New Species Of River Dolphin

[Common]

It seems Mother Nature still has a few secrets up her sleeve.
In a study published in PLOS ONE this week, researchers announced the discovery of a new species of river dolphin in Brazil. The marine mammal is the first river dolphin to be described since 1918, the authors noted in the research.
Discovered in the Araguaia River basin, Inia araguaiaensis is believed to have diverged from river dolphins in the Amazon more than 2 million years ago due to a shift in the landscape. Unlike other river dolphins in Brazil, the newly discovered species has only 24 teeth per jaw, instead of the typical 25 to 29.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/0...ef=mostpopular

[shaarona]

I loved the pictures....... thanks.

[waltky]

In the oceans, it's the survival of the smaller...

Survival of the Smallest? Bigger Sea Species More Threatened
September 14, 2016 - In the Earth's oceans these days, the bigger a species is, the more prone it is to die off. That's unheard of in the long history of mass extinctions, a new study finds.

As subfamilies of marine animal species — called genera — grow larger in body size, the likelihood of them being classified as threatened with extinction increases by an even greater amount, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Science. In past extinctions, smaller creatures were more prone to die off, or size didn't matter, said study lead author Jonathan Payne, a paleobiologist at Stanford University. Almost none of the genera that have species averaging 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) long are threatened with extinction. However, 23 percent of those that are 3.9 inches (10 centimeters) are threatened, 40 percent of those that are 39 inches (1 meter) are endangered and 86 percent of those that are 32.8 feet (10 meters) are vulnerable, Payne said.

A blue whale is shown near a cargo ship in the Santa Barbara Channel off the California coast, Aug. 14, 2008. The oceans are turning into a Darwinian topsy-turvy place, where it’s survival of the smallest and the bigger a species is, the more prone it is to die off.

These are species that are not extinct yet, but are on the respected Red List of threatened and endangered species created by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. “The proportion of species that are threatened increases enormously as body size increases,'' Payne said. Take the blue whale, not only the largest living animal, stretching close to 100 feet long, but the largest to ever have existed, Payne said. It's on the IUCN endangered list and has lost as much as 90 percent of its population in the last three generations, according to the IUCN. On the other end of the spectrum is a grouping of fish, bioluminescent bristlemouths, that are about three inches long. They are the most abundant creatures with a backbone; the population is estimated to be in the trillions.

Focus on oceans

Payne compared fossil records, looked at past mass extinctions and compared them to current threats, concentrating on 264 genera that have the best modern and ancient records. Payne concentrated on oceans, where the fossil records are better over time. The mass extinction 65 million years ago that killed off the dinosaurs didn't kill off bigger marine species at higher rates than smaller ones, unlike what's happening now, Payne said. The study “shows us how unusual this crisis of biodiversity we have right now,” said Boris Worm, a top marine scientist at Dalhousie University in Canada. He wasn't part of the study but praised it. “We have had mass extinctions before. This one is totally different than what has happened before.”

A 70-foot female blue whale, that officials believe was struck by a ship, is seen washed ashore near Fort Bragg, California, Oct. 20, 2009. As subfamilies of marine animal species grow larger in body size, the likelihood of them being classified as threatened with extinction increases by an even greater amount, according to a study published Sept. 14, 2016.

Worm spoke from a break during research in Canada's Bay of Fundy, where after a more-than-20-year career he finally saw his first underwater right whale and basking shark. “They are both in trouble and both among the largest of their kind,” Worm said.

Humans suspected

See also:

Endangered Hawaiian Crow Shows Knack for Tool Use
September 14, 2016 - An endangered crow species from Hawaii that already is extinct in the wild displays remarkable proficiency in using small sticks and other objects to wrangle a meal, joining a small and elite group of animals that use tools.

Scientists said on Wednesday that in a series of experiments, the crow — known by its indigenous Hawaiian name Alala — used objects as tools with dexterity to get at hard-to-reach meat, sometimes modifying them by shortening too-long sticks or making tools from raw plant material. "Tool use is exceedingly rare in the animal kingdom," evolutionary ecologist Christian Rutz of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, who led the study published in the journal Nature, said in an email.

A captive Hawaiian crow using a stick tool to extract food from a wooden log is shown in this image

The Alala (pronounced ah-la-lah) is the second crow species known to naturally use tools. The other is the New Caledonian crow on New Caledonia island in the South Pacific, which uses tools to extract insects and other prey from deadwood and vegetation. New Caledonian and Hawaiian crows share a common feature: unusually straight bills. The researchers wondered whether this trait might be an evolutionary adaptation for holding tools, akin to people's opposable thumbs. Scientists are trying to save the Alala from extinction. The remaining 131 birds are kept in two facilities on the Big Island of Hawaii and the island of Maui. "A range of factors may have contributed to the species' decline in the late 20th century, including habitat change and disease," Rutz said.

Scientists have mounted a captive-breeding program and later this year plan to release captive-reared birds on the Big Island, their former home in the wild, to try to re-establish a wild population. Humans are the most adept tool users. But our closest genetic cousins, chimpanzees, use stick probes to extract ants, termites and honey. Capuchin monkeys and macaques use stones to hammer open hard-shelled nuts and shellfish, respectively.

A captive Hawaiian crow using a stick tool to extract food from a wooden log is shown in this image

Egyptian vultures and black-breasted buzzards use stone tools to crack open bird eggs for food. Even some invertebrates, including digger wasps, hermit crabs and some spiders, use tools. In experiments using 104 captive birds, the researchers presented Hawaiian crows with a wooden log with multiple drilled holes and crevices baited with small pieces of meat. The crows could see the meat, but not reach it with their bill alone. The vast majority spontaneously used sticks and other objects to probe for the hidden food: 93 percent of adults and 47 of younger birds.

http://www.voanews.com/a/endangered-...e/3509382.html

[waltky]

New biodiversity report released...

Scientists release survey into state of biodiversity
Sat, Mar 24, 2018 - Scientists were yesterday to deliver a comprehensive assessment of the state of biodiversity — the animals and plants that humankind depends on to survive but has driven into a mass species extinction.

The work of about 600 scientists over three years, four reports will be unveiled in Medellin, Colombia, under the umbrella of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). The diagnosis is expected to be dire. “If we continue the way we are, yes the... sixth mass extinction, the first one ever caused by humans, will continue,” IPBES chairman Robert Watson said ahead of the much-anticipated release. However, the good news: “It’s not too late” to slow the rate of loss, he said.

Scientists say humankind’s voracious consumption and wanton destruction of nature has unleashed the first mass species die-off since the demise of the dinosaurs — only the sixth on our planet in half-a-billion years. The first major biodiversity assessment in 13 years comes in the same week that the world’s last male northern white rhino died in Kenya — a stark reminder of the stakes. “The IPBES conference is going to tell us that the situation is continuing to deteriorate, they are going to tell us some ecosystems are being brought to the brink of collapse,” WWF director-general Marco Lambertini said on Thursday. “The IPBES is going to make a strong case for the importance of protecting nature for our own well-being.”

The volunteer experts who compiled the reports, drawing on data from about 10,000 scientific publications, have been discussing their contents with representatives of the IPBES’ 129 member countries in Medellin since Saturday last week. The contents of five summary reports for government policymakers, each about 40 pages long, were negotiated word-for-word, line-by-line. The summary reports are condensed versions of five monumental assessments, each about 600-900 pages, which are to be published only after the conference.

The first four summaries were released simultaneously yesterday — one for each of four world regions — the Americas, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, and Europe and Central Asia. A fifth report, due on Monday, will focus on the global state of soil, which is fast being degraded through pollution, forest-destruction, mining and unsustainable farming methods that deplete its nutrients. Together, the five assessments cover the entire Earth except for Antarctica and the open oceans — those waters beyond national jurisdiction. The entire process has cost about US$5 million.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/worl.../24/2003689948