Great video of a crow sledding down a roof on a small intertube like thing (a lid?). Then it picks up the sled and flies back to the top and sleds down again. Awesome. The curious crow then flies off with its sled to try it out elsewhere (maybe).
Related: Bird Using Bait to Fish – Cat and Crow Playing Together – Dolphins Play with Air Bubble Rings – Friday Duckling Fun
Fun cat video and a reminder to thank your mother for all the times she saved you from your version of the slide. Have a happy friday. Maybe you should forward this video to your Mom with a note of thanks and make it a happy one for her too.
Related: Friday Cat Fun #11: Ninja Cat Stair Climbing – Naturally Curious Children – Treadmill Cats: Friday Cat Fun #3 – Friday Cat Fun #13: Kitten in His Box
An amazing encounter with a troop of wild mountain gorillas near Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. The reality is that these many natural environments will be maintained only with economic incentives. A certain amount of wilderness can be maintained with economic support from outside (government, charity…). But reasonable accommodations to find ways to make retaining natural wonders economically viable are likely a key to saving much of these environments for the future. Unfortunately there are big incentives to destroy nature from those rich tourists who don’t follow the rules and push their guides to break the rules (guides often do this as they have seen great monetary rewards [in tips] for breaking the rules (bothering animals, going too close, going to off limits areas…). It is sad how often tourists at national parks show utter disregard for nature and preserving things for later generations.
It seems like this video wasn’t about that type of behavior though. Instead it is just an example of how cool nature can be at times. Animals are not quite as predictable as some believe. Like this group that wandered into the camp (as they do a couple times a year) animals often stray from their normal behavior.
Providing good jobs and sharing revenue from tourists with local residents (paying for schools…) is a very good way to encourage residents to support natural heritage sites. This is true in Africa and also near park in the United States, or anywhere else. Here is an example of an organization doing that: Conservation Through Public Health.
I am a huge fan of tying in economic benefits to natural parks and resources. I think this is part of making them not environmentally sustainable but economically sustainable. If the areas do not make a contribution to the economic well being of those living there, there is a danger the land will be tapped for uses that will damage their natural heritage value. We do have to be careful as often these economic interests can turn into greedy people just wanting whatever they can get now (I am saddened by how often tourists behave in this way at natural wonders).
People are going to determine how land is used. We can hope that purely altruistic motives will result in long preserved natural habitats. But I don’t think that hope is as sustainable as creating a situation where it is also in people’s economic interests to maintain the environments. A combination of altruistic, long term thinking and economic interest is more likely to preserve natural environment (in my opinion).
Related: Massive Western Lowland Gorilla Population in Northern Republic of Congo – Grauer’s Gorilla (Eastern Lowlands Gorilla) – African Parks (a business approach to conservation) – Travel photos from National Parks
Rats free trapped companions, even when given choice of chocolate instead
The researchers observed that the free rat acted more agitated when its cagemate was restrained, compared to its activity when the rat was placed in a cage with an empty restrainer. This response offered evidence of an “emotional contagion,” a frequently observed phenomenon in humans and animals in which a subject shares in the fear, distress or even pain suffered by another subject.
While emotional contagion is the simplest form of empathy, the rats’ subsequent actions clearly comprised active helping behavior, a far more complex expression of empathy. After several daily restraint sessions, the free rat learned how to open the restrainer door and free its cagemate. Though slow to act at first, once the rat discovered the ability to free its companion, it would take action almost immediately upon placement in the test arena.
“We are not training these rats in any way,” Bartal said. “These rats are learning because they are motivated by something internal. We’re not showing them how to open the door, they don’t get any previous exposure on opening the door, and it’s hard to open the door. But they keep trying and trying, and it eventually works.”
To control for motivations other than empathy that would lead the rat to free its companion, the researchers conducted further experiments. When a stuffed toy rat was placed in the restrainer, the free rat did not open the door. When opening the restrainer door released his companion into a separate compartment, the free rat continued to nudge open the door, ruling out the reward of social interaction as motivation. The experiments left behavior motivated by empathy as the simplest explanation for the rats’ behavior.
“There was no other reason to take this action, except to terminate the distress of the trapped rats,” Bartal said. “In the rat model world, seeing the same behavior repeated over and over basically means that this action is rewarding to the rat.”
As a test of the power of this reward, another experiment was designed to give the free rats a choice: free their companion or feast on chocolate. Two restrainers were placed in the cage with the rat, one containing the cagemate, another containing a pile of chocolate chips. Though the free rat had the option of eating all the chocolate before freeing its companion, the rat was equally likely to open the restrainer containing the cagemate before opening the chocolate container.
“That was very compelling,” said Mason, Professor in Neurobiology. “It said to us that essentially helping their cagemate is on a par with chocolate. He can hog the entire chocolate stash if he wanted to, and he does not. We were shocked.”
Now that this model of empathic behavior has been established, the researchers are carrying out additional experiments. Because not every rat learned to open the door and free its companion, studies can compare these individuals to look for the biological source of these behavioral differences. Early results suggested that females were more likely to become door openers than males, perhaps reflecting the important role of empathy in motherhood and providing another avenue for study…
Interesting study. My guess is this is the kind of thing those that don’t like science would deride. I believe in the value of science. I believe in the value of learning. I believe that such experiments are what drives science forward. I believe if you want your economy to benefit from investing in science you should be encouraging hundreds and thousands of such experiments. Funding for this study was provided by The National Science Foundation (NSF), and others.
I am thankful that more and more countries are willing to invest in science, especially since the USA is showing an increasing anti-science attitude. I would rather the USA continue to believe in the value of science and other countries looked to increase investments. But, it is much better that other countries increase their interest in science, and willingness to invest in science, to more than make up for the USA’s decisions to reduce the appreciation for science than for the world to just lose do to a decrease in investments in science.
Related: Insightful Problem Solving in an Asian Elephant – Pigeon Solves Box and Banana Problem – Stand with Science – Eliminating NSF Program to Aid K-12 Science Education – The Importance of Science Education
Just a fun video for your Friday. Octopuses are really very cool. Not quite as cool as cats but way up there in the realm of cool animals. Octopuses, octopi and octopodes are all acceptable words for plural of octopus?
A few year ago (2008) I posted about another very cool octopus, who liked to juggling fellow aquarium occupants.
I think I will devote more time to learning about octopuses and posting more about them.
Related: Hydromedusae, Siphonophora, Cnidarians, Ctenophores – Critter Cam: Sea Lion versus Octopus – Red octopus at a brine lake beneath the sea
The Grauer’s Gorilla (Eastern Lowlands Gorilla) is closely related to the endangered mountain gorilla and is found in the Congo. The eastern lowland gorilla is actually the largest gorilla; males can weigh over 500 pounds. As you can guess from the name, these gorilla’s prefer lowlands to the mountains.
Sadly the eastern lowland gorilla wild population is estimated to have fallen below 8,000 due to warfare (intruding on their territory), agriculture, mining, logging and hunting gorilla’s for meat. The Wildlife Conservation Society is helping preserve habitat for these wonderful creatures.
Related: Massive Western Lowland Gorilla Population in Northern Republic of Congo – Savanna Chimpanzees Hunt with Tools – Orangutan Attempts to Hunt Fish with Spear – Insightful Problem Solving in an Asian Elephant
Curious cats are the best. This one uses the doorbell to get into the house.
Related: Automatic Cat Feeder – Curious Cat Hat – Friday Fun, Cat Parkour
Interesting discussion on the bacteria living inside our cells. For example, many plants have bacteria that get inside the root system and then help fix nitrogen for the plant. Some sea slugs take the chloroplasts from algae they eat and incorporate it themselves, allowing them to get energy from light (photosynthesis): they become photosynthetic slugs.
Adults need science education more than kids do is also a good segment. And I agree strongly that we (as individuals and society) lose a great deal when we fail to help people enjoy learning about science during their whole lives.
I also like the usability of this widget above, where it lets you include the internal links easily into a video.
Related: Symbiotic relationship between ants and bacteria – Biologists Identified a New Way in Which Bacteria Hijack Healthy Cells – Using Bacteria to Carry Nanoparticles Into Cells – The Economic Consequences of Investing in Science Education
Here is a video of some bears wandering around in a backyard. This was the first time the owner saw bears in their backyard. The bears found a great source of food in the apple tree. It is exciting to see nature in our own backyards. Though admittedly most people could would rather have nature be limited to animals that cannot harm them or their family.
Black bear in an apple tree in a Ashville, North Carolina yard.
Related: The Cat and a Black Bear – Friday Fun: Mother Bear Rescues Cub From a Tree – Backyard Wildlife: Fox – Bear Defeats Combination Bear Lock
Shark Molecule Kills Human Viruses, Too
“It looked like no other compound that had been described in any animal or plant before. It was something completely unique,” Zasloff said. The compound is a potent antibacterial and has shown efficacy in treating human cancers and an eye condition known as macular degeneration, which causes blindness.
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By studying the compound’s structure and how it works in the human body, Zasloff thought it might have some antiviral properties. He saw that the molecule works by sticking to the cell membranes of the liver and blood vessels. While there, it kicks off other proteins, some of which are essential for viruses to enter and survive in the cell.
The researchers decided to test the compound on several different live viruses that infect liver cells, including hepatitis B, dengue virus and yellow fever. They saw high efficacy across the board.
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Zasloff hopes to start human trials in the next few years.
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Marc Maresca, a researcher at Paul Cézanne University in Aix-en-Provence, France, who wasn’t involved in the study, agreed that the concentrations used were quite high, possibly in toxic ranges for some cells, but in an email to LiveScience Meresca also called the study “very exciting.”
Related: Alligator Blood Provides Strong Resistance to Bacteria and Viruses – Female Sharks Can Reproduce Alone – Monarch Butterflies Use Medicinal Plants