Discovery News

Can Humans Infect Pets With H1N1?

animals

Nov. 6, 2009 -- Until this week, many veterinarians asserted that it was a myth that house cats could catch the deadly H1N1 flu from their owners.

Those veterinarians, along with other health experts, are revising their views after an Iowa Department of Public Health announcement Wednesday that the virus has been confirmed in an indoor 13-year-old cat, which likely contracted the illness from two flu-sick humans in its home.

Although all of the victims have since recovered, this latest H1N1 animal case puts the focus on humans as the primary carriers of the illness, which experts don't even want to call "swine" flu anymore.

Sea Lion Brain Mapped to Study Toxins' Effects

animals

Nov. 4, 2009 -- The first detailed anatomical atlas of a living wildlife species has been constructed by researchers.

Mapping the California sea lion's (Zalophus californianus) brain with a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and volumetric measuring, scientists want to better understand how toxins in the water are causing neurological damage among marine mammal populations.

Eric Montie, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of South Florida, spearheaded the study, which was published in The Anatomical Record in October.

Middle-Aged Wolves Retire From the Hunt

animals

Nov. 3, 2009 -- It takes wolves a year or two to learn how to hunt, but their ferociousness doesn't last long.

According to a new study, most wolves lose their prowess by age 3, just halfway through their lives. After that, they have to rely on younger members of the pack to catch the majority of their meals.

The discovery adds to growing evidence that aging affects animals much like it affects people. The findings might also change the way scientists think about the health of both wolf packs and the elk they prey on.

As Bats Begin Hibernation, Deaths Expected

animals

Oct. 30, 2009 -- It won't be long before millions of bats settle into caves and mines across the country to hibernate. But the sad truth is that many in the East will never see the warmth of spring.

More than a million bats have died so far from white-nose syndrome, a still-mysterious bat killer that has spread throughout the Northeast and into Virginia and West Virginia, since it was first detected in New York in 2006.

Experts will be waiting to see how far the syndrome advances this winter. They fear it may make it into Kentucky and Indiana, where most endangered Indiana bats live in fewer than 10 caves or mines.

Hungry Bats Prompt Firefly Flashes

animals

Oct. 29, 2009 -- Flashing neon diner signs often attract the attention of famished human drivers at night, but in the wild, the message sent by flashing fireflies is more like "eat me and die."

Fireflies are often toxic to bats, which see the nighttime flashing and steer clear of the insects, according to a new study accepted for publication in the journal Animal Behavior.

The research presents some of the first evidence that fireflies flash not only for courtship, but also to deter would-be predators.

Male Humpbacks Call Each Other Out

animals

Oct. 23, 2009 -- Like a songbird calling another out, one male humpback whale may make another change his tune.

Studying humpbacks with methods adapted from bird research has uncovered the first known instances of what look like whales responding musically to each other's songs, says Danielle Cholewiak, a researcher for the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary based in Scituate, Mass.

Cholewiak and colleagues detected melodic adjustments when a solo singer encountered another singer nearby and when researchers played their song remixes for whales.

Ancient, Giant Beavers Didn't Have a Taste for Wood

animals

Oct. 23, 2009 -- Behemoth beavers that lived in North America during the last ice age ate little if any material from trees, a new analysis suggests.

The extinct giant beaver, Castoroides ohioensis, was just one species of large animals, or megafauna, stalking the North American landscape near the end of the last ice age. Fossils indicate that the creature was about twice the size of its modern-day cousin and therefore weighed between 60 and 100 kilograms, says Catherine Yansa, a paleoecologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing.

Yansa and University of Wisconsin-Whitewater colleague Peter Jacobs recently analyzed material drilled from the jawbone of a giant beaver that had been unearthed at a farm in southeastern Wisconsin. Carbon dating showed that the creature lived around 14,500 years ago, she reported October 19 at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America. Pollen and plant fossils from sediments surrounding the jawbone suggest that the environment at the site then was cold and marshy with few trees.

Deadly Spider Demands Long Courtship -- or Else

animals

Oct. 21, 2009 -- Females of the Australian redback spider, one of the world's most poisonous spiders and a close relative to the black widow, demand 100 minutes of courting or else they usually cannibalize their male suitors, research finds.

Proving that bigger isn't always better in the mating game, the tiniest of males sometimes approach female redbacks after offering the critical 100 minutes of wooing and successfully mate without being eaten, according to the paper in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The study shows that puny males of this species can win at love without exerting much effort and begins to explain the extreme size differences between males and females among some spider species.

Barking Dogs Explained

animals

Oct. 16, 2009 - Animal welfare researchers have uncovered why city-living domestic dogs may be prone to nuisance barking.

In this month's issue of Australian Veterinary Journal, a team from the University of Queensland's Center for Animal Welfare and Ethics report a case-control survey of 150 dog owners including 72 dogs whose owners had sought treatment for nuisance barking.

Barking can be classified as being a nuisance when it causes distress or interruption to the life of the dogs' owners or neighbours.

New Dino-Eating Pterosaur Evolved in Unusual Way

animals

Oct. 13, 2009 - An international team of researchers has just identified a new dinosaur-eating pterosaur that soared through the Jurassic skies 160 million years ago, according to a study released this week.

Christened Darwinopterus modularis, meaning "Darwin's wing composed of interchangeable units," the new flying reptile honors the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth by providing evidence for an unusual and controversial type of evolution.

Modular evolution theory holds that entire modules, or groups of body features, evolve together within a relatively short period of time.