Wolf population management

After the gray wolf is delisted, responsibility for population management transfers from the U.S government to individual states like Wyoming, Montana and Idaho.

An excerpt from the Idaho Wolf Conservation and Management Plan:

IDFG is charged by statute with the management of Idaho’s wildlife (Idaho Code §36-103(a): “All wildlife, including all wild animals, wild birds, and fish, within the state of Idaho, is hereby declared to be the property of the state of Idaho. It shall be preserved, protected, perpetuated, and managed. It shall be only captured or taken at such times or places, under such conditions, or by such means, or in such manner, as will preserve, protect and perpetuate such wildlife, and provide for the citizens of this state and, as by law permitted to others, continued supplies of such wildlife for hunting, fishing and trapping.”). This plan will enable the transition of the management of the gray wolf back to the IDFG as either a big game animal, furbearer, or special classification of predator that provides for controlled take after delisting. This classification will enable IDFG to provide protection for wolves as well as consider the impacts of wolves on other big game species, those sectors of the economy dependent upon sport hunting, livestock, domestic animals, and humans.

Wolves to be removed from endangered species list

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will remove the gray wolf from the endangered species list. 

Between 1995 and ‘96, 66 wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park and now almost 13 years later, 1,500 wolves live in the Northern Rockies, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service.

A strange component of this story is, “that means that in some areas sport hunting of wolves will be allowed, perhaps as soon as this fall,” according to a USA Today article.  It seems illogical that in less than a year, a species could go from being endangered to legally hunted.

 “Americans will howl with rage when they learn that their government is jeopardizing this iconic animal,” said NRDC’s Louisa Willcox. “Why snatch defeat from the jaws of victory when we’ve made so much progress toward recovering wolves in the Greater Yellowstone region?” according to a NRDC press release

Thousands of gray wolves roamed the Rocky Mountains before being slaughtered and eliminated from 95 percent of the lower 48 states by the 1930s. The gray wolf was listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1973.

See a smart bird in action

Video of crow using tools. 

Courtesy of corvidcognition

Are you smarter than a fifth grader? How about a bird or a chimp?

A paper published in Philosophical Transactions of The Royal Society examines the different approaches of evaluating avian behavior and how it relates to intelligence.

The idea that the six-layered neocortex of most mammals is the prerequisite for complex cognition still pervades popular culture. Indeed, intellectually less endowed individuals in Western society are often called ‘bird-brains’. Perhaps more surprisingly, this view is still held by many comparative psychologists and neuroscientists. One reason for this long-held, but ultimately incorrect view is the confusing terminology used to name the different regions of the avian telencephalon (forebrain). Traditionally, regions in the avian cerebrum ended with the suffix—striatum, meaning derived from the basal ganglia (figure 1a). As the vertebrate basal ganglia is involved in  peciesspecific behaviours, such as maternal care, sexual behaviour and feeding (Reiner et al. 1998), bird-brains were deemed incapable of producing flexible or intelligent behaviour. It is now known that this nomenclature is based on a fallacy; large parts of the avian forebrain are derived, not from the striatum, but from the pallium (figure 1b). Interestingly, the mammalian neocortex is also derived from the pallium (Jarvis & Consortium 2005). This places the avian forebrain into a new light, where bird behaviour may now be explained as an adaptation to solving socioecological problems similar to mammals, possessing hardware that is different to mammals, albeit evolved from the same structure. Pepperberg (1999) provides a useful computer analogy when comparing mammalian and avian brains; mammalian brains are like IBM-PCs, whereas avian brains are like Apple Macintoshes; the wiring and processing are different, but the resulting output (i.e. behaviour) is similar.

Radio program highlights animal intelligence

You may be surprised to learn how smart those birds at your backyard bird-feeder are.

On the next Calling All Pets, find out of being called a “Bird Brain” isn’t such a bad thing. Join Larry Meiller and zoologist Patricia McConnell as they explore the topic of intelligence in ravens and also welcome a guest to talk about the seductive mating rituals of animals in the high seas!

This post on scienceblogs.com explores the research of Bernd Heinrich from a recent article in Scientific American.  Heinrich designed experiments to test ravens’ ability to solve problems, investigating whether behaviors were motivated by logic or instinct.  Results suggested that they do, in fact, use logic.

Monk Parakeets in Hyde Park - interview with biologist

Download audio   Stephen Pruett-Jones, associate professor of ecology and evolution at the University of Chicago, gives some insight into how a tropical species of bird can survive in Chicago.

Download transcript

Interview with an evolutionary biologist

Mongabay.com has posted a really great interview with Karen Strier, a professor in the anthropology an the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Her research is an excellent example of how researchers use population genetics to investigate some really interesting questions.  Strier has been researching the Northern Muriqui primates of Brazil for over two decades.

Genetics lesson

I encountered an interesting and informative post on scienceblogs.com that gives a mini-tutorial comparing population genetics vs. quantitative genetics.

Population genetics is based on research into the genetic composition of biological populations, and the changes that occur over time.   Various factors, including natural selection, can influence changes in genetic composition.

Population geneticists use intricate mathematical models of gene frequency dynamics to examine and predict the likely patterns of genetic variation in actual populations, and compare the findings with empirical data.

Animal testing

The morality and usefulness of animal testing is a hotly debated issue with a lot of misinformation being offered as fact along the way.  

However, one advantage of the debate is increased accountability and oversight of researchers who use animals.  By and large, most researchers  recognize that animals should be cared for humanely and aim to provide the best care for the animals used in their research. 

Another advantage is increased resources devoted to developing effective alternatives to animal testing, like computer modeling.

“The EPA and the National Institutes of Health announced a toxicity testing agreement that will allow the EPA to use NIH Chemical Genomics Center’s high-speed, automated screening robots to test suspected toxic compounds, using cells and isolated molecular targets instead of laboratory animals, the EPA said Thursday in a release,” according to a United Press International article on Friday

This is not to say that animal testing should be abandoned altogether.  Research using animals has provided many significant medical advancements, vaccines for example. With all the recent advancements in technology, it is a good idea to consider how research using animals could be refined or replaced when practical.

Amazing sea creatures

Click here to watch a visually stunning video about bioluminescent fish and cephalopods (squids, octopus) hosted by oceanographer David Gallo.

Certain underwater animals can respond to changes or threats in their environment by changing their appearance, a behavior that is useful for camouflaging, warding off predators or attracting a mate.

One of the most fascinating examples are deep-sea animals who live an environment with minimal light yet have adapted behaviors that capitalize on their ability to mimic different wavelengths of light.

An article, “Bioluminescent and Red-Fluorescent Lures in a Deep-Sea Siphonophore,” in the journal Science discusses the biology of bioluminescence and research that can provide a better understanding of how light (or lack there of) affects marine ecology.

Some great background information about bioluminescence can be found on this Web site

Bioluminescence has evolved many times in the sea as evidenced by the several distinct chemical mechanisms by which light is emitted, and the large number of only distantly related taxonomic groups that have many bioluminescent memberss.