Yet neurons don’t work for free, a fact that constrains how nervous systems might evolve in size and complexity in the first place. Just because skulls expand, doesn’t mean nature will automatically fill them with grey matter.
Strange as it seems, we know very little about the evolutionary forces responsible for diversifying brain size across the backboned part of the animal kingdom.
So an international team of researchers undertook a huge study on the largest fossil and extant dataset yet assembled, measuring the spaces once occupying the skulls of more than 1,400 species, living and extinct.
Comparing information on body sizes with endocranial data, the…
The Green New Deal, formerly seen as radical, is now in mainstream debate. And renewable energy becomes more efficient every day
Power-generating windmill turbines at sunset near Larnaca, Cyprus.Photograph: Yiannis Kourtoglou/Reuters
Sat 1 May 2021 08.12 EDT
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That we are living in science fiction was brought home to me last week when I put down Kim Stanley Robinson’s superb climate-futures novel The Ministry for the Future and picked up Bill McKibben’sNew Yorker letteron climate, warning of the melting of the Thwaites Glacier, “alreadyknownas the ‘doomsday glacier’ because its collapse could raise global sea levels by as much as three feet”. Where we are now would have seemed like science fiction itself 20 years ago; where we need to be will take us deeper into that territory.
Three things matter for climate chaos and our response to it – the science reporting on…
ByHyung-Jin Kim Associated PressSunday, May 2, 2021 6:39AMabout:blankEMBED <>MORE VIDEOS
President Joe Biden detailed topics including the COVID-19 pandemic, foreign policy, the American Rescue Plan and more in his first address to a joint session of Congress.SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea on Sunday warned the United States will face “a very grave situation” because President Joe Biden “made a big blunder” in his recent speech by calling the North a security threat and revealing his intent to maintain a hostile policy against it.
Stories of clever animals abound, from pigs playing video games to monkeys trading mobile phones – now tests reveal that they don’t merely act on instinct but can think flexibly, like usLIFE 7 April 2021
Superficially, these behaviours certainly seem smart. But what do they really reveal about animal intelligence? The human mind is remarkable for its innovation and problem-solving across many different domains. Do other animals have the same sort of brains, or are their headline-grabbing antics no more than party tricks that require little complex reasoning?
Scientists have begun devising elaborate tests to tackle this question. Like our own IQ tests, they allow researchers to assess the capacity of an animal’s mind, compare the mental abilities of different individuals and identify factors that lead to superior performance. The findings have been a revelation. They provide some fascinating insights into the anatomy of intelligence. And they may even shed light on the evolutionary origins of our own minds.
For more than 14 years, environmental and animal protection groups including Animal Alliance of Canada, Animal Protection Party of Canada, Born Free USA, Zoocheck and Earthroots have been working to gain protection for cormorants in Ontario and across Canada.
Double-crested Cormorants are native Ontario birds that have repopulated parts of their former range and fulfill a valuable ecological role. Not only do they benefit biodiversity but their presence signals healthy fish populations. They are an integral component of Ontario’s natural heritage and a key component of island ecology.
For too long, cormorants have been falsely accused of environmental damage, water pollution and even the decimation of fish populations which has led to official kill policies that have brought cormorants to the brink of survival. Although the population has rebounded, Premier Doug Ford is putting cormorants and other native birds at risk, such as Egrets and Great Herons, by allowing a province-wide hunting season of cormorants from March 15-December 31.
This regressive proposal will cause unimaginable cruelty to cormorants who are at risk of being eradicated from Ontario. Cormorants occupy only about 3% of island sites in the Great Lakes but because they are conspicuous, nesting on exposed islands and peninsulas, they are particularly vulnerable, being easily targeted and killed in their nesting sites. Small congregations could be wiped out in just a few hours, while larger colonies could be destroyed in just a few days or a week. Decades of conservation effort to recover the species will have been for nothing.
We know that Premier Ford is using cormorants as a political weapon.
Sportsmen campaigned for Doug Ford in 2018. Ford (now with Mainstreet Research showing him in a virtual tie with the Ontario Liberal Party he crushed during the last election – https://www.mainstreetresearch.ca/march-2020-ontario-poll-pc-33-liberal-33-23-green-7/) is convinced his political survival in the 2 June 2022 election depends on the sportsmen’s votes. He’s buying those votes with cormorants’ suffering and lives, and the visceral thrill sportsmen get when they kill animals.
However, throughout the Ontario government, good public officials, MPPs, scientists—and even some sportsmen—are appalled and horrified by what Premier Ford is doing.
They know Ford is dead wrong ethically, environmentally, and scientifically.
We need you!
Currently cormorants are provincially managed and not protected under Canada’s Migratory Bird Convention Act even though the same birds are protected federally under the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Our goal is to convince the federal government to list cormorants and other migratory birds, such as owls, pelicans and ospreys, under Canada’s Migratory Bird Convention Act, paralleling the US listing.
This requires cooperation between the provinces and the federal government and therefore involves both provincial and federal parties.
Please take a moment today to send a brief email or make a quick phone call to:
The Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada
Let Minister Wilkinson know that you want Double-crested Cormorants to be included in the Migratory Birds Convention Act.
If you live in Ontario, please reach out to your local Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP) to express your support for the protection of Double-crested Cormorants.
Let your MPP know (regardless of what party they represent) that you strongly disapprove of the changes to hunting regulations being proposed by Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government.
Find your Ontario MPP using your postal code at elections.on.ca
Thank you for helping us fight for the protection of cormorants, together we can make a difference and save these birds from certain death.
Todd Kinnard is one such officer – tasked with overseeing agency operations across the expansive Lassen county, five hours north-east of San Francisco by car. He was on duty when an anonymous tip came in that someone in the county was shooting raptors, birds of prey such as…
Meet Laura, the rescue piglet and his best friend Marina, the orphaned kitten with special needs. The duo met each other for the first time at the Santuario Igualdad Interespecie, an interspecies equality sanctuary for farm animals in Santiago, Chile.
Marina was abandoned on the street by her mother because of being sick and having pus-filled eyes. Thankfully, a kind person picked her up and took her to the Chilean sanctuary, saving her life.
The rescuers tried everything they could to save her, so she quickly got her energy back. The little kitten even started playing with the caretakers and animals at the sanctuary. At that time, Marina and Laura found each other, and now they become best friends.
Laura was born so that she could be slaughtered, but luckily, activists rescued her from the meat industry. When she arrived at the sanctuary, she was trembling with fear. However, the tiny kitten helped her relax and calm down.https://googleads.g.doubleclick.net/pagead/ads?client=ca-pub-5361965561805411&output=html&h=197&slotname=8612907793&adk=3379963475&adf=3168617414&pi=t.ma~as.8612907793&w=787&fwrn=4&lmt=1619969245&rafmt=11&psa=0&format=787×197&url=https%3A%2F%2Fblog.pawsplanet.me%2F10797%2F%3Futm_source%3DYAS%26utm_medium%3DYAS%26utm_campaign%3DYAS&flash=0&wgl=1&adsid=ChAI8Ju5hAYQz8uAt8DEosh9Ej0A-lJddh3tv7U6eupIR9b8Ux61pvTIMZ4cc63AVOHj6udG4vRZqGQPqF1Fw7qCoHc3_DTZ_LFVJk3vLiWv&uach=WyJXaW5kb3dzIiwiMTAuMCIsIng4NiIsIiIsIjkwLjAuNDQzMC45MyIsW11d&dt=1619969235441&bpp=5&bdt=4976&idt=2371&shv=r20210428&cbv=%2Fr20190131&ptt=9&saldr=aa&abxe=1&cookie=ID%3D47990e74df3759de-22a3b14d42c700cf%3AT%3D1618765529%3ART%3D1618765529%3AS%3DALNI_MbPWRTdl45h7Zm8rVvJ92gunjRJXQ&prev_fmts=336×280%2C787x197%2C300x600%2C250x250%2C0x0%2C300x250%2C1123x538&nras=2&correlator=1757291082696&frm=20&pv=1&ga_vid=601745106.1618765528&ga_sid=1619969238&ga_hid=668232209&ga_fc=0&rplot=4&u_tz=-420&u_his=1&u_java=0&u_h=640&u_w=1139&u_ah=607&u_aw=1139&u_cd=24&u_nplug=3&u_nmime=4&adx=15&ady=3755&biw=1123&bih=538&scr_x=0&scr_y=1800&eid=21066429&oid=3&psts=AGkb-H-jRjvrGmZ_ieC2phQ9eZ6CGSs-uN-erbh1i63fm-UnKrIdAH8_jX7qWmIFJOru7keY8DFfXEUN5zI7%2CAGkb-H9bAYoXrHV1vbNnrYjMvaEA-7l7q-J7YOwozjS4bh41XM-VPTBHxi8PPGiifOaDn3K7K-l5e45gYg%2CAGkb-H8XOf9_2_bcQ1ogpRNB6WhN6SXbx4Ueffpv9K4bycSle-a-L_b-ziLvF3GIo6XnwQDheH9DVUUZVcZ5Ew%2CAGkb-H-1ol6tGXiSC4aZEkrU4_–ObHyMMIQblKQUB0KphKDXPzljIgvIKktPMIc9Ta2NsU7FoVGsGms_A&pvsid=3612276310656919&pem=63&eae=0&fc=896&brdim=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C1139%2C0%2C1139%2C607%2C1139%2C537&vis=1&rsz=%7C%7Cebr%7C&abl=CS&pfx=0&fu=128&bc=31&jar=2021-05-02-01&ifi=4&uci=a!4&btvi=4&fsb=1&xpc=CgKOuFFyIB&p=https%3A//blog.pawsplanet.me&dtd=10422
They found comfort in each other, and share the most unlikely and beautiful of friendships. They play, cuddle, nap together and give each other a lot of hugs and kisses. Even when they’re not cuddling, they stay close together, like best forever friends should. Whenever Laura sleeps in, Marina acts as her bestie alarm clock. And Laura always returns the favor.
This darling duo’s friendship shows us that even though two individuals may not look alike and may come from completely different backgrounds, they can form a wonderful friendship.
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© BRETT ELOFFThe practice of hunting lions raised in captivity has long been controversial in South Africa, where a large number of animals are confined to pens ringed with electric fences
© Provided by The GuardianPhotograph: Alamy
