BACK FROM THE BRINK

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

I was flipping through the animal file and realized that I had two stories about very uncommon animals. The first one is a large animal that looks like an antelope but is, in fact related to wild cattle. It’s called the saola. The fact that it has managed to survive at all is amazing because it lives on the border between Laos and Vietnam.

The saola was discovered as a species in 1992 and was one of the most spectacular zoological discoveries of the 20th century. Saola are so secretive and so seldom seen (no biologist has ever seen one in the wild) that they’ve been compared to unicorns (although they actually have two horns).

Today, saola occur only in the dense forests of the Annamite Mountains. The species is classed as "Critically Endangered" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It is one of the most threatened large mammals on the planet, and there are none in zoos anywhere in the world.

The most recent sighting occurred in Laos where villagers captured the animal and took pictures. Unfortunately it died after several days, but the body was preserved for further study. There are probably only a few hundred saola left and hopefully they won’t go extinct any time soon.

This is a saola, which was captured by villagers in Laos. (Credit: Bolikhamxay Provincial Conservation Unit)

The other animal is even rarer. But hey, Australia is a BIG country and you never know.

The western long-beaked echidna, one of the world’s five egg-laying species of mammal, became extinct in Australia thousands of years ago…or did it? Smithsonian scientists have found evidence that not only did these animals survive in Australia far longer than previously thought, but that they may very well still exist in parts of the country today.

Long-beaked echidnas are monotremes, a small and primitive order of mammals that lay eggs. The platypus, the short-beaked echidna, and the three species of long-beaked echidna (Western, Eastern and Sir David Attenborough’s) are the only monotremes that still exist. The platypus is found only in eastern Australia, the short-beaked echidna is found in Australia and New Guinea, and the long-beaked echidnas only on the island of New Guinea. Long-beaked echidnas are beach-ball sized animals covered in coarse blackish-brown hair and spines. They use their long, tubular snout to root for invertebrates in the forests and meadows of New Guinea.

The western long-beaked echidna like the saola is also listed as “Critically Endangered” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. It is considered extinct in Australia although fossils have been found there and it features in ancient Aboriginal rock art. But no modern record from Australia existed until scientists took a closer look at a specimen stored in the collections of the Natural History Museum in London. The specimen’s information showed that it was collected in northwestern Australia in 1901; thousands of years after they were thought to have gone extinct there.

Discovering if the western long-beaked echidna is still found in Australia will take time. Scientists will need to examine the right habitats and they also plan to visit Aboriginal communities to see if they have any knowledge of a beachball-sized ball of spines.

Unicorns with two horns and spiny beachballs. It would be a real tragedy to lose these marvelous animals!

BATS AND FLOWER BEDS

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

Greetings everyone. A conversation I had on Thanksgiving started me thinking about the amazing resiliency of Guam’s jungles and how this can affect our human buildings. We discussed the fact even though the entire island of Peleliu in Palau was essentially burned and bombed to bare ground in WWII, when I visited there in the mid-nineties to participate in a plant survey; the jungle had almost recovered to pre-war density and diversity. I’ve always said that if you took people off Guam, in a hundred years you’d have to look for signs of human habitation and in a thousand years, you’d have to dig.

And it isn’t just here. And it isn’t just plants that ‘reuse’ human buildings. Abandoned army bunkers along the Jordan River in Israel have become a habitat for 12 indigenous bat species. Three of the species are designated as endangered and two are on the critical list. The bats were recently identified by a group of Tel Aviv University researchers who were granted access to the bunkers, spread out along a 60-mile-long stretch of land between the Sea of Galilee in the north of Israel to the Dead Sea’s northern edge.

Researchers estimate that the local bat population is in the thousands. Since the area is a closed military zone that has prevented human interference, the protected habitat allows the bats thrive. The underground forts have been empty since a peace treaty was signed with Jordan in 1994.

The researchers are making the bunkers more ‘bat-friendly’ by suspending mesh sheets on the walls and spraying insulating foam and sticking stones to surfaces to provide a better grip. Infra-red cameras have also been installed to keep an eye on the bats’ movement and behavior.

The bats are earning their lodging by serving as an asset to the environment. They love insects and their presence reduces the need for local farmers to use so many pesticides.

Our next story isn’t quite so positive. It seems that there’s a World Heritage site in Belgrade, Serbia that’s under attack. By flower beds . . . .

In Belgrade, fortifications dating to the Middle Ages are located on a plateau, above the Danube River. Today, the fortress ramparts have become a vast public park with flowers and shady areas that attract locals and tourists alike. But for the last twenty years or so, black crusts have been spreading on its limestone walls. Scientists thought these crusts were caused by high levels of sulfur dioxide released by the coal used to heat the city in the winter.

Then, researchers at the University of Belgrade found large amounts of syngenite, a double sulfate of potassium and calcium on the limestone walls. This corrosion product usually forms only on granite constructions or those using a mortar containing potassium. But it had never been observed on pure limestone.

So where did it come from? A series of analyses revealed an abnormal concentration of potassium in the soil, near the rampart walls. These areas contain flowerbeds where potassium-rich fertilizers are used. A simulation of the action of acidified potassium-charged water on pieces of limestone confirmed that it triggered the formation of syngenite.

The researchers report that pretty flowers and monument preservation may require a subtle balance in potassium input in order to avoid future problems.

WHO HAD ‘EM?

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

Greetings all! Well, I went through the files and discovered I haven’t done any animal stories for a while. I also discovered a significant number of stories about every kid’s favorite animals; the dinosaurs. So let’s dip into the past for some dino news.

Our view of exactly what dinosaurs were like has certainly changed since I was a kid. The dinosaurs of my youth were gigantic, slow moving lizards. The predators probably moved a little faster, but they were all scaled reptile-like creatures. There was Archeopteryx of course, but that was an evolutionary precursor to birds and that’s why it had feathers. And then it all began to change.

Just recently, Chinese researchers have discovered a relative of our old friend Tyrannosaurus rex. That’s not news, T. rex had lots of relatives. The news is that this one also had feathers! The name of the new species, Yutyrannus huali, means “beautiful feathered tyrant” in a combination of Latin and Mandarin. The Chinese scientists say the feathers of Yutyrannus were simple filaments much more like the fuzzy down of a modern baby chick than the stiff plumes of an adult bird.

The researchers estimate that an adult Yutyrannus would have been about 30 feet long and weighed about a ton and half which makes it considerably smaller than a T. rex but some 40 times the weight of the largest known feathered dinosaur. Yutyrannus was too big to fly and its feathers may have served as insulation. But large-bodied animals typically can retain heat quite easily, and actually have more problems with overheating. So the large and shaggy Yutyrannus is a bit of a surprise.

The explanation may be climate-related, the researchers say. While the Cretaceous Period was generally very warm, Yutyrannus lived during the middle part of the Early Cretaceous, when temperatures are thought to have been somewhat cooler. T. rex and its closest relatives, by contrast, lived in the warm conditions of the Late Cretaceous. Isolated patches of preserved skin from these animals show scales, not feathers, but the possibility that they were partly feathered can’t be completely ruled out. The researchers say it’s possible feathers were much more widespread, at least among the meat-eating dinosaurs, than most scientists would have guessed even a few years ago.

And if you’re talking big, there’s other news from the world of the dinosaurs. Think you’ve got problems with mosquitoes? Think your animals have problems with fleas & ticks? Read on!

Researchers at the University of Oregon are studying some astounding insects that were preserved in amber. They’re similar but not identical to modern fleas and they have a significant difference. They’re about the size of one of our giant cockroaches. They’re called Pseudopulex jurassicus, and they had flatter bodies than modern fleas and were shaped more like a bedbug or tick.

Today’s modern fleas feed on warm-blooded animals like mammals and birds. But the unusual characteristics and abilities of these flea-like animals lead scientists to believe their prey was not the primitive mammals of the time, but dinosaurs. They had long claws that could span a dinosaur’s scales so they could hold tight while sucking blood and they apparently fed on the softer skin between the scales.

As the well-known couplet goes “Fleas: Adam had ‘em”. Apparently they go back a LOT farther than that!

This ancient "flea-like" insect, Pseudopulex jurassicus, lived 165 million years ago. It used a long proboscis to feed on the blood of dinosaurs, with a bite that would have been unusually painful. (Credit: Illustration by Wang Cheng, courtesy of Oregon State University)

OCEAN DEEP

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

I thought I’d dip into the animal file today and I discovered some interesting articles on life in the ocean. We know a lot about land based creatures (although we can still find new species in New York City) and we know a lot about the animals that live at the ocean’s surface. We’re also beginning to discover amazing things about the life at the bottom of the world ocean. But what about the microscopic stuff and what about the life that lives in the rest of the ocean between the top and the bottom? We’re just beginning to delve in those regions.

Researchers at the University of British Columbia have recently found a link between inconspicuous “little brown balls”, the algae responsible for toxic red tides and one of the world’s biggest human killers.

The ‘brown balls’ are microscopic algae called Chromera. The ocean is full of little brown and green balls that are often overlooked in favor of more glamorous organisms but Chromera has proved more interesting than its flashier cousins.

Chromera lives inside corals where it photosynthesizes and provides oxygen for the coral, but it turns out that Chromera has some very unpleasant close relatives like the dinoflagellates; responsible for the ‘red tide’ that kills so many fish world-wide. The other close relatives are things called apicomplexan parasites. Never heard of ‘apicomplexan parasites’? Probably not, but I bet you’ve heard of malaria. The researchers suspect that Chromera may be a ‘missing link’ between the two.

These microscopic organisms have a huge impact on humanity in very different ways. The same tool set used by dinoflagellates and Chromera to establish symbiosis with corals became an infection mechanism for apicomplexans like malaria to infect healthy human cells. Resolving their evolutionary origins not only settles a long-standing scientific debate but could ultimately provide crucial information for tackling diseases and environmental concerns.

Under the microscope, Chromera looks like inconspicuous "little brown balls." (Credit: Patrick Keeling)

And now for a little insight into the rest of the ocean (besides the top and bottom parts!).

If you’re a snack-sized squid or octopus living in the ocean zone where the last bit of daylight gives way, having some control over your reflection is a matter of life and death. Most predators cruising 2000 to 3000 feet below the surface spot the silhouette of their prey against the light background above them. But others use searchlights mounted on their heads. Being transparent and a little bit reflective is a good defense against the silhouette-spotters, but it’s deadly against the “headlight fish”.

Transparency is the default state of both Japetella heathi, a bulbous, short-armed, 3-inch octopus, and Onychoteuthis banksii, a 5-inch squid found at these depths. Viewed from below against the light background, these animals are as invisible as they can be. Their eyes and guts, which are impossible to make clear, are instead reflective.

But when they’re hit with the blue light from a headlight fish, they turn on skin pigments, called chromatophores, and become red in the blink of an eye. When the light’s removed, they immediately revert to transparent. Researchers from Duke University used bright LED lights to observe this phenomenon.

Next, the researchers want to investigate the link between transparency and habitat depth for the octopus. Smaller young animals are found higher in the water column and have fewer chromatophores, so they are more reliant on transparency, which makes sense because there won’t be predators using searchlights there. But the mature adults have a higher density of chromatophores making them potentially more opaque and they are found in deeper waters (below 2500 feet) where bioluminescence becomes the dominant light source.

Two Japetella octopuses: one clear and one opaque. (Credit: Image courtesy of Duke University)

There’s an incredible amount of things to learn about our ocean.

NEW USES FOR FEET

By Pam Eastlick

Welcome to The Deep science and technology column where we cover topics from the deep sea to deep space and beyond.

I thought I’d dip into the animal file this week and I stumbled across a couple of totally unrelated articles on, of all things, legs and feet. We all know people who “think on their feet” but new data from researchers at the Smithsonian have shown that certain species of very tiny spiders do exactly that, because their legs are full of . . . brains.

As a part of ongoing research to understand how miniaturization affects brain size and behavior, the researchers measured the central nervous systems of nine species of spiders, from rainforest giants to spiders smaller than the head of a pin. They discovered that as the spiders got smaller, their brains got proportionally bigger and filled more and more of their body cavities. The central nervous system of the smallest spiders fills up almost 80 percent of their total body cavity and (here’s the good part) about 25 percent of their legs.

Brain cells can only be so small because most cells have a nucleus that contains all of the spider’s genes, and that takes up space. The diameter of the nerve fibers or axons also can’t be made smaller because if they’re too thin, the flow of ions that carry nerve signals is disrupted, and the signals aren’t transferred properly.

Human brains only represent about 2-3 percent of our body mass. Some ant brains make up 15 percent of their biomass and these spiders have a higher brain to biomass ratio. Brain cells use a lot of energy, so these small spiders also probably convert much of the food they consume into brain power. Gives a whole new meaning to thinking on, or perhaps ‘with’ your feet!

And feet that we’re all familiar with are also making research news. For years, biologists have been amazed by the power of gecko feet, which let these small lizards produce an adhesive force roughly equivalent to carrying nine pounds up a wall without slipping.

Now, a team of polymer scientists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have discovered exactly how the gecko does it, leading them to invent "Geckskin," a device that can hold 700 pounds on a smooth wall.

Gecko feet can be applied and removed with ease and no sticky residue remains on the surface. These properties offer a tantalizing possibility for synthetic materials that can easily attach and detach heavy everyday objects like TVs or computers to walls. Such materials would have medical and industrial applications as well.

The Geckskin device is about the size of an index card and can hold 700 pounds to a smooth surface like glass. The device can be released with negligible effort and reused many times with no loss of effectiveness. For example, it can be used to stick a 42-inch television to a wall, released with a gentle tug and restuck to another surface as many times as needed, leaving no residue.

The key innovation was to create an adhesive with a soft pad woven into a stiff fabric, which allows the pad to "drape" over a surface to maximize contact. And as in real gecko feet, the skin is woven into a synthetic "tendon," yielding a design that plays a key role in maintaining stiffness and rotational freedom at the same time.

A card-sized pad of Geckskin can this 42-inch television weighing about 40 lbs. (18 kg) to a smooth vertical surface. (Credit: Photo courtesy of UMass Amherst)

Legs full of brains and sticky feet.