Backcasts archive: Through June 1, 2007
By Brett PaulyBlog calendar: May 31 | May 30 | May 29
Fish (and chips) special: Sharks go both ways
I bet there are plenty of you who might prefer to have kids without the hassle of having a mate … only au naturel, without advanced medicine to assist in the process.
It seems sharks have got it all figured out, thank you very much.
Imagine that, females who produce babies all on their own, from start to finish. Now if that's not independent, we don't know what is.
And it's also a darn good way to ensure the survival of the species … at least in the short term, before genetic uniformity sets in and makes the population less apt to handle disease and climate change. (Hey, I sound all scientific now, and I owe it all to the Associated Press.)
The findings are from a joint Northern Ireland-United States study of the asexual reproduction of a hammerhead in Omaha, Neb.'s Henry Doorly Zoo, where a shark was born in a tank with three potential mothers, none of which had contact with a male hammerhead for at least three years.
The baby shark was killed within hours of its birth by a stingray in the same tank, but analysis of its DNA found no trace of any chromosomal contribution from a male partner, according to the AP. The research appeared in the Royal Society's peer-reviewed Biology Letter journal.
Shark experts said this was the first confirmed case in a shark of parthenogenesis, which is derived from Greek and means "virgin birth."
Asexual reproduction is common in some insect species, rarer in reptiles and fish and has never been documented in mammals. The list of animals documented as capable of the feat has grown along with the numbers being raised in captivity — but until now, sharks were not considered a likely candidate.
"This phenomenon has now been demonstrated in all major vertebrate groups except for mammals. Birds do it, reptiles do it, amphibians do it, fishes do it, and now sharks are known to do it," said Bob Hueter, director of the Center for Shark Research at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Fla., who was not involved in the project.
Now for those of you with your own progeny ready for the birds and bees talk, we leave it entirely up to you to determine whether to throw this monkey wrench into your explanation.
And now for the latest on the aquarium front:
If you want to ID a fish quickly, stop fumbling through the laminated guide sheets or craning your neck to get a glimpse at the sign boards. Instead, just hit the touch screen when a fish fins past and watch the information pop up.
It's that simple at Underwater World in Singapore, where Reuters reports some 20 fish have been tagged with microchips to help visitors identify the different species on display.
Forget fish and chips; this aquarium has put chips in fish.
The aquarium on Sentosa island is the world's first to tag its exhibit fishes with microchips using the radio frequency identification technology, said Underwater World spokesman Peter Chew.
The facility also is considering tagging sharks, according to Reuters, and specimens already installed with chips include the arapaima, one of the world's largest freshwater fish, and the pacu, which is related to the piranha.
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Border fence a bad equation for wildlife
For outdoor enthusiasts who were on the fence about the proposed border fence along our boundary with Mexico, this recent revelation should prompt calls to President Bush to tear down this plan.
Wild, riparian animals will suffer. (You see that $10 word I slipped in there? What can I say, I'm inspired by the National Spelling Bee under way in D.C. — curiously, where this whole fence issue was born. Can you spell conspiracy?)
Hundreds of miles of border fences will kill some land animals by cutting them off from the Rio Grande, their only source of fresh water, and would prevent the ocelots and other animals from swimming across the water to mate with partners on the other side, the Associated Press reports out of Alamo, Texas.
"If you have a fence that runs several miles long, if you are a tortoise or any animal that can't fly over or go through it, then you have a pretty long distance that you have to go to get water," said Nancy Brown, an outreach manager at the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, 225 miles south of San Antonio.
Environmentalists have spent decades acquiring and preserving 90,000 riverfront acres of Texas scrub and forest and protecting wildlife, and now they fear a border fence to keep out illegal immigrants and smugglers will ruin their effort, according to the AP.
Joining the ocelot as an endangered species of cat in this area of the Rio Grande Valley is the jaguarondi.
In addition to creating fauna woes, people worry the barrier — described in some plans as triple-layer metal fencing — will damage the tourism industry along the Rio Grande.
The wild cats, reptiles and at least 500 species of birds attract visitors from around the world who bring the impoverished region $150 million a year. Depending on how far inland the fence is built, it could create a no man's land north of the river, hurting tourism, the AP reports.
President Bush called for about 700 miles of fence along the U.S.-Mexico border, and Homeland Security is committed to completing 370 miles by the end of 2008. Congress has budgeted $1.2 million for the fences.
Close to $100 million has been spent creating, restoring and maintaining the refuges, wildlife officials said.
"The bottom line is the wildlife corridor took us many years to put together," said Karen Chapman of Environmental Defense. "It represents work, hard work, by a number of federal, state and local agencies and citizens of the Valley.
"And when we were working to put that wildlife corridor together, nobody was doing it with the thought that someday it was going to be stuck behind a wall."
The four-county Rio Grande Valley contains 11 distinct ecosystems, Brown said.
"From a biological standpoint this area is really, really impressive," she said. "You have a coastal climate meeting a desert climate meeting the temperate and the tropical."
Hey, when does 11 + 1 = 1?
In this equation: 11 distinct ecosystems + 1 fence = 1 ecological disaster
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Wild leopard makes strange bedfellow
Imagine, if you will, bedding down for the night, your faithful house cat already atop the covers, then awaking to find your pet has transformed into a wild leopard.
Arthur Du Mosch must have thought a nightmare was realized when he came face to whiskers with the big cat in his bedroom in the small community of Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert of southern Israel.
Clad only in underwear and a T-shirt, Du Mosch wrestled the spotted beast to the floor and pinned it for 20 minutes after it jumped through a window of his home and hopped into bed with his sleeping family, the Associated Press reports out of Jerusalem.
"This kind of thing doesn't happen every day," said Du Mosch, 49, who happens to be a nature guide. "I don't know why I did it. I wasn't thinking, I just acted."
Raviv Shapira, who heads the southern district of the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, said the leopard was very weak when park rangers arrived at Du Mosch's home after the surprise late-night visit. He said nature officials would likely release it back into the wild.
Du Mosch, who was pictured holding the leopard by the scruff of its neck, said he probably would not have been able to control the big cat were it in better health, according to the AP.
As a nature guide, Du Mosch said, he was familiar with leopards and did his best to hold down the animal without harming it. He said he took it all in stride, "But the kids were excited."
Du Mosch's pet cat was in the bed with him at the time, along with his young daughter, who had been frightened by a mosquito in her own room.
Shapira said a half-dozen leopards have been spotted recently near Kibbutz Sde Boker, although they rarely threaten humans.
He said it was probably food that lured the big cat. Leopards living near humans are usually too old to hunt in the wild and resort to chasing down domestic dogs and cats for food, Shapira added.
Meanwhile, two other intriguing captures of note transpired recently involving one wild beast and once wily, domesticated animal.
In the latest entry to our ongoing report of black bear escapades, police in Knoxville, Tenn., early today cornered a 130-pound bruin in the city's entertainment district.
Officials from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency were called in to tranquilize the bear in an alley near the Old City historical district, a hub for shops, restaurants and nightclubs, the Associated Press reports.
Earlier this month, an apparent cousin of the bear — or at least one with a similar penchant for city life — was spotted nosing around a bird feeder at the Cherokee Bluff condominium community in Knoxville.
Not long after, another black bear took a wrong turn in Albuquerque and wound up in a Rio Rancho, N.M., medical clinic. "He did not have an appointment," a clinic spokesman said at the time.
The latest Knoxville bear was spotted Monday night near the University of Tennessee but eluded police by climbing over a fence. Officials believe the same bear again escaped their grasp after turning up in a rail yard, according to the AP.
Bears commonly are seen in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, about 25 miles away from Knoxville, but are rarely seen in the city.
The bear was released in the Cherokee National Forest in southeastern Tennessee.
And this ain't no bull, folks, but on Long Island an escaped steer's six-week romp through back yards, roadways and beaches ended Saturday evening when he was finally cornered and returned to his owner, authorities said.
The roughly 600-pound bovine, named Moo, was captured after showing up on a crowded beach, the Associated Press reports out of Mattituck, N.Y.
Moo led police and a veterinarian through sand, swampland and into a back yard, where his escapade finally ended. The steer was shot with a tranquilizer dart, said veterinarian Dr. John Andresen, then taken back to Greenport farmer Joseph Barszczewski.
The farmer said Sunday that the steer — secured with a rope — seemed content now in the company of a horse and dog.
"It looks good right now after a very ugly whole situation," Barszczewski said.
Back in April, the newly arrived Moo broke through a metal fence, starting his life on the run, Barszczewski said. The farmer had just bought the steer to raise for slaughter, according to the AP.
Moo hunkered down in woods near Barszczewski's vegetable farm, then began to roam, covering about 10 miles of eastern Long Island, police said. At times, the steer turned up in homeowners' yards; at other points, he nearly caused car accidents on a local road.
"He didn't charge," said Southold Police Sgt. Raymond VanEtten. "He wasn't an aggressive-type animal — he just was on a mission not to get captured."
About the author: Brett Pauly spent nearly six years editing and publishing ESPNOutdoors.com before moving on to produce the ESPN.com Sports Travel site.
He is a national award-winning writer and editor with 14 years of experience in the newspaper trade. The Evergreen State of Washington is where he makes his home. Click here to email him.
