Researchers of the University of Bern have shown for the first time in an experiment that also non-human animals exchange different kind of favours. Humans commonly trade different commodities, which is considered a core competence of our species. However, this capacity is not exclusively human as Norway rats exchange different commodities, too. They strictly follow...
Comprehensive study on Atlantic Forest mammals
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The Atlantic Forest, the second most biodiverse forest system in South America (after the Amazon), once covered roughly 463,000 square miles of habitat. Today, only 8-12 percent of this original habitat space remains. Ninety-six co-authors compiled trait information on 39,850 individuals from 279 different mammal species and 388 separate populations into...
Read more
Slow but steady: New study sheds light on the brain evolution of turtles
A new study led by the University of Birmingham shows that the brain of turtles has evolved slowly, but constantly over the last 210 million years, eventually reaching a variety in form and complexity, which rivals that of other animal groups.
The study also discovered that the first turtles with a fully formed shell were very...
The disappearance of common species
Together with their colleagues from the Senckenberg Nature Research Society, scientists of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) were able to show that currently widespread insects are threatened with a serious decline in species diversity in the near future. The research team lists the fragmentation of habitats and the intensification of agriculture as reasons for...
Lone star ticks not guilty in spread of Lyme disease
[unable to retrieve full-text content]The bacteria that cause Lyme disease are transmitted to humans primarily by the blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis). Often presumed guilty by association is the lone star tick (Amblyomma americanum). However, a new review of three decades' worth of research concludes the latter should be exonerated: While lone star ticks are guilty...
Read more
Dinosaur age meets the space age
A slab of sandstone discovered at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center contains at least 70 mammal and dinosaur tracks from more than 100 million years ago, according to a new paper published Jan. 31 in the journal Scientific Reports. The find provides a rare glimpse of mammals and dinosaurs interacting.
The tracks were discovered by Ray...