All posts tagged: Animals

New forms of animals made by fusing several comb jellies together

New forms of animals made by fusing several comb jellies together

Published by skeptic

A warty comb jelly (Mnemiopsis leidyi) Andrey Nekrasov / Alamy Stock Photo It may be the closest scientists have yet come to creating Frankenstein’s monster. Living pieces of dozens of individual animals known as comb jellies have been fused together to create an array of new forms that, in some cases, survived for more than a week. These chimeric animals are more than just physically connected bits of different individuals, says Leonid Moroz at the University of Florida. Their nervous systems also fuse together, creating entities that heand his colleague Tigran Norekian, also at the University of Florida, call… Source link

Five animals that behave differently in moonlight

Five animals that behave differently in moonlight

Published by skeptic

Once every spring, a few days after the full moon, corals of the great barrier reef release eggs and sperm simultaneously – a phenomenon so spectacular it can be seen from space. Not only does the Moon’s gravitational attraction interact with the Sun to cause our tides (ebb and flow), its orbit around Earth generates different Moon phases of varying luminosity. Scientists think the Moon’s light at a certain point each spring may provide a cue to corals that the conditions are right to release eggs and sperm. The Moon’s cycle indirectly affects some animal behaviour during high and low tides, of course, by excluding them from fertile foraging areas such as coastal mudflats. But the sunlight that is reflected off the Moon also has a direct influence on animal behaviour. For example, to those animals that rely on vision for foraging, moonlight is a resource. To others that are at risk of being killed at night, it is a menace. A recent study found moonlight seems to affect mammals’ behaviour even in one of …

Red kites and buzzards are being killed by misuse of rat poisons

Red kites and buzzards are being killed by misuse of rat poisons

Published by skeptic

Red kites have been found with high levels of rodenticides in their livers TheOtherKev/Pixabay Raptors across England are being killed by the widespread misuse of rat poisons and the problem is getting worse, in spite of a UK government prevention scheme, according to a report from Wild Justice, a not-for-profit environmental group. “The degree of harm that the misuse of rodenticides is causing to our wildlife is incredibly worrying,” says broadcaster Chris Packham, co-director of Wild Justice. “The voluntary code of practice is utterly useless – it’s just not working.” Source link

Chimps do better at difficult tasks when they have an audience

Chimps do better at difficult tasks when they have an audience

Published by skeptic

A chimpanzee tackling a number test on a touch screen Akiho Muramatsu The pressure of a watching audience can have positive or negative effects on human performance, and it turns out the same is true of our closest relatives. Christen Lin at Kyoto University, Japan, and his colleagues tested a group of six chimpanzees housed at the university’s primate research institute on three numerical tasks with varying difficulty. In the first task, the numbers 1 to 5 appeared on the screen in random locations and the chimps simply had to touch the numbers in the correct order to get a food reward. In the second task, the numbers weren’t adjacent: for example, 1, 3, 5, 7, 11 and 15 might appear on the screen. Again, the chimps had to press the numbers from smallest to largest in order to receive a reward. Finally, in the hardest test, when the first number in the sequence was pressed, the rest of the numbers were hidden behind chequered squares on the screen. This meant the chimps had to …

Watch elephants use a hose to shower themselves – and prank others

Watch elephants use a hose to shower themselves – and prank others

Published by skeptic

Elephants are masters at using a hose – considered a complex tool because of its flexibility, length and the physics of flowing water. Researchers studying three Asian elephants (Elephas maximus) at Berlin Zoo were surprised to see how nimbly they manipulated a hose to shower themselves and seemed to understand how to get the best use out of it. They even appeared to play pranks on each other by stopping the flow mid-shower – either by kinking the hose or compressing it with their trunks. To reach more distant parts of the body, the elephants used a lasso-like technique, holding the hose further from the end and swinging it over their backs. Michael Brecht at the Humboldt University of Berlin says the elephant behaviour around hoses reminded the team of the way children might play together. “Elephants are exceptionally good with hoses and we very much wonder if this is related to the functional similarity of trunks and hoses,” he says. Just as humans are either left-handed or right-handed, African and Asian elephant individuals are …

Plants and animals with bigger genomes grow less efficiently – new research helps explain why they never died out

Plants and animals with bigger genomes grow less efficiently – new research helps explain why they never died out

Published by skeptic

All living things have a blueprint provided by the DNA that is stored in every one of their cells. Yet the amount of DNA in each cell – what we refer to as genome size – spans an incredible range across the tree of life. In animals, it ranges from the tiny genome of the worm-like marine parasite Intoshia variabili, which is 200 times smaller than a human’s, to that of the marbled lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus), which is estimated to be over 40 times larger than our own. Plants show similar variation, with one – the fork fern (Tmesipteris oblanceolata) – holding the record for the largest genome, having over 50 times as much DNA in each cell as humans. DNA superheavyweight, the fork fern. Wikimedia, CC BY-SA This variation in genome size highlights the remarkable diversity of life on Earth, but also poses an intriguing evolutionary question. Smaller genomes enable plants and animals to grow much more quickly and efficiently, so why do some species have much larger genomes? All living organisms must replicate …

Ancient Egyptians shaped sheep’s horns – and we don’t know why

Ancient Egyptians shaped sheep’s horns – and we don’t know why

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Sheep skulls modified by ancient Egyptians so that their horns grew upward instead of outward B. De Cupere Sheep with deformed horns are among the more mysterious animal remains discovered at an ancient Egyptian burial site dating back to around 3700 BC. They also represent the oldest physical evidence of humans modifying the horns of livestock. “The sheep were deliberately made ‘special’ by castration,” says Wim Van Neer at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. “In addition, their horns were directed upward, and in one case, the horns were removed.” Source link

The Download: inside animals’ minds, and how to make AI agents useful

The Download: inside animals’ minds, and how to make AI agents useful

Published by skeptic

Studying the minds of other animals comes with a challenge that human psychologists don’t usually face: Your subjects can’t tell you what they’re thinking.  To get answers from animals, scientists need to come up with creative experiments to learn why they behave the way they do. Sometimes this requires designing and building experimental equipment from scratch.  These contraptions can range from ingeniously simple to incredibly complex, but all of them are tailored to help answer questions about the lives and minds of specific species. Do honeybees need a good night’s sleep? What do jumping spiders find sexy? Do falcons like puzzles? For queries like these, off-the-shelf gear simply won’t do. Check out these contraptions custom-built by scientists to help them understand the lives and minds of the animals they study.  —Betsy Mason This piece is from the latest print issue of MIT Technology Review, which is all about the weird and wonderful world of food. If you don’t already, subscribe to receive future copies once they land. How ChatGPT search paves the way for AI …

NearStudios unveils Hawthorn co-op sandbox RPG with animals

NearStudios unveils Hawthorn co-op sandbox RPG with animals

Published by skeptic

Former Bethesda game developers have announced their indie game studio, NearStudios, and their debut game called Hawthorn. Hawthorn is a nostalgic co-op sandbox role-playing game with animals as the characters. It has a creative mixture of cozy gameplay with more realistic looking animated creatures and environments. Potomac, Maryland-based NearStudios (spelled NEARstudios by the firm) is led by Heather Cerlan, CEO and creative director, as well as cofounder Jason Richardson, game director. “We had to idea of blending the charm and the accessibility of a cozy game with the depth and visual appeal of a core RPG,” Cerlan said in an interview with GamesBeat. Hawthorn NearStudios is making the cozy RPG Hawthorn. She said that early play testers have described it as “an intimate Skyrim sandbox meets a Stardew Valley village simulation.” Hawthorn promises to bring friends together into an immersive and charming world where everyone can determine their player experience while being incentivized to work together towards shared objectives. You can play as characters such as a mouse, owl or more. The mouse can mount …

The Rainforest Personality Test Reveals What You Value Most In Life

The Rainforest Personality Test Reveals What You Value Most In Life

Published by skeptic

The rainforest personality test is the newest way to learn more about true nature — specifically, what it is you value most in life. These types of personality tests dive deep into your psyche without making you think too much about it. This lets you act on impulse more comfortably, making choices that are truer to who you are and what you want for yourself and those you care about. Here’s how the rainforest personality test goes: You are on a journey to get back home and you reach a rainforest. You have four animals with you: a cow, a horse, a lion, and a monkey. Your food supply will never last if you bring all four animals with you through the rainforest, but you have no choice. It’s the only way home and you have to continue forward. You must immediately chose an animal to leave behind. Out of the cow, horse, lion, and monkey, which one do you choose to leave behind? Now you and the remaining three animals continue walking and all …