For many people, the giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleura, is synonymous with conservation. This gentle, bamboo-munching animal is down to around 2,500 individuals, and a combination of small population size and man-made environmental change, means that it is probably doomed to extinction in the wild. All is not gloom, however: the latest issue of Nature [subscription [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Mammals’
09/01/2010
HOW THE CAT GOT ITS COAT
Mammalian coat colour remains a mystery. Although we know a lot about the patterns involved, and can guess about some of their adaptive advantages, their genetic bases are largely unknown. Using a mixture of classic pedigree studies and molecular genetics, a new paper in Genetics (abstract only unless you have a subscription) has examined the [...]
02/12/2009
THE LEOPARD AND THE MOUSE
These photos were taken early in summer 2009 by photography student Casey Gutteridge at the Santago Rare Leopard Project in Hertfordshire, England. The leopard – a female called Sheena – discovered a visitor in her enclosure: Intrigued by the mouse, the cat sniffed the visitor: The mouse didn’t seem too concerned and carried on eating: Although we [...]
21/11/2009
A PREDICTION ABOUT THE PINE MARTEN GENOME
The European pine marten (Martes martes) is a mustelid – part of the weasel family. There is also a North American relative (Martes americana). They mainly nocturnal and pretty hard to spot. Here’s a rather nice picture of a pine marten, from DJS photography (note its right ear, presumably nibbled in a fight): On the [...]
31/10/2009
BATS DO BETTER UNDER BRIDGES
In many parts of the world, urban development is providing new roosting sites for bats. Concrete road bridges seem to be a favourite place that bats congregate and rear their young. You might expect that what with toxic fumes, heavy-metal run-off and noise pollution, bats living in these sites would do less well than their [...]
05/05/2009
WHY MOLECULAR GENETICS IS IMPORTANT
November 2007 Article from earlier in the year using mtDNA to track the number of whales being sold in markets in Korea They discovered that the number actually being consumed was far greater than the number that was officially reported. Uni/Athens needed to see full article.
24/04/2009
HERO TRIES TO SAVE DOLPHINS
November 2007 This video from Jena Saffery (Final Year): Hayden Panetierre (the cheerleader from Heroes) tries to save some dolphins from Japanese fishermen.
24/04/2009
COUNTING TIGERS
November 2007 How do you count tigers? This BBC online article suggests the hard way. What about estimating population size through population genetics? Different level of accuracy, I suppose. Nature magazine article about attempts to preserve the Siberian tiger (Uni/Athens needed to get past abstract).
24/04/2009
ALL THAT FROM A TOOTH
November 2007 A tooth found in India suggests that ungulates – hoofed mammals – existed in India before the end of the Cretaceous (ie before the end of the dinosaurs), while the sub-continent was charging across the Indian Ocean towards its current destination. They may even have originated in India. This tooth was found in the lava of the [...]
24/04/2009
FAINTING GOATS
November 2007 This video from Natalie Beresford (First Year). This is actually quite a serious question – these goats have a mutation in a muscle protein that makes them fall down. What human diseases might be related to this? What natural behaviours in other animals look like this?
