Polkas with Pugs

Hyena giggles no laughing matter BBC News

Researchers have begun to unravel the information and social content present in the hyena's famed laugh, which they say is only used in times of conflict.

The pitch and variability of the giggles may be used to indicate age or social status, they say.

Wowsers! And I thought it was all those orangutan jokes they tell.

The giggles probably advertise an individual's age, because the fundamental frequencies tended to decline among older individuals. Before they reach maturity at three years of age, hyenas have noticeably higher-pitched giggles.

Well, that goes wifout sayin' -- we all know teenagers snicker more than grandmas.

Dominant females - the leaders of the clan - seemed to advertise their powerful role by not giggling as much.

"During the competition between the animals, subordinate animals emit far more giggles than dominant ones," Dr Mathevon told BBC News.

"We guess that it's a call of frustration," he said.

They laugh because they're fed-up? Well, I guess that's better than knockin' each other upside the head, like lions do!

One secret remains, though: the giggles, seemingly relevant to close-range interactions, are incredibly loud. That can attract other diners to a feast.

"There's a lot of competition between lions and hyenas, and hyenas always lose," Dr Mathevon said.

"So there's still a question as to why they make a lot of noise that could attract lions."

Speakin' of lions ... sounds like this laughin' stuff isn't working out too well for the hyenas. Maybe they should find a better way to work out their frustrations. I hear World of Warcraft is real popular right now ... but I'll bet there aren't many Internet connections in the Serengeti.

Maybe karaoke is a possibility. That should drive the lions off, anyway...

A night out with tag team hedgehog
BBC News

If you met Anouschka Hof by chance one moon-bright summer night, you might assume she was a TV licence detector gone feral, as she strides around the villages of north Norfolk brandishing a two-metre-long metal antenna.



But the prey for this particular hunt are much more homely; Anouschka is looking for hedgehogs.

"I work during the night, I sleep during the day - I become a hedgehog," she tells me.

The ambition is to find out where they go and how they live, trying to comprehend the factors that may lie behind their recent decline, and whether the modifications we are making to the landscape could stimulate a recovery.

The antenna is listening for signals sent out by tiny transmitters which the researchers have stuck on the animals' backs.

As we arrive, so does research assistant Reda Garmute, carrying an untagged hedgehog she has found along the edge of a neighbouring field.

Here, the full glamour of cutting-edge science reveals itself as Anouschka prepares to fit it with a fresh transmitter, using scissors and a tube of high-strength glue.

As the animal nestles quietly in her lap, she trims the spines on a patch of its back, leaving stumps on which the glue will find some purchase.

Fifteen minutes later, the tag is fixed, and we return her - by now we know it is a female - back to the same place in the same field.

One more hedgehog is now added to the group that Reda and Anouschka will follow through the length of the Norfolk summer.

What would motivate someone to spend the best three months of the British year leading this unusual existence, secluded and nocturnal?

For Dr Hof, it is a combination of the research itself, and the need for it.

"I think it's important, because hedgehogs are in decline at the moment and it's nice to do something to find out what the reason is behind this decline.

"We still don't really know what's good for them," says Anouschka.

"We think a lot, but we don't really know."

The fieldwork has now finished. When the data is analysed, we should know a little bit more about the prospects for this most fascinating of mammals.

It would be a terrible shame if these cute little guys disappeared forever, wouldn't it? And they do so much good, eatin' slugs and bugs that attack gardens and roses. I guess the slugs don't like them much, but slugs aren't endangered, by a long shot.

I'm glad these hoomans are givin' up their sleep in order to look out for these prickly characters. If somebody doesn't care enough to do something, it'll be too late...

Secret lives of badgers revealed
BBCNews.com

The subterranean secrets of badgers have been revealed by a BBC film crew.

Over two years, tiny cameras placed deep underground recorded the comings and goings of a wild badger family.

While the animals have been well studied outside of their setts, until now, little has been known about their behaviour while underground.

Never-before-seen behaviour was filmed, including the badgers diligently making their beds each evening before leaving the setts for a night of foraging.

The crew also captured newborn cubs on camera, as well as grooming and fighting between the older animals.

They did it for meerkats, and now they've done it for badgers -- reality TV for the wildlife set, only much more "real" than "reality" TV ever gets for hoomans. Face it, when you know you're being observed, you can't help but act differently. Even us dogs ham it up for the camera, because we know there's a hooman behind it, watching us.

But these BBC filmers seem to have pulled off the difficult task of creating a candid diary of two years in the life of a badger family, and considerin' that badgers don't much care for hoomans, it's safe to say the badgers didn't know they were being recorded live.

The tap dance routine wif the canes and hats was purely spontaneous and natural to the species. (grin)

Sniffling mice raise therapy hope
BBCNews.com

Scientists have created a mouse that can catch a cold - raising hopes of new ways to treat serious respiratory conditions and asthma.

It had been thought rhinoviruses, which cause most human colds and can trigger asthma attacks, could only affect higher primates.

The researchers hope their genetically modified mice will provide a valuable test-bed for potential new medications.

The researchers were also able to trigger asthma-like symptoms in the infected animals by exposing them to a protein found in egg white, which is known to provoke an allergic reaction in the lungs.

Kleenix, in conjunction wif this experiment, is hard at work producing mouse-sized tissues.

Now, there aren't many advantages to being a mouse. You have cold, naked feet, a cold, naked tail, women scream at you and try to get their husbands to stomp you to death, and you basically eat crumbs all your life. That is, if you can avoid being eaten by cats, owls, crows, dogs, and whatever other predator is passing by. But one thing you got going for you -- God made it so you can't catch a cold.

Then, some hoomans in white coats come along, start messin' wif your DNA, and poof! -- you're snifflin' and coughin' like a bad Nyquil commercial.

I bet I know some mice who are tryin' to get in touch wif their lawyers.

'Last wave' for wild golden frog
BBCNews.com

A BBC film crew has captured footage of a rare frog waving, wrestling and courting for the first time.

The Panamanian golden frog communicates with other frogs by semaphore in the form of gentle hand waves.

It has evolved the mechanism to signal to rivals and mates above the noise of mountain streams.

The frogs (Atelopus zeteki) were filmed at a remote location in the Panamanian rainforest. The population had all but disappeared because of a fungus that grows on the amphibians' skin and suffocates them.

Just after filming was completed in June 2006, the location was overtaken by the chytrid fungus.

Scientists were forced to remove the remaining frogs from the wild and keep them in captivity.

Hilary Jeffkins added: "The whole species is now extinct in Panama - this was one of the last remaining populations. Its final wave was in our programme."

(sniffle) It's enough to make a puggy cry -- to think that these little frogs are now extinct in the wild, and can only be seen in zoos and laboratories now. The article says that the Panamanian locals believed that the frogs turned to solid gold when they died, and that even seeing one was considered lucky.

I think I'd rather have them waving to each other in Panama, than to have gold coins or luck. I'm just sorry it's too late. The world is a dimmer place wifout them.

Strange Creature Immune to Pain
www.livescience.com

As vulnerable as naked mole rats seem, researchers now find the hairless, bucktoothed rodents are invulnerable to the pain of acid and the sting of chili peppers.

A better understanding of pain resistance in these sausage-like creatures could lead to new drugs for people with chronic pain, scientists added.

Naked mole rats live in cramped, oxygen-starved burrows some six feet underground in central East Africa. Unusually, they are cold-blooded — which, as far as anyone knows, is unique among mammals.

"They're the nicest, sweetest animals I've ever worked with — they look frightening, but they're very gentle," said neurobiologist Thomas Park at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Um ... frightening? No. They look like they survived a near direct hit by a cruise missile, but no, they're not frightening...

Scientists knew the mole rats were quite sensitive to touch — perhaps to help replace their almost useless eyes. After probing their skin, Park and his colleagues unexpectedly discovered the rodents lacked the chemical Substance P, which causes the feeling of burning pain in mammals.

The researchers discovered that when unconscious mole rats had their paws injected with a slight dose of acid, "about what you'd experience with lemon juice," Park said, as well as some capsaicin — the active ingredient of chili peppers — the rodents showed no pain.

"Their insensitivity to acid was very surprising," Park told LiveScience. "Every animal tested — from fish, frogs, reptiles, birds and all other mammals — every animal is sensitive to acid."

Hoomans, on the other hand, dump it all over their quesadillas and chili beans and call it "flavor."

To explore their pain resistance further, the researchers used a modified cold sore virus to carry genes for Substance P to just one rear foot of each tested rodent. Park and his colleagues found the DNA restored the naked mole rats' ability to feel the burning sensation other mammals experience from capsaicin.

"They'd pull their foot back and lick it," Park said. Other feet remained impervious to the sting of capsaicin.

"Acid acts on the capsaicin receptor and on another family of receptors called acid-sensitive ion channels," Park said. "Acid is not as specific as capsaicin. The mole rat is the only animal that shows completely no response to acid."

That settles it -- naked mole rats are not Mexicans.

Scientists theorize naked mole rats evolved this insensitivity to acid due to underground living. The rodents exhale high levels of carbon dioxide, and in such tight, poorly ventilated spaces it builds up in tissues, making them more acidic. In response, the mole rats became desensitized to acid.

"To give you an idea of what they experience, we normally all breathe in carbon dioxide levels of less than 0.1 percent. If people are exposed to an air mixture with as low as 5 percent carbon dioxide, we'll feel a sharp, burning, stinging sensation in our eyes and nose," Park said. "We hypothesize that naked mole rats live in up to 10 percent carbon dioxide."

Great Scott! Those poor little guys, livin' in all that smog! No wonder their hair fell out! And their eyes are all scrunched up!

Researcher Gary Lewin, a neuroscientist at the Max Delbrück Institute for Molecular Medicine in Germany, noted, "People may say, 'So what — it's weird, but what has it to do with human pain?'"

Lewin noted that all vertebrate pain-receptor systems "are built in a highly similar way, so the mole rat may tell us how you can unbuild the system."

Specifically, Park noted this research adds to existing knowledge about Substance P. "This is important specifically to the long-term, secondary-order inflammatory pain. It's the pain that can last for hours or days when you pull a muscle or have a surgical procedure," he explained.

Lewin added, "We really do not understand the molecular mechanism of acid sensing in humans, although it is thought to be pretty important in inflammatory pain. An animal that naturally lacks such a mechanism may help us identify what the mechanism actually is."

Whew! Makes me glad I'm livin' out in the open air, even if the hoomans are pollutin' things something awful out here! I think I need to talk to Mommy's friend who knits. Instead of makin' me pug sweaters, she and her friends need to be knittin' mole rat tubes for these little hairless guys below ground. Though, come to think of it, if they don't feel pain, maybe they don't feel the cold too much, either.

I think this is the least furry mammal-type critter I've featured here. Least the scientists could do is fit them with little gas masks or something.

(photos courtesy of www.post-gazette.com)