Critter Corner: News Roundup on Biodiversity – Week of 9/5
This Week in the Critter Corner:
![](http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Little_Brown_Bat_with_White_Nose_Syndrome_Greeley_Mine_cropped-254x300.jpg)
Little brown bat with white-nose syndrome in Greeley Mine, Vermont, March 26, 2009. Photo by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Helping Bats Hold On, Science News, Sept. 10
The history, pervasiveness, and ramifications of white-nose syndrome is summarized is this featured article. Deemed by scientists as one of the most disastrous wildlife diseases in history, bats afflicted with white-nose syndrome have cells that are replaced by fungal ones, leading to a disruption of hibernation, emaciation, thirst, and ultimately death.
Hens Evolve Secret Sex Strategy, BBC News, Sept. 6
Researchers discover that female chickens have the ability to eject the sperm of mates that they deem socially inferior.
Circadian Clocks in Blind Fish , ScienceDaily , Sept. 6
A new study explores circadian rhythm in a blind species of cavefish, Phreatichthys andruzzii, providing enlightening insight into how evolution operates in darkness and clocks respond to a changing environment.
![](http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/BlindFish-300x192.jpg)
Astyanax mexicanus, Characidae, Blind Cave Tetra; Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Karlsruhe, Germany. Photo by H. Zell
By comparing the circadian clock of the blind cavefish with that of the visually equipped zebrafish, the authors concluded that the cavefish’s clock can be regulated by feeding behavior, but not by light.
Ancient Woolly Rhino Points to Himalayas, NY Times, Sept. 6
A new uncovered woolly rhinoceros in the Zanda Basin, dated to be approximately 3.6 million years old, suggests to researchers that the species, and other giant ice age mammals, may have originated in the Himalayas. Though previous studies have suggested that the massive animals of the ice age originated in the Arctic 2.8 million years ago, the skull, neck, and limb bones of the woolly rhinoceros indicate that they had already evolved cold-weather adaptations.
![](http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/WOOLLY1-300x215.jpg)
A woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) in a late Pleistocene landscape in northern Spain. Photo by Mauricio Antón
New Shark Species Found in Food Market, National Geographic, Sept. 1
Upon collecting samples and making comparisons of fish at a market in Taiwan, researchers discovered a new species of shark, Squalus formosus. The three-foot-long short-nosed dogfish lives in the waters around Taiwan and Japan. It is largely distinguished from its evolutionary cousins by several unique morphological traits, including a strong spine, back-fin, and short-rounded head.
Leave a Reply