Author: chXout Team

A rare and spooky looking fungus called the Devil’s Fingers (Clathrus archeri) was discovered on Halloween at a Nature reserve near Bristol. The Devil’s Fingers is a saprotrophic fungus (soil-forming mushroom) native to Australia and New Zealand [1]. This organism lives off decaying matter and is part of a family of death reeking funguses known as stinkhorns. The Devil’s Fingers was first recorded in Europe in France, 1914. Presumably, this species was transported to Europe with Australian wool or, alternatively, with military supplies at the beginning of the First World War [2]. Its first recorded presence in Britain was in Cornwall, 1946. This was a surprising identification by an Avon Wildlife Trust conservation team on October 31st as there have only been two known records in this region, both from 1999. Also known as Octopus Fungus, this fungal species sprouts red tentacle-like arms from a partly buried white gelatinous ‘egg’. These arms stand vertically and are initially joined at the tip before unfolding backwards into a star shape. 5-7 (sometimes up...

A new in German study published in the journal, Nature, confirms that some insect species are being pushed to the brink of extinction! Invertebrates make up 97% of the Earth’s animal species [1] and range in size from microscopic mites and almost invisible flies to giant squids with football sized eyes. Invertebrates are the most diverse group of animals and so far around 1.25 million invertebrate species have been described, most of which are insects. Indeed, every day new invertebrate species are being described by morphological and molecular data [4]. The success of insects comes from their ability to reproduce quickly and their adaptability to environmental change. Despite this, more than 40% of insect species are declining and a third are endangered worldwide – with an extinction rate eight time faster than that of birds, mammals and reptiles! New research has found insect and spider populations to be declining rapidly in forests and grasslands across Germany, scientists describe these findings as ‘alarming’ [3]. This...

Echolocation is a fascinating process whereby animals are able to emit calls into their surrounding environment and listen for the returning echoes from objects around them. This process not only allows animals to navigate successfully in their environment but also allows successful the detection of prey.Bats are one of a few mammals who use echolocation. They usually reside in environments of total darkness so it is not surprising that these animals have adapted to successful avoid obstacles in their flight path. As bats are nocturnal (they are usually active at night), their echolocation gives them a great advantage in foraging for food as there are more prey available (many inspects are also nocturnal), there is less competition for food and there is also fewer predators who prey on bats.To use echolocation, bats have adapted to the processing of large amounts of information and rapid movement in response to this information. Researchers have been analysing the brains of bats to see...