FLORA FAUNA - AFRICA DAILY

Human activity to blame for virus spread: study

Apr 08, 2020 (AFP)

Illegal poaching, mechanised farming and increasingly urbanised lifestyles have all led to mass biodiversity loss in recent decades, devastating populations of ...

The link between virus spillover, wildlife extinction and the environment

Apr 08, 2020 (SPX)

Exploitation of wildlife by humans through hunting, trade, habitat degradation and urbanization facilitates close contact between wildlife and humans, which inc...

Wallflowers evolved a pair of complementary chemical defenses

Apr 08, 2020 (UPI)

To deter herbivores, flowers must evolve defenses. Some species, including wallflowers belonging to the mustard family Brassicaceae, evolve chemical defenses. A...

Innovative bird species less likely to go extinct

Apr 07, 2020 (UPI)

The research, published this week in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, suggests problem-solving birds can adapt to environmental changes that alter thei...

Indonesia covers up to protect orangutans from virus threat

Apr 04, 2020 (AFP)

While there have been no confirmed cases of transmission from humans to the fuzzy-haired apes, they share 97 percent of our DNA. And staff at a rehabilitation c...

Climate change shrinking wings of nightingale

Apr 01, 2020 (UPI)

Scientists have discovered a link between Earth's changing climate and the nightingale's wingspan. As Earth gets hotter and drier as a result of climate change,...

Malaysia makes massive seizure of pangolin scales

Apr 01, 2020 (AFP)

The pangolin, the world's most heavily trafficked mammal, is believed to have possibly been a vector in the leap of the novel coronavirus from animal to human a...

Hungry and in chains, Thailand's tourist elephants face crisis

Mar 31, 2020 (AFP)

Before the virus, life for the kingdom's estimated 2,000 elephants working in tourism was already stressful, with abusive methods often used to 'break them' int...

West African lions don't prefer national parks to hunting preserves

Mar 30, 2020 (UPI)

There are an estimated 400 lions living in West Africa, and 90 percent of them are found in a protected complex called W-Arly-Pendjari, or the WAP Complex. The ...

How an animal processes numbers influences its odds of survival

Mar 30, 2020 (UPI)

According to a new study, published this week in the journal Trends in Ecology and Evolution, an animal's numerical competence influences their chance of surviv...

Nature takes back world's empty city streets

Mar 29, 2020 (AFP)

Wild boar have descended from the hills around Barcelona while sika deer are nosing their way around the deserted metro stations of Nara, Japan. Indian social m...

Study: Cognitive ability is a whole-brain phenomenon

Mar 27, 2020 (UPI)

For the study, researchers used diffusion tensor imaging to study whether small variations in the the neural wiring systems of test subjects could account for d...

Peru saves bats blamed for coronavirus

Mar 25, 2020 (AFP)

"We must not distort the situation due to the pandemic. Bats are not our enemies," the National Service of Wild Forests and Fauna (SERFOR) said in a statement o...

To adapt to cities, birds must grow their brains or grow their families

Mar 25, 2020 (UPI)

New research -- published this week in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution -- suggests birds have a choice of two strategies for adapting to urban li...

Rats are more generous when they sniff the smell of hunger

Mar 25, 2020 (UPI)

Norway rats, Rattus norvegicus, are one of many species known to reciprocally exchange food. The rodents are capable of calculating the cost of assistance, as w...

Scientists catalogue thousands of parasitic wasps in new monograph

Mar 24, 2020 (UPI)

Many of the moths and butterflies attacked by Microgastrinae wasps are destructive crop pests, making the wasp species of interest to scientists involved in bio...

Vampire bats form deep social bonds by grooming before sharing blood

Mar 23, 2020 (SPX)

"We go from bats starting as strangers from different colonies to groupmates that act to save each other's life," says Gerald Carter (@gerrygcarter), a behavior...

Migratory wading birds tracked over 6000-8000 km round trip

Mar 19, 2020 (SPX)

Scientists in Japan set out to track the journey of migratory birds with the use of GPS tracking devices, allowing for detailed data on their routes. The little...

Slow growth in black rhino numbers cause for hope: conservationists

Mar 19, 2020 (AFP)

The International Union for Conservation of Nature said the number of black rhinos, which were once plentiful across sub-Saharan Africa, increased at a "modest"...

'Fatal attraction': Small carnivores drawn to kill sites, then ambushed by larger kin

Mar 19, 2020 (SPX)

Without top predators such as wolves and grizzly bears, smaller meat-eating animals like coyotes and foxes or grazers such as deer and elk can balloon in popula...