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!

So saith the female.

A BBC natural history crew filmed humpback whales vying for the attentions (ahem) of a female. There is a lost of jostling and it’s worth a watch, but I think the music really gets you revved up the best.

The whole time I wondered if I was being played. How did they film this? How did they time this?
Turns out a helicopter, a boat and a diver (no oxygen) all took part in this filming.
From the diver:

“We had to find the whales when they are on the heat run, which is hard,” says Dr Oakes.
“Then we had to position the diving team in front of the charging pack of whales for them to have any chance.”
“At one point I think Roger had the female and seven or eight males go past him. He said it was the most incredible experience of his life. Like standing in the middle of a motorway.”

It’s pretty cool though I suspect with that much human activity, activity (ahem) may have been affected to a degree.

Click on through.

I find this easy, easy, easy to believe.

Noise pollution threatens animals.

Many animal species evolved hearing sensitive enough to take advantage of the quietest conditions; their hearing is increasingly compromised by noise,” Dr Barber told the BBC.
That intrusion can have a significant impact on the way wild animals communicate.

and hunt.

It’s a problem in our own lives though we shut it out. Try it. Turn out your lights, shut down the frig, and the furnace, and the radio and tv. And breath. ahhhhhhh.
Now imagine if you were capable of hearing not only all of that, but also the sounds of the bugs in the walls and the electricity going through the circuits. The sounds of not only the traffic outside, but also the traffic 1 mile away. It’s noisy out there.

Monkeys are freaked out by almost-but-not-quite-real depictions of themselves. That tendency is well documented in humans, but has never before been seen in another species.

Me too.