Six of the secretive cats could be released in Northumberland’s Kielder forest if an application by the Lynx UK Trust is approved

Damian Carrington Environment editor

Friday 7 July 2017 15.39 BST Last modified on Friday 7 July 2017 22.00 BST

After an absence of 1,300 years, the lynx could be back in UK forests by the end of 2017. The Lynx UK Trust has announced it will apply for a trial reintroduction for six lynx into the Kielder forest, Northumberland, following a two-year consultation process with local stakeholders.

The secretive cat can grow to 1.5m in length and feeds almost exclusively by ambushing deer. Attacks on humans are unknown, but it was hunted to extinction for its fur in the UK. The Kielder forest was chosen by the trust from five possible sites, due to its abundance of deer, large forest area and the absence of major roads.

Sheep farmers and some locals are opposed to the reintroduction, but Dr Paul O’Donoghue, chief scientific advisor to the Lynx UK Trust and expert adviser to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) believes there are good reasons for reintroducing the predator.

 “Lynx belong here as much as hedgehogs, badgers, robins, blackbirds - they are an intrinsic part of the UK environment,” he told the Guardian. “There is a moral obligation. We killed every single last one of them for the fur trade, that’s a wrong we have to right.”

Rural communities would also benefit from eco-tourism, O’Donoghue said: “They will generates tens of millions of pounds for struggling rural UK economies. Lynx have already been reintroduced in the Harz mountains in Germany. They have branded the whole area the ‘kingdom of the lynx’. Now it is a thriving ecotourism destination and we thought we could do exactly the same for Kielder,” he said.

Continued  

In the egg, American bullfrogs learn how to avoid becoming lunch

Date:  July 5, 2017

Source:  Oregon State University

Summary:  When exposed to potential predators as an embryo, the invasive American bullfrog becomes harder to kill when it becomes a tadpole, according to a new study.

Continued  

Changes in conservation planning can benefit vulnerable mammals

New research provides the first biological map of priority areas that capture several dimensions of mammalian biodiversity

Date:  July 6, 2017

Source:  Colorado State University

Summary:  New research underscores the viewing of global conservation priority areas through three lenses: taxonomy, traits and evolutionary history.

Read on  

Green anoles, friends from our childhood, are friends of gardeners, too – via Herp Digest

Tyler Morning Telegraph, 6/28/17 Written by Greg Grant, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service

Surely if you are a gardener you have noticed delicate 6-inch green lizards patrolling your landscape. These guys have been friends of mine since I was a small child.

Because of their ability to change their color from bright green to brown or gray, many people call them chameleons, but they aren’t. These little iguana relatives are actually green anoles, or Carolina anoles, as their Latin name (Anolis carolinensis) indicates. Growing up, I never heard them called anoles. We just knew them as lizards. But in the environmental science world I primarily hear them referred to as anoles with two different pronunciations. Most pronounce it where it rhymes with “a mole,” but I prefer what I think is its original Caribbean Creole pronunciation where it rhymes with “cannoli.”

Anoles do live in the Caribbean islands as well as the southeastern United States from Texas to Virginia. In Texas they live as far west as Central Texas and South Texas. Thanks to sticky pads on the bottom of their feet, they can generally be found on trees and shrubs, as well as walls and rooftops. They generally prefer shady, moist areas, and often completely blend in with nearby potted plants. It’s not uncommon, however, to see them sunbathing during the morning hours.

As children, we couldn’t help wanting to catch them. It’s because of this and their own predators that they have tails that break away quite easily. Amazingly, the tails grow back, but sometimes smaller, discolored or a bit deformed. Our favorite thing to do with them as kids was to let them bite onto our ears and hang there like ear rings.

They don’t eat humans, however. They prefer small insects up to the size of crickets and June bugs. It’s a small-scale horror movie watching them munch and swallow these guys, too. This is why it’s important to be judicious and selective with insecticide use, as birds, spiders, toads, wasps and lizards all need live, healthy insects to dine on. All of these guys provide the service of nature’s insecticide.

One would assume that anoles change colors to blend in with their environment, but the color change apparently has more to do with their temperature, mood and stress level. By far, the most impressive color change they make takes place under their neck when the males project a hot pink dewlap during courtship and territorial displays. They often bob their heads up and down while their dewlap is displayed. My Grandmother Emanis called this dewlap routine “showing their money.” Anoles are very territorial. The males seem to spend more time strutting and posturing than they do foraging.

During the breeding season from March to October, females can lay an egg every two weeks. Eggs take five to eight weeks to hatch. Unfortunately, the female doesn’t look after the egg or the baby lizards, which immediately have to start hunting tiny insects to survive.

Tell your children they are miniature dinosaurs, because they basically are.

Greg Grant is the Smith County horticulturist for the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service.

Students in the US Help Scientists Save Frogs at Lake Titicaca - via Herp Digest

Dina Baker, Peruthisweek, 6/28/17

Denver Zoo’s Lake Titicaca Frog Project aims to educate local communities in Puno about the health of the Lake Titicaca Frog and of the lake itself, in addition to taking action towards the conservation of this species. The Lake Titicaca Frog (telmatobius culeus) is now considered an endangered species due to pollution of the lake, contamination of the lake from local mining operations, and from humans illegally overconsuming the frogs. Educators and conservationists from Denver Zoo visit Puno and surrounding communities regularly to work with scientists in Peru and Bolivia to study the frogs, educate locals and work towards solutions to saving these frogs.

The Lake Titicaca Frogs are important to scientists and humans in general, because they are an indicator of the health of the lake. If these frogs decline significantly in population, then scientists know that there are bigger issues at hand which can impact humans who rely on the lake as well.

It has been over 50 years since Jacques Cousteau and his team were able to use a submarine to explore the depths and floor of Lake Titicaca. Today, scientists are not even sure what the true numbers of remaining frogs might be since it is too dangerous to dive down to those depths and the technology to reach those depths is limited. Since Denver Zoo’s mission is to “Secure a better world for animals through human understanding”, it is very important to Outreach Specialist James Garcia to connect his students in Colorado to nature and educate them about global conservation issues. 

James is also the Education Lead for Denver Zoo’s Lake Titicaca Frog Project for the zoo’s Conservation and Research department, so he has decided to combine his love of education and dedication to conserving the frog by involving his students in the conservation of the frog as well.

Collaboration with St. Vrain Valley Schools Innovation Center in Longmont, Colorado began in June of 2015 when James first met Axel Reitzig, Robotics and Computer Science Coordinator, at a Girls in STEM conference. This was where the idea to have high school students build a robot to study the depths of Lake Titicaca was born and the ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) Team was formed. The team started with 6 students and has grown to 15 students presently.

These students were presented with the challenge of developing a submersible drone that could navigate the depths of Lake Titicaca to study the lake floor, the frogs at various depths, record data, as well as take photographic and video footage. The ROV Team of students worked on this robot during 2016, and in June of that year, James brought it with him to Peru to be tested and used in Lake Titicaca. Prior to leaving the US, the ROV was tested by James and the students in Denver Zoo’s aquarium exhibits and in an actual lake in Colorado.

Although the ROV is now technically out of their hands, the team maintains contact with the scientists at Lake Titicaca in order to troubleshoot, make improvements and help the scientists fix any problems with the ROV. The students have their own ROV model at their school that they can use to walk and talk the scientists through exactly what to do to fix the issues via Skype.

Most of the students are bilingual in Spanish and English, which makes communication much easier with the scientists. One issue has been that the ROV currently being used in Lake Titicaca has lost power. These students are actually teaching the biologists how to remove the power panel, disassemble, fix and reassemble the ROV to address the issue. This is such a great opportunity for students in Colorado to help solve the real world conservation problem that scientists are facing in Peru, capturing footage of the depths of Lake Titicaca.

The ROV Team of students will work with scientists on both the Peruvian and Bolivian sides of Lake Titicaca, however, the ROV is currently in the hands of Bolivian scientists. Future goals of this project include having the Peruvian scientists work with the ROV more and send feedback of their own to the students. The ROV Team is also working on new sensors to measure depth and salinity. 

They are improving the navigation of the robot to make it more user-friendly for the scientists. Lastly, the team is working on a sonar device that will be able to map out the floor of Lake Titicaca in the future. Denver Zoo is very proud of James’s collaboration with the high school students of the Innovation Center and the scientists at Lake Titicaca. It will be very exciting to see the future accomplishments of this team and the discoveries that the scientists have yet to make with this technology.