Focus: Wildlife Channel Featured Story 2

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From tongue rolling alpacas to irritable yaks and perturbed pigs, new research has lifted the lid on why some farm and zoo animals cope well with captivity and others display signs of stress. Researchers from Aberystwyth and Portsmouth universities in the UK have published the first large-scale study to identify which species of hoofed animals, known as ungulates, are better suited to captive environments and which require better husbandry if kept in captivity.

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A group of scientists led by Alejandro Arteaga, grantee of The Explorers Club Discovery Expeditions and researcher at Khamai Foundation, discovered three new cryptozoic (living underground) snakes hidden under graveyards and churches in remote towns in the Andes of Ecuador. The discovery was made official in a study published in the journal ZooKeys.

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A new study led by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory (UW APL) finds that marine predators, such as tunas, billfishes and sharks, aggregate in anticyclonic, clockwise-rotating ocean eddies (mobile, coherent bodies of water). As these anticyclonic eddies move throughout the open ocean, the study suggests that the predators are also moving with them, foraging on the high deep-ocean biomass contained within.

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Scientists at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) and European research institutions are calling for better protections for juvenile emperor penguins, as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers listing the species under the Endangered Species Act and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) considers expanding the network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in the Southern Ocean.

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While motivations change with socio-economic context, hunting intensity is more constant.

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With the help of an acoustic camera that visualizes sound pressure, researchers from the University of Vienna investigated the calls of Asian elephants. The elephants emitted their low frequency “rumbles” mainly through their trunk or through their mouth and trunk simultaneously, and only seldomly through their mouth alone. This is the first study to conclusively demonstrate the combined oral and nasal call emission in a non-human animal. The study has recently been published in the journal “Animals”.

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Three new species of black-bellied salamander have been discovered by a research team led by R. Alexander Pyron, the Robert F. Griggs Associate Professor of Biology at the George Washington University. The new salamanders, which are found in the southern Appalachian Mountains of the eastern United States, stem from black-bellied populations that were long considered to be a single species.

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A pair of Orca (Killer Whales) that have been terrorizing and killing Great White Sharks off the coast of South Africa since 2017 has managed to drive large numbers of the sharks from their natural aggregation site.

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June 16 is World Sea Turtle Day, an occasion to consider the role these creatures play in the marine ecosystem. Florida State University Associate Professor Mariana Fuentes researches sea turtles and looks for ways to help turtles and humans coexist. She answered five questions about her work and how science can help inform public policy.

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A new study by the University of Georgia found Florida panthers are the No. 1 cause of mortality for white-tailed deer in Southwest Florida.

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From embryo to turtle cracker: a team led by palaeobiologist Julia Türtscher from the University of Vienna studied the multiple changes in tooth shape in the tiger shark. The study, recently published in the Journal of Anatomy, is also central in drawing conclusions about extinct species from the myriad of preserved shark teeth in the field of palaeontology.

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There’s a brand-new series of seven field guides to help people learn about the birds found in their region of the United States and Canada.

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A new study in the journal Frontiers in Public Health led by scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) confirms that pangolins confiscated from the illegal wildlife trade in Viet Nam host SARS-CoV-2 related coronaviruses.

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The Joro spider first arrived stateside around 2013 and has since spread across the state and Southeast. But new research from the University of Georgia suggests the invasive arachnids could spread through most of the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S.

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A team of scientists used an emerging genetic tool that analyzes DNA in water samples to detect whales and dolphins in New York waters.

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As the European green crab invasion in Washington state worsens, a new analysis method developed by University of Washington and Washington Sea Grant scientists could help contain future invasions and prevent new outbreaks using water testing and genetic analysis.

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For a quarter of a century the annual Great Backyard Bird Count has been a bright spot for nature lovers. The 25th edition of the event is coming up February 18 through 21.

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Just in time for Penguin Awareness Day (Thursday, January 20th), the Wildlife Conservation Society’s (WCS) Argentina Program has released amazing underwater selfie video recently taken by a male Gentoo penguin fitted with a special camera.