Sunday 31 August 2014

TALKING TROUT: New species of trout found in Rome


I have been around fish and fishing all of my life, 65 years and counting.
During this time I have learned to easily identify at least 90 percent of the game fish found in Georgia and Florida, and I can tell you the names of many of the minnows, dace, darters and other non-game fish that are found in the creeks and rivers near Rome.
On a recent short walk not far from downtown Rome I glanced down and spotted the silhouette of a trout-like fish.
I looked over my shoulder and spotted another one.
I looked closely at the fish and saw a distinct lateral line, the elongated shape of a mature fish and the fin shape and pattern that absolutely belonged to the “Salmonid family” which contains both trout and salmon but even after checking out the spots that were above and below the lateral line I was still unable to name the fish.
The fish was a rusty brown color and I must say even though I cannot name the fish I am proud that it is where it is — on the cover of a storm drain.
Over the past 20 or so years environmental groups such as Adopt a Stream have been marking storm drains with a stencil to indicate that they drain into streams and rivers directly and the water does not go to the sewage treatment plant to be cleaned. This “trout drain” also has two written messages, “dump no waste” and “drains to waterways.”-READ MORE

Saturday 30 August 2014

DNA reveals history of vanished 'Paleo-Eskimos'

DNA sequences from living and ancient inhabitants show a single influx from Siberia produced all the "Paleo-Eskimo" cultures, which died out 700 years ago.
Modern-day Inuit and Native Americans arose from separate migrations.
Previously our understanding of this history was based largely on cultural artefacts, dug up by archaeologists.
The study, which has more than 50 authors hailing from institutions across the globe, was published in the journal Science.

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A single founding population settled, and endured the harsh conditions of the Arctic, for almost 5,000 years”
Dr Maanasa Raghavan Natural History Museum of Denmark
Multiple models
Researchers of North American prehistory have long disagreed about the lineages of Arctic peoples, ranging from the first arrivals who mostly hunted ox and reindeer, through at least four other cultural groupings, to the modern Inuit and their marine hunting culture.
"Since the 1920s or so, it has been heavily discussed what is the relationship between these cultural groups," said senior author Prof Eske Willerslev from the Natural History Museum of Denmark, which is part of the University of Copenhagen.
"All kinds of hypotheses have been proposed. Everything from complete continuity between the first people in the Arctic to present-day Inuits, [while] other researchers have argued that the Saqqaq and the Dorset and the Thule are distinct people."
These three broadly-grouped cultures all occupied the north of North America: the Saqqaq until 2,500 years ago, followed by a series of Dorset cultures and then the Thule (Inuit ancestors) from about 1,000 years ago--READ MORE-.www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28965227

WHITBAIT FOUND DEAD IN THOUSANDS

Bemused walkers found "hundreds of thousands" of whitebait fish trapped in a tidal pool.
It is the second time a shoal has been trapped in the same pool, near Plymouth, in less than two weeks.
And unusually high numbers of whitebait have also been causing the sea off west Dorset to bubble as mackerel chase the whitebait for food, causing them to jump in the air.
Peter Wilkes and his fiancé Carla Hosking were out enjoying a Sunday morning stroll in Plymouth with their 20-month-old son James when they thought they saw the pool at Firestone Bay looking as if it had "iced over".
On closer inspection, they found that it was the reflection of thousands of small dead fish which had become trapped in the shallow water.
"We saw the pond and it looked almost iced-over," said railway station worker Mr Wilkes. "A lot of people were taking photos and we went down to take a closer look. There were little girls trying to push the fish back into the tidal pool to keep them alive. There were hundreds of thousands of whitebait. I would say about 90 per cent of them were dead. Some were still flapping about on the concrete or swimming about over the dead ones lying at the bottom of the pool. I don't think the others will survive very long.
"A lot of people were saying the fish might have run out of oxygen. We did notice there was a froth around a lot of the fish.."
Guy Baker, communications officer for the Marine Biological Association, said sand eels had been known to be caught in the tidal pool. He said this was the season for mackerel to be hunting small fish and could have chased them into the shallow waters. Spring tides are also bigger at this time of year, so the fish may have simpl

Read more: http://www.westerndailypress.co.uk/Onlookers-confusion-thousands-whitebait-fish/story-22818756-detail/story.html#ixzz3Bt6K5WKT

N.L. fossil shows earliest evidence ever of animals with muscles

The fossil, dating from about 560 million years ago, was discovered in the Port Union area by a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and Memorial University in St. John's.
A fossil that was discovered on Newfoundland could be the oldest complex animal and the earliest evidence of muscular tissue in the world.
The fossil, dating from about 560 million years ago, was discovered in the Port Union area on the Bonavista Peninsula in 2009 by a team of researchers from the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, and Memorial University in St. John's.

Artist reconstruction of Haootia quadriformis organism
This artist reconstruction of the organism shows its bundles of fibres in a four-fold symmetrical arrangement, similar to modern Cnidarians like jellyfish and sea anemones. (Submitted by Martin Brasier)
"It's amazing, because it is completely different from everything we'd seen before in the rocks in Newfoundland, both down at Mistaken Point [on the southern Avalon] and up on the Bonavista Peninsula," said Jack Matthews, an Oxford PhD candidate in geology. "Whereas everything else is what we call a frondose organism, this is completely different.  "And we believe we've interpreted that it is a Cnidarian, so, of a similar nature to modern jellyfish, and corals, and sea anemones."-READ MORE

Madagascar pochard, world's rarest bird, needs new home- Aythya innotata-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/28897118-small video link

The Madagascar pochard, the world's rarest bird, will not be able to thrive without a new wetland home.
This is according to a study revealing that 96% of the chicks are dying at two to three weeks old.
Conservationists say that human activity has driven the birds to one remaining wetland, but that that site has insufficient food for the ducks.
The research is published in the journal Bird Conservation International.
The Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (WWT), which led the research, estimates that only 25 individual birds now remain in the wild.
Human activity, including deforestation, farming and fishing, has destroyed their habitat to the point that this last population is now restricted to one wetland in north-east Madagascar - a complex of lakes near Bemanevika.
After the rediscovery of the species at this site in 2006, the WWT and its partners, including the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Peregrine Fund, set up a conservation breeding programme and began to monitor the wild birds.
Dr Geoff Hilton, head of species research at the WWT, said that with such a small number of birds, keeping a close eye on the population was straightforward.
"We had about 10 or 11 females, [and] we were able to tell that most of those females were laying eggs, and those eggs were hatching," he told BBC News. Too deep to dive
Piecing the evidence together, including samples of food from the bottom of the lake, the researchers realised that the chicks were starving to death.
Conservation worker in Madagascar with a Madagascar pochard Local and international conservationists are working together to find a new home for the rare ducksWWT senior research officer Dr Andrew Bamford, who led the study, said: "The last refuge of the Madagascar pochard is one of the last unspoilt wetlands in the country, but it's simply not suited to its needs.
"Something similar happened in the UK when the lowland red kite became confined to upland Wales, and in Hawaii, where the last nenes survived only on the upper slopes of volcanoes because introduced predators had occupied their favoured grassland habitats."
Dr Hilton added: "What we think we're seeing is a bit of a classic wildlife conservation conundrum.
"The place where the species hangs on at the end is not a particularly good place for them - it's just the place that's been least badly affected by human activities."
Peter Cranswick of the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust explains the risks faced by the Madagascar pochard
But the researchers say the species could thrive in Madagascar again if the captive-bred ducks can be found a new wetland home.
"We have been very successful in establishing a captive population," said Dr Hilton.
"And we have recently identified a lake that we think has potential to be restored and become a reintroduction site.
"The main thing we have to do is work with the local people to reintroduce and restore the pochard, but also to restore the lake and help people to get a better livelihood from the lake they live around." Madagascar pochard ducklings (c) WWT

DIE TRYING POLARS V GRIZZLIES - NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL

In this episode of programme the aim was to be the first to get a picture of a superber-hybrid of polar bear and grizzly.You can see for yourself if succeeded-neogeotv.com/uk

Yeti footprint photos up for auction



Cryptozoology enthusiasts will get the chance to own some classic photographic evidence supporting the existence of the elusive Yeti.
British explorer Eric Earle Shipton photographed unusual 13-inch footprints during a 1951 expedition with Dr. Michael Ward in the Himalayas. Believers in the mythical ape-like creature believe these photos are the best evidence supporting Yeti’s existence.
Shipton’s photos are up for auction as part of a two-week-long online auction that began on August 27 on the Christie’s website. Two of these 12-inch by 13-inch photographs show the alleged Yeti footprints, with human footprints for comparison. The other two photos better depict the massive scale of the mysterious footprint by showing the Yeti footprint next to an ice ax and a boot.
The auction’s description reads:
"Eric Earle Shipton (1907-1977), Photographer
Yeti footprints in the Menlung Basin
the photograph of footprint with mountain boot alongside inscribed by Tom Bourdillon in ink on reverse: 'Dear Mick. Here are the footprint photos: sorry for the delay. We came across them on a high pass on the Nepal-Tibet watershed during the 1951 Everest expedition. They seemed to have come over a secondary pass at about 19,500 ft, down to 19,000 ft where we first saw them, and then went on down the glacier. We followed them for the better part of a mile. What it is, I don't know, but I am quite clear that it is no animal known to live in the Himalaya, & that it is big. Compare the depths to which it & Mike Ward (no featherweight) have broken into the snow. Yours, Tom Bourdillon.'
carbon prints
each 6 7/16 x 4½in. (16.3 x 11.5cm.)
unframed
(4)"
The mainstream scientific community regards the Yeti as nothing more than a mythical creature. LiveScience explains that, in 2013, geneticist Bryan Sykes of the University of Oxford used DNA analysis from two different hair samples thought to belong to Yeti. He determined those two samples came from an ancient polar bear.
Some also assert that Shipton hoaxed his Yeti footprint photos. But many still believe in the creature’s existence.
Yeti’s North American cousin, Bigfoot, is better known in pop culture. Although many claim to have seen the man-beast, and some claim to have evidence proving its existence, mainstream science feels the same about Bigfoot as it does about Yeti.
True believers aren’t deterred by the opinion of mainstream science. Hardcore Yeti proponents are sure to agree with James Hyslop, a specialist who cataloged Shipton’s photos for the online auction. He describes the photo collection as a “massive part of history.”
The set of four pictures is expected to fetch more than £5,000 (more than $8,000) at auction.

New butterfly species found in Arunachal Pradesh- Kaiser-e-Hind (Teinoplaspus imperialis)

butterflyITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh is known as a treasure trove of nature, where one after another, new fish and butterfly species have been found in recent years.

Now, nature lover Dr Tage Kano has announced the discovery of a new butterfly species after detecting the spectacular-winged beauty in the deep woods of Ziro on Saturday evening.

The discovery of the Kaiser-e-Hind (Teinoplaspus imperialis), photographed live for the first time in India by Dr Kano during a Butterfly Meet organized by NgunuZiro at Ziro, amounts to creating history.

Charopa lafargei-New snail species found

Significant find: The 'Charopa lafargei' was found in the northernmost part of Gunung Kanthan in Ipoh. A  Anew species of snail has been discovered in Perak and named after the cement company quarrying the hill it was found on.
Found by two Malaysians in 2011, Charopa lafargei is only 1.4mm tall and takes its name after Lafarge, which is currently mining the limestone hill Gunung Kanthan.
Published in a scientific journal by the Netherlands Malacological Society on Aug 17, the report said the snail was found on the hill’s northern region.
“On a species level, it is uniquely identified among West Malaysian charopidae by its conical shell and high, lamella-shaped radial ribs,” the report, co-authored by Dutch taxonomist Jaap Van Vermuelen and Malaysian Mohammad Effendi Marzuki, said.
It added that the snail was found on leaf litter at the base of a limestone cliff and termed as “presumed narrowly endemic”, meaning that it was found only in a small area and that more surveys needed to be done to be sure.
“We named this species Charopa lafargei after Lafarge, whose declared goals for biodiversity include minimising and avoiding damage to important habitats,” the report said.
Speaking to The Star via e-mail, Vermuelen said the snail was discovered by Mohammad and Liew Thor Seng, a biologist currently based at Universiti Malaysia Sabah.
“These adapted species often occur confined to a single hill or a small group of hills, and are found nowhere else in the world. Charopa lafargei may be such a species,” he said.

Wednesday 27 August 2014

Rare sei whale -Balaenoptera borealis-spotted off Cornwall's coast in Penzance

A rare whale has been spotted off the coast of Penzance.
Experts believe these photographs show a sei whale  – the creatures rarely visit water around the UK.
Sei whales are the third largest rorqual after the blue whale and fin whale.
These photographs were taken by Penzance-based marine wildlife tour company Marine Discovery.
Hannah Jones, from Marine Discovery, said: “We're usually the last people to try and make things sound rarer than they actually are - after all simply seeing any whales off the coast of Cornwall is exciting enough. Reasons we think this whale was a Sei Whale; very visible blow, but probably not dense or tall enough for a fin whale; blow and fin seen at same time; "chin up" surface with pronounced rostrum (the "seam" running from the blowholes to the tip of the upper jaw); spots! On one of the photos, there are visible pale spots behind the fin; swathes of pale colouration on the back (though minkes do often have this as well) Feasibly large, sickle shaped fin, though you can never ID rorqual whales from the fin alone.”
“So we don't think this was a juvenile fin whale as was first thought, but a possible sei whale. These are usually seen in deeper water, but rarely seen full stop. However obviously we are not utterly 100 per cent.”
A sei whale can grow up to 64 feet long weighing 28 tonnes. Yet the colossal creature feasts mainly on plankton.

Read more at http://www.cornishman.co.uk/Rare-sei-whale-spotted-Cornwall-s-coast-Penzance/story-22803635-detail/story.html#b5DywvM8tzfIsQ4u.99

Sunday 24 August 2014

ECOVIEWS: How do scientists know they have found a new species? Read more: ECOVIEWS: How do scientists know they have found a new species? |

Q. I thought we were losing species worldwide, but I have read about DNA being used to discover a new salamander, lizard, flower, etc. How do scientists know when they have found a new species not already known to science?
A. We are indeed losing species on a global scale at a much faster rate than we discover new ones. Reports of discoveries of new species can be misleading, because all of them were already here. They just had not yet been identified by humans, which leads to the answer to the question.
The first step in discovering a new species is knowing which ones have already been documented. It typically takes an expert in a particular taxonomic group to recognize a species as new to science. Ecologists who explore regions where they are not familiar with the plants and animals read field guides about the flora and fauna. Such books have photographs or drawings and written descriptions of size, color, and general appearance of species. They include information about geographic ranges and the ecology of species. Examining museum specimens to learn about variations among species in a taxonomic group can also be important, as can a thorough review of scientific journals that might refer to the group of organisms in question.
The most likely places for new species to be discovered are unpopulated regions, especially in the tropics. For example, new species of bats are continuing to be described in Madagascar; a new monkey has been found in Tanzania; and a new species in the violet family was reported this year in the Philippines. To know the species were new, the scientists describing them had to be familiar with the particular taxonomic group and know traits of every known species in the world that could be related to it.


Read more: ECOVIEWS: How do scientists know they have found a new species? | Aiken Standard
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Hints of elusive early stars found

star formation
Astronomers may have discovered the signature of one of the Universe's earliest stars.
Theoretical models predict that some of the very first stars were hundreds of times larger than the Sun.
But no clear evidence of this had been found so far.
Scientists writing in the journal Science have discovered the traces of an early massive stellar object in the exceptional chemical composition of a star in our galaxy.
"This is quite a unique star, with a very peculiar chemical pattern that has never been found previously," said lead author Dr Wako Aoki, from the National Observatory of Japan.
READ MORE The star in question revealed a chemical composition never seen before
In the first several hundred million years after the Big Bang, the Universe was composed only of hydrogen and helium. It had no structure, no stars, nor any black holes.
"It was a very featureless, boring Universe. Then the first stars formed and fundamentally transformed it," said Dr Volker Bromm from the University of Texas, Austin.
Dr Bromm, who was not part of the study, has worked for many years on numerical simulations of early star and galaxy formation-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28885991

FRENCH BEES LIKE URBAN AREAS.

French researchers recorded a third of France,s 900 species of wild bees living in towns and cities.60 were found in very urbanised areas in Lyon.The theory is that the rural areas are being adversarial affected by factas  like pesticides.

Saturday 23 August 2014

New dates rewrite Neanderthal story

Cueva Morin, Spain Mousterian and Modern Human levels
Modern humans and Neanderthals co-existed in Europe 10 times longer than previously thought, a study suggests.
The most comprehensive dating of Neanderthal bones and tools ever carried out suggests that the two species lived side-by-side for up to 5,000 years.
The new evidence suggests that the two groups may even have exchanged ideas and culture, say the researchers.
The study has been published in the journal Nature.

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We can set aside the idea of a rapid extinction of Neanderthals caused solely by the arrival of modern humans”
Prof Thomas Higham University of Oxford
Until now, Neanderthal remains have been dated by a number of laboratories but many have been considered unreliable.- READ MORE

green tree python IS ONE OF-Tree-hugging snakes squeeze tight for safety

green tree python
When a snake climbs a tree, it squeezes the trunk up to five times harder than necessary, according to a new study.
For the first time, biologists have measured the force exerted by climbing snakes, using pressure sensors on a vertical pipe, wrapped in tennis grip.
All 10 of the snakes in the study held onto the pipe much tighter than was necessary to support their own weight.
The research suggests that the animals place safety ahead of efficiency, making a fall as unlikely as possible.

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Imagine you want to jump across a stream - by how far do you clear it? Do you make it close, or go as far as you can?”
Dr Greg Byrnes Assistant Professor, Siena College, NY
"What's interesting about this, is it's a choice by the animal to do more than they necessarily need to do," said Dr Greg Byrnes, who did the experiments at the University of Cincinnati and now teaches at Siena College in New York State.
Published in the journal Biology Letters, Dr Byrnes' study is the first indication that snakes employ a big "safety factor" when climbing.
Pressure ripples "We weren't sure if it would be that way. In other fields of biology, you see large safety factors," Dr Byrnes told the BBC. Structural elements like bones, he explained, are often stronger than they need to be to withstand everyday loads.
"But this was the first time anyone's really tested something where the animal's choosingto give itself a safety factor."READ MORE

Bright White Beetle Dazzles Scientists -Scarabaeidae, Coleoptera, Insecta, arthropod"- Cyphochilus beetle

An obscure species of beetle could teach us how to produce brilliant white ultra-thin materials, according to a research team led by the University of Exeter.
The Cyphochilus beetle has a highly unusual brilliant white shell. New research by the University of Exeter and Imerys Minerals Ltd. and published in leading journal Science (19 January), reveals the secret to this beetle's bizarre appearance.
The Cyphochilus beetle has evolved its brilliant whiteness using a unique surface structure. At one 200th of a millimetre thick, its scales are ten times thinner than a human hair. Industrial mineral coatings, such as those used on high quality paper, plastics and in some paints, would need to be twice as thick to be as white. According to ISO accredited measurements for whiteness and brightness, the beetle is much whiter and brighter than milk and the average human tooth, which are both considerably thicker.
'This kind of brilliant whiteness from such a thin sample is rare in nature. As soon as I saw it, every instinct told me that the beetle was something very special,' said Dr Pete Vukusic of the University of Exeter's School of Physics. 'In future, the paper we write on, the colour of our teeth and even the efficiency of the rapidly emerging new generation of white light sources will be significantly improved if technology can take and apply the design ideas we learn from this beetle.'
Colour in both nature and technology can be produced by pigmentation or by very regularly arranged layers or structures. Whiteness, however, is created through a random structure, which produces 'scattering' of all colours simultaneously. Using electron microscope imaging, Dr Vukusic studied the beetle's body, head and legs and found them to be covered in long flat scales, which have highly random internal 3D structures. These irregular internal forms are the key to its uniquely effective light scattering. By balancing the size of the structures with the spacing between them, they scatter white light far more efficiently than the fibres in white paper or the enamel on teeth.
Native to South-east Asia, it is believed that the beetle's whiteness has evolved to mimic local white fungi as a form of camouflage.
Biomimicry: Nature's great designs
In 2000, Californian scientists published research revealing how geckos scurry up walls and stick to ceilings. Their findings could help to develop a novel synthetic adhesive.
In 2002, a German scientist showed how tiny bumps on the lotus leaf cause rain water to ball up and clean dirt from its surface. This microstructure has been an inspiration for paint and easy-clean furniture fibres.
In 2005, Dr Pete Vukusic of the University of Exeter showed how butterflies give out fluorescent signals by absorbing and re-emitting ultra-violet light. This technology has been in-place in nature for 30 million years, but scientists are just now developing high emission light emitting diodes (LEDs), which work in the same way. He also worked with cosmetics company L'Oréal to develop a pigment-free photonic make-up based on mimicking butterfly scales.

Turtles ‘Talk’ to Each Other, Parents Call Out to Offspring- South American giant river turtle-. Camila Ferrera

The film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has topped box offices for two weeks in a row, despite poor reviews. It’s no surprise, of course, that the film is wildly scientifically inaccurate—it is about human-sized mutant turtles, of course. But in one important way, the science flies: Turtles really “talk.”
Sure, they can’t speak English (so far as we know), but real-life turtles communicate underwater with low-pitched calls that they use to help them travel together and to find mates, says Richard Vogt, a researcher at National Institute of Amazonian Research in Manaus, Brazil.
Much of Vogt’s work focuses on Giant South American river turtles, which migrate from beaches into dense, flooded forests. “You're watching a sand beach in the Amazon, and in a manner of minutes, 200 turtles all come out at the same time and start sunning. How do they decide to do it?” By talking to each other, he says.- READ MORE AND LISTEN TO RECORDINGS

Myth busted: Magpies don’t steal shiny objects



Study says the birds do not steal trinkets and are scared of unfamiliar
London: The myth of the “thieving magpie”, which pervades European folklore, may not be true after all. A British study says magpies do not steal trinkets and are scared of shiny objects.
London: The myth of the “thieving magpie”, which pervades European folklore, may not be true after all. A British study says magpies do not steal trinkets and are scared of shiny objects.
It is widely believed that magpies have a compulsive urge to steal sparkly objects for their nests.
Exeter University scientists show the birds are actually nervous of such objects, presumably since they are novel and may prove dangerous, the BBC reported.
During the study, a pile of shiny items (metal screws, small foil rings, and a small rectangular piece of aluminium foil), and a pile of the same objects covered with matt blue paint were involved.
Researchers placed mounds of edible nuts just 30cm from each of the collected objects.
In 64 tests during feeding, it was noticed that magpies picked up a shiny object only twice — and discarded it immediately. Also, the birds essentially ignored or avoided both shiny and blue objects, and often fed less when they were present.
Lead author Toni Shephard said: “We did not find evidence of an unconditional attraction to shiny objects in magpies. Instead, all objects prompted responses indicating neophobia — fear of new things.
“We suggest that humans notice when magpies occasionally pick up shiny objects because they believe the birds find them attractive, while it goes unnoticed when magpies interact with less eye-catching items.
“It seems likely that the folklore surrounding them is a result of cultural generalisation and anecdotes rather than evidence.”

Atractus spinalis -New Foot-Long Species Of Snake Discovered In Brazil

  • 6570579w.jpg
Scientists from four Brazilian institutions announced Tuesday the discovery of a new species of non-venomous snake that inhabits the savannas in the central part of the country.
The new serpent has been dubbed Atractus spinalis and belongs to the Dipsadidae family, which includes species that inhabit several countries in the Americas and some Caribbean islands.
The new snake was found and identified by scientists of the federal universities of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, who carried out their studies in collaboration with researchers from the Brazilian National Center for Research and Conservation of Reptiles and Amphibians and with the support of the Boticario Group Foundation for Nature Protection.
The specimen found is a foot long, its skin is reddish with light brown markings and is of a yellowish hue underneath, the Boticario foundation said in a statement.
The snakewas found under some rocks in the Serra do Espinhaco, a mountain range that extends between the savannas in the states of Minas Gerais and Bahia.
Atractus spinalis joins the 1,815 species of reptiles and amphibians already identified in Brazil, although scientists believe there are many more that have yet to be discovered

New species of tarsier discovered in Dinagat Island

MANILA, Philippines – International biologists have confirmed the discovery of a new species of Tarsier on the island of Dinagat in Mindanao 25 years after a Filipino biologist first saw the possibility of there being a distinct species.
Rafe Brown, curator-in-charge at the University of Kansas’ Biodiversity Institute said in a statement published on their website that the distinct Dinagat-Caraga tarsier was found to be a different species through DNA testing conducted by Kansas University biologists.
Their testing confirmed a previous study done by Filipino Biologist Dioscoro Rabor in the 1970s.
“The confirmation of Rabor’s early suspicions about the Dinagat Island tarsier population was extremely exciting, and it was very satisfying to affirm his very perceptive early observations,” Brown said in the statement.
“He commented that it looked larger to him and had different shaped fingers and toes. I’m just glad we were able to bring new, modern tools to this problem and identify the Dinagat-Caraga tarsier as a real conservation priority,” he said,
The nocturnal tarsiers are iconic for their large eyes in relation to body size being the world’s smallest primates. They are very popular tourist attractions on the island of Bohol in the Visayas region.
Brown said that the Philippine tarsier was previously classified as a single species that was divided in to three subspecies. With their latest discovery of three distinct “genetic units,” Brown said that conservation efforts can be redirected to the areas where the different species are to ensure the full and effective preserving the species.
“They’re threatened with habitat loss due to development, mining and deforestation from the timber industry,” Brown said. “We need a protected area — such as a national park — in the ranges of each of the genetic

READ MORE

Boophis ankarafensis,New Frog Species Found In Madagascar, On The Verge of Extinction

An MSc Student from the University of Bristol, Samuel Penny, found a new species of frog in the forests of Madagascar while studying the amphibians in the Sahamalaza Peninsula as a part of his masters degree, reported Bristol 24-7.
REUTERS/Ali Hashisho
A frog is pictured in Anan Lake near Lebanon's southern city of Sidon April 9, 2014.
The new species, named Boophis ankarafensis, is green with bright red specks on its back and head, found on the banks of the streams in the Akarafa Forest, is already on the verge of extinction. Only 56 of the brightly coloured tree frogs were found on the banks of two streams and is believed to be limited to this location as no such species were found anywhere else on the island by the researchers.
The adult males grow to about twenty-three to twenty-four millimetres in length and were around 0.5 to 2 metres above the ground, within close proximity to each other, on different leaves on the same branch while the females grow to around twenty-eight to twenty-nine millimetres.
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Samuel said that the beautiful frogs had a distinctive call and by placing sound recorders at the breeding sites, he could come out with its distribution around the area of the Sahamalaza Peninsula. He added that this detailed information enhanced their knowledge of the acoustic variety between the frogs as well as how its pattern of calling changed during the course of the night. 
The information about the species is published in the journal Zoo Keys, authored by Samuel along with an international team of scientists. They said that the frog's call is a triple click rather than the usual double and that they have not been detected anywhere else yet and could be a local endemic.
The researchers have said that though it was found inside a National Park, the frogs are threatened due to decline in quality and extent of its habitat. They also suggest that the new species should be classified as critically endangered based on the criteria of the IUCN Red List.
The protection of these species is important as there is so much to be learnt about them as they are newly discovered. Norm Dicks, a member of the Democratic Party in the U.S., said, "The Endangered Species Act is the strongest and most effective tool we have to repair the environmental harm that is causing a species to decline.

Sunday 17 August 2014

Exotic grains from cosmos identified

Stardust capsuleScientists may have identified the first known dust particles from outside our Solar System, in samples returned to Earth by a Nasa space mission.
A team of scientists, with the help of more than 30,000 worldwide citizens, has identified seven exotic grains.
The material was captured by the Stardust spacecraft and brought back to Earth in 2006.
The region between stars - interstellar space - is not entirely empty, but is filled with microscopic particles.
The material that forms interstellar dust is a product of the aeons of stellar birth, evolution and death that went into building our cosmic neighbourhood.
These molecules originated in the extremely hot interior of other stars and were expelled into interstellar space where they condensed into tiny rocks as they cooled down.
Having these particles on Earth means that scientists can characterise them in unprecedented detail. The composition and structure of the collected samples could help explain the origin and evolution of dust in space.-READ MORE

EYE WITNESS ACCOUNT SEEN BY MARK ANTONY RAINES GHOSTMAN

Did i see a giant japanese wasp in jon/corinna downes cfz garden.We cleaning up on 15 heard a buzzing sound when looked down saw a bigger than average wasp told jon/corinna who witness this tried to capture but escaped metioned to richard frreman and lars thomas who said was possible but rare.or a german wasp

MUTANT FLIES

GM Flies could save crops ,this is a type of genetically engineered fly that eventually kills itself and is believed to bean effective pest control.The male mutant fly have a gene which interrupts female development,when trialled in a greenhouse the population collapsed making in theory a cheap environmentally way to prevent crop damage.  

Sunday 10 August 2014

Exmoor Zoo’s new arrival now on show

The baby black lemur, now on show at Exmoor ZooEXMOOR ZOO say they are ‘delighted’ to announce that their rare baby black lemur, born on April 30, is now on show for visitors to see.
The new arrival is a baby girl who is already spending time away from her mum, Copper, to explore the enclosure herself.
Head keeper Derek Gibson said: “She was a great surprise to us all. Herbert her dad was born here in April 2007 while Copper came from Dudley Zoo and is now 16 years old (equivalent to about 55 years of age in people terms), so it was a great moment.”

Endangered tansy beetle found on Woodwalton Fen nature reserve near Huntingdon - only the second site in the UK

NEW DISCOVERY: The endangered tansy beetle has been found at Woodwalton Fen National Nature Reserve at only its second home in the UK. Picture by Steven Falk/Buglife
A critically endangered beetle has been found living at the Woodwalton Fen National Nature Reserve near Huntingdon.
The once-common tansy beetle had been thought to be clinging on at a single site in the UK along the bank of the River Ouse in York.
But now the attractive iridescent green beetle with a coppery sheen has been found at Woodwalton where it was last recorded 40 years ago.
The beetle, which takes its name from the tansy plant it lives on, is critically endangered, not just in the UK, but across its worldwide range.
It is a conservation priority species in England which means that public bodies have a duty to protect it, together with it habitat.
Alan Bowley, senior reserve manager at Natural England, said: “This is such an exciting find.
“Woodwalton Fen is an isolated fragment of a one much larger wetland and so rare animals are always at risk of extinction, but this demonstrates how important these sites are for providing a refuge for these species to survive against the odds.”
He said: “There is only one other site in Britain where this beautiful creature is found and we will be working hard to try and ensure it can flourish here.

Read more: http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Huntingdon-St-Ives-St-Neots/Endangered-tansy-beetle-found-on-Woodwalton-Fen-nature-reserve-near-Huntingdon-only-the-second-site-in-the-UK-20140806160146.htm#ixzz3A0a97O2A

Saturday 9 August 2014

Ant colony 'personalities' shaped by environment

A single 'Temnothorax rugatulus' ant
Ant colonies have their own personalities, which are shaped by the environment, a US study suggests.
Colonies of several hundred ants show consistent differences in the way they behave, just like individual people do.
Certain behaviours go together - for example, a colony that explores more widely for food also tends to respond more aggressively to an intruder.
Such a colony has a more "risk-taking" personality and this was more common in the north, where the climate is colder.
"I'm really interested in why personalities exist," said Sarah Bengston, a PhD student at the University of Arizona who led the research. Her study is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
Ms Bengston explained that although we know most animals have personalities, we do not yet understand why these evolved.
"Sometimes individuals behave differently from one another, and when they do that repeatedly through time, we say that they have a personality."
ant with US penny The rock ants in the study are tiny (pictured with a one cent coin) but show consistent behaviour in colonies
As such, there is nothing to stop a colony of insects from having a personality - as Ms Bengston found when she tracked how colonies behaved up and down the western US, both in the wild and when she bundled them up and watched them in the lab.-READ MORE

Laquintasaura Venezuelae: Bird-Hipped Dinosaur is First to Be Discovered in Venezuela

A new dinosaur species has been discovered in Venezuela – the first ever to have been found in the South American country.
Laquintasaura venezuelae was a dog-sized 'bird-hipped' dinosaur that lived shortly after the major extinction at the end of the Triassic Period, 201 million years ago.
Identified by scientists at the Natural History Museum in London and the University of Zürich, bones from four L. venezuelae were found together in the La Quinta Formation in Venezuela.
The creatures found ranged from 3 to 12 years old. Scientists believe they lived in small groups, making it the earliest example of social behaviour among ornithischians, or bird-hipped dinosaurs, which includes species like the stegosaurus and iguanodon.
Marcelo Sánchez-Villagra, co-author and palaeontologist at University of Zürich, said the known history of bird-hipped dinosaurs has many gaps as few specimens have been found: "This early -READ MORE

Palaeeudyptes klekowskii-The mega penguin that was taller than a MAN: 40-million-year-old 'colossus' was more than SIX FEET long

Bones belonging to an extinct giant penguin have been found in Antarctica. They suggest a species existed that was once up to 6.63ft (2.02m) in length. Pictured are various views of the humerus (A to E) and tarsometatarsus (F-K) that were found, the latter of which was used to measure its size
The find was made at Seymour Island, part of a chain of islands off the Antarctic peninsula.
Bones belonging to a giant penguin that existed 37 to 40 million years ago have been unearthed by palaeontologists.
The latest findings have enabled researchers to conclude that the so-called 'colossus penguin' was bigger than any penguin that came before or after it.
The species known as measured a staggering 6.63 feet (2.02 metres) from the tip of its beak to its toes, making it bigger even than the modern emperor pENGIUN.

THE LANGUAGE OF PENGUINS

Researchers, led by Dr Livio Favaro from the University of Turin, collected, categorised, and acoustically analysed hundreds of audio and video vocal recordings from penguins.

All were taken from a captive colony of 48 African penguins at the Zoom zoo in Torino, Italy.

This group was made up of 15 males, 17 females, eight juveniles aged between three and 12 months, and eight nesting chicks.

The results revealed that all the penguins have four essential vocalisations: a contact call emitted by isolated birds, an agonistic call used to signal aggression, an ecstatic display song uttered by single birds during the breeding season, and a mutual display song made by pairs at their nests.

The authors also identified two distinct vocalisations interpreted as begging calls by chicks, in the form of a begging ‘peep’, and a begging moan.
According to Dr Carolina Acosta Hospitaleche of the La Plata Museum in Argentina this region was much warmer 37 to 40 million years ago.
It was ‘a wonderful time for penguins, when 10 to 14 species lived together along the Antarctic coast,’ she told New ScientiSTS.
Dr Hospitaleche found the most complete skeleton of the colossus penguin earlier this year, but these latest finds include part of a wing, the humerus, and the joint between the ankle and foot bone, known as the tarsometatarsus.
Although the humerus cannot be used to make estimates of a penguin’s size and mass, the tarsometatarsus is usable in this regard.
At 3.6 inches (9.1 centimetres) in length, this tarsometatarsus set a record for penguins and led Dr Hospitaleche to conclude that the penguin stood 5.25 feet (1.6 metres) tall from head to toe - and 6.63 feet (2.02 metres) tall if its beak was extended upwards.
This makes it larger than any penguin known to exist, even the emperor penguin that exists today.

UK's deep sea mountain life filmed

Scientists have sent a remotely operated vehicle to film one of the UK's three undersea mountains, known as seamounts.
The Hebrides Terrace Seamount, off the west coast of Scotland, is higher than Ben Nevis, but its peak is 1,000m beneath the surface.
Prof J Murray Roberts, from Heriot-Watt University, and his colleagues filmed more than 100 species on its slopes.
They published their findings in the open access journal Scientific Reports.

Start Quote

Corals will be exposed to more acidic seawater and their skeletons will dissolve away”
Prof J Murray Roberts Heriot-Watt University
Prof Roberts has now shared the footage from the dive exclusively with the BBC.
He and his team used a remotely operated submersible vehicle to explore and film the aquatic mountain slopes.
"These are vast structures in the ocean," Prof Roberts explained to the BBC.
"They're exciting because they grow up through the ocean and have steep sloping sides. [When] the currents hit the sides of the seamount and they stir up nutrients, they become really productive areas."
Prof Roberts and his colleagues watched from a ship-based laboratory while their rover explored the depths. OctopusREAD MORE AND WATCH VIDEO LINK

New jellyfish discovered: giant venomous species found off Australia

READ MORE-WA specimen of new Irukandji jellyfish sparks particular scientific interest because it has no
An example of the Keesingia gigas jellyfish
An example of the Keesingia gigas jellyfish. Photograph: John Totterdell/MIRG Australia
A giant and extremely venomous jellyfish found off Western Australia’s north-west coast has researchers stumped because it appears to have no tentacles.
Keesingia gigas is one of two new species of Irukandji jellyfish recently discovered by the director of Marine Stinger Advisory Services, Lisa-ann Gershwin.
While Irukandji jellyfish are normally only the size of a fingernail, Keesingia gigas is the length of an arm and believed to cause the potentially deadly Irukandji syndrome.
The condition can cause pain, nausea, vomiting and in extreme cases, stroke and heart failure.
Gershwin said Keesingia gigas was first photographed in the 1980s, but a specimen was not captured until 2013, near Shark Bay by the marine scientist John Keesing, after whom the jellyfish is named.
Gershwin said in all of the photos the jellyfish did not appear to have tentacles and that the specimen was also captured without them.
“Jellyfish always have tentacles ... that’s how they catch their food,” she said. “The tentacles are where they concentrate their stinging cells.
“Some of the people working with it through the years actually got stung by it and experienced rather distressing Irukandji syndrome.”

Bolivia’s golden bat: one of six new species found by the Smithsonian’s Bat Detective

If you love new animal species and have an Internet connection, chances are you have already seen the beautiful new golden bat species, Myotis midastactus. What you may not know is that the striking, newly described bat species is just one of more than six species being described by Ricardo Moratelli, a scientist at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Brazil) and post-doctoral fellow at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.
Smithsonian Science asks Moratelli what it’s like to be a bat detective searching for new species.Adult female of "Myotis midastactus" captured at Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Department of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Ricardo Moratelli and Don Wilson, mammalogist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History recently named this bat as a new species. (Photo courtesy Marco Tschapka)

Q: Is it difficult finding new bat species?

Moratelli: It can be. I have been working for the last 10 years on the taxonomy of bats of the genus Myotis, which is the most diverse genus of bats in the world. The genus is distributed worldwide and there are more than 110 species. However, my research is focused on the Neotropical (Latin American) species.READ MORE

Sunday 3 August 2014

Theropods were the Birds’ Ancestors, Says a New Study

Over a period of 50 million years the dinosaurs consistently reduced in size to give rise to the small modern birds. An international group of researchers has concluded after drawing an all-inclusive dinosaur family tree with the giants at the top and the small birds as the descendants.
According to Darren Naish, co-author of the study and a paleontologist at the University of Southampton, a group of the dinosaurs known as the theropods evolved faster than members of other groups. Through evolution, they developed features such as wishbones to enable them adapt to changing conditions.Image credit: Michael S. Y. Lee et al. Science, 10.1126/science.1252243.read more

Huge Whale Shark Caught by Chinese Fishermen in Fujian Province

chinese fisherman Cai Chengzu claims he didn't know the 16-foot-long monster was endangered, and was planning to sell it at market. The whale shark is the largest species of fish and can have a lifespan of nearly one hundred years.While on a fishing trip Cai pulled in his net on Friday to discover a giant fish weighting two tonnes thrashing around, trying to escape.
The fisherman from Xianghzhi in the far-eastern province of Fujian, said that he and his colleagues were lifting the net out of the ocean when they realised that something had caused a huge rip in it.
In an interview with News 163 the fisherman said: "It's believed that the giant creature broke the net and got inside to eat the fish we caught."
Chengzu claims that the whale shark frantically to escape the net but died soon afterwards, and he decided to take it to the fishing harbour with the rest of his catch.
He reportedly planned to sell the huge fish for around 20,000 yuan (£2,000) at the wholesale market in Xiangzhi. However, his plan was thwarted when officials from the Fujian fisheries department halted the sale.read more

Saturday 2 August 2014

Greater honeyguide

26961_260_190READ MORE-The Greater Honeyguide (Indicator indicator) is fairly common and widespread, occurring widely in the Sahel and sub-Saharan Africa, except in desert, forest, and grassland; it is found in all but the desert parts of western South Africa. The distribution extends from Senegal and southern Mali south almost to the coast, east to Eritrea and south (around the main forested belt) through east-central Africa (including eastern and southern DRC and much of East Africa), and from Angola, northeastern Namibia, and northern and eastern Botswana to Mozambique and south to the former Cape Province (South Africa).
Greater Honeyguides are found in open woods, woodland edges, bushland, streamside woods, bushes in dry areas, plantations, gardens with trees, thickets, and trees lining suburban streets; they are often seen in the vicinity of bees' nests. They may be found up to 2000 m (occasionally to 3000 m in East Africa).
These birds have an unusual diet, feeding extensively on beeswax (which they digest readily), as well as on honeybee larvae and eggs and a range of other insects (including termites, winged ants, flies, and others). The nestlings, which are raised in the nests of other species (see below), feed on food provided by their host, including fruits. Immatures generally dominate around bees' nests. In some areas, Greater Honeyguides (often immature birds) lead humans to bees' nests. After the human honey gatherers have opened and left the nest, the bird feeds on pieces of honeycomb left behind. From these, it extracts mainly the larvae and the wax to supplement its diet of insects. (For more details on the symbiotic relationship between traditional human honey gatherers and honeyguides, see Isack and Reyer 1989.)
Greater Honeyguides are brood parasites, laying their eggs in the nests of a diverse set of avian host species (mainly from the Coraciiformes and Upupiformes) at any given location. They typically deposit just a single egg per nest (sometimes more), laying up to 20 total. Females typically puncture the host's eggs when laying their own, but in many nests at least one host egg survives. The young honeyguides finish the job. Spottiswoode and Koorevaar (2012) found that hosts always hatched after honeyguide chicks (presumably in part due to an additional period of internal incubation in female honeyguides; Birkhead et al. 2011) and were killed within hours by honeyguide nestlings, which utilize a specialized sharp hook on their bills (this hook is lost after 2 weeks or more). Despite being blind and in total darkness, honeyguide chicks attack host young with sustained biting,

Drongos-/The-bird-impersonates-MEERKAT-steal-food-Drongo-catches-quarter-meals-imitating-creatures.

Crying wolf: The drongo (left), an African bird, deceives other species, including meerkats (right), by mimicking their alarm calls in order to scare them away and steal their abandoned foodAmong the rolling red dunes of the Kalahari Desert, the song of the fork-tailed drongo provides a warning that predators are lurking close by.
The songbird acts as the desert’s watchdog - always poised and ready to warn its fellow creatures of impending danger.
Or at least that’s what the bird wants you to believe. Scientists claim this tricky African bird is, in fact, a pathological liar in the animal kingdom.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2621584/The-bird-impersonates-MEERKAT-steal-food-Drongo-catches-quarter-meals-imitating-creatures.html#ixzz39FAGY815
Drongos, common in South Africa, have glossy black feathers and red eyes.
These birds usually get meals the honest way, such as capturing insects in mid-air using their incredible aerial skills. But at other times, like on cold mornings when few insects are flitting around, the drongos turn to a life of crime.
When times are hard, the crafty bird can make false alarms to make other animals drop their kill and run from the scene. Meanwhile, the drongo swoops in to pick up the remains.  Researchers classify the drongo as ‘a kleptoparasite' - an animal that steals food from another creature that has caught it.

Talk To The Animals: Witnessing a chimp apology

In addition to being hugely chatty creatures, scent also plays a key role in mongoose life. It actually allows them to identify each other.
They live in tight gangs - extended family units with distinct boundaries between rival territories.
One of the experiments that didn’t make it into the show tested the importance of scent in maintaining these boundaries and involved me standing in a mongoose latrine in the fierce midday sun collecting a bucket of fresh poop.
After a few minutes the mongooses themselves turned up en masse catching me red handed with a scoop of their poop in my hand.
They all stood up and looked at me as if I was nuts. Which was fair enough, I felt decidedly awkward being busted for such a peculiar theft.
I took the mongoose poo and dumped it in the middle of their neighbours’ territory.
The result was a frenzy of sniffing and chattering that suggested that scent is clearly very important for communicating an enemy invasion.
I discovered - READ MORE-     to see clip link- http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04b6982#clips

DINOSAURS HAD BAD LUCK

A new study believes that Dinosaurs were wiped out by asteroid impact at most vulnerable time.This was due to sea level rises,volcanic activity  made  many species susceptible .And the asteroid had hit earlier or later  by a few million tears- JOURNAL BIOLOGICAL-LINK DINOSAURS EXTINCTION BAD LUCK -BBC SCIENCE.

Fears have receded over the fate of a Russian space satellite carrying gecko lizards as part of a sex experiment, after technicians restored control. Russia's space agency re-established the link on Saturday and has since held 17 communication sessions, an update on its website says (in Russian). The Foton-M4 satellite's engine had stopped responding on Thursday. Five geckos are aboard for a study into the effect of weightlessness on their sex lives and development. The six-tonne satellite was launched on 19 July and is set to carry out experiments over two months. Mushrooms, plant seeds and Drosophila fruit flies are also being monitored, while a special vacuum furnace is being used to examine the melting and solidification of metal alloys in low-gravity conditions.

gecko
Fears have receded over the fate of a Russian space satellite carrying gecko lizards as part of a sex experiment, after technicians restored control.
Russia's space agency re-established the link on Saturday and has since held 17 communication sessions, an update on its website says (in Russian).
The Foton-M4 satellite's engine had stopped responding on Thursday.
Five geckos are aboard for a study into the effect of weightlessness on their sex lives and development.
The six-tonne satellite was launched on 19 July and is set to carry out experiments over two months.
Mushrooms, plant seeds and Drosophila fruit flies are also being monitored, while a special vacuum furnace is being used to examine the melting and solidification of metal alloys in low-gravity conditions.READ MORE

New Locust species Electrotettix found in old amber - See more at: http://www.theeasterntribune.com/story/6926/new-locust-species-electrotettix-found-in-old-amber/#sthash.iOyh94Z5.dpuf

1NEW YORK: Researchers have found out a New Cricket species in hardened amber. The piece of amber was supposed to be 50 years of old. However, there were many similar amber scatter around the place. Researchers of University of Illinois have found out the specimen of the species. The researchers have said that the the Cricket remains were supposed to be 20 million years old. The new species has been connected to the group called Cladonotinae. Most locusts are unable to fly. However, researchers have said that the ancestors of the species might have flown. The new species are called Electrotettix. The researchers have concluded that the species is the transition from the winged to wingless species. The research have said that there is a missing link between the winged species and wingless species. However, the study has revealed the ancestors might have inhabited in such an environment. The specimen in amber in now well preserved and would be used in further reference and study. The new study was first published in the journal called ZooKeys. The research might very well make an impact in the study of the insects and their behaviour. According to the head of the research team, the finding might point to the evolution of many insects and grasshoppers. The environment they used to leave and the present condition may vary. However, the study and the findings of the Electrotettix species might very well found the missing link of the study. Many more research on the same topic would continue in near future - See more at: http://www.theeasterntribune.com/story/6926/new-locust-species-electrotettix-found-in-old-amber/#sthash.iOyh94Z5.dpuf

New Species of Mite Discovered in Puerto Rico, Named after Jennifer Lopez

Litarachna lopezae. Image credit: Pešić V et al.The reason behind the unusual choice of name for the new species is that Jennifer Lopez’s songs and videos kept the team in a continuous good mood when writing the manuscript and watching World Cup Soccer 2014,” explained Dr Pešić.
Litarachna lopezae represents Pontarachnidae, a widely distributed but still unstudied group of marine animals. Nothing is known about the life cycle of these animals.
The species was collected from nearly 70 m depth, the greatest depth from which pontarachnid mites have been found until now.
Mesophotic coral ecosystems like Bajo de Sico where Litarachna lopezae was found are light-dependent habitats dominated by macroalgae, sponges and scleractinian corals and are found on the insular and continental slopes of Caribbean islands between 30 and 100 m.
Even at the lower depth range (70-100 m), there is enough light for photosynthesis to take place enhancing the growth of several scleractinian coral species and algae.
The description of Litarachna lopezae has been published online in the open-access journal ZooKeys.READ MORE