How EU farming policies led to a collapse in Europe’s bird population
New survey shows devastation to farmland birds caused by policies – and experts can see no sign of improvement.
Nature Studies
"An understanding of the natural world and what’s in it is a source of not only a great curiosity but great fulfillment." - Sir David Attenborough
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Dikdik- The dikdik is the smallest African antelope. Here is one of them! (by Tambako the Jaguar)
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These spectacular photos of icebergs are by David Burdeny.
Burdeny on his project:
During 2007 and into the spring of...
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Staphylococcus aureus, magnified 50 thousand times.
Hormone Plays Surprise Role in Fighting Skin Infections
Boosts... -
So cute
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Social Slime Mold
Social amoebae, better known as slime molds, have long been known for their migratory ways. When food gets scarce, they amass...
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Is Chagas disease the ‘new AIDS’?
A life-threatening parasite transmitted by a biting Triatome bug can cause a person’s heart and intestines to swell and burst — but early symptoms are hard to detect.
A common blue butterfly. Butterfly numbers fell by more than a fifth across the UK countryside last year, a study has revealed
Photograph: Matt Berry/Butterfly Conservatio/PA
(via faunafacts)
New “Bumble Bee Gecko” Discovered in Papua New Guinea
by USGS staff
Biologists from the Papua New Guinea National Museum and the U.S. Geological Survey have discovered a new species of gecko, adorned like a bumblebee with black-and-gold bands and rows of skin nodules that enhance its camouflage on the tropical forest floor.
Specimens of the lizard, which measures about 5 inches from head to tail, were collected in May 2010 in Sohoniliu Village on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. Herpetologists George Zug of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and Rober Fisher of the USGS Western Ecological Research Center described the new species in a report published in “Zootaxa” this month.
“We’ve officially named it Nactus kunan for its striking color pattern — kunan means ‘bumblebee’ in the local Nali language,” Fisher says. “It belongs to a genus of slender-toed geckos, which means these guys don’t have the padded, wall-climbing toes like the common house gecko…”
Fisher found two individuals of the bumblebee gecko on Manus Island in 2010 and analyzed their genetics to show that the lizards were new and distinctive. Two additional species were found that trip, and the specimens await further analysis…
(read more: Smithsonian Science) (photos: USGS)
Iconic New Zealand Reptile Shows Chewing Is Not Just for Mammals.
The tuatara, an iconic New Zealand reptile, chews its food in a way unlike any other animal on the planet — challenging the widespread perception that complex chewing ability is closely linked to high metabolism.
Forest guards told to shoot poachers on sight after rash of tiger killings
India hits back against hunters who sell body parts to Asia for use in traditional medicines
by Andrew Bundcombe
Confronted by the killing of at least eight tigers in the state so far this year, officials in the western state of Maharashtra, whose capital is Mumbai, have told forest guards they will have the same legal protection as police officers who have to use their guns on duty.
According to a report in The Indian Express newspaper, the state’s Forest Minister, Patangrao Kadam, told officials this week that he wanted to do whatever was required to protect the guards. “Human rights groups come in the way if there is any such action, but there is a need to save the tigers,” he said. “If the staff spot poachers committing an offence, they have been given orders to shoot on sight. They should sound a warning asking them to surrender, but if the poachers fail to do so, they should be shot.”
The orders giving forest guards legal protection should they need to use weapons were apparently first issued in 2006, but reports suggest that a number of guards felt uneasy about using their guns. Most of the guards are poorly trained and badly paid and there had been cases where guards had been charged for firing a weapon…
(read more: The Independent) (image: Wildlife Protection Soc. of India )
(via lucymissedtheboat)
Extinct Short-haired bumblebee returns to Britain after 24 years.
Flowering fields in Kent will today welcome home Bombus subterraneus – otherwise known as the Short-haired bumblebee - nearly a quarter of a century after the bee was last seen in Britain.
The earth is not dying, it is being killed, and those who are killing it have names and addresses.
Utah Phillips (via other-stuff)
(via randomactsofchaos)
New Frog Species From Panama, Dyes Your Fingers Yellow
by PhysOrg staff
A new bright yellow frog species has been found in the mountains of western Panama. The frog belongs to a species-rich group of frogs, the so called rainfrogs that lack a tadpole stage, but develop directly as little frogs inside the egg.
The frog, that measures less than 2 cm, was discovered by Andreas Hertz and his colleagues, who are reptile and amphibian specialists at the Senckenberg Research Institute in Frankfurt am Main; Germany. They discovered it in 2010 during several field trips to the Serranía de Tabasará of western Panama a highly understudied part of the Panamanian central mountain range.
“Although we recognized that the male mating call of this species differs from all what we had heard before and therefore suspected it to be new, much effort was involved to finally spot it in the dense vegetation”, said Hertz. “When we finally caught the first individuals by hand, we noticed that it dyes one’s fingers yellow when it is handled. The scientific name (Diasporus citrinobapheus) of this new frog refers to this characteristic and means yellow dyer rainfrog…”
(read more: PhysOrg) (photos: Andreas Hertz)
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More information: Hertz A, Hauenschild F, Lotzkat S, Köhler G (2012) A new golden frog species of the genus Diasporus (Amphibia, Eleutherodactylidae) from the Cordillera Central, western Panama. ZooKeys 196: 23-46. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.196.2774
How life begins in the deep ocean.
This video combines lovely imagery with science and poetic narration to tell you about the early life of a sea urchin.
Lesson by Tierney Thys, visualization by Christian Sardet (CNRS/Tara Oceans), Noé Sardet, and Sharif Mirshak (Plankton Chronicles Project, Parafilms).
