Page 17 - BBC Wildlife Volume 36 #04

WILD NEWS

Q BIOLOGY
Orangutans The
GO WITH self-medicate to EXPLAINE
relieve pain.
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INSTINCT (QJOLVK IRU WKH UHVW RI XV
THE GENOME
Many behaviours that appear An organism’s genetic
to require brain power could be recipeisencoded on the
based on simple gut feelings, strings of DNAthat form
according to new research. the chromosomes within
Takea bumblebee’s decision each of its cells.The
on whether to forage nearby code is written using just
or seek richer pickings further four different chemical
afield. After visiting two empty ‘letters’,and their precise
Orangutan: Konrad Wothe/Minden/FLPA; axolotl: Stephen Dalton/naturep .com (controlled cond t ons); bee: Imagebroker/FLPA; spider: R Raven
flowers consecutively it looks order determineswhich
elsewhere, whichhas been protein building blocks
interpreted as evidence of Q PRIMATES are manufactured.An
rudimentary mathematical organism’s entire genetic
abilities. But workledby APE APOTHECARY codeiscalled a genome.
Andrew Higginson of the In humans it contains
University of Exeter suggests Wild orangutans have been muscles and joints from the more than three billion
that, theoretically, it could observed preparing and extra weight of carrying their letters,though the axolotl
be based on simpler rules applying a medicinal lotion infants while climbing through salamander’s is 10 times as
of thumb. that works against aches. the forest canopy,”says Helen big.Hundreds of species’
“The body itself is a store of Over the course of 10 years, Morrogh-Bernard of the genomes have now been
information about the past,” biologists working in Borneo University of Exeter. sequenced,providing a
Higginson says. “A bee might have documented six females Chemical analyses showed wealth of information on
simply assess whether there is and one male chewing the that the leaves contain evolutionary relationships
any nectar in thetube between leaves of one particular plant compounds with potent anti- and biological function.
its mouth and its stomach.” species to produce a soapy inflammatory properties.
Similarly, Higginson lather of juice and saliva, which Intriguingly, the same plant
speculates that the rate at they rub methodically into is used by local indigenous
which adrenalin leaves the their arms and legs. people to treat muscle pain.
system after a fright could Five of the seven apes were The biologists speculate
determine how long a rabbit carrying young.“We believe that they may have originally
hides in its burrow after that females may be using learned the technique from
being chased by a fox, without this plant to soothe sore watching the orangutans.
having to calculate how long
the fox is likely to wait. SOURCE Scientific Reports LINK http://go.nature.com/2mwSyOP An axolotl has a larger
genome than a human.
“These basic bodily states
contain a lot of useful, complex
information,” says Higginson.

NEW SPECIES High Tide or Low
Tide by Bob Marley
SPOTLIGHT inspired this
spider’s name.
BOB MARLEY’S INTERTIDAL SPIDER

WHAT IS IT? There are plenty of sea spiders
(which aren’t spiders, or even arachnids, but
members of a separate group called pycnogonid ds),
but precious few spiders that live in the sea. Bob b
Marley’s intertidal spider, which has just been
described by reggae-fan biologists, is one of them m.
WHERE IS IT? Desis bobmarleyi hunts on
Do bumblebees intertidal rocks and reefs on Australia’s
rely on more than Queensland coast. It’s not one to hurry. Rather
brain power?
than beat a retreat from the incoming tide, it
hunkers down in an empty barnacle shell.
SOURCE:ProceedingsoftheRoyal Society B
LINKhttp://bit.ly/2sv3HFu SOURCE Evolutionary Systematics LINK http://bit.ly/2so3q7b
K
April 2018 BBC Wildlife 17