Sept. 26/2018

Feature:

Dogs Really Do Bring Us Comfort

     “Dogs will make a speedy effort to comfort their owners if they think they are upset,

study has shown.

     Anecdotally, dog owners often say their pets are in tune with their emotions & will

offer support in times of crisis, but it has never been scientifically tested.

     In a new study, scientists from John Hopkins University in Baltimore took 34 dogs

positioned them behind a door closed with magnets, with their owners on the other side.

The owners were asked to either hum Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or pretend to cry. 

     They found that many of the dogs nosed their way through the door, but they did it 3

times more quickly when they thought their owners were upset & needed comforting. 

     ‘We found dogs not only sense what their owners are feeling, if a dog knows a way to

help them, they’ll go through barriers to provide it,’ said lead author Emily Sanford, a

graduate student in psychological & brain sciences…

     ‘Dogs have been by the side of humans for tens of thousands of years & they’ve

learned to read our social cues.’

     During the task, the researchers also measured the dog’s stress levels & found those

who were able to push through the door to ‘rescue’ their owners showed less stress,

meaning they were upset by the crying, but not too upset to take action…”  

Sarah Knapton

London Daily Telegraph

July 28/2018

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Sept. 19/2018

Feature:

Orca Hear, Orca Speak: Whales Can Say Words

   “LONDON- Whales are known for their impressive communications skills which allow pods to ‘talk’ to each other through complex clicks & singing, even when they are more than 100 km apart.

   But a new experiment has shown the mammals are also capable of mimicking human speech, a feat that was previously believed to be limited to primates, birds, elephants, & seals.

   Scientists say they have recorded a killer whale, named Wikie, repeating the words ‘hello’ & ‘bye bye’, counting up to 3, & even saying the name of her trainer ‘Amy’.

   The 14 yr. old orca lives in Marineland at Antibes, France, & is the first in the world ever recorded by scientists saying human words.

   The achievement is even more remarkable because whales do not have the same vocal ability as humans, having evolved to make their own sounds underwater. While humans use the larynx to speak, whales produce sounds through their nasal passages using bursts of air.

   Recently scientists have claimed that whales have different ‘accents’ or ‘cultures’…

   In the wild, killer whales live in pods & each has its own dialect, which includes calls that are completely unique. Some clicks are even thought to represent names…Previously killer whales have been observed mimicking barks of sea lions & whistles of sea dolphins, & beluga whales have been heard apparently imitating humans, but until now no controlled experiments have been carried out to verify reports. In the new trial, Wikie was trained to understand a ‘copy’ signal then invited to repeat 11 completely new sounds given by her trainer…It was given a fish or an affectionate pat when it achieved the sound to reinforce the learning…

   The researchers concluded: ‘Wikie made recognizable copies of the demonstrated sound judged in real time by 2 observers, Wikie’s trainer & one experimenter, later confirmed by both after listening to the recordings’.”    

Sarah Knapton

The Daily Telegraph

In The Gazette, Montreal

Feb. 1/2018

                                    

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My sweet Snowy.

Sept. 12/2018

Feature:

5 Animals You Didn’t Know Could Sing

“1. Mice

Not only can mice sing, they also may be able to learn vocalizations from hearing other mice. Only humans, songbirds, parrots, & hummingbirds were thought to be capable of vocal learning, but a 2012 PLOS One study suggests that ‘mice have limited versions of the brain & behavior traits for vocal learning that are found in humans for learning speech & in birds for learning song,’…

Moreover, the scientists found that male mice actually rely on ‘auditory feedback’ to make their songs & that…mice sing in pitch…

 

2. Toadfish

Toadfish sing — or, to human ears, hum — for the same reasons male mice do: to attract females. While these sounds are ‘not as complex as what you hear mammals & birds doing,’ fish are not silent denizens of the waters, Andrew H. Bass, a professor of neurobiology & behavior at Cornell University, notes to MSNBC.

                                                    

3. Male Mexican Free-Tailed Bats

Male Mexican free-tailed bats also sing supersonic songs to court females, researchers from Texas A&M University found. When the bats‘songs are directed at fellow males, these tunes are not intended to be welcoming.

                                                

 4. Harris’ Antelope Squirrels

Not every animal that sings does so for, well, sex. Harris’ antelope squirrels trill to communicate for safety reasons. The squirrels live in desert environments in the southwestern U.S. At the entrances of their burrows, they are known to pause, stamp their forefeet and vocalize before entering. The small rodents must constantly remain alert, as coyotes, hawks, snakes and bobcats prey on them.

                                                   

 5. Whales

I still remember excitedly pulling the little plastic recording of humpback whale songs from an issue of National Geographic. The sounds were nothing I had ever heard, and the fact that they came from a creature who lived deep in the ocean made them even more intriguing. Killer whales or orcas, also sing using ultrasonic vocalizations and have dialects. Beluga whales have a whole repertoire of “chirps, squeaks and clips” and are rightly dubbed “sea canaries.”

There’s a lot to hear out there in the natural world. All the more reason to keep up the fight against noise pollution and listen for the sounds we haven’t yet heard.”

Kristina C.

Feb. 24/ 2018

Care2.com

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Sept. 5/2018

Feature:

Koala ‘Detox Kit’ Key to Survival on Eucalyptus

   “Koalas are at risk of destroying their own habitat because they have a unique detox kit

which allows them to eat poisonous eucalyptus.

   Scientists have found that the marsupials are able to specialize in eating the poisonous

plant because they have large numbers of genes active in the liver devoted to

detoxification.

   This had long given them the advantage of eating the plant which is avoided by their

Competitors, but it has also left them vulnerable to the loss of their forest habitat.

   The discovery was made by a team of 54 researchers who put together a complete

genetic blueprint & sequenced more than 3.4 billion ‘letters’ making up the koala genetic

code.

   The key discovery, published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Genetics, showed

that koala genes produce a range of cytochrome P450 enzymes that break down

poisonous compounds.”

London Daily Telegraph

In The Montreal Gazette

July 4/2018

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