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This is what the climate crisis looks like: Birds fall out of the sky as temperatures hit record high in India

Birds are falling from the sky in western India due to exhaustion and dehydration as a scorching heatwave continues for the third month.

The long-running heatwave spell has continued to bake citizens in Delhi after record temperatures breached an unprecedented 49C mark in some parts of India’s national capital this weekend.

In the western state of Gujarat – where the temperature has hovered above 40C for weeks now and is set to touch 46C in several pockets – rescuers are coming across birds that have fallen from the sky.

The impact of the excruciating heat on animals has been neglected so far, as humans suffering from heatstrokes and dehydration are being treated in hospitals where separate wards for heatwave-related conditions are being set up in several areas of the state.

Provided by The Independent A hospital curator feeds an Indian Flying Fox bat at Jivdaya Charitable Trust in Ahmedabad (Getty Images)

Conditions have deteriorated significantly for animals because this year’s heatwave is “one of the worst in recent times”, according to rescuers working in an animal hospital managed by nonprofit Jivdaya Charitable Trust in Gujarat.

“We have seen a 10 per cent increase in the number of birds that need rescuing,” Manoj Bhavsar, who works closely with the trust and has been rescuing birds for more than a decade, told the Reuters news agency.

Activists have been picking up these birds and taking them to the trust-run hospital to provide immediate care, such as injecting water into their mouths using syringes and feeding birds multi-vitamin tablets.

Provided by The Independent A vet provides medicine to an eagle in Ahmedabad (Reuters via Amit Dave)

Extreme hot spells, or heatwaves, began much earlier in India and Pakistan this year, with the first spell recorded as early as March.

Heatwaves in the subcontinent are usually reported either in May, or in some instances, in April.

While the change in the pattern of heatwaves becoming stronger and longer stems from several factors, the chief underlying cause of this extreme weather event is thought to be the climate crisis.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said two of its weather stations in the capital’s Mungeshpur and Najafgarh areas recorded temperatures at 49.2C and 49.1C respectively in recent days. 

Reference: The Independent: Stuti Mishra

Scientists discover why female octopuses self-mutilate to death after laying eggs

A drastic change in steroid hormone levels in female octopuses after they lay eggs causes them to mutilate themselves to death, a new study has revealed.

Tom Kleindinst, Marine Biological Laboratory:Octopus bimaculoides

Cephalopods, a group that includes octopuses and squids, have the largest central nervous systems and the greatest brain-to-body mass ratios among spineless creatures. However, cephalopods are unusually short-lived, unlike other big-brained animals.

After laying a clutch of eggs, mother octopuses quit eating and waste away, explain researchers, including those from the University of Chicago. By the time the eggs hatch, the mother octopuses are dead. This bizarre maternal behaviour is linked to the optic gland in octopuses, an organ similar to the pituitary gland in mammals.

Scientists found that the optic gland in maternal octopuses undergoes a massive shift in cholesterol metabolism, which results in dramatic changes in the steroid hormones produced, according to a new study published last week in the journal Current Biology.

Previous studies in other animals, including humans, have shown that changes in cholesterol metabolism can have serious consequences on longevity and behaviour.

Researchers believe the new finding reveals important similarities in the functions of these steroid molecules across the animal kingdom, in soft-bodied cephalopods and vertebrates alike.

“We know cholesterol is important from a dietary perspective, and within different signaling systems in the body too,” said Z Yan Wang, assistant professor of psychology and biology at the University of Washington in the US, and lead author of the study.

“It’s involved in everything from the flexibility of cell membranes to production of stress hormones, but it was a big surprise to see it play a part in this life cycle process as well,” Dr Wang said.

With earlier studies pointing to the role of the optic gland in female octopuses in their self-destructive behaviour, researchers analysed the chemicals produced by this organ in maternal octopuses.

Their new study found three different pathways involved in increasing steroid hormones after reproduction.

One of these pathways produces pregnenolone and progesterone – two steroids commonly associated with pregnancy – while another produces maternal cholestanoids or intermediate components for bile acids. The third pathway produces increased levels of 7-dehydrocholesterol (7-DHC), a precursor to cholesterol.

Scientists found that the maternal optic gland undergoes dramatic changes to produce more pregnenolone and progesterone, maternal cholestanoids, and 7-DHC during the stages of decline.

“There are two major pathways for creating cholesterol that are known from studies in rodents, and now there’s evidence from our study that those pathways are probably present in octopuses as well. It was really exciting to see the similarity across such different animals,” Dr Wang said.

In humans, elevated levels of 7-DHC is a “hallmark” of a genetic disorder called Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome (SLOS), which is caused by a mutation in the enzyme that converts 7-DHC to cholesterol, scientists say.

Children with the disorder suffer from severe developmental and behavioral consequences, including repetitive self-injury reminiscent of octopus end-of-life behaviors.

Based on the findings, researchers suspect disruption of this cholesterol production process in octopuses has grave consequences, just as it does in other animals.

“What’s striking is that they go through this progression of changes where they seem to go crazy right before they die. Maybe that’s two processes, maybe it’s three or four,” Clifton Ragsdale, another co-author of the study, noted.

“Now, we have at least three apparently independent pathways to steroid hormones that could account for the multiplicity of effects that these animals show,” Dr Ragsdale added.

In future research, scientists hope to understand how the lesser Pacific striped octopus (Ocotopus chierchiae) doesn’t self-destruct after breeding like the animals in the latest study.

Scientists hope to examine the striped octopus’s optic glands and compare them to the latest results to find how it avoids the tragic octopus death spiral. 

Reference: Independent: Vishwam Sankaran

Scientists reverse memory loss in mice with brain fluid injection

Scientists have reversed memory loss in mice by injecting them with brain fluid.

Researchers took cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from young adult mice and infused it into the brains of older mice. The treatment improved the memory recall of the old mice in a task where they learned to associate a small electric shock with a tone and a flashing light.

It is hoped that the findings could be applied to humans and raises hope for future dementia treatments.

Study author Professor Tony Wyss-Coray, from Stanford University in California, said: "Brain ageing underlies dementia and neurodegenerative diseases, imposing an immense societal burden.

"Memory improvements that are seen in old mice receiving CSF from younger animals may be attributed to growth factors that are shown to restore natural cell function.

"The findings demonstrate the potential rejuvenating properties of young CSFfor the ageing brain."

Reference: bangshowbiz.com 

Queen’s Speech: Gene editing of animals and plants to get green light

© PA: Campaigners have warned of ‘high-tech free-for-all’ on animal welfare

Boris Johnson’s government will push ahead with legislation to allow the gene editing of animals and crops in a bid to improve Britain’s agricultural productivity.

The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill outlined in the Queen’s Speech is aimed at promoting “efficient” farming and food production – stripping out rules inherited from the EU after Brexit.

Gene editing is considered to pose less of a risk that genetic modification (GM) since it does not involve the introduction of DNA from another species.

But the practice is still controversial, with campaigners warning about potentially “catastrophic” animal welfare implications from a “high-tech free-for-all”.

The use of technology has been restricted by a 2018 ruling from the European Court of Justice that determined it should be regulated in the same way as GM.

Brexit opportunities minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has been keen to find ways to ditch EU rules so the UK can increasingly diverge from Brussels.

The government hopes that simplified regulation will allow gene editing to increase disease resistance in crops, which can in turn reduce the use of pesticide – as well as boosting production.

Gene editing makes changes to the traits within a species of plant or animal much more quickly and precisely than traditional selective breeding, used for centuries to create stronger crops and livestock.

Plans for the bill include two notification systems where breeders and scientists will need to notify the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs of precision-bred organisms. The information collected on precision-bred organisms will be published on a public register.

The World Animal Protection group said the legislation had the “potential for catastrophic welfare implications” – urging the government to consider animal welfare when it comes to drawing up the bill.

Lindsay Duncan, the group’s farming campaign manager said gene editing “does not take into consideration the severe welfare impacts selective breeding has already had on millions of farmed animals in the UK”.

GM Freeze, an umbrella group of organisations seeking to highlight concerns about the impact of genetic modification, also argues that not enough is known about gene editing.

The group said the government “appears to have decided that what we don’t know does not matter and that we should take our chances with potential adverse effects on people, animals and the environment”.

The Soil Association has previously criticised gene editing as “not a long-term solution” to crop and animal disease – warning against “high-tech free-for-all”.

Separately from the gene-editing bill, a Brexit Freedoms Bill in Tuesday’s Queen’s Speech promises to “seize the benefits” of EU withdrawal by making it easier to relax regulations. 

Reference: Independent: Adam Forrest