Hens blush! What, hens blush? | Natural Trumpet

Blushing hen

Chickens can actually blush!

In a recently published study, researchers took 18,000 photos of the faces of 13 hens and used computers to measure the color of the hens' faces in the photos. The results showed that the hens' faces turned red and changed with their emotions .

A hen in a calm state has a pale complexion | Reference [3]

When resting, calm hens have a light face color. When they see the reward of mealworms, their faces turn slightly red, indicating that they are very excited . However, when they are picked up by humans and their wings are restrained, their faces turn scarlet, indicating that they are in a state of high stress and nervousness.

The hen who received the reward from the bugs blushed. | Reference [3]

The relationship between humans and hens can also be judged by the faces of the hens. An experimenter lived with the hens for 5 weeks, and the hens got used to his presence. When he appeared again, the faces of the hens were very light, indicating that they were calm and not nervous because of the presence of humans. But if the experimenter approached a group of hens that had never seen him before, the faces of these hens were much redder, indicating that they were anxious about this strange intruder.

For comparison, the left side is a calm state, and the right side is a high-pressure state. The face turns scarlet in the high-pressure state | Bertin and Arnould / INRAE

As blood flow changes, humans blush due to emotional changes, which was originally thought to be an expression unique to humans. In recent years, in addition to chickens, researchers have discovered that birds such as vultures and macaws also blush.

Orangutan Caesarean Section

Recently, 26-year-old female gorilla Luna gave birth to a baby gorilla via caesarean section .

Luna lives in the Tampa theme park in the United States. Since she became pregnant, the veterinary team has been paying close attention to her physical condition and doing "prenatal checkups" for her - using an ultrasound probe to observe her abdomen while she is playing to see how the fetus is growing. Luna is also very cooperative with the humans who take care of her on a daily basis. She will take the initiative to walk to the edge of the fence to show her belly to the veterinarians, and she always mischievously eats the ultrasound gel.

The baby was finally born successfully | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

In order to ensure a successful delivery, the park organized a medical team of nearly 20 people, including veterinarians, doctors in charge of human obstetrics and gynecology, and neonatal care. Humans and apes are very similar biologically, and the experience of delivering babies for humans can also be applied to orangutans. Shortly before Luna gave birth, obstetrician and gynecologist Lynch discovered that the fetus was in a breech position, and a natural birth was very dangerous . Lynch made a prompt decision and arranged a caesarean section for Luna.

After a 90-minute caesarean section, the baby was born successfully. It weighed about 3 pounds, much smaller than a human baby, but normal weight for an orangutan baby. Because Luna took sedatives, the baby was unconscious at birth. The doctors put a breathing tube on it, covered it with a blanket, and closely monitored its heart rate until it woke up successfully - like all newborns, it used its grasping reflex and grabbed the doctor's fingers .

A newborn is being monitored | Jesse Adair / Busch Gardens Tampa Bay

A few days later, Luna recovered from the surgery and reunited with her baby. Luna gently patted its back, and the baby naturally grabbed its mother's long hair. Under the care of its mother, the little gorilla will grow up healthily.

Luna holds her child tightly | Busch Gardens Tampa Bay / X

Squid mating strategy

A new study found that male squids actually decide their mating strategy based on their date of birth , and once it is decided, it will last a lifetime - even though their lifespan is only one year. In other words, they believe in horoscopes just like humans! (No)

Research subject: Heterololigo bleekeri | Shota Hosono

Male squids born between early April and mid-July take the open mating route : they fight off rivals, mate with females, and accompany them when they lay eggs. Male squids hatched between early June and mid-August take the sneaky route : they quietly leave sperm where the females lay eggs, hoping to fertilize the eggs without anyone noticing. Male squids born in late June or early July have a 50% chance of becoming the former and a 50% chance of becoming the latter.

They have very different body types, the one on the left is the Consort and the one on the right is the Sneaker | Nicola Burghall

Male squids that use different strategies also have different appearances - the "open and aboveboard" ones are larger and more powerful in combat, while the "sneaky" ones are much smaller, which is convenient for them to act stealthily. In the early stages of the breeding season, the early-born squids have actually grown to the size of the "sneaky" ones, but they do not change their reproductive strategy , but continue to grow until they reach the "open and aboveboard" size before mating.

The researchers found that although the cuttlefish were born in different seasons, their early growth rates were no different. Cuttlefish are very sensitive to environmental conditions, and the ocean environment (such as water temperature) changes with the seasons. They speculate that it may be a subtle combination of environmental factors that leads male cuttlefish to take different paths.

The snake king from 47 million years ago

Recently, scientists discovered an extinct snake that was as long as a bus and weighed one ton .

Twenty-seven vertebrae fossils of this giant snake were unearthed in western India. After analysis, it was found that this ancient giant snake lived 47 million years ago and was distributed in the swamps and forests of western India. The discoverer named it Vasuki indicus, and the genus name Vasuki refers to the snake king in Hindu mythology, which is often wrapped around the neck of Lord Shiva.

Close-up of the front vertebrae of Vasuki indicus from different angles | Reference [4]

Judging from the fossils, they moved slowly, similar to modern pythons , and might have captured their prey by ambush, then constricted and killed them. Researchers are still unsure of their diet, but fossils of crocodiles, catfish, and primitive whales have been unearthed in the swamps where they lived, which might have been their prey.

The researchers also compared the width of the fossil spine with that of modern snakes, estimating that their overall length could reach 11 to 15 meters . Prior to this, fossils of a Titanoboa were discovered in Colombia, which lived in the Paleocene 60 million years ago and were also more than 10 meters long and weighed more than 1 ton. The largest snake still in existence is the reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus), which can grow to about 10 meters.

A reconstruction of another ancient giant snake, the Titanoboa | Nobu Tamura

Nematode gel

A gel full of nematodes protects corn in the field.

One of the main pests that harms corn is the fall armyworm. This is an omnivorous pest that lives in tropical and subtropical regions and causes huge economic losses every year. Since it was introduced to China in 2019, it has quickly become one of the invasive alien species that causes the greatest agricultural damage, and in 2020 it jumped to the top of my country's "List of Class I Crop Pests and Diseases".

Spodoptera frugiperda larvae chew leaves like sieves. | Lyle J. Buss / University of Florida.

Fortunately, there is a small creature that can punish them. Insect pathogenic nematodes parasitize and kill fall armyworms , but they are inherently fragile and easily affected by dryness and ultraviolet radiation.

Therefore, the researchers designed this gel to help nematodes retain water . The gel is made of carboxymethyl cellulose, which is non-toxic and biodegradable. Farmers can apply the gel with nematodes to corn plants with a caulking gun. If used continuously, the insecticide effect is even better than chemical pesticides and other liquid nematode preparations - the larvae of the fall armyworm can be reduced by 50%, and the corn yield per hectare can be increased by 1 ton .

Coating corn plants with nematode gel | References [5]

Compared with chemical pesticides, nematode gel has many benefits. It has no harmful effects on the environment, humans, or livestock; and the nematodes rely on symbiotic bacteria to kill the fall armyworm, so the fall armyworm is unlikely to evolve resistance to them.

Boats and dolphins

When the boat is not actively chasing the dolphins, there may be more opportunities to interact with them.

In order to protect whales, dolphins and porpoises, the British government issued a regulation in May last year: humans cannot actively approach animals when operating marine vehicles, cannot chase or surround animals, and swimming with animals, touching and feeding marine mammals are expressly prohibited. The speed of ships must also be reduced to a certain range, and they cannot suddenly change direction and speed.

It is illegal to actively approach or harass dolphins | Stefan Thiesen / Wikimedia Commons

Most boats on the northeast coast of the UK have complied with the regulations. Surprisingly, when the boats stopped chasing the dolphins, the dolphins became more active - often approaching the boats and trying to surf the pressure waves generated by the boats . In the past few years, about 100 bottlenose dolphins have been resident near the local coastline in the summer. Compliance with the regulations not only protects them, but also inadvertently increases friendly interactions between humans and dolphins.

A bottlenose dolphin surfs in a boat's wake | NASA

In many seas, humans use cruise ships, motorboats, paddleboards and other marine vehicles to chase and harass marine mammals in order to satisfy their desire to interact with animals. Studies have shown that if dolphins are always disturbed by ships, they will be in a state of high pressure and often busy escaping. The time spent on resting, eating and socializing will be compressed, which is very detrimental to their survival and health.

When humans respect wild animals and act as polite and sensible guests at sea, and when dolphins no longer view humans and ships as threats that need to be escaped, only then can humans and nature live in harmony and dolphins can truly become friends of humans.

Distance creates beauty between humans and wild animals | caroline legg / Wikimedia Commons

Author: Cat Tun

Editor: Mai Mai