News in brief
Pointless de-horning
New research suggests that de-horning black rhinos to make them less attractive to poachers does not harm the animals. The European Journal of Wildlife Research reports that horned and de-horned populations in Namibia, home to the majority of black rhinos, are similarly reproductively successful. Less encouragingly, de-horned animals were still no less likely to be taken by poachers.
Capercaillie rescue
The RSPB is drawing up an emergency plan to save the capercaillie, one of the UK’s most elusive and threatened woodland birds, which is now restricted to the Cairngorms National Park. A recent survey has found that its population has fallen to 542 birds.
Plastic fantastic
The digestive juices of wax worms – the caterpillars of beeswax-feeding moths – are capable of breaking down plastics that would otherwise take years to decompose. Nature Communications reports that two enzymes found in the insects’ saliva can digest polyethylene, which comprises 30 per cent of plastics.
Sense of direction
Animals that navigate by the planet’s magnetic field may be using microscopic hairs in the inner ear as tiny compass needles. EPJ ST reports that clumps of 100 hairs moved by magnetised iron at their base can produce enough force to stimulate an animal’s central nervous system.
FACT.
A jellyfish’s mouth is located in the centre of its body and is multipurpose. The mouth is used to eat, discard waste, and squirt water so it can propel itself forward.