Endangered antelope 'may be wiped out'

The death of more than 2,000 critically endangered Saiga antelope in Mongolia was caused by a disease that could now threaten the entire population.

Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) scientists, who work in the affected grassland area of Western Mongolia, say the disease originated in livestock.

It is a virus known as PPR or Peste des Petits Ruminants.

WCS veterinary scientist Dr Enkhtuvshin Shiilegdamba told BBC News that 2,500 Saiga had already died.

The animal carcasses are burned to prevent the spread of the disease.-read more

Orangutan squeaks reveal language evolution, says study

Scientists who spent years listening to the communication calls of one of our closest ape relatives say their eavesdropping has shed light on the origin of human language.

Dr Adriano Reis e Lameira from Durham University recorded and analysed almost 5,000 orangutan "kiss squeaks".

He found that the animals combined these purse-lipped, "consonant-like" calls to convey different messages.

This could be a glimpse of how our ancestors formed the earliest words.

The findings are published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour.

"Human language is extraordinarily advanced and complex - we can pretty much transmit any information we want into sound," said Dr Reis e Lameira.

"So we tend to think that maybe words evolved from some rudimentary precursor to transmit more complex messages.

"We were basically using the orangutan vocal behaviour as a time machine - back to a time when our ancestors were using what would become [those precursors] of consonants and vowels.-read more

Sound of crickets 'could become a thing of the past'

The first comprehensive assessment of Europe's crickets and grasshoppers has found that more than a quarter of species are being driven to extinction.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the insect group is the most threatened of those assessed so far in Europe.

Europe harbours more than 1,000 species of grasshopper and cricket.

If we don't act now the sound of crickets could become a thing of the past, said the IUCN.

Crickets, bush crickets and grasshoppers - a group known as Orthoptera - live on grassland.

They are an important food source for birds and reptiles, and their decline could affect entire ecosystems.

Their habitat is being lost due to wildfires, intensive agriculture and tourism development.-read more

Orange-Hued Alligator Spotted in South Carolina

A predatory beast with leathery orange skin is gallivanting through social media, sowing fear in its wake.

That's because there have been recent sightings of a tangerine-colored alligator in South Carolina. 

Earlier this week, members of a residential community in Hanahan, South Carolina, spotted an unusual sight near one of the retention ponds — an alligator with skin tinted an orange hue. Estimated to be 4 to 5 feet (1.2 to 1.5 meters) long, the apricot alligator was nicknamed "Trumpigator" by its human neighbors, local television newscast WCBD News 2 reported. [Alligator Alley: Pictures of Monster Reptiles]-Read More

How Two Songbirds in the Western Ghats Evolved Into Multiple New Species

Birdwatchers called six small birds in the Western Ghats by the wrong names for more than a century. What they called laughingthrushes were not laughingthrushes and shortwings were not shortwings. A recent paper unravels who these birds’ relatives are and how they evolved. Such discoveries are rare because birds are well-studied, and their classification holds no surprises. Until now.

The erstwhile laughingthrushes and shortwings live in high-altitude cold, wet forests. Above an elevation of 1,500 metres, stunted evergreen trees grow in valleys surrounded by a sea of grassland. Called sky islands, these shola forests are as isolated from one another as sea islands. And this splendid separation spawns a diversity of species not only in frogs, lizards and snakes but also in birds that are found nowhere else. V.V. Robin, from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bengaluru, and the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Tirupati, has studied shortwings for 15 years.

In 2002, he figured out what kind of forests the white-bellied shortwing favoured. Although he spent more time in the lowland rainforests, he found many more of these little blue birds in the sholas. The 40-kilometre-wide Palghat Gap is an insurmountable barrier for many species of birds, reptiles and mammals. On either side of this break in the hill ranges live two subspecies of the white-bellied shortwing. By analysing differences in the songs of the two populations, Robin concluded they were two species. But nagging questions about other inconsistencies drove him to investigate further.-read more

New Bucktoothed Ghost Shark Species Discovered

A previously unknown ghost shark with rabbit-like teeth and a bulky head is making waves in record books; it's the 50th ghost shark species known to science, a new study reported.

At nearly 3 feet (1 meter) in length — about half as long as the height of a refrigerator — the newfound creature is the second largest species of ghost shark ever discovered, the researchers said.

"[Ghost sharks] in general have a pretty big head and their body tapers to a thinner tail. This one was really chunky in the front, and just a big bulky specimen," said Kristin Walovich, a graduate student at the Pacific Shark Research Center at the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in California, and the lead researcher of a new study. [See Photos of the Freakiest-Looking Fish]-read more

Discovered: Possible new species of hammerhead shark

Scientists have discovered what they believe to be a new species of hammerhead shark, prompting concerns about the species' vulnerability and whether conservation practices in place today are widespread enough to protect them

Read more at: https://phys.org/news/2017-02-species-hammerhead-shark.html#jCp