Evolution of kangaroo-like jerboas sheds light on limb development
San Diego CA (SPX) Oct 12, 2015 -
With their tiny forelimbs and long hindlimbs and feet, jerboas are oddly proportioned creatures that look something like a pint-size cross between a kangaroo and the common mouse.
How these 33 species of desert-dwelling rodents from Northern Africa and Asia evolved their remarkable limbs over the past 50 million years from a five-toed, quadrupedal ancestor shared with the modern mouse to t ...
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Short-lived, toothy mammal found in ancient North Pacific a mystery
Plano TX (SPX) Oct 09, 2015 -
The identification of a new species belonging to the marine mammal group Desmostylia has intensified the rare animal's brief mysterious journey through prehistoric time, finds a new study.
A big, hippo-sized animal with a long snout and tusks - the new species, 23 million years old, has a unique tooth and jaw structure that indicates it was not only a vegetarian, but literally sucked veget ...
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Researchers discover clues on how giraffe neck evolved
New York NY (SPX) Oct 09, 2015 -
Scientists have long theorized that the long neck of modern-day giraffes evolved to enable them to find more vegetation or to develop a specialized method of fighting. A new study of fossil cervical vertebrae reveals the evolution likely occurred in several stages as one of the animal's neck vertebrae stretched first toward the head and then toward the tail a few million years later.
The s ...
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48-million-year-old horse-like fetus discovered in Germany
London, UK (SPX) Oct 09, 2015 -
A 48 million year-old horse-like equoid fetus has been discovered at the Messel pit near Frankfurt, Germany according to a study published October 7, 2015 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Jens Lorenz Franzen from Senckenberg Research Institute Frankfurt, Germany, and Naturhistorisches Museum Basel, Switzerland, and colleagues.
The authors of this study completed their investigation o ...
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Evidence for functional redundancy in nature
Wageningen, Netherlands (SPX) Oct 12, 2015 -
One of biology's long-standing puzzles is how so many similar species can co-exist in nature. Do they really all fulfill a different role? Massive data on beetles now provide strong evidence for the idea that evolution can drive species into groups of look-a-likes that are functionally similar, according to a study by an international consortium of scientists led by Wageningen University, Nether ...
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Embrace the chaos: Predictable ecosystems may be more fragile
Madison WI (SPX) Oct 09, 2015 -
When it comes to using our natural resources, human beings want to know what we're going to get. We expect clean water every time we turn on the tap; beaches free of algae and bacteria; and robust harvests of crops, fish and fuel year after year. As a result, we try to manage the use of our resources in a way that minimizes their variability. We seek a predictable "status quo."
But a new s ...
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Characteristics of mammalian melanopsins for non-visual photoreception
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Oct 12, 2015 -
Researchers at Institute for Molecular Sciences reported that a mammalian photoreceptive protein melanopsin spontaneously releases the chromophore retinal. The property would be important to regulate non-visual photoreception in mammals.
This work was carried out as a collaborative work of Drs. Hisao Tsukamoto and Yuji Furutani (Institute for Molecular Science) with Yoshihiro Kubo (Nationa ...
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