Friday, October 08, 2021

ANOTHER AMAZING FIND IN THE MUSEUM STORAGE ROOM

The climate-driven mass extinction no one had seen

Fossils from Duke collection uncover a previously unknown mass extinction event in Africa

DUKE UNIVERSITY

Fossils of African Fauna — IMAGE: FOSSILS OF THE KEY GROUPS USED TO UNVEIL THE EOCENE-OLIGOCENE EXTINCTION IN AFRICA WITH PRIMATES ON THE LEFT, THE CARNIVOROUS HYAENODONT, UPPER RIGHT, RODENT, LOWER RIGHT. THESE FOSSILS ARE FROM THE FAYUM DEPRESSION IN EGYPT AND ARE STORED AT THE DUKE LEMUR CENTER’S DIVISION OF FOSSIL PRIMATES. view more
CREDIT: MATT BORTHS, DUKE UNIVERSITY LEMUR CENTER

DURHAM, N.C. – Sixty-three percent. That’s the proportion of mammal species that vanished from Africa and the Arabian Peninsula around 30 million years ago, after Earth’s climate shifted from swampy to icy. But we are only finding out about it now.

Compiling decades of work, a new study published this week in the journal Communications Biology reports on a previously undocumented extinction event that followed the transition between the geological periods called the Eocene and Oligocene.

That time period was marked by dramatic climate change. In a reverse image of what is happening today, the Earth grew cooler, ice sheets expanded, sea levels dropped, forests started changing to grasslands, and carbon dioxide became scarce. Nearly two-thirds of the species known in Europe and Asia at that time went extinct.

African mammals were thought to have possibly escaped unscathed. Africa’s mild climate and proximity to the Equator could have been a buffer from the worst of that period’s cooling trend.

Now, thanks in great part to a large collection of fossils housed at the Duke Lemur Center Division of Fossil Primates (DLCDFP), researchers have shown that, despite their relatively balmy environment, African mammals were just as affected as those from Europe and Asia. The collection was the life’s work of the late Elwyn Simons of Duke, who scoured Egyptian deserts for fossils for decades.

The team, comprising researchers from the United States, England, and Egypt, looked at fossils of five mammal groups: a group of extinct carnivores called hyaenodonts, two rodent groups, the anomalures (scaly-tail squirrels) and the hystricognaths (a group that includes porcupines and naked mole rats), and two primate groups, the strepsirrhines (lemurs and lorises), and our very own ancestors, the anthropoids (apes and monkeys).

By gathering data on hundreds of fossils from multiple sites in Africa, the team was able to build evolutionary trees for these groups, pinpointing when new lineages branched out and time-stamping each species’ first and last known appearances.

Their results show that all five mammal groups suffered huge losses around the Eocene-Oligocene boundary.

“It was a real reset button,” said Dorien de Vries, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Salford and lead author of the paper.

CAPTION

Dental CT scans show that mammal teeth became less diverse during the early Oligocene extinction events. Here is an example of the three-dimensional tooth shape of a lower molar of a fossil anomaluroid rodent.

CREDIT

Dorien de Vries, University of Salford

After a few million years, these groups start popping up again in the fossil record, but with a new look. The fossil species that re-appear later in the Oligocene, after the big extinction event, are not the same as those that were found before.

“It's very clear that there was a huge extinction event, and then a recovery period,” said Steven Heritage, Researcher and Digital Preparator at Duke University’s DLCDFP and coauthor of the paper.

The evidence is in these animals’ teeth. Molar teeth can tell a lot about what a mammal eats, which in turns tells a lot about their environment.

The rodents and primates that reappeared after a few million years had different teeth. These were new species, who ate different things, and had different habitats.

“We see a huge loss in tooth diversity, and then a recovery period with new dental shapes and new adaptations,” said de Vries.

“Extinction is interesting in that way,” said Matt Borths, curator of Duke University’s DLCDFP and coauthor of the paper. “It kills things, but it also opens up new ecological opportunities for the lineages that survive into this new world.”

This decline in diversity followed by a recovery confirms that the Eocene-Oligocene boundary acted as an evolutionary bottleneck: most lineages went extinct, but a few survived. Over the next several millions of years, these surviving lines diversified.

“In our anthropoid ancestors, diversity bottoms out to almost nothing around 30 million years ago, leaving them with a single tooth type,” said Erik R. Seiffert, Professor and Chair of the Department of Integrative Anatomical Sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, a former graduate student of Simons, and senior coauthor of the paper. “That ancestral tooth shape determined what was possible in terms of later dietary diversification.”

“There's an interesting story about the role of that bottleneck in our own early evolutionary history,” said Seiffert. “We came pretty close to never existing, if our monkey-like ancestors had gone extinct 30 million years ago. Luckily they didn’t.”

A rapidly changing climate wasn’t the only challenge facing these few surviving types of mammals. As temperatures dropped, East Africa was pummeled by a series of major geological events, such as volcanic super eruptions and flood basalts – enormous eruptions that covered vast expanses with molten rock. It was also at that time that the Arabian Peninsula separated from East Africa, opening the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

“We lost a lot of diversity at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary,” said Borths. “But the species that survived apparently had enough of a toolkit to persist through this fluctuating climate.”

“Climate changes through geological time have shaped the evolutionary tree of life,” said Hesham Sallam, founder of the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center in Egypt and coauthor of the paper. “Collecting evidence from the past is the easiest way to learn about how climate change will affect ecological systems.”

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Funding for this study came from The Leakey Foundation, the U.S. National Science Foundation (BSC-1824745 to DD. and DBI-1612062 to MRB), and the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC NE/T000341/1). Field work in the Fayum Depression, Egypt, and digital curation of Fayum fossils were supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation (BCS-0416164, BCS-0819186, and BCS-1231288) as well as Gordon and Ann Getty and The Leakey Foundation. Micro-CT scanning was partially supported by NSF grant DBI-1458192, DBI-2023087, and IMLS grant MA-245704-OMS-20.

CITATION: “Widespread Loss of Mammalian Lineage and Dietary Diversity in the Early Oligocene of Afro-Arabia,” Dorien de Vries, Steven Heritage, Matthew R. Borths, Hesham M. Sallam & Erik R. Seiffert. Communications Biology, 10/07/2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02707-9.

JOURNAL

Communications Biology

DOI

10.1038/s42003-021-02707-9

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Widespread Loss of Mammalian Lineage and Dietary Diversity in the Early Oligocene of Afro-Arabia

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

7-Oct-2021

Uncovering the past 300 years of the Sugadaira Kogen Biome

Loss of grasslands accelerating since the area became a national park

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TSUKUBA

TSUKUBA, Japan—In recent years, there has been a decrease in grasslands both globally and within Japan on a scale heretofore unprecedented. There is apprehension that a great number of the flora and fauna that live in these grasslands may go extinct. In order for us to take measures to conserve grasslands and their biodiversity, we need to understand when, where, and how rapidly grasslands are decreasing, and how long they have existed.

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Tsukuba Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute has revealed that the Sugadaira Kogen area near the City of Ueda in Nagano Prefecture was covered in grasslands at least as far back as 1722, and that since then the area has been rapidly losing its grasslands. Researchers further learned that designation as a National Park is not connected to any inhibition of grassland loss, either in Sugadaira or in Japan as a whole.

While it has been estimated that grasslands have existed in the Sugadaira Kogen since several thousand years ago, the changes their area and distribution have underwent is unknown. In this study, Professor Tanaka Kenta and First Author Taiki Inoue combined two maps that were created around 1881 for different purposes, and doing so allowed them to estimate that the area of the grasslands at the time was 44.5 km2. By referencing drawings made from much older eras, Professor Tanaka and his colleagues learned that most of the Sugadaira Kogen was covered in grasslands at least since 1722 and through 1881. However, 88% of those grasslands had been lost by 2010, primarily to afforestation.

In 1949, the Sugadaira Kogen was designated as Joshin’etsukogen National Park, and its grassland ecosystem was considered a natural environment particularly worthy of preservation. Incidentally, the decrease of the grasslands tended to accelerate after the area’s designation as a National Park. When compared to other examples throughout Japan, it became clear that a designation as a National Park does not necessarily inhibit the loss of grasslands. In order to maintain these grasslands, it will require maintenance and repair, such as going in to cut down the trees that have invaded the areas. However, there are regulations in place to “preserve” primeval nature in National Parks, so it is possible that this maintenance and repair has also been reduced.

The study findings have also revealed a problem—that when areas of secondary nature such as grasslands are designated as natural parklands, the secondary natures are not necessarily be preserved unless there is some simultaneous support for intervention by mankind.

This study was conducted with a grant-in-aid for scientific research provided by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (Study period: 2017 to 2019, No. 17K07557).

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This study was first published on August 31 under the title, “A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of the Transitions in the Land Area of Grasslands of the Sugadaira Kogen Between 1722 and 2010: The State of Grassland Reduction in National Parks” in Japanese Journal of Conservation Ecology at DOI: https://doi.org/10.18960/hozen.2041

DOI

10.18960/hozen.2041

ARTICLE TITLE

A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis of the Transitions in the LandArea of Grasslands of the Sugadaira Kogen Between 1722 and 2010: The State of Grassland Reduction in National Parks

Climate change tipping points: back to the drawing table

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UTRECHT UNIVERSITY

Spatial pattern formation — IMAGE: SPATIAL PATTERN FORMATION OF MUSSELS AND DIATOMS ON A TIDAL FLAT. THIS PATTERN FORMATION ALLOWS TIPPING POINTS CAUSED BY SEA LEVEL RISE TO BE EVADED, SO THAT TIDAL FLATS DO NOT DROWN. THE SPATIAL PATTERNS ON THE TIDAL PLATE, INCLUDING THE WAVES, ARE BASED ON MATHEMATICAL MODEL SIMULATIONS. view more
CREDIT: JOHAN VAN DE KOPPEL / ULCO GLIMMERVEEN (BIRDS).

We regularly hear warnings that climate change may lead to ‘tipping points’: irreversible situations where savanna can quickly change into desert, or the warm gulf stream current can simply stop flowing. These cautions often refer to spatial patterns as early-warning signals of tipping points. An international team of ecologists and mathematicians has studied these patterns and come to a surprising conclusion. “Yes, we need to do everything we can to stop climate change”, the authors said in full agreement with the recent IPCC report. “But the earth is much more resilient than previously thought. The concept of tipping points is too simple.” The scientists have recently published their work in the authoritative journal Science.

The article builds on years of collaboration between a variety of research institutes in the Netherlands and abroad, especially between Utrecht University and Leiden University. The researchers approached the idea of a tipping point within a spatial context. “The formation of spatial patterns in ecosystems, like the spontaneous formation of complex vegetation patterns, is often explained as an early-warning signal for a critical transition”, explains lead author Max Rietkerk, ecologist affiliated with Utrecht University. “But these patterns actually appear to allow ecosystems to evade such tipping points.” These findings are based on mathematical analyses of spatial models and new observations from real-world ecosystems.

Alan Turing

Spontaneously emerging patterns in nature are often referred to as ‘Turing patterns’, named after the renowned British mathematician Alan Turing. In 1952, he described how patterns in nature, such as the stripes on animals’ coats, can develop from a homogeneous starting position. “In ecological science, the Turing patterns are often explained as early-warning signals, because they indicate disturbance ”, clarifies Leiden University mathematician and co-author Arjen Doelman. “Turing’s mechanism of pattern formation is still undisputed. But the fact that a pattern is forming somewhere does not necessarily mean that an equilibrium is disrupted beyond a tipping point.” As an example of such a situation, Rietkerk refers to the transition from savanna to desert. “There you can observe all sorts of complex spatial forms. It’s a spatial reorganisation, but not necessarily a tipping point. On the contrary: those Turning patterns are actually a sign of resilience.”

Evading tipping points

The researchers discovered an interesting new phenomenon in ecology: multistability. It implies that many different spatial patterns can occur simultaneously under the same circumstances. Rietkerk: “And each of these patterns can remain stable under a wide range of conditions and climate change. And moreover we found that any complex system large enough to generate spatial patterns may also evade tipping points.” The question now is: which systems are sensitive to tipping, and which are not? “That means we have to go back to the drawing table to understand the exact role of tipping points”, Rietkerk says. “Only then can we determine which conditions and spatial patterns result in tipping points, and which ones do not.”

This work contributes to the TiPES project, an EU Horizon 2020 interdisciplinary climate science project between 18 partner institutions in 10 European countries on tipping points in the Earth system.

JOURNAL

Science

DOI

10.1126/science.abj0359

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Computational simulation/modeling

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Evasion of tipping in complex systems through spatial pattern formation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

8-Oct-2021

Concentrate farming to leave room for species and carbon, better than ‘eco-friendly’ agriculture

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE

Farming should be as high-yield as possible so it can be limited to relatively small areas, allowing much more land to be left as natural habitats while still meeting future food targets, according to a major new analysis of over a decade of research.

Most species fare better under this “land sparing” approach than if farming tries to share land with nature – as wildlife-friendly agriculture still damages most biodiversity and requires far more land to produce the same amount of food.

This is the conclusion of research that takes into account over 2,500 individually assessed plant, insect and vertebrate species from five continents. The review, conducted by Prof Andrew Balmford, also suggests that “land sparing” sequesters more carbon, and may well benefit marine life if applied to oceans.

“Figuring out how to feed, clothe and power 11 billion people without causing mass species extinction and wrecking the climate is this century’s greatest challenge,” he said. “Preserving diverse life while meeting humanity’s needs will mean enormous trade-offs, but the evidence is starting to point in one direction.”

In a paper published today in the Journal of Zoology, Balmford lays out the case for securing the highest levels of production we can from land – and water – already farmed, in order to spare remaining wilderness from cows, ploughs, chainsaws and trawler nets.

“Most species fare much better if habitats are left intact, which means reducing the space needed for farming. So areas that are farmed need to be as productive as we can possibly make them,” he said.

Some species thrive on traditional farmland, particularly in Europe, where light grazing by livestock can imitate “disturbance” once caused by large prehistoric mammals, creating habitats for many species that otherwise struggle. As such, some low-yield farming should be factored in, says Balmford, but at a low level.

The UK Government-commissioned National Food Strategy (NFS), published in the summer, recommended that Balmford’s “three-compartment” model – harnessing high-yield farming in order to leave space for many more protected habitats, with pockets of traditional agriculture to preserve farmland-associated species – should form the basis of a new “Rural Land Use framework”.

The NFS points out that around 21% of farmed land in England will need to be re-wilded to some extent or used for biofuel if the UK is to meet its net zero targets, and that the entire bottom third of farmed land produces just 15% of English agricultural output.

Balmford’s latest paper summarises a decade of global research on trade-offs between crop production and biodiversity. This includes Cambridge-led studies on bird and tree species in India and West Africa, finding that – while all species are “losers” if mid-century food targets are met – more species “fare least badly” under extreme land sparing: concentrated farming that allows for more natural habitat.

“Colleagues have replicated these findings in field sites ranging from Mexico and the Pampas to Colombia and Kazakhstan,” said Balmford. “Most species are specialized to particular environments. Even minor disruptions reduce their populations. This is why so many species decline even with gentler farming.”

Retaining and increasing habitats to create patchwork landscapes of nature and mostly high-yield farming will not just preserve species in isolated areas but allow them to “seed” and repopulate entire regions and nations.

Balmford highlights the success of just four sq. kilometres of restored wetland near Lakenheath in the east of England. Covered with carrot fields as recently as 1995, the site is now a launchpad for egrets spreading northwards under climate change, and home to the first breeding cranes seen in The Fens for over 300 years.

In addition to biodiversity benefits, emerging evidence from areas including the Andes, the US and the UK suggests “land sparing” is an ally in the fight against climate change, as carbon storage levels are higher if high-yield production allows for more natural vegetation.

Previous research by Balmford suggests that if 30% of UK land was spared for woods and wetlands, it could store enough carbon to offset almost all emissions from UK farming by 2050 – and provide a colossal boost to British wildlife.

Support for “land sparing” is not a whole-hearted endorsement of industrial production, says Balmford. Driving up farm yields also means supporting smallholder farmers and adopting nature-based agricultural science.

For example, when millions of Chinese farmers turned to a simple system that matched methods to local soil and weather conditions, yields went up 11% while fertilizer use fell by a sixth.

Farming carp in rice paddies – the fish eat pests, provide fertilizer through faeces, and are themselves an extra crop – is another of numerous possibilities that utilize natural ecosystems. Emerging technologies such as boosted photosynthesis in rice also offer hope for sustainably high yields.

More recently, the concept of “land sparing” has been used by researchers to investigate recreation, forestry and even urban planning – with early evidence pointing to this approach as the most promising way of meeting human demands at least cost to nature.

The effects of tourism on wildlife appear to be reduced by concentrating visitors to wild areas into small portions of the landscape, while New Zealand is already taking a “sparing” approach to its forests: over 70% is now protected, while timber is intensively harvested from pockets of pine plantation.

Early research suggests the “sparing” philosophy also offers hope for depleted oceans. Aquaculture farming and locally intensive fishing could provide enough “output” to allow dramatic expansion of “no-take” Marine Protected Areas, and avoid the costs of trying to regulate equipment and catch sizes across all open water.

However, support for high-yield techniques must be tied to saving or restoring habitats – and not exploited to increase profit. Linking financial support for smallholders or access to high-value markets with land-use restrictions that preserve forests has already proved successful in India and the Brazilian Amazon.

Public pressure on business and government to commit to sparing land for nature will be vital, says Balmford. As with emissions, the organisations causing the most damage to habitats may find it increasingly difficult to hide. “Some giant corporations, often the worst offenders for land conversion, are actually in a position to think longer-term than many democratic governments,” he said.

Balmford’s research is partly inspired by Cambridge polymath David MacKay, who died of cancer in 2016 aged just 48. Mackay had a no-nonsense take on sustainability – insisting that low-carbon initiatives can only be meaningfully compared at the same level of output. Without that, humanity risks getting distracted by solutions that don’t come close to meeting energy needs.

Similarly, farming systems can only be usefully compared when they’re actually meeting society’s food needs. “You can’t convince people to save nature if they are hungry. We need to ensure we can harvest enough from the biosphere while preserving the planet,” said Balmford. “Conservation has to be pragmatic if we are to interrupt an ecological catastrophe.”

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JOURNAL

Journal of Zoology

DOI

10.1111/jzo.1292

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Literature review

ARTICLE TITLE

Concentrating vs. spreading our footprint: how to meet humanity’s needs at least cost to nature

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Oct-2021

WHY PARROTS GO KOO KOO

Smart parrots need more stimulation, new research finds

The findings may apply to other brainy creatures kept in captivity

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

Prof. Georgia Mason — IMAGE: PROF. GEORGIA MASON view more
CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

The smarter the bird, the more unique welfare needs it has in captivity, according to a U of G first-ever study.

This finding may apply to other brainy captive creatures including great apes, elephants and whales, said the study’s lead author, Dr. Georgia Mason, director of U of G’s Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare.

“This study provides the first empirical evidence that intelligent animals can struggle in captivity,” said Mason, a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology.

The study also revealed for the first time that greater intelligence – a benefit in the wild – can hinder large-brained parrots’ adjustment to captivity.

Roughly half of the world’s parrots now live in homes, zoos and breeding facilities.

“What’s new in this study is that we’re showing why some species are at risk and others are fine.”

Published this week in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study highlights the need for cognitive stimulation and foods that require more complicated physical handling to improve care of birds.

Co-authors are Heather McDonald, a former U of G PhD student who is now with Mount Sinai Health in Toronto, as well as researchers at the University of Bristol in the U.K. and Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

The researchers examined two main data sources.

One was an early 1990s survey on captive breeding success involving more than 30,000 birds in the United States. The team also ran an online survey involving almost 1,400 pet parrots in 50 species for stereotypic behaviour, or abnormal activity such as biting at cage bars, chewing or even eating feathers, and swaying, bouncing or rote pacing in cages.

They looked at housing conditions, brain size-body weight ratios (a marker for intelligence), diets and other factors, and used a form of analysis that allows evolutionary biologists to tease out inherited traits that predispose species to risk.

They found that species whose natural diet involves nuts, seeds and tough-coated insects were more likely to pluck, chew or even eat their feathers. Parrot species with relatively large brains were more at risk for all other forms of stereotypic behaviour.

That finding suggests that owners need to ensure naturalistic diets rather than providing processed foods to domestic birds. Wild parrots normally spend 40 to 75 per cent of their time in foraging.

Mason said parrots may have evolved needs to crunch and manipulate with their beaks – even when their food is ready-processed and presented in a bowl – or may need particular nutrients in natural diets.

“We don’t know which is the most important to feather-plucking birds. So ideally owners should provide naturalistic food items intact so that parrots really have to break their way in and do extractive foraging as they do in the wild.”

Cockatiels, Jandaya parakeets and yellow-naped Amazons, for instance, typically thrive in domestic settings. But relatively large-brained parrots such as Nanday parakeets, monk parakeets and some cockatoos suffer more psychological welfare problems.

“These intelligent species are more invasive, too – another reason to treat them with extra care,” said Mason.

Most parrots are highly social but are often housed alone and sometimes in monotonous and predictable conditions.

“Some species seem to adapt well to captivity, but maybe some should not be kept unless you have lots of time and creativity.”

She said owners should provide more stimulation to birds, including more naturalistic aviaries along with puzzles and other enrichment items.

“Good parrot carers are doing this already. But if you’re new to parrots, pick a species likely to thrive. Don’t pick parrots that are not a good fit for your place and lifestyle.”

About half of the world’s estimated 100 million parrots live in captivity, most as pets in private homes. In the wild, more than 40 per cent of species are threatened or near threatened, said Mason, who has discussed her new study with the World Parrot Trust.

“It’s really important from a conservation point of view to have good parrot welfare.”

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

DOI

10.1098/rspb.2021.1952

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Survey

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Nature calls: Intelligence and natural foraging style predict poor welfare in captive parrots

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-Oct-2021

COI STATEMENT

I/We declare we have no competing interests.

The smarter the bird, the more mental stimulation it needs in captivity, a study has found

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

These findings may apply to other brainy captive creatures including great apes, elephants and whales, said the head of the research group, Dr. Georgia Mason, Director of the University of Guelph’s Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare.

“This study provides the first empirical evidence that intelligent animals can struggle in captivity,” said Dr Mason, a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology. "Our findings could help pet owners identify which species may be more challenging to cater for as pets, because of their welfare requirements” added one of the lead authors, Dr Emma Mellor from the University of Bristol.

The study, also conducted by other researchers at University of Bristol and Utrecht University in the Netherlands, revealed for the first time that this issue can in particular hinder large-brained parrots’ in confinement.

Published recently in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, the study highlights cognitive stimulation and foods that require more complicated physical handling as ways to improve care of birds.

The researchers examined two main data sources. One was an early 1990s survey on captive breeding success involving more than 30,000 birds in the United States. The team also ran an online survey involving almost 1,400 pet parrots in 50 species for stereotypic behaviour: repetitive abnormal activity such as biting at cage bars, chewing or even pulling out feathers, and swaying, bouncing or route pacing in cages.

They looked at housing conditions, brain size-body weight ratios - a marker for intelligence - diets and other factors, and used a form of analysis that allows evolutionary biologists to tease out inherited traits that predispose species to risk.

That finding suggests that owners need to ensure naturalistic diets rather than providing processed foods to pet birds. Wild parrots normally spend 40 to 75 per cent of their active time foraging.

“Parrots may have evolved needs to crunch and manipulate with their beaks – even when their food is ready processed and presented in a bowl. Or they might need particular nutrients present in natural diets. We don’t know which is the most important to feather-plucking birds. So ideally owners should provide naturalistic food items, intact so that parrots really have to break their way in and do extractive foraging for as they do in the wild,” said Dr Mason.

Cockatiels, Jandaya parakeets, and yellow-naped Amazons, for instance, typically thrive in domestic settings. But relatively large-brained parrots such as Nanday parakeets, monk parakeets and some cockatoos suffer more psychological welfare problems. “These intelligent species are more invasive too” added Dr Mason, “which is another reason to treat them with extra care.”

Most parrots are highly social but are often housed alone, and sometimes in monotonous and predictable conditions.

“Some species seem to adapt well to captivity, but maybe some should not be kept unless you have lots of time and creativity,” explained Dr Mason.

She urged owners to provide more stimulation to birds, including more naturalistic aviaries along with puzzles and other enrichment items.

She said: “Good parrot carers are doing this already. But if you’re new to parrots, pick a species likely to thrive. Don’t pick parrots that are not a good fit for your place and lifestyle.”

About half of the world’s estimated 100 million parrots live in captivity, most as pets in private homes. In the wild, more than 40 per cent of species are threatened or near threatened. “It’s really important from a conservation point of view to have good parrot welfare.”

Paper:

‘Nature calls: intelligence and natural foraging style predict welfare problems in captive parrots’ in Proceedings of the Royal Society B by Dr Emma Mellor, Dr Gemma Mason, et al.

JOURNAL

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Nature calls: intelligence and natural foraging style predict welfare problems in captive parrots

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Oct-2021

Exceptional learning capacities revealed in some gifted dogs

All dogs are smart but some are uniquely talented in learning words.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY (ELTE), FACULTY OF SCIENCE

Max among toys — IMAGE: MAX IS A TALENTED DOG, WHO PARTICIPATES IN EXPERIMENT AT ETHOLOGY DEPARTMENT AT EÖTVÖS LORÁND UNIVERSITY view more
CREDIT: CREDIT TO COOPER PHOTO

Does your dog understand you? All dogs are smart but some are uniquely talented in learning words. According to a new study, just published in Royal Society Opens Science these gifted dogs can learn up to 12 new toy names in one week. Not only that, but they also can remember the new toy names for at least two months. The dogs presented their exceptional skills as part of the Genius Dog Challenge, a series of live broadcasted experiments, which became viral over social media.

“We know that dogs can easily learn words that are linked to actions, such as “sit” or “down”. But very few dogs can learn names of objects” explains Shany Dror, leading researcher, from the Family Dog Project, Eötvös Loránd University. “For more than two years we searched around the world for dogs that had learnt the names of their toys, and we managed to find 6”.

The dogs: Max (Hungary), Gaia (Brazil), Nalani (Nederland), Squall (Florida), Whisky (Norway), and Rico (Spain), all qualified to participate in the challenge by proving to know the names of more than 28 toys, with some knowing more than 100!

“These gifted dogs can learn new names of toys in a remarkable speed” says Dr. Claudia Fugazza, head of the research team. “In our previous study we found that they could learn a new toy name after hearing it only 4 times. But, with such short exposure, they did not form a long-term memory of it”.

Watch the video abstract of the study by clicking here.

In this new study, the researchers wanted to push the limits of the dogs’ talent, so they challenged the owners to teach their dogs the names of, first, 6 and then 12 new toys in only one week. The researchers were amazed by the dogs’ performance. “It turned out that, for these talented dogs, this was not much of a challenge. They easily learned between 11 to 12 toys” discloses Shany Dror. The researchers also tested the dogs one, and two months after they had learned the names of the new toys and found that they still remembered those.

The study not only reveals that some gifted dogs can learn new words in an astonishing rate but it also standardizes a new way of conducting science.

The researchers explained that they collected data during COVID-19 lockdowns, which meant that they needed to take the laboratory to the owner’s home. To do this, they asked the owners to set up two video cameras and connect to a livestream, which meant that they could fully monitor the dogs’ and the owners’ behavior. “Once we realized we can remotely test the dogs, we decided to bring the experiment to the homes of people all around the world by broadcasting the tests live on YouTube” says Shany Dror.

All of the dogs in this research are Border Collies, is this the smartest dog breed?

“Originally Border Collies were breed to work as herding dogs, so most of them are very sensitive and responsive to the behavior of their owners. However, although the ability to learn names of toys appears to be more common among Border Collies, in a recently published study we found that even among this breed it is very rare” emphasizes Shany Dror. “Moreover, this talent is not unique to this breed. We are constantly searching for more gifted dogs. Thanks to the Genius Dog Challenge we have managed until now to find also dogs from other breeds including a German Shepherd, a Pekingese, a Mini Australian Shepherd and a few dogs of mixed breeds”. Previous research has documented this talent also in Yorkshire Terriers.

CAPTION

Talented dogs learn easily the names of new toys. Max chose the toy asked. Experiment at Eötvös Loránd University

CREDIT

credit to Cooper Photo

Why study gifted dogs?

“Dogs are good models for studying human behavior as they evolved and develop in the human environment” explains Prof. Adam Miklósi, head of the Department of Ethology at Eötvös Loránd University and coauthor of the study. “With these talented dogs

we have a unique opportunity to study how another species understands the human language and how learning words influences the way we think about the world.

Moreover, gifted dogs are especially interesting because they show that also among other species there are individuals that are uniquely talented. With the help of these dogs, we hope to better understand the factors that contribute to the development of talent”.

The skill to learn object names is very rare and dogs with this capacity are important for research. By studying these dogs, we can not only better understand dogs, but also better understand ourselves. So, the researchers encourage dog owners that believe their dogs know multiple toy names to contact them through the Genius Dog Challenge.

CAPTION

Whiskey is one of the talented dogs who participate in experiments at Eötvös Loránd University

CREDIT

credit to Helge O. Savela

JOURNAL

Royal Society Open Science

DOI

10.1098/rsos.210976‎

METHOD OF RESEARCH

News article

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

6-Oct-2021