Woolly mammoths survived in Britain until 14,000 years ago, around 6,000 years longer than previously thought, according to a study released Thursday.
The study should settle a raging debate over the extinction of mammoths in Europe, unleashed when fossils from an adult male and four youngsters were found in the central English county of Shropshire in 1986, its author believes.
Conventional wisdom has held that mammoths died out in northwestern Europe some 21,000 years ago during a deep freeze called “the last glacial maximum.”
But the new research, published in Britain’s Geological Journal, proves that the giant tuskers of prehistory hung on for at least another six millennia.
“Our new radiocarbon dating of the Shropshire mammoths shows they returned to Britain and survived until around 14,000 years ago,” said Adrian Lister, a professor at the Natural History Museum in London and author of the study.
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On its recent trip to the mountainous rain forests of Nangaritza, Ecuador, scientists from Conservation International’s Rapid Assessment Program (RAP) discovered seven new insects, a new lizard, and four more amphibians. Vice President of CI’s RAP group, Leeanne Alonso, said, “the species that we discovered on this expedition are fascinating and make clear how biologically important this area is – not only because of the wealth of plants and animals that inhabit it but also because of the service that it provides to local people, like clean water and the opportunities for income from ecotourism. It is crucial that it is protected properly.”
Along with the new species the scientists discovered, RAP also found a Nymphagus Chancas, a glass or crystal frog for the first time in Ecuador. The species have been recorded previously in northeastern Peru.
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A small fish found in streams across Europe has a human-like ability to learn, British scientists reported.
The nine-spined stickleback could be the first animal to exhibit a key human social learning strategy that allows it to compare the behaviour of others to its own experience and make choices that lead it to better food supplies.
“Small fish may have small brains but they still have some surprising cognitive abilities,” said Jeremy Kendal of Durham University.
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Microbiologists in Maharashtra have found ‘magnetic bacteria’ in the ancient Lonar lake formed due to meteorite impact, a finding that might open a vista for searching extra-terrestrial life.
The magnetotactic bacteria, which are object of interest of scientists from various fields world over, were isolated from the lake in Maharashtra’s Buldana district which is the only impact crater formed in basaltic rock.
The bacteria are unique as they swim along geomagnetic field lines because they contain tiny magnetic crystals called magnetosomes, said Mahesh Chavadar, a microbiologist at the Yashwantrao Chavan College of Science in Karad.
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Vladimir Putin
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