Naked Penguins

Feather-loss disorder has also been observed in African penguins, which inhabit the coast and offshore islands of South Africa. (Photo/Nola Parsons)

Penguins already endure their fair share of image problems. They’re a bit pudgy around the middle (not that there’s anything wrong with that). They have wings, but can’t fly, and a beach strut that’s really more of an awkward waddle. Now these tuxedoed birds can add bald to that list.

In a somewhat alarming twist of fate, penguins are being born featherless, and scientists don’t know why.

The phenomenon first emerged in 2006 when researchers observed featherless black-footed (AKA African) penguin chicks at a rehabilitation center in Cape Town, South Africa. That year about 59 percent of penguin chicks at the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds lost their feathers, followed by 97 percent in 2007. Meanwhile, researchers with the Wildlife Conservation Society and University of Washington in Argentina also observed featherless Magellanic penguins in the wild.

In both cases, the featherless chicks grew at slower rates than their downy counterparts, most likely because they had to expend more energy to regulate their body temperature, said the researchers in a press release. The goose-fleshed penguins also had a tendency to spend more time in the sun, compared to feathered penguins. Many of these vulnerable chicks died during the study.

A researcher holds a featherless Magellanic penguin chick. (Photo/Jeffrey Smith)

So far, scientists don’t yet know what’s causing what looks like the avian version of mange. Disease, thyroid disorder, genetics and nutrient deficiencies could all be potential culprits, they say.

On a slightly more positive note, it does look like chicks that survive do eventually grow feathers. Researchers are working furiously to figure out what’s causing the trouble.

“We need to learn how to stop the spread of feather-loss disorder, as penguins already have problems with oil pollution and climate variation,” said P. Dee Boersma, one of the study authors in a press release. “It’s important to keep disease from being added to the list of threats they face.”

Scientific Journal:

Waterbirds

Study Authors and Affiliations:

Olivia J. Kane, Jeffrey R. Smith, and P. Dee Boersma of the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Washington; Nola J. Parsons and Vanessa Strauss of the South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds; and Pablo Garcia-Borboroglu and Cecilia Villanueva of Centro Nacional Patagónico

Contact:

John Delaney, jdelaney@wcs.org, 718-220-3275, Wildlife Conservation Society

Potentially new species of lemur found in Madagascar

Close-up of a potentially new species of fork-marked lemur discovered in Madagascar. © Conservation International/ photo by Russell A. Mittermeier

Take a squirrel-sized body, and combine it with big feet, a long tongue, and black-forked markings on the face, and you have the oddly adorable countenance of a species of lemur just discovered in Madagascar.

“This is yet another remarkable discovery from the island of Madagascar…one of the most extraordinary places in our planet” said Conservation International President Russ Mittermeier in a press release, who was the first to spot the animal. Researchers believe the species to be new to science.

Finding this cutie-pie sounds like something plucked from the chase scenes of Indiana Jones. Mittermeier and his colleagues ran through dense forest at night, following the calls of the lemur as it leapt rapidly from treetop to treetop. Catching the lemur in the beam of a flashlight, researchers were able to safely tranquilize it for closer examination.

Close-up of a potentially new species of fork-marked lemur discovered in Madagascar, October 3, 2010. © Conservation International/ photo by Russell A. Mittermeier

Limited geographic range and life in a severely human-impacted environment likely means this species – of the genus phaner – is already endangered or critically endangered, said Mittermeier.

Researchers are now working on establishing the lemur’s genetic uniqueness and learning about its life history and behavior. So far, besides getting a good grip on the lemur’s looks, researchers know that this critter’s diet consists mostly of tree gum and flower nectar, they utter loud, high-pitched calls at night and practice a head-bobbing motion that is unique to this species.

Lemurs are only found in Madagascar, a country that’s lost about 90 percent of its forests and other vegetation.

“Protection of Madagascar’s remaining natural forests should be considered one of the world’s highest conservation priorities,” said Mittermeier in the press release. “These forests are home to an incredible array of species that are a true global heritage.”

Gangster Birds of the Kalahari Desert

A drongo in the Kalahari. (Photo/Andy Radford, University of Bristol)

Drongos, African Kalahari Desert birds with a penchant for thievery, are taking a turn towards the avian equivalent of organized crime, a new study finds.

The victims in this case, pied babblers, have long contended with the risk of drongos popping in to make off with the babblers’ hard-earned insect prey. Now it seems a set of behaviors have evolved that are taking this interaction from a purely parasitic relationship to one of more mutual benefit. Researchers found that the drongos form protection squads for foraging babblers, keeping an eye out for trouble and strong-arming danger when it arrives.

“Like any good gangster,” says Andrew Radford, a scientist with the University of Bristol who led the research team, “as well as lying and stealing, the drongos also provide protection by mobbing aerial predators and giving true alarm calls on some occasions.”

That means pied babblers can spend less time watching for predators and more time looking for prey. The relationship is not without its caveats. Drongos still aim to take advantage of babblers, crying wolf to scare the babblers and grab the insects. The babblers likely put up with it, the researchers say, because the benefit of not having to worry about predators outweighs the cost of the drongos’ antics.

The research, which is a collaboration with the Universities of Bristol, Cambridge and Cape Town, is published online in the current issue of Evolution.

Andy Radford (University of Bristol) and a pied babbler in the Kalahari. (Photo/Matthew Bell, University of Cambridge)

A pied babbler in the Kalahari. (Photo/Andy Radford, University of Bristol)

The Selfish Environmentalist: religion in Morocco and caring for the land

In the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, abandonment of religious beliefs is transforming the wild.

High Atlas Mountains, Morocco (Photo/Jerzy Strzelecki)

For Morocco’s Amazig people, who long looked to their saints for guidance on how to manage their land, a loss of religion spells big changes for nature. Locals are shifting from a communal outlook to a more self-serving one, a switch that bears consequences for people and ecosystems alike, according to a new study in the journal Human Ecology. The study indicates that when people manage the land for themselves rather than the good of all, what’s here today could be gone, or at least different, tomorrow.

Historically, beliefs in local Islamic Saints encouraged a communal mindset when it came to managing resources in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. For instance, in spring, the Amazig would often set some pastures off-limits, saving them for harder times, a practice known as Agdal.

But as the Amazig abandon tradition, a new environment begins to take shape. Pablo Dominguez from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain and his colleagues observed and interviewed families from 80 households in Warzazt, Morocco, from 2003 to 2008. They found a close relationship between the loss of traditional religious beliefs and expansion of farmland and introduction of new sheep species.

The impacts of these practices are not yet fully understood, but one thing’s for certain, this study takes a fresh tack on natural resource management, emphasizing the ways religion plays a pivotal role in how cultures use and change their environment.

rJerzy Strzelecki

Bringing clean water, jobs to Rwanda

I think they're happy about the clean agua. (Photos/Courtesy Manna Energy, Ltd.)

In Rwanda, getting water is not as easy as simply turning the tap. Villagers must first lug water, sometimes up steep cliff slopes 11 stories tall, then boil it in an attempt to get rid of the nasty stuff. Houston-based for-profit company, Manna Energy, Ltd., is looking to help make life a little easier and healthier for these communities with plans to bring clean water to more than 1 billion people during the next ten years. Their mission pulls triple duty – providing clean water, a reduced carbon footprint and local jobs.

Evan Thomas, executive Vice President of Manna Energy, Ltd., recently presented at the Watershed School’s Boulder Expedition Series in Colorado — a school setting its heart on social responsibility. Thomas also engineers purification systems for NASA and volunteers for Engineers Without Borders. Somewhere in the mix, he managed to find time to share a few thoughts with the Nature Files.

1.  Manna Energy, Ltd. has a pretty unusual goal – to improve the lives of one billion people. How did that mission come about?

There are over 1.2 billion people in the world who currently lack access to clean drinking water. Existing models to address this problem are not yet capable of scaling to address the magnitude of the issue. Dirty drinking water remains one of the leading causes of death worldwide. With Manna, we have worked to create a model that has the potential to associate economic sustainability and business accountability to the deployment and maintenance of water treatment systems. We are demonstrating this in Rwanda, and hope to then help other organizations do the same thing. In this way, we plan to be a part of solving this problem.

2.  While volunteering with Engineers Without Borders you’ve worked with communities in Nepal, Rwanda, Mexico and Afghanistan. What are some of the things you experienced there?

The differences between people everywhere are pretty small. People generally want the same things for themselves and their families, and are as equally capable of addressing the challenges they face as anyone anywhere else. But, unfortunately, many development models aren’t working well to ensure sustainable success with addressing poverty.

One of the biggest issues is that some development models expect local community members to simultaneously be technicians, entrepreneurs and mediators. These are unreasonable expectations of people struggling to grow enough food each day, and are in conflict with the division of labor and skill that is inherent in the cultures that development experts and volunteers come from. Instead, we should work to develop the capacity on national and local levels for long-term sustainability, which needs to include business, jobs, and specialized training.

3. What are some of the biggest hurdles for these communities in terms of gaining access to clean water?

Generally, the issues aren’t technological. They’re about community capacity. With Manna, we operate as a business and are able to employ people to maintain the water treatment systems we deploy. The overriding lesson we’ve learned – let’s not pretend we can just spend a few weeks, months or years in a community and expect things to change if we’re not providing specialized training and employment in the region.

4. How do you go from engineering water and life support systems on NASA spacecraft to developing water filtration in developing countries?

NASA and the developing world may seem very different, but in fact they’re similar. We’re both working in challenging environments, where there are few local resources, limited training available, and you have to implement technologies that provide critical life support needs, like clean water, with little maintenance or resupply. So in fact, astronauts on the future lunar outpost will be living in an environment very similar to rural developing communities.

5.  You’ve developed a pretty cool solar-powered filtration system that’s being implemented now in Rwanda. How does it work? What kind of impact is it having so far?

Our “Bring Your Own Water” treatment system is a gravity fed gravel filter, rapid sand filter, and solar panel powered ultraviolet disinfection system. The system also has the capability to monitor several sensors, and alert our technicians in Kigali via the cellular phone network if the system fails. We are already treating water for several thousand people, and ultimately aim to address water quality concerns for over 230,000 people.

6. A lot of your work on this is unpaid, or funded by grants, and it’s pricey with a single system costing about $50,000. But Manna Energy, Ltd., is poised to implement a carbon credit program to help generate income. Why this approach? What do you hope it will do for the projects?

The grants we’ve received so far were given to us expressly to create and demonstrate this model, wherein we intend to get United Nations carbon credits for the treatment of drinking water. The premise is that each liter of water we treat with our system is a liter of water that no longer needs to be boiled with wood. So the demand for wood as a water treatment method is reduced.

7. What’s planned for this year? Are you headed back to Rwanda, or taking this to any other places?

We have a full-time staff in Rwanda that is deploying our water treatment systems as we speak. We’re focusing on demonstrating our model there for now, but then soon thereafter consulting with other organizations to replicate a similar model. We’ve already been approached as consultants by several large and small companies and non-profits.

8. I’ve got an audience of some pretty talented and respected photojournalists. If someone wanted to help tell the story of your work there, do you have any suggestions on how to get involved?

Pictures are a great way to tell these stories. Here are a few of ours: http://drop.io/manna

We always appreciate raising awareness of this challenge. While it’s gained some more momentum recently, the international water crisis still does not have a cohesive network working together to address it. There are several great organizations, like the Global Water Challenge, who are trying to fix that, but the more people realize how many other people in the world are drinking contaminated water every day, the better we have a chance of fixing that.

9.  Any final thoughts?

Manna is deliberately set up to be a social enterprise. At first we were a little uncomfortable running this as a business, because we had been proud to be volunteers. But then we realized that there shouldn’t have to be a choice between making a positive difference on the world and making money and being successful in our careers. We can do both at the same time.

Elephants in the Oilfields

Forest elephants in the Mbeli River, Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, Congo. (Photo/Thomas Breuer)

I never thought I’d say this, but could oil and gas development actually be good for wildlife?

If you’re an African forest elephant hanging out in the oilfields of Gabon, the answer looks to be a resounding yes. In fact, new research shows elephants might actually prefer living in active oil and gas fields over the surrounding national parks. So what do the elephants know that we don’t? The new study by the Smithsonian Institute’s Center for Conservation, Education and Sustainability takes a look at this unusual relationship.

Gabon is home to a lot of elephants, about 11,000. The central African country also boasts an incredible level of biodiversity with more than 353 species of plants and 75 species of amphibians in the Gamba Complex of Protected Areas (a network of national parks covering slightly less area than the state of Connecticut) alone. But Gabon is also rich in natural resources, including petroleum, and there are several active energy fields operating in the region, two of which, Rabi and the Gamba-Ivinga, sit between national parks in the Gamba complex.

Usually energy development of this kind conjures images of destroyed environments and absent wildlife. But in Gabon, oil and gas concessions seem to serve as a type of wildlife haven, at least for the elephants, and the study indicates that these fields could also help out the forest’s other inhabitants, including primates.

Past research shows that roads, abandoned villages and croplands likely create new and approved dining spots for elephants. But a land with lots of roads often means a land with lots of hunters, so those dining spots often go untouched by the elephants. As nature would have it, take away the hunters, and the story begins to sound a bit different.

Joseph Kolowski, a researcher with Smithsonian Institute’s and the National Zoo’s Center for Conservation, Education and Sustainability, along with a team that includes six other researchers from the center, the Wildlife Conservation Society and various universities decided to track the movements of elephants in the Gabon region to find out what was going on with elephants in the oilfields.

They fitted four elephants, two each in the Rabi and the Gamba-Ivinga oilfields, with GPS telemetry collars. Researchers tracked and correlated location points of elephants with roadways and other disturbed areas during a 20-month period in 2004 and 2005. They also looked at the movements of other elephants in the region outside the oilfields. What they found was nothing short of astounding.

Overall, the elephants collared in the oilfields showed a clear preference for staying within the boundaries of the concessions. They walked shorter home ranges, and liked to hang out near roadways. One female in particular never strayed more than 2.6 km from a road and her home-base centered on the most active area of the Rabi oilfield. It’s the first study, according to the researchers, to show elephants residing almost exclusively within an oilfield. In Rabi, for example, the two elephants tagged there, stayed within the concession 86 and 98 percent of the time.

“Why?” you might ask. True, Rabi is one of the countries largest and most active oilfields, but it’s also one of the best protected. More than 90 percent of the field’s forest remains intact. The oilfield limits road access to industry personnel and rigorously enforces a zero-hunting policy. The fact that there aren’t many people around also helps. In Gamba-Ivinga, the oilfields also limit road access and hunting, but not as strictly as in Rabi, and the oilfield also exists near a village of 9,000 people, many of which are employed by the industry.

Nevertheless, both oilfields provided new foraging opportunities and protection for the forest elephants in this study, showing that not all oilfields are bad, and that managed well, they may even offer benefits not available in the national parks. If only there weren’t more stories like this one associated with mass-scale fossil fuel extraction.

This study is available online early in the African Journal of Ecology.

Oops! Endangered tuna unwittingly served at sushi restaurants

Yellow fin tuna (Thunnus albacares) and short-beaked common dolphin in a diorama of the eastern tropical Pacific at the AMNH's Milstein Family Hall of Ocean Live. (Image/R. Mickens/AMNH)

Next time you head out to your favorite sushi restaurant, you might want to think twice about ordering the tuna. There’s a good chance the fish on your plate could be an endangered species.

A new study by the American Museum of Natural History conducted DNA investigations on tuna at restaurants in New York City and Denver and found that nearly 30 percent of the tuna tested was actually endangered bluefin, and less than half of that was labeled as such.

A single bluefin tuna can sell for tens of thousands of dollars at market, a popular draw for the fishing industry. But that popularity comes with a price. Western stocks of northern bluefin tuna now hover around 10 percent of their “pre-exploitation” numbers. And last October, the country of Monaco nominated northern bluefin tuna for a listing under a complete international trade ban by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), according to a press release.

The serving up of a critically endangered fish is not necessarily on the shoulders of the restaurants. They might not know they’re doing it, just as consumers might not know they’re eating it. This is because the eight species of tuna are so genetically similar – closer than humans are to chimpanzees – that even with DNA testing, it’s hard to distinguish the difference, and once tuna arrives to the U.S. market, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved marketing label is simply “tuna.” A new and improved method of genetic detective work just might help change all that.

“When you eat sushi, you can unknowingly get a critically endangered species on your plate,” says Jacob Lowenstein, a graduate student affiliated with the Museum and Columbia University in the press release. “But with an increasingly popular technique, DNA barcoding, it is a simple process for researchers to see just what species are eaten at a sushi bar.”

DNA barcoding can be used to identify what animal became which product, even down to the origin of a leather handbag, according to the press release. In the case of the bluefin tuna, DNA barcoding defines a genetic key of 14 nucleotides exclusive enough to identify whether the tuna being served is bluefin. A similar method has been used to identify endangered whales on the Asian market and wildlife being sold in the African bushmeat trade.

With any luck, researchers will develop a handheld barcoding machine that can be used to identify fish on-site.

This study can be found in the current issue of PLoS ONE.

Elephants captured to supply safari tours

There’s sad news coming out of the New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. According to a letter from the organization, it appears ten elephants have been captured in the Matabeleland South Province and sold to the tourism industry. Several of the elephants were reportedly bought by a co-owner of the Elephant Experience in Victoria Falls.

An excerpt from the NZSPCA letter explains in more detail:

“The elephants were captured in October 2008 and whilst ZNSPCA heard “rumours” regarding this capture, after investigating both Chengeta Safaris and Elephant Experience, and asking the permit office at Parks for details,  we met with the Director General of National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority who assured us that no permit for such a capture had been issued.  We were obviously relieved to hear this news and assured ourselves that we had been given the correct information and since we could not find the elephants on both facilities we were confident that this cruel act had not happened.

Yet the elephants were indeed captured.  Mike Le Grange from AWMC  captured 4 elephants on the 21^st October 2008 and another 6 on the 22^nd October 2008. “

“The elephants range from 4years old to two female elephants of about 18 years old.  They are housed in a metal boma  with no shade or shelter and are chained continuously, only being released for training.    The elephants are sprayed with water during hot days to keep them cool.

ZNSPCA Inspectors noted that some elephants had old wounds on their legs which could have been caused by the chains as well as wounds on their foreheads.  According to the information supplied to us, no vet was present at the capture or has examined the elephants since the capture.”

Glynis Vaughan, chief inspector with the NZSPCA, is investigating this case further and inspectors are continuing to monitor the captured elephants.  The Zimbabwean also reported on the elephant capture last weekend.