oldowan:

Evolution On an Island: Fossils Show Secret for a Longer Life

ICP researchers have discovered one of the first fossil-based evidences supporting the evolutionary theory of aging, which predicts that species evolving in low mortality and resource-limited ecosystems tend to be more long-lived.

The study shows that the tooth height of endemic insular mammals is an indicator of longevity, and questions the use of this morphological characteristic as an exclusive indicator to infer the diet of fossil species, and to interpret the climate in which they lived.

Island systems often function as natural laboratories to test evolutionary hypotheses, since they are less complex than continental systems. Increased longevity of insular endemic species is an adaptation that the evolutionary theory of aging predicts, as part of an evolutionary strategy that pushes the islands’ endemics to a slower life cycle, due to the absence of predators and the limited resources. In this context, Xavier Jordana and the researchers who sign the work published today in the online edition of theProceedings of the Royal Society Bwonder if the increased height of the teeth of herbivores endemic to islands  may be an evolutionary response to this longevity. This would call into question the consensus that so far explained this morphological characteristic from differences on diet and climate.

(Source: talcifer, via justaspringhaze)

(Source: omghumor.com, via justaspringhaze)

thedailywhat:

Interspecies Intermingling of the Day: Samantha, a 47-year-old western lowland gorilla at the Erie Zoo, has been all alone since her companion Rudy passed away in 2005. Zookeepers decided to try and alleviate her loneliness by giving her a pet: Panda the Dutch rabbit.

Initially cautious, the keepers introduced them in increments before leaving Panda alone with Samantha (keeping an escape hatch open just in case). But their concern quickly abated as the two took to each other right away.

Samantha’s handlers say they aren’t worried as she’s never expressed anything but fondness toward Panda. Still, they say the bunny is more than capable of holding his own.

“He’s fearless,” says the zoo’s chief executive, Scott Mitchell. “He’s not threatened by her. More often they’re closer together than they are farther apart.”

[goerie / arbroath.]

(via justaspringhaze)

noumenia:

(via What children’s skulls look like as they prepare to lose their baby teeth)

(via ohsoanthropological)