DEAR READERS: Nature.com published an item on March 13 entitled, “Killer whales have menopause. Now scientists think they know why.” Comparing data on toothed whale species that do, and do not, experience menopause suggests that prolonged female post-reproductive life allows whales to improve their offspring's (including grand-offspring's) survival chances. Older female whales such as killer whales share food and become “repositories of long-term ecological knowledge,” explains animal-behavior researcher and study co-author Sam Ellis.
Menopause also seems to reduce reproductive competition between mothers and daughters. The hormone changes killer whales go through are like those in menopausal humans, Ellis says. (Full study: "The evolution of menopause in toothed whales," S. Ellis, et al., Nature, 2024)
ASIAN ELEPHANTS BURY THEIR DEAD
Asian elephants bury their calves with their legs poking out of the ground, researchers have observed. The calves in question were 1 year old or younger, and were transported by herd members to premade burial sites, of sorts -- irrigation drains on tea estates in the eastern Himalayan floodplains -- before being placed in holes and covered in soil. (Full study: "Unearthing calf burials among Asian Elephants [Elephas maximus Linnaeus]," P. Kaswan and A. Roy, Journal of Threatened Taxa, 2024)
Researchers have previously observed African forest elephants performing burial practices in which herd members cover their deceased companions with branches and leaves. The new report includes references to thanatology studies in other species such as gorillas and baboons, and how they respond to the death of group members. Many species clearly mourn the deaths of offspring and adult members of their communities.
PHARMACEUTICAL FARMING GETS A 'MOO-BOOST'
Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the Universidade de Sao Paulo in Brazil are developing a genetically modified cow that produces human proinsulin and insulin in its mammary glands. “I could see a future where a 100-head herd, equivalent to a small Illinois or Wisconsin dairy, could produce all the insulin needed for the country,” said Matt Wheeler, a co-author of the paper published in the Biotechnology Journal. (Full study: "Human proinsulin production in the milk of transgenic cattle," P.S. Monzani et al., Biotechnology Journal, March 2024)
MISUSE OF ANIMAL CLONING FOR 'CANNED' TROPHY HUNTS
The owner of a livestock ranch in Montana pleaded guilty to illegally using cloning and artificial insemination and forging veterinary records to develop and sell a giant sheep for trophy hunting. Prosecutors say the 80-year-old man brought parts from an internationally and federally protected species, the Marco Polo argali sheep, into the U.S. from Kyrgyzstan, sent genetic material to a lab for cloning, then implanted cloned embryos in ewes on his ranch. This created a male hybrid, whose semen was used to artificially inseminate other sheep. (Full story: CBS News, March 13)
Such widely posted news makes me wonder how degenerate some members of our species have become in finding ways to exploit animals for profit.
ANIMAL PLAY
In his book “Kingdom of Play: What Ball-Bouncing Octopuses, Belly-Flopping Monkeys, and Mud-Sliding Elephants Reveal About Life Itself,” author David Toomey explores the research into the fascinating subject of play behavior in animals.
At least 30 hypotheses of animal play are investigated, though Toomey notes that “some are little more than notions.” He finds a definition by Gordon Burghardt, an ethologist and evolutionary biologist, particularly helpful: Play is “behavior that is nonfunctional, voluntary, characterized by repeated but varied movements, and occurring only when the animal is healthy, safe and well-fed.”
Having observed play behavior in many species, it is evident to me that pleasure is a self-reward for manipulating inanimate objects; engaging in bonding behavior with playmates and siblings, probably with the release of oxytocin; learning self-control to play-fight gently; and refining motor skills for hunting, escape, self-defense and courtship. Similar socializing, developmental and cognitive benefits are evident in children, whom we can “zoomorphize” in seeing that their motivation to play is shared by many other species, eloquently detailed by Toomey.
(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.
Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)