Discovery News: Born Animal

Blog Move

2009-11-08T20:27:34-05:00

Thanks to all of you who have followed Born Animal these past few years. Please note that the blog is moving to:

http://news.discovery.com/animals/

I invite you to join me there for the latest Discovery News about animals and the beast in all of us.

African Safari Scrapbook

2009-11-05T18:34:55-05:00

Today I'm happy to share with you photographs of animals at Imire Safari Ranch, a 10,000 acre conservancy west of Harare in Zimbabwe, Africa. Visitors to the ranch live in close, yet safe, contact with black rhinos, lions, buffaloes and many other animals. Just imagine waking up to an enormous elephant trumpeting in the sunrise.

(Images: Volunteers in the Imire Volunteer Program, Imire Safari Ranch, Zimbabwe)

Please visit Imire's website for more information and to support the Black Rhino Fund.

Cat Tests Positive for Swine Flu

2009-11-04T19:13:58-05:00

Swine flu has been confirmed in a pet cat. This news just in from the Iowa Department of Public Health (thank you to Susan McCullough for sharing):

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) remind Iowans that in addition to protecting their families, friends and neighbors from the spread of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, it’s important to remember to protect family pets from the illness, as well. People who are sick with H1N1 can spread the virus not only to humans, but to some animals.

The Departments are sharing this message following the confirmation of a case of H1N1 in an Iowa cat.

The 13-year-old indoor cat in Iowa was brought to the Lloyd Veterinary Medical Center at Iowa State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, where it tested positive for the H1N1 virus. The diagnosis is the culmination of collaborative efforts between IDPH, Iowa State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Center for Advanced Host Defenses, Immunobiotics and Translational Comparative Medicine, USDA, and IDALS Animal Industry Bureau.

“Two of the three members of the family that owns the pet had suffered from influenza-like illness before the cat became ill,” said IDPH Public Health Veterinarian, Dr. Ann Garvey. “This is not completely unexpected, as other strains of influenza have been found in cats in the past.” Both the cat and its owners have recovered from their illnesses.

People can keep their pets healthy by washing hands, covering coughs and sneezes, and minimizing contact with their pets while ill with influenza-like symptoms. If your pet exhibits signs of a respiratory illness, contact your veterinarian.

“Indoor pets that live in close proximity to someone who has been sick are at risk and it is wise to monitor their health to ensure they aren’t showing signs of illness,” said Dr. David Schmitt, State Veterinarian for Iowa.

For more information about H1N1, visit www.idph.state.ia.us/h1n1/ or call the Iowa Influenza Hotline at 1-800-447-1985.

Oldest Known Tyrannosaur Relative Rediscovered

2009-11-04T12:34:26-05:00

It pays to dig deeply into museum collections, as this release from Ludwig-Maximilians University proves:

A long forgotten fossil skull in the collections of the Natural History Museum in London has now provided crucial clues to the early stages of the lengthy evolutionary history of Tyrannosaurus rex and related large carnivorous dinosaurs.

Tyrannosaurus rex and related large carnivorous dinosaurs together form the family Tyrannosauridae. A long forgotten fossil skull in the collections of the Natural History Museum in London has now provided crucial clues to the early stages of the lengthy evolutionary history of these fearsome predators. Almost a century after its discovery, the specimen, named Proceratosaurus, has now been recognized as the oldest known relative of the Tyrannosauridae.

(Image: Ghedo)

With the help of an ultramodern imaging technique, a team of researchers led by Dr. Oliver Rauhut from LMU Munich and Dr. Angela Milner from the Natural History Museum London, have been able to show that Proceratosaurus resembled its approximately 100-million-years younger descendant T. rex in a number of ways. The teeth, the jaws, and the structure of the cranial cavity of the two species have many features in common. Proceratosaurus weighed only about 40 kg, says Rauhut. Nevertheless, like the later tyrannosauroids, the animal obviously depended on its powerful biting apparatus. Later modifications of the jaw muscles and the overall structure of the cranium then gave rise to the perfect hunting weapon wielded by T. rex. (Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society online, 4 November 2009).

Among the dinosaur specimen housed in the collections of the Natural History Museum in London is an almost complete skull that was found in the West of England about 100 years ago. The fossil was initially misclassified, but was later recognized as representing an otherwise unknown genus, which was named Proceratosaurus. The skull has only recently been subject to detailed study by a team led by the palaeontologist Dr. Oliver Rauhut, who holds dual appointments in the Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich and the Bavarian State Collection for Paleontology and Geology, and Dr Angela Milner, Associate Keeper of Palaeontology at the Natural History Museum in London.

This skull, which had been overlooked for so long, turns out to be a spectacular find. Proceratosaurus is the earliest known ancestor of the family Tyrannosauridae (named after its most famous representative Tyrannosaurus rex). Proceratosaurus and T. rex were both bipedal carnivores and each had a massive body, short and stubby forelimbs, a powerful tail, and sharp teeth set in a bulky skull. The best known members of the family, T. rex, lived during the late cretaceous period, although smaller species are known from the earlier Jurassic era.

Little is known about the origins and later evolution of this important group of dinosaurs. Proceratosaurus could now cast much needed light on the process. “It is quite astonishing that this fossil has received so little attention, since it is one of the best preserved dinosaur skulls in Europe”, reports Rauhut. Parts of the skull that were still embedded in the rock matrix and these had to be exposed carefully by preparator Scott Moore-Fay at the Natural Histsory Museum in London; the team also used an advanced imaging technique to probe the detailed structure of the fossil.

“Computerized tomography is a wonderful method, because it offers us a non-destructive means of visualizing the internal structures of fossils”, says Angela Milner, the researcher responsible for the specimen at the Natural History Museum, who personally took the fossil to Texas, where the tomographic scan was performed. Detailed studies of the resulting images and of the skull itself were subsequently carried out back in London.

The investigations uncovered a wide range of features in the cranial cavity, teeth and jaws that Proceratosaurus shares with the huge T. rex, despite the fact that the Proceratosaurus skull is about 100 million years older and much smaller. The Proceratosaurus cranium was about five times less massive than that of its mighty relative, and the intact animal appears to have weighed only about 40 kg. Mature specimens of Tyrannosaurus, in contrast, weighed in at up to eight tons.

Because the Proceratosaurus skull already displays characteristics that are typical of its later descendants, the powerful jaw with its slicing teeth was probably the animal’s most important weapon. “It is likely that this hunting strategy developed first”, says Rauhut. The basic tool kit was perfected in later tyrannosaurids: The skull became more robust and the jaw muscles larger and, overall, the body increased enormously in size. Proceratosaurus also confirms that the tyrannosauridae developed over a very long stretch of time, and gave rise to a great diversity of forms. Further members of the family surely await discovery.”

The study was financially supported by the SYNTHESIS program of the European Union. (suwe)

Termite Guts May Improve Renewable Fuel

2009-11-04T12:12:25-05:00

Mighty termites could help to solve our energy needs, according to the following news from the University of Florida:

Termite damage costs the U.S. more than $1 billion each year, but that same destructive power might help solve one of the nation’s most pressing economic quandaries: sustainable fuel production.

After years of genetic sequencing, University of Florida researchers are beginning to harness the insects’ ability to churn wood into fuel. That ability involves a mixture of enzymes from symbiotic bacteria and other single-celled organisms living in termites’ guts, as well as enzymes from the termites themselves.

(Image: xandert)

The team from UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences spent two years dissecting and analyzing gene sequences of more than 2,500 worker termite guts. In total, they identified 6,555 genes from the termites and associated gut fauna involved in the digestive process.

As the researchers reported Oct. 15 in the online journal Biotechnology for Biofuels, they’ve begun to identify which of these genes encode for enzymes that could significantly improve the production of cellulosic ethanol, a fuel made from inedible plant material that the U.S. Department of Energy estimates could replace half of our gasoline if the production process could be made more cost effective.

“Termites are very unique creatures, and this research helps give the most complete picture of how their systems collaborate to, very efficiently, break down really tough biological compounds to release fermentable sugars,” said UF entomologist Mike Scharf, who leads the research.

The team has identified nearly 200 associated enzymes that help break down the problematic plant compound lignocellulose. This compound is the most costly barrier to wide-scale production of cellulosic ethanol because it must be broken down by intense heat or caustic chemicals.

Termites, however, are able to almost completely break down lignocellulose through simple digestion.

“The termite gut is a complicated and exotic package of biodiversity that manages these tasks with an efficiency that you really have to admire,” said Claudia Husseneder, a specialist in the molecular biology of termites at Louisiana State University who was not associated with UF’s research. “Mike’s work is on the cutting edge of understanding this system.”

In September, Scharf and the Savage, Maryland-based Chesapeake-PERL Inc., received a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to help develop his work into a product that can be used to help manufacture cellulosic ethanol.

Termites and their associated single-cell symbiotic organisms probably won’t have much to do with the processes that result from the work—except for their genes, of course. Scharf said that enzyme-producing genes will be transferred to a more controllable creature.

This has commonly meant that the genes would be transferred into genetically modified fungi or bacteria. However, Scharf said the genes would likely be transferred into other insects, such as caterpillars, to produce the enzymes on an industrial scale.

“Insects have played an important role in how this planet functions for millions of years,” Scharf said. “They still have a lot they can teach us. There are still many ways we can learn to benefit from Earth’s six-legged inhabitants.”

World's Ugliest Bug Contest Underway

2009-11-03T11:03:24-05:00

What's the world's ugliest bug? You can help decide the winner, per the following release from Arizona State University (and please don't miss the fun video at the end):

"The Shocker," a paper wasp whose sting can cause anaphylactic shock and "The Stinger," a scorpion that crushes it's prey with pincers and injects them with a neurotoxic venom, are just two of the 10 contenders in this year’s Ugly Bug Contest.

The champion will be determined by how passionately the public appreciates the atrociousness of their traits and uniqueness of their attributes. The ability to inject enemies with poison, suck the blood of innocent bystanders, or crawl under the skin of unsuspecting hikers are some of the characteristics that could earn one bug the crown and title: 2009 Ugliest Bug.

Until Dec. 15, insect enthusiasts around the world have the opportunity to vote and learn more about some of the planet's most creepy creatures, including "The Hammer," a carpenter bee and "La Cucaracha," a cockroach.

To cast a vote or gain insight into the lives of these cuticle-covered organisms visit the contest's Web site at Arizona State University: http://askabiologist.asu.edu/uglybugs.

Other creatures on this year's roster of repugnant gladiators are "The Blade," an aphid; "Stretch," a snakefly; "The Ringleader," Jerdon's jumping ant; "Sweetness," a honey bee; "The Leaf Foot," a coreidae; and "The Gollywopper," a crane fly.

Each has a photo and a bio on the Web site, with details including their size, weight and Latin genus names. Most of the bugs in this year's contest weigh less than 3 grams – the weight of 10 average grains of table salt.

The images of the bugs are made possible by a scanning electron microscope, providing a view of the bugs unattainable with the human eye. The colorful close-ups allow students and teachers an intriguing new level of intimacy with creatures often dismissed as detestable.

In addition to serving as the contest's voting hub, the “Ask A Biologist” Web site is a scientific sanctuary for students and teachers alike. Complete with down-loadable wallpapers, a poster and pages to color, and inter-active reasoning modules designed to improve student's skills, the site is laden with material aimed at introducing students of all ages to the capacious field of biology.

The Ugly Bug Contest was started in Flagstaff, Ariz., by Merilee Sellers of Northern Arizona University. For 10 years, it was a local fixture – part of the Flagstaff Festival of Science and the Mount Campus Science Day.

Last year, she teamed up with Charles Kazilek to bring the contest to the Web. Kazilek, a senior research professional in ASU’s School of Life Sciences, sports the moniker “Dr. Biology” to host the popular children’s podcast “Ask a Biologist.”

In its first year on the Ask a Biologist Web site the contest accumulated more than 3,000 votes.

"We are talking about bugs here," Kazilek says when asked why kids are attracted to the contest.” You are either excited by them or scared to have one next to you. They certainly can get under your skin. It is fun to see these really tiny animals in a way that just is not possible with the unaided eye."

Last year, the winner was “The Tick” with 1,056 votes – more than twice the amount any other bug received.

"I think it was the blood sucking ability that gave it the edge," Kazilek says.

“There is a lot of science hidden in the contest, but maybe the best part is people get to participate by looking and reading about each of the bugs before they vote,” he says. “It is also a fun way to get up close and personal with the bug that might be walking, crawling or flying next to you.”

Pointing out that many of the bugs contending for the crown are far from ugly, Kazilek adds: “In fact, they are very elegant and often quite beautiful. Somehow calling it the Beautiful Bug Contest seemed contrary to most people’s idea of bugs.”

Other sponsors for this years contest include Dow AgroSciences, NAU's Imaging and Histology Core Facility, and ASU’s W.M Keck Bioimaging Laboratory and International Institute for Species Exploration in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Bullies Are Evicting Smaller Fish

2009-11-03T10:25:47-05:00

When times are tough, bullies seem to come out in force. Fish are no exception, according to the below James Cook University press release:

Small fish are at risk of being bullied to death by big ones as coral reef resources are hit by climate change.

The finding from new research by James Cook University’s Associate Professor Mark McCormick from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) has serious implications for both fishing and reef-based tourism industries.

Associate Professor McCormick said that in the battle to survive on severely bleached corals, large damselfish push smaller ones further from the limited shelter and resources, exposing them to predators that snap them up.

(Photo: Spotted knifejaw in center with bigeyes and damselfish; Credit: Dr. Dwayne Meadows, NOAA)

“Juvenile damselfish living on bleached or dead corals are four times more likely to die than those living on healthy coral,” he said.

“We knew that coral bleaching events were causing an increase in fish deaths, but this is the first study to reveal the behavioral mechanism that is driving this mortality.

“On healthy coral, juvenile damselfish of all sizes have an equal chance of dying, but on bleached coral, it’s every fish for themselves and death rates are much higher among the runts.

“The results were surprising, as these damselfish are known to use a broad range of habitats. They are found living on dead coral, rubble and live coral so we didn’t think that coral bleaching would have such a dramatic affect on their mortality,” he said.

“We would expect even more striking impacts on fishes that have a closer association with live coral.

“Coral bleaching is predicted by scientists to increase in frequency and severity as ocean temperatures rise due to global warming. Since damselfish are prey for many large fish on the Great Barrier Reef, the behavioral changes could have far-reaching effects,” Associate Professor McCormick said.

He warned that a decline in the number of small fish that live on reefs, means lower numbers of the predatory fishes that eat them – and these are the fish we commonly harvest, like coral trout.

In order to understand why mortality was increasing, Associate Professor McCormick placed juvenile damselfish on healthy, bleached and dead corals on the Great Barrier Reef.

He found that fish stayed closer to shelter on live coral, while on bleached and dead coral they moved higher up the coral making them more vulnerable to predation, with the smaller ones being pushed right into open water.

The study also revealed that where damselfish settle at the end of their larval phase plays a crucial role in their survival.

“I expected that if fish settled on a bleached or dead coral they would soon move to a healthy one, but this turned out not to be the case,” he said.

“Even when the damselfish were only 40 cm away from healthy, live coral with fewer inhabitants, they avoided moving. So their initial choice of habitat is key to their subsequent survival.”

Compounding the problem is the fact that most fish reach the end of their larval stage during the hottest months of the year, when coral is particularly vulnerable to bleaching. This timing means that a large number of juveniles are likely to settle on to live coral that may subsequently bleach.

The different behavior they exhibit on bleached coral means that virtually all will die, according to Associate Professor McCormick.

“Those that do manage to survive in degraded habitats will have different body characteristics than those who survive on live coral. The results suggest that if widespread bleaching occurs we may expect to see changes in the characteristics of juveniles – for example, it may be advantageous to settle larger. The natural balance between the number of fish that die as larvae and the number that die when they reach the reef may also be disrupted.”

The only way to reduce the effect of coral bleaching on fish communities is to make the system more resilient, he said.

“If we take away the stress of harvesting and pollution caused directly by human activities, the habitat may be better able to resist the stress of increased water temperature and the community may be able to bounce back more quickly from major environmental change.”

The paper, “Behaviourally Mediated Phenotypic Selection in a Disturbed Coral Reef Environment”, by
Mark I. McCormick was published in PLoS ONE on Friday 18 September. The article is available online at http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0007096.

New Montana Dinosaur was Like an "Army Tank"

2009-11-02T09:16:31-05:00

Montana has a new dinosaur, a species that's been compared to an army tank. The new ankylosaur, Tatankacephalus cooneyorum, is described below by the Buffalo Museum of Science:

New dinosaur species from Montana

BUFFALO, NY (October 30, 2009) -- A husband and wife team of American paleontologists has discovered a new species of dinosaur that lived 112 million years ago during the early Cretaceous of central Montana.

The new dinosaur, a species of ankylosaur, is documented in the October issue of the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. Ankylosaurs are the biological version of an army tank. They are protected by a plate-like armour with two sets of sharp spikes on each side of the head, and a skull so thick that even 'raptors' such as Deinonychus could leave barely more than a scratch.

(Illustration: William Parsons)

Bill and Kris Parsons, Research associates of the Buffalo Museum of Science, found much of the skull of the newly described Tatankacephalus cooneyorum resting on the surface of a hillside in 1997. Because the skull was 90% complete, it was possible to justify this fossil as a new species.

"This is the first member of Ankylosauridae to be found within the Early Cretaceous Cloverly Geologic Formation," said Bill Parsons, who characterized the fossil as a transitional evolutionary form between the earlier Jurassic ankylosaurs and the better known Late Cretaceous ankylosaurs.

The skull is heavily protected by two sets of lateral horns, two thick domes at the back, and smaller thickenings around the nasal region. "Heavy ornamentation and horn-like plates would have covered most of the dorsal surface of this dinosaur" said Bill Parsons.

"For years, Bill and Kris have been collecting fossils from a critical time in Earth's history, and their hard work has paid off," said Lawrence Witmer, professor of paleontology at Ohio University who was not involved with this study. "This is a really important find and gives us a clearer view of the evolution of armored dinosaurs. But this is just the first; I'm sure, of what will be a series of important discoveries from this team."

Parsons also illustrated the dermal armour of this new species based on the theory by Museum of the Rockies paleontologist John R. Horner that there was an outer keratinous sheathing on it as found in modern turtle shells and bird beaks. In his new reconstruction, Parsons suggests that Tatankacephalus exhibited complex and colorful patterns rather than the dull appearance suggested in earlier ankylosaur portraits. "According to Horner's theory, many other dinosaurs also had this kind of sheathing and also may have been diversely colored" said Parsons.

As to its name, the broad, short horns on the back of its skull resemble the horns found on a modern buffalo skull and Tatankacephalus loosely translates as 'Buffalo head.' Parsons also noted, "of course any further allusions to the city of Buffalo are completely intentional as well".

Bill Parsons works as a teacher at the Gow School in South Wales, NY, and as scientific illustrator for the Buffalo Museum of Science. He is also freelance dinosaur illustrator whose images have appeared on the covers of Science, Nature, Time and Newsweek. The publication of Tatankacephalus may be the first time that an established dinosaur illustrator has discovered, prepared, researched, and published on a new dinosaur taxon.

The Buffalo Museum of Science is the non-profit educational institution dedicated to the study and interpretation of the natural and physical sciences. Its extensive collections of over 700,000 specimens and artifacts represent all facets of the natural world with an emphasis on Western New York as well as man-made objects spanning the globe. Based at 1020 Humboldt Parkway and anchoring Buffalo's East Side in Olmsted-designed Martin Luther King, Jr. Park since 1929, the Museum presents a wide variety of programs and services for children, teachers, families, adults, and community organizations throughout each year. General admission to the Museum is $7 adults; $6 seniors (age 62+); $5 students and children over 3; and free for members and children under 3. The Museum also operates Tifft Nature Preserve in South Buffalo, a 264-acre urban wetland preserve on reclaimed former industrial land and seasonally sponsors archaeological exploration at the Hiscock Site in nearby Genesee County, NY, one of North America's richest Ice Age sites.

For further information on the Museum and its upcoming activities, call 716-896-5200 or visit www.buffalomuseumofscience.org.

Two Dinosaur Species Erased from History Books

2009-10-30T16:46:08-04:00

This just in from UC Berkeley:

Paleontologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Museum of the Rockies have wiped out two species of dome-headed dinosaur, one of them named three years ago – with great fanfare – after Hogwarts, the school attended by Harry Potter.

Their demise comes after a three-horned dinosaur, Torosaurus, was assigned to the dustbin of history last month at the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting in the United Kingdom, the loss in recent years of quite a few duck-billed hadrosaurs and the probable disappearance of Nanotyrannus, a supposedly miniature Tyrannosaurus rex.

These dinosaurs were not separate species, as some paleontologists claim, but different growth stages of previously named dinosaurs, according to a new study. The confusion is traced to their bizarre head ornaments, ranging from shields and domes to horns and spikes, which changed dramatically with age and sexual maturity, making the heads of youngsters look very different from those of adults.

"Juveniles and adults of these dinosaurs look very, very different from adults, and literally may resemble a different species," said dinosaur expert Mark B. Goodwin, assistant director of UC Berkeley's Museum of Paleontology. "But some scientists are confusing morphological differences at different growth stages with characteristics that are taxonomically important. The result is an inflated number of dinosaurs in the late Cretaceous."

Images and more information are at UC Berkeley News.

Creatures of the Night with Mark Fraser

2009-10-30T08:56:11-04:00

To celebrate the Halloween weekend, naturalist Mark Fraser presents a look at creatures of the night.

"Often we wonder about the sounds we hear at night," he said, explaining that sometimes we're frightened by what we can hear, but not see.

"Is it a monster? Is it a Vampire? There are actual creatures of the night and they are 100% real! The truth is they are not species you should be afraid of at all," he said.

"They are nocturnal animals trying to survive and adapt to the changing environment and ever-shrinking habitat.

Did you know:

Vampire bats are real. In fact, I saw them in the wild many years back in Central America - very cool!
Some creatures like raccoons and coyotes behave as if they are nocturnal yet can be active at any time."

To read more about Mark's adventures and to learn how you can help protect the environment, please visit Mark's website.

To find out about the Pacific Garbage Patch, mentioned in the video, please join Mark at his educational site, Garbage Patch Cleaner.