tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/zoology-48/articlesZoology – The Conversation2023-11-08T13:53:13Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171112023-11-08T13:53:13Z2023-11-08T13:53:13ZDo you like snakes, lizards and frogs? Why herpetology might be the career for you<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557734/original/file-20231106-23-lkg44h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The author handling a boomslang as part of her work with a conservation organisation.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chris Cooke</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>We are so fortunate to share the world with a huge diversity of creatures. For me, some of the most fascinating are reptiles and amphibians. Collectively called <a href="https://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/administration_pdf/0220c4kherps.pdf">herpetofauna</a>, reptiles and amphibians are ectotherms; they rely on external sources to regulate their body temperature.</p>
<p>A person like me who works with these groups of animals is called a herpetologist. Among the reptiles and amphibians, my special interest is in snakes. I’ve always been interested in reptiles, from the days when I would chase common flat lizards in the Motobo Hills in Zimbabwe, where I grew up, and interact with snakes and other animals at our local rehabilitation centre. </p>
<p>Still, if somebody had told my teenage self that my job would entail working with snakes and encouraging other people to appreciate them, I never would have believed them. I didn’t even know you could make a career out of working with reptiles. Today, I’m studying towards my PhD in herpetology (which is technically a degree in ecology and conservation) while also working with a snake conservation organisation in South Africa.</p>
<h2>Learning about snakes</h2>
<p>Most people will be familiar with zoology, the branch of biology that focuses on the study of all animals. Some animals have their own speciality within the discipline of zoology. Herps (a slang term for herpetofauna) are one example.</p>
<p>There are <a href="http://www.reptile-database.org/db-info/SpeciesStat.html">over 4,000 species</a> of snakes around the world. Each species has a unique adaptation to its own environment. Some snakes, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ultimate-in-stealth-puff-adders-employ-camouflage-at-every-level-53316">puff adders</a>, are scentless as a way to camouflage themselves from predators. Others, like southern African pythons, <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-insights-into-how-southern-african-pythons-look-after-their-babies-91276">show maternal care</a>, which is very unusual for snakes and much more common in mammals and birds. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-ultimate-in-stealth-puff-adders-employ-camouflage-at-every-level-53316">The ultimate in stealth, puff adders employ camouflage at every level</a>
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<p>These unique adaptations have allowed snakes to thrive in different environments. This makes them a great model in science: herpetologists can ask questions about their physiology, evolution, ecology and biology.</p>
<p>For anyone looking to become a herpetologist, a basic zoology degree will get you started. Most universities will have someone who specialises in teaching herpetology or someone who can point you in the right direction. Volunteering at institutions that have reptiles, like zoos, is also a great way to get some experience working with them. Once you get to postgraduate level, you can specialise in one of many different topics in herpetology and apply different techniques to answer questions that you are curious about. </p>
<p>As a specialist in reptiles and amphibians, you can merge that interest with other disciplines like photography, law or conservation, and this can open up many job opportunities. You can also pursue further research at a university, become a lecturer or school teacher, work at a zoo or become a museum curator. There are many options to explore. </p>
<h2>My research</h2>
<p>I completed my MSc in 2017 and my research focused on the evolution of diet in a group of snakes called <a href="https://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/items/2d772155-77f6-4f7c-94db-b3e59fb0b22a">lamprophiids</a>. I loved learning about how diverse snakes are in the food they eat. For my PhD, I wanted my research to have a real-world application, so I waited until 2021 to start after getting some work experience in conservation. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/new-insights-into-how-southern-african-pythons-look-after-their-babies-91276">New insights into how southern African pythons look after their babies</a>
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<p><a href="https://hiralnaik.wordpress.com/contact-info/publications/">My current research</a> focuses on the way that snakes behave (behavioural ecology) to answer some of the bigger question of what leads snakes to bite people. Another year and I will have some answers for you on this. </p>
<p>Snakebite is a <a href="https://www.who.int/health-topics/snakebite">neglected tropical disease</a> according to the World Health Organization and affects millions of people around the world. When natural spaces are transformed and destroyed, many animals, like snakes, go looking for food and shelter – often in people’s homes. Many people are afraid of snakes, so encounters often lead to conflict as people try to kill the animals and get bitten in the process. </p>
<p>I am also fortunate to work for a non-profit organisation, <a href="https://savethesnakes.org/">Save The Snakes</a>, which allows me to educate people about snakes and do my part to conserve them by applying my research. My job includes researching information on snakes that live in different parts of South Africa and assessing threats to them, like habitat transformation, learning more about the relationship between humans and snakes, conducting fieldwork and running experiments to understand more about the behaviour and ecology of snakes.</p>
<h2>The circle of life</h2>
<p>I’m also passionate about education.</p>
<p>Learning about the world of snakes has allowed me to appreciate the natural world in a unique way. <a href="https://youtu.be/ltQcE0gapIo">As predators and prey</a>, snakes are an emblem of the circle of life. One of my favourite activities is going out at night looking for them (called “herping”) and watching them display different behaviours. After the summer rains, frogs and insects come out and the snake predators follow. When I take these moments to observe the world around me I feel fortunate to appreciate these animals in a way most people don’t. This is the feeling I like to share in my education efforts.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">A southern African python being returned to the wild by Save the Snakes.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Some of my favourite moments in my current job have involved seeing the change in people’s perceptions about snakes. Snakes have been feared for many generations because of misinformation. Most snakes are harmless. They don’t chase people, and they stay hidden much of the time. By sharing the correct information about snakes, we show that fear can be changed to curiosity and that creates more motivation to learn about them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217111/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hiral Naik has received funding from the National Research Foundation. She is affiliated with Save The Snakes.</span></em></p>Learning about snakes offers unique insights into the natural world.Hiral Naik, PhD candidate: School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2050652023-07-11T19:24:49Z2023-07-11T19:24:49ZLast seen 90 years ago, strange worm species is found crawling in Malaysia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536803/original/file-20230711-29-zqck7d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=152%2C54%2C1388%2C891&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The first specimen of _Bipalium admarginatum_ was found by George Verdon in the jungle of a tropical island.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">George Verdon</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>George Verdon had a biological enigma on his hands. He’d stumbled across an animal while out for a run which was proving difficult to identify… In all fairness, this run had been through an island jungle on the Malay peninsula, so the chance of finding something weird was significantly higher than usual, but nevertheless this particular animal was resisting his attempts to work out what it was.</p>
<p>It was about 10 cm long and looked like a worm. It also had stark stripey warning colours and for a moment almost looked like a tiny juvenile snake. However, when looking at the head – hammerheaded and flattened and apparently eyeless – it was clearly something different.</p>
<p>As a professional wildlife filmmaker, George has seen a lot of strange animals, but was lost with this one. After some Internet research, he found that there were some scientists crazy enough (us…) to study these weird creatures.</p>
<p>For the last 10 years, we have undertaken to characterise the land flatworms which invade European countries, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/obama-nungara-how-a-flatworm-from-argentina-jumped-the-atlantic-and-invaded-france-131186"><em>Obama nungara</em></a>, now found in more than 70 departments in France, or the giant species <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-giant-predatory-worms-really-are-invading-france-97106"><em>Bipalium kewense</em></a>. George got in touch in August of 2019, sending us an e-mail with some photos and asking if we knew any more about it. </p>
<p>Upon comparison with the scientific literature, it turned out to be a species that hadn’t been seen in the 90 years since it was first discovered: <em>Bipalium admarginatum</em>. It hadn’t been recorded since it was first described in 1933 by de Beauchamp, on an island not far away from George’s sighting. Naturally, we were excited, and asked George if he had collected the specimen he had seen. For some reason we don’t understand, he had been out for a jog without a field kit, and had subsequently let the animal glide back into the leaf litter. We asked him if he could dive back into the jungle to find a few specimens, and gave instructions on how best to find and catch them.</p>
<h2>Macaques, and quadruple gin and tonic… without tonic</h2>
<p>Returning to the scene of the sighting armed with collecting vials, larval forceps, and the help of Liv Grant (a friend and colleague), George found more of the species. This was only half of the challenge, as they turned out to be in the territory of macaques, who were not feeling hospitable. Liv took up the task of fending off the marauders while George hastily collected, and the two quickly retreated.</p>
<p>So far so good, but how to preserve them? The instructions we gave were to put the animals in pure ethanol, but tropical islands are notoriously lacking when it comes to laboratory supplies. Or so we thought… George found a solution: a quadruple gin and tonic, minus the tonic, the lime, the ice, and the umbrella. After putting the specimens into a vial with the gin, George brought them to Michelle Soo, at the UCSI University of Kuala Lumpur, who took charge of verifying the discovery.</p>
<h2>Complete mitochondrial genome</h2>
<p>The next step was to attempt a molecular analysis of the animal. This is important for characterising it and understanding its relationship with other species of the genus <em>Bipalium</em>. Normally this is only done <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/4672/">on specimens well preserved in absolute ethanol</a>. Romain Gastineau, at the University of Szczecin in Poland, tried anyway… and thanks to next-generation sequencing techniques, we were able to characterise the complete mitochondrial genome of <em>Bipalium admarginatum</em>, despite the original harvest in the gin. </p>
<p>Only about 10 complete mitogenomes are known in this family, all the others having been obtained from specimens harvested under perfect conditions and <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/12725/">impeccable ethanol in a laboratory</a>. It deserved a <a href="https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5277.3.11">publication</a>, which we undertook. We were even able to convince the scientific journal <a href="https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5277.3.11">to add a summary in the Malay language</a>, in order to convince the country’s citizens to collect any bizarre worms they will encounter. Hopefully we will receive other specimens, there are so many extraordinary species to discover and rediscover.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jean-Lou Justine a reçu des financements du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Leigh Winsor, Michelle Soo et Romain Gastineau ne travaillent pas, ne conseillent pas, ne possèdent pas de parts, ne reçoivent pas de fonds d'une organisation qui pourrait tirer profit de cet article, et n'ont déclaré aucune autre affiliation que leur poste universitaire.</span></em></p>A strange worm found in the jungle, then harvested and preserved in… gin, provides a better understanding of the evolution and genetics of flatworms.Jean-Lou Justine, Professeur, UMR ISYEB (Institut de Systématique, Évolution, Biodiversité), Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (MNHN)Leigh Winsor, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, James Cook UniversityMichelle Soo, Assistant Professor, Deputy Dean of the Department of Biotechnology, UCSI UniversityRomain Gastineau, Professeur assistant (Institut des sciences de la mer et de l'environnement), University of SzczecinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2081162023-07-11T13:54:49Z2023-07-11T13:54:49ZOffshore windfarms could offer new habitats for lobsters – new research<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536584/original/file-20230710-25-qjfszb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=39%2C0%2C4344%2C2874&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The European lobster (Homarus gammarus)</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/european-lobster-homarus-gammarus-1182497287">Dave M Hunt Photography/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over the past decade, offshore wind turbines have become an ever more present feature along UK coastlines. As part of reaching net zero, the <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-9783/CBP-9783.pdf">government has ambitious plans</a> for increasing the capacity of offshore wind from 13.9GW to 50GW by 2050.</p>
<p>Expanding the UK’s renewable energy sector is necessary to replace fossil fuels and meet increasing energy demands. But the rate at which offshore windfarm development is planned makes it difficult to understand the effect it will have on the marine environment and the people who rely on it for their livelihood. </p>
<p>To date, most offshore wind turbines have been built using fixed foundations. To protect the foundations from erosion, large deposits of rocks and boulders – called “scour protection” – are placed around the base of each turbine. This means that with each new windfarm, there is an increase in the amount of such material in the marine environment.</p>
<p><a href="https://academic.oup.com/icesjms/article/80/5/1410/7145793#409536204">Our new study</a> shows the European lobster is making use of the scour protection as shelter. The presence of this commercially important species within these sites suggests fishing opportunities may develop from future windfarm construction.</p>
<h2>The reef effect</h2>
<p>When offshore windfarms are constructed in sandy habitats, the addition of scour protection leads to a change in the type of habitat available to marine life. This may have knock-on effects for marine organisms such as allowing certain species to occupy areas they were not previously found.</p>
<p>This process is often referred to as the “<a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/artificial-reef">artificial reef</a> effect”. It is considered one the most important effects of offshore windfarm development. However, we have relatively little data to help us understand how species are interacting with scour protection within offshore windfarms, and what effects these might have on marine life and hence on local fishing industries.</p>
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<img alt="Wind turbines in the sea at dusk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536630/original/file-20230710-29-tvknt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536630/original/file-20230710-29-tvknt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536630/original/file-20230710-29-tvknt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536630/original/file-20230710-29-tvknt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=385&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536630/original/file-20230710-29-tvknt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536630/original/file-20230710-29-tvknt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536630/original/file-20230710-29-tvknt8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=484&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Most offshore wind turbines have been built using large deposits of rocks and boulders.</span>
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<p>We used acoustic telemetry, which is a widely used aquatic tracking method, to record the movements of 33 lobsters within an offshore windfarm in the Irish Sea. We found that they favoured residing in areas of scour protection. More than 50% of all our lobster detections were recorded within 35 metres of the scour protection. </p>
<p>Lobsters typically make use of crevices in rocks and reef as shelter and will return to the same crevices after feeding or other activities. We recorded the lobsters making frequent movements to and from the same areas of scour protection. Four months later, more than 50% of the lobsters were still present in the same areas of scour they were originally detected at. </p>
<p>We can’t be sure what the short excursions away from the scour protection mean. However, we believe our results highlight that the addition of scour protection within offshore windfarms is creating a habitat for lobsters. </p>
<h2>Increasing lobster populations</h2>
<p>Offshore engineering projects, including windfarm development, can harm the marine environment. For instance, electromagnetic fields and underwater noise generated as part of construction and operation may have detrimental effects on marine species. And as a result of taking up large marine areas, these developments affect existing marine-based industries, in particular small-scale commercial fisheries. </p>
<p>Our research has highlighted an opportunity to work towards lessening the potentially harmful effects of offshore engineering. If the scour protection already installed as part of offshore windfarm construction can support lobsters, then it is likely that increasing the volume of scour rocks (or modifying the type of scour), could work towards promoting increased lobster populations within offshore windfarms. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/weve-discovered-why-some-whales-stop-feeding-in-response-to-the-sound-of-sonar-179541">We've discovered why some whales stop feeding in response to the sound of sonar</a>
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<p>This might help to increase ecological value and maximise fishing opportunities within these sites. There is potential that this could offset, to some extent, the disturbance to fishing areas. It could also compensate fishing communities that are negatively affected by offshore windfarm construction.</p>
<p>However, for us to minimise the effects of offshore windfarm development and maximise the potential benefits of creating new homes for lobsters, we need to study the topic further. We must discover the most suitable ways of increasing lobster populations using scour protection, such as the ideal boulder size to create crevices suitable for lobster shelter. We must also study the logistics of fishing within these sites. </p>
<p>We are now working alongside the fishing community of north Wales to investigate the abundance of lobsters within existing offshore windfarms. We are aiming to quantify and predict the potential fishing opportunities that may arise from offshore windfarm construction.</p>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harry Thatcher receives funding from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Wilcockson receives funding from the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).</span></em></p>New research shows European lobsters are using the deposits of rocks and boulders at the base of wind turbines as shelter.Harry Thatcher, PhD Candidate, Department of Life Sciences, Aberystwyth UniversityDavid Wilcockson, Reader in Biological Sciences, Aberystwyth UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2090672023-07-06T20:21:18Z2023-07-06T20:21:18ZWhy are there hopping mice in Australia but no kangaroos in Asia? It’s a long story<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535717/original/file-20230705-17-ey6m80.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4467%2C3136&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The frill-necked lizard is one of many land animals that reached Australia from Southeast Asia.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Damien Esquerré</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The animals in Australia are super-different to those in Asia. This goes without saying; we know Australia is full of weird and wonderful creatures found nowhere else on Earth, such as the platypus and the koala. </p>
<p>But it may surprise you to know that many of our most iconic critters came from Asia and arrived only recently (in geological terms, at least).</p>
<p>These most recent members of Australia’s characteristic fauna include many lizards, such as goannas and thorny devils, and other animals including hopping mice, flying foxes and the kookaburra. Yet the traffic was largely one way – there are far fewer representatives of Australian fauna in Asia than there are Asian fauna in Australia.</p>
<p>Why is the situation so asymmetrical? In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf7122">study</a> published today in the journal Science, my colleagues and I analysed information about the distribution and habitat of 20,433 species of land-dwelling vertebrates – as well as climate and plate tectonics over the past 30 million years – to find out.</p>
<h2>Drifting continents on a cooling planet</h2>
<p>The story begins more than 200 million years ago. </p>
<p>Dinosaurs were still a fairly new group walking the Earth, and Australia was part of a supercontinent called Gondwana. This giant landmass included modern Antarctica, South America, Africa, Australia and India. </p>
<p>Gondwana had just broken off from another supercontinent, called Laurasia, which was smooshed together from modern North America, Europe and Asia. The separation of Gondwana and Laurasia removed the last land connection between Australia and Asia.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535940/original/file-20230705-21-j53okr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of the globe showing the supercontinents Gondwana and Laurasia." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535940/original/file-20230705-21-j53okr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535940/original/file-20230705-21-j53okr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535940/original/file-20230705-21-j53okr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535940/original/file-20230705-21-j53okr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=463&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535940/original/file-20230705-21-j53okr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535940/original/file-20230705-21-j53okr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535940/original/file-20230705-21-j53okr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=581&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The supercontinents Gondwana and Laurasia before they separated over 200 million years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gondwana#/media/File:Laurasia-Gondwana.svg">Lennart Kudling / Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Now, Gondwana itself began to fall part pretty shortly after separating from Laurasia. Each piece of Gondwana gradually became isolated and began its own independent journey. Many of these journeys led them back to Laurasia. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/breaking-new-ground-the-rise-of-plate-tectonics-7514">Breaking new ground – the rise of plate tectonics</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>India collided with Eurasia and formed the mighty Himalaya; South America crashed into North America, forming the snaking land bridge of Panama; Africa bumped into Eurasia, forming the Mediterranean Sea; and Australia began on a collision course with Asia.</p>
<p>Australia untethered its final Gondwanan connections between 45 and 35 million years ago, when it broke off from Antarctica. </p>
<p>At that time, Australia was much further south than it is today. As it drifted northwards, the increasing space between Australia and Antarctica kick-started the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_Circumpolar_Current">Antarctic circumpolar current</a>, which cooled the planet dramatically.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-the-antarctic-circumpolar-current-helps-keep-antarctica-frozen-106164">Explainer: how the Antarctic Circumpolar Current helps keep Antarctica frozen</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Australia was isolated, cooling down and drying out. A unique set of animals and plants began to evolve.</p>
<h2>Intercontinental stepping stones</h2>
<p>Meanwhile, the Australian and Eurasian tectonic plates began to collide, forming thousands of islands in the Indonesian archipelago, including today’s Lombok, Sulawesi, Timor, and Lesser Sunda Isles.</p>
<p>These islands don’t belong to either the Australian continental shelf (also known as Sahul), which includes Australia and New Guinea, or to the Asian continental shelf (known as Sunda), which includes Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Bali. </p>
<p>This in-between zone is known as Wallacea, after the 19th century British naturalist Alfred Russell Wallace. He first observed a difference in the types of animals found on either side of what is now called Wallace’s line.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535721/original/file-20230705-2760-7xl4ca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of Indonesia, New Guinea and northern Australia with lines showing regions where different fauna live and climatic zones." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535721/original/file-20230705-2760-7xl4ca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535721/original/file-20230705-2760-7xl4ca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535721/original/file-20230705-2760-7xl4ca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535721/original/file-20230705-2760-7xl4ca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=390&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535721/original/file-20230705-2760-7xl4ca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535721/original/file-20230705-2760-7xl4ca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535721/original/file-20230705-2760-7xl4ca.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=490&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">More animal species successfully made the crossing from Sunda to Sahul than the other way around.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adf7122">Skeels et al. / Science</a>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The islands became stepping stones between two continents whose groups of species hadn’t seen each other in a very, very long time. But, as our new research shows, only particular kinds of animals were able to make the crossing and establish themselves on the other side.</p>
<h2>Wet and dry</h2>
<p>The first factor determining which animals spread between continents was their ability to cross the ocean. </p>
<p>Of all the groups of animals that moved between Asia and Australia, we found the staggering majority were birds. </p>
<p>But this wasn’t the only key to success. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of a kookaburra sitting on a wooden post with a beach in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535942/original/file-20230706-27-s5muy6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535942/original/file-20230706-27-s5muy6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535942/original/file-20230706-27-s5muy6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535942/original/file-20230706-27-s5muy6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535942/original/file-20230706-27-s5muy6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535942/original/file-20230706-27-s5muy6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535942/original/file-20230706-27-s5muy6.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The great majority of animals that spread from Asia to Australia were birds – including the ancestors of the kookaburra.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Animals also needed to be able to thrive in their new location, where the environment may have been quite different. We found animals that could tolerate a broad range of wetter and drier environments were more likely to make the move successfully.</p>
<p>This makes sense. Sunda is wet and Sahul is dry, and if you can tolerate more of that wet–dry spectrum, you are better equipped to move between these regions.</p>
<p>But we still have a big question. Why did more animals move from Sunda to Sahul than in the other direction?</p>
<h2>A lot can change in 30 million years</h2>
<p>The final piece of the puzzle is considering how these crucial factors – the ability for species to disperse and establish themselves in new environments – have changed over time. </p>
<p>We know Sunda has been dominated by lush tropical rainforest since before Australia broke away from Antarctica. Later, when the stepping-stone islands began to pop up, they also had the kind of humid equatorial climate favoured by the rainforest vegetation, and later animals, from Sunda. </p>
<p>In Australia, however, similar rainforests were shrinking and being replaced by grasslands and woodlands in most areas.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of a kangaroo in the bush." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535944/original/file-20230706-25-hte9mu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/535944/original/file-20230706-25-hte9mu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535944/original/file-20230706-25-hte9mu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535944/original/file-20230706-25-hte9mu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535944/original/file-20230706-25-hte9mu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535944/original/file-20230706-25-hte9mu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/535944/original/file-20230706-25-hte9mu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Marsupials such as the kangaroo spread widely across Sahul, but never made the leap across Wallace’s line to Sunda.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Octavio Jiménez Robles</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>What this means is that as animals move from Sunda, through the stepping-stone islands, to New Guinea and the northern tips of Australia in Sahul, they experience a band of similar humid tropical climate. </p>
<p>However, most animals in Sahul evolved on the Australian mainland, most of which was much drier. So moving from mainland Australia, through New Guinea and the stepping stones, to Sunda, requires adaptations to a very different environment. </p>
<p>And Australian animals that did manage to make their way onto the stepping-stone islands would have likely met competition from Sunda groups already happily existing in their preferred tropical climate.</p>
<h2>Answers are a long time in the making</h2>
<p>Climate and geography are some of the most important things that shape evolution and the distributions of different species. Taking the long view, deep into the past, helps us understand the world around us. </p>
<p>Simple questions – like “why are there no kangaroos in Asia but hopping mice in Australia?” – have answers that are hundreds of millions of years in the making.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209067/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Skeels does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s no single reason many Asian animals spread to Australia but few went the other way – but climate, geography and the slow drift of tectonic plates all played a role.Alexander Skeels, Postdoctoral Researcher, Macroevolution and Macroecology Group, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1973042023-01-12T08:20:16Z2023-01-12T08:20:16ZHow immortal jellyfish turn back time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503655/original/file-20230109-7616-czgz2h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3610%2C3204&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Turritopsis dohrnii'.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Achieving immortality is something that has driven human beings throughout much of their history. Many peculiar legends and fables have been told about the search for the elixirs of life. Medieval alchemists worked tirelessly to find the formula for the <a href="https://artsandculture.google.com/story/jwXhqPSro7CIJQ">philosopher’s stone</a>, which granted rejuvenating powers. Another well-known story is the travels of Juan Ponce de León, who, while conquering the New World, searched for the mysterious <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/fountain-of-youth">fountain of youth</a>.</p>
<p>But to this day no one has succeeded in discovering the keys to eternal life. There is, however, one exception – a creature no more than four millimetres in size <em>Turritopsis dohrnii</em>, also known as “the immortal jellyfish”.</p>
<h2>Biological immortality, within reach of a jellyfish</h2>
<p>Unlike the vast majority of living organisms, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5764029/pdf/peerj-06-4225.pdf"><em>Turritopsis dohrnii</em></a> is capable of rejuvenation and biological immortality. This challenges our perception of ageing, but how does it do so?</p>
<p>Let’s start by understanding the <a href="https://sciencepress.mnhn.fr/en/collections/memoires-du-museum-national-d-histoire-naturelle/introduction-hydrozoa">generic life cycle of a “mortal jellyfish”</a>. It reproduces sexually: the male’s sperm fertilises the female’s eggs and the zygote is formed. The zygote grows as a larva and drifts until it attaches itself to the seabed. Once settled, it grows into a polyp and, when ready, it reproduces asexually. To do this, it releases tiny jellyfish from its own body, which then grow to the adult stage and reproduce, before dying.</p>
<p>The immortal jellyfish, <em>Turritopsis dohrnii</em>, also follows this cycle, but after reproducing it does not always die: it can choose an alternative path and reverse its life cycle. Along the path, its jellyfish body shrinks to form something like a sphere, called a “cysto”. This drifts until it sticks to the bottom, and then generates a new polyp, which in turn gives rise to new jellyfish, thus entering the cycle again.</p>
<p>This process can occur endlessly and allows the jellyfish to escape death.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503656/original/file-20230109-7887-bu5i59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503656/original/file-20230109-7887-bu5i59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/503656/original/file-20230109-7887-bu5i59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503656/original/file-20230109-7887-bu5i59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503656/original/file-20230109-7887-bu5i59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=582&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503656/original/file-20230109-7887-bu5i59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503656/original/file-20230109-7887-bu5i59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/503656/original/file-20230109-7887-bu5i59.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=732&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Life cycle of Turritopsis dohrnii with the alternative rejuvenation path.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Deciphering the immortal jellyfish genome</h2>
<p>The keys to the immortality of <em>Turritopsis dohrnii</em> are written in its DNA, but discovering them has been no easy task.</p>
<p>Our research team led by Carlos López Otín at the University of Oviedo has contributed to deciphering the genome of this immortal jellyfish. The results <a href="https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2118763119">have been published in the journal PNAS</a>. This was done by reading letter-by-letter and writing out gene-by-gene all its DNA as if it were a huge instruction book.</p>
<p>This huge book contains all the information needed for cells to carry out their vital functions. As a result, several genomic clues have been defined that contribute to understanding the extraordinary longevity of the immortal jellyfish.</p>
<p>Using various bioinformatics tools and comparative genomics (the comparison of the genetic book between species), it has been discovered that <em>Turritopsis dohrnii</em> possesses a number of genetic variations that contribute to its biological plasticity and longevity. </p>
<p>The genes found are associated with different <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3836174/">keys to ageing</a> such as DNA repair and replication, renewal of the stem cell population, cell-to-cell communication and reduction of the oxidative cellular environment that damages cells, as well as the maintenance of telomeres (chromosome ends).</p>
<p>All these processes are associated with longevity and healthy ageing in humans.</p>
<p>In addition, by studying each stage of their rejuvenation in detail, a series of changes in gene expression have been identified that are necessary for the cells to transform, through a process known as dedifferentiation. This allows the <em>Turritopsis dohrnii</em> to effectively reset its own biological clock.</p>
<p>All these mechanisms act synergistically as a whole, thus orchestrating the process to ensure the successful rejuvenation of the immortal jellyfish.</p>
<h2>The true secret of immortality</h2>
<p>If Juan Ponce de León had known the secrets kept by <em>Turritopsis dohrnii</em> during his search for the fountain of youth, he would have been left parched. And the alchemists would not have found the philosopher’s stone they so longed for. That’s because, unfortunately, it wouldn’t be possible for a human body to replicate what the jellyfish does. Perhaps the only way to find such a fountain or stone is to realise that there is no life without death. That every system, like humanity or our own body, needs the death of some of its parts to remain in balance and survive.</p>
<p>From the fascinating exploits of <em>Turritopsis dohrnii</em> we have learned the keys and limits of cellular plasticity, and from this knowledge we hope to find better answers to the many ageing-related diseases that trouble us today.</p>
<p>Nonetheless, the dream of biological immortality for humans remains just that: a dream. Humans have at least discovered how to be immortal in another way – by making their contribution to history through art and knowledge.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/197304/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Las personas firmantes no son asalariadas, ni consultoras, ni poseen acciones, ni reciben financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y han declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado anteriormente.</span></em></p>The immortal jellyfish ‘Turritopsis dohrnii’ is capable of escaping death. The molecular keys involved in its longevity have been revealed by researchers at the University of Oviedo.Daniel Maeso Miguel, Doctorando en biomedicina y oncología molecular, Universidad de OviedoMaria Pascual Torner, Investigadora Postdoctoral, Universidad de OviedoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1803562022-04-14T13:53:34Z2022-04-14T13:53:34ZWhy birds migrate vast distances – and how you can help during their breeding season<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458128/original/file-20220414-15-d3i8yu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ospreys spend summer in the UK</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/osprey-flying-sky-2063210810">Vlad G/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Now that spring is in the air, the UK is starting to see its summer visitors arriving. Ospreys are already back <a href="https://www.lrwt.org.uk/rutlandospreys">in their nests</a>, chiffchaffs are singing their song to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4535548?seq=1">re-establish their territories</a>, and puffins have arrived at their <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/where_to_see_puffins">breeding sites</a> around the British Isles.</p>
<p>Several centuries ago, people believed that swallows spent the winter asleep at the bottom of ponds and lakes, or <a href="https://www.historytoday.com/archive/natural-histories/great-migration-mystery">even on the Moon</a> - but of course, that was complete nonsense.</p>
<p>We now know that animals migrate to increase their survival – and that of their offspring. It also helps in their quest to find food, a mate or to avoid predators.</p>
<p>Although we tend to think of migration as birds flying from one country to another, there are actually <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/natures-most-impressive-animal-migrations/">many animals who migrate</a>. Wildebeest, for example, undertake a <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/597229">circular migration</a>, roaming the African plains in huge numbers during the dry season in search of fresh grass. And <a href="http://repositorio.furg.br/handle/1/3452">humpback whales</a> migrate to warmer waters to raise their offspring.</p>
<p>However, it is birds who are the record breakers when it comes to travel. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/86385-longest-non-stop-migration-by-a-bird">bar-tailed godwit</a> has the longest recorded non-stop migration, with one individual spending almost ten days travelling from Alaska to New Zealand without a break – that’s a huge journey of around 12,200km (7,580 miles).</p>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bte7MCSBZvo">Arctic tern</a> is the true champion, making a round trip of 35,000km (22,000 miles) from the Arctic to the Antarctic and back again each year. This huge migration means that it lives in a constant summer – experiencing more daylight than any other animal – as it stops off in countries including Mauritania, Ghana and South Africa, during its <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339530181_Seasonally_specific_responses_to_wind_patterns_and_ocean_productivity_facilitate_the_longest_animal_migration_on_Earth/figures?lo=1">global trek</a>. </p>
<h2>How birds find their way</h2>
<p>Migration is a costly business – birds need to carry enough fat reserves to power their flight and sustain themselves over the duration of their journey. Getting lost could have disastrous consequences, so birds have developed incredible navigation skills to help them fly the shortest and safest routes.</p>
<p>Some species have an innate, inherited ability to migrate, which allows them to move to areas independently to enhance their survival. </p>
<p>The cuckoo, for example, is not raised by its parents as cuckoo mothers lay their eggs in nests belonging to birds of a completely different species. Yet, a young cuckoo is able to travel alone, from Europe to Africa, and back again, by using an inherited <a href="https://news.ku.dk/all_news/2020/06/cuckoo-chicks-have-an-innate-gps/#:%7E:text=By%20moving%20young%20cuckoos%201800,broader%20understanding%20of%20bird%20migration.">“internal GPS”</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Cuckoo sitting on a green bush" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458137/original/file-20220414-13-l8etad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458137/original/file-20220414-13-l8etad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458137/original/file-20220414-13-l8etad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458137/original/file-20220414-13-l8etad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458137/original/file-20220414-13-l8etad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458137/original/file-20220414-13-l8etad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458137/original/file-20220414-13-l8etad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Cuckoos are part of a tracking programme using mini data loggers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/beautiful-cockoo-sitting-on-green-bush-1457541527">Urcan Uk/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>But some species, like the Caspian tern – which undertakes a long-distance migration from its breeding home in northern Europe to its wintering location in Africa – have very little inherited basis to their migratory habits. In most cases, they are taught by their parents, also known as “cultural inheritance” or social learning.</p>
<p>A recent study, for example, found that young Caspians seem to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-29300-w">learn their migratory route</a> from their father, who carries the main responsibility for migrating with their young birds. Along the journey, he also shows them suitable stopover sites for refuelling with fish and crustaceans.</p>
<p>But, whether inherited genetically or socially, birds <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/media/how-do-birds-navigate/">use a variety</a> of natural cues, such as the shape of coastlines or the position of the Sun or stars –- or olfactory cues like the smell of their nest – to help them navigate their way around the globe.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/birds-use-massive-magnetic-maps-to-migrate-and-some-could-cover-the-whole-world-154992">Birds use massive magnetic maps to migrate – and some could cover the whole world</a>
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<p>Some birds, such as homing pigeons, even <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/news041122-7">use a magnetic map</a> to align themselves with the Earth’s magnetic field as they travel.</p>
<h2>UK’s summer visitors</h2>
<p>Our knowledge of bird migration has increased dramatically since the development of biologgers, tiny data-logging devices that are attached to the birds. These allow us to track an individual’s location, speed, stopover sites and the timing of their migration. </p>
<p>One such study is the <a href="https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/cuckoo-tracking-project">cuckoo tracking project</a>. This has revealed that several cuckoos left central Africa around the start of 2022, each travelling separately for hundreds of kilometres before stopping for a couple of weeks in countries including the Ivory Coast and Morocco. They then continued with the next leg of their journey, and the most northerly bird had reached France around the 10 April. These migrating cuckoos are expected back to their breeding grounds in the UK very soon.</p>
<p>And they are not alone. Many birds undertake long distance migrations to the UK for the summer breeding season. For example, the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/natures-home-magazine/birds-and-wildlife-articles/migration/migratory-bird-stories/wheatear-migration/">wheatear</a> also winters in Central Africa, but is back in the UK much earlier, from late February to mid August, whereas the <a href="https://hawkandowltrust.org/about-birds-of-prey/hobby">hobby</a> - a predator of dragonflies - winters in South Africa and is in the UK from late April to October. </p>
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<img alt="Housemartin sitting on her nest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458131/original/file-20220414-15-6tqkac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458131/original/file-20220414-15-6tqkac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458131/original/file-20220414-15-6tqkac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458131/original/file-20220414-15-6tqkac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458131/original/file-20220414-15-6tqkac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458131/original/file-20220414-15-6tqkac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/458131/original/file-20220414-15-6tqkac.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">There are numerous ways to help birds, such as these housemartins, when they are living on your shores.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/house-martin-delichon-urbica-single-adult-144672881">Erni/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>This enables them to take advantage of the longer hours of daylight and abundance of food, such as insects, during the UK’s summer months. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/garden-bird-feeders-are-boosting-blue-tit-numbers-but-leaving-other-species-hungry-161568">Garden bird feeders are boosting blue tit numbers – but leaving other species hungry</a>
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<p>If you’d like to help birds over their breeding season – and at the same time help other, more permanent avian residents, such as tits and sparrows – here are a few ideas.</p>
<p>Feeding birds nuts, seeds and household scraps such as pastry, fruit or cheese, will help to <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/how-you-can-help-birds/feeding-birds/">provide some easily accessible food</a>. </p>
<p>But some species, such as house martins and swallows, rely on insects. So, enhancing the biodiversity in your garden by <a href="https://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/how-to-grow-a-mini-wildflower-meadow">creating a wildflower meadow</a>, or taking part in <a href="https://www.plantlife.org.uk/uk/discover-wild-plants-nature/no-mow-may">no mow May</a> – an initiative from British conservation charity, Plantlife, asking everyone to “lock up their lawnmowers” and let vegetation grow during the month of May – will also be hugely beneficial. </p>
<p>Don’t forget that birds also need water, for drinking and bathing in, so a small bird bath or <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-create-mini-pond">wildlife pond</a> is ideal. You can also <a href="https://www.bto.org/how-you-can-help/providing-birds/putting-nest-boxes-birds">put up nestboxes</a> to provide even more resources for our returning birds - an excellent substitute for the lack of natural nest sites for raising young, especially in urban areas. </p>
<p>Waking up to birdsong, courtesy of our summer visitors, including willow warblers and nightingales, brings joy to so many of us. Let’s not forget the epic journey they’ve taken to reach our shores - and do what we can to ensure a successful breeding season.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180356/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Gentle works for Nottingham Trent University</span></em></p>Birds are master navigators, negotiating journeys of thousands miles each year.Louise Gentle, Principal Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1803572022-04-06T10:57:55Z2022-04-06T10:57:55ZHere’s how we proved that tropical birds are more colourful – and why colour helps them survive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456350/original/file-20220405-6157-c2dbrq.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Green headed tanager in Ubatuba, Brazil </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Green-headed_Tanager_Ubatuba.jpg">Lars Falkdalen Lindahl, CC BY-SA 3.0.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>For many of us, the tropics conjure up thoughts of lush vegetation teaming with vibrant and strikingly colourful birds, insects and other creatures.</p>
<p>It’s been a widespread belief that the tropical regions of the world are home to the most colourful species – an idea that probably dates back to the 19th century when famous naturalists, including <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/charles-darwin-most-famous-biologist.html">Charles Darwin</a>, remarked on the “rich variety of colours” found in the tropics compared to their high-latitude homelands. </p>
<p>And yet, until now, conclusive evidence for this geographical pattern in species colourfulness has been elusive. </p>
<p>One earlier study found that the tropical birds of South America were <a href="http://www.avisoc.co.uk/table-of-contents/why-are-neotropical-birds-more-colourful-than-north-american-birds/">more colourful</a> than those in North America, with European birds the least colourful. But other studies, such as one looking at birds along the east coast of Australia, found it was the species <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.12522">living in the arid regions</a> – and not nearest the equator – who had the the most intense plumage colour. </p>
<p>So, the issue has remained unresolved. </p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-022-01714-1">new research</a>, published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, we’ve finally discovered that the trend does seem to be true – tropical species of songbirds are indeed more colourful than their non-tropical counterparts, just as Darwin suggested. </p>
<p>And we think that it might be partly because of a need to stand out in the crowd, due to the higher concentration of different species living together in tropical communities.</p>
<h2>Studying 4,500 songbird species</h2>
<p>Using the global bird specimen collection at the UK’s <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/tring.html">Natural History Museum </a> we digitally photographed adult male and female specimens of more than 4,500 species of songbird from all over the world – ranging from the tropical Paradise Tanager (<em>Tangara chilensis</em>) to the higher latitude Brown Dipper (<em>Cinclus pallasii</em>).</p>
<p>We chose the songbirds (also known as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passerine">the passerines</a>) as they represent around 60% of all bird species and are therefore well represented in museum collections. </p>
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<p>A cutting-edge computer technology called “<a href="https://uk.mathworks.com/discovery/deep-learning.html">Deep Learning</a>” – which is able to learn to how to process and classify large amounts of complex data from images – helped us to extract information from the thousands of pixels in each photograph.</p>
<p>We were then able to measure the shade and intensity of plumage colours in each photo in terms of red, green and blue light, as well as ultraviolet – this was important as birds have a broader range of vision than humans and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0065345408601059?via%3Dihub">can perceive colours</a> in the ultraviolet light spectrum.</p>
<p>Using this information we generated an accurate estimate of colourfulness of each species, based on the number of distinct colours (or “colour loci”) in the plumage of each individual bird.</p>
<p>When we mapped variation in species’ colourfulness scores across the globe, we found strong evidence that bird colourfulness is generally highest at the Equator and decreases with increasing latitude towards the poles – specifically, their plumages displayed around 20%-30% more colours than birds living at higher latitudes outside of the tropics, whether north or south. </p>
<p>Interestingly, this was true for both male and female birds, even though they can sometimes look very different from one another.</p>
<p>So, we’d proved Darwin’s observations correct – the next step was to investigate which factors might cause this colour gradient.</p>
<h2>The advantage of colour</h2>
<p>There were a number of possible theories.</p>
<p>Perhaps the more favourable climate near the Equator – in terms of temperature and rainfall, for example – allowed tropical species to invest more energy in developing elaborate plumage colouration. Or maybe the influence of ecological factors, such as the <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.2307/2937121">amount of light</a> in their habitat, could influence the birds’ appearance.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-performed-magic-tricks-on-birds-to-see-how-they-perceive-the-world-161772">We performed magic tricks on birds to see how they perceive the world</a>
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<p>To test these hypotheses, we collected information on the environmental and ecological characteristics of the species in our study, and used data analysis to find out with variables could help explain the variation in colourfulness across species.</p>
<p>We found that colour diversity was highest in birds from dense, closed forest habitats such as rainforests, and also in those who eat fruits and floral nectar.</p>
<p>Both of those traits are more common at tropical latitudes – so this suggests that two possible reasons for the evolution of colour diversity might be the need for brightly coloured visual communication (such as gestures and body postures) in dark tropical forests, and the ability to acquire colour-forming compounds (like carotenoids) from <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-2435.2007.01363.x">fruit in their diet</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Dense Brazilian rainforest" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456373/original/file-20220405-22-j9aq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/456373/original/file-20220405-22-j9aq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456373/original/file-20220405-22-j9aq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456373/original/file-20220405-22-j9aq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456373/original/file-20220405-22-j9aq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456373/original/file-20220405-22-j9aq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/456373/original/file-20220405-22-j9aq8p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In dense tropical rainforest, bright colours help birds communicate and stand out from other species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/brazilian-rainforest-127521311">Earlytwenties/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>And there was also a positive association between colourfulness and the diversity of the bird communities. </p>
<p>The average number of songbird species living together in the same location increases dramatically towards the Equator, so this enhanced colourfulness may help them to distinguish themselves from all the other birds in their rich tropical communities – a necessary skill to avoid potentially costly interactions with other species, which could even include mating.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/seagulls-songbirds-and-parrots-what-new-research-tells-us-about-their-cognitive-ability-173954">Seagulls, songbirds and parrots: what new research tells us about their cognitive ability</a>
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<p>Going forward, pinpointing the location of global colourfulness “hotspots”, in different regions and among different species, will help us to plan effective species and habitat conservation strategies which preserve colour diversity.</p>
<p>As Alfred Russel Wallace, a 19th century <a href="http://darwin-online.org.uk/content/frameset?pageseq=346&itemID=A238&viewtype=side">British naturalist</a>, once said: “There is probably no one quality of natural objects from which we derive so much pure and intellectual enjoyment as from their colours”. We owe it to future generations to ensure the spectacular colourfulness of the natural world remains undiminished.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180357/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Cooney receives funding from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Thomas received funding from the Royal Society, European Research Council (ERC), and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). </span></em></p>We compared 4,500 species of songbird to finally confirm what Darwin suspected.Chris Cooney, NERC Independent Research Fellow, University of SheffieldGavin Thomas, Senior Lecturer, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1802952022-04-01T13:02:18Z2022-04-01T13:02:18ZElite performance horses: why they’re supreme athletes – and how to train them ethically<p>It’s hard to ignore the power and beauty of a horse when it runs at full throttle or jumps over a massive hurdle.</p>
<p>This much loved and gentle animal is a spectacular athlete, capable of running world record speeds of almost <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/fastest-speed-for-a-race-horse">44 miles per hour</a> and gravity-defying leaps as high as <a href="https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/highest-jump-by-a-horse">2.47 metres</a>.
They have impressive stamina too - some breeds, such as Arabians, are able to cover up to 100 miles in a single day during endurance competitions. </p>
<p>These are astounding feats, made all the more amazing when you consider that they weigh from 400-800kg.</p>
<p>Compared to other similarly sized mammals, horses have a superior ability to use oxygen – their aerobic capacity is around two and half times <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/jappl.1989.67.2.862?rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org">that of cattle</a>, and this is a large part of what gives equines their athletic edge. </p>
<p>It is attributed to many aspects of their biology, including their large <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/abs/10.1152/jappl.1989.67.2.871?rfr_dat=cr_pub++0pubmed&url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org">lungs</a> and a notably higher number of red blood cells to maximise the transport of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780702028571500032">oxygen around the body</a>. </p>
<p>Studies have also found a link between their heart size and <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.01319.2004">performance in races with jumps</a> – with one of the world’s most famous and successful racehorses, Secretariat, reported to have a heart weighing a <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/cphy.c091001">whopping ten kilograms</a>.</p>
<h2>Supreme speed and agility</h2>
<p>Horses became an evolutionarily distinct species from “early-equids” – who inhabited forests eating fruit and foliage – around four million years ago, when they moved out onto the open plains of North America, where there was abundant grass to eat. They became grazing specialists, but with this change also came fast moving predators and nowhere to hide. That’s why they evolved such incredible adaptations <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/epdf/10.1086/394242">for speed and agility</a>. </p>
<p>Humans first started to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04018-9">harness this natural ability</a> around 3,500 BC in Ukraine - and there can be no doubt that selective breeding has further influenced equine athleticism. We’ve made domestic horses larger and lighter with genetic adaptations for speed in comparison to their wild ancestors. </p>
<p>For example, today’s thoroughbred racehorses have been bred to have a high prevalence of a “speed gene” known as myostatin, which has been <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0205664">directly linked</a> to their impressive ability to sprint. The gene promotes muscle growth, which explains why short distance racehorses are often <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1365-2052.2010.02126.x">more muscular in their appearance</a> than horses that race over longer distances. </p>
<p>And of course, horses are not just supreme racers. They are also able to jump over obstacles up to twice their own height.</p>
<p>To help them achieve these jumping feats, their four limbs are each home to a network of tendons and ligaments that act together <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978070202857150007X">as a spring</a>. One particular tendon in the equine limb, known for its key role in their athletic endeavours, has exceptional elasticity and strength. This allows it to withstand extreme forces, such as those experienced during a high speed gallop and the takeoff for high fences – and it also acts as a powerful recoil on landing from those great heights. </p>
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<img alt="Race horse with jockey on the home straight" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455676/original/file-20220331-21-of54gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455676/original/file-20220331-21-of54gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455676/original/file-20220331-21-of54gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455676/original/file-20220331-21-of54gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455676/original/file-20220331-21-of54gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455676/original/file-20220331-21-of54gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455676/original/file-20220331-21-of54gr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Numerous biological adaptations led to the superior athleticism of racehorses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/race-horse-jockey-on-home-straight-1399280573">Lukas Godja/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Like human athletes, horses can be <a href="https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2042-3306.2001.tb05349.x">exposed to injury</a> during equine sport - so the question of whether it is ethical to involve them remains. Thankfully, research in this field has expanded hugely over the past ten years, with studies in a variety of equine sports, including <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167587713002912?casa_token=sWjvyAzXEtMAAAAA:Zru8i1ISmACm7V3gqUwLwcokddQTPymghX60tNLmZeC0B738S1HhwKvPYrCp9Na9was5rVoDsjg">showjumping</a> <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1090023318307603?casa_token=2KjXgW0MPBsAAAAA:Ioiep0-CR_5QRoG5KrXdybPyZgj5R_XWsRGNyED7YmGelPO0xD72jbsjcfFF_DRRJ2-iKJBxCXI">and racing</a>, working towards ways of reducing the risk of injury (and even worse) for the horses, such as new training strategies and use of safer track or jumping surfaces.</p>
<h2>Inside the horse mind</h2>
<p>Horses are sentient beings, with <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-0-306-48215-1?noAccess=true">psychological and behavioural</a> needs.</p>
<p>They like to be free to move and interact with other horses as part of a complex social group, and to have nearly constant access to grass or hay to eat. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-its-so-hard-to-unravel-the-mysterious-origins-of-domestic-horses-92204">Why it's so hard to unravel the mysterious origins of domestic horses</a>
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<p>And they are highly sensitive animals too, able to <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0907">interpret our emotional responses</a> and learn about a person from <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10071-020-01369-0">watching them interact with another horse</a>. These equine emotional skills may be part of how we are able to achieve sporting greatness together – but it also emphasises the need to take care of their psychological wellbeing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="White and grey horse snuggling up to a young girl" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455672/original/file-20220331-25-zcm71j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/455672/original/file-20220331-25-zcm71j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455672/original/file-20220331-25-zcm71j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455672/original/file-20220331-25-zcm71j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455672/original/file-20220331-25-zcm71j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455672/original/file-20220331-25-zcm71j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/455672/original/file-20220331-25-zcm71j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Horses can form very close bonds with humans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/winter-walk-on-horses-1009191520">Ruslan 1980/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Competing can impact on the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0737080615300721?casa_token=yazwPbZMy34AAAAA:KT7oS--whJPfwH6AhBfub8fbBEAkebSfGVUaieO6sGI4QYssKl-_-xOoBcVTf3UUE65x2DykyX6P">horse’s level of stress</a>. It can make them excited, or anxious, depending on their temperament – but if they’re <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787810000766?casa_token=Vj4z2v0wBxcAAAAA:gDyu5B2v-QX1s4sbaUKAtIh1lS1hA6jmWlw9iukpmC3gFqCVpX3F3Q84WrZ2Or-WwB6uh857q-e3">trained humanely</a>, and carefully conditioned to their workload and the competitive environment, then their working lives can be enriching for them.</p>
<p>It is of course unlikely that the horses themselves have any concept of competing or winning. That requires <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/419255a">self-awareness</a> and ego – two things that are highly tuned in humans, but unlikely to be present in horses as their brains have not evolved to develop the higher functions that create this awareness. </p>
<p>Racehorses run fast because they’ve been primed by evolution to run if everyone else runs; any ancestor who didn’t show that automatic flight response didn’t last long on the open grass plains. And showjumping horses float over enormous fences because they’ve been trained to do so. But as long as the training was humane, then they might well have learnt to find it rewarding.</p>
<p>In truth, we’ll never know for sure why horses are willing to work so closely with humans. There is nothing natural about carrying us on their backs and travelling the world from competition to competition – and yet they do. What is clear is that they are a remarkably cooperative and gentle species, so we owe it to them to ensure the future of equine sports is ethical and sustainable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/180295/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Heather Cameron-Whytock has worked on projects funded by the Fédération Equestre Internationale and on projects where the study data was provided by the Fédération Equestre Internationale or British Eventing. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carrie Ijichi has received funding from The Horse Trust. </span></em></p>Horses are the supreme athletes of the large mammal world – here’s a look at the reasons why they can run so fast and jump so high.Heather Cameron-Whytock, Senior Lecturer in Equine Sports Science, Nottingham Trent UniversityCarrie Ijichi, Senior Lecturer in Animal Behaviour & Welfare, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1795412022-03-25T13:48:16Z2022-03-25T13:48:16ZWe’ve discovered why some whales stop feeding in response to the sound of sonar<p>In September 2002, a number of beaked whales were stranded and killed in the Canary Islands during a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/sep/28/animalwelfare.nato">NATO naval exercise</a>. It was the first time we started to get a real understanding of the negative <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228346496_Beaked_Whale_Strandings_and_Naval_Exercises">effects of sonar sounds</a> on cetaceans, which includes whales, dolphins and porpoises.</p>
<p>But why did the noise of sonar seem to affect beaked whales in particular, rather than other species of cetacean?</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2114932119">new research</a>, we’ve discovered that the response of each species to predators could explain why some whales and dolphins are more sensitive to this human-made noise.</p>
<p>It was back in the early 2000s that we (along with other researchers around the world) began to study the <a href="https://www.int-res.com/abstracts/esr/v31/p293-315/">impact of sonar</a> on free-ranging whales. These new “behavioural responses studies” exposed different cetacean species to gradually increasing levels of sonar – with careful monitoring to keep the animals from harm. We were then able to identify the level of sonar noise at which behavioural changes began to occur. </p>
<p>From that early research we knew that feeding is commonly affected when marine mammals are disturbed by sonar, and some species are markedly more sensitive to this exposure than others. For example, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2013.0223">Cuvier’s beaked whales</a> showed dramatically more severe changes in their feeding habits (swimming rapidly and silently away while extending their length of dive and non-feeding period) than <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2013.0657">blue whales</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/are-marine-protected-areas-helping-marine-mammals-and-birds-maybe-but-more-can-be-done-173045">Are marine protected areas helping marine mammals and birds? Maybe, but more can be done</a>
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<p>But until now the reasons for this differing response between species <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12955">were unclear</a>. So, we decided to investigate whether they were responding to human-made sound in <a href="https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol6/iss1/art11/">a similar way</a> to their response to predators, as some theories suggested. </p>
<h2>Exposing whales to sound</h2>
<p>Most cetaceans are themselves the prey of another cetacean, the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-2907.1991.tb00291.x">killer whale</a>. Some species, including beluga and beaked whales, have few defence mechanisms. But others are safer due to their large body size, like sperm whales, or large social groups, such as pilot whales.</p>
<p>This means that different species respond differently to the presence of killer whales. We set out to discover whether four cetacean species respond to navy sonar in the same way they respond to the sounds of predatory killer whales – and whether differences across the species related to their natural level of risk from these fearsome predators.</p>
<p>By tagging the animals with <a href="https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/1190131">suction-cupped recording devices</a> – which capture the timing of both sound and movement – we were able to monitor the feeding and movement of 43 tagged whales off the coast of Norway: three toothed whale species (northern bottlenose, sperm and long-finned pilot) and one baleen whale species (humpback). </p>
<p>We measured their reduction in feeding time when exposed to naval sonar – varying from one to four kilohertz – and compared it to their response to recordings of predatory killer whale sounds. </p>
<h2>Links to predator threat</h2>
<p>We found that both naval sonar and the predator sounds caused a clear reduction in feeding time across the four whale species. By contrast feeding activity was unaffected when we exposed them to the sounds of sea vessels without sonar or other control sounds.</p>
<p>Strikingly, each species responded similarly to sonar and predatory sounds: northern bottlenose whales had the strongest response and ceased foraging for food entirely (100% loss of feeding time), followed by humpback whales and long-finned pilot whales (both approximately 75%). Sperm whales had the lowest response, reducing time spent feeding by approximately 50% to both sounds.</p>
<p>It’s clear that the different hearing sensitivity of each species is not sufficient to explain the observed difference – that’s because the humpback whales, which have the best hearing in the frequency band of the sonar, were not the most sensitive. </p>
<p>Instead our findings indicate that risk from killer whales plays a role in driving the responses, and that adaptations to their predators can explain cetacean sensitivity to human-made noise.</p>
<p>The northern bottlenose whales, who rely on crypsis (staying hidden) and flight to reduce their risk of death by killer whale, were very cautious and gave up feeding when detecting sounds of potential threats – but the species that are less vulnerable to predation were also less responsive to sounds of killer whales and sonar.</p>
<h2>Implications for Arctic whales</h2>
<p>Our findings can help to predict which cetaceans are likely to have extreme responses to human generated ocean noise – and help us to set appropriate conservation priorities.</p>
<p>The findings are particularly relevant to cetacean species in the Arctic as they are at highest risk of predation.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/killer-whales-taking-food-from-fishing-lines-reveal-something-intriguing-about-human-evolution-176050">Killer whales taking food from fishing lines reveal something intriguing about human evolution</a>
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<p>For example, Narwhal behaviour and distribution is influenced by <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.1611707114">Arctic killer whales</a> and, as we would expect, they are sensitive to <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.658173/full?fbclid=IwAR1UYzZw4AP7vOgzcqzQ3kpLaAuF83pCGbphddeV8rRzmeprMPlYOPtDNjU">human-made sounds</a> such as airgun pulses and ship noise.</p>
<p>As sea ice rapidly decreases, Arctic cetaceans face a double whammy of impacts – increasing levels of predation from more killer whale movements into ice-free zones, as well as increasing levels of noise from human activities, such as seismic exploration, military and shipping. </p>
<p>As well as the risk of immediate injury or death, it will be important to consider the effects of human disturbance on their feeding and other behaviours.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179541/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I was a member of the team that received funding from various navy sponsors to study the effects of sonar on cetaceans.
The research was carried out independently from sponsor influence, and our publication policy states: "...under no circumstances can sponsors claim the right to influence the scientific analysis, interpretation and publication of original data in a binding way." The polluter therefore appropriately paid for this research, but had no influence on the conduct or publication of the research. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>As with Patrick Miller.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>As with Patrick Miller</span></em></p>Whale species at higher risk of predation from killer whales are more adversely affected by the sound of sonar.Patrick Miller, Professor of Biology, University of St AndrewsCharlotte Cure, Researcher in Bioacoustics, UMRAE, FranceSaana Isojunno, Research fellow, University of St AndrewsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1791342022-03-24T11:31:44Z2022-03-24T11:31:44ZOctopus farms raise huge animal welfare concerns - and they’re unsustainable too<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453018/original/file-20220318-19-1hj1836.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/close-view-common-octopus-vulgaris-1340447465">Henner Damke/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When you imagine an octopus’s world, you might well see a curious creature in a complex undersea environment. </p>
<p>Yet the reality of life for <a href="https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/7447198/161421_ciwf_octopus-report-_21_aw_web_hybrid.pdf">some octopuses</a> is existence within a barren tank, inescapably surrounded by humans and other octopuses. This is the bleak world of octopus farming – and soon there could be new commercial farms on the horizon.</p>
<p>Recently a Spanish company announced its intention to open a new industrial octopus farm, with a goal of producing <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59667645">3,000 tonnes</a> of octopus a year. This raises huge concerns for animal welfare – because there can be no doubt that octopuses are complex and intelligent animals. </p>
<p>Wild octopuses are masters of camouflage, rapidly changing their skin patterns to blend in with their backgrounds. Sometimes they cover themselves with shells or even <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2009.10.052">carry coconut shells</a> to hide from predators. And they are well-known <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/13/the-great-escape-inky-the-octopus-legs-it-to-freedom-from-new-zealand-aquarium">escape artists</a> in captivity, able to squeeze through extraordinarily small spaces. </p>
<p>They may even have a mischievous streak, with frequent reports of octopuses squirting water at unsuspecting visitors and caregivers. <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96476905&t=1647282014096">One octopus in Germany</a> was renowned for repeatedly squirting water at the lights, seemingly aware that this would short-circuit the electricity and cause a commotion. </p>
<p>In a laboratory setting too, they have shown themselves adept at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1997.tb00163.x">solving mazes</a> and <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152048">other puzzles</a> to acquire a food reward.</p>
<p>And octopuses are not only intelligent. They are also sentient, capable of experiencing feelings such as pain and pleasure. </p>
<p>We recently produced a <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/News/News-Assets/PDFs/2021/Sentience-in-Cephalopod-Molluscs-and-Decapod-Crustaceans-Final-Report-November-2021.pdf">report</a> for the UK government, after analysing over 300 scientific studies. We found strong evidence in <a href="https://theconversation.com/octopus-crabs-and-lobsters-feel-pain-this-is-how-we-found-out-173822">favour of sentience</a> in cephalopod molluscs (including octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) and decapod crustaceans (such as crabs and lobsters).</p>
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<img alt="Common octopus swimming in the sea" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453025/original/file-20220318-19-1nhq08z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Octopus have different moods and can be playful and mischievous.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/common-octopus-vulgaris-wildlife-animal-290669537">Vladimir Wrangel/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>For many scientists, our findings merely reaffirmed what they <a href="https://fcmconference.org/img/CambridgeDeclarationOnConsciousness.pdf">already believed</a>: that octopuses are conscious animals with feelings and inner lives, just like vertebrates.</p>
<p>For us, all of this sits uneasily with the idea of octopus farming. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/octopuses-are-super-smart-but-are-they-conscious-57846">Octopuses are super-smart ... but are they conscious?</a>
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<p>While octopus has long been an occasional menu item for many, demand for octopus meat is <a href="https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/7447198/161421_ciwf_octopus-report-_21_aw_web_hybrid.pdf">growing rapidly</a>. And that has led to the proposals to start farming octopuses on an industrial scale. As well as Spain, there are <a href="https://issues.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Jacquet-et-al.-The-Case-Against-Octopus-Farming-37-44-Winter-2019.pdf">similar efforts</a> in Mexico, Chile, China and Japan.</p>
<h2>Huge ethical concerns</h2>
<p>Octopuses are attractive candidates for commercial aquaculture, due to their high value, fast growth and rapid breeding. </p>
<p>But when working on our report, we assessed some of the greatest risks to the welfare of octopuses, and octopus farming was high on our list. The possibility of poor welfare is extremely concerning, especially as there are <a href="https://www.ciwf.org.uk/media/7447198/161421_ciwf_octopus-report-_21_aw_web_hybrid.pdf">no protections</a> for farmed octopus under animal welfare legislation anywhere in the world.</p>
<p>Octopuses have several characteristics that make them particularly ill-suited to intensive farming. </p>
<p>They are soft-bodied, with skin that damages easily through rough handling or collisions with tank walls or furniture, particularly when jetting away from perceived threats – their usual escape response. They are a vulnerable animal that prefers to hide and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2004.05.018">requires shelter to feel safe</a>.</p>
<p>As solitary animals (with very rare exceptions), they are often aggressive and territorial, meaning they tend to react badly to the company of other octopuses, with <a href="https://oceanrep.geomar.de/id/eprint/10074/4/Pierce_2010.pdf">cannibalism common</a> for many octopus species. Stress from overcrowding can even lead octopuses to resort to <a href="https://assets.speakcdn.com/assets/2332/giant_pacific_octopus_care_manual_final_9514.pdf">self-cannibalism</a> – they literally eat their own arms.</p>
<p>And since they are behaviourally and cognitively complex, they <a href="https://issues.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Jacquet-et-al.-The-Case-Against-Octopus-Farming-37-44-Winter-2019.pdf">require complex environments</a> that provide stimulation and opportunities to perform natural behaviours.</p>
<p>To make matters worse, there are currently no recognised methods of humane slaughter for octopus that would be feasible at a large commercial scale. For these reasons, we concluded in our report that we have “very high confidence that high-welfare commercial farming of cephalopods is currently impossible”.</p>
<p>In short, we had little doubt that it is a bad idea.</p>
<h2>It’s unsustainable too</h2>
<p>Proponents of octopus farming claim the practice has environmental benefits. They say that it is a sustainable method of production that will reduce pressure on wild populations of octopus. </p>
<p>Currently, it is the case that around <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59667645">350,000 tonnes</a> of wild octopus are harvested annually. And if demand continues to increase, this harvest will also be expected to rise. </p>
<p>But we are not convinced by this claim of sustainability. </p>
<p>One problem is that octopuses are carnivores, which means they require fish or other seafood products such as fishmeal or fish oil in their diet. These products are still frequently harvested from the ocean. And as octopuses have a food conversion ratio of <a href="https://issues.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Jacquet-et-al.-The-Case-Against-Octopus-Farming-37-44-Winter-2019.pdf">around three to one</a> (meaning it takes roughly three kilograms of feed to produce one kilogram of octopus), this is a highly inefficient use of resources.</p>
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<img alt="Boiled octopus tentacles on a stone plate" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453024/original/file-20220318-15-1l63yzo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=339&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Reducing consumption of octopus is the sustainable choice – not farming.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/boiled-octopus-tentacles-on-stone-plate-1482977357">YARUNIV Studio/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>A second problem is that it is not by any means clear that shifting to aquaculture will reduce pressure on wild stocks. It is just as likely that octopus farming will simply reduce prices and increase demand, as has been seen in <a href="https://phys.org/news/2019-02-aquaculture-wild-fisheries.html">fish aquaculture</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/octopus-crabs-and-lobsters-feel-pain-this-is-how-we-found-out-173822">Octopus, crabs and lobsters feel pain – this is how we found out</a>
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<p>So, if we really want to protect wild octopus populations we need to move beyond a false choice between devastating overfishing and industrialised farming.</p>
<p>The emphasis should be on decreasing consumption rather than on trying to shift demand from wild to captive stocks – and to do that, we need to be wary of quick fixes such as artificially raising prices. That can lead to unwanted effects, such as creating perceived scarcity that drives up consumer desire – think here of “luxury” goods such as shark fin. </p>
<p>To find the best ways of profoundly changing our eating habits, they need to be designed and tested by behaviour change experts so that we can robustly shift demand. And there may be no single solution. Approaches might need to vary across different cultures and consumer groups.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179134/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Schnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Heather Browning receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant Number 851145.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Birch receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant Number 851145.</span></em></p>A proposed new large-scale octopus farm in Spain is a huge risk to the welfare of this sentient and intelligent animal.Alexandra Schnell, Research Fellow in Comparative Psychology, University of CambridgeHeather Browning, Postdoctoral Research Officer, Foundations of Animal Sentience, London School of Economics and Political ScienceJonathan Birch, Associate Professor of Philosophy, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1782462022-03-04T12:14:09Z2022-03-04T12:14:09ZMonkey teeth are shedding new light on how early humans used tools<p>The macaques of Japan’s Koshima Island are a clever bunch. Well known for performing some <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-017-0642-7">remarkably complex tasks</a>, such as washing sweet potatoes and filtering wheat from sand in the seawater, they’ve even been spotted catching <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/156391">live octopuses from the sea</a>.</p>
<p>During continuous observations the macaques’ unique skills were seen rapidly spreading through the population and provided some of the first evidence of local habits in animals. </p>
<p>I recently visited the Primate Research Institute at Kyoto University to study the teeth remains of macaques who had died naturally on Koshima Island, one of the longest running <a href="https://www.wrc.kyoto-u.ac.jp/koshima_st/monkey">primatological field sites</a> in the world. </p>
<p>It was part of a project to create a database of tooth wear and dental disease in wild primates – but I very quickly noticed something extremely unexpected. All the deceased macaques had identical – and very unusual – tooth wear for a primate. And not only that, it seemed remarkably similar to the tooth wear commonly found in hominin (humans and our closely related ancestors) fossil samples. I knew I had to investigate further.</p>
<p>Through collaborations with local primatologists, and experts in studying microscopic features on tooth surfaces, we studied the tooth remains of 32 individuals in more detail, recording the overall tooth wear, fractures and pathologies. This allowed us to directly compare the features on the tooth’s surface with <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/oa.2601">published examples</a> in hominin fossils.</p>
<h2>Surprising toothy similarities</h2>
<p>“Toothpick” grooves on back teeth and large vertical scratches on front teeth are thought to be unique to hominins, and most likely caused by <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00784-010-0447-1">distinctive tool use</a>. The markings are used as evidence for the earliest forms of cultural habits identified during human evolution. </p>
<p>But as my colleagues and I found these same types of <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajpa.24500">unusual tooth wear</a> in the preserved teeth of the deceased wild Koshima macaques, we set out to try to explain the similarities using a combination of extensive literature and ongoing field observations.</p>
<p>In fossil hominin samples, the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440304000214">large scratches</a> on front teeth are typically considered to be caused by a type of behaviour called “stuff and cut” in which an item, such as an animal hide, is held between the front teeth and a stone tool used to slice portions off.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-macaque-monkeys-of-mauritius-an-invasive-alien-species-and-a-major-export-for-research-176569">The macaque monkeys of Mauritius: an invasive alien species, and a major export for research</a>
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<p>Accidental contact of the stone tool with the outside of the front teeth causes the marks, and it’s suggested that by studying the orientation and concentration of scratches in different areas of these teeth, insight into <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513809000221">right or left handedness</a> can be gleaned. </p>
<p>Similarly, because <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.23166">“toothpick” grooves</a> commonly form between back teeth, and long thin parallel scratches are often found within these grooves, it has long been considered that these grooves must be caused by a tool being placed into the gap between teeth and repeatedly moved back and forward to remove food debris or alleviate discomfort (hence the name toothpick grooves).</p>
<p>But there is no evidence for these types of tool use in Koshima Island macaques, or indeed any behaviour that could be considered habitual tool use. Instead this wear is likely caused by eating shellfish and accidentally chewing and consuming sand. The macaques were frequently observed picking up food from sandy beaches – and despite their attempts to wash the sand off, some does still get chewed as there is sand in their faeces.</p>
<p>Shellfish are also regularly eaten, and the macaques use their front teeth to both dislodge them from rocks and to scoop out the contents. These behaviours likely cause this extreme wear, due to the sand, hard shells and rock coming directly into contact with different tooth surfaces on a regular basis. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/weve-proved-that-wild-primates-suffer-from-tooth-decay-and-chimps-are-among-the-worst-173385">We've proved that wild primates suffer from tooth decay – and chimps are among the worst</a>
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<p>It is easy to imagine how large parallel scratches could form when biting down on foods covered in sand, or when attempting to dislodge and consume shellfish with no tools.</p>
<p>Why the root grooves and markings within the grooves should form on back teeth when sand or grit is chewed needs further research, but is probably due to small hard particles passing over these surfaces during the mastication cycle and during swallowing.</p>
<h2>Implications for human evolution</h2>
<p>So, it seems that normal chewing and food processing can cause these sorts of wear patterns without the need to infer complex and habitual tool use.</p>
<p>And as there are even more dental similarities between fossil hominin samples and this macaque group at the microscopic level – as well as high rates of tooth chipping, extreme overall tooth wear and the bevelled appearance of front teeth – it has to be considered that there is a common cause that is nothing to do with tool use at all. </p>
<p>Of course, it is the case that humans have been using <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248421000282">tools for a long time</a>, evident by the substantial number of stone tools found throughout human evolution. But this does not mean that they were responsible for the unusual wear found on hominin teeth.</p>
<p>In fact, there is growing evidence for <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.23250">grit mastication</a>, and marine molluscs are also thought to have been <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/neanderthals-cave-gibraltar-scn-scli-intl/index.html">consumed</a>. If the fossil hominin tooth wear is caused by eating behaviour, then studying their tooth wear in more depth may give vital insight into dietary and behaviour changes during human evolution. And studying living primates today could continue to offer crucial clues that have been overlooked in the past.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/178246/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Towle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Macaque tooth wear was identical to our ancestors, throwing into question the long held belief that tool use caused the markings on hominin tooth fossils.Ian Towle, Postdoctoral researcher & teaching assistant, London South Bank UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1777632022-02-25T11:51:00Z2022-02-25T11:51:00ZThe insect brain: we froze ants and beetles to learn how they remember their way home<p>We humans are versatile and accomplished navigators, but insects might have navigation skills that are even better. For them, it’s literally a matter of life and death – and that’s why we decided to freeze some ants and beetles (don’t worry, they still survived) to learn more about how they remember their way home after an outing.</p>
<p>Their skills are pretty impressive. Ants living in the Saharan salt pans can travel for more than a kilometre, knowing at all times their location in relation to their nest. There are no landmarks or other features in that terrain to help the ants recognise where they are. Instead, similar to the great explorers, such as Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan, the ants use the Sun’s position on the sky as a compass and their own motion to estimate distances. If you know the direction and distance you have walked away from home, you can draw a line pointing back to it. This allows the ants to safely <a href="https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.205187">return home</a> after finding food. </p>
<p>To give some perspective on what these remarkable insects do, consider that one kilometre is about 100,000 times the body length of an ant. That is equivalent to a human walking from New York to Washington DC, and then back, knowing at all times the correct direction and how far they have to go without using landmarks. </p>
<p>We wanted to learn more about how they do it.</p>
<h2>Inside the insect brain</h2>
<p>Thanks to recent developments in microscopy and genetics, scientists have been able to make different brain cells <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/cne.23705">emit different colours</a> of light. This huge achievement allowed researchers to distinguish individual neurons and untangle how they connect to each other in the neural spaghetti that makes up the brain. </p>
<p>The technique has been used to see how an insect’s brain keeps track of its direction – and identify brain cells that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2017.08.052">encode an insect’s speed</a> while it moves. With that information, its brain can compute how far it has travelled by constantly adding its current speed to its memory during the trip. </p>
<p>Both the direction and distance travelled by the insect are encoded by neurons in its brain as it travels away from its nest. But how is this stored in their memory so they can find their way back? </p>
<h2>Investigating memory</h2>
<p>To be honest, it was quite a puzzling conundrum. The fast moving navigating insects need to update their memory of direction and distance constantly on the fly, and yet can remember it for several days. These two aspects of memory – fast updating and long lasting – are typically considered incompatible, yet insects seem to manage to combine them. </p>
<p>We set out to investigate exactly how insects manage to remember constantly updating memories over a long period of time – and, we decided that freezing the insects was the best way to find the answer. Sounds strange I know, but let me explain why.</p>
<p>Anaesthesiologists know that when someone goes under anaesthesia they forget certain things that happened before anaesthesia, but remember others, depending on how these memories are stored. The closest thing to anaesthesia for insects is cooling them down. When their temperature is reduced to melting ice temperature (0ºC), electrical activity in the brain stops, and the insects fall into a coma. </p>
<p>If their direction and distance memories are maintained as short-term electrical activity, they will be wiped out when they are frozen – but if they are stored in synapses between neurons (as long lasting memories) they will be maintained. </p>
<p>So, we captured ants and beetles when away from their nests and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.039">cooled them</a> down to melting ice temperature (0ºC) for 30 minutes. Then we returned them to ambient temperature and, once they recovered, we released them at an unfamiliar place to see what they would do.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-an-ants-world-the-smaller-you-are-the-harder-it-is-to-see-obstacles-92837">In an ant's world, the smaller you are the harder it is to see obstacles</a>
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<p>Typically, when these insects are released at an unfamiliar place in their home environment they would run straight towards where their nest would have been had they not been displaced. That is they would run parallel to their normal path, and once they have travelled the expected distance they would start searching for their nest’s entrance. </p>
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<p>But we found that the insects that had been frozen moved in the expected direction, but had forgotten the distance they should travel – this meant that they started searching for the entrance to their nest too early.</p>
<p>It was initially puzzling that the distance memory deteriorated while the direction memory was preserved – this result did not produce the clear cut distinction between short-term (forgotten) and long-term (preserved) memory that we had expected. But we think the best explanation for the phenomenon is not two separate memories, but one common memory that encodes both the direction and distance combined – and partially decays when frozen.</p>
<p>Here’s how we think it works. </p>
<p>Imagine that instead of remembering a distance and a direction (or angle), you remember your position in x-y coordinates, that is, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cartesian_coordinate_system">Cartesian coordinate system</a> we learned about in school. </p>
<p>Then if you lose some of your memory, both your x and y values will be reduced, and assuming you lose a similar proportion of memory in both axes, you end up with a shorter distance but still the same angle, or direction. It seems that insects have been using Cartesian coordinate systems to get home long before René Descartes formalised the concept. How cool is that?</p>
<p>Whether human or insect, we all need to return home. Learning how insect brains remember will help us to understand how we humans do it too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177763/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ioannis Pisokas has received funding from the University of Edinburgh. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ajay Narendra receives funding from Australian Research Council, Hermon Slade Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ayse Yilmaz-Heusinger does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Insects such as ants and beetles use ingenious processes in their brains to work out how far they’ve travelled and in what direction - we’ve now discovered how they remember their way home.Ioannis Pisokas, PhD Candidate in Computational Neuroscience and BioRobotics, The University of EdinburghAjay Narendra, Senior Lecturer in School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie UniversityAyse Yilmaz-Heusinger, Postdoctoral researcher in Functional Zoology, Lund UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1773152022-02-18T14:03:22Z2022-02-18T14:03:22ZEarly trauma affects an elephant’s ability to assess threat from lions – new research<p>It’s not only humans who suffer from the long-term effects of childhood trauma. In our <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/4/495/htm">latest research</a> we discovered that there appears to be a very real and lasting impact on elephants who experienced trauma and profound social disruption many decades earlier.</p>
<p>Families of African elephants who had witnessed their parents being culled appeared less able to differentiate between the roars of different numbers of lions than the elephants from a natural, relatively undisturbed population – and as you can imagine, assessing the level of danger from their key predator is a crucial skill on the African savanna.</p>
<p>Acquiring complex ecological knowledge about their own population and surrounding environment (such as how to accurately assess predatory threat) – and passing it onto younger family members – is crucial for long-lived species who live in multi-generational groups, such as elephants. </p>
<p>The knowledge passed from one generation to the next can vary <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rstb.2010.0304">depending upon specific threats</a> faced by the population. For example, elephants in Amboseli National Park, Kenya can <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/111/14/5433">use human voices</a> to distinguish the greater threat associated with groups of people that are more likely to hunt them. They recognised the more threatening people on the basis of ethnicity, gender and age through their language and voice characteristics.</p>
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<img alt="Lioness watching feeding elephants" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447278/original/file-20220218-44643-sjirfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/447278/original/file-20220218-44643-sjirfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447278/original/file-20220218-44643-sjirfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447278/original/file-20220218-44643-sjirfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=902&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447278/original/file-20220218-44643-sjirfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447278/original/file-20220218-44643-sjirfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/447278/original/file-20220218-44643-sjirfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1134&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Lions are the only predator of African elephants, apart from humans.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graeme Shannon</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Aside from humans, lions are the key natural predator of elephants. It may be rare, but lions will <a href="https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6kx4m8">occasionally hunt calves</a> that have become separated from their family. In some regions, such as the Chobe national park in Botswana, large prides of lions have actually become adept elephant hunters and will even <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15627020.2009.11407437">tackle smaller adults</a>. </p>
<h2>How we assessed threat response</h2>
<p>For many years we have been studying African elephants in South Africa and Kenya, to explore the role of age and experience in effective leadership and decision making. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2011.0168">previous research in 2011</a> showed that the oldest matriarchs in Amboseli National Park were better at determining the greater danger associated with larger-bodied male lions compared with female lions solely from listening to lion roars broadcast from our custom-built loudspeaker. Making these subtle acoustic distinctions required experience gained over a long lifetime.</p>
<p>So, in our <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/12/4/495/htm">latest study</a> we set out to explore whether social trauma experienced decades ago might affect the natural ability of wild elephants to make key decisions on predatory threat.</p>
<p>We used two populations with differing developmental backgrounds. The natural population in Amboseli consisted of stable family groups with related individuals, and had experienced low levels of human disturbance. But the elephant population in Pilanesberg National Park in South Africa was founded with young, unrelated elephants who were survivors of culling operations in Kruger National Park during the early 1980s. The adult females from the families were shot, while the young animals were rounded up and moved to new reserves, forming groups with unrelated individuals. Thankfully this practice was ended soon after the population in Pilanesberg was established.</p>
<p>We broadcast one or three roaring lions to our study populations in Amboseli and Pilanesberg over a period of three years. The 30 second roars were broadcast from the back of our project Land Rover in the late afternoon when lions are most active. The behavioural responses of the elephant family group to the lion roars were recorded on video for later analysis.</p>
<h2>Impact of trauma</h2>
<p>The Amboseli elephants adjusted their behavioural response depending upon the number of lions that were broadcast. In situations of greater threat (more roaring lions) the elephants formed a rapid defensive bunch that would likely deter even the most committed predator. These involve calves moving to the middle of the group while the adults form a defensive ring. Whereas a single roaring lion was met with a reduced threat response and the elephants were less alert.</p>
<p>But the Pilanesberg elephants did not appear able to distinguish three roaring lions as a greater threat than one roaring lion, showing a similar high probability of defensive bunching in both situations. </p>
<p>This overreacting to every situation could potentially result in increased use of energy, loss of feeding time and injury risks.</p>
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<p>So, it appears that their traumatic past has had a long-term impact on the development and knowledge acquisition of these surviving animals. </p>
<p>In fact, the results echo those of our <a href="https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-9994-10-62">earlier study</a> exploring social knowledge in the Pilanesberg elephants. We found that they were unable to assess the greater social threat presented by the vocalisations of unfamiliar and older adult female elephants.</p>
<p>As well as the likely direct impact of trauma, the lack of older highly knowledgeable females in the orphaned population is key. The passing on of knowledge is likely to have significant survival and reproductive benefits for families led by the oldest and <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.1057895">most experienced matriarchs</a>, whereas orphaned elephants commonly <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-14712-2">miss out</a> on the benefits.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/forest-elephants-are-our-allies-in-the-fight-against-climate-change-finds-research-120440">Forest elephants are our allies in the fight against climate change, finds research</a>
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<p>But it’s not all bad news. Despite everything, the elephants in Pilanesberg have shown remarkable resilience and over time have formed stable family groups that exhibit normal social behaviour. This is not always the case, with some reintroduced elephants showing very high <a href="https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/188">levels of aggression</a> against other animals.</p>
<p>Our results have important implications for the remaining elephant populations across Africa, many of which face <a href="https://www.savetheelephants.org/about-elephants-2-3-2/threats-to-elephants/">considerable pressure from humans</a>, such as poaching, habitat loss and climate change. These threats greatly impact social structure and the opportunity to learn crucial skills from older and more experienced individuals.</p>
<p>Sadly it is often these older and wiser animals that are the target of illegal hunting due to their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/06/poachers-kill-satao-ii-elephant-kenya-tsavo-big-tusker">larger tusks</a>. Ultimately, when it comes to conserving long-lived and highly social species such as elephants, we need to <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2020.2718">protect the social structure</a> of the population. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/elephant-ivory-dna-analysis-offers-clearest-insight-yet-into-illegal-trafficking-networks-177012">Elephant ivory: DNA analysis offers clearest insight yet into illegal trafficking networks</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Graeme Shannon received funding from the Leverhulme Trust for this research. </span></em></p>We showed for the first time that social disruption and trauma - such as culling of older elephants - has a lasting impact on the behaviour of African elephants.Graeme Shannon, Lecturer in Zoology, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1772672022-02-17T13:52:32Z2022-02-17T13:52:32ZFive things to consider before getting a feline companion<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446861/original/file-20220216-21-mlksui.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cute-grey-tabby-cat-cardboard-box-1526963033">New Africa/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the words of Sigmund Freud, “time spent with cats is never wasted.” It’s a view that’s shared by the millions of people across the globe who are drawn to the small felines who chose to live with humans <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0139">thousands of years</a> ago. </p>
<p>With remarkable anatomical, physiological and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2015.04.001">behavioural similarities</a> to their wild big cat cousins, it’s their independent yet mellow nature (not to mention cuteness) that makes cats such a <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/515381/cats-population-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/">popular pet</a>, especially in the western world.</p>
<p>But people often underestimate what caring for a cat entails. Here are some of the important things to think about before welcoming a feline into your home.</p>
<h2>Early socialisation</h2>
<p>Cats need <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0168-1591(95)00603-P">extensive socialisation</a> to ensure they can thrive as a pet and form a close relationship with their humans. Habituation to people and other animals – as well as to different sounds, objects and physical contact – has to be done by the age of <a href="https://www.cats.org.uk/uploads/documents/The_Cat_Mag_extracts/Kitten_socialisation.pdf">seven or eight weeks</a>. This places a huge responsibility on cat breeders and cat shelters, as kittens must not be taken from their mother until at least <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-11173-5">eight weeks old</a> (ideally ten to 12). During this time they build up their strength and immunity from feeding on their mother’s milk, and learn to play and use their litter tray under her guidance.</p>
<p>Check that the kitten is still with its mum before you agree to adopt or buy, and that they have reached the appropriate age before you take them home.</p>
<h2>Training and stimulation</h2>
<p>Cats are independent animals and like to do what they want, when they want. So, you will need to teach them not to jump up onto kitchen surfaces and any other places where they might not be welcome. This is best done when they are young but adult cats can also be trained to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.12.002">some degree too</a>. If you invest the time, you will make your own life easier and your cat’s life happier.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/physics-and-psychology-of-cats-an-improbable-conversation-176020">Physics and psychology of cats – an (improbable) conversation</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Generally speaking most cats are perfectly content in their own company for several hours a day. But just as with dogs there are some cats who suffer from <a href="https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/222/11/javma.2003.222.1526.xml">separation-related anxiety</a>, which can lead to behaviours such as <a href="https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/220/7/javma.2002.220.1028.xml">inappropriate urination</a> or an unusual level of vocalisation.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Grey and white cat cuddling up to a golden retriever" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446859/original/file-20220216-25-138xbo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446859/original/file-20220216-25-138xbo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446859/original/file-20220216-25-138xbo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446859/original/file-20220216-25-138xbo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446859/original/file-20220216-25-138xbo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446859/original/file-20220216-25-138xbo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446859/original/file-20220216-25-138xbo7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cats and dogs can be best pals and keep each other company.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/british-cat-golden-retriever-646123102">Chendongshan/shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If you are going to be away for long periods of time every day then you will need to make sure they have stimulation. You might consider getting two cats from the same litter, rather than one. Or a cat flap. Or maybe even a dog. Cats and dogs can form close bonds, but you’ll need to be careful about how you introduce your cat to a new canine friend – here also, socialisation at an early age is key. </p>
<h2>Nutritional and medical needs</h2>
<p>Cats are supreme and opportunistic hunters, which can lead to pressure on their <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/animal-conservation-forum/article/abs/ecological-impact-of-insideoutside-house-cats-around-a-suburban-nature-preserve/7C3509C3FBF7F21635EB3DF25A88E7EB">prey species</a>, as well as on you as an owner to prevent such killings.</p>
<p>Be prepared to put some effort into finding a cat food which meets their approval as cats can be very picky eaters. You may even want to consider the type of bowl you feed them from as cats sometimes suffer from <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1098612X20930190">whisker stress</a>.</p>
<p>You will need to have them microchipped at a young age and vaccinated annually – and the choice and optimal time to neuter will require some <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1439-0531.2009.01437.x">thinking through</a>.</p>
<h2>A suitable environment</h2>
<p>Be sure that you can provide a living environment that suits your cat’s character. </p>
<p>Cats are considered a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1558787815001549">semi-solitary animal</a>. They can benefit from being adopted with a same-sex animal from the same litter. But if you already have an older cat that is used to a quiet life, you may <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1098612X19877988">cause considerable upset</a> by adopting a new little kitten or bringing in another adult cat.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Young female sitting on sofa with a cat leaning against her" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446864/original/file-20220216-24-1jxyjgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/446864/original/file-20220216-24-1jxyjgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446864/original/file-20220216-24-1jxyjgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446864/original/file-20220216-24-1jxyjgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446864/original/file-20220216-24-1jxyjgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446864/original/file-20220216-24-1jxyjgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/446864/original/file-20220216-24-1jxyjgy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cats enjoy human company but like to choose who they mix with.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-hispanic-latin-ethnic-teen-girl-1732105081">insta_photos</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cats are highly agile and live three dimensionally, which means that they like to sit in high places, jump and climb. They also inhabit an olfactory world, which may come with a need to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168159109003554">encounter interesting smells</a>. Be prepared to adapt your home accordingly, as these are important behavioural needs and they cannot be persuaded not to do them.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-stroke-a-cat-according-to-science-116025">How to stroke a cat, according to science</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>To prevent your sofa from becoming the scratch pole, you’ll probably want to provide your cat with scratching poles. Make sure that they are long enough to allow a full body stretch, and placed at central positions in <a href="https://www.rspca.org.uk/adviceandwelfare/pets/cats/environment">your home</a>.</p>
<h2>Pedigree or rescue</h2>
<p>Adopting a cat from a rescue centre can be an incredibly rewarding experience – and can also make it easier to find a cat that is a perfect match. </p>
<p>Choose the cat for its character, not just its looks. Individuals differ widely in <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1516">personality and temperament</a>, including friendliness, boldness and likelihood of aggression. It’s important to find the cat or kitten who fits perfectly with you and your living conditions.</p>
<p>If you opt for a pedigree kitten, find a breeder that invests heavily in socialising the kittens. <a href="https://www.gccfcats.org/Cat-Breeds">Choose your breed</a> carefully as they have very different characteristics – some are more lazy and mellow, others more vocal and demanding. Be aware though, that some breeds may be prone to <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/7/394">hereditary issues</a> that can cause serious health issues.</p>
<p>Last but not least comes the fun part of deciding what to call your new kitten (an older rescue cat will probably have a name already). Cats learn their name very quickly – just make sure you choose something you’re happy to shout out loud when calling your feline friend in for the night.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/177267/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cats are in charge – but living with one can be one of life’s greatest joys. Here’s some guidance on choosing the right feline for you.Ineke van Herwijnen, Junior Assistant Professor in Animal Science and Society, Utrecht UniversityClaudia Vinke, Assistant Professor in Behavioural Biology, Utrecht UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1739572022-02-11T13:32:11Z2022-02-11T13:32:11ZWhy badgers are unfairly demonised – and what we can do to help<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445777/original/file-20220210-63440-m65sif.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/european-badger-called-eurasian-part-controversial-220464949">Edward Hasting-Evans/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Why can’t we leave badgers in peace? They are distinctive and iconic animals, but are subjected to shockingly high levels of abuse and <a href="https://www.wcl.org.uk/docs/WCL_Wildlife_Crime_Report_Nov_21.pdf">criminal behaviour</a>. Only very recently, a 28-year-old teaching assistant has been found guilty of animal cruelty after the RSPCA and police found pictures of her abhorrent <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10493251/Woman-encouraged-child-2-kill-badgers-foxes-faces-prison-animal-cruelty-offences.html">badger baiting</a> activities on a closed Facebook group. </p>
<p>Yet, with their trade mark black and white markings, large social groups and shy nature, badgers were very much part of British culture – they feature in classic children’s literature with characters such as Bill Badger, the best friend of Rupert the Bear, and kindly Mr Badger in Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows. They seem to have the unusual status of being one of the most loved British mammals in fiction, but one of the most persecuted in the real world.</p>
<h2>Badger cull impact</h2>
<p>Despite being the UK’s largest remaining carnivore, <a href="https://www.badgertrust.org.uk/badgers">badgers are omnivorous</a> and emerge from their setts – elaborate systems of tunnels and nest chambers – at night to hunt for earthworms (a large proportion of their diet) as well as insects, fruits, cereals and small mammals. </p>
<p>Inevitably, badgers do often wander through fields with cattle. And they also happen to be the unfortunate carriers of a bacteria <em>Mycobacterium bovis</em> which causes severe disease in cows. As bovine tuberculosis (bTB) can wipe out a farmer’s entire herd and livelihood, it led to the UK government sanctioning its controversial <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06837/">badger cull</a>, which has been responsible for the ongoing killing of thousands of the animals since 2013. </p>
<p>It is likely that badgers unwittingly <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/756942/tb-review-final-report-corrected.pdf">help to spread bovine TB</a> – but the evidence is unclear about how much culling actually helps to reduce the disease in cattle. In 2019, research found that it could in fact <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.13512">make things worse</a> by pushing badgers out into other areas where culling is not taking place.</p>
<p>Whatever the impact of the culls, there can be little doubt that they had an effect on public perception. </p>
<p>There was huge public support for badgers through organisations such as the <a href="https://www.mammal.org.uk/2016/05/badgers-and-bovine-tuberculosis/">Mammal Society</a> and the <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/wildlife-and-wild-places/saving-species/badgers/solution">Wildlife Trusts</a> who are opposed to the cull.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Queen guitarist Brian May leads a Team Badger protest march mimicking a funeral parade, to mark the killing of 2,263 badgers in 2013/14." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445801/original/file-20220210-47270-4gm99j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445801/original/file-20220210-47270-4gm99j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445801/original/file-20220210-47270-4gm99j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445801/original/file-20220210-47270-4gm99j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=416&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445801/original/file-20220210-47270-4gm99j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445801/original/file-20220210-47270-4gm99j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445801/original/file-20220210-47270-4gm99j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Badgers do have public support, including from high profile campaigners.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-badger-cull-protest-108380066.html?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid=9BE056C4-E7EF-413E-805B-B0C1EA2B19E7&p=309300&n=1&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3Dbar%26st%3D0%26sortby%3D2%26qt%3Dbadger%2520cull%2520protest%26qt_raw%3Dbadger%2520cull%2520protest%26qn%3D%26lic%3D3%26edrf%3D0%26mr%3D0%26pr%3D0%26aoa%3D1%26creative%3D%26videos%3D%26nu%3D%26ccc%3D%26bespoke%3D%26apalib%3D%26ag%3D0%26hc%3D0%26et%3D0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3D0%26loc%3D0%26ot%3D0%26imgt%3D0%26dtfr%3D%26dtto%3D%26size%3D0xFF%26blackwhite%3D%26cutout%3D%26archive%3D1%26name%3D%26groupid%3D%26pseudoid%3D%7BAA4BFA21-6A20-4973-A795-CDDDB8962471%7D%26userid%3D%26id%3D%26a%3D%26xstx%3D0%26cbstore%3D1%26resultview%3DsortbyPopular%26lightbox%3D%26gname%3D%26gtype%3D%26apalic%3D%26tbar%3D1%26pc%3D%26simid%3D%26cap%3D1%26customgeoip%3DGB%26vd%3D0%26cid%3D%26pe%3D%26so%3D%26lb%3D%26pl%3D0%26plno%3D%26fi%3D0%26langcode%3Den%26upl%3D0%26cufr%3D%26cuto%3D%26howler%3D%26cvrem%3D0%26cvtype%3D0%26cvloc%3D0%26cl%3D0%26upfr%3D%26upto%3D%26primcat%3D%26seccat%3D%26cvcategory%3D*%26restriction%3D%26random%3D%26ispremium%3D1%26flip%3D0%26contributorqt%3D%26plgalleryno%3D%26plpublic%3D0%26viewaspublic%3D0%26isplcurate%3D0%26imageurl%3D%26saveQry%3D%26editorial%3D%26t%3D0%26filters%3D0">Jonathan Brady/PA Images/Alamy Stock Photo</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Some animal campaigners feared that they resulted in the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/feb/05/huntsman-jailed-for-badger-baiting-in-wales">badger becoming “demonised”</a> in certain parts of the UK – and government policy was at least in part responsible for the increase in cruelty towards the animal through barbaric activities such as badger baiting. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/badger-cull-alone-wont-work-for-eradicating-bovine-tb-but-this-might-107472">Badger cull alone won't work for eradicating bovine TB – but this might</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It didn’t stop there. Although the badger cull itself is legal, it has been used as a front by some criminals in order to make money. One licensed badger cull contractor, for example, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-50335647">illegally killed 28 badgers</a> outside of the cull period and then stored the bodies in a freezer in order to claim payment when the cull window was reopened.</p>
<h2>Unsubstantiated perceptions don’t help</h2>
<p>Badgers have also been <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/9/10/759">implicated in the decline</a> of the hedgehog, ‘<a href="https://www.rsb.org.uk/news/hedgehog-wins-favourite-uk-mammal-poll#:%7E:text=The%20hedgehog%20has%20been%20voted,in%20second%20place%20with%2015.4%25">UK’s favourite mammal</a>’. </p>
<p>While it is true that badgers are the main wild predator of hedgehogs and a competitor for food, the two species currently coexist in many areas of England and Wales, with one study reporting badger presence at <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-30130-4">49% of sites</a> where hedgehogs were found. </p>
<p>And although <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0095477#:%7E:text=By%20the%20end%20of%20culling,were%20culled%20(Figure%201)">hedgehog numbers</a> have been reported to increase in badger cull areas, hedgehog numbers have declined <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1566">all over the UK</a>, including in regions <a href="https://ptes.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SOBH2011lowres.pdf">with fewer badgers</a> than the cull areas.</p>
<p>This suggests that while badgers may have some negative impact on hedgehogs as you’d expect with any predator-prey relationship, there is no clear connection between declining hedgehog numbers and the size of the badger population - and it’s important to remember that they have co-existed for thousands of years without human interference in the form of culls. </p>
<p>In fact, a <a href="https://ptes.org/state-britains-hedgehogs-report-2018/">report on hedgehog declines</a> found that habitat loss through the intensification of agriculture, fewer hedgerows and tidier gardens are the main drivers. </p>
<p>Badgers are also perceived to be responsible for the decline of ground nesting birds, with a recent survey by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) showing that <a href="https://www.gwct.org.uk/blogs/news/2021/june/badger-predation-%E2%80%93-it%E2%80%99s-not-all-black-and-white-(part-1)">75% of respondents</a> believe this to be true. But a recent study looking at bird populations inside and outside badger cull areas in South-West England found <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00063657.2021.1889460">no evidence</a> that the removal of badgers made any difference.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>To its credit, the National Trust has already <a href="https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/our-view-on-badgers-and-bovine-tb">banned badger culls</a> on its land. </p>
<p>And, crucially, in May 2021 the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-sets-out-next-phase-of-strategy-to-combat-bovine-tuberculosis-in-england">government announced</a> that the licensing of new intensive badger culls will stop at the end of 2022. Instead, they plan to focus their efforts on badger vaccination, increased cattle testing and development of cattle vaccines. </p>
<p>But despite this announcement, Natural England has approved <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-58487796">seven new cull zones</a> and 40 new licences which allow the killing of tens of thousands of badgers by 2025. Much more needs to be done to challenge the perception among the farming community that culling badgers is the answer to eradicating bovine TB.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="European badger with trout caught in mouth in mountain stream" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445803/original/file-20220210-24693-1dbisd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445803/original/file-20220210-24693-1dbisd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445803/original/file-20220210-24693-1dbisd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445803/original/file-20220210-24693-1dbisd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445803/original/file-20220210-24693-1dbisd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445803/original/file-20220210-24693-1dbisd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445803/original/file-20220210-24693-1dbisd7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Badgers are omnivores, but largely feast on earthworms, insects and small mammals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/european-badger-meles-fishing-mountain-stream-1457752076">Martin Mecnarowski/shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As badgers are already fully protected by law – under the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1992/51/contents">Protection of Badgers Act 1992</a> – the key to reducing persecution lies in ensuring perpetrators are caught and convicted. This requires increasing public awareness and recognition of wildlife crimes. The Badger Trust has produced a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtlMpg5Gl-A">short film</a> to show the different methods of badger persecution, how to recognise the signs and to highlight the importance of recording and reporting badger crimes.</p>
<p>As for hedgehogs, we can look closer to home when it comes to taking action. </p>
<p>Good habitat cover provides safety and refuge for hedgehogs, and in areas where food supply is plentiful, enables them to <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/10/9/1566">live alongside badgers</a>. Creating hedgehog friendly gardens by leaving wild areas and enabling connectivity to other gardens – by installing <a href="https://www.hedgehogstreet.org/help-hedgehogs/link-your-garden/">hedgehog highways </a> – has been found to <a href="https://ptes.org/success-stories/investigating-the-effectiveness-of-hedgehog-highways/">significantly increase sightings of hedghogs</a>. </p>
<p>In short, there is no reason why both of these popular animals can’t continue to coexist and thrive. And in any case, can it ever be right to demonise (and even kill) an animal for simply living its life?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173957/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anna Champneys does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Badgers are shy and nocturnal animals. It’s time to challenge false perceptions and end the cruelty towards this iconic mammal.Anna Champneys, Senior Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1767022022-02-09T13:31:25Z2022-02-09T13:31:25ZChimpanzees rub insects on open wounds – new research suggests treating others may not be uniquely human<p>The chimpanzees of the Rekambo community in Gabon, West Africa never fail to surprise. For a start, they are known to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-43301-8">kill and eat tortoises</a>, which sets them apart from any other community of chimpanzees. Now they have been seen displaying another unique behaviour – one which has never been seen before despite many years of painstaking research.</p>
<p>In their new study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers have described how they saw Rekambo chimpanzees <a href="https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)01732-2">applying insects</a> to their own open wounds, and, even more amazingly, to the wounds of other community members too. </p>
<p>Even by itself, treating wounds with insects is a groundbreaking observation – but until now no other animal, apart from humans, has been seen treating the wounds of others.</p>
<p>Humans have been <a href="https://www.phcogrev.com/sites/default/files/PhcogRev-6-11-1.pdf">using local remedies</a> (such as roots, leaves, bark and other animals) as medicines for at least 5,000 years, a practice that has been passed down over generations within societies all over the world. </p>
<p>There is some <a href="https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13002-017-0136-0">use of invertebrates</a> in traditional human medicine too. For example, leeches have been used <a href="https://ethnobiomed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13002-017-0136-0/tables/1">to clean wounds</a>, slugs and snails to treat inflammation, spider webs to dress wounds and termite pincers to inject medicine under the skin.</p>
<p>Is it possible, perhaps, that such cultural use of plants and animals to treat injuries and illness was inherited from a common ape-like ancestor millions of years ago?</p>
<h2>Self-medication in animals</h2>
<p>As in humans, <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/epdf/10.1126/science.1235824">self-medication in wild animals</a> is not uncommon –individuals from a diverse range of species, including chimpanzees, select particular plant foods that contain chemicals known to treat infection by parasites. </p>
<p>For example, <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0004796">caterpillars</a> ingest plant toxins when infected by parasitic flies and <a href="https://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/handle/2433/68214">gorillas</a> consume a wide variety of plants that contain known compounds important in human traditional medicines. </p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-save-wild-chimpanzees-imagine-their-habitat-is-an-electrical-circuit-149761">To save wild chimpanzees, imagine their habitat is an electrical circuit</a>
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<p>Some species, such as wood ants, even <a href="https://serval.unil.ch/resource/serval:BIB_475BB8503A64.P001/REF">anticipate infection</a>, adding antimicrobial resin from nearby trees into their nests, which reduces the colony’s exposure to microbes. </p>
<p>To date however, this widespread behaviour almost always centres on self-medication with plant material. Never before has the use of insects on wounds been observed.</p>
<h2>The groundbreaking chimpanzees</h2>
<p>Over a 15-month period, beginning in November 2019, the team observed 76 open wounds on 22 different chimpanzees. There were 22 events of insect application by ten different chimpanzees. On 19 occasions, various individuals were seen applying an insect to one of their own wounds. </p>
<p>They caught an insect from the air, which they immobilised by squeezing between their lips. Then they placed it on an exposed surface of the wound and moved it around using their fingertips or lips. Finally, they extracted the insect from the wound.</p>
<p>But the use of insects didn’t stop there. In a remarkable act of “allocare” (caring for another individual) a mother was seen applying insects to her offspring’s wound, and a further two adult chimpanzees treated the wounds of another community member. </p>
<h2>Why it’s important</h2>
<p>The researchers do not yet know which insects were used, if they have any associated chemical properties or, most importantly, whether applying them to wounds has any health benefits. But what they do know is that the chimpanzees’ behaviour is extraordinary for a variety of reasons.</p>
<p>First, it’s likely an example of allo-medication behaviour (medicating others) in apes, which has never been seen before. </p>
<p>The authors think this is a possible prosocial behaviour – defined as one that benefits another individual. Humans are characterised by our propensity to volunteer, share and cooperate among others – but whether other species, especially our closely related cousins, also exhibit this type of behaviour remains unclear. </p>
<p>There is <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-15320-w">evidence for prosociality</a> in captive bonobos (our other closest <a href="https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/bonobo">living relative</a>) who have been seen assisting an unfamiliar, non-group member to obtain food during an experimental task.</p>
<p>But up to now, its presence in chimpanzees is <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2014.1699?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%20%200pubmed">contentious</a>. The current study undoubtedly pushes the needle towards their sharing some prosocial tendencies with humans.</p>
<p>Second, self-medication has long been associated with <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/51/8/651/220603">ingestion of plants</a> with specific medicinal properties. In a recent study, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-16621-w">orangutans were shown</a> to mix saliva with leaves from plants containing anti-inflammatory properties and apply it to various parts of their body – the first recorded case of topical self-medication in animals. </p>
<p>But never before have scientists observed chimpanzees (or any animal) essentially “treat” a wound, nor apply a different animal species to a wound. </p>
<p>In that sense, the observations stand out for what these chimpanzees are doing and how. Commonly known as “anointment”, rubbing a material, object or substance on a bodily surface has been observed in numerous species. </p>
<p>Mammals are especially known to rub themselves against trees and rocks or fruits and arthropods to <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/70649">pick up a particular scent</a>, and birds have been seen to capture and <a href="https://sora.unm.edu/node/119525">rub millipedes on their plumage</a>, probably to <a href="https://phys.org/news/2013-03-deterring-citrus-millipedes.html">deter ticks</a>. </p>
<p>In primates, anointing behaviour is also widespread. It’s not yet clear whether Rekambo chimpanzees are in fact rubbing the insects. But as they are uniquely targeting open wounds, it does suggest that it could well be an act of medication.</p>
<h2>What’s next?</h2>
<p>Identification and analysis of the insect species used by Rekambo chimpanzees will be key to revealing the purpose and effectiveness of this newly reported medication behaviour. Perhaps the insects from Gabon will be revealed to have wound-healing or anti-inflammatory properties, just like the plants used by orangutans. </p>
<p>Finally, although there can be little dispute about the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18176-3">cultural diversity in chimpanzees</a>, the Rekambo chimpanzees continue to stand out for their uniqueness. It begs the question, what else do these chimpanzees have in store for us?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176702/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>How Rekambo chimpanzees demonstrate a number of ground breaking behaviours never seen before in animals.Alexander Piel, Lecturer in Anthropology, University College London, UCLFiona Stewart, Lecturer in Wildlife Conservation, Liverpool John Moores UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1739512022-02-01T17:32:17Z2022-02-01T17:32:17ZWhy monkeys attack sick members of their troop – and don’t socially distance at all<p>Life in the wild can be tough, and sometimes animals don’t have the luxury of taking time out when they are sick. That’s certainly the reality of life for vervet monkeys living in Southern Africa, even though parasites and viruses are an ever-present <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3050629/">component of animal life</a>.</p>
<p>We know how people respond to infection. Loss of appetite and staying in bed or resting are some of the ways we adapt to being unwell. Being less active and eating less frees up energy to fight the infection – even digesting food uses energy. This behaviour may help us recover and is a key component of our survival.</p>
<p>My colleagues and I wanted to understand more about how monkeys respond to illness, and how a disease travels within and between animal groups. This is essential if we are to tackle the huge impact that infection can have on monkey population survival. While the causes of infection have been the <a href="https://oxford.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198565857.001.0001/acprof-9780198565857">focus of much attention</a>, until now we knew very little about the social consequences of infection in these monkeys. </p>
<p>For over ten years our international team of researchers have studied the behaviour and physiology of <a href="https://www.awf.org/wildlife-conservation/vervet-monkey">wild vervet monkeys</a> living in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. They live in large social troops – up to 40 monkeys per troop – and previous research has shown that they are routinely exposed to a <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.191078#d3e2732,%20https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajpa.23962,%20https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12329">range of environmental stressors</a> such as extreme heat and drought, as well as competition for food.</p>
<p>In our <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/118/44/e2107881118">most recent study </a> of three groups of wild vervet monkey, we examined the effect of getting sick on individual vervet monkey’s social status.</p>
<h2>How we studied fever</h2>
<p>As with humans, when a monkey gets an infection, they can get feverish. </p>
<p>We implanted <a href="https://www.star-oddi.com/products/data-loggers/temperature-logger-implant-livestock-animals">miniature data loggers</a> - narrow cylinders about 3cm long – into each monkey’s abdomen and recorded core body temperature inside the stomach every five minutes. That allowed us to document for the first time the occurrence of fever in a wild monkey population. </p>
<p>After the study period, we returned to take the loggers out, with the help of a team of vets from the University of the Witwatersrand. We needed to do this to get the data, and obviously also for the sake of the monkeys.</p>
<p>In our study group of 59 vervet monkeys, we detected 128 fevers in 43 monkeys over seven years. Feverish monkeys reached an average (mean) daily body temperature of about 39°C, with the highest body temperature on record being nearly 42°C. Fevers lasted between two and 20 days.</p>
<p>At the same time, we kept a detailed account of the monkeys’ behaviour and social interactions. Just like us, they lose their appetite and spend more time resting. But they can’t stay out of action for too long. Even sick monkeys need to keep up with their troop if they are to keep themselves out of reach of predators, such as cheetah, jackal and caracal (a wild cat). Monkeys also rely on their group mates to help <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347216302858">fight off neighbouring troops</a> as they compete for food, water and sleep sites. </p>
<h2>The risk of attack</h2>
<p>In addition to the behavioural consequences of fever, we were able to show, for the first time, a hidden and previously unrecognised cost of social interactions – feverish monkeys were attacked while they were down. </p>
<p>Within a monkey troop, competition is rife – monkeys battle for food, status and mates. Although it’s unclear if a monkey knows that one of their troop is sick, they do recognise the weakened state of their troop mate, perhaps because they are out of sorts or are less responsive to more subtle exchanges of dominance. </p>
<p>Some individuals seemed to use this to their advantage.</p>
<p>We discovered that when monkeys were feverish they were twice as likely to be attacked by one of their group mates and six times more likely to become injured as a result. Sick animals were targeted with aggression when they were least able to fight back, potentially improving the attacker’s social status, access to resources, or position in the troop. </p>
<p>We saw a particularly unusual sequence of events in one of our troops of 25 monkeys. </p>
<p>Female vervets live in relatively stable hierarchies. But when Brie, the alpha female, fell ill she was subjected to a torrent of abuse from the troop’s beta female, Tyvara. Over seven days, Brie was attacked by her on 12 occasions and received four different injuries. Needless to say, Brie’s alpha dominance status was no more and she slipped down the hierarchy. </p>
<p>Bystanders also seemed to benefit from the weakened status of a sick individual, in this case by manoeuvring up the hierarchy, and these fever-induced social interactions are likely to have important long-term social and fitness consequences for the individuals involved. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-orangutan-mothers-help-their-offspring-learn-173959">How orangutan mothers help their offspring learn</a>
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<p>But that’s not all. The feverish monkeys spent just as much time grooming, or being groomed, by other group members even though they were sick. While it might seem common sense to avoid other sick individuals, our findings suggest that social engagement probably reflects a trade-off between the propensity to get infected by a contagious individual and the social value and other benefits that the relationship affords – such as the ability to cope in <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12329">difficult environments</a> and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347217300362?via%3Dihub">successfully raise offspring</a>. Or perhaps monkeys simply don’t know that their troop mates are ill or could pass them a nasty illness. </p>
<p>The response of vervet monkeys to infection suggests that the spread of disease among the troop is likely. Now we have seen that there is a cost of being sociable when feverish, where vulnerable individuals are open to attack, perhaps we should turn our attention to the question of the impact of social integration among monkeys on the spread of disease within and between groups.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173951/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research was funded by Faculty research grants from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Claude Leon Fellowship awarded to Richard McFarland, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery grants to Peter Henzi and Louise Barrett, a Canada Research Chair award to Louise Barrett, National Research Foundation of South Africa grants to Andrea Fuller, Robyn Hetem, Peter Henzi and Duncan Mitchell, a Carnegie Corporation of New York grant to Andrea Fuller, and a Harry Oppenheimer Fellowship to Duncan Mitchell.</span></em></p>Why social interaction isn’t always a good thing for primates, especially for individuals with a fever.Richard Mcfarland, Senior Lecturer in Evolution and Social Behaviour, Nottingham Trent UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1740352021-12-30T11:53:32Z2021-12-30T11:53:32ZPolar bears eating reindeer: normal behaviour or result of climate change?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438815/original/file-20211222-19-1upr01h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/polar-bear-mother-two-cubs-on-1058416511">Alexey Seafarer/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, scientists in Hornsund, Svalbard – a Norwegian archipelago in the Arctic ocean – witnessed a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u0m_90yIPM">polar bear pursuing a reindeer</a> into the sea before killing it, dragging it ashore and eating it. The video that they captured was widely shared on news and social media platforms. Then, two days later, they saw the same bear beside a second fresh reindeer kill. </p>
<p>Their observations are the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00300-021-02954-w">first detailed account</a> of a complete and successful polar bear hunt of a Svalbard reindeer. But they follow <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225349127_Predation_of_Svalbard_reindeer_by_polar_bears">13 previous reports</a> of polar bears preying and scavenging on reindeer on the same archipelago between 1983 and 1999.</p>
<p>These are far from the first accounts of polar bears varying their diets. Normally, in the months when the sea is frozen, they enjoy a diet of offshore seals. But their use of supplementary food sources in the leaner summer months has been known for decades, with bears gorging on <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fevo.2015.00033/full">seabird eggs</a> as well as feeding at the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249538861_The_significance_of_food_to_polar_bears_during_the_ice-free_period_of_Hudson_Bay">Churchill dump</a> (a rubbish and recycling facility) in Hudson Bay. Yet, similar reports of terrestrial feeding have <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/140202">become more frequent in recent years</a>.</p>
<p>From stalking and chasing <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40512452">Canadian caribou</a>, fishing for <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/225412964_Observations_of_a_wild_polar_bear_Ursus_maritimus_successfully_fishing_Arctic_char_Salvelinus_alpinus_and_Fourhorn_sculpin_Myoxocephalus_quadricornis">Arctic char</a> and catching <a href="https://bmcecol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6785-13-51">geese and rodents</a> to grazing on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/17518369.2017.1326453">vegetation</a> and patrolling <a href="https://thebarentsobserver.com/en/ecology/2019/11/plastic-waste-polar-bears-menu-growing-problem">human refuse sites</a>, polar bears can eat, have eaten and have tried to eat many things.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/polar-bear-invasion-how-climate-change-is-making-human-wildlife-conflicts-worse-111654">Polar bear 'invasion': how climate change is making human-wildlife conflicts worse</a>
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<p>But the viability of these onshore food sources is doubtful as a long-term strategy. In their study of foraging on the eider duck nests of Mitvik island, Canada, researchers found polar bears to be <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.210391">inefficient predators of seabird eggs</a>, such that the energy an individual bear gains from eggs may be less than previously thought. That’s because they may use more energy to find the eggs than they get from eating them. Equally, other studies have found that the consumption of terrestrial food by polar bears has been <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/140202">insufficient to compensate</a> for reduced hunting opportunities out on the ice. </p>
<h2>The climate change threat</h2>
<p>Polar bears have evolved to be highly efficient <a href="https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(14)00488-7">predators of marine mammals</a>. They support themselves on a fat-heavy diet and rely on ice-based prey, primarily ringed and bearded seals. As a result, they are <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21680496/">profoundly threatened by a warming climate</a>.</p>
<p>With rising global temperatures, Arctic sea ice is melting earlier in summer and refreezing later in winter. And as the ice-free periods become longer, polar bears are spending <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-020-0818-9">more time on land</a> without access to their primary food.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438355/original/file-20211219-15-x6stdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438355/original/file-20211219-15-x6stdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438355/original/file-20211219-15-x6stdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438355/original/file-20211219-15-x6stdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438355/original/file-20211219-15-x6stdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438355/original/file-20211219-15-x6stdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438355/original/file-20211219-15-x6stdl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Due to climate change, ice is melting earlier in summer and refreezing later in winter.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/polar-bear-on-ice-floe-norwegian-702251059">FloridaStock/shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Their situation is being made worse by other factors, too. A recent study found the <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.aan8677">energy demands</a> of polar bears to be higher than previously assumed. With less time on the sea ice, and less seal fat to consume, polar bears will find it more difficult to meet their energy needs – leading to higher death rates. At the same time, <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-change/news/polar-bears-climate-change-hunting-seals-harder-global-warming-arctic-circle-melting-ice-smell-wind-a7680136.html">higher Arctic wind speeds</a> may make hunting seals harder still.</p>
<p>Therefore, increasing reports of summer scavenging, foraging and terrestrial hunting are unsurprising in the context of climate change, high energy stress and the resulting effect on their bodies. </p>
<h2>Burdened by publicity</h2>
<p>The proliferation of digital platforms plays a part in this story, too. As Andrew Derocher, a professor of biology at the University of Alberta and longtime polar bear expert, explained: “<a href="https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/polar-bear-filmed-chasing-reindeer-25569682">Everyone has a camera</a>” and “‘news’ spreads fast”. He rightly pointed out that if the same phenomenon was happening in the 1950s and 1960s, no one would likely have seen it.</p>
<p>Over the past few years, photos and videos of polar bears have garnered enormous online attention. From 56 bears <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/06/europe/russia-polar-bear-village-hnk-intl-scli/index.html">besieging a Russian town</a>, to tragic sequences of <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42322346">emaciated individuals</a>, polar bears are being used as the face of our climate catastrophe.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/in-the-path-of-the-polar-bears-what-its-like-to-be-an-arctic-scientist-47060">In the path of the polar bears: what it's like to be an Arctic scientist</a>
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<p>While the broad relationship here is undeniable – a sea ice species cannot live in an above freezing future – polar bears now inhabit a world where their every action is viewed as evidence in a wider climate change context. Amplified in our digital age, we see bears as the embodiment of our worsening global condition. </p>
<p>While their plight is rightly brought to our attention, online content can be misdirecting. A focus on individual bears to illustrate climate issues risks shifting the burden of proof away from overwhelming scientific evidence and onto the lives of single animals.</p>
<p>Therefore, observations like those in Hornsund reinforce the need for further peer-reviewed research on the future of this iconic species. This single event should not be seen as definitive proof of shifting diets in a warmer world, but as a reminder of the spectacular creatures we stand to lose. A species whose fate, even in the distant reaches of their Arctic landscape, is inexorably bound to our own.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/174035/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Henry Anderson-Elliott receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). </span></em></p>Polar bears are being forced to adapt their feeding habits due to climate change – so reports of summer scavenging, foraging and terrestrial hunting are unsurprising.Henry Anderson-Elliott, PhD, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1739592021-12-30T11:53:30Z2021-12-30T11:53:30ZHow orangutan mothers help their offspring learn<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438364/original/file-20211219-25-v6i304.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=161%2C138%2C4980%2C3291&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/mother-orangutan-funny-cute-baby-on-1122654077">Lukaszemenphoto/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>We have always known that orangutans infants are very dependent on their mothers in their early years. But it turns out that orangutan mothers also change their own behaviour to help their children learn and become independent as quickly as possible.</p>
<p>Primate culture has fascinated many of us who study animal behaviour since we learned back in the 1990s how <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/21415">chimpanzee behaviour</a> varies across Africa. This discovery gave rise to the possibility that apes might have their own “culture”, something that was once considered to be the definition of humanity. Since then, we have tried to draw comparisons between learning methods used by our offspring and those exhibited by apes. </p>
<p>So-called proactive teaching, where a learner is deliberately taught by a parent – usually by demonstration – is less common in humans than we might think, outside of formal education. Instead, we <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10539-020-09769-9">learn by copying</a> the actions of our parents to allow us to replicate these behaviours in our own lives.</p>
<p>In contrast, the great apes – orangutans, gorillas, chimps and bonobos – learn by using an intriguing mix of <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/9877/">individual learning</a> through play and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1207/s15516709cog2403_6">non-copying social learning</a>, such as enhancement – when an object (or location) becomes more interesting to one ape because they have seen another ape using it. </p>
<h2>A helping hand from mum</h2>
<p>Orangutans have an interesting social life. In contrast to the rest of the great apes, they <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/1520-6505(2000)9:5%3C201::AID-EVAN2%3E3.0.CO;2-Y?casa_token=OvP35jQhCAkAAAAA:k3xBsAh4FoQqS_PNPExHKPcN7WrQ9q-CMDDN9MHlCKl2tiZ2OU1jP3wV6JxtI6FBoMIC8C5Y9eB6d78">live semi-solitary existences</a>, and for the first eight years of their life are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248418301283?casa_token=0-O_sP0WVNwAAAAA:gynocyHjrsUMlWQAb_avaGmB_fEoL6lnYW0DE31DXECsGYyO9SLOGSz6sH0hySYwpxNVet4q9A">dependent on their mothers</a>. Through support, mum can help them to acquire the skills needed to survive and thrive in their canopy habitat in the forests of Borneo and Sumatra, Indonesia. </p>
<p>For example, they need to learn how to <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0130291">move between the trees</a> in the same way that their mothers do. Orangutans appear to learn adult-type movement by about age seven. This is after years of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2FBF02382855">assistance from mum</a>, which is tailored to the infant’s level of development, as well as a good amount of individual exploration <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0047248483800347">through play</a>.</p>
<p>Orangutans have a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/235991783_The_effects_of_forest_phenology_and_floristics_on_populations_of_Bornean_and_Sumatran_orangutans_are_Sumatran_forests_more_productive_than_Bornean_forests">complex and varied diet</a> and the food sources they rely on appear to follow almost no pattern. But through trial and error, and a bit of help from mum, young orangutans learn <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12983-016-0178-5">how to exploit the forest</a> for food. They also routinely <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.1045?casa_token=zkjqKfVLKUYAAAAA:F8es6xIXFw84sDfp6C4uiFq5AIpo3HABWvWB0lfaRGEweytmkjiKr3_2fNO-p5lkY9tdH6tZrLwKdU4">use tools</a> to access high-reward fruits, such as the neesia, and these skills do not develop overnight. </p>
<h2>Why infants beg for food</h2>
<p>So, if we are to find formal evidence in apes of human-like teaching – by demonstration and copying – then orangutans are probably the apes to watch. That was the logic behind a <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02901-z">recent study</a> on infant learning through “solicitation” – that’s when a young, inexperienced ape begs or asks for food from their mother to help them learn what and how to eat.</p>
<p>Researchers wanted to investigate the effect of various factors, including the offspring’s age and the complexity of food on a mother orangutan’s behaviour towards her young offspring. Food complexity was measured by the number of steps it took to process the food item before it could be ingested – from simply plucking and eating leaves to complicated tool use on the neesia fruit. The researchers followed 27 immature orangutans in Sumatra for more than 4,000 hours over a four-year period and recorded the conditions surrounding the 1,390 solicitation attempts they observed.</p>
<p>Despite the infants’ best attempts, the researchers found that mother orangutans were less likely to share food with them in the first year or so of their life when they were weaning, meaning the success of food solicitation was low. </p>
<p>However, after the infant began to consume solid food, their attempts became far more successful with a sharp increase in the number of times their mother agreed to share food. Then, as the infants grew older, their requests for food started to get less successful again. After the offspring reached the age of five, the rate of maternal assistance took a bit of a nosedive, most extremely in the case of more complex foods such as the neesia fruit or the meat of small invertebrates.</p>
<p>As their offspring grew older, Sumatran orangutan mothers seemed to become less willing to help them eat. The researchers suggest this could be due to the mother changing her behaviour to provide the correct level of guidance required for the infant to become independent as quickly as possible. </p>
<p>They liken this to <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/328486788_Play_its_role_in_development_and_evolution">scaffolding</a> in humans, where parents will initially provide a child with lots of support in the early stages of learning a skill but then that support is gradually withdrawn until the infant is operating independently. But, the researchers don’t assume that what they observed in orangutans is intentional in the same way as human teaching is.</p>
<p>The orangutan mother’s change in behaviour might provide an evolutionary advantage. They only reproduce again once their current offspring has gained a large degree of independence – so, the faster this happens, the more offspring can be reared. Those mothers who are more tolerant and helpful, with offspring potentially gaining independence earlier, can reproduce more. </p>
<p>The authors do not imply that this is a conscious choice on the part of the mothers, as that cannot be known from the study. And as we do not know if it is intentional, we cannot say that it is evidence of human-like teaching. However, it’s an interesting development in the research surrounding social learning and culture in orangutans as it suggests that mothers play a more active role in developing the feeding skills of their immature offspring than previously assumed.</p>
<p>Rather than trying to apply our human labels to other species, we should simply learn to understand and celebrate the <a href="https://www.cms.int/sites/default/files/document/cms_cop13_doc.28.2.1_rev1_ca-nut-cracking-chimpanzees_e.pdf">different form of culture</a> that we observe in our closest living relatives. It is for this reason, and many others besides, that we must all do <a href="https://www.janegoodall.org/our-work/our-approach/protecting-chimpanzees/">everything in our power</a> to conserve these amazing animals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173959/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Damien Neadle receives funding from the British Academy/Leverhulme. </span></em></p>Orangutan mothers use a range of techniques to teach their offspring up the age of five - but their tolerance for sharing their food only lasts so long.Damien Neadle, Lecturer, Birmingham City UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1739542021-12-22T13:49:47Z2021-12-22T13:49:47ZSeagulls, songbirds and parrots: what new research tells us about their cognitive ability<p>As you can imagine, a human intelligence test doesn’t really cut it for birds. It isn’t that easy to assess how an animal perceives information from the environment, processes it and decides to act. But researchers have developed a range of clever experiments to find out more about their cognitive abilities. Do they recognise each other, for example, or understand causal relationships where one thing can lead to another?</p>
<p>A commonly used “intelligence test” for animals is the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25984937/">string-pulling task </a>. In this set-up, a piece of food is attached to a string. The food is then positioned out of reach for the animal – although still visible – and if they understand the causal relationship between the string and the food, they will start to pull the string which then moves the food closer to them until they reach it. If an animal can solve the string-pulling task we assume that it understands the relationship between the string and the reward and can deliberately execute a series of actions to get access to the reward. </p>
<p>In a recent study, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.211343">ring-billed gulls were tested</a> using the string-pulling model. Ring-billed gulls inhabit Canada and northern USA, however individual birds regularly wander to western Europe and are nowadays regular visitors in Ireland and the UK. </p>
<p>Gulls from a colony in Canada were individually marked with a colour band. This allowed the researchers to identify individual birds, which is important when testing cognition – and is often an obstacle for research on wild animals. In the test, a transparent plastic box was presented to the gulls, and they needed to pull a string through an open slit to retrieve a piece of sausage placed in a petri dish from inside the box. Gulls are omnivores and their diet consists of insects, fish, grain, eggs, worms and rodents. So a piece of sausage was particularly appealing.</p>
<h2>Seabird skills</h2>
<p>This task was given to 138 individuals at least once and 104 individuals – 75% – of the gulls attempted to solve the task. Of these, 26 individuals – 25% of those who attempted the task at least once – successfully retrieved the food from the box by pulling the string. </p>
<p>That may not seem like a particularly large number of successful gulls, but in a comparable <a href="https://academic.oup.com/auk/article/112/4/994/5168328?login=true">experiment in common ravens</a>, 26% successfully solved a similar task, suggesting that ravens and gulls perform similarly well. So that one test, at least, seems to suggest that corvids might not necessarily always possess higher cognitive abilities compared to other groups of birds, as has been widely assumed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A rook carrying a takeaway box in its beak." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438829/original/file-20211222-23072-1itpe1r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3620%2C2408&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438829/original/file-20211222-23072-1itpe1r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438829/original/file-20211222-23072-1itpe1r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438829/original/file-20211222-23072-1itpe1r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438829/original/file-20211222-23072-1itpe1r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438829/original/file-20211222-23072-1itpe1r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438829/original/file-20211222-23072-1itpe1r.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rooks are known for their skills in collaboration.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gulls also perform well in other recent cognitive tasks – for example, urban herring gulls <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.191959">use human cues</a>, such as human handling of food or human behaviour, to make foraging decisions which exploit their city home and help them to locate hidden food for themselves.</p>
<p>Up until recently, groups of birds such as fowl, birds of prey or penguins were rarely subjected to cognitive tests, because they were widely considered “less clever” and therefore less interesting than the songbirds – corvids such as crows, ravens, magpies and jays – and <a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/beh/156/5-8/article-p391_1.xml">parrots</a> which have attracted the most interest from animal cognition experts due to what is thought to be their <a href="http://blogs.nwic.edu/briansblog/files/2013/02/feathered_apes.pdf">extraordinary cognitive abilities</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/birds-that-play-with-others-have-the-biggest-brains-and-the-same-may-go-for-humans-151079">Birds that play with others have the biggest brains - and the same may go for humans</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>But the recent studies on gulls – and a number of other waterfowl species – have shone a light on their previously undiscovered skills. Greylag geese can <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Isabella-Scheiber/publication/230811059_Long-term_memory_of_hierarchical_relationships_in_free-living_greylag_geese/links/552ccc770cf2e089a3acee56/Long-term-memory-of-hierarchical-relationships-in-free-living-greylag-geese.pdf">memorise social relationships</a> for at least six months, probably longer. And domestic chickens can <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.210504">learn to differentiate</a> between a rewarded and unrewarded colour as quickly as carrion crows.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Greylag goose landing on the water" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438755/original/file-20211221-19-1u5daf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438755/original/file-20211221-19-1u5daf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438755/original/file-20211221-19-1u5daf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438755/original/file-20211221-19-1u5daf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438755/original/file-20211221-19-1u5daf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438755/original/file-20211221-19-1u5daf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438755/original/file-20211221-19-1u5daf2.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Greylag geese remember their social relationships.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Claudia Wascher</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Corvids and parrots still impress</h2>
<p>So it seems that corvids and parrots are not the only birds who show evidence of their brain power, and perhaps we should reconsider the use of the insult “bird brain”. But none of that detracts from the marvellous feats we witness in some of those more famous bird families. Earlier this year in Sydney, wild urban-dwelling sulphur-crested cockatoos not only learned to <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe7808">open wheelie bins</a> and get food from them, but individuals also learned to do this from each other – it became a cultural innovation.</p>
<p>Other recent studies have shown that New Caledonian and Hawaiian crow are among only a handful animal species who can <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19103">make and use tools</a>. And, in a food hoarding experiment, scrub-jays demonstrated <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352154617300025?casa_token=QPSQSIaRQWwAAAAA:cuo8OCdrycb7MqvbqGl2D_gzTR44KypUp2xXHx4YCGRWyiezCi8TiRmuTP7b0Jw2Bzxcg9vF4A">what-where-when memory</a>: they seemed to remember what type of food they had hoarded at specific locations, and when they had done it. In the more barren winter months, this helps them to remember where they have hidden food which they have gathered and stored for later consumption.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003347214000414?casa_token=5AMokS7bPuIAAAAA:hFXpGkQ6hEMg_friH66T0T8Y6ML8gT4BDxfXStoF-pOBi4YCsExKSFd3RB_SyPJYM6zeI4JSNA">Crows, ravens</a> and <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2012.1092">goffin cockatoos</a> dislike when they are treated unfairly and have been observed to wait for several minutes to receive a better food reward. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2602707/">Rooks</a>, meanwhile, and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/eth.12973">blue‐throated macaws</a> can cooperate with other individuals to together solve a string-pulling task. </p>
<p>It’s clear that cognitive abilities are important for animals to cope with all sorts of challenges in their environment. Therefore, understanding how they think can bring many valuable benefits. If we know how animals learn about predators, for example, it can help us to design more effective re-introduction programmes to conserve biodiversity. </p>
<p>And if we can assess whether an animal in a zoo, farm or kennel is feeling well or suffering, we can work to improve their living conditions and perhaps even control unwanted behaviour, such as those displayed by pets or in human-wildlife conflicts.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173954/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Claudia Wascher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Corvids and parrots might be the superstars of the bird world - but other species like gulls, geese and even chicken have shown some impressive skills too.Claudia Wascher, Associate Professor in Behavioural Biology, Anglia Ruskin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1738222021-12-16T14:01:43Z2021-12-16T14:01:43ZOctopus, crabs and lobsters feel pain – this is how we found out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438317/original/file-20211219-25-1pc214a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/octopus-almost-red-pink-marbled-skin-1113663953">Daniel Eskridge/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Does a lobster feel pain when you pop it in a pot? The UK government asked us to find out. </p>
<p>We were commissioned to find out the likelihood of sentience – the capacity to have feelings, such as pain and pleasure – in two groups of invertebrate animals: the cephalopod molluscs (including octopuses, cuttlefishes and squids) and decapod crustaceans (including lobsters, crabs and prawns). We found strong and diverse evidence of sentience in both. And <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/News/News-Assets/PDFs/2021/Sentience-in-Cephalopod-Molluscs-and-Decapod-Crustaceans-Final-Report-November-2021.pdf">our recent report</a>, which reviewed over 300 scientific studies, led to the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lobsters-octopus-and-crabs-recognised-as-sentient-beings">UK government’s decision</a> to legally recognise all of these animals as sentient beings.</p>
<p>You may wonder how we find out if an animal can feel pain. It’s tempting to think we only need to look at whether they try to avoid or escape being injured. However, after touching a hot stove, humans withdraw their hand before feeling the burn. Hand withdrawal is an <a href="https://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/m/s3/chapter02.html">unconscious reflex</a>. Perhaps other animals only respond reflexively to injury, without experiencing pain.</p>
<p>For our investigation, we used eight scientific criteria for determining sentience. </p>
<p>The first four addressed whether the animal’s nervous system could support sentience. We wanted to find out whether it can detect harmful stimuli and transmit those signals to the brain. And also whether the signals were processed in integrative brain regions - parts of the brain that bring together information from many sources. Finally, it was important to understand whether anaesthetic or painkillers changed the nervous system response.</p>
<p>Our four remaining criteria focused on the animal’s behaviour. Could they trade-off risks of injury against opportunities for a reward? Did individuals tend to the specific site of an injury, and could they learn to avoid stimuli associated with injury, for example? We also investigated whether they valued anaesthetics or painkillers when injured. This behaviour, which distinguishes rigid and reflex reactions to injury, such as withdrawing a burnt hand, from flexible responses, is taken to be evidence of pain.</p>
<p>Individually, none of our criteria proves that a creature is sentient. But the more criteria it meets, the more likely sentience becomes. </p>
<h2>Signs of feeling</h2>
<p>We found the strongest evidence for sentience in cephalopods. Octopuses were the stars. With around 170 million brain cells, they have <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1469-185X.1972.tb00975.x?casa_token=uAker4z4CR8AAAAA:a2U39Z1GVoaQ69BEQxJ0GZhvR-D6wMEp4HlM1FmVYPcZ9Bw2Undihf4Ho9dc5NS8J0z_bhTy6M_ZyN2S">higher brain-to-body ratios</a> than most reptiles and fish. This allows octopuses to perform remarkable feats of learning and memory.</p>
<p>Octopuses also behave in ways that point strongly to experiences of pain. For example, in a recent study, they were given <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004221001978">three chambers to explore</a>. Injection with acetic acid in their initially preferred chamber led to octopuses avoiding that chamber from then on. Injured octopuses learned to prefer an alternative chamber, where local anaesthetic was available. This anaesthetic silenced nerve activity between the injury site and the brain. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4028681/">Similar findings in mammals</a> are taken to indicate the subjective experience of pain. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two crabs on a table with their claws taped up" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437880/original/file-20211215-13-1y9noz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/437880/original/file-20211215-13-1y9noz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437880/original/file-20211215-13-1y9noz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437880/original/file-20211215-13-1y9noz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437880/original/file-20211215-13-1y9noz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437880/original/file-20211215-13-1y9noz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/437880/original/file-20211215-13-1y9noz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Crabs capacity to feel pain has implications for animal welfare.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-on-crabs-on-table-10432611/">RODNAE Productions/Pexels</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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</figure>
<p>Decapods also displayed compelling signs of sentience. For instance, one <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/abs/10.1126/science.1248811">high-profile study</a> allowed crayfish to explore a cross-shaped tank. Two arms of the cross were illuminated, whereas the other two were shaded. In the wild, crayfish use dark shelters to hide from predators, so time spent in the shaded arms was taken to measure anxiety-like behaviour. Exposure to an electric field caused crayfish to avoid the light arms. Administering an anti-anxiety drug reversed the effect. These findings reveal that crayfish have mental states with similar brain mechanisms and behaviour to anxiety.</p>
<p>Despite striking evidence for sentience in some well-studied species, there are 750 cephalopod species and 15,000 decapod species – more than double the total number of mammal species. Most individual species have never been studied in detail.</p>
<p>But sentience has never been studied in most individual vertebrate species either. With vertebrates, it is usually accepted that we can make reasonable generalisations from laboratory species – such as rats and zebrafish – to other species.</p>
<p>Invertebrates should be treated in the same way as vertebrates. That means protecting under-studied animals if it is reasonable to generalise from strong evidence in a better-studied species. This principle led us to recommend extending protection to all cephalopod molluscs and all decapod crustaceans.</p>
<h2>Implications for welfare</h2>
<p>Recognising these animals as sentient is undoubtedly a step forward for <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/45/contents">UK animal welfare law</a>, which currently applies almost exclusively to vertebrates. Some other countries, such as New Zealand, Norway and Sweden, have already given <a href="https://api.worldanimalprotection.org/">invertebrates legal protection</a>. These cover issues such as the storage and slaughter of decapods in the food industry.</p>
<p>But in the UK, current industry practices will not be affected as the new bill does not apply to existing law. That means that procedures like boiling lobsters, asphyxiating octopuses and dismembering crabs will still continue.</p>
<p>We hope our report begins a wider conversation about how these animals can be treated humanely so we can minimise their pain and suffering. Many techniques, such as electrical stunning and rapid slaughter, are already informally considered best practice. Encouraging and enforcing best practice could <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-3-030-11330-8_2">protect producers</a> against the erosion of standards, and reassure consumers that their expectations of high welfare standards are being met.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173822/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Crump receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant Number 851145. He is affiliated with the Animal Welfare Research Network, Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour, and Universities Federation for Animal Welfare.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jonathan Birch receives funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme, Grant Number 851145.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexandra Schnell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Octopus, crabs, prawns demonstrate clear signs of emotion, such as pain and ‘anxiety-like’ behaviour.Alexandra Schnell, Research Fellow in Comparative Psychology, Darwin College, University of CambridgeAndrew Crump, Postdoctoral Research Officer, London School of Economics and Political ScienceJonathan Birch, Associate Professor of Philosophy, London School of Economics and Political ScienceLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1736912021-12-16T13:09:18Z2021-12-16T13:09:18ZCurious Kids: why do bats pass diseases to humans?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438017/original/file-20211216-13-1c0e90j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=561%2C26%2C3843%2C2416&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The greater shortnosed fruit bat. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bat-greater-shortnosed-fruit-flying-night-573073945">Nuwat Phansuwan/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><strong>Why do bats pass deadly diseases like ebola to humans? – Sreehari, aged nine, Kerala, India</strong></p>
<p>This is a great question – and it’s one that doctors and scientists have been investigating for a while. The reasons bats pass lots of diseases to humans have to do with their unique lifestyle and how they have evolved. </p>
<p>Bats are both more likely than other animals to have a wide variety of diseases like Ebola, rabies and coronaviruses and more likely to pass them on to us.</p>
<h2>Flight and defence against disease</h2>
<p>Bats are the only freely flying mammals, and a lot of their biology is about flight. Flying requires lots of energy, so bats have to eat high-quality diets. A diet of leaves, which are low in energy, would not be enough for most bats. They generally prefer sugar and <a href="https://www.wildlifeonline.me.uk/animals/article/bats-diet">protein-rich foods</a> like fruit, pollen, insects, spiders, small animals and even blood. </p>
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/curious-kids-36782">Curious Kids</a> is a series by <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk">The Conversation</a> that gives children the chance to have their questions about the world answered by experts. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to <a href="mailto:curiouskids@theconversation.com">curiouskids@theconversation.com</a> and make sure you include the asker’s first name, age and town or city. We won’t be able to answer every question, but we’ll do our very best.</em></p>
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<p>Most of a bat’s energy is needed to power its wings, so other systems in its body have evolved to be very efficient. The immune system is a particularly good example. Scientists have shown again and again that when a bat gets a disease that would be serious or fatal to humans, they <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/02/190226112401.htm">barely seem to get ill</a>. </p>
<p>Where your body might have to fight hard to beat a disease, making you ill in the process, a bat’s body just tolerates it. This means they stay healthy and able to fly and feed when infected. </p>
<p>In fact, a bat’s body is so good at tolerating diseases that they just tend to have more of them than we do. This means that even a healthy-looking bat can be a carrier for several diseases. </p>
<h2>Bats are sociable and long-lived</h2>
<p>Most bats <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/58/8/737/381072">live in large social groups</a> and interact closely with one another. They take care of other group members – vampire bats, for instance, <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2012.2573">regurgitate food</a> for friends that have not managed to find any. Bats also <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0860">live longer</a>, on average, than other mammals of a similar size. Size is linked to lifespan, with larger animals typically living longer and more slowly. </p>
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<img alt="bats hanging from roof" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438019/original/file-20211216-25-16y7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/438019/original/file-20211216-25-16y7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438019/original/file-20211216-25-16y7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438019/original/file-20211216-25-16y7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438019/original/file-20211216-25-16y7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438019/original/file-20211216-25-16y7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/438019/original/file-20211216-25-16y7x4v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Lesser dog-faced fruit bats roosting together.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lesser-dogfaced-fruit-bat-cyneropterus-brachyotis-1309383595">Lillian Tveit/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>When we remember that bats also tolerate disease well, we can see that being very social means that members of a typical bat population are likely to pass a lot of diseases to each other – and are unlikely to die in the process. </p>
<p>This makes a typical bat group something of a hotbed for disease. It also means that diseases that can infect bats have a good chance of mutating into new forms. Since the bats’ immune systems protect them from illness, the diseases can sit tight inside nice warm bat bodies for months or years, and have plenty of time to evolve. This is why bats might be important sources of new diseases, as well as passing on older ones.</p>
<h2>Flying brings bats closer to us</h2>
<p>Bats are found around the world, and there are lots of them – <a href="https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/why-are-there-so-many-species-of-bat/">over 1,200 different species</a>. This means we are never too far from a bat – especially as they can fly long distances. </p>
<p>In some parts of the world you don’t have to worry as long as you don’t handle bats. Insect-eating bats, for instance, only transmit diseases to humans by direct contact or by contaminating food with their poo (which is very rare). </p>
<p>In other places, bats might be eating the same fruit as local humans. Humans can then pick up diseases from bat saliva. In some cases, bats themselves are eaten by humans. As bats can look healthy even when they are not, eating a bat is particularly risky.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173691/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabelle Catherine Winder does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A bat’s body is really good at tolerating diseases.Isabelle Catherine Winder, Senior Lecturer in Zoology, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1730452021-12-16T11:09:04Z2021-12-16T11:09:04ZAre marine protected areas helping marine mammals and birds? Maybe, but more can be done<p>Our oceans are under pressure like never before, <a href="https://ipbes.net/sites/default/files/inline/files/ipbes_global_assessment_report_summary_for_policymakers.pdf">with over 60%</a> struggling from the increasing impact of fishing, coastal activities and climate change. The harsh truth is that as we move towards 2022 only 3% of oceans are totally free from the pressure of human activity. The greatest impact appears to be on large-bodied animals such as marine mammals and birds, which cannot reproduce as quickly as smaller species.</p>
<p>Through my 40 years of extensive work on marine animals - and my current involvement in a European Commission project to help assess the effectiveness of marine protection areas (MPAs) - I have come to understand some of the issues which we need to consider to ensure that MPAs protect marine biodiversity.</p>
<p>Over one-third of marine mammals are <a href="http://assets.wwf.org.uk/downloads/living_blue_planet_report_2015.pdf">threatened with extinction</a> – and in Europe over 30% of <a href="https://www.birdlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/BirdLife-European-Red-List-of-Birds-2021.pdf">marine birds</a> are declining. Some species, including the Balearic shearwater and Atlantic puffin, are already endangered.</p>
<p>MPAs have been established to limit or exclude human activities that could potentially harm species and habitats. And, after a slow start, the last ten years have seen encouraging progress. MPAs now cover the 2020 global <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c77fa240b77bd5a7ff401e5/t/60a506dac996a914d3d0970e/1621427930222/Embargoed+Facts+Figues+PP_14052021.pdf">target of 10% of oceans</a>, while some seas with high levels of human activity (the North Sea for example) have reached as much as <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/marine-protected-areas">27% MPA coverage</a>. </p>
<p>At a <a href="https://www.cbd.int/cop/">recent meeting</a>, the international community agreed to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/global-ocean-alliance-30by30-initiative/about">protect 30% of oceans</a> through MPAs and other conservation measures by 2030.</p>
<p>So, can we be optimistic that MPAs can turn the tide of declining marine biodiversity? Well, maybe, but in those ten years between 2010 and 2020 many species have continued to struggle despite the marked increase in MPAs. I would argue that more can be done to help marine mammals and birds specifically. Here’s some of my reasoning.</p>
<h2>Size could be an issue</h2>
<p>For one thing, I consider that the protected areas are probably too small to be fully effective – 50% of MPAs in EU waters <a href="https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/water/europes-seas-and-coasts/assessments/marine-protected-areas">measure less than 30km²</a> and most are below 5km². This is a particular problem for marine mammals and birds, which are among the most mobile of all animals. I am not just talking about the annual 80,000km <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2836663/">global migration of the Arctic tern</a> between the Arctic and Southern Ocean, or the 22,000km <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0071">migratory movements of the gray whale</a> in the Pacific – many other marine species are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/51242840_Tracking_apex_marine_predator_movements_in_a_dynamic_ocean">extremely mobile</a> too.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/expanding-marine-protected-areas-by-5-could-boost-fish-yields-by-20-but-theres-a-catch-148678">Expanding marine protected areas by 5% could boost fish yields by 20% – but there's a catch</a>
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<p>Even diminutive harbour porpoises can <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324350987_Oceanic_movements_site_fidelity_and_deep_diving_in_harbour_porpoises_from_Greenland_show_limited_behavioural_similarities_to_North_Sea_harbour_porpoise_population">move great distances</a>, and have been tracked by satellite travelling more than 2,000km from Greenland’s west coast out into the North Atlantic west of Ireland.</p>
<p>Some seabirds, such as gannets, can often show a <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1890/14-1300.1">strong preference for particular locations</a> and return to these year after year. There are also populations within a species, coastal bottlenose dolphins for example, which are much more sedentary and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jhered/article/104/6/765/799365">tied to a particular location</a>. So, MPAs can be helpful in those cases. But the long distance migratory habits of many marine species shows the importance of providing protections throughout their life cycle and not only when they are in an MPA.</p>
<p>Within the European Union (EU) special protection areas for seabirds tend to be concentrated around the breeding colony, with little of the rest of the marine area protected. Yet, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320711004721?via%3Dihub">seabird species</a> may regularly forage tens, sometimes hundreds, of kilometres away to find food for their young. I feel that the pressure of commercial fishing activity – due to depletion of fish stocks offshore - is rarely incorporated adequately in management plans.</p>
<p>Currently, marine mammal biodiversity does not seem to be well addressed by the EU habitats directive, because only six of the 30 species which regularly inhabit or pass through its waters are placed in a <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/sites_hab/index_en.htm">special annex</a> requiring protected sites. Many more need area-based protection, including minke whale, killer whale and several dolphin species.</p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>The creation of an MPA, particularly a coastal one, can bring its own challenges. Marine mammals and birds are iconic, and attract a lot of public interest. </p>
<p>The pressure of human disturbance may actually increase once the site has become designated and publicised. It flags that there are interesting species to be found, and suddenly the animals become the focus of attention. This is an increasing <a href="https://www.wcl.org.uk/docs/WCL_Wildlife_Crime_Report_Nov_21.pdf">problem in the UK</a>, fuelled by the rise in tourist trips to view the resident mammals and birds.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-hopeful-return-of-polar-whales-151487">The hopeful return of polar whales</a>
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<p>Many marine protected areas lack management plans, but in my opinion even those that have them rarely implement management in a fully effective way. Regulations may curtail human activities within the MPA but they rarely stop them entirely. And in many cases the activity, be it a wind farm construction or disturbance to the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/georgemonbiot/2015/nov/09/allowing-scallop-dredging-in-strictly-protected-dolphin-reserves-is-madness">seabed from fishing</a>, can often take precedence for socio-economic reasons.</p>
<p>Management plans, where they exist, often simply describe the problematic human activities. I think that there is limited consideration given to the impact of those pressures on different species, and robust monitoring of their populations is mostly inadequate. </p>
<p>How can anyone tell whether management measures are effective if neither the species nor the human activity is fully monitored, and the links between activity and its impact on each species has not been established? It seems to me that the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-the-marine-biological-association-of-the-united-kingdom/article/marine-protected-areas-and-marine-spatial-planning-for-the-benefit-of-marine-mammals/CB1EAB762D102DC951C12D9E1B46562F">bar for effective management</a> of MPAs needs to be raised substantially from where it is at present. </p>
<p>European or other regional conservation agreements to <a href="https://www.ascobans.org">help highly mobile cetaceans</a> can help to improve the situation. That’s not to say that joining them automatically protects marine mammals – it does not. But it is a move in the right direction, and focuses governments to work together to protect these much-cherished species by better understanding and addressing specific threats.</p>
<p>So, spare a thought for the Atlantic puffin in its nesting burrow and the bottlenose dolphin mother and calf in their shallow bay. Would they recognise in a positive way that they are living and breeding in a marine protected area?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173045/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Evans receives funding from UNEP/ASCOBANS to coordinate a conservation action plan for the harbour porpoise; he is currently part of a project funded by the European Commission to develop a questionnaire for member states to assess the management effectiveness of MPAs; and on occasions has had funding from Natural Resources Wales to monitor bottlenose dolphin and harbour porpoise populations within Special Areas of Conservation in West Wales. </span></em></p>There are some important issues to consider to best help marine species such as Atlantic puffins, bottlenose dolphins and orcas.Peter Evans, Honorary Senior Lecturer, Director of Sea Watch Foundation, Bangor UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1733852021-12-08T15:52:30Z2021-12-08T15:52:30ZWe’ve proved that wild primates suffer from tooth decay – and chimps are among the worst<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/436405/original/file-20211208-21-1ieoopr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/big-smile-on-young-chimpanzees-face-409846009">Atiger/shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nearly everyone at some point in their lives is affected by tooth decay. Indeed, half of you reading this article are likely to currently <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/oral-health">have it</a>. It’s common knowledge that a sugary diet can cause cavities, but <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0022034515590377">specific bacteria</a> living in our mouths are part of the process. They consume the sugary foods and release acids into the mouth as a by-product. If this happens frequently, the tissue that makes up a tooth – including enamel and dentine – decrease in mineral concentration. This is called demineralisation, and it ultimately causes cavities. </p>
<p>Apart from humans, some species kept as pets and in captivity (such as in zoos), can <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02382058">regularly display</a> tooth cavities. This is mostly due to being fed a diet containing processed sugars that differs from their natural foods.</p>
<p>But we might expect that wild animals wouldn’t suffer from the same dental issues as they are not eating processed foods. In fact, that isn’t the case. It turns out that tooth decay may be relatively common in some species, including in a wide range of mammals such as bats, primates, bears and some other carnivores.</p>
<h2>Cavities in primates</h2>
<p>Primates in particular have been observed to have cavities, including in a diverse range of <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0203307">prehistoric species</a>. But dental decay is still generally regarded as rare in wild primates living today, and there has been disagreement between specialists on whether deep cavities found within the front of their teeth are actually tooth decay caused by cavity-forming bacteria, or holes caused by factors other than tooth decay such as <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ajpa.1330800210">enamel weakness</a>.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ajp.23349">recent study</a> we wanted to find out for sure whether primates get tooth cavities, and where in the mouth they were found.
To do this, we used a 3D-imaging technique known as micro-CT scans to look at 8,000 teeth from 11 diverse primate species.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fossil-tooth-fractures-and-microscopic-detail-of-enamel-offer-new-clues-about-human-diet-and-evolution-163653">Fossil tooth fractures and microscopic detail of enamel offer new clues about human diet and evolution</a>
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<p>Nine out of the 11 species had at least some cavities. And several species had high levels of cavities on their front teeth, including chimpanzees, gorillas, Dent’s mona monkeys, blue monkeys and raffles’ banded langurs.</p>
<p>Crucially, we found that tooth decay causing bacteria had indeed been involved in the cavities we commonly observed on the front teeth, because demineralisation was evident deep below the surface of the tooth. Perhaps in hindsight this is not surprising since soft fruits are a staple of the diet in many primates, so they regularly chew foods with high levels of natural sugars.</p>
<p>And because we studied so many teeth, we were then able to assess variation in patterns of cavities – where they were on the teeth and how that differed in relation to diet and behaviour.</p>
<h2>Why front teeth in primates?</h2>
<p>In humans, including <a href="https://sajs.co.za/article/view/8705">our fossil ancestors</a> and relatives going back millions of years, it is the back teeth that are most commonly affected by tooth decay. The reason why, in living primates, the front teeth seem more susceptible to this disease is probably because of differences in their food, and also in the way they eat. </p>
<p>For example, chimpanzees undertake a <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF02192634">behaviour called wadging</a>, where they hold chewed fruits in the front of the mouth and then suck out the sugary liquids. These fruits include figs, some of which have high concentrations of sugars. They have even been observed wadging honeycomb. Not surprisingly the front teeth of chimpanzees show extremely high rates of cavities.</p>
<p>Although other monkey and ape species might have different diets and eating behaviours, they all use their front teeth to process fruits and other plant parts that are high in natural sugars. In contrast, some baboons and macaques, which have a much more varied diet, don’t appear to have these tooth cavities.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/monkey-teeth-fossils-hint-several-extinct-species-crossed-the-atlantic-135961">Monkey teeth fossils hint several extinct species crossed the Atlantic</a>
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<p>Interestingly, female chimpanzees had considerably more decayed teeth than males – around 9% compared to only 2% in males. We do not yet know why, but it is likely to be caused by differences in their diet and behaviour, as well as other factors such as pregnancy, acidity of saliva, life history, and bacteria variations between the sexes.</p>
<p>So we humans are not alone in suffering from tooth decay. One other interesting point is that captive primates share our pattern of cavities, with back teeth regularly affected more than the front. This is mostly due to being fed a diet containing processed sugars that differ from their natural foods. </p>
<p>In short, primates’ cavity patterns seem to be a reliable indicator of food-processing behaviours and diet – and therefore, tooth decay has the potential to offer unique ecological insight into both extinct and living primate groups.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/173385/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Towle does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We studied 8,000 primate teeth and finally confirmed that humans are not the only living primate to suffer from cavities. But there are interesting differences.Ian Towle, Postdoctoral researcher & teaching assistant, London South Bank UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1724712021-11-25T14:23:53Z2021-11-25T14:23:53ZSea lion whiskers can move like human fingertips: here’s how we found out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/433958/original/file-20211125-23-kvrn9v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/big-sea-lion-swimming-in-blue-water-5967965/">Lachlan Ross / pexels </a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Humans have amazing fingertips. They are sensitive and can be moved over objects to feel its softness, texture, size and shape. These movements are both complex, and “task-specific”. This means that you adopt different movements depending on what you want to feel about an object. We squeeze or push objects to judge softness, and feel around the edges of objects to judge size and shape. And if you wanted to feel the texture of an object, you would sweep your fingertips over the surface. </p>
<p>Being able to adopt <a href="https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_fac_pub/407/">different movement strategies</a> shows that we can precisely control our fingertip movements and draw on our past experiences in order to pay attention to important aspects of an object – the edges of shapes and the surfaces of textures, for example. This means that we have a high level of control over our sensory perception, and we call this active touch sensing.</p>
<h2>Touch sensing in mammals</h2>
<p>Most mammals do not have as moveable or sensitive fingertips as humans. Instead they have whiskers, which are touch sensitive hairs on their faces, and used to guide locomotion, foraging for food and to explore objects.</p>
<p>Neuroscientists have been <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mam.12253">studying whiskers</a> for decades, especially in laboratory rats and mice, trying to understand how signals from the whiskers are processed in the brain. But only now are we realising that whiskers are also moved with amazing strategies, just like our fingers.</p>
<p>Rats, mice, and some other mammals, can move their whiskers in a to-and-fro scanning motion called “whisking”. Whisking is one of the fastest movements that mammals can make, occurring up to 25 times per second in mice.</p>
<p>When rats and mice contact objects they also adopt <a href="https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jn.90783.2008">other whisker movements</a>. These include bunching up their whiskers to make more of them touch a surface, making light touches to enable clearer signals against a surface, and slowing down whisker movements so they contact the surface for longer.</p>
<p>But no one knew whether animals could adapt their whisker movements specifically for different tasks.</p>
<p>Such “task-specific” movements would be an exciting discovery as it would indicate a precise level of control over their sensors and perception. </p>
<h2>Choosing a candidate species</h2>
<p>The first step in answering this important question was to choose a likely candidate species for our investigation.</p>
<p>Pinnipeds, including seals, sea lions and walruses, have whiskers that are particularly <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jmor.21246">thick</a> and long, making them easier to measure than those of smaller mammals such as mice. </p>
<p>They also have some of the most sensitive whiskers of any mammal – they can detect textures and shapes to the same sensitivity as human fingertips, <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/201/22/3023/7912/Ambient-temperature-does-not-affect-the-tactile">even in cold water</a> when our fingers would go numb.</p>
<p>They are also moveable. We have previously found that California sea lions make the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7192888/">largest and most controlled</a> movements with their whiskers, when compared to harbour seals and Pacific walruses.</p>
<p>Those factors, plus their ability to perform object-discrimination tasks – where they could distinguish between objects based on <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.3758/BF03199008">size and shape</a> – made California sea lions the ideal subject for our investigation on task-specific whisker movements.</p>
<h2>Our work with Lo</h2>
<p>For our <a href="https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/224/21/jeb243085/273347/California-sea-lions-employ-task-specific">study</a>
we used a sea lion, Lo, for the full complement of experiments. Having only one individual is common in marine mammal studies, but it does put pressure on the investigators to collect good quality and highly quantitative data from that one individual.</p>
<p>Lo was trained to complete a texture-discrimination task using only her whiskers. </p>
<p>She had to find a medium-textured, fish-shaped object among other distractor fish. She also completed a size-discrimination task of finding a medium-sized fish amongst other distractors, and a visual task of finding a grey fish amongst other coloured distractors (sea lions use very small whisker movements in visual tasks).</p>
<p>Lo was filmed doing the tasks thousands of times, and her whisker and head positions were tracked in the video footage.</p>
<p>Looking at the data and the video footage it was clear that Lo made task-specific movements with her whiskers. She made sweeping movements over textured surfaces, and felt around the edges of the different sized shapes. These specific movement strategies are also used by humans with our fingertips.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q9LvzwJSB8M?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The sea lion, Lo, participating in different tasks for this study.</span></figcaption>
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<p>The ability to switch whisker exploration strategies between tactile tasks enabled Lo to complete the tasks efficiently. Lo found the correct fish in almost all trials and made decisions quickly, in under half a second. Video footage of the other sea lions also showed them employing the same strategies, so we think that this might be common among California sea lions in general.</p>
<h2>And now other animals</h2>
<p>Seeing the same movement strategies conserved from sea lion whisker movements to human fingertip movements showcases how important these strategies are for improving touch signals across different tasks. </p>
<p>It is likely that other species of Pinniped will be able to make task-specific whisker movements, since they also have sensitive, moveable whiskers. We are <a href="https://www.mmu.ac.uk/research/research-centres/ecology-environment/projects/touch-sensing-mammals">investigating</a> this now, along with other species of carnivores, such as otters. </p>
<p>This is the first time that task-specific whisker touch sensing has been documented. It demonstrates that studying whiskers can give us important insights into animal movement control, as well as their perception and cognition.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-found-a-special-maths-equation-hidden-in-rat-whiskers-130345">How we found a special maths equation hidden in rat whiskers</a>
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<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robyn Grant receives funding from the Royal Society. </span></em></p>Lo, a California sea lion, was able to control what she perceives using her whiskers — a highly cognitive skill.Robyn Grant, Senior Lecturer in Comparative Physiology & Behaviour, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.