The Top Animal Photos of 2023: From Hyenas to Southern Rays

Spotted Hyena

This spotted hyena (Crokuta Crokuta) is a natural in front of the camera, while its mother and siblings watch closely in the background. This playful shot was taken by Wim van den Heever in Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya.

Southern Stingray

As the sun rises over the coast of the Cayman Islands, southern rays (Dashatis Americana) are captured in this striking split-level snap by the photographer, Alex Mustard, as they wander on a sandy beach.

Slug Sucking Sap

A brightly fluorescent animal known as the sap-sucking slug (Costasiella crocimae) is captured by Mustard, crawling on green algae just off the coast of northern Indonesia. This sea slug has a special ability to preserve the chloroplasts of the algae they feed on, allowing them to photosynthesize.

Eurasian Brown Bear

Deep in the forests of Finland, Andy Rouse took an action shot of a Eurasian brown bear (Ursus Arctos Arctos) after a short soak in the pond, the body trembles dry. These mammals can weigh up to 480 kilograms and are common in Eastern Europe and Russia.

Spotted Fritillary Larva

In the grasslands of the Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria, Guy Edwards took a colorful photo of a spotted fritillary (Melitaea Didyma) larvae. It eventually transforms into a butterfly, its wings becoming bright orange with brown spots.

White Winged Snowfinch

The majestic white-winged snowfinch (Montifringilla Nivalis) is captured braving a snowstorm in the Swiss Alps by Mateusz Piesiak. It is a relatively large and sturdy bird, reaching up to 19 centimeters in height.

Fruit Bat

This bewildered fruit bat has its nose and throat swabbed as part of an effort in the Republic of Congo to better understand how zoonotic diseases such as Ebola are transmitted to people. Researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Congo Medical Research Foundation collected blood and saliva samples from about 100 fruit bats.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Chimpanzees can remember and recognize photos of long-lost friends

Chimpanzees at a zoo were shown photos of old group members to test their memory.

Johns Hopkins University

Bonobos and chimpanzees appear to be able to recognize photos of former group members, even animals they haven’t seen in over 20 years. This means that these apes have the longest social memory of any non-human animal.

Great apes such as gorillas, chimpanzees, and bonobos are known to have impressive memories. For example, some chimpanzees The exact location of a particular fruit tree In the forest, predict what will happen next in a previously seen movie. The researchers also found hints that great apes have long-term memories of individuals.

“When we went back to great ape populations that we had studied in the past, we noticed that they seemed to recognize and remember us,” he says. laura lewis at the University of California, Berkeley.

To investigate how long this social memory lasts in great apes, Lewis and her colleagues tested 12 bonobos and 15 chimpanzees living in zoos in the UK, Japan, and Belgium.

For each animal, the researchers flashed side-by-side photos of two different great apes on a screen for three seconds. One of the photos was of a monkey that had been living with them for at least a year, and the other was of a stranger.

Using eye-tracking technology, the researchers found that all participants looked on average about a quarter of a second longer at images of former group members than at images of strangers. As zookeepers say, former co-workers with whom they had a good relationship stay in the picture even longer.

This finding shows that these apes remember their acquaintances even after long periods of time. “It’s not that different from walking down the street in a big city and unexpectedly running into someone you went to school with and doing a double take,” team members say. Christopher Krupenier at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.

In the most extreme case, a bonobo called Louise appeared to recognize her sister Loretta and nephew Erin after being separated for more than 26 years.

“This is the longest long-term social memory ever recorded in a non-human animal,” Lewis said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

BeReal Introduces Private Groups and Live Photos, Pew Finds 13% of U.S. Teens Use the App

Up-and-coming social app BeReal continues to attract users’ attention by adding more and more bells and whistles. next week, Bereal is rolling out two major new features: Behind the Scenes and RealGroups. Behind the Scenes is an iOS Live Photo-like feature that shows you a few seconds of video recorded just before you take the photo. RealGroups lets you share BeReal with a small group of friends and allows you to send messages directly within that group.

Behind the Scenes (BTS) is an opt-in feature that borrows a lot in UX from the way Apple set up Live Photos on the iPhone. When your friend enables her BTS and posts her BeReal, you will see a Live Photo symbol in the top corner of the image. If you press and hold this, you can watch a few seconds of video leading up to the BeReal photo.

The app is designed to connect you with your already close friends as it asks you to share your front and back camera photos at random times every day. You won’t be able to see other people’s posts unless you create her own BeReal posts. BeReals tend to be more unfiltered and — Because I can’t find any better words — It’s real, because you’re being prompted to take a photo at an unknown time (but if you get a notification to post while you’re in the bathroom… you might just post late). But now, BeReal is creating an experience for even closer friends. Start a RealGroup to share your BeReals more privately. To sweeten the deal, group admins will now be able to choose when daily notifications are sent. You can also DM BeReals within the group, but a group chat is also available. This is likely to be used to anger administrators who have chosen an inappropriate “BeReal time.” However, he can only belong to two groups, so choose carefully.

“Going off to college and missing your close friends from home? Create a RealGroup to stay close, share your dorm life adventures, see what’s going on at home, and stay connected no matter how far away you are.” Stay close to me even when you are away!!” BeReal wrote in a blog post.

BeReal is now on the brink of life or death. Will apps survive the hype cycle or will they fade away? According to Pew’s annual survey on teens and social media. 13% of US teens ages 13 to 17 have used BeReal. However, BeReal has rejected data from external sources in the past. In September, app analytics company Similarweb told TechCrunch that BeReal has about 16 million monthly active users (MAUs), including about 3 million in the United States. However, Apptopia told TechCrunch that BeReal’s MAU in 2023 was at its highest in October at 8.73 million, and at its lowest in February at 7.96 million. BeReal itself reports that in April it had 20 million daily active users worldwide, and in September it had 25 million daily active users.

Although the app was relatively stagnant at first, BeReal has rolled out a ton of new features, including messaging, the ability to post more photos, Spotify integration, and a “friends of friends” discovery feed. . Soon, the app will add his 2023 Year in Review feature and tagging, making it easy to repost tagged content, similar to Instagram.

Source: techcrunch.com