Tag: Wildlife

Most effective ways of foraging can attract predators, scientists find

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BYLINE: Laura Thomas

Newswise — Animals using the most of efficient methods of searching for resources may well pay with their lives, scientists at the University of Bristol have discovered.

The findings, published today in Behavioral Ecology, reveal why animals may not always use a searching strategy that maximises results.

How animals move through their habitat, particularly in search for food, is a major question in biology, and has application in how animals will respond to environmental change.

Numerous studies have demonstrated that a special kind of movement, known as Lévy motion, increases the ability to find resources because it includes long-distance moves between areas being searched, as well as periods of concentrated searching in one area. It has also been shown that a range of animals use this kind of movement.

This study is the first to demonstrate a potential cost of Lévy motion in an experiment, showing prey using Lévy motion are targeted twice as often as prey using Brownian motion – the movement observed in molecules in a gas, and thus a baseline expectation.

Professor Christos Ioannou from Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences explained: “We show that this is because the predators prefer to target prey that are moving with straighter paths of motion, possibly because this makes the future position of the prey more predictable.”

Professor Ioannou and his team used a virtual prey approach. They developed a computer simulation of the prey which are identical in size, colour, speed etc but differ in how they turn.

The video was then played to stickleback fish in a tank by projecting the video onto a translucent screen. This allowed the fish to see the prey, and for researchers to capture and record their choices.

“By using an experimental design that presents virtual prey on a screen to real predators, we can control everything about the prey and isolate the variable we’re interested in – here, movement – while also using real animals,” continued Professor Ioannou.

This study demonstrates that prey animals might not always use a searching strategy that maximises finding a resource because there might be costs that were, previous to the study, unknown. This might explain why some studies have found animals use different kinds of searches other than Lévy motion.

He added: “Our study shows, for the first time, that animals using a common and very effective way of searching for resources may actually pay a cost of being more susceptible to predators.

“Going forward, we want to look at whether the prey of sticklebacks show Levy or Brownian motion.

“More broadly, our study predicts that prey animals should be less likely to demonstrate Lévy motion than apex predators.”

Paper:

‘Virtual prey with Lévy motion are preferentially attacked by predatory fish’ by Christos Ioannou et al in Behavioral Ecology.

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May 24, 2023
Canada, US: Braiding Indigenous Rights & Endangered Species Laws

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Newswise — Climbing caribou numbers in northeastern British Columbia prove that collaborations between Indigenous and colonial governments can reverse decades-long declines, but focus needs to shift to culturally meaningful recovery targets, a consortium of researchers and community members say in a new paper published this week in Science.

UBC Okanagan’s Dr. Clayton Lamb and West Moberly First Nation Chief Roland Willson co-lead the paper, Braiding Indigenous Rights and Endangered Species Law, alongside nine others for the influential journal.

“Abundance matters. There are many cases where endangered species laws have prevented extinction, but the warning signs of decline can appear long before the laws take effect. People who live and work on the land see these changes – we need to listen and act with them to prevent declines,” says Lamb, a biologist and MITACS postdoc in UBCO’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science. “There is a large gap between what the laws see as species recovery and what communities need for health, food security, and cultural well-being.”

The policy paper builds on collaborations between UBCO’s Lamb and Dr. Adam Ford, who have previously published research highlighting recovery efforts of the Klinse-Za caribou herd near the West Moberly and Saulteau First Nations. They also looked at evolving bison and salmon recovery efforts in North America.

Researchers heard stories from West Moberly Elders about a “sea of caribou” once looking like “bugs on the landscape,” but only 38 animals remained in 2013. Those numbers climbed to 115 a decade later thanks to interventions led by Indigenous groups. While these early signs of recovery are cause for immense celebration, the herd remains much smaller than historic levels.

“We need to move past a life support mentality for biodiversity,” says Ford, head of UBCO’s Wildlife Restoration Ecology Lab. “We must restore nature and the time-honoured ways people interact with the land.”

Canada and the United States have endangered species laws that are designed to recover species abundance to levels that will minimize the chance of extinction, but these recovery targets do not take into account culturally meaningful abundance or distributions of plants and animals, the authors say.

The paper highlights the current caribou count would only provide about three animals, or one meal per person, per year for Saulteau and West Moberly First Nations. The culturally significant count would require a herd of over 3,000 animals, an abundance more reflective of the historic “sea of caribou” level.

Naomi Owens-Beek, manager of Treaty Rights and Environmental Protection for Saulteau First Nation, contributed to the research and the policy paper.

She says the collaboration between Canadian and Indigenous leaders is essential to preserving traditional ways of life. Some Elders in the region have never tasted caribou, yet it was a staple of their ancestors and provided vital nutrition, material, spirituality, and a sense of place.

“We looked out at the land and thought, ‘What do these caribou need to be once again the great herds our Elders spoke about?’ We first reduced predation to make sure the caribou weren’t lost. Now we’re focusing on protecting and restoring habitat,” she says.

“Caribou habitat has long been mistreated, and now there’s so few caribou. These herds need space to thrive, and that’s why we’re working with the nations, the province of British Columbia and Canada, to heal these lands and increase the population so we can one day go back into the mountains and hunt caribou.”

The paper also examined efforts to restore salmon and bison habitat in North America. Chief Willson says each species shows modest signs of recovery, but that isn’t nearly the progress needed.

“Braiding Indigenous rights with laws protecting endangered species can enable nations to respect and safeguard the rights of Indigenous communities, curb the threat of species loss, and ultimately confer broad societal advantages,” he says.

Lamb, Willson, Ford and Owens-Beek were joined by Allyson Menzies (School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph), Michael Price (Earth to Ocean Research Group, Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University), Scott McNay (Wildlife Infometrics), Sarah Otto (Department of Zoology & Biodiversity Research Centre at UBC), Mateen Hessami (Wildlife Science Center—Biodiversity Pathways at UBCO), Jesse Popp (School of Environmental Sciences, University of Guelph) and Mark Hebblewhite (Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana).

Permalink: https://news.ok.ubc.ca/2023/05/18/call-for-canada-to-braid-indigenous-rights-with-endangered-species-law/

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May 18, 2023
MSU, Audubon fight to conserve a disappearing bird species
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BYLINE: Matt Davenport

May 12, 2023

Images
- Research from Michigan State University and the National Audubon Society is providing valuable new insights to help conserve the black tern, a migratory bird species whose population has plummeted over the past several decades in Michigan and nationwide.
- The research is published in the journal Biological Conservation.
- Current conservation strategies focus on black tern breeding sites. The team showed that coupling those with new land management and monitoring practices at important sites where terns migrate and overwinter can potentially improve their outlook.
- The team collected data on black terns from a variety of sources, including a newer technology known as nanotags. By bringing together sparse and disparate data under a single modeling framework, the team then projected the impacts of new conservation strategies.
- This framework can be extended to species beyond black terns whose conservation efforts are hindered by a lack of data.
Newswise — EAST LANSING, Mich. – Current conservation practices likely won’t do enough to save the black tern, a migratory bird species that nests in the northern U.S. and southern Canada, from disappearing.

That’s according to new research from Michigan State University and the National Audubon Society published in the journal Biological Conservation.

But the team’s report also reveals new opportunities to enhance the outlook for these birds by strategically expanding conservation and land management practices. Furthermore, the team’s approach can help inform conservation practices for other species.

Currently, black tern conservation efforts are focused on maintaining and restoring the bird’s breeding habitat to ensure there’s a place for the next generation to take flight. It’s a sensible approach, but it also relies on adults surviving their migratory and overwintering periods.

As the team showed, that survival can’t be taken for granted.

“What’s going on outside the breeding season and away from the breeding grounds is really important for this bird and, likely, other migratory species,” said Kayla Davis, first author of the new report and a doctoral student in the College of Natural Science at MSU. “There are things we can do to protect stopover and overwintering areas to increase adult survival.”

“Fortunately, Audubon’s network of members and centers allows us to have an expansive conservation reach,” said Sarah Saunders, co-author of the study and senior manager of quantitative science at National Audubon Society. “Thanks to this work, now we know where to target efforts to help recover this species more effectively.”

Prior to this collaboration between MSU and Audubon, it’s been challenging for researchers to develop reliable projections for how the black tern population would respond to different conservation strategies.

Those challenges were largely rooted in how hard it is to observe the birds, Davis said. As a result, data on black terns are sparse, limiting the precision of computational models used to inform conservation practices.

But Davis works in the lab of Elise Zipkin, an associate professor of integrative biology and the director of the Ecology, Evolution and Behavior program, or EEB, at MSU. One of the Zipkin lab’s specialties is developing and implementing models for species lacking data.

“Because of data limitations, assessing wildlife trends is often only possible for common or easily identifiable species,” said Zipkin. “But our lab is interested in developing approaches that make use of every piece of available information so that we can tackle those tough questions on rare and elusive species.”

Still, the black tern was an extreme case. Thankfully, the MSU researchers had partnered with one of the world’s foremost conservation societies.

Staff and volunteers with Detroit Audubon and Audubon Great Lakes — regional offices of the National Audubon Society — were able to gather valuable data about black terns through a variety of methods.

“One of the newest methods for tracking birds is the use of nanotags as part of the Motus Wildlife Tracking System. We were able to deploy tags on pre-fledged black tern chicks, which allowed us to understand how many birds were fledging each year and where they traveled during migration,” Saunders said. “This gave us new insights we wouldn’t have known otherwise, such as their use of national wildlife refuges along the Atlantic coast for refueling during fall migration.”

Usually, each different data set that the team collected would be analyzed with its own separate model. For this project, using what’s known as an integrated population model, the team was able to bring typically disparate data together under a single analytical framework.

Though the data were still scant, the researchers were able to examine the information in a more cohesive way, revealing more about the population dynamics of Michigan black terns.

“This way, we can make our estimates more accurate and precise than we could with any other model individually,” Davis said.

For this project, the researchers worked at a black tern breeding colony at the St. Clair Flats State Wildlife Area, near where the base of Michigan’s thumb region connects to Canada. This site is actively managed by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, another key partner in this project.

Based on its analysis, the team estimated that the average number of adult tern breeding pairs at St. Clair Flats dropped from more than 300 in 2013 to roughly 50 in 2022. The results show that promoting adult survival at other important areas along their migration — such as where birds rest and spend their winters — may be necessary in addition to current efforts that protect breeding sites.

“Of course, continuing to manage black tern breeding sites is important, too,” said Stephanie Beilke, Audubon Great Lakes senior manager of conservation science and a co-author of the report. “We need a collaborative approach to saving this species and that means connecting with partners abroad and at home.”

Another key takeaway from this project is simply that the team’s approach worked. That’s good news for species beyond the black tern.

“To be able to say something about conservation and land management implications with so little data is really encouraging because there are so many species out there that are data deficient,” Davis said. “This modeling framework is really powerful.”



Read on MSUToday.

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For MSU news on the Web, go to MSUToday. Follow MSU News on Twitter at twitter.com/MSUnews.
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May 12, 2023
Professor and students seek to uncover Nature’s chilling secret

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Newswise — Eric Bredahl, PhD, and his team of undergraduate research assistants are trusting that Nature, if asked nicely, or at least insistently, will yield another of her secrets.

What happens, they want to know, when hibernating animals settle in for their long winter nap? They know hibernators experience a surge of a chemical known as adenosine, that heartbeats subsequently slow dramatically — in the case of a squirrel declining from 300 beats a minute to a few beats per minute, and that the burning of sugars is replaced by the metabolism of lipids.

But how does this extreme state of relaxation last so long without reducing muscle mass or causing heart damage through reduced blood flow, or through the damage that sometimes occurs when normal blood flow resumes?

The answers to these questions carry important implications for the preservation and successful transplantation of a human heart on its speedy journey from donor to recipient. That journey typically takes four to five hours, during which time the heart’s temperature is lowered and metabolism slowed through the use of a chilled organ preservation solution.

Imagine, though, that a hibernation-like process could be used to improve organ storage and double the transport window, thus allowing for a larger donor and recipient pool. The dramatic slowing of function could potentially double its transportation window to 10 or 12 hours, thus allowing residents of difficult-to-reach rural areas better accessibility to donor hearts.

“How and why can the heart of a hibernator function at such a low temperature for such an extended period without any ill effects?” — Eric Bredahl, PhD

“How do you keep a hibernating animal alive for four months in the absence of food without a reduction in function having any negative effects?” asks Bredahl. “Nature has evolved all these unique mechanisms, unique pathways, and the more we understand about them the more we might be able to take those same mechanisms and apply them to a clinical condition.

“In our case, what we are really interested in is how and why the heart of a hibernator can function at such a low temperature for such an extended period without any ill effects. We have an idea of how that happens. Now we are taking those same processes and applying them to a clinical application like transporting hearts for cardiac transplant.”

Can it be done? Bredahl is hopeful.

“Preliminary data says it may be possible,” he says. “But we are still doing basic research. Every couple of days we add more data and more data. It’s very exciting stuff.”

Bredahl, an associate professor in exercise science, is aided in this quest by a $112,000 grant from the Great Plains IDeA Clinical Translational Research Program. The study is formally titled “Expanding the Cardiac Transplant Window: Treatments Derived from Hibernators,” and uses rat hearts to study the response of hearts to hibernation-like influences. It is a joint project of Bredahl and Matt Andrews, PhD, professor in the School of Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

And, of course, a group of undergraduates availing themselves of Creighton’s many opportunities for adventures in research.

“This project would not have been possible without our undergrads,” Bredahl says. “Liz Kettler (BS’23) and Nik Johnson (BS’22), for example, put almost a year’s worth of work into this project. It is phenomenal what they did.”

Furthermore, this project received significant help from Frazer Heinis, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The incoming cohort of undergraduate students will have similar opportunities, Bredahl said.

“I have about seven of them, and they are going to do a whole variety of things,” he says. “Some of them will work with me on cardiac tissue doing functional assessments. Some of them will do molecular assessment where we try to quantify how much damage is happening from storage, and others will do protein analysis to see if there is any change in regulatory protein expression.

“It will basically be groups of three, and they will have their own research project and every one of them will have something that they can present, hopefully something that they can publish and give them experience that will be second to none.”

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May 12, 2023
Single Approach to Wild Horse Management Urged

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Newswise — The U.S. federal government’s management of wild horses is doomed to fail without fundamental changes in policy and the law, according to a new paper led by researchers at the University of Wyoming and Oklahoma State University.

Because contrasting societal views have created an approach that simultaneously manages horses on the range as wildlife, livestock and pets, current government programs are incapable of succeeding, the researchers argue in the article that appears in the journal BioScience.

“For the federal government to sustain healthy populations, ecosystem health and fiscal responsibility, lawmakers must properly define how feral equids should be labeled,” the scientists wrote. “Each label (wild, livestock, pet) has validity, and management plans can be implemented to optimize equid populations with other land uses. Furthermore, providing a clear definition of feral equids will determine the legal tools that can be applied for their management.”

The lead author of the paper is Jacob Hennig, a former UW Ph.D. student who is now a postdoctoral researcher at Oklahoma State. Hennig’s advisers at UW — Professor Jeff Beck and Associate Professor Derek Scasta, both in the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management — are co-authors of the paper. So are Oklahoma State Professor Sam Fuhlendorf and Assistant Professor Courtney Duchardt, who is a former UW Ph.D. student; Colorado State University research scientist Saeideh Esmaeili, also a former UW Ph.D. student; and Tolani Francisco, of Native Healing LLC in New Mexico.

The researchers note that, while the fossil record shows there were horses in North America previously, they went extinct about 10,000 years ago.

“The equids currently inhabiting North America did not coevolve there; they are descendants of livestock that underwent millennia of domestication and artificial selection,” the paper says. “Most large predators that would help limit their population growth went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene (epoch), and the Anthropocene (current epoch) has led to further predator reductions.”

Because wild horses have no natural predators, cannot be legally hunted under federal law and are no longer slaughtered as livestock in the United States, their numbers on the range have more than doubled in the last decade, the researchers say. They also note that horses removed from the range by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and held in government facilities and private lands have grown in number by 33 percent during that time, with the BLM spending over $550 million since 2013 supporting the captive animals.

“The BLM has increased the number of individuals removed from the wild in each of the past four years, leading to decreases in the on-range population,” the paper acknowledges. “However, the total on-range population is still approximately 50,000 individuals above the maximum (appropriate management level), and the recent moderate decrease in on-range individuals is directly correlated with an increase in the off-range population and subsequent expenditures.”

Removing wild horses from Western rangelands and placing them in long-term holding is not a solution, the researchers say. Doing so “simply exports the issue elsewhere — including the imperiled tallgrass prairie ecosystem — with unknown ecological effects,” they wrote, noting that there are now about 23,500 wild horses on private lands in Oklahoma, five times more than the number on open range in Wyoming.

Additionally, the paper contends that wild horses have a comparatively large impact on the range, as they consume more forage and water than ruminants such as cattle, per capita.

The scientists credit the BLM for basing recent management on science, including better population estimates of wild horses and deploying measures to keep them from reproducing. But there are too many animals on the range for this approach to work.

“Although the BLM has admirably increased fertility control research and application, if they are unable to also remove tens of thousands of equids, this process is doomed to be a Sisyphean task,” the researchers wrote.

The federal Wild and Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act of 1971 essentially calls for wild horses to freely roam like wild animals, but they are treated differently from wild animals because the act prohibits hunting. At the same time, the BLM’s practice of gathering and removing wild horses from the range “more closely resemble livestock operations than wildlife management, whereas adoption programs, sales restrictions and the abolition of slaughter have resulted in feral equids effectively serving as society’s pets,” the paper says.

Choosing one of the labels — wild, livestock or pets — offers the best hope for the federal government to succeed in wild horse management, the scientists wrote.

“As a wild species that lacks sufficient predation to keep most populations in check, a hunting or culling program, like those for other wild ungulates, could slow their population growth,” the paper says. “As livestock, gathers and removals that lead to sale or slaughter would limit growth and give the animals the monetary value they currently lack. As pets, simultaneously conducting large-scale removals and administering fertility control, including permanent sterilization (and potentially euthanasia), could reduce population sizes and slow growth.”

The researchers’ conclusion?

“The current state of feral horse and burro management in the United States is unsustainable and will continue to be a painful resource sink without fundamental changes to the law. We recommend that the U.S. federal government should officially declare the status of feral equids as either wild, livestock or pets and should provide the BLM and (U.S. Forest Service) the legal latitude and funding to develop and implement respective management options.”

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University of Wyoming

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May 5, 2023
Ocean Alliance Announces First-Ever Successful Drone-Based Tagging of Endangered Blue and Fin Whales

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GLOUCESTER, Mass., April 19, 2023 (Newswire.com)
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For the first time ever, Ocean Alliance and their collaborators have successfully deployed suction cup data-tags on blue and fin whales in the Gulf of California using a drone (UAV). This new deployment method is detailed in an April 2023 publication in the journal Royal Society Open Science and could have significant positive implications for whale science and conservation. Deployment of Biologging Tags on Free Swimming Large Whales Using Uncrewed Aerial Systems. R. Soc. open sci. April 19, 2023 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.221376

This work shows that UAVs are capable of attaching biologging tags to free-swimming large whales. This method may hold advantages for studying vulnerable or hard-to-study species by potentially reducing stress from tagging activities. The work was carried out in collaboration with researchers from Ocean Alliance, Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur, University of Michigan, and Syracuse University.

“The ability to use the aerial platform for tag deployment provides a huge step forward for the science. This method allows for tags to be attached to whales that might otherwise be difficult to approach with a boat and minimizes any disruption to their normal behaviors. This gives us an opportunity to better understand their behavior to aid in conservation efforts.” Dr. Susan Parks, whale acoustics expert and Biology Professor from Syracuse University.

Biologging data tags are critical tools for marine mammal research. The tags are equipped with specialized sensors for recording depth, orientation, acceleration, temperature, acoustics, and even video.

In addition to reduced behavioral impact, “efficient tag deployment enables targeting of specific animals in a group or multi-animal tagging. This ability to target an individual animal and/or doubling or tripling sample size for an experiment will greatly enhance the science and our understanding of these animals.” Dr. Alex Shorter, Mechanical Engineering Professor University of Michigan.

Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary Research Ecologist Dr. David Wiley, who has used suction-cup tags to study the behavior of whales for almost 30 years, said, “A lot of time and funds have gone into improving tag design and capability, but this is the first real improvement in tag delivery!” Wiley also stated, although the use of UAVs for tag attachment is a major advancement, it, “Takes more than just the desire and a drone to make it happen. The synergy of combining our expertise and experience greatly contributed to our success.”

Learn more at instagram.com/SnotBot or www.whale.org.

About Ocean Alliance
Dr. Iain Kerr leads Ocean Alliance’s Drones for Whale Research Program. Ocean Alliance is a 501(c)3 non-profit whose mission is to protect whales and their ocean environment through research, scientific collaboration, public education, and the arts.

Source: Ocean Alliance

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April 19, 2023
India’s endangered tiger population is rebounding in triumph for conservationists | CNN

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CNN
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Tigers once roamed across Asia, their numbers as high as 100,000 at the start of the 20th century, before the species plummeted to the brink of extinction.

By 2006, their population in India – home to the majority of the world’s remaining wild tigers – hit a record low of just 1,411 individuals.

But decades of conservation efforts appear to have finally paid off. India’s tigers have more than doubled since then, reaching 3,167 last year, according to the latest tiger census released Sunday.

That’s about 70% of the world’s wild tiger population, which stands at around 4,500, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

The resurgence of Indian tigers represents a triumph for conservationists, and a ray of hope for other countries struggling to boost wildlife numbers.

The report was released alongside celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger, the government’s conservation program launched in 1973.

“We have thousands of years of history related to tigers … The tiger is considered our brother in many tribes,” said Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an address on Sunday. “A better future for humanity is only possible when our environments are protected and our biodiversity continues to expand.”

Modi also visited two tiger reserves on Sunday, with photos showing the leader decked in a safari hat and camouflage clothing.

Tiger numbers began falling steeply in the 1940s as human populations boomed. Agricultural expansion, deforestation, and infrastructure have fragmented tiger habitats, according to the WWF – particularly devastating given tigers are solitary animals who require large territories to roam and hunt.

Today, tigers exist on just 7% of the land they used to occupy, according to the WWF.

This dwindling space has meant a rise in human-tiger conflict, with multiple incidents in the past few decades of tigers attacking humans and entering villages in search of food. And they’re not alone – India’s endangered elephants, too, frequently wander into farmlands and devour crops.

Though environmental degradation is a problem facing countries worldwide, India’s exploding population poses a unique challenge. In 1971, the country had 547 million people; it now has 1.4 billion, and is set to overtake China to become the world’s most populous country this year.

Unregulated poaching in the 1980s further accelerated the decline in tiger numbers. Tigers were hunted for sport, status and consumption, with their bone and other parts often used in traditional Chinese medicine. India officially banned tiger hunting in 1972, but it remains a major threat, with illegal poaching blamed for the complete extinction of tigers within an Indian reserve in 2005.

Efforts to reverse the trend has seen India develop 53 tiger reserves covering nearly 75,800 square kilometers (about 7.5 million hectares), up from just nine reserves at the start of Project Tiger.

Authorities have relocated and paid entire villages to make space for tigers, and created wildlife corridors to link their fragmented habitats.

The government has also invested in technology like drones, camera traps and software systems to keep track of tiger populations, movements and behaviors.

There are plenty of challenges ahead, the WWF cautioned. The worsening climate crisis spells trouble for vulnerable habitats. Many tiger reserves and protected areas are “small islands in a vast sea of ecologically unsustainable land use,” with human activity encroaching on tiger environments. And illegal poaching continues despite strict laws.

Still, the return of the tiger population is encouraging – and India is beginning to share its conservation practices with other countries with declining tiger numbers. In recent years, Delhi has signed bilateral agreements and launched initiatives including conservation workshops with Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

And, as Modi pointed out in his Sunday address, similar successes are being seen with other species; India welcomed its first newborn cheetahs in March more than 70 years after the big cats were declared officially extinct in the country.

The cubs were born to two rehabilitated cheetahs brought from Namibia to India, as part of a government plan to re-home 50 individuals over the next five years.

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April 10, 2023
Illegal trade and poor regulation threaten pangolins in China

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Newswise — Pangolins, unique scale-covered mammals, are drastically declining in numbers across Asia and Africa, largely due to illegal trade. Part of the trade, both legal and illegal, supports the traditional Chinese medicine market, which has attracted conservation attention. The level of demand for pangolins and other animals in traditional Chinese medicine, however, hasn’t been thoroughly studied.

In a new study published in the journal Nature Conservation, Dr Yifu Wang, currently a postdoc researcher at the University of Hong Kong, investigated pangolin scale trade in China, interviewing staff in hospitals and pharmaceutical shops in two provinces (Henan and Hainan). Between October 2016 and April 2017, she and her team talked to doctors from 41 hospitals and shop owners and assistants from 134 pharmaceutical shops.

The research found pangolin scales and their derivatives were widely available in hospitals and pharmaceutical shops across Henan and Hainan Provinces. The legislation in place, however, has not been able to prevent ongoing illegal trade in pangolin products. Her team found that 46% of surveyed hospitals and 34% of surveyed pharmaceutical shops were selling pangolin scale products illegally.

“Existing legal trade allows 711 hospitals to sell pangolin products as medicine with regulations on manufacturer, package, and national annual sale quantity,” explains Dr Yifu Wang. “However, we show that pangolin scales are under heavy demand and unpermitted sellers are commonly found illegally selling pangolin products.”

“Quantities of products traded by permitted legal sellers are estimated to greatly exceed the supply capacity of legal sources,” she continues.

This widespread illegal trade, coupled with the very limited legal supply capacity compared to market demand, is concerning. The researchers point to the urgent need to reduce demand from traditional Chinese medicine on pangolin scales and revise the current legal pangolin scale trade system.

“We also highlight the importance of incorporating the traditional Chinese medicine sector into combating illegal wildlife trade and species conservation beyond pangolins,” they conclude.

The researchers plan to continue investigating the pangolin scale market in China to understand the trade after COVID-19.

Original source:

Wang Y, Turvey ST, Leader-Williams N (2023) The scale of the problem: understanding the demand for medicinal pangolin products in China. Nature Conservation 52: 47-61. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.52.95916

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April 3, 2023
Nobel Laureate and Wildlife Ecophysiologist to Speak at American Physiology Summit

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Newswise — March 28, 2023 (Rockville, Md.)— The American Physiology Summit will feature top scientists and inspiring speakers, including Nobel Laureate David Julius, PhD, and renowned wildlife ecophysiologist Terrie Williams, PhD, who will give keynote presentations.

The 2023 Summit, the flagship meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS), will be held April 20–23, 2023, in Long Beach, California. Advanced registration is recommended for reporters who would like to attend the meeting, access embargoed press materials online or join the virtual press conference on April 18 at 10:30 a.m. PDT/1:30 p.m. EDT.

For more on the science behind the biggest issues impacting life and health today, explore the meeting’s schedule at a glance, full program and game-changer sessions.

The biology behind why we feel pain

Julius will kick off the 2023 Summit with the opening keynote presentation “Gut Feelings: Probing Mechanisms of Visceral Pain,” on Thursday, April 20, at 4 p.m. He is professor and chair of the Department of Physiology and Morris Herzstein Chair in Molecular Biology and Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Julius was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine—jointly with Ardem Patapoutian, PhD, a professor at Scripps Research and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator in La Jolla, California—for discovering receptors for temperature and touch. Julius’ work has focused on identifying and understanding the molecular mechanisms involved in our senses of touch and pain. His group discovered a family of temperature-sensitive ion channel receptors that enable sensory nerve fibers to detect hot or cold temperatures. Read more about Julius.

The ever-adaptable mammalian brain

Williams will give the meeting’s closing keynote talk “The Master Switch of Life: A Daring Journey into the Untamed Brain,” on Sunday, April 23, at 11 a.m. Williams is a distinguished professor and director of the Integrative and Comparative Energetics Lab and the Marine Mammal Physiology Project at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Williams, who has studied terrestrial and aquatic mammals for more than four decades, researches the survival physiology of animals including sea otters, narwhals, polar bears, lions and seals. Williams and her students strive to understand the ecological significance of large mammals and their exquisite physiological adaptations necessary for surviving in a world that is constantly changing due to human impacts. Read more about Williams.

To register for a press pass, please visit our Summit Newsroom and submit a press registration form.

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Physiology is a broad area of scientific inquiry that focuses on how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function in health and disease. The American Physiology Summit (APS2023) is an innovative event for scientific exchange and networking. Thousands of researchers, educators and students will come together to share the most recent advances and breakthroughs impacting the research community and the world around us. APS 2023 is the annual meeting of the American Physiological Society, whose mission is to advance scientific discovery, understand life and improve health.

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March 28, 2023
Human cells help researchers understand squid camouflage

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INDIANAPOLIS, March 27, 2023 — Squids and octopuses are masters of camouflage, blending into their environment to evade predators or surprise prey. Some aspects of how these cephalopods become reversibly transparent are still “unclear,” largely because researchers can’t culture cephalopod skin cells in the lab. Today, however, researchers report that they have replicated the tunable transparency of some squid skin cells in mammalian cells, which can be cultured. The work could not only shed light on basic squid biology, but also lead to better ways to image many cell types.

The researchers will present their results at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS). ACS Spring 2023 is a hybrid meeting being held virtually and in-person March 26–30, and features more than 10,000 presentations on a wide range of science topics.

For many years, Alon Gorodetsky, Ph.D., and his research group have been working on materials inspired by squid. In past work, they developed “invisibility stickers,” which consisted of bacterially produced squid reflectin proteins that were adhered onto sticky tape. “So then, we had this crazy idea to see whether we could capture some aspect of the ability of squid skin tissues to change transparency within human cell cultures,” says Gorodetsky, who is the principal investigator on the project.

The team at the University of California, Irvine focused their efforts on cephalopod cells called leucophores, which have particulate-like nanostructures composed of reflectin proteins that scatter light. Typically, reflectins clump together and form the nanoparticles, so light isn’t absorbed or directly transmitted; instead, the light scatters or bounces off of them, making the leucophores appear bright white.

“We wanted to engineer mammalian cells to stably, instead of temporarily, form reflectin nanostructures for which we could better control the scattering of light,” says Gorodetsky. That’s because if cells allow light through with little scattering, they’ll seem more transparent. Alternatively, by scattering a lot more light, cells will become opaque and more apparent. “Then, at a cellular level, or even the culture level, we thought that we could predictably alter the cells’ transparency relative to the surroundings or background,” he says.

To change how light interacts with cultured cells, Georgii Bogdanov, a graduate student in Gorodetsky’s lab who is presenting the results, introduced squid-derived genes that encoded for reflectin into human cells, which then used the DNA to produce the protein. “A key advance in our experiments was getting the cells to stably produce reflectin and form light-scattering nanostructures with relatively high refractive indices, which also allowed us to better image the cells in three dimensions,” says Bogdanov.

In experiments, the team added salt to the cells’ culture media and observed the reflectin proteins clumping together into nanostructures. By systematically increasing the salt concentration, Bogdanov got detailed, time-lapse 3D images of the nanostructures’ properties. As the nanoparticles became larger, the amount of light that bounced off the cells increased, consequently tuning their opacity.

Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leaving the researchers to wonder what they could do to advance their investigation without being physically in the lab. So, Bogdanov spent his time at home developing computational models that could predict a cell’s expected light scattering and transparency before an experiment was even run. “It’s a beautiful loop between theory and experiments, where you feed in design parameters for the reflectin nanostructures, get out specific predicted optical properties and then engineer the cells more efficiently — for whatever light-scattering properties you might be interested in,” explains Gorodetsky.

On a basic level, Gorodetsky suggests that these results will help scientists better understand squid skin cells, which haven’t been successfully cultured in a laboratory setting. For example, previous researchers postulated that reflectin nanoparticles disassemble and reassemble to change the transparency of tunable squid leucophores. And now Gorodetsky’s team has shown that similar rearrangements occurred in their stable engineered mammalian cells with simple changes in salt concentration, a mechanism that appears analogous to what has been observed in the tunable squid cells.

The researchers are now optimizing their technique to design better cellular imaging strategies based on the cells’ intrinsic optical properties. Gorodetsky envisions that the reflectin proteins could act as genetically encoded tags that would not bleach inside human cells. “Reflectin as a molecular probe provides a lot of possibilities to track structures in cells with advanced microscopy techniques,” adds Bogdanov. For example, the scientists propose that imaging approaches based on their work could also have implications for better understanding cell growth and development.

The researchers acknowledge funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research.

A recorded media briefing on this topic will be posted Monday, March 27, by 10 a.m. Eastern time at www.acs.org/acsspring2023briefings. Reporters can request access to media briefings during the embargo period by contacting [email protected].

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The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. ACS’ mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and all its people. The Society is a global leader in promoting excellence in science education and providing access to chemistry-related information and research through its multiple research solutions, peer-reviewed journals, scientific conferences, eBooks and weekly news periodical Chemical & Engineering News. ACS journals are among the most cited, most trusted and most read within the scientific literature; however, ACS itself does not conduct chemical research. As a leader in scientific information solutions, its CAS division partners with global innovators to accelerate breakthroughs by curating, connecting and analyzing the world’s scientific knowledge. ACS’ main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

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Title
Dynamic optical systems inspired by cephalopods

Abstract
Cephalopods (e.g., squids, octopuses, and cuttlefish) have captivated the imagination of both the general public and scientists alike due to their sophisticated nervous systems, complex behavioral patterns, and visually stunning coloration changes. By drawing inspiration from the structures and functionalities of tunable cephalopod skin cells, we have designed and engineered human cells that contain reconfigurable protein-based photonic architectures and, as a result, possess tunable transparency-changing and light-scattering capabilities (1). In turn, we have visualized the refractive index distributions of analogous engineered cells with three-dimensional label-free holotomographic microscopy techniques, and as a consequence, we have developed a detailed understanding of the relationship between their global optical characteristics and subcellular ultrastructures (2). We have moreover extended these efforts to the predictive engineering of the refractive indices and light-scattering properties of multiple self-assembled protein-based platforms, both in vitro and in vivo (2,3). Finally, we have developed improved chemical and genetic strategies for manipulating the sizes, numbers, and refractive indices of our subcellular structures (4). Our combined findings may facilitate an improved understanding of cephalopod camouflage mechanisms and lead to the development of unique tools for applications in biophotonics and bioengineering.

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March 27, 2023
Southern Flying Squirrel rediscovered in Honduras after 43 years

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Newswise — The presence of The Southern Flying Squirrel (Glaucomys volans) was documented in Honduras for the first time after 43 years. The record is from a site of the forest management plan called “Las Lechuzas”, municipality of Concordia, department of Olancho. Apart from this newly confirmed location, the species has also been recorded in Zambrano, department of Francisco Morazán in 1935, in Gracias, department of Lempira, and finally in the Department of paradise in 1979. Based on these records, Honduras is considered the southernmost distribution known for this species.

The discovery was possible thanks to a project of El Aserradero Sansone, a company focused on sustainable forestry activities in Honduras, and is published in a research article in the peer-reviewed journal Check List.

This finding confirmed that there is at least one population of G. volans in the country, at the Las Lechuzas site, which is currently also the southernmost locality known in its global distribution. The species has been assessed as Least Concern by the IUCN (meaning it has stable populations), but is considered Data Deficient on the Red List of Honduran species. Considering the low number of records and the high rate of destruction of pine forests in Honduras, G. volans is a priority for conservation in the country.

In support of the conservation of the biodiversity of Las Lechuzas, the company Sansone is now committed to giving priority to the conservation of G. volans in the area. The use of artificial shelters for G. volans is also being studied, as the animal is at greater risk when its nests are disturbed. Based on recommendations suggested in the study, Sansone will work to increase the quantity and quality of tree seedlings that will grow in the canopy and educate people in the community about the need to protect pine ecosystems and rare animals. Additionally, within the 3,139.62 ha of the management plan of Las Lechuzas, there are 836.63 ha that have been declared as hydrological protection zones. Currently, there is no record of G. volans in any protected area of Honduras.

“As a professional with an experience of 43 years, I capitalize on the detection of the Flying Squirrel as an event that opens the doors to the true dimension posed by the Honduran forest law in the proper administrative management. That includes biodiversity conservation and protection and rationality of the protection of natural resources. The latter turns out to be of greater importance in view of the strong social pressures in favor of the conversion of the use of forest land destined for extensive agriculture and livestock, as well as the environmental impacts caused by climate change that is being sustained by the mismanagement of our resources,” says José Muñoz, one of the authors in the study.

About El Aserradero Sansone:

El Aserradero Sansone was founded in 1957, characterized by compliance with the laws of Honduras, especially those related to forest management. It has developed an evolutionary and progressive process of achievements in the implementation of management plans, including such related to the evaluation of environmental impacts.

In this sense, the environmental importance in the management of natural resources has continued to promote evolution, defining the need to venture into aspects related to the conservation of flora and fauna as well as the incidence of climatic and environmental factors in the administration of natural resources. Within this responsibility, the last challenge that the company Sansone is welcoming with great optimism lies in adhering to the international criteria and indicators of the forest certification process through the principles of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and through the GFA company of Hamburg, Germany.

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March 23, 2023
New Mexico Game and Fish is now hiring ‘professional bear huggers’ | CNN

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CNN
—

Bear lovers rejoice: The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish is hiring for “professional bear huggers.”

The department posted an adorable job listing on Facebook on Monday, featuring precious snaps of conservation officers cuddling baby bears.

Unfortunately, a love of bears is not the only qualification you’ll need to become a conservation officer. The job listing with the formal title of the position specifies candidates should have a bachelor’s degree in “biological sciences, police science or law enforcement, natural resources conservation, ecology, or related fields.”

Interested applicants “must have ability to hike in strenuous conditions, have the courage to crawl into a bear den, and have the trust in your coworkers to keep you safe during the process,” wrote the department.

The photos are from a research project in Northern New Mexico, according to the Facebook post. They added they “do not recommend crawling into bear dens” and “all bears were handled safely under supervision.”

“Not all law enforcement field work is this glamorous, but we would love for you to join the team where you can have the experience of a lifetime,” added the department.

Applications for the next class of conservation officer trainees are open until March 30, according to the post.

The job duties include a lot more than just bear-hugging, according to the job listing. Each conservation officer is responsible for “enforcing the game and fish laws” and also “educates the public about wildlife and wildlife management, conducts wildlife surveys, captures ‘problem animals,’ investigates wildlife damage to crops and property, assists in wildlife relocations and helps to develop new regulations.”

Black bears are New Mexico’s state animal. Estimates place the population at around 6,000 bears, according to a publication from the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish.

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March 19, 2023
The ‘Cocaine Cat’ Is Recovering at Cincinnati Zoo | Entrepreneur

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Many may be familiar with Cocaine Bear, the comedy thriller based on the true story of a black bear found dead near a duffle bag loaded with $2 million worth of cocaine.

But have you heard about Cocaine Cat?

There’s no movie yet— but thankfully, his story has a happy ending.

Earlier this year, a 35-pound African serval — named Amiry — escaped from a car that police had pulled over for a traffic stop in Cincinnati.

The freaked-out feline ran up a tree. During the rescue by local animal control, Amiry broke his slender leg.

Photo by: Cincinnati Animal CARE/Facebook

He was admitted to Cincinnati Animal CARE, where the medical team tested him for narcotics. The hospital explained on Facebook that this “has become standard procedure for ‘exotic’ animals after we seized custody of Neo, a capuchin monkey who tested positive for methamphetamine in early 2022.”

They soon discovered that Amiry was strung out on cocaine.

Photo by: Cincinnati Animal CARE/Facebook

Recovering at the zoo

In Ohio, it’s illegal to own serval cats—not to mention snort cocaine. Amiry’s owner was not arrested, but he did have to relinquish the cat to the Cincinnati Zoo.

The zoo announced on Facebook that Amiry is on the mend.

“Amiry’s health has improved enough after receiving care in our veterinary facility that we were able to move him to the Cat Ambassador Program area yesterday. He is still recovering from a leg injury, so the CAP team will keep an eye on that before allowing him to run, jump, and engage in other activities that might impair healing. They will concentrate on helping him acclimate to a new environment and his new care team,” they wrote.

So where did Amiry get the blow? The police are still investigating if Amiry’s ingestion of cocaine was accidental or forced. Charges against his former owner are still on the table, Troy Taylor, the chief dog warden for Hamilton County, told CityBeat.

What is a serval?

The serval is a wild cat native to Africa. It has a small head, large ears, a golden-yellow to buff coat spotted and striped with black, and a short, black-tipped tail. The serval has the longest legs of any cat relative to its body size.

The cats have grown in popularity as pets recently— and are legal in certain states. According to Pets4You, they can cost anywhere from $1000 to $1500.

Still, many animal experts don’t support the trend, saying servals require a balanced diet and specialized care way beyond a house cat.

“There are way better options for pets that are way more safe, economically smart, and sustainable,” Julie Sheldon, clinical assistant professor of zoo medicine at the University of Tennessee, told the Associated Press.

Photo by: Cincinnati Zoo

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Jonathan Small

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March 15, 2023
What’s going on with all the runway close calls | CNN Politics

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CNN
—

There have been six close calls on US runways this year, which has led to a fair amount of news coverage, some alarm among the flying public and a lot of calls for answers – including from the acting head of the Federal Aviation Administration Billy Nolen, who testified on Capitol Hill this week.

Unable to explain the spike, Nolen told lawmakers the agency wants to get to the bottom of things at a safety summit planned for next week. There are also specific investigations into each incident in Boston; Burbank, California; Austin, Texas; Honolulu; New York; and Sarasota, Florida.

I talked to CNN’s Pete Muntean, who not only covers aviation but is also a pilot and flight instructor, for his perspective on what the heck is going on.

Our conversation, conducted by phone, is below. Stick with it for an interesting bonus story on how low-flying planes are used to find poachers in Africa.

WOLF: Six close calls in recent weeks. Are these all distinct events? Or should we view them as one larger issue?

MUNTEAN: There’s definitely a constant theme because they’re the same type of event, which is officially known as a runway incursion. It is where two airplanes essentially get in the way of one another on or near the runway.

These types of events can range from really minor to more egregious. What we saw at JFK in New York in January, that had to be one of the more egregious ones. The air traffic controller had to swoop in and stop a flight that was barreling down the runway toward a crossing, taxiing (Boeing) triple seven from taking off.

That is a more extreme, severe example. There have been some examples where the airplanes get within a few hundred feet of one another, maybe as close as 100 feet. One of the cases like in Austin.

But they’re not really caused, necessarily, by the same thing. That’s, of course, something that investigators will look at.

(On Wednesday) the acting head of the FAA on Capitol Hill said that if there are dots to connect, they’ll connect them in this safety summit next week, although it doesn’t seem like there was any real common trigger. No common cause.

RELATED: FAA to conduct sweeping safety review after multiple incidents

WOLF: Who is supposed to keep these from happening? Is it the air traffic controllers? Is it the pilots? How is it supposed to work?

MUNTEAN: There are multiple different layers of safeguards in place in the air traffic system, especially at these busy airports where there are a lot of airliners coming in and out in a lot of varying conditions, a lot of different times of day.

Some of the responsibility falls on air traffic control. Of course, it’s their job to keep airplanes from running into one another. Some of the responsibility falls on the flight crew to keep it so that they follow the instructions of air traffic control, that they remain vigilant all the time, if they’re taxiing across runways or taking off from a runway that’s crisscrossing with another one as they’re about to land.

The good news is that in commercial aviation in the US – which has a stellar track record, by the way – there are two trained pilots at all times. And there are a lot of eyeballs essentially making it so that these things don’t happen.

The pilots can intercede at any point, and in some cases they have. They’ve just essentially called their own go-arounds to make it so that they don’t come in contact with an airplane. In some cases, the air traffic controllers will call it. The onus is on a few different layers here.

I’m a pilot, but I just did a demonstration with a former NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) investigator at a busy airport, Dulles (in Virginia), and it begs pointing out that some of the safeguards are as simple as paint on the runway and taxiways to remind pilots not to taxi too close to the runway. Some of it is in the phraseology that’s used on the radio. Some of it is in the procedures and training the pilots get.

I think every pilot that’s out there now – and if you talk to professional pilots this is something that weighs on them – this has been a chronic problem for aviation for a while. But now, because of these headlines, it’s especially top of mind for pilots and air traffic controllers and regulators and safety advocates.

WOLF: You said it’s a chronic problem. Is there any indication or any data to suggest this is happening more often? Or are we in the media just paying attention to it?

MUNTEAN: I think these events are getting more attention. No doubt that these six that we have seen so far this year are extreme. Usually they don’t happen with such severity, with such frequency.

But the FAA, at every layer of aviation from commercial aviation on down to small airplanes and private airports, they’re always trying to remind pilots to remain vigilant. Something that pilots really train for in their first flying lesson is how to behave in and respect the environment around an airport.

In some ways, it’s like flying with a loaded gun. You have to be really, really careful.

The reason why these are happening, one pilot told me – who’s the representative for a large union of airline pilots and a major airline – he said the system is just under so much pressure right now. There’s a lot of corporate pressure for airlines to get back on their feet after the pandemic.

There’s a lot of new pilots flying right now, who may have matriculated from regional airlines to larger airlines. A lot of the old guard have retired. Pilots have left just because they were given voluntary leave packages as a result of the downturn of the pandemic.

There are a ton of different factors at play.

The fact that we’re sort of paying attention to these more just sort of highlights that nobody can ever let their guard down.

WOLF: Is the current air traffic system that we’re using technologically up to snuff?

MUNTEAN: I think it is. And I think the FAA would say that it is, because they have added in so many layers of technology to make it so that these incidents are avoided.

They have technology that can sense, at some larger airports, whether or not a pilot is lined up with the wrong thing, if they were aiming for a runway but instead aimed for a taxiway to land on – which has happened before.

They have more lighting on the pavement that warns pilots, essentially like a stoplight, to make it so they don’t go rolling across a runway as they are taxiing across one.

There are even systems that make it so that they can sense, using radar and other technologies, where airplanes are on the ground and not just in the air. Some of these runway incursions are caused simply by airplanes being in the wrong place as they are taxiing and not necessarily in the air.

I think the system is up to snuff. I think the FAA would say the system is up to snuff. But they’re also using this as a moment to sort of reinspect and have some introspection on the matter and whether or not they could be doing more to make it so that these problems can be avoided.

WOLF: You already pointed out that commercial aviation in the US is incredibly safe.

MUNTEAN: The last time there was a fatality was 2018, which was kind of a freak accident, where a person got hit on a Southwest flight by a fan blade that broke up in a jet engine.

We’re reporting on crashes that don’t happen. These are close calls, sure, but nobody’s been hurt. Nobody’s been killed. So it kind of shows, in a way, how safe the system is.

WOLF: Is there a spot in the system that is particularly weak? Is it takeoff or landing? What is the thing that makes pilots most nervous?

MUNTEAN: The common theme is having so many airplanes close together. That’s sort of the inherent flaw of an airport, right? You bring in airplanes and take off and land. You may be using multiple different runways at the same time. There’s a lot of demand in the air traffic right now.

Every airport is different, right?

Some airports may have a lot of runways that are parallel and a lot of taxiways that are parallel to one another, like at Dulles the other day, where we went. There are three runways lined up: one left, one center and one right. They’re all headed the same direction to the north. You have to be really careful that you’re lined up with the right one.

There are a few different things that you can do in the airplane to mitigate that and make sure that you have a safeguard of your own. But I think it really varies by the airport. In some places, there are intersecting runways. There are taxiways that have confusing turns.

The FAA does granular looks at things like this, where they say something like this taxiway design isn’t all that great, there may be a blind spot here, as you’re taxiing you may approach this at a 45-degree angle or it could be a 90-degree angle where somebody in the cockpit can see more.

Also when conditions are changing – we saw in the Austin incident the weather was abysmal at that time. It was very low cloud ceilings and very low visibility where the pilots were able to get an indication that there was somebody on the runway, an approaching FedEx flight and a Southwest flight that was still on the runway that hadn’t taken off yet.

They weren’t necessarily able to see that (Southwest flight), so far as we know, by their eyeball.

There are a lot of things at play. You can’t just say it’s any one different thing. And remember, these pilots are often going in and out of different places multiple times a day. The responsibility is on everybody.

WOLF: Do pilots face the same sort of difficult lifestyle we’ve been hearing about for train operators?

MUNTEAN: There’s a ton of regulation that protects pilots. We see that occasionally getting better. Even flight attendants have gotten longer rest rules recently, where they’re able to rest between trips for a longer period of time.

There’s always friction between organized labor, work groups and the companies that they work for. A lot of times it comes down to regulators and what they are able to do for workers. Pretty much every major airline right now – their pilot groups, as well as a lot of major flight attendant groups – are going through contract negotiations with their companies.

Some of the safety and protection, unions would say, comes from a good deal that protects not only their ability to work but also keeps pilots and passengers safe. Organized labor and unions have a lot to say about this, and they want to make sure that they are treated fairly to make it so that these incidents don’t happen.

I just talked to Dennis Tajer, who’s the representative of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents all the American Airlines pilots, and he said this is something that we’ve kind of been pounding our fists on the podium about, we’ve said for about a year that the air traffic system and the aviation system and the airline system are just under too much pressure, and now you’re seeing the result of that.

It’s on not only regulators like the FAA, the Department of Transportation but also companies to make sure that these major airlines – which are huge corporations – to make sure that their pilots are safe and doing the job properly with the proper amount of rest, with the proper amount of resources.

WOLF: Right. It’s in nobody’s interest for there to be an incident.

MUNTEAN: Everyone says safety is a top priority, of course.

But depending on your viewpoint, safety can have a lot of different meanings.

WOLF: It’s always been my sense that air traffic is one of the most, if not the most, government-regulated systems in the country. Unlike other areas where there might be a move toward deregulation, this is something the government controls and is going to continue to control.

MUNTEAN: It’s super regulated because a lot of the rules are, frankly, written in blood.

When you talk about this runway incursion issue, the landmark case is the Tenerife accident (in 1977), where KLM and Pan Am 747s that both diverted to Tenerife, an island near Spain, ran into one another and killed a bunch of people. There were some survivors, but it was a classic runway incursion incident.

One of the airplanes was back taxiing down the runway, as the KLM crew essentially blasted off without regard for where the other airplane was. They couldn’t see it because the weather was poor.

These regulations are often born out of horrible disasters. And I think the thing to point out here is that we have avoided disaster in these six cases, but in some cases came pretty close. It underscores why things were so regulated and also why the regulators are taking this so seriously.

WOLF: What are you looking out for?

MUNTEAN: I would point out these things are still under investigation. And the National Transportation Safety Board has tried to shed a lot of light on this issue. I asked Jennifer Homendy, the chair of the NTSB, why do you think these things are happening more?

She said, well, it’s possible that these things are happening more. It’s also possible that these things are getting more attention. It doesn’t matter; it’s good that these things are being brought to the spotlight.

That could ultimately have a huge impact on safety. Aviation is not waiting for another Tenerife. They’re taking these one-off scares and really trying to learn from them.

WOLF: You sound very passionate about all of this.

MUNTEAN: I love flying more than anything. The cool part of my job is I get to talk about aviation for a living, and it’s something I’m so passionate about.

I also instruct and teach people. I just came back from this incredible trip in Kenya where I got to instruct for the Kenya Wildlife Service Airwing, flying with essentially rangers, who are also pilots, with an anti-poaching air force.

And that was just incredibly cool, but the focus is safety. Maybe I’m a little biased, but aviation is just like something I always geek out on. It’s fun to talk about. …

I was invited with a group of instructors to go there, and we were in a national park south of Nairobi, called Tsavo West. We flew with 19 different pilots. Three instructors from the States essentially go down and audit their flying ability and safety.

They’re very, very good pilots. Because they fly at a few hundred feet, guarding against poachers and spotting wildlife, they don’t have a ton of margin for error. We did a lot of brush-up things with them, and they were all very appreciative, and it was a very cool and rewarding experience flying smaller airplanes.

Those are the type of airplanes that are best suited for that mission, because they can fly low and slow and have a lot of visibility. You can’t do that in a jet.

It’s sort of like flying into Jurassic Park, because you see elephants all the time, and we saw rhinos and more zebras than I can ever count, and giraffes. But these pilots do a really important job, and (it) was really cool to be a part of it.

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March 12, 2023
Migratory birds take breaks to boost their immune system

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Newswise — Exercising too much and not getting enough rest is bad for your health. A new study from Lund University in Sweden shows that the same is true for migratory birds. They need to rest not only to renew their energy levels but also in order to boost their immune system.

After a period of physical exertion, vertebrates, including humans, usually need a period of recovery. Apart from the obvious – lowering the heart rate and repairing injured muscles – other, less prominent physiological systems might also need to recover. Intensive physical activity can affect an individual’s basic immune defence.

When birds migrate, they regularly stop in one place for a few days to rest and eat. This was previously thought necessary in order to build up new fat reserves that provide fuel for their migration. However, researchers have now shown that birds also build up their immune system during their pit stops. They do so very quickly – a few days’ rest is more than enough.

“This is the first time that this has been demonstrated in wild migratory birds. Our study shows that migratory birds’ stops serve other purposes, besides just ‘refuelling.’ They also need other physiological systems to recover. You could compare it to pulling off the motorway into a service station. That is not just for the purpose of refuelling, you might also need to recover,” says Arne Hegemann, biologist at Lund University who conducted the study with colleagues from the Institute for Avian Research in Germany.

Researchers have examined small migratory birds – such as chaffinches, dunnocks and common redstarts – and analysed how their immune system changes when they take a break during their migration.

“If you see a little bird in your garden or in the park during the autumn and you know that it is heading to southern Europe or Africa, it is fascinating to think about why it is taking a break. If they do not get food or rest, their immune systems cannot recover – which is when they risk becoming ill,” says Arne Hegemann.

By collecting and comparing data from different individuals and species, the researchers show that free-flying migratory birds can restore several parameters of immune function during stopovers; stationary periods between flights.

“It is fascinating just how much we are still to learn about avian migration and exciting new things emerge regularly. This provides an important part of the puzzle of how migratory birds cope with the physiological challenges they are faced with on their long journeys,” concludes Arne Hegemann.

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March 10, 2023
Insular dwarfs and giants more likely to go extinct

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Newswise — Leipzig/Halle. Islands are “laboratories of evolution” and home to animal species with many unique features, including dwarfs that evolved to very small sizes compared to their mainland relatives, and giants that evolved to large sizes. A team of researchers from the German Centre of Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) and Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has now found that species that evolved to more extreme body sizes compared to their mainland relatives have a higher risk of extinction than those that evolved to less extreme sizes. Their study, which was published in Science, also shows that extinction rates of mammals on islands worldwide increased significantly after the arrival of modern humans.

Islands are hotspots for biodiversity – they cover less than 7% of the Earth’s land area, but account for up to 20% of all terrestrial species on the planet. However, islands are also hotspots for species extinction as 50% of today’s IUCN threatened species are native to islands.

In response to the unique characteristics of island environments, many organisms undergo remarkable evolutionary changes, among the most notable of which include extreme modifications of body size. This phenomenon is known as gigantism or dwarfism – in general, relatives of large continental species tend to become smaller on islands and small species tend to become larger. Some of these are already extinct evolutionary marvels such as dwarf mammoths and hippos that shrunk to less than one-tenth the size of their mainland ancestors, and rodents and gymnures of unusual size that increased by over 100-fold. These also include dwarf and giant species currently threatened with extinction, such as the tamaraw of Mindoro (Bubalus mindorensis), a dwarf buffalo with a shoulder height of approximately 100 cm, and the giant Jamaican hutia (Geocapromys brownii), a rat-like mammal about the size of a rabbit.

A team of researchers led by iDiv and MLU now confirmed that evolution towards these features frequently goes hand in hand with increased susceptibility to extinctions. “On the one hand, phyletic giants might provide bigger reward for hunting”, explains Dr Roberto Rozzi, former postdoctoral researcher at iDiv’s synthesis centre sDiv and at the Berlin Museum of Natural History, and now Curator of Palaeontology at the ZNS of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. “On the other hand, dwarfed species seem to have less deterrence power, facilitating hunting or predation by introduced predators.”

Higher extinction risk of extreme dwarfs and giants

To quantify how evolution towards dwarfism and gigantism may have affected the risk and rate of extinction (before and after human arrival), the researchers used data on fossil and living island mammals including over 1,200 extant and 350 extinct species of insular mammals on 182 islands and paleo-islands (formerly isolated landmasses that are now part of the mainland areas) worldwide.

Their findings indicate a previously unknown result that those species that underwent more extreme body size shifts, either larger or smaller, were more likely to be endangered or to go extinct on islands. Comparison between the two directions of body size change showed that insular giant species have a slightly higher extinction risk than insular dwarfs. However, this difference was only significant when extinct species were included. Since the European expansion around the globe, extinctions have similarly affected dwarfed and giant insular mammals. “This likely reflects the impact of more intense and multifaceted human pressures, such as overexploitation and accelerated habitat loss, but also introductions of novel diseases and invasive predators”, says Dr Roberto Rozzi.

Overlap of human colonization and increased extinction rates of insular mammals

The researchers also analyzed the global fossil record of mammals on islands over the last 23 million years (late Cenozoic) and found a clear correlation between island extinctions at a global level and the arrival of modern humans. “We recorded an abrupt shift in the extinction regime from pre-sapiens to sapiens-dominated island ecosystems. Time overlap of insular mammals with H. sapiens increased their extinction rates more than 10-fold. However, our results at the global level do not rule out the concomitant contribution of environmental drivers such as climate change on local extinctions of island mammals”, says senior author Prof Jonathan Chase from iDiv and MLU. “While it is important to acquire more paleontological field data to further refine extinction chronologies, conservation agendas should, at the same time, give special priority to protecting the most extreme insular giants and dwarfs, many of which are already threatened with extinction.”

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German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig

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March 9, 2023
This zoo is breeding hope for endangered species | CNN

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Editor’s Note: Call to Earth is a CNN editorial series committed to reporting on the environmental challenges facing our planet, together with the solutions. Rolex’s Perpetual Planet initiative has partnered with CNN to drive awareness and education around key sustainability issues and to inspire positive action.

CNN
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A little joey pokes a front paw and then its head out of its mother’s pouch. Dave White, a zookeeper at Chester Zoo, in England, points up to the mother perched on a branch and beams with pride. He has been watching the baby tree kangaroo develop since it was born the size of a jellybean – first tracking its growth with an endoscope camera placed inside the pouch, and now, seeing the 7-month-old emerge.

White has formed a close connection with the joey and its mother, visiting and feeding them each day. It’s the first birth of a Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo he’s witnessed, and indeed the first time in Chester Zoo’s 91-year history that it has bred the species. White says the birth is a sign of hope for the endangered species, which is threatened by hunting and habitat loss in its native Papua New Guinea.

The baby adds to an insurance population of captive animals, and it could provide crucial data on the species and its reproductive process to help inform protection efforts in the wild, he says: “This little, tiny joey can contribute significantly to conservation.”

The joey is just one of a series of rare births that Chester Zoo has welcomed in the last eight months. Sumatran tiger twins, a western chimpanzee, a Malayan tapir, a greater one-horned rhino and a triplet of fossa pups have also been born. All those species are threatened with extinction.

With the world facing a crisis of biodiversity as extinctions accelerate at an unprecedented rate, zoos could help to provide crucial protection for endangered species. Chester Zoo’s central mission is to “prevent extinction,” and those words are emblazoned on staff t-shirts and signs across the site. In 2021, it published a 10-year masterplan laying out its methods for achieving this, including scientific research and education, habitat restoration and its renowned conservation breeding program.

“(The world) is losing species at a phenomenal rate,” says Mark Brayshaw, the zoo’s curator of mammals. “It’s really important that we save species wherever we can.”

Brayshaw explains that the breeding program has a range of purposes. Some species are temporarily bred in captivity to protect them from imminent threats or to give them a head start before being reintroduced into the wild. Other times the aim is to preserve a species that is already extinct in the wild, or on the verge of extinction, while some endangered species are bred to help maintain a viable population that could be released in the wild if threats in their native habitats were eliminated.

The UK zoo in the midst of a baby boom of rare species

Other zoos also have conservation breeding programs, but Chester is regarded as a world leader due in part to its wildlife endocrinology laboratory – the only one of its kind at a zoo in Europe. This is where scientists track a species’ hormones by analyzing its feces.

“For something like the tree kangaroo, we’ll take (fecal) samples every day,” explains Katie Edwards, lead conservation scientist at Chester Zoo. “We’ll run (tests) about once a month so that we can measure reproductive hormones in our female, and that helps us understand when she’s going to be most likely ready for breeding.”

Related: These little ceramic huts are helping endangered penguins and their chicks

Hormone levels indicate when a female starts developing an egg and when she’s likely to ovulate. Edwards and her team pair this evidence with visual and behavioral cues observed by zookeepers and put the male and female together at the optimal time for breeding.

Chester’s lab is attracting interest from elsewhere. Other zoos in the UK and Europe are sending in fecal samples from animals to inform breeding decisions or diagnose pregnancies, and Chester Zoo is also working with partners to replicate its endocrinology technique in Kenya to help conservation in the wild.

Edwards notes that there’s strength in numbers. “If we can collect samples from our tree kangaroos here but also from other individuals across Europe, we can learn a lot more about the species,” she says. “The more we can understand about species biology, the better conditions we can provide so that individuals and species can thrive both in human care and also on a larger conservation scale as well.”

Conservation breeding in zoos can be a thorny subject. Critics believe that breeding animals for a future in captivity is cruel, as many of these individuals will never be rewilded because their natural habits are too degraded. There has also been research that suggests that breeding programs can sometimes lead to genetic changes that can affect a species’ ability to survive in the wild.

But others argue that well-run zoos engage the public in conservation by showcasing the wonders of the planet’s wildlife. They allow scientists to study animals closely in a way that for some species would be impossible in the wild. And conservation breeding in zoos has been credited for saving some species from extinction – the first being the Arabian oryx, which was hunted to extinction in the wild by 1972 but was later reintroduced to the desert in Oman, thanks to a breeding program that began at Phoenix Zoo, Arizona.

1800s, the Eurasian lynx has returned to several countries, including Switzerland, France, Italy, Austria and Germany, thanks to a series of reintroduction programs that began in the 1970s. However, the fragmentation of these populations is still a barrier and conservationists are now exploring ways to connect animals scattered in isolated groups across the continent.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”968″ width=”1600″/>

Tasmanian devil hasn’t always been restricted to Tasmania. Around 3,000 years ago, the cute marsupials once roamed across Australia but were forced out when dingoes arrived. Their numbers were further decimated by Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD), a contagious form of cancer that killed 90% of the remaining population. In 2020, the creatures were reintroduced to a wildlife sanctuary in New South Wales in Australia, helping to expand the animal’s population beyond its namesake island and control feral cat and fox numbers.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1920″ width=”2560″/>

1999, a survey found around 100 animals in the wild at just 10 locations, but in 2001, captive breeding and reintroduction programs started returning small numbers of the reptiles to protected areas. In 2019, a further release of 120 alligators more than doubled the wild population.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1997″ width=”3000″/>

10,000 years ago. Now, Kent Wildlife Trust is leading a project to bring back its close relative, the European bison. The UK is one of the world’s most nature-depleted countries, and the project hopes that as “ecosystem engineers” the bison will help to revive Kent’s ancient woodland. The first herd is due to be released into woods near Canterbury in 2022. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2000″ width=”3000″/>

1970s. Since then, it has been reintroduced in Israel, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates. The IUCN estimates more than 1,200 Arabian oryx live in the wild, with over 6,000 in captivity, and changed its status from “endangered” to “vulnerable” in 2011, reflecting the success of the reintroduction programs.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”918″ width=”1600″/>

2,400 left in the wild by the 1990s. In recent years, conservation efforts have more than doubled their numbers, and reintroduction programs are returning the rhino to countries and communities where it was entirely extinct. Translocating 3,000-pound animals like rhinos is no easy task: in the past decade, conservationists have started moving some animals from areas that can’t be accessed by road, by helicopter — hanging them upside down in the air. Robin Radcliffe (pictured), a researcher at Cornell University, studied how being hung upside down affects rhinos, and found that it’s better for their health than lying them on their sides.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1468″ width=”2207″/>

41 gray wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park. Their 70-year absence had a huge knock-on effect across the park’s ecosystem: the elk population expanded unchecked, overgrazing on willow and aspen trees, and in turn, beavers had no food or shelter, and almost disappeared from the park too. As of January 2020, there were at least 94 wolves in the park, and more than 500 in the greater area, but the program has struggled to manage the population beyond the park’s borders. There continues to be opposition from ranchers over concerns for livestock, despite the fact that only 2% of adult cattle deaths in 2015 were caused by predators, and of those only 4.9% involved wolves — less than half the number of cattle killed by dogs. Wolves beyond the boundary of the park are offered little to no protection: in Wyoming, wolves can be hunted freely across 85% of the state.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2000″ width=”3000″/>

Mongolia in 1992, and as of 2018, it is estimated over 500 horses are roaming free in the country. China launched its own program in 2001, releasing the horses into semi-wild nature reserves for part of the year. Przewalski’s horse also returned to Russia’s Ural region in 2016, and there are plans for future reintroductions in Kazakhstan. The combined wild and captive population numbers around 1,900 today. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1067″ width=”1600″/>

large blue butterfly was successfully reintroduced last year. Conservationists spent five years preparing the area in Rodborough Common in Gloucestershire, southwest England, for the butterfly’s return, with around 750 of the distinctive insects appearing last summer. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2250″ width=”3000″/>

red wolf on the brink of extinction in the 1970s, conservationists rounded up the remaining animals for a captive breeding program. Just 17 were found, and in 1980, the species was declared extinct in the wild. The captive breeding program was a success, though — four pairs were released in North Carolina in 1987, and the population peaked at 130 wolves in 2006. However, mismanagement of the program means the red wolf is facing extinction in the wild for the second time: in February 2021, there were just 10 known free-living animals.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1999″ width=”3000″/>

weasel) began to disappear from British woodlands in the 20th century — which allowed populations of grey squirrels, the pine marten’s main prey, to boom. This was bad news for the native red squirrel, which subsequently fought a losing battle for habitat and food. Between 2015 and 2017, more than 50 animals were successfully relocated from their stronghold in Scotland to Wales, to strengthen the pine marten population there. In 2019, the project was replicated in England with 18 pine martens released in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire. A further release is planned later this year. ” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2000″ width=”3000″/>

thousands of years ago, and before their recent revival, are thought to have been last seen in the 1200s. In 1952, a Sami reindeer herder, Mikel Utsi, brought a small herd from the chilly north of Sweden to the cool climate of the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland in an unofficial reintroduction of the species. The herd has grown to 150 in recent years, but researchers are still exploring their impact on the environment.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1065″ width=”1600″/>

used extensively in hat-making, beavers all but disappeared from rivers across Europe and North America. In the UK, they haven’t been seen in the wild for 400 years. But the amphibious rodents play a vital role in the ecosystem, by building dams that reduce flooding by regulating water flow. The changes in water level can also help to increase fish stocks, with one study finding 37% more fish in pools made by beaver dams, compared to stretches of river with no dams. In Devon, in the west of England, a decade-long beaver reintroduction trial concluded last year, with a single pair spawning 15 family groups.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2289″ width=”3434″/>

93% due to hunting and habitat loss. The big cat became extinct in many of its historic territories, including India, and 90% of its former range in Africa. A reintroduction program in Malawi’s Liwonde National Park (pictured) in 2017 saw the predatory mammal return to the country for the first time in 20 years, but the population still struggles with low numbers and a lack of genetic diversity which makes them vulnerable to disease.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1688″ width=”3000″/>

Guam rail was given a second lease of life when conservationists rescued the last 21 birds on the western Pacific island in 1981. After an eight-year captive breeding program, they began releasing them into the wild on Rota, a small, snake-free island 30 miles northeast of Guam. Conservationists hope they can return the bird to Guam in the next few years.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”2592″ width=”4608″/>

50-year absence, the harmless snake was reintroduced to Devon, in the west of the country, in 2009 as part of rewilding efforts in the area. In 2019, the Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust received over £400,000 for a four-year project, Snakes in the Heather, to better understand the snake’s habitat and enhance community awareness for its continued conservation.” class=”image_gallery-image__dam-img image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image_gallery-image__dam-img–loading’)’ height=”1063″ width=”1600″/>

These animals went extinct in the wild. Scientists brought them back

Plus, zoos like Chester bring in big money for conservation, says Brayshaw. As one of the largest zoos in the UK – boasting more than 27,000 animals from 500 different species of plants and animals – it welcomes around 2 million visitors a year. Ticket sales, visitor spend on site and membership fees make up 97% of the zoo’s annual income, he says.

As a non-profit, all of this goes back towards funding the zoo, its staff and conservation efforts. According to the 2021 annual report, around £21 million ($25 million) was spent on conservation that year, 46% of the its income, and in 2022 (the report for which has not yet been published) this rose to £25 million ($30 million).

“We put our money where our mouth is,” says Brayshaw. “We are lucky. We’re a large zoo with a good income that can devote resources to (conservation), and we are effective in doing so.”

For Jon Paul Rodriguez, chair of the IUCN Species Survival Commission, the hallmark of a good zoo is one that makes a difference to the survival of species in the wild; that is not simply breeding animals to attract more visitors, but it is motivated to protect them in their native habitat. He believes Chester Zoo fulfils these criteria.

“Ultimately, what we all seek is a species that lives in the wild (and is) playing their ecological role,” he says. There will be some cases when habitat is restored enough for species to return; there will be others where species will be reintroduced to new habitats; and there will also be cases when species will be stuck in captivity for perpetuity, he says. “But if we don’t have those insurance populations, there is no hope at all.”

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March 9, 2023
Thailand jails five poachers for killing tiger and her cub | CNN

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Bangkok, Thailand
CNN
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A court in western Thailand on Monday sentenced five poachers to prison terms of five years each for killing a female tiger and her cub in a national park last year.

The provincial court ruled the five men broke conservation laws by killing the protected animals in Thong Pha Phum National Park, Kanchanaburi province, before skinning their carcasses and smoking their bones to prepare them for sale on the illicit market.

Park rangers made the discovery in January last year and seized the tiger parts. Images distributed by officials and taken in the jungle showed the skins of two flayed tigers. Bones and carcass parts were also seen in pictures taken nearby.

The court rejected the men’s argument that they had killed the tigers in revenge for attacks on livestock, ruling they “should have felt protective of nature” given that they lived in a community near the forest.

Tigers are an endangered species with only about 4,500 remaining in the wild, according to the the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). Though their numbers have increased in recent years, WWF says fewer than 200 of the big cats remain in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries across Thailand.

Poaching, one of the biggest threats to tigers’ survival, is driven largely by demand in China and Vietnam for their bones, skins and other body parts used in traditional medicine.

The safety and effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine is still heavily debated in China, where it has both adherents and skeptics.

Though many of the remedies in TCM have been in use for hundreds of years, critics argue that there is often little verifiable scientific evidence or peer reviewed studies to support their supposed benefits.

Thong Pha Phum National Park Chief Charoen Jaichon welcomed the court ruling.

“I’m happy that justice has been delivered,” he told CNN on Tuesday. “This is a strong warning to any illegal hunters in Thailand’s national parks.”

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March 6, 2023
Toothed whales catch food in the deep using vocal fry

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Newswise — Dolphins and other toothed whales are large brained top predators that captivate our imagination; they are extremely social, they cooperate, and can hunt prey down to 2 km deep in complete darkness with echolocation.

All these remarkable behaviors are mediated using sound that travels far and fast in murky and dark waters. However, it has remained a mystery how these amazing animals make their rich vocal repertoires in the deep.

Now a new study in the prestigious journal Science reports that toothed whales evolved an air-driven nasal sound source that operates at different vocal registers like the human voice.

The study was led by Professor Coen Elemans, voice scientist at the Department of Biology, University of Southern Denmark and Professor Peter Madsen, whale biologist at the Department of Biology, Aarhus University in Denmark.

The study shows that toothed whales, like humans, have at least three voice registers; the vocal fry register (also known as creaky voice, which produces the lowest tones), the chest register (which is our normal speaking voice) and the falsetto register (which produces even higher frequencies).

“Vocal fry is a normal voice register that is often used in American English. Kim Kardashian, Kate Perry and Scarlet Johannsen are well-known people using this register”, Professor Elemans says.

According to the new research, toothed whales use this vocal fry register to produce their echolocation calls to catch prey.

“During vocal fry, the vocal folds are only open for a very short time, and therefore it takes very little breathing air to use this register”, Elemans adds.

“And this air-economy makes it especially ideal for echolocation”, says Professor Madsen, adding:

“During deep dives, all air is compressed to a tiny fraction of the volume on the surface”.

Toothed whales dive as deep as 2.000 meters and catch more fish than the human fishing industry. When they hunt in the deep and murky waters, they produce short, powerful, ultrasonic echolocation clicks at rates up to 700 per second to locate, track and catch prey.

“Thus vocal fry allows whales access to the richest food niches on earth; the deep ocean”, says Madsen.

“While vocal fry may be controversial in humans and may be perceived as everything from annoying to authoritative, it doubtlessly made toothed whales an evolutionary success story”, Elemans adds.

It was previously thought that toothed whales make sounds with their larynx just as other mammals, but 40 years ago it became clear that this is not the case; they somehow use their nose to produce sound. In the new study, the Danish research team has uncovered, what exactly goes on using high-speed video through endoscopes:

The toothed whales have evolved an air-driven sound production system in their nose, that functions physically analogous to laryngeal and syringeal sound production in mammals and birds – but its location is far from the same.

“Evolution has moved it from the trachea into the nose, which allowed much higher driving pressures – up to 5 times what a trumpet player can generate – without damaging lung tissues”, says Madsen.

“This high driving pressure allows toothed whales to make the loudest sounds of any animal on the planet,” Elemans adds.

At depths over 100m, whale lungs collapse to avoid compression sickness and are thus no good for air supply, and the remaining air is found in the nasal passages of the skull. This provides a small, but sufficient airspace to produce echolocating sound at astonishing depths of 2000 meters.

When echolocating, toothed whales pressurize air in their bony nose and lets it pass structures called phonic lips that vibrate just as human vocal folds. Their acceleration produces sound waves that travel through the skull to the front of the head.

In addition to echolocation, toothed whales make a huge array of sounds for their complex social communication.

“Some species, like killer and pilot whales, make very complex calls that are learned and passed on culturally like human dialects”, says Madsen.

In their study the researcher show that these sounds are made by the phonic lips vibrating in the chest and falsetto registers. They filmed the phonic lips using several different approaches, using both trained dolphins and animals in the wild that were moving freely with a small tag that recorded their sounds. The in vivo recordings were done at Dolfinarium Harderwijk in Holland.

“It took us close to 10 years to develop new techniques, gather and analyze all our data”, says Elemans.

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University of Southern Denmark

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March 2, 2023
Blue whale foraging and reproduction are related to environmental conditions, study shows

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Newswise — NEWPORT, Ore. – A new study of New Zealand blue whales’ vocalizations indicates the whales are present year-round in the South Taranaki Bight and their behavior is influenced by environmental conditions in the region.

The findings are a significant advancement in researchers’ understanding of the habitat use and behavior of this population of blue whales, which Oregon State University researchers first identified as genetically distinct from other blue whale populations less than a decade ago.

“We went from not knowing 10 years ago whether this was a distinct population to now understanding these whales’ ecology and their response to changing environmental conditions,” said the study’s lead author, Dawn Barlow, a postdoctoral scholar in OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute. “These findings can inform conservation management of this blue whale population and their habitat.”

The patterns and intensity of the whales’ calls and songs over two years showed strong seasonality in their foraging and breeding behavior, and the vocalizations changed based on environmental conditions such as a documented marine heatwave, Barlow said.

“During the marine heatwave, feeding-related calls were reduced, reflecting poor foraging conditions during that period,” Barlow said. “But we also saw changes in vocalizations in the next breeding period, an indication that they put less effort into reproduction following a period of poor feeding conditions.”

The study was just published in the journal Ecology and Evolution. Barlow conducted the research as a doctoral student in the Geospatial Ecology of Marine Megafauna Laboratory at Hatfield Marine Science Center in Newport, led by associate professor Leigh Torres, a co-author of the new paper.

Blue whales are the largest of all whales and are found in all oceans except the Arctic. Their populations were depleted due to commercial whaling in the early 1900s, and today they are listed as endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species.

The New Zealand whales’ habitat overlaps with a wide range of commercial activities, including oil and gas exploration and extraction, vessel traffic, fisheries, wind energy development and possible seabed mining.

Torres first hypothesized in 2013 that the South Taranaki Bight, between New Zealand’s North and South Islands, was an undocumented blue whale feeding ground. Following comprehensive data collection efforts, and using multiple lines of evidence, Torres, Barlow and colleagues were able to document in 2018 that the population in this region was genetically distinct from other blue whale populations.

Previous research was primarily based on observations researchers made during visits to the region in the summer months. But the researchers wanted to know more about the whales’ behavior during other parts of the year. They placed five hydrophones – a type of underwater microphone – that recorded continuously between January 2016 and February 2018, with only brief gaps to retrieve data every six months.

“Unlike many other baleen whales, this population stays in this region year-round,” Barlow said. “That means we can monitor what they are doing from one location. Listening is an effective way to do that.”

The hydrophone recordings showed that the whales’ “D” calls were strongly correlated with oceanographic conditions related to upwelling in the spring and summer. Upwelling is a process where deeper, cooler water is pushed toward the surface; the nutrient-rich water supports aggregations of krill that the blue whales feed on. The whales’ D calls were more intense during periods of strong upwelling.

The recordings also showed that the whales’ song vocalizations, which are produced by males and associated with breeding behavior, followed a highly seasonal pattern, with peak intensity in the fall. That timing aligns with past whaling records’ estimates of conception, Barlow said.

The hydrophone evidence of the breeding behavior and the whales’ presence in the region year-round can influence the animals’ national threat classification status, which impacts management practices, the researchers said.

Blue whales in New Zealand had been classified as migrant, but as a result of the research by Torres, Barlow and colleagues, the classification of has changed from migrant to data deficient. If the whales are reclassified as a resident population, that could impact management practices, but evidence of breeding in New Zealand is needed for that change to occur, the researchers said.

“Although no one has actually documented blue whales mating – it is hard to observe that directly – the increase in song during the expected time of mating is a strong indication of breeding in New Zealand waters,” Torres said. “Our study adds more evidence that these are resident New Zealand blue whales.”

Once the researchers were able to make the link between the whales’ behavior and their calls, they could then look at the calls and behavior relative to environmental patterns. Specifically, they noted how the whales’ foraging and breeding behavior changed during and after a 2016 marine heatwave.

During the marine heatwave, there were fewer aggregations of krill for the whales to feed on, which the researchers documented in a previous study. The reduction in foraging behavior correlated to less intense D calls during that period, and in the next breeding season, the breeding songs were also less intense.

The findings raise additional questions about how changing ocean conditions and human activity in the region are impacting the New Zealand blue whale population and reinforce the need for continued monitoring, the researchers said.

“We have come so far in 10 years in our knowledge of these blue whales – from not knowing this population existed to now understanding their year-round use of this region for feeding, mating and nursing,” Torres said. “New Zealanders should be excited and proud that their country is home to its own unique population of blue whales. We hope our work helps Kiwis manage and protect these whales.”

Additional coauthors are Holger Klinck, director of the Cornell University K. Lisa Yang Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, who also is affiliated with OSU’s Marine Mammal Institute; Dimitri Ponirakis of Cornell; and Trevor Branch of the University of Washington. The Marine Mammal Institute is part of Oregon State’s College of Agricultural Sciences.

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Oregon State University

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February 28, 2023