Rodents may have taken over seed-dispersal role of now-extinct mammals
Big seeds produced by tropical trees such as black palms were probably once ingested and then left whole by huge mammals called gomphotheres.
Gomphotheres weighed more than a ton and dispersed the seeds over large distances.
But these Neotropical creatures disappeared more than 10,000 years ago. So why aren’t large-seeded plants also extinct? (more…)
Social birds that forgo breeding to help to raise the offspring of other group members are far more likely care for their own close relatives than for more distant kin, a new study has found. (more…)
Studies of frogs may lead to better hearing aids
When Mark Bee talks to his 106-year-old grandmother alone, her two enormous hearing aids enable her to understand him well.
“But at a table at Thanksgiving, with everybody talking, the devices don’t do well,” says Bee, an associate professor of ecology, evolution and behavior at the University of Minnesota.
Her difficulty in a noisy situation is called the cocktail party problem, after the background babble that stymies many hearing-impaired people trying to pick out individual voices at a party. But in ponds all over the world, frogs handle a similar problem, and Bee hopes to learn enough about how they do it to put the principles to work helping people like his grandmother. (more…)
If you’re a male born to a father who’s a strong and enduring community leader, you’re far more likely than your less fortunate peers to become a leader yourself, due to the wide range of social advantages accruing from your dad’s position. (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Being the top dog—or in this case, the top gelada monkey—is even better if the alpha male is willing to concede at times to subordinates, a new study indicated. (more…)
MU-developed “Lameness Locator” system helps diagnose lameness sooner, makes treatment easier
COLUMBIA, Mo. — The most common ailment to affect a horse is lameness. A University of Missouri equine veterinarian has developed a way to detect this problem using a motion detection system called the “Lameness Locator.” Now, Kevin Keegan, a professor of equine surgery in the College of Veterinary Medicine at MU, has found that his Lameness Locator can detect lameness earlier than veterinarians using the traditional method of a subjective eye test. (more…)
The lizards have gained and lost adhesive toes many times
Who wouldn’t envy the little gecko as it dashes up a smooth wall or hangs from a ceiling by a toe?
An engineer’s dream, gecko feet combine the best of duct tape and Post-It® Notes: They stick, but they don’t stay stuck. (more…)
At nearly four feet tall, the Emperor penguin is Antarctica’s largest sea bird—and thanks to films like “March of the Penguins” and “Happy Feet,” it’s also one of the continent’s most iconic. If global temperatures continue to rise, however, the Emperor penguins in Terre Adélie, in East Antarctica may eventually disappear, according to a new study by led by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). The study was published in the June 20th edition of the journal Global Change Biology.
“Over the last century, we have already observed the disappearance of the Dion Islets penguin colony, close to the West Antarctic Peninsula,” says Stephanie Jenouvrier, WHOI biologist and lead author of the new study. “In 1948 and the 1970s, scientists recorded more than 150 breeding pairs there. By 1999, the population was down to just 20 pairs, and in 2009, it had vanished entirely.” Like in Terre Adélie, Jenouvrier thinks the decline of those penguins might be connected to a simultaneous decline in Antarctic sea ice due to warming temperatures in the region. (more…)
