Gorillas Seen Using "Baby Talk" Gestures

An adult lowland gorilla pets a younger gorilla at Alberta's Calgary Zoo

Gorillas use a nonvocal form of "baby talk" to communicate with infants, a new study says. A first among primates, the discovery may give insight into how similar human communication evolved.

Lowland gorillas converse with each other primarily through nonvocal gestures.

While researching how captive gorillas communicate during play, study leader Eva Maria Luef noticed that animals older than three years had a special way of interacting with younger gorillas.

With infants, the older gorillas used touch and repeated gestures—such as grabbing or stroking the infant's jaw—more frequently than they did when communicating with their peers.

"We were surprised that ... [gorilla] infants are addressed differently," said Luef, of the Department of Education and Psychology at Berlin's Freie University.

The behavior is evidence of a "gestural motherese," according to the study, published in June in the Journal of American Primatology.

Human motherese, or baby talk, is a universal mode of connection between adults and infants. Regardless of their language, people baby-talk in the same way, with a raised pitch and a swooping, sing-song style.

So far, the rhesus macaque is the only nonhuman primate known to use vocal baby talk.

Gorilla "Baby Talk" Observed

In 2011, Luef and co-author Katja Liebal recorded video of lowland gorillas in two zoos: Zoo Leipzig in Germany and Howletts Wild Animal Park in the United Kingdom.

The team observed 24 gorillas, which they separated into four age groups: infants, juveniles, subadults, and adults.

The scientists focused on the animals' behavior during play bouts, which are started and ended via nonvocal communication-an exchange of signals involving the head, limbs, and body posture used to manipulate another gorilla's behavior.

Analyzing the video footage, the scientists then noted each gorilla's nonvocal signals.

The team saw that gorillas in the three older groups touched infants more, which may be because the youngsters themselves communicate with their mothers via touch, Luef said.

"The adults, when addressing them, may have that in mind, knowing the infants prefer tactile gestures," she said.

Luef is less certain about why the older gorillas repeated their gestures with infants, but it's possible that the older gorillas know that their messages are easier to comprehend when repeated, she said.

Gorilla Study Insight Into Human Evolution?

The research "provides some welcome [observation-based] evidence for what many primatologists probably already have observed and suspected," Steve Ross, director of the E. Fisher Center for the Study and Conservation of Apes, said by email.

Overall, "like many studies with primates, I think there is the potential to use this information to form some ideas about how human behavioral and cognitive processes have evolved," said Ross, who was not involved in the study.

For instance, primate infants learn mostly through passive observation, unlike human babies, who are actively taught many behaviors and concepts.

The repetitive motions and touches of the gorillas represents "an interesting middle ground that may help us understand when, in evolutionary time, other more-involved teaching abilities arose in our common ancestors," Ross said.

Study author Luef added that, in general, nonvocal language is too often neglected in primate-communication research. By contrast, human studies often incorporate both verbal and nonverbal language.

"That's the holistic approach to how we communicate—and we should do the same thing with apes."

Source: nationalgeographic

Ladybirds, lacewings and spiders benefit from BT crops

Over the past 16 years, vast plantings of transgenic crops producing insecticidal proteins from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have helped to control several major insect pests and reduce the need for insecticide sprays. Today,  a report in Nature shows that planting of BT crops is also associated with an increase of ladybirds, lacewings and spiders, which are  natural enemies of certain pests that harm the crop.

On the basis of data collected from 1990 to 2010 at 36 sites in six provinces of northern China, the authors show  a marked increase in abundance in these three arthropods and fewer aphid pests. They also found benefits not only in cotton fields but also in neighbouring maize, peanut and soybean crops. This work extends the knowledge of the beneficial ecological effects of Bt crops on farm ecosystems.. These findings indicate that transgenic crops can promote biological control, and enhance  sustainable management of pest populations.

Source: scienceblogs

Mole-rats varied life boosts the brain

The findings shows brain plasticity - the 'use it orlose it' paradigm - at work 

A varied life helps improve the brain, according to a study comparing wild and captive mole-rats.

The international study, led by Associate Professor Martin Whiting at Macquarie University, shows the brain's cognitive performance is negatively affected by extended periods of low stimulation in confined surroundings.

It also provides further evidence that the brain is more 'plastic' than thought, and adds weight to evidence that males have better navigational abilities than females.

Published recently in the journal Animal Cognition, the study compares the spatial cognitive abilities of wild mole-rats with those held captive in a laboratory for a long time.

The team, which also included researchers from South Africa and Canada, collected 14 male and 10 female adult Natal mole-rats (Cryptomys hottentotus natalensis) from Glengarry park in KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa.

Another 12 male and female mole-rats that had been kept in captivity for between 16 and 18 months were added to the study group.

Whiting says mole-rats were chosen for the experiment because they live in a subterranean burrow system that requires a degree of learning to navigate, similar to the maze-style approach needed for the test.

The mole-rats were made to navigate through a maze of tunnels covering an area of one metre by 1.2 metres with each animal undertaking the trial five times each day for three consecutive days.

Wild winners

The wild mole-rats completed the navigation task in less time than their captive counterparts, making fewer mistakes and covering less distance.

Whiting says the findings suggest the greater complexity of their habitation in the wild plays a role in stimulating cognitive development, shows brain plasticity - the 'use it or lose it' paradigm - at work.

"[The study] is pretty convincing for showing if you are not using that part of the brain it can regress," says Whiting.

He adds the reverse was also true, in that areas of the brain in constant demand could expand.

"In breeding season, for example, some regions of the brain might be larger," says Whiting. "But if you are an animal in a simple environment and not using the brain to navigate you are going to regress."

The researchers were surprised to find a marked difference between the spatial cognitive ability of the males and females

"We didn't predict this result because the subterranean complex [of the mole-rat] is so well defined," Whiting says.

"It might be the case males are more likely to disperse during breeding season and therefore have an increased ability to navigate and sense direction."

Whiting says the study is significant because it "demonstrates you do require stimulation to maintain cognitive performance".

Following on from that, he says, it reinforces the need for captive populations in institutions such as zoos, to provide enrichment and stimulation for their animals.

Source: abc

7 things you never knew about giraffes

The world would be a smaller place without its megaherbivores - and particularly those sky-scraping browsers, giraffes. Here are seven things you need to know about these fussy eaters. 

1. Giraffes are born with their ossicones (horns) lying flat against their heads. Later, the ossicones fuse to the skull, harden and grow. In adult males they become formidable weapons, worn bare of skin at the tips – old bulls may even have patches of bare bone elsewhere on their massive, craggy heads.

2. Much of the moisture that giraffes need is produced as they metabolise their food but they also drink water directly – they shuffle awkwardly until their front legs are splayed and they can reach the water surface.

3. A large body size means a long gestation period. Female giraffes carry their young for 15 months – but since they can breed all year round, they do not need to ‘resynchronise’ with the seasons each time they give birth.

4. Giraffes require large quantities of calcium and phosphorus to build their skeletons. After weaning, they derive most of these minerals from their food, but they also chew on carcass bones (a behaviour known as ‘osteophagy’).

5. A fully grown giraffe can raise or lower its head by up to 5m and might pass out were it not for a dense network of fine capillaries (the ‘rete mirabile’) that cushions its brain against rapid changes in blood pressure.

6. Giraffes are probably the world’s largest pollinators, transferring genetic material on their muzzles from the flowers of one tree to those of another.

7. The giraffe family contains only one other species: the rare okapi. This forest-dweller has a shorter neck – like the extinct species from which both it and giraffes are thought to have evolved.

Spotter's guide to giraffes – how to tell your Rothschild's from your reticulated

Source: discoverwildlife

Spotter's guide to British ladybirds

Use our spotter's guide to help you identify these bright and distinctive insects.

Of the 4,000 or so species of beetle in the British Isles, none has entered the national consciousness as much as ladybirds.

Active by day, with bright colours and patterns, they are conspicuous insects. From April, the species illustrated here are all emerging from hibernation.

We’re keen to celebrate the aphid-chomping proclivities of many species – in particular the common 7-spot ladybird – but not all members of the family Coccinellidae prey on aphids.

The tiny 22-spot ladybird and dazzling orange ladybird graze mildew from leaves.

Some species occur virtually anywhere, whereas others are more choosy; eyed and larch ladybirds are conifer-dwellers, for example. But, paradoxically, pine ladybirds are not confined to pines and turn up in many places, including gardens.

Only one ladybird blots its copybook. The harlequin, a showy alien invader that has been much in the news recently, not only devours aphids but also other ladybird larvae. As a result, smaller species, such as the 2-spot, could be in trouble

KEY

Red dot = Common and widespread

Yellow dot = Local: easy to see in some spots

Blue dot = Scarce: searching needed

Source: discoverwildlife

Ants in 3D: project begins to image every known species

 The project has revealed the Australian jumping ant in fine detail for the first time

Scientists are embarking on a mission to capture a 3D image of every ant species known to science.

The US team is visiting museums around the world to photograph all of the ant specimens in their collections.

They are using a technique that, for the first time, allows microscopic anatomical detail of the insects' bodies to be photographed.

The aim is to make an online catalogue called Antweb, providing a unique tool for scientists who study the insects.

Ants live in colonies with organised social structures and different castes - worker, soldier, queen and drone

It will also allow anyone with access to the internet a detailed glimpse of the diverse world of ants.

Brian Fisher from the California Academy of Sciences is leading the study. He and his colleagues have started their "world ant tour" at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London.

The team has already used the imaging technique on ant collections in the US, capturing snapshots of 8,000 ant species so far.

But there are approximately 15,000 species that have been "formally described" in science, and about 30,000 species in total.

Each named and described species has a specimen - an ant that provides the reference for what this species looks like - housed in a museum collection.

Dr Fisher and his team plan to capture a snapshot of every single one of these specimens.

"Our goal is to image 10,000 a year," he told BBC Nature. And for the the database to be complete, the team is taking several images of each species, including examples of all the different ant castes - queens, soldiers, minor workers - and the different sexes.

Dr Brian Fisher 3D ant photography

To achieve this, they need to find the museums with the most complete ant collections, and the NHM is the first one outside of the US that the team has targeted.

Dr Fisher says it has "one of the best ant collections in the world", with more than 6,000 species pinned into display cases in the museum's carefully curated store rooms.

The team will systematically work its way through every one of these boxes of long-dead and preserved ants, and use a special technique that takes dozens of highly magnified pictures all on a different plane of focus.

Combining all of these images into one final picture reveals each insect in unprecedented detail.

"You can zoom in and see fine hairs, the eyes, all of this detail," Dr Fisher explains. "And all of this, under a microscope, is not in focus.

"So this is actually the first time, as a scientist, I get to see this ant in 3D. It's very useful for scientists."

The researcher and his team hope to bring the ant world out of museum cupboards, not just for researchers studying the insects, but also to reveal the diversity of ants to the public.

"Many people don't know the amazing creatures that live in their back yards," he told BBC Nature.

"This project will mean that anybody, anywhere at any time will have access to these specimens that we hide in museums."

The researchers photograph pinned specimens from several angles

Source: bbc

'Depraved' sex acts by penguins shocked polar explorer

Scientists now understand the biological reasons for behaviour Dr Levick considered to be "depraved"

Accounts of unusual sexual activities among penguins, observed a century ago by a member of Captain Scott's polar team, are finally being made public.

Details, including "sexual coercion", recorded by George Murray Levick were considered so shocking that they were removed from official accounts.

However, scientists now understand the biological reasons behind the acts that Dr Levick considered "depraved".

The Natural History Museum has published his unedited papers.

Mr Levick, an avid biologist, was the medical officer on Captain Scott's ill-fated Terra Nova expedition to the South Pole in 1910. He was a pioneer in the study of penguins and was the first person to stay for an entire breeding season with a colony on Cape Adare.

He recorded many details of the lives of adelie penguins, but some of their activities were just too much for the Edwardian sensibilities of the good doctor.

He was shocked by what he described as the "depraved" sexual acts of "hooligan" males who were mating with dead females. So distressed was he that he recorded the "perverted" activities in Greek in his notebook.

Graphic account

On his return to Britain, Mr Levick attempted to publish a paper entitled "the natural history of the adelie penguin", but according to Douglas Russell, curator of eggs and nests at the Natural History Museum, it was too much for the times.

"He submitted this extraordinary and graphic account of sexual behaviour of the adelie penguins, which the academic world of the post-Edwardian era found a little too difficult to publish," Mr Russell said.

The sexual behaviour section was not included in the official paper, but the then keeper of zoology at the museum, Sidney Harmer, decided that 100 copies of the graphic account should be circulated to a select group of scientists.

Mr Russell said they simply did not have the scientific knowledge at that time to explain Mr Levick's accounts of what he termed necrophilia.

"What is happening there is not in any way analogous to necrophilia in the human context," Mr Russell said. "It is the males seeing the positioning that is causing them to have a sexual reaction.

"They are not distinguishing between live females who are awaiting congress in the colony, and dead penguins from the previous year which just happen to be in the same position."

Sexual coercion

Only two of the original 100 copies of Mr Levick's account survive. Mr Russell and colleagues have now published a re-interpretation of Mr Levick's findings in the journal Polar Record.

Mr Russell described how he had discovered one of the copies by accident.

"I just happened to be going through the file on George Murray Levick when I shifted some papers and found underneath them this extraordinary paper which was headed 'the sexual habits of the adelie penguin, not for publication' in large black type.

"It's just full of accounts of sexual coercion, sexual and physical abuse of chicks, non-procreative sex, and finishes with an account of what he considers homosexual behaviour, and it was fascinating."

The report and Mr Levick's handwritten notes are now on display at the Natural History Museum for the first time. Mr Russell believes they show a man who struggled to understand penguins as they really are.

"He's just completely shocked. He, to a certain extent, falls into the same trap as an awful lot of people in seeing penguins as bipedal birds and seeing them as little people. They're not. They are birds and should be interpreted as such."

Source: bbc

Queen's honour for leading lepidopterist

A renowned Australian expert on butterflies and moths, who continues working despite retiring more than a decade ago, has been honoured today in the Queen's Birthday list.

Lepidopterist Ted Edwards has been made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for service to science in the field of entymology, particularly moths and butterflies, as an author and researcher, and as a mentor.

Edwards, who joined CSIRO in 1970, says he continued working after his retirement simply because "I wasn't replaced".

Although he received a small stipend for the first 10 years, Edwards now volunteers and says the honour is recognition that "I've kept communicating about moths in Australia".

There are between 20,000 and 30,000 species of lepidopterans in Australia with butterflies making up only 2 per cent of the number.

Edwards says Australia has a strong band of amateur butterfly enthusiasts, but a love of moths among the public is harder to find.

Based at the Australian National Insect Collection in Canberra, Edwards says he is one of the few people in Australia who can identify moths species and says it is a critical first step in fighting pests.

"The most damaging pest in economic terms in Australian agriculture is a moth known as Helicoverta armigera," he says.

"You have to know more about moths' differences and biology to know what you can exploit to control them."

During his 'retirement', Edwards co-authored A Guide to Australian Moths with Paul Zborowski, which won a Whitley Awards Certificate of Commendation for the best zoological guide published in Australia in 2007.

He continues to discover and name new species, most recently unearthing a moth that feeds on the droppings of chicks in the nests of the Northern Territory's hooded parrots.

Now aged 67, he says he plans to continue volunteering "until my health gives out".

"I wouldn't be here doing it if I didn't want to," he says, "There is just so much to be done and it is so interesting."

Other scientists honoured

Other awardees in the fields of science include:

- Associate Professor Ross Haslam, Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for distinguished service to medicine, particularly as a leader in the specialties of perinatology and neonatology.

- Dr Deborah Lehmann (AO) for distinguished service to medical research in the field of epidemiology, to Indigenous health and to professional organisations.

- Professor Tony Milne (AO) for distinguished service to science and engineering as a contributor to international research programs, particularly in the fields of radar remote sensing.

- Professor John Rasko (AO) for distinguished service to biomedical research in the field of gene and cell therapy.

Source: abc

Great white shark versus orca

 In some parts of the world, orcas and great whites frequent the same waters, but do they get on?

Which is the greatest ocean predator – the orca or the great white shark? A shocking encounter off the Californian coast reveals the answer.

When wildlife-watchers in a boat off the Farallon Islands witnessed an orca attacking a great white shark, they were astonished by how easily the fish was overpowered. However, much of the action took place out of sight, under water. Scientists have pieced together the evidence to construct the likely sequence of events that led to the shark’s apparently timid demise.

From the eyewitness accounts, it was clear that the orca didn’t bump into the great white by chance. It deliberately changed course to intercept its victim. The shark appeared unaware that it was in danger.

Swimming at top speed, the orca took the shark by surprise, ramming it hard on the flank. The massive impact stunned the shark, leaving it momentarily confused and vulnerable.

With the shark dazed, the orca grasped it behind the head and turned it upside- down. The shark panicked and its brain released calming serotonin that sent it into a trance. This made it far easier for the orca to drown its prey.

Soon the shark was dead and the orca could start tearing it apart.

CLASH OF THE TITANS:

ORCA Orcinus orca

SIZE: Adult male up to 9.5m; adult female up to 8.2m.

WEIGHT: Male up to 5,600kg; female up to 3,600kg.

TEETH: 40–52 large, conical, inward-curving teeth in upper and lower jaw.

MAX SPEED: Bursts of 50kmph when in pursuit of prey.

TYPICAL PREY: Mostly fish and squid; also seals, sealions and other marine mammals and seabirds. Consumes up to 200kg of food daily.

MAX PREY SIZE: Several records of orcas attacking and eating grey whale calves.

HUNTING TECHNIQUE: Often works in teams to corral fish or to distract prey to isolate or weaken it before delivering the killer blow.

SPECIAL SKILLS: Uses echolocation – a form of sonar – to detect shoals of fish under water.

DISTRIBUTION: Found in all of the world’s oceans, but most abundant in cooler waters at high latitudes.

GREAT WHITE SHARK Carcharodon carcharias

SIZE: 4–5.5m fully grown; occasionally over 6m. Females generally larger.

WEIGHT: Usually up to 1,000kg; rarely up to 2,200kg.

TEETH: 3,000 razor-sharp, triangular teeth arranged in several rows that rotate towards the front of the mouth, replacing broken ones as needed.

MAX SPEED: Often reaches 40kmph.

TYPICAL PREY: Mostly big fish, including tuna, rays and other sharks; also seals, sealions, dolphins, turtles and seabirds.
max prey size Sometimes attacks and kills smaller great whites

HUNTING TACTICS: Solitary, ambushes prey from below with a powerful surge.

SPECIAL SKILLS: Excellent sense of smell: can detect a drop of blood in 100 litres of water. Electromagnetic sense picks up the magnetic field produced by muscle activity in its prey.

DISTRIBUTION: Found almost worldwide, from the subtropics to cooler, temperate seas; some populations highly migratory.

DID YOU KNOW? Great white sharks will sometimes eat whales but usually only after they're dead. There are numerous records of sharks scavenging whale carcasses. 

Source: discoverwildlife

10 things you didn't know about orangutans

Orangutans are gentle and intelligent residents of the forests of Borneo and Sumatra – discover something new about these endangered and enigmatic apes. 

1. Orangutans are semi-solitary in the wild (unlike other higher primates). Once they reach maturity, they spend most of their time alone, or, in the case of females, with their immature offspring. Adult males old enough to have cheekpads are the most solitary, spending over 90 per cent of their time alone. 

2. Orangutans live on only two islands, Borneo and northern Sumatra. They are a relic species. At the end of the Pleistocene period some 12,000 years ago, their range was much wider, encompassing southern China, Indochina, Java and southern Sumatra. The species is now extinct in all these regions. 

3. Orangutans are the largest tree-dwelling animals on Earth. Though adult male gorillas climb up to the canopy to feed, they do not spend much time there and are basically terrestrial. Adult male orangutans, reaching a weight of 140kg or more, spend over 90 per cent of their time in the treetops, eating ripe fruit, young leaves and the occassional termite or vine. Adult females spend even more time in the canopy. 

4. Adult male orangutans develop cheekpads, which frame their faces and make their heads look larger. In captivity, males as young as 13 develop cheekpads, but in the wild, some males may not grow them until the age of 30. Once a male has his cheekpads, he won't tolerate any other adult males in his vicinity and competes with them for access to receptive females. Cheekpads may also serve an acoustic function in helping project the 'long call' a male uses to broadcast his presence through the dense forest. 

5. Orangutans are among the most sexually dimorphic of primates. An adult male may be three times heavier than an adult female. He also sports large cheekpads, a throat pouch that acts as a resonating chamber for his loud call, and a muscular body from a testosterone surge at an earlier stage of life. Males use their large size to compete with each other for access to receptive females.

6. Orangutans have the most intense relationship between mother and young of any non-human mammal. Mothers carry their offspring for the first five years, and may suckle them for six or seven years. For the first eight years of a young orangutans life, its mother is its constant companion. Until another infant is born, mothers sleep in a nest with their offspring every night. 

7. Orangutans have the longest birth interval of any mammal. In Borneo, they give birth on average once every eight years. In Sumatra, some females may only give birth once every 10 years. Females often do not breed until the age of 17. If adult females are killed, the population takes a long time to recover. 

8. Orangutans are the only great apes of Asia. It appears that they are of African origin but dispersed about 15 million years ago. During the Miocene period, there were many ape species throughout Africa, Asia and Europe. Chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas survived in Africa, but only the orangutans survived in Asia. 

9. Orangutans are gentle and sit for hours gazing. Though males can be aggressive, I have followed orangutans for 36 years and have never been attacked or even chased. 

10. Orangutans are very smart. They perform as well as chimpanzees and gorillas in tests of cognitive ability. In captivity, they are excellent tool-users and versatile tool-makers. One captive orangutan was taught how to chip a stone hand-axe. In the wild, one population makes and uses tools for opening and extracting fruit in a sophisticated manner reminiscent of chimpanzees – except that these orangutans hold the tools in their mouths. 

5 THINGS EVEN THE EXPERTS DON'T KNOW ABOUT ORANGUTANS

1. Why are orangutans orange?

Orangutans 'blaze' in the sunlight but virtually disappear when they move into shadow. In the shade of the canopy, their tan skin absorbs the light so you don't see the sparse hair but the dark skin underneath. Then they become functionally black. Could this now-you-see-me-now-you-don't combination be adaptive? Or, given that they generally don't congregate in groups, does their bright orange colour announce their presence to others of their species? We simply don't know. 

2. How long do orangutans live in the wild?

We can only make educated guesses. In captive environments, orangutans have lived for over 60 years. Wild females at my study site who were adolescents back in 1971 are still alive today and bearing offspring. A formerly captive female in her 40s recently had an infant. My guess is that wild orangutans may live into their 70s, but I believe this is rare. 

3. How far do orangutan males travel in their lifetime?

They travel greater distances than females. I suspect they may wander hundreds of kilometres away from their mothers' home ranges. In the space of one year, one adolescent male travelled a distance of more than 30km as the crow flies. 

4. Were orangutans ever more gregarious than they are now?

This is possible. Ex-captive individuals associated with rehabilitation programmes tend to be more gregarious than wild orangutans. If wild populations lived in fertile lowland areas with abundant concentrations of food, they might have been more gregarious. Since humans have destroyed such forests to use the land for agriculture, sociable orangutans, if they ever existed, are long gone. 

5. Will they escape extinction?

The massive destruction of the orangutans habitat – the tropical rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra – is catastrophic. We are working to save the species and its habitat, but the forces arrayed against the orangutan are so formiddable that perhaps, if we (and they) are lucky, just one or two populations may survive.

Source: discoverwildlife