Giant python gets a health check

23 July 2014 Last updated at 09:35

By Victoria Gill

Science reporter, BBC News

A team at Chester Zoo gave an enormous reticulated python its annual check-up on Tuesday - including using ultrasound to scan its heart.

Reticulated pythons are the longest snake species in the world.

So it took a team of eight handlers to hold the snake in order that it could be examined.

The huge reptile, named JF, is thought to be one of the biggest snakes in Europe - at 7m (23 feet) long, and weighing approximately 60kgs.

As well as ensuring the snake is healthy, the check-up was part of a cardiological research study.

This is a joint research programme between the zoo and Cardiff Metropolitan University; the hope is that looking at JF will provide insight into problems with the human heart.

Continued

Hawkmoths Use Ultrasound to Combat Bats

July 4, 2013 — For years, pilots flying into combat have jammed enemy radar to get the drop on their opponents. It turns out that moths can do it, too.

A new study co-authored by a University of Florida researcher shows hawkmoths use sonic pulses from their genitals to respond to bats producing the high-frequency sounds, possibly as a self-defense mechanism to jam the echolocation ability of their predators.

Echolocation research may be used to better understand or improve ultrasound as a vital tool in medicine, used for observing prenatal development, measuring blood flow and diagnosing tumors, among other things. The study appears online today in the journal Biology Letters.

Study co-author Akito Kawahara, assistant curator of Lepidoptera at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the UF campus, said ultrasound has only been demonstrated in one other moth group.

"This is just the first step toward understanding a really interesting system," Kawahara said. "Echolocation research has been focused on porpoises, whales and dolphins. We know some insects produce the sounds, but this discovery in an unrelated animal making ultrasound, potentially to jam the echolocation of bats, is exciting."

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Orangutans sit still for heart ultrasound at zoo

ATLANTA (AP) — The 9-year-old patient sits still, munching on popcorn and sipping grape juice while he gets an ultrasound of his heart.

Every so often, he wiggles free long enough to swing from the ceiling or stick out his tongue before resuming a statue-like pose. Orangutans aren't known for their patience, but this one, named Satu, has been trained to let researchers at Zoo Atlanta perform echocardiograms on him while he's awake.

It's part of a groundbreaking national project — the Great Ape Heart Project housed in Atlanta — that researches heart disease in the rust-colored apes. Heart problems are the No. 1 killer of orangutans, gorillas and other apes living in captivity, and the disease threatens the work researchers have done to help increase the population of the endangered species.

"We don't really know what is causing it. Once we can understand that, hopefully we can treat it," said Hayley Murphy, director of veterinary services at Zoo Atlanta. "Our ultimate goal would be to prevent it in these amazing animals, these endangered species.

"We don't really know what is causing it. Once we can understand that, hopefully we can treat it," said Hayley Murphy, director of veterinary services at Zoo Atlanta. "Our ultimate goal would be to prevent it in these amazing animals, these endangered species. We're really trying hard to get a handle on this."

Researchers have been collecting data on gorilla heart disease for a decade, but zoos are just now starting to gather that information on orangutans. In February, Zoo Atlanta was the first facility to perform an awake echocardiogram on an orangutan.

Read more:   http://news.yahoo.com/orangutans-sit-still-heart-ultrasound-zoo-091325639.html;_ylt=AsqBkiH8sz0Rkbzsmw1943Z4hMgF;_ylu=X3oDMTRhZmEwZWhoBG1pdANUb3BTdG9yeSBTY2llbmNlU0YgQW5pbWFsUGV0c1NTRgRwa2cDZDRmMjc2YTMtMjdmYy0zYjhlLThhYTUtMTY2MTY2ZWMzYWNlBHBvcwMyBHNlYwN0b3Bfc3RvcnkEdmVyAzUyYzMwZTQ3LThhYzktMTFlMS1iZmZmLWM0OWQ4MjA1ZWNhZQ--;_ylg=X3oDMTFrM25vcXFyBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDBHBzdGNhdAMEcHQDc2VjdGlvbnMEdGVzdAM-;_ylv=3

Dr Who's sonic screwdriver 'invented' at Dundee University

Scientists claim to have invented their own version of Doctor Who's famous sonic screwdriver.

The Dundee University researchers have created a machine which uses ultrasound to lift and rotate a rubber disc floating in a cylinder of water.

It is said to be the first time ultrasound waves have been used to turn objects rather than simply push them.

The study could help make surgery using ultrasound techniques more precise, the physicists said.

Surgeons use ultrasound to treat a range of conditions without having to cut open a patient.

The ability to steer ultrasound waves to the precise spot where they are needed could make those treatments even more effective.

The ultrasound waves could also be used to guide a drug capsule through the body and activate it, for instance right inside a tumour.

Read on:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17760077

World's Highest-Pitched Primate Calls Out Like a Bat

A huge-eyed little primate of the Philippines can communicate in pure ultrasound — issuing calls so high-pitched that human ears can't detect them.

Study researcher Marissa Ramsier noted the ironic discovery in an animal that has always been considered a quiet night creature. "It turns out that it's not silent. It's actually screaming and we had no idea," said Ramsier, an evolutionary biologist at Humboldt State University in California.

The shrillest noise a human can hear has a frequency of about 20 kilohertz. The Philippine tarsier can hear up to 91 kilohertz, and it cries out in the 70-kHz range. Those numbers put the tarsier's hearing abilities in the same range as bats and far beyond those of any other primate ever known.

Continued: http://www.livescience.com/18359-embargoed-world-highest-pitched-primate-calls-bat.html

Elephant ultrasound

Elephant maternity image

November 2010. With a tiny trunk already visible, this incredible image of an elephant in utero shows George, ZSL Whipsnade Zoo's new arrival, 19 months before he was born. Seen here at approximately 3 months into its 22-month pregnancy, the elephant embryo is clearly visible using 3D ultrasound scanners.

Ultrasound scans are carried out throughout the pregnancy, much like with humans, to monitor the health and well-being of mum and baby.

Now 6 months old, George weighs around 60 stone and is a boisterous member of the herd of Asian elephants at the Zoo in Dunstable, Bedfordshire.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/elephant-ultrasound.html