Archive for the ‘Zoology’ Category
Bad eating habits are a lot of people more than the human being is unique, although in this case is worse. Now the results of a new study of a predator illustrate that even carnivores seeking a balanced diet.
An international team of scientists from the universities of Exeter and Oxford in the United Kingdom, Sydney in Australia, Aarhus in Denmark and in Massey in New Zealand, investigated the dietary preferences of the beetle Anchomenus dorsalis, an insect garden well known, that feeds on slugs, aphids, moths, ants and even larvae of other beetles.
The team of Kim Jensen, University of Exeter, female beetles collected wild and divided into two groups in the laboratory. Half of the beetles were offered a set of different foods, some protein-rich and some are high in fat, so you chose to your liking. Read the rest of this entry »
A species of crab that dwells within 300 meters below the surface of the Pacific Ocean near Costa Rica, live bacteria that thrive in its claws. And these unique crabs are not limited to exploit the situation but that is actively encouraged.
Of way seemed to a farmer watering its orchard, the crabs “water” exposing these bacteria to methane and sulfide from fumaroles at the bottom of the sea. This unusual behavior “farmer” has just been described in detail for the first time. This species of crab, called Kiwa puravida, was discovered in 2006. Read the rest of this entry »
Note with a part of the body object to attract attention, it is a natural ability that had only been observed in people and our closest evolutionary relatives, the apes. Now, add the raven in this select club.
No surprise at all unexpected, as the crows outnumbers most other bird species in terms of intelligence. Its efficiency in several tests of intelligence is similar to that achieved by the apes.
Simone Pika of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany, and Thomas Bugnyar from the University of Vienna in Austria, have now shown that crows (Corvus corax) also use this kind of gestures to see the interest of a potential mate or strengthen a relationship existing with it. Read the rest of this entry »
The work of U.S. scientists has revealed that the paper wasp has the ability to distinguish the faces of their co-species, which has only been observed so far in mammals. This skill helps maintain peace in the colony.
Specifically, have shown that paper wasp, Polistes fuscatus, is able to learn to recognize the facial features of their fellow colony. The study is published in the latest issue of science.
“Being able to distinguish faces efficiently is an advantage for this type of wasps because it regulates social interactions within the nest. In addition, to recognize other wasps individually reduce aggression in the colony, thus helping to maintain peace”, said Michael J. Sheehan, a researcher at the University of Michigan (USA) and author of the work. Read the rest of this entry »
Molluscs have existed for a long time (at least 500 million years). They are common both on land and in water (from wet sites where you can find garden snails, to the depths of the sea), and many are very valuable to people as a food source. Therefore, one might believe that scientists have learned virtually everything about these animals.
However, it is not at all. For example, there are many gaps in the evolutionary tree of mollusks, and only now has a reasonably complete tree, the most comprehensive so far achieved. This tree has been developed by Casey Dunn, an evolutionary biologist at Brown University in United States, specializing in the construction of evolutionary trees, together with experts from the university and other institutions. Read the rest of this entry »
The diversification of the webs has been linked to the expansion of its main prey, insects, and flowering plants. Now a study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society reveals that “the modifications of the cobwebs seek to occupy new habitats more efficiently and make better use of food resources in ecosystems”, explains Miquel A. Arnedo, Institute for Research on Biodiversity (IRBio) at the University of Barcelona (UB).
To do this, these insects make use of silk threads that will “serve to anchor, move, build nests and protect spawning. It is to weave webs which allowed the diversification of spiders, but to produce silk, and is not the same”, explains the expert. Read the rest of this entry »
The aroma of the fruit not only guides the Drosophila melanogaster to food, but that also makes its libido increased.
A team led by researchers at the CNRS in France, has identified and analyzed an unexpected mechanism of olfactory perception by which an odor present in the fruit eaten by the male sexual appetite-stimulating them.
Yael Grosjean’s team has shown that phenylacetic acid, a substance associated with odors from foods (found in flowers, fruits, honey, etc.), has a specific olfactory molecular receptor (IR84a) located on the antennae of the flies male. Read the rest of this entry »
A female mosquito can not tell if the male has mated which is fertile or otherwise is unable to fertilize their eggs, according to results of recent research.
A precise knowledge of this limitation may help scientists in their mission to prevent the spread of malaria. This knowledge can be the basis for developing strategies to interfere with the reproductive success of mosquitoes. The strategies would induce sterility in high enough numbers of male mosquitoes, and take advantage of the ignorance of the females in this regard.
Malaria is a severe disease that affects more than 300 million people every year, killing nearly 800,000 annually. In Africa a child dies of malaria every 45 seconds. Read the rest of this entry »
The Colugo, the closest living evolutionary relatives of primates, is remarkable for their ability to plan from tree to tree cover considerable distances. When they jump, they display the large membrane spanning the space through his legs and tail, to cover distances of up to 150 meters. They had always believed that these glides were used to move at the lowest possible energy consumption.
New research brings unexpected results at all. The team of Greg Byrnes from the University of California at Berkeley, USA, was followed for six of these amazing mammals in Singapore. To do so, they joined an accelerometer and a radio transmitter device. Analyzing glide paths, the research team realized that Colugo climbed to an altitude of only relatively small to achieve its long gliding at low altitude. Read the rest of this entry »
A new study challenges the validity of previous findings showing that apparently humans are the only primates altruistic. In light of what now discovered, chimpanzees are also able to act altruistically.
The authors of the new research have shown that chimpanzees have a natural inclination toward prosocial behavior. This contradicts the findings of previous studies of chimpanzees described as reluctant to behave altruistically, and led to believe that human altruism emerged as an evolutionary oddity in just the last six million years after humans are evolutionarily separated from apes.
According to the team of Victoria Horner and Frans de Waal, Yerkes National Center for Primate Research, part of the Emory University, U.S., chimps have shown prosocial behavior in other studies due to problems of design of experiments, such as the complexity of the devices used to deliver the rewards to the animals, and distance between each individual. Read the rest of this entry »