Urban coyotes are thriving in cities, but not for the reasons one might expect. A recent study reveals that human-related factors, rather than access to natural habitats, have a stronger impact on their survival.&nbsp;



Researchers tracking coyotes in Chicago discovered that densely populated <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/city-living-causes-chronic-stress-for-some-coyotes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">human areas</a> are linked to longer coyote lifespans, overturning the conventional belief that wildlife fares better in more natural settings.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-human-presence-plays-a-surprising-role">Human presence plays a surprising role</h2>



“What we found was really interesting, in that the societal characteristics seem to play a much more important role in predicting coyote survival time than the environmental characteristics,” said Emily Zepeda, the study’s lead author and a postdoctoral scholar at <a href="https://www.osu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Ohio State University</a>.&nbsp;



“And then we found this positive effect of human population density on survival time. Both of those things are unexpected because we usually associate human activity with detrimental effects on wildlife.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-urban-coyote-research-project">The Urban Coyote Research Project</h2>



The study, recently published in the journal <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11252-024-01643-w" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Urban Ecosystems</a>, stems from the Urban Coyote Research Project, a long-term study of coyote ecology in the Chicago Metropolitan Area.&nbsp;



This research, led by wildlife ecologist Stan Gehrt, has monitored the behavior and ecology of Chicago’s estimated 4,000 coyotes, offering rare insights into how they adapt to urban life.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tracking-coyote-survival">Tracking coyote survival</h2>



For this study, researchers analyzed movement data from 214 coyotes tracked between 2013 and 2021. Using the length of time each coyote was monitored as a proxy for survival, they evaluated societal and environmental factors such as neighborhood income, human density, road density, and proximity to parks.



The findings revealed that human population density positively influenced coyote survival. Coyotes in areas with low human density tended to have shorter lifespans, while those in densely populated areas lived longer. Interestingly, the interaction between income and density also played a role.&nbsp;



In low-density areas, income had little effect on survival, likely due to the lack of human presence. However, in moderate- to high-density neighborhoods, coyotes in lower-income areas were 1.5 times more likely to survive to age two than those in wealthier areas.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-resources-and-competition-in-urban-settings">Resources and competition in urban settings</h2>



The researchers theorize that higher human population density provides urban coyotes with essential resources like food and shelter, helping them endure harsh conditions such as Chicago winters.&nbsp;



“We’ve hypothesized that population density may have a positive effect because it’s actually providing resources like human-related structures or food that allow coyotes to weather the harsh conditions of the winter, which is a major mortality factor for Chicago coyotes,” Zepeda explained.



However, these benefits may come at a cost in higher-income areas, where vegetation and better waste management can attract more coyotes, leading to increased competition and disease transmission.&nbsp;



“There might be more individuals in those areas, but survival time may be shorter there,” Zepeda said. “You might die younger in an area where there are a lot of competitors.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-adaptability-of-coyotes">Adaptability of coyotes</h2>



Surprisingly, the study found no significant link between <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/most-species-are-shifting-their-habitats-due-to-climate-change/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">natural habitats</a> and coyote survival. Parks and nature preserves, often assumed to be ideal environments for coyotes, did not seem to offer a survival advantage.&nbsp;



“Anecdotally, we see really high densities of coyotes in nature preserves and urban parks. That’s often where you see coyotes in the city if you see them at all,” Zepeda said.



The researchers speculate that this finding could result from a variety of factors, including limitations in how habitat types are classified on city maps or more frequent hunting and trapping in natural areas.&nbsp;



Alternatively, it may highlight the adaptability of coyotes, which seem capable of thriving in urbanized environments despite their preference for natural habitats.&nbsp;



“It could speak to how adaptable they are that they might prefer natural habitat, but at least in terms of survival, they can do just as well in more urbanized areas,” Zepeda added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-societal-factors-and-urban-ecosystems">Societal factors and urban ecosystems</h2>



This study adds to growing evidence that societal factors affecting human populations also influence <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/urban-biodiversity-is-not-a-luxury-it-is-attainable-for-everyone/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">urban ecosystems</a>. The presence or absence of humans, combined with the conditions in which they live, may overshadow natural influences on wildlife survival.&nbsp;



Gehrt’s long-term research emphasizes the importance of understanding these dynamics as urban areas expand.



As urban ecosystems continue to evolve, studies like this provide critical insights into how wildlife interacts with human populations.&nbsp;



Further research could explore specific societal factors - such as waste management practices or public attitudes toward coyotes - and their influence on urban <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/un-report-disturbing-details-about-the-state-of-earths-wildlife/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">wildlife</a>.



By better understanding these relationships, cities can develop strategies to foster coexistence between humans and animals, creating urban environments where both can thrive.



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Coyotes live longer in densely populated human areas

Urban coyotes are thriving in cities, but not for the reasons one might expect. A recent study reveals that human-related factors, rather than access to natural habitats, have a stronger impact on their survival.&nbsp; Researchers tracking coyotes in Chicago discovered that densely populated human areas are linked to longer coyote lifespans, overturning the conventional belief that wildlife fares better in more natural settings. Human presence plays a surprising role “What we found was really interesting, in that the societal characteristics seem to play a much more important...

During the last year, the <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/">National History Museum</a> (NHM) in London has <a href="https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2021/december/natural-history-museum-scientists-describe-552-new-species-in-2021.html">described</a> a total of 552 new species of animals and plants, including several new <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fascinating-dinosaurs-were-discovered-in-2021/">dinosaurs</a>, two ancient mammals, 291 crustaceans, 52 wasps, 13 moths, seven crabs, six flies, five amphipods, and 90 beetles.



This year has been particularly important for the discovery of new species of dinosaurs (four in the UK, one in China, and one in Morocco). “It’s been a fantastic year for the description of new dinosaurs, especially from the UK,” said Dr. Susannah Maidment, a senior researcher in Paleobiology at the NHM, who helped describe some of these new species.



“Although we've known about the UK's dinosaur heritage for over 150 years, the application of new techniques and new data from around the world is helping us to uncover a hidden diversity of British dinosaurs. These specimens are parts of a vast palaeobiological jigsaw puzzle that allows us to understand environments of the past and how they changed over time.”



These dinosaurs include two massive <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/two-new-predatory-dinosaurs-found-on-the-isle-of-wight/">carnivorous spinosaurs</a> found on the Isle of Wight, &nbsp;a “chunky” sauropod with an unusually large funny bone discovered in China, and an ankylosaur found in Morocco with had an odd series of spikes attached to its ribs.



The museum has also discovered two ancient mammals, Megalomys camerhogne, a species of rodents that once lived scattered across the Caribbean, and Borealestes cullinensis, a “Jurassic mouse” from the Isle of Skye, Scotland that lived together with the dinosaurs 166 million years ago.&nbsp;



Among the 13 species of moth described by NHM, the most impressive one is <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/moth-with-the-longest-tongue-of-any-insect-is-a-new-species/">Wallace’s sphinx moth</a>, which is considered to have the longest tongue of any insect, measuring up to 30 centimeters in length. This moth is famous for having been predicted to exist by Charles Darwin four decades before its actual discovery.&nbsp;



Some other fascinating discoveries include a large number of copepods, small shrimp-like creatures that are found in water and are critical for our planet’s ecology and carbon cycle, a pair of glitteringly purple and green metallic beetles from India, a chunky monochromatic beetle with a huge pair of jaws found in Philippines, as well as five new snakes and three lizards.



“Finding - or finding out about - something for the first time is at the root of discovery,” said Dr. Tim Littlewood, the Director of Science at the NHM. “Discovery can be a personal, community or even a global revelation, or just a nudge towards advancing knowledge. Discovering new species is what the Museum does, and it's a matter of personal and institutional pride that we continue to be at the forefront of recognizing and naming new species - especially at a time when we are losing so many.”



&nbsp;---



By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Hundreds of new species were discovered in 2021

During the last year, the National History Museum (NHM) in...

A new study published in the journal <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/spp2.1415">Papers in Paleontology</a> has found that the huge Australian “thunder birds” (Genyornis newtoni) which were wiped out 48,000 years ago, suffered a painful form of bone infection that hampered their mobility and foraging abilities and possibly contributed to their extinction.



These majestic birds, living in the territory of today’s Australia, weighted roughly 230 kg (almost six time more than an emu), and were about two meters tall. They were part of a unique group of Australian flightless birds called the dromornithids or "thunder birds.”



By studying the fossils of these birds found at the famous South Australian fossil site of Lake Callabonna, scientists discovered that at least 11 percent of these birds suffered from osteomyelitis, a severe infection affecting multiple bones throughout the animals’ bodies.



“The fossils with signs of infection are associated with the chest, legs, and feet of four individuals,” said study lead author Phoebe McInerney, a doctoral student in paleontology at the&nbsp; <a href="https://www.flinders.edu.au/">Flinders University</a> in Adelaide.&nbsp;



“They would have been increasingly weakened, suffering from pain, making it difficult to find water and food. It’s a rare thing in the fossil record to find one, let alone several, well-preserved fossils with signs of infection. We now have a much greater idea of the life challenges of these birds.”



Since this disease afflicted such a large percentage of the bird populations, researchers believe that it may have been caused by environmental stressors. As the Australian continent dried during a period of severe drought 48,000 years ago, large inland lakes and forests began to disappear and central Australia transformed into a flat desert. Thus, food resources most probably dwindled significantly, placing considerable stress on thunder birds and other Australian megafauna.



“From studies on living birds, we know that challenging environmental conditions can have negative physiological effects,” said study senior author Trevor Worthy, an associate professor of Vertebrate Paleontology at Flinders University. “So we infer that the Lake Callabonna population of genyornis would have been struggling through such conditions.”



According to Professor Worthy and his team, the effects of severe drought included high rates of bone infection, which may have ultimately contributed to the extinction of this fascinating species.



Image Credit: Phoebe McInerney



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Bone disease killed off Australia's giant thunder birds

A new study published in the journal Papers in Paleontology...

A new study published in the <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joa.13588">Journal of Anatomy</a> has described an extinct species of bird from Northeastern China that had a peculiar bony tongue nearly as long as its head. The bird lived among the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fascinating-dinosaurs-were-discovered-in-2021/">dinosaurs</a> over 120 million years ago.



Most reptiles and birds do not have large muscular tongues like humans. Instead, they have a set of rod-shaped elements made of bone and cartilage, located on the floor of their mouth. Some birds today, such as hummingbirds and woodpeckers, have a bony tongue as long or even longer than their skulls.



The newly discovered bird was baptized Brevirostruavis&nbsp;macrohyoideus (“bird with a short snout and big tongue”) by researchers from the <a href="http://english.ivpp.cas.cn/">Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology</a> (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the <a href="https://www.utexas.edu/">University of Texas at Austin</a>. It is part of an extinct group of birds called enantiornithines or “opposite” birds which were the most successful group of birds during the&nbsp;Cretaceous&nbsp;Period (between 66 and 145 million years ago). Moreover, it appears to be the earliest known example of a bird capable of sticking its tongue out.&nbsp;



According to the scientists, this ability may have helped the bird to catch insects in the same way in which today’s woodpeckers use their tongues to extract insects from holes in bark, wood, and tree branches. However, since no stomach contents were found with this fossil, the birds might have also been feeding on pollen or nectar-like liquids from the forests in which they lived.



“We see a lot of variation in the size and shape of the skulls of enantiornithine birds and that probably reflects the great diversity of the foods they ate and how they caught their food. Now with this fossil, we see that it’s not just their skulls, but their tongues that also vary,” said study co-author Dr. Wang Min, a paleontologist at IVPP.



“Animals experiment evolutionarily with what they have available. This bird evolved a long tongue using the bones it inherited from its dinosaur ancestors, and living birds evolved longer tongues with the bones that they have,” added study co-author Dr. Thomas Stidham, a paleoanthropologist at the same institute.&nbsp;



“This situation demonstrates the power of evolution, with birds using two different evolutionary pathways to solve the same problem of making a long tongue to stick out of their mouths,” he concluded.



Image Credit: IVPP



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

A prehistoric bird had a tongue as long as its head

A new study published in the Journal of Anatomy has...

Insect-based pet food is becoming increasingly trendy, due to owners worried about the climate costs of traditional pet food. In an attempt to curb the large carbon <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/emissions-gap-report-greener-world-or-climate-catastrophe/">emissions</a> produced by raising livestock for traditional, meat-based diets, environmentally-minded pet owners are starting to feed their animals meals made out of crickets, black soldier flies, or mealworms as more sustainable alternatives.



According to nutritional experts, farmed species of insects are rich in protein, oils, minerals, vitamins, and high fats. Moreover, when insects are farmed commercially, the levels of emissions, water, and land usage are kept lower than in the case of traditional livestock farming.



“When made into a nutritionally complete pet food, insect proteins can contribute to nutritious and palatable products that can also be environmentally sustainable. Insect-based products offer an alternative for owners who prefer to feed their pets a diet that is sourced from ingredients other than traditional livestock animals,” explained Nicole Paley, deputy chief executive of the <a href="https://www.pfma.org.uk/">Pet Food Manufacturers Association</a> (PFMA).



According to PFMA, there are currently seven species of insects authorized by the EU for use as pet food ingredients, which are grown in over 100 farms all over Europe. <a href="https://research.rabobank.com/far/en/sectors/animal-protein/insect-protein-to-come-of-age-in-the-2020s.html">Rabobank</a>, a Dutch multinational company, estimates that the insect-based pet food industry might increase 50-fold by 2030, when half a million metric tons are projected to be manufactured.



Experts claim that a significant barrier to the smooth development of this industry will be owners’ revulsion to insect-based diets. Yet, as Solitaire Townsend, co-founder of <a href="https://www.wearefuterra.com/">Futerra</a> (which is working together with <a href="https://www.mars.com/made-by-mars/petcare">Mars Petcare</a> to produce Lovebug, its first insect-based cat food) argues, owners should keep in mind that their pets are not so squeamish.



“Cats aren’t squeamish about eating bugs, but some people can be. Of course, millions of people across the world eat insects as normal within their diet. Perhaps in the UK it can feel a bit unusual, but I’m old enough to remember when sushi, and even pasta, was the same way,” she said.



While this transition from traditional to insect-based pet food may have significant benefits, scientists warn that it is not yet clear to what extent such a diet meets the animals’ needs.



“At the moment, there is not enough evidence to support insect-based protein completely replacing current complete pet food diets, but it is another option which could be considered in the future,” said Justine Shotton, president of the <a href="https://www.bva.co.uk/">British Veterinary Association</a>. “Owners should always ensure any changes to a pet’s diet are supervised by a vet with in-depth nutritional knowledge.”&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Insect-based pet food is gaining popularity

Insect-based pet food is becoming increasingly trendy, due to owners...

A new study led by Japan’s <a href="https://www.nipr.ac.jp/english/">National Institute of Polar Research</a> (NIPR) has investigated the continental shelves of Antarctica by attaching CTD-Satellite Relay Data Loggers with glue to the heads of eight Weddell <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/some-seals-will-struggle-more-than-others-to-survive-climate-change/">seals</a> between March and September 2017. The method was used due to the difficulty of conducting oceanographic observations by ship in continental shelf areas covered by landfast ice.



The continental shelves of Antarctica are some of the most biologically productive areas in the world’s oceans due to the large amounts of nutrients resulting from the interactions between ocean, sea ice, and ice shelves.&nbsp;



In East Antarctica, sea ice production is most abundant in the coastal polynyas (areas of open, unfrozen seawater surrounded by ice). Outside these polynyas, a large amount of landfast ice (sea ice attached to the shore) provide an excellent habitat for predators such as Weddell seals or emperor penguins.



The exchanges between deep warm waters coming from off-shelf areas, coastal polynyas, and seasonal sea-ice zones play a crucial role in biological production throughout continental shelf areas. However, since these regions are practically inaccessible by ship, in recent years, researchers have begun deploying oceanographic data logging equipment to marine animals such as seals in order to record features such as conductivity, temperature, and depth.



“Previous studies using instruments strapped to migrating southern elephant seals and resident Weddell seals - a deep diving predator - had shown some interesting physical processes in Antarctic areas, but even here, there has barely been anything investigating coastal areas covered by landfast ice,” said study lead author Nobuo Kokubun, an assistant professor of Oceanography at NIPR.



By using data collected from sensors attached on the heads of eight Weddell seals, Professor Kokubun and his colleagues have found that warm and low salinity water appeared in the subsurface during autumn, and the depth of the warm water increased as the season progressed.&nbsp;



The scientists have also discovered that seasonally prevailing easterly wind during autumn caused a significant flow of off-shelf surface warm waters and additional prey onto the continental shelf.



The study suggests that using seals with oceanographic sensors attached to them can be a powerful tool for exploring oceanographic and ecological conditions on Antarctic continental shelves covered with landfast ice, where access by ship is nearly impossible.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://aslopubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/lno.11914">Limnology and Oceanography</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Seals can be a powerful tool for exploring ocean conditions

A new study led by Japan’s National Institute of Polar...

New Caledonian crows are unusual among birds in that they use tools to extricate food items from holes in the stems of trees or from cracks in the bark. The crows forage in this way using two different types of stick tools – a straight twig or leaf stalk that can be collected from the ground, or a hooked stick that is fashioned specifically by the crow from stems of a particular species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/plant-traits-are-shaped-by-climate-and-soil-conditions/">plant</a>.&nbsp;



When crows forage using a hooked stick tool, they are up to ten times more efficient at securing food. This indicates that the stick tools are an important part of the foraging strategy and clearly help crows to access food successfully. The awkward part is that a crow cannot hold its stick tool in its beak while at the same time eating a food item it has just extracted; while eating, the bird has to place its tool somewhere other than in its beak.



In previous research on NC crows, scientists from the School of Biology at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland found that crows secure their tools using one of two "safekeeping" strategies while they eat their food – they either hold the tool trapped underfoot, or they temporarily insert the tool into a nearby hole or behind bark. If the tool is not securely stored there is a risk that it falls to the ground and has to be retrieved, or that another crow steals the tool for its own use.



Researchers from the University of St Andrews and the <a href="https://www.ab.mpg.de/">Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior</a> in Konstanz, Germany, have now investigated whether NC crows take better care of their favorite tools by storing them more securely when not in use. Their results were published recently in the journal eLife.



The study involved two main experiments using a large sample of wild-caught, temporarily captive New Caledonian crows that were presented with food inserted into holes drilled in a piece of wooden log. In the first experiment they investigated whether crows prefer one tool type over the other, and in the second they assessed whether crows take better care of their preferred tools by storing them carefully between periods of use.&nbsp;



When offered a choice of tools, either hooked sticks or straight sticks, the crows clearly preferred the hooked sticks. While straight sticks may be picked up commonly from the leaf litter below the trees, hooked stick tools have to be fashioned by the crows and demand time and energy investment. In addition, the crows select the stems of a particular plant, Desmanthus virgatus, from which to craft the hooked tools. Since this plant is not very common, wild crows have to invest energy in searching for these specific plants as well.&nbsp;



“Hooked tools are not only more costly to obtain, but they are also much more efficient,” explained team leader, Christian Rutz from the University of St Andrews. “Depending on the foraging task, crows can extract prey with these tools up to ten times faster than with bog-standard non-hooked tools.”



Assuming that the crows would ‘value’ the hooked tools because of their effectiveness and the investment required to produce them, the researchers then used video footage to monitor how crows stored their tools after use.&nbsp;



“Many of us will fuss about a brand-new phone, making sure it does not get scratched, dropped or lost. But we may handle an old phone with a cracked screen quite carelessly,” said lead author Barbara Klump, who is now based at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Germany.



The videos were analyzed to determine whether crows stored their tools securely (trapped under a foot or placed in a hole), or whether they left them lying around on top of the log or on the ground. The results showed that the crows were significantly more likely to keep their tools safe after foraging with a hooked stick. Furthermore, they used the safest option (a hole) to store a hooked stick more frequently than to store a straight stick.&nbsp;



“It was exciting to see that crows are just that bit more careful with tools that are more efficient and more costly to replace. This suggests that they have some conception of the relative ‘value’ of different tool types,” noted study co-author James St Clair.



This is the first study to investigate how animals handle and store tools of different kinds, providing an innovative way to measure how much they value these objects. The method can be applied using untrained subjects and it allows for behavioral comparisons between tool-using animals from different taxonomic groups.&nbsp;



Image Credit: James St Clair



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Crows look after their valuable tools more carefully

New Caledonian crows are unusual among birds in that they...

New research led by the <a href="https://www.wwf.org.nz/">World Wildlife Fund for Nature New Zealand</a> has found evidence that leopard seals eat ghost sharks. This is the first recorded example of a seal eating a shark, making seals part of a small and exclusive club of marine predators that do so.



Leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonis) are major predators known to eat a large variety of animals, including crustaceans, birds, fishes, and other pinnipeds, such as seals, sea lions, and walruses. However, this is the first time the seals were known to feed upon chondrichthyans, or fish with cartilaginous skeletons.



“From both observations of predations and scats, three chondrichthyan species or genus were identified; elephantfish (Callorhinchus milii), ghost sharks (Hydrolagus&nbsp;spp.) and spiny dogfish (Squalus acanthias),” write the study authors.&nbsp;



“While this is the first published record of leopard seals feeding on chondrichthyans, the relatively high frequency of occurrence within our NZ records, and that certain individuals appeared to target this type of prey, indicates that these species could constitute a substantial, or important, part of the diet for some leopard seals in this region.”



“We were blown away to find that sharks were on the menu,” said study lead author Krista Van der Linde. “But then we also found elephant fish and ghost sharks were also being hunted by the leopard seals. These fish have large spines to help protect them from predators and sure enough there were wounds on the leopard seals, sometimes even big spines embedded in their faces. One leopard seal had at least 14 such wounds.”



Van der Linde and her colleagues believe that leopard seals are opportunistic predators, arriving from Antarctica to New Zealand in order to find a more varied diet and to feast “on whatever they can get their jaws on.” It is not yet clear whether eating sharks is a new behavior, caused by changed patterns of migration, or if it was a regular part of these seals’ diet since a long time ago.&nbsp;



Predators feeding on other predators remains though a peculiar and quite rare phenomenon. Until recently, scientists thought that only orcas eat sharks. "To know there is another marine mammal also munching on sharks, well, that has implications for the whole food web and our understanding of how it all is interlinked," Van Der Linde said.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2021.795358/full">Frontiers in Marine Science</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Leopard seals feed on sharks in New Zealand

New research led by the World Wildlife Fund for Nature...

When Jake Esselstyn, Professor of Biology at <a href="https://www.lsu.edu/">Louisiana State University</a>, began his work on shrews on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia, he wanted to investigate the ecological and evolutionary factors that might explain shrew <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-find-a-hidden-diversity-among-iberian-spiders/">diversity</a> on the island. 



At that time, there were six species of shrews in the genus Crocidura that had been identified there, and he thought he would be able to clarify how they had arisen on the island. “I was interested in questions about how shrews interacted with their environment, with each other, how local communities were formed."



Although Professor Esselstyn’s research began in 2010, he soon realized that the task of analyzing ecological and evolutionary relationships was impossible because there were clearly many undescribed species present. So began ten years of field trips to collect as many shrew specimens as possible from mountain and lowland sites on the island.&nbsp;



“It was overwhelming because for the first several years, we couldn’t figure out how many species there were,” he said.



Shrews are small, insectivorous mammals that are most closely related to hedgehogs and moles. During Esselstyn’s field trips he and his research team collected more than 1,200 shrews using pitfall traps. All of them weighed less than an AA battery, ranging from about 3 grams (0.1 oz) to about 24 grams (0.85 oz). The largest species had an average body length of 95 mm (about 3.7 in).



While Professor Esselstyn did identify and describe a new species of shrew in 2019, the picture became clearer once the research team had examined the genetic and morphological data from the specimens they collected between 2010 and 2018, and added data from old specimens that had been collected in 1916. More than 1,400 shrews were analyzed and this resulted in the identification of 21 different shrew species on Sulawesi, 14 of them being brand new to science.&nbsp;



The details of the 14 new, endemic species of shrews in the genus Crocidura have been published recently in the <a href="https://digitallibrary.amnh.org/handle/2246/7">Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History</a>. This discovery represents the largest number of new mammals described in a scientific paper since 1931, some 90 years ago.&nbsp;



“It's an exciting discovery, but was frustrating at times,” said Esselstyn, curator of mammals at the LSU Museum of Natural Science and associate professor in the Department of Biological Sciences. “Usually, we discover one new species at a time, and there is a big thrill that comes from it. But in this case, it was overwhelming … ”



Now that he feels he has a better handle on the shrew diversity of the island, Professor Esselstyn is interested in exploring the geographic, geological and biological factors that have contributed to Sulawesi's extraordinary shrew biodiversity. The island is shaped rather like a lower-case letter k and this shape has contributed to the radiation and diversification of shrew species, he said. “There are consistent boundaries between species ... whether you're looking at frogs or macaques or mice. It suggests some sort of shared environmental mechanisms.”



Researchers have found at least seven such zones – roughly, the island's central mass, the three “legs” of the k, and three zones on the long, bent “neck” of the island. Genetic analysis would be crucial in understanding the evolution of this diversity of shrew species. It will enable the researchers to determine how long ago or recently similar species diverged and whether they’ve been in regular contact with each other since then.



“It's a difficult problem. But I think we can do it now that sequencing genomes is relatively low-cost,” he said. “A few years ago, we couldn't have done it but it's relatively feasible now.”



“Taxonomy serves as the foundation of so much biological research and conservation effort. When we don't know how many species there are or where they live, our capacity to understand and preserve life is severely limited. It's essential that we document and name that diversity,” Esselstyn said. “If we can make discoveries of this many new species in relatively well-known groups like mammals, imagine what the undocumented diversity is like in less conspicuous organisms.”



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By <a href="mailto:bosman@truewan.co.za">Alison Bosman</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Breakthrough study describes 14 new species of shrews

When Jake Esselstyn, Professor of Biology at Louisiana State University,...

The National Wildlife Rescue Center (NWRC) was established in 2013 in peninsular Malaysia by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (PERHILITAN). The center’s focus is on the rehabilitation of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/feral-cats-are-a-catastrophic-threat-to-australias-wildlife/">wildlife</a>, including gibbons, for eventual release back into the wild.&nbsp;



The gibbons arrive at the rehabilitation center for various reasons. Some are kept illegally as pets, while others are found in plantations that have been displaced from their habitat.&nbsp;&nbsp;



Near the end of their rehabilitation, gibbons undergo a variety of assessments and procedures, such as genetic testing. This is partially an effort to identify subspecies for a successful and responsible reintroduction of the gibbons.&nbsp;



While checking the genetics of 12 captive white-handed gibbons at NWRC, experts made an exciting discovery. A team including Dr. Jeffrine J. Rovie-Ryan from University Malaysia Sarawak, and Millawati Gani and colleagues from the National Wildlife Forensic Laboratory of PERHILITAN, identified a genetically distinct population of gibbons new to science.&nbsp;



The researchers found unusual mutations in the gibbon’s DNA, which led them to the conclusion that these animals had been evolving in isolation.&nbsp;



“Given the prolonged isolation, it is likely that the southern population has undergone some local speciation, but this finding should be regarded as preliminary and requires further investigation," explained Dr. Rovie-Ryan.



The gibbons in the study have not yet been released but are in pre-release at a semi-wild enclosure on Pulau Ungka (Gibbon Island) where they are being closely monitored. Without the dedicated work of PERHILITAN, and without genetic testing, this population of gibbons may have remained unknown for many years. With more research, additional information about the genetics of gibbons is likely to turn up.&nbsp;



The findings are published by <a href="https://pensoft.net/">Pensoft</a> in the open access journal <a href="https://zookeys.pensoft.net/">ZooKeys</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New population of white-handed gibbons discovered

The National Wildlife Rescue Center (NWRC) was established in 2013...

Silhouette,Of,Dinosaurs,In,The,Sunset.

Dozens of dinosaur <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/fossils-reveal-a-previously-unknown-mass-extinction-event/">fossils</a> have been discovered in 2021 all around the world, ranging from an incredibly fast theropod and a 140-foot long Supersaurus to a duck-billed dinosaur and a sharp-toothed monster.&nbsp;



One of the most important discoveries involved the fossils of the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/flesh-eating-theropods-were-extremely-fast/">fastest known dinosaur</a>, found near the village of Igea, Spain. This flesh-eating theropod, which lived between 145 and 100 million years ago, was able to reach running speeds of up to 45 kilometers per hour and could change speed suddenly as it ran.



Another fascinating creature was discovered in Missouri and is now considered this state’s “official dinosaur.” Parrosaurus Missouriensis reached up to 30-foot in length and had a very peculiar beak, highly similar to those of today’s ducks.&nbsp;



A more terrifying finding is Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis, a creature with enormous blade-like teeth resembling those of a Great White Shark, which lived approximately 900 million years ago. This was seven million years before the most famous predatory dinosaur, Tyrannosaurus Rex, emerged. The frightening animal inhabited the coastal plains of the Asian landmass in a period when the Earth’s continents were still bunched close.



Two other <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/two-new-predatory-dinosaurs-found-on-the-isle-of-wight/">terrifying predators</a> have been discovered on the Isle of Wight. These theropods, closely related to the giant Spinosaurus, measured around nine meters in length, and most probably hunted prey both on land and in the water with the help of their ferocious, one-meter-long skulls.



In sharp contrast with these large-toothed beasts stands Berthasaura leopoldinae - a toothless, two-legged dinosaur discovered in Brazil, which lived around 70 to 80 million years ago. The scientists are still puzzled by this strange creature’s diet, but claim that the fact that it was toothless must not necessarily imply that it did not eat meat.



This year also marked the discovery of the longest dinosaur on record, a diplodocid named Supersaurus. This majestic 140ft-long creature with a 52ft-long neck and a 60ft-long tail roamed the North American territories approximately 150 million years ago.&nbsp;



Finally, the “long lost” relative of Triceratops has been unearthed in New Mexico. Sierraceratops turneri roamed the Sierra County region about 72 million year ago – six million years before its more famous cousin and had no less than five horns on its enormous head.



These findings once again highlight the impressive biodiversity characterizing our planet’s ecosphere millions of years ago.&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Fascinating dinosaurs were discovered in 2021

Dozens of dinosaur fossils have been discovered in 2021 all...

In a twist of irony, a new study shows that Darwin’s finches, which were an important inspiration for Darwin’s theory of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-secrets-revealed-about-the-evolution-of-mammal-tusks/">evolution</a> by natural selection, are being forced to evolve. The researchers found that female Darwin finches are spending more time in their nests fighting off the dangerous larvae of the introduced vampire fly.&nbsp;



Without the extra protection from their mothers, the chicks are consumed by the flies, especially in the early days when the chicks are blind and incapable of preening themselves. Older chicks are able to sometimes remove the flies and even eat them. The mother’s early protection remains essential, but the father also plays a role. 



"The pair male is also essential for success of the chicks. If he feeds the offspring a lot, the mother can remain inside the nest for longer," explained Professor Sonia Kleindorfer of Flinders University. "Timing is everything. The female must forgo foraging herself, and her persistence is strongly influenced by good food provisioning of her offspring by the male."&nbsp;



"What we show in this publication is that longer female in-nest attendance of chicks predicts the number of parasites in the nest. The new research findings are significant because they show that 'just being there' can be a form of front-line defense against threats to offspring survival."



This information will be crucial for future conservation assessments of the increasingly threatened bird species. It is also important to monitor adult Darwin’s finches. Monitoring the survival of male Darwin’s finches is relatively easy, as the males announce their presence with an advertisement call. The females lack this unique call, which makes them harder to keep tabs on. 



"We know from long-term monitoring of Darwin's finches, from recapture and resighting data since 2000, that annual survivorship in females is much lower than in males, and over 50% of male Darwin's finches sing at the nest but don't attract a female," said Dr. Andrew Katsis.



"Combined, these factors suggest that higher female mortality, and higher parental care costs carried by females, may be a contributing factor."



The study authors concluded that high-quality females who can sustain longer parental care in the nest with less feeding opportunity for themselves, paired with males that increase feeding to the offspring, have better chances to produce offspring in a vampire fly-dominated environment.



The team found that only 10.4 percent of the critically endangered medium tree finch (a type of Darwin’s finch) produced young on Floreana Island. The remainder had been killed by predators or parasites. According to the experts, control measures are urgently needed to save Darwin's finches from extinction.



The research is published in the journal <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/journal/rspb">Proceedings of the Royal Society B</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Vampire flies are changing the behavior of Darwin’s finches

In a twist of irony, a new study shows that...

A new study led by the <a href="https://www.unitn.it/en">University of Trento</a> has found that banded archerfish (Toxotes jaculatrix), a species of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/debilitating-human-parasite-is-spread-to-dogs-through-fish/">fish</a> from Indo-Pacific Asia, are able to distinguish between numbers. This basic, innate sense of numbers is similar to that of many birds and mammals.



“There is a debate regarding the existence of a number sense (in fish), based on the fact that it is empirically impossible to separate numerical information from all other continuous properties at once,” said study lead author&nbsp;Davide Potrich, a cognitive scientist at the University of Trento.



&nbsp;“Several experiments have tried to address this issue, but usually not in a complete way. What is unique in our study is that we controlled for non-numerical variables in the best way possible.”



In order to test whether they could distinguish between numbers, Dr. Potrich and his colleagues placed banded archerfish in tanks beneath monitor screens which displayed two sets of dots. Repeatedly showing the fish one set of three dots and one of six dots, the researchers succeeded in training the archerfish to consistently pick one of the sets by spitting water jets on the computer screen (a trick the archerfish use to snare prey).&nbsp;



To ensure that other factors such as the elements’ size, the overall area and perimeter, or the density and sparsity of the dots were not influencing the fishes' decisions, the scientists developed software that randomly changed the dots size, their arrangement, and other details for each individual test.



The findings were striking: regardless of these variations, the fish were still able to distinguish between the numbers, showing a remarkable ability for “spontaneous use of abstract numerical information,” as the study authors put it.&nbsp;



Interestingly, when different sets of numbers were presented, the fish tended to default to picking the largest or smallest number (depending on their previous training), rather than their usual number. They did this around three-quarters of the time.



Thus, if trained to pick six over three, the fish would generally pick nine over six or eight over four, when presented with these different choices. Although more research is needed, these findings may suggest that archerfish have the capacity to instinctively understand which numbers are bigger than others, and in what relationship with each other different numbers are.



A preprint of this article, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, can be found in&nbsp;<a href="https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.10.04.463045v1">the bioRxiv repository</a>.



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By <a href="mailto:andrei.ionescu5891@gmail.com">Andrei Ionescu</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Banded archerfish are capable of counting

A new study led by the University of Trento has...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

[sendtonews key="LvS8v8bp9z-2564889-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from the...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Santiago, Chile in South America

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Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

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Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



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Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes why satellite images and measurements of our planet have become "essential to our survival, offering a new outlook of our world."&nbsp;



Rising sea levels pose one of the biggest societal threats associated with climate change. According to ESA, satellite altimeter missions such as Copernicus Sentinel-6 are essential in monitoring global and regional changes in sea level.



"Unbeknown to many, the island of Crete, Greece, plays an important role in the Copernicus satellite altimetry constellation and on an international stage," reports ESA.



"Satellite altimetry data have to be continuously monitored at the ESA’s Permanent Facility for Altimetry Calibration where different techniques have pioneered the use of transponders to provide the best measurements to validate satellite altimeters in space soon after launch."



Dr. Craig Donlon explains that, by understanding planet Earth through satellite measurements, we are able to find evidence of change.&nbsp;



Video Credit: European Space Agency&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Satellites have become essential to our survival

[sendtonews key="761m2QQvR1-2035772-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...