#zoology

#zoology

Fish Can Learn Basic MathFish may not be able to calculate complex stuff like us humans, but that doesn't mean that they can't learn math. This recent study reveals that fish, specifically bony cichlids and cartilaginous stingrays, can add and subtract small numbers. While this may be a surprise to many, the researchers were not surprised by the findings. Fish have already been shown to distinguish between relative quantities before. However, this study reveals how fish, without fingers, manipulate small numbers. Not all cichlids and stingrays finished their training. However, those who did are said to have "performed well above chance." This means that fish are not stupid, contrary to statements used to excuse awful fishing practices. (Image Credit: Schluessel et al. (2022)) #Math #Fish #AnimalWonders #Zoology

Keeping Track of Hibernating Hedgehogs by Attaching a GPS Backpack to Their SpinesWhen scientists were trying to figure out whether hedgehogs travel down from the alpine zones of the Mackenzie Basin, New Zealand, during the cold winter months, they were faced with the problem of tracking the spiky mammals.It turned out that the solution was quite simple: just attach a GPS transmitter like a backpack!"You can attach a transmitter directly to their spines," said Nick Foster of New University of Otago, "There is no collar, no contact with the skin, and there is no feeling in their spines, which are a similar material to our fingernails. Spines regrow after they are clipped and devices fall off as they naturally shed.The GPS transmitter backpack worked wonderfully and the scientists found out that instead of wandering downhill to lower elevations to escape the cold, the hedgehogs stayed put and hibernated instead.#hedgehog #GPS #hibernation #zoology #animalbehavior

Plateau Pikas Survive the Harsh Tibetan Winter by Eating Yak PoopSome animals deal with cold winters by going into hibernation, some burrow underground to stay warm and subsist on stockpiled food, while others migrate away to warmer climes but the cute fluffball-like animal called the plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau did none of these. Instead, they continue to forage in the cold.As the temperatures in their high-altitude home routinely dip to -30° C (-22° F), the grass that they typically eat becomes dry and brittle so the plateau pikas have to resort to a different and very unusual type of food. They eat yak poop.Ecophysiologist John Speakman at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland and colleagues measured the temperature and daily energy expenditure of 156 plateau pikas and found that they reduce their metabolism by almost 30 percent, partly by cooling their bodies a couple of degrees at night and becoming less active during the day.At sites where there are yaks, there were more pikas but they were even less active. But why would the presence of yaks change the plateau pikas, wondered the researchers. They stumbled on the answer when they “found a sort of half-eaten yak turd in one of the burrows,” explained Speakman. The abundant yak poop could serve as an easily digestible meal that “massively reduces the amount of time [pikas] need to spend on the surface,” he added.Image: Pika (Ochotona curzoniae) in eastern Tibet by Kunsang/Wikimedia Commons#pika #plateaupika #winter #yak #poop #winter #zoology #yakpoop #hibernation