Climate change plus human pressure caused large mammal extinctions in late Pleistocene
...gh, warm-adapted megafauna such as straight-tusked elephants (Palaeoloxodon) and hippos, which were abundant during preceding interglacials, disappeared with the cooling of the last ice age, starting around 45,000 years ago and persisting up to the height of the glacial period 20,000 years ago. "This is a ver...Researchers devise potent new tools to curb ivory poaching
...standing international ban on ivory trade, African elephants continue to be killed in large numbers for their p...entral and western Africa. Those forests are where elephants are currently being slaughtered wholesale, said Samuel Wasser, who holds the UW's endowed chair of c...Asian elephant sex pheromone transporter revealed
...ich only a few thousand individuals remain. Female elephants communicate their readiness to mate by excreting a sex pheromone in their urine. Male elephants exhibit a range of responses to this pheromone, beginning with sniffing and "check and place" respon...Growing pains: T. Rex was teenage giant
...able to that of the modern day elephant. But while elephants have a lifespan of more than 70 years, T. rex lived no more than 30 years. "We now know that T. rex lived fast and died young," said Erickson. Erickson and Peter Makovicky, dinosaur curator at The Field Museum and a coauthor of the stu...Origin of West Indian insect eater much older than previously thought
...als and is older than more familiar groups such as elephants and their relatives. They are now, however, endangered due to the deforestation of their habitat on the islands of Cuba and Hispaniola. "For the first time we have a good idea of where solenodon fits into the phylogenetic tree," Springer said...Asia's biodiversity vanishing into the marketplace
...nthanon and Doi Suthep National Parks, all tigers, elephants or wild cattle have been hunted out. Some actions are being taken. Thailand and Lao PDR have both recently conducted major enforcement operations to try to reduce the illegal trade in their cities. Assisted by the NGO TRAFFIC, Singapore and Kuala L...Scientists report first sequencing of environmental genome
...in the African veldt by grinding up lions, zebras, elephants and an unknown number of other animals, cutting the genes into tiny pieces, and trying to sort them into distinct genomes. But it works, Banfield said, "at least with the small number of distinct organisms in this community." "The magic of the whole ...The Lions of Tsavo: Exploring the Legacy of Africa's Notorious Man-eaters
...e of the world's largest natural havens for lions, elephants and other wild animals. "This is the frontline of conservation," Dr. Patterson said. Radio collars are affixed to lions in order to track them, document their behavior and study their breeding practices. Hair, tissue and scat samples are taken to ...Sport hunting hits evolutionary traits in bighorn sheep
...quences. A similar effect may be impacting African elephants where tuskless males are becoming more common. ...Protein-hungry cells 'go fishing,' report Purdue biologists
... receptor mixed in with a few other types, much as elephants and giraffes congregate on the plains, while other species are found in the forest. But here, it's not terrestrial ecology at work - we think the receptors lie close together because proteins need more than one to get inside." Another unusual aspect ...Tracking the illegal ivory trade
...e December issue of Conservation Biology. African elephants dropped from 1.3 million to 600,000 during the 198...d that can distinguish blood and tissue samples of elephants from different parts of Africa. The test can distinguish forest elephants from savanna elephants, an...Liberia announces protection of 155,000-acres of forest
...nea fowl. Several populations of endangered forest elephants are scattered throughout this exceptionally important area. In total, more than 2,000 flowering plants, 620 birds, 150 mammals, and 120 reptiles can be found in these protected areas. Liberia falls within the Guinean Forest of West Africa Hotspot, m...A bird in a tree for biodiversity
...n preservation of larger, charismatic mammals like elephants and rhinos," said Cordeiro. "But small birds and trees are rarely studied in Africa." Howe warns that findings such as this serve as a warning about the consequences of rapid habitat fragmentation. "I think what we see in the wake of the Industrial...World's largest forest birds may produce world's deepest bird calls
...larities between the birds' calls and the rumbling elephants make to communicate. "When close to the bird, these calls can be heard or felt as an unsettling sensation, similar to how observers describe elephant vocalizations," said WCS researcher Dr. Andrew Mack, the lead author of the study. Known not only f...Borneo elephants: A high priority for conservation
..., scientists could not say for sure where Borneo's elephants came from. Did they descend from ancient prototype...onservation at Columbia, demonstrate that Borneo's elephants are not recent arrivals. They are genetically distinct from other Asian elephants and may have parte...Controlling body size by regulating the number of cells
Why are elephants bigger than mice? The main reason is that mice have fewer cells. Research published in Journal of Biology this week uncovers a key pathway that controls the number of cells in an animal, thereby controlling its size. Ernst Hafen and his colleagues ...Dodging elephants, scorpions, mudslidesUF researcher tracks tigers
...and ground." Researchers also had to watch out for elephants and poisonous snakes, while insects, leeches and o...mmals, including porcupines, wild dogs, sun bears, elephants and mouse deer. Among other potentially important findings, Kawanishi said the team also captured th......sults from both blood and dung samples of 20 Asian elephants to identify any differences in reliability between the two sources. Extracted DNA from both sources was amplified by PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) for a number of nuclear loci multiple times. A minor level of error was seen in the DNA extractions...Cheap coffee is lousy for tigers, elephants, rhinos Science says
...d cans, may be contributing to the loss of tigers, elephants and rhinos living half a world away, according to ...of a few remaining strongholds of Sumatran tigers, elephants and rhinoceroses, all of which are declining due to fragmentation and loss of their forest home. The...Speedy elephants use a biomechanical trick to 'run' like Groucho
...er than speculations of 25 mph. But do fast-moving elephants really "run"? Even at fast speeds, it might seem to the casual observer that elephants don't run. Their footfall pattern remains the same as that in walking, and never do all four feet le...