Amazing Fishing - How to Catch Fish in Cambodia River✔ Ultimate Fishing ...

Amazing Fishing - How to Catch Fish in Cambodia River✔ Ultimate Fishing ...

bobcats in the United States

These beautiful cats are members of the lynx family and are recognizable for their short bobtails, often just two inches (5 cm) long, which have black fur on top and a white underside.

There are plenty of bobcats throughout the United States, southern Canada, and Mexico, so they are not endangered, but it is still unusual to see them. This is partly because people are just not used to spotting them. Bobcats, like many other members of the cat family, like to use human paths and trails to avoid long grasses and irritants, such as ticks. Several times a bobcat will hear someone coming along a path and flatten down at the side of the path while the person walks past, often just ten feet (3 m) away, unaware.

Like all cats, they are carnivorous, eating rabbits, birds, lizards, snakes, carrion, and — as we discovered — gophers

Bobcats are elusive and nocturnal, so they are rarely spotted by humans. Although they are seldom seen, they roam throughout much of North America and adapt well to such diverse habitats as forests, swamps, deserts, and even suburban areas.

Bobcats, sometimes called wildcats, are roughly twice as big as the average housecat. They have long legs, large paws, and tufted ears similar to those of their larger relative, the Canada lynx. Most bobcats are brown or brownish red with a white underbelly and short, black-tipped tail. The cat is named for its tail, which appears to be cut or "bobbed."

Fierce hunters, bobcats can kill prey much bigger than themselves, but usually eat rabbits, birds, mice, squirrels, and other smaller game. The bobcat hunts by stealth, but delivers a deathblow with a leaping pounce that can cover 10 feet (3 meters).

West Indian Manatee

Most manatees spend half their day sleeping in the water and the other half grazing on underwater plants. They are generally solitary creatures, unless mating, caring for their young, or sheltering in warm springs.

Description: Manatees can grow up to thirteen feet (4 m) long, weigh fifteen hundred to eighteen hundred pounds (680 to 816 kg) and live up to sixty years. They have grayish-brown thick wrinkled skin and propel themselves along with flippers and a large, flat tail. They evolved over millions of years from land mammals, and their closest living relatives are the elephant and the hyrax.

Habitat and Range: Manatees can be found in shallow, slow-moving rivers, estuaries, saltwater bays, canals, and coastal areas — particularly where seagrass beds or freshwater vegetation flourish. Manatees are a migratory species. Within the United States, they are concentrated in Florida in the winter. In summer months, they can be found as far west as Texas and as far north as Massachusetts, but summer sightings in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina are more common. West Indian manatees can also be found in the coastal and inland waterways of Central America and along the northern coast of South America

American Alligator - the crocodiles

Alligators, despite their fierce reputation and fearsome appearance, are reasonably easygoing creatures (Not to get confused with their snappier and more aggressive neighbors, the crocodiles).

Alligators can withstand dramatic drops in temperature and even remain locked in ice for up to three weeks, with just a small breathing hole. All a bystander will see is the tip of its snout poking through the ice and it will slow its body functions to virtually shut down

Heavy and ungainly out of water, these reptiles are supremely well adapted swimmers. Males average 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.6 meters) in length and can weigh 1,000 pounds (453 kg). Females grow to a maximum of about 9.8 feet (3 meters.)

One look at these menacing predators—with their armored, lizard-like bodies, muscular tails, and powerful jaws—and it is obvious they are envoys from the distant past. The species, scientists say, is more than 150 million years old, managing to avoid extinction 65 million years ago when their prehistoric contemporaries, the dinosaurs, died off.

American alligators reside nearly exclusively in the freshwater rivers, lakes, swamps, and marshes of the southeastern United States, primarily Florida and Louisiana.

Hatchlings are 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 centimeters) long with yellow and black stripes. Juveniles, which are on the menu for dozens of predators, including birds, raccoons, bobcats, and even other alligators, usually stay with their mothers for about two years.

The American alligator is a rare success story of an endangered animal not only saved from extinction but now thriving. State and federal protections, habitat preservation efforts, and reduced demand for alligator products have improved the species' wild population to more than one million and growing today.

Spadefoot Toad in North American

Spadefoot toads are burrowing frogs that have large spade-like feet they use to dig tunnels under the sand, where they spend more of their lives in a dormant state that is similar to hibernation. But as soon as a rainstorm approaches, they spring into action the sound of thunder and the vibration of the raindrops hitting the ground are believed to be the cue that stirs the spadefoots into action.

They emerge from underground and travel towards large rain puddles. Here, males will attempt to attract the females with loud calls, competing with one another. At times, they are so desperate to reproduce that occasionally they will seize another male or a frog from a different species. Even when the male has found a female spadefoot, other males will pile on top to create a writhing heap of frogs.



The male will stimulate the female to lay up to two thousand eggs, which submerge and attach themselves to vegetation in the water. The male will then deposit his sperm on them and, within as little as fifteen hours, tiny tadpoles will emerge. To survive, the tadpole must develop into a frog before the desert sun swallows up the rainwater pools. This happens in only twelve to thirteen days, the fastest development rate of any frog or toad. The young frogs will then fill up with food and bury themselves under the sand to await the next downpour.

Spadefoot toads are rarely seen because of their unusual habits. They are usually found in Western North American deserts like the Mojave, Chihuaha, and Sonoran. Normally this would be a problem for an amphibian, but spadefoot toads are able to deal with the hot and dry weather as spadefoot toads spend most of their time underground.

The spadefoot toad is a burrowing species of toad and they use their large front feet to make tunnels in the sand. Spadefoot toads are able to spend weeks underground but will come to the surface at night time after heavy rain when the air is moist, so that they can feed.

There are two main types of spadefoot toad, those that live only in North America and those that live in Europe, Northern Africa and WesternAsia. The spadefoot toad is an amphibian and anurans. Anurans are frogs and toads.


Spadefoot toads are omnivorous animals and have a primarily vegetarian dietwhen they are young. As the spadefoot toad gets older, they begin to eat largeinvertebrates such as snails, grasshoppers and caterpillars.

The spadefoot toad tadpoles develop very quickly. They can also dig holes and bury themselves until the next desert rain, when they will spawn and turn into the larger, rounder adult toads.

Rocky Mountain Bighorn Sheep

Bighorn males, called rams, are famous for their large, curled horns. These impressive growths are a symbol of status and a weapon used in epic battles across the Rocky Mountains. 

Fighting for dominance or mating rights, males face each other, rear up on their hind legs, and hurl themselves at each other in charges of some 20 miles (32 kilometers) an hour. The resounding clash of horns can be heard echoing through the mountains as the confrontation is repeated—sometimes for many hours—until one ram submits and walks away. The animal's thick, bony skull usually prevents serious injury.

A Rocky Mountain bighorn ram's horns can weigh 30 pounds (14 kilograms)—more than all the bones in his body combined. Females (ewes) also have horns, but they are of smaller size.

Rocky Mountain bighorns inhabit the mountains from Canada south to New Mexico. They are relatives of goats, and have balance-aiding split hooves and rough hoof bottoms for natural grip. These attributes, along with keen vision, help them move easily about rocky, rugged mountain terrain.

The bighorn sheep can be found across the mountain ranges from Canada to Mexico. Their huge curved horns weigh up to thirty pounds (14 kg) and when the mating season arrives in the fall, the rams, charged with testosterone, fight to find a champion who will claim a group of females.

The males rear up on their hind legs and launch themselves at one another, charging at twenty miles an hour (32 kph). The clash of their horns can be heard echoing through the mountains. They will repeat the confrontation again and again, sometimes for hours, until one ram submits and walks away. Luckily their bony skulls usually prevent serious injury.

African golden cats are hardly ever photographed in the wild.

African golden cats are hardly ever photographed in the wild. In their rare, camera-trap cameos, the cats are usually seen licking their spotted fur or innocuously inspecting the unfamiliar lens.

But recently, scientists captured a much more dynamic scene: a golden cat crashing a party of red colobus monkeys in Uganda.

The video, released yesterday (Jan. 27), may be the first footage of a golden cat hunting in the daylight, according to Panthera, the conservation group that released the video from inside Kibale National Park.

'It is an exciting and rare glimpse into the world of this fascinating cat,' said Kaplan scholar and graduate student, David Mills.

'We know a lot more about golden cats than we did a few years ago and yet we still know almost nothing about their behaviour. 

African golden cats are comparable in size to bobcats. They can weigh 11 to 35 lbs. (5 to 16 kilograms). Red colobus monkeys, which weigh 15 to 27 lbs. (7 to 12 kg), can put up a good fight against the cats — and they aren't always on the defensive. Another video released by Panthera shows a group of colobus monkeys harassing a golden catthat's trying to sleep in a tree in Uganda's Kalinzu Forest Reserve.

African golden cats, which are listed as near-threated by the International Union. The researchers said they lured the creature to the camera trap with Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men. The cologne contains civetone, which comes from the scent glands of civets, small mammals that are native to Africa and parts of Asia.

It was recorded with a camera trap set by Samuel Angedakin, Kibale Project Manager for the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology's Pan African Programme: The Cultured Chimpanzee, in collaboration with the Ngogo Chimpanzee Project, Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology. 

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The tawny desert owl, once mistaken for another species of owl

Once mistaken for another species of owl, the golden-eyed "desert tawny owl" is now finally getting its due.

The Hume's owl or Hume's tawny owl (Strix butleri) is a species of owl. ... Its habitat is palm groves, desert, semi-desert and rocky ravines. 

In a new report, researchers examined the plumage and body shape of owl specimens from museums around the world that had previously been thought to be members of a species called Hume's owl. The researchers also analyzed the owls' mitochondrial DNA, and found it was about 10 percent different from that of the Hume's owl, which is properly known as species Strix butleri.

The tawny desert owl, once mistaken for another species of owl

"Hume had named his bird, and Tristram thought [his owl] was the same thing," Kirwan said.But coincidentally, another ornithologist of the time, named Henry Tristram, had already collected an owl with similar markings.

But then, more than a century later, a new look at the owls shook things up.

The renowned ornithologist Hadoram Shirihai visited the Natural History Museum in Tring, England, while working on a book in 1985. Shirihai noticed some of the Hume's owl specimens in England looked different from each other, and also different from the Hume's owls he had seen in Israeli museums and in the wild.

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Giant Dinosaur Could Fill in 'Black Hole' of Fossil Record

The new ichthyosaur fossil has marked differences from the ichthyosaurs science has already cataloged, the latter having adapted completely to living at sea.

A giant dinosaur found in Tanzania once lived during a lush, green period when flowering plants flourished, about 100 million years ago, paleontologists report. The new dino species is a rare find in sub-Saharan Africa, where far fewer dinosaur fossils are discovered than in South America, the researchers said.

Paleontologists discovered the massive fossil in 2007 during fieldwork in the Rukwa Rift Basin in southwestern Tanzania. 

The new find had uncommonly large flippers that were flexible enough to allow the creature to move as though it were at sea while on land. Its wrists, meanwhile, were also flexible enough to enable crawling on land.

The amphibious ichthyosaur also had a short nose that was consistent with that of land reptiles and in contrast with the long, beak-like snouts of sea-dwellking ichthyosaurs.

The fossil also points to a creature with the thick-set bones usually associated with marine reptiles that were transitioning from land lubbing to sea life. Its bigger bones indicate the creature was growing heavier, the better to be able to plow through rough coastal waters before heading out to sea.

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Top 10 Largest Dinosaurs in the world

An enormous 50-foot-long dinosaur named "Dragon of Qijiang" was unearthed by construction workers near Qijiang City, China.

The plant-eating dinosaur, Qijianglong guokr, had an unusual body that was half neck. It lived about 160 million years ago and is described in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology.

The construction crew that happened upon the dinosaur remarkably managed to unearth the dinosaur with its head still attached to its long, narrow neck.

Grandmother of All Sauropods Unearthed

"It is still a mystery why mamenchisaurids did not migrate to other continents," Miyashita said.

"Dragon of Qijiang" now has pride of place at a local museum in Qijiang, but will be the star of a new museum that’s now currently undergoing construction in the southern China city.

"China is home to the ancient myths of dragons," Miyashita said. "I wonder if the ancient Chinese stumbled upon a skeleton of a long-necked dinosaur like Qijianglong and pictured that mythical creature."

Top 10 Largest Dinosaurs

"It is rare to find a head and neck of a long-necked dinosaur together because the head is so small and easily detached after the animal dies," co-author Tetsuto Miyashita said in a press release.

"Qijianglong is a cool animal," added Miyashita, who is a University of Alberta paleontologist. "If you imagine a big animal that is half neck, you can see that evolution can do quite extraordinary things."

Most sauropods (i.e. long-necked, plant-eating dinosaurs) have necks that are about one-third the length of their bodies, so "Dragon of Qijiang" sported quite a neck. The researchers determined that its vertebrae were filled with air, making it lighter in weight than the neck bones of other animals.

10 Unbelievable Dinos That Really Existed

Interlocking joints between the vertebrae, however, meant that the neck was surprisingly stiff. The researchers suspect that the neck was more mobile going up and down, like a construction crane, than it was moving from side to side.

"Dragon of Qijiang" is classified as a mamenchisaurid, a group of dinosaurs known for their long necks. This type of dinosaur has thus far only been found in Asia.

"Qijianglong shows that long-necked dinosaurs diversified in unique ways in Asia during Jurassic times–something very special was going on in that continent," said Miyashita. "Nowhere else we can find dinosaurs with longer necks than those in China. The new dinosaur tells us that these extreme species thrived in isolation from the rest of the world."

The paleontologists speculate that a sea, or other natural barrier, could have caused the isolation.

The "Dragon" and its kind were survivors, though. As other long-necked dinosaurs bit the dust in Asia, mamenchisaurids thrived, evolving into different types, including this half-neck form.

Wild Animal Fights: Carolina Dog (American Dingo) vs Dingo

This is guest post submitted by Mike Hanley a long time WAFC subscriber.

Dingo: Hunting Behavior

Dingoes often kill by biting the throat and adjust their hunting strategies to suit circumstances. For bigger prey, due to their strength and potential danger, two or more individuals are needed. Such group formations are unnecessary when hunting rabbits or other small prey

American Dingo: Behavior

In the wild, Carolina dogs lived in swampy, sparsely settled land instead of the highly populated areas stray dogs commonly occupied. When hunting, Carolina Dogs used an effective “pack formation”. They hunted snakes using a whip-like motion, and predated on small and medium-sized mammals such as raccoons.

FIGHT SCENARIO:

The American Dingo or Carolina Dog has been separated from its pack while searching for smaller vermin to snack on.  While searching around a densely wooded area – the trees part and a somewhat sandy clearing emerges.  Before the American Dingo stands a slightly larger Australian Dingo.  It has been 2 days since the Dingo has eaten – it is irritated and hungry.

Quickly, the AUS Dingo begins to circle the Carolina Dog – growling menacingly as it eyes its new prey.  The Carolina Dog takes a defensive position, caught off guard but the sudden aggression of this foreign dog.  The AUS Dingo, blind with starvation lunges at the Carolina Dog, its jaws snapping air.  The Carolina Dog has been able to side leap and barely miss a death blow.  Taking the defensive, it snaps back, catching the shoulder of the AUS Dingo.  Now wounded, the AUS Dingo has begun darting wildly at Carolina Dog – confusing its target and putting the dog on its heels.  The Carolina Dog begins to retreat.  Sensing the Carolina Dog in a vulnerable position the AUS Dingo lunges – using it’s slightly longer sneak and snout – and damages the hind legs of the Carolina Dog.  Yelping in pain, the Carolina Dog goes down on its hind legs.  Darting to the other side before the Carolina Dog can turn its head – its neck is left exposed and the AUS Dingo closes in.  With its strong front jaw and long canine teeth the AUS Dingo bites into the Carolina Dog’s neck and locks.  The Carolina Dog feebly struggles to survive while calling out.  The Carolina Dog’s demise is imminent and as it succumbs to the AUS Dingo’s bite, it’s pack can be heard barking in the distance – coming to the rescue of its fallen member….

AUS Dingo wins!

Big Cat fight : Here we have a very interesting fight

Here we have a very interesting fight between the legendary Honey Badger of Africa and the Ocelot the small jungle cat of Central and South America.

The Honey Badger, despite its name, biologically is more closely related to a Wolverine than badger species. Like the Wolverine, the ratel is notorious for its ferocity and fearless nature, even being able to scare lions and leopards away from their kills. Ratels do not discriminate when feeding, it will hunt and eat birds, rodents, tortoises, lizards and large snakes. They devour all parts of their prey, including skin, hair, feathers, flesh and bones, holding their food down with their forepaws.

The Ocelot acts very much like a small jaguar. It is the largest of the small Leopardus cat genus. Despite its size, it will take down prey as large as deer. Ocelots are also ferociously territorial and will fight one another, sometimes to the death, to defend its territory.

When pitted against each other, I feel the Ocelot would first engage the Ratel as it may look like a potential prey. The ratel, is known to scream loudly when it is backed into a corner, which would temporarily push back the cat. Once settled down, the Ocelot would pounce on the badger and bite down on its neck. However, the ratel has a secret defense, its skin is very thick and very loose, which allows it to turn all the way back at its attacker and clamp down on its throat with is powerful jaws.

Honey Badger wins!

The fight features two of our readers favorite combatants

This fight features two of our readers favorite combatants, the Honey Badger from South Africa and the Wolverine of North America. 

Both of these animals have fearless reputations and have been known to fight off much bigger predators from their prey. Let's take a closer look to see just how a fight between these little warriors would turn out.

Tale of the Tape:

STATS	Wolverine	Honey Badger
Height:	12-18" at shoulder	10-14" at shoulder
Length:	26 to 34 in	20 to 28 in
Weight:	25 to 70 lbs	15-35 lbs.

The Wolverine is the largest of the weasle family but resembles and acts like a small Bear. It is stocky muscular and ferocious. Male wolverines can weigh up to 70 lbs and reach a length of 3 ft. The Wolverine has been known to attack prey many times its size, with documented accounts of predation of moose. The wolverine has large teeth and a bite force that enables it to crush bones and frozen carcasses.

The Honey Badger, despite its name, biologically is more closely related to a Wolverine than badger species. Like the Wolverine, the ratel is notorious for its ferocity and fearless nature, even being able to scare lions and leopards away from their kills. The Honey badger has been deemed by the guiness book of world records as the most fearless animal on the planet. It is stocky but quick and has thick but loose skin that provides protection from attack.

The Fight

A 30 lb honey badger locks in on the scent of a large mammal carcass near by and quickly scampers towards it. Approaching the carcass, the honey badger learns that he is not first to the kill as a 50 lb wolverine has already started to dig in.  The fearless honey badger still has his eye on the prize and darts at the wolverine to scare it off. However, the wolverine is extremely aggressive when provoked and the fight ensues between the two stubborn animals. The speed of the honey badger allows it to get in close and smack the wolverine with its 3 in claws, drawing first blood. The honey badger takes a bite at the wolverine but finds its fur too thick to inflict much damage. The wolverine counter attacks with a bite to the neck of the honey badger, however only catching some of its thick skin. This allows the badger to turn back around and take another shot at the wolverine. The wolverine uses this opportunity to take another bite of his own, this time to the leg of the honey badger. It crushes the smaller animals bones with its powerful jaw before finishing it with a claw to the underbelly.

Wolverine Wins!

 From : wildanimalfightclub

The famous two-faced cat, Frank and Louie

The famous two-faced cat, Frank and Louie (sometimes called Frankenlouie), passed away this week at the ripe old age of 15.

For instance, Janus cats may have too much of the sonic hedgehog (SHH) protein, which plays a role in forming an animal's face during development. In some experiments, chick embryos expsoed to an excess of SHH were born with two beaks and eyes spaced far apart.

Frank and Louie was a ragdoll cat, and while cats—both purebred and otherwise—can fall prey to a number of genetic problems, Lyons doesn't think breeding plays a role in the occurrence of Janus cats, since the condition is so rare.

Lucky Feline

Though it may have two faces, a Janus cat almost certainly shares one brain, Lyons said. 

"I would suspect there would be brain-function abnormalities."

Lyons says the fact that other organs like the esophagus weren't doubled up likely saved Frank and Louie's life and allowed it to survive.

"In this particular case, one [side] didn't have a lower jaw or esophagus. If you had both sides of the face eating, I don't know what kind of complications that would cause. Initially the complications are going to be with the ability to eat and breathe properly."

Two-faced animals aren't limited to cats, either, she added.

: 'Frankenlouie', the world's oldest Janus cat - a feline with two faces- died at the age of 15 on Thursday December 4, 2014

Compassionate Owner

Although Janus cats often die young, when left to their own devices cat mothers will often abandon, kill, or even eat a kitten with such severe deformities.

Frank and Louie's owner Marty Stevens has said in previous interviewsthat she took the cat home so that it wouldn't be euthanized, something Lyons applauds. 

"It's very nice that there are individuals in our society that have this type of compassion," said Lyons.

"Like taking care of a handicapped child, they've taken care of a [special-needs] cat for 15 years."

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Snakes are sneaky-even questions about them can wiggle right out of your grasp.

Technically, it's the inland taipan—but other snakes are more dangerous. Snakes are sneaky-even questions about them can wiggle right out of your grasp.

"If you're playing Trivial Pursuit, the answer is the inland taipan," quips Kate Jackson, a biologist at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.When Arocha Musa of Kampala, Uganda, wrote in asking, "What makes the cobra the most dangerous snake?" we quickly realized two things: Cobras aren't considered the most dangerous snake, and finding out which is poses a challenge

That's because the inland taipan has both the most toxic venom and injects the most venom when it bites. A native of Australia that's also called the "fierce snake," the inland taipan packs enough venom to kill a hundred men in one bite, according to the Australia Zoo.

The Australia Venom Research Unit keeps a list of the 25 snakes with the lowest LD50-which are thus the most toxic. The top five are the inland taipan, the eastern brown snake, the coastal taipan, the tiger snake, and the black tiger snake.

Snakes are sneaky-even questions about them can wiggle right out of your grasp

How Toxic? It Depends

Real life isn't so simple. Both Jackson and Steven Seifert, director of the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center, emphasize that there are many other circumstances beyond potency that make a snake dangerous, such as the availability of health care and antivenom following a snakebite.

As Seifert puts it, "The most venomous snake is the one that bites you."

According to the Global Snakebite Initiative, snake bites cause about 125,000 deaths a year worldwide. People get bit more often when they're working outside or must be in places where contact with snakes is unavoidable, Seifert noted.

Top 10 Weirdest Animal Stories of 2014: Editors' Picks

Purple Frog Goes Underground

This was a banner year for the bizarre, with a snake virgin birth, an extremely rare black sea devil, and a real-life unicorn making headlines in Weird & Wild.

Luckily for our fans, we've rounded up our editors' picks of the ten best weird stories of 2014. (See the weirdest stories of 2013.)

Tenth on our list of oddest animal stories is the unusual mating strategy of the Indian purple frog, also known as the pig-nosed frog, an endangered species (pictured) native to the mountains of India's Western Ghats.

Males of the colorful amphibian, discovered in 2003, call to attract females from underground—a strange method of courtship, according to a study published in February.

Keep clicking for more news on Mother Nature's oddest phenomena.

—Christine Dell'Amore, photo gallery by Mallory Benedict 

Snake Virgin Birth

Photograph by Kyle Shepherd, Louisville Zoo

Virgin birth has been documented in the world's longest snake for the first time,we reported in October.

An 11-year-old reticulated python named Thelma produced six female offspring (pictured) in June 2012 at the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky, where she lives with another female python, Louise. No male had ever slithered anywhere near the 200-pound (91-kilogram), 20-foot-long (6 meters) mother snake.

New DNA evidence, published in July in the Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, revealed that Thelma is the sole parent, said Bill McMahan, the zoo's curator of ectotherms, or cold-blooded animals. (Read: "'Virgin Birth' Seen in Wild Snakes, Even When Males Are Available."

From :news.nationalgeographic

How slow are sloths, generally considered Earth's slowest mammal?

How slow are sloths, generally considered Earth's slowest mammal? Distance moved in a day: often just a few yards. Time at rest: up to 20 hours out of each 24. Metabolism: so slow that the tree-dwelling herbivores climb down to defecate only about once a week. That's for the best, because their ungainliness on the ground makes them vulnerable to cars, humans, and other animals.

Well, yes and no, says Mark Rosenthal of Animal Magic, an exotic-animal rescue program in Michigan. With a smartphone and lucky timing, Rosenthal was able to capture "a very rare video of two of our sloths actually breeding" while hanging suspended from a branch in their habitat.The sloth skeleton is suited for reclining or hanging upside down in trees. That's how sloths eat, sleep, give birth—and mate. Though the rain forest exhibit atBaltimore's National Aquarium has welcomed four sloth babies, the staff has never seen a sloth birth or copulation, says curator Ken Howell: "I think of them as having private lives." When seclusion does lead to sex, he says, "apparently it's very quick."

Because his audience includes children, Rosenthal edited the video to finish before the sloths did. The eventual consummation, he says, "was upside down. And it didn't take very long."

Crows are no bird-brains: Neurobiologists investigate neuronal basis of crows' intelligence

Crows are no bird-brains. Behavioral biologists have even called them "feathered primates" because the birds make and use tools, are able to remember large numbers of feeding sites, and plan their social behavior according to what other members of their group do. This high level of intelligence might seem surprising because birds' brains are constructed in a fundamentally different way from those of mammals, including primates -- which are usually used to investigate these behaviors.

The Tübingen researchers are the first to investigate the brain physiology of crows' intelligent behavior. They trained crows to carry out memory tests on a computer. The crows were shown an image and had to remember it. Shortly afterwards, they had to select one of two test images on a touchscreen with their beaks based on a switching behavioral rules. One of the test images was identical to the first image, the other different. Sometimes the rule of the game was to select the same image, and sometimes it was to select the different one. The crows were able to carry out both tasks and to switch between them as appropriate. That demonstrates a high level of concentration and mental flexibility which few animal species can manage -- and which is an effort even for humans.

How would you like to sleep with one half of your brain asleep and the other half awake? Dolphins sleep this way. Scientists at Indiana State University have discovered that ducks sleep this way too. They have published their findings in the journal Nature, February 4, 1999, volume 397, pages 397-398.

The crows were quickly able to carry out these tasks even when given new sets of images. The researchers observed neuronal activity in the nidopallium caudolaterale, a brain region associated with the highest levels of cognition in birds. One group of nerve cells responded exclusively when the crows had to choose the same image -- while another group of cells always responded when they were operating on the "different image" rule. By observing this cell activity, the researchers were often able to predict which rule the crow was following even before it made its choice.

The study published in Nature Communications provides valuable insights into the parallel evolution of intelligent behavior. "Many functions are realized differently in birds because a long evolutionary history separates us from these direct descendants of the dinosaurs," says Lena Veit. "This means that bird brains can show us an alternative solution out of how intelligent behavior is produced with a different anatomy."

Crows and primates have different brains, but the cells regulating decision-making are very similar. They represent a general principle which has re-emerged throughout the history of evolution. "Just as we can draw valid conclusions on aerodynamics from a comparison of the very differently constructed wings of birds and bats, here we are able to draw conclusions about how the brain works by investigating the functional similarities and differences of the relevant brain areas in avian and mammalian brains," says Professor Andreas Nieder.

The Bad reputation of crows demystified

Corvids -- the bird group that includes crows, ravens and magpies -- are the subject of several population control schemes, in both game and conservation environments. These controls are based on the belief that destroying them is good for other birds. They are also considered to be effective predators capable of reducing the populations of their prey.

However, a study published recently in the journal 'Ibis' analysed the impact of six species of corvid on a total of 67 species of bird susceptible to being their prey, among which are game birds and passerine birds.

The project, which compiled the information of 42 scientific studies and analysed a total of 326 interactions between corvids and their prey, shows that they have a much smaller effect on other bird species than was previously thought.

As Beatriz Arroyo -- author of the study and a researcher at the Institute of Research in Game Resources (IREC), a joint centre of the University of Castilla-La Mancha, the Castilla-La Mancha Community Council and the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) -- says: "In 81% of cases studied, corvids did not present a discernible impact on their potential prey. Furthermore, in 6% of cases, some apparently beneficial relationships were even observed."

Greater impact on reproduction

To find out what impact corvids have on their prey, the researchers -- in conjunction with the University of Cape Town (South Africa) -- conducted several experiments in which they isolated crows, ravens and magpies, among other predators, to observe how they affected the reproduction and abundance of other birds.

According to the works analysed, when crows were taken away from their habitat, the survival rates of chickens and the number of eggs of other species were higher in most cases. Nevertheless, with respect to abundance, without corvids an increased size of the populations of other birds was observed only in a small number of cases.

According to the study, when crows were removed from the environment, in 46% of cases their prey had greater reproductive success, while their abundance fell in less than 10% of cases.

Additionally, these experimental studies carried out in nine different countries (Canada, France, Norway, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the USA) revealed that, if corvids are eliminated but other predators are not, the impact on the productivity of their prey would be positive in only 16% of cases; whilst without corvids and other predators, including carnivores, the productivity of other birds improves in 60% of cases.

This suggests that crows, ravens and magpies, amongst others, have a lower impact on prey than other threats. "Compensatory predation can also occur," the researcher explains.

In the study they also compared the effects between different groups of corvids. In these results it is striking that "magpies had much less impact on prey than other species," Arroyo claims.

Comparing crows and magpies, the scientists showed that in 62% of cases crows impacted negatively on the reproduction of their prey, whilst magpies had a negative effect in 12% of cases. "But no differences related to the abundance of prey were noted," the scientist affirms.

For the authors of this piece of research, given the results it is necessary to "be cautious" when drawing conclusions on the impact of magpies or crows on the populations of their prey. "This method of managing populations is frequently ineffective and unnecessary," Arroyo finishes.