Even advocates of wolf hunting in Idaho don’t want the season extended (like it has been) through the end of March.

Mountain lions will choose to eat deer infected with chronic wasting disease – or more probably deer with some problem that slows them down, than healthy deer.

Adult mule deer killed by mountain lions were more likely to be prion-infected than were deer killed more randomly in sympatric populations, suggesting that mountain lions were selecting for infected individuals when they targeted adult deer. In roughly the same geographical area where we sampled mountain-lion-kill sites, Krumm et al. (2005) found that deer killed in vehicle collisions had the odds of prion infection (OR = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.4–4.1) similar to those estimated from our data. However, a separate cohort study of mule deer survival at Table Mesa (also located within our study area) revealed that prion-infected deer had a much greater risk (3.7×, 95% CI = 1.1–12.5) of being killed by mountain lions than by vehicles, even though uninfected deer in this area were equally likely to be killed by either mountain lions or vehicles (relative risk = 0.6, 95% CI = 0.2–2.4; Miller et al. 2008). From the observations gathered across several studies, we hypothesize that although much of the ‘selection’ we observed may be attributed to infected mule deer being less vigilant or fit and thus relatively vulnerable to ‘attack’ of one kind or another, mountain lions may also learn to recognize and more actively target diseased deer.

Imagine. Nature actually works – doh.

One of the lesser intelligent crocodiles, manages to never reproduce again.

India is moving all of it’s zoo elephants into wildlife parks!

Increasingly, research shows that elephants in the wild have longer life spans and better health and reproductive records than those in captivity, Sukumar said.
Zoo elephants often die prematurely and contract diseases or suffer obesity and arthritis more frequently than in their natural habitats, he said.

Zoos suck. Good for India!

They’re staging a comeback in Niger!

The BBC this morning has a great story and a small video about the Spirit Bears or white black bears in Canada.

Apparently the white helps to hide them from salmon better than black fur does. Their niche is such that they don’t have to hide themselves from predators so they turn up in numbers there.

The video is interesting to watch as one bear navigates some slippery rocks to catch himself/herself a salmon. The bear really is hidden within the white spray of water!

If you are interested in buying a photograph of one of these beautiful bears, Ray Rafiti and his re-designed website and partnerships has a number to choose from!

Sure we knew about wolves and aspen,
wolves and song birds
wolves and bears
wolves and beaver
wolves and……

But now it’s wolves and soil.

In a study on Isle Royale, the soil at carcass sites is far richer than at not carcass sites.

Wolves kick ass.

In his inauguration speech President Obama mentions science. He said

We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology’s wonders to raise health care’s quality and lower its cost.

I assumed some of his problems were that Bush did not want to see stem cell research expanded beyond current lines and that Bush didn’t rush out and sign cap and trade agreements to reduce global warming emissions.
(stem cells – religious belief and where tax dollars go…..global warming due to concern over the economy)

Today I hear through Ralph Maughan that this congress is going to choose expedience over science too. In the latest

By a vote of 267-147, the House passed a motion by Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), instructing the conference committee on the Interior Appropriations bill to keep an amendment by Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa) that prevents the Environmental Protection Agency from being allowed to gather any data on the contribution that animal agriculture makes to climate change.

That’s right. Assuming climate change, assuming that agribusiness is a huge contributer of emissions leading to climate change, we’re just going to ignore the business and focus on utility bills and other corporate interests instead.

Ralph notes a recent report saying that agribusiness contributes 18%, 18% of human global warming gasses!! Here, read him:

his news right after a new report suggests that the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s report (Livestock’s Long Shadow) estimate that Livestock contribute 18% of human global warming gases in the world (more than all trains, planes, and automobiles) might have significantly underestimated Livestock’s relative contribution to Climate Change :

He’s go the link to the source of that so click on through.

Apparently this has not been a good year for wolves in Yellowstone. Mange has taken hold. Again.
I had no idea but mange was apparently introduced in 1905 in Montana to combat wolves/coyotes.

It’s doing it’s job now.

Perhaps hunters won’t be after the coats if they’re all mangy. ?

The odd part of this news story concerning aging wolves losing their mojo as they age is that scientists assumed this didn’t happen. They figured that wild animals died before they ever slowed down.

That’s bizarre.

Old wolves lose their bite, say researchers who have found that getting old affects wolves’ ability to hunt and moderates their impact on prey.
The discovery helps answer a tantalising question: does getting old impact the athletic abilities of animals just as it does people?
While it might seem obvious that it would, many eminent biologists and researchers have assumed otherwise.
They have argued that most animals tend to die before age wearies them.

Scientists think in “species”. Most of us, including wild animals, live as “individuals”. Of course some live longer than others!