This week’s shelter pets are the sweet duo of, from left, Dudley, a lab mix, and Shania, a shepherd mix. They had a tough start to life when they were abandoned together at a Virginia farm and now they are waiting for a new home at Kent Animal Shelter.
These 4-year-old cuties truly are the best of friends and bring out the best personalities in each other. They have so much love to give to anyone willing to give them a chance! Hopefully Dudley and Shania can be adopted together but either way they are both looking for a great home. They come neutered/spayed, microchipped and up to date on all their vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. For more information on Dudley, Shania and other adoptable pets at Kent, visit www.kentanimalshelter.com or call 631-727-5731.
*Update 10/5/18: Dudley and Shania have been adopted together! Happy life you two!
This week’s shelter pet is Snowy, a 7-year-old, white domestic long-haired cat waiting for a new home at Kent Animal Shelter. His owners were allergic and couldn’t keep him anymore. Snowy is active, playful, affectionate and friendly to everyone he meets. Won’t you open your heart to this handsome guy? He comes neutered, microchipped and up to date on all his vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. For more information on Snowy and other adoptable pets at Kent, visit www.kentanimalshelter.com or call 631-727-5731.
Let’s help Einstein and his friends at Sweetbriar! The nature center, located at 62 Eckernkamp Drive, Smithtown seeks donations for its annual spring yard sale and fundraiser on April 28 and 29 including antiques, collectibles, memorabilia and other “cool” stuff. Please NO clothes, books, baby supplies, electronics or anything that weighs over 40 pounds unless it fits the above guidelines. Proceeds will go toward the center’s mission of providing nature education and wildlife rehabilitation. To make a donation, please call Eric at 631-979-6344 or Joe at 631-901-5911.
B.G., aka Baby Girl, is a great cat who had a home until her owner passed away. Now she’s waiting at Kent Animal Shelter for her furever home. B.G. is confused because she doesn’t understand what happened to the home she knew for the last four years. Please come fall in love with her and be the one to show her that life can be good again! Baby Girl comes spayed, microchipped and up to date on all her vaccines.
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. For more information on B.G. and other adoptable pets at Kent, visit www.kentanimalshelter.com or call 631-727-5731.
Adélie penguins jump off an iceberg of one of the Danger Islands. Photo by Rachel Herman from Stony Brook University/ Louisiana State University
By Daniel Dunaief
In October of 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, people imagined that satellites hovering over their heads could see everything and anything down below. Indeed, in the early days, some Americans rushed to close their blinds, hoping the Kremlin couldn’t see what they might be eating for dinner or watching on TV.
Satellites today collect such a wealth of information about the world below that it’s often not easy to analyze and interpret it.
That’s the case with the Danger Islands in the Antarctic. Difficult for people to approach by boat because of treacherous rocks around the islands and sea ice that might trap a ship, these islands are home to a super colony of Adélie penguins that number 1.5 million.
Nesting Adelie penguins. Photo by Michael Polito from Louisiana State University
This discovery of birds that were photographed in a reconnaissance plane in 1957 but haven’t been studied or counted since “highlights the ultimate challenge of drinking from the firehose of satellite-based information,” said Heather Lynch, an associate professor of ecology and evolution at Stony Brook University and a co-author on a Scientific Reports publication announcing the discovery of these supernumerary waterfowl.
Adélie penguins are often linked to the narrative about climate change. Lynch said finding this large colony confirms what researchers knew about Adélie biology. In West Antarctic, it is warming and the population is declining. On the eastern side, it’s colder and icier, which are conditions more suited for Adélie survival. The Danger Islands are just over the edge of those distinct regions, on the eastern side, where it is still cold and icy.
A population discovery of this size has implications for management policies. At this point, different groups are designing management strategies for both sides of the peninsula. A German delegation is leading the work for a marine protected area on the east side. An Argentinian team is leading the western delegation.
Adelie penguins on sea ice next to Comb Island. Photo by Michael Polito, Louisiana State University
This discovery supports the MPA proposal, explained Mercedes Santos, a researcher from the Instituto Antártico Argentino and a co-convener of the Domain 1 MPA Expert Group. The MPA proposal was introduced in 2017 and is under discussion in the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources, where the United States is one of 25 members.
Said Santos in a recent email, “This publication will help us to show the importance of the area for protection, considering that decisions should be made [with the] best available information.” The location of the Danger Islands protects it from the strongest effects of climate change, as the archipelago is in a buffer zone between areas that are experiencing warming and those where the climate remains consistent over longer periods of time.
Whales and other mammals that eat krill create an unknown factor in developing fisheries plans. While penguins spend considerable time above water and are easier to monitor and count, the population of whales remains more of a mystery.
Heather Lynch with a penguin. Photo from Heather Lynch
Lynch said the more she studies penguins, the more skeptical she is that they can “stand in” as ecosystem indicators. Their populations tend to be variable. While it would be simpler to count penguins as a way to measure ecosystem dynamics, researchers also need to track populations of other key species, such as whales, she suggested. Humpback whales are “in competition with penguins for prey resources,” Lynch said.
The penguin data is “one piece of information for one species,” but MPAs are concerned with the food web for the entire region, which also includes crabeater seals. For the penguin population study, Lynch recruited members of her lab to contribute to the process of counting the penguins manually. “I figured I should do my fair share,” she said, of work she describes as “painstaking.” Indeed, Lynch and her students counted over 280,000 penguins by hand. She and her team used the hand counting effort to confirm the numbers generated by the computer algorithm.
“The counting was done to make sure the computer was doing its job well,” she said. She also wanted to characterize the errors of this process as all census counts come with errors and suggested that the future of this type of work is with computer vision.
Lynch appreciated the work of numerous collaborators to count this super colony. Even before scientists trekked out to the field to count these black and white birds, she and Matthew Schwaller from NASA studied guano stains on the Danger Islands in 2015 using existing NASA images.
The scientific team at Heroina Island in Antarctica. Photo by Alex Borowicz, Stony Brook University
This penguin team included Tom Hart from Oxford University and Michael Polito from Louisiana State University, who have collaborated in the field for years, so it was “natural that we would work together to try and execute an expedition.” Stephanie Jenouvrier, a seabird ecologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, has considerable expertise in the modeling side, especially with the climate; and Hanumant Singh, a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering at Northeastern University has experience using drones in remote areas, Lynch said.
The penguins on the Danger Islands react to the presence of humans in a similar way to the ones elsewhere throughout the Antarctic. The birds generally don’t like creatures that are taller than they are, in part because they fear skuas, which are larger predatory birds that work together to steal an egg off a nest. Counting the penguins requires the researchers to stand, but when the scientists sit on the ground, the penguins “will approach you. You have to make sure you’re short enough.”
Lynch would like to understand the dynamics of penguin nest choices that play out over generations. She’s hoping to use a snapshot of the layout of the nests to determine how a population is changing. Ideally, she’d like to “look at a penguin colony to see whether it’s healthy and declining.” She believes she is getting close.
Wendy Mercier of Rocky Point recently captured this image of a male cardinal hanging out on a fence in her backyard using a Cannon Powershot. During winter, the songbird will fluff up his down feathers in order to trap warm air next to his body and keep cold air from reaching his body.
MEET LOGAN! Logan is a very handsome 2-year-old, domestic long-haired cat who was recently turned in to Kent Animal Shelter. His owners were moving and couldn’t take him with them.
Logan is a very easy going guy and would be an awesome addition to any household. He comes neutered, microchipped and is up to date on all his vaccines. Look how he’s waiting for his next adventure. Could that be with you?
Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. The adoption center is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day. For more information on Logan and other adoptable pets at Kent, visit www.kentanimalshelter.com or call 631-727-5731.
Symptoms of a concussion can be as subtle as mild lethargy to as severe as coma.
By Matthew Kearns, DVM
There is so much attention recently on the effect of concussions on the human brain. Starting with the studies run through the NFL, we parents are now looking at the risks and long-term effects of concussions on children that play contact sports. My son Matty is only in the ninth grade and before he can participate in lacrosse this spring, he has to take a test that evaluates his brain function. If, during the season, he sustains a head injury, he will retake the test to see if he did receive any brain injuries that may require he sit out for a while.
We don’t have specific tests for dogs or cats, but there are ways to evaluate your pet for a possible brain injury. Starting the process of evaluating our pets for concussions requires we, as owners, know what the most common causes of brain trauma and injuries are. These include brain injuries from vehicular accidents and all sorts of blunt trauma to the head like getting hit with a baseball or baseball bat/blunt instrument, a fall from a porch or deck, getting kicked by an animal or running into something like a tree or wall. Smaller dogs can get these injuries falling from their owners arms, rough housing with larger dogs or being attacked by larger dogs (where the smaller dog is picked up and shaken).
The initial injury comes from a decrease in the blood flow to the brain secondary to brain edema (swelling) or bleeding. Unfortunately, this increase in pressure leads to a secondary increase in arterial blood flow/pressure to the brain and decreased venous blood drainage. This combination of initial swelling after trauma and the body’s response to the increased pressure is what leads to cell death and long-term effects.
Symptoms can be as subtle as mild lethargy to as severe as coma. More subtle symptoms are squinting, reluctance to move, decreased appetite and sleeping more. Your veterinarian may be able to pick up additional symptoms related to pupil size, reactions to stimuli (light, sound), systemic blood pressure, heart rate and temperature.
Depending on the severity of the symptoms, either your veterinarian or an emergency veterinarian can also give you an idea of prognosis of recovery and possible long-term complications.
Head injuries need to be seen immediately. If your pet is very lethargic or comatose, make sure to be careful moving your pet. Also try to keep your pet’s head above the rest of its body to improve drainage. More severe cases of head trauma require hospitalization, intravenous fluid therapy, supplemental oxygen and medications to regulate blood pressure and reduce intracranial edema.
In conclusion, if a head injury occurs, please monitor your pet closely or, better yet, have it evaluated by your veterinarian ASAP.
Dr. Kearns practices veterinary medicine from his Port Jefferson office and is pictured with his son Matthew and his dog Jasmine.
From left, Swiper and Dora. Photo courtesy of Kent Animal Shelter
MEET SWIPER! What kind of a name is Swiper for a sweet and loving cat like me? I’m a handsome 2-year-old black-and-white cat and I promise the only thing I will swipe is your heart! That’s me on the left. I’m here with my sister Dora, and we would just love to have a home where we can stay together. We are both spayed/neutered, microchipped and up to date on all our vaccines. Why not drop by and say hello? We’ll be waiting. Kent Animal Shelter is located at 2259 River Road in Calverton. For more information on Swiper, Dora and other adoptable pets at Kent, visit www.kentanimalshelter.com or call 631-727-5731.
Above, R.C. Murphy Junior High students Gregory Garra and Gianna Raftery with Catherine Markham in Dawn Nachtigall’s seventh-grade science class last year. Photo from Three Village school district
By Daniel Dunaief
A recent study of 57 species around the world, published in the journal Science, showed that mammals moved distances two to three times shorter in human-modified landscapes.
Catherine Markham, an assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at Stony Brook University, contributed to this research, adding information about the ranges for baboons in the Amboseli Baboon Research Project in Kenya.
Marlee Tucker, an ecologist at the Senckenberg Nature Research Society based in Frankfurt, Germany, led the effort, which involved working with 114 other scientists who are studying mammals around the world. Tucker “brought together all these research groups on a scale and scope that had not been undertaken before,” Markham said. “She evaluated in an unprecedented way what the implications of human expansion and development are for wildlife movement.”
According to Tucker, a reduction in animal movement could have ecological implications. “It is likely that ecosystem functions such as nutrients and seed dispersal will be altered,” she explained in an email. “However, whether these impacts are negative, positive or neutral requires further research.”
Tucker suggested that it is “important to maintain landscape connectivity so that animals can move freely,” which could include the creation of corridors that link natural landscapes.
While the study made it clear in a comprehensive way that mammals tend to move less when humans interact with them, it didn’t offer specific indications about the causes of that reduction. Some of that, scientists say, could come from fear, as mammals may avoid humans. Alternatively, some mammals might find a new and concentrated food source at garbage dumps and elsewhere that would reduce the need to travel.
Susan Alberts, a professor of biology at Duke University and a collaborator with Markham on baboon research, said that the “take home message” is that “this is a pervasive phenomenon and occurs on a large scale in the mammalian world.”
Markham has been studying baboons in Kenya at the Amboseli site since 2004. When Tucker reached out to her to see if she could contribute to this work, Markham saw an opportunity to collaborate using information she was already gathering.
Above, baboons with a radio collar in the Amboseli National Park in Kenya. Photo by Catherine Markham
As it turns out, baboons in the research project in Kenya live in what Markham describes as a “relatively pristine area” so they did not see “over the time period an increase in the human footprint index.”
Markham shared information about 22 baboons for about 900 days as a part of this research. Tucker’s overarching conclusion included areas where people weren’t encroaching on a mammal’s range. “When she compared the movement of animals living in relatively pristine environments — like the baboons in Amboseli — to the movement of animals living in areas of higher human encroachment, that lead to exciting conclusions,” Markham said. Tucker indicated that future research should focus on exploring the underlying mechanism of the reduction in movement.
In the meantime, Markham is continuing her studies on baboons, exploring the energetic consequences of group size. Larger groups tend to beat out smaller groups when they are competing for food and water in a particular habitat. At the same time, however, those larger groups have stress levels caused by group competition, as one baboon might find the constant proximity and rivalry with another baboon stressful. Baboon group sizes range from a low of around 20 to a high of about 100. Markham is exploring the tension within and between groups.
Over the past few years, Markham, who has been studying this competitive dynamic extensively, has used noninvasive techniques, such as gathering fecal samples, to look for levels of thyroid hormones, which can indicate an animal’s energetic condition.
Alberts explained that Markham was an important contributor to the work at Amboseli, adding that Markham “asks questions at the group level that the rest of us don’t.”
Within the community, Markham has been involved in recent efforts to inspire middle school students at R.C. Murphy Junior High school in Stony Brook to enjoy and appreciate science, working closely with science teacher Dawn Nachtigall, who has been at Murphy for 20 years.
In her second year at Murphy, Markham visits seventh-grade classes several times, discussing her work and explaining how to analyze images from camera traps set up in Kenya and at Sweetbriar Nature Center in Smithtown.
The students receive about 30 photos per pair, Nachtigall explained. Based on the pictures, the students have had to generate questions, which have included whether young deer spend more time with male or female parents, or whether hyenas come out more on full or new moons.
According to Nachtigall, Markham “has such a friendly veneer and an approachable affect” that she readily engages with the students. “She has this wonderful demeanor. She’s soft-spoken, but strong.”
Students in her class appreciate the opportunity to interact with a Stony Brook researcher. “By the end of the period, they are glad to have met her,” Nachtigall added. “Some of them want to become her.”
At the same time, Nachtigall and the other science teachers appreciate the opportunity to hear more from local scientists.
“We live vicariously through her,” Nachtigall said. “It really ignites our own passion for science. Seeing the real-world science for science teachers is just as exciting as it is for students.” Markham is working to post materials online so that teachers and parents can access the information.
A native of Rockville, Maryland, Markham, who joined Stony Brook in 2014, resides in St. James. When she was young, Markham enjoyed the opportunity to join class events in kayaks along the Potomac River. She occasionally saw beaver and bald eagles. Indeed, along the way toward working with baboons, she has also conducted research on bald eagles, monitoring their nests with remote cameras.
As for her work on the Science article, Markham said she is pleased that this kind of collaborative research can provide broad ranging insight to address questions that extend beyond the realm of any one lab or species.
There is so much attention recently on the effect of concussions on the human brain. Starting with the studies run through the NFL, we parents are now looking at the risks and long-term effects of concussions on children that play contact sports. My son Matty is only in the ninth grade and before he can participate in lacrosse this spring, he has to take a test that evaluates his brain function. If, during the season, he sustains a head injury, he will retake the test to see if he did receive any brain injuries that may require he sit out for a while. 
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