Tough life in the savannah? Chimpanzee foods are mechanically more demanding than previously thought

Date:  August 10, 2018

Source:  Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Summary:

A study has analyzed the mechanical properties and the isotopic composition of plant foods eaten by chimpanzees living in the tropical rain forest and savannah woodland. They found that the savannah chimpanzees eat foods that are more mechanically challenging and therefore may place higher selective pressures on their chewing apparatus compared to their conspecifics living in the rainforest.

Chimpanzees are generally known as the ripe fruit specialist among the great apes but also incorporate other food items such as leaves and seedpods into their diets. Savannah chimpanzees are thought to rely on these non-fruit resources more than their forest counterparts. The mechanical properties of plant foods can vary substantially but to date there were no comparative data available for chimpanzee populations living in distinct habitat types.

Adam van Casteren of the Max Planck Weizmann Center for Integrative Archaeology and Anthropology at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology went out to compare the material properties of various plant foods eaten by chimpanzees in a tropical rainforest (Ngogo, Uganda) and a savannah woodland (Issa Valley, Tanzania). Using a portable mechanical tester, he measured the physical properties of plant tissues and found that some plant parts from the mosaic savannah woodland habitat, such as the outer casing of the Strychnos fruit, had much higher toughness and stiffness values than the plant tissues he tested from the rainforest. "I was surprised to see that some values even exceed those recorded for orangutan foods as they are generally considered to consume the most mechanically challenging diet of all the great apes," says van Casteren.

Continued  

Global warming can turn monarch butterflies' favorite food into poison

Date:  April 3, 2018

Source:  Louisiana State University

LSU researchers have discovered a new relationship between climate change, monarch butterflies and milkweed plants. It turns out that warming temperatures don't just affect the monarch, Danaus plexippus, directly, but also affect this butterfly by potentially turning its favorite plant food into a poison.

Bret Elderd, associate professor in the LSU Department of Biological Sciences, and Matthew Faldyn, a Ph.D. student in Elderd's lab from Katy, Texas, published their findings today with coauthor Mark Hunter of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and School of Natural Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. This study is published in Ecology.

"A lot of global climate change research focuses on a single species, and how that species will be affected by climate change," Elderd said. "But we know that in reality, species interact, and they are often tightly linked together."

One such species interaction is that of the monarch butterfly and the milkweed plant, genus Asclepias. The monarch is an obligate feeder on milkweed. Individuals always lay their eggs on a milkweed plant, and the larvae only develop on various species of this particular plant.

Continued 

Beluga whales dive deeper, longer to find food in Arctic

Date:  February 20, 2018

Source:  University of Washington

Summary:

Beluga whales that spend summers feeding in the Arctic are diving deeper and longer to find food than in earlier years, when sea ice covered more of the ocean for longer periods, according to a new analysis.

     

Continued  

Turtles Bred for Food in Asia Can Transport Cholera (Turtles infected with the bacteria causing cholera — Vibrio cholerae — have been found in shipments throughout Asia, from Bangladesh to Japan) - via Herp Digest

Global Health, New York Times, 6/14/17 by Donald G. McNeil Jr. 

Soft-shell turtles raised for food in Asia can infect people with cholera and spread the lethal bacteria from place to place, according to a new study.

Cholera infects up to five million people around the world each year, causing rapid, overwhelming diarrhea that leads to an estimated 100,000 deaths annually.

A major outbreak is underway in Yemen and in the Horn of Africa. (That outbreak is not food-related. Cholera is endemic there and is being spread to previously clean sources of drinking water by people forced to flee drought and civil war.)

The new study, by researchers at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, was published last week in Applied and Environmental Microbiology, the journal of the American Society for Microbiology.

Large-scale turtle breeding has expanded rapidly in China, the authors noted. At the same time, turtles infected with the bacteria causing cholera — Vibrio cholerae — have been found in shipments throughout Asia, from Bangladesh to Japan.

The scientists made Vibrio bacteria easily detectable by inserting into them genes for bioluminescent proteins, then dipped some turtles into a Vibrio solution for two hours before rinsing them off. The researchers also pumped the solution into the stomachs of some turtles.

Within days, the scientists found the bacteria growing all over the turtles’ shells, limbs and necks, and in the calipash, the gelatinous green layer beneath the shell that is considered a delicacy in Asia. The researchers also discovered the bacteria in the intestines of some turtles.

Vibrio bacteria flourish in the brackish estuaries where shellfish grow. They concentrate in filter feeders, like mussels and oysters, and attach themselves to crabs and shrimp, thriving on the chitin in their shells, according to a 2009 article in the American Journal of Infectious Diseases.

They are not easily removed by rinsing or depuration, a process in which shellfish are stored in sterilized seawater.

One of the last cholera outbreaks in the United States took place in Louisiana in 1986, sickening 18 people. Cases were blamed on both crabs and shrimp; raw oysters were also suspected.

Careless handling — including holding cooked shrimp in boxes that had held raw shrimp — contributed to the outbreak.

Fish bond when they eat the same food

Date:March 22, 2016

Source:University of Lincoln

Similar-smelling chemical cues could explain why some animals choose to live together with other species, according to new research from scientists at the University of Lincoln, UK.

Published in the scientific journal Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, the research found that for some fish it makes more sense to swim around with those that share their taste in food -- and smell similar in the process -- than to shoal with members of their own species. The findings highlight the role that chemical cues might play in creating familiarity and group bonds between members of different species.

Led by Tanja Kleinhappel, a PhD researcher in the School of Life Sciences at the University of Lincoln, the study is the first to group members of different free swimming shoals of fish together to investigate how bonds between different species form.

The research team caught a number of three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus) and nine-spined sticklebacks (Pungitius pungitius) from local rivers and streams. In nature, these two species live side by side, yet individuals are also known to shoal together. The Lincoln team carefully planned what individual fish ate, and the groups into which they were placed.

Continued ...

Endangered orangutans face a new threat

Study says some habitats may not offer enough high-energy food

Date:October 14, 2015

Source:Rutgers University

The loss of habitats is the greatest threat to the endangered orangutans, and now a new study says their existence could be further jeopardized if conservation efforts don't include reintroducing these great apes into natural environments with enough high-energy food for them to survive.

In the study, published on October 14 in PLOS ONE, Rutgers researchers found that the density of Bornean orangutans is almost two times greater in an Indonesian peat-swamp forest -- just 39 miles from similar surroundings where orangutans must survive on thousands of calories less each day for most of the year.

"This study gives us a better understanding of how living in an unpredictable environment can influence the population density of large animals that spend the majority of their time in tress," said Erin Vogel, an evolutionary anthropologist at Rutgers University. "If animals can't obtain enough energy, reproductive output and population sizes will suffer."

Read on ...

Chimpanzees will travel for preferred foods, innovate solutions

Date:

March 17, 2015

Source:

Lincoln Park Zoo

Summary:

Just as humans will travel to their favorite restaurant, chimpanzees will travel a farther distance for preferred food sources in non-wild habitats, according to a new study.

Continued ...

Crocodiles disappearing as dinner in Jamaica

CASCADE, Jamaica (AP) — Crocodiles were once so abundant along the salty rim of southern Jamaica that images of their toothy jaws and spiny armor crown the tropical island's coat of arms and are stenciled on the bumpers of military vehicles.

Now, the big reptiles are increasingly difficult to spot, and not just because they blend into swampy backgrounds. These days, a growing taste for crocodile meat and even eggs in Jamaica has conservationists worried that the reptiles might be wiped from the wild altogether, although they've been protected by law since 1971.

"I went from never hearing about anyone eating crocodile meat, much less crocodile eggs, to hearing about it all the time. There's just so much carnage going on," said Byron Wilson, a reptile specialist at Jamaica's University of the West Indies.

Crocs have steadily reclaimed their range in Florida, their only U.S. habitat, after rebounding from the edge of extinction. But experts believe the reptiles may be reaching a tipping point in economically struggling Jamaica. A recent newsletter from the Crocodile Specialist Group, a global network involved in croc conservation, said the situation appears dire on the island as the impact of habitat loss deepens with a "new demand for crocodile meat, both for personal consumption and for local market distribution."

Continued

Bizarre Sighting: Cane Toad Eating a Bat?

What's the matter, bat got your tongue?

A park ranger in northwest Peru got a surprise when he encountered a toad with something in its mouth. This something happened to be a bat.

Ranger Yufani Olaya snapped a photograph of the bat-chomping toad in the Cerros de Amotape National Park, where he works. Olaya shared the photograph with biologist Phil Torres, who works at the Tambopata Research Center, a scientific outpost in the Peruvian Amazon. This is probably the first photographed record of a cane toad eating a bat, Torres said.

The bat in the photograph is likely a type of free-tailed bat, perhaps a velvety free-tailed bat (Molossus molossus), which is common throughout northern South America. In another instance, a different type of toad was observed eating a free-tailed bat in Brazil, Torres told LiveScience. 

Cane toads are opportunistic feeders and well known for being voracious eaters — that trait has allowed them to be successful as an invasive species in places like Australia, Torres said. But it's a rare occurrence to find one eating a bat, which usually flies far from the ground where the amphibians hop.

Read on

Why Closely Related Species Do Not Eat the Same Things

June 21, 2013 — Closely related species consume the same resources less often than more remotely related species. In fact, it is the competition for resources, and not their kinship, which determines the food sources of the species of a community. Under the effect of this competition, closely related species have specialized on different food resources. This is the conclusion of a study carried out by researchers from CNRS, the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle and Exeter University (United Kingdom). These results were obtained by studying trophic interactions between species at an extraordinary level of detail in an English meadow.

Published on 20 June 2013 in the journal Current Biology, the work provides important insights into the evolution of ecological communities at a time when certain are being disrupted by climate change and the arrival of invasive species.

In ecology, the present paradigm considers that kinship relations between species determine the identity of the partners with which the species interact: the more closely related the species, the more chance they have of interacting with the same partners. Thus, according to this view, two closely related species should share the same predators and the same preys. Recent work carried out by a team of researchers from CNRS, the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle and Exeter University shows that this is not necessarily the case. For the first time, the scientists have shown that although kinship between species effectively determines what feeds on species, it is competition for resources and not degree of kinship that determines what species feed on.

To arrive at this conclusion, they made a series of observations over a ten-year period in a meadow in the south east of England. These observations, carried out at an extraordinary level of detail, made it possible to establish the interactions between one hundred or so species situated on four trophic levels: plants (23 species), aphids that feed on these plants (25 species), wasps that lay their eggs in the bodies of the aphids (22 species), and other wasps that lay their eggs in the larvae of the preceding wasps inside aphids (26 species).

Continued

Elephants Near Timbuktu Make Astonishing Migration Treks

A group of elephants near Timbuktu makes an epic journey each year in their quest for food and water. Researchers found that they travel across an area of 12,355 square miles (32,000 square kilometers) in the deserts of Mali, marking the largest known elephant range in the world.

The animals' extreme journey is a product of life in harsh conditions.

"It's incredible these elephants have survived. They have a truly stressful life with the lack of water and food, and their giant range reflects that," said lead researcher Jake Wall of the conservation organization Save The Elephants, Kenya, and the University of British Columbia.

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/25495-record-breaking-elephant-range-found.html

The Brandling Villa Serves Beer And Food For Dogs

The meat-flavoured non-alcoholic ale has proved a real hit with four-legged punters thanks to landlord Dave Carr.

And alongside the beer is a special food menu created by chef Sammy Dee.

The food on offer includes a dog-friendly chicken chasseur and a classic Sunday roast which features a special ‘cat gravy’ for canines.

Dave Carr said: “The beer isn’t to every dog’s taste. My beagle Franco won’t touch a drop of it, but put any of the food in front of him and he’s well into it.

"It's great to be able to offer something completely different to all the other pubs in the area so people can feel their dogs are welcome."

Video:  http://tyneandwear.sky.com/home/article/7307

Here's How the Feds Busted David Feltenberger for Smuggling Turtles to China– via Herp Digest

By Stefan Kamph Tue., Oct. 2 2012 

New Times Broward Palm Beach

In October 2011, an undercover officer with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service arrived at David Feltenberger's "Big Lake Fish Farm" in Okeechobee. Feltenberger was sentenced last week for conspiring to export turtles. 

He had a license to keep hundreds or thousands of softshell turtles, snapping turtles, chicken turtles, striped mud turtles, eastern river cooters, Florida cooters, peninsula cooters, Florida red-bellied turtles, common musk turtles, and yellow-bellied sliders for the purpose of letting them breed in a giant tank so they could be sustainably sold.

But the FWS thought Feltenberger might be catching wild turtles and shipping them off to China, where endangered sea turtles are enjoyed as food and medicine. So the undercover agent brought along 23 turtles -- each of them marked with an electronic tracking device. 

Feltenberger, 51, the farm's proprieter, directed an associate to put all the turtles into rubber containers except for one: a common snapping turtle, which he threw into the breeding pond. The rest, which were more valuable, were prepared for shipment.

The undercover agent later said that while he was at the farm, "other individuals arrived and unloaded 232 lbs. of soft shell turtles." The heavy ones went into bins, the little ones went into the pond. Then everyone went to Feltenberger's house to get paid, the agent said. From his affidavit:

On October 27, 2011, at approximately 2:48 p.m., a vehicle traveled from the [farm] to the loading dock of a commercial cargo air carrier at Orlando International Airport with a shipment of 3,025 lbs. of live turtles... Upon arrival at LAX, law enforcement agents located and inspected the shipment of turtles. During the inspection, they identified 12 of the 23 turtles... by their electronic devices. The shipment was later consolidated with other shipments of turtles consigned for export to China.

Feltenberger later switched from plastic bins to a concrete holding pen that could be drained to collect the turtles for shipment, according to his associate Christopher Craig, who seems to have cooperated with authorities and who avoided the conspiracy-to-export charges. 

The U.S. attorney filed suit against Feltenberger in May, and he pleaded guilty on July 16. He was sentenced last week to 90 days in jail, 90 days of house arrest, three years of supervised release, a $20,000 fine, and 250 hours of community service.

A Reptilian Repast-Small Art Shop Near Simpang Siur Offers Culinary Specialties Comprised of Poisonous Snakes, Crocodiles, Lizards and Bats - via Herp Digest

Bali Discovery Tours 9/28/12 Those stuck in the perpetual traffic jam at the Simpang Siur intersection in Bali at the Dewa Ruci underpass project may have seen an “Art Shop” on the south side of the Jalan Bypass, roughly opposite the BIMC Hospital.
 
The Art Shop is a small ruko shop offering a truly unique range of products. Step inside the store and be greeted by row after row of special cages housing hundreds of live snakes, largely poisonous, that once selected will be fried, roasted or turned into soup at the customer's pleasure.
 
Quoted by Beritabali.com, Anita Tambunan who works as an attendant in the shop said: “The most popular item ordered by foreign visitors is fried python, the meat of which is thick and tasty. The taste is not much different from chicken meat. Meanwhile, local tourists prefer the special medicinal powers of this snake.”


The spices used in frying a python are very similar to those used in fried chicken. The basic ingredient call for garlic, shallots, sweet soy sauce and ginger.


Those preferring their snake served as sate marinate the meat in sesame oil, sweet soy sauce and then cooked over coals.


Snake soup uses a wide range of herbs and spices, depending on the specific type of soup ordered.


Other exotic meats served from the shop include monitor lizards, monkeys, bats and crocodiles. Presentation is also important, each serving is decorated by tomatoes or other decorative vegetables. The average prices ranges from US$10 for Cobra Soup to US$30 for Crocodile Sate. The above prices do not include 10% tax and service.


The shop also stocks a range of traditional medicines available for sale to the public.


While a chef is in charge of the kitchen, the majority of the staff are women accustomed to handling poisonous snakes, bats and other exotic species in the course of their day’s work.


In slaughtering the reptiles and animals, special care is taken to reserve the fresh blood, a substance much sought by customers for its perceived medicinal and healing powers.


Anita said handling snakes is second nature and all a matter of knowing how to do one’s job in what would be a highly dangerous job for someone unfamiliar with the reptiles.


The Art Shop is open daily from 9:00 am until 10:00 pm.

Dominant Deer Hinds Choose the Best Food

ScienceDaily (July 20, 2012) — When food is abundant, it seems that animals do not have to compete but dominant deer hinds still uphold rivalry and select the most nutritious food to maintain their status. This is the case according to a study carried out on the Albacete experimental deer farm in Spain.

Deer hinds (Cervus elaphus) have a hierarchical organisation system: the oldest and largest hold the most dominant positions. Therefore, a nutrient rich diet benefits the more dominant hinds, who have preferential access to the best food sources. This allows them to grow even bigger, improving their milk production and body condition.

Published in the PLoS One journal and headed by the University of Castilla-La Mancha (UCLM), the study demonstrates how even when food is in abundance, the dominant hinds select the best foods.

Carried out in 2009 on the Albacete experimental deer farm, the second most important in the world (after the one in New Zealand), the experiment lasted seven days. It involved observing the behaviour of 44 deer hinds when accessing food during the first hour, their selection of food components and their nutritional composition.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120720083024.htm

Migratory Bats Use Both Fat Reserves and Food to Fuel Their Strenuous Long-Distance Flights to the South

ScienceDaily (June 21, 2012) — During autumn, migratory bats use a combination of fat reserves and food to fuel their strenuous long-distance flights to the south. This is reported by researchers from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in the "Proceedings of the Royal Society of London."

Songbirds that migrate at night, such as the blackcaps, only use their fat reserves as a fuel to power their migratory flights. This is the only source for energy since they are not capable of hunting insects during the darkness of the night when they migrate. Yet, mammals are not capable of fuelling high metabolic rates exclusively by fat oxidation -- otherwise human obesity would be unknown to modern society.

Therefore, the team led by Christian Voigt investigated which fuels migratory bats use to power their long-distance flights. In autumn, they collected breath from Nathusius' pipistrelles while these bats migrated from the Baltic region to the south. In the bat breath, the researchers measured the carbon stable isotope ratio. When animals oxidize exclusively fatty acids from their body reserves, breath is depleted in carbon-13 (13C). However, if animals oxidize exclusively ingested food, breath is enriched in carbon-13. The researchers found intermediate enrichments of carbon-13 in the breath of pipistrelles, and therefore concluded that bats used a combination of fat and ingested food as their fuel.

It appears as if bats use a mixed-fuel similar to the E10 gasoline recently introduced for cars. In the case of bats, a mixed fuel helps bats to save parts of their fat reserves for hibernation in Southern Europe, for example France. In contrast, migratory birds do not hibernate and therefore have to travel further south, some even to Africa, in order to avoid the harsh European winters. Hibernation in Northern Europe is not an option for migratory bats since they prefer tree roosts in which they would freeze to death during the cold northern winters.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120621112620.htm

Nearly 90 different marine mammal species consumed by people in 114 countries

Porpoises and dolphins are being deliberately harvested

January 2012: A new and exhaustive study into the deliberate and accidental harvesting of the world's marine mammals has shown that nearly 90 different species are eaten in more than 100 different countries.

The fate of the world's great whale species has long commaned global attention, but the fate of smaller marine mammals has been less understood, specifically because the deliberate and accidental harvesting of dolphins, porpoises, manatees and other warm-blooded aquatic denizens had not been studied or monitored.

Netted, trapped and hunted – with no idea about sustainabilityIn an attempt to reverse this, researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Okapi Wildlife Associates have conducted the global study of human consumption of marine mammals using approximately 900 sources of information. The main finding was that, since 1990, people in at least 114 countries have consumed one or more of at least 87 marine mammal species. In addition to this global review, Wildlife Conservation Society scientists work in remote countries around the world to assess and actively address the threat to dolphin populations with localized, applied conservation efforts.

‘International bodies such as the International Whaling Commission were formed specifically to gauge the status of whale populations and regulate the hunting of these giants,' said Wildlife Conservation Society's Dr Martin Robards, lead author of the new study. ‘These species, however, represent only a fraction of the world's diversity of marine mammals, many of which are being accidentally netted, trapped, and - in some instances - directly hunted without any means of tracking as to whether these harvests are sustainable.'

Even the narwhal appears on people's platesIn order to build a statistically robust picture of human consumption rates of marine mammals around the world, Dr Robards and co-author Dr Randall Reeves of Okapi Wildlife Associates, started with records on small fisheries focused on small whales, dolphins, and porpoises from 1975 and records of global marine mammal catches between 1966 and 1975. From there, the authors consulted some 900 other sources and consulted with numerous researchers and environmental managers, an exhaustive investigation that took three years to complete. The team counted the information only if it contained actual evidence of human consumption of marine mammals, omitting instances where marine mammals were caught (either intentionally or not) for fishing bait, feed for other animals, medicines, and other uses.

Unusual species - Narwhal, manatee, sea lion & many more
The list of marine mammals killed for human consumption includes obscure species such as the pygmy beaked whale, the South Asian river dolphin, the narwhal, the Chilean dolphin, the long-finned pilot whale and Burmeister's porpoise. Seals and sea lions also make the list, including species such as the California sea lion and lesser known species such as the Baikal seal, as does the polar bear. Three species of manatee and its close relative the dugong, considered a delicacy in some parts of the world, are also widespread targets of human consumption.

Overall, the historical review reveals an escalation in the utilization of smaller cetaceans, particularly coastal and estuarine species since 1970, often caught as bycatch in nets meant for fish and other species. Once caught, these small cetaceans are being increasingly utilized as food, particularly in poor areas, in what the report's authors call ‘fishing up the food chain'.

‘Obviously, there is a need for improved monitoring of species such as the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins and other species,' said Dr Howard Rosenbaum, director of WCS's Ocean Giants programme. ‘In more remote areas and a number of countries, a greater immediate need is to understand the motivations behind the consumption of marine mammals and use these insights to develop solutions to protect these iconic species that lead to more effective management and conservation.'

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/cetecean-consumption.html