Now Playing Tracks

is-it-me-ur-lookin-4: boundlessstardust: lucifelle: This is a picture of Luke Rowles when he was 15. He saw a group of men in a garden, kicking and beating this poor fox whose mouth had been sealed shut with duct tape. Lucas went straight to them without regard to his own safety, he shouted at the men and grabbed the fox. After healing his wounds, he freed the animal. Today, Luke continues rescuing animals for the RSDR - The world needs more brave people like Luke, with an unconditional will to help those in need. angel
Zoom

is-it-me-ur-lookin-4:

boundlessstardust:

lucifelle:

This is a picture of Luke Rowles when he was 15. He saw a group of men in a garden, kicking and beating this poor fox whose mouth had been sealed shut with duct tape. Lucas went straight to them without regard to his own safety, he shouted at the men and grabbed the fox. After healing his wounds, he freed the animal. Today, Luke continues rescuing animals for the RSDR - The world needs more brave people like Luke, with an unconditional will to help those in need.

angel

image

(Source: yenscuyvers)

Gray mouse lemurs use voice recognition to avoid mating with their paternal relatives, an ability previously thought only to exist in large-brained animals living in complex social groups. Gray mouse lemurs are nocturnal foragers living in the forests of Madagascar. Parental care is provided solely by the mother and her kin and though they generally sleep in groups, they forage alone. In its dense forest habitat where scents do not travel well, ultrasonic vocal communication is used for basic social interactions (such as mating calls). Males have large ranges, often encompassing or overlapping the ranges of several females (including their daughters). Given that they cannot develop familiarity-based social cues to differentiate paternal-kin from non-kin, how do they avoid inbreeding? To find out, Sharon Kessler (Arizona State University and lead author) and her team looked at female mouse lemur responses to mating and alarm calls from their father and an unrelated male. Behaviours such as approaching the speaker or staring at it during the call were considered attentive. They found that while there was no difference in response to alarm calls, females paid more attention to the mating call of an unrelated male than to that of their father. Acoustic analyses confirmed that mating calls have a “paternal signature” that alarm calls lack. The results demonstrate that neither a big brain or complex social systems are necessary to recognize the call of your kin. The researchers also point out this inbreeding-avoidance method may be very similar to that of our ancestors. Kessler commented, “Given that more complex forms of sociality with cohesive foraging groups are thought to have evolved from an ancestral solitary forager much like the mouse lemur, this suggests that the mechanisms for kin recognition like those seen here may be the foundation from which more complex forms of kin-based sociality evolved.” Photo credit: David Thyberg/Shutterstock. To read their paper, click here: http://bit.ly/11sJAANhttp://www.livescience.com/25137-lemur-daughters-avoid-mating-dad.htmlhttp://www.biomedcentral.com/presscenter/pressreleases/20121130a
Zoom

Gray mouse lemurs use voice recognition to avoid mating with their paternal relatives, an ability previously thought only to exist in large-brained animals living in complex social groups.

Gray mouse lemurs are nocturnal foragers living in the forests of Madagascar. Parental care is provided solely by the mother and her kin and though they generally sleep in groups, they forage alone. In its dense forest habitat where scents do not travel well, ultrasonic vocal communication is used for basic social interactions (such as mating calls). Males have large ranges, often encompassing or overlapping the ranges of several females (including their daughters). Given that they cannot develop familiarity-based social cues to differentiate paternal-kin from non-kin, how do they avoid inbreeding?

To find out, Sharon Kessler (Arizona State University and lead author) and her team looked at female mouse lemur responses to mating and alarm calls from their father and an unrelated male. Behaviours such as approaching the speaker or staring at it during the call were considered attentive. They found that while there was no difference in response to alarm calls, females paid more attention to the mating call of an unrelated male than to that of their father. Acoustic analyses confirmed that mating calls have a “paternal signature” that alarm calls lack.

The results demonstrate that neither a big brain or complex social systems are necessary to recognize the call of your kin. The researchers also point out this inbreeding-avoidance method may be very similar to that of our ancestors. Kessler commented, “Given that more complex forms of sociality with cohesive foraging groups are thought to have evolved from an ancestral solitary forager much like the mouse lemur, this suggests that the mechanisms for kin recognition like those seen here may be the foundation from which more complex forms of kin-based sociality evolved.”

Photo credit: David Thyberg/Shutterstock.

To read their paper, click here: http://bit.ly/11sJAAN

http://www.livescience.com/25137-lemur-daughters-avoid-mating-dad.html

http://www.biomedcentral.com/presscenter/pressreleases/20121130a

A new lion population has been discovered - in a zoo. The Addis Ababa zoo, found in the capital of Ethiopia, has always considered its group of lions special as they had dark manes and small bodies. Now however, they know their lions are unique as researchers have found the lions to be a completely genetically distinct population to all lions that have been similarly analyzed.While the zoo staff had always wondered if their Lions were unique due to their appearance this was often queried as captivity can have an effect. The team of researchers, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and the University of York in the UK, tested DNA samples from 15 lions from the zoo against six populations of wild lions. The genetic analysis showed the zoo lions to be completely different to any of the wild lions. Despite living together for many years, the genetic analysis showed very little inbreeding, ruling out this as a cause of the unique appearance. The origin of the lions is unknown as they have lived separate from the wild since the late Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie first established the zoo in 1948. There are two theories as to the lion’s origins. The first theory is that they were taken from the south-west of Ethiopia where their striking appearance would have made them a prized possession of hunters and consequentially no others have survived. There have also been rumours of small populations of lions which are very similar in appearance to the Addis Ababa lions living out in wildlife sanctuaries of the east and north-east of the country, which could have been the original habitat of the founder lions. The zoo hopes that this find will help them gain much needed funding in order to continue breeding the Lions and to improve their living conditions. JBhttp://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/11/30/a-new-genetically-distinct-lion-population-is-found/
Zoom

A new lion population has been discovered - in a zoo. The Addis Ababa zoo, found in the capital of Ethiopia, has always considered its group of lions special as they had dark manes and small bodies. Now however, they know their lions are unique as researchers have found the lions to be a completely genetically distinct population to all lions that have been similarly analyzed.

While the zoo staff

had always wondered if their Lions were unique due to their appearance this was often queried as captivity can have an effect. The team of researchers, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany and the University of York in the UK, tested DNA samples from 15 lions from the zoo against six populations of wild lions. The genetic analysis showed the zoo lions to be completely different to any of the wild lions. Despite living together for many years, the genetic analysis showed very little inbreeding, ruling out this as a cause of the unique appearance.

The origin of the lions is unknown as they have lived separate from the wild since the late Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie first established the zoo in 1948. There are two theories as to the lion’s origins. The first theory is that they were taken from the south-west of Ethiopia where their striking appearance would have made them a prized possession of hunters and consequentially no others have survived. There have also been rumours of small populations of lions which are very similar in appearance to the Addis Ababa lions living out in wildlife sanctuaries of the east and north-east of the country, which could have been the original habitat of the founder lions.

The zoo hopes that this find will help them gain much needed funding in order to continue breeding the Lions and to improve their living conditions. JB

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/11/30/a-new-genetically-distinct-lion-population-is-found/
Siamese fighting fish have to incorporate surface visits into their fights so they can breathe, according to a new study.Native to south-east Asia, Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) are named for the males’ aggressive displays and are highly territorial. They belong to the suborder Anabantoidei, and like all anabantoids they possess a lung-like organ - known as a labyrinth organ and giving anabantoids their other name, labyrinth fish - that allows them to obtain oxygen from air and water. Researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia devised an study to examine the energetic costs of B. splendens’ aggressive activity. They put two males (each in his own bottle) in a tank together and analysed the gas levels within from each fish’s tank before and after its display. They found that the fish regularly surfaced because they simply couldn’t get enough oxygen in the water. The additional oxygen needed for fighting was obtained solely by breathing air. They also found that both fish surfaced at the same time. Rather than the gentlemen-like behaviour this may seem, it’s purely for tactical reasons. This way neither fish will be attacked by the other. If you attack your opponent when he’s surfacing for air, you’d better make it count - if you don’t, he can attack you while you’re breathing for air. No one benefits from this exchange as both sides take a hit. Dr. Steven Portugal (Royal Veterinary College, London, and involved in the study) expressed surprise that the fish appeared to be operating “operating so close to their limits” during fights. “It seems they can’t even take in more oxygen per breath, so these fights are seriously demanding for the fish,” he told the BBC. Photo credit: Daniel Jones. http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20462529http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1095643312005193
Zoom

Siamese fighting fish have to incorporate surface visits into their fights so they can breathe, according to a new study.

Native to south-east Asia, Siamese fighting fish (Betta splendens) are named for the males’ aggressive displays and are highly territorial. They belong to the suborder Anabantoidei, and like all anabantoids they possess a lung-like organ - known as a labyrinth organ and giving

anabantoids their other name, labyrinth fish - that allows them to obtain oxygen from air and water.

Researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia devised an study to examine the energetic costs of B. splendens’ aggressive activity. They put two males (each in his own bottle) in a tank together and analysed the gas levels within from each fish’s tank before and after its display. They found that the fish regularly surfaced because they simply couldn’t get enough oxygen in the water. The additional oxygen needed for fighting was obtained solely by breathing air.

They also found that both fish surfaced at the same time. Rather than the gentlemen-like behaviour this may seem, it’s purely for tactical reasons. This way neither fish will be attacked by the other. If you attack your opponent when he’s surfacing for air, you’d better make it count - if you don’t, he can attack you while you’re breathing for air. No one benefits from this exchange as both sides take a hit.

Dr. Steven Portugal (Royal Veterinary College, London, and involved in the study) expressed surprise that the fish appeared to be operating “operating so close to their limits” during fights. “It seems they can’t even take in more oxygen per breath, so these fights are seriously demanding for the fish,” he told the BBC.

Photo credit: Daniel Jones.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/20462529

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1095643312005193
Did you know you have stripes? Before you go looking, they’re invisible - if they were visible, we wouldn’t need to tell you about them! The stripes (or Blaschko’s lines, after the discoverer Alfred Blaschko) typically follow the same basic pattern - V-shapes on the back, S-shapes on the abdomen and an inverted U-shape around the breast and upper arm. They seem to be a clue to embryologicaldevelopment, though they do not correspond to structures such as nervous, endocrine, lymphatic or vascular. Though we still don’t know where they come from, the current idea is that each tissue patch is made of cells all originating from a single cell during development. The clone cells then follow a set pattern, resulting in Blaschko’s lines. The biologist PZ Myers uses the analogy of a clay figurine to describe this idea: “Imagine taking a piece of yellow clay and sandwiching it between two pieces of green clay into a block, and then pushing and stretching the clay block to make a human figurine. The yellow would make a band somewhere in the middle, all right, but it wouldn’t be a simple rectilinear slice anymore — it would express a more complex border that reflected the overall flow of the medium.” Though these stripes are invisible for the majority of people, some conditions cause them to become very visible. The best examples generally come from people who are mosaics/chimeras (mosaics have two or more genetically-distinct cell populations but come from a singly zygote, Chimeras also have geneticially distinct cell groups but come from two zygotes). The stripes betray the different genotypes. Additionally, if one of the genotypes is predisposed toward dermatological conditions, these conditions can develop according to the lines. They can also become visible in women as a result of X-inactivation, where an X chromosome is shut down in each cell (you may have two, but you only need one to function). Some cells will have the father’s X chromosome active, other cells have the mother’s. Technically, this means all women are mosaics, because different X chromosomes are silenced in different cells. Visible Blaschko’s lines can result from an X-linked skin condition. So what do they mean? Well, we like Myers’ take. “The cool thing about [Blaschko’s lines] is that there is a hidden map of your secret history as an individual embedded in silent patterns in your skin - you were not defined as a single, simple, discrete genetic entity at fertilization, but are the product of complicated, subtle changes and errors and shufflings and sortings of cells. We’re all beautiful pointillist masterpieces.” Photo found on Pharyngula.http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/08/12/blaschkos-lines/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2133.1976.tb00835.x/abstracthttp://www.bioline.org.br/request?dv05020http://io9.com/5963790/humans-have-stripes-you-just-cant-see-themhttp://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/genetics/medgen/chromo/mosaics.html
Zoom

Did you know you have stripes?

Before you go looking, they’re invisible - if they were visible, we wouldn’t need to tell you about them! The stripes (or Blaschko’s lines, after the discoverer Alfred Blaschko) typically follow the same basic pattern - V-shapes on the back, S-shapes on the abdomen and an inverted U-shape around the breast and upper arm. They seem to be a clue to embryological
development, though they do not correspond to structures such as nervous, endocrine, lymphatic or vascular.

Though we still don’t know where they come from, the current idea is that each tissue patch is made of cells all originating from a single cell during development. The clone cells then follow a set pattern, resulting in Blaschko’s lines. The biologist PZ Myers uses the analogy of a clay figurine to describe this idea: “Imagine taking a piece of yellow clay and sandwiching it between two pieces of green clay into a block, and then pushing and stretching the clay block to make a human figurine. The yellow would make a band somewhere in the middle, all right, but it wouldn’t be a simple rectilinear slice anymore — it would express a more complex border that reflected the overall flow of the medium.”

Though these stripes are invisible for the majority of people, some conditions cause them to become very visible. The best examples generally come from people who are mosaics/chimeras (mosaics have two or more genetically-distinct cell populations but come from a singly zygote, Chimeras also have geneticially distinct cell groups but come from two zygotes). The stripes betray the different genotypes. Additionally, if one of the genotypes is predisposed toward dermatological conditions, these conditions can develop according to the lines.

They can also become visible in women as a result of X-inactivation, where an X chromosome is shut down in each cell (you may have two, but you only need one to function). Some cells will have the father’s X chromosome active, other cells have the mother’s. Technically, this means all women are mosaics, because different X chromosomes are silenced in different cells. Visible Blaschko’s lines can result from an X-linked skin condition.

So what do they mean? Well, we like Myers’ take. “The cool thing about [Blaschko’s lines] is that there is a hidden map of your secret history as an individual embedded in silent patterns in your skin - you were not defined as a single, simple, discrete genetic entity at fertilization, but are the product of complicated, subtle changes and errors and shufflings and sortings of cells. We’re all beautiful pointillist masterpieces.”

Photo found on Pharyngula.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/08/12/blaschkos-lines/

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2133.1976.tb00835.x/abstract

http://www.bioline.org.br/request?dv05020

http://io9.com/5963790/humans-have-stripes-you-just-cant-see-them

http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/genetics/medgen/chromo/mosaics.html

The birds in these photos are nestling Yellow Crowned Night Herons. They are water fowl and at this age stand nearly three feet tall. All four of these herons are about the same age. The two in the first photo came from the same nest. Yellow Crowned Night Herons nest high in trees during the late spring and early summer. If a nestling happens to fall out of the nest, usually it can climb back up the tree and into the nest with no problems. Issues occur when the nestling is not able to climb back up to the nest for whatever reason, whether it be injury from the fall or just not being coordinated enough to achieve the goal. The first two were found at the bottom of their tree struggling to get back up but to no avail. They were brought in to Cherie’s facility and were cared for there until they were transferred to another rehabilitation worker. The nestling in the second picture had also fallen from it’s nest and was unable to make it’s way back up the tree. Cherie had worked with this bird quite a bit. She’d gotten it to the point she could take it out of it’s cage, stand it up on the floor, and it would follow her around her rehab room while she worked. I was able to reach down and touch it, an it followed me around as well while I worked. Due to this comfort around humans, I don’t know that this bird will ever be released to be on it’s own in the wild, but it will at least be in a wildlife refuge. The nestling in the third picture is one that was brought in injured. It was found yards away from it’s nesting tree and wasn’t making any attempt to get back to the nest. The owner of the property was able to walk up to the bird, pick it up and put it in a carrier with little to no struggle from the bird. When Cherie and I got a good look at the bird, we found a bullet hole. Someone had shot the bird out of it’s nest and the force of the shot propelled it out of the tree and onto the ground a good distance away from it’s nest. I am not sure how this bird ended up doing. We started it on a round of antibiotics and sewed the bullet wound shut with sutures. The heron was still in shock from being shot when we worked on the injury.
Zoom Info
The birds in these photos are nestling Yellow Crowned Night Herons. They are water fowl and at this age stand nearly three feet tall. All four of these herons are about the same age. The two in the first photo came from the same nest. Yellow Crowned Night Herons nest high in trees during the late spring and early summer. If a nestling happens to fall out of the nest, usually it can climb back up the tree and into the nest with no problems. Issues occur when the nestling is not able to climb back up to the nest for whatever reason, whether it be injury from the fall or just not being coordinated enough to achieve the goal. The first two were found at the bottom of their tree struggling to get back up but to no avail. They were brought in to Cherie’s facility and were cared for there until they were transferred to another rehabilitation worker. The nestling in the second picture had also fallen from it’s nest and was unable to make it’s way back up the tree. Cherie had worked with this bird quite a bit. She’d gotten it to the point she could take it out of it’s cage, stand it up on the floor, and it would follow her around her rehab room while she worked. I was able to reach down and touch it, an it followed me around as well while I worked. Due to this comfort around humans, I don’t know that this bird will ever be released to be on it’s own in the wild, but it will at least be in a wildlife refuge. The nestling in the third picture is one that was brought in injured. It was found yards away from it’s nesting tree and wasn’t making any attempt to get back to the nest. The owner of the property was able to walk up to the bird, pick it up and put it in a carrier with little to no struggle from the bird. When Cherie and I got a good look at the bird, we found a bullet hole. Someone had shot the bird out of it’s nest and the force of the shot propelled it out of the tree and onto the ground a good distance away from it’s nest. I am not sure how this bird ended up doing. We started it on a round of antibiotics and sewed the bullet wound shut with sutures. The heron was still in shock from being shot when we worked on the injury.
Zoom Info
The birds in these photos are nestling Yellow Crowned Night Herons. They are water fowl and at this age stand nearly three feet tall. All four of these herons are about the same age. The two in the first photo came from the same nest. Yellow Crowned Night Herons nest high in trees during the late spring and early summer. If a nestling happens to fall out of the nest, usually it can climb back up the tree and into the nest with no problems. Issues occur when the nestling is not able to climb back up to the nest for whatever reason, whether it be injury from the fall or just not being coordinated enough to achieve the goal. The first two were found at the bottom of their tree struggling to get back up but to no avail. They were brought in to Cherie’s facility and were cared for there until they were transferred to another rehabilitation worker. The nestling in the second picture had also fallen from it’s nest and was unable to make it’s way back up the tree. Cherie had worked with this bird quite a bit. She’d gotten it to the point she could take it out of it’s cage, stand it up on the floor, and it would follow her around her rehab room while she worked. I was able to reach down and touch it, an it followed me around as well while I worked. Due to this comfort around humans, I don’t know that this bird will ever be released to be on it’s own in the wild, but it will at least be in a wildlife refuge. The nestling in the third picture is one that was brought in injured. It was found yards away from it’s nesting tree and wasn’t making any attempt to get back to the nest. The owner of the property was able to walk up to the bird, pick it up and put it in a carrier with little to no struggle from the bird. When Cherie and I got a good look at the bird, we found a bullet hole. Someone had shot the bird out of it’s nest and the force of the shot propelled it out of the tree and onto the ground a good distance away from it’s nest. I am not sure how this bird ended up doing. We started it on a round of antibiotics and sewed the bullet wound shut with sutures. The heron was still in shock from being shot when we worked on the injury.
Zoom Info

The birds in these photos are nestling Yellow Crowned Night Herons. They are water fowl and at this age stand nearly three feet tall. All four of these herons are about the same age. The two in the first photo came from the same nest. Yellow Crowned Night Herons nest high in trees during the late spring and early summer. If a nestling happens to fall out of the nest, usually it can climb back up the tree and into the nest with no problems. Issues occur when the nestling is not able to climb back up to the nest for whatever reason, whether it be injury from the fall or just not being coordinated enough to achieve the goal. The first two were found at the bottom of their tree struggling to get back up but to no avail. They were brought in to Cherie’s facility and were cared for there until they were transferred to another rehabilitation worker. The nestling in the second picture had also fallen from it’s nest and was unable to make it’s way back up the tree. Cherie had worked with this bird quite a bit. She’d gotten it to the point she could take it out of it’s cage, stand it up on the floor, and it would follow her around her rehab room while she worked. I was able to reach down and touch it, an it followed me around as well while I worked. Due to this comfort around humans, I don’t know that this bird will ever be released to be on it’s own in the wild, but it will at least be in a wildlife refuge. The nestling in the third picture is one that was brought in injured. It was found yards away from it’s nesting tree and wasn’t making any attempt to get back to the nest. The owner of the property was able to walk up to the bird, pick it up and put it in a carrier with little to no struggle from the bird. When Cherie and I got a good look at the bird, we found a bullet hole. Someone had shot the bird out of it’s nest and the force of the shot propelled it out of the tree and onto the ground a good distance away from it’s nest. I am not sure how this bird ended up doing. We started it on a round of antibiotics and sewed the bullet wound shut with sutures. The heron was still in shock from being shot when we worked on the injury.

To Tumblr, Love Pixel Union