These Beautiful Birds Form Something Like Lasting Friendships
True friends, most people would agree, are there for each other. Sometimes that means offering emotional support. Sometimes it means helping each other move. And if you're a superb starling — a flamboyant, chattering songbird native to the African savanna — it means stuffing bugs down the throats of your friends' offspring, secure in the expectation that they'll eventually do the same for yours.
Scientists have long known that social animals usually put blood relatives first. But for a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers crunched two decades of field data to show that unrelated members of a superb starling flock often help each other raise chicks, trading assistance to one another over years in a behavior that was not previously known.
'We think that these reciprocal helping relationships are a way to build ties,' said Dustin Rubenstein, a professor of ecology at Columbia University and an author of the paper.
Superb starlings are distinctive among animals that breed cooperatively, said Alexis Earl, a biologist at Cornell University and an author of the paper. Their flocks mix family groups with immigrants from other groups. New parents rely on up to 16 helpers, which bring chicks extra food and help run off predators.
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Medscape
7 hours ago
- Medscape
Study Reveals Malaria Parasite's Secrets
Malaria parasites can hide in people's bodies for years or even decades without causing symptoms by shutting down the genes that make them visible to the immune system, a new report found. This discovery explains how people can remain infected years after developing malaria and spread the disease through mosquitos that bite them, said Kirk W. Deitsch, PhD, professor with the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York City, and co-author of a study published in Nature Microbiology . 'What's probably happening in a place like Africa, where there's a lot of malaria transmission, is that people we thought didn't have malaria actually had these invisible parasites at really low levels in their system,' Deitsch told Medscape Medical News . The implications for elimination campaigns are significant. Currently, 'when we try to do a malaria elimination campaign, [we] treat the kids, the ones who are sick,' he said. The study suggests 'that we need to treat all asymptomatic people, the adults, because they're carrying these cryptic parasites that nobody knew about before.' Sticky Proteins and Spleen Avoidance The researchers sought to better understand how malaria persists in the body. 'There were these weird cases where a person who grew up in, let's say, Africa, had malaria several times, were no longer infected, and moved to the States. They lived in the States for a decade, maybe 12 or 13 years, and then they give blood for a transfusion, and the recipient of the transfusion gets really bad malaria,' Deitsch said. 'So clearly, those parasites have been hiding in this person for more than a decade, and nobody knew why. How are they hiding? Where are they?' Study authors focused on the var gene, which expresses an adhesive surface protein on the infected red blood cells in malaria. The protein is 'sticky,' allowing infected cells to attach to blood vessel walls and avoid being filtered out by the spleen, Deitsch said. But the parasite pays a price because the immune system can detect the sticky protein. Previous methods of analyzing the genetics of malaria looked at millions of parasites together. 'If you want to know which gene is being turned on in that population, you take all those parasites, you extract all the RNA from the population, and you look at which gene is turned on,' Deitsch explained. For the new study, researchers analyzed the malaria parasite at the single-cell level. 'We isolated single parasites and then looked at which gene is being expressed by just that individual parasite,' he said. 'We found there was always a group of parasites that had turned off the entire [ var ] gene family and were expressing no genes at all.' As a result, the red blood cells didn't produce the surface proteins, allowing them to be 'invisible' and evade the immune system. Like a Criminal The parasites don't turn invisible right away, Deitsch said. Instead, they constantly switch to different sticky proteins, like a criminal changing disguises, as the immune system swings into action. 'As soon as your antibody titer begins to rise, they just switch to a different adhesive protein.' 'The parasite only has so many copies of this adhesive protein that they can put out to the surface over their lifetime. So they run out of genes after about a year and a half or so.' Scientists used to think this meant the infection would be cleared. 'Everybody always assumed that once the parasite runs out of these genes, that the infection is over. You clear the infection, and then you're okay.' Deitsch used the metaphor of a criminal who has a closet full of 50-60 disguises. 'When you get to the last one, then you've run out, and the cops have figured out all your previous disguises. At the back of the closet, there's an invisibility cloak. They can put that on, and then the cops can't see you at all.' These invisible parasites exist at very low levels. 'Those parasites don't go to very high levels because your spleen is continuously filtering them,' Deitsch explained. 'But what they're able to do is maintain this low level of infection for a long time.' The only sign of continued infection may be a slightly enlarged spleen 'because the spleen is continuously clearing a lot of these invisible parasites by filtration,' Deitsch noted. Changes in Malaria Prevention Strategy? The findings suggest that anti-malaria efforts should treat entire populations with anti-malaria drugs, even healthy people, Deitsch said. And drugs could be developed to make the hidden parasites become visible to the immune system. However, neither strategy is simple, he said. What's next? 'We're going to continue working on the molecular mechanisms that mediate this process [and explore] how the parasites control their chromosomes and their genes to go into this silent, invisible state and then switch back out into a different state,' Deitsch said. Researchers are also studying basic questions about how parasites coordinate their disguise changes. 'There are literally trillions of parasites in the circulation of a sick individual, and they seem to coordinate switching their disguise,' Deitsch said. 'They all know to go to the same next disguise.' Outside Experts Weigh In Karine Le Roch, PhD, MS, director of the Center for Infectious Disease and Vector Research, University of California, Riverside, who was not involved with the paper, told Medscape Medical News that it's 'a rigorous, innovative, and impactful study that advances a long-standing question in malaria biology.' The report 'addresses a major paradox in malaria biology and offers a compelling explanation for asymptomatic chronic infections, which have long been poorly understood,' she said. Anna Bachmann, PhD, a research group leader at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in Hamburg, Germany, also praised the study. Bachmann, who didn't work on the paper, said it suggests 'that P falciparum may possess even more sophisticated strategies to maintain long-term infections than previously understood.' She added that the findings have implications regarding whether migrants need more extensive screening and treatment for acute and chronic infections. 'Many parasitic infections in refugees from sub-Saharan Africa have been found to be clinically almost silent, leading to the recommendation that screening practices need to be improved, particularly with respect to parasitic infections,' she said. 'This is primarily to improve the health of migrants, but it could also become relevant in the context of a potential reintroduction of malaria in nonendemic regions as currently being observed in parts of the United States and southern Europe.' The National Institutes of Health supported Deitsch and another author via grants. Deitsch is a Stavros S. Niarchos Scholar and recipient of a William Randolph Hearst Endowed Faculty Fellowship Grant, and the William Randolph Hearst Foundation supported his institution. Another author received support from the Swiss National Science Foundation. The other authors had no disclosures.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Researchers stunned after trail cameras capture elusive big cats in rare habitat: 'This is an incredibly hopeful moment'
An elusive South African plains dweller made two cameos on a clever camera trap placed by nature watchers to spy on the region's iconic creatures, according to a Miami Herald story. The cameras were placed as part of the Landmark Foundation's Leopard Conservation Project in De Hoop Nature Reserve with support from the Morukuru Goodwill Foundation. The 30 "traps" took 4,223 photographs during 50 days. Two photos of African leopards were among the most exciting images captured, per the Herald's reporting. "This is an incredibly hopeful moment," Morukuru Family co-founder Ed Zeeman said in a May news release from the family. "To confirm the presence of not one, but two leopards, is a testament to the power of patient, long-term conservation work." Other images include baboons, Cape grysboks, and honey badgers. The leopards are considered to be one of "nature's best-kept secrets," according to the experts. "This is exactly the kind of data we hoped to uncover," the Foundation's general manager, Bool Smuts, said in the release. Leopards are considered "vulnerable" by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. The species is listed as extinct in a long list of countries, including Cambodia and Israel. Trail cameras are great tools for capturing hard-to-spot creatures to confirm their existence and health. Sometimes, though, a hard-to-classify animal is photographed, puzzling experts. Alaskan outdoors officials have used cameras to monitor wolf health. Documenting their numbers and activities as they feast on carcasses can provide valuable insight, according to the state's Fish and Game Department. And the University of Minnesota said that predators are crucial parts of the environment, keeping certain prey species from becoming overpopulated, creating an unbalance. "For example, wolves can prevent beavers from damming streams and creating ponds that turn forests into wetlands," according to the university report. It's part of the specific role each critter plays, impacting our food system. Bees and other insects pollinate three-quarters of crops that fill our tables, Our World in Data noted. Fruits, cocoa, and coffee beans are among foods that rely on pollinators to some degree. Certain butterfly and bumblebee counts in 17 countries dropped by 25% since 1991, partly due to deforestation, pesticide use, and other human actions. Other populations remain stable, but the impact is troubling, the report continued. Do you think people should be allowed to keep exotic animals as pets? Yes No It depends on the animal It depends on the person Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. You can help to keep tabs on the creatures in your environment, too. Trail cameras cost less than $40. You might be surprised by what is passing through your backyard at night. The National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count is a great way to help track population health, simply by documenting what you see at feeders from your kitchen window. Taking a walk to observe birds has other benefits, as well. "It heightens the senses up again. It kind of refreshes your instincts," veterinarian Scott Bastian, a bird expert from Southwestern Pennsylvania, said in a story by the Daily American about a count from 2019. You could even incorporate birdwatching into a routine daily trip. By walking and watching, instead of driving, you will prevent heat-trapping tailpipe exhaust that harms humans and animals alike. A gas car spews thousands of pounds of planet-warming fumes each year, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It will be interesting to see what creatures are captured next by the growing number of forest-watching cameras being deployed. "Camera traps offer a non-intrusive way to monitor rare and wide ranging species like leopards," Smuts said in the Herald's report. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
How to move a rhino
Barely feeling the tranquiliser shot, the panic-stricken female rhinoceros ran to take shelter in a wooded area, eluding the low-flying helicopter trying to prevent her escape. The rhino was supposed to be transferred to another park in Kenya on Saturday, but outsmarted the humans. A few minutes later, rangers in 4x4 vehicles searched through thickets too dense for the crane truck that was meant to carry her away. A decision was quickly made to administer the antidote to the tranquilise to prevent her from collapsing. If she fell the wrong way, she could suffocate. The young female will therefore remain where she was born. "The rhino is the worst one to translocate," said Taru Sheldrick, who was piloting the helicopter in Nakuru National Park in northwest Kenya, an oasis of greenery surrounding a deep blue lake. "When you dart them, if you don't have long enough, they're running straight for thick bush, which is their security," he said. "Whenever you're darting a rhino, you have a little bit of fear. Because it's a species in danger. Every animal is just so important." Rhinos, which can weigh up to two tonnes, were once abundant in sub-Saharan Africa. But hunting by European colonisers and later large-scale poaching pushed them to the brink of extinction. - Race against time - The International Rhino Foundation (IRF) says there are about 28,000 left in the world, nearly 24,000 in Africa. Kenya is home to more than 2,000 of them. Rhinos reproduce less efficiently if too many of its kin live in the same location, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), which manages the country's parks. Moving them is therefore important, but rhinos are vulnerable to tranquilisers that slow their breathing, increase their body temperature and affect their heart rate, said Dr Dominic Mijele from KWS. So it is a race against time as soon as a veterinarian, aboard a helicopter, administers the drug using a dart gun. Five to seven minutes after injection, the rhino begins to feel groggy. Then it collapses, as AFP observed on Saturday: after the first female retreated into the bush, three other black rhinos were anaesthetised within the span of a few hours in Nakuru. A rescue team arrived on-site within two minutes of each shot, moving like a well-oiled machine. About a dozen caregivers surrounded the animals, spraying them with water to cool their body temperature, rolling them onto their sides to ensure their respiration was not obstructed, administering oxygen and monitoring their vital signs. Simultaneously, several other rangers secured the animals with straps threaded through the transport cage and attached to the front bumper of a jeep. Fifteen minutes after the rescue team's arrival, the antidote was administered. The animal then jolted to its feet and was promptly guided into a cage, which a crane loaded onto the flatbed of a truck. - 'Number one' - Mijele boasted of Kenya's unmatched expertise. "We are number one in the world. We have done so many rhino translocations successfully," he said. Jochen Zeitz, the owner of the private Segera Reserve, where about 20 rhinos have been relocated in the past two weeks, could not hide his relief after the latest operation. On his 200 square kilometres of land, elephants, buffalos, lions, leopards, cheetahs and more roam freely, said the former Puma CEO and current Harley-Davidson executive. But the reserve lacked "this iconic species" which were present up until 60 years ago in Segera, but have since disappeared. Welcoming rhinos back is "completing the conservation work that we've done as a foundation over the last 22 years" since acquiring the land, he told AFP. Due to the high risk of poaching for their horns, security measures had to be significantly enhanced with 100-150 new security staff, Zeitz said. Late Saturday, a small group witnessed the release of the three rhinos from Nakuru, who had arrived in Segera after a six-hour drive. In the dense night darkness, they listened as the metal bars of the transport cages were removed, doors creaked open, and heavy stomping accompanied by guttural growls rang out. The rhinos had finally arrived at their new home. jf/er/cw
