 | Scientists in Costa Rica are studying the death of at least 10 and 12 more ailing turtles in the southern zone. Universidad Nacional (UN) told the press that the environmental organization MarVia found the 22 turtles floating near Matapalo beach. Ten of the Kemp’s Ridley turtles died within days of bringing them to shore and biologists and veterinarians have no idea of what caused their deaths. According to Widecast Network, this occurs when creatures have been floating adrift in the water for a prolonged period. |
 | Patrick O’Connor is an associate professor of anatomical sciences in the department of biomedical sciences at the Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine and a member of the Ohio Center for Ecology and Evolutionary Studies. O’Connor was initially trained as a comparative biologist/paleontologist at a medical school. |
 | Their results challenge the conventional view that nearly all theropods hunted prey, especially those closest to the ancestors of birds. Rather, Zanno and Makovicky show that among the most bird-like dinosaurs — known as coelurosaurs — plant eating was a common way of life. «Most theropods are clearly adapted to a predatory lifestyle, but somewhere on the line to birds, predatory dinosaurs went soft,» Zanno says. Theropods are a group of bipedal dinosaurs colloquially known as «predatory» dinosaurs. Among theropod dinosaurs, all modern birds and several groups of their closest extinct relatives belong to a subgroup known as Coelurosauria. Coelurosauria also includes the iconic hunters Tyrannosaurus and Velociraptor. Most coelurosaurs were feathered. The most intelligent dinosaurs and those with the smallest body sizes also belong to this group. |
 | Repito de forma insistente que debemos basar las políticas de conservación en la ciencia. Pues bien, hoy contamos con un buen diagnóstico científico sobre el estado de conservación de los vertebrados y la eficacia de las medidas que tomamos para evitar su extinción que nos debe ayudar a la toma de decisiones. Acaba de salir publicado en Science una artículo del que ya se adelantó su contenido en octubre, de cara a la COP de Nagoya, en el que 174 científicos analizan el impacto de las acciones de conservación en el estatus de las especies (sigue este enlace para ver el artículo original). En este caso, en vez de hacer un comentario sobre el mismo, y dado su trascendencia, paso a hacer un resumen del mismo. |
 | Durante el viernes 17 y sábado 18 se han celebrado en Donostia las II Jornadas Internacionales sobre Conservación de Anfibios. Si bien las primeras Jornadas, celebradas allá por 2002, se centraron en la ranita meridional (Hyla meridionalis), en esta ocasión la especie elegida ha sido el sapo corredor (Bufo calamita). |
