An Alaska Mother's Day tradition: Mingling with ice age survivors on a farm
All moms get a daisy and free admission Sunday at the Musk Ox Farm in Palmer, about an hour's drive north of Anchorage. Once inside they will have the chance to view 75 members of the musk ox herd, including three young calves just getting their feet under them. Also a draw is an old bull named Trebek, named after the late 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek, a benefactor of the facility.
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Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Remnants of 7,000-Year-Old Village Discovered on Alaskan Island
Researchers found evidence of an Alutiiq village on Shuyak Island An important discovery was made on the remote Alaskan island of Shuyak, 54 air miles north of the Kodiak Archipelago. Artifacts dating back 7,000 years were discovered at the site. The island has served as a hotspot for archeological activity since the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in 1989, local outlet Alaska's News Source reported. 'We didn't know that we were going to find a site over 7,000 years old, which is, it's always very exciting," Director of Archaeology for the Alutiiq Museum, Molly Odell, told the outlet. "The site had partially eroded, and so there were artifacts, stone tools, on the beach.' The team of researchers also located evidence of a small 300-year-old village believed to have once been home to nearly 300 people. The Alutiiq-Sugpiaq people, who are indigenous to Alaska, have inhabited the area surrounding the archipelago for approximately 7,500 years, according to Alaska Public Media. The word Suu'aq (Shuyak) in Alutiiq translates to "rising out of the water." "I think we found that one village that had 11 house pits, probably had two to three hundred people living in it, you know, 300 years ago," Patrick Saltonstall, the archaeology curator with the Alutiiq Museum, told the outlet. "Shuyak has always sort of been a place where I think it seems like there were fewer people up there. But finding that, you know what your preconceptions are and what you actually find often don't match." Shuyak Island played a significant role in Alaska's history, in particular, due to at least two established Alutiiq villages. Russian fur trader Gregorii Shelikov destroyed one of the villages — and by the late 1700s, there were no communities left on the island, the outlet reported. The island was later home to a herring saltery and family fishing operations providing food for human consumption and animal feed for a "growing fox farming industry" in the 1920s. The Sklaroff & Sons smoked fish establishment from 1892, in Port William on the south end of Shuyak Island, was turned into a fish processing facility or cannery, which was operated by the Washington Fish and Oyster Company until 1976. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Following the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, parts of the island's archaeological sites were at risk of erosion. The new discoveries have indicated that this threat is less prevalent. "What we found up there is that's not happening anymore. All the sites are much more stable," Saltonstall told Alaska Public Media. "You see grass growing on all the beaches, and it demonstrates…the land sank in 1964 and it's rebounded ever since, and it's outpacing sea level rise up there." The museum is doing survey work in partnership with the Shuyak Island State Park and Alaska State Parks system. The museum plans to update the archaeology display at the Big Bay Ranger station on the island to reflect the new artifacts discovered on the island, according to the outlet. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Motion cameras were set up in the jungles of Guatemala — and they captured something incredible
During a nasty summer heat wave — see: much of the US right now — water is a reliable source of relief. Where there are no rivers or lakes to swim in, we still might have swimming pools, sprinklers, and popsicles to keep ourselves cool. Wild animals don't have such luxuries. Bouts of extreme heat and drought — which are becoming more common and less predictable as global temperatures rise — can cause natural watering holes in many different types of ecosystems to dry up. And animals don't have a tap they can simply turn on. That leaves them with few places to hydrate and cool off, putting their lives, often already imperiled, at risk. But in some parts of the world, humans are offering help. In the jungles of northern Guatemala, which have been abnormally hot in recent years, environmental groups placed several large tubs of water in nature reserves. They refill them regularly, providing a reliable source of fresh water that animals can drink from or splash in, even when there's no rain. And luckily for us, they also put motion-activated cameras nearby to see which animals were using them. You might call them thirst traps. Courtesy of Wildlife Conservation Society 'The diversity of species using the water sources was amazing,' said Gabriela Ponce, head of Wildlife Conservation Society Guatemala, a group involved in the project with several others, including the local Guatemala NGO Foundation for Ecodevelopment and Conservation. The footage reveals a diverse cast of jungle characters, including those that are rarely seen, like jaguars and tapirs — large herbivores with distinct trunk-like noses. It also exposed some interesting animal behaviors, Ponce said. Researchers noticed that spider monkeys seemed to prefer drinking from raised water containers — perhaps so that they can quickly escape if predators approach, Ponce said. Wild animals are often more sensitive to environmental impacts than we are. They don't have technologies like air conditioning and water purification to survive all the ways in which we're altering the planet, from heating it up to filling it with pollution. And when climate disasters hit, the impacts are often devastating to wild animals, too. But there are simple ways to help wildlife cope with the world we've created for them, like putting out (clean) hummingbird feeders and bird baths or extinguishing invasive mosquitos that are spreading avian malaria. 'Artificial watering holes are not a permanent solution,' Rony García-Anleu, who leads biological research at Wildlife Conservation Society Guatemala, said in a press release. 'But they are a vital tool in helping wildlife adapt to increasingly unpredictable environmental conditions.' Solve the daily Crossword
Forbes
5 hours ago
- Forbes
A Biologist Spotlights The Most Abundant ‘Bird Of Prey' In The World. Hint: More Than 5 Million Exist, But You Won't Find Any In North America
Raptors, also known as 'birds of prey,' are not nearly as common as their less confrontational ... More cousins, like the sparrow, starling or swallow. Here's the raptor that you're most likely to find in the wild, assuming you don't live in the Americas. Generally speaking, there are three groups of raptors. One is 'accipitriformes.' These are diurnal (daytime) raptors and include hawks, eagles, kites, vultures and harriers. There's also 'strigiformes.' These are nocturnal (nighttime) raptors and include all species of owls. Then there's 'falconiformes.' This class comprises all falcon species – which, although also diurnal, are genetically distinct from eagles, hawks and the other accipitriformes. Some ornithologists might get fancier with their raptor classifications – possibly further subdividing these to highlight the evolutionary uniqueness of new world vultures, the secretarybird and the osprey – but the delineation above works as a general rule of thumb. Remember, what separates raptors from all other bird species is their carnivorous diet and hunting ability, including sharp talons, hooked beaks, keen eyesight and powerful flight muscles. However, these traits don't necessarily reflect shared ancestry. For example, falcons are more closely related to songbirds than to other raptor lineages. Of all of these raptor species, the most abundant is the black kite. Here's the story of the world's most common bird of prey. (Sidebar: Fascinated by remarkable birds? See here to meet the world's rarest eagle, and here to learn about the oldest known bird still alive today.) The Black Kite - The Most Common In A Class Of Rarities Black Kite (Milvus migrans). Abundant, adaptable, and widespread, the black kite (Milvus migrans) is a unique raptor. While many birds of prey are elusive, rare, or highly specialized, black kites thrive across a variety of environments, with an estimated population of more than 5 million individuals worldwide. That makes them the most numerous raptor on the planet. You won't find black kites in the Americas, however. Their range covers much of Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. Black kites belong to the family Accipitridae, which also includes hawks, eagles, harriers and other kites. They inhabit a variety of environments, from open countryside and wetlands to urban areas. In cities, they are often seen soaring above garbage dumps, marketplaces and riverbanks, scavenging for scraps and small prey. This opportunistic feeding strategy sets black kites apart from more specialized raptors that rely primarily on hunting live prey. Their diet is famously varied: carrion, small mammals, insects, fish, reptiles and even stolen food from other birds. They are known for their intelligence and nimbleness, often stealing food mid-air from other birds, a behavior called kleptoparasitism. According to a 2008 study published in the Journal of Raptor Research, black kites at a landfill in Rome relied heavily on kleptoparasitism to get their meals – stealing food in more than 75% of observed feeding attempts. Most thefts targeted gulls, which were abundant and easy to rob, though kites also stole from each other. Researchers found that this strategy became more common and effective as kite numbers grew, especially later in the breeding season. Unlike many raptors that are solitary or live in pairs, black kites are often highly social. They congregate in large groups, especially at roosting sites where thousands may gather to rest overnight. These communal roosts provide safety in numbers and opportunities for social learning. During migration, black kites form large flocks, sometimes numbering in the thousands. These spectacles are a favorite among birdwatchers worldwide. Black kites share the hallmark raptor features that make birds of prey such efficient hunters. They have sharp, curved talons and hooked beaks designed for tearing flesh. Their eyesight is exceptionally keen, capable of spotting small prey or carrion from high in the air. Their long wings and forked tail give black kites exceptional maneuverability, allowing them to ride thermal currents for hours and conserve energy during long-distance travel. Thanks to their global abundance and wide distribution, they provide a valuable model for studying population structure and variation in migratory behavior across a broad geographic range. A black kite in flight. Some populations migrate thousands of kilometers between breeding and ... More wintering grounds, while others remain year-round residents. According to research published in Ethology Ecology & Evolution and the Journal of Avian Biology, their movement patterns vary across regions, with some Palearctic populations migrating long distances while others, particularly in India and Australia, remain year-round residents. GPS tracking has confirmed that individuals from northern Asia overwinter in South and Southeast Asia, while tropical populations tend to stay put. These regional differences are reflected in their genetics. DNA analyses show that populations from Europe, northern Asia, India, and Australia carry distinct haplogroups, suggesting historical separation and limited gene flow. A 2024 Zootaxa study found that Indian and Australian kites likely diverged at the end of the last Ice Age and no longer share haplotypes. Meanwhile, African populations, especially the yellow-billed kite, are genetically distinct enough that many researchers now consider them a separate species. Altogether, these findings point to a complex evolutionary history shaped by geography, climate shifts, and variable migration strategies. While many raptors face threats from habitat loss, pollution and persecution, the black kite has so far maintained stable populations across much of its range. Its ability to exploit human-altered landscapes has certainly helped. Their success story offers a striking contrast to the fate of many other raptors, which often decline in the face of urbanization. The black kite stands out as a reminder that adaptability is a powerful survival strategy. They may not be the rarest or most iconic raptor, but in terms of resilience, global reach, and sheer numbers, no other bird of prey comes close. Are you an animal lover who owns a pet, perhaps even a pet bird? Take the science-backed Pet Personality Test to know how well you know your little friend.
