mammals •

Scientists Unravel 1.1-Million-Year-Old Stegodon Tusk

February 17, 2016 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

This is how a stegodon looked like.

The pakistani scientists unravel 1.1-million-year-old stegodon tusk in the province of Punjab, potentially shedding new light on the mammal’s evolutionary journey.

It is known that stegodonts are distant cousins of modern elephants. They are thought to have been present on earth from around 11 million years ago until the late Pleistocene period, which lasted until the end of the last Ice Age around 11,700 years ago.

According to the team, the tusk that has been recently unearthed measures eight feet (2.44 metres) in length and is around eight inches (20.3 cm) in diameter, making it the the largest ever discovered in the country. The stegodon tusk was discovered by scientists from the University of the Punjab’s zoology department during an expedition in the Padri district.

This discovery adds to our knowledge about the evolution of the stegodon, particularly in this region.

stated Professor Muhammad Akhtar, lead researcher of the excavation. He also added that the discovery sheds light on what the mammal’s environment was like when it was alive.

So far, the age of the stegodon tusk was determined through a radioactive dating technique that involved uranium and lead, researchers declared. However, the dating of the tusk needs further verification.

An interesting fact about stegodonts is that they were known for their long, nearly straight tusks and low-crowned teeth with peaked ridges. This indicated they were browsers or mixed feeders in a forested environment, in contrast to the high-crowned plated molars of elephants, which allowed them to graze.

On the other hand, stegodons were good swimmers. They were thought to have come from Africa and then quickly spread to Asia, where most fossils of the mammal were found.

Dr. Gerrit Van Den Bergh is a paleontologist at the University of Wollongong in Australia, who has done extensive research on the ancient mammals of several countries, including Pakistan. He noted that stegodons became extinct around the time when modern humans emerged.

The same paleontologist added that around 1.2 million years ago the creatures were still thriving. In what concerns their species, they are mostly Asian, but remains have been found further afield. The expert also informs us that a molar fragment has recently been discovered in Greece.

However, this is not the first time when the excavation-site grabbed headlines for prehistoric fossils. Previously, researchers discovered ancient skulls and teeth of bovid from the Punjabi dig site. After analysis, it was found that the remains belong to subfamily Reduncinae.

Image Source: photobucket.com.

A New Type Of Malaria Parasites Has Been Found In White-Tailed Deer

February 10, 2016 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Two distinct forms of malaria in U.S. are infecting white-tailed deer.

According to the latest news, a new type of malaria parasites has been found in white-tailed deer in the United States.

The research revealed that as many as one in four whitetail deer in some parts of the U.S. may carry malaria. Even though the strain is considered non-threatening to people, the findings raise questions about whether the parasite is affecting deer populations, and how, if so.

This news comes as a surprise, since deer are one of the better-studied wild animals; they are some of the more populous mammals and very popular game species for hunting, and they are often surveyed for disease.

So why, given the amount of research done on deer, haven’t more scientists discovered malaria among whitetails?

Ellen Martinsen, lead author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow, stated that, because the level of infection is so low, the parasite is hard to detect with a traditional microscope; it took special equipment at the National Zoo to trace malaria in mosquitoes back to deer.

The team of researchers found the parasite accidentally when they were looking at DNA within the blood of mosquitoes at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. In a mosquito engorged with deer blood, they noticed the presence of genetic material that they didn’t recognize.

According to further analysis, it has been revealed that the genetic material came from a protozoan in the genus Plasmodium. The results of the study were published last Friday in the journal Science Advances.

Firstly, species in the genus Plasmodium are known as malarial parasites. The genus includes several species that spread malaria in humans, while other varieties infect nonhuman mammals, birds and reptiles. There are about 200 species worldwide in this genus.

In this recent study, scientists sampled blood from deer in 17 states and found 41 infected animals in 10 states; nearly 25 percent of the deer from Virginia and West Virginia had the parasite. None of these deer seemed to have any symptoms, however.

The findings are unlikely to have a direct impact on humans since Plasmodium odocoilei infects ungulates specifically, said study coauthor Joseph Schall of the University of Vermont in the press release. However, he added, they do highlight the link between human health and wider ecological systems.

There’s a sudden surge in interest in mosquito biology across the United States. This is a reminder of the importance of parasite surveys and basic natural history.

Schall said.

Although there was one scientific record of a malarial parasite found in a deer’s spleen in 1967, this is the first proof of a widely established malaria parasite in New World mammals, and it expands scientists’ knowledge of the malarial family tree.

All in all, not only does the discovery change our current understanding of malaria’s distribution and history in mammals, but it also allows scientists to date the split between the two forms of malaria present in white-tailed deer. And, last but not least, it points to malaria as a disease native to the Americas that resided for millions of years.

Image Source: www.sciencealert.com

Scientist Catches Puppy Sized Spider

October 20, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee 2 Comments

Piotr Naskrecki, a wildlife photographer was taking a night walk in the Guyana’s rainforest and suddenly heard a rustling sound like something was creeping under his feet. Eventually, when he turned around with his flashlight on, he saw a puppy-sized animal rustling around. The excitement uttered, when he found the creature turned out to be a Goliath spider. “When I turned on the flashlight, I couldn’t quite understand what I was seeing,” Naskrecki, from Harvard University’s Museum of Comparative Zoology, stated.

Goliath Spider, also known as the South American Goliath birdeater (Theraphosa blondi), is supposedly the world’s largest spider as per the Guinness World Records. The leg span of this huge arachnid spider can reach up to a foot 30 centimeters, or about the size of “a child’s forearm,” with a body the size of “a large fist,” Naskrecki claimed. Moreover, the spider can weigh more than 6 oz. (170 grams) about as much as a young puppy, the scientist further explained.

Prickly hairs and 2-inch Fangs

Goliath spider has massive sharp fangs, which could inflict deep wounds, though the venom of the Goliath bird eating spider isn’t deadly to humans. “I found that it was rubbing its hind legs against its abdomen- an action,” Naskrecki stated. But afterwards, he realized the spider was sending out a cloud of hairs with microscopic barbs on them. It has been known that when these hairs get in the eyes or other mucous membranes, they can turn out to be “extremely painful and itchy,” and can stay there for days, he said.

Bird eater or mostly harmless?

Naskrecki told that, regardless of its name, the birdeater doesn’t usually eat birds, though it is certainly capable of killing small mammals. They will essentially attack anything that they encounter. Usually, the Goliath spider hunts at night, and feeds on small animals including insects, frogs and earthworms. These spiders are also hard to find. “I’ve been working in the tropics in South America for almost the past 15 years, but I only saw the spider three times,” he added.

WWF Report Shows How The Last 40 Years Affected The Population Of Wildlife: Report

September 30, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

According to the recent reports of WWF (World Wide Fund), the population of fish, birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles chop down by 52% within 1970 to 2010, which believes to be far faster than ever thought.

On the other hand, the report of conservation group’s Living Planet, published every 2 years, stated that, the demands of human kinds are increased by 50%, which seems more than that the nature bears, trees felled, ground water pumped, CO2 emissions increased more than the Earth can bear (Reuters).

Ken Norris (Director of Science at the Zoological Society of London) stated, “This huge damage is not foreseeable, though the outcome of the way we choose to live.”

Moreover, the report stated that we can still cope with this situation if politicians and businesses took the right actions to save nature.

International Director of WWF, General Marco Lambertini stated, “It’s quite vital that we grab the opportunity in order to develop a sustainable future where people could live and prosper in harmony with nature.”

He further stated that we can’t preserve the nature by only protecting wild places, though it’s also about conservation of the humanity’s future, indeed, our only way to survive.

The major declines were in tropical regions, especially Latin America, report results on the populations of vertebrate wildlife discovered. WWF, which believes to be a “Living Planet Index”, is relying on the trends in 10,380 populations of 3,038 mammal, bird, reptile, and amphibian and fish species.

WWF told, the average 52% decline is much larger than the previously published reports, partially because these studies has based on more readily accessible information from Europe & North-America. According to the same report published 2 years back, stated the decline of 28% within 1970 to 2008.

Certainly, the worst decline was believed to be amongst the population of fresh water species, which is declined to 76% till 2010. On the other hand, marine and terrestrial decline is by 39%.

The report stated that, the major reason for the decline in populations happened due to the loss of natural habitats, exploitation due to hunting and fishing and most importantly due to climate change.

In order to measure the variation between the statistics of different countries experimental impact, the report gauged that how large an ‘ecological footprint’ each one had and how much productive land and water area, or “bio-capacity”, each country accounted for.

Furthermore the report revealed that Kuwaitis followed by Qatar and UAE had seems to be the largest ecological footprint so far, as they are consuming and wasting more resources as compared to any other nation.

The report stated, “ If everyone on this planet have the same footprint as of Kuwait & Qatar resident, then we probably need 4.8 planets and if we lived similar to an USA resident, then we need 3.9 planets.”

Some poorer countries such as India, Indonesia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo also had ecological footprint that seems fine with the planet’s ability to absorb their demands.

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