Sabah's ferret badger found nowhere else on Earth

University of Oxford

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Bornean ferret badger identified in an extensive camera trap survey conducted by the research team © AJ Hearn

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A collaborative study between the University of Oxford’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU)’s Bornean Carnivore Programme Sabah Forestry Department and Sabah Parks has provided the most comprehensive assessment to date of the endangered Bornean ferret badger (Melogale everetti). Weighing only around one kilogram, the Bornean ferret badger is a small, nocturnal carnivore that is rarely seen by people.

The largest-ever study of the species analysed data collected between 2021 and 2024 from 188 camera-trap stations across Sabah's western highlands. Researchers recorded more than 400 occurrences of the species and discovered a previously unknown population in Nuluhon-Trusmadi Forest Reserve, extending the species' known range eastwards beyond the Kinabalu-Crocker landscape.

The team combined these records with habitat-modelling techniques to assess the species' potential distribution. Despite the discovery of the Trusmadi population, the resulting maps indicate that suitable habitat remains largely confined to the Kinabalu-Crocker-Trusmadi mountain landscape, providing further evidence that the Bornean ferret badger is found only in mountain landscapes of western Sabah. As one of Southeast Asia's most geographically restricted carnivores, the study results support the Bornean ferret badger’s Endangered classification on the IUCN Red List.

Despite occurring in one of the world's best-known biodiversity hotspots, remarkably little is known about the ferret badger’s behaviour and ecology. Camera traps revealed the species foraging on the forest floor at night, and researchers have even photographed an individual carrying a snake, providing a rare glimpse into the secretive life of this elusive mammal.

"I grew up in Tambunan and had never seen or even heard of the Bornean ferret badger," said Mohammad Aliyuddin bin Jaini, Field Manager of the Bornean Carnivore Programme. "I decided to place some camera traps around my family's farm simply to see what wildlife might be there, and I was amazed when a Bornean ferret badger appeared in the photographs.

"To discover that an Endangered species found only in Sabah was living right on our doorstep was a special moment. I hope this study helps more Sabahans appreciate and take pride in the remarkable wildlife that makes our state unique."

Researchers believe the Bornean ferret badger could become an important flagship species for the conservation of Sabah's montane ecosystems. The forests of the Kinabalu-Crocker-Trusmadi mountain landscape support many endemic plants and animals and provide vital ecosystem services, including water catchments that support communities throughout the state.

"Our study adds further weight to the conclusion that the Bornean ferret badger is found only in Sabah," said Dr Andrew Hearn, lead author of the study and Director of the Bornean Carnivore Programme. "Despite decades of wildlife surveys across Borneo, all confirmed records remain confined to the Kinabalu-Crocker-Trusmadi mountain landscape. Few places in the world can claim a mammal found nowhere else on Earth, and Sabah should be proud to be one of them.

"We have suggested that the alternative common name 'Kinabalu ferret badger' could help strengthen the connection between the species and the landscape it calls home. Like several other species named after Mount Kinabalu, it represents a unique component of Sabah's mountain biodiversity.

"The species may also offer opportunities for carefully managed nature-based tourism. Wildlife enthusiasts already travel from around the world to Sabah to experience its extraordinary biodiversity, and local communities, especially those from the Kinabalu Ecolinc area, may one day be able to provide specialist wildlife-watching experiences focused on the Bornean ferret badger."

Notes for Editors

Media Contact: Dr Andrew Hearn, Sundacloud@icloud.com

* The Bornean ferret badger (*Melogale everetti*) is currently listed by the IUCN as Endangered.

* It is found only in Sabah and nowhere else on Earth.

* The study recorded 407 independent detections across Sabah's western highlands.

* Researchers confirmed the species in Nuluhon-Trusmadi Forest Reserve for the first time.

* The species is currently known only from the Kinabalu-Crocker-Trusmadi mountain landscape.

About the University of Oxford

Oxford University has been placed number 1 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings for the tenth year running, and ​number 3 in the QS World Rankings 2024. At the heart of this success are the twin-pillars of our ground-breaking research and innovation and our distinctive educational offer.

Oxford is world-famous for research and teaching excellence and home to some of the most talented people from across the globe. Our work helps the lives of millions, solving real-world problems through a huge network of partnerships and collaborations. The breadth and interdisciplinary nature of our research alongside our personalised approach to teaching sparks imaginative and inventive insights and solutions.

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Journal

Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.1002/ece3.73756 

Article Title

Distribution, Habitat Use and Conservation of the Bornean Ferret Badger

Sabah's western highlands. © AJ Hearn

Bornean Carnivore Programme field team setting camera traps for the study © AJ Hearn

Bornean ferret badger identified in an extensive camera trap survey conducted by the research team © AJ Hearn

The rich ecosystem of the Sabah Highlands is the only known home of the Bornean ferret badger © AJ Hearn

ZOONOSIS / SPILLOVER

Single amino acid change may help viruses jump from bat to human

University of California - San Francisco

Most pandemics start when a pathogen spreads from animals to humans. It’s a leading explanation for the COVID-19 pandemic: the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is a cousin to coronaviruses that live in bats. 

Now, researchers at the UCSF Quantitative Biosciences Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Institut Pasteur, and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, report that a single amino-acid change alters how a coronavirus protein interacts with the human and bat immune systems, shifting the body's response to infection. 

It helps explain how benign animal viruses can adapt to humans and cause severe disease.

The study appeared in Cell Host & Microbe on May 13.

Researchers looked at SARS-CoV-2 and a related coronavirus called RaTG13, which only infects bats, and compared how each virus interacted with immune proteins in bat and human lung cells. The experiments relied on the first laboratory-grown lung cell line from the greater horseshoe bat.

A viral protein called OrfB9 emerged as a key factor. The SARS-CoV-2 and RaTG13 versions of OrfB9 differ by one amino acid out of roughly 100. In human cells, the SARS-CoV-2 version disabled an immune alarm system, allowing the virus to multiply. In bat cells, the RaTG13 version activated an immune protein that helped suppress the virus.

"The difference between a virus that stays in bats and one that spills over into humans and causes catastrophic disease can come down to remarkably small genetic changes," said Nevan J. Krogan, PhD, director of QBI and senior author of the study. "By mapping these interactions at the protein level — across two viruses and two species — we can read the molecular signatures that predict spillover risk. It's the kind of early warning system the world needs."

Authors: UCSF authors are Jyoti Batra, PhD; Yuan Zhou, MS; Rithika Adavikolanu; Durga Anand; Sooraj Verma; Martin Gordon, MS; Shivali Malpotra, MS; Jack M. Moen, PhD; Ajda Rojc, MS; Atoshi Banerjee, PhD; Sourobh Maji, PhD; Monita Muralidharan, PhD; Helene Foussard, PhD; Irene P. Chen, PhD; CJ San Felipe, PhD; Lorena Zuliani-Alvarez, PhD; Promisree Choudhury, PhD; Kirsten Obernier, PhD; Rahul Suryawanshi, PhD; Taha Y. Taha, PhD, PharmD; Kliment A. Verba, PhD; James S. Fraser, PhD; Robert M. Stroud, PhD, MA; Melanie Ott, MD, PhD; Ben Polacco, PhD; Danielle L. Swaney, PhD; Ignacia Echeverria, PhD; and Manon Eckhardt, PhD. For all authors see the paper.

Funding:  National Institutes of Health (U19AI135990, U19AI135972, U54AI170792, F31AI164671-01, G20AI174733, UL1TR004419, S10OD026880, S10OD030463); Howard Hughes Medical Institute; James B. Pendleton Charitable Trust; Roddenberry Foundation; P. and E. Taft; Gladstone Institutes; Fast Grants; Innovative Genomics Institute; Chan Zuckerberg Biohub – San Francisco; ANR EmerCoV AAP CE35.

 

About UCSF: The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is exclusively focused on the health sciences and is dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. UCSF Health, which serves as UCSF’s primary academic medical center, includes top-ranked specialty hospitals and other clinical programs, and has affiliations throughout the Bay Area. UCSF School of Medicine also has a regional campus in Fresno. Learn more at https://ucsf.edu or see our Fact Sheet.
 

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Journal

Cell Host & Microbe

Living with cats does not worsen asthma in children, suggests study

Large-scale study on children with asthma and allergies suggests no link between exposure to cats and asthma severity

Frontiers

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Asthma is the most common chronic disease and one of the main causes of hospitalization among children. The Global Asthma Network has estimated that its global prevalence is 9.1% for children and 11.0% for adolescents, but this percentage varies greatly between countries, regions, and environments. Worldwide, the highest prevalence of pediatric asthma (above 20%) occurs in the British Isles and in parts of Oceania and the Middle East. Known risk factors for developing asthma include exposure to air pollution and smoking, childhood viral infections, obesity, and pre-existing allergies like eczema or hay fever.

Patients anecdotally self-report that exposure to animal dander appears to trigger asthma attacks. However, clinical and epidemiological data on this is so far contradictory, coming mostly from small studies on subgroups that aren’t necessarily representative of the wider population. Now, researchers have demonstrated in Frontiers in Allergy that sharing a home with cats may not worsen the outcomes of children with asthma and allergies.

“Here we show in a nationwide cohort of children in Sweden with asthma and allergies, that children living with a cat had similar asthma severity, exacerbation, asthma control, and lung function to children living without cats in the short term,” said corresponding author Dr Resthie R Putri, a postdoctoral fellow at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm.

“We also did not see any differences in asthma outcomes related to the number of cats, the cat’s sex, or the cat’s age.”

Large pediatric sample

In 2023, Putri and colleagues began a study on a cohort of 30,277 children – between four and 17 years old at the time – born between 2006 and 2020 and diagnosed with asthma or an airway allergy. They followed these over 24 months until 2024 to track asthma outcomes, drawing records on diagnoses, emergency visits, prescribed medications, and asthma control test and spirometry tests from linked data in the Swedish National Patient Register, Prescribed Drug Register, and National Airway Register.

In Sweden, registration in the National Cat Register has been mandatory since 2023 for all pet cats born after 2008. For each child, the authors noted whether the parental household had at least one cat in 2023, as was true for 9.4% of the children.

Cats don't worsen asthma in kids

The results showed that there was no significant association between exposure to pet cats and asthma outcomes. For example, moderate-to-severe asthma – based on prescribed asthma medications – occurred in 9.6% of the cat-exposed children and 10.1% of the non-exposed children. Asthma ‘exacerbation’ (also known as an attack or flare-up) occurred in 3.3% of the cat-exposed children and 3.5% of the non-exposed children.

Among a subset of 1,428 children for whom asthma control and lung spirometry data were available, 97 (6.8%) lived with cats. There were no significant differences between the two groups in two common measures of lung function.

“One possible explanation is that cat allergen exposure is very common, even outside the home. Children who do not have cats at home may still be exposed in shared environments such as schools or public transportation, which could explain why we didn’t see a difference,” said Putri.

“While these large-scale findings provide valuable insight, we lacked data on which allergens the children were sensitized to, and because the National Cat Register is relatively new, some children living with cats may have been misclassified as unexposed,” she cautioned.

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Journal

Frontiers in Allergy

DOI

10.3389/falgy.2026.1840756 

Method of Research

Observational study

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Living with cats does not worsen asthma in children, suggests study

Article Publication Date

10-Jun-2026

COI Statement

J.R.K. reports advisory board fees from Novartis and ALK, nonfinancial support from Thermo Fisher Scientific and institutional fees from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals outside the submitted work. The other authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Cuddling cats might make us feel worse when under stress

Researchers find more interaction with pets during stressful moments may not help stress-reduction but – in some cases – intensify negative feelings

Frontiers

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Researchers just got one step closer to solving the age-old question: whether cats or dogs make better pets. A team in the Netherlands set out to better understand the nuances and underlying mechanisms behind the positive influence of pet ownership on owners’ emotional well-being. They also examined if the beneficial influence of pet interaction is specific to either species and found tentative evidence of a difference in how interacting with cats and dogs affects stressed owners. They published their findings in Frontiers in Psychology.

“Our findings indicate that stress-buffering is not the mechanism causing momentary emotional well-being when interacting with a pet. Interaction with either species did not act as a buffer for negative emotions,” said corresponding author Dr Mayke Janssens, an assistant professor of psychology at The Open University. “In cats, we even observed that a higher level of interaction was associated with a stronger link between stress and negative emotions in owners.”

Each to their own pet

After registering for the study, participants received 10 app notifications per day over five consecutive days that prompted them to complete a questionnaire about how they currently felt, what they were doing, and if they were around and interacting with their pets. These almost 8,000 real-time data reports provided a moment-to-moment database of pet-owner interactions which can help gain a more fine-grained understanding of how companion animals may influence people emotionally in everyday contexts, the team said.

The results showed that, in general, interacting with pets resulted in positive owner emotions, and that in moments during which interaction levels were higher, people experienced more positive and less negative feelings. These findings were the same for dog and cat owners.

“Dog owners were probably more likely to identify as ‘dog people,’ whereas cat owners were more likely to identify as ‘cat people,’” said first author Dr Sanne Peeters, a researcher at The Open University pointed out. “It’s possible that this owner-pet ‘match’ partly explains why the findings were so similar for dogs and cats.”

Stress busters?

Next, the team investigated whether interacting with a pet can decrease the negative impact of stress more than simply being in the presence of one. They found that if owners interacted with their pets when stressed, it did not protect against the negative effects of stress on mood.

“The positive effects of pet interaction on well-being appear to be genuine, but they don’t seem to happen because pets help people handle stress better at the exact moment the stress occurs,” Janssens said. “Interacting more intensively with the companion animal did not provide additional emotional benefits beyond those that may arise from the animal simply being present.”

This indicates that a mechanism other than stress buffering – an effect that mitigates the negative impact of stress – might be responsible for the beneficial effect of pet interaction. The exact mechanism has not yet been identified as it may differ between contexts in which humans and animals interact.

“It could be that interacting with a pet provides a sense of companionship and that pets help people feel more connected and less alone, which in turn could contribute to improved emotional well-being,” said Janssens.

Cat vs dog

One surprising, species-specific effect emerged. If stressed cat owners interacted with their cats, the interaction did not help lessen their negative emotions – on the contrary: it made owners experience more intense negative feelings.

“One speculative explanation is that because interactions with cats are often more passive and less demanding in nature, a higher level of interaction might be more emotionally evocative. This might not match the need for support in stressful moments,” Peeters pointed out.

There is no definitive explanation to date and the team said that their findings should be interpreted with caution. The cat owner sample in the study was small – smaller than the dog owner sample – and the association between cats and stressed owners wasn’t consistently observed across analyses.

Among dog owners, pet-owner interactions did not intensify the negative emotions owners felt in stressful situations – although they did not improve them either.

But does this mean that some pets are better than others?

“I wouldn’t say that one species makes a ‘better’ pet than the other,” concluded Peeters. “Instead, it’s more likely about owner personality and preference. The main conclusion is that interacting with dogs and cats appears to provide similar emotional benefits.”

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Journal

Frontiers in Psychology

DOI

10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1768288 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Human-animal interaction: understanding the role of dog and cat interactions in emotional well-being

Article Publication Date

16-Jun-2026

 

Mongooses prepare for likely future battles with powerful enemies, study finds

University of Bristol

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Group of dwarf mongooses under threat from a rival group

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Credit: Shannon Wild

Dwarf mongooses anticipate encounters with rival groups and adjust how they move, communicate and defend resources beforehand, according to new research from the University of Bristol.

The study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution today [16th June 2026], shows that mongoose groups alter their behaviour in areas where fights with rivals are most likely, even in the absence of another group. The biggest changes are when the anticipated threat is greatest.

Lead author Dr Josh Arbon, from the School of Biological Sciences, explained: “Not only are the mongooses keeping track of where their enemies might be, but they’re factoring in the relative size of different groups. They can then tailor their pre-emptive behaviour accordingly.”

Dwarf mongooses are Africa’s smallest carnivore, living in groups of 5 to 30 that collectively defend a territory against neighbours. Fights often break out when groups encounter one another, which can lead to injury or even death.

Working in South Africa, the researchers found that group members looking out for danger call more when the potential threat is from a larger group. But some behaviours, such as choosing where to sleep in the evening, change most when there are well-matched neighbours with whom fights can be most costly.

Senior author Andy Radford, Professor of Behavioural Ecology, said: “We know that battles between groups can be very dangerous for participants. What we’ve shown now is that there are constant behavioural changes to mitigate these risks and enhance the likelihood of future contest success.”

Dr Arbon added: “This work provides insight into how smaller groups are able to survive, and even thrive, amongst more powerful enemies by strategically moving through space and communicating about potential dangers.”

The study was based on ten years of observational and GPS data from wild dwarf mongooses that are used to the close presence of human observers. It was part of the long-term Dwarf Mongoose Research Project, which was pioneered by co-authors Drs Julie Kern and Amy Morris-Drake.

Dr Kern said: “The dwarf mongooses are an ideal model species. Both because their lives are strongly affected by intergroup conflict and because we could observe them so closely in natural conditions.”

Dr Morris-Drake, Research Associate, concluded: “Conflict between groups is rife throughout the natural world. We have shown that animals are continuously making decisions in a landscape of conflict, not just when they actually encounter rivals.”

The work was funded by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and European Research Council (ERC) grants awarded to Professor Radford.

 

Paper

‘Dwarf mongooses pre-emptively alter their behaviour relative to the threat posed by different rival groups’ by J. J. Arbon, A. Morris-Drake, J. M. Kern and A. N. Radford in Nature Ecology & Evolution 

 

ENDS 

 

Dwarf mongoose acting as a sentinel (raised guard) gathering and conveying information to groupmates about potential rival threats.

 

Habituating the wild dwarf mongooses to observer close presence has allowed detailed data collection in natural conditions 

Credit

Shannon Wild

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Journal

Nature Ecology & Evolution

DOI

10.1038/s41559-026-03104-3 

Article Title

Dwarf mongooses pre-emptively alter their behaviour relative to the threat posed by different rival groups

Article Publication Date

16-Jun-2026

 

How plants rush energy to injured tissues to help them heal

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

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Arabidopsis Root with the color spectrum showing different glucose concentrations

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Credit: Rotem Matosevich

A new study finds that plants respond to injury by actively redirecting sugars to damaged tissues, helping fuel the regeneration process. Using a fluorescent sensor to track sugar movement in living plants, researchers discovered that wounds trigger a localized shift in energy transport, concentrating glucose around the injury site. The findings offer new insight into how plants coordinate repair and recovery and could help scientists better understand the mechanisms that support resilience in crops facing physical damage or environmental stress.

 

When a plant is damaged, whether by a storm, an animal, or a gardener's pruning shears, it faces an immediate challenge: how to deliver enough energy to the wounded area to rebuild lost tissue.

A new study reveals how plants solve that problem. The team discovered that injuries trigger a rapid rerouting of sugars, directing energy toward damaged tissues where repair and regeneration are underway.

Using a fluorescent sensor that allowed them to watch sugar movement inside living plants, the researchers found that glucose accumulates around wounds as regeneration progresses. They also identified several genes that help drive this process, providing new insight into how plants recover from injury.

The study, published in PNAS, was led by Ph.D. student Rotem Matosevich and Professor Idan Efroni of the Hebrew University.

Plants produce sugars through photosynthesis and rely on them to fuel growth. Scientists have long known that these sugars are essential for regeneration, but it has remained unclear how plants deliver them to injured tissues.

To investigate, the researchers studied root regeneration in Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant widely used in biological research. They found that successful regeneration depends on sugars produced by photosynthesis and that limited sugar supplies can slow the repair process.

The team then used a newly adapted fluorescent glucose sensor called Glifon to track sugar movement in real time. The technology allowed them to observe where sugars accumulated as damaged tissues began to regrow.

"We wanted to understand not only whether sugars are required for regeneration, but also where they accumulate and how they move through damaged tissues," Matosevich said.

One surprising finding was that different sugars behaved differently after injury. While regeneration depended on sucrose arriving from photosynthetic tissues elsewhere in the plant, glucose—not sucrose—built up near the wound itself.

Further experiments showed that injury quickly activates genes involved in sugar transport and metabolism. These genes appear to help redirect energy resources toward the damaged area, particularly when sugar is in short supply.

"Our results suggest that injury is accompanied by a rapid and localized change in sugar transport," Efroni said. "Understanding how plants allocate resources during regeneration may help us better understand how growth and repair are coordinated."

The researchers observed similar genetic responses in another type of regeneration process, suggesting that the mechanism may operate across multiple forms of plant wound repair.

The findings could eventually help scientists better understand how crops recover from physical damage caused by wind, hail, pests, agricultural machinery, or routine pruning. They may also shed light on how plants cope with environmental stresses such as drought, heat, and poor soil conditions, when energy resources become limited.

Beyond the biological discovery, the study introduces a powerful new tool for visualizing how sugars move through living plants. Researchers say it could help future studies explore how plants distribute energy during growth, stress, and recovery.

The work offers a new perspective on one of plant biology's central questions: how plants decide where to send their limited energy resources. The answer, it appears, may include a sophisticated system that rapidly channels fuel to where it is needed most.

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2535587123 

Method of Research

Experimental study

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Wounding-Induced Redirection of Sugar Transport Fuels Tissue Repair

Article Publication Date

15-Jun-2026