The waning days of summer and a bounty of ripe fruit have pitted hungry black bears against park rangers in a fight over a Canadian mountain town’s fruit trees. Residents living in the Jasper national park townsite have been warned that fruit trees on their properties are luring in black bears and need to be […]
Tag: mammals
Scientists Say Global Ant Population is 20 Quadrillion or 2.5 Million Per Person
Scientists have now estimated that the global population of ants around the world is 20 quadrillion or 2.5 million per person. The number was officially published in the peer-reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences after scientists combed through 489 published studies that surveyed the number of ants in a given environment. “It’s […]
Woman horrifically savaged by bear in her garden while inspecting her hot tub
A woman has been horrifically savaged by a bear as she was investigating why the lid of her hot tub was removed. The unnamed woman from New Castle, Colorado, USA, went out into her garden at 2am to investigate what had happened to her hot tub. While inspecting her tub, she was viciously attacked by […]
This little penguin can waddle easily again thanks to his custom-made boots
Lucas, a San Diego Zoo penguin with a chronic condition called “bumblefoot” that makes walking painful, can now waddle and hop with ease again thanks to a new pair of orthopedic boots. “‘Bumblefoot’ is a word we use for pododermatitis in birds,” meaning inflammation of the skin of the foot, Dr. Beth Bicknese, senior veterinarian […]
Report Shows Animals with “Charisma” Get Bulk of Conservation Funds From EU
Despite growing levels of awareness of the importance of biodiversity, aesthetically pleasing species still receive far more conservation funding than others, a new study has shown. Invertebrate species often perform vital functions in ecosystems but receive 500 times less the amount of conservation funding than vertebrates do. The big funding receivers in the EU for […]
Study: Same ‘Jumping Genes’ are Active in Octopus and Human Brains
Transposons are DNA sequences that move from one location on the genome to another, shuffling or duplicating. These elements were first identified more than five decades ago by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory geneticist Barbara McClintock. For example, transposons make up approximately 50% of the human genome and up to 90% of the maize genome. In […]
Florida team hauls in 18-foot, 215-pound Burmese python
A team of biologists recently hauled in the heaviest Burmese python ever captured in Florida, officials said. The female python weighed in at 215 pounds (98 kilograms), was nearly 18 feet long (5 meters) and had 122 developing eggs, the Conservancy of Southwest Florida said in a news release. The team used radio transmitters transplanted […]
Seals use their their long, cat-like whiskers to track down their prey in the deep, dark ocean
Seals use their whiskers to track down their prey in the deep, dark ocean, according to a study that observed the sea creatures in their natural habitat. Because light can’t penetrate the darkness of the ocean’s depths, animals have devised a range of adaptations to survive and hunt there. Whales and dolphins, for example, use […]