http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/animal-science-blog.html Animal science blog from biology-blog.com, the place for information. Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT en-us http://www.biology-blog.com/images/blogs/animal-science-blog.jpg http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/animal-science-blog.html 153 97 http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/white-sharks-in-the-north-pacific.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/white-sharks-in-the-north-pacific.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT The white shark appears to be the ultimate loner of the ocean, cruising thousands of miles in a solitary trek, but a team of scientists has discovered that the sharks have maintained such a consistent pattern of migration that over tens of thousands of years the white sharks in the northeastern Pacific Ocean have separated themselves into a population genetically distinct from sharks elsewhere in the world........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/cultured-pearls-from-the-queen-conch.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/cultured-pearls-from-the-queen-conch.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT For more than 25 years, all attempts at culturing pearls from the queen conch (Strombus gigas) have been unsuccessfuluntil now. For the first time, novel and proprietary seeding techniques to produce beaded (nucleated) and non-beaded cultured pearls from the queen conch have been developed by researchers from Florida Atlantic University's Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI). With less than two years of research and experimentation, Drs. Hctor Acosta-Salmn and Megan Davis, co-inventors, have produced more than 200 cultured pearls using the techniques they developed. Previous to this breakthrough, no high-quality queen conch pearl had been cultured. This discovery opens up a unique opportunity to introduce a new gem to the industry. This significant accomplishment is comparable to that of the Japanese in the 1920s when they commercially applied the original pearl culture techniques developed for pearl oysters........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/north-atlantic-fish-populations-shifting.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/north-atlantic-fish-populations-shifting.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT About half of 36 fish stocks in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, a number of of them commercially valuable species, have been shifting northward over the last four decades, with some stocks nearly disappearing from U.S. waters as they move farther offshore, as per a newly released study by NOAA researchers........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/moose-eat-plants-wolves-kill-moose.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/moose-eat-plants-wolves-kill-moose.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT Moose eat plants; wolves kill moose. What difference does this classic predator-prey interaction make to biodiversity? A large and unexpected one, say wildlife biologists from Michigan Technological University. Joseph Bump, Rolf Peterson and John Vucetich report in the November 2009 issue of the journal Ecology that the carcasses of moose killed by wolves at Isle Royale National Park enrich the soil in "hot spots" of forest fertility around the kills, causing rapid microbial and fungal growth that provide increased nutrients for plants in the area........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/researchers-sequence-swine-genome.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/11-2009/researchers-sequence-swine-genome.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT A global collaborative has produced a first draft of the genome of a domesticated pig, an achievement that will lead to insights in agriculture, medicine, conservation and evolution. A red-haired Duroc pig from a farm at the University of Illinois will now be among the growing list of domesticated animals that have had their genomes sequenced. Scientists will announce the achievement Monday (Nov. 2) at a meeting at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Hinxton, England........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/a-heat-sensor-for-body-clock-synchronization.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/a-heat-sensor-for-body-clock-synchronization.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT New research on the fruit-fly brain points to a possible mechanism by which temperature influences the body clock, as per researchers from Queen Mary, University of London. Eventhough much is known about how light affects the body clock - also known at the circadian clock - it is not well understood which cells or organs sense daily temperature changes or how temperature signals reach the part of the brain that contains the circadian clock........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/environmental-impact-of-marine-fisheries.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/environmental-impact-of-marine-fisheries.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT An Australian method for assessing the environmental impact of marine fisheries has caught the eye of fishery management agencies worldwide. Aspects of the 'ecological risk evaluation' (ERA) method have been adopted in the US, Canada, Ecuador, and the Western and Central Pacific, and by the international eco-labelling organisation the Marine Stewardship Council........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/the-skeleton-size-matters.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/the-skeleton-size-matters.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT Vertebrates have in common a skeleton made of segments, the vertebrae. During development of the embryo, each segment is added in a time dependent manner, from the head-end to the tail-end: the first segments to be added become the vertebrae of the neck, later segments become the vertebrae with ribs and the last ones the vertebra located in the tail (in the case of a mouse, for example). In this process, it is crucial that, on the one hand, each segment, as it matures, becomes the correct type of vertebra and, on the other, that the number of vertebrae in the skeleton, and therefore the size of the spine, are minutely controlled........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/mantis-shrimps-inspire-technology.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/mantis-shrimps-inspire-technology.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT The remarkable eyes of a marine crustacean could inspire the next generation of DVD and CD players, as per a newly released study from the University of Bristol published recently in Nature Photonics The mantis shrimps in the study are found on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and have the most complex vision systems known to science. They can see in twelve colours (humans see in only three) and can distinguish between different forms of polarized light........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/family-tree-for-cattle-other-ruminants.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/family-tree-for-cattle-other-ruminants.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT Pairing a new approach to prepare ancient DNA with a new scientific technique developed specifically to genotype a cow, an MU animal scientist, along with a team of international researchers, created a very accurate and widespread "family tree" for cows and other ruminants, going back as far as 29 million years. This genetic information could allow researchers to understand the evolution of cattle, ruminants and other animals. This same technique also could be used to verify ancient relatives to humans, help farmers develop healthier and more efficient cattle, and assist researchers who are studying human diseases, as per the research, which is being published in this week's edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS)........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/being-a-standout-has-its-benefits.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/being-a-standout-has-its-benefits.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT Standing out in a crowd is better than blending in, at least if you're a paper wasp in a colony where fights between nest-mates determine social status. That's the conclusion of a study by University of Michigan scientists published online this week in the journal Evolution. "It's good to be different, to wear a nametag advertising your identity," said graduate student Michael Sheehan, who collaborated on the research with evolutionary biologist Elizabeth Tibbetts........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/southern-hemisphere-humpbacks.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/southern-hemisphere-humpbacks.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT After 15 years of research in the waters of the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society, the American Museum of Natural History, and an international coalition of organizations have unveiled the largest genetic study of humpback whale populations ever conducted in the Southern Hemisphere........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/pets-with-a-microchip.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/pets-with-a-microchip.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT Animals shelter officials housing lost pets that had been implanted with a microchip were able to find the owners in almost three out of four cases in a recently published national study. As per the research, the return-to-owner rate for cats was 20 times higher and for dogs 2 ½ times higher for microchipped pets than were the rates of return for all stray cats and dogs that had entered the shelters........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/conservation-biologists.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/conservation-biologists.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT Conservation biologists are setting their minimum population size targets too low to prevent extinction. That's as per a newly released study by University of Adelaide and Macquarie University researchers which has shown that populations of endangered species are unlikely to persist in the face of global climate change and habitat loss unless they number around 5000 mature individuals or more........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/panama-butterfly-migrations.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/10-2009/panama-butterfly-migrations.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT A high-speed chase across the Panama Canal in a Boston Whaler may sound like the beginning of another James Bond filmbut the protagonist of this story brandishes a butterfly net and studies the effects of climate change on insect migrations at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. "Our long-term study shows that El Nio, a global climate pattern, drives Sulfur butterfly migrations," said Robert Srygley, former Smithsonian post doctoral fellow who is now a research ecologist at the US Agricultural Research Service, the chief scientific research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/understanding-of-how-insects-smell.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/understanding-of-how-insects-smell.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT New research announced recently, Wednesday 30th September, by a team of leading researchers working with the UK's national Synchrotron, Diamond Light Source, could have a significant impact on the development and refinement of new eco-friendly pest control methods for worldwide agriculture. Reported in the Journal of Molecular Biology, the study was carried out by Dr Jing-Jiang Zhou and his colleagues at the world's oldest agricultural research centre and the largest UK facility, Rothamsted Research, in collaboration with Professor Nick Keep's group from the Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology at Birkbeck, University of London........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/from-underground-850-new-species.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/from-underground-850-new-species.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT Australian scientists have discovered a huge number of new species of invertebrate animals living in underground water, caves and "micro-caverns" amid the harsh conditions of the Australian outback. A national team of 18 scientists has discovered 850 new species of invertebrates, which include various insects, small crustaceans, spiders, worms and a number of others........ ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/sunday-audacity.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/sunday-audacity.html Sun, 27 Sep 2009 16:05:03 GMT We had a squirrel incident in the back yard in suburbia this last week. Somehow, three baby squirrels had fallen from their nest high in the cypress tree on a cold and rainy night. The mother was whistling for them, but the little things must have been too dazed to move. Queequeg found them for us, and before he could do what dogs do, Libby put him in the house then retrieved the half-drowned squirrel pups and put them on a soft towel in a box in our garage. She didn’t think they would live, but by morning, they were, quite literally, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. When she let them out ......... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/eight-legged-mama.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/eight-legged-mama.html Wed, 04 Nov 2009 14:10:39 GMT Normally, I don’t have much luck photographing spiders, but at this time of the year, when cooler temps are moving in, I have gotten a few nice shots, especially of wolf spiders, the terrible hunters of the forest ......... ]]> http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/a-bird-eating-fanged-frog.html http://www.biology-blog.com/blogs/permalinks/9-2009/a-bird-eating-fanged-frog.html Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:51:27 GMT A new WWF report celebrates the recent discovery of 163 new species in the Greater Mekong region of South-east Asia - including a bird-eating fanged frog, a leopard-patterned gecko and a bird that would rather walk than fly - but we also warn they could soon face extinction because of climate change........ ]]>