Learning from other species
Predators learn to identify prey from other predators
Marzo 21, 2018
It is much faster to learn to recognize a new prey item from a neighboring species, than to learn by trial and error.
It is much faster to learn to recognize a new prey item from a neighboring species, than to learn by trial and error.
A whale shark named Anne swam all the way across the Pacific from Coiba National Park in Panama to the Marianas Trench.
Isla Boná in the Gulf of Panama is an understudied breeding ground for thousands of tropical seabirds. Marine biologist Héctor Guzmán’s newest research program will contribute to understanding their ecology and the conservation of the island for birds and birders alike.
The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published a newly revised version of The pollination of cultivated plants: A compendium for practitioners, edited by STRI staff scientist, David Roubik. Its release this year coincides with the first World Bee Day, on May 20 and contributes to awareness of the importance of pollinators for food security and conservation and direct steps to save them.
The Guna, Emberá and cattle-ranching communities of eastern Panama share the same threatened landscape but have been divided for generations over territorial disputes. A series of filmmaking workshops and film festivals have brought some members of the community together in ways not previously considered possible.
STRI took a gamble on a carbon offset program in partnership with an indigenous community in eastern Panama. Ten years later, it has successfully met offset goals, empowered women, built environmental stewardship capacity, created a long-term research platform and offered hope for a community’s threatened forest-based traditions.
White-faced capuchin monkeys in Panama’s Coiba National Park habitually use hammer and anvil stones to break hermit crab shells, snail shells, coconuts and other food items, according to visiting scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI). This is the first report of habitual stone-tool use by Cebus monkeys.
Human sisters may look extremely different from one another. What does that have to do with gold, black and red beetles?
Attacks on humpback whales may be on the rise, according to an analysis of scars on humpback whales published in Endangered Species Research.
Not only does it take energy to make weapons, it may take even more energy to maintain them. Because leaf-footed bugs drop their legs, it is possible to measure how much energy they allocate to maintaining this appendage that males use to fight other males.