National Geographic Society

© David Hall/seaphotos.com

This newly discovered species of frogfish doesn't so much swim as hop, bouncing like a ball along the seafloor, scientists said this week.

"Each time they strike the seafloor they use their fins to push off and they expel water from tiny gill openings on their sides to jettison themselves forward. With tails curled tightly to one side -- which surely limits their ability to steer -- they look like inflated rubber balls bouncing hither and thither," said a University of Washington news release.

The frogfish, a type of anglerfish, has been named Psychedelica, "the perfect name for a fish that is a wild swirl of tan and peach zebra stripes and behaves in ways contrary to its brethren, including bouncing like a ball along the seafloor," says the University of Washington's Ted Pietsch, who is the first to describe the new species in the scientific literature and thus the one to select the name.

"Psychedelica is perhaps even more apt given the cockamamie way the fish swim, some with so little control they look intoxicated and should be cited for DUI," Pietsch says.

See a QuickTime video of a juvenile hopping along.

While other anglerfish and similar species are known to jettison themselves up off the bottom before they begin swimming, none have been observed hopping. It's just one of the behaviors of H. psychedelica never observed in any other fish, says Pietsch, UW professor of aquatic and fishery sciences and curator of fishes at the UW Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

© David Hall/seaphotos.com

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© Farid Belbachir/ZSL/OPNA

The first camera-trap photographs of the critically endangered Saharan cheetah in Algeria were released today.

The Northwest African cheetah is found over the Sahara desert and savannas of North and West Africa, respectively, including Algeria, Niger, Mali, Benin, Burkina-Faso and Togo, the Wildlife Conservation Society said in a news statement. "The populations are very fragmented and small, with the biggest thought to be found in Algeria. The ongoing surveys in the region will also work with the local Tuareg pastoralist community to find out more about the ecology of the cheetah and identify threats to it," the statement said.

The survey was conducted by researchers from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the Office du Parc National de l'Ahaggar (OPNA), and the Université de Béjaïa in Algeria, with support from WCS and Panthera.

The photographs were taken as part of the first systematic camera trap survey across the central Sahara, covering an area of 1,081 square miles 2,800 (square kilometers).

"This is an incredibly rare and elusive subspecies of cheetah and current population estimates, which stand at less than 250 mature individuals, are based on guesswork," said Farid Belbachir, who is implementing the field survey. "This study is helping us to turn a corner in our understanding, providing us with information about population numbers, movement and ecology,"

Overall, the survey identified four different Saharan cheetahs -- a subspecies of cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) -- using spot patterns unique to each individual.

"The Saharan cheetah is critically endangered, yet virtually nothing is known about the population, so this new evidence, and the ongoing research work, is hugely significant," said Sarah Durant, Zoological Society of London Senior Research Fellow.

"This first camera-trap confirmation of cheetahs in Algeria is a landmark success toward our efforts to save these big cats," said James Deutsch, director of WCS-Africa. "Findings like these help us refine our conservation strategies for the cheetah across its entire range."

© Farid Belbachir/ZSL/OPNA

 

By Rebecca Byerly in Ghat, Libya

On the road to the start of the race!

Cold, cold, night with very little sleep. I cannot imagine that we will not sleep again until Friday or late Thursday.

Now on the bus going to the start of the race. I am sitting next to Mudar and his advice is to be patient.

When I asked Isabella about not sleeping, she laughed and said "honey, I am a mother of five and a previous lawyer, I am used to not sleeping." We will see how it works.

Our goal is to make it to Camp 1 at 43 miles or so. Then we will plan from there. It is 30 kilometers to the next first aid station so we have to carry a lot of water -- about 2 liters each.

We learned at a meeting yesterday that we have to pay close attention to the road book as every twist and turn and change in geography matters, and if we are not careful could lead us off course. My personal goal is to remain positive and fully supportive of my team. We have worked so hard to get here. We need to enjoy this experience and take it all in. Next year it would be great to have more Americans here.

Don't forget to check the Libyan Challenge Web site for live updates. Incredibly, I am sending these dispatches via text on my cell phone (AT&T really is everywhere) which is probably going to cost a fortune.

Along the way we will pass some of the rock paintings today. We learned that there is a dispute that the rock paintings may not have been painted by the Tuaregs. We hope to learn more as we proceed.

Rebecca Byerly courtesy Rebecca Byerly 

We are passing what is called the "Cave of Evils." It is 81 meters of rock and local people believe it is haunted. Get a strange feeling when they climb it. It looks like the Grand Canyon.

We are being driven to the start of the race in a 4×4. Our motto is "Yes we can." Loaded up and heading out feeling like flying through the desert.

I'm in the back of a pickup truck being driven by a Tuareg driver.

There are runners from France and Italy with us and a French father and son team. The father, Bob, says it is freezing cold in the desert and boasts surviving it -- " bon voyage!" Jean Marc, the race director, is riding with us and says our presence is "miraculous." He is real happy to have Americans finally come.

Everyone thinks JB and I are nuts carrying video equipment and cameras with us. Can't believe I have cell phone service in this craziest adventure.

We made it to the start point!!!

2009 race start line courtesy Libyan Challenge 

Americans at the back of the pack and its getting hotter. Walking through a canyon and about to start the climb down.

Now in shorts and a tee shirts. Passing nomadic houses made of clay and rock low to the ground. Probably housing for one of the few Tuaregs left living in the nomadic lifestyle.

We are so far behind the other runners. All other runners look like pencils in the distance.

OK Libyan Challenge -- here we come!

Journalist Rebecca Byerly is a member of the first American team to run the Libyan Challenge, a grueling 125-mile ultramarathon through some of the most inaccessible parts of the Sahara Desert. She will be sending dispatches from Libya as and when she can. For more about the race, read American Runners to Compete in Libya's Sahara Desert Race. 

Rebecca Byerly's Blog

Libyan Challenge Videos on YouTube

By Rebecca Byerly in Ghat, Libya

We made it to Libya. Actually got to cross into Libya in the cockpit of the plane.

The people here seem so happy to see Americans. A lot of other runners were surprised we made it through customs.

The camp looks over miles of sand dunes and the Akakus Mountains. We sleep in mud huts and were pleased to find water and power.

The higher Libyan officials seemed a bit skeptical of us as we went to the old city of Ghat and we were followed closely. I was annoyed at first but realized this is a big deal to be here and that next year it will be more relaxed.

Isabella said that the 1.5 hours she spent interacting with the Tuareg people made the whole trip worthwhile.

This evening I was reminded why I came to Libya. A few runners went up onto the dunes to watch the sun set and take pics. Breathtaking is all I can say. An ocean of golden sand mounds with rippling patterns bordered by the Akakus mountains and the Algerian border.

Training on the eve of the big race photo courtesy Rebecca Byerly

Our Libyan driver, Mohammed, was so happy to hear that I was American. He said he likes American people, and with our new President may like the American government.

We wake up at 6 in the morning and will be driven to the start of the race. Its going to be the toughest thing most of us have ever done, but we are ready.

This dispatch was sent as multiple text messages (150 characters at a time) from a cell phone in the Libyan desert to Washington DC for transcription!

Journalist Rebecca Byerly is a member of the first American team to run the Libyan Challenge, a grueling 125-mile ultramarathon through some of the most inaccessible parts of the Sahara Desert. She will be sending dispatches from Libya as and when she can. For more about the race, read American Runners to Compete in Libya's Sahara Desert Race.

The Cretaceous pterosaur Anhanguera (wingspan 9-13 feet) cutaway above shows lungs (red), air sacs associated with the neck (green) and with the wings (blue). Below: life reconstruction of Anhanguera.

Illustration by Mark Witton, University of Portsmouth

Balloon-like air sacs, which extended from the lungs throughout the body, hollowing out many bones, paved the way for the evolution of pterosaurs to take flight, scientists announced today.

"In the Mesozoic Era, 70 million years before birds first took wing, pterosaurs dominated the skies with sparrow to aeroplane-size wingspans," says a news statement by the University of Leicester, United Kingdom. "Scientists already knew, on the basis of fossil evidence from the wings, that these extinct reptiles were able to power their flight through flapping, but had little understanding of how pterosaurs met the high energetic requirements for flight."

The new research published in the journal PLoS ONE by researchers from the University of Leicester (UK), Ohio University (USA) and College of the Holy Cross (USA) explains how balloon-like air sacs, which extended from the lungs throughout the body, hollowing out many of the bones in the pterosaur skeleton, provide evidence for a remarkably efficient breathing system in the ancient beasts.

"As an important bonus, the pneumatized skeletal system and air sacs reduced the density of pterosaurs, allowing the evolution of the largest vertebrates ever to take flight, some reaching 10 meters in wingspan," the news statement said.

"We have identified the breathing system of a pterosaur. It's a surprisingly efficient mechanism with the same essential structure of a modern bird's lung apparatus -- except 70 million years earlier" said study co author Dave Unwin, a palaeobiologist in the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester.

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Ivory on sale in Vietnam is commonly mixed in with pig teeth and carved bone, perhaps in an attempt to dupe government inspectors, the wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC said in a report.

© Daniel Stiles/TRAFFIC

Indochina's few surviving wild elephants are under increasing threat from booming illegal ivory prices in Vietnam, according to a new market analysis released today by TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network.

"An assessment of the illegal ivory trade in Vietnam said Vietnamese illegal ivory prices could be the highest in the world, with reports of tusks selling for up to U.S. $1500/kg [$3,300 per pound] and small, cut pieces selling for up to $1863/kg [$4,098 per pound]," TRAFFIC said in a news statement.

Most of the raw ivory was said to originate from the Lao Peoples' Democratic Republic, with small amounts from Vietnam and Cambodia.

"This is a worrying trend that indicates even more pressure is being put on already fragile Asian Elephant populations," said Azrina Abdullah, director of TRAFFIC Southeast Asia.

According to IUCN figures, no more than 1,000 elephants are believed to survive in Lao PDR, while in Vietnam, fewer than 150 are believed to exist. In December 2008, TRAFFIC released a report that found evidence of widespread smuggling of live Asian Elephants and their ivory from Myanmar.

Mammoth ivory from Russia was also used in small quantities, but no African raw ivory was found, although it was still being illegally imported into Vietnam up to at least 2004, TRAFFIC said.

"Trade in ivory was outlawed in Vietnam in 1992, but a major loophole in the legislation exists because shops can still sell ivory in stock dating from the prohibition. This allows some shop owners to restock illegally with recently-made carved ivory."

In 2008, TRAFFIC surveyed 669 retail outlets across Vietnam and found 73 (11%) selling a total of 2,444 ivory items. Whilst the scale of the ivory market was smaller than in previous surveys, there were signs of increasing demand and overall numbers of craftsmen had increased since 2001. Ho Chi Minh City had the most retail outlets (49) and ivory items (1,776), but Ha Noi, with only 10 outlets, had the highest number of craftsmen, the news statement elaborated.

"Although fewer ivory items were seen in 2008 than in 2001, worked ivory is increasingly being sold directly to buyers through middlemen or on the Internet, bypassing retail outlets," Abdullah said ,

"Continued demand for illegal ivory is driving the prices so high," Abdullah explained .

Recent seizures in and outside Vietnam also suggest that most raw ivory is being supplied to China. "The main buyers of ivory were from China (including Hong Kong and Taiwan) and Thailand, local Vietnamese, American-Vietnamese and Europeans, in that order," the release said.

The report recommends that Vietnam should comply with its obligations under CITES (the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), particularly regarding the reporting of ivory seizures, that national regulations and their enforcement should be tightened and offenders prosecuted, and that ivory for sale in retail outlets should be confiscated by the government and destroyed.

The report also recommends better training for wildlife law enforcement officers and continued participation in the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN) and similar initiatives that aim to control the illicit trafficking of ivory and other wildlife products in the region.

NGS photo by Jodi Cobb

NatGeo News Watch posts about elephants:

Elephants Struggle to Cope With Poaching of Their Kin, Study Finds

Elephant Ivory Sales Stir Controversy

Elephants Imprisoned by Roads in Congo River Region

Elephants' Legendary Memories May Be Key to Their Survival

Elephants Make the Earth Move With Seismic "Love Calls" 

Sand-fleas such as Hyperoche capucinus, are common predators swimming in polar waters. This specimen is about the width of a finger.

Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life.

Earth's unique, forbidding ice oceans of the Arctic and Antarctic have revealed secrets to explorers, who were especially surprised to find at least 235 species live in both polar seas despite a distance of more than 7,000-mile (13,000-kilometer) distance in between, the Census of Marine Life (CoML) project announced today.

"The scientists found marine life that both poles apparently share in common include marathoners such as grey whales and birds, but also worms, crustaceans, and angelic snail-like pteropods, the latter discoveries opening a host of future research questions about where they originated and how they wound up at both ends of the Earth," the CoML said in a news statement.

DNA analysis is underway to confirm whether the species are indeed identical.

Among many other findings, the scientists also documented evidence of cold water-loving species shifting towards both poles to escape rising ocean temperatures.

The discoveries are the result of a series of voyages conducted during International Polar Year, 2007-2008.

The studies by a global network of polar researchers have added substantially to human knowledge about the diversity, distribution and abundance of marine life, with results to be fully detailed in the world's first Census report, to be released in London October 4, 2010.

"The polar seas, far from being biological deserts, teem with an amazing quantity and variety of life," said Ian Poiner, chair of the Census Scientific Steering Committee. "Only through the co-operation of 500 people from more than 25 countries could the daunting environmental challenges be overcome to produce research of such unprecedented scale and importance. And humanity is only starting to understand the nature of these regions."

Census researchers last year established that several octopus types have repeatedly colonized the deep sea, each migration coinciding with retreating Antarctic ice over 30 million years.

Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life.

"Today they theorize that the Antarctic also regularly refreshes the world's oceans with new varieties of sea spiders, isopods (crustaceans related to shrimp and crabs), and others as well. They believe the new species evolve when expansions of ice cloister Antarctica; when the ice retreats, they radiate northward along the same pathways followed by the octopuses," the CoML release said.

The nemertean Pelagonemertes rollestoni, about 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) long, hunts for zooplankton prey that it will harpoon with a dart attached to the tongue coiled within it. It yellow stomach reaches out to feed all parts of the body.

Russ Hopcroft, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Census of Marine Life.

More from National Geographic News:

PHOTOS: Odd, Identical Species Found at Both Poles

PHOTOS: New Deep-Sea Species Revealed by Marine Census

Ocean Life Survey Reveals World of Deep-Sea Creatures

 

An elephant strikes a seismic sensing stance. Placing one foot on tiptoe enhances the sensitivity to seismic signals when using the bone conduction method of sensing, according to Researcher Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell.

Photo courtesy Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell

Elephants can communicate with one another miles apart by making subsonic calls that vibrate the ground, researchers established a few years ago.

But now a leading investigator in the field of elephant communications has discovered that elephants receiving the calls monitor the vibrating ground through both their feet and trunks. This may allow the elephants to position themselves with several points of contact on the ground to triangulate the direction of the elephant making the call.

"Research has shown that elephants issuing calls, including those of love -- more precisely, females in estrus -- produce not only audible sounds, but also low-frequency seismic vibrations that can travel through the near-surface soils for distances up to several kilometers," says a Stanford University news release about the research.

"Elephants can detect these seismic vibrations in two ways: by bone conduction, in which the vibrations travel from the toe tips into the foot bones, then up the leg and into the middle ear, and by somatosensory reception, involving vibration-sensitive cells in the bottom of the foot that send signals to the brain via nerves," the university said.

 

Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell discovered how elephants listen with their feet to underground vibrations by watching them in Namibia.
Photo by Max Salomon/Stanford

Caitlin O'Connell-Rodwell, an ecologist and consulting assistant professor in otolaryngology at Stanford's School of Medicine, has been studying elephant communication for more than 15 years. During that time she's puzzled over which seismic sensing system elephants use most often in locating the source of a call. In her most recent field season last summer, she finally got an answer, Stanford said.

"They are placing themselves in a way that best suits bone conduction, rather than somatosensory reception," O'Connell-Rodwell said.

She came to her conclusion by studying of how male elephants respond to estrus calls from females, Stanford said. She played recorded calls through a speaker coupled with the ground and concealed in a pile of brush near a watering hole in Etosha National Park in Namibia. The speaker emitted both an acoustic and seismic signal.

NGS Photo by Michael Nichols

"The bulls would come in and then we would test them as they headed out of the water hole in different directions. They would always place themselves perpendicular to the direction the sound had traveled," she said.

"That orientation puts each of the elephant's ears at a different distance from the sound source. It also creates the maximum possible difference in the distance between each of the elephant's ears and the source. That enhances their ability to distinguish the point of origin."

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FFI photo by Zhao Chao

"With only about 100 cao vit gibbons remaining in the world, the recent birth of this baby has extra significance," Fauna & Flora International said today.

"This species is only found in one location in the world, on the international border between Vietnam and China," the UK-based conservation charity said in a news release. "This birth is a sign of hope for the species' long term recovery."

The gibbon was born in Bang Liang Nature Reserve in Guangxi province, China.

Fauna & Flora International's conservationists in Vietnam and China are working with local government and communities to reduce the threats to the population of cao vit gibbons, the world's second rarest ape species.

Gibbons have the longest arms of any primate, relative to body size, according to the FFI species profile about the cao vit gibbon. "Their hand-over hand method of swinging from branch to branch, known as brachiation, enables them to move at breathtaking speed. With its spectacular locomotion and haunting, bird-like calls, the cao vit gibbon is a real show-stealer." Watch the FFI video below to see and hear the cao vit gibbon.

Although classified as "lesser apes," cao vit gibbons are highly intelligent and show complex social behavior, the species profile adds. Males and females proclaim and protect their family territory with "duets," which can be heard 2 kilometers [1.6 miles] away.

They have also evolved a highly specialized diet of flowers, fruit and young leaves.

"The narrowness of its ecological niche, combined with its ostentatious behavior has, however, helped to precipitate the cao vit gibbon's sharp decline. Though no longer a significant factor today, hunters posed a serious threat to the gibbons in the past, easily locating them in the forest.

"Such pressures have been compounded more recently by environmental changes to which the gibbon is unable to adapt; livestock overgrazing, firewood collection and encroaching agriculture are all contributing to the ongoing loss and fragmentation of its traditional habitat, jeopardizing the cao vit gibbon's survival."

Watch this FFI video to see and hear the cao vit gibbons in their habitat:

Along with the Hainan gibbon, the sister species from which it has recently split, the cao vit gibbon is one of the two most endangered apes in the cao vit gibbon world, FFI says.

The species formerly ranged across much of China and Vietnam. Today only an estimated 110 individuals remain, confined to the karst limestone forest along the China-Vietnam border.

The species was considered extinct until an FFI-led team discovered a small remnant sub-population in Vietnam's Cao Bang Province in 2002.

FFI has been working to conserve the species since that first group was found. "We have established community groups on both sides of the border to patrol and protect the gibbon's habitat. In addition, by working with local people, we are identifying and implementing simple and cost-effective measures to relieve pressure on the forest, such as providing villagers with fuel-efficient stoves," the charity says.

"In fact, the cao vit gibbon is acting as a valuable flagship species, helping to secure protected area designation for the biologically rich, but threatened, karst limestone forest on which its survival depends."

Additional information:

Transboundary Cao Vit Gibbon Conservation Project (FFI)

25 Most Endangered Primates Named (National Geographic News picture gallery)

Extinction Risk for 1 in 3 Primates, Study Says (National Geographic News)

 

Photo credit: Mehgan Murphy/Smithsonian's National Zoo

Just in time for Valentine's Day, the Smithsonian's National Zoo introduced its newest member, a male red panda, Tate (right), to female Shama (left) this week.

Tate recently arrived from the Cape May Zoo in New Jersey, a zoo statement said. "After a day's acclimation to the exhibit, Tate was introduced to one-and-a-half year-old Shama and immediately exhibited breeding behavior.A birth for this pair would be significant for the Zoo -- red pandas are endangered and breed only once a year," the zoo said.

A relative of both the giant panda and the raccoon, the red panda is a member of its own unique family -- the Ailuridae. Its natural range is the mountains of Nepal, Myanmar, and central China.

The Smithsonian's National Zoo celebrated Valentine's Day today with "Woo at the Zoo," a "light-hearted exploration into the sexual behaviors of animals."

Presentations by animal experts were to feature a scientific ("yet entertaining") look at the more remarkable animal facts on reproduction, choosing mates and raising families, the Zoo said.

"Whether covered in fur, feathers or scales, from courtship to consummation, you will be amazed to learn that many species indulge in unimaginably exotic romantic rituals,"  said Brandie Smith, senior curator of animals.   

Photo of sloth bears courtesy Smithsonian's National Zoo

I am constantly amazed by the rituals of animals. I selected a few exotic rituals from stories covered by National Geographic News in recent years:

Sexy Beasts: Valentine's Day Gone Wild

 

Photos by Cristobal Briceño of WCS Chile

Guanacos, wild relatives of llamas, have only one natural predator, the puma -- or so scientists believed.

But now researchers have documented a second predator of the South American ungulate: the culpeo, a fox that coexists with the puma and the guanaco throughout most of the guanaco's range.

"Previously, scientists believed that only pumas hunted guanacos, but the small yet powerful foxes have proved them wrong, as this photo illustrates," the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society said in a news release.

Photos of culpeos chasing and biting guanacos were taken by WCS researchers on the Chilean portion of Tierra del Fuego, an island off South America. The researchers, who are studying guanaco population dynamics, also documented defensive herding by guanacos when the foxes are present -- another first.

The discovery was made at Karukinka -- a 700,000-acre (283,000-hectare) private reserve owned and managed by WCS. Donated to WCS by Goldman Sachs in 2004, Karukinka contains the world's southernmost old-growth forest as well as extensive peat bogs, unique river systems, and grasslands.

The researchers published their findings in the March issue of the journal Mammalia.

There are no pumas on Tierra del Fuego, according to the research paper in the journal. The big cat, known throughout the Americas also as the mountain lion, was "likely absent from the island for much of the last 10,000 to 12,000 years since the rise in sea level isolated the island from the continent," the researchers say.

The only native terrestrial predator in Tierra del Fuego is the culpeo, which weighs up to 30 pounds (14 kilograms).

There are no published records of culpeo attacks on guanacos and researchers studying culpeo diets that have encountered guanaco remains have assumed that guanacos were consumed as carrion, the paper said.

"Unconfirmed reports from local people throughout the ranges of both species, however, indicate that culpeos may occasionally prey on guanacos up to one year of age," the paper added. "Culpeos, similar to most canids, are cursorial predators that instead of stalking their prey rely on pursuing and exhausting it to be able to catch it."

The Tierra del Fuego population currently numbers approximately 60,000 guanacos, after a sharp decline during the last century due to the expansion of sheep ranching.

The Obamas are not the only new family in residence at the White House.

A family of raccoons has also moved in, according to a news report last week in the Washington Post.

Not since First Lady Grace Coolidge kept a pet raccoon in the White House in the 1920s (see Library of Congress photo below), has there been such a fuss about raccoons at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

"With permission from the Secret Service, the National Park Service has been in hot pursuit of a pack of raccoons spotted roaming the manicured grounds near the White House," said the Post's report "Masked Intruders Roaming the White House Grounds."

"Obama White House sets traps for its newest First Family," said The Los Angeles Times in a blog report.

"Groundskeepers have set out several traps for the nocturnal creatures, using bipartisan bait -- cat food, apples and peanut butter, presumably untainted. So far to no avail on the well-manicured acreage that resembles any welcoming urban park, save for the lack of blowing refuse, the heavily armed patrols, motion detectors, secret tunnels and video surveillance of every square inch."

"Raccoons Invade White House, Local Trapper Offers Free Service," was the headline in Washington's City Paper.

City Paper consulted Tim McDowell, owner and operator of AB & BE Animal Bat & Bird Extractors. "This may be news, but it's no surprise to McDowell the White House grounds have raccoons," the paper's Web site said. "They're all over D.C. ... There are 90 raccoons per square mile. And this probably isn't the first time the president's address has had a problem."

Watch an MSNBC television interview with McDowell at the bottom of this blog entry.

White House Raccoons Fan Club

Not everyone wants the raccoons removed from the White House grounds.

"President Obama: Please Keep White House Raccoons," was the headline on the Web site of the African American Environmentalist Association.

"Raccoons are wily and know when and how to come and go without scaring or threatening humans," said the Association.

"We believe First Lady Michelle Obama, Malia and Sasha will be perfectly safe with the raccoons around. We are sure the raccoons simply enjoy the well-manicured South Lawn. They are probably just foraging for food if they can find any late at night. And imagine the thrill if you look out the window and see a raccoon scurrying across the South Lawn (or front lawn) late one night. You will know that Washington, D.C. wildlife is healthy and thriving in our nation's capital."

Fans of the White House Raccoons on Facebook also don't want the new raccoons to be trapped and removed.

By midday Washington time today Fans of the White House Raccoons had 69 fans, including several who say they share the experience of raccoons living on their properties.

"I guess it doesn't matter who you vote for," wrote one member of the group. "There always will be crafty bandits lurking around the White House!"

I signed up too. It seems to me that the President's Park, as the 18 acres around the White House are known, is big enough to allow the raccoons to join the squirrels and many birds already living there.

 

A missing link in the evolution of the front claw of living scorpions and horseshoe crabs was identified with the discovery of a 390 million-year-old fossil, according to researchers at Yale University and the University of Bonn, Germany.

The specimen, named Schinderhannes bartelsi, was found fossilized in slate from a quarry near Bundenbach in Germany, a site that yields spectacularly durable pyrite-preserved fossils -- findings collectively known as the Hunsrück Slate, said a news release about the finding.

"With a head like the giant Cambrian aquatic predator Anomalocaris and a body like a modern arthropod, the specimen is the only known example of this unusual creature," said Derek Briggs, director of Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History and an author of the paper appearing in today's issue of the journal Science.

The fossil's head section has large bulbous eyes, a circular mouth opening and a pair of segmented, opposable appendages with spines projecting inward along their length. The trunk section is made up of 12 segments, each with small appendages, and a long tail spine. Between the head and trunk, there is a pair of large triangular wing-like limbs -- that likely propelled the creature like a swimming penguin, according to Derek Briggs.  

Reconstruction by Elke Groening
Photo courtesy Steinmann Institute/University of Bonn

"Scientists have puzzled over the origins of the paired grasping appendages found on the heads of scorpions and horseshoe crabs," the news statement said. "The researchers suggest that Schinderhannes gives a hint. Their appendages may be an equivalent to those found in the ancient predatory ancestor, Anomalocaris -- even though creatures with those head structures were thought to have become extinct by the middle of the Cambrian Period, 100 million years before Schinderhannes lived."

The Hunsrück Slate has previously produced some of the most valuable clues to understanding the evolution of arthropods - including early shrimp-like forms, a scorpion and sea spiders as well as the ancient arthropods trilobites, Yale said.

This finding caps almost 20 years of study by Briggs on the Hunsrück Slate. "Sadly, the quarry from which this fabulous material comes has closed for economic reasons, so the only additional specimens that are going to appear now are items that are already in collectors' hands and that may not have been fully prepared or realized for what they are," Briggs said.

FWC photo from the manatee synoptic survey by Tom Reinert

A record 3,807 manatees were counted by scientists in Florida last month, the state's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's (FWC) Fish and Wildlife Research Institute (FWRI) announced.

A team of 21 observers from nine organizations counted 2,153 manatees on Florida's East Coast and 1,654 on the West Coast of the state, the commission said in a news release.

"This year's count exceeded the previous high count from 2001 by more than 500 animals. In both years, survey conditions were favorable for aerial observations," the release said.

By state law, manatees, an endangered species, must be counted every year. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission uses what it calls synoptic survey, which concentrates on areas where scientists believe they will find the highest concentrations of the aquatic mammal. The survey provides researchers with a snapshot of manatee distribution and a minimum number of manatees in Florida waters at the time of the count.

Although synoptic surveys are not population estimates and should not be used to assess trends, the FWC said, it was encouraged by this year's high count. "Survey results are consistent with population models that show the manatee population appears to be increasing in Northwest Florida, along the Atlantic Coast and on the upper St. Johns River."

Researchers have been conducting synoptic surveys since 1991, weather permitting. Weather and manatee behavior affect synoptic survey counts. The best conditions for the synoptic survey occur during the coldest months of the year, when manatees gather at warm-water sites, the FWC said.

This year "several cold fronts passed through Florida over a short time period, causing a large number of manatees to move to warm-water sites," said FWRI biologist Holly Edwards. "Good weather conditions allowed the manatees to be easily seen and counted, contributing to this year's high count."

Photo courtesy USGS-Sirenia Project

FWRI researchers are testing new survey methods that will provide a population estimate for Florida manatees as outlined in the FWC's manatee management plan. The adjustments to the survey will help achieve more accurate results and reduce dependency on the weather.

Related news stories from the Web:

Hundreds of manatees gather for warmth (wptv.com, video below)

Fla. Manatees Escape Cold At Blue Spring (MSNBC)

Manatees' record numbers not likely to renew 'endangered' debate (MiamiHerald.com)

National Geographic News stories about manatees:

Manatee Protections in Belize Should Be World Model, Expert Says

Manatees Seek Power Plants, Warm Springs as Safe Havens

Photo Gallery: Wild Manatees Captured in Florida River

 

 

 

From the Smithsonian's National Zoo this afternoon:

IT'S A GIRL! - The Smithsonian's National Zoo is pleased to announce that its three-week-old baby gorilla is a female.

The baby was born on January 10 to 26-year-old mom Mandara and 16-year-old dad Baraka.

Mandara is again proving herself to be an exemplary mother, and is caring for her baby with great confidence and tenderness.

Thus far, Mandara and her baby girl are adapting to their new lives as Zoo celebrities and seem to be unfazed by the attention they're receiving from the crowds of visitors flocking to the Great Ape House.

Soon, Mandara will be transporting the baby on her back.

The baby's name will be determined in the coming weeks.

Photo Credit: Mehgan Murphy, Smithsonian's National Zoo

Related blog entry:

Endangered Gorilla Born at Smithsonian's National Zoo

Ramir, a 6-week-old Indian rhinoceros, is bottle-fed more than a gallon of milk five times per day. He is the 58th Indian rhinoceros born at San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park since 1978, making the Park the foremost breeding facility in the world for this endangered species, according to a news statement by the zoo.

The calf is seen in this picture in the process of downing three bottles of milk, handed to him by Wild Park keeper Marcia Diehl.

The rhino weighs 350 pounds, up from 150 pounds at birth.

"Ramir was born December 23 to a first-time mother that was not producing enough milk and was not attentive to the newborn," San Diego Zoo said in the statement. "A cold spell during his first few days led to hypothermia. Veterinarians and keepers intervened and have been caring for him since."

 

Photo taken February 3, 2009, by Ken Bohn, San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park

 

More photos of animals in zoos

NGS photo by Volkmar K. Wentzel

A cow with a name produces more milk than one without, scientists at Newcastle University in the UK say.

"By giving a cow a name and treating her as an individual, farmers can increase their annual milk yield by almost 500 pints," said the university's Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson in a news release.

Their study, published online in the academic journal Anthrozoos, found that on farms where each cow was called by her name the overall milk yield was higher than on farms where the cattle were herded as a group, the release said.

"Just as people respond better to the personal touch, cows also feel happier and more relaxed if they are given a bit more one-to-one attention," explains Douglas, who works in the School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development at Newcastle University.

"What our study shows is what many good, caring farmers have long since believed.

"By placing more importance on the individual, such as calling a cow by her name or interacting with the animal more as it grows up, we can not only improve the animal's welfare and her perception of humans, but also increase milk production."

NGS photo by Volkmar K. Wentzel

Douglas and Rowlinson surveyed 516 UK dairy farmers about how they believed humans could affect the productivity, behavior and welfare of dairy cattle.

Almost half -- 46 per cent -- said the cows on their farm were called by name. Those that called their cows by name had a 68-gallon (258-liter) higher milk yield than those who did not, the university said.

"Sixty six per cent of farmers said they knew all the cows in the herd and 48 per cent agreed that positive human contact was more likely to produce cows with a good milking temperament. Almost 10 per cent said that a fear of humans resulted in a poor milking temperament," the university statement said.

"Our data suggests that on the whole UK dairy farmers regard their cows as intelligent beings capable of experiencing a range of emotions," Douglas said.

"Placing more importance on knowing the individual animals and calling them by name can -- at no extra cost to the farmer -- also significantly increase milk production."

NGS photo by George F. Mobley

An epidemiologist, an aquatic ecologist, a geo-archaeologist, an ethnobotanist, and an urban planner, are among ten visionary, young trailblazers from around the world that have been named to the 2009 class of National Geographic Emerging Explorers, the National Geographic Society announced today.

"National Geographic's Emerging Explorers Program recognizes and supports uniquely gifted and inspiring adventurers, scientists, photographers and storytellers making a significant contribution to world knowledge through exploration while still early in their careers," the Society said in a news release.

Emerging Explorers may be selected from virtually any field, from the Society's traditional arenas of anthropology, archaeology, photography, space exploration, earth sciences, mountaineering and cartography to the worlds of art, music and filmmaking.

"National Geographic's mission is to inspire people to care about the planet, and our Emerging Explorers are outstanding young leaders whose endeavors further this mission," said Terry Garcia, National Geographic's executive vice president for Mission Programs. "We are pleased to support them as they set out on promising careers. They represent tomorrow's Edmund Hillarys, Jacques Cousteaus and Dian Fosseys,"

Each Emerging Explorer receives a U.S. $10,000 award to assist with research and to aid further exploration. PNY Technologies is a presenting sponsor of the Emerging Explorers Program and a National Geographic Mission Partner for Exploration & Adventure. The program is made possible in part by the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation, which has supported the program since its inception in 2004.

The 2009 Emerging Explorers are urban planner Thomas Taha Rassam Culhane, currently a UCLA Ph.D. student living between Essen, Germany, and Cairo, Egypt; ethnobotanist Grace Gobbo of Tanzania; geo-archaeologist Beverly Goodman, currently of Hebrew University of Jerusalem; zoologist Kristofer Helgen of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History; conservationist Shafqat Hussain of Pakistan; wildlife biologist and conservationist Malik Marjan of Sudan, currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst; behavioral ecologist Katsufumi Sato of the University of Tokyo, Japan; aquatic ecologist and biogeochemist Katey Walter of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks; cultural anthropologist and media ecologist Michael Wesch of Kansas State University; and epidemiologist Nathan Wolfe of Stanford University.

Comprehensive profiles of the explorers and their activities can be found on the Emerging Explorers Web site. The new Emerging Explorers also are introduced in the February 2009 issue of National Geographic magazine.

National Geographic News stories about Emerging Explorers:

"Emerging Explorer" Hooked on Mysterious Leviathan

"Emerging Explorer" Uses DNA to Unlock Our History

8-Foot Giant Catfish Caught in Cambodia

NASA Tool Helps Track Whale Sharks, Polar Bears

Low Sperm Counts Blamed on Pesticides in U.S. Water

Mongolia Gold Rush Destroying Rivers, Nomadic Lives

 

NASA

We hear a lot about how carbon dioxide emissions are warming the atmosphere and changing climate in ways that are damaging, if not catastrophic, for life on Earth.

Increasingly we are also learning about the impact of carbon dioxide on the oceans. As the sea absorbs carbon from the air its chemistry is changing, becoming more acidic. This also is likely to have a profound impact on life, experts warn.

More than 150 marine scientists from 26 countries called for immediate action by policymakers to reduce carbon dioxide emissions sharply so as to avoid widespread and severe damage to marine ecosystems from ocean acidification. They sounded the alarm in the Monaco Declaration, released Friday, according to a news release by Unesco.

Ocean acidification could affect marine food webs and lead to substantial changes in commercial fish stocks, threatening protein supply and food security for millions of people as well as the multi-billion dollar fishing industry, the Monaco Declaration says.

"Coral reefs provide fish habitat, generate billions of dollars annually in tourism, protect shorelines from erosion and flooding, and provide the foundation for tremendous biodiversity, equivalent to that found in tropical rain forests," the Declaration says.

"Yet by mid-century, ocean acidification may render most regions chemically inhospitable to coral reefs. These and other acidification related changes could affect a wealth of marine goods and services, such as our ability to use the ocean to manage waste, to provide chemicals to make new medicines, and to benefit from its natural capacity to regulate climate.

"For instance, ocean acidification will reduce the ocean's capacity to absorb anthropogenic CO2, which will exacerbate climate change."

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