Adélie Penguin

 

Pygoscelis adeliae

Wings spread, this Adélie penguin waddles through an Antarctic colony. Its black tail gives it a tuxedo-like appearance.

Photograph by George F. Mobley

Map

Adélie Penguin Range

Fast Facts

Type:

Bird

Diet:

Carnivore

Average life span in the wild:

Up to 20 years

Size:

27.5 in (70 cm)

Weight:

8.5 to 12 lbs (4 to 5.5 kg)

Group name:

Colony

Did you know?

Adult Adélie penguins have been observed stealing rocks from their neighbors’ nests.

Size relative to a 6-ft (2-m) man:

Adélie penguins live on the Antarctic continent and on many small, surrounding coastal islands. They spend the winter offshore in the seas surrounding the Antarctic pack ice.

Adélies feed on tiny aquatic creatures, such as shrimp-like krill, but also eat fish and squid. They have been known to dive as deep as 575 feet (175 meters) in search of such quarry, though they usually hunt in far shallower waters less than half that depth.

Like other penguins, Adélies are sleek and efficient swimmers. They may travel 185 miles round-trip (about 300 kilometers) to procure a meal.

During the spring breeding season (in October), they take to the rocky Antarctic coastline where they live in large communities called colonies. These groups can include thousands of birds.

Once on land, Adélies build nests and line them with small stones. Though they move with the famed "penguin waddle" they are capable walkers who can cover long overland distances. In early spring, before the vast sheets of ice break up, they may have to walk 31 miles (50 kilometers) from their onshore nests to reach open water.

Male Adélie penguins help their mates rear the young and, without close inspection, the two sexes are nearly indistinguishable. They take turns sitting on a pair of eggs to keep them warm and safe from predators. When food is short, only one of the two chicks may survive. After about three weeks, parents are able to leave the chicks alone, though the offspring gather in groups for safety. Young penguins begin to swim on their own in about nine weeks.

http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/birds/adelie-penguin/

Role of Skin Microbiota

Protective Role of Skin Microbiota Described

ScienceDaily (July 26, 2012) — A research team at the National Institutes of Health has found that bacteria that normally live in the skin may help protect the body from infection. As the largest organ of the body, the skin represents a major site of interaction with microbes in the environment. Although immune cells in the skin protect against harmful organisms, until now, it has not been known if the millions of naturally occurring commensal bacteria in the skin -- collectively known as the skin microbiota -- also have a beneficial role.

Using mouse models, the NIH team observed that commensals contribute to protective immunity by interacting with the immune cells in the skin. (Credit: © Vasiliy Koval / Fotolia)

Using mouse models, the NIH team observed that commensals contribute to protective immunity by interacting with the immune cells in the skin.

Their findings appear online on July 26 in Science.

The investigators colonized germ-free mice (mice bred with no naturally occurring microbes in the gut or skin) with the human skin commensalStaphylococcus epidermidis. The team observed that colonizing the mice with this one species of good bacteria enabled an immune cell in the mouse skin to produce a cell-signaling molecule needed to protect against harmful microbes. The researchers subsequently infected both colonized and non-colonized germ-free mice with a parasite. Mice that were not colonized with the bacteria did not mount an effective immune response to the parasite; mice that were colonized did.

In separate experiments, the team sought to determine if the presence or absence of commensals in the gut played a role in skin immunity. They observed that adding or eliminating beneficial bacteria in the gut did not affect the immune response at the skin. These findings indicate that microbiota found in different tissues -- skin, gut, lung -- have unique roles at each site and that maintaining good health requires the presence of several different sets of commensal communities.

This study provides new insights into the protective role of skin commensals and demonstrates that skin health relies on the interaction of commensals and immune cells. Further research is needed, say the authors, to determine whether skin disorders such as eczema and psoriasis may be caused or exacerbated by an imbalance of skin commensals and potentially harmful microbes that influence the skin and its immune cells.

The study was led by investigators in the laboratories of Yasmine Belkaid, Ph.D., at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, in collaboration with Julie Segre, Ph.D., at the National Human Genome Research Institute, and Giorgio Trinchieri, M.D., and Heidi Kong, M.D., at the National Cancer Institute. All three Institutes are NIH components.

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided byNIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. S Naik et al. Compartmentalized control of skin immunity by resident commensals. Science, 2012 DOI:10.1126/science.1225152

link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/07/120726153947.htm

Gorilla Youngsters

Gorilla Youngsters Seen Dismantling Poachers' Traps—A First

"Very confident" four-year-olds outsmart hunters and protect their clan.

Wild gorillas Rwema and Dukore destroy a primitive snare in Rwanda earlier this week.

Photograph courtesy Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund

Ker Than

for National Geographic News

Published July 19, 2012

Just days after a poacher's snare had killed one of their own, two youngmountain gorillas worked together Tuesday to find and destroy traps in theirRwandan forest home, according to conservationists on the scene.

"This is absolutely the first time that we've seen juveniles doing that ... I don't know of any other reports in the world of juveniles destroying snares," saidVeronica Vecellio, gorilla program coordinator at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund'sKarisoke Research Center, located in the reserve where the event took place.

"We are the largest database and observer of wild gorillas ... so I would be very surprised if somebody else has seen that," Vecellio added.

(Also see "Dian Fossey's Gorillas Exhumed for Investigation.")

Bush-meat hunters set thousands of rope-and-branch snares in Rwanda's Volcanoes National Park, where the mountain gorillas live. The traps are intended for antelope and other species but sometimes capture the apes.

Adults are generally strong enough to free themselves. Youngsters aren't always so lucky.

Just last week an ensnared infant named Ngwino, found too late by workers from Karisoke, died of snare-related wounds. Her shoulder had been dislocated during escape attempts, and gangrene had set in after the ropes cut deep into her leg.

The hunters, Vecellio said, seem to have no interest in the gorillas. Even small apes, which would be relatively easy to carry away for sale, are left to die.

(Related pictures: "Baby Gorilla Rescued in Armed Sting Operation.")

All-Natural Arsenal

Poachers build the snares by tying a noose to a branch or a bamboo stalk, Vecellio explained.

Using the rope, they pull the branch downward, bending it. They then use a bent stick or rock to hold the noose to the ground, keeping the branch tense. A sprinkling of vegetation camouflages the noose.

When an animal budges the stick or rock, the branch springs upward, closing the noose around the prey. If the creature is light enough, it will actually be hoisted into the air.

(See National Geographic magazine mountain gorilla pictures.)

Rwema and Dukore Save the Day

Every day trackers from the Karisoke center comb the forest for snares, dismantling them to protect the endangered mountain gorillas, which the International Fund for Nature (IUCN) says face "a very high risk of extinction in the wild."

(Related: "Gorillas Extinct Within Ten Years in Central Africa?")

On Tuesday tracker John Ndayambaje spotted a trap very close to the Kuryama gorilla clan. He moved in to deactivate the snare, but a silverback named Vubu grunted, cautioning Ndayambaje to stay away, Vecellio said.

Suddenly two juveniles—Rwema, a male; and Dukore, a female; both about four years old—ran toward the trap.

As Ndayambaje and a few tourists watched, Rwema jumped on the bent tree branch and broke it, while Dukore freed the noose.

The pair then spied another snare nearby—one the tracker himself had missed—and raced for it. Joined by a third gorilla, a teenager named Tetero, Rwema and Dukore destroyed that trap as well.

Gorilla Tactics

The speed with which everything happened makes Vecellio, the gorilla program coordinator, think this wasn't the first time the young gorillas had outsmarted trappers.

"They were very confident," she said. "They saw what they had to do, they did it, and then they left."

Silverbacks in the Kuryama group have occasionally been caught in the snares, so Vecellio thinks the juveniles would have known the traps are dangerous.

"That's why they destroyed them," Vecellio said.

(Related: "Gorillas Seen Using 'Baby Talk' Gestures—A First [With Video].")

"Quite Ingenious"

Despite the unprecedented nature of the event, Vecellio said she wasn't surprised by the reports. "But," she said, "I'm always amazed and very proud when we can confirm that they are smart."

Veterinarian Mike Cranfield, executive director of the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project, also said he wasn't shocked by the news.

"Chimpanzees are always quoted as being the tool users, but I think, when the situation provides itself, gorillas are quite ingenious," he said.

Cranfield speculated that the gorillas may have learned how to destroy traps by watching the Karisoke center's trackers.

"If we could get more of them doing it, it would be great," he joked.

Karisoke's Vecellio, though, said actively instructing the apes would be against the center's ethos.

"No we can't teach them," she said. "We try as much as we can to not interfere with the gorillas. We don't want to affect their natural behavior."

link: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/07/120719-young-gorillas-juvenile-traps-snares-rwanda-science-fossey/