The 2020 annual count of monarch butterflies in the western United States found shockingly few, confirming fears that the insect is on the brink of extinction. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/monarch-butterflies-of-western-us-nearing-extinction-what-you-can-do…
Tag: predators
The Problem With Problem Sharks
A marine biologist’s ideas for singling out sharks that attack humans have prompted objections from other shark scientists. From a report: The war on sharks has been waged with shock and awe at times. When a shark bit or killed a swimmer, people within the past century might take out hundreds of the marine predators to quell the panic, like executing…
Leaf-Cutter Ants Have Rocky Crystal Armor, Never Before Seen in Insects
Leaf-cutter ants are named for their Herculean feats: they chomp foliage and carry unwieldy pieces, like green flags many times their size, long distances to their colonies. There they chew up the leaves to feed underground fungus farms. Along the way, the insects brave all manner of predators — and regularly engage in wars with other ants. But these insects are…
November butterflies!
Lovely photos of November butterflies from an ashram garden in India. Source: https://earthsky.org/todays-image/butterflies-ranchi-ashrama-india-photos…
The fossil of a duckbill dinosaur has been found on the ‘wrong’ continent
The final chapter of dinosaur history is a tale stretching across two very different worlds, each a vast supercontinent dominated by its own unique mix of predators and herbivores. Source: https://www.livescience.com/duckbill-dinosaur-fossil-found-wrong-continent.html
Which insects have the worst stings?
Some of the most painful stings come from tarantula hawk wasps, warrior wasps, and bullet ants. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/which-insects-have-worst-painful-stings…
Lions Are Less Likely To Attack Cattle With Eyes Painted on Their Backsides
An anonymous reader shares a report: The predation of livestock by carnivores, and the retaliatory killing of carnivores as a result, is a major global conservation challenge. Such human-wildlife conflicts are a key driver of large carnivore declines and the costs of coexistence are often disproportionately borne by rural communities in the global south. While current approaches tend to focus on…
Pesticides and industrial pollutants found in snow atop Arctic glaciers
The long journey of these compounds – likely originating in the U.S. and Eurasia – shows the far-reaching impacts of industrial pollution. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/pesticides-industrial-pollutants-found-atop-arctic-glaciers…
Farmers are painting eyes on cows’ backsides
Farmers in Africa have found a novel new way of protecting their livestock from opportunistic predators. In Botswana’s Okavango delta, keeping cattle … Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/338709/farmers-are-painting-eyes-on-cows-backsides…
‘Stalkerware’ Phone Spying Apps Have Escaped Google’s Ad Ban
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: Several companies offering phone-spying apps — known as “stalkerware” — are still advertising in Google search results, despite the search giant’s ban that took effect today, TechCrunch has found. These controversial apps are often pitched to help parents snoop on their child’s calls, messages, apps and other private data under the guise of…