Animal World

The population of apes are now so tame that they are posing a risk to both tourists and residents.Originally the population of Barbary macaques on Gibraltar had been far more reclusive and timid of humans, but now following years of exposure the creatures have almost completely lost their fear of people. As a result there have been a substantial number of attacks with at least59 people hospitalized this year alone."They"ve lost their fear of humans and regard them as a source of rich food, like chocolate and biscuits," said Dr John Cortes.

Now the government are planning to ship half the ape population off the island in an effort to curb the danger they pose. Gibraltar"s government could ship half of its colony of iconic apes off the Rock because they have "lost their fear of humans" and areposing a danger to residents and tourists.  

View: Full article |  Source: Telegraph  

Could the secret to immortality be found within a particularly unusual species of jellyfish ?German marine-biology student Christian Sommer had been researching small aquatic invertebrates off the cliffs of Portofino when he came upon an interesting and obscure species known as Turritopsis dohrnii. After spending time studying the specimens, Sommer started to realise that what he had found was something rather special. The strange creatures appeared to age in reverse, becoming youngerand younger before repeating their life cycle over again.Scientists would later describe this process as similar to a butterfly that turns back in to a caterpillar or even a chicken that turns back in to an egg before hatching again.

In short, the species never dies - it just repeats its life cycle over and over. What Sommers had discovered was a form of life that could legitimately lay claim to the term "immortal". After several days he noticed that his Turritopsis dohrnii was behaving in a very peculiar manner, for which hecould hypothesize no earthly explanation. Plainly speaking, it refused to die. It appeared to age in reverse, growing younger and younger.  

View: Full article |  Source: New York Times  

Pinta Island giant tortoise "Lonesome George" was thought to be the last of his species, but was he ?When George died back in June it was thought that his species had gone extinct, however now it appears that there could be as many as 17 more tortoises on the Galapagos Islands which may share the same genetic traits or genus. A spokesman for the Galapagos National Park issue a statement which iterated that George"s death "does not represent theend of the Chelonoidis abingdonii species of Pinta Island giant tortoises."So could it be that Lonesome George wasn"t quite as lonesome as believed ? While it isn"t conclusive, there is a chance that other pure Pinta Island tortoises could still be out there.

If this turns out to be true then it represents one final opportunity to breed the species before it really does disappear for good. When Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island giant tortoise, died in June in the Galapagos, the worldmourned the demise of a species - but a new report says the reptile was not so lonely after all.  

View: Full article |  Source: Telegraph  

According to new research humans aren"t the only species to experience apprehensions about midlife.While it is well known that midlife can bring about some unpleasant realizations about one"s life and mortality, what isn"t as well known is that this isn"t something unique to humans. Apes too, it seems, also suffer from the same problem. The discovery puts to bed the idea that a midlife crisisis the result of human factors such as mortgages or marital problems.

"We hoped to understand a famous scientific puzzle: why does human happiness follow an approximate U-shape through life ", said Prof Andrew Oswald. Now the team will need to focus on why the phenomenon occurs not just in humans but in some animals as well. Human behaviour studies have revealed the well-established trend that our level of happiness declines afterchildhood until middle age, when we gradually begin to feel more content again.  

View: Full article |  Source: Telegraph