Toucan beaten by youths to receive prosthetic beak

A chestnut mandibled toucan (Ramphastos ambiguus swainsonii) from Costa Rica was brutally attacked by a group of youths, causing it to loose a substantial amount from its beak. The toucan despite being wild is known by the locals who put out food for it, causing him to become the town's mascot and adopting the towns name Grecia. Grecia's attack occurred in January when youths beat him with a plank of wood, the bird was taken to a local animal rescue center where, vets have been caring for him since and has been recovering and eating small bits of food with some assistance. 
When news spread of the vicious attack on the bird it caused outrage among people, causing them to turn to their pockets in a attempt to help fund the birds treatment; a social media campaign started by Luciano Lacayo with the hashtag #savethetoucan managed to raise more than $7000 to help the injured toucan, smashing its $5000 goal in less than 48 hours.

This led to four different companies within Costa Rica to offer to help the bird by designing and printing a new 3d beak for the bird which, will be the first of its kind to be used on a toucan but has been used and successful with other bird species such as eagles and penguins. The bill will have both a fixed and mobile part to allow it to be cleaned and replaced as needed however, time is needed to let his wounds heal before what is left of his beak can be scanned to plan for models.
Despite all this mass effort the poor toucan's future is still uncertain, he may not readily accept his new prosthetic beak and in the wild the beak aids in thermoregulation (temperature control) and attracting mates.
Unfortunately for Latin America this is not the first case of animal cruelty that has gained media attention, as little as a month ago a dog was brutally murdered by being blown apart by fireworks which, was filmed and placed online; this is due to the lack of laws or punishment for such abuse and perpetrators often face no penalty or if they do it is as little as a $2 fine; hopefully this will change as activists strive for tougher punishments for these acts of animal cruelty.  

This story shows both the worst in humans and the best and is a wonderful example of just how well we can group together to overcome a tragic incident by showing how truly compassionate we can be. My fingers are crossed that this little survivor will be able to eventually get his new beak and that all goes well and I am sure a lot of other people are too.
To view original story click here   
Finally as always thank you for taking the time to read my blog and feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment box below :)

Why do cats love boxes?

Something every cat owner experiences is when they spend £100's on that huge new fancy cat tree only for the cat to totally ignore it and spend endless hours playing in the box it came in, much to the slight annoyance of the owner (we still love them loads regardless!), however new research by a team of veterinary scientists from the university of Utrecht titled 'Will a hiding box provide stress reduction for shelter cats?' has showed that boxes do aid in providing a comforting, stress relieving area for cats.
The research was aimed at aiding with shelter cats (Felis sylvestris catus) whom dependent on personality type, can experience high levels of stress within a shelter environment which, can lead to not only mental issues but health issues as well. The scientists divided a group of shelter cats into a group that had access to a box and those that did not, observing their behavior over a period of two weeks; behavior was measured using the Kessler and Turner cat stress score as shown below.

By the third day of observation the cats which had been provided with boxes had lower stress scores than those without though, it was observed that some probably those with a more stronger personality, were not affected by not having access to a box but those that were, showed higher levels of stress which gradually reduced over time to the same as the box access cats by day fourteen.
The sample size of nineteen cats used is classed as small by most scientific standards but the paper still concluded that access to boxes provides a higher level of enrichment for the cats during the first weeks of shelter life, aiding with coping strategies thus reducing levels of stress and that further research will hopefully build upon this conclusion.

Why cats appear to love boxes so much is still a mater up for scientific debate, some suggestions include: that they like the warmth and allows a solitary species an area to hide away from social interactions however, I like to think as a cat owner myself, that it holds a attraction similar to that with young children; a box can be so many amazing things to a cat, a fort to conquer and defend vigorously from fellow cats and humans with a few well placed swipes at unsuspecting feet and hands, a place to hide from all of life's many annoyances, or maybe a object to pounce on and destroy till only scattered fragments remain and finally a lovely cosy place to snuggle up and catch some shut eye after a hard day of doing cat things.

Courtesy of Maru the cat :)

As always thank you for taking the time to visit my blog and feel free to leave any thoughts or comments in the box below thanks :)
To view the original article click here

Scorpions can lose their tail to prevent predation

When a animal voluntarily sheds part of its body, often as a result of predation it is called autotomy; this occurs at a defined cleavage plane, as shown by the black lines on the above picture. When cleavage occurs at these sites it minimizes damage to the animal and aids with the rapid sealing of fluids called hemolymph. In scorpions this means that often the stinger and the anus is lost as they never grow back, this means that the scorpion can no-longer defend itself/inject venom (hunt) or pass feces.
A team of scientists led by Camilo Mattoni from Unversidad nacional de Cordoba went out into the field and turned over rocks, using UV at night, marking where detachments occurred on the scorpions. In the lab they observed museum specimens that displayed autotomy and conducted a experiment with the species (Ananteris solimariae) holding onto the metasoma (Posterior end of scorpion) with forceps and gently pulling backwards to see where cleavage occured.

In 22 out of 25 males studied cleavage occured at joints between the metasomal segments I, II, II and III and III and IV (see pic below for reference) allowing the scorpion to escape. Females and juveniles either showed one instance (female) or not at all (juvenile). After detachment the parts kept on wiggling for over a minute which, may aid in distracting the predator away from the escaping scorpion and in 47% of cases the detached tail attempted to sting.
The area around the detachment heals quickly and scar tissue forms within five days but the lost parts do not regenerate preventing the scorpion from being able to defecate and reducing it to only being able to catch small prey using their mouth parts only. The bodies eventually start to swell as a result of the inability to pass feces and some even experienced a second autotomy as a result of this however, most of the males survived and even mated with females up to 8 months after autotomy.

To view the original paper click here
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New study shows that the orchid mantis does not mimic orchid flower

The orchid mantis (Hymenopus coronatus) was first described in 1879 by James Hingston during a trip to west Java where, he was witness to a red orchid that caught flies which, at the time he believed to be not a insect but a type of carnivorous plant.
The orchid mantis is a bit of a looker amongst the mantis species, sporting pink and white coloration instead of the brown/green coloration associated with most mantis species; it has legs which have broader upper parts resembling petals and is difficult to see when positioned on a flower. It was originally thought that the mantis had evolved to look like a flower (also known as crypsis) to attract and eat its insect prey; this type of cryptic mimicry is well known within the animal world, such as with the (Xerociris wilsonii ) or Wilson's Wood-Nymph moth which uses cryptic coloration to disguise itself as tree bark to deter predation, as shown below.

Can you see it?

  

However there was never any clear evidence or study provided to definitely state that the orchid mantis was using this type of mimicry and studies by James O'Hanlon and his colleagues show that this is not the case. They achieved this by testing the assumed method of hunting for the orchid mantis; firstly testing whether the mantis actually camouflaged  itself against flowers or if they attracted insects on their own. To insects the mantis' colour was indistinguishable from other flowers but when placed against the most common flower in their natural habitat, the insects approached the mantises more regularly than flowers demonstrating, that the mantises attracted the insects without the need for camouflage. This is known as aggressive mimicry and allows the predator to avoid detection by assuming the appearance of a harmless item for example, the alligator snapping turtle (Macrochelys temminckii) uses its worm-like tongue as a lure to catch fish.

Next the study looked at where the mantises chose to place themselves on the plant; this showed that the mantises chose not to hide on the flowers but chose leaves often near flowers due to the the likelihood of insects being attracted to that area. 

When the shape and colour of the mantis was examined from that of a insect's perspective, it was discovered it was not the shape but the coloration of the mantis that attracted the insects, with the mantis adopting a more generalized flower shape then that of a exact species possibly exploiting a loophole within the insect brain. Humans are capable of abstract thought and make decisions based upon all information present to us therefore upon viewing a orchid mantis for a few seconds, we start to notice the bug eyes and distinct insect outline and realize that we are looking at a mantis. Insects are constantly on the move and have more compact brains preventing this level of thought processing, generally anything matching a colour familiar to it is a nectar containing flower, with generally higher levels of colour meaning higher levels of nectar. The mantis takes advantage of this thought process, using a process known as sensory stimulation, using just the right amount of optimal colour to attract the insects to it. 

There is still one question left unanswered at this point which is, why then do the mantises have petal like appendages? Martin Stevens from Exeter university suggests that this may be aid in continuing to fool the insect as it gets closer to the mantis, though further study will be required to ascertain this.

  

Personally I believe this article demonstrates just how much we still have to learn about species that have been discovered and how upon further study, especially with species that are often overlooked such as the invertebrates, we will discover some amazing behaviors/traits which will give us not only a better understanding of the animal but a greater appreciation as well. 

As always feel free to post your thoughts in the box below and thanks for reading :)

To view the original article click here  

Bornean orangutan learns to make human like sounds.

Firstly just a quick apology for the delay in posts recently; I have been busy with exams over the past few weeks, so hopefully things will return to normal now.

A orangutan called Tilda which resides in a zoo in Germany produces human like vocalizations to grab the attention of her keepers. Tilda was born in Borneo over 50 years ago and was unfortunately taken from the wild at around 2 years of age by poachers and even though it is not genuinely known what happened to her during this period of captivity, it is believed she was trained and used for human entertainment due, to her clapping, whistling and human sounds which may have been learnt by copying them from humans around her.

In order to understand the motivation behind her calls, a team of scientists from the University of Amsterdam took recordings of her behavior; this led them to discover that she had two distinct types of vocalization which they termed clicks and faux-speech which had never been documented in orangutans before but showed similarities to human speech.

Tilda makes clicking sounds via clicking her tongue similar, to how we produce consonant sounds; for faux-speech she makes grumbling sounds similar to human vowels. Orangutans have been known to make sounds such as raspberries alongside voiced calls but none have shown rapid lip movements which produce these clicks and faux speech. 

The reason Tilda makes these sounds becomes obvious when her keepers are present, she uses these calls to acquire the keeper's attention to a food source that she wants, gesturing to the object with either her finger or lip whilst making the sounds.

These findings are important to science as they may help to provide scientists with a insight into how human speech evolved and developed, with Tilda's calls hinting that the common ancestor of great apes was able to learn and produce human like calls.

As always feel free to share you thoughts on this subject via the comment box below and thanks for reading :)

Dog or panda? Can you tell the difference?

Baby panda or baby dog? Can you tell?

 

Take a look at the picture above, now ask yourself am I looking at a baby panda or a baby dog? Hopefully upon further investigation you will notice that this is a picture of a dyed chow chow puppy however, patrons of the Italian  Orfei Circus in Bescia completely failed to notice this. As they approached the circus entrance they were met with staff members holding two little bundles of fluff which the public were led to believe were panda cubs and asked if they wanted pictures holding them. It was only when the animal rights group Animal Protection Party (APP) intervened and exposed the hoax did this tale of misconception end. 

 

  A Panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

 

Other than having runny eyes possibly due to the constant flashing from cameras, the puppies were in good health preventing any cruelty charges from being administered but it was later discovered that they were imported illegally from Hungary on fake passports which means the circus could face charges, not to mention numerous misrepresentation charges from angry paying patrons who had pictures taken with the supposed panda cubs; the circus secretary denied any wrongdoing stating that "it was obvious they were dogs". 

This is by no means a first for the canine world with dying dogs becoming extreamly popular in countries such as China where dogs such as chow chows sport looks such as pandas, lions and tigers; a zoo in China even had a chow chow that looked like a lion in its lion exhibit which did fool some zoo goers! 

 

A dog. Honestly!

All humor aside it is slightly worrying to see that people can be this easily deceived, could this show possibly just how detached we have become from the natural world around us that we can no longer recognize the amazing species that live alongside us from those that are clearly imposters? 

What are your thoughts on the topic? Would you have been fooled? As always please comment in the box below and thanks for reading. 

How bats navigate by using three dimensional aids

Disorientation is something we all experience at one point and is believed to be caused by a temporary malfunctioning of the brain area which controls our internal compass, however new research shows that bats do not suffer from this problem and have a neural navigation system which operates in three dimensions allowing the bat to orient themselves quickly in the dark.
A team of scientists from Weizmann university recorded brain activity of Egyptian fruit bats (Rousettus aegyptiacus) by using micro electrodes implanted onto the brain; alongside video monitoring technology to monitor angles of head rotation which was then corresponded to the data received from the micro electrodes.
This led them to discover that certain neurons (Nerve cells that carry information via electrical impulses to and from the brain) always know which way the bats head was directed, tracking it by using three dimensions by responding to vertical and horizontal orientation. They discovered that there are three neuron cells in particular that were used for this purpose; place and grid cells worked similar to a GPS allowing for tracking position whilst, head direction cells respond when the head is pointed in a specific direction acting like a compass.
We are used to a globular navigation system with latitude and longitude lines but bats navigation techniques differ from this by having a doughnut shaped co-ordinate system, allowing them to differentiate if they are upside down or not and stay orientated even when inverted.

 

Another team of scientists studying bat navigation, made a interesting discovery about Old world fruit bats which were believed to lack echolocation however, it was found that they produce a series of clicks via their wing flaps and may provide a insight into how echolocation first evolved.

To view the original paper click here 

As always feel free to leave a comment in the box below and thanks for reading.