Wild & Wondrous - Favorite World Press

The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world

Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do

Lisa S. French

1-minute read

Oh, the places they’ll go…

Every spring and autumn, one in five birds travel the byways and flyways of our planet between northern breeding grounds and southern winter sanctuaries. Some species migrate astonishing distances nonstop—no layovers, no in-flight movies—like the bar-tailed godwit, which flies 7,000 miles between Alaska and New Zealand, in just seven days.

So how do nature’s long-distance frequent fliers choose the best possible migration route and stay on course to reach their destination? Send over the video if we’re wrong, but we’re pretty sure that no one has ever seen a bird consulting a sat-nav app with an intensely focused look on its feathered little face. Through evolutionary adaptation, avian navigators have developed a special retinal flight guidance mechanism that helps them to perceive altitude and direction. To locate where they need to go to survive takes no more effort than the blink of an eye.

According to new research in Nature, migratory songbirds like the European robin have photosensitive proteins in the retina of their eyes that get activated by light and function as a compass that follows directional information from the Earth’s magnetic field. The birds’ brains automatically interpret the magnetic signals that guide them north to food resources and safe nesting grounds in the spring and south to warmer habitats in the fall. Because she’s smart like that, Mother Nature has equipped our feathered friends with precisely what they need to successfully manage life-sustaining comings and goings.

FYI – U.S. Bird Health Bulletin: Songbirds in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states are currently facing an unknown disease epidemic. Until wildlife researchers can determine the origins, the Audubon Society has up-to-date information and precautionary recommendations to prevent the spread of disease on your patch, how to report sightings and symptoms, and how to handle stricken birds. The pathogen is most common in young Blue Jays, European Starlings, Common Grackles, and American robins, so keep your eyes peeled out there for birds with vision problems, eye swelling, and neurological symptoms.

On a cheerier note, if at long last you’re planning on hitting the flyways and highways to do a bit of roaming of your own this year, whether you’re an old-school map-o-philiac or a sat-nav nomad, wishing you safe and very happy travels.

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Lisa S. French July 14, 2021

Nature’s Fireworks

Some species of sea anemones have special proteins
that enable them to produce their own light.

It’s good to glow.

Wishing You

an Illuminating

Independence Day.

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Lisa S. French July 4, 2021

Fishy Antifreeze

1-minute read

It’s officially summer in the northern hemisphere. With record-breaking high temperatures already being recorded in the U.S., Canada, parts of Europe, and the Arctic, it looks like 2021 is going to be another climate change-intensified scorcher.

If you’re in need of a way to keep cool—really cool—how about a little cold water swimming? And what could be more refreshingly chilling than a dip in a polar sea? Well, as tempting as that may seem when the thermometer reads 116°F, unlike polar fishes, we gill-free types are just not equipped to last long in cold water. So what do our piscine pals have that we don’t to help them survive frigid marine temperatures? Bodies fortified with antifreeze.

To manage the challenges of a life lived in icy seas, Arctic and Antarctic fish species that aren’t able to migrate to warmer waters evolved with antifreeze proteins in their blood and body tissues. These protective proteins lower the freezing point of polar fishes to below water temperature. When they come into contact with ice crystals either on their skin or gills or through eating or drinking, the antifreeze binds to the ice to prevent the scaly swimmers from turning into fish-icles. Now, how cool is that?

If you’d like to learn more about which animals have adapted to life in the coldest environment on the planet, the New Zealand government has created a splendidly informative poster of the wildlife occupying the world’s largest marine protected area in Antarctica’s Ross Sea.

And if you’re keen to swim with fishes of the non-polar variety this summer, courtesy of The Guardian, scientist Heather Massey has some tips on how to avoid hypothermia while paddling in open waters.

Fishy business aside, just a reminder that extreme heat, like extreme cold, can be life-threatening. If you’re suffering through triple-digit temperatures and can’t make it to a pool or the beach, Google the location of your nearest cooling center and head on over. For tips on how to manage a heat wave without air conditioning, check out this list from MedicineNet. Keep cool. Stay safe.

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Lisa S. French June 29, 2021

The Prophecy of the Manatee

2.5-minute read

What does the manatee, Florida’s beloved native marine mammal, have to teach us about the importance of maintaining healthy coastal ecosystems? As recent environmental events indicate, quite a lot. A keystone species, the gentle, slow-moving occupants of the Sunshine State’s rivers, marshes, and lagoons are sensitive to environmental stressors that impact the normal functioning of their underwater world. Although manatees have few natural enemies, harmful changes in water quality have become a matter of life and death for the iconic animals—alerting us to the fragility of marine ecosystems.

Manatees, a.k.a sea cows, need two things to stay comfortably in the swim: access to warm water (at least 68°F) and a whole lot of vegetation to eat. The 1,000-pound animals can consume up to 10% of their body weight a day in plant matter, primarily seagrass. Because manatees don’t have blubber to keep them warm like whales and dolphins, the colder the water, the more calories they need to survive. The seagrass that manatees depend on for the bulk of their diet, in turn, depends on sunlight for photosynthesis.

As reported in Science, 761 manatees wintering in one Florida lagoon died of starvation in 2021 due to a shortage of seagrass. Because massive algal blooms resulting from excess nitrogen and phosphorous in the water prevented sunlight from reaching carbon-storing seagrass beds, the plants that support manatees, as well as sea turtles, fish, crustaceans, and mollusks, failed to reproduce. Although Florida manatee numbers have doubled from 3300 in 2001 to close to 7000 in 2021 thanks to protective legislation, last winter’s die-off represents a gut-wrenching 10% loss of the marine mammal’s population.

In addition to struggling to survive the algal blooms that diminish life-supporting seagrass, manatees, and other marine life, are facing the environmental effects of toxic red tides that are increasing in size and duration due to rising ocean temperatures. Between 2017 and 2018, an estimated 200 manatees died from ingesting and inhaling the neurotoxic algae from a year-long red tide event.

Despite the manatee’s status as a protected species, as with many living creatures, its capacity to adapt to adverse environmental and climate impacts is limited. The fate of the manatee and other marine animals rests on protecting and restoring life-supporting habitat. Changes to the population and well-being of the silent marine sentinels speak volumes about the health of coastal ecosystems and marine biologists and conservationists are paying close attention. They’re developing strategies to provide manatees with adequate food supplies and warm-water sanctuaries when temperatures drop and promoting policies that will help to improve water quality year-round in a rapidly warming world.

To find out how you can become a citizen scientist and help make coastal ecosystems user-friendly for the magnificent manatee and other aquatic creatures, check out this fact-sheet from the University of Florida, which includes tips on how to reduce nutrient runoff and the next right thing to do if you come across a manatee in distress.

Wherever you are in the world, if you’re looking for another great reason to head to the beach, the Ocean Conservancy has more bright ideas on how to participate in the global mission to combat water pollution by starting a local trash cleanup. And for ten simple ways to help power the pristine by reducing your plastic footprint stop by the World Wildlife Fund. Planet tidying—good for water, good for people, good for wildlife.

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Lisa S. French June 17, 2021

Reducing Emissions. Increasing Hugs.

It’s Hug a Climate Scientist Day!

Emissions are still rising, and climate scientists still need hugging. That’s the bad news. The good news is, thanks to breakthroughs in biotechnology, actual hugs are making a comeback. So, we’d like to extend a major squeeze of gratitude to COVID scientists as well. Oh, and while we’re at it, thanks very much to all of the ecologists, biologists, environmental chemists, and atmospheric, geo, and social scientists toiling away every day on behalf of people, wildlife, and the planet. Hugs all around, you dedicated science brainiacs—where would the world be without you! And for anyone else in need: ((())). Plus a booster: ((())).

One more thing, speaking of dedicated people working to save the planet and all of its inhabitants, we’d like to share a beautiful and important short film (2:20 minutes) from the conservation NGO Big Life Foundation. Talk about hug magnets!

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Lisa S. French June 11, 2021

Zebras: Snazzy-Suited Insect Repellers

1.5-minute read

It would be understandable if the zebra’s fellow savanna dwellers experienced pelt envy. The wild horses’ intricate black and white coat patterning is an extraordinary sight to behold. According to researchers at the University of California at Davis, there is more to the snazzy fur of the African equine than meets the eye. After a century of stripe speculation, scientists studying how differences in color and pattern help species adapt to their natural environment have concluded that the zebra’s markings aren’t just good-looking—they’re functional, signaling pesky biting flies to bug off.

So how do zebra stripes repel insects? As it turns out, dreaded blood-sucking, disease-carrying tsetse, stable, and horse flies are fairly picky when it comes to landing sites. They are far less likely to land on black and white striped surfaces than either all white or all black surfaces. And the greater the number and the narrower the stripes, the fewer the insect attacks. Researchers discovered that zebras in regions of Africa with more flies had more and thinner stripes, especially on the vulnerable face and legs where flies bite while the animals graze.

You may be wondering why zebras, in particular, evolved to develop insect-repelling markings. Biologists believe that because zebras have shorter and thinner fur than many other horse species, nature may have equipped the African equine with the extra protection of stripes to help increase its odds of survival on the savannas.

Even with built-in bug protection, zebras will need ongoing assistance from their friends to keep prettifying the planet. There are currently three species of stripey-suited wild horses roaming the African continent: the plains, mountain, and endangered Grevy’s zebras. As a result of habitat loss, poaching, disease, competition for food, and lack of access to water, Grevy’s populations have declined from 15,000 in the 1970s to only 3,000 across Kenya and Ethiopia. You can find out how conservationists are working to prevent the extinction of one of Africa’s largest remaining land animals and how you can pitch in to help at Grevy’s Zebra Trust and Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

What else this week? June 4th and 5th, 2021, kick off the Virtual Launch Gala for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration—a global rallying cry to heal the planet. Can we get a determined woohoo for getting out there to reimagine, restore, and recreate healthy ecosystems? Generation restoration—heck yeah!

And on the local-to-FWP front, for the very first time, Cornell University scientists have recorded humpbacks singing in the waters off New York City. Have a listen to their haunting whale songs—goosebumps! Happy to have you, big fellas—be careful out there!

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Lisa S. French June 4, 2021

Endangered Species Day: Say Hello to the Hairy-Nosed Wombat

2.5-minute read

We think one of the best ways to honor Endangered Species Day (May 21) is to increase awareness of the most precious wild creatures remaining on our planet because we believe that to know them is to love them and to love them is to protect them. So, to aid the conservation of a rare one, we’d like to introduce you to the critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat. A species is classified as critically endangered if its population has declined by at least 90%. At last count, there were only 250 of the iconic Australian marsupials left in the wild. Although conservation scientists are working diligently to prevent the hairy-nosed wombat’s extinction, the cuddly-looking critter remains one of the most at-risk animals on Earth.

For your ESD information, here’s a wombat what’s what:

Claim to fame:
In addition to having an unusually furry snout, the northern hairy-nosed wombat is the largest, plant-eating, burrowing mammal on Earth. The average weight of an adult wombat is about 70lbs—roughly the same weight as a golden retriever. Now, that’s a big digger! By comparison, a burrowing groundhog weighs only 9 lbs.

Aboriginal name:
When the Dharug people of southeast Australia first came across the short-legged, bear-like marsupial, they christened the animal wambad, which officially evolved into wombat in 1798. Although they’ve also been called native badgers and native bears, we think they definitely have more of a wambad look about them.

Preferred Hangout:
Underground. Wombats are expert excavators, digging 70 to 100 ft of tunnels, 10 to 13 ft below the earth with multiple entrances for easy access. The northern hairy-nosed wombat’s burrowing habitat once spanned parts of New South Wales and Queensland, but now they can only be found in Epping Forest National Park and Richard Underwood Nature Refuge in Queensland. However, their reduced range hasn’t stopped the wombats from digging in—they’ve tunneled out 470 burrows in their Epping Forest habitat.

Social style:
The nocturnal hairy-nosed wombat is a social distancing specialist, spending about 70% of burrow time on its lonesome. In 1300 hours of video recorded in Epping Park, there were only 12 social interactions. Although wombats occasionally burrow hop, they prefer home base, avoid unfamiliar situations and aren’t particularly chatty. When the introverted marsupials do vocalize, they communicate through whispery squeaks. You can listen to the cautious chittering of the common wombat here.

Favorite foods:
The wombat might look a bit like a bear, but it eats like a bunny—90% of its diet is grasses.

Special skills:
What’s good for the wombat is good for healthy ecosystems. Burrowers help to improve soil quality and plant diversity and create habitats for other endangered animals like wallabies, echidnas, and bettongs.

Why they need TLC:
Between 1870 and 1920, the northern hairy-nosed wombat was nearly wiped out. Researchers believe that their burrows were destroyed to eliminate pests that inhabited their tunnel system. Habitat loss, invasive species, and competition for food resulting from worsening drought continue to take a toll on the critically endangered animals.

How to help:
Like many of Australia’s amazing species, wombats need help to survive the increasing threats of climate change and habitat loss. If you would like to find out how you can support the work of scientists and volunteers dedicated to ensuring the northern hairy-nosed wombat can tunnel on, visit the good people at The Wombat Foundation.

To learn more about the status of threatened wildlife globally, check out the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List—the world’s most comprehensive source of information for endangered flora and fauna. For a compelling overview of where we are on the wildlife conservation front and where we’re headed, we highly recommend The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.

And because we’d like to leave you with some hopeful news, you can learn about a bold initiative launched by Leonardo DiCaprio to restore some of the planet’s rarest species at re:wild.org. The other good news is you don’t have to be a celebrity to help protect and preserve wildlife. You can find local ESD events, educational material, and more recommended reads at Endangered.org. Then head on over to World Wildlife Fund to sponsor a favorite creature year-round. Until we get Endangered Species Day off the calendar, it’s all hands on deck.

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Lisa S. French May 21, 2021

The Countdown’s on for the Birdathon

It’s almost here! The New York State 24-hour Audubon Birdathon begins Thursday, May, 20th. That’s the day to get out and about, enjoy the lovely spring weather, and count as many different bird species as you can to support the environmental organization’s conservation work—from cities to suburbs and from Long Island Sound to the Great Lakes.

If you would like to help create healthy coasts, wetlands, and woodlands for our feathered friends, you can find out how to participate at Audubon New York. Just grab your binoculars and keep your eyes peeled. Here are 12 award-winning photos of fascinating bird behaviors for inspiration. You just never know what you’ll see out there.

Happy counting! Bird, bird—bird, bird, bird…

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Lisa S. French May 15, 2021

Training Bees to Detect COVID-19

30-second read

We often marvel at the brainpower of bees, because well—it’s marvelous. Despite possessing only a minuscule amount of grey matter, the essential pollinators are also clever little problem solvers capable of basic math, maze navigation, and scent memorization. According to a news release from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, and as reported by the Washington Post, the industrious insects may soon be adding COVID-19 detection to their bee CVs.

A worker bee’s daily duties include quickly and accurately discriminating one scent from another to locate the best sources of pollen. Now, scientists are putting that advanced sensory skill to good use by training the insects to sniff out the coronavirus, because bees are also able to detect the very subtle scent caused by COVID infection. During training, when an infected sample is presented to the insects, researchers reward them with sugar water. After several repetitions, the bees learn to extend their tongues without receiving a reward when they detect the scent of the virus.

With early lab results showing that COVID can’t elude sensitive sniffer bees, the research team is continuing the development of the tongues-out test to train multiple bees simultaneously, as well as a biosensor to deploy the insects for early diagnosis, and ultimately a biochip utilizing bee-gene odor sensing abilities that won’t require insect deployment. These projects aim to offer low-income countries lacking in financing and infrastructure quick, accurate, cost-effective tests for the coronavirus. Once again, when it comes to problem solving, it looks like the bee team is the A-team.

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Lisa S. French May 10, 2021