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Beautiful Little Monsters

4/28/2015

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Some people find Dr. Martin Oeggerli’s monsters a little frightening. I see beauty in them, perfectly shaped by evolution. I also see a hint of Charles Darwin and Albrecht Dürer: the scientist and the artist.

Oeggerli wants to help us to see past our preconceptions and beyond the limits of our own eyes. With a scanning electron microscope (SEM), he explores the microcosmos—the tiny, unseen world that’s smaller than the period at the end of this sentence. There he finds exotic creatures with endless forms of evolutionary specialization. These creatures are perfectly adapted to their environment, by their environment.

Read more: proof.nationalgeographic.com
Algunas personas encuentran monstruos del Dr. Martin Oeggerli un poco aterrorizantes. Veo la belleza en ellos, perfectamente moldeada por la evolución. También veo un toque de Charles Darwin y Albrecht Dürer: el científico y el artista.

Oeggerli quiere ayudarnos a ver más allá de nuestras ideas preconcebidas y más allá de los límites de nuestros propios ojos. Con un microscopio electrónico de barrido (SEM), que explora el minúsculo microcosmos, mundo invisible que es más pequeño que el punto al final de esta frase. Allí se encuentra con criaturas exóticas con infinitas formas de especialización evolutiva. Estas criaturas se adaptan perfectamente a su entorno, por su entorno.
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Ancient "Giant Virus" Revived

4/27/2015

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Imagen
A Pithovirus (above, as viewed by electron microscopy) was found to be still active and able to infect an amoeba.
Buried deep in the Siberian permafrost scientists found a "giant virus" that has been asleep for 30,000 years. Named Pithovirus sibericum, it contains 500 genes and was revived in the lab. The researchers are now trying to assess if ancient viruses such as this one could pose a threat for humans. 

Giant viruses are not just bigger but are hardier than others as well, said the researchers. This hardiness, along with a favorable environment, likely helped the newly discovered specimen stay intact for the thousands of years that it did. Viruses are often destroyed or rendered inactive by a number of factors, including light and biochemical degradation.

Read more: news.nationalgeographic.com


Sepultado en el hielo grueso de Siberia los científicos encontraron un "virus gigante" que ha estado dormido durante 30.000 años. Nombrado Pithovirus sibericum, contiene 500 genes y fue revivido en el laboratorio. Los investigadores están tratando de determinar si los virus antiguos como éste podrían representar una amenaza para los seres humanos.

Los virus gigantes no son sólo grandes, pero son más resistentes que otros también, dijeron los investigadores. Esta resistencia, junto con un entorno favorable, probablemente ayudó a que la muestra recién descubierta permanezca intactas durante los miles de años que lo hizo. Los virus son a menudo destruidos o se vuelven inactivos por un número de factores, incluyendo la luz y la degradación bioquímica.

Leer más: news.nationalgeographic.com
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An Eastern White Dwarf: Elephants of Volantis and Borneo

4/25/2015

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By guest blogger: Katey Duffey 
ImagenElephants of Volantis. awoiaf.westeros.org
The oldest free city, Volantis, in George R.R. Martin’s popular saga is known for its red wine, spices and fine silk. It is also known for its elephants that are used as a means of transport. Along the streets of “Old Volantis”, a smaller species of elephant is a common sight pulling ornate carts -the dwarf white elephant. To avoid confusion from fans of the Game of Thrones TV show who have not read the books, dwarf white elephants appear in A Dance with Dragons, the 5th book. As the name implies, they are much smaller than regular elephants and have hides that are whitish in color.

In our real world, dwarf elephants actually exist. They are the Bornean pygmy elephants, which are found in the lower Kinabatangan floodplain of Malaysian Borneo in the state of Sabah. This endangered subspecies of Asian elephant is 1/5 smaller than the mainland populations, are rounder, have long tails that can sometimes reach the ground and some males have short, straight tusks. Originally thought to be descendants from the Javan elephants of the Sultan of Sulu, pygmy elephants have been genetically distinct for approximately 3,000 years. Unlike their more aggressive cousins on the mainland, pygmy elephants tend to have a gentler demeanor as well. 

ImagenFoster's rule (The island effect) www.mbari.org
Why are these elephants so small? According to the Island Rule, or Foster’s Rule observed by J. Bristol Foster in 1964, large mammals will evolve to smaller sizes, while small mammals will evolve to larger sizes than those found on the mainland. Island species also tend to evolve faster, over shorter periods of time than mainland species. The significance of this effect is generally in proportion to the size of an island and the limited amount of resources. Consequently, reduced biodiversity from limited resources can also result in less interspecies competition. In other words, species live more peacefully with each other. This phenomenon may help to explain why pygmy elephants are less cantankerous than mainland Asian elephants. A benefit for many island species is that they are also hardier in response to drastic environmental changes such as famine and drought. Having evolved in an ecosystem with fewer resources, these species are very adaptable for the benefit of their survival. 

Photos: Albino African elephant. elephantfacts.net, Bornean pygmy elephants. www.worldwildlife.org & Albino Asian elephants. www.thestar.com
Due to habitat destruction from logging and palm oil plantations, conflicts between humans and pygmy elephants are on the rise. Snares meant for small game are another threat to the elephants, leaving around 20% of the population of 1,000-1,600 to have injuries from being accidently snagged. However, organizations like the World Wildlife Fund are promoting sustainable logging and forest management. Pygmy elephants still survive and breed well in selectively logged forests. Individuals are also being collared so that habitat use can be studied and potential conflicts avoided.

What about white elephants? White elephants are the result of a genetic mutation when there is a lack of pigmentation causing pink skin and eyes, with white hair (albinism), or a reduction in pigmentation causing pale or patchy skin and hair, with normal colored eyes (leucism). Although rare in nature, wild “white” elephants were captured and bred for royal families. They represent wealth, peace and a good future. Seen as a sacred animal in South East Asia, these unique elephants were pampered and extravagantly adorned. Some kings would actually give “lesser quality” white elephants to other noblemen. Since the animals were sacred, they could not work off the costs required to feed them, and to care for their sensitive skin. This “gift” would end up becoming a financial burden leading to bankruptcy that decreased competition among royals. For those who are familiar with the strange and often useless item given at social gatherings that is not worth the cost, the tradition of the royal white elephants are the source of the term “white elephant gift”. 
References
Awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/dwarf_elephant
Elephantfacts.net/albino-elephant.html
Lister, A.M.(1996). Dwarfing in island elephants and deer:processes in relation to time of isolation. Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, 69: 277-292
Millien, V.(2006). Morphological evolution is accelerated among island mammals. PLos Biology, 4(11):e384.doi10.1371/journal.pbio.oo4o384
Otis,D.(2013). Why Burma Believes in White Elephants (the real ones). www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/07/01/why_burma_believes_in_white_elephants_the_real_ones.html
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/evolution/gigantism-and-dwarfism-islands.html
www.worldlandtrust.org/education/species/bornean-pygmy-elephant
www.worldwildlife.org/species/borneo-pygmy-elephant
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Newly discovered frog species, Kermit the Frog ?

4/23/2015

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Imagen
Photo: sploid.gizmodo.com
Scientist found Kermit the Frog!, t's a species of glass frog discovered earlier this year in Costa Rica by Brian Kubicki and his team at the Costa Rican Amphibian Research Center, called Hyalinobatrachium dianae. It’s bright green just like Kermit, has big white adorable eyeballs and the males have a very unique mating call.

"The new species is named in honour of Brian's mother, Janet Diane Kubicki," they explain in a Facebook post. "With the addition of this newly described species, Costa Rica is known to have 14 species of glass frogs inhabiting its tiny national territory!"

You can read the full article here (free resource).

Source: 
sploid.gizmodo.com
earthtouchnews.com


Los científicos han encontrado a la ¡rana René !, es una especie de rana de cristal llamada Hyalinobatrachium dianae escubierta a principios de este año en Costa Rica por Brian Kubicki y su equipo del Centro de Investigación de Anfibios de Costa Rica. Es de color verde brillante igual que René, tiene grandes y adorables ojos blancos y los machos tienen un llamado de apareamiento muy singular.

"La nueva especie se llama en honor a la madre de Brian, Janet Diane Kubicki", explican en un post de Facebook. "Con la incorporación de esta especie recientemente descrita, Costa Rica se conoce que tiene 14 especies de ranas de cristal que habitan su pequeño territorio nacional!"

Puedes leer el artículo completo aquí (recurso gratuito).

Fuente: 
sploid.gizmodo.com
earthtouchnews.com
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New Whale Species ?

4/20/2015

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Imagen
Beaked whales aren't often sighted (credit: Tom Pusser/NPL)
Imagen
Cuvier's beaked whales are ruled out as the source of the sounds (credit: Tom Pusser/NPL)
A unique whale song is recorded in Antarctica, perhaps a new species of whale may be cruising the icy cold waters of the Antarctic. Evidence for the species is tantalising, rather than strong, as the song could be from one of a few known species of beaked whale.

But it has a structure that doesn’t quite fit any known beaked whales; leaving open the possibility it is from a new species.

Although beaked whales comprise the second-largest family of cetaceans (the group containing whales and dolphins), they are one of the most poorly known groups of all large mammals.

Last year, Deraniyagala‘s beaked whale was confirmed as a new species, bringing the total known to 22.

All beaked whales are extremely elusive, diving deeply and spending very little time at the surface. That makes them difficult to spot. However, they do produce unique sounds that they use to echolocate in the depths, sounds that scientists can use to track and record their movements.


Source: bbc.com

Open access 
Journal of Marine Mammal Science.

Un canto de ballena único se registró en la Antártida, tal vez una nueva especie de ballena puede estar cruzando las aguas heladas de la Antártida. La evidencia de la especie es tentadora, más que fuerte, la canción podría ser de una de las pocas especies conocidas de ballenato de Cuvier (zifios).

Pero tiene una estructura que no acaba de encajar con ninguno de los zifios conocidos; dejando abierta la posibilidad es de una nueva especie.

Aunque los zifios comprenden el segundo mayor de la familia de los cetáceos (el grupo que contiene las ballenas y los delfines), que son uno de los grupos más poco conocidas de todos los grandes mamíferos.

El año pasado, el zifio de Deraniyagala se confirmó como una nueva especie, con lo que el total conocido es de 22.

Todos los zifios son extremadamente difícil de observar, son de buceo profundo y pasan muy poco tiempo en la superficie. Eso los hace difíciles de detectar. Sin embargo, sí producen sonidos únicos que utilizan para ecolocalizar en las profundidades, los sonidos que los científicos pueden utilizar para realizar un seguimiento y registrar sus movimientos.

Fuente: bbc.com 
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Going Batty for Megabats Out of Middle-earth

4/17/2015

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By guest blogger: Katey Duffey 

Bats are usually used to instill a sense of creepiness to a scene. Stories tend to play on the fear of bats that a large number of people have. Short, upturned snouts, sharp teeth, beady eyes, large ears and wings made from a stretched membrane of skin, all combine into traits that give some people the heebie-jeebies. Not to mention, bats are also associated with those evil bloodsucking terrors of the night, vampires.
Even Middle-earth had its share of vampires who had the ability to transform into giant bats. The most notable of these creatures was Thuringwethil, of the First Age, mentioned in Tolkien’s The Silmarillion. She was a vampire servant and spy of Morgoth, and was said to have “iron claws and fingered wings” (which coincidently relates to the taxonomic order that bats belong to, Chiroptera, meaning “hand-wing”). In The Hobbit book, it was indicated that some bats were “bred from darkness, and descended from vampires”, referring to the giant war bats seen in The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies alongside the orcs. Since many bat species already look the part for a “menacing creature of darkness”, the film did not need to do much more than increase the body size. 
Imagen
Colony of grey-headed flying foxes , Photo: tomclarkblog.blogspot.com
However, giant bats of Earth are far from appearing as wicked. The most anyone needs to worry about is to be threatened by a cuteness overload. Behold, the megabats! Also known as “fruit bats” or “flying foxes” from their foxlike faces. Megabats are the largest bat species, with the Malayan flying fox being the heaviest (.9kg/2lbs) and having the longest wingspan (1.8m/6ft). They make up the Pteropodidae family of “Old World bats”, ranging throughout Africa, Asia, and Australia. 

While most of the world’s 1,300 bat species feed on insects, the 170 species of megabats are either frugivorous (fruit eaters) or nectarivorous (nectar drinkers). Needless to say, they are much different from the giant, terrifying bats of Dol Guldur! Therefore, unless you happen to be a delicious, juicy piece of fruit or sweet flower nectar, you have nothing to fear from these flying mammals. A specialized diet unique to bat families means that the megabats have a few equally unique adaptations. For example, along with sharp teeth that help pierce the hides of fruit, these bats have a tongue that is so long that it tucks down around their rib cage! They are also the only family of bats that are not capable of echolocation (with the exception of the Egyptian fruit bat that clicks its tongue in dark caves). Instead, megabats have an incredibly efficient sense of smell and good eyesight to help locate food.
Photos: Stripe-faced fruit bat, Lesser long- nosed bat, www.arkive.org, Straw-colored fruit bat batworlds.com
Since these species do not rely on echolocation to navigate, they mainly roost in trees and bushes within primary or mature secondary forests. If they do rest in a cave, they stay closer to the entrance where there is light. Similar to other bats, some megabats, such as the straw-colored fruit bat of Africa and the grey-headed flying fox of Australia, live in large colonies. They also form sub-colonies of close, social bonds in which one male may be with up to eight females. As a result of living in great numbers and having a stationary food source, these species have to migrate hundreds of kilometers in relation to seasonal tree flowering cycles or rains. 

Megabats provide important eco-services. Nectarivorous bats help to pollinate flowers after they have visited other flowers, just like bees. This symbiotic relationship is a form of mutualism called “chiropterophily”. Frugivorous bats aid in seed distribution by eliminating seeds in their guano. Yet, despite the services megabats provide to the environment, habitat destruction is threatening their survival. Overhunting in retaliation from hungry bats raiding crops is another concern. However, there is hope in the battle of coexistence between farmers and bats. In Queensland, Australia, many orchards are protected by nets to keep bats out. This, in turn, decreases the instances of retaliatory killing of fruit bats.

References
www.batconservation.org
www.batworlds.com/fruit-bat
http://www.dontshootbats.com
Lotr.wikia.com/wiki/bats_of_dol_guldur
Mickleburgh, S., Hutson, A. and Racey, P. 1992. Old World Fruit Bats: An Action Plan for their Conservation. Gland, Switzerland: International Union for the Conservation of Nature. 
Kunz, T. and Fenton, M. 2003. Bat Ecology. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press. 
Tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Thuringwethil
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Hummingbird hawk-moths

4/14/2015

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Photo: Sixpencee.tumblr.com
Photo: Bob Hopkins
Hummingbird hawk-moths (Macroglossum stellatarum) beat their wings at such speed they emit an audible hum. Their name is further derived from their similar feeding patterns to hummingbirds. They're found in Britain all summer long, especially in southern parts and in Ireland. Active in both sunny and overcast conditions, hummingbird hawk-moths are strongly attracted to flowers with a plentiful supply of nectar such as honeysuckle and buddleia. Studies reveal a remarkable memory, since they return to the same flowerbeds at the same time everyday.

Source: bbc.co.uk




La esfinge colibrí (Macroglossum stellatarum) mueve sus alas a tal velocidad que emiten un zumbido audible. Su nombre se deriva de sus patrones de alimentación similares a los colibríes. Se encuentran en el Reino Unido durante todo el verano, sobre todo en las partes meridionales y en Irlanda. Activo en condiciones tanto soleados y nublados, las esfinge colibrí son fuertemente atraídos a las flores con abundante néctar como la madreselva y la "buddleia". Los estudios revelan que tienen una memoria notable, ya que vuelven a los mismos lechos de flores al mismo tiempo todos los días.

Fuente: bbc.co.uk
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Cantor's giant softshell turtle

4/13/2015

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Photos: Wikimedia Commons
Cantor's giant softshell turtle (Pelochelys cantorii) is a species of freshwaterturtle. The turtle has a broad head and small eyes close to the tip of its snout. The carapace is smooth and olive-colored. P. cantorii is relatively unstudied, and the current species may actually be composed of several taxa, also is an ambush predator and primarily carnivorous, feeding on crustaceans, mollusks and fish. The turtle spends 95% of its life buried and motionless, with only its eyes and mouth protruding from the sand. It surfaces only twice a day to take a breath, and lays 20–28 eggs. 

Source





La tortuga de Cantor (Pelochelys cantorii) es una rara especie de tortuga de agua dulce de la familiaTrionychidae, que no posee caparazón rígido.  En vez de un caparazón rígido posee unas costillas unidas y cubiertas con una piel dura, puede alcanzar los 50 kg y medir hasta dos metros.P. cantorii es un predador y primariamente carnívoro, alimentándose de crustáceos, moluscos , peces, y también de plantas acuáticas. El 95% de su vida se esconde bajo la arena o el fango para protegerse de los depredadores. Sólo sale a la superficie para la puesta, que es de 20 a 28 huevos cada vez. 

Fuente



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Incredible Nature Art 

4/11/2015

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Bridget Beth Collins lives in a little town of Seattle called Ravenna with her family. She enjoys getting out of their home and going for long walks. She designs mandalas and creates imaginative art with the natural things she found while walking. 

Instagram 
Source: sortra.com
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Argonauts

4/11/2015

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Imagen
Photo: Shigeru Harazaki
The argonauts (genus Argonauta, the only extant genus in the Argonautidae family) are a group of pelagic octopuses. They are also called paper nautiluses, referring to the paper-thin eggcase that females secrete. This structure lacks the gas-filled chambers present in chambered nautilus shells and is not a true cephalopod shell, but rather an evolutionary innovation unique to the genus Argonauta.

Argonauts are found in tropical and subtropical waters worldwide; they live in the open ocean.

Source: en.wikipedia.org

Los argonautas (género Argonauta, el único género existente en la familia Argonautica) son un grupo de pulpos pelágicos. También se les llama nautiluses de papel, en referencia a la concha fina como el papel que las hembras secretan. Esta estructura carece de las cámaras presentes en la concha de los nautilos llenas de gas y no es una concha verdadera de cefalópodo, sino más bien una innovación evolutiva única del género Argonauta.

Los argonautas se encuentran en aguas tropicales y subtropicales de todo el mundo; y viven en el océano abierto.

Fuente: en.wikipedia.org
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