Good news in biology & wildlife

[leashedForLife]

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We know something about dog migrations that we didn't, B4.
NATIVE AMERICAN DOGS were wiped-out by European invaders.

current dogs' ancestors arrived in N America in 3 waves:
- 1,000 years ago, brought by the Thule ppl
- various European dogs with the invaders, beginning in the 1400s
- late-comer Siberian Huskies, who only got here for the Alaskan gold-rush.

Native dogs arrived with the original explorers from Siberia & Eastern Asia, via the land-bridge & by coastal boat-travel. We know that the 1st arrivals were over 15,000 years ago - exactly when, we're not sure. But dogs came with them.
Sadly, the only trace left of those native dogs is a contagious genital cancer - an STD that can be fatal.
European invaders thot of native dogs as just one more pest, & killed them as such; they also used them as easy prey when food was short.

Native Dogs of the Americas Were Wiped Out by European Colonization

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[arealhuman]

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Poachers Tried to Kill Rhinos in South African Reserve. Instead, a Pride of Lions Killed Them.
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Karma. They got what they deserved. Let's hope other don't return to harm the lions.

 

[Mad Murphy]

I had to laugh when I read it... Hope the lions dont get sick from eating rubbish

 

[leashedForLife]

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Can the world's most ambitious rewilding project restore Patagonia's beauty?


Rewilding efforts in Europe & S America are making good progress - these efforts are not just about iconic large species, but restoring function to large ecosystems. Humans need the Earth & Her water, air, soil, & other living species... while Earth can get along just fine without any humans whatever, & arguably would do far better.

Ecosystem services are completely overlooked & not valued, when in fact, they are crucial to our very survival, as individuals & as species - no matter what species we might be. If U're reading this, U're one of the few who can help in rewilding, either where U live, or anywhere around the globe.

- terry

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[merlina]

Oo- I'm Welsh so Patagonia is close to my heart!

 

[leashedForLife]

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Plogging worldwide -
the latest portmanteau term combines Plocka Upp & jogging.

‘Plogging’ is the Swedish fitness craze for people who want to save the planet. It’s making its way to the U.S.

The hard part? - toting the trash-bag of litter as we jog, plod, or meander. // I did this every day when i lived in Va Beach, not while jogging, but while walking my dog. On the beach, on the bike path, in the apt-complex, around the neighborhood.
After 10-years, I didn't notice any difference in the amount of trash, locally. --- But then, i didn't have a club, a meet-up, a website, or official recycled-plastic litter bags. . It was just me, a bag, & the dog.


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[leashedForLife]

QUOTE, merlina:

Oo- I'm Welsh so Patagonia is close to my heart!
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If U're in Wales or elsewhere in the UK, this is closer than Patagonia.

Massive Year for Cambrian Wildwood


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[merlina]

Thanks- or rather diolch!

 

[leashedForLife]

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The CBD has filed a "notice of intent" per a pending lawsuit -
they intend to take Fed Fish & Wildlife Dept to court, for faffing around while the yellow-billed cuckoo slips into extinction.

Lawsuit Launched to Protect Threatened Songbird's Habitat in Arizona, New Mexico, California

The species is down to ~ 350 pair ... in ONE state.

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[leashedForLife]

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Studies of humans can advance the knowledge of other species, too.

QUOTE,

"This student is studying memory by logging his brainwaves and heartbeats

He’s also videoing everything he sees, & making LINK: short films that speed up and slow down along with his body’s signals.
What he’s doing:
Mostafa 'Neo' Mohsenvand, a student at the MIT Media Lab, is trying to learn about what makes things memorable (for him, at least) by LINK: gathering as much data as possible about himself & the world around him.

The set-up:
He wears a camera for up to 16 hours a day, along with a physiological signal-tracking band. In June he also added the mobile EEG headset to gather brainwave data. So far, he’s logged about 1,300 hours of footage.
What has he learned?
Mohsenvand told LINK: our own Rachel Metz that, so far, he has learned some interesting tidbits - he is sensitive to father / son relationships in movies, for example, & whether people are nice to him at school.
But he doesn’t plan to stop anytime soon, so there is potential to learn more. 'I’ll be doing this probably until I die', he says.
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He is observing his physiological response to events, in real-time.
He's tracking how the brain reacts to events, in real-time.
His emotional reactions -- to sights, sounds, contact, events of all kinds.

This can give insights to how memory is laid down, *which* events or stimuli are prioritized as important to recall, how emotions influence later experiences of a similar event, & more.

- terry

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[arealhuman]

It needs to tell him to get out more

 

[leashedForLife]

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. he wears it *while* he's out, ARH - at school, on the street, at home, wherever.


Hence his noticing that he reacts to father / son relationships in a film, & how staff or students respond to *him* at school, etc.

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[leashedForLife]

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interspersing eelgrass between oyster "plantings", or running algae-anchors vertically between suspended baskets or nets of shellfish, can help shellfish *survive* the acid-bath of the modern ocean.

This aquatic grass could help shellfish threatened by ocean acidification

Oysters, crabs, clams, shrimp, lobsters, mussels, even barnacles, need to lay down SHELL to live & grow - & shells are primarily calcium carbonate; they can't assemble shells in an acid ocean, whose pH was altered when the seawater absorbed & buffered the CO2 in the atmosphere, above the surface.

Turns out that local conditions can be altered, & that small area, a marine microclimate, can save shellfish larvae from dying.
Eelgrass beds or rope-anchors for growing edible algae [such as sugar-algae or kelp or nori] can 'sweeten' the water around them, freeing the bound minerals needed for shell-building into a usable form, & helping shellfish to thrive.
Since oysters, clams, mussels, etc, are filter-feeders who clean the water as they pump it into & out of themselves, this also helps to improve water quality for fish, plants, invertebrates, etc - clarity is enhanced, more sunlight = more plant energy & growth, more O2 for fish to breathe, & so on - all of these are positive effects, which improve the marine environment for everyone... including terrestrial humans.

- terry

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[arealhuman]

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. he wears it *while* he's out, ARH - at school, on the street, at home, wherever.


Hence his noticing that he reacts to father / son relationships in a film, & how staff or students respond to *him* at school, etc.

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I realise that, it's an expression here, a bit like "get a life!". I also think if someone turned up filming my every action without asking, they'd also be filming their own visit to A&E to have the camera removed from a particular orifice!