Ultrasonic Differentiation Between Two Species of Chinese Pygmy Dormice (Genus Typhlomys) With Support for the Size-Signal Allometry Hypothesis.

The genus Typhlomys comprises six species that all exhibit exceptional climbing agility in arboreal habitats, of which five have been established to use ultrasonic echolocation in the 80-120-kHz frequency range to navigate among tree branches. Here, we investigated the ultrasonic vocalizations of the remaining and recently recognized species, T. fengjiensis, and compared its ultrasonic and morphological traits with its sibling species T.

Spatial Risk Effects From Lions Compound Impacts of Prey Depletion on African Wild Dogs.

Prey depletion threatens many carnivore species across the world and can especially threaten low-density subordinate competitors, particularly if subordinates are limited to low densities by their dominant competitors. Understanding the mechanisms that drive responses of carnivore density to prey depletion is not only crucial for conservation but also elucidates the balance between top-down and bottom-up limitations within the large carnivore guild. To avoid predation, competitively subordinate African wild dogs typically avoid their dominant competitors (lions) and the prey rich areas they are associated with, but no prior research has tested whether this pattern persists in ecosystems with anthropogenically-reduced prey density, and reduced lion density as a result.

Comparing expedient and proactive approaches to the planning of protected area networks on Borneo.

Protected areas are an important tool for wildlife conservation; however, research is increasingly revealing both biases and inadequacies in the global protected area network. One common criticism is that protected areas are frequently located in remote, high-elevation regions, which may face fewer threats compared to more accessible locations. To explore the conservation implications of this issue, we consider a thought experiment with seven different counterfactual scenarios for the Sunda clouded leopard's conservation on Borneo.

Pesticides in the population of European hedgehogs () in Denmark.

European hedgehogs () inhabit most of Denmark, except for a few smaller islands. Research from other European countries has shown that the hedgehog populations are in decline. The exposure to chemicals might contribute to this development, although their role is currently unknown.

Lions select larger prey in a Central African protected area with increasingly effective management.

Lions and their prey are threatened across most of their range and especially in West and Central Africa. Prey availability influences carnivore densities, social structure, prey preference and home ranges, and changes in prey are important for carnivore management. Scarcity of large prey in many West and Central African ecosystems has been described as leading to a preference for hunting smaller prey in smaller groups.

Neotropical mammal responses to megafires in the Brazilian Pantanal.

The increasing frequency and severity of human-caused fires likely have deleterious effects on species distribution and persistence. In 2020, megafires in the Brazilian Pantanal burned 43% of the biome's unburned area and resulted in mass mortality of wildlife. We investigated changes in habitat use or occupancy for an assemblage of eight mammal species in Serra do Amolar, Brazil, following the 2020 fires using a pre- and post-fire camera trap dataset.

Applied Hedgehog Conservation Research.

Hedgehogs (Order Eulipotyphla, Family Erinaceidae, Subfamily Erinaceinae) are familiar and popular spiny mammals, but they face many challenges in modern human-dominated environments [...

Public perceptions of trophy hunting are pragmatic, not dogmatic.

Fierce international debates rage over whether trophy hunting is socially acceptable, especially when people from the Global North hunt well-known animals in sub-Saharan Africa. We used an online vignette experiment to investigate public perceptions of the acceptability of trophy hunting in sub-Saharan Africa among people who live in urban areas of the USA, UK and South Africa. Acceptability depended on specific attributes of different hunts as well as participants' characteristics.

Using simulation modeling to demonstrate the performance of graph theory metrics and connectivity algorithms.

Models and metrics to measure ecological connectivity are now well-developed and widely used in research and applications to mitigate the ecological impacts of climate change and anthropogenic habitat loss. Despite the prevalent application of connectivity models, however, relatively little is known about the performance of these methods in predicting functional connectivity patterns and organism movement. Our goal in this paper was to compare different connectivity models in their abilities to predict a wide range of simulated animal movement patterns.

A Review of the Occurrence of Metals and Xenobiotics in European Hedgehogs ().

Monitoring data from several European countries indicate that European hedgehog () populations are declining, and research exploring the causes of the decline, including exposure to potentially harmful xenobiotics and metals, may inform conservation initiatives to protect this species in the wild. Hedgehogs are ground-dwelling mammals, feeding on a range of insects, slugs, snails, and earthworms, as well as eggs, live vertebrates, and carrion, including carcasses of apex predator species representing higher levels of the food chain. Consequently, hedgehogs come into close contact with contaminants present in their habitats and prey.

Testing the Impact of Robotic Lawn Mowers on European Hedgehogs () and Designing a Safety Test.

Previous research has established that some models of robotic lawn mowers are potentially harmful to hedgehogs. As the market for robotic lawn mowers is expanding rapidly and the populations of European hedgehogs () are in decline, it is important to investigate this risk further to understand the potential threat which some robotic lawn mowers may pose to hedgehogs. We tested 19 models of robotic lawn mowers in collision with hedgehog cadavers to measure their effect on hedgehogs.

Facing Danger: Exploring Personality and Reactions of European Hedgehogs () towards Robotic Lawn Mowers.

The populations of European hedgehog () are in decline, and it is essential that research identifies and mitigates the factors causing this. Hedgehogs are increasingly sharing habitats with humans, being exposed to a range of dangers in our backyards. Previous research has documented that some models of robotic lawn mowers can cause harm to hedgehogs.

Counter-strategies to infanticide: The importance of cubs in determining lion habitat selection and social interactions.

Animal social and spatial behaviours are inextricably linked. Animal movements are driven by environmental factors and social interactions. Habitat structure and changing patterns of animal space use can also shape social interactions.

Diet selection in the Coyote .

The Coyote () is one of the most studied species in North America with at least 445 papers on its diet alone. While this research has yielded excellent reviews of what coyotes eat, it has been inadequate to draw deeper conclusions because no synthesis to date has considered prey availability. We accounted for prey availability by investigating the prey selection of coyotes across its distribution using the traditional Jacobs' index method, as well as the new iterative preference averaging (IPA) method on scats and biomass.

Revealing the secrets of a 2900-year-old clay brick, discovering a time capsule of ancient DNA.

The recent development of techniques to sequence ancient DNA has provided valuable insights into the civilisations that came before us. However, the full potential of these methods has yet to be realised. We extracted ancient DNA from a recently exposed fracture surface of a clay brick deriving from the palace of king Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BCE) in Nimrud, Iraq.

Female-biased introductions produce higher predicted population size and genetic diversity in simulations of a small, isolated tiger (Panthera tigris) population.

Isolation of wildlife populations represents a key conservation challenge in the twenty-first century. This may necessitate consideration of translocations to ensure population viability. We investigated the potential population and genetic trajectory of a small, isolated tiger (Panthera tigris) population in Thailand's Dong Phayayen-Khao Yai forest complex across a range of scenarios.

Assessing chronic stress in wild mammals using claw-derived cortisol: a validation using European badgers ().

Measuring stress experienced by wild mammals is increasingly important in the context of human-induced rapid environmental change and initiatives to mitigate human-wildlife conflicts. Glucocorticoids (GC), such as cortisol, mediate responses by promoting physiological adjustments during environmental perturbations. Measuring cortisol is a popular technique; however, this often reveals only recent short-term stress such as that incurred by restraining the animal to sample blood, corrupting the veracity of this approach.

Local intensity of artisanal gold mining drives mercury accumulation in neotropical oxbow lake fishes.

Driven by surges in global gold prices and additional socio-economic factors, artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in the Global South is increasing and driving emissions of significant quantities of mercury (Hg) into the air and freshwater. Hg can be toxic to animal and human populations and exacerbate the degradation of neotropical freshwater ecosystems. We examined drivers of Hg accumulation in fish that inhabit oxbow lakes of Peru's Madre de Dios, a region with high biodiversity value and increasing human populations that depend on ASGM.

Effects of weather and social factors on hormone levels in the European badger (Meles meles).

Animals in the wild continually experience changes in environmental and social conditions, which they respond to with behavioural, physiological and morphological adaptations related to individual phenotypic quality. During unfavourable environmental conditions, reproduction can be traded-off against self-maintenance, mediated through changes in reproductive hormone levels. Using the European badger (Meles meles) as a model species, we examine how testosterone in males and oestrogens in females respond to marked deviations in weather from the long-term mean (rainfall and temperature, where badger earthworm food supply is weather dependent), and to social factors (number of adult males and females per social group and total adults in the population), in relation to age, weight and head-body length.

Elephant 'selfies': Evaluating the effectiveness of Instagram's warning of the potential negative impacts of photo opportunities with wild animals.

Wildlife tourist attractions offering opportunities to observe, touch, and interact with wild animals, are visited by millions of people every year. Wildlife tourism has considerable economic value in many countries and can have positive impacts on wild animal populations (e.g.

What's on the horizon for community-based conservation? Emerging threats and opportunities.

Community-based conservation can support livelihoods and biodiversity, while reinforcing local and Indigenous values, cultures, and institutions. Its delivery can help address cross-cutting global challenges, such as climate change, conservation, poverty, and food security. Therefore, understanding trends in community-based conservation is pertinent to setting and implementing global goals.

Anyone Can Get Old-All You Have to Do Is Live Long Enough: Understanding Mortality and Life Expectancy in European Hedgehogs ().

The European hedgehog is in decline, triggering a need to monitor population dynamics to optimise conservation initiatives directed at this species. By counting periosteal growth lines, we determined the age of 388 dead European hedgehogs collected through citizen science in Denmark. The overall mean age was 1.

Socio-ecological factors shape the distribution of a cultural keystone species in Malaysian Borneo.

Biophysical and socio-cultural factors have jointly shaped the distribution of global biodiversity, yet relatively few studies have quantitatively assessed the influence of social and ecological landscapes on wildlife distributions. We sought to determine whether social and ecological covariates shape the distribution of a cultural keystone species, the bearded pig (Sus barbatus). Drawing on a dataset of 295 total camera trap locations and 25,755 trap days across 18 field sites and three years in Sabah and Sarawak, Malaysian Borneo, we fitted occupancy models that incorporated socio-cultural covariates and ecological covariates hypothesized to influence bearded pig occupancy.