Saving the Hellbender
The giant salamander is a crown jewel of Appalachia, but many populations are in decline. Scientists are working to find out why, before it's too late.
Read more at The Scientist: Saving the Hellbender, a Giant Salamander Under Threat.
Elephants Smell Out Differences in Quantity
A new study finds that elephants can discriminate between two quantities of food using only their sense of smell. The study is an example of the move towards more species-specific, ecologically valid cognition tests and could have applications in conservation.
Read more at my Animal Minds blog: Elephants Smell Out Differences in Quantity.
Artificial Lights and Bat Drinking Behavior
Darkness is a diminishing natural resource. Over the last hundredyears, human development and urbanization have changed the nocturnallandscape, making the nighttime sky 20 percent brighter.
This is bad news for nocturnal animals like bats, which depend on the protection offered by darkness. In my latest Animal Minds blog post, I take a look at how artificial lighting affects bat drinking behavior.
Read the story here: Do Artificial Lights Cause Drinking Problems in Bats?
When Animals are Both Defended and Defenseless
It sounds like a good conservation strategy: If a native species is being killed by invasive predators, move the native species to a predator-free sanctuary where their numbers can recover. However, a new paper suggests this approach could result in problems if the native species ever faces their invasive foes again.
Read my latest Animal Minds blog post to see how this played out in New Zealand robins: When Animals are Both Defended and Defenseless.
