Saturday 31 January 2015

5 New Species of 'Shimmering' Goblin Spider Discovered-Volboratella teresae.

Have fishermen discovered a new species of ancient MAN? Chunky jawbone fossil dredged up off coast of Taiwan

Fishermen working off the coast of Taiwan have dredged up the jawbone of an ancient human ancestor that lived in the area around 200,000 years ago. The short, thick mandible has unusually large teeth and a strong jaw compared to other human fossils found in East Asia, according to anthropologists. The discovery suggests that it belonged to an previously unknown ancient human lineage. Experts say it means that there may have been several species of early human living in Asia until modern humans arrived 55,000 years ago. 
The fossilised jawbone is the first ancient hominin remains to be found in Taiwan. 


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2928549/Have-fishermen-discovered-new-species-ancient-man-Chunky-jawbone-fossil-dredged-coast-Taiwan.html#ixzz3QPQYhLJK 
The fossilised lower jawbone (above) was dredged up in a fishing net 15 miles off the west coast of Taiwan

Sauropods-50-foot-long 'dragon' dinosaur species discovered in China

Sauropods, a category of dinosaurs that includes the Diplodocus, typically had necks that comprised up to a third of their body size. A new species of dinosaur described in a recent Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology had a neck that could stretch up to 25 feet long, which is half its body length. The dino has been named Qijianglong (pronounced "CHI-jyang-lon"), which means "dragon of Qijiang." Its bones were discovered near China's Qijiang City by construction workers in 2006. It belongs to a family of sauropods known as mamenchisaurids. Miraculously, when the beast was unearthed, its head was still attached to its vertebrae, something extremely unusual in the paleontology world. "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," explains Tetsuto Miyashita, a University of Alberta paleontologist who, along with former master's student Lida Xing and professor Philip Currie, discovered the new species. RELATED STORIES Secret of 'Jurassic Park' raptor sounds? Tortoise sex New flamboyant dinosaur named after speedy god Biggest-ever dinosaur unearthed? Some researchers think so Also of note is that the dinosaur's vertebrae were filled with air, much like the skeletons of birds. This made their necks fairly lightweight for their massive size (and no doubt, kept -READ MORE LINK-http://www.cnet.com/news/50-foot-long-dragon-dinosaur-species-discovered-in-china/

Ageing whales: Scars reveal social secrets

Baird's beaked whales, sometimes called giant bottlenose whales, seem to prefer the company of specific individuals. Researchers who identified the whales by scars on their bodies, are calling for hunting of the species to be halted while more information is gathered about their complex social structure. Currently, they are hunted by whalers off northern Japan. The new findings have been published in the journal Marine Mammal Science.Erich Hoyt, from Whale and Dolphin Conservation and co-director of the Russian Cetacean Habitat Project, who led the research, said his team had followed the animals from spring to early autumn over four years. "We were trying to piece together the social behaviour," he told BBC News. The whales spend relatively little time at the surface and make regular dives of up to 30 minutes, reaching depths of 1km (3,300ft). Continue reading the main story “ Start Quote Disturbing them or removing individuals might have significant consequences” Prof Ari Friedlaender Oregon State University This makes them difficult to study. But by following them over four years and cataloguing them based on each individual's numerous scars, the scientists were able to reveal new social insights. Most striking were the long-term relationships the whales appeared to form. The team, mostly made up of Russian research students, discovered one alliance of two whales that were together four times - the animals were apparently repeatedly meeting up with one another over a period of more than three years. Of the scars on the whales' bodies, the team concluded these had been caused by drift nets, killer whale attacks and cookie cutter sharks.READ MORE AND SEE VIDEO LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30993208

Chicks place low numbers on the left

Scientists in Italy have found that baby chickens associate low and high numbers with left and right, respectively - just like humans. In a series of experiments, 60 newborn chicks were shown patterns of shapes representing different numbers, before choosing a direction. Humans are known to use a "mental number line" to think about quantities but this innate left-right association has not been seen in animals before. The work appears in Science magazine. Dr Rossa Rugani, who led the experiments at the University of Padova, said it was impossible to know exactly what drove the chicks' choices - but the results were clear. "All we can judge is behavioural responses. Therefore, we don't actually know if it is a real 'number line' but it strongly resembles what is observed in the human number line," she told BBC News-READ MORE AND SEE VIDEO LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31038256

Skull clue to exodus from Africa

An ancient skull discovered in Israel could shed light on the migration of modern humans out of Africa some 60,000 years ago. This migration led to the colonisation of the entire planet by our species, as well as the extinction of other human groups such as the Neanderthals. The skull from Manot Cave dates to 55,000 years ago and may be the closest we've got to finding one of the earliest migrants from Africa. Details appear in Nature journal. "The skull is very gracile - there is nothing that makes it any different from a modern skull," Prof Israel Hershkovitz, from Tel Aviv University, told the Nature podcast. "But it also has traits that are found in older specimens." He added: "This is the first evidence that shows indeed there was a large wave of migrants out of East Africa, crossing the Sahara and the Nubian desert and inhabiting the eastern Mediterranean region 55,000 years ago. So it is really a key skull in understanding modern human evolution." Manot cave Manot Cave in Galilee was re-discovered during construction work in 2008 Physical features of the skull, such as a distinctive "bun-shaped" region at the back, resemble those found in the earliest modern humans from Europe. This "implies that the Manot people were probably the forefathers of many of the early, Upper Palaeolithic populations of Europe", Prof Hershkovitz said. Chris Stringer, research Leader in human origins at London's Natural History Museum, commented: "Manot might represent some of the elusive first -READ MORE LINManot SkullK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-31022975

Saturday 24 January 2015

Weird ancient frilled shark found in fisherman's net

This strange-looking shark has found its way into a fisherman's net in Australia.
The shark is a rare species that can be traced back to animals that lived 80 million years ago.
It is called the frilled shark, as it has lots of frilly gills down its long body, and it has often been called a 'living fossil'.
Frilled shark in Japanese watersA live frilled shark was found in Japan in 2007
The shark has around 300 super sharp teeth in 25 rows, to help it catch its prey.

'Horror movie'

"It was like a large eel, probably 1.5 metres long, and the body was quite different to any other shark I'd ever seen," fisherman David Guillot told an Australian radio station.
"The head on it was like something out of a horror movie. It was quite horrific looking."
It is very rare to see the frilled shark as it lives in very deep water - sometimes hundreds of metres below the surface.

Jellyfish 'can sense ocean currents'

Jellyfish can sense the ocean current and actively swim against it, according to a study that involved tagging and tracking the creatures. The research, by an international team, could help scientists work out how jellyfish form "blooms". These blooms may comprise between hundreds and millions of jellyfish, and can persist in a given area for months. It remains unclear just how the jellyfish sense changes in water, the paper in Current Biology journal says. The scientists, including researchers from Swansea University and Deakin University in Warnambool, Australia, tagged 18 large barrel jellyfish (Rhizostoma octopus) in the Bay of Biscay, off the coast of France. The team caught the jellyfish and fitted them with loggers that measured acceleration and body orientation. Lead researcher Prof Graeme Hays from Deakin University said it was "really easy" to attach the tags. "We loop a cable tie around the peduncle that joins the swimming bell to the trailing arms," he explained. "It takes seconds, and the tag stays on indefinitely." At the same time, the researchers used floating sensors to monitor and measure the ocean currents. Continue reading the main story Jellyfish facts Barrel jellyfish The scientific name for the barrel species is Rhizostoma, which means "root pores" Jellyfish are the staple diet of the critically endangered leatherback turtle The blue jellyfish is a common visitor to our coasts from May to October. Its sting is less severe than a nettle sting The compass jellyfish is prevalent off the south and west coasts of England. It has a saucer-shaped bell, with 32 semi-circular lobes around the fringe While the Portuguese Man o' War resembles a jellyfish, it is in fact a floating, compound marine animal. It is made up of a colony of four kinds of polyps Source: Marine Conservation Society This showed that the jellyfish were able actively to swim against the current, apparently in response to feeling themselves drift. In a second part of the study, the researchers used their data to create a realistic simulation of the movement of a bloom of jellyfish in the ocean. This showed, said Prof Hays, that "active and directed swimming helps maintain blooms", by keeping jellyfish in a particular area rather than allowing them to be dispersed or washed ashore by the currents. "With this knowledge of their behaviour we can start to have some predictive capability for bloom dynamics," the scientist told BBC News. What is not yet clear is how exactly the jellyfish work out which way to travel. The scientists think the animals might sense the current across the surface of their bodies. They also speculate that the jellyfish might use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate - an ability seen in some other migrating marine species, including sea turtles. One ultimate aim of studying and tracking swimming jellyfish is to improve the forecasting of jellyfish blooms, which have increased in frequency over the past decade, disrupting fisheries and stinging swimmers. Perhaps troublingly, these results show that swimming against the current helps hold blooms together, even in areas when currents are strong.SEE VIDEO LINK-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30936192

Sunday 18 January 2015

BBC 2 NATURES WEIRDE EVENTS-3 PART EPISODES.

  1. Episode 3

    3/3 Chris Packham explores the legend of a sea serpent and goats stood stock still in a tree.
    First broadcast: 15 Jan 2015
  2. Episode 2

    2/3 Featuring an island covered in rabbits and stones that move by themselves.
    First broadcast: 14 Jan 2015
  3. Episode 1

    1/3 Chris Packham finds something odd in the Caribbean water and a giant bird in Australia.
    First broadcast: 13 Jan 2015-http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01pqmqq/episodes/guide#p02fbwtt

Mystery of the real-life sea serpent

The enigmatic oarfish could be the truth behind ancient tales of sea serpents capable of sinking ships. Growing up to 36ft (11m) long and swimming like a snake at the ocean’s surface, oarfish match historic descriptions of frightening monsters from the deep. The giant fish is still capable of sending witnesses fleeing for their lives and sightings in shallow water or incidents of oarfish beaching themselves seem to be increasing. In reality oarfish are harmless and rarely seen as they are thought to normally live at depths of 500-1000ft (152-305m). But still very little is known about them. The oarfish family (Regalecidae) contains the longest bony fish in the world (Regalecus glesne) which was first described in 1772 by Peter AscaniusREAD MORE LINK-http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150115-mystery-of-the-real-life-sea-serpent

The wasp that kills tarantulas

A tarantula can only avoid being paralysed by running away (credit: BBC/Lauren Pascoe)Tarantulas have earned a deadly reputation as a predator capable of killing mice, lizards and small birds. But the spiders are known to run in fear from a giant insect. The tarantula hawk wasp preys on its namesake, engaging in a ferocious battle that leads to the spider being paralysed with a highly painful sting. Females of the species take on tarantulas because their size makes them a perfect meal for the wasp’s larger than average offspring.READ MORE LINK-http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150109-the-wasp-that-scares-tarantulas