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Polar bears are some of the most famed hunters on the planet. But even these alpha predators are falling at the cruel hands of <keyword id="6361617" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">climate change</keyword>, without even a chance to claw back. What follows is that the polar species, currently the largest family of bears on the planet, is shrinking at a rapid rate. Some shocking estimates have suggested that polar bears have shrunk to two-thirds their original size in the past three decades. Scientists attribute this to the fact that on a dramatically heating planet, there is a natural tendency for animals to get smaller. Further, Bergmann's rule states that larger animals tend to thrive in colder environments due to their better heat retention. This trend, evidenced by our bears, and even other shrinking birds in many parts of the world, led many to believe it would be a universal consequence of climate change. But in a surprising twist on a familiar story, birds in the <keyword id="20289541" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="usambara-mountains" source="keywords">Usambara Mountains</keyword> of Tanzania are getting bigger, not smaller, as temperatures rise. Researchers found that 42 <keyword id="51700" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="bird" source="Orion">bird</keyword> species in the region, from the dark-backed weaver to the square-tailed drongo, all increased in body mass by an average of 4.1% over the past 36 years. Notably, smaller species experienced proportionally larger size increases as well. The reason behind this unexpected growth remains unclear. Researchers propose several possibilities: longer growing seasons leading to more food resources, decreased competition due to population declines, and even the long-term legacy of habitat fragmentation necessitating larger wings for navigating fragmented forests. This study is significant for several reasons. First, it underscores the importance of studying climate change impacts in diverse regions, not just low-lying areas like the <keyword id="19904608" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="amazon" source="keywords">Amazon</keyword>. The Usambara Mountains, at 3,000 feet above sea level, offer a unique perspective on how mountainous tropical regions might respond to a warming planet. Second, the findings highlight the need to move beyond simple assumptions about climate change effects. Understanding how birds respond to factors like food, rather than just direct heat tolerance, is crucial for effective conservation efforts. Finally, knowing the specific factors driving population changes in the Usambara Mountains allows for more targeted conservation approaches. By understanding the causes of bird size increases, researchers can develop strategies to protect these vulnerable species in the face of a changing climate. The findings of this research have been published in <keyword id="20289542" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="ecography" source="keywords">Ecography</keyword>.

Pecking disorder: Polar bears are shrinking, while some birds are becoming bigger, all thanks to climate change

From alien attacks to zombie epidemics, the <keyword id="6356955" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="united-states" source="Orion">United States</keyword> is somehow always the bumbling centre for all sorts of fictional catastrophes to naturally gravitate towards. But in a weird twist of Hollywood-like fate, a new nuisance has actually begun slowly but surely inching towards the land of the free: blood-thirsty vampires! Or vampire bats, rather. Of the over 1,000 odd species of bats you find worldwide, only three have evolved to exclusively gobble on blood for sustenance. Contrary to what you might have thought, these bats were named after the vampires, and not the other way around. While their bloody diet and connections with the fictional undead might have gained them widespread notoriety in the West, there is another reason people of the Americas fear these animals: they're quite an ardent carrier of <keyword id="6429043" type="General" weightage="60" keywordseo="rabies" source="Orion">rabies</keyword>. All three species of the <keyword id="4056900" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="vampire-bat" source="Orion">vampire bat</keyword> subfamily are currently found in the caves, trees and buildings of <keyword id="3746" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="mexico" source="Orion">Mexico</keyword>, Central and South America. Estimates have shown that quite many of these flying rodents are infected with rabies, which they eventually pass onto <keyword id="6407539" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="livestock" source="Orion">livestock</keyword> as they feed on the unsuspecting animal's blood. US-based studies have shown that these infections annually cause a massive $47 million in losses to Mexican livestock producers. While vampire bats prefer warmer, more tropical climates typically found near the equator, rising temperatures are causing them to creep northwards. Quite worryingly for the US, officials spotted the species within just 56 kilometres of the US-Mexico border. And now, new research has predicted that it will only take 27 years for these aliens to properly evade border patrol and immigrate over. <keyword id="6361617" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="climate-change" source="Orion">Climate change</keyword> is making everything get hotter, while diminishing the temperature difference between our coldest and warmest seasons. This is why winters barely feel like winters anymore, and why bats are more comfortable in expanding their habitats, since conditions are so much more stable throughout the year. To snip the problem at the root, the research team plans to travel to Colombia — a mega-diverse tropical haven for bats — where they will investigate how the common vampire bats (<keyword id="19681003" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="desmondus" source="Orion">Desmondus</keyword> rotundus) are responding to habitat and biodiversity changes, as well as how ongoing mutations to the rabies virus could enable it to spill over to humans in the future. Bat-borne pathogens are a massive threat to global health. Alongside rabies, bats are also recognised transmitters of <keyword id="6545212" type="General" weightage="80" keywordseo="nipah" source="Orion">Nipah</keyword> virus encephalitis and the SARS virus. But the severity of rabies cannot be understated either. Human infection with the deadly disease almost always results in death, claiming 50,000 lives every year despite vaccination efforts. Many of these cases occur among at-risk populations. The new trove of data will hopefully identify the drivers of rabies spread in Latin America, which could be weaponised by policy-makers to manage the deadly disease better. The findings of this research have been published in Ecography and can be accessed <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecog.06714" data-type="tilCustomLink">here</a>.

Blood-thirsty vampire bats will soon begin migrating into other countries, bringing rabies to a ton of livestock

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Cheetahs are being reintroduced to India after being declared extinct in the country in 1952. </li><li>The reintroduction effort is aimed at creating a viable population of wild cheetahs.</li></ul>In mid-September, eight African cheetahs were airlifted from Namibia and brought to India, marking the first time the big cat stepped foot in the wild in the country since being declared extinct more than 70 years ago.The reintroduction, which was years in the making, was celebrated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on whose 72nd birthday the cats arrived, as well as by other cheetah advocates and scientists."When the cheetah will run again … grasslands will be restored, biodiversity will increase and eco-tourism will get a boost," <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/cheetahs-reintroduced-to-india-after-going-extinct-in-the-country-70-years-ago">Modi</a>, who released the cats into their temporary enclosure, said, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/world/asia/cheetah-relocation-india.html">adding</a>: "Along with these cheetahs, the nature-loving consciousness of India has also awakened with full force."However, some big-cat experts told Insider while they support the idea of reintroducing wild, free-ranging cheetahs to India, the current effort seems more like a marketing stunt — one that's not sufficiently based in science.<h2>Saving cheetahs from extinction</h2>Cheetahs, the world's fastest land animal, were once widespread in India. They were declared extinct in the country in 1952 as a result of hunting and habitat loss."It is the only large mammal that India has lost," S.P. Yadav, secretary of India's National Tiger Conservation Authority, said, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/16/world/asia/cheetah-relocation-india.html">The New York Times</a>. "It is our moral and ethical responsibility to bring them back."Cheetah populations worldwide are also on the decline, with the total number in the wild estimated to be about 6,500, according to the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/219/124366642">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a>. The big cats now occupy just 9% of their historical range. The vast majority of the remaining cheetahs are in Africa, while a small amount of the <a href="https://www.rferl.org/a/iran-asiatic-cheetahs-environment-/31646781.html">critically endangered Asiatic cheetahs</a>, the same subspecies that used to prowl India, remain in Iran."To save cheetahs from extinction, we need to create permanent places for them on Earth. India has areas of grassland and forest habitat, which are appropriate for this species," Laurie Marker, founder of the <a href="https://cheetah.org/">Cheetah Conservation Fund</a>, which has helped coordinate the reintroduction, told <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/17/india-cheetahs-kuno-namibia/">The Washington Post</a>.The relocated cheetahs include five females and two males between the ages of two and six. The eight cheetahs were dropped off at Kuno National Park, south of New Delhi, where they are being quarantined and observed. The plan is to release the cheetahs into the larger national park, where they can prey on animals like deer and antelope, within a matter of months.The <a href="https://wii.gov.in/images//images/documents/publications/action_plan_cheetah_introduction_jan_2022.pdf">reintroduction plan</a>, which is estimated to cost about $11 million, aims to establish a viable, free-ranging population of cheetahs. The <a href="https://pib.gov.in/PressReleaseIframePage.aspx?PRID=1788373">plan</a> involves ultimately relocating around 50 cheetahs to the country in the coming years.<div type="image" title="Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi watching a cheetah after it was released in an enclosure at Kuno National Park, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Saturday, Sept. 17, 2022." height="2925" width="1777" msid="94743678" hostid="261" sizebytes="305334"></div><h2>A 'larger version of a zoo'</h2>There are major challenges with reintroducing a large predator to an ecosystem it has been absent from for decades. The cheetahs could face conflict and competition for food with other predators, like leopards, and there may not be enough natural prey to sustain the planned population size.Arjun M. Gopalaswamy, a wildlife and statistical ecologist who researches big cat and large mammal ecology, told Insider that as the plan currently stands, there's not enough space for the cheetahs.Gopalaswamy noted a paper he published in the journal Ecography in 2020 that found the density of a cheetah population, or the number of cheetahs per the amount of space, to be one per 100 sq km. The amount of space set aside for India's cheetahs is 750 sq km. With those numbers, the area would be large enough for only 7-8 cheetahs, not the dozens that are planned."This simply means that the Cheetah Introduction Action Plan has overestimated the number of cheetahs India's reserves can hold by several fold," Gopalaswamy, who is the founder and chief scientist of Carnassials Global, which provides science consulting to governments and NGOs, said. He added that he supports reintroduction efforts, but that the current plan in India "appears to rely almost completely on the cheetahs and their charisma" and that instead, he would like to see "a fully science-based approach."K. Ullas Karanth, the emeritus director of the Bangalore-based <a href="https://cwsindia.org/">Centre for Wildlife Studies</a>, agreed that the current plan was not grounded in science and told Insider it "will not lead to a restoration of a viable population of wild cheetahs, sustaining itself naturally in the long run."Karanth said the population would be augmented by bringing in additional cheetahs and other animals in order to boost the supply of available prey. Such a system, he said, "cannot be called reintroduction at all.""That would be simply a captive population of cheetahs in a larger version of a zoo," he said, calling it "largely a gimmick and a colossal waste of money."Karanth noted that cheetahs have naturally low reproduction rates and even in the best habitats in Africa the vast majority of cheetahs die before reaching breeding age. He said in India the cheetahs will face denser populations of humans and livestock, dogs, and predators like leopards, making their survival even more challenging. "I think the Indian bureaucracy and the 'foreign experts' have sold a 'creaky used car' to the gullible Indian public, media, and political leadership," Karanth said.Some conservationists have also noted that effort would be better spent trying to first save cheetah populations where they are already established but on the decline, before focusing on reintroduction.Still, proponents of the project are optimistic. Yadvendradev V. Jhala, dean of the Wildlife Institute of India and the lead scientist of the reintroduction effort, pointed to the success India has had in boosting other big cat populations, such as <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-019-03267-z">tigers</a>."The cheetah is a magnificent animal, it's a big magnet for ecotourism," Jhala told <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nationalgeographic.com%2Fanimals%2Farticle%2Finside-the-controversial-plan-to-reintroduce-cheetahs-to-india">National Geographic</a>. "If you bring in cheetah, the government will put funds into rehabilitating and rewilding these systems, and all the biodiversity will thrive."Marker, the founder of the Cheetah Conservation Fund, believes that despite potential challenges, she believes the big cats can adapt, <a href="https://cheetah.org/press-releases/cheetah-conservation-fund-and-namibian-government-to-send-eight-cheetahs-to-india-for-introduction-on-17-september/">noting</a> her group has spent 12 years consulting with the Indian government on how to reintoduce the cheetahs."Cheetahs are very adaptable and [I'm] assuming that they will adapt well into this environment," she told <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/17/india-reintroduces-cheetahs-to-wild-after-big-cats-airlifted-from-namibia">AFP</a>. "So I don't have a lot of worries."Have a news tip? Contact this reporter at <a href="mailto:kvlamis@insider.com?inline-read-more">kvlamis@insider.com</a>.

India reintroduced 8 cheetahs after the big cats were wiped out 70 years ago — but some scientists say it's more of a PR stunt than a conservation effort

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Pecking disorder: Polar bears are shrinking, while some birds are becoming bigger, all thanks to climate change

Ankush Banerjee

Blood-thirsty vampire bats will soon begin migrating into other countries, bringing rabies to a ton of livestock

Ankush Banerjee

India reintroduced 8 cheetahs after the big cats were wiped out 70 years ago — but some scientists say it's more of a PR stunt than a conservation effort

Kelsey Vlamis

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