Long-lost "Furby" Primate Discovered

Scientists have found a wide-eyed primate that fits snugly in one hand in the first live sighting in more than 80 years of a creature that some thought was extinct.

Over a two-month period, scientists working in Lore Lindu National Park on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi caught and released three pygmy tarsiers. They bear a striking resemblance to the Furby, an electronic toy popular in the late 1990s.

The species had not been observed alive in more than eight decades, since they were collected for a museum in 1921. Many scientists had believed them to be extinct until eight years ago, when two scientists trapping rats in Sulawesi accidentally trapped and killed one.

The pygmy tarsier, or Tarsius pumilus, weighs about 1.7 ounces, and has dense fur, large, protruding eyes. In addition to seeming as a living, breathing version of the Furby, it also appears as though it ought to have had appeared in the 1984 movie "Gremlins."

The scientists noted that attaching a radio collar was not easy, as the animal can swivel its head around 180 degrees.

Original article here.

Bird of Paradise Mating Ritual

No, that is not some crazy cartoon character that made its way into a nature show. It is a bird of paradise performing his very entertaining mating ritual. See the video below for his full performance:

Nature Photography

A few examples from this gallery:

Leaf Mimics

Below are several examples from this collection of creatures that have adapted to mimic leaves. Leaf mimics employ this form of camouflage to evade detection from predators or prey. These animals make use of extraordinary color patterns, in addition to modified exoskeletons, skin, scales, and behavior to take camouflage to another level.









Here are a few additional mimics from this gallery, which seem to have adapted quite well in order to survive in a human world! (Well, perhaps with a little help from some software).





Original (real) article here.

Singles Bar for Great White Sharks

Great white sharks travel huge distances and mysteriously spend up to six months gathered at an isolated spot in the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii. Satellite tagging has revealed that male and female sharks make frequent and repetitive dives together, which may be linked to courtship.

The stretch of ocean the sharks make for - from both California and Mexico - is not a particularly rich feeding ground but it may act as a "singles bar" where they can find a mate.

The discovery was one of thousands to emerge from the "Census of Marine Life" -- an attempt to compile the first comprehensive survey of life in the world's oceans.

Original article here.

Killer Whales are Picky Eaters

A killer whale's favorite meal is king salmon, according to a new study that found these predators scan wide ocean regions listening for their favorite fish. Echolocation, which involves creating a sound in order to produce an echo, allows the whales to zone in on king salmon, also known as Chinook salmon, at distances up to half a mile.

But why do killer whales go to so much trouble to hunt down king salmon, picking them out even when they represent just 5-10% of the available salmon population? Because salmon are not equally nutritious -- Chinook salmon have the highest concentration of lipids, or fats, that the whales seem to prefer.

Although these fish look similar to human eyes, the study showed the echo structure created by each type of salmon was unique and could be used by killer whales to discriminate among the various species. "Fish gas" appears key to the process, as the study revealed echolocation tuned especially well into information released by each salmon's swim bladder. Swim bladders are gas bags within a fish that help the fish to be buoyant at any specific depth. They are probably the best reflector of acoustic energy underwater.

Original article here.

Mice Cloned After 16 Year Freeze

Cells taken from mice frozen 16 years ago have grown into healthy clones, raising the possibility of reproducing long-dead animals and even resurrecting extinct species.

The accomplishmen represents a large step forward in animal cloning. Earlier clones have required tissues taken from living animals or carefully-preserved cells, rather than an entire frozen animal.

Scientists thought that freezing would damage cells beyond repair. But the scientists salvaged intact nuclei from the neurons of their mice. These were inserted into living mice eggs, forming an embryo that developed until embryonic stem cells could be harvested. The stem cells were then used to make healthy mouse pups.

According to scientists, the new technique might someday be used to clone "extinct animals frozen in permafrost, or specimens collected opportunistically from endangered species in the field without access to sophisticated laboratory facilities."

Original article here.

Rainforest Fungus Naturally Synthesizes Diesel

A fungus that lives inside trees in the Patagonian rain forest naturally makes a mix of hydrocarbons that bears a striking resemblance to diesel. And the fungus can grow on cellulose, a major component of tree trunks, blades of grass and stalks that is the most abundant carbon-based plant material on Earth.

While genetic engineers have been trying a variety of techniques and genes to get microbes to create fuel out of sugars and starches, almost all commercial biofuel production today uses the century-old dry mill grain process. Existing ethanol plants ferment corn ears into alcohol, which is simple, but wastes the vast majority of the biomatter of the corn plant.

Using the cellulose from plants — the stalk instead of the ear, or simply wood from poplars — to make liquid fuel is a long-held dream because it would be more environmentally efficient and cheaper, but is far more difficult.

First, the cellulose must be broken down into its constituent parts — sugars bearing carbon — and then those pieces must be synthesized into more complex hydrocarbons. Both steps have proven difficult to do without applying large amounts of heat, pressure or chemicals.

What's exciting about the Gliocladium roseum fungus, however, is that it can both break down cellulose and synthesize the liquid fuel.

(Note that other technologies such as biomass gasification combined with the Fischer-Tropsch process have been developed to efficiently produce carbon based fuels using any carbon-based feedstock, such as wood waste, without the need to break down cellulose. This eliminates many of the difficulties associated specifically with "cellulosic" biofuels.)

But beyond the biofuel implications, scientists say that because the fungus can manufacture what we would normally think of as components of crude oil, it casts some doubt on the idea that crude oil is a fossil fuel. It may be the case that organisms like this produced some — maybe not all — of the world's crude oil.

Original article here.