Human land use can fragment landscapes, creating new habitat edges. These edges affect how animals use the landscape and how predators interact with their prey. Edges of beach vegetation in Barbados create an ecological trap for endangered hawksbill sea turtles: while hawksbills prefer to nest near vegetation, introduced mongooses stay in vegetation and prey on nests near the edge. (Source: Veterinary News From Medical News Today)
In many reptiles, the sex of an individual is determined early in development by incubation temperature (temperature-dependent sex determination, TSD). But what determines the relationship between sex and temperature? Schwanz and Proulx address this question by simulating the evolution of TSD. They introduce a new measure of TSD, mutual information (MI), that incorporates the sex-temperature relationship and natural temperatures in the environment. (Source: Veterinary News From Medical News Today)
Primate vocal behaviour is often said to be biologically hard-wired. According to this idea, individuals produce calls from a limited repertoire, and mostly to evolutionarily important events, such as discovery of food or a predator. In doing so, they are thought to have little or no awareness of their audience and how listeners might be affected by their calls. (Source: Veterinary News From Medical News Today)
››
United States Herp Veterinarians
If you know of a vet in your local area that works with reptiles, amphibians, and other exotic animals and would like to see them listed on the Herp Vet Directory, please click here >> Suggest a Herp Vet