The dogs we love to cuddle, play fetch with and spoil rotten may be continuously evolving. Nestled comfortably in our modern living rooms, dogs are no longer mere hunting aids or guards of our homes but cherished companions that are integral to our lives.



This change has not only transformed their nature but is also fueling a new wave of dog domestication, a novel concept shedding light on the complex dynamics of dog-human relationships.



A few decades ago, dogs were purpose-oriented animals charged with hunting, herding livestock, and offering protection. Today, the dynamics have shifted as their primary role has morphed into companionship.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-modern-living-and-dog-evolution">Modern living and dog evolution</h2>



Our fast-paced, contemporary lifestyle is largely sedentary, trading large, open spaces for urbanized environments. 



This shift in human lifestyle has extended to our pets, changing their nature and behavior. This societal evolution and our enduring desire for <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/national-dog-day-honoring-mans-best-friend/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">friendly, tranquil pets</a> is driving what experts are calling a dramatic third wave of dog domestication.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-evolving-relationships-with-dogs">Evolving relationships with dogs</h2>



This shift mirrors an uprising in oxytocin levels within dogs. Oxytocin, often referred to as the "love hormone," is a key player in social bonding. This hormone is credited for dogs' innate desire to interact with their human counterparts.



A research team from Sweden's <a href="https://liu.se/en" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Linköping University</a>, led by canine experts Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods, delved deeply into understanding how our modern lifestyle has affected dogs' genetic traits.



Hare, an evolutionary-anthropology professor at Duke University, and Woods, manager of the Duke Canine Cognition Center's Puppy Kindergarten program, provide new insight into the evolving man-dog relationship.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-social-behavior-of-dogs">Social behavior of dogs</h2>



The study involved a detailed observation of 60 golden retrievers attempting to open a treat jar. The dogs were subjected to this task twice - once after receiving oxytocin nasal spray and once after receiving a neutral saline nasal spray.



The findings suggested that dogs with a specific genetic variant of the oxytocin receptor responded stronger to the oxytocin spray. This genetic variant made them more likely to seek help from their owners.



The experiment reaffirmed that oxytocin levels influence a dog's social skills and its ability to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dog-and-human-brains-sync-up-during-eye-contact/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">communicate with humans</a>. 



The research emphasizes that dogs' social skills are partially genetic. Their sensitivity to oxytocin and social behavior stem from their genes.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-changes-in-evolving-dogs">Changes in evolving dogs</h2>



The concept of a third wave of domestication is further backed by the behavioral differences noticed in service dogs. These dogs are a far cry from the active hunters or alert guard dogs. They are trained professionals, suited to their owners' 21st-century lives due to their uniquely friendly dispositions.



Dogs previously held roles as working animals – hunting, herding, and guarding. Unlike their modern counterparts, they were conditioned to be active and alert.



However, the recent rise in urbanization and the shift to indoor living has sparked a stark contrast in canine behavior, rendering some historical traits maladaptive.



"Unlike most pet dogs, service dogs are attracted to&nbsp;strangers, even as puppies," noted the researchers. "And increasing friendliness seems to have changed these <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/dogs-learn-better-with-praise-and-petting/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dogs</a>’ biology, just as it did thousands of years ago."



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-domestication-of-evolving-dogs">Domestication of evolving dogs</h2>



The journey of <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/interacting-with-dogs-can-ease-physical-pain/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">canine domestication</a> is traced back between 40,000 and 14,000 years, starting with the first wave when humans were foragers. 



Stray wolves adapted to human settlements for a predictable food source, gradually replacing fear and aggression with fascination and attraction to humans.



The second wave of domestication began post the industrial revolution. With an increase in disposable income, the bourgeoise bred dogs for specific physical traits, reflective of their status. 



This era gave birth to most of the 200 dog breeds recognized by the American Kennel Club today.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-third-wave-of-dog-domestication">Third wave of dog domestication</h2>



The key difference of the third wave of domestication is its main focus - tailoring dogs' personalities to our modern world. 



"For the happiness of dogs and their owners, humans need to breed and train more dogs like service animals, embarking on a new wave of dog domestication to help them fit into the new world we have created," noted the researchers.



To meet the needs of this evolving paradigm, breeding and training dogs akin to service animals will become increasingly important. 



It's not just about wagging tails, but forging a path that ensures we have dogs suited to the new world we have created, bringing happiness to both <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/talking-slower-helps-dogs-understand-what-humans-are-saying/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dogs and their human caretakers</a>.



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Dogs are evolving to fit the modern lives of humans

The dogs we love to cuddle, play fetch with and spoil rotten may be continuously evolving. Nestled comfortably in our modern living rooms, dogs are no longer mere hunting aids or guards of our homes but cherished companions that are integral to our lives. This change has not only transformed their nature but is also fueling a new wave of dog domestication, a novel concept shedding light on the complex dynamics of dog-human relationships. A few decades ago, dogs were purpose-oriented animals charged with hunting, herding livestock,...

Migrating raptors often fly toward wind turbines at offshore wind farms, potentially causing death

Offshore wind farms wind farms pose life-threatening risks to birds of prey, according to a study published today in Biology Letters.

The birds, or raptors – including buzzards, falcons and sparrowhawks – are known to avoid flying over open water, researchers said. Instead, these kinds of birds prefer to fly near potential places to land.

This tendency poses the risk of the turbines’ spinning blades killing the birds.

“[This] is probably that birds of prey are quite afraid of flying over open water,” Henrik Skov, an author of the study, told Daily Mail. “For a raptor, it looks less risky to fly towards a wind farm than to fly over open water.”

Raptors generally prefer to migrate across narrow bodies of water because they alternate between soaring and gliding, Daily Mail reported. They often “strictly avoid” crossing larger areas of open water.

Researchers conducted the study by monitoring birds’ migration during autumn 2010 and 2011 in Denmark, through laser range finders and radar. Birds of prey showed the greatest attraction to the offshore wind farms during times of strong winds.

The monitoring took place at the Rodsand II wind farm in the Baltic Sea.

When the migrations were compared against areas with and without wind farms, overall results showed the birds flew toward the offshore wind farms 49 percent of the time, according to the study, and flew toward the areas without farms 40 percent of the time.

“All raptor species displayed a significant attraction behavior towards a wind farm,” according to the study.

Sea birds, on the other hand, do not show this tendency.

Birds like sea gulls are unafraid of open waters, and are therefore not attracted to the turbines, Daily Mail reported.

“Sea birds … don’t experience the open water as being so hostile,” Skov said.

The study has brought attention to the issue of how wind farms affect wildlife, said the <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/">Royal Society for Protection of Birds</a>, an English bird protection charity. Each wind farm should be assessed for any potential risks toward wildlife, they said, to ensure animal safety.

“While we need to generate more electricity through renewable sources, this must be delivered in harmony with nature,” said the RSPB spokesperson.

The wind farm industry responded with the promise to aim toward preserving wildlife.

The spokesperson told Daily Mail the industry as a whole puts a great effort into keeping animals and the environment safe and clean before and after constructing a farm.

“We will continue to do our utmost to ensure that wind farms and conservation go hand in hand,” the spokesperson said.

---

Credit: Earth.com author Laura Porecca/<a href="http://www.au.dk/en/">Aarhus University</a>

Offshore wind farms pose a risk to birds of prey

Migrating raptors often fly toward wind turbines at offshore wind...

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the binational Jaguar Recovery Team have joined forces and drafted a jaguar recovery plan, which is currently a “near threatened” species. This plan will allow agencies and organizations in the U.S. and Mexico to streamline their efforts to stop the population decline of these big cats.

The jaguar’s population has been severely depleted, especially in parts of Mexico and the United States. The major factors of this population decline are loss of habitat, direct killing of the species, and depletion of prey. Although the draft plan sets goals for improving the species’ status throughout its entire 19-country range, the plan mainly focuses on northwest Mexico and the southwest United States.

Two extensive jaguar recovery units – the Pan-American Recovery Unit and the Northwestern Recovery Unit – will focus on the areas from eastern Mexico to northern Argentina and from western Mexico to the southwest United States respectively.

However, jaguar reintroductions will not be occurring in the United States, as the binational recovery team will be instead focusing on efforts to sustain habitat, eliminate poaching, and improve social acceptance of the jaguar. This way, the population can most effectively rebound and contribute to the rest of the species’ recovery.

Steve Spangle, the Arizona Field Supervisor for the <a href="https://www.fws.gov/">U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service</a>, said, “We’re grateful for the recovery team’s scientific expertise and thoughtful vision for protecting Americas’ largest cat. We recognize the significant challenges of recovery planning for an elusive species with such an expansive, international range and are requesting comments and additional information.”

Recovery plans are not regulatory, but they help to provide a framework for the recovery of threatened and endangered species. This jaguar recovery plan includes scientific information about the species, as well as the criteria and actions necessary for it to be removed from the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants.

It is estimated that this plan will take a minimum of 50 years for the jaguar to fully recover. In order to be successful, it will need to result in the protection of jaguar habitats, the jaguars themselves, and their prey. Otherwise, we might find ourselves losing one of the most iconic species in the Americas.

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Credit: Earth.com author Connor Ertz

Jaguar recovery plan devised to save the majestic cat from extinction

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the binational Jaguar...

Global warming could wipe out two Northern bird species in the next 50 years and threatens six other species, according to a new study. There is a "huge risk" the Siberian jay and the red-flanked bluetail will be gone within the next half century because of deteriorating climate for breeding.

“Long-distance migratory birds are the most sensitive ones,” said Anouschka Hof, former researcher at <a href="http://www.umu.se/english">Umeå University</a>, one of the study participants. "And if the climate warms up, breeding grounds will decrease to bird species that have adapted to breeding in the cooler climates in the north.”

The problem is particularly threatening to northern bird species with long brooding periods and specific requirements for their breeding habitat, Hof said.

The study examined 180 northern bird species that breed in subarctic and arctic regions. It compared the climates where the birds live today with future climate models.

“By carrying out this type of analysis, we have been able to predict what species are most at risk and why,” Hof said.

Six of the species studied – the great snipe, the rough-legged buzzard, the red-throated pipit, the common swift, the horned lark and the bar-tailed godwit – are already red-listed and will require conservation attention to survive in a warming climate.

“Such efforts may for instance be to alter or phase out current land-use,” Hof said.

In coastal areas, rising sea levels and shore erosion could destroy breeding grounds. Increased competition from southern species that migrate further north because of global warming, also threatens northern birds. Melting ice has also hurt the prey of the Caspian tern, causing food shortages.

Most researchers agree that as global temperatures increase, “diversity in nature is under threat,” the news release said.

Only a few studies have shown the extent of the effects of global warming, which is impacted by several factors, including the “general vulnerability” of a species, and their ability to survive in new climate conditions.

Other universities participating the study were, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA, and the University of Texas, USA.

---

Credit: Earth.com author David Beasley

Northern bird species at risk of extinction due to global warming

Global warming could wipe out two Northern bird species in...

The Rufous-headed robin, one of the rarest birds in the world, is a species of passerine bird in the family Muscicapidae. It is found in China and Malaysia.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and Uppsala University have aggregated all known information about the elusive and endangered Rufous-headed Robin. Since it was first discovered in 1905, very few observations have been made. The researchers suggest that its distribution might be larger than previously thought.

"We tried to estimate its potential distribution to find areas where it might occur but where it has not yet been observed. Since most of the potential new areas are in poorly accessible mountain ranges, we are hopeful that it has a larger distribution, and hence that it is less threatened than presently believed", says Professor Per Alstroem, Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University and Swedish Species Information Centre, Swedish University of Agricultral Sciences.

The Rufous-headed Robin, Larvivora ruficeps, is related to the Common Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos and Thrush Nightingale Luscinia luscinia. In common with these, it has a strong and beautiful song. However, unlike in the nightingales, males and females differ in plumage, and the male is strikingly coloured.

In the present study, the researchers have summarized all known observations of the Rufous-headed Robin since it was first discovered in the summer of 1905 in the Shaanxi Province of central China. The second observation was not made until March 1963, in Malaysia.

In June 1985, three singing males were discovered at one site in the Sichuan Province in central China.

In the last 25 years, the Rufous-headed Robin has only been observed at his site and in a neighbouring nature reserve, with up to maximum 8 individuals in a year. It has also been seen twice in the non-breeding season in Southeast Asia.

No observations were made in 2016, despite searches at the two classic sites.

The potential distribution was estimated based on the species' known habitat preferences, and the researchers concluded that it might be more widespread than presently appreciated. Many of those areas have been poorly surveyed, so there is still hope that some unknown populations might be discovered.

The reasons why the Rufous-headed Robin is so rare are unknown.

The researchers analysed DNA from one Rufous-headed Robin and concluded that its closest relative is the Rufous-tailed Robin Larvivora sibilans, which breeds in Siberia and northeast China, whereas it is more distantly related to the two European nightingales.

The song of the Rufous-headed Robin was also studied in detail, and it was found to be very different from the song of its closest relative, the Rufous-tailed Robin, whereas it is much more reminiscent of the song of the more distantly related Ryukyu Robin Larvivora komadori, from Japan. The study concluded that the similarity in song between the Rufous-headed and Ryukyu Robins is the result of so-called parallel evolution, and accordingly is not due to common ancestry.

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Credit: Earth.com Staff/<a href="http://www.uu.se/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Uppsala University</a>

The Rufous-headed Robin: New details emerge on one of the world's rarest birds

The Rufous-headed robin, one of the rarest birds in the...

Ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), immortalized in the animated Madagascar movies, is a distinctive primate with a long, bushy, black-and-white ringed tail. This iconic primate, which is emblematic of the tropical island of Madagascar, is in big trouble.

According to a new study by the University of Victoria in British Columbia and the University of Colorado Boulder, the number of ring-tailed lemurs among known populations is thought to have plummeted to less than 2,500 in Madagascar, the only place where they exist. The decline is primarily a result of habitat destruction, bushmeat hunting and illegal capture for the pet trade, said CU Boulder Professor Michelle Sauther, co-author of study.

The study, led by Professor Lisa Gould of the University of Victoria, indicated only three sites in Madagascar are known to contain more than 200 of the primates. In addition, 12 sites now have populations of 30 or less, and there are 15 sites where ring-tailed lemurs have either become locally extinct (extirpated) or they have a high probability of disappearing in the near future.

"This is very troubling," said Sauther, who has been studying ring-tailed lemurs in Madagascar for 30 years. "They are disappearing right under our noses."

A paper on the subject by Gould and Sauther was published online in the journal Primate Conservation.

Sauther said the fact that ring-tailed lemurs are ecologically adaptable and capable of surviving and thriving in harsh habitats is an indication that many other lemur species in Madagascar -- as many as three-quarters of the roughly 100 species that reside there -- are in dire straits.

"Ring-tailed lemurs are like the canary in a coal mine," said Sauther, who co-directs the Beza Mahafaly Lemur Biology Project in southwestern Madagascar. "If they are going down the drain, what will happen to the other lemur species on the island that have more specific habitat and diet requirements?"

Habitat destruction has hit Madagascar particularly hard in recent years, said Sauther. One of the biggest threats today are the open-pit sapphire mines that entice thousands of people from the island and outside of it to dig up the ground in search of their fortunes, resulting in quick and massive forest destruction.

An island nation off the southeast coast of Africa that is larger than California, Madagascar hosts more than 22 million people, roughly 90 percent of whom live on less than $2 a day. "I think it's important to keep in mind that what is driving habitat loss and ring-tailed lemur declines is human poverty," said Sauther.

"It's likely that the ring-tailed lemur population will eventually collapse," Sauther said. "We are getting an early warning that if we don't do something very quickly, the species is going to become extinct. And this is the one primate species in Madagascar we never thought this would happen to."

Gould said many areas that once contained larger populations of ring-tailed lemurs are now devoid of them. From 2009 to 2013 she conducted surveys of ring-tailed lemurs in a number of small forest fragments in south-central Madagascar, and has been updating information on ring-tailed lemurs throughout their geographic range since 2012.

"It was important to try and document as many populations of ring-tailed lemurs in as many regions as possible," said Gould. "While I was discovering previously unknown lemur populations, many of them are likely to be extirpated in the near future."

--

Credit: Earth.com Staff/<a href="http://www.colorado.edu" target="_blank">University of Colorado at Boulder</a>

Ring-tailed lemurs are in big trouble

Ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta), immortalized in the animated Madagascar movies,...

In response to environmental changes, some fish can change sex in order to adjust the gender ratio in their populations.

"Several species of fish, and in particular coral reef fish, are able to swap their sex during their lifespan," explained Timothy Ravasifrom KAUST's Environmental Epigenetic Program. "This is known as sequential hermaphroditism."

The fact that some fish can change sex can render fish communities more resilient to disruptions that might otherwise prove catastrophic to their reproductive capabilities. Take, for example, clownfish families. They normally consist of one mature male and female plus numerous juveniles. If the female clownfish disappears, the remaining male is able to alter hormone levels to transform himself into a female, thereby restoring the previous gender balance.

Exactly how this happens remains unclear. Ravasi and his KAUST colleagues set out to identify changes in gene expression within the brain and gonads that drive this process of sequential hermaphroditism. They compared gene activity profiles from fully developed males and females as well as males at multiple stages of the process.

After two weeks of being separated from a female, the researchers detected clear changes in gene expression within the brains of males that apparently herald the onset of gender transition, and complementary changes in gonadal gene expression became apparent a few weeks later.

The researchers were subsequently able to map the genetic machinery driving this process so that the fish can change sex.

"We identified a large number of candidate molecular pathways that are potentially able to fine-tune and therefore control the gender ratio in a population of fish," notes Ravasi.

One key candidate is a gene encoding an enzyme called aromatase, which is known to be involved in the production of estrogen. Aromatase was highly expressed in both the brain and gonads of the fish adapting to gender ratio alterations. Ravasi and the research team also found many other genes that are likely to interact with aromatase in managing the degeneration of the testes and the development of the ovaries.

With these foundational insights into this complex biological process, Ravasi now hopes to explore how this adaptive process is influenced by environmental factors and specifically climate change.

"We are not sure whether the ocean's warming and acidification can influence the tightly controlled regulation of gender ratio changes," he said. "We are systematically exposing the fish to end-of-century predicted ocean conditions and trying to understand whether climate change alters these molecular pathways."

--

Credit: Earth.com Staff/<a href="http://kaust.edu.sa/">KAUST</a>

Some fish can change sex in response to environmental conditions

In response to environmental changes, some fish can change sex in...

When carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed by seawater, chemical reactions occur that reduce seawater pH. These chemical reactions are termed ocean acidification. According to a new study from the University of Adelaide, wild barramundi populations are likely to be at risk under ocean acidification.

Published in the journal Oecologia, the study is the first to show that even freshwater fish which only spend a small portion of their lifecycle in the ocean are likely to be seriously affected under the higher CO2 levels expected at the end of the century.

"We already know that ocean acidification will affect a lot of marine species that live their entire lives in the sea," says project leader Professor Ivan Nagelkerken, from the University's Environment Institute. "But this research has shown that fish such as wild barramundi - which only spend a short part of their lives in the ocean - will be impacted by ocean acidification."

Most adult wild barramundi live in freshwater rivers but need ocean water to hatch their eggs. The baby wild barramundi and juveniles grow up in coastal areas (estuaries, swamps, shallow coastlines) for a few years, then they migrate upstream to join other adults in the river.

The researchers found that in higher CO2 levels, the response by baby wild barramundi to less salty, warmer waters and estuarine smells was reversed compared to baby fish in waters with current CO2 levels.

"Developing baby barramundis, hatched in the oceans, need to find estuaries as intermediate habitats before they move upriver to complete their lifecycle," says PhD candidate Jennifer Pistevos, who conducted the research under the supervision of Professor Nagelkerken and Professor Sean Connell.

"They are therefore expected to respond positively to the warmer, less saline and smelly water of estuaries, but only once they've reached a certain stage of development. We believe the baby fish in acidified waters were responding to estuarine signals at an earlier stage than they should be. They may not be developmentally ready - a bit like running before they learn to walk."

Professor Nagelkerken says the failure to adequately time their move to estuaries is likely to have serious consequences for adult barramundi population sizes.

"Recruitment into estuaries is a delicate process and needs to be well-timed to match food abundance and to avoid predators," he says.

"Barramundi could be considered a robust species in terms of fluctuating environmental conditions and it was thought they could possibly deal satisfactorily with acidified waters. But we've shown just the opposite. This will have a significant impact on fishing - both recreational and commercial - where there is dependence on wild catches."

--

Credit: Earth.com Staff/<a href="http://www.adelaide.edu.au/">University of Adelaide</a>

Wild barramundi populations are at risk from ocean acidification

When carbon dioxide (CO2) is absorbed by seawater, chemical reactions...

A new species of bird has been discovered in the Canadian Arctic by a team of researchers from the <a href="http://www.rochester.edu">University of Rochester</a>. Named Tingmiatornis arctica, this prehistoric bird lived around 90 million years ago, and offer further evidence of an intense warming event during the late Cretaceous period.

"The bird would have been a cross between a large seagull and a diving bird like a cormorant, but likely had teeth," says John Tarduno, professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University and leader of the expedition.

Professor Tarduno and his team, which included both undergraduate and graduate students, named the bird Tingmiatornis arctica; "Tingmiat" means "those that fly" in the Inuktitut language spoken in the central and eastern Canadian Arctic (Nunavut territory).

Their findings, published in Scientific Reports, add to previous fossil records Tarduno uncovered from the same geological time period and location in previous expeditions. Taken together, these fossils paint a clearer picture of an ecosystem that would have existed in the Canadian Arctic during the Cretaceous period's Turonian age, which lasted from approximately 93.9 to 89.8 million years ago.

"These fossils allow us to flesh out the community and add to our understanding of the community's composition and how it differed from other places in the world," says Donald Brinkman, vertebrate paleontologist and director of preservation and research at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, Canada.

Building historic climate records further helps scientists determine the effects of climate on various communities, ecosystems, and the distribution of species and could help predict the effects of future climatic events.

"Before our fossil, people were suggesting that it was warm, but you still would have had seasonal ice," Tarduno says. "We're suggesting that's not even the case, and that it's one of these hyper-warm intervals because the bird's food sources and the whole part of the ecosystem could not have survived in ice."

From the fossil and sediment records, Tarduno and his team were able to conjecture that the bird's environment in the Canadian Arctic during the Turonian age would have been characterized by volcanic activity, a calm freshwater bay, temperatures comparable to those in northern Florida today, and creatures such as turtles, large freshwater fish, and champsosaurs--now-extinct, crocodile-like reptiles.

"The fossils tell us what that world could look like, a world without ice at the arctic," says Richard Bono, a PhD candidate in earth and environmental sciences at the University and a member of Tarduno's expedition. "It would have looked very different than today where you have tundra and fewer animals."

The Tingmiatornis arctica fossils were found above basalt lava fields, created from a series of volcanic eruptions. Scientists believe volcanoes pumped carbon dioxide into the Earth's atmosphere, causing a greenhouse effect and a period of extraordinary polar heat. This created an ecosystem allowing large birds, including Tingmiatornis arctica, to thrive.

Tarduno's team unearthed three bird bones: part of the ulna and portions of the humerus, which, in birds, are located in the wings. From the bone features, as well as its thickness and proportions, the team's paleontologist, Julia Clarke of the University of Texas, was able to determine the evolutionary relationships of the new birds as well as characteristics that indicate whether it likely was able to fly or dive.

"These birds are comparatively close cousins of all living birds and they comprise some of the oldest records of fossil birds from North America," Clarke says. "Details of the upper arm bones tell us about how features of the flightstroke seen in living species came to be."

Previous fossil discoveries indicate the presence of carnivorous fish such as the 0.3-0.6 meter-long bowfin. Birds feeding on these fish would need to be larger-sized and have teeth, offering additional clues to Tingmiatornis arctica's characteristics.

Physiological factors, such as a rapid growth and maturation rate, might explain how this line of bird was able to survive the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction event that occurred approximately 66 million years ago and eliminated approximately three-quarters of the plant and animal species on Earth.

These physiological characteristics are still conjecture, Tarduno emphasizes, but he says the bird's environment gives clear indications as to why the bird fossils were found in this location.

"It's there because everything is right," Tarduno says. "The food supply was there, there was a freshwater environment, and the climate became so warm that all of the background ecological factors were established to make it a great place."

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Credit: Earth.com Staff/University of Rochester

Tingmiatornis arctica: New species of prehistoric bird discovered

A new species of bird has been discovered in the...

If you love birds and science, winter has an exciting opportunity. The <a href="http://www.audubon.org/">Audubon Society</a> holds its Christmas Bird Count every year, and they need citizen scientists to get involved. 

This year is the 117th annual count, and volunteers are still needed in the U.S. and throughout the Western Hemisphere. The count began yesterday and will continue through January 5, 2017, so there’s still plenty of time to join the fun. 

Everyone is invited to join the count. Participants need to contact their local compilers, as there is a specific system that each count has to follow. For example, count activities take place in specific locations and sometimes on certain days or at specific times. 

Beginning birders are welcome. Compilers may choose to team beginners with experienced birders for the count.

If your home falls within a circle, you may be able to set up a feeder, stay home, and count visitors – just be sure to clear it with that circle’s compiler, first!

A <a href="http://audubon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/View/index.html?appid=3dcefef2f4654a94960fc3c8d1cfcc6d">map by the Audubon Society</a> shows where citizen scientists are still needed: yellow and green circles have space, while red circles are full. Contact information for compilers is included.

Though it may sound like an excuse to spend a day or two watching and counting birds, the information collected during the count is vastly important to wildlife biologists, ornithologists, and other bird experts. While there are local or species-specific bird counts, the Christmas Bird Count is one of only two major data banks that offer insight into how all bird species are doing throughout the Americas. 

It can also show how unusual weather patterns are affecting out feathered friends.

In some locations, last year’s count was temporarily interrupted by El Niño. Massive storms sent much-needed water to drought-stricken areas, but made conducting counts difficult in the Pacific Northwest. 

In parts of Canada, unseasonably warm weather – also brought by El Niño – sent birds out foraging and enjoying the sun, rather than gathered in nesting areas where they’re easier to count.

The warm ocean temperatures may have wreaked some havoc on seabirds, too. The Audubon Society linked a huge die-off of common murres to food chain disruptions caused by the warm ocean waters.

Still, more than 76,000 observers headed out to count last year, checking off more than 58 million birds, Audubon said. More than 500 species were observed in Yanayacu, Ecuador alone, an area that shows consistently wide diversity of species every year.

Aside from counting bird populations and noting any big changes in a species’ numbers, the Christmas Bird Count maps geographical shifts in species. For example, the fieldfare was spotted in the United States for the first time last year. It’s not native to the Western Hemisphere. 

The Christmas Bird Count was started in 1900 by ornithologist Frank M. Chapman. At the time, a holiday tradition between hunters had them competing to see who could bring back the most furred and feathered kills. 

Chapman hoped to turn that tradition into one that was a little more conservation-friendly. Twenty-five bird counts were held the first year, from Pacific Grove, California to Toronto, Ontario. 

Nowadays, the count is no longer a competition – at least not nationally! – but it still brings in fascinating data for biologists and bird lovers.  

The Christmas Bird Count is funded entirely by donations.

Bird fans who would rather flock to a less formal bird count – or those who just can’t get enough – may also be interested in the <a href="http://gbbc.birdcount.org/">Great Backyard Bird Count</a> sponsored by the Audubon Society and Cornell University from February 17-20, 2017.

Join the Audubon Society for its annual Christmas Bird Count

If you love birds and science, winter has an exciting...

The Iberian lynx is the world's most endangered feline species. The global conservation effort undertaken to prevent the Iberian Lynx’s extinction has paid out, and from a shrinking population of less than 100 individuals in 2002, now 404 cats live in the Mediterranean forests of the Iberian Peninsula.

Recently, a group of Spanish scientists have sequenced the genome of the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus), currently one of the world's most endangered felines. They have confirmed the "extreme erosion" suffered by its DNA. The Iberian lynx has one of the least genetically-diverse genomes. It is even less diverse than other endangered mammals, such as the cheetah or Tasmanian devil, or birds, like the crested ibis or osprey.

The study, being published today in the scientific journal Genome Biology, has been coordinated by scientists from the Doñana Biological Station (CSIC). The Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG) contributed to this research project from the very beginning including several groups and facilities. In particular, the laboratories of Roderic Guigó, Cedric Notredame, and Toni Gabaldón at the Bioinformatics and Genomics Programme as well as the CRG Bioinformatics unit. This is the first mammal genome of reference generated entirely in Spain.

The project, financed by Banco Santander and managed by the Fundación General CSIC, has integrated the efforts of 50 scientists from research groups of 12 institutions, two of them from outside Spain, that cover a broad range of disciplines, including bioinformatics, genomics, oncology, evolution and conservation.

The scientists have managed to read and organize 2.4 billion letters of DNA from Candiles, a male lynx born in the Sierra Morena lynx population, who now forms part of a program for breeding in captivity. To do so, they have used new sequencing techniques and developed innovative procedures to generate a high-quality draft genome on a limited budget.

A total of 21,257 genes were identified, a number similar to that of human beings and other mammals, and they have been compared to those of cats, tigers, cheetahs and dogs. Specifically, Toni Gabaldón's group at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona has compared the Iberian lynx genome with those of other species, attempting to identify genes that have lost their function because they have remained isolated and the existence of a small population of specimens of this species. Researchers have found evidence of modifications in genes related with the senses of hearing, sight and smell to facilitate the adaptation of the lynx to its environment, which have enabled them to become exceptional hunters specialized in rabbits as prey.

History and diversity of the Iberian lynx

With the aim of studying the history and genetic diversity of the species, analysis was conducted on the genomes of another ten Iberian lynxes from Doñana and Sierra Morena, the only two surviving populations on the Iberian Peninsula, which have been isolated from each other for decades. Researchers have also completed a comparative analysis with a European lynx, to discover the bonds between the two lynxes that inhabit Eurasia.

The Iberian lynx began to diverge from its sister species, the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) some 300,000 years ago, and the two species became completely separated some 2,500 years ago. Throughout that period, they continued to cross-breed and exchange genes, probably in the periods between glaciations, when the climatology allowed the species to spread and encounter each other on the Iberian Peninsula and in southern Europe.

The demographic history of the Iberian lynx has been marked by three historic declines, the last of which took place some 300 years ago, decimating its population. In addition to this, there was a drastic drop in the number of specimens in the 20th century due to its persecution, the destruction of its habitat, and two major viral epidemics suffered by the rabbit, its main food source.

Scientists have interpreted these demographic drops as the cause of the low levels of diversity observed, and warn that this could impair the lynx's capacity to adapt to changes in its environment (climate, disease, etc.). Furthermore, existence of multiple potentially harmful genetic variants has been confirmed, which could be contributing to the reduced survival and reproduction rates of the species.

This genetic deterioration is especially marked in the Doñana population-smaller, and isolated for a longer period-which has half the genetic diversity of the Sierra Morena group. Nevertheless, the study reflects the situation before the exchange between the two relict populations and their inter-breeding in captivity were begun. These measures, taken within the Iberian lynx conservation program, have led to improvement of the species' genetic situation in recent years.

The use of new genomic resources, within the framework of the project, will contribute to optimizing management aimed at preserving the greatest genetic diversity, in addition to diminishing these populations' genetic defects as much as possible.

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Credit: Earth.com Staff/<a href="http://www.crg.es/">CRGenomica</a>

Scientists sequence the genome of the endangered Iberian lynx

The Iberian lynx is the world's most endangered feline species. The...

Horses and humans have a special bond. Scientific studies have shown that both the horse and the human become attuned to each other’s physical and mental ways, thus developing the state of co-being.

Taking this one step further, researchers at Kobe University Kobe University Graduate School of Intercultural Studies have proved that when horses face unsolvable problems they use visual and tactile signals to get human attention and ask for help. The study also suggests that horses alter their communicative behavior based on humans' knowledge of the situation. These findings were published in the online version of Animal Cognition on November 24.

Communicating with other individuals in order to get information about foraging sites and predators is a valuable survival skill. Chimpanzees, who are evolutionarily close to humans, are especially skilled at understanding others. Studies suggest that chimpanzees distinguish the attentional states of other individuals (seeing or not seeing), and they are also able to understand others' knowledge states (knowing or not knowing). Some domestic animals are also very good at communicating with humans - recent studies of dogs have revealed that they are excellent at understanding various human gestures and expressions. It is thought that these abilities were influenced by the domestication process.

Since they were domesticated 6000 years ago, horses have contributed to human society in various shapes and forms, from transport to companionship. Horse-riding has recently drawn attention for its positive effects on our physical and mental health. The high social cognitive skills of horses towards humans might partially explain why humans and horses have a collaborative relationship today. However, the scientific evidence for this ability is still scarce.

In this study, scientists investigated horses' social cognitive skills with humans in a problem-solving situation where food was hidden in a place accessible only to humans. The experiment was carried out in a paddock belonging to the equestrian club at Kobe University, where eight horses from the club participated with the cooperation of their student caretakers.

For the first experiment, an assistant experimenter hid food (carrots) in a bucket which the horse could not reach. The researchers observed whether and how the animal sent signals to the caretaker when the caretaker (unaware of the situation) arrived. The horse stayed near the caretaker and looked at, touched and pushed the caretaker. These behaviors occurred over a significantly longer period compared to cases when they carried out the experiment without hiding the food. The results showed that when horses cannot solve problems by themselves they send signals to humans both visually (looking) and physically (touching and pushing).

Building on these results, for the second experiment they tested whether the horses' behavior changed based on the caretakers' knowledge of the hidden food. If the caretaker hadn't watched the food being hidden, the horses gave more signals, demonstrating that horses can change their behavior in response to the knowledge levels of humans.

These two experiments revealed some behaviors used by horses to communicate demands to humans. They also suggest that horses possess high cognitive skills that enable them to flexibly alter their behavior towards humans according to humans' knowledge state. This high social cognitive ability may have been acquired during the domestication process. In order to identify the characteristic that enables horses to form close bonds with humans, in future research the team aims to compare communication between horses, as well as looking more closely at the social cognitive ability of horses in their communication with humans.

By deepening our understanding of the cognitive abilities held by species who have close relationships with humans, and making comparisons with the cognitive abilities of species such as primates who are evolutionarily close to humans, we can investigate the development of unique communication traits in domesticated animals. This is connected to the influence of domestication on the cognitive ability of animals, and can potentially provide valuable information for realizing stronger bonds between humans and animals.

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Credit: Earth.com Staff/<a href="http://www.kobe-u.ac.jp/en/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Kobe University Graduate School of Intercultural Studies</a>

Horses ask humans for help when they're in trouble

Horses and humans have a special bond. Scientific studies have...

Nacre, or mother-of-pearl, is the hard pearly iridescent substance forming the inner layer of a mollusk shell. This beautiful biomineral has been shown to accurately record ancient ocean temperatures.

A team of researchers led by University of Wisconsin-Madison physics Professor Pupa Gilbert studied the physical attributes of nacre in modern and fossil shells and discovered that the biomineral provides an accurate record of ancient ocean temperatures as the material is formed, layer upon layer, in a mollusk.

"We can very accurately correlate nacre tablet thickness with temperature," says Gilbert, explaining that mother-of-pearl is formed as mollusks lay down microscopic polygonal tablets of the mineral aragonite like brickwork to build layers of the shiny biomineral.

The work is important because it provides scientists with a new and potentially more accurate method of measuring ancient ocean temperatures, improving on methods now used with other biominerals to tease out the record of the environmental conditions at which the materials formed in the distant past.

"Everyone else measures temperatures in the ancient world using chemical proxies," says Gilbert, referencing methods that, for example, use ratios of isotopic oxygen locked into tiny fossil shells made by marine microorganisms known as Foraminifera to get a snapshot of ocean temperatures in the distant past.

[caption id="attachment_124770" align="alignleft"]<img class="size-thumbnail wp-image-124770" src="http://www.earth.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/nacre-mother-of-pearl-UWisc-150x150.jpg" alt="Nacre, mother-of-pearl" width="150" height="150" /> Nacre, mother-of-pearl[/caption]

The method devised by Gilbert and her collaborators is extraordinarily simple: using just a scanning electron microscope and a cross section of shell, it is possible to measure the thickness of the layered microscopic tablets that compose nacre in a shell. The thickness of the tablets, explains Gilbert, correlates with ancient ocean temperatures as measured in modern shells when ocean temperatures were known at the time the shells were formed.

The new work by the researchers from Wisconsin, Harvard, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory provides a novel physical approach to measuring past climate, says Gilbert, an expert in biomineral formation.

"If what you are measuring is a physical structure, you see it directly," says Gilbert. "You just measure nacre tablet thickness, the spacing of the lines, and it corresponds to temperature. When the temperature is warmer, the layers get thicker."

The new study looked at fossil samples of nacre as old as 200 million years from a mollusk in the family Pinnidae, large, fast-growing saltwater clams that live in shallow ocean environments. Today, as in the distant past, the bivalves are widespread in tropical and temperate coastal and shallow continental shelf environments.

The new method is potentially more accurate, Gilbert notes, because the chemistry of fossil shells can be altered by diagenesis. Diagenesis occurs over geologic time, during or after sediments rain down on ocean beds to form sedimentary rock. Fossil shells may partially dissolve and re-precipitate as calcite, which fills cracks in aragonite nacre, thus skewing the chemical analysis of a sample, if analyzed as a bulk sample.

"If the chemistry changes after the death of a fossil, the formation chemistry isn't necessarily preserved," says Gilbert. On the other hand, "if the physical structure is altered by diagenesis, you will notice immediately that nacre is no longer layered, and so you will know that it's not worth analyzing that area. If just a few nacre tablets are preserved, their thickness can easily be measured" meaning the new technique can augment current geochemical methods used to assess past temperatures, and thus help reconstruct ancient climates, especially the shallow marine environments that preserve most of the world's invertebrate fossil record.

The family of mollusks in the new study has lived in the world's oceans for more than 400 million years, potentially leaving a clear record of ocean temperatures into the distant past. For purposes of assessing climate, the record is valuable because not only does it say something about past climate, but the data can also help modelers forecast future climate and environmental change.

"The only thing you can do to understand climate in the future is to look at climate in the past," Gilbert notes.

--

Credit: Earth.com Staff/<a href="http://www.wisc.edu" target="_blank">University of Wisconsin</a>

Mother-of-pearl shown to accurately record ancient ocean temperatures

Nacre, or mother-of-pearl, is the hard pearly iridescent substance forming...

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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

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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...