18 May 2012
Last updated at 03:09

By Victoria Gill
Science reporter, BBC Nature

April’s weather has delayed the emergence of some species, including the brown argus

The wettest April in more than a century has caused problems for UK butterflies, bees and other bugs.

Conservation charities, Butterfly Conservation and Buglife, said the weather was likely to limit some species’ opportunities to forage.

If the unfavourable conditions continue, they could lead to population crashes.

Experts are particularly concerned about honeybees, which will not forage in the cold and could run out of food.

But some of the country’s invertebrate population, such as snails and slugs, are likely to benefit from the deluge.

Continue reading the main story

• In pictures: Wet weather winners and losers
• UK butterflies in decline

According to the Met Office, April 2012 was the wettest on record since 1910; the UK received an average 126.5mm of rain.

Butterfly Conservation’s Richard Fox said that this was “flying season” for some of our rarest butterflies and that it had been “clobbered by awful weather”.

“Spring specialists”, normally seen flying in April, such as the common blue and brown argus, only emerged in early May.

More worryingly, some of our rarer species were “confused” into emerging early by unseasonably warm temperatures in March.

“The worry about this April is that the butterflies that did emerge will have poor breeding success due to the bad weather,” explained Mr Fox.

For example, he said, “the Duke of Burgundy and the pearl-bordered fritillary (both endangered in the UK) produce just one generation a year, and they’re flying now”.

“They can’t change when they emerge. [So] unless conditions improve in the next few weeks their opportunities to breed will be very limited and, we may see population crashes later in the year or next spring.”

‘Winners and losers’

While the recent weather extremes will be bad news for some invertebrates, Buglife pointed out that some would benefit. Some freshwater-dwelling species, such as mayflies, caddisflies and stoneflies, which struggled in the recent drought, could bounce back as their waterways and pond habitats fill up.

And slugs and snails, which have very leaky, permeable skins and need moisture to survive, are likely to feed and breed more in damp conditions.

For bees, it is a more mixed picture.

Dale Harrison from Buglife said that native bumblebees were likely to fare well, as they are “robust and well adapted to our environment and unpredictable weather”.

Continue reading the main story

Swarms and mobs

• Honeybee colonies are very organised societies, with a single queen, a few hundred male drones and thousands of workers. Although British researchers recently discovered a new caste of “soldier bee”
• As well as starting to forage, spring is the season for honeybees to swarm. This is the colony’s way of reproducing; the queen leaves along with a large group of workers to form a new colony. The British Beekeepers Association has asked the public to contact them if they find a swarm.

• Buglife: How to make a garden bee nest

“Whereas, the honeybee is non native, and just is not designed to live with such weather extremes.”

The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) agreed that they were concerned about honeybees’ ability to withstand the cold, especially in the spring when they have had so little time to build up food stores.

Gill Maclean, a BBKA spokesperson, said: “If they can’t get out, they have to rely on the stores they have in their hive.

“They’ve been cooped up in the hive all winter living on those stores, so that could be a problem.

“We would advise beekeepers to check their bees have sufficient food.”

There is evidence that beetle populations suffer during years when spring and summer are relatively cold and rainy, so conservationists are also concerned to see how threatened species such as the oil beetle will fare.

Mr Fox said that he would be watching the forecast closely. He added: “Time will tell.”

Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/18101581

By Crystal Gammon, OurAmazingPlanet Contributor:

When it comes to leatherback turtles, the world’s largest species of sea turtle, there’s a conundrum: The species itself is critically endangered, but at least one leatherback population is stable — on the rise, even — while others plummet.

Now, researchers may have discovered why some of these turtles are doing better than others. Studying two leatherback turtle populations, one that is declining and one that seems to be increasing, the researchers say the answer might be simple: food.

“We saw very big differences in their traveling speeds from their nesting beaches to their foraging grounds,” said Helen Bailey, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who led the study. “We take that to mean one population is stopping to forage on a nice dense patch of prey, while the other group keeps moving because it’s constantly in search of food.”

Above photo: The tracks that the different populations of leatherback turtles took in the study.

These differences in swimming and eating habits may hold important clues for helping leatherback turtles around the world recover and thrive, Bailey told OurAmazingPlanet.

Dine in or drive-through?

Atlantic leatherback turtles seem to be doing OK, but the Pacific population could be extinct in the near future, Bailey said.

Leatherback turtles everywhere are often victims of bycatch, the unintentional netting and killing of turtles while fishing for other animals, but leatherbacks in the Pacific Ocean face another problem. Climate patterns like the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cause huge variations in temperature and productivity in the Pacific Ocean, making it hard for some animals to find reliable food supplies. These challenges, combined with leatherbacks’ advanced breeding age (around 15 years for females), mean that the Pacific leatherback turtle population has taken a serious hit over the last two decades.

To figure out the difference between these two groups, Bailey looked at how the turtles swim. Using data from leatherbacks that had been tagged and tracked by satellite, she found that Atlantic leatherbacks have two modes of travel: fast (12-28 miles per day, or 20-45 kilometers per day) and slow (less than 9 miles per day, or 15 km per day). Pacific leatherbacks, on the other hand, have only one: a cruising speed of about 13 miles per day (21 km per day). [In Images: Tagging Tracking Sea Turtles]

Atlantic leatherbacks seem to run from one smorgasbord to another, stopping at a dense patch of jellyfish (their main food source) to eat until it’s gone. Pacific leatherbacks never find dense patches of jellyfish, so they swim at the same rather fast speed the whole time, Bailey said.

“They’re constantly searching for food,” Bailey said. “If you have to keep moving, you’re not gaining quite as much energy because even if you manage to eat along the way, you’re still expending some energy by traveling.”

In other words, the main difference between the two populations is that Atlantic turtles can dine in and chow down, while Pacific leatherbacks have to settle for the drive-through window and eating on the run.

Adults are important

Bailey’s findings, detailed in the May issue of the journal PLoS ONE, point to new leatherback turtle conservation strategies.

“It’s really highlighted very strongly the importance of protecting adult leatherbacks,” Bailey said in an interview.

Because leatherback turtles have long life spans (about 30 years), they’ve adapted to survive jellyfish shortages by waiting to build nests and lay eggs after they’ve found a stable food supply. So far, most efforts have focused on protecting leatherbacks’ nesting beaches. That’s still important, Bailey said, but it may be even more important to protect adult turtles that are old enough to reproduce.

“They really have not adapted in any way to being harvested,” Bailey said. “So when adults are killed by, for example, getting caught in fishing nets, then that does have a huge impact on the population and its ability to increase.”

• World’s Cutest Sea Creatures
• 10 Species You Can Kiss Goodbye
• Do All Turtles Have Shells?

Copyright 2012 OurAmazingPlanet, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Also on HuffPost:

Article source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/17/pacific-leatherback-turtles-endangered-jellyfish_n_1524124.html

by:
Erica Larson, News Editor
May 17 2012,
Article # 20031

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Editor’s note: This article is part of TheHorse.com’s ongoing coverage of topics presented at the 2012 Western Veterinary Conference held in February.

The relationship between obesity, equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), and laminitis is like a confusing slippery slope: obesity often goes hand in hand with EMS, and a diagnosis of EMS puts the horse at greater risk for developing laminitis. But not all obese horses develop insulin resistance and some lean horses develop insulin resistance placing them at risk for laminitis. While there’s no cure for the latter two conditions, one researcher presented several strategies for reducing the risk of EMS horses developing laminitis at the 2012 Western Veterinary Conference, held Feb. 19-23 in Las Vegas, Nev.

Philip J. Johnson, BVSc (Hons), MS, Dipl. ACVIM, Dipl. ECEIM, MRCVS, professor of Equine Medicine and Surgery at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, discussed several strategies for minimizing laminitis risk in horses affected by EMS.

Address Obesity–”Obesity has been associated with both insulin resistance and risk of laminitis,” Johnson said. Obesity is reversible. So one of the top things an owner can do to minimize laminitis risk is to ensure their animal maintains a healthy body weight. The first step? Realizing a horse is overweight. As Johnson pointed out, many owners are often “unaware” that their horse could stand to lose a few–or many–pounds.

“Reduced dietary caloric intake coupled with increased physical activity represents the cornerstones of a successful weight reduction program,” Johnson said.

Not All EMS Horses are Created Equal

While many horses with equine metabolic syndrome (EMS) are obese or overweight, some EMS horses maintain a very healthy body weight. For these horses, “it’s not always necessary to reduce the weight, but the diet still needs to be changed,” said Philip J. Johnson, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, Dipl. ECEIM, MRCVS, professor of Equine Medicine and Surgery at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine.

Affected horses that maintain a healthy body weight don’t need a weight-loss program, per se, but it’s still important to remove or reduce nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) and energy dense food intake, Johnson said.

As with obese EMS horses, aim to feed forage with a NSC content of 10-12%, and consider feeding a commercially available concentrate designed for EMS horses, he said.

Should an EMS horse need extra dietary energy, Johnson recommends adding vegetable oil to the animal’s diet as a lipid-derived energy source.

–Erica Larson

Johnson recommends removing sweet feed, grain, and other energy-dense feeds from the diet, and reducing nonstructural carbohydrate (NSC) content in hay to less than 10-12% (more on that in a moment). He recommends feeding approximately 1.5-1.8% of the horse’s targeted body weight daily in several small meals throughout the day.

Several commercial feeds designed for EMS horses are new to the market, Johnson said. These feeds have a “certified low NSC content” and can be used as the basis of the affected animals’ rations, he said.

Also, avoid feeding obese horses and ponies treats, Johnson suggested.

Maintaining and increasing the level of an exercise program is also recommended. However he noted that this could be precluded by the development of laminitis.

Reduce Pasture Access–”The nature of modern grassland species that are commonly found in horse pastures and paddocks have been genetically selected for purposes of supporting milk production and fattening domesticated cattle and, as such, are characterized by a high NSC content; This is a distinct contrast to the native grassland species on which horses evolved,” Johnson said.

As such, Johnson recommends avoiding pasture grazing for EMS horses, especially during the spring bloom, early summer (especially when coupled with rainfall), and during the fall to winter transition (around the time frosts begin setting in); these are the times at which NSC content can be highest throughout the year.

If pasture turnout is unavoidable, Johnson recommends employing other strategies including reduced time of exposure to grass, early morning grazing (when the NSC content is lower), use of a grazing muzzle, strip grazing, strategic pasture mowing, or covering grass with wood chips.

Reduce NSC Intake–An important part of minimizing laminitis risk is reducing the horse’s NSC consumption. As Johnson mentioned, feed forage with less than 10-12% NSC concentration. “Selection of a suitable source of hay should be based on results of a forage analysis because it’s not possible to guess the NSC content of hay,” he stressed. While Johnson said that soaking hay in a “large volume” of water for about an hour can reduce NSC content (this method does not work for all types and batches of hay), a forage analysis is the only sure-fire way to ensure a horse isn’t consuming too much NSC as soaking doesn’t always remove enough sugar content.

Again, as Johnson mentioned, avoid feeding EMS horses grain, sweet feed, or other energy dense concentrates. Instead, consider a concentrate designed specifically for horses with EMS. Johnson also suggested adding soaked beet pulp (with no added molasses) and rice bran to the diet.

Johnson cautioned that low-NSC forage along might not provide a horse with enough vitamins, minerals, or proteins or meet his daily needs. Thus, he recommends adding a “low-NSC, protein-enriched mineral and vitamin balancer” to EMS horses’ diets.

Finally, he noted, consider working with a veterinarian or equine nutritionist to ensure an affected horse’s nutritional needs are met, but not exceeded.

Determine if Pharmaceuticals are Needed– “Nutrition and exercise should be the basis of the weight loss, insulin resistance, or EMS reversal program,” Johnson stressed. However in some cases, nutritional support and exercise aren’t enough.

In these instances, veterinarians might suggest a medication to help manage EMS and reduce laminitis risk. Johnson noted that, for example, Thyro-L (levothyroxine sodium) is sometimes used to combat obesity by reducing blood plasma lipids and improving insulin sensitivity. Horses typically remain on the drug until a healthier body weight is achieved (generally for about three to six months), he said.

Want to determine your horse’s weight? Learn how with our video tutorial and Horse Weight Calculator.

Johnson also explained that preliminary studies have yielded some positive results regarding the use of drugs such as metformin and pioglitazone to address insulin sensitivity, however more research is needed to evaluate these drugs’ pharmacokinetics (the activity of drugs in the body from time of administration through distribution in the body through metabolism through excretion) and safety in horses.

Take-Home Message

When a horse has EMS, he or she is at increased risk for developing laminitis. While there’s no cure of EMS, owners can take steps to reduce the risk of the horse developing laminitis. Improve the horse’s overall health by combating obesity, reducing pasture and NSC intake, and discuss the use of a medication with a veterinarian.

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Article source: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=20031

Following the winter of 1997, the huge releases of Missouri River water flushed through the Oahe Dam in South Dakota took a toll on fishing for years.

South Dakota liberalized walleye limits for several years after that because, by some estimates, 90 percent of the rainbow smelt were washed downstream.

The walleyes’ main food source, the smelt, was mostly gone and the walleyes were hungry — hungry and small. This spring, the signs are there for a repeat of that scenario.

So far this spring, anglers on the Missouri River are doing phenomenally well for walleyes.

But as with most things in nature, there is an equal and often opposite reaction to just about everything.

For anglers, last year’s flooding along the Missouri River is translating into outstanding fishing this year.

The fish are very aggressive right now on the river, said Dave Fryda, a biologist with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department.

And similar to the situation following the winter of 1997, it’s because the fish are hungry.

Fryda said that’s a reflection of the reduced forage base.

“It’s not surprising,” Fryda said. “We saw this coming last fall.”

It’s life — the ups and downs — of living and playing on a reservoir.

The savior a decade ago was, by accident, the introduction of gizzard shad that entered the system from lakes in South Dakota and had a pretty good run for a few years in the system.

Gizzard shad, however, are not very hardy fish, and are all but gone now from the upper reach of the system. Just a few remain in South Dakota.

Fryda said a cooperative effort between North Dakota and South Dakota to stock gizzard shad back into the system will hopefully provide a stopgap for the coming years.

He said gizzard shad have been stocked in Beaver Bay with the hope they will reproduce and thrive until the smelt population rebounds.

“We’re not going to kid anybody,” he said. “It’s not going to totally make up the difference.”

The setup is similar when comparing this spring’s circumstances with those post-1997 — heavy mountain and prairie snowpack and a lot of localized inflows to the river system. The game-changer last year was the heavy rain that deluged Montana in late May.

The result, Fryda said, was a large degree of channel incision that resulted from last year’s flooding.

By incision, Fryda is referring to the scouring that deepened and changed the main channel of the river.

“In 1997, we saw some degradation,” Fryda said. “Now, the flood plain is more perched,” he said, meaning farther away from the main channel.

Flood events on rivers are common, especially the Missouri River, but not often seen since the dams were constructed.

“There obviously have been a lot of changes to the system,” Fryda said. “We don’t fully understand the extent of those yet.”

In the short term, when a river “reorganizes” because of a flood event, it’s beneficial. “It’s generally a good thing for fish in a river,” he said.

As the sediment and sandbars are transported from one place to another, it resets the habitat for fish, and the end result is better habitat for the fish in general, he said.

On the downside, Fryda said, a deep channel doesn’t allow the river to interact with the flood plain surrounding the river where the nutrients that feed that system originate.

“It’s negative in general to a fish population in a river,” he said, because of the long-term loss of productivity of the river system.

Fryda said while it’s hoped stocking of gizzard shad will help fish in the Missouri River maintain until the smelt recover, it’s not a solution. But it can’t hurt.

Sakakawea outlook

On Lake Sakakawea, the news is somewhat less than favorable as well.

Releases through the Garrison Dam are running around 28,000 cubic feet per second.

Sakakawea is below 1,836 feet now. It is expected to rise 1 1/2 feet in June, but the critical window for the smelt spawn has already closed.

That window normally is April 15 through May 15, and Fryda said for the first 10 days during that period, Lake Sakakawea dropped about a foot.

Smelt typically spawn in a foot of water or less and Fryda said while this year’s smelt run was a good one, a lot of eggs were left high and dry as the water dropped.

Lake Sakakawea is now about 7 feet lower than it was a year ago at this time, but for biologists it’s a matter of where it will be next spring.

There is about one-third less runoff into the system this spring than a year ago and things change quickly, as history has shown, when the pendulum of wet and dry cycles begins to swing.

“That’s the concern,” Fryda said, “where we come into next spring. … If we come into next spring in the low ’30s (1,830 feet) and it’s another dry year.”

But it’s life on a reservoir and between Mother Nature and the Corps of Engineers, a lot is out of the hands of fisheries biologists and anglers.

“We live and die by water management on the Missouri River system,” Fryda said. “It all hinges on water management.”

Reach reporter Brian Gehring 250-8254 or brian.gehring@bismarcktribune.com.

Article source: http://bismarcktribune.com/lifestyles/outdoors/good-fishing-not-necessarily-good-for-fish/article_ae65871c-9f9d-11e1-896c-0019bb2963f4.html

Rat-like in appearance but with a marsupial pouch and carnivorous jaws that can crack bone, Tasmanian devils are an enigmatic Australian species.

They are reclusive creatures who sleep by day and forage by night, and are best known for the guttural cries which saw the early British settlers call them “devils” and inspired a Warner Bros. cartoon character.

But the burrowing, tree-climbing animals are in a battle for survival against an aggressive and contagious facial cancer which experts fear could see them become extinct in the wild in as little as five years.

“Its viability at present seems critical,” said conservationist Tim Faulkner of the animal.

“In 1996 the disease was first found — since then you’ve had a 91 percent population decrease,” Faulkner, who is based at the Australian Reptile Park, said.

“There’s no sign of a cure, there’s no sign of a vaccine and there’s no sign of the disease slowing up.”

Devil facial tumour disease has seen the animals plunge from a pest species to endangered in a very short period, with Faulkner estimating their numbers — once in excess of 250,000 — in the “low tens of thousands.”

Enlarge

Graphic on Australia’s Tasmanian Devils, rare carnivorous marsupials in a battle for survival against a contagious facial cancer.

They once roamed Australia but since about 1600 have been isolated to Tasmania, an island state south of the mainland, where a series of disease outbreaks has seen their genetic stocks severely diminished.

The cancer, which typically causes death within three to six months, is spread during fighting over food and territory, when a healthy devil will bite an infected devil’s face and pick up cancer cells.

Because the devils are so inbred their immune systems fail to recognise the cancer cell as foreign and don’t fight it off, according to geneticist Kathy Belov, who describes the animals as “immunological clones”.

Belov’s team at the University of Sydney are studying the tumour in search of a vaccine or cure, but she believes cataloguing the genes of healthy animals and selectively breeding them in captivity is the devils’ best hope.

“In 30 years’ time, a few generations down the track, we want devils that we can release back into the wild that can hunt and can fend for themselves,” Belov told AFP.

Enlarge

A 14-month-old Tasmanian Devil bites the trouser leg of keeper Adrian Good, at Devil Ark in Australia’s New South Wales state. The burrowing, tree-climbing animals are in a battle for survival against an aggressive and contagious facial cancer which experts fear could see them become extinct in the wild in as little as five years.

“We want to have devils that behave like wild animals, but not to lose any of that (genetic) diversity, and that’s going to be the challenge.”

Enter “Devil Ark” — 500 hectares (1,236 acres) of farmland set in pristine national park which was gifted to the Tasmanian devil conservation movement by the wealthy Packer family of casino and media fortunes.

Situated in remote and mountainous alpine forest very similar to the devils’ natural habitat, Devil Ark is what keeper Adrian Good describes as a “free-range” captive breeding project.

Devils are kept in densely vegetated pens of between two and three football fields in size enclosed by a climb and burrow-proof fence, and their pen mates are chosen by experts from a genetic “stud book” to optimise breeding.

Their lives are designed to closely mirror those of wild devils; they are left a kangaroo or other carcass to eat in the evenings and will sleep through the day.

Each pen contains between six and 10 devils, with an even mix of males and females, and Good said there had been excellent breeding success last year, which was the Ark’s first year of operation, with 24 babies — or “joeys” — born.

Enlarge

Tasmanian Devils once roamed Australia but since about 1600 have been isolated to Tasmania, an island state south of the mainland, where a series of disease outbreaks has seen their genetic stocks severely diminished.

“They just love being here, all the signs are that they are happy and healthy devils,” he said.

Social dominance is a constant battle in the wild and Devil Ark is no different — having to share their territory with others forces the devils to fight for their food and mating rights, skills they can quickly lose in a zoo.

“Those wild traits are crucial for them being able to survive when they’re re-released,” said Good.

There are currently just under 100 devils living at the Ark and keepers are targeting 350 by 2016, with plans for as many as 1,000 in the years after that to be trickled back into Tasmania once the wild population dies out.

The Australian Reptile Park’s Faulkner is overseeing the project and said it was unique in the world because unlike most other endangered species captive-bred devils would be able to be returned to their habitat.

“Its environment’s pristine, feral predators aren’t a problem, if we can just get past the disease you can put them back and it literally has a happy ending,” he said.

Belov said there would be valuable lessons for the management of other vulnerable native species, including the koala.

“I think we have to learn from the devil, this disease simply couldn’t have spread like it has had there been more genetic diversity,” she said.

“It’s a warning for us because we have a lot of wildlife populations that are isolated… and that’s where you have problems.”

(c) 2012 AFP

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Article source: http://phys.org/news/2012-05-devil.html

May is Be Bear Aware Month and the Department of Fish and Game reminds the public to act responsibly when in bear country.

Spring is the time of year when California’s black bears emerge from their winter dens in search of lush, green vegetation. As the grasses die in late spring, bears become attracted to bugs, berries, salmon and nearly anything edible or smelly. Their quest for food takes up nearly every waking hour.

With an estimated 30,000 bears in California, it is not surprising that from Memorial Day to Labor Day, the peak of the camping season, DFG is inundated with calls about bears breaking into homes, rummaging through trash bins and raiding campsites. These bears are often labeled “nuisance” bears, but in reality, the bears are just doing what comes naturally to them, foraging for food.

“People are the root of the problem and it’s their behavior that we need to change,” said Marc Kenyon, DFG’s Bear Program Manager. “By taking just a few precautions to secure food and trash, area visitors and residents can save themselves thousands of dollars in property damage, can help protect their families from injury and can save the lives of bears. Bears that become habituated to humans or conditioned to eating our food and trash often have to be killed.”

Tips for bear-proofing your campsite

No one wants to worry about housekeeping when on a camping trip, but DFG warns that keeping a clean campsite is the responsible and safe thing to do when visiting black bear country. Here are a few tips for bear-proofing your campsite:

*  Use bear-proof garbage cans whenever possible or store your garbage in a secure location with your food.

*  Store food (including pet food) and toiletries in bear-proof containers or in an airtight container in the trunk of your vehicle.

*  Clean dishes and store food and garbage immediately after meals.

*  Clean the barbecue grill after each use.

*  Never keep food or toiletries in your tent.

Tips for bear-proofing your home, rental or timeshare

Bears have keen noses and can smell an easy meal from miles away. They can easily tear a front door off its hinges if they smell fried chicken left out on the kitchen counter or bacon grease splattered on a stove. To protect your family and property from bear break-ins follow these simple tips:

*  Purchase and properly use a bear-proof garbage container.

*  Wait to put trash out until the morning of collection day.

*  Don’t leave trash, groceries, or animal feed in your car.

*  Keep garbage cans clean and deodorize them with bleach or ammonia.

*  Keep barbecue grills clean and stored in a garage or shed when not in use.

*  Only provide bird feeders during November through March and make them inaccessible to bears.

*  Don’t leave any scented products outside, even non-food items such as suntan lotion, insect repellent, soap or candles.

*  Keep doors and windows closed and locked.

*  Consider installing motion-detector alarms, electric fencing or motion-activated sprinklers.

*  Harvest fruit off trees as soon as it is ripe, and promptly collect fruit that falls.

*  Securely block access to potential hibernation sites such as crawl spaces under decks and buildings.

Facts about black bears:

*  The only species of bears in California are black bears. However, they do range in color from blonde to black, with cinnamon brown being the most common color.

*  There are an estimated 25,000 to 35,000 black bears in California.

*  Black bears will seek to avoid confrontation with humans. If encountered, always leave them an escape route.

*  Males are much larger than females and can weigh more than 500 pounds, although average weight is about 300 pounds.

*  Black bears can sprint up to 35 mph and they are strong swimmers and great tree climbers.

*  A typical wild bear diet consists of berries, plants, nuts, roots, honey, honeycomb, insects, larvae, carrion and small mammals.

*  As winter approaches, bears will forage for food up to 20 hours a day, storing enough fat to sustain them through hibernation. Bears often hibernate in large hollow trees 40 to 60 feet off the ground.

*  Bears that are accustomed to people can become too bold and lose their fear of humans.

For more information including bear-proof containers and where to buy them, visit www.dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/bear.html.

Article source: http://www.trinityjournal.com/sports/outdoors/article_7d7ffd96-9f19-11e1-9f1b-0019bb30f31a.html

The aboriginal named Meen, or Bloodroot (Haemodorum spicatum) a relative of the kangaroo paw, can be used for its culinary hot and spicy character or to create a bright red dye. Image: Apace WAA UWA Centre for Excellence in Resource Management (CENRN) researcher in Albany, is working with the community in developing native plants as economically viable food for humans or as forage for livestock for the Great Southern region.

Native plant agronomist, Dr Geoff Woodall, who also runs a sandalwood farm, says unlike traditional European vegetables such as potatoes and carrots that took hundreds of years to develop for cropping, “a lot of our flora has adapted to poor soils and unpredictable climates”.

So far, Dr Woodall and colleagues have examined 200 species of flora from the Great Southern region and have produced three candidates most likely to achieve commercial success.

The aboriginal named Meen, or Bloodroot (Haemodorum spicatum) a relative of the kangaroo paw, can be used for its culinary hot and spicy character or to create a bright red dye.

It has been trialled commercially by the Great Southern Distillery in Albany to flavour a spirit marketed as Meen Vodka.

Research also shows the species has a promising future as a commercial dye for fabrics such as silk, which takes on a soft pink colour.

Another flora species of interest, Ravensthorpe radish or Youlk in Aboriginal (Platysace deflexa) is a sweet-tasting fleshy yellow tuber that is a relative to carrots, parsley, parsnip and coriander (Family: Apiaceae).

Dr Woodall started his collaboration with the community when he made contact with Bjorn and Claudia Form who started a unique Great Southern food venture: the Bush Food Factory.

A partnership between Dr Woodall and the Forms will develop the Ravensthorpe or “Ravy” radish for commercial quantity cultivation on their property in a month.

They will be using rooted cuttings raised at the Department of Agriculture and Food in Albany.

“There are lots of good ecological restoration projects trying to bring areas back to pre-European times,” he says.

“But they don’t tend to produce economic products like food, timber or forage.

“A lot of the work has been to do with agronomy—how to grow things—and it’s not rocket science,” he says.

“We’re trying to come up with simple, reliable methods of producing food from native crops,” he says.

Dr Woodall sees this commercial milestone as a confirmation of his aim for, “needs-driven research” which meets economic objectives that also produce beneficial natural resource outcomes.

Article source: http://www.sciencewa.net.au/topics/agriculture/item/1425-great-southern-researchers-explore-native-flora-for-commercial-applicability

Whatever the mitigation measures, maintain and manage them well

  WHEN elephants invade human settlements on the fringes of the jungle, it is usually to forage for food in  farms and orchards.

That was the case with the herd of elephants that raided eight Orang Asli villages in the Banun Resettlement Scheme in Hulu Perak. Only the crops were trampled and damaged when the elephants ate the shoots and seedlings. Unfortunately, the crop-raiding turned into house-demolition one Sunday night, leaving nine members of two families in Kampung Banun homeless and distressed, but, thankfully, otherwise unharmed. Nevertheless, it is still true to say that this is the exception rather than the rule.

However, it is also true to say that recent reports of crop-raiding elephants not only in Hulu Perak but also in Machang, Kelantan, where 10 villages are under threat, are nothing out of the ordinary as these are areas known to be prone to invasion by elephants. According to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, 4,864 cases of human-elephant conflicts, or an average of 973 cases a year, were recorded between 2006 and 2010.

As the underlying cause is the loss of elephant habitats when forests are cleared for logging or converted into agriculture, the problem of elephant intrusion into crop land can be expected to continue. Realistically, then, the problem cannot be eliminated, only reduced.

Removal of the elephants by relocating them to elephant sanctuaries, such as those in Pahang and Terengganu, is one solution. Last month, three rogue elephants were captured in Machang, one in Jeli, and one in Sungai Siput, Perak. Electric fences have also been found to be effective barriers in keeping out elephants, which is why they have been erected in Hulu Perak and Jeli, for instance.

Undoubtedly, relocating elephants and preventive measures, such as building electric fences and digging trenches, have been tried, tested and proven effective in addressing the problems caused by marauding elephants. Nevertheless, this should not stop the search for new and innovative mitigation measures.

For example, there is the Tanzanian initiative of erecting fences treated with a mixture of chilli and engine oil to repel elephant invaders. Another promising method is the protective beehive fences ringing the crops developed in Kenya. Apart from scaring away the nosy jumbos with bee stings, there is the added benefit from the sale of honey. But as the gate in the electric fence that was left open for the elephants to raid the Orang Asli villages in Grik demonstrate, no matter what measures are adopted, good maintenance and management is vital ensuring their effectiveness.

Article source: http://www.nst.com.my/opinion/editorial/keeping-out-elephants-1.84672

An Eastern Pacific leatherback turtle.
CREDIT: George L. Shillinger

When it comes to leatherback turtles, the world’s largest species of sea turtle, there’s a conundrum: The species itself is critically endangered, but at least one leatherback population is stable — on the rise, even — while others plummet.

Now, researchers may have discovered why some of these turtles are doing better than others. Studying two leatherback turtle populations, one that is declining and one that seems to be increasing, the researchers say the answer might be simple: food.

“We saw very big differences in their traveling speeds from their nesting beaches to their foraging grounds,” said Helen Bailey, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who led the study. “We take that to mean one population is stopping to forage on a nice dense patch of prey, while the other group keeps moving because it’s constantly in search of food.”

These differences in swimming and eating habits may hold important clues for helping leatherback turtles around the world recover and thrive, Bailey told OurAmazingPlanet.

Dine in or drive-through?

Atlantic leatherback turtles seem to be doing OK, but the Pacific population could be extinct in the near future, Bailey said.

Leatherback turtles everywhere are often victims of bycatch, the unintentional netting and killing of turtles while fishing for other animals, but leatherbacks in the Pacific Ocean face another problem. Climate patterns like the El Niño-Southern Oscillation cause huge variations in temperature and productivity in the Pacific Ocean, making it hard for some animals to find reliable food supplies. These challenges, combined with leatherbacks’ advanced breeding age (around 15 years for females), mean that the Pacific leatherback turtle population has taken a serious hit over the last two decades.

To figure out the difference between these two groups, Bailey looked at how the turtles swim. Using data from leatherbacks that had been tagged and tracked by satellite, she found that Atlantic leatherbacks have two modes of travel: fast (12-28 miles per day, or 20-45 kilometers per day) and slow (less than 9 miles per day, or 15 km per day). Pacific leatherbacks, on the other hand, have only one: a cruising speed of about 13 miles per day (21 km per day). [In Images: Tagging Tracking Sea Turtles]

Atlantic leatherbacks seem to run from one smorgasbord to another, stopping at a dense patch of jellyfish (their main food source) to eat until it’s gone. Pacific leatherbacks never find dense patches of jellyfish, so they swim at the same rather fast speed the whole time, Bailey said.

“They’re constantly searching for food,” Bailey said. “If you have to keep moving, you’re not gaining quite as much energy because even if you manage to eat along the way, you’re still expending some energy by traveling.”

In other words, the main difference between the two populations is that Atlantic turtles can dine in and chow down, while Pacific leatherbacks have to settle for the drive-through window and eating on the run.

Adults are important

Bailey’s findings, detailed in the May issue of the journal PLoS ONE, point to new leatherback turtle conservation strategies.

“It’s really highlighted very strongly the importance of protecting adult leatherbacks,” Bailey said in an interview.

Because leatherback turtles have long life spans (about 30 years), they’ve adapted to survive jellyfish shortages by waiting to build nests and lay eggs after they’ve found a stable food supply. So far, most efforts have focused on protecting leatherbacks’ nesting beaches. That’s still important, Bailey said, but it may be even more important to protect adult turtles that are old enough to reproduce.

“They really have not adapted in any way to being harvested,” Bailey said. “So when adults are killed by, for example, getting caught in fishing nets, then that does have a huge impact on the population and its ability to increase.”

This story was provided by OurAmazingPlanet, a sister site to LiveScience.

Article source: http://www.livescience.com/20373-leatherback-turtles-endangered-food.html

Is that a legacy you want to pass down to your own children?

We would love for our children to grow food.  We feel like it is right work, exhausting, but rewarding. Mostly we hope to instill in them the values of good food, good work, and good company.  

Is it tough explaining to your children that the cute pigs they grow fond of will be someone’s dinner?

Our 4-year-old understands where everything is going. When we have to butcher dairy animals (more like pets), it makes for a difficult day, but it’s usually difficult for everyone. He understands that the meat animals are for meat, and is comfortable around poultry slaughter.

You’ve just raised funding to build an earth-banked aging room. Can you explain what that is and why it’s important to your farm?

An earth-banked aging room is basically a cave. It is important to have an environment in which we can age our meats. It needs to have controlled humidity and be about ground temperature (50-55F). Earth-banked means the structure will be buried in earth, normalizing the temperature. We researched cheese-cave designs, as the conditions are similar.

Are there still other small farms in your area?

Most Pennsylvania farms are small, comparatively speaking.  However, most are using methods of farming we would not use.  We do have several inspirational farmers in our area with successful businesses growing organic veggies and pastured meats. 

How do you feel about the commercialization and factory-farming that’s increasingly commonplace?

Farming today is full of pitfalls–farmers are encouraged to produce foods to sell at lower than their costs of production, which leads to factory-style farms looking for ever more efficiency. However, we believe most farmers with confinement facilities still want what’s best for their animals and the land, but don’t see an alternative, or are too far in debt to change.  

We need to shift the goals of farming back to soil building, and producing healthy humans, ecosystems, and communities. Until we reassess those goals, most farmers will continue toward least-cost production.

Do you plan to run education programs at the farm?

Yes, we will host educational field days and classes on curing and butchering, in addition to raising animals.

What’s your farming philosophy?

Grow the healthiest food possible while building healthy ecosystems and communities.

Article source: http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2012/05/going_the_whole_hog.html