.

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Livestock, not Mongolian gazelles, drive foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks

Mammals shrink at faster rates than they grow: Research helps explain large-scale size changes and recovery from mass extinctions

creative — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:19:19 +0000

It took about 10 million generations for terrestrial mammals to hit their maximum mass: that’s about the size of a cat evolving into the size of an elephant. Sea mammals, such as whales took about half the number of generations to hit their maximum.

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Mammals shrink at faster rates than they grow: Research helps explain large-scale size changes and recovery from mass extinctions