Wildlife

If there’s anything more impressive than a bear’s size, it’s its intelligence. Bears can learn to ride bicycles, use tools, and as new research shows, count. Scientists trained three American black bears (Ursus Americanus) to discriminate between groups of dots on a touchscreen computer: Two bears learned to pick the group with fewer dots, while the third learned to choose the group with more dots. In some trials, the group with fewer dots took up more space; in others, the dots moved. All three bears could use the number of dots to guide their choices, but the bear trained to pick groups with more dots performed better on its tests and could also discriminate with moving dots, researchers report online this month in the journal Animal Behaviour — via redwolf.newsvine.com

The pesky cane toad, which has played havoc with native species, could soon be facing death by its own poison.

Native tadpoles are repelled by the cane toads’ poison, but cane toads themselves are attracted to it.

Now, the University of Sydney’s Professor Rick Shine says work is underway to manufacture a poison pill to target the rogue tadpoles.

We’re hoping that we can come up with a relatively non-toxic pure form of the chemical that’ll last for a long time, Professor Shine said.

It’ll be safe to use [and] it’ll make it a lot easier to go and catch those cane toad tadpoles from that pond down the road — via redwolf.newsvine.com

Specially chosen for their spring frenzy and voracious appetite for dung, two new species of European dung beetles have arrived in Australia to improve cattle pastures and finish off a job well started through more than 40 years of dung beetle work by CSIRO and partners.

Collected in the south of France, Onthophagus vacca and Bubas bubalus are the first new species of dung beetles imported in more than 20 years through a project led by CSIRO and supported by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) — via redwolf.newsvine.com