HERSTORY MONTH
The Irishwoman who became one of Britain’s most notorious pickpockets

Mary Young, also known as Jenny Diver***, was only in her late 30s when she was publicly executedNathan Mannion


A contemporary painting ‘A Rake’s Progress - Tavern Scene’ by William Hogarth, which depicts a drunken reveller being relieved of his pocket watch. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

Class inequality was a hallmark of 18th century society both in Ireland and overseas. Access to education was considered a luxury and only a small number of people, mainly men, would have been given the opportunity to attend school. For those without familial connections or a trade, poverty seemed inevitable. Yet those with an entrepreneurial spirit could occasionally break free from their prescribed paths in life and, if they were also willing to abandon some of their moral sensibilities, could also become quite wealthy. Mary Young was one such person.

Young’s early life is clouded in mystery, though it is believed she was born in the north of Ireland as the child of a lady’s maid and her employer. Her mother died soon after her birth and it appears she may have been initially raised in a brothel. At the age of 10 she was adopted by an elderly gentlewoman who took it upon herself to provide her young charge with an education. Young learned to read and write, and she also became an excellent seamstress; in fact she was considered an excellent needle worker. Five years later she decided to leave Ireland for Liverpool where she intended to use her skill with a needle to support herself.

Her journey was financed by a young servant who was infatuated with her, so much so that he stole his employer’s gold pocket watch and a reasonably large sum of money in order to pay for their passage. The daring couple had barely crossed the Irish Sea before the young man was recognised, arrested and brought back to Ireland for trial. He would eventually be transported to a penal colony for life. Young fortuitously managed to escape and made her way to London.

It must have been a daunting prospect for the adolescent emigrant. Now alone, on the run and without any existing contacts or partners she was probably feeling isolated and desperate. Using the remainder of her money she managed to find a place to live and tried to support herself through her trade. Her landlady, Anne Murphy, was a fellow Irishwoman who also happened to be the head of a notorious gang of pickpockets. Young struggled to establish herself as a seamstress and Murphy offered to induct her into the gang. She accepted her invitation.

Jenny Diver picking the pockets of worshippers during a religious service. Photograph: Wikimedia Commons

As the newest and most unskilled member of the gang, Young was charged with spiriting away recently stolen goods from the scene of the crime. Her associate would cut the pockets of wealthy society women and quickly pass the goods to Young, who waited nearby. Young would then blend into the surrounding crowds and return to the gang’s safe house. She tells us that her first successful haul was two diamond belt buckles and a gold watch, which fetched the princely sum of £70. Young’s share amounted to £10.50, the equivalent of three months wages for a skilled labourer. While the pay-out may have been significant, so were the risks. If arrested pickpockets could face the death penalty or at minimum transportation to a penal colony overseas, where mortality rates were often abysmal.

Nevertheless, Young found the lifestyle intoxicating and took to it with great enthusiasm. She trained relentlessly and proved so naturally gifted that within a couple of years she took Murphy’s place as head of the gang. She adopted a number of aliases including “Jenny Diver,” “Jenny Webb,” and “Jenny Murphew” and often stated she was born in England to confuse her adversaries. She dictated the rules by which the other gang members would live by and ensured money was put aside to support invalidated or ailing gang members.

She proved to be extremely resourceful and creative in the methods she employed to relieve her prospective marks of their worldly goods. Notably, she would entice young men to return to her (often temporarily rented) lodgings, where after they had removed their all of their clothing and valuables, a member of the gang would burst in warning them of the impending return of Young’s husband. The fearful young man would hide underneath the bed while Young and her accomplice escaped with the gullible fellow’s belongings. Another popular trick was to don a large dress, complete with fake arms, and feign pregnancy. Young would attend public events, principally church services and plays, where she would then use her own hands to pick the pockets of those nearby and hide the stolen goods within her dress or pass them to a nearby accomplice.

Eventually, Young became a victim of her own success and her 15 year career as London’s most successful pickpocket would come to an end in dramatic fashion. She became far too recognisable and when she was eventually caught in the act of picking the purse of a wealthy lady she was sentenced to death. Classed as a highway robber, she was hung in Tyburn on the March 18th, 1741, alongside 18 others, at one of the largest public executions of the 18th century. She was thought to have only been in her late thirties. Her legend lived on long after her death and she inspired many imitators.

This Extraordinary Emigrants article was written by Nathan Mannion, senior curator of EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum in Dublin’s Docklands, an interactive museum that tells the story of how the Irish shaped and influenced the world.

*** 

Mack The Knife by Bobby Darin - Songfacts

https://www.songfacts.com › facts › bobby-darin › mack-the-knife

Mack The Knife by Bobby Darin song meaning, lyric interpretation, video and ... Lotte Lenya was the wife of the song's co-writer Kurt Weill (she played Jenny in the ... Nysukey tawdry and jenny diver were characters in the Beggar"s Opera, the ...

Are the characters mentioned in the song "Mack the Knife" based on ...

https://www.funtrivia.com › askft › Question117727

Sep 23, 2010 - The song is from the German "The Threepenny Opera" and refers to MacHeath (or Mackie Messer), who was a violent pimp. Jenny Diver.

ExecutedToday.com » 1741: Jenny Diver, a Bobby Darin lyric?

www.executedtoday.com › 2008/03/18 › 1741-jenny-diver

Mar 18, 2008 - We also have a modern context** for the name “Jenny Diver” as one of several women mentioned in the song “Mack the Knife”: ...

Why does that line form on the right... [Archive] - Straight Dope ...

https://boards.straightdope.com › sdmb › archive › index.php

Dec 18, 2000 - 8 posts - ‎5 authors

I know the song Mack the Knife is from the Threepenny Opera and it's ... about a serial killer but the verse about Jenny Diver, Sukey Tawdry, ...

Underwater study reveals possible quay at Brú na Bóinne
Conference hears many more discoveries could be made at archaelogical site

Sun, Mar 1, 2020 Paul Murphy

Using popular maps applications from Google and Apple, a journalist found at least 15 unrecorded monuments in the Brú na Bóinne complex. Photograph: Dara MacDónaill

An underwater archaeological reconnaissance of the bed of the River Boyne near the Brú na Bóinne complex in Co Meath has revealed features that may represent log boats or man-made quays, a research conference was told on Saturday.

The sonar study, carried out by Annalisa Christie of University College Dublin and Dr Kieran Westley of University of Ulster, surveyed 10km of the river from Oldbridge to a weir 1.8km east of Slane Bridge.

Christie told the conference, titled The Pleasant Boyne and organised by the UCD school of archaeology as part of its world heritage programme, that it was likely that for the first visitors to this landscape, the river provided the easiest way to travel, offering an accessible route through a largely wooded landscape. As such, it represented a major communications artery, not just for local visitors but also connecting communities in the area to those from farther afield, such as Wales or even Orkney.

Christie said 100 “anomalous features” were revealed in the study and these were assessed and classified according to how likely they were to have been created as a result of past human activity, and their likely archaeological interest.

“Features that were clearly man-made, and were likely historically or archaeologically important, were considered of high archaeological potential. In addition to a few possible log boats, two other features stand out as being of interest, one an alignment of six stones that clearly formed part or all of a weir, the other a strong linear feature that was clearly a subsurface continuation of a wall in the river bank which could possibly have been used as a quay,” she said.

An archaeology researcher at UCD, Allison Galbari, said that hundreds of pages of folklore connected with the River Boyne were housed at UCD and work was in progress on the digitisation of the entire collection.


Tom Condit, of the National Monuments Service, said that processions and processional routes were, even in modern times, part and parcel of religious festivals and events, and he described how cursus monuments, formally laid-out ritual routeways controlling direction and views of the surrounding visual landscape, indicated that such processions also took place in the late Neolithic period at Brú na Bóinne.

Clíodhna Ní Lionáin, project archaeologist at Dowth Hall, where a 5,500-year-old passage tomb was uncovered in 2018, said that two burial chambers have been discovered within the western part of the main passage tomb, over which a large stone cairn has been raised. One of the interesting finds there was the skull of a woman, aged 17-25, which contained bones of a child and animals, pointing to possible ritual ceremonies.

In a contribution titled Hidden in Plain Sight, the journalist and author Anthony Murphy suggested that the possibility of finding more monuments at Brú na Bóinne was still quite high, despite the array of discoveries that had already been made recently. Using popular maps applications from Google and Apple, he had found at least 15 unrecorded monuments in the Brú na Bóinne complex in the past few months. In July 2018 Murphy and a friend, Ken Williams, discovered a giant late-Neolithic henge close to Newgrange using drones.

 HERSTORY MONTH

Baby Eliza escaped Famine Ireland to a life of beatings, prostitution and prison

The Haunting: Why horrifically abused female Irish immigrants need to be remembered

Mon, Mar 2, 2020, Anne Casey in Sydney


Eighteen-month-old Eliza O’Brien from Shanagolden in Co Limerick arrived in Australia on board the Blundell along with her mother in 1851. Photograph: Jane Theau

Two and a half years ago Australian artist Jane Theau asked me to write a voiceover for an art exhibition commemorating the 150th anniversary since the opening of the Newcastle School for Girls, two hours’ drive north of where I live in Sydney. I wrote for The Irish Times about the extraordinary journey this took me on, particularly as a female Irish immigrant to Australia: The Lock Up. Although my émigré experience could not have contrasted more starkly from that of the women and girls I came to know through historical archives, their voices came alive to me and are calling me still.

These were women and girls who left Ireland to escape the Famine. Through a patchwork of scattered details - court filings, incarceration records, newspaper clippings, ships’ records, births, deaths and marriages registers - I pieced together the threads of their lives. Their endurance in the face of unbelievable hardships moved me to tears more than once. One of the most poignant realisations was my certainty that many of their stories have never made their way home to Ireland. These were immigrants who had left and simply disappeared.

When Northern Irish writer Maria McManus sent me her call-out for letters to Fill the Void, a project to celebrate the legacy of Archbishop Richard Robinson by creating an archive in Armagh Public Library of new letters - handwritten by people of all ages and ethnicities, from anywhere in the world - one thought kept drawing me back. Could this be a way to leave a lasting memory of a voice that was silenced more than a century ago?

Eighteen-month-old Eliza O’Brien from Shanagolden in Co Limerick arrived in Australia on board the Blundell along with her mother, Elizabeth (nee McMahon); father, Cornelius O’Brien; and six older siblings in 1851. Having miraculously survived the arduous journey (about 80 days at sea in notoriously difficult conditions), the course of tiny Eliza’s life changed dramatically when her mother died of an unnamed illness shortly after they disembarked in Sydney. Her father was left alone to care for baby Eliza and her six siblings in a foreign city where their Irish heritage marked them out as “Fenians” and likely troublemakers.


Finding work and caring for the children would have been an impossible task even under much better conditions. This no doubt explains Cornelius’s hasty marriage (within a year of his first wife’s death) to a Mary Moloney, who would bear him a further four children in rapid succession. With so many mouths to feed in conditions of extreme poverty, Eliza’s fate was already sealed - she ended up on the streets by the age of 13. There followed a string of arrests and incarcerations - including her seizure in a brothel aged 15. Child abuse and prostitution was commonplace for the poorest immigrants at the time.
Artwork by Jane Theau at Newcastle Gaol in Australia where Elisa O'Brien was undoubtedly incarcerated.

While imprisoned in Newcastle Gaol, north of Sydney in 1867, Eliza was placed in solitary confinement on a “low diet” of bread and water, having been subjected to beatings. Standing in that dank, lightless cell a century and a half later, I was abhorred at the idea of a 14- year-old child being treated so cruelly. The official records condemned Eliza as rebellious - starting fires, breaking windows, and guilty of insubordination and disobedience. Reading between the lines and via scant testimonies in her own words, it is clear that she was protesting against unjust treatment and unfair conditions imposed on her and the other female inmates, many of whom were also children. She was deliberately put on a starvation diet in an effort to break her spirit.

After several sensational escape attempts (resulting in scandalous reports in the local newspapers), Eliza - by then aged 17 - was committed to Maitland Gaol for adult women where the conditions and treatment would have proven far more brutal and oppressive. Although it is impossible to fully confirm (as identities were a fluid commodity back then - changing names was one way to avoid harsher sentencing as a repeat offender), it is almost certain that Eliza tragically succumbed after a five-month battle with tuberculosis (consumption): dead at just 24. Her ghost lives on to haunt me - I admire so much her fighting spirit and her irrepressible courage to rise up in the face of brutality, regardless of the personal consequences.


As part of that original voiceover project, I drafted a final “letter” from Eliza, using actual quotations from her and various other details I had found in the archives, together with the street address recorded as the place of her death. My imagination filled in the blanks; I addressed the letter to a fictitious cousin back in Shanagolden and titled it A letter from the Colonies (included below). In addition to featuring as visual art and a voiceover at the art exhibition in Newcastle Gaol where Eliza was incarcerated for a brief time, the letter was also published by Swinburne University in Melbourne. I have now sent the letter for inclusion in the Armagh archive, wanting to bring her story full circle and find some kind of peace for Eliza’s ghost.

Although I could not somehow materialise a happier ending for her, I hope we can honour her memory by leaving a lasting record of at least something approximating Eliza’s own view of her brief life experience - particularly given that the official accounts were so biased against her. And wouldn’t it be something if Eliza’s story were to find its way home to her own people so that she may be remembered as the brave, spirited young Irish warrior woman she so clearly was?

A letter from the Colonies

c/o Joseph Booth

Randwick Road

Sydney

18th March 1876

My dearest cousin Maggie,

I hope this finds you and your young family in good stead. It is a long while since I wrote. I fear that I have no good news for you from here.

I have no word of Father these past three years. He did his best after Mam died, but seven of us too young was too much for any man. The streets of Sydney reared us - until I ended up in that hellhole in Newcastle. I have never told you, but Matron used to threaten to send all manner of men in to sleep with us at night. And they wonder why we revolted? I would rather be torn limb from limb than ever go back there!

I know I am opening up old wounds, Maggie. You are my only link now with the family I have lost. Though we have never met, I still have your mother’s letter to my Mam when she was leaving her beloved Shanagolden. It is only a ragged scrap now. How many times I have dreamed of going back one day to see the green fields and the little cottage by the stream. I don’t remember that day my mother carried me away in her arms so full of hope.

We are scattered to the four winds now dear Maggie, my brothers and sisters and me. Gone like the last leaves of autumn - Michael, Thomas, Cornelius, John, Mary and Johanna. Though I know their names, their faces are fading.

Hobson’s choice my parents had - to cling to the starving fields of Ireland or weigh anchor into the unknown. It was a black omen when Mam fell ill on the passage here. To be born Irish in these times is to be cast between the devil and the deep blue sea. In my 24 years on this earth, I have seen my fill. But a girl once said to me that people get used to anything from constant suffering and misery.

I would love to have met you Maggie, but I think it will not now come to pass. I have the galloping consumption these past few months. Please forgive my poor handwriting due to the weakness. My greatest sadness has been that I have no memory of my mother. But Maggie, I think I will see her soon.

My love to you and all our family in Co Limerick. May God keep you safe always.

Your loving cousin,

Eliza O’Brien

A native of Clare, Anne Casey is an award-winning Sydney-based poet and writer, and author of two poetry collections published by Salmon Poetry.

Chris Matthews: TV host quits with apology for (SEXIST) 'compliments'



One of America's most famous news anchors has abruptly quit days after a female guest on his show alleged he made inappropriate remarks.

Chris Matthews, a veteran host at liberal cable channel MSNBC, said Monday's Hardball show was his last.


Last month he apologised after likening a Democratic presidential contender's victory to the Nazi invasion of Europe.

Once a speechwriter for President Jimmy Carter, Mr Matthews launched his political talk show in 1997.

The 74-year-old said on Monday that "compliments on a woman's appearance that some men, including me, might have incorrectly thought were OK were never OK.

"Not then, and certainly not today, and for making such comments in the past, I'm sorry."

Mr Matthews, who underwent prostate surgery last year, said he came to his decision after talks with MSNBC.

Last Friday a journalist, Laura Bassett, wrote a first-person cover story for GQ magazine in which she alleged Chris Matthews had made remarks that made her uncomfortable when she was a guest on his show back in 2016.

She wrote that in the make-up room before the show, Mr Matthews looked at her and said: "Why haven't I fallen in love with you yet?"

Ms Bassett wrote: "When I laughed nervously and said nothing, he followed up to the make-up artist. 'Keep putting makeup on her, I'll fall in love with her.'

"Another time, he stood between me and the mirror and complimented the red dress I was wearing for the segment. 'You going out tonight?' he asked."

It was not the first time Mr Matthews had been accused of making inappropriate comments about women.

In 2016, a hot mic picked up his remarks about Melania Trump as she took to the stage at a rally for her husband in Indiana.

The MSNBC host was heard saying of the former model: "Did you see her walk? Runway walk. My God, is that good!"

In 2011, Mr Matthews raised eyebrows for saying that Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin "could not be hotter as a candidate".

Last month, Mr Matthews was hosting the cable network's coverage of left-wing Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders' victory in the Nevada caucuses when he said: "I was reading last night about the fall of France in the summer of 1940.

"And the general calls up Churchill and says, 'It's over,' and Churchill says, 'How can it be? You got the greatest army in Europe. How can it be over?' He said, 'It's over.'"

Supporters of Mr Sanders, a Jewish candidate whose family members were murdered in the Holocaust, said the analogy was deeply offensive.

Mr Matthews went on his show two days later to apologise to Mr Sanders and promised he would "strive to do a better job myself of elevating the political discussion".

But last Friday, the TV host caused further embarrassment when he confused the identities of two black men, Senator Tim Scott and a South Carolina Senate candidate, Jaime Harrison.

FAKE NEWS HEADLINE (S) 
INFLUENZA SPANISH FLU AKA THE FLU IS BEING USED AS A SENSATIONALIST LINK TO THE CURRENT PANDEMIC. FALSE EQUIVALENCY TO CREATE PANIC

TOTAL DEATHS UNKNOWN

OCCURRED AT END OF WWI AND SO BOTH EVENT FATALITIES GET INTERMIXED

UNTIL 1920

Coronavirus WARNING: 
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EU migrant crisis: Shocking moment Greek border guards open fire at migrant boat – video

SHOCKING footage of Greek coastguards attempting to push away a boat full of migrants by opening fire on them has emerged on social media, amid rising tensions between Turkey and the EU.

By ALESSANDRA SCOTTO DI SANTOLO Mon, Mar 2, 2020 

Turkey: Coast guard appear to shoot at boat on Bodrum coast

The shocking video shows an inflatable boat full of migrants trying to reach Greece from the coast of Bodrum, Turkey, but brutally stopped by two vessels of the Greek coastguard. Migrants can be seen pushed away with a stick as they attempt to climb one of the two coastguards boats. Gunshots are then fired in the sea very close to the migrants' inflatable boat which is so full it looks close to sinking.

RELATED ARTICLES

‘Entirely false!’ Greece attacks Turkey for claim 100,000 have crossed

Turkey denies transporting migrants to Greek border as it blasts EU


The disturbing footage comes as Greek police fired tear gas to repel hundreds of stone-throwing migrants who tried to force their way across the border from Turkey on Sunday, with thousands more behind them after Ankara relaxed curbs on their movement.

The Greek Government called the confrontations a threat to national security. "Do not attempt to enter Greece illegally - you will be turned back," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Twitter after a security meeting on the situation.

It was the second straight day of clashes at the border crossing near the northeastern Greek town of Kastanies.

Video footage provided by a Greek government source and seen by Reuters also appeared to show tear gas being fired from the Turkish side of the border at the Greek riot police.

READ MORE: Greece blasts EU's 'massive failure' to respond to Turkey's threats

EU migrant crisis: Greece coastguards push away a migrant boat (Image: TWITTER•NC)

Turkey news: Greek coastguards push the migrant boat away with sticks (Image: TWITTER•NC)

"The present situation is an active, serious, severe and asymmetrical threat to the national security of the country," Greek government spokesman Stelios Petsas told reporters.

"These people are being used by Turkey as pawns to exert diplomatic pressure," he added.

A child died after being pulled from the sea when a boat capsized on Monday off the Greek island of Lesbos, Greek officials said, the first reported fatality since Turkey opened its border last week to let migrants reach Europe.

Separately, two Turkish security sources told Reuters a Syrian migrant had died from injuries on Monday after Greek security forces intervened to prevent migrants crossing from Turkey into Greece, but Athens branded the claim "fake news".

Greece: Tear gas gets fired at border with Turkey



Turkey said on Thursday it would let migrants cross its borders into Europe, despite a commitment to hold them in its territory under a 2016 deal with the European Union.

Turkey's turnabout came after an airstrike killed 33 Turkish soldiers in its neighbour Syria, and appeared to be an effort to press for more EU support in tackling the refugee crisis from Syria's civil war.

Ankara has dismissed Greek criticism of its decision to open the border and has condemned Greece's response to the migrants.

At least 600 people had arrived by sea on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos close to the Turkish coast within a few hours on Sunday morning, police said.

Turkey news: Gunshots are fired in the water to push away migrant boat (Image: TWITTER•NC)

Along the northeastern mainland border, some migrants waded across a shallow section of the Evro River to the Greek side.

Witnesses said there were groups of up to 30, including an Afghan mother with a five-day-old infant, by the side of a road after having forded the river.

The clashes occurred later in the day at the Kastanies crossing after riot police reinforced security there. No further details were immediately available as police were escorting reporters away from the scene, citing safety considerations.

A Greek government source said some migrants had thrown metal bars.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed sympathy with Turkey over the conflict in Syria on Monday but said it was impermissible for Ankara to let refugees and migrants on its territory cross into Europe.

EU insiders believe President Erdogan’s threats are being used as leverage to secure more European support for his military campaigns inside Syria.

It has prompted fears the bloc might have to lockdown its borders in order to avoid a new refugee crisis.

The deputy leader of Angela Merkel’s CDU party have said Germany should prepare to close its borders to avert a repeat of the 2015 migrant crisis.

Thorsten Frei said: “Observing the situation with concern is not enough, If the refugees and migrants living in Turkey have the impression that the border to Europe is open or cannot be closed, many more people will be on their way."

People queue at the Greek-Turkish border as clashes break out (Image: GETTY)

Riot police attempted to return people crossing the border into Greece in violent fashion (Image: GETTY)

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte accused Turkey of holding a “knife on the throat” of EU countries.

He added: “It is very important that Europe is united here, that we let the Turks know that this is an unacceptable violation of those agreements and that it is also putting people in an impossible position.”

Turkish authorities have complained the Greek coastguard has attempted to push migrant boats back across the border after footage emerged of shots also being fired into the water.

Greek authorities today recovered the body of a child who died when one boat capsized off the island of Lesbos.

Genetic study shows the red panda is actually two separate species

Will Dunham

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Red pandas, the bushy-tailed and russet-furred bamboo munchers that dwell in Asian high forests, are not a single species but rather two distinct ones, according to the most comprehensive genetic study to date on these endangered mammals.

Scientists said on Wednesday they found substantial divergences between the two species - Chinese red pandas and Himalayan red pandas - in three genetic markers in an analysis of DNA from 65 of the animals.


The recognition of the existence of two separate species could help guide conservation efforts for a mammal adored by many people even as its numbers dwindle in the wild, they added.

Chinese red pandas are found in northern Myanmar as well as southeastern Tibet, Sichuan and Yunnan provinces in China, while Himalayan red pandas are native to Nepal, India, Bhutan and southern Tibet in China, the researchers said.

International experts have estimated a total population of roughly 10,000 red pandas in the wild.

“To conserve the genetic uniqueness of the two species, we should avoid their interbreeding in captivity,” said Chinese Academy of Sciences conservation biologist Yibo Hu, who along with colleague Fuwen Wei led the study published in the journal Science Advances. “Interbreeding between species may harm the genetic adaptations already established for their local habitat environment.”


Scientists previously recognized red pandas as divided into two subspecies. While it had been proposed that these were separate species, the new study was the first to provide the genetic data necessary to allow such a judgment.

The Himalayan red panda is the scarcer of the two and needs urgent protection because of low genetic diversity and small population size, Hu said. The Yalu Zangbu River most likely marks the geographical boundary separating the two species, not the Nujiang River as previously believed, Hu added.

The two species also differ in coloration and skull shape.

“The Himalayan red panda has more white on the face, while the face coat color of the Chinese red panda is redder with less white on it. The tail rings of the Chinese red panda are more distinct than those of the Himalayan red panda, with the dark rings being more dark red and the pale rings being more whitish,” Hu said.

Slightly bigger than a domestic cat, red pandas have thick fur, a short snout and pointed ears, spending much of their life in trees and dining mostly on bamboo. Major threats to red pandas include deforestation and degradation of their habitat due to human development.

Despite similar names, red pandas and giant pandas are not closely related. Giant pandas are one of the world’s eight bear species.

Red pandas, with no close living relatives, are sometimes called living fossils as the only remaining member of the Ailuridae mammalian family. They are probably most closely related to a group that includes weasels, raccoons and skunks.

There are two distinct red panda species, according to DNA analysis

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

Distinguishing morphological  Chinese red panda. (B and D) The Himalayan red panda. (A and B) The face coat color of the Chinese red panda is redder with less white on it than that of the Himalayan red panda. (C and D) The tail rings of the Chinese red panda are more distinct than those of the Himalayan red panda, with the dark rings being more dark red and the pale rings being more whitish. Photo credit: (A) Yunfang Xiu, Straits (Fuzhou) Giant Panda Research and Exchange Center, China; does not require permission. (B) Arjun Thapa, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (C) Yibo Hu, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (D) Chiranjibi Prasad Pokheral, Centr55555555al Zoo, Jawalkhel, Lalit Credit: Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5751

Distinguishing morphological differences between two red panda species. (A and C) The Chinese red panda. (B and D) The Himalayan red panda. (A and B) The face coat color of the Chinese red panda is redder with less white on it than that of the Himalayan red panda. (C and D) The tail rings of the Chinese red panda are more distinct than those of the Himalayan red panda, with the dark rings being more dark red and the pale rings being more whitish. Photo credit: (A) Yunfang Xiu, Straits (Fuzhou) Giant Panda Research and Exchange Center, China; does not require permission. (B) Arjun Thapa, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (C) Yibo Hu, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (D) Chiranjibi Prasad Pokheral, Central Zoo, Jawalkhel, Lalitpur, Nepal; does not require permission. Credit: Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5751

A team of researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has found that two varieties of red panda actually comprise two different species. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes the genetic study they undertook of the mammals, which are native to the Himalayas and southwestern China, and what they learned.

Red pandas are cat-sized mammals that look more like red raccoons than pandas. They have red coats, masked faces and ringed tails. They live at high altitudes, and like pandas, eat bamboo. They once lived across much of Eurasia, but they are now listed as endangered—their population has dwindled to just 10,000. They live only in the southeastern and southern parts of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Prior study has shown that there are two varieties of the red panda: the Chinese red panda and the Himalayan red panda. Chinese red pandas are known for having redder faces with less of the white wisps in their fur. Their tail rings are also darker with more white between them. Scientists have wondered for some time whether the two varieties were actually distinct species. In this new effort, the researchers have found evidence that shows that they are, indeed, two distinct species—a finding that could have an impact on efforts to save them both.

The work involved sequencing the genomes of 65 wild red pandas. The researchers collected muscle, skin and blood samples from seven population areas. The analysis was focused on finding differences in DNA base pairs on the Y chromosome. The data showed that not only are the two varieties of red panda different species, but that the Chinese red panda has three populations that are genetically different. It also showed that the line that divides the two species is not the Nujiang River, as previously thought, but the Yalu Zanbu River.

The researchers suggest their findings are important for the survival of both species, because it will help to concentrate specific conservation activities that are best suited for each of them. Also, it will help to prevent interbreeding that could lead to one species overtaking another.

Distinguishing morphological differences between two red panda species. (A and C) The Chinese red panda. (B and D) The Himalayan red panda. (A and B) The face coat color of the Chinese red panda is redder with less white on it than that of the Himalayan red panda. (C and D) The tail rings of the Chinese red panda are more distinct than those of the Himalayan red panda, with the dark rings being more dark red and the pale rings being more whitish. Photo credit: (A) Yunfang Xiu, Straits (Fuzhou) Giant Panda Research and Exchange Center, China; does not require permission. (B) Arjun Thapa, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (C) Yibo Hu, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (D) Chiranjibi Prasad Pokheral, Central Zoo, Jawalkhel, Lalitpur, Nepal; does not require permission. Credit: Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5751

Ancient pandas weren't exclusive bamboo eaters, bone evidence suggests

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More information: Yibo Hu et al. Genomic evidence for two phylogenetic species and long-term population bottlenecks in red pandas, Science Advances (2020). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aax5751

Swamp wallabies conceive new embryo before birth—a unique reproductive strategy

by Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V. (FVB)

Swamp wallaby. Credit: Geoff Shaw, University of Melbourne

Marsupials such as kangaroos or wallabies are known for their very different reproductive strategies compared to other mammals. They give birth to their young at a very early stage and significant development occurs during a lengthy lactation period in which the offspring spends most of its time in a pouch. Although in some marsupials new ovulation happens only a few hours after giving birth, the regular consecutive stages of ovulation, fertilization, pregnancy and lactation are respected—with one exception: Reproduction specialists from the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research (Leibniz-IZW), Germany, and the University of Melbourne, Australia, recently demonstrated that swamp wallabies ovulate, mate and form a new embryo before the birth of the previous offspring. They thereby continuously support embryos and young at different development stages before and after birth. These findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Using high-resolution ultrasound to monitor reproduction in swamp wallabies during pregnancy, Prof Thomas Hildebrandt (Leibniz-IZW and University of Melbourne), Dr. Brandon Menzies and Prof Marilyn Renfree (both from University of Melbourne) were able to confirm what has been suspected for a long time: swamp wallaby females ovulate, mate and form a new embryo whilst already carrying a full-term fetus that they will soon give birth to. The new embryo enters embryonic diapause until the new-born offspring leaves the pouch nine months later. Thus, when the embryonic diapause is included, females are continuously pregnant throughout their reproductive life, a unique reproductive strategy that completely blurs the normal staged system of reproduction in mammals.

This phenomenon is made possible by two anatomically completely separated uteri and cervices connected to ovaries by their oviducts. "This is true for all marsupials, but the unique overlapping reproductive cycles seem to be a special feature of the swamp wallabies," says Renfree. Normally, ovulation alternates between the two ovaries. "All female macropodid marsupials—essentially kangaroos, wallabies and a few other groups of species—except the swamp wallaby have an oestrous cycle longer than the duration of their pregnancy, so females come into oestrus, ovulate and mate within hours after birth." It has been suspected for some time that swamp wallabies might conceive during an active pregnancy, because the oestrous cycle of the swamp wallaby is shorter than the duration of their pregnancy and there have been reports about mating before the birth of the previous offspring. Such a "superfetation" has previously been only described (by Leibniz-IZW scientists) for the European brown hare where females copulate again three to four days before the birth of the incumbent young, forming new conceptuses during an active pregnancy.

In order to confirm superfetation in swamp wallabies, the scientists removed the pouch young of ten females to reactivate the dormant blastocysts (early stage embryo). They then monitored the development of the blastocyst in four of these ten females using high-resolution ultrasound. All females gave birth at around 30 days after the young had been removed. Parallel to the embryo development in one uterus, the scientists closely examined the opposite ovary. There, follicles started to appear and grow. At day 26 of the pregnancy the ultrasound examination showed that the conceptus had developed into a fetus with the head, limbs and heartbeat clearly visible—and at day 28 and 29 the largest follicle in the opposite (contralateral) ovary had ovulated and a new corpus luteum was evident. The other six females that were not scanned with ultrasound were regularly examined for sperm. Sperm was identified in the urogenital tract one to two days before birth but at no other time. "These results clearly demonstrate that swamp wallabies ovulate and mate one to two days before birth, during an existing pregnancy," says Hildebrandt.

Pregnancies of eutherian mammals (most mammals, i.e. the most taxonomically diverse of the three branches of mammals) greatly exceed the length of the oestrous cycle, so during mammalian evolution, there has been selection pressure to extend the duration of pregnancy. Among marsupials (who form a second taxonomic branch of mammals), gestation in most macropodids encompasses almost the entire duration of the oestrous cycle. The swamp wallaby takes this one step further with its pre-partum oestrus, allowing this marsupial's gestation length to exceed the oestrous cycle length.

Sadly, many of these unique animals have been lost in the current disastrous bushfires in Australia this summer.

The climb to the pouch begins in utero

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More information: Brandon R. Menzies el al., "Unique reproductive strategy in the swamp wallaby," PNAS (2020). www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1922678117