Animal News Feed
Malaysian turtles face extinction: WWF (AFP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Wed, 03/10/2010 - 00:31
AFP - Conservationists warned Wednesday that Malaysians' voracious appetite for turtle eggs could drive the marine creatures to extinction on its shores.
New Species of Worm Found in Great Barrier Reef (LiveScience.com)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Tue, 03/09/2010 - 15:32
LiveScience.com - Four newly identified worm species, including one that sports an unusual green color, have been found wriggling in the sands of the Great Barrier Reef.
NJ wildlife council votes in favor of bear hunt (AP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Tue, 03/09/2010 - 14:10
AP - New Jersey residents weary of frequent visits from bears may see a lot less of them come late fall.
US-born panda freed from quarantine in China (AP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Tue, 03/09/2010 - 09:31
AP - After a month in quarantine, American-born panda Tai Shan paced around his new home in southwest China as he was put on public display Tuesday for the first time since his much-anticipated arrival in the country.
Drastic musk ox population decline 12,000 years ago due to climate, not humans, study finds
Science Daily Animal News - Tue, 03/09/2010 - 00:00
Scientists have discovered that the drastic decline in Arctic musk ox populations that began roughly 12,000 years ago was due to a warming climate rather than to human hunting. The research is the first study to use ancient musk ox DNA collected from across the animal's former geographic range to test for human impacts on musk ox populations.
Hidden habits and movements of insect pests revealed by DNA barcoding
Science Daily Animal News - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 22:00
Researchers have found a faster way to study the spread and diet of insect pests. Using a technique called DNA barcoding, which involves the identification of species from a short DNA sequence, they studied populations of numerous moth and butterfly species across Papua New Guinea. DNA barcodes showed that migratory patterns and caterpillar diets are very dynamic.
Study provides better understanding of how mosquitoes find a host
Science Daily Animal News - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 22:00
The potentially deadly yellow-fever-transmitting Aedes aegypti mosquito detects the specific chemical structure of a compound called octenol as one way to find a mammalian host for a blood meal.
Smelling scenery in stereo: Desert ants perceive odor maps in navigation
Science Daily Animal News - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 22:00
Desert ants are well-known for their remarkable orientation: they use a compass along with a step counter and visible landmarks to locate their nest. After researchers discovered that these ants can navigate also by using olfactory cues, they now found that the animals even can take advantage of the distribution of different odors in a map-like manner by utilizing their antennae to smell their environment in stereo.
'Globetrotting' new worms discovered on Great Barrier Reef and Swedish coast
Science Daily Animal News - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 21:00
Between the grains of sand on the sea floor there is an unknown and unexplored world. Scientists have just found new animal species on the Great Barrier Reef, in New Caledonia, and in the sea off the Gullmarsfjord in the Swedish county of Bohuslan.
Researchers induce a new transmissible prion disease
Science Daily Animal News - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 21:00
Researchers have conducted a study on prion disease and found that transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) can be induced without an outside catalyst like a virus.
Congo group accuses soldiers of killing animals (AP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Mon, 03/08/2010 - 08:10
AP - An environmental group is accusing Congolese soldiers of killing more rare wild animals in a national park in Congo's volatile east.
Swiss voters reject giving abused animals a lawyer (AP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Sun, 03/07/2010 - 10:59
AP - The result was emphatic: Swiss voters don't think abused animals need to have their own lawyers.
Japan to arrest anti-whaling activist: report (AFP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Sat, 03/06/2010 - 22:46
AFP - Japan plans to arrest a New Zealand activist being held on a whaling ship which he secretly boarded planning to make a citizen's arrest of its captain, a report said Sunday.
Hormone study gives scientists a sense of how animals bond
Science Daily Animal News - Sat, 03/06/2010 - 09:00
Scientists have pinpointed how a key hormone helps animals to recognize others by their smell. Researchers have shown that the hormone vasopressin helps the brain differentiate between familiar and new scents.
Giant panda genome reveals new insights into the bear's bamboo diet
Science Daily Animal News - Sat, 03/06/2010 - 03:00
Biologists have shed new light on some of the giant panda's unusual biological traits, including its famously restricted diet.
Australian police search anti-whaling ships (AP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Sat, 03/06/2010 - 00:31
AP - Australian police conducted searches Saturday on two anti-whaling vessels that recently clashed with Japanese ships in the Antarctic Ocean in an attempt to obstruct their annual catch, police and activists said.
Australian police search anti-whaling ships for Japan (AFP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 23:47
AFP - Australian police searched two anti-whaling ships at the request of Japanese authorities on Saturday, seizing log books and videos, after activists called a halt to their turbulent harassment campaign.
Therapeutic effect of worm-derived proteins on experimental colitis
Science Daily Animal News - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 18:00
Worms are important source of immunomodulatory proteins that could be used in the development of new drugs for the treatment of immune-mediated diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A research group in Belgium investigated the therapeutic effect of worm-derived proteins on experimental colitis in mice. Treatment with worm proteins ameliorated motility disturbances during murine experimental colitis. This suggests that worm proteins have great potential to be used as therapeutic agents in IBD.
Energy groups relieved sage grouse won't be listed (AP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 15:08
AP - An Interior Department announcement Friday that it won't list sage grouse as an endangered or threatened species opens the way for continued development of the West's wind energy and oil and gas industries.
US stops short of protection for western sage grouse (AFP)
Yahoo Animals and Pets - Fri, 03/05/2010 - 13:58
AFP - US officials Friday stopped short of giving endangered species status to the sage grouse, an iconic bird that is at the center of a dispute over oil drilling in the western United States.