Why are these scientists trying to collect dolphin poo?
The team of conservationists funded by the Nature Networks Fund in collaboration with Aberystwyth University are trying to learn more about the dolphin's relationships and movement patterns. They are therefore attempting to collect poo samples from as many dolphins in Cardigan Bay as possible using nets after the marine creatures do their 'business'. They will then be able to send the poo to Aberystwyth University to be analysed to help understand what they have been feeding on and therefore, where they are getting their food from. With enough data (poo), they will also be able to build individual profiles for each dolphin and perhaps even find similarities between biological family members. But the poop isn't the only thing they will be looking closely at. They will also attempt to match the samples with photo identification records of the dolphins gathered on camera by members of the Wildlife Trust of South and West Wales.
Sarah Perry, the trust's marine conservation and research manager, said she hoped the study would "unravel the mysteries of bottlenose dolphin ecology in Cardigan Bay"."This project covers an area of research that we have aspired to embark on over the past decade or so, and we are excited that it has come to fruition at a time when it is even more important that we build on our knowledge of the species in the waters around us."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
10 minutes ago
- BBC News
Bedfordshire woman with ME criticises health plan for condition
A woman living with myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) said she has "lost faith" in receiving "meaningful support" after the government released a new support plan for the also known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), is a neurological disease which affects about 390,000 people in the UK. On 22 July the government launched a new delivery plan to improve education around the illness, as well as increase funding, research and medical training for health practitioners. Maddie Walker, 51, from Bedfordshire, said she was "disappointed" in how the plan lacked any "real change to improve the quality of life for sufferers". Ms Walker said she was healthy and active before she developed severe ME and was now unable to leave the house without a wheelchair and has carers visit her multiple times a described living with the condition as "mind-numbing" and that she felt "despondent". The condition's symptoms include fatigue, muscle and joint weakness, cognitive dysfunction and post-exertional malaise. Misdiagnosis Ms Walker was initially diagnosed with fibromyalgia with fatigue, a condition causing muscular pain all over the body. As a result of the crossover in symptoms, Ms Walker's ME was not recognised initially, leading her to be recommended treatment that was not tailored to both conditions."Something I feel really strongly about is people being given the right information at the point of diagnosis because if I had known what I was doing was harmful, I might not be in this situation."Ms Walker said she has a "terrible, really poor quality of life" and that "hundreds of thousands of people have once again been let down" by the new delivery plan. "We just aren't important enough," she said. The ME Association (MEA) said the government must go "much further" to improve medical care and funding for "much needed" biomedical research. It added that currently most research studies for ME/CFS are funded by the charity added there were numerous strengths to the plan, including the approach to broaden education about the illness in the NHS and in schools. Dr Charles Shepherd, a medical adviser with the MEA, said the plan does not align with the 2021 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines, which suggested making referral services more accessible in hospitals. Ashley Dalton, the MP for West Lancashire and minister for public health and prevention, said: "[The] plan will help tackle the stigma and lack of awareness of this condition through improved training for NHS staff." A spokesperson of Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) said: "We acknowledge there is more to be done and will continue to build on the foundations of these actions well beyond the publication of this plan."There was a "clear commitment" to achieving "meaningful change" for the ME/CFS community, it using neighbourhood health services, the DHSC said it will ensure patients can access quality care closer to home. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
The Independent
39 minutes ago
- The Independent
King Charles dons kilt as he visits Scottish county close to heart
King Charles III wore a red kilt as he visited Caithness in the north of Scotland on Monday, 28 July. His Majesty has a long-standing affection for the area and is a regular summer visitor to the nearby Castle of Mey. Charles was in Scrabster to meet with key figures working in the nuclear sector. The visit was hosted by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) to mark the 70th anniversary of the Dounreay nuclear site. Dounreay was a leading research centre for scientists and engineers experimenting with plutonium, uranium and other metals to generate electricity using advanced types of nuclear reactor. This research ended in the 1990s. The site is now Scotland's largest nuclear clean-up, waste management and demolition project, to make the land safe for future generations.
Telegraph
40 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Scientist stores data in animal for the first time
A scientist has saved an image inside a bird's brain in what is believed to be the world's first case of storing data inside an animal. Benn Jordan, a musician and acoustic scientist, was able to 'write' the picture – a drawing of a bird – to a European starling by converting it to an audio file and playing it to the songbird. The bird was able to repeat the sound with remarkable accuracy, allowing the image to be recreated when put through computer software. 'To my knowledge, this may technically be the first time anyone has ever stored data in an animal,' Mr Jordan said. Images, as well as potentially other types of information, can be converted into sounds using a spectral synthesiser, which represents sound waves in a visual format known as a spectrogram. Mr Jordan drew a simple picture of a bird and converted it into a sound: a split-second electronic sweep that would be meaningless to the human ear. He played it to the starling, a rescue bird called 'The Mouth', which was later able to repeat back the sound faithfully. When converted back into a spectrogram, the recording of the starling's song looked remarkably similar to Mr Jordan's drawing. The bird had effectively saved the picture as an audio signature, in the same way that it might be stored on a hard disk as ones and zeroes. European starlings are known to have extraordinary mimicry abilities and can produce complex acoustic structures, making them uniquely capable of repeating the unconventional sound produced by converting a picture into a spectrogram. Mr Jordan said the starling had effectively saved 176 kilobytes of data. In theory, other types of data such as text could be converted and 'stored' within birds. 'The fact that you could set up a speaker in your yard and conceivably store any amount of data in songbirds is crazy,' he said. Starlings often store a large repertoire of songs to impress potential mates, with adult starlings having up to 67, according to one study. Researchers have been looking for alternative ways of storing data amid an explosion in the amount of information being created. Microsoft has experimented with storing data in DNA and in etched glass. Audio signals have previously been used to transmit data. Advertising companies have in the past experimented with ultrasonic beacons that could be detected by smartphone apps to detect if a person was watching an advert.
