Wildlife News

As hunting wolves is legal again in two American states, Montana and Idaho, researchers have discovered an important role these large predators play in creating nutrient hotspots in northern forest environments. Researchers from Michigan Technological University found that when wolves take down their prey—in this case moose—they do more than simply keep a check on herbivore populations. The corpses of wolf-hunted moose create hotspots of forest fertility by enriching the soil with biochemicals. Due to this sudden up-tick in nutrients, microbial and fungal growth explodes, in turn providing extra nutrients for plants near the kill.

table align=lefttrtdimg src=http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/troufs/Tsavo_2-1.jpg align=left//td/tr/tableA recent study in the iProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences/i has shown that the two man-killing lions of Tsavo very likely did not kill and eat as many people as claimed. Looking at hair and bone samples from the pair of male lions, now resting in the Chicago Field Museum, researchers were able to determine that the Tsavo lions likely killed and ate approximately 35 people, not 135 as claimed by Lieutenant Colonel John H. Patterson. Patterson became famous for shooting and killing the lions in December 1898. For nine months the two lions terrorized a railroad camp in Kenya.

Some male spiders must court females for more than an hour to avoid a premature death.img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/livescience/animaldomain/~4/s18J07z3HbU" height="1" width="1"/

pimg src=http://z.about.com/d/animals/1/0/f/g/iStock_000005314195XSmall.jpg alt= border=0 //p p style=font-size: 0.9em;margin-top:5px;color:#777777;Photo #169; Chas53 / iStockphoto./p pIn today's animal identification challenge, we have a little grey and white bird with a splash of orange on its flanks. This little bird is about 6.5 inches in length with a 9.75 inch wingspan. It is common in mature deciduous forests in the US, east of the Mississippi River. Its song is whistled ipeter peter peter peter/i and its call is a series of thin nasal notes, iti ti ti sii sii zhree zhree zhree/i. The adult has a black forehead, pale cream feathers around the eye, and a blue-gray crest and upper body. It has a splash of rusty orange feathers on its flanks just beneath its wing. This species does not migrate, choosing instead to brave the cold throughout the winter months throughout its range./p pYour task is to identify which of the following three birds this species is: nuthatch, tufted titmouse, or chickadee./p pSCRIPT LANGUAGE= javaScript SRC=http://guidepolls.about.com/animals/7178760336/poll.js?linkback=!--#echo var=SCRIPT_URI--/script /p p/p pAfter you have cast your vote in this Animal ID Challenge, be sure to a href=http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc#038;zu=http://animals.about.com/od/animalidquizzes/ss/birdid.htmcheck your answer here/a./p p/p p style="background:#f5f3ef;border: 1px solid #d5d0bf;padding:.5em;"a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hczu=http://animals.about.com/b/2009/11/02/animal-id-challenge-nuthatch-tufted-titmouse-or-chickadee.htm"Animal ID Challenge - Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, or Chickadee/a originally appeared on a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hczu=http://animals.about.com/"About.com Animals / Wildlife/a on Monday, November 2nd, 2009 at 12:52:39./ppa href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hczu=http://animals.about.com/b/2009/11/02/animal-id-challenge-nuthatch-tufted-titmouse-or-chickadee.htm"Permalink/a | a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hczu=http://animals.about.com/b/2009/11/02/animal-id-challenge-nuthatch-tufted-titmouse-or-chickadee.htm#gB3"Comment/a | a href="http://animals.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://animals.about.com/b/2009/11/02/animal-id-challenge-nuthatch-tufted-titmouse-or-chickadee.htmzItl=Animal ID Challenge - Nuthatch, Tufted Titmouse, or Chickadee"Email this/a/p

Scientists discover ancient silken threads from a spider web embalmed in amber.img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/livescience/animaldomain/~4/H1Lsw3JEsdI" height="1" width="1"/

Humans and primates aren't the only ones to experiment with oral sex. Bats do it too.img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/livescience/animaldomain/~4/eH3awdJlQFE" height="1" width="1"/

A newfound dinosaur was the paleo version of an armored tank.img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/livescience/animaldomain/~4/aRmroDFXNXE" height="1" width="1"/

Cubs born to polar bear and grizzly bear parents show mix of features.img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/livescience/animaldomain/~4/rHN7wH07NIU" height="1" width="1"/

Fact sheet about the Endangered Species Reward Fund. Includes a list of rewards offered.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?i=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?i=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?i=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears/~4/Lukyl8TJPW0" height="1" width="1"/

Fact sheet about the Endangered Species Reward Fund. Includes a list of rewards offered.div class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?i=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?i=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?i=Lukyl8TJPW0:mPPs8hyK93A:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves/~4/Lukyl8TJPW0" height="1" width="1"/

A new hypothesis claims toxins from algae played a major role in all five mass extinctions.img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/livescience/animaldomain/~4/C1Vw3u7sK3w" height="1" width="1"/

table align=lefttrtdimg src=http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/troufs/p1050682_15683-1.jpg align=left//td/tr/tableRescued in early October from a poacher's snare, a Malayan tiger has died from stress and infection due to its injuries. The 120 kilogram (264 pound) male tiger died on October 19th in the Malacca Zoo after undergoing surgery to amputate its right foreleg, which two weeks before had been caught in a poacher's snare and severely injured. It broke my heart as I was there during the rescue. Everyone had such high hopes of the tiger being released back into the wild after its treatment at the zoo, and no one spoke of the in-betweens, says Reuben Clements.

Carnivore Conservation in a Changing World: Preliminary Session Schedulediv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?i=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?i=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears?i=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DefendersOfWildlife-PolarBears/~4/nXT_DTfSwSQ" height="1" width="1"/

Carnivore Conservation in a Changing World: Preliminary Session Schedulediv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:yIl2AUoC8zA"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?d=yIl2AUoC8zA" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:qj6IDK7rITs"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?d=qj6IDK7rITs" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:gIN9vFwOqvQ"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?i=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:gIN9vFwOqvQ" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:F7zBnMyn0Lo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?i=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:F7zBnMyn0Lo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?a=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:V_sGLiPBpWU"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves?i=nXT_DTfSwSQ:s9Dtu_qHSAw:V_sGLiPBpWU" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DefendersOfWildlife-Wolves/~4/nXT_DTfSwSQ" height="1" width="1"/

table align=lefttrtdimg src=http://i54.photobucket.com/albums/g94/troufs/Botswana158-2-1.jpg align=left//td/tr/tableThe words we choose matter. Benjamin Lee Whorf, an influential American linguist theorized that the language one speaks directly impacts our thoughts; he is quoted as saying, language shapes the way we think, and determines what we can think about. If this is the case then those who believe in conservation must select their words wisely. My wife and I recently traveled to Africa where we visited wildlife parks in both Zimbabwe and Botswana. The animals we encountered and the scenes we were fortunate enough to witness proved so beautiful and wondrous that I have a difficult time describing them—at least in any way that accurately depicts the experience.

The short-nosed fruit bat iCynopterus sphinx/i is the first bat species to have been observed engaging in oral sex.

Birds (Class Aves) are one of the six basic groups of animals. Birds, best known for their ability to fly, are unmatched in their command of the skies. Albatrosses glide long distances over the open sea, hummingbirds hover motionless in mid-air, and eagles swoop down to capture prey with pinpoint accuracy. But not all birds are aerobatic experts. Some species such as kiwis and penguins, lost their ability to fly long ago in favor of lifestyles suited more for land or water.p style="background:#f5f3ef;border: 1px solid #d5d0bf;padding:.5em;"a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hczu=http://animals.about.com/b/2009/10/28/ten-facts-about-birds.htm"Ten Facts About Birds/a originally appeared on a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hczu=http://animals.about.com/"About.com Animals / Wildlife/a on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 02:00:01./ppa href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hczu=http://animals.about.com/b/2009/10/28/ten-facts-about-birds.htm"Permalink/a | a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hczu=http://animals.about.com/b/2009/10/28/ten-facts-about-birds.htm#gB3"Comment/a | a href="http://animals.about.com/gi/pages/shareurl.htm?PG=http://animals.about.com/b/2009/10/28/ten-facts-about-birds.htmzItl=Ten Facts About Birds"Email this/a/p

Ecuador's Yasuni National Park is full of wealth: it is one of the richest places on earth in terms of biodiversity; it is home to the indigenous Waorani people, as well as several uncontacted tribes; and the park's forest and soil provides a massive carbon sink. However, Yasuni National Park also sits on wealth of a different kind: one billion barrels of oil remain locked under the pristine rainforest.

The plentiful eyes would have helped this insect watch out for nibbling predators.img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/livescience/animaldomain/~4/lPTuh7wrbWs" height="1" width="1"/