A never-before-documented frog species has been discovered in the Peruvian highlands and named Phrynopus remotum. Germán Chávez
By Angela Nicoletti
The eastern slopes of the Andes Mountains in central Perú are among the most remote places in the world.
<p>At elevations of 12,000 feet, some patches of cloud forest linger, blanketing the rocky ground and grasslands. Scattered across those grasslands are stones, surrounded by moss and lichens.</p><p>And hidden beneath those stones are small, brownish-grey frogs with short limbs and stout bodies. They don't live near water, so they never begin life as tadpoles. Instead, they hatch directly out of the eggs as froglets.</p><p>These unique frogs may have existed under those stones for centuries. But they were unknown to science — until now. <a href="https://case.fiu.edu/about/directory/profiles/catenazzi-alessandro.html" target="_blank">Alessandro Catenazzi</a>, a Florida International University (FIU) biologist in the <a href="https://environment.fiu.edu/" target="_blank">Institute of Environment</a>, and a collaborative team in Perú have successfully identified the never-before-documented frog species in the Peruvian highlands and named it <em>Phrynopus remotum.</em></p>
<p>"You can't do anything for a species if you don't know it exists," Catenazzi said. "As scientists, describing and naming a species is the first step in helping to save it."</p><p>Germán Chávez and Luis Alberto García Ayachi were conducting field work when they came across some of the frogs. At first glance, they didn't necessarily stand out. The frogs look much like other frogs that live at high elevations where temperatures and oxygen levels are lower.</p><p>Because of a phenomenon called convergent evolution, different species will adapt in similar ways to a particular environment. Frogs that live at lower elevations — where there are trees — have disks on their fingers and toes to help them climb and move around. At higher elevations frogs don't usually have those disks. They don't have slim bodies. They don't have eyes that are as big. Living in mosses or under stones, they don't need those particular genetic adaptations.</p>
<p>Every frog living under those stones, though, is <em>not</em> the same.</p><p>Catenazzi knows this better than most. Throughout his career, he's spent time in museums studying the world's frogs and in the field searching for places where a deadly fungal disease has not yet hit amphibian populations. Including this latest find, he's helped discover and name 33 new species.</p><p>In the lab, Catenazzi extracted and sequenced the DNA of the frog in question and confirmed it was, in fact, a completely unique and new species. He then constructed an evolutionary tree. Like a family tree that traces different relatives — grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins — the tree Catenazzi created looked at relatedness that spans hundreds of thousands to millions of years. It shows how closely the newly named species is related to other species in the same genus, <em>Phrynopus.</em></p>
<p><em>Phrynopus remotum</em> refers to the remote place the frogs are found, which can only be reached after days of traveling over roads, on horseback, along hiking trails and up the steep slopes of the mountain side.</p><p>As Catenazzi points out, though, just because this place is remote today doesn't mean it will always remain that way. The highlands and nearby areas are threatened by the rapid expansion of human activities. Even hiding under a stone won't save the little frog if a road is built or the land is used for agriculture.</p><p>But, now that scientists know these frogs exist, conservation can begin. </p><p>"With the knowledge of this species, we can convince people of the value of this area. We can say 'Here is a species and it's found nowhere else on earth,'" Catenazzi said. "That can convince people that this specific area has value and should be protected so this frog can persist."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://news.fiu.edu/2020/whats-under-that-stone-oh,-just-a-never-before-seen-species-of-frog" target="_blank">Florida International University</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Left: Lemurs in Madagascar on March 30, 2017. Mathias Appel / Flickr. Right: A North Atlantic right whale mother and calf. National Marine Fisheries Service
A new analysis by scientists at the Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that lemurs and the North Atlantic right whale are on the brink of extinction.
<p>For lemurs, the analysis found that almost one-third of the species in Madagascar are critically <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered</a> while 98 percent are threatened or worse, according to the IUCN's updated Red List of Threatened Species. The demise of lemurs is largely attributed to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_self">deforestation</a> and hunting on the giant island off eastern Africa, conservationists said Thursday, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/82146ce2b2b9b98bb21b110eb14a797b#:~:text=GENEVA%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20Nearly%20all,eastern%20Africa%2C%20conservationists%20said%20Thursday." target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>To put that in numbers, instead of percentages, 33 lemur species are critically endangered, with 103 of the 107 surviving species threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN. The updated list now has 13 species pushed into the critically endangered category due to human activity.</p>
<p>The IUCN also says there were fewer than 250 mature North Atlantic right <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whales" target="_self">whales</a> believed to be alive in 2018, marking a 15-percent drop since 2011. That number includes about only 100 breeding females.</p><p>"At the heart of this crisis is a dire need for alternative, sustainable livelihoods to replace the current reliance on deforestation and unsustainable use of wildlife," Grethel Aguilar, IUCN's acting director general, said in a statement, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/07/09/north-atlantic-right-whale-is-face-an-extinction-crisis-report-says/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported. "These findings really bring home the urgent need for an ambitious post-2020 biodiversity framework that drives effective conservation action."</p>
<p>At the end of June, one dead whale was spotted off the coast of New Jersey. That six-month-old calf had been struck several times on the head, suggesting one or possibly two vessel collisions, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/climate/trump-north-atlantic-right-whale.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. Increasingly, collisions with ships, entanglements in fishing nets, and underwater noise pollution are killing the animals, which rely on echolocation for basic activities such as feeding, communicating and finding mates, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/07/09/north-atlantic-right-whale-is-face-an-extinction-crisis-report-says/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>The North Atlantic right whale also faces an increased threat from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. The IUCN says that warming ocean temperatures have likely pushed the species' main prey species further north during summer, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the whales are more exposed to accidental encounters with ships and also at high risk of entanglement in crab-pot ropes.</p><p>The whale's preferred home, in the Gulf of Maine's deep waters, has warmed nearly 9 degrees Fahrenheit since 2004, faster than 99 percent of the world's oceans for much of this century, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/climate/trump-north-atlantic-right-whale.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>The prospects are bleak for the North Atlantic right whale now that President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> lifted restrictions on commercial fishing in a key area of the whale's habitat.</p>
<p>"Unless we act decisively to turn the tide, the next time the right whale's Red List status changes it will be to 'extinct,'" Jane Davenport, a senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p>The deaths of 30 Atlantic right whales were confirmed as human-caused between 2012 and 2016, according to the IUCN report, and all but four were caused by entanglement in fishing gear.</p><p>Peter Corkeron, a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium, has chronicled the gruesome deaths of right whales as the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's research program for large whales for the last decade. He told the New York Times he feared the listing would have little impact.</p><p>"A lot of the dynamic was bad anyway, and under Trump it just got worse," Corkeron said. "People are terrified to do anything about right whales at the moment."</p>
<p>The update to the "Red List of Threatened Species" shows that 32,441 species are threatened out of a total of 120,372 on the list.</p><p>"We have to take bold and rapid action to reduce the huge damage we're doing to the planet if we're going to save whales, frogs, lemurs and ultimately ourselves," said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, as The Washington Post reported. "We really can do all of these things, but we need world leaders to stand up and do them."</p>
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Yellowstone Grizzlies Win Reprieve From Trophy Hunt as Court Restores Endangered Species Protections
09 July
Animals
A grizzly bear sow with cub in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Danita Delimont / Gallo Images / Getty Images Plus
Grizzly bears in Wyoming and Idaho won't be subject to a trophy hunt thanks to a federal court decision Wednesday upholding endangered species protections for these iconic animals.
<p>The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/grizzly-bears-yellowstone-endangered-species-2607784220.html" target="_self">2018 decision</a> from the Montana District Court reinstating protections for Yellowstone area grizzly bears after the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/trump-administration" target="_self">Trump administration</a><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/grizzly-bears-yellowstone-2446382005.html" target="_self"> stripped them of protections</a> in 2017. Wyoming and Idaho then announced plans to hunt the animals for the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/grizzly-bear-hunt-wyoming-2571671329.html" target="_self">first time in more than 40 years</a>.</p><p>"This is a tremendous victory for all who cherish Yellowstone's grizzly bears and for those who've worked to ensure they're protected under the Endangered Species Act," <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">Center for Biological Diversity</a> (CBD) attorney Andrea Zaccardi <a href="https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/appeals-court-victory-maintains-protections-yellowstone-grizzlies-2020-07-08/" target="_blank">said in a press release</a>. "Grizzlies still have a long way to go before recovery. Hunting these beautiful animals around America's most treasured <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-parks" target="_self">national park</a> should never again be an option."</p>
<div id="a1a10" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dd14d33bb684f0237ea63e050dd997da"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280956331550261258" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The 9th Circuit just upheld a 2018 federal ruling that the Trump administration violated the Endangered Species Act… https://t.co/0AzXqRTLrO</div> — Center for Bio Div (@Center for Bio Div)<a href="https://twitter.com/CenterForBioDiv/statuses/1280956331550261258">1594238763.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>CBD joined the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, the <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/" target="_blank">Sierra Club</a> and the <a href="https://www.npca.org/" target="_blank">National Parks Conservation Association</a> in suing to reinstate protections for the bears. The plaintiffs were represented by <a href="https://earthjustice.org/" target="_blank">Earthjustice</a>, according to a <a href="https://earthjustice.org/news/press/2020/9th-circuit-upholds-endangered-species-protections-for-yellowstone-grizzlies" target="_blank">press release</a>.</p><p>The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services delisted Yellowstone area grizzlies in 2017, in a decision that impacted around 700 bears in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, according to <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/506446-court-upholds-protections-for-yellowstone-grizzly-bears" target="_blank">The Hill</a>. Those who supported the move said that the bears' population as well as successful <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> efforts and state policies justified the move. Then Idaho and Wyoming said they would allow up to 23 bears to be hunted and killed outside of Yellowstone National Park, according to CBD.</p><p>But the Montana court ruled that the FWS did not consider the impact of delisting on a remnant population and did not use the best available <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/science/" target="_self">science</a> when making its decision, according to <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/grizzlies-saved-ninth-circuit-stops-yellowstone-trophy-hunt/amp/" target="_blank">Courthouse News Service</a>, and the Ninth Circuit agreed.</p>
<p>Specifically, the court found that FWS did not take into account how delisting and trophy hunting would impact the genetic diversity of Yellowstone grizzlies.</p><p>"Because the 2017 rule's conclusion that genetic health no longer poses a threat to the Yellowstone grizzly is without scientific basis, this conclusion is arbitrary and capricious," U.S. Circuit Judge Mary Schroeder wrote.</p><p>The court ordered the FWS to reconsider its decision with a view towards how delisting would impact a remnant population and genetic diversity.</p><p>"The importance of this court ruling for the grizzly bears found in our most iconic national parks cannot be overstated," Northern Rockies Associate Director for the National Parks Conservation Association Stephanie Adams said in the Earthjustice press release. "This decision sets the stage for practical, science-based and on-the-ground collaboration to ensure a healthy future for grizzlies in Grand Teton, Yellowstone and beyond. And now, communities can continue their work to create opportunities to safely connect the grizzly bears of Yellowstone and Glacier."</p>
<div id="a6f0e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f7e4ff4c6e38a577c6285e8596d17696"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280967734965264386" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">VICTORY: Today, a circuit court upheld the district court's opinion reinstating Endangered Species Act protections… https://t.co/wtdOhUcOiF</div> — National Parks Conservation Association (@National Parks Conservation Association)<a href="https://twitter.com/NPCA/statuses/1280967734965264386">1594241481.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Not everyone was happy with the decision, however.</p><p>"Wyoming — not an activist court — should determine how the bear is managed. The state has a strong, science-based management plan and it should be given a chance to succeed," Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said in a statement reported by The Hill.</p><p>FWS did not return requests for comment from either The Hill or Courthouse News Service.</p><p>Grizzly bears once roamed across North America and the Western U.S., but now mostly live in Alaska. Of around 55,000 total U.S. bears, 1,500 live in the lower 48 states, most of them in the Yellowstone area, according to Courthouse News Service.</p>
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Hundreds of sudden elephant deaths in Botswana aren't just a loss for the ecosystem and global conservation efforts. Mario Micklisch / Flickr / CC by 2.0
By Charli Shield
When an elephant dies in the wild, it's not uncommon to later find its bones scattered throughout the surrounding landscape.
<p>That's one way you can tell other elephants have passed through the area, says George Wittemyer, a wildlife conservation biologist at Colorado State University who's been researching African elephants in Kenya's Samburu National Reserve for more than 20 years.</p><p>Another sign, long-term elephant conservationist Joyce Poole adds, is the presence of tracks worn through the grass leading to its body. "The vegetation will be gone and the carcass will be surrounded by elephant dung because so many elephants will have visited and stayed," Poole says.</p><p>While scientists are yet to pinpoint what exactly struck down a reported 356 elephants in Botswana's Okavango Delta area, what we do know is that these deaths are not only significant for ecologists and conservationists — but elephants themselves. </p>
Elephant Burial Grounds
<p>Highly social creatures that form deep familial bonds, elephants have long been observed gathering at the site where a peer or family member has died — often spending hours, even days, quietly investigating the bodies or the bones of other dead elephants.</p><p>Although the popular idea that dying elephants are instinctively drawn to special communal graves — so-called "elephant graveyards" — is a myth, their tendency to go out of their way to visit the bones and tusks of the deceased isn't unlike human rituals at graveyards, says animal psychologist Karen McComb.</p><p>"They spend a lot of time touching and smelling skulls and ivory, placing the soles of their feet gently on top of them, and also lifting them up with their trunks," McComb, who's been studying African elephants for 25 years in Kenya's Amboseli National Park, told DW.</p><p>The most striking part of watching an elephant experience loss, Poole recalls, is the quietude. She still remembers one of the first elephant deaths she witnessed; a mother who birthed a stillborn calf. That elephant stayed with its baby for two days, trying to lift it and defending it from vultures and hyenas.</p><p>"I was so struck by the expression on her face and her body. She looked so dejected. It was really like, 'Oh God, these animals grieve…'. It was just so different," Poole told DW. </p>Witnessing Emotions in Animals
<p>Not all scientists are comfortable concluding that elephants grieve. Among the more than 30 reports of elephant reactions to death that Wittemyer co-reviewed in <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10329-019-00766-5" target="_blank">a study published in November 2019</a> were accounts of "enormous variation and nuance" he says. "It can be incredibly involved and intricate for extended periods or can be relatively cursory checks."</p><p>In Wittemyer's own experience, it can be difficult not to attribute some kind of emotional experience to the more involved interactions between elephants and their dead.</p><p>He shares the story of an "extraordinary event" involving the death of a 55 year-old matriarch in Kenya in a protected area that happened to be near his place of work. She was visited by multiple unrelated families while she was dying, including another matriarch that exerted such enormous effort attempting to lift her to her feet that she broke her tusk, which Wittemyer says, is "like breaking a tooth." </p><p><span></span>"It was a remarkable example of this heightened emotional state, it was very clearly a very stressful interaction," he says.</p>A Different Sensory World
<p>One factor that limits our ability to fully grasp the way elephants process and respond to loss is our markedly different sensory experiences of the world.</p><p>An elephant's world is fundamentally olfactory — based on smell. Ours is visual. Previous <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25053675/" target="_blank">research</a> has shown elephants possess the most scent receptors of any mammal, and can <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17949977/" target="_blank">use smell</a> to discern the difference between different human tribes from the same local area.</p><p>That could explain why elephants exhibit such interest in sniffing the bones and tusks of others, as a <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1617198/" target="_blank">2005 study</a> from McCombs highlighted. When presented with the skulls and ivory of long-dead elephants and those from other large herbivores, including rhino and buffalo, McCombs and her team found elephants approached and were specifically attracted to the remains of their own species. </p><p>Without access to the smells an elephant picks up on, Wittemyer says "an enormous amount of stuff" could be missed by humans when studying these behaviors.</p><p>While scientists cannot say what the elephants are thinking, it is clear that death — whether of a relative, a close companion, or just another member of their species — has some kind of meaning for elephants. </p><p>And why wouldn't it? Asks Poole, who points to the fact that elephants' survival depends on their social and familial relationships.</p><p>"Through the course of evolution they have evolved these complex rituals to hold families together. Those have to be driven by some sort of positive emotions, otherwise why would they bother?"</p><p>"They recognize that death, for somebody, is a big loss."</p>
<p class=""><em>Reposted with permission from </em><em><a href="https://www.dw.com/en/elephant-deaths-botswana-what-it-could-mean/a-54079677?maca=en-VAM_volltext_ecowatch-28485-html-copypaste" target="_blank">Deutsche Welle</a>.</em><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/r/entryeditor/2646364470#/" target="_self"></a></p>From Your Site Articles
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Researchers Are Creating a Drone to Study Wild Dolphins With Help From Trained Dolphins
03 July
Science
To better understand how people influence the overall health of dolphins, Oklahoma State University's Unmanned Systems Research Institute is developing a drone to collect samples from the spray that comes from their blowholes. Ken Y. / CC by 2.0
By Jason Bruck
Human actions have taken a steep toll on whales and dolphins. Some studies estimate that small whale abundance, which includes dolphins, has fallen 87% since 1980 and thousands of whales die from rope entanglement annually. But humans also cause less obvious harm. Researchers have found changes in the stress levels, reproductive health and respiratory health of these animals, but this valuable data is extremely hard to collect.
<p>To better understand how people influence the overall health of dolphins, <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Z9Z9u2EAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=sra" target="_blank">my colleagues and I</a> at Oklahoma State University's <a href="https://ceat.okstate.edu/usri/index.html" target="_blank">Unmanned Systems Research Institute</a> are developing a drone to collect samples from the spray that comes from their blowholes. Using these samples, we will learn more about these animals' health, which can aid in their conservation.</p><h2>The Old Ways Vs. the New Way</h2><p>Today, researchers wanting to measure wild dolphins' health primarily use remote biopsy darting – where researchers use a small dart to collect a sample of tissue – or handle the animals in order to collect samples. These methods don't physically harm the animals, but despite precautions, they can be disruptive and stressful for dolphins. Additionally, this process is challenging, time-consuming and expensive.</p><p>My current research focus is on <a href="https://integrativebiology.okstate.edu/8-people/faculty/449-jason-n-bruck" target="_blank">dolphin perception</a> – how they see, hear and sense the world. Using my experience, I am part of a team building a drone specifically designed to be an improvement over current sampling methods, both for dolphins and the researchers. Our goal is to develop a quiet drone that can fly into a dolphin's blind spot and collect samples from the mucus that is mixed with water and air sprayed out of a dolphin's blowhole when they exhale a breath. This is called the blow. Dolphins would experience less stress and teams could collect more samples at less expense.</p><p>Some researchers already use <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2017.00425" target="_blank">drones to sample blows from large and small whales</a>. But those animals are not easily startled and have huge blow fields that throw droplets far into the air and linger for a long time. Dolphin blows spray seawater, air and hormone-containing mucus from their blowholes at <a href="https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.126870" target="_blank">nearly 200 mph and last for about 0.3 seconds</a>. Additionally, dolphins may have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.053397" target="_blank">better hearing than humans</a> and have eyes on both sides of their head that can see in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/0077-7579(72)90008-7" target="_blank">both air and water</a>. Good luck sneaking up on a dolphin.</p><p>Other teams have attempted to collect samples from dolphins using commercial drones, but it seems the animals' movements <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.2901" target="_blank">limit the success of these attempts with these devices</a>.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQzNDQ3Ny9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY0NTExMzk0M30.q8ILIQEQ6WjIbiEL8GU5QdFo4OghqUZd65rWK0Y3svo/img.jpg?width=980" id="9cf25" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="455d3ece733c985bf44be661e61ac3b7" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Researchers work with trained dolphins to learn more about their sensory abilities, seen here testing a dolphin's hearing. Jason Bruck / CC BY-ND
A Lot to Learn From Hormones
<p>When sampling the blow, we are looking for hormones in mucus as these can be used to gauge psychological and physiological health. We are specifically interested in <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0114062" target="_blank">hormones like cortisol</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ygcen.2018.04.003" target="_blank">progesterone</a>, which indicate stress levels and reproductive ability respectively, but can also help determine overall health.</p><p>Additionally, blow samples can detect <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1128%2FmSystems.00119-17" target="_blank">respiratory pathogens</a> in the lungs or nasal passages - blowholes evolved from noses after all.</p><p>This health analysis is especially important in areas with oil spills as the chemicals can cause hormonal problems that harm <a href="https://www.carmmha.org/investigating-how-oil-spills-affect-dolphins-and-whales/" target="_blank">development, metabolism and reproduction</a> in dolphins.</p><p>Hormone samples can provide scientists with valuable data, but collecting them from intelligent and unpredictable animals is challenging.</p>Cetacean Collaborators
<p>To build a drone that can stealthily collect spray from moving dolphins, we needed more data on their eyesight and hearing, and this is data that couldn't be collected in the wild nor simulated in a lab.</p><p>We worked with dolphins at facilities like Dolphin Quest in Bermuda, which provides guests opportunities to learn about dolphins while allowing <a href="https://dolphinquest.com/about-us/our-story/" target="_blank">scientists access to animals for noninvasive research</a>. Here the dolphins can swim away if they choose not to work with us, so we had to design the study like a game; the way a kindergarten teacher entertains a class. If the dolphins aren't interested, we don't get to do the science.</p><p>Over the course of hundreds of sessions, we sought to answer two questions: What can dolphins hear and what can they see around their heads?</p><p>To test dolphin hearing, we set up microphones and cameras to record dolphin behavior as we played drone noise in the air. We analyzed the responses to each noise – such as how many dolphins looked at the speaker – and used these as a proxy for their ability to hear the sounds.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5f31daf07a652b8d64a093b993ee4e96"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UjmQeH3vXHI?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span>
<p>To test vision, we mounted lights inside a Hobermann sphere – the expandable rainbow plastic sphere you can see in the video above – that we can turn on and off. The dolphins were trained to whistle when they saw a light around their head. By turning on one light on at a time – which you can watch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FAaV2Mc0uc" target="_blank">in this video</a> – we created a map of the dolphin's field of view.</p><p>Next, we needed to understand the blow and a means to practice drone flights without a dolphin. To do this, graduate students built robodolphin, which includes a mechanical dolphin lung and replica of the blowhole.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQzNDQ4MC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMjYwNTI5M30.WWrIKvwHJlnbYw5VTYq7XAsW6eFHwbqAT5pB4W_sJw8/img.jpg?width=980" id="b189f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="235613c7e6de0dc00245273f341b5450" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Robodolphin doesn't look like a real dolphin, but it doesn't need to in order to train our drone pilots. C.J. Barton / Oklahoma State University / CC BY-ND
<p>To build robodolphin, we worked with dolphins trained to "chuff" or sneeze on command to measure spray characteristics. We used high-speed photography to see the dolphins' breath as it moved through the air. Then we conducted high resolution CT scans of a dolphin head and 3D-printed a replica of a nasal passage.</p><p>Now, we have a complete robodolphin and are tweaking its sprays to be nearly identical to the real thing. This will allow us to determine how close we need to get to collect the samples, and therefore, how quiet our drone needs to be.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQzNDQ4Mi9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMTYyNzQwM30.0GTCRzwomkJVp3A-L0Hi-bQElv-Y6dzkqDhOo1gKfYc/img.png?width=980" id="a16c8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8d4147a8a36627c51459a3a6d2c29888" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The replica dolphin blowhole was designed from a scan of a real blowhole passage, and the spray it produces closely matches the real thing. Alvin Ngo, Mitch Ford and CJ Barton / Oklahoma State University / CC BY-ND
A Bit of Practice, Then Into the Wild
<p>In the next few months, we will test flights over robodolphin with existing drones to determine the timing and strategy for collection. From there, we will fabricate a low-noise drone that can fly fast enough and with sufficient maneuverability to capture samples from wild dolphins. Like a video game, we will use the visual field data to develop approach trajectories to stay in the visual blindspots.</p><p>We plan to test our drones on a truck-mounted robodolphin moving down a runway, then using a boat to simulate realistic conditions. The next steps will involve ocean testing with dolphins trained for open ocean swimming. These tests will determine if our devices can catch and hold the hormones as the drone flies back to a researcher's boat.</p><p>Finally, we will deploy the system to collect data on wild dolphins. Our first goal is to test resident dolphins – animals that live on the coasts and deal directly with boat and oil industry noise – which will allow us to learn more about stress resulting from human impacts.</p><p>Those samples are a way off, but if all goes well we will have a specially built drone capable of flying long distances and capturing samples undetected in a few years. The samples collected will allow researchers to do better science with impact on the animals they study.</p>From Your Site Articles
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The south Asian paradise tree snake can launch itself into the air and glide from one tree branch to another. Thai National Parks, CC by 2.0
Did you know that some snakes can fly?
The south Asian paradise tree snake (Chrysopelea paradisi) can launch itself into the air and glide from one tree branch to another. And when it does, it moves its body in waves in something known as aerial undulation. Scientists have long known how the snakes moved. But they didn't know why. Until now.
<p>"In all these years, I think I've seen close to a thousand glides," Virginia Tech professor Jake Socha, who has studied snake flight for more than 20 years, said in a <a href="https://vtnews.vt.edu/articles/2020/06/eng-flying-snakes-2020-study.html" target="_blank">university press release</a>. "It's still amazing to see every time. Seeing it in person, there's something a little different about it. It's shocking still. What exactly is this animal doing? Being able to answer the questions I've had since I was a graduate student, many, many years later, is incredibly satisfying."</p>
<div id="652b2" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="5bdc5be500e9c3812d91c801fcaf4c8a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1277965147881922569" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">You know what your day needs? Flying snakes.
https://t.co/RJ3ZWb3vlK</div> — Nature News & Comment (@Nature News & Comment)<a href="https://twitter.com/NatureNews/statuses/1277965147881922569">1593525609.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>What Socha wanted to find out was whether the snakes' aerial undulation served any purpose.</p><p>"All snakes undulate when they move. And so on the ground, on a tree, in the water, they are creating these side-to-side waves," Socha <a href="https://www.npr.org/2020/06/29/884104072/how-snakes-fly-hint-its-not-on-a-plane?utm_campaign=npr&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_term=nprnews" target="_blank">told NPR</a>. "It's not crazy to think that when the snake jumps into the air, the snake goes, 'Hey, I'm a snake. I undulate. That's what I should be doing.'"</p><p>To answer the question, Socha and his team created the first continuous, accurate 3D mathematical model of paradise tree snakes mid-glide, Virginia Tech reported. The model allowed them for the first time to see what would happen if the snakes didn't wiggle when they flew.</p><p>"You can do things with the model that you can't do with the live animal," Socha explained to <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/07/01/flying-snakes-undulate-researchers-virginia-tech/5360865002/" target="_blank">USA TODAY</a>. "What we wanted to do with the live animal is tell it to stop undulating. Like, 'Hey, snake, stop undulating.' We could tell the model to do that."</p>
<p>The results, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-020-0935-4" target="_blank">published in Nature Physics Monday</a>, showed that the undulation really does serve a purpose—it keeps the snakes stable as they fly.</p><p>"When you turned the undulation off in the model, you see that you get really bad gliding performance," Socha told USA TODAY. "In fact, it tumbles out of the sky much more readily than when you have undulation."</p><p>In order to build their model, the researchers first had to capture the snakes in motion. To do this, they borrowed space and some techniques from the world of theater and film.</p><p>During May and June of 2015, they filmed the snakes in a black-box theater at Virginia Tech called the Cube, which also contains motion-capture cameras.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQzNDI0NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5OTY5MTE4NH0.sgQyzFlNUCBf0lFNKvX5QFcOSEmrdJCkB4GBiI_jTd4/img.jpg?width=980" id="5b34f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2bcb0217c2475fb20dd5582b0f3f29cd" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The Cube is home to a 23-camera motion capture system. Jake Socha
<p><br>"I guarantee you they did not have flying snakes in mind when they designed this facility," Socha told USA TODAY.</p><p>While filming, they placed 11 to 17 pieces of reflective tape on the snakes' bodies, similar to the tape worn by actors doing motion capture performances in Hollywood movies, NPR explained. They measured more than 100 snake glides to create their model, according to the press release.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQzNDI1My9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNjAyMTMzM30.y7rhrkDRHApFf24ZEdLqtM63RE_vdDG99WGKiAbx9hw/img.jpg?width=980" id="b74dc" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="d4fed5b00496d7c157afa682751389cb" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
The snakes wore 11 to 17 infrared-reflective markers, which gave the team high-resolution data while still allowing the animals to move freely. Jake Socha
<p>Filming the snakes also taught the researchers more about the mechanics of the snakes' motion. They discovered that the snakes moved both side to side and up and down.</p><p>"What really makes this study powerful is that we were able to dramatically advance both our understanding of glide kinematics and our ability to model the system," lead author and recent Virginia Tech doctoral graduate Isaac Yeaton explained in the press release. "Snake flight is complicated, and it's often tricky to get the snakes to cooperate. And there are many intricacies to make the computational model accurate. But it's satisfying to put all of the pieces together."</p>
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A diver swims with sharpfin barracuda, one of the many ocean species under threat from global warming, in Australia, Queensland, Great Barrier Reef. Pete Atkinson / The Image Bank / Getty Images Plus
The oceans could look much emptier by 2100, according to a new study that found that most fish species would not be able to survive in their current habitat if average global temperatures rise 4.5 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, as The Guardian reported.
<p>The researchers of the new paper said that 60 percent of fish species face a grave threat from global heating if temperatures approach that worst-case scenario level. The species under threat include many <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/seafood" target="_self">common fish found in grocery stores</a>, including staples like Atlantic cod, Alaska pollock and sockeye <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/salmon" target="_self">salmon</a>, and sport fishing favorites like swordfish, barracuda and brown trout, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/02/weather/fish-vulnerable-ocean-warming-climate-change-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>The new study, published in the journal <em><a href="https://science.sciencemag.org/content/369/6499/65" target="_blank">Science</a></em>, looked at how nearly 700 fresh and saltwater fish species respond to warming ocean temperatures. The problem for most fish is that as ocean temperatures rise, the oxygen level goes down, which makes it extremely challenging for embryos to survive.</p>
<p>"A 1.5C increase is already a challenge to some, and if we let global warming persist, it can get much worse," said Hans-Otto Pörtner, a co-author on the paper and a climatologist at the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research in Germany, as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/02/fish-species-survival-climate-warming-study" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>That 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold would result in 10 percent of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/marine-life" target="_self">marine species</a> suffering over the next 80 years, including the aforementioned grocery staples.</p><p>However, even a 10 percent decline in fish species has a large ripple effect on ecosystems as one species being pushed out effects the food supply and the habits of many other species that have evolved to be interdependent.</p>
<p>Since we are already 1 degree warmer than the pre-industrial level and emissions are starting to rise around the world as countries reopen, it seems highly unlikely that the world will not blow past that lowest benchmark. In fact, we are currently on pace for a 3 degree increase over the pre-industrial level, as The Guardian noted.</p><p>"More than half of the species potentially at risk is quite astonishing, so we really emphasize that it's important to take action and follow the political commitments to reduce climate change and protect marine habitats," said Dr. Flemming Dahlke, a marine biologist at Germany's Alfred Wegener Institute and one of the authors of the study, as CNN reported.</p>
<p>The declining oxygen levels threaten fish because adult fish preparing to mate fill up their bodies with either eggs or sperm, which strains their hearts as they pump more blood to supply their reproductive organs with enough oxygen, according to the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8484103/Rising-water-temperatures-endanger-matings-fish.html" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a>.</p><p>Also, fish embryos inside eggs could also die since they don't have gills — meaning they will be unable to get enough oxygen to survive.</p><p>"There's a difference in the tolerable temperature range of almost 20 degrees on average between embryos and adults," Dahlke said, as CNN reported. "This of course makes a big difference when you want to look at the sensitivity of species to global warming."</p>
<p>The rapid increase in temperatures could force fish to adapt in an unprecedented way or to move toward cooler water closer to the poles. Freshwater fish living in lakes and ponds have a bleak outlook since they cannot move towards cooler waters.</p><p>"Some species might successfully manage this change," said Dahlke, as the Daily Mail reported. "But if you consider the fact that fish have adapted their mating patterns to specific habitats over extremely long time frames, and have tailored their mating cycles to specific ocean currents and available food sources, it has to be assumed that being forced to abandon their normal spawning areas will mean major problems for them."</p><p>A lot of this is a conservative estimate since the study did not take into account pollution or the increased acidity of the ocean, which could present additional challenges to sensitive species, as The Guardian noted.</p><p>"Some tropical fish are already living in zones at their uppermost tolerance, their areas are already 40C," Pörtner said. "Humankind is pushing the planet outside of a comfortable temperature range and we are starting to lose suitable habitat. It's worth investing in the 1.5C goal."</p>
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Koala populations across parts of Australia are on track to become extinct before 2050 unless "urgent government intervention" occurs. Mathias Appel / Flickr
Koala populations across parts of Australia are on track to become extinct before 2050 unless "urgent government intervention" occurs, warns a year-long inquiry into Australia's "most loved animal." The report published by the Parliament of New South Wales (NSW) paints a "stark and depressing snapshot" of koalas in Australia's southeastern state.
<p>"Even before the devastating 2019-2020 bushfires, it was clear that the koala in NSW, already a threatened species, was in significant trouble," says the <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/lcdocs/inquiries/2536/Koala%20populations%20and%20habitat%20in%20New%20South%20Wales%20-%20Report%203.pdf" target="_blank">report</a>, adding that previous population estimates counting 36,000 individuals were "outdated and unreliable."</p><p>"Then came the fires. With at least 5,000 koalas lost in the fires, potentially many more, it was deeply distressing but extremely important for committee members to agree to the finding that koalas will become extinct in NSW before 2050 without urgent government intervention."</p>
<p>At least 5,000 animals were lost in the 2019 bushfires responsible for killing more than <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/australia-wildfire-deaths-2644394434.html" target="_self">1 billion animals</a>. Conservation groups <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/koalas-extinction-wildfires-australia-2645408622.html?rebelltitem=2#rebelltitem2" target="_self">warned</a> of the possible extinction in March after projections that the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildfires">wildfires</a> resulted in the loss of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/koala-rescue-fire-australia-2641408117.html" target="_self">80 percent of habitat</a>, forcing the charismatic marsupials into "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/koalas-functionally-extinct-fires-2641450078.html" target="_self">functional extinction</a>."</p><p>Endemic only to the eucalyptus forests in the southeastern and eastern parts of the continent, koalas rely on the trees for both habitat and food, according to <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/k/koala/#:~:text=Koalas%20live%20in%20the%20eucalyptus%20forests%20of%20southeastern%20and%20eastern%20Australia." target="_blank">National Geographic</a>. They are threatened by the destruction of habitat through the clearing and fragmentation of their unique habitat, which is further exacerbated by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a> and ongoing <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought">drought</a> conditions that have plagued the region for years.</p>
<p>As part of their analysis, the independent committee received more than 5,700 responses and 300 submissions, in addition to nine public hearings and site visitations across several locations. Philip Spark, a wildlife ecologist, warned in the report that successive extreme events in the past had reduced one koala population by as much as half and pushed another to local extinction.</p><p>"With the trees dying and the streams drying there is a recipe for disaster. Koalas are really on the brink of not surviving," said Spark. "A crisis can happen with very little warning."</p>
<p>Citing a report published by the <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/" target="_blank">Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change</a>, Sparks added that by 2050, one in 100-year events are expected to occur every year with 50-degree Celsius heatwaves in the next 20 years. The committee further found that climate change has a severe impact on koalas and not only affects the quality of their food and habitat, but also compounds the "severity and threats of other impacts, such as <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/drought">drought</a> and bushfires."</p>
<p>The committee made 42 recommendations to ensure the future of the koala, including prioritizing the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> of koala habitat, establishing more thorough approaches to monitoring koala numbers, and allocating additional resources and funding to conservation projects by calling on the government to protect and restore koala habitat on both public and private land. The report also notes that officials should investigate "without delay" the establishment of the <a href="https://koalapark.org.au/" target="_blank">Great Koala National Park</a>, a proposed public conservation area dedicated to protecting the species. An interim report on Australia's national environmental laws is expected this week and is expected to consider the findings that Australia's iconic species is in need of assistance, reports <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jun/30/koalas-will-be-driven-to-extinction-by-2050-in-nsw-major-inquiry-finds" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>.</p>
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Trending
In ‘Conservation Disaster,’ Hundreds of Botswana's Elephants Are Dying From Mysterious Cause
02 July
Animals
African bush elephants in the Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve in Botswana on Nov. 22, 2016. Michael Jansen / Flickr
More than 350 elephants have died in Botswana since May, and no one knows why.
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="_self">Poaching</a> has been ruled out, because no tusks have been removed from the elephants' bodies, but it is possible the animals are dying of a disease that could spread to the human population.</p><p>"Yes, it is a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> disaster — but it also has the potential to be a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> crisis," <a href="https://t.co/FOYIlddwzZ?amp=1" target="_blank">National Park Rescue</a> Director of Conservation Dr. Niall McCann told <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-africa-53257512" target="_blank">BBC News</a>.</p>
<div id="9deed" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="101a9cd3a64051511e2bb793a9782a58"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1278329244767137792" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A catastrophic die-off of elephants is happing in northern Botswana, and no one knows why. It’s vital that a team o… https://t.co/G4VlI5hZJA</div> — Niall McCann (@Niall McCann)<a href="https://twitter.com/NiallPMcCann/statuses/1278329244767137792">1593612416.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Botswana's tourism ministry first said that it was investigating the deaths in mid-May, when 12 dead elephants were found over two weekends in the country's Okavango Delta, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-botswana-probes-mysterious-death-elephants.html" target="_blank">Phys.org reported</a> at the time.</p><p>By the end of May, 169 elephants had died, and that number had more than doubled by mid-June, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/01/more-than-350-elephants-dead-in-mysterious-mass-die-off-botswana-aoe" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"This is totally unprecedented in terms of numbers of elephants dying in a single event unrelated to drought," McCann told BBC News.</p><p>But despite the scale of the deaths, the government has not yet completed testing of the animals to determine the cause, earning the criticism of conservation groups.</p>
<p>"There is real concern regarding the delay in getting the samples to an accredited laboratory for testing in order to identify the problem — and then take measures to mitigate it," <a href="https://eia-international.org/" target="_blank">Environmental Investigation Agency</a> Executive Director Mary Rice told The Guardian. "The lack of urgency is of real concern and does not reflect the actions of a responsible custodian. There have been repeated offers of help from private stakeholders to facilitate urgent testing which appear to have fallen on deaf ears … and the increasing numbers are, frankly, shocking."</p>
<p>The government, meanwhile, attributed the delay to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"We have sent [samples] off for testing and we are expecting the results over the next couple of weeks or so," Dr. Cyril Taolo, acting director for Botswana's department of wildlife and national parks, told The Guardian. "The Covid-19 restrictions have not helped in the transportation of samples in the region and around the world. We're now beginning to emerge from that and that is why we are now in a position to send the samples to other laboratories."</p><p>Taolo said the government had confirmed 280 out of 350 reported deaths and is working to confirm the rest.</p>
<p>Local reports indicate that animals of all ages and sexes are dying, with some spotted wandering in circles, a sign of neurological damage. The cause is likely a poison or disease, but experts are not sure which.</p><p>More than 100 elephants died in October 2019 in a suspected anthrax outbreak, Phys.org reported, but McCann told BBC News he had tentatively ruled out anthrax as the cause of the most recent deaths. Cyanide poisoning used by poachers is another possibility, but scavengers are not dying after eating the carcasses, The Guardian pointed out.</p><p>"It is only elephants that are dying and nothing else," McCann told BBC News. "If it was cyanide used by poachers, you would expect to see other deaths."</p>
<p>Botswana hosts the world's largest elephant population at more than 135,000 animals, about a third of all the elephants in Africa, Phys.org pointed out. The Okavango Delta, meanwhile, is home to 10 percent of Botswana's total population, or around 15,000 animals. African elephants are considered vulnerable by the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12392/3339343" target="_blank">International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List</a>. Botswana was considered one of the safest countries for elephants until recently, <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/hundreds-of-elephants-have-died-in-botswana-for-months-and-we-still-don-t-know-why" target="_blank">Science Alert pointed out</a>. But the government made a controversial decision to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/botswana-lifts-elephant-ban-2637907016.html" target="_self">lift</a> its elephant hunting ban in May of 2019, and poaching is on the rise. An <a href="http://elephantswithoutborders.org/" target="_blank">Elephants Without Borders</a> study <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098221930675X" target="_blank">published in Current Biology last year</a> found that new elephant carcasses in northern Botswana had increased by 593 percent between 2014 and 2018 and that at least 385 elephants had been poached between 2017 and 2018.</p>
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Bison and motorists try to navigate the same road in Yellowstone National Park on July 12, 2014. Roan Retera
A woman was gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park last week, in a reminder that there are serious consequences for forgetting that the wildlife in Yellowstone is wild.
<p>The incident took place after the woman, a 72-year-old from California, moved within 10 feet of the bison more than once in order to take a photograph, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-parks" target="_self">National Park</a> Service (NPS) <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/news/062920.htm" target="_blank">said in a statement Monday</a>.</p><p>"The series of events that led to the goring suggest the bison was threatened by being repeatedly approached to within 10 feet," Yellowstone's senior bison biologist Chris Geremia said in the statement. "Bison are wild animals that respond to threats by displaying aggressive behaviors like pawing the ground, snorting, bobbing their head, bellowing, and raising their tail. If that doesn't make the threat (in this instance it was a person) move away, a threatened bison may charge."</p>
<p>The goring took place the evening of June 25 at the woman's campsite at the Bridge Bay Campground. She was wounded multiple times and received medical attention from rangers before being flown by helicopter to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-72-gored-bison-yellowstone-after-getting-too-close-photos-n1232496" target="_blank">NBC News</a> was not able to obtain any more information about her condition as of Monday night.</p><p>NPS is investigating the incident.</p>
<p>This is not the first time a park visitor has been injured after standing too close to a bison since the park reopened following its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/national-parks-coronavirus-closings-2645599791.html" target="_self">closure</a> due to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic. Another woman was hurt in late May, only days after the park's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/national-parks-opening-coronavirus-2645998472.html" target="_self">reopening</a>, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/bison-gores-woman-yellowstone-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>That woman was "knocked to the ground" after coming too close to an animal in the Old Faithful Upper Geyser Basin, officials said, as <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/29/california-woman-gored-bison-yellowstone-national-park/3283467001/" target="_blank">USA TODAY reported</a>. That woman received medical attention from park staff but did not choose to go to the hospital, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/yellowstone-bison-attack-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN</a>. Hers was the first injury of the 2020 season, USA TODAY reported.</p><p>NPS recommends that Yellowstone visitors stay more than 25 yards away from large animals like bison, elk and moose and at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves.</p><p>"To be safe around bison, stay at least 25 yards away, move away if they approach, and run away or find cover if they charge," Geremia said.</p>
<p>One positive example of bison safety went viral in March, when reporter Deion Broxton saw a herd of bison approaching while on the job in Yellowstone and packed up his gear and drove away, <a href="https://abc11.com/bison-reporter-montata-deion-broxton/6052358/" target="_blank">ABC 11 reported</a>.</p><p>"I ain't messing with you," he said in a video he tweeted of the incident.</p>
<div id="6e24a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="98502f801663ce63637c38b8b636d002"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1242965245414391808" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Here's the video of the bison I shot once I got a safe distance away lol https://t.co/uL3XiR2ISR</div> — Deion Broxton (@Deion Broxton)<a href="https://twitter.com/DeionBroxton/statuses/1242965245414391808">1585180982.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>NPS hailed Broxton as a positive role model for bison safety.</p><p>"A perfect example of what to do when approached by wildlife!" the <a href="https://twitter.com/YellowstoneNPS/status/1242912596488933376" target="_blank">park tweeted</a>.</p><p>The park said there are usually one to two bison-related injuries every year, ABC 11 reported.</p>
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A Swine Flu in China Is Spreading to Humans With 'Pandemic Potential,' Scientists Warn
30 June
Health + Wellness
Piglets at a pig farm on May 12, 2020 in Bijie, Guizhou Province of China. Deng Gang / VCG via Getty Images
Scientists in China have identified a strain of H1N1 that is rapidly spreading amongst workers in the country's pig farms. They warn that the fast spreading strain of swine flu has pandemic potential, if it is not contained quickly, according to The New York Times.
<p>An outbreak of H1N1 caused widespread fear in 2009 when it killed 285,000 people around the world. The new strain is a derivative of H1N1, according to the scientists who published a paper on it on Monday in the scientific journal <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/early/2020/06/23/1921186117#fn-group-1" target="_blank">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a> (PNAS).</p><p>The disease, which researchers called the G4 virus, now shows "all the essential hallmarks of a candidate pandemic virus," said the study, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/asia/china-swine-flu-pandemic-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p>
<p>The researchers say that the disease is not yet an immediate problem, but they noted that pig farm workers also showed elevated levels of the virus in their blood, and that "close monitoring in human populations, especially the workers in the swine industry, should be urgently implemented," as <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-china-pigs/chinese-researchers-warn-of-new-virus-in-pigs-with-human-pandemic-risk-idUSKBN2410BU?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=Social&fbclid=IwAR0Du67qns-96PMAxQR78rH21UgWcutdgvhFsNQ4YA_8-rv0w2eKO_DcWFw&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook" target="_blank">Reuters</a> reported.</p><p>Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at Columbia University's public health school, urged the public to remain calm and not "freak out," according to CNN.</p><p>"Our understanding of what is a potential pandemic influenza strain is limited," she posted on <a href="https://twitter.com/angie_rasmussen/status/1277740973087326213" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. "Sure, this virus meets a lot of the basic criteria but it's not for sure going to cause a hypothetical 2020 flu pandemic, or even be a dominant strain in humans."</p>
<p>Chinese researchers based at several institutions, including Shandong Agricultural University and the Chinese National Influenza Center, discovered the G4 virus during a pig surveillance program, according to CNN. Over a seven-year span, from 2011 to 2018, the researchers took more than 30,000 nasal swab samples from pigs in slaughterhouses and veterinary teaching hospitals across 10 Chinese provinces.</p><p>Those samples revealed 179 swine influenza viruses, but only a fraction of them posed any concern to the researchers, as several only showed up in a single year while others declined to non-threatening levels.</p><p>The strain in question though, G4 EA H1N1, has been common on China's pig farms since 2016 and replicates efficiently in human airways, according to the study. So far, it has infected some people without causing disease, but health experts worry that means the virus is lurking and mutating into something different and a sudden change can happen without warning, according to The New York Times.</p>
<p>Recent evidence "indicates that G4 EA H1N1 virus is a growing problem in pig farms, and the widespread circulation of G4 viruses in pigs inevitably increases their exposure to humans," the study said.</p><p>In the last three years of the study, researchers collected blood samples from workers on various pig farms and from people in nearby households. The study found that 10.4 percent of the workers and 4.4 percent of the others tested positive for G4 EA H1N1, and that 20.5 percent of workers between the ages of 18 and 35 tested positive for the virus, as The New York Times reported.</p>
<p>"It may be that with further change in the virus it could become more aggressive in people much as SARS-CoV-2 has done," said Ian H. Brown, the head of the virology department at Britain's Animal and Plant Health Agency and one of two scientists who reviewed the paper before it was published, in an email to The New York Times.</p><p>The good news is that there is no evidence yet that G4 could spread from person to person, the most promising sign so far, according to Carl Bergstrom, a professor of biology at the University of Washington who spoke to CNN.</p><p>"This is not a *new* new virus; it's been very common in pigs since 2016," he wrote on <a href="https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1277740955651588096" target="_blank">Twitter</a>. "There's no evidence that G4 is circulating in humans, despite five years of extensive exposure. That's the key context to keep in mind."</p>
<p>Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a daily news conference on Tuesday that China was closely following developments. "We will take all necessary measures to prevent the spread and outbreak of any virus," he said, as Reuters reported.</p><p>Whether or not the virus does spread in humans remains to be seen, but it is a reminder that our <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/factory-farming">animal farming</a> practices increase our susceptibility to animal diseases.</p><p>"Pig farming is a massive industry in China and pigs can be important hosts from which novel influenza viruses may emerge," said James Wood, head of veterinary medicine at the University of Cambridge, to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/30/asia/china-swine-flu-pandemic-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>. He added that the study was a "salutary reminder that we are constantly at risk of new emergence of zoonotic pathogens and that farmed animals, with which humans have greater contact than with wildlife, may act as the source for important pandemic viruses."</p>
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