Category Archives: Science; health

Dutch Arctic tern’s Antarctic world record

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This video about Arctic terns is called Migration Google Earth Tour Video.

Translated from Vroege Vogels TV in the Netherlands:

An Arctic Tern from Eemshaven has massively broken a world record: the bird, weighing hardly 100g, during a year has flown 90 thousand kilometers during a return journey to the Antarctic. This is an absolute world record in long distance migration. The record is described in an article in Ardea, the international scientific journal of the Dutch Ornithological Union.

Research

The study was conducted by attaching tiny ‘dataloggers‘, geolocators, to seven birds. This device of just 2 grams stores information about light and dark in combination with time. These two data make it possible to to retrieve the birds’ position on earth with a precision of about 100 km. All birds returned in 2012 and could be caught. Five dataloggers were still working and revealed a startling flyway.

Flyway

The terns were, on average, 273 ± 7 days on the road. They all flew to the same spot in the North Atlantic where the terns of Greenland stayed two weeks later. Like these terns the Dutch terns flew (albeit earlier) then to an area west of Namibia.

After that the birds of Dutch nesting colonies followed a different route. They flew first across the Indian Ocean to a previously unknown stopping place between 20-40° N and 65-100° E (near Amsterdam Island). From this stop they then went on to sea areas south of Australia. Some flew from here south to the Antarctic, but one bird flew to New Zealand and then deflected to Antarctica.

Record distance

During the southern summer they flew westward along the coast of Antarctica, where they stayed in the sea area between 35-150° E. In March they went back to the north with a stopover in the North Atlantic. The distance of the terns averaged around 90,000 km, a record distance. If the distances of stopping while underway and in the wintering area are not counted, then the flyway was on average 48,700 km.

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Mexican cave paintings discovery

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This video says about itself:

March 27, 2011

Newly discovered Yaqui Indian cave paintings. Located in a canyon referred to as Baromico, Municipality of Alamos, State of Sonora, Mexico.

From the BBC:

23 May 2013 Last updated at 03:44 GMT

Cave paintings in Mexico: Carvings uncovered in Burgos

Archaeologists in Mexico have found 4,926 well-preserved cave paintings in the north-eastern region of Burgos.

The images in red, yellow, black and white depict humans, animals and insects, as well as skyscapes and abstract scenes.

The paintings were found in 11 different sites – but the walls of one cave were covered with 1,550 scenes.

The area in which they were found was previously thought not to have been inhabited by ancient cultures.

Mexico cave painting

The paintings suggest that at least three groups of hunter-gatherers dwelled in the San Carlos mountain range.

Experts have not yet been able to date the paintings, but hope to chemically analyse their paint to find out their approximate age.

‘No objects’

“We have not found any ancient objects linked to the context, and because the paintings are on ravine walls and in the rainy season the sediments are washed away, all we have is gravel,” said archaeologist Gustavo Ramirez, from the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History (Inah).

In one of the caves, the experts found depictions of the atlatl, a pre-Hispanic hunting weapon that had not yet been seen in other paintings in the Tamaulipas state.

The paintings are being considered an important find because they document the presence of pre-Hispanic peoples in a region where “before it was said that nothing was there”, Mr Ramirez said.

Another archaeologist involved in the Inah study, Martha Garcia Sanchez, said that very little is known about the cultures who dwelled in Tamaulipas.

“These groups escaped the Spanish rule for 200 years because they fled to the Sierra de San Carlos where they had water, plants and animals to feed themselves,” she said.

The findings were presented during the second meeting of Historic Archaeology, in Mexico’s National History Museum.

See also here.

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Scoter ducks still near Texel, cold spring

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This video from the Netherlands is about a group of common scoters, diving together for food.

The Waddenvereniging in the Netherlands reports that recently, about 50,000 scoter ducks were counted in the North Sea, west of the Hoornderslag on Texel island. Two weeks before, there had been only 12,000 ducks.

It is very unusual that these ducks have not migrated yet to their nesting sites in northern Europe and Siberia. This is because of the cold spring.

The ducks are both common scoters and velvet scoters.

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Arab plant exhibition in Dutch botanical garden

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This video is about the botanical garden in Aswan, Egypt.

From the botanical garden of Leiden University in the Netherlands:

26 May to 1 October: Summer exhibition ‘Plants from the Arabial [sic] Nights’

The Hortus has an Arabic theme in 2013, linking up with the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Chair of Arabic Language and Culture at Leiden University. You can make acquaintance with the plants from the Arabian Nights in the Hortus. A special route has been set out to take you past plants from Arabian poems and plants mentioned in the ancient pharmacopeia Dioscorides. You can also discover herbs and ingredients from Arabic cuisine in the Arabic garden, which has been specially created for this exhibition.

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Isle of Man, Scotland dolphins

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This video is about bottlenose dolphin sounds.

From Wildlife Extra:

Several sightings of dolphins off the Isle of Man – Are Bottlenose dolphins moving north?

Plentiful herring may be luring the dolphins

May 2013. The unusual sight of a large group of bottlenose dolphins near the Isle of Man this week may be further evidence that they are shifting their summer range northwards, says the marine conservation charity Sea Watch Foundation.

The Manx Whale & Dolphin Watch not only reported around 10 bottlenose dolphins in the north eastern part of the Isle of Man on May 19, but later the same day, a large group of 50-60 bottlenose dolphins, including young calves, were seen off the eastern part of the Island.

Have you seen any Bottlenose dolphins off the Isle of Man or nearby?

Both organisations are calling for members of the public to send in photographs to photo@seawatchfoundation.org.uk of bottlenose dolphins off the Isle of Man or off the north east coast of England and the Galloway coast in the northeast Irish Sea, to see whether they can be matched with any known to frequent Cardigan Bay. Photographs need to show their fins side on which are used for ID in much the same way as fingerprints in humans!

20 Bottlenose dolphins off Abbey Head, Dumfries

Another interesting sighting – a group of 20 bottlenose sightings off Abbey Head, Dumfries and Galloway – was also reported to Sea Watch by Regional co-ordinator, Mark Pollitt, manager of the Dumfries and Galloway Environmental Recording Centre on 20 May. Photographs are again being sought to see whether these dolphins match records either from Cardigan Bay in Wales or form Scottish populations on the west and east coast.

Risso’s dolphins

Daphna Feingold, Sea Watch Monitoring officer for the Cardigan Bay bottlenose dolphin Photo ID Project, says: “There were also reports of Risso’s dolphins in the Isle of Man area at the same time and of the two species swimming together. Although this is not unheard of, it is quite unusual in UK coastal waters.

Disturbance?

“In recent years we have been noting what may be a shift in the Cardigan Bay population northwards, and we are concerned that this may be due to disturbance since recreational boating has increased and has been shown to have a negative effect on the animals.”

Sea Watch is calling for added protection for bottlenose dolphins around the north coasts of Wales since these are being used extensively by bottlenose dolphins. Current conservation protection for the species exists in the Cardigan Bay Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and Pen Llŷn a’r Sarnau SAC, but not further north.

Increase in the number of Bottlenose dolphins in Manx waters

Tom Felce, Manx Whale & Dolphin Watch, says: “There has been a clear increase in the number of sightings of bottlenose dolphins in Manx waters in the last two or three years, with sighting numbers increasing from around 15 sightings a year, to around 40 or 50 sightings a year. The majority of these sightings are in the winter months, between October and March, so a sighting of such a large group towards the end of May is particularly significant.”

Plentiful herring

Manx fisherman Danny Kermeen, who reported the initial sighting of ten individuals, has been catching lots of herring in the north of the island which may be the reason that the Bottlenose dolphins are in the area at this time of year, as herring do not normally reach the north east of the island until October or November. However, since herring eat sand eels, it may also be those that are attracting the bottlenose dolphins.

National Whale and Dolphin Watch from 27 July – 4 August

Find out more about Sea Watch and how to take part yourself in National Whale and Dolphin Watch from 27July – 4 August via www.seawatchfoundation.org.uk and help protect the UK’s whales and dolphins by adopting a Cardigan Bay dolphin on www.adoptadolphin.org.uk.

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Good Dutch flower news

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Dune pansies

The blog of Anke Bruin, warden on Vlieland island in the Netherlands, reports that more dune pansies than ever are flowering on the dunes of the island this year. This is because sand from the beach was blown into the dunes by winds.

The pansy plants attract caterpillars of various butterfly species, like the Queen of Spain fritillary.

Northern wheatears eat these caterpillars. So, many dune pansies is good news for wheatears.

Northern wheatears nest in rabbit holes. The rabbits keep other plants short, which helps the pansies. The rabbits don’t eat pansies.

Interesting, this interaction between various species.

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Chinese endangered animals on camera traps

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This video is called Cute tiger cubs sniff WWF camera trap.

From Wildlife Extra:

Camera traps open up hidden corners of China

Photos offer rare glimpse into panda habitat

MAY 2013. WWF has released dozens of photographs and video footage of endangered species captured by camera traps in the mountainous giant panda reserves in China, marking this year’s International Day for Biological Diversity. The images and footage, rarely seen before, showcase an array of endangered species in their remote habitats in south-western Sichuan Province, including giant panda, red panda, Tibetan stump-tailed macaque and leopard cat.

“The multimedia materials are obtained under circumstances, where there was little external disturbance and therefore they truly reflect the conditions of those species in the wild,” said Jiang Zeyin, species programme officer at WWF-China.

100 camera traps

The photos have all been taken since 2011, by more than 100 infra-red camera traps set up in six nature reserves by WWF and its partners from the local forestry authority as part of the monitoring effort under the giant panda conservation programme.

With the footage, WWF conservation officers have gained a better understanding of the identification of animal traces and areas of their activities, the study of the impact of human activities on the species and management of nature reserves, according to Jiang.

Panda is just the flagship

“The images demonstrate that through the conservation of the giant panda, a flagship umbrella species, we can also protect other threatened wildlife from the same habitat and preserve biological diversity,” said Fan Zhiyong, director of WWF species programme in China. It is a tried method in WWF’s biodiversity conservation and the reason why WWF would underscore the value of protecting flagship species, he said.

China has more than 6,500 species of vertebrates representing 14 percent of the global total, making it one of the 12 globally recognized “mega-biodiversity” countries.

Tigers, finless porpoise and musk deer all in decline

However, the population of more than 10 flagship and keystone species in China, which include Amur tigers, musk deer and the Yangtze finless porpoise, have undergone a marked decline that was particularly severe between the 1960s and 1980s.

“The overall biodiversity in China is in decline despite partial improvement in some places. The main threat has been the habitat loss and fragmentation due to invasive human activities,” said Fan.

“Conservation of flagship species would not only benefit the ecological system, but also human development. Large-scale planning and implementation aimed at establishing a network of habitats should always be considered,” said Fan.

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Unique triceratops discovery in the USA

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This video from the USA is called 1 T-Rex vs Triceratops.

And this video is the sequel.

Paleontologists of the Naturalis Biodiversity Centre in the Netherlands recently tried to find Tyrannosaurus rex fossils in the USA.

It was a bit of a disappointment, as they found only a few foot and leg bones, not a complete T rex skeleton.

Now, however, they have better news.

Translated from NOS TV in the Netherlands:

Wednesday, May 22, 2013, 16:24

In Wyoming in the United States three, possibly four skeletons of triceratops, a dinosaur species, have been found. An excavation team of scientists from Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the American Black Hills Institute made ​​the discovery during an expedition last week.

One of the triceratops skeletons is likely the most full-featured one discovered so far. Triceratops was a herbivore with three horns, living 70 to 65 million years ago in North America and walking on four legs.

According to Naturalis it is exceptional for several triceratops to be found together. “They are also individuals of different ages. This is very exciting. This find will teach us a lot about the development and behavior of triceratops,” said paleontologist Anne Ripper.

The triceratops is one of the best-known dinosaurs. Yet few skeletons have been found. The animal was eaten by the Tyrannosaurus rex, bones and all. Only the skull remained. Of these, in the course of time, hundreds have been found.

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