Humpback Whales May Be Migratory Astronomers

An eight-year project that tracked humpback whale migrations by satellite shows the huge mammals follow uncannily straight paths for weeks at a time.

The results suggest a single migratory mechanism isn’t responsible. Instead, humpbacks may use a combination of the sun’s position, Earth’s magnetism and even star maps to guide their 10,000-mile journeys.

According to scientists, they are going across some of most turbulent waters in the world, yet they keep going straight.  They’re orienting with something outside of themselves, not something internal.

Humpback whales feed during the summer near polar oceans and migrate to warm tropical oceans for the winter, where they mate and calves are born. A one-way trip can last upwards of 5,000 miles, making the cetaceans the farthest-migrating animal on Earth. (One was tracked migrating 6,200 miles).

To better understand humpback migrations, scientists embedded satellite tags in seven South Atlantic and nine South Pacific whales from 2003 through 2010.  The researchers found that, despite surface currents, storms and other distractions, the humpbacks never deviated more than about 5 degrees from their migratory courses.  In about half the segments mapped by the researchers, humpbacks deviated by one degree or less.

Read more in the original article here.

Orangutans Use Simple Tools to Catch Fish

Orangutans swim about as well as they fly, but research on three Indonesian islands shows that these long-limbed apes nonetheless catch and eat fish.

Orangutans living in Borneo scavenge fish that wash up along the shore and scoop catfish out of small ponds for fresh meals.  Over two years, scientists saw several animals on these forested islands learn on their own to jab at catfish with sticks, so that the panicked prey would flop out of ponds and into a red ape’s waiting hands.

Although orangutans usually fished alone, scientists observed pairs of apes catching catfish on a few occasions. In one case, an orangutan cringed and pulled away as its companion extracted a fish from a pond. Scientists suspect that the onlooker was learning — or at least trying to learn — how to nab aquatic snacks.

Observations of fishing by orangutans raise the likelihood that hominids ate meat, including fish, before the emergence of the Homo genus around 2.5 million years ago. Anthropologists have traditionally held that meat-eating first assumed prominence among early Homo species and fueled brain expansion.

Fishing isn’t common among primates, but it does occur. Chimpanzees occasionally pluck fish out of ponds. Some monkeys that swim well, including certain macaque and baboon species, also catch fish with their hands.

Read more in the original article here.

Salamander Has Algae Living Inside Its Cells

In a symbiotic union more complete than any previously found in vertebrates, the common spotted salamander lives with algae inside its cells.

Such a degree of cross-species fusion was long thought to exist only among invertebrates, whose immune systems are not primed to destroy invaders. But algae live inside the salamanders from before birth, possibly passed down from parent to offspring.

That spotted salamanders and algae live in symbiosis was first noted in the 19th century, and in the 20th century researchers worked out the relationship’s mutual benefits. Salamander eggs provide a nitrogen-rich environment for algae to grow; algae oxygenate the embryos, which develop deformities without them.

But algae were believed to float outside the embryo itself, in the egg’s nutrient broth.  Now scientists have noted that algae’s distinctive green glow didn’t just emanate from eggs, but from inside embryos.

Algae invade spotted salamander embryos early in their development, when individuals are just beginning to take shape inside their eggs, as the brain folds up and tissue layers-to-be first organize themselves. As an embryo develops, algae suffuses its body, but most becomes concentrated along its gut and alimentary canal.

Read more in the original article here.

Poisonous Frogs are More Fit

After testing hundreds of frogs representing dozens of species on an amphibian version of a treadmill, researchers have determined that colorful, highly poisonous frogs have the greatest aerobic capacities.

Earlier studies had suggested a link between poison and metabolism in frogs, but involved just a handful species.

In frogs, especially bright colors generally signify toxicity, informing predators of their prospective meal’s unpalatability. But whereas most poisonous animals produce venom naturally, the frogs distill it from their food.

To find the right insects, they forage far and wide, rather than waiting for whatever fare passes by. Evolution would seem to have produced aerobic adaptations that help poisonous frogs roam, then amplified coloration as a defensive signal.

It’s also possible that bright coloration evolved first, providing some sort of advantage — predator defense, perhaps, or help finding mates — that allowed those frogs to range farther than their drab brethren. That in turn could have allowed them to specialize in eating uncommon, toxin-enabling insects.

Read more in the original article here.

Baby Bald Eagles Will Hatch on Live Webcam

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Three bald eagles are expected to hatch in Decorah, Iowa, between March 30 and April 1, 2011, and you can watch it happen on the above webcam.

The nest was built 80 feet up a cottonwood tree near the Decorah Fish Hatchery in 2007, and all 8 of the parents' children have entered the world on camera.

Viewers will be able to see tiny cracks lacing through the eggs before they hatch. The zoomed-in view gets so close, you can count the scales on the eagles’ feet.

The mother eagle laid the eggs on Feb. 23, Feb. 26 and March 2. All three were caught on camera and are up on YouTube.

Original article here.

Sperm Whales May Have Names

Subtle variations in sperm-whale calls suggest that individuals announce themselves with discrete personal identifier. To put it another way, they might have names.

The findings are preliminary, based on observations of just three whales, so talk of names is still speculation. But scientists say "it's very suggestive."

The scientists have for years studied the click sequences, or codas, used by sperm whales to communicate across miles of deep ocean. In a study published in 2010 in Marine Mammal Science, they described a sound-analysis technique that linked recorded codas to individual members of a whale family living in the Caribbean.

To read more and hear audio of the whale codes, see the original article here.

Video: Hike the 2,200-Mile Appalachian Trail in 4 Minutes

Green Tunnel from Kevin Gallagher on Vimeo.

Above is a video comprised of the 24 daily pictures that hiker Kevin Gallagher took during his six-month hike of the 2,200-mile Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine in the spring of 2005.

Elephants Lend a Helping Trunk, Pass Cooperation Test

Asian elephants have passed a test of cooperation with flying colors, one that cognitive psychologists say demonstrates an ape-level awareness and sense of teamwork. Their collaboration isn’t just the product of rote learning, but the result of careful thought.

In the experiment, ropes were arranged so that if one elephant pulled alone, its partner couldn’t reach the rope. To get a banana treat, both had to pull simultaneously.

The elephants pick the trick up quickly. Then, in the study’s key step, they demonstrated patience. If only one elephant was present, it would wait for a partner to arrive. Until then, it wouldn’t try to pull the rope, and often wouldn’t pick it up.

If the elephants pulled automatically, it would be evidence of reflexive behavior. Waiting indicated something more. They understood that their own effort wasn’t enough. They understood their partner’s role. (One elephant, seen in the video below, even figured out how to cheat. By standing on her end of the rope rather than pulling, her partner had to do all the work — not very nice, perhaps, but smart.)

Read more in the original article here.

Secrets of Swimming in Sand Revealed

Using a lizard, a snaky robot and computer simulations, researchers have captured the secrets of swimming through sand.

Physicists filmed the movements of lizards and snake-like robots as they burrowed through sand, then boiled their motion down into a numerical theory. The theory ultimately led to a computer model that can emulate the fluid-like physics of sand and objects that can swim through it.

The scientists first explored sand-swimming motion by studying sandfish lizards, also known as Scincus scincus. The reptiles are native to North-African deserts and can quickly burrow into sand to escape predators and scorching heat.

The team found sine-wave-like movement allows the lizard, and their robot, to push forward in sand, but creating computer models for the experiments proved problematic. Simulating all of the tiny sand grains required a lot of money to purchase time on powerful computers. So, the team performed the same experiments using 3-millimeter-wide glass beads instead of sand.

Read more in the original article here.

Tiny Water Flea Has More Genes Than You Do

This tiny, near-microscopic water flea has more genes than you. In fact, this freshwater zooplankton is the first crustacean to have its genome sequenced, and its 31,000 genes crowns it the animal with the most genes so far. For those keeping count at home, the average human has about 20,000 to 25,000 genes.

The translucent water flea is a Daphnia pulex, and lives in ponds and lakes throughout North America, Europe and Australia. It can also reproduce without sex, is the most commonly found species of water flea and is a “model organism”, meaning it’s studied extensively and provides insight into other, rarer species.

The reason for this little critters’ super-high gene count comes down to its rapid rate of gene multiplication. Scientists estimate a rate that is three times greater than those of other invertebrates and 30 percent greater than that of humans.

As well as having a massive number of genes, more than a third of them have never been seen before in other animals. In other words, they are completely new to science.

Read more in the original article here.