For the first time, scientists have shown that global warming has overtaken every other human-caused pressure on wildlife protected by the Endangered Species Act. 



Drawing on a new analysis of 2,766 at-risk plants and animals across the United States and its territories, researchers report that 91 percent of federally listed species are now harmed by symptoms of climate change including rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and other climate-linked disruptions.



“With the addition of comprehensive climate sensitivity data, <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/scientists-climate-change-and-biodiversity-loss-are-one-indivisible-global-health-crisis/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">climate change</a> is just as prevalent a stressor to ESA-listed species as land and sea use change; this trend likely applies more broadly as well,” the authors wrote.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-climate-threats-to-endangered-species">Climate threats to endangered species</h2>



The study, led by <a href="https://defenders.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Defenders of Wildlife</a> scientist Talia E. Niederman, set out to determine how the five dominant drivers of biodiversity loss - climate change, land and sea use change, pollution, invasive species and overexploitation - interact across taxonomic groups.



Previous national syntheses relied heavily on the threats listed in original ESA documents or in the global <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">IUCN Red List</a>, both of which can lag behind current knowledge. To correct that shortfall, the team merged those data with a suite of recent climate-sensitivity assessments that evaluate species’ exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to warming.



Incorporating this third layer revealed thousands of cases in which climate stress had gone unreported, vaulting global warming to the top of the threat ledger. 



The researchers caution that historical listing decisions and many IUCN accounts vastly underrepresent the number of species affected by climate change and urge agencies to explicitly include climate sensitivity in ESA listing decisions and management plans.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-cascading-risks-for-endangered-species">Cascading risks for endangered species</h2>



Although climate change now dominates, it is rarely acting alone. Over 86 percent of the species in the data set face two or more of the five drivers at once, creating dangerous feedbacks that can accelerate decline.



<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/without-tackling-climate-change-coral-restoration-efforts-are-insufficient/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Corals</a> and other cnidarians are hit by an average of almost five threats each, while bivalves and amphibians typically contend with more than three. Habitat conversion remains the number-one menace to freshwater organisms, whereas marine species suffer most from overexploitation.



Overall, land and sea use change still endangers 82 percent of U.S. imperiled species, and invasive species trouble more than half. Pollution and direct exploitation each jeopardize roughly a third, but their true influence may be larger because both pressures are chronically under-documented.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-the-numbers-stack-up"><a></a>How the numbers stack up</h2>



Among terrestrial vertebrates, 75 percent of birds, 92 percent of mammals and 83 percent of reptiles are already affected by a warmer, less predictable climate. Freshwater groups are equally vulnerable: 88 percent of assessed fish and 75 percent of amphibians show high sensitivity to <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/rising-temperatures-will-cut-world-gdp-by-a-staggering-40-percent-if-nothing-changes/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">temperature</a> or hydrological shifts.



Even <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/predicting-how-climate-change-will-alter-plant-growth-cycles/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">plant</a> taxa, sometimes assumed to be more buffered, reveal striking exposure, with nearly 78 percent of flowering plants and over 90 percent of conifers triggered under at least one climate-sensitivity metric.



By contrast, initial ESA listings cited climate threats for fewer than half of these groups, and the IUCN captured only about a quarter, largely because many U.S. species have never been reassessed under the Red List’s newer climate criteria.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-urgent-need-for-updated-assessments"><a></a>Urgent need for updated assessments</h2>



The authors highlight glaring information gaps: echinoderms, corals, and mollusks suffer from outdated or missing IUCN evaluations, while federal five-year reviews - required under the ESA - often arrive late or omit emerging climate data.



Without current assessments, managers can underestimate extinction risk and fail to deploy adaptive conservation tools such as assisted migration, habitat corridors or proactive fire management. 



Expanding rapid, standardized climate-vulnerability screenings, they argue, would give agencies a clearer map of where limited resources can do the most good.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-policy-pathways-to-prevention"><a></a>Policy pathways to prevention</h2>



Even under today’s daunting statistics, the team stresses that decisive action can still prevent losses. They recommend targeting the full suite of human pressures at once - curbing greenhouse-gas emissions while also restoring degraded habitats, controlling <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/growing-threat-of-invasive-species-requires-immediate-action/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">invasive species</a>, reducing pollution and enforcing sustainable harvests.



Doing so, they contend, will yield co-benefits for people, from safeguarding fisheries and water supplies to buffering communities from extreme weather. 



"We need no further research to know that biodiversity is facing multiple persistent threats. Addressing the five drivers of biodiversity loss promptly across all affected taxa will be critical to preventing further extinction," the researchers concluded. 



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-climate-affects-endangered-species">How climate affects endangered species</h2>



The findings arrive as the United States prepares its first National Nature Assessment, a report intended to guide conservation investment through the mid-century. 



By demonstrating that climate change has already become the most pervasive danger for endangered species, the new study provides a sobering benchmark - and a potent call to integrate climate adaptation into every level of species recovery planning. 



Whether policymakers heed that call may determine how many of today’s imperiled species can still be saved for future generations.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/advance-article/doi/10.1093/biosci/biaf019/8115311?login=false" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Earth System Dynamics</a>.



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Climate change is the largest threat to U.S. endangered species

For the first time, scientists have shown that global warming has overtaken every other human-caused pressure on wildlife protected by the Endangered Species Act. Drawing on a new analysis of 2,766 at-risk plants and animals across the United States and its territories, researchers report that 91 percent of federally listed species are now harmed by symptoms of climate change including rising temperatures, shifting rainfall, and other climate-linked disruptions. “With the addition of comprehensive climate sensitivity data, climate change is just as prevalent a stressor to ESA-listed species...

A new recovery plan for endangered beluga whales in Alaska has one missing piece: the threat keeping their population from growing.

The <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/">National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> announced its new plan to aid beluga whales in Cook Inlet on Wednesday. The Alaskan whales were listed as endangered in 2008, a designation the state fought.

After eight years under <a href="https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-endangered-species-act">Endangered Species Act</a> protections, the beluga population in Cook Inlet has not recovered. NOAA officials admit they’re not sure why.

The new plan, developed by NOAA’s <a href="http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/">Marine Fisheries Service</a>, takes that missing piece into account. The plan focuses on research into “potential threats” that could be blocking recovery, such as noise or other stressors.

Once NOAA scientists discover whatever threat is preventing more baby belugas, the focus will shift to figuring out a workaround for the whales.

Then, if all goes well, their numbers will begin increasing again.

In 1979, nearly 1,300 beluga whales called the Cook Inlet home. By 2014, the number was 340 and still slowly trickling downward.

The United States has just five beluga whale populations, including the Cook Inlet whales. The inlet, which stretches from Anchorage to the Gulf of Alaska, could house 1,300 whales, officials said.

Cook Inlet whale numbers began shrinking in the 1980s. Officials believed ending subsistence hunting by Alaska Natives in 1999 would stop the decline, but it did not. Now, scientists with NOAA will study threats including natural disasters, noise, algae blooms, loss of prey, and more.

When the whales were declared endangered in 2008, the recovery plan at the time planned to upgrade them to “threatened” when numbers reached 520 and remove them once the population hits 780.

Without new research into why fewer belugas are swimming wild and free, that may take a while, scientists said.

Even if researchers were to discover and remove the threat to the whales this year, it could be 50 years before the population recovers, they said.

Endangered beluga whales in Alaska are focus of NOAA plan

A new recovery plan for endangered beluga whales in Alaska...

Cities in northern England have a new and growing segment of the population: urban foxes. And they're not the only places with an influx of non-human newcomers.

Researchers are taking note of a growing trend among wildlife. Feral cats, mice, raccoons, and starlings are being joined by more exotic urbanites such as foxes and coyotes.

A team led by Dr. Dawn Scott of <a href="https://www.brighton.ac.uk/">University of Brighton</a> has discovered that urban fox populations in England have exploded in recent years. Numbers clocked in at 33,000 then, and they've risen to 150,000 today, they told <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4087010/A-country-overrun-foxes-Numbers-creature-FIVE-TIMES-higher-England-s-cities-thought.html">The Daily Mail</a>. Particularly in the northern towns of England, fox numbers have multiplied rapidly in the past two decades.

Protection from hunters and plentiful food have led many animals to begin calling cities home. And they're adapting and learning how to change their lifestyles around human activity to better fit in.

“We are the biggest cause of evolution on the planet right now,” Dr. Suzanne MacDonald, a psychologist and biologist at York University in Canada, told <a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160418-animals-urban-cities-wildlife-science-coyotes/">National Geographic</a> in April 2016.

England's urban foxes demonstrate this well. Even though fox communities have grown in urban areas, human residents of cities report seeing the furry creatures much less. Foxes are either becoming part of the city scenery, or getting a lot better at avoiding attention.

Urban foxes aren't the only ones moving into cities. Coyotes, hedgehogs, and other wild creatures have joined metropolitan standards like squirrels, raccoons, and feral pigeons. Some come for the safety and better meals. Others have nowhere else to go.

“To live in harmony with animals whose habitat we’re destroying, we’re going to have to do a lot more work in what we’re doing to them,” MacDonald said.

Several major cities put a lot of effort into protecting their wild animal populations.

<a href="http://www.architecture.org/architecture-chicago/buildings-of-chicago/building/aqua/">Aqua Tower</a> in Chicago is designed with exterior terraces to look more like a cliff, which prevents birds from crashing into it as frequently. In Germany, Berlin plans to adopt “coherent greenery,” where they will connect the green spaces within the city so that wildlife can move around more easily.

Efforts are even being made in Los Angeles to build a land bridge over the 101 Freeway, which would allow mountain lions to mingle rather than live in isolation.

Some of the newly urban animals, such as red foxes and coyotes, have traits that let them successfully exist in cities without much human help.

Animals that survive and thrive in the wild by being sneaky, adaptable, and fast breeders – and those that aren’t fussy about what they eat – tend to do very well in cities, said Tristan Donovan, author of <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Feral-Cities-Adventures-Animals-Jungle/dp/1569760675">Feral Cities: Adventures with Animals in the Urban Jungle</a>.

Red foxes actually live in greater densities in cities than in the country now, and city-dwelling coyotes tend to live longer than their rural counterparts, scientists said.

“It’s a pattern we’ve seen across the whole continent – they’re figuring out a way to deal with whatever we’ve done to the landscape,” Dr. Chris Nagy, a wildlife biologist, told National Geographic. Nagy has studied coyote populations in New York City for years.

<a href="https://www.srs.fs.usda.gov/sustain/report/terra3/terra3-13.htm">Studies</a> have shown that human development almost always leads to decreased biodiversity. But urban foxes and other city-dwelling wildlife show that many species can adapt and thrive in human cities.

Their presence can sometimes be dangerous. Animals such as mountain lions and coyotes can become bolder as they grow more accustomed to human contact.

However, many cities are finding solutions to help animals coexist with humans. Human development of their native environments leaves few alternatives.

Urban foxes and other animals settle into cities, raise families

Cities in northern England have a new and growing segment...

Illegally traded endangered species get a second life

As if endangered species don’t already have enough problems as it is, their limited population quantity also sadly increases their value on the black market. But according to a new study from a team of researchers at the <a href="http://www.hku.hk">University of Hong Kong</a> and the <a href="http://www.anu.edu.au">Australian National University</a>, there could be a silver lining for those animals who have been illegally traded but manage to escape captivity.

In a paper published in the journal <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1449/abstract">Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment</a>, the team explains how illegally traded endangered species that escape can form secondary populations in new locations. These secondary populations can ease the pressure on their native population and increase the odds of long-term survival.  

"This first came to my attention when I read a news story about the seizure of an illegal shipment of 23 yellow crested cockatoos," co-author Dr. Luke Gibson told <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-38498037">BBC News</a>. "Each individual had been stuffed inside a plastic water bottle."

Gibson had been unaware that the species was endangered having seen several flying around outside of his office. This prompted an exploration into how an already threatened species could become self-sustaining in a new environment. 

The team found at least 49 cases of endangered species establishing a secondary population just as the yellow crested cockatoo did in Hong Kong.

"This is a species which is primarily threatened by wildlife trade," said Gibson. "Poachers go out into the forest in its native range in eastern Indonesia and capture the bird and then ship them off, usually up to Hong Kong or China where there is a strong demand for pet birds. This is what has fueled the decline of this species [in its native range]. But it's really interesting because that same cause also had another effect: some of the people who were keeping this species in Hong Kong accidentally or intentionally released them."

Illegally traded endangered species get a second life

Illegally traded endangered species get a second life As if...

What if we could see just how much a new smartphone or sushi lunch will affect wildlife? Now we can, thanks to new maps of consumer hotspots that put wildlife at risk.

Dr. Daniel Moran of the <a href="https://www.ntnu.edu/">Norwegian University of Science and Technology</a> paired up with his colleague, Dr. Keiichiro Kanemoto of <a href="http://www.shinshu-u.ac.jp/english/">Shinshu University</a>, to tackle the problem.

They created a new technique that examines global supply chains to identify where they cause threats to animals species, and analyze how. Then they mapped out each country’s consumer hotspots across the globe.

“Locating biodiversity threat hotspots driven by consumption of goods and services can help to connect conservationists, consumers, companies and governments in order to better target conservation actions,” Moran and Kanemoto wrote in an <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-016-0023">article</a> published this week.

In other words, the major players can tackle threats like deforestation in a way that leaves everyone all satisfied. And the maps help identify threats to wildlife and what is causing them, allowing those players to take action.

Moran and Kanemoto focused on 6,803 vulnerable and endangered animal species listed by the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a> and <a href="http://www.birdlife.org/">BirdLife International</a>. Then they looked at the threats each species faced, such as deforestation. Finally, they followed the chain of events to the ultimate consumer.

That way, they could determine which consumer hotspots were causing a ripple effect down the global supply chain.

The tool lets you look at a country and see where its consumer habits have the largest effect.

For example, the U.S. is a consumer hotspot that causes threats to species in Mexico, Madagascar, the Sahel region of Africa, Southeast Asia, Spain, Central America, and elsewhere.

For marine species, Southeast Asia was the primary consumer hotspot. The region’s fishing industry feeds not just that area, but people in the U.S. and the European Union.

The two scientists hope that their work will help countries and consumers take more effective steps toward conserving endangered species.

“Maps of species threat hotspots can thus help all actors, from producers and conservationists to final consumers, to focus solutions on targeted biodiversity hotspots,” they wrote.

The pair published their research in the journal <a href="http://www.nature.com/natecolevol/">Nature Ecology &amp; Evolution</a>.

New maps show consumer hotspots that threaten endangered species

What if we could see just how much a new...

In a role reversal, it’s female pipefish who do all the work of competing for a mate. And male pipefish? They get pregnant.

That role reversal is rare in the animal kingdom, and it has scientists fascinated.

Male pipefish, like seahorses, sea dragons, and other fish in the Syngnathidae family, are among a very small number of species where the male, not the female, carries the young to term.

For all of these fish, the females still produce the eggs. But they transfer their clutch to a specialized brood pouch on the males. Then, the males carry the eggs to term, often sharing nutrients.

"From a research standpoint, pipefish are interesting because of the unique opportunity they provide to study sexual selection in reverse, which can tell us a lot about how variation works in mating and reproductive success," Dr. Sarah Flanagan said in a <a href="http://www.nimbios.org/press/FS_pipefish">press release</a>. Flanagan is a postdoctoral fellow at the <a href="http://www.nimbios.org/">National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis</a>.

The reversal of roles has led to a reversal of the typical sex characteristics seen in the wild. Female pipefish are the flashier members of the species, sometimes with more colorful ornamentation. They’re the ones who have to compete for males, who prefer larger females that produce more eggs.

But in a <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00265-016-2255-3">new study</a> led by Flanagan, a team of researchers from the U.S. and Sweden found that when it comes to courting, it’s not just about what males want.

Females have some input, too, and size matters. The team, which looked at broad-nosed pipefish, found that larger male pipefish carry more eggs and produce healthier offspring. Those offspring are better survivors, too, and that makes large males much more desirable for the females.

“Our results show that larger males mate earlier than smaller males and that pregnant males have higher measures of condition compared to non-pregnant males,” the researchers wrote.

Males that breed earlier can also carry more pregnancies over the course of the breeding season, the team noted.

"This study shows that there are many factors at play in this system, more than perhaps we ever realized, but it's that variation in traits and fitness which allows for sexual selection to work," Flanagan said.

She plans to extend the research, looking into how pipefish genetics play a role in their reproductive behavior.

The study was published in the journal <a href="http://link.springer.com/journal/265">Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology</a>.

Male pipefish 'motherhood' is complicated, new study shows

In a role reversal, it’s female pipefish who do all...

Everyone knows bats use echolocation to navigate while they fly. They call out, then listen to the echoes that bounce back to figure out where they are, "see" any obstacles that might block their path, and – most importantly – find dinner. But how do bats avoid collision when flying in large groups?

Scientists have wondered how flying in a crowd doesn’t “blind” bats. How does each individual bat hear its own echolocation among hundreds of others?

Turns out, they don’t.

Dr. Amanda Adams and Dr. Michael Smotherman at <a href="https://www.tamu.edu/">Texas A&amp;M University</a> decided to study some Mexican free-tailed bats, captured in the wild, to see how bats adjust their own echolocation when other bats are around.

They used a small, empty, soundproofed room with microphones for recording to conduct the experiment. The bats were each allowed into the room one at a time. The microphones recorded their calls, giving the scientists a baseline frequency for each bat.

Then, the researchers used four speakers around the room to play calls from other bats. They simulated situations where anywhere between one and four “imaginary bats” shared the room. Then they recorded the bats again, to see if they called less or more.

They repeated the experiments after “cluttering” the room with strings holding motion detectors.

What they found was that bats call more frequently when they’re alone. As soon as they hear another bat in a nearby location, they begin calling less often.

They do this because when one bat’s echolocation call cuts across another, both bats lose the information they would have received from the echoes.

In other words, quiet bats avoid collision and find more food.

Adams and Smotherman have dubbed the behavior “mutual suppression,” and they believe it’s how bats are able to live socially.

They also found that in the cluttered room, bats hit the motion-sensitive strings more often when the imaginary bats were calling more frequently. Adams and Smotherman are not yet sure if the cries interfered with the real bats’ navigation.

The bats only seem to practice mutual suppression when another bat is chatty, the researchers found. When they used a “RoboBat” in the room to simulate the noises of another bat, the live bat cried more if RoboBat was silent, and got quieter when RoboBat was also calling out.

Adams and Smotherman plan to continue their research into echolocation and mutual suppression. It could prove useful in creating new wireless signal technology, they said.

Adams shared their research at the annual conference of the <a href="http://www.sicb.org/">Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology</a> in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Bats avoid collision by working together, quieting down in a crowd

Everyone knows bats use echolocation to navigate while they fly....

The average chicken egg only takes 21 days to hatch, while an ostrich egg takes about twice as long. But according to new research, dinosaur eggs took anywhere from 3 to 6 months to hatch. 

A team of researchers from <a href="https://www.fsu.edu/">Florida State University</a>, led by Professor of Biological Science Gregory Erickson, published their findings in an article in the journal <a href="http://www.pnas.org/">Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences</a>. The team used embryonic dental records to track the often mysterious details of dinosaur births.

"Some of the greatest riddles about dinosaurs pertain to their embryology -- virtually nothing is known," said Erickson. "Did their eggs incubate slowly like their reptilian cousins -- crocodilians and lizards? Or rapidly like living dinosaurs -- the birds?"

Dinosaur eggs weighed 9 pounds and measured roughly the size of a volleyball. For some time, scientists had believed dinosaur egg incubation duration was similar to that of bird eggs, which hatch in 11-85 days. It was thought that dinosaur eggs underwent a rapid incubation and that birds inherited that trait from dinosaur ancestors.  

The FSU team collaborated with researchers from the <a href="http://www.ucalgary.com/">University of Calgary</a> and the <a href="http://www.amnh.org/">American Museum of Natural History</a> to test this theory using rare dinosaur embryo fossils.  

According to co-author Darla Zelenitsky, assistant professor of geoscience at University of Calgary, “Time within the egg is a crucial part of development, but this earliest growth stage is poorly known because dinosaur embryos are rare. Embryos can potentially tell us how dinosaurs developed and grew very early on in life and if they are more similar to birds or reptiles in these respects."

The team ran the embryonic jaws through a CT scanner to illustration how the detention formed. Next, they removed teeth and viewed them under a microscope, revealing growth lines on each tooth that corresponded to how long the dinosaur had been in the egg.

According to Erickson, “These are the lines that are laid down when any animal's teeth develops. They're kind of like tree rings, but they're put down daily. We could literally count them to see how long each dinosaur had been developing."

The results showed that the smaller Protoceratops embryos took 3 months to hatch, while larger Hypacrosaurus embryos took 6 months. The existing theory was thus proven incorrect, that dinosaur incubation duration was actually more similar to primitive reptiles than to birds.

The longer incubation period would have also put dinosaurs at a major disadvantage compared to other animals who survived the dinosaur extinction event.

"We suspect our findings have implications for understanding why dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous period, whereas amphibians, birds, mammals and other reptiles made it through and prospered," Erickson said.

Dinosaur eggs took 3 to 6 months to hatch, study finds

The average chicken egg only takes 21 days to hatch,...

Chickens aren’t known for their brains – but maybe they should be. Studies of chicken psychology show the birds may be a lot smarter and more complex than they get credit for.

The new foray into chicken studies was undertaken by <a href="https://www.farmsanctuary.org/learn/the-someone-project/">The Someone Project</a>. The project’s goal is to gain a better understanding of the cognitive abilities of farm animals.

“At least some birds are now known to be on par with many mammals in terms of their level of intelligence, emotional sophistication, and social interaction,” said Dr. Lori Marino, the author of the scientific review. “Yet, views of chickens have largely remained unrevised by this new evidence.”

She acknowledged that chicken psychology seems like a strange topic to research. However, she wondered if the birds really deserved their reputation as lacking in intelligence.

So Marino dove into the literature on chickens and analyzed dozens of scientific studies on their mental abilities.

The review turned up a number of interesting facts about chicken psychology:
<ul>
 	<li>By the time chicks are five days old, they can differentiate between larger and smaller amounts of items like food.</li>
 	<li>Chickens can follow a ball’s trajectory even as it disappears from their sight, a skill shared by primates.
They appear to be able to perceive the passage of time and anticipate future events.</li>
 	<li>Chickens socialize and have a complex hierarchy. Individual chickens can assess their social “rank” and behave accordingly with hens of higher or lower status.</li>
 	<li>De-beaked chickens show defensive behaviors for months after the procedure. De-beaking is a common practice in large egg production operations that cage their hens.</li>
 	<li>Mother hens show different parenting styles that may be based on varying personality traits.</li>
 	<li>Chickens demonstrate both self-control and self-assessment in social situations, which may indicate some self-awareness.</li>
</ul>
One study Marino reviewed involved a computer exercise. Chickens had to peck at a screen consistently to get food. The first peck after six minutes delivered the food.

Not only did the hens in the study grasp that they had to keep pecking at the screen, they began pecking much faster when the clock was almost at six minutes. This showed both that they understood the concept, and that they could figure out when the food was about to come, the authors of that study said.

“My overall conclusion is that chickens are just as cognitively, emotionally and socially complex as most other birds and mammals in many areas,” Marino wrote.

Marino’s review was published in the journal <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10071-016-1064-4">Animal Cognitition</a>.

The Someone Project is the research arm of <a href="https://www.farmsanctuary.org/">Farm Sanctuary</a>, a nonprofit farm animal rescue organization.

Farm Sanctuary promotes vegan diets, but the organization’s main goal is to improve the lives of farm animals and end factory farming. Three sanctuaries in New York and California provide homes for rescued farm animals awaiting adoption.

Chicken psychology: birds may be smarter, more complex than we thought

Chickens aren’t known for their brains – but maybe they...

For some species, conservation efforts began paying off in 2016. For others, they weren’t enough. Endangered species around the world continued their march toward extinction in 2016, and a few disappeared forever.

The giraffe is one example. Habitat loss and isolation has landed the world’s tallest mammals on the <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">Red List</a>. The database of vulnerable, endangered, and extinct species is maintained by the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a>.

Elephants have seen a decline, too. Africa lost about a third of its elephants in just seven years. Poaching has long been the main culprit behind the deaths, spurring several countries including China and the U.S. to enact or strengthen ivory bans.

Madagascar’s ring-tailed lemur also saw a huge drop in numbers. The two main factors were habitat loss and hunting, the IUCN reported. Lemurs are also popular on the illegal pet market, it said.

Illegal fishing has driven both the totoaba fish – the main target – and the vaquita porpoise – collateral damage – one step away from extinction off the coast of Mexico. IUCN lists both as “critically endangered." Though the totoaba’s numbers are unknown, the IUCN believes no more than 60 vaquitas are left in the wild.

Other endangered animals that continued to bleed numbers in 2016 include African rhinos, the Ploughshare tortoise, orangutans, leopards, and red wolves.

Meanwhile, Toughie the frog died, triggering the complete extinction of the Rabbs’ tree frog. Toughie had been the last of his kind for some time.

The Bramble Cay melomys, a unique rodent species that lived only on the tiny island off the coast of Queensland, Australia, also went extinct. High tides and storm surges brought by rising oceans has wiped out the reef island’s vegetation, and flooded it repeatedly.

Other extinctions in 2016: the Laysan honeycreeper, Pagan reed warbler, Raiatea starling, Tatum Cave beeting, Stephan’s riffle beetle, and others.

The Addax antelope, with just three members left in the wild, may follow in the next few years.

Though conservationists are taking steps to slow the march toward extinction, in some cases human industry has taken precedence. In Aceh, Indonesia, the government ruled against conservationists fighting to protect the last intact forest in the world that houses orangutans, tigers, rhinos, and elephants. Plans for the forest: tearing it down to replace it with palm oil plantations.

Still, the news isn’t all bad. New tech solutions are emerging to combat illegal fishing worldwide. Nepal had its second year in a row without rhino poaching. Thailand shuttered its infamous Tiger Temple, and an international agreement to ban the endangered pangolin trade is moving ahead.

March toward extinction continued for many species in 2016

For some species, conservation efforts began paying off in 2016....

In the video, thousands of starlings fly together, creating loops and whorls in what looks like a mesmerizing aerial ballet. The magnificent mass of birds separates, each part pirouetting around the other, then comes back together again.

The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ui7A7v0Ivs">30-second video</a>, captured by amateur photographer Marco Campazas over Logrono City in Spain, shows the acrobatic masterpiece of flight known as a murmuration.

“I was driving my car and through the window noticed the birds,” Campasaz told <a href="http://swns.com/">SWNS</a>, the independent news site that published his video. “I stopped straight away and filmed them. … I managed to capture the end of their display before they all landed and went to sleep for the evening.”

Starlings are small birds native to Europe, Asia, Africa, and parts of Australia. They’ve also been winging their way across North America ever since they were imported by a Shakespeare fanatic in New York in 1890. The fan wanted to introduce every bird mentioned by the Bard to the continent.

Wherever they are in the world, starlings are known for their massive flocks, including the incredible acrobatics they perform before settling down to sleep many evenings.

According to scientists, the displays – and the massive flocks generally – have both social and practical purposes:
<ul>
 	<li>Starlings have taken “safety in numbers” to an extreme. As a swarm grows to include thousands of starlings, each individual member is safer from predators.</li>
 	<li>The murmurations themselves appear to have started as a safety measure. When starlings gather in large flocks and swoop about erratically in an aerial ballet, it’s difficult for a bird of prey to focus on and capture any individual bird. In fact, ornithologists have often observed birds of prey near murmurations.</li>
 	<li>The exercise warms the birds up before they cluster together in their roosting spots. By gathering together, they can keep warm longer overnight.</li>
 	<li>Starlings also exchange information about good feeding locations and safe areas at night. That makes post-murmuration gatherings a great way to spread news.</li>
</ul>

Video captures thousands of starlings flying together in stunning aerial ballet

In the video, thousands of starlings fly together, creating loops...

A tide of dead fish has washed ashore on Nova Scotia over the past six weeks, but there’s no need for concern yet, according to one Canadian scientist.

Since late November, thousands of dead herring have turned up on more than 60 miles of the peninsula’s southwestern coastline. That would be weird enough on its own, but scores of lobsters, clams, starfish, and other marine creatures have joined them in the weeks since.

A week ago, a decaying humpback whale carcass washed up on the shore.

Even so, tests of the area’s waters have shown no cause for alarm, Dr. Kent Smedbol, the <a href="http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/index-eng.htm">Department of Fisheries and Oceans</a> manager of population ecology.

Scientists tested conditions in the Bay of Fundy and found nothing out of the ordinary, Smedbol said. Temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen tests all came back normal. A camera took a look at the seafloor and found plenty of live lobsters.

Examination of the dead fish showed no signs of disease, parasites, or toxins, Smedbol said. Even so, the <a href="http://www.inspection.gc.ca/">Canadian Food Inspection Agency</a> and the DFO have warned residents not to pick up or eat any of the fish washed ashore, in case of contamination.

An environmental cause likely would have caused a larger die-off, and animals on the ocean floor would likely have died in larger numbers, he said.

One working theory is that some of the deaths may have been caused by a holiday storm system. One storm over the holidays caused a sudden temperature drop and rough surf in shallow waters near Digby, which may have killed some of the fish, Smedbol said.

Still, it will take more investigating to solve this mystery, he said.

Scientists will continue to examine the dead creatures to try and determine a cause, officials said. They will also examine the humpback whale to see if it is connected to the die-off. It appears to be very decomposed, Smedbol noted.

DFO scientists have also contacted the <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/">U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration</a> and environmental officials in the United Kingdom. Recent fish kills off the coast of Long Island in New York and on the coast of Cornwall in the UK are probably not connected to the Nova Scotia event, officials said, but working together might help all three groups figure out the puzzle.

The most common cause of fish kills is a lack of oxygen in the water, which can be caused by massive algae blooms, major temperature changes, drought, and overpopulation. Toxins and disease can also lead to fish die-offs.

Scientists stumped as thousands of dead fish wash up on Nova Scotia

A tide of dead fish has washed ashore on Nova...

Giant pandas have moved off the endangered list and the tiger population has grown for the first time in a century – proof that conservation efforts can make a difference, advocates said. 

Even so, there is much more work to be done to prevent more animal species from going extinct, according to conservation groups like the <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/">World Wildlife Fund</a>.

The panda made its move in September, when the <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a> switched it from “endangered” to "vulnerable" on its <a href="http://www.iucnredlist.org/">Red List</a> – one step further away from extinction. The list keeps track of animal populations, highlighting those at risk of disappearing forever.

The rebound in panda population came after years of work by China’s government and conservation groups to preserve giant panda habitat. The groups worked with local communities and created wildlife corridors to connect isolated panda communities with their neighbors.

“The recovery of the panda shows that when science, political will and engagement of local communities come together, we can save wildlife and also improve biodiversity,” WWF Director General Marco Lambertini said in a <a href="http://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/giant-panda-no-longer-endangered">press release</a> at the time.

Similarly, there are about 600 more tigers now than there were in 2010, bringing the total tiger population to about 3,890 worldwide. It’s the first time tiger numbers have gone up in more than 100 years.

Advocates credit conservation efforts for the uptick in tigers, too. The WWF cited its work with local communities, other conservation organizations, and the governments of four countries in the tiger boom.

Poaching and habitat loss could undo the gains made by these two species, advocates warn. According to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/apr/29/more-tigers-poached-india-so-far-this-year-than-2015">The Guardian</a>, more tigers were poached in India in the first four months of 2016 than in all of 2015. Habitat loss remains a huge threat, too.

And while some endangered animals got a boost, others are still struggling, the WWF said.

For example, Nepal has racked up its second year straight with no evidence of rhino poaching, the group said, but African rhinos still face threats from illegal poachers.

In September, the same month the good news about pandas was announced, eastern gorillas were shifted to “critically endangered.” The primates have seen a 70 percent collapse in their numbers in just 20 years, mainly due to illegal hunting, according to IUCN. The gorillas are now just one short step from complete extinction, along with the western gorilla and Bornean and Sumatran orangutans.

Giraffes made it onto the Red List, too, after their numbers plummeted more than 40 percent in just three decades. The main problem they face is habitat loss, advocates said.

Still, the WWF, <a href="http://www.defenders.org/">Defenders of Wildlife</a>, and other groups that work to save endangered species celebrated 2016 as a year of positive milestones.

Among them:
<ul>
 	<li>An agreement to ban all trade of the pangolin, an endangered mammal similar in appearance to an aardvark. The scales of the pangolin are used in Chinese medicine, and its meat is considered a delicacy in several countries.</li>
 	<li>China has released a plan to shut down its legal ivory trade and crack down on the ivory black market in the country. These new conservation efforts are good news for African elephants.</li>
 	<li>Florida panthers are expanding northward; for years, they’ve lived only in the southernmost part of the state. Additionally, a new ocelot den was found in Texas, and a pair of jaguars seem to have moved to Arizona.</li>
 	<li>The black-footed ferret, once believed to be extinct, has been making itself at home in national parks and on public lands thanks to a captive breeding program. The ferrets have been reintroduced at 28 sites throughout the western U.S., Mexico and Canada, and scientists have been using innovative methods to vaccinate them in the wild.</li>
 	<li>New regulations and new technology helped to combat illegal hunting, fishing, poaching, and trade of wild animals.</li>
</ul>

Conservation efforts paid off for endangered species in 2016

Giant pandas have moved off the endangered list and the...

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing it with probiotics and prebiotics, aiming to create a treat that satisfies cravings while supporting gut health. 



The challenge lies in maintaining chocolate's beloved texture and flavor while adding health benefits.



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Probiotics - beneficial microbes that balance gut bacteria and aid digestion - are typically fragile and can be destroyed by stomach acid or processing. 



Prebiotics act as food for these microbes, helping them thrive. Together, they form "synbiotics," a powerful health combination.



Researchers Smriti Gaur and Shubhi Singh from India's Jaypee Institute of Information Technology took an innovative approach, using natural prebiotics like corn and honey instead of complex processing methods. 



They created five chocolate varieties: a control and four synbiotic versions containing different combinations of prebiotics, probiotics (Lactobacillus strains), and flavor enhancers (cinnamon or orange).



Laboratory simulations of human digestion showed the probiotics remained viable for over five hours, suggesting they could survive long enough to benefit gut health.



Taste tests were positive, with researchers particularly enjoying the orange-flavored variety, describing it as having "vibrant citrus notes" complementing the "rich cocoa" with a "luxurious" texture.



This research represents just the beginning. With further refinement of strains, textures, and flavors, chocolate could evolve beyond mere indulgence to become a functional food that nourishes while it delights.



The study is published in the journal <a href="https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsfoodscitech.4c00741" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">ACS Food Science &amp; Technology</a>.

Is chocolate the next nutritional powerhouse?

Scientists are transforming chocolate into a functional food by infusing...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Nushagak Bay, a large estuary in southwest Alaska. Nushagak runs mainly north to south and exits in Bristol Bay, a large body of water in the Bering Sea.



"The bay is primarily fed by the Nushagak River, which begins in the Alaska Range and flows southwest approximately 450 km. The bay is also fed by several additional rivers including the Wood, Igushik, Snake and Weary rivers," says ESA.



"The dark colors of the Nushagak River are most likely due to tannins or lignins (chemical substances found in plants). Tannins and lignins from roots, leaves, seeds, bark and soil can leach into the water and give it a brown or even black colour. The sediments then flow southwards where it is mixed with the bluer waters of the bay."



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Nushagak Bay in southwest Alaska

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> (ACS) reveals that proteins on flu viruses are actually flexible, tilting and waving in a “breath-like” motion. According to the experts, these proteins could be used to better defend against the flu.



"The main antigenic targets of influenza virus are two surface glycoproteins, hemagglutinin (HA) and neuraminidase (NA). Whereas the structural and dynamical properties of both glycoproteins have been studied previously, the understanding of their plasticity in the whole-virion context is fragmented," wrote the researchers.



To investigate, the team conducted detailed simulations of the influenza A H1N1 virion, or the swine flu. The experts concluded that the visualizations show many new vulnerable states of flu viruses, which could improve future vaccines and antiviral drugs.



Video/ Image Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Flu viruses are more flexible than expected

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Lake Trasimeno, which is located west of Perugia in central Italy. It is the fourth largest lake in the country. While Trasimeno’s water level varies, it has a maximum depth of approximately six meters.&nbsp;



"In this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image, captured on 6 August 2022, the lake’s emerald green colour is likely due to the presence of phytoplankton. Streaks in the water, particularly visible in the west, indicate the presence of soil and sediments which have been stirred up by winds. Dark colored waters in the southern part of the lake indicate a presence of submerged and floating macrophytes (aquatic plants) as well as algae," says ESA.



"Surrounded by hills on three sides, Trasimeno is subject to heavy storms created by winds, especially from the north and west. There are three islets in the lake: Maggiore, Minore and Polvese (the largest). The lake’s shores are sparsely inhabited with only two popular villages: Castiglione del Lago and Passignano sul Trasimeno."



"Italy is experiencing its worst drought in 70 years which has affected drinking water supplies, hydroelectric power and agricultural production. High temperatures, hot winds and lack of rainfall are the main causes of drought in the Umbrian region which saw Lake Trasimeno’s drop 1.3 m, reaching the limit of the hydrometric zero in July 2022."



Video/Image Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="http://csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer

Lake Trasimeno in Central Italy

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> describes a new self-powered nanosensor that can instantly detect mercury contamination with the tap of a finger.&nbsp;



The oxidized form of mercury can be harmful when it is ingested through contaminated water or food. This makes it necessary for experts to develop sensors that can quickly and accurately detect the presence of mercury.&nbsp;



Zong-Hong Lin and colleagues have now created a triboelectric nanosensor (TENS) that can detect mercury by simply by touching a sample. According to the researchers, their TENS could serve as the basis for similar devices to safely and remotely monitor other pollutants.



Video Credit: American Chemical Society&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Detecting mercury contamination with the tap of a finger

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.acs.org/">American Chemical Society</a> explores the ability of salt to transform the way that foods and beverages taste. Salt is known to cover up undesirable flavors, such as bitterness in coffee or beer, but how exactly does sodium chloride change the taste of other compounds?



One previous study showed that, not only does salt suppress bitterness, but also enhances sweetness and sourness. Another study revealed that bitterness reduction by salt seems to be happening at the tongue receptor level as well as in the brain.&nbsp;



While it is known that salt taste is mediated by the presence of sodium channels in the form of taste buds, experts believe that there is also an unknown receptor responsible for how we taste salt that has not yet been identified.&nbsp;



Video Credit: ACS Reactions



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

How does salt makes things taste better?

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Santiago, the capital city of Chile. The city is located in the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Region, which has a population of about eight million people.&nbsp;



'The weather of Santiago resembles the Mediterranean climate with dry and warm summers with temperatures reaching up to 35°C (from October to March) and cool and humid winters that can drop to 0°C (from April to September)."



"The city lies in the centre of the country’s central valley around 80 km from the Pacific Ocean to the west and borders Argentina to the east. A tiny part of Argentina is visible in the top-right corner of the image where the mountain crest of the Andes Mountains acts as a divider between the two countries," says ESA.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Santiago, Chile in South America

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Spiral,Galaxy,,Illustration,Of,Milky,Way

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Astronomers at <a href="https://www.jhu.edu/">Johns Hopkins University</a> have created an interactive map of the universe, including the actual position and real colors of 200,000 galaxies. The map allows the public to access data that was previously only available to scientists.



The map was developed using data collected by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. For over two decades, a telescope in New Mexico was aimed at slightly different locations to capture the night sky.&nbsp;



"Growing up I was very inspired by astronomy pictures, stars, nebulae and galaxies, and now it's our time to create a new type of picture to inspire people," said map creator Brice Ménard, a professor at Johns Hopkins. "Astrophysicists around the world have been analyzing this data for years, leading to thousands of scientific papers and discoveries. But nobody took the time to create a map that is beautiful, scientifically accurate, and accessible to people who are not scientists. Our goal here is to show everybody what the universe really looks like."



"In this map, we are just a speck at the very bottom, just one pixel. And when I say we, I mean our galaxy, the Milky Way which has billions of stars and planets. We are used to seeing astronomical pictures showing one galaxy here, one galaxy there or perhaps a group of galaxies. But what this map shows is a very, very different scale."



"From this speck at the bottom, we are able to map out galaxies across the entire universe, and that says something about the power of science."



The <a href="https://mapoftheuniverse.net/">interactive map</a> is available online, where it can be downloaded for free.



Video Credit: Johns Hopkins&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Interactive map of the universe includes 200,000 galaxies

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Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky" Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features northwest Lesotho in South Africa.



According to ESA, Lesotho is the only nation in the world that lies completely above 1,000 m in elevation. The country is famous for its tall mountains and narrow valleys, and is known as Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky."



Out of a population of around two million people, about 80 percent live in rural areas. More than 75 percent of these people are engaged in <a href="https://www.earth.com/news/climate-change-will-have-a-global-impact-on-agriculture/">agriculture</a>, including rainfed cereal production and animal grazing.&nbsp;



ESA reports that the country’s agricultural system faces a growing number of issues, with climate-related vulnerabilities such as drought, floods and extreme temperatures occurring more frequently. 



Diamonds are amongst the minerals found in the mountains. Indeed, Lesotho can truly be called the Kingdom in the Sky. Beautiful, culturally rich, safe, affordable, and easily accessible from Durban and Johannesburg, mountainous Lesotho is a vastly underrated travel destination. the Kingdom of Lesotho (Sotho: 'Muso oa Lesotho) is an enclaved country in southern Africa. It is just over 30,000 km2 (11,583 sq mi) in size and has a population of around 2 million.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Staff Writer 



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Lesotho: Africa's "Kingdom in the Sky"

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features Dublin, the capital and largest city of Ireland. Beyond its pub culture, Dublin is known as a modern culinary destination and a UNESCO City of Literature.



"Dublin is located near the midpoint of Ireland’s east coast in the province of Leinster. The city, which covers an area of around 115 square kilometers, is bordered by the Dublin Mountains, a low mountain range to the south, and is surrounded by flat farmland to the north and west," says ESA.



"The city straddles the River Liffey, which rises in the Wicklow Mountains and flows around 80 kilometers eastwards through the city of Dublin, in which it is canalised and bordered with quays. It then empties into Dublin Bay, an arm of the Irish Sea."



Dublin has an abundance of green spaces, including one of the largest enclosed public parks in any European capital city. Phoenix Park, which was originally formed as a royal hunting park in the 1660s, includes 707 hectares of green space.



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The city of Dublin on Ireland's east coast

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain. The image was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission.



"Together with the provinces of Huesca and Teruel, Zaragoza formed the old kingdom of Aragon. Its capital, also called Zaragoza (not visible in this image) is home to around half of Aragon’s population," says ESA.



"The Ebro River can be seen winding its way through the province from west to east in this image. Between its source in the Cantabrian Mountains in the northwest and its delta on the Mediterranean coast, the Ebro River is fed by more than 200 tributaries as it flows 910 km across much of northern Spain."



Since rainfall is very scarce in this region, irrigation in the Ebro basin is critically important. In the valleys surrounding the Ebro River, many fields are used for growing crops such as corn, wheat, and barley.



Video/ Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The province of Zaragoza in northeast Spain

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> reveals the evolution of the Columbia Glacier in southeastern Alaska. Columbia is among the fastest shrinking glaciers in the world, and the video documents its rapid retreat over the years.&nbsp;



Columbia Glacier is a large, multi-branched calving glacier that flows out of the Chugach Mountains to the Prince William Sound.&nbsp;



According to USGS, Columbia had a long history of stability prior to 1980, with a length 41 miles, and small, short-lived advances or retreats.



In the years since 1980, however, satellite images have captured Columbia’s alarming retreat. By using false-color images, scientists can distinguish between snow and ice, open water, vegetation, and rocky debris on the glacier’s surface.



The series of false-color images featured in today's video were acquired over the span of 35 years. You can see that by 2021, the glacier’s main branch had retreated about 15 miles from its initial position.



The Columbia Glacier has also lost more than 50 percent of its volume, mostly due to calving. <a href="https://www.earth.com/video/nasa-reveals-3d-visual-of-an-atmospheric-river/">NASA</a> reports that while climate change likely started the retreat, mechanical processes kept the disintegration going.



The NASA images are provided by Jesse Allen, Robert Simmon, Joshua Stevens, and Lauren Dauphin using data from Landsat satellites, from the U.S. Geological Survey, and data from MODIS on NASA’s Terra satellite. The structure of Columbia’s moraine played a large role in the stability of the glacier before 1980. 



Like other tidewater glaciers, the Columbia built up a moraine over time, and the mixture of ice and rock functioned like a dam keeping out the sea. It was supported on one end by the shoreline and by the underwater terminal moraine at the other.



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/&nbsp; NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The rapid retreat of the Columbia Glacier

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> features the Pyrenees Mountains, which form a natural boundary between France and Spain in southwest Europe.



The mountain range is 430 kilometers in length. It stretches from the Mediterranean Sea on the east to the Atlantic Ocean on the west.



At an elevation of 3404 meters, Pico de Aneto is the highest mountain peak in the Pyrenees, and the third-highest peak in Spain. Pico de Aneto is located in the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park, which spans more than 82,000 acres.&nbsp;



"Geological studies have revealed that the Pyrenees Mountains have been around for longer than the Alps, with their sediments first deposited in coastal basins during the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras," reports ESA.



"The entire mountain range formed due to the upwelling of large sedimentary rocks by the collision of the Iberian and the Eurasian plate around 100 to 150 million years ago, followed by intense erosion from ice and water."



The western Pyrenees receive more precipitation due to moisture blowing in from the Atlantic Ocean. The mountain range contains many lakes, several small glaciers, and some of the highest waterfalls in Europe.



Video &amp; Image Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The Pyrenees Mountains in southwest Europe

[sendtonews key="6HyfrAJTBI-1831843-12187" type="single"] Today’s Video of the Day from the...

Earth,Like,Exoplanet,3d,Render

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Today's Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes two exoplanets that are orbiting a star 218 light-years away. A team of researchers led by the University of Montreal has found evidence that these planets are "water worlds."



The experts used data from NASA’s Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. They discovered that exoplanets Kepler-138 c and Kepler-138 could be composed largely of water.



"We previously thought that planets that were a bit larger than Earth were big balls of metal and rock, like scaled-up versions of Earth, and that's why we called them super-Earths," explained study co-author Björn Benneke.&nbsp;



"However, we have now shown that these two planets, Kepler-138 c and d, are quite different in nature and that a big fraction of their entire volume is likely composed of water. It is the best evidence yet for water worlds, a type of planet that was theorized by astronomers to exist for a long time."



Video Credit: NASA Goddard



Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and Leah Hustak (STScI)



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Two distant planets may be "water worlds"

[sendtonews key="QIoVYJqRBi-2434608-12187" type="single"] Today's Video of the Day from NASA...

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Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://www.nasa.gov/goddard">NASA Goddard</a> describes Earth’s interconnected systems, and how this network is affected by rising temperatures.&nbsp;



During 2020, average global temperatures matched the hottest year on record. The hurricane season was also record-breaking, with many of the storms intensifying at extraordinary speeds. Hot water in the ocean is fuel for hurricanes. The satellite data shows that it's all one interconnected system showing how Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected.



According to NASA, dust swept up from Northern Africa plays a major role in the formation of hurricanes, and is also a key source of fertilization in the Amazon rainforest. As a result of<a href="https://www.earth.com/news/seagrass-wasting-disease-is-fueled-by-climate-change/"> climate</a> change, dust plumes are expected to decline, which will have an effect on vegetation far away.&nbsp;



Images from Earth-observing satellites show how the world’s plant life is affected by natural disasters, fires, and deforestation. Satellites also reveal how widespread changes in vegetation impact waterways,&nbsp; the climate, air quality. Satellites communicate by using radio waves to send signals to the antennas on the Earth. "Earth From Space" is a groundbreaking two-hour special that reveals a spectacular new space-based vision of our planet. 



Video Credit: NASA Goddard&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected

[sendtonews key="JbW4VsY53O-1632195-12187" type="single"] Satellites reveal how Earth's systems are interconnected...

Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://welcome.miami.edu/">University of Miami</a> Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science explores how changes in water temperatures have affected tiger shark habitats and movements in the North Atlantic Ocean. The study reveals that rising temperatures have caused the sharks to shift toward the poles over the past 40 years.



“Tiger shark annual migrations have expanded poleward, paralleling rising water temperatures,” explained study lead author Neil Hammerschlag. “These results have consequences for tiger shark conservation, since shifts in their movements outside of marine protected areas may leave them more vulnerable to commercial fishing.”



The researchers analyzed nine years of tracking data from satellite-tagged tiger sharks, combined with four decades of conventional tag and recapture data provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.



The experts found that during the last decade of record heat, for every one-degree Celsius increase in water temperatures, tiger sharks migrated further poleward by over 400 kilometers. They also migrated two weeks earlier than usual to waters off the northeastern coast of the United States.



“Given their role as apex predators, these changes to tiger shark movements may alter predator-prey interactions, leading to ecological imbalances, and more frequent encounters with humans,” concluded Professor Hammerschlag.



Video Credit: University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Tiger sharks are shifting poleward as temperatures rise

Today’s Video of the Day from the University of Miami...

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> is focused on the melt ponds that emerge during the spring and summer on the Greenland Ice Sheet, which is the largest ice mass in the northern hemisphere.



"Melt ponds are vast pools of open water that form on both sea ice and ice sheets and are visible as turquoise-blue pools of water in this Copernicus Sentinel-2 image," says ESA.



"When snow and ice melts atop glaciers, water flows in channels and streams and collects in depressions on the surface. These melt ponds can speed up the melting of the surrounding ice since they greatly reduce the ice’s ability to reflect sunlight."



"This can create a positive feedback where an increasing number of melt ponds absorb more heat which causes ice cover to melt even faster."



According to ESA, Greenland has been hit with a late-season heatwave that began in early September. This caused the type of melt event that usually occurs in the middle of summer.



"In a recent paper published in Nature Climate Change, scientists found that major sea-level rise from the melting of the Greenland ice cap is now ‘inevitable’ even if the burning of fossil fuels were to halt overnight," says ESA. "Using satellite observations of Greenland ice loss and ice cap from 2000 to 2019, the team found the losses will lead to a minimum rise of 27 cm regardless of climate change."



Video Credit: ESA&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Melt ponds on the Greenland Ice Sheet

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Today’s Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.esa.int/">European Space Agency</a> describes a new map of Mars that is providing insight into the planet’s watery past. The map also reveals where future missions could safely land on Mars.&nbsp;



The map has been created over the last decade using observations of water-rich rocks and mineral deposits. The images were captured by ESA’s Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.



"A big surprise is the prevalence of these minerals, with the map revealing hundreds of thousands of water-affected locations in the oldest parts of the planet," says ESA. "The new data will help answer exciting questions about Mars’ climate history, whether water was globally persistent or confined to short, intense episodes, and whether the conditions were ever suitable for life."



"Specifically, the map shows the locations and abundances of aqueous minerals. These are from rocks that have been chemically altered by the action of water in the past, and have typically been transformed into clays and salts."



According to John Carter of the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), our collective understanding of Mars has been oversimplified. He explained that planetary scientists have tended to think that only a few types of clay minerals on Mars were created during its wet period, then as the water gradually dried up, salts were produced across the planet.



The new map shows that the composition of Mars is much more complicated than what we thought. For example, while many salts formed after Martian clays, there are some salts that are presumed to be older than some of the clays.&nbsp;



“The evolution from lots of water to no water is not as clear cut as we thought, the water didn’t just stop overnight. We see a huge diversity of geological contexts, so that no one process or simple timeline can explain the evolution of the mineralogy of Mars. That’s the first result of our study. The second is that if you exclude life processes on Earth, Mars exhibits a diversity of mineralogy in geological settings just as Earth does,” said Carter.



Video Credit: ESA



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

The history of Mars is much more complex than we thought

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Today's Video of the Day from the <a href="https://www.stowers.org/">Stowers Institute for Medical Research</a> describes how cavefish adapted to a sedentary lifestyle over tens of thousands of years. 



The experts found that the muscle metabolism of cavefish has been genetically reprogrammed over time. As a result, the animals have experienced major changes in their morphology and behavior. Despite these changes, however, the cavefish remain healthy and fit.



The research may provide new clues about the evolutionary consequences of prolonged physical inactivity in humans.&nbsp;



“It’s no surprise that people are moving less and less as technology has advanced,” said Rohner. “With cavefish, we have a unique system where we can study what might happen if people remained couch potatoes over very, very long periods of time.”



Video Credit: Stowers Institute for Medical Research



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Cavefish are healthy despite their sedentary lifestyle

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Today’s Video of the Day from <a href="https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/">NASA Earth Observatory</a> some of the most incredible waves in the world, as seen by Landsat satellites.



"With more than 370,000 miles of coastline on Earth, there are plenty of places where epic waves build up, curl over, and hurtle toward the shore.- much to the thrill of surfers," says NASA. "There are some places where these waves are so magnificent that they can be seen from space."



"With the broad perspective of satellites, we can see how these iconic waves develop into the world’s tallest, longest, fastest, and heaviest."



Video Credit: NASA Earth Observatory&nbsp;



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By <a href="mailto:csexton@earth.com">Chrissy Sexton</a>, <a href="https://www.earth.com/staff/">Earth.com</a> Editor



Check us out on <a href="https://www.earth.com/earthsnap/">EarthSnap</a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

Satellites capture the world's biggest and fastest waves

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