YOU WONT BELIEVE: 4 - You Need To See This

They cleared invasive shrubs from a Pennsylvania forest; What grew back surprised researchers

Researchers cleared 18 invasive shrub species from a Pennsylvania woodland and followed it for seven years. Native plants and young trees returned more strongly than expected, even beating plots with few invasive shrubs. The results suggest that controlling invasive plants can sometimes let a forest’s own native vegetation recover without…

The Economic Times · Oct 27

Bumblebees Just Solved A Puzzle That Scientists Once Used To Test Chimpanzees

Most of us think of the bumblebee as a fuzzy, slightly clumsy passerby that bumbles from flower to flower. There are more than 250 species of them, and they are among the hardest-working pollinators on the planet. Their secret weapon is “buzz pollination”: they grip a flower and vibrate their…

Bored Panda · Oct 27

Sambhar Lake Bird Deaths: What Investigators Found About Avian Botulism

Sambhar Lake sits in the Thar Desert about 80 kilometres southwest of Jaipur, and for migratory waterbirds it has been a reliable stopover for centuries. In November 2019, that changed. Within days, carcasses of flamingos, northern pintails, common teals, and ruddy shelducks began washing ashore in numbers that alarmed forest…

Times Life · Oct 27

Endangered turtles and ‘exceptional’ coral at risk from Woodside’s gas drilling in WA, watchdog says

Exclusive: EPA flags oil spill risk from proposed gasfield and threat to pygmy blue whales

The Guardian - AU · Oct 26

A Dominant Monkey Was Caught Clapping at Other Monkeys, and Scientists Suspect He Copied Park Staff

A dominant Barbary macaque clapped his hands 30 times, mostly alongside threats, and scientists suspect he picked up the move from park staff.

Medical Daily · Oct 26

Wombat Cube Poop Carries a Personal Chemical Signature, and Neighbors Linger Over a Stranger's Pile

Wombat droppings carry individual chemical signatures, and wild wombats spend extra time sniffing latrines holding a stranger's scat, a study finds.

Medical Daily · Oct 26

How Elephants Grieve: What Their Mourning Rituals Reveal About Emotion

When a matriarch dies, her herd does not move on by the next morning. They stay. They touch her body with their trunks, sometimes for hours. They return to the site days later, and in some cases years later, standing over bones that have long since scattered. This is not…

Times Life · Oct 26

In 1974, just four Mauritius kestrels survived; Carl Jones revived their numbers to 600

The Mauritius kestrel was once so close to extinction that only four known individuals remained in the wild, including a single breeding pair. Its survival seemed increasingly uncertain until Welsh conservationist Carl Jones and a team of researchers began an intensive effort to save the species. Through captive breeding, careful…

The Times of India · Oct 26

Leafy spurge may have arrived in North America through a Massachusetts ballast dump in 1827

Leafy spurge is an invasive plant that was first recorded in Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1827. It spread rapidly across the northern United States and southern Canada during the early 1900s. By this time, it was established in several states and regions, including Ontario and Iowa. The plant has significant ecological…

The Times of India · Oct 26

Call for action as Scotland 'has biggest chance in decades to protect oceans'

SCOTS are being urged to have their say on plans campaigners say are a “huge opportunity” to protect coastal wildlife.

The National (Scotland) · Oct 26