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Post by brobear on Jan 2, 2020 3:22:56 GMT -5
You are all familiar with the wolf/grizzly friendship and have seen pictures of them playing together. Here is another example of an unusual friendship: www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160324-the-hyena-that-lives-with-wolves Hyenas are not usually a friendly bunch, but one has been spotted in the midst of a wild wolf pack for the first time. By Melissa Hogenboom 26 March 2016 Striped hyenas (Hyaena hyaena) are solitary hunters. They forage alone but occasionally come together to munch on a kill. They are far less sociable than their better-known cousins, spotted hyenas. Both species are known to be highly intolerant of other large carnivores, and even of other members outside their immediate social group. They will also kill large aggressive dogs that get in their way. That is why Vladimir Dinets of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, US, was surprised to find that a striped hyena had travelled with a pack of grey wolves – another hostile predator usually intolerant of other species. *More to read...
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Post by brobear on Jan 2, 2020 3:54:23 GMT -5
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Post by brobear on Jan 2, 2020 5:54:56 GMT -5
www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/12/ancient-human-species-made-last-stand-100000-years-ago-indonesian-island?fbclid=IwAR3DLGBBWaquNJESIXA0IBFF6dvq3n0wBeRVqXx8RyeHIgFUywmfrcXJMio Ancient human species made ‘last stand’ 100,000 years ago on Indonesian island By Michael PriceDec. 18, 2019 , 2:05 PM When seafaring modern humans ventured onto the island of Java some 40,000 years ago, they found a rainforest-covered land teeming with life—but they weren’t the first humans to call the island home. Their distant ancestor, Homo erectus, had traveled to Java when it was connected to the mainland via land bridges and lived there for approximately 1.5 million years. These people made their last stand on the island about 100,000 years ago, long after they had gone extinct elsewhere in the world, according a new study assigning reliable dates to previously found H. erectus fossils. The finding suggests a trace of H. erectus DNA could live on in modern Southeast Asian populations, thanks to complex intermingling among the diverse humans who have lived in the region.
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Post by brobear on Jan 2, 2020 7:46:28 GMT -5
www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/04/modern-human-females-and-male-neandertals-had-trouble-making-babies-here-s-why?fbclid=IwAR3p1SfrcQR000JHVka60d3FWyguCi6nIhAeLCf054NT9XKOqgGZYeVbl18 Modern human females and male Neandertals had trouble making babies. Here’s why By Ann Gibbons After years of sequencing the genomes of female Neandertals, researchers have finally got their first good look at the Y chromosome of a male Neandertal—and found that it is unlike that of any other Y in modern humans living today. Even though Neandertals and modern humans interbred several times in the past 100,000 years, the DNA on the Y chromosome from a male Neandertal who lived at El Sidrón, Spain, 49,000 years ago has not been passed onto modern humans, researchers report today in The American Journal of Human Genetics. The finding fits with earlier studies that have found that although living Asians and Europeans have inherited 1% to 3% of their DNA from their ancestors’ interbreeding with Neandertals, they are missing chunks of Neandertal DNA on their Y chromosomes. This has suggested that female modern humans and male Neandertals were not fully compatible and that male Neandertals may have had problems with sperm production. The new study finds a clue to why: The El Sidrón Neandertal had mutations in three immune genes, including one that produces antigens that can elicit an immune response in pregnant women, causing them to reject and miscarry male fetuses with those genes. So even though male Neandertals and female modern humans probably hooked up more than once over the ages, they may have been unable to produce many healthy male babies (such as the reconstruction of this Neandertal boy from fossils from Gibraltar)—and, thus, hastened the extinction of Neandertals.
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Post by brobear on Jan 2, 2020 7:50:39 GMT -5
www.nytimes.com/2006/12/05/science/05nean.html?mtrref=www.google.com&assetType=REGIWALL&fbclid=IwAR2p3mjnloVBaDjrHFg-gnijxtgFZb5enm3XzPxhi8JSK6y9u_JG-eZS_Co Neanderthal Women Joined Men in the Hunt By NICHOLAS WADE A new explanation for the demise of the Neanderthals, the stockily built human species that occupied Europe until the arrival of modern humans 45,000 years ago, has been proposed by two anthropologists at the University of Arizona. Unlike modern humans, who had developed a versatile division of labor between men and women, the entire Neanderthal population seems to have been engaged in a single main occupation, the hunting of large game, the scientists, Steven L. Kuhn and Mary C. Stiner, say in an article posted online yesterday in Current Anthropology. Because modern humans exploited the environment more efficiently, by having men hunt large game and women gather small game and plant foods, their populations would have outgrown those of the Neanderthals. The Neanderthals endured for about 100,000 years, despite a punishing way of life. They preyed on the large animals that flourished in Europe in the ice age like bison, deer, gazelles and wild horses. But there is no evidence that they knew of bows and arrows. Instead, they used stone-tipped spears. Hunting large game at close range is perilous, and Neanderthal skeletons bear copious fractures. Dr. Kuhn and Dr. Stiner argue that Neanderthal women and children took part in the dangerous hunts, probably as beaters and blockers of exit routes.
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Post by brobear on Jan 3, 2020 1:50:00 GMT -5
www.newscientist.com/article/mg24432601-100-were-beginning-to-question-the-idea-of-species-including-our-own/?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=echobox&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR3YwYAUZtz2to9EjHDd16e4pfC0yzOcUs-51de2R3PrazyfeMzaNPtcdVk#Echobox=1576860827 We're beginning to question the idea of species – including our own. Are you a human, or a human-Neanderthal hybrid? The concept of the species, one of the most basic in biology, may not be as well-defined as we think. LIFE 11 December 2019. HOMO SAPIENS likes to categorise. Putting things in boxes helps us understand the complexities of the world around us – until it doesn’t. Take the apparently simple organising principle of a species. You might have learned at school that a species is a group of individuals that can breed to produce fertile offspring. But this is just one of at least 34 competing definitions concocted over the past century by researchers working in different fields. Ecologists tend to categorise based on lifestyle. Palaeontologists focus on form. Geneticists sequence genomes and then create family trees based on shared, genetically encoded characteristics. The problem is that evolution – the origin of species – is intrinsically about gradual, random change (see “Think you understand how evolution works? You’re probably wrong”). Charles Darwin recognised that organisms live in populations that can diverge and evolve in different directions, especially if they face different environmental challenges. At some point, they become so distinct that we classify them as separate species. It just isn’t easy to pin down exactly when. We could just accept that “species” is a fluid, imperfect concept that helps us understand and conserve the diversity of the natural world. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always. This year, for example, genetic analysis of the world’s largest amphibian, the critically endangered Chinese giant salamander, revealed it was actually three species, not one, each requiring different conservation interventions. Traditional species concepts are further undermined by high levels of hybridisation in nature. One prominent example is the critically endangered red wolf found in the south-east US, which …
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Post by brobear on Jan 3, 2020 1:59:16 GMT -5
Epithany - We ( man-kind ) have been closely tied to the bear ( especially the grizzly and cave bear ) ever since our ancestors departed Africa and ventured into the Northern Hemisphere. Here ( reply #5 ) is another example of how we are alike. As a species ( Homo sapien ) we are not pedigree. We carry within us the DNA of several species of human ( including the Neanderthal )... just as the grizzly carries the DNA of several species of bear ( including the cave bear ).
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Post by brobear on Jan 11, 2020 1:31:53 GMT -5
www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ancient-humans-weathered-toba-supervolcano-just-fine-180968479/?fbclid=IwAR1sIRu9yIyHZuOsxo5N6P98xnGtXOW9NG5y4uYMPd62vuS53LWqjtqkWR0 Volcanic eruptions can be bad for more than the unlucky people living in their shadows—in 1816, ash from the eruption of Mount Tambora in Indonesia blotted out the sun and led to a "year without a summer" as far away as Vermont. The massive eruption of Krakatoa, also in Indonesia, in 1883 lowered summertime temperatures across the world and disrupted weather patterns for years. But those eruptions—and pretty much any others—pale in comparison to Toba, a volcano that erupted on Sumatra in Indonesia 74,000 years ago. It was believed the disruptions caused by the super-eruption likely pruned a few branches off the early human family tree. But new studies reveal that Toba's impact might have been exagerrated. In fact, reports George Dvorsky at Gizmodo, research shows early humans did quite well during the disruptions caused by the volcano.
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Post by brobear on Jan 12, 2020 2:01:44 GMT -5
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Post by King Kodiak on Jan 12, 2020 6:34:22 GMT -5
Thats interesting brobear, thanks.
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Jan 23, 2020 19:27:24 GMT -5
Vultures sometimes gorge themselves to the point they are unable to take off again. Vultures eat more meat than all the mammalian carnivores put together.
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Post by King Kodiak on Jan 24, 2020 17:07:47 GMT -5
Vultures sometimes gorge themselves to the point they are unable to take off again. Vultures eat more meat than all the mammalian carnivores put together. Really? But how can that be? Vultures hunt larger prey than tigers, lions, and wolf packs all put together?
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Jan 24, 2020 21:14:08 GMT -5
Vultures sometimes gorge themselves to the point they are unable to take off again. Vultures eat more meat than all the mammalian carnivores put together. Really? But how can that be? Vultures hunt larger prey than tigers, lions, and wolf packs all put together?No it’s the amount of meat the griffons and white back vultures eat from dead carcasses of wildebeest, zebras, and buffalos. These birds can clean up carcasses very quickly. Without vultures, there will be more rotting dead bodies in Africa (Source: One of the series in NGO: Probably ‘Wings Over the Sarrengetti’) No vulture (not even the strongest) can hunt larger prey than mammalian carnivores. Even eagles kill larger prey than vultures. Lappet faced vultures, however, are the only bird of prey that can fight a jackal face to face and physically drag one for 7m. Take a look at this account: greennature.proboards.com/post/606/
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Post by King Kodiak on Jan 25, 2020 10:40:53 GMT -5
Really? But how can that be? Vultures hunt larger prey than tigers, lions, and wolf packs all put together? No it’s the amount of meat the griffons and white back vultures eat from dead carcasses of wildebeest, zebras, and buffalos. These birds can clean up carcasses very quickly. Without vultures, there will be more rotting dead bodies in Africa (Source: One of the series in NGO: Probably ‘Wings Over the Sarrengetti’) No vulture (not even the strongest) can hunt larger prey than mammalian carnivores. Even eagles kill larger prey than vultures. Lappet faced vultures, however, are the only bird of prey that can fight a jackal face to face and physically drag one for 7m. Take a look at this account: greennature.proboards.com/post/606/ Thats an awesome account mate. Vulture fights 30 birds and a jackal. Nice.
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Post by brobear on Feb 21, 2020 5:03:27 GMT -5
www.top5.com/family-adopts-new-puppy/?top2&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=broad&utm_campaign=rap-ddd-fbk-newpup_T0P_TIER1_9rps_0220_nocap_c03_esp&&aref=http%3A%2F%2Ftrack.top5.com%2Fsite%2Fredirectpage%3Fsid%3D161745%26hv%3Dkggux5e4fa8615d289035022605%26hid%3D2451814 I'm going to cut this one short - full story on site: Family Adopts A New Dog Then His Appetite Gets Too Big To Ignore - SEPTEMBER 23, 2019 When she saw her two-year dog do something out of character it had forced her to consider that something wasn’t right. Now, there was no unseeing it. But by the time she had faced her denial and accepted the truth, it was much too late. Su Yun knew that she was in big trouble. And soon, the police would be knocking on her door. Su Yun thought it was a bit strange that no matter what dog food she’d lay out in front of him, he wouldn’t eat it. The only foods he would eat with enthusiasm were noodles and fruit, and Su obliged. But, being new to dog ownership, she didn’t think much of it and chalked it down to him being fussy. But soon, Little Black was eating her out of house and home. Every day, Little Black would devour an entire box of mixed fruits and two buckets of noodles… and his appetite showed no sign of slowing down! By the time Little Black was a year old, Su Yun had spent a fortune on his food. And, aside from his unusual preference for noodles and fruit, the family began to notice some other worrying characteristics about their new dog. Although Su Yun had expected Little Black to grow up to be a large dog, she wasn’t prepared for just how large he was getting. At two years old, Little Black was now three feet tall and weighed a staggering 250 pounds – much larger than even the seller had anticipated. Su Yun walked in to see Little Black standing on his hind legs. Su had seen other dogs stand up like a human while doing tricks or begging for food, but this was different. It was finally time to come to grips that there was something very strange about this dog. Then, she started to become frightened. Now that Little Black was an outside dog, Su Yun expected him to start behaving like one. You would think that he would have taken to guarding the house against intruders and barking at anything that moved. But he never did. Now that Su Yun thought about it, the only sound she’d ever heard him make was a low growl. It was becoming very clear that she had made a huge mistake. She posted a photograph of Little Black online, and a vet on the forum informed her that he’d have to call the police! Little Black was actually an enormous black bear! The vet told her that he was no ordinary black bear, either. He was an Asiatic black bear, also known as a Tibetan Bear or Himalayan Bear. These bears can reach a height of six feet and weigh a whopping 440 pounds! Then, he told her some information that made her heart drop. Laws in China prohibit owning a bear of any kind, and it’s an offense punishable by jail! Su Yun was indeed in a dire situation. As much as she had grown to love Little Black, she knew she couldn’t keep him. What if he became aggressive toward her or her children? It just wasn’t worth the risk. In desperation, she thought that she could do something before the authorities became involved. Her first course of action was to call the local zoo.
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Post by brobear on Apr 18, 2020 8:51:50 GMT -5
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Post by brobear on May 28, 2020 6:54:02 GMT -5
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on May 28, 2020 8:04:58 GMT -5
The glacier bear and Tibetan brown bears are called blue bears.
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Post by brobear on Oct 5, 2020 13:41:26 GMT -5
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Post by OldGreenGrolar on Oct 9, 2020 19:20:06 GMT -5
There is a type of invertebrate where both the larva and adult prey on amphibians like frogs.
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