Wild & Wondrous - Favorite World Press

The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world

Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do

Lisa S. French

2.0-minute read to distract yourself while distancing

We’re guessing you haven’t spent any time recently (or perhaps ever) thinking about the facial features of endangered red pandas (Ailurus fulgens). But if you’re up for a time-in programming break, here’s a quick creature feature challenge to test your visual acuity. Look closely—can you tell the difference between the panda on the left and the one on the right? Do you think you could pick these two out of a line-up of identical-looking, gingery, bamboo eaters? They may appear alike, but the differences lie in their fine facial details. Even amongst experts, without obvious distinguishing markings to tell one red panda from another, monitoring their dwindling populations has posed a significant challenge. However, new developments in face recognition technology are making the gathering of conservation-critical information on animal species with subtle variations in appearance a whole lot easier.

Until recently, researchers had resorted to micro-chipping and collaring to identify and track at-risk species; now, computer vision tech upgrades are helping to eliminate the stress and risk of capturing and tagging threatened wildlife.

Working in close collaboration with biologists, computer scientists are creating AI-assisted facial recognition programs that map and record granular visual characteristics of individual animals. In much the same way facial recognition software works for humans, Automatic Individual Identification Methods used for wildlife first process and reorient the photographic images so that they are as close in size and shape to one another as possible. Then, distinguishing features such as eye size, fur texture, or whisker spots are isolated and identified for comparison to a database of existing images, greatly expanding researchers’ ability to pinpoint new individuals and track populations.

According to the IUCN, the number of red pandas in the world has decreased by 40% in the past 50 years. As a result of habitat loss and hunting, there are now only 16,000 to 20,000 left in the highland pine forests of Nepal, India, Myanmar, Bhutan, and China. Because every creature counts, for wildlife threatened with extinction like the red panda, innovations in machine learning are becoming increasingly important to monitoring their demographics, health, and response to environmental change. These transformative technologies also hold great potential for expanding the community of citizen conservationists by enabling the public to help track endangered species through online contributions to image database portals.

You can learn more about red panda particulars here and other animal facial recognition projects like LemurFaceID here, and Lion Identification Network of Collaborators here.

We hope you are hanging right on in there, but if the news updates start to feel overwhelming, here’s an NYC semi-pro tip to lighten up your headspace: even if your only view of the outdoors is through a window, remember to turn your face towards the sun and just breathe.

And, today is National Doctor’s Day! For all of the healthcare professionals on the front lines working around the clock to save lives, including the 79,000 medical volunteers in New York, here’s today’s uplifting open-window whoop of extreme gratitude from Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Replay as needed!

As always, take good care and be well.

…

Lisa S. French March 30, 2020

Outside In

2.0-minute read

If you will stay close to nature, to its simplicity, to the small things hardly noticeable, those things can unexpectedly become great and immeasurable — Rainer Maria Rilke

Your home is your sanctuary. Depending on where you are in the world, it may now also be your office, your school, and your gym. As we strive to cope with unprecedented changes to the landscape of our daily lives, maintaining a connection to nature through indoor plantification can help alleviate the stress of the currently mandated space in between.

A meta-analysis out of Norway evaluating the impact of visual contact with nature on wellbeing indicates that increasing our proximity to plant life at home can be an important factor in improving psychological health. Examining the outcomes of fifty empirical studies researchers set out to determine whether the visual presence of plants in interior spaces could have the same positive effect on cognition and emotion as exposure to the great outdoors.

The theory that humans are hard-wired to have an affinity for nature, known as biophilia, is rooted in the idea that because we evolved in the natural world, habitats most closely resembling our Environment of Evolutionary Adaptedness (EEA) may play an important role in stress reduction and recovery by influencing the subconscious parts of the brain. A living environment disconnected from the natural surroundings that we adapted to over millions of years of evolution could have a negative effect on wellbeing even in people who are indifferent to the leafy green components of our planet.

So what does that mean for surviving the challenges of a stay-at-home life? According to the research, adding elements of nature to indoor environments can be psychologically restorative by helping to reduce the tension that may lead to stress-related disorders. In addition to purifying the air, increasing humidity, and improving the overall aesthetic appeal of a room, the presence of plants has been shown to aid recovery from mental fatigue, increase alertness, improve task performance and reduce stress levels. A related article published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine concluded that in environments where live plants may be prohibited, such as healthcare facilities, even posters of plants helped to reduce stress and negative feelings.

The psychological benefits of interacting with nature—inside or outside are now widely recognized. If you are looking for some low-cost ways to reduce stress during social distancing, especially if you are a yard-deprived urban dweller, consider adding some soul-soothing greenery to your space in the form of live plants or images of botanicals. If you’d like to find out which plants help remove toxins and improve the air quality in your home, check out this list from EcoWatch. And for those of you in the northern hemisphere with a personal outdoor patch, it’s officially spring; time to dig in and grow a mood-lifting Smile Machine.

To learn more about the origins of the human tendency to be close to nature, we highly recommend Biophilia by Edward O. Wilson. Speaking of books, we’d like to remind everyone that you can borrow them through the Overdrive app from local libraries in 75 countries without leaving your home/office/school/gym.

Until the rhythms of life return to normal, we hope that you can find some comfort in the small splendors of green, living things.

And from the bottom to the top of our hearts, thank you for your continued support of Favorite World Press in these extraordinary times.

Wherever you are on the planet, beaming out best wishes for you to stay safe and be well.

…

Lisa S. French March 23, 2020

Wow, What a Bird!

4.0-minute read

In the midst of the oh, no, it’s officially a pandemic news cycle, we thought you could do with a little featured-creature comfort. So allow us to introduce the tawny frogmouth (Podargus strigoides) for your viewing pleasure—one of those critters you may look at and think “I don’t know what it is, but I know that I like it.” The muppet-esque night bird, while fairly common across Australia, is far from your average winged tree dweller. To get you the lowdown on the 2019 Bird of the Year second runner-up, we’ve gathered some frogmouth facts from Tawny Frogmouth (Second Edition) by double doctorate Gisela Kaplan Emeritus Professor in Animal Behavior at the University of New England in New South Wales.

If you’re gazing at the tawny frogmouth and thinking, “Wow, what a bird!” you may be surprised to learn that historically not everyone has been as enamored with what we think are its obvious charms. Starting in the 18^th century, the poor animal was saddled with rather unflattering common and scientific monikers right out of the egg and has continued to face a bit of bird bullying ever since.

The tawny frogmouth was first classified as belonging to the nocturnal order of birds Caprimulgiformes in 1758 by Swedish naturalist and botanist Carolus Linnaeus, father of the binomial nomenclature system, Systema Naturae. The name Caprimulgus, which roughly translates to “goatsucker,” originated in a primitive myth that frogmouths milked goats or sucked their blood at night. In 1801, the shambling, short-legged Australian native bird received its genus classification Podargus from the Latin for “gouty old man,” followed by the equally deflating (unless you are a frog) common name “frogmouth” in 1895.

Goat-sucking, gouty, old, frogmouth—so far-not so good. As if that sad string of descriptors weren’t enough to take the wind out of its wings, in the 1960s, the tawny frogmouth was assessed as “grotesque, ugly, weak-footed and altogether stupid and silly.” In a more recent editorial pile on, it was harshly labeled again as the “world’s most unfortunate looking bird.” While a bird by any other name may still be a stupid, silly, ugly, goatsucker according to some, bad bird reviews and unfortunate species names haven’t stopped the tawny frogmouth from becoming the second most popular feathered flier in Australia. As Dr. Kaplan illuminates in her fascinating treatise on the beloved animal, there is far more to the delightful tawny frogmouth than meets the eye. Here are some highlights:

One of 14 frogmouth species, the tawny frogmouth (TF) can only be found in Australia, where it makes its home in both arid and humid forests and woodlands, preferring the large horizontal branches of old-growth trees for nesting. Highly adaptive, the bird is comfortable dwelling around humans and will also nest in suburbs, towns, gardens, and parks. Although the tawny frogmouth may have a slightly owlish look, it is more closely related to the nightjar, which also belongs to the Caprimulgiformes or “goatsucker” order.

The tawny frogmouth is one of the island continent’s largest nocturnal birds. Males weigh between 440 and 600 grams and females between 157 and 555. By comparison, the average song sparrow weighs about 24 grams. While the tawny frogmouth is relatively long-lived, documented at 13.75 years in the wild and 32 years in captivity, only about 30% make it to adulthood, falling victim to both predators and pesticides. Voracious carnivores, TFs eat snails, slugs, mice, and frogs, and a wide variety of insects, including poisonous invertebrates like centipedes and scorpions. The bird’s large, wide beak is especially effective at “pulping” hard-to-eat stinging wrigglers. Tawny frogmouths form loyal partnerships for life and can be observed roosting side by side on the same branch, bodies always touching. Equally dedicated co-parents, males and females build nests together and take turns incubating eggs and keeping hatched nestlings well-fed until they learn to hunt on their own and are old enough to fly.

Ten Tawny Frogmouth Features

If you’re thinking, that bird is all eyes, you are correct. The tawny frogmouth’s large, frontally positioned peepers take up 30 percent of its skull and enable the night hunters to see in very low light.
The TF can move those big eyes in opposite directions at the same time to increase its field of vision, and the bird’s iris color can change from yellow to red which is believed to indicate agitation or anger. Handy!
One of the few species of birds with obvious eyelashes, the tawny frogmouth also sports rare, feather tufts on top of its beak.
The TF’s tongue is tiny and paper-thin, and the inside of its mouth is green. That’s right, green!
Those thick layers of luxurious-looking mottled feathers insulate the frogmouth from heat, cold, rain, and insects, and provide excellent camouflage from a long list of predators including ravens, owls, falcons, lizards, snakes, cats, and foxes.
Masters of disguise, tawny frogmouths strategically nest in trees with grey-brown bark color and shingled texture similar to their plumage. To become one with the branch, the birds stretch out their bodies and heads, flatten their feathers, close their eyes to a slit, and think tree.
When camouflaging fails, the tawny frogmouth resorts to poo fighting to deter predators like lace monitor lizards and snakes. A thorough misting with show-stopping fecal spray disguises the bird’s scent, putting the slippery interlopers off their meal. They don’t call the tawny frogmouths “the skunks of the air” for nothing.
Quite chatty, TF’s communicate through a variety of vocalizations that are believed to express a range of emotions including, hunger, fear, annoyance, affection, and sadness.
One of the tawny frogmouth’s most extraordinary vocalizations and displays of emotion occurs when a nestling has lost its parents or when a juvenile is about to leave its family territory. The young bird emits a “gut wrenching” whimpering that is strikingly similar to the sound of a human infant crying in pain.
No long strolls for these birds. Fliers and sitters, known as a perch and pounce sedentary predators, tawny frogmouths rarely use their feet for walking.

As an animal behaviorist and wildlife rehabilitator who has studied, cared for, and lived alongside tawny frogmouths, Dr. Kaplan has come to know them as affectionate, gentle, and curious animals with distinct personalities. Her utterly engaging analysis makes it clear why the bird’s detractors got it all wrong. Obviously, the tawny frogmouth’s beauty is more than a few finely mottled feathers deep.

And that’s your WW creature capsule for the week. Should anyone ever ask, “Hey, do you know anything about that Australian tawny frogmouth?” now you can confidently reply, “Why, yes. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do.”

Until next time, take good care and be well.

…

Lisa S. French March 14, 2020

Conservation Takes Flight

2.5-minute read

With one in four species currently at risk of extinction, conservationists dedicated to maintaining the biodiversity of our big, beautiful planet are tackling an urgent to-do list—from monitoring whale health to conducting penguin counts, to planting a trillion trees. Over the last decade, scientists have added a hi-tech tool to their arsenal to help solve some of our most challenging environmental problems—the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), commonly known as the drone.

Thanks in part to rapid innovation in smartphone technologies like the miniaturization of cameras, GPS, and sensory devices, advances in the development of environmental drone applications are revolutionizing the mapping, monitoring, and recovery of the natural world. Customized drones rigged out with mission-specific gear like tracking systems, optical and thermal cameras, and seed dispersers are enabling the observation, protection, and restoration of flora and fauna in both wide-open and previously inaccessible places.

One promising new drone design developed by Macquarie University in Sydney, NSW, Australia, is helping biologists to safely assess the health of marine megafauna. Sidling up to a pod of migrating humpback whales to collect biological samples is tricky business. Now, researchers can get a snapshot of the cetaceans’ physical condition through UAV capture of whale blow without endangering the animals—or the humans. If you are wondering what in the world whale blow is, it’s the vapor that forms from warm air exhaled through the blowhole in the top of a whale’s head when it surfaces to breathe. Drones swoop in and hover over the humpbacks and collect the vapor in a remote-controlled petri dish for analysis of respiratory bacteria, lipids, hormones, and DNA. These custom-built mini sky-labs are helping researchers keep tabs on health changes of individual marine mammals resulting from increasing environmental stressors like climate change and water pollution.

Another breakthrough in planet-preserving drone technology from U.K.-based environmental services company Dendra Systems may seriously speed up the rate of global reforestation and ecosystem restoration. Using a combination of satellite images and drone-collected data to pinpoint locations for seed dispersal, Dendra aims to plant 500 billion trees by 2060. Customized “SKAI-Tractors” capable of firing seedpods into the ground at the rate of 120 per minute will enable governments to restore forests 150 times faster and ten times cheaper than planting by hand. At a time when we are losing an estimated 27 soccer fields of forest every minute, Dendra’s technology represents a radical improvement in the speed and accuracy of reforestation.

In an effort to engineer an even faster, smarter drone, scientists at Brown University and the University of British Columbia are drawing inspiration from nature to enhance the speed and agility of the miniature flying machines by analyzing the uniquely flexible wing structure and flight dynamics of bats. Researchers believe that the stretchy skin and multi-jointed wing configuration of the furry, night fliers may hold the key to improving the lift, maneuverability, and efficiency of drones, especially when flying in challenging environments.

It’s clear that inventive upgrades in drone technologies used for reforestation, and wildlife and ecosystem monitoring and management will continue to play a pivotal role in combatting the increasing global threats to biodiversity. So, to all of you flight-tech game changers out there working to protect and preserve the natural heritage of our planet, first, thank you very much, and second, please drone on.

…

Lisa S. French March 3, 2020

The Plight of the Bumblebee

3-minute read

Whether you look forward to the first spring flight of the bumblebee (Bombus) as a reassuring sign of nature’s capacity for renewal or are simply grateful for the fruits of the fuzzy pollinator’s labor, the recent study documenting its climate change-induced decline was a definite buzzkill. The new analysis of 66 bumblebee species across North America and Europe from researchers at the University of Ottawa and University College London reveals that over the last five decades, the growing number of unusually hot days is increasing local bumblebee extinction rates. Heatwaves and rising average temperatures have led to widespread loss of populations—an estimated 46% in North America and 17% in Europe.

Bumblebees evolved in cooler regions of the world over a period of about 100 million years, and scientists now believe that warmer winters and hotter summers resulting from global heating may exceed the iconic insect’s ability to adapt. At the current rate of emissions, it’s estimated that climate change may have greater negative impacts on the bee species than habitat loss, potentially resulting in mass extinction.

Like honey bees (Apis mellifera), wild bumblebees are important pollinators of crops and native plants, providing critical ecosystem and economic benefits for people and planet—absolutely free of charge. Both honey bees and bumblebees are accidental pollinators. In the process of drinking nectar and harvesting pollen for food, they pick up the finely-grained plant dust on their bodies or leg hair and transfer it from the anther to the stigma of the flower.

However, compared to its honey-producing cousin, the bumblebee is equipped with a few extra features that make it especially efficient at pollen gathering. Because bumblebees are bigger than honey bees, they can pick up and transfer more pollen per flower fly-by. Some species of bumblebees also have longer tongues than honey bees, not as long as this creature’s, but pretty impressive by bee standards. Longer-tongued bees are particularly skilled at lapping up nectar and pollen from hard-to-reach places in tubular flowers like honeysuckle and salvia. Bumblebees also have another expert tool in their pollen-gathering arsenal—buzz pollination, or sonication. By holding the flower with its legs or mouthparts and rapidly vibrating its flight muscles, the bumblebee can dislodge pollen from plants that can’t be pollinated through garden variety bee pollination methods. About eight percent of plants rely on this shake-and-take method of pollen gathering, including eggplants, tomatoes, potatoes, blueberries, and cranberries. In addition to its bigger size, longer tongue, and sonication skills, the bumblebee has an extended pollination season and can visit twice as many flowers per day as the honey bee.

Although bumblebees have an exceptional aptitude for pollen gathering, like many animal and plant species, their ability to adjust to the unprecedented environmental stressors of climate change is limited. Uncommonly warm winter temperatures can trick queen bumblebees into emerging from the hive well before pollen is available for food, leaving them too weak to return to the hive to lay eggs—no eggs, no bees. Come spring, higher-than-normal temperatures alter the scent, nectar, and pollen production of flowers, making them less attractive to foraging bees. And increased C02 in the atmosphere also reduces the protein level of pollen, resulting in smaller bumblebees. Smaller bees travel shorter distances, carry less pollen, and pollinate fewer flowers. To put these climate change casualties in perspective, 75 percent of the world’s flowering plants rely on pollinators for reproduction, including more than two-thirds of the world’s crops.

Unfortunately, less than one percent of bumblebee hotspots are currently protected. In a rapidly warming world, conservation aimed at maintaining habitats for the 250 species of bumblebees and assisting the insects with colonization beyond their normal range is crucial to their survival. If you’d like to help ensure that bumblebees have a soft landing wherever they roam and continue to contribute to everyday essentials, here are some tips on what to plant on your city or country patch to keep these precious pollinators buzzing:

Bumbles prefer:

Perennials because they produce more nectar than annuals
Native perennials because they produce more nectar and pollen than sterile hybrids
Symmetric two-sided flowers
Pink and violet-colored flowers

And here’s a short list of the bumblebees’ perennial favorites that you can plant from rooftop to roadside:

Daisy family (Asteraceae)
Common daisies, cornflowers, chamomile,
yarrow, fleabane, asters, dahlias, coneflowers

Flowering pea family (Fabaceae)
Lupine, mimosa, wisteria, clover

Mint family (Lamiaceae)
Sage, mint, rosemary, lavender, thyme,
lemon balm, hyssop, chaste, patchouli

You can learn more about what makes the bee bumble and how you can become a citizen conservationist from the Xerces Society and the Bumblebee Conservation Trust. For a deeper drill-down into the fascinating world of bees of all sorts, we highly recommend The Bee, A Natural History.

If you’ve got access to a front, back or side yard, or any other personal patch, you can find out how to grow climate-resilient, environmentally beneficial communities of plants that you, the bees, and other wildlife will love living within the excellent Bringing Nature Home and Planting in a Post-Wild World. And if you’re a city dweller in need of some perennial planting inspiration, visit the elevated gardens at the High Line in NYC (online or in-person) created by Dutch perennial plant master, Piet Oudolf. We may have a slight hometown bias, but as gardens go, it truly is the bee’s knees.

…

Lisa S. French February 22, 2020

Decoding the Floral Language of Love

3-minute read

Some of our most beautifully poetic expressions of feeling are those drawn from the language of nature. Throughout history, flowers and plants have been used to signify deep and enduring connections to a specific culture, place, or time and as a lyrical means of communicating the nuance of human emotion and remembrance. The symbolic meaning of flowers that evolved into the coded language of floriography was rooted in the traditional customs, folklore, and religious belief systems of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Following the publication of the first detailed floriography reference book in 1819, La Langage des Fleurs, dictionaries assigning sentiments to individual plants and flowers became increasingly popular in Western culture.

During the Victorian era (1837-1901) in the United States, France, and England, when public expression of emotion was culturally suppressed and in some cases forbidden, communicating private feelings through the secret language of flowers was readily embraced by the seriously smitten as well as the lovelorn. Flowers carefully chosen from floriography dictionaries to subtly convey heartfelt words that could not be spoken were arranged into bouquets and presented as gifts. A bouquet received from an ardent admirer and held at heart level signaled glad acceptance. Holding a floral gift upside down was a silent, but undoubtedly no less painful indication of a message received—and rejected. Floriography dictionaries could also serve as handy reference guides for those motivated to crankily communicate through a bouquet of bad feelings symbolizing negative sentiments such as disdain, disappointment, fickleness, or the all-encompassing heartlessness.

Expressing emotion through floral gift-giving is as popular in 2020 as it was in the Victorian era, and now thanks to the work of researchers in Sunnyvale, California, floriography is getting an artificial intelligence upgrade. Because one flower may have multiple meanings and multiple flowers may have the same meaning, to help ensure no important sentiment is lost in translation, believe it or not, a machine-learning algorithm has been developed to help express your flowery feelings with science-based, petal-point accuracy. To spare you the trouble of searching through an A-Z directory, emotive words and phrases that you would like to communicate to your bouquet recipient are mapped against a compendium of all possible flower meanings drawn from multiple dictionaries. Those blooms best expressing your particular level of besottedness are then rank-ordered for inclusion in the ultimate neural-network-optimized-and-designed floral arrangement. Build a better bouquet and they will come!

If you are currently preoccupied with conjuring the most meaningful way to communicate your tender feelings towards the highly esteemed object of your affection and can’t wait until there’s an official AI app for that, here’s an old-school crash course on decoding the floriferous language of love. By the way, if you thought roses were the definitive symbol of adoration, you may be surprised to learn that a bouquet of pineapples*, while a bit unwieldy, could be equally swoon-worthy, not to mention salad-worthy and certainly more memorable. Just be sure to include a translation—and a fork.

African violet • Such worth is rare
Alison • Worth beyond beauty
Calla Lily • Beauty
Camellia, red • You’re a flame in my heart
Carnation, pink • I’ll never forget you
Clematis • Soul mates, mental beauty
Chrysanthemum, red • I love you
Common lilac • Reminder of young love
Dahlia • Elegance and dignity
Daisy • Innocence and hope
Forget-me-not • True love memories
Gladiolus • Strength of character, moral integrity
Globe amaranth • Endless love
Heliotrope • Eternal love and devotion
Honeysuckle • Bonds of love
Hyacinth, white • Loveliness
Lavender • Constancy and devotion
Lily of the valley • Sweetness and purity
Mimosa • Elegance, sensitiveness, endurance of the soul
Orchids • Love and beauty
Peony • Bravery, beauty, honor
Peruvian Lily • Powerful bond
Phlox • United hearts and souls
*Pineapple • You are perfect
Ranunculus • You are radiant with charm
Rose, red • I love you
Rose, white • I’m worthy of you
Spiderflower • Elope with me
Strawberry tree • You are the only one I love
Sunflower • Adoration
Tickseed • Love at first sight
Tulip, red • Declaration of love
Wild pansy • You occupy my thoughts

And if you’d like to present your best ever, most-favorite favorite person with a living symbol of everlasting, not to mention carbon-storing love, you may want to consider a sampler of saplings. Plus, there’s a song for that.

Apple tree • Love, healing, immortality
Apricot tree • Love
Linden tree • Protection, good luck, love
Oak tree • Character, courage
Olive tree • Peace, healing, protection
Peach tree • Generosity, hope, love
Pine tree • Peace, harmony
Plum tree • Healing, beauty, longevity
Willow tree • Love, protection, health

For a beautifully illustrated excursion through the definitive history of the language and folklore of flowers, check out The Complete Language of Flowers, by S. Theresa Dietz.

Whether you’re all about AI or more into old school, a flower plucker or a tree planter, wishing you a joyful heart on St. Valentine’s Day and all of the days after that.

…

Lisa S. French February 11, 2020

Preserving the Music of Trees

2.5-minute read

Acoustic or electric, soul-soothing or headbanging, the tonal quality of the guitar music that puts you in the zone is greatly influenced by the types of wood used to craft the body, neck, and fingerboard of the instrument. Whether it’s sourced from a common tree species like ash, spruce, or maple, or an exotic tropical like ebony, rosewood, or mahogany, the wood used to construct guitars, known as tonewood, has unique characteristics—such as density, resonance, texture, and warp resistance—that lend that special something to the sound of the strings. As a result of decades of deforestation, legal and illegal logging for export, and the introduction of invasive insects and disease, many of the trees used to produce the world’s most valuable tonewoods are now under threat.

To identify eco-friendly alternatives to endangered tree species, researchers in Germany and Finland are working to unpick the acoustic properties of rare tonewoods. In the meantime, Taylor and Fender, industry leaders in the art and science of building stringed instruments, have stepped up to launch two propagation and planting projects designed to help save the imperiled ebony and ash trees used to create the distinctive sounds of their guitars.

The jet-black, extremely durable, insect-resistant heartwood of the African ebony tree (Diospyros crassiflora) is one of the most prized and expensive woods on the planet. Ebony heartwood has been used for centuries to make everything from ships and sculptures to furniture and flooring. It is also one of the best woods for stringed instrument fingerboards and the one preferred by many acoustic and electric guitar manufacturers. One of 10,000 tree species currently facing extinction, African ebony trees grow in small, isolated clusters in lowland rainforests from Nigeria to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. During the last century, over 50% of ebony have been cut down. Almost all of the large trees from the slow-growing species have been harvested for export. Researchers at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in the Netherlands estimate that 10 to 30% of those exports are illegally logged.

Enter Taylor Guitars and the Ebony Project: a pioneering conservation partnership between the guitar manufacturer, UCLA, the Congo Basin Institute, and The Higher Institute of Environmental Sciences. Based in Cameroon, Africa, the Ebony Project was established to protect and conserve the rare tree species, develop livelihoods for rural communities, reforest degraded land, and increase rainforest habitat. Trained by Ebony Project staff, local communities learn to build and maintain nurseries and propagate and grow ebony saplings. The nurseries are donated to the community to grow other valuable food and medicinal trees for sale or personal use, including mango, avocado, and kola. With the ultimate goal of planting 15,000 trees, the Ebony Project aims to create a sustainable model for the production of the exotic tonewood that also provides critical social and economic benefits to local people. Thriving forests, self-sufficient rural communities, and more guitar music for your ears—a conservation triple win.

And in Cleveland Ohio, home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, FWP tree-planting partner American Forests has launched the Roots of Rock initiative with Fender Musical Instruments and researchers at the U.S. Forest Service in an effort to save the ash tree (Fraxinus Americana) from the hungry maw of the emerald ash borer (EAB). Fender has used ash to construct its legendary electric guitars for 70 years, but since the EAB arrived in the U.S. in 2002, the invasive species has destroyed hundreds of millions of ash trees in North America putting the future of rock at risk. To ensure Fender aficionados can continue to practice their musical artistry, the Roots of Rock team is identifying trees that have successfully warded off the voracious insect. Seeds and shoots from those resilient trees are being used to breed an EAB-resistant variety of ash that will help restore the species to its former glory. Knowledge gained from the Roots of Rock initiative to preserve the music of trees will also be used to combat invasive insects and diseases that threaten the survival of other native species to better protect the health and biodiversity of forests in North America and around the world.

You can learn more about the Roots of Rock Initiative here and read a progress report on the Ebony Project here. Oh, and by the way, rock on!

…

Lisa S. French February 4, 2020

Woylies and Kalutas and Nabarleks, Oh My!

2-minute read

Not only is Australia home to some of the world’s most extraordinary wildlife, it’s also a top contender when it comes to delightfully distinctive creature names. If you’ve ever puzzled over the origins of some of the country’s more curious animal monikers like those given to the mini-marsupials woylie, kaluta, and nabarlek, here’s a quick look at the who and the why behind what’s in a name.

Although Europeans had their own ideas about what to call the feathered, furry and scaly they encountered when they began their settlement of Australia in 1788, the Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders who had lived alongside native species on the island continent for over 60,000 years were well ahead of the new arrivals in the animal name game. The 500 clans which made up the population of indigenous peoples of 18th-century Australia had developed over 260 distinct languages and 500 regional dialects reflective of their unique cultures, close ties to the land, and custodial relationship with nature.

While a fair number of the animal names imported by European settlers that are in use today were inspired by similar-looking creatures in other continents such as emu from the Portuguese “ema,” and goanna from the Spanish “iguana,” indigenous names were passed down through thousands of generations and based on the experience and deep understanding gained from interacting with animals in their specific ecosystems and environments. Far from haphazard, indigenous ecological knowledge systems typically identified species based on purpose, relationship to other animals, age, and gender.

The Seussian-sounding indigenous names woylie, kaluta, and nabarlek originate from three different clans and languages. The extremely rare and now critically endangered brush-tailed bettong (Bettongia penicillata), or rat-kangaroo, was first dubbed woylie by the Noongar people of South West Australia. The name of nabarlek, given to the small, nimble hopper also known as the little rock-wallaby (Petrogale concinna), comes from the endangered Aboriginal language of Kunwinjku spoken by the Bininj Kunwok people, who live in the rocky terrain of West Arnhem Land in the northern part of the country. And the little red kaluta (Dasykaluta rosamondae), an auburn colored, carnivorous species of marsupial, the male of which heroically bears the burden of dying after mating, has a hybrid name: kaluta from the language of the Nyamal tribe of north-western Australia and the Latin rosa mundi, after Rosamond, King Henry II’s red-headed mistress.

Despite the fact that many of the commonly used names of Australian animals are those adopted by the Europeans, there is growing momentum to rechristen native species with names chosen from the country’s hundreds of Aboriginal languages and dialects. Brisbane biologist Tim Low, author of Where Song Began, points out that there is also a trend to incorporate indigenous names in the official scientific classification of species in recognition of the Aboriginal peoples’ language and cultural heritage which is as richly diverse as their country’s wildlife.

You can learn more about an ongoing project aimed at promoting indigenous knowledge of Australia’s flora and fauna from the Atlas of Living Australia. And if you’d like to read about the fascinating, sometimes comically contentious process of naming Australia’s bird species, check out Australian Bird Names: Origins and Meanings, by Ian Fraser and Jeannie Gray.

…

Lisa S. French January 26, 2020

Adapting to Heartbreak

3-minute read

The rising numbers depicting the catastrophic loss and destruction caused by bushfires across Australia since September of 2019 are painfully difficult to comprehend: at least 28 people have perished, thousands have lost their homes, and an estimated one billion animals and at least 18 million acres (an area equivalent in size to the state of South Carolina) have been affected. Yet, even those heartbreaking figures fail to adequately reflect the long-term environmental impacts that may forever change the lives of many of the inhabitants of one of our most naturally beautiful and biologically rich island continents.

Australia is “megadiverse,” one of 18 countries representing 36 recognized global biodiversity hotspots and home to 600,000-700,000 species, including many which cannot be found anywhere else in the world. There are some you may have never heard of like the northern hairy-nosed wombat, spotted-tail quoll, and Julia Creek dunnart, as well as one you definitely recognize, the cuddly-looking creature most readily identified as a symbol of wildlife down under—the koala. A native resident of Australia for approximately 25 million years, the much-loved marsupial occupies the eucalyptus forests and woodlands of Queensland, Southern Australia, and two of the states hardest hit by the fires, Victoria, and New South Wales.

At the start of the 20th century, millions of koalas could be found across eastern Australia. As of 2018, the population was estimated to be somewhere between 47,000 at the low end and what is believed to be an overly optimistic 100,000. According to recent assessments, the number of koalas that have died or been injured in the 2019-2020 fires stands at approximately 30,000. The ongoing natural disaster that may have reduced the total koala population by more than one third in just a few short months has accelerated the decline of an animal species already facing urgent multiple threats to its survival.

Like many marsupials indigenous to Australia, koalas have evolved to survive the harsh environmental conditions of the arid and semi-arid landscapes of the driest inhabited continent on Earth. But rising average temperatures across Australia over the past five decades, resulting in more frequent and intense droughts and heatwaves, have severely compromised the koala’s ability to adapt. Exposure to prolonged high temperatures can lead to heat stress, dehydration and eventual death. A December heatwave in 2009 that wiped out an estimated one quarter of the koalas in the town of Gunnedah, New South Wales is just one example.

The tree-dwelling animals are primarily dependent upon various species of eucalyptus, or gum trees, for food, water and shelter. Adult Koalas eat a little over a pound of eucalyptus a day, also extracting moisture from the leaves. Because the leaves of drought-affected trees are less nutritious and produce less moisture, koalas need to eat more leaves to meet their daily dietary requirements, but habitat loss and fragmentation as a result of deforestation reduce the number of eucalyptus trees available to support populations. When forced to leave the safety of a tree-top refuge in search of food, water, or another suitable habitat as a result of climate-change-related impacts, the slow-moving marsupials also face the threat of feral dog attacks and car strikes.

In 2015, Australian researchers publishing in the National Academy of Sciences predicted that the effects of climate change will be magnified over the next few decades resulting in severe to catastrophic losses of wildlife. Just four years later, that prediction has become a reality. As the bushfires rage on, the fate of the koala and other rare and remarkable animal species hangs in the balance. By 2030, average temperatures in Australia are expected to increase by 1.5°C. The country will continue to be challenged by unprecedented physical manifestations of a warming world. Climate change mitigation, adaptation, and initiatives aimed at conserving biodiversity will continue to be critical to help ensure the wellbeing and livelihoods of the billions of people who depend upon the healthy functioning of ecosystems in Australia and around the world.

As the science of climate change evolves, we may take some comfort in its logic while making best efforts to develop adaptation strategies for ourselves and individual species, but when it comes to adapting to heartbreak, science has little to offer because there are many precious living beings on our home planet for which there are no substitutes once lost. Although we can’t reverse the irreversible or replace the irreplaceable, we continue to have hope, because hope may not point to a way back, but it can help guide the way forward. To quote author and historian Rebecca Solnit, “Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky. It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency… To hope is to give yourself to the future, and that commitment to the future makes the present inhabitable.”

You can help give hope to the suffering people and animals in Australia through these Charity Navigator rated organizations. And you can wear your heart on your sleeve for the land down under by purchasing a Fire Relief T-shirt for a limited time from our pals at For Love Of All Things (FLOAT). All proceeds go to support the recovery efforts of the Australia Koala Foundation.

…

Lisa S. French January 14, 2020

We Can Dance If We Want To

2-minute read

If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to polish your signature dance move (and we know you have one), researchers in Japan and Sweden offer some thought-provoking new insights into the ancient origins of your distinctive locomotive stylings. The integration of movement and sound, resulting in that splendid thing we do, known as dancing, is widespread across human cultures, dating back as far as 1.8 million years. While animals in the wild, including elephants, kangaroos, and rabbits produce drumming and stomping sounds to communicate, and some species of animals in captivity such as sea lions and parrots have been trained to move to a beat, it was believed that homo sapiens were unique in our ability to spontaneously produce rhythmic movements in response to musical sounds.

A recent analysis from Kyoto University exploring the biological foundation of music-induced movement in non-human primates points to a gradually developing connection between motor and auditory areas of the brain over millennia. In a controlled study, chimpanzees voluntarily responded to both random and regular beats with rhythmic swaying, implying a possible evolutionary link to musicality that may have developed from a common ancestor around 6 million years ago. Although male chimpanzees in the wild drum, make sounds with objects, chorus in groups, and display rhythmic movement in response to heavy rainfall, they have not been observed to interact in a synchronous manner with musical sounds. However, the chimpanzees in the Kyoto study did move toward the sound of the beat and engage by swaying, hand-clapping, foot-tapping, and vocalization. Unlike humans who show no gender-related differences in musical ability, consistent with communication hierarchies within their patriarchal societies, male chimpanzees were more likely to get into the swing of things than females.

Researchers at Lund University have come up with an alternative theory, that the roots of our rhythmic behavior, while still evolutionary, may lie closer to home—in our mother’s ability to walk the upright walk. Compared to the irregular gait of non-human primate quadrupeds like the chimpanzee, the footfall of human bipeds is evenly paced at around 120 beats per minute, mimicking universally recognized tempos. Because the consistent sound and vibration of the mother’s footfall is heard and felt by a developing human fetus beginning at about 24 weeks, this is thought to have a strong influence on the formation of musical abilities, more so than the sound of the maternal heartbeat which is similar across primates. The researchers have theorized that the cadence of footfall is encoded into the limbic system of the human fetal brain. This bit of grey matter is primarily responsible for emotion and memory, which is why it is believed we respond positively as newborns and in later life to musical rhythms because they closely resemble the sounds we perceived in the environment of the womb. If you get that “I know this one” feeling when you hear a regularly timed beat, you may have picked it up in the interior maternal soundscape before you were born courtesy of your mother who walked an average of 10,000 equally spaced steps in a typical day of roaming. And if you often feel compelled to get up to get down, you might have mom to thank for that as well.

While chimps appear to have some limited ability to move rhythmically, both studies indicate that humans are still top banana when it comes to synchronizing to a beat; however, further investigation may eventually reveal that we’ll have to make room on the dance floor for our swinging friends.

As a lucky member of the community of living beings who can dance if they want to, here’s hoping you find your idiosyncratic joy-inducing groove in 2020. Beaming out positive vibes of transformative change from Weekly Wondrous for a shiny New Year ahead. Would that not be nice!

…

Lisa S. French January 6, 2020