Observers watching baboons in Namibia were impressed when they saw how the baboons responded to glowing spots shone onto their arms and legs. They poked and scratched at these bright areas with evident curiosity, hinting at a level of awareness about what appeared on their own bodies. 



However, the mood changed when those same spots were placed on baboon body parts that were only visible in a mirror.



Although they sometimes stared at their own reflection, the baboons showed no indication that they knew the marks in the mirror were on themselves.



Dr. Alecia Carter, affiliated with University College London (UCL Anthropology), led a field study tracking these baboons over several months. Her team documented how baboons interacted with laser marks and mirrors while in a wide-open habitat.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-self-recognition-in-animals">Self-recognition in animals</h2>



The mirror test has long been used to examine whether <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/what-animal-will-replace-humans-as-earths-dominant-species-this-scientist-has-an-idea/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals</a> recognize a reflected image as their own. 



Psychologist Gordon Gallup was among the first to observe that some great apes touched paint marks on their heads when placed in front of mirrors.



Subsequent efforts revealed that <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC33317" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dolphins</a> and a few <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.0608062103" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">elephants</a> also showed behavior suggesting they noticed marks on their bodies through reflection. These findings inspired further research into how different animals handle the challenge of seeing themselves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-baboons-were-chosen">Why baboons were chosen </h2>



Scientists wanted to see if wild baboons that had never been in captivity, would respond differently than <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/ai-monitoring-will-help-protect-endangered-spider-monkeys/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals</a> in controlled environments.



Many earlier studies used limited samples, often involving apes or monkeys that were kept in enclosures where mirrors might not be entirely new.



Chacma baboons flourish in Namibia’s drier areas and do not often encounter reflective surfaces. This made them good candidates for determining whether they would link the moving shapes in a mirror to their own bodies.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-baboons-with-mirrors-and-laser-spots">Baboons with mirrors and laser spots</h2>



Researchers introduced small safety mirrors near spots where baboons congregate. They then used laser pointers to place harmless green or red marks on the baboons’ fur, targeting areas that were visible without a mirror and other places that were only visible when looking at a reflection.



Baboons frequently touched or scratched at marks they could see right away. Yet the animals showed no equivalent reaction to marks that were only apparent in a mirror.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-results-of-the-baboon-mirror-test">Results of the baboon mirror test</h2>



“The Chacma baboons we observed in Tsaobis Nature Park certainly enjoyed using the mirrors as a new toy, but throughout our study they didn’t quite understand that the mirror’s reflection represented their own bodies,” said Dr. Carter.



She and her collaborators believe it confirms a pattern seen in many monkey species that do not show full self-recognition in mirrors.



“Monkeys don’t spontaneously recognize themselves in a mirror,” noted corresponding author Esa A. Ahmad, who helped analyze the data. 



The experts explained that this latest work adds to a broader discussion about which mental abilities are needed to pass mirror tests.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-about-other-species">What about other species?</h2>



Some great apes, including <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/great-apes-will-suffer-through-frequent-and-extreme-climate-events/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">chimpanzees</a>, bonobos, and orangutans, have been documented to pass mirror mark tests. 



Researchers also mention bottlenose dolphins, Asian elephants, and certain birds, like <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2517622/">magpies</a>, that appear to notice a mark when seeing it in a reflection.



Domestic cats, dogs, and most monkeys typically fail to show convincing self-recognition. Scientists point out that these animals may rely more on other senses, so a mirror might not be the best measure of how they perceive themselves.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-possible-future-directions">Possible future directions</h2>



Some experts suggest that alternative experiments might capture different kinds of self-awareness in species that depend less on vision. 



Scent-based or social-behavior tasks could reveal that some animals are aware of their identity but do not prove it through mirror-based tests.



Meanwhile, wild baboon research highlights the role of age and temperament. Younger <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/humpback-whale-travels-farther-than-any-mammal-ever-recorded/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">animals</a> showed more interest in new objects or stimuli, while older ones often lost curiosity fast, which might influence how they respond to novel visual scenarios.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-implications-for-human-animal-connections">Implications for human-animal connections</h2>



Understanding how self-awareness varies across species can shift how people view intelligence and cognition in non-human animals. 



These mirror-based observations open deeper questions about whether awareness looks the same in every creature, given that some use their visual sense more than others.



Many anthropologists see such findings as a window into evolutionary processes that shape thinking and perception. Insights from field studies add a fresh dimension, since animals roam and behave naturally, away from the artificial conditions of captivity.



The mirror test has drawn <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2023/04/fish-mirrors-animal-cognition-self-awareness-science/673718/">criticism</a> for its emphasis on the sense of sight. Yet, it remains a straightforward way to check if an animal perceives the reflection as an extension of itself.



The baboons gave scientists plenty to think about by investigating visible marks but ignoring those that only appeared in the mirror. Researchers plan to refine methods further and explore alternative signals of self-awareness out in the wild.



The study was published in the <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.1933" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences</a>.



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Wild baboons fail to recognize themselves in mirrors

Observers watching baboons in Namibia were impressed when they saw how the baboons responded to glowing spots shone onto their arms and legs. They poked and scratched at these bright areas with evident curiosity, hinting at a level of awareness about what appeared on their own bodies. However, the mood changed when those same spots were placed on baboon body parts that were only visible in a mirror. Although they sometimes stared at their own reflection, the baboons showed no indication that they knew the marks in...

DCIM100MEDIADJI_0028.JPG

Researchers in Adelaide, Australia set up thousands of lifesize decoy birds on a beach to test who could come up with a more accurate count of the fake birds: drones or expert wildlife spotters.

For conservationists, biologists, and researchers, coming up with accurate <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/california-sea-lion-comeback/">population</a> counts is crucial to wildlife monitoring. 

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.adelaide.edu.au/">University of Adelaide</a> wanted to explore the accuracy of drones used to monitor wildlife, so they set up the decoy test, also known as the #EpicDuckChallenge.

Drones are becoming increasingly popular in conservation, says the study, which was published in the journal Methods in Ecology and Evolution.

“For a few years now, drones have been used to monitor different animals that can be seen from above, including elephants, seals, and nesting birds,” said Jarrod Hodgson the study’s lead author. “But, until now, the accuracy of using drones to count wildlife was unclear.” 

The results show that drones and algorithms that count animal populations are more accurate than other traditional monitoring methods. 

For the experiment, the researchers created ten fake greater crested tern bird colonies using life-size plastic ducks. 

Expert wildlife spotters were asked to count the birds using binoculars and telescopes from the ground while overhead a drone took pictures of the colonies. 

Citizen scientists tallied the birds in the drone imagery, and these numbers were compared to the final count that the ground spotters had come up with. It turns out that drone imagery produced a more accurate count.  

The researchers then created a computer algorithm to count the birds using the drone imagery to see if its calculations would be just as accurate, which it was. 

The results are exciting for wildlife monitoring efforts and the researchers are hopeful that their study could help produce accurate population numbers for a wide array of species. 

“With so many animals across the world facing extinction, our need for accurate wildlife data has never been greater," said Hodgson. “Accurate monitoring can detect small changes in animal numbers. That is important because if we had to wait for a big shift in those numbers to notice the decline, it might be too late to conserve a threatened species.”

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Jarrod Hodgson

#EpicDuckChallenge proves drones can monitor wildlife populations

Researchers in Adelaide, Australia set up thousands of lifesize decoy...

What could be stranger than using noise for navigation?  Of course humans use radar, but imagine standing in a completely dark room and using only your own voice and your ears to find your way through the night. Echolocation is an odd and deeply interesting adaptation shared among unrelated mammals and birds.  

Most people think of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/saving-bats-whose-teeth-used-currency/">bats</a>, and echolocation is incredibly important for the flying mammals, but they’re not alone.  Bats hunting at night can locate insects in the dark via the clicks they produce and echoes from those clicks.  Certain wary moths hearing the clicks actually use their own noises to ‘jam’ the bats echolocation and quickly drop out of the bat’s flight path.  I’ve volunteered with the Colorado Division of Wildlife to set up audio recorders near cave entrances.  The recordings of bats can be analyzed by software and identify bats to species and give good estimates of bat numbers.  It’s hoped that audio monitoring can also help scientists identify bat colonies in trouble or under stress from disease or other disturbance.  

In an interesting case of convergent evolution, oil birds use echolocation to navigate the caves where they perch at night as well as the forests at night where they feed.  Oil birds are so named because of the high concentrations of oil in their bodies due to their unique diets.  Fruit bats tend to favor sweeter fruits but there are other oily or fatty fruits such as the avocado that oil birds prefer.  Oil bird echolocation isn’t as fine as detecting small insects on the wing but it works fine for locating fruit trees and cave roosts in the dark.

There are also swifts, birds not closely related to oil birds that nest in caves of South-east Asia and Australia and use echolocation.  

Toothed Whales also use echolocation.  Cetaceans such as Narwhales and river dolphins are nearly blind.  The Arctic Ocean is full of the vocalizations of marine mammals, including narwhals and has been described as a sound cape few humans ever experience much less learn to appreciate.  In his book Arctic Dreams, Barry Lopez makes clear that Narwhals live in a world of sound, there has even been conjecture that narwhal males ‘sound joust’.  

Less well known is the fact that the humble shrew uses echolocation.  Research is just in it’s infancy as far as shrew echolocation but it makes sense that the blind mammal would use echolocation to locate itself in the environment.      

Echolocation involves a host of evolutionary adaptations from the ability to create noises that echo in an appropriate form for echolocation to hearing to a brain that can quickly and accurately analyze sounds for navigation.  The fact that echolocation has evolved separately so many times proves its utility and suggests that there could be other animals using echolocation without our notice or new species of echolocation using animals yet undiscovered.  Who knows what this world of noise in the dark has yet to reveal to the curious, I for one hope it always remains a bit mysterious though.  

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Noise navigation: How animals use echolocation

What could be stranger than using noise for navigation?  Of...

In the over 4.5 billion years that the Earth has been around – and the roughly 4 billion years that life has existed on this planet – <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/tasmanian-tigers-aboriginals-extinct/">extinction</a> of species has been a constant occurrence. 

It can happen for a number of reasons, the spread of disease, over-hunting, and inability to adapt to a changing environment are just a few of those reasons. But for many extinct species, ultimately the major decider was energy – or a lack thereof. Whatever factors may lead to it, if individuals in a species cannot access enough resources to survive, the species itself may not stick around very long.

When modeling extinction risk for species, scientists usually keep it simple. Most models reduce complex ecological systems to a linear relationship between resource density and population growth. This combination can usually be broadly applied to determine how much resource loss a species can survive. However, new research published in <a href="https://www.nature.com/ncomms/">Nature Communications</a> introduces a more nuanced model for extinction that also determines why animal species tend to evolve towards larger body sizes.

The researchers have put together the Nutritional State-structured Model (NSM), which incorporates body size and metabolic scaling into an extinction model where “hungry” and “full” animals – both big and small – interact and procreate in an environment with limited resources. 

“Unlike many previous forager models, this one accounts for body size and metabolic scaling,” says Chris Kempes, a biologist at <a href="https://www.santafe.edu/">Santa Fe Institute</a>. “It allows for predictions about extinction risk, and also gives us a systematic way of assessing how far populations are from their most stable states.”

In the NSM, only the full animals are able to reproduce, while the hungry animals are more at risk of mortality. Since animals’ energetic needs change with body size, the model’s calculations for replenishment and reproduction were based on biological scaling laws that relate body size to metabolism. 

The model determined that species of different sizes gravitate toward population states most stable against extinction. A pattern emerges within the NSM where the bigger the species, the fewer individuals cohabitate a given area. This arises because larger species are more stable against starvation in small numbers.

The model also shows that larger animals with slower metabolisms are the most stable against extinction by starvation, and even predicts an energetically “ideal” mammal – shown to be 2.5 times the size of an African elephant. The researchers were surprised, but pleased, to find that the NSM accurately predicts the maximum mammalian body size observed in the fossil record, exhibiting the overall accuracy of the model.

“The dynamics of foraging and the interaction of body size in foraging and resource availability, these are all rich problems for which there is beautiful phenomenology,” says Sidney Redner, a physicist at <a href="https://www.santafe.edu/">Santa Fe Institute</a>. “I hope some of this will have relevance in managing resources and ensuring species don’t go extinct.”

--

By <a href="mailto:certz@earth.com">Connor Ertz</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Image Credit: Laura Chambliss/Studio Yopp

Big body size helps a species avoid extinction

In the over 4.5 billion years that the Earth has...

Everyone knows <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/new-species-pelican-spiders/">spiders</a> are arachnids. Many people know that scorpions are arachnids.  A few people know that what most people call “daddy long legs” aren’t actually spiders but in fact are arachnids in the order Opiliones.  Actually, even that bit of information on arachnids is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the wide world of arachnid taxonomy.  

Arachnida is a class comprised of several orders and super orders; always changing as more scientific information is available.  In addition to these extant orders, there are a few more extinct orders.  Taken all together, the class Arachnida is a lesson in bizarre life forms.  

Everyone knows of scorpions, but less known are the pseudoscorpions of the order Pseudoscorpiones.  Most pseudoscorpions are tiny, easily fitting on the face of a dime.  Besides their diminutive size, the habitat of many makes pseudoscorpions easy to miss.  There have been pseudoscorpions living blind, hidden in caves, individual species being found only in specific caves sometimes.  

Other pseudoscorpions are interstitial, meaning they live between grains of soil.  I was surprised and excited to once find a small pseudoscorpion in the soil when excavating a dinosaur skeleton on the prairie of South Dakota.  In my excitement I shared the creature with everyone on the dig, letting the interesting arachnid crawl across many hands before I carefully placed her in the soil a safe distance from the dig.  Pseudoscorpions look very similar to scorpions with pinchers but without the tail or stinger; instead the claws contain venom sometimes.  The pseudoscorpion I encountered was very docile and given its size, seemed very unlikely to cause harm to a human.  

Many people have seen the exaggerated photos and descriptions emailed around from soldiers in Iraq that encountered ‘camel spiders’ or ‘sun spiders’.  Less people are aware that these creatures are arachnids of the order solifugae and not spiders at all.  Despite how intimidating these animals are made to seem, they’re mostly quite harmless.  There are more than 1,000 species of solifugids in 153 genera, occupying semi-arid and desert regions in all continents except Antarctica and Australia.  

Acariformes is a super order of arachnids that are widely detested but rarely acknowledged as arachnids: a group of mites.  There are over 32,000 described species of mite in this super order.  There are 10 families of mites that are free living, non-parasitic but many of the other species are parasitic to plants.  Orabatid mites are ingested by poison dart frogs and are the actual source of their alkaloid toxins.  In captivity, poison dart frogs quickly lose the protective toxins found in their skin without their diet of mites. 

One of my favorite arachnid group is the vinegaroons of the order thelyphonida.  Vinegaroons look mostly like scorpions, again without the stinger embellished tail.  What makes vinegaroons special is the ability to shoot acetic acid if attacked by predators.  Mostly vinegaroons hunt at night, preying on a number of arthropods including centipedes.  

The order Amblypygi commonly known as the tail-less whip scorpion is not a scorpion at all.  The animal is large, and encountered at night on a trail in the South American forest as I’ve seen them, it is intimidating.  Amblypygians are completely harmless to humans but have huge predatory appendages that look like horned claws but are actually mouth parts known as pedipalps.  Appearing black at first, many Amblypygians are actually quite colorful, appearing more like the rainbow in an oil slick than one color on closer inspection.  The order is entirely found in the tropics, so if you find them creepy, don’t worry about them taking over the Subway in New York or a ranch in Montana.  Amblypygians hunt at night and often live in caves which they venture out of at dark to prey upon other arthropods. 

Harvest Men, or Daddy Long-legs of the order Opiliones are often a childhood favorite as many people learn of their harmlessness to humans and are charmed by their long legged beauty.  The diversity and wildness of form of Opiliones can only be glimpsed in the tropics.  I’ve seen a harvest man be-decked in spikes holding a caterpillar in his jaws on a dewy leaf in the Ecuadorian night and been startled by the fierceness of the savage little hunter.

Beyond the orders I’ve talked about, there are ticks, microscorpions, the order Schizomida, hooded tick spiders and an abundance of extinct orders to explore.  That’s not mentioning all of the families, genera, species and subspecies of arachnids to consider.  Look around you, the world is filled with arachnids, quietly hunting and eating insects, living with us, with plants.  Everywhere you go (outside Antarctica) you are in a world quietly held together by arachnids among other tiny creatures.     

--

By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Photo Credit: Zach Fitzner

Arachnids: Spiders and scorpions are the tip of the iceberg

Everyone knows spiders are arachnids. Many people know that scorpions...

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Flattie spiders from the family Selenopidae can spin around at whip-fast speeds to catch prey. This spinning maneuver is the fastest on the planet, with rapid movement at speeds comparable to hummingbirds and fruit flies.

Researchers from the <a href="https://www.ucmerced.edu/">University of California Merced</a> and the <a href="https://www.calacademy.org/">California Academy of Sciences</a> were able to record the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/arachnids-spiders-scorpions/">spiders</a> in slow motion as they snagged their prey, which provided insight into how the spider manages this maneuver.

The results, published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, could someday be used to improve robot movements. 

“We are documenting and modeling their fast spins to help chart a course for making robots and other machines more maneuverable,” said Yu Zeng, the study’s lead author.

For prey, there’s simply no escaping the flattie spider. The spiders can sense prey in any direction and spin around in one-eighth of a second to strike. 

In order to capture and slow down this amazing feat, the researchers set up two synchronized high-speed cameras above and next to a flattie spider. In the wild, flattie spiders are known as sit-and-wait predators. 

For their experiment, the research team released a cricket and let it cross the path of the flattie spider. The cameras then recorded the footage of the spiders turning to get the crickets. 

After slowing down the footage to a rate of 40 times slower than the original attack speed, the researchers were able to see how the flattie spider manages this spinning tactic. 

The spider is anchored by its legs, and each of its legs is facing a different direction. No matter which direction prey comes from the spider can orientate itself. 

"We found that the leg nearest the prey anchors to the ground, creating a leverage point from which the spider can pull in its torso closer to the prey," says Zeng,

Similar to figure skaters, flattie spiders bring their legs inward to make their spins faster. The legs that are opposite of the prey push off the ground and the spider then employs a push-and-pull kind of tactic to get to the prey. 

The researchers hope their results will help with improving robot maneuvers in small spaces. 

“By simply observing these spiders and their natural history, we were able to make discoveries across disciplines,” said Sarah Crews, a member of the research team. “You just never know what path science may lead you down next--some of the best discoveries are made by accident.”

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Photo Credit © 2015 Dr. Yu Zeng

These spiders are the fastest spinners on Earth

Flattie spiders from the family Selenopidae can spin around at...

In recent years, it’s become more accepted that pets may have a positive impact on people with mental health conditions. However, an analysis of research around the therapeutic benefits of pets has been lacking.

So Dr. Helen Brooks of the <a href="https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/">University of Liverpool</a> put together a team to look at the evidence. The researchers – from the <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/">University of Manchester</a> and the <a href="https://www.southampton.ac.uk/">University of Southampton</a> as well as Liverpool – searched nine databases and looked at 17 studies from around the world about the effects of pet ownership on people with chronic mental health conditions.

“To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to be published in English and report on primary data related to the relationship between domestic animal ownership and the management of diagnosable mental health conditions,” the researchers wrote.

The research team looked at the results of each study, both positive and negative, and split them into quantitative and qualitative research.

“Qualitative studies illuminated the intensiveness of connectivity people with companion animals reported, and the multi-faceted ways in which pets contributed to the work associated with managing a mental health condition, particularly in times of crisis,” they wrote.

Some of the themes the team spotted in the studies:
<ul>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">While petting an animal companion had mixed immediate results, some positive and some negative, pets could provide profound emotional support to people with mental health difficulties. In some cases, pets were a more comforting presence than human friends or family members. This was especially true in times of crisis, the studies showed.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">People could tell their pets things that they were unwilling to voice aloud to a therapist or human loved one.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">The need to feed, walk and otherwise care for pets helped provide a distraction and a routine when people had a spike in symptoms or went into crisis. Pets could also help disrupt symptoms such as panic attacks or auditory hallucinations. “They encouraged their owners to stay in the present avoiding worry and ruminations about past behaviours or concerns about the future,” Brooks’ team wrote.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">In one study, patients self-reported needing less medication due to the presence of their pet.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Pet owners also reported that their pets pushed them to interact with others more, both with friends and family, and with strangers or acquaintances. “Interestingly, one study found that dogs increased social interactions that would not have been possible without their pet (e.g. other dog walkers),” the team wrote. However, this benefit varied by pet and number of pets.</li>
 	<li style="font-weight: 400;">Two quantitative studies found that pet owners scored higher on meaningful activity scales and that they felt better about themselves than those without pets.</li>
</ul>
The researchers did note some negatives: poorly behaved pets could add stress to people already dealing with the stress of a mental health condition, and they were an added financial burden. Pets should be carefully matched to the person, several of the studies warned.

They could also be an obstacle to some of the goals patients set for their own recovery. And losing a pet could – unsurprisingly – have a negative effect on mental health, the studies showed.

Overall, though, the research analysis seems to show that pets bring more positives than negatives with them. 

“Despite the mixed evidence from the quantitative data, the participants included in the review enjoyed keeping their animals and believed that they gained psychological benefit from these relationships as demonstrated by the thick descriptions derived from the qualitative data,” the researchers wrote. “The review demonstrated that those with diagnosable mental health problems can infer the same benefits from pet ownership as the general population and pets may have a particular role in terms of enhancing quality of life given that levels of social exclusion and stigma are likely to be greater for this population.”

That said, most of the existing research is focused on anecdotes and self-reporting. More quantitative research is needed, the team wrote.

The new review of evidence has been published in the journal <a href="https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-018-1613-2">BMC Psychiatry</a>. Funding was provided by the National Institute for Health Research's <a href="https://www.nihr.ac.uk/research-and-impact/research/nihr-studies/programme-grants-for-applied-research.htm">Programme Grants for Applied Research Programme</a>.

—

By <a href="mailto:kcathey@earth.com">Kyla Cathey</a>, <a href="http://www.earth.com">Earth.com</a> staff writer

When it comes to mental health, pets may help more than harm

In recent years, it’s become more accepted that pets may...

Water in the desert: the secret that holds a delicate net of life in its grasp.  

According to the definition of the <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/">USGS</a>, Piñon-Juniper ecosystems are not technically <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/10-largest-deserts-world/">deserts</a> but at 10-15 inches of rain annually, they are quite dry, and locals commonly refer to it as a desert.

When I was studying Biology in college, I would go hiking in the arid piñon-juniper woodlands of the Colorado plateau.  On these hikes I collected bits of dry moss gathered on rocks here and there.

Back in the lab, I put the moss I put the moss into petri dishes with a little distilled water and let it sit overnight.  Under a microscope, the change was amazing.  What seemed like a dead piece of plant became a forest teeming with microscopic wild life.  

Rotifers; nightmare creatures in miniature beat the cilia of their wheel like heads, pulling unwary prey into jaws that mash like a beating heart.  The cilia actually create a vortex in the surrounding water, pulling food into their mouths like a whirlpool.  The rotifer ‘jaws’ (called trophi) are almost continuously moving to crush food particles.  The whole body of the rotifers telescope, making the animal seem larger or smaller depending on how stretched it is.  Rotifers are a group, making up phylum Rotifera, consisting of about 1750 species in three separate classes.  Rotifers are found almost anywhere there is a bit of water and even can remain dormant in the desert, clinging to dry moss as I found them.  

Nematodes were also found in the moss, elegant, round worms related to hookworms, the nematodae I found were mostly harmless.  There are 25,000 species of nematode described with estimates as high as 40,000 species existing worldwide.  The nematodes move like eels through the water.  These tiny creatures are found everywhere from soil to water all over the world.  Nematodes (along with other microbes) are important in the breakdown of waste and recycling of nutrients vital to plant and animal life.  

The creature I was looking for under the microscope, the object of my research was the legendary water bear of the phylum Tardigrada.  Eight-legged Tardigrades lumber through the scene of microscopic forest moving much like their namesake: bears.  Most tardigrades eat plants or bacteria but some prey upon smaller species of tardigrade.  

Much has been made of the toughness of tardigrades and for good reason.  Water bears have the ability to enter a dormant ‘tun’ state in which they appear dead and can remain for years.  Tardigrades found in moss that was dried out for museum collections over 120 years old have claimed to be revived with added water.  Tardigrades have been blasted into space on satellites and many of them survived, some females even laying eggs that hatched healthy young.  Tardigrades were put into liquid air at -200 °C for 21 months and sprang back to life with added water at normal temperatures.  The lowest recorded natural temperature on earth was -89.2 °C for context.  In fact water bears can survive almost absolute zero and have also been boiled in alcohol.

As long as a tardigrade is in its tun state, there is very little these tiny creatures can’t survive.  The amazing thing about tardigrades is the bizarreness of something that’s nearly everywhere.  Just like all the strange creatures I saw under the microscope, you’ve drank a water bear or two in your life, swam with them, had them stick to your skin, without ever being aware.

Water bears, rotifers and nematodes along with whole hosts of other microscopic or near microscopic (you can just barely see some of these with the naked eye but they’re really never noticed) have a strange similarity.  There is little pigment in the outer membrane of these animals and the effect is of looking at what appears to be an illustrated animal.  Small organs, even food being consumed or digested can be seen within the animal with a microscope.  This is partly with the rotifers ever moving jaws are so eerie, they look like a beating heart within the body and you can watch food particles crushed within.  Watching microscopic creatures is disorienting, you’re introduced to a world omnipresent but never noticed, like stepping into another dimension.  

The microscopic world all around us was so hard to accept at its discovery that van Leeuwenhoek, the Dutch microscope builder and first to describe microscopic ‘animalcules’ as he called them was widely mocked.  Anthony van Leeuwenhoek was a tradesman that originally used microscopes to study the structure of textiles and accidentally found his animalcules swimming in rain water.  A letter he sent to the British Royal Society was responded to quite rudely with utter disregard to the gravity of his discovery:

“Your letter of October 10th has been received here with amusement. Your account of myriad ‘little animals’ seen swimming in rainwater, with the aid of your so-called ‘microscope’ caused the members of the society considerable merriment when read at our most recent meeting. However, a vote having been taken among the members (accompanied, I regret to inform you, by considerable giggling) it has been decided not to publish your communication in the Proceedings of this esteemed society. However, all here wish your ‘little animals’ health, prodigality and good husbandry by their ingenious ‘discoverer’ “

In the long run of course, Leeuwenhoek has been vindicated and the world of miniscule creatures around us is known to far surpass the world of visible organisms in sheer numbers, as well as being some of the first organisms on earth and their ability to live everywhere.                   

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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Microscopic organisms in the driest places

Water in the desert: the secret that holds a delicate...

Saguaros are big… very big for cacti.  That’s one of the first impressions one is likely to get about the plants of the Sonoran Desert, the only place the iconic cactus lives naturally.  

Looking closely at a Saguaro, one gets the impression that the cactus has a hard life.  It’s clear that needles and a generally unappealing (at least for food) nature doesn’t make the plant’s life problem-free.  Of course there are the physical limitations to living in the <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/10-largest-deserts-world/">Sonoran Desert</a>, things such as lack of water and high summer temperatures but there are also scars on saguaros.  Scars on saguaros sometimes come from cold temperatures that leave a pinched look on some of the cactus.  There are also cactus that I am convinced were shot, possible by inebriated college kids looking for senseless fun.  There are holes clearly made by insects, small but still probably somewhat damaging and then there are bigger holes.

Other cacti have a lot of holes as well.  Some holes are caused by insects but javelina (often thought a pig, javelina are actually peccaries) and desert tortoise take bites from various species of prickly pear.  Spines don’t mean that no one will eat you.  Cactus fruit are also a big source of food and some Native American groups improvised many culinary uses for saguaro (and other cacti) fruit as well as fruit gathering ceremonies.  Saguaro fruit can even be made into wine.         

Woodpeckers leave holes in saguaros for their homes but not all woodpecker holes are the same.  Gilded Flickers, (Colaptes chrysoides) a beautiful woodpecker eats insects but unlike non-desert species also eats cactus fruit.  The gilded flicker also uses saguaros for a home.  The flicker hammers through to the center of saguaro cactus and above their holes you sometimes see the rest of the plant leaning over sharply, drooping due to a loss of its structural integrity.

Gila Woodpeckers (Melanerpes uropygialis) also make their homes inside of saguaros but with a different method.  Gila Woodpeckers break through only the outside layer of a cactus.  The cactus is allowed to heal, creating a pocket of scar tissue.  Sometimes these pockets of scar tissue (called boots) were collected by Native Americans to use for carrying water.  Since the Gila Woodpecker doesn’t damage the saguaro’s hard wooden interior, the cactus stands strong still, with just superficial damage when compared to that done by Gilded Flickers.      

The advantages of nesting in cacti are obvious if you consider them for a bit.  A bird can reach a cactus rather easily by flying to it but imagine being a hungry cat trying to climb the plant to catch a bird.  Cactus Wrens nest in Cholla cactus, building tubes of needles and sticks to raise eggs in.  Sometimes Cactus Wrens also build dummy nests to lure would be predators to the wrong nest.

Life in the desert seems exceedingly hard, and there is less biodiversity than in some places, but all it really requires is a bit of innovation and natural selection is an amazing innovator.  

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By <a href="mailto:zachfitzner@yahoo.com">Zach Fitzner</a>, <a href="http://earth.com">Earth.com</a> Contributing Writer

Cacti, birds, and life in the Sonoran Desert

Saguaros are big… very big for cacti.  That’s one of...

The earliest known evidence of canine domestication was discovered in 1914 when workers happened upon the buried remains of ancient humans and a <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/game-dogs-cognitive-decline/">dog</a>. 

Now, a new study estimates the remains to be 14,000 years old and has provided clues about the relationship between dogs and humans that date back as far back as the Paleolithic period.  

The domestication of dogs likely happened 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, when humans and dogs entered a symbiotic relationship. This led to a gradual evolution in which dogs became companions and protectors living with humans rather than in wild packs. 

Luc Janssens, a veterinarian and archaeologist from <a href="https://www.ugent.be/en">Ghent University</a>, examined the 1914 remains and realized that the dog was sick before it died and that the animal could not have survived as long as it did without the care of humans.

Janssens’ research, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, shows that in the early years of domesticated dogs, they were cared for, fed, and kept safe by people.  

For the study, Janssens closely examined the dog’s remains, specifically the teeth, and found that the dog was 27 to 28 weeks old when it died of distemper. Distemper is a viral illness that still affects animals today, and it’s often fatal. 

“Without adequate care, a dog with a serious case of distemper will die in less than three weeks,” said Janssens. “That would mean keeping it warm and clean and giving it food and water, even though, while it was sick, the dog would not have been of any practical use as a working animal.”

Janssens cannot conclusively prove what killed the dog, but the damage to the teeth points to distemper.  

The fact that the animal was buried with people and lived so long is convincing evidence that domesticated dogs were an important part of people’s lives even as far back as the Paleolithic period. 

The study sheds light on the bond between early humans and canines and the gradual domestication of dogs through the years.

--

By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette,</a> <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

The bond between humans and dogs dates back 20,000 years

The earliest known evidence of canine domestication was discovered in...

The specific pecking patterns of great spotted woodpeckers may be used to identify one woodpecker from another, according to a new study published in the journal <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0191716">PLOS ONE. </a>

Researchers from the <a href="https://international.amu.edu.pl/">Adam Mickiewicz University</a> in Poland were curious if the drum rolls of great spotted woodpeckers were unique to each bird, and how both male and females use pecking to attract mates. 

In the animal kingdom, birds often have specific calls or songs that are unique to each bird in the species. King penguin chicks, for example, know their parents’ call from the thousands of others birds in the colony. 

<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/woodpeckers-get-brain-damage/">Woodpeckers</a> use their rapid pecking, which sounds similar to a series of drum rolls like many other birds, to attract mates. 

The researchers examined these pecking patterns, or drum rolls, to see how they differed from females and males and from bird to bird. 

Forty-one great spotted woodpeckers were recorded while making their drum rolls, 26 of which were male, 9 female, and 6 were uncategorized by sex. 

These recordings were then analyzed and compared to one another to determine the differences in lengths of intervals between pecking as well the number of pecks or strokes in a drum roll. 

The researchers found that the intervals between strokes were shorter in males compared to females, but the differences between drum rolls based on gender were not varied enough for the researchers to conclude that pecking distinguishes sexes unambiguously. 

The drum rolls were unique from bird to bird and could be used to distinguish one woodpecker from another. This is due to the well-developed neck muscles that are needed to create rapid and long-lasting drum rolls. 

The study shows how the drum rolls of great spotted woodpeckers enable the birds to identify each other and the results could help future studies that monitor and track woodpecker populations. 

--

By<a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com"> Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Image Credit: Budka et al (2018)

Woodpeckers recognize each other by their unique pecking patterns

The specific pecking patterns of great spotted woodpeckers may be...

Roughly 307 million years ago, the Earth’s climate underwent a drastic transformation that wiped out many species, but some tetrapods (four-legged vertebrates) thrived. 

Now, a new study conducted by researchers from the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/">University of Birmingham</a> discovered how this ancient climate change reshaped the future and shows how the conditions were favorable to the evolution of tetrapods. 

The Carboniferous period, which started around 359 million years ago, was a time when North America and Europe were connected and covered with dense <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/10-largest-rainforests/">tropical rainforests</a>. The humid climate provided the perfect environment for tetrapods to thrive and diversify. 

However towards the end of the Carboniferous period the climate changed, and became much drier, the rainforests began to disappear, and the many species, including dominant plant groups, went extinct. 

While scientists were aware of how the change in climate affected different species and caused a mass extinction event, there is not much known about tetrapods, which prompted the new study.

The research was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B and fills in important gaps in the fossil record that shows the diversity of tetrapods both before and after the change in climate. 

For the study, the researchers compiled a new dataset from the Paleobiology Database and used advanced statistical methods to estimate tetrapods’ diversity. 

Not surprisingly, the results show that tetrapod diversity decreased after the shift to a drier climate. The rainforests began to disappear, and this led to habitat degradation for many tetrapods that had thrived in the humid and wet environments.

The researchers found that even though diversity decreased, the drier climate gave rise to some tetrapod migrations whose larger size made it easier for them navigate further away from the equator to find more hospitable habitats. 

“We now know that the rainforest collapse was crucial in paving the way for amniotes, the group which ultimately gave rise to modern mammals, reptiles and birds, to become the dominant group of land vertebrates during the Permian period and beyond,” said Emma Dunne, the lead author of the study in an interview with <a href="https://phys.org/news/2018-02-rainforest-collapse-million-years-impacted.html">Phys.org</a>. 

The study explains how some species were able to thrive even in the midst of a mass extinction that decreased tetrapod diversity. 

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/">Earth.com </a>Staff Writer

Ancient climate change reshaped Earth’s climate and species

Roughly 307 million years ago, the Earth’s climate underwent a...

As our pets age, we usually don’t expect nearly as much from them when it comes to training and discipline. But <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/hiking-dogs/">dogs </a>are actually capable of learning even in their old age, and new research has found that training can provide vital mental stimulation and help with cognitive decline. 

Now, researchers have developed a special computer game specifically catered to training older dogs. 

Due to physical limitations, older dogs are not able to be trained with the same techniques we use for younger, agile dogs. Instead, researchers from the <a href="http://www.vetmeduni.ac.at/">University of Veterinary Medicine</a> in Vienna developed a touch screen computer game that exercises older dog’s mental faculties. 

The new study examined the positive benefits that brain teasers in the form of touch screen games would have on older dogs, and found that the game which was paired with a reward system was a viable alternative for demanding physical training. 

The researchers compare their computer game to a new hobby or sudoku puzzles that elderly people often do to ward off mental decline. 

“As is the case with people, dopamine production in dogs also falls in old age, leading to a decline in memory and motivational drive,” said Lisa Wallis, an author of the study. “But this natural mental deterioration can be countered with the specific training of cognitive skills.”

Experiments with older dogs were conducted in a lab setting, and the dog had to learn how to solve the touchscreen game to get a reward. 

In one video demonstrating the game, a dog is given a treat every time he presses his nose to a yellow dot on the screen. Every time the dog completes the task, the dot moves to another place on the screen. 

According to the researchers, touch screen use and training are usually reserved for younger dogs, but once the older dogs were able to master the trick, they became “avid computer gamers.” 

The researchers did note the importance of the reward based system with the game. 

“Above all, the prospect of a reward is an important factor to motivate the animals to do something new or challenging,” said Ludwig Huber, a co-author of the study.. 

The study could help create home-friendly computer games for dog owners to use with their senior pets that exercise mental agility and provides an entertaining and mentally stimulating form of training that is not physically demanding.

[caption id="attachment_1007310" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/dog-computer-training.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-1007310" src="https://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/dog-computer-training-300x187.png" alt="" width="300" height="187" /></a> Image Credit: Messerli Research Institute/Vetmeduni Vienna[/caption]

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By <a href="mailto:kayvandette@gmail.com">Kay Vandette</a>,<a href="https://www.earth.com/"> Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

New computer game helps older dogs fight cognitive decline

As our pets age, we usually don’t expect nearly as...

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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

[sendtonews key="G9bUoxcjr4-2511624-12187" 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.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?

[sendtonews key="X0f6OHYoI4-2310561-12187" 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.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



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 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



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 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



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 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

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