I\u2019m so hungry, I could eat a woolly rhinoceros<\/p>\n
Gu\u00f0j\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir, S\u00f3lveig et al. \u201cGenome Shows no Recent Inbreeding in Near-Extinction Woolly Rhinoceros Sample Found in Ancient Wolf’s Stomach.\u201d Genome Biology and Evolution.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Record scratch, freeze frame: Yep, that’s me, an Ice Age woolly rhinoceros in a mummified wolf stomach. You\u2019re probably wondering how I got into this situation. Well, the good news is that it was not because I am inbred, according to a new study.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s my pitch for a movie based on the true story of some half-digested woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) remains that were wolfed down by a permafrost-preserved pupsicle from 14,400 years ago.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Incredibly, scientists were able to sequence the genome of the rhino, which revealed that this individual still had a high level of genetic diversity in its lineage, and no signs of inbreeding. Considering that woolly rhinos vanished from the fossil record around 14,000 years ago, this study suggests that they may have experienced a very sudden population collapse, rather than a gradual demise.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhile Late Pleistocene remains of woolly rhinoceros are numerous, very few remains exist from around the estimated time of extinction,\u201d said researchers led by S\u00f3lveig M. Gu\u00f0j\u00f3nsd\u00f3ttir of Stockholm University. At 14,400 years old, the mummified tissue found in the wolf is \u201cone of the youngest known woolly rhinoceros remains.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGiven our results, we suggest that any change at the genomic level associated with the species extinction must have taken place during the last few hundred years of the species’ existence,\u201d the team added. \u201cWe conclude that their decline toward extinction likely occurred rapidly after \u223c14,400 years ago, most likely driven by rapid changes in environmental conditions.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In other words, the last supper of a wolf that died when giant ice sheets still covered much of the Northern Hemisphere has opened a window into the rich heritage of this rhinoceros\u2014and the sudden downfall that awaited its relatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n And for anyone interested in cryptids, the authors note that the \u201clast appearance dates in the fossil record do not exclude the possibility that the species persisted for longer.\u201d Does this mean that woolly rhinos live on in some untrammeled wilderness to this day? Definitely not, they are dunzo. But it does raise the tantalizing question of when and where the last woolly rhino took its final steps, ending a long and storied line.<\/p>\n In other news\u2026<\/p>\n Save wildlife, stay off the menu<\/p>\n Alves, D\u00e1lete C\u00e1ssia Vieira et al. Aspects of the blood meal of mosquitoes (Diptera: culicidae) during the crepuscular period in Atlantic Forest remnants of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution.<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s one way to get people to care about biodiversity loss: tell them that the mosquitos are out for their blood.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a new study, scientists captured and studied 145 engorged mosquitoes from a deforested area in Brazil, which revealed a growing reliance on human blood. The results suggest that mosquitoes are more likely to seek out human blood in areas experiencing biodiversity loss.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the present study, human blood meals were detected in nine species\u201d including mosquitoes that \u201cspread dengue, yellow fever, Zika, and chikungunya,\u201d said researchers led by D\u00e1lete C\u00e1ssia Vieira Alves of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. \u201cThe results revealed a clear tendency for the captured mosquito species to feed predominantly on humans.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDeforestation reduces local biodiversity, causing mosquitoes, including vectors of pathogenic agents, to disperse and seek alternative food sources\u2026such as humans,\u201d the team said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In other words, a future of biodiversity collapse is going to be buzzy, and itchy, and deadly, given that mosquitoes are notoriously the most dangerous animals to humans\u2014killing roughly a million<\/a> people per year\u2014due to their capacity to spread pathogens. It would be great if we could all conserve wildlife for solely altruistic reasons, but a little nightmare fuel is useful in small doses.\u00a0<\/p>\n Same-sex sexual behavior plays many roles in primates<\/p>\nThe piece of woolly rhino tissue found inside the stomach of the Tumat-1 puppy. Image: Love Dal\u00e9n\/Stockholm University.<\/p>\n