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Released: 21-Sep-2009 9:00 AM EDT
'Chicago Parakeet Project' Seeks Help Tracking Green Invaders
University of Illinois Chicago

A team of Chicago biologists including UIC's Emily Minor is asking the public to use an online form to report monk parakeet nest sightings. The biologists plan to use the data to track real-time migration of this exotic Argentinean native as it expands its range across metropolitan Chicago.

Released: 18-Sep-2009 4:20 PM EDT
APS Podcast Updates Research on Elephant Communication
American Physiological Society (APS)

Caitlin O’Connell-Rodwell’s insight that elephants ‘talk’ and ‘listen’ to vocalizations that they send through the ground grew from long hours of observation and experimentation, as well as her own in-depth knowledge of insects that communicate seismically. The Stanford University professor updates her research from the APS journal Physiology.

Released: 17-Sep-2009 4:15 PM EDT
Why Female Water Buffalo Have Horns, Impala Do Not
University of Massachusetts Amherst

The reason some female hoofed animals have horns and others don’t has long puzzled evolutionary biologists, even Darwin. But a survey of 117 bovid species led by a UMass Amherst researcher suggests females living in open country and those who defend a feeding territory are more likely to have horns.

15-Sep-2009 1:40 PM EDT
T. Rex Body Plan Debuted in Puny Raptorex
University of Chicago

A 9-foot dinosaur from northeastern China had evolved all the hallmark anatomical features of Tyrannosaurus rex at least 125 million years ago.

8-Sep-2009 12:00 PM EDT
Extinct, Giant Eagle Was a Fearsome Predator
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

Before humans colonized New Zealand about 750 years ago, the largest inhabitants of the islands were birds unlike those anywhere else in the world. Giant, flightless birds known as moa were the main plant-eaters. The role of predator, according to a study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, was filled by a giant, extinct raptor known as Haast’s eagle.

Released: 9-Sep-2009 2:00 PM EDT
Noted Manatee Conservationist Dies
Wildlife Conservation Society

Dr. Akoi Kouadio, a West African manatee scientist and conservationist and Coordinator of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Côte D’Ivoire Coastal Wetland and Biodiversity Conservation Projects, died Thursday, August 13, 2009 in Côte D’Ivoire.

Released: 8-Sep-2009 1:30 PM EDT
Arctic Oil: A Boon for Nest Predators
Wildlife Conservation Society

A new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and other groups reveals how oil development in the Artic is impacting some bird populations by providing “subsidized housing” to predators, which nest and den around drilling infrastructure and supplement their diets with garbage – and nesting birds.

Released: 2-Sep-2009 12:45 PM EDT
And You Think You Deserve A Labor Day Holiday?
National Wildlife Federation (NWF)

Try dodging hungry bears, lifting loads 50 times your own weight, laying 1,500 eggs a day, or migrating 22,000 miles.

Released: 2-Sep-2009 10:30 AM EDT
Tiny Pump Means Pain Relief for Big Cats
Wildlife Conservation Society

Veterinarians from the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo and the University of Tennessee have found a solution to the challenge of providing effective pain relief to some of their most difficult patients: big cats.

28-Aug-2009 10:00 AM EDT
Monkeys Get a Groove On, but Only to Monkey Music
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Music is one of the surest ways to influence human emotions; most people unconsciously recognize and respond to music that is happy, sad, fearful or mellow. But psychologists who have tried to trace the evolutionary roots of these responses usually hit a dead end. Nonhuman primates scarcely respond to human music, and instead prefer silence.

24-Aug-2009 12:05 AM EDT
Why Obama's Dog Has Curly Hair
University of Utah

University of Utah researchers used data from Portuguese water dogs – the breed of President Barack Obama’s dog Bo – to help find a gene that gives some dogs curly hair and others long, wavy hair.

Released: 26-Aug-2009 5:00 AM EDT
Unlocking Secrets of Plants’ Growing Tips
University of Massachusetts Amherst

UMass Amherst biologists used a technique they call multi-gene silencing to, for the first time, silence nine genes at once in a multicellular organism. This allowed them to discover how root hairs and pollen tubes recognize their growing tip and illuminate a process found in all seed plants.

Released: 24-Aug-2009 4:25 PM EDT
Scientists Shed New Light on Behavior of Shark “Tweens” and “Teenagers”
Stony Brook University

Study may prove useful in conservation efforts for over-fished sharks.

Released: 21-Aug-2009 2:15 PM EDT
Physics Professor Is in Tune with Nature
Misericordia University

Looking over her orienteering map, Lynn Aldrich, Ed.D., associate professor of physics at Misericordia University, can quickly find the exact location of her favorite trail at Frances Slocum State Park in the Back Mountain. Being in tune with the environment comes naturally for Dr. Aldrich, a self-described environmentalist and humanitarian, who has been making a second home for herself in Mother Nature’s environs since her early teens. “I feel at peace, I feel renewed,’’ she says about being in the great outdoors. “I just feel in touch with the natural world that God created and we are the stewards of.’’

Released: 18-Aug-2009 4:40 PM EDT
Study on Birds and Streams Included in Federal Guidelines to Safeguard Waterways
Wildlife Conservation Society

Natural Resource Conservation Service to use monitoring technique for stream assessments

Released: 16-Aug-2009 9:00 AM EDT
Team Tracking Potential New Salamander Species
Washington and Lee University

A team of Washington and Lee University faculty and students are investigating the Sherando salamander, which is limited in its habitat to one ridge in the Blue Ridge mountains, to determine whether or not it is a new species.

Released: 13-Aug-2009 2:15 PM EDT
Champion Mare's Legacy Lives on with Unusual Birth of Filly
Cornell University

Mira, a foal born Aug. 4, trots happily in Binghamton, N.Y., even though her mother died almost a year ago from a ruptured intestine. That is thanks to a team at Cornell, which is believed to be the first to successfully extract and ship eggs from a dead mare for remote fertilization and implantation.

Released: 12-Aug-2009 8:00 PM EDT
Study Catalogs Black Hills Bees for Biology Research
South Dakota State University

A study to inventory native species of bees in the Black Hills will help biologists determine stressors on habitat to help fully understand environmental changes in the region.

12-Aug-2009 3:00 PM EDT
Study Links Pesticides, Declining Frog Population
Southern Illinois University Carbondale

Researchers discover that the same chemicals that make California's Central Valley so successful as a farming area also make the nearby Sierra Mountains deadly for frogs.

30-Jul-2009 4:00 PM EDT
Smarter than You Think: Renowned Canine Researcher Puts Dogs' Intelligence on Par with 2-Year-old Human
American Psychological Association (APA)

Although you wouldn't want one to balance your checkbook, dogs can count. They can also understand more than 150 words and intentionally deceive other dogs and people to get treats, according to psychologist and leading canine researcher Stanley Coren, PhD, of the University of British Columbia. He spoke Saturday on the topic "How Dogs Think" at the American Psychological Association's 117th Annual Convention.

Released: 6-Aug-2009 11:30 AM EDT
Tagged Bird Found 8,000 Miles from Home
Wildlife Conservation Society

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) scientists studying shorebirds in western Arctic Alaska recently made a serendipitous discovery when they spotted a bar-tailed godwit with a small orange flag and aluminum band harmlessly attached to its legs. Further research revealed that scientists in Australia had banded the bird and attached the flag near Victoria "“ more than 8,000 miles away.

Released: 4-Aug-2009 3:30 PM EDT
African Village Dogs Are Genetically Much More Diverse than Modern Breeds
Cornell University

African village dogs are not a mixture of modern breeds but have directly descended from an ancestral pool of indigenous dogs, according to a Cornell-led genetic analysis of hundreds of semi-feral African village dogs.

Released: 31-Jul-2009 4:00 PM EDT
U-M's Rocky Mountain Field Station Celebrates 80Th Anniversary with New Housing, Expanded Course Offerings
University of Michigan

An abandoned ranch in a sheltered Wyoming valley with mountain vistas and clear streams seemed an ideal spot for the University of Michigan's summer surveying camp back in 1929, when it became necessary to relocate the facility from northern Michigan.

28-Jul-2009 12:00 PM EDT
Bizarre Bald Bird Discovered
Wildlife Conservation Society

An odd songbird with a bald head living in a rugged region in Laos has been discovered by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and University of Melbourne,

26-Jul-2009 9:00 PM EDT
Warmer Conditions Mean Shorter Lives for Cold-Blooded Animals
Stony Brook University

Temperature explains much of why cold-blooded organisms such as fish, amphibians, crustaceans, and lizards live longer at higher latitudes than at lower latitudes, according to research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) online.

Released: 24-Jul-2009 1:40 PM EDT
Ants More Rational than Humans
Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

In a study released online on July 22 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, researchers at Arizona State University and Princeton University show that ants can accomplish a task more rationally than our "“ multimodal, egg-headed, tool-using, bipedal, opposing-thumbed "“ selves. This is not the case of humans being "stupider" than ants.

   
Released: 22-Jul-2009 3:10 PM EDT
It's Mosquito Time! 10 Tips to Be Out There and Manage Summertime Pests
National Wildlife Federation (NWF)

To Be Out There, many families take their daily activities outdoors in the summer, but this season can be primetime for America's peskiest insect"”the mosquito. . David Mizejewski, naturalist at National Wildlife Federation, provides his top 10 tips to avoid summertime swarms. These tips will help families avoid these pesky biters.

Released: 16-Jul-2009 2:10 PM EDT
Evolution Flashback: Ecologist Brings Century-old Eggs to Life
Cornell University

Cornell ecologist brings century-old eggs to life to study evolution. By hatching these eggs, scientists can compare time-suspended hatchlings with their more contemporary counterparts to better understand how a species may have evolved.

13-Jul-2009 8:30 PM EDT
Study Reveals Lizard Tucks Legs and Swims Through Sand
Georgia Institute of Technology, Research Communications

A study published in the July 17 issue of the journal Science details how sandfish -- small lizards with smooth scales -- move rapidly underground through desert sand. In this first thorough examination of subsurface sandfish locomotion, researchers found that the animals place their limbs against their sides and create a wave motion like snakes to propel themselves through granular media.

Released: 14-Jul-2009 1:30 PM EDT
Deer, Monkeys, Birds Also Bark to Handle Conflict
University of Massachusetts Amherst

Many animals besides dogs bark, says biologist Kathryn Lord, whose recent work provides the first acoustically precise definition of this animal vocalization. But domestic dogs bark more than other animals for reasons related to their 10,000-year history of hanging around human food refuse dumps.

Released: 14-Jul-2009 12:45 PM EDT
Reintroduced Chinese Alligators Now Multiplying in the Wild in China
Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society announced today that critically endangered alligators in China have a new chance for survival. The WCS's Bronx Zoo, in partnership with two other North American parks and the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Management of the State Forestry Administration of China, has successfully reintroduced alligators into the wild that are now multiplying on their own.

6-Jul-2009 2:40 PM EDT
National Parks in Kenya Not Insulated From Wildlife Declines
University of California San Diego

Long-term declines of elephants, giraffe, impala and other animals in Kenya are occurring at the same rates within the country's national parks as outside of these protected areas, according to a study released this week.

Released: 7-Jul-2009 12:15 PM EDT
New Monkey Discovered in Brazil
Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced today the discovery of a new monkey in a remote region of the Amazon in Brazil.

Released: 2-Jul-2009 10:45 AM EDT
Oscar the Bobcat - Hit by a Car - Is on the Road to Recovery After Surgery at Cornell
Cornell University

Oscar the bobcat is healing by leaps and bounds after a team of surgeons at the Cornell University Hospital for Animals at the university's College of Veterinary Medicine repaired injuries he sustained after being hit by a car.

Released: 29-Jun-2009 5:00 PM EDT
Straighten Up and Fly Right: Moths Benefit More from Flexible Wings than Rigid
University of Washington

New research using high-speed digital imaging shows that, at least for some insects, wings that flex and deform, something like what happens to a heavy beach towel when you snap it to get rid of the sand, are the best for staying aloft.

25-Jun-2009 1:00 PM EDT
High Carbon Dioxide Levels Cause Abnormally Large Fish Ear Bones
University of California San Diego

Scripps study focuses on bony structures essential in fish orientation and acceleration.

Released: 22-Jun-2009 3:35 PM EDT
Researcher Observes Increase in Red Eastern Screech Owls as Climate Warms
Baylor University

A Baylor University researcher who has studied the Eastern Screech Owl for more than 40 years says an increase in the number of the owls that are red "“ known as "rufus" "“ is another sign of global warming.

Released: 18-Jun-2009 10:00 PM EDT
Discovery of a Water Snake That Predicts the Direction Its Prey Will Flee
Vanderbilt University

Forget the old folk tales about snakes hypnotizing their prey. The tentacled snake from South East Asia has developed a more effective technique. The small water snake has found a way to startle its prey so that the fish turn toward the snake's head to flee instead of turning away.

Released: 18-Jun-2009 1:40 PM EDT
Researchers Predict Large 2009 Gulf of Mexico 'Dead Zone' Chesapeake Bay's Oxygen-starved Zone Likely to Shrink
University of Michigan

University of Michigan aquatic ecologist Donald Scavia and his colleagues say this year's Gulf of Mexico "dead zone" could be one of the largest on record, continuing a decades-long trend that threatens the health of a half-billion-dollar fishery.

Released: 18-Jun-2009 1:00 PM EDT
The Straight Poop on Counting Tigers
Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced today a major breakthrough in the science of saving tigers: high-tech DNA fecal sampling.

Released: 18-Jun-2009 12:00 PM EDT
New York's Ash Trees Threatened by Newly Found Beetle
Cornell University

For the first time, Cornell researchers have reported finding the emerald ash borer "“ an ash tree-destroying beetle "“ in New York state.

16-Jun-2009 11:30 AM EDT
Newly Discovered Beaked, Bird-like Dinosaur Tells Story of Finger Evolution
George Washington University

Researchers have discovered a unique beaked, plant-eating dinosaur in China that offers new, important evidence about how three-fingered hands of birds evolved from the hand of dinosaurs.

Released: 17-Jun-2009 8:30 AM EDT
Gobi Desert Yield New Species of Nut-Cracking Dinosaur
University of Chicago

Plants or meat: That's about all that fossils ever tell paleontologists about a dinosaur's diet. But the skull characteristics of a new species of parrot-beaked dinosaur and its associated gizzard stones indicate that the animal fed on nuts and/or seeds.

7-Jun-2009 1:00 PM EDT
The Latest in Technology Looks Into Some Old Bones
Society of Vertebrate Paleontology

A new study published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology uses high-resolution computed tomography (CT) imaging to guide sampling of bone lesions in the vertebrae of a hadrosaur ("duck-billed") dinosaur for histological and isotopic analysis.

8-Jun-2009 12:00 PM EDT
Study Reveals How Snakes Slither on Flat Terrain
Georgia Institute of Technology, Research Communications

Snakes use both friction generated by their scales and redistribution of their weight to slither along flat surfaces, researchers at New York University and Georgia Tech have found. Their findings, which appear in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, run counter to previous studies that have shown snakes move by pushing laterally against rocks and branches.

Released: 4-Jun-2009 11:15 AM EDT
Forensic Anthropologists Assist in Study of Rwanda's Endangered Mountain Gorillas
University of Indianapolis

Forensic anthropologists from the University of Indianapolis are among a team of U.S. scientists who are assisting the Rwandan Office of Tourism and National Parks in creating a repository where skeletal remains of endangered mountain gorillas will be carefully maintained for research on diet, disease, stress and other factors affecting their health and survival.

Released: 4-Jun-2009 10:00 AM EDT
Afghanistan Releases Its First-Ever List of Protected Species
Wildlife Conservation Society

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) announced today that the Afghanistan's National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA), in an effort to safeguard its natural heritage, has released the country's first-ever list of protected species now banned from hunting or harvest.

Released: 3-Jun-2009 12:10 PM EDT
Changing Climate May Make 'Super Weed' Even More Powerful
University of Delaware

Researchers at the University of Delaware have discovered a new reason why the tall, tasseled reed Phragmites australis is one of the most invasive plants in the United States. The UD research team found that Phragmites delivers a one-two chemical knock-out punch to snuff out its victims, and the poison becomes even more toxic in the presence of the sun's ultraviolet rays.

22-May-2009 9:00 AM EDT
Scientists Announce Top 10 New Species; Issue SOS
Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences

The International Institute for Species Exploration at ASU announces the top 10 new species described in 2008. On the list are a pea-sized seahorse, caffeine-free coffee and bacteria that live in hairspray. Also issued is the State of Observed Species report, which notes 18,516 species new to science in 2007.

Released: 21-May-2009 3:25 PM EDT
Thieving Whale Caught on Video Gives Rare Clues about Hunting Strategy, Sound Production
University of California San Diego

Marine mammal videotaped stealing fish provides information about animal's physical features



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