The Crested Ibises expanding to plain areas exhibit a higher tolerance of human proximity

Animals must strike a balance between anti-predation behavior and other essential behaviors,such as foraging.Within the same species,strategies may vary on individuals’risk-taking preferences,and in this process the environment is a determinant,in addition to predator regime.The Crested Ibis(Nipponia nippon)exhibits such tendency.This is an endangered species,once inhabiting exclusively in China’s Qinling Mountain.This used to be the sole remaining wild population.However,over recent decades,this population has expanded.A portion has relocated to breed in the lower plain area,which is characterized by elevated level of human activities and landscape complexity.We used flight initiation distance(FID)as an indicator of the ibises’risk-taking preference,particularly their response to human proximity.Additionally,we examined the environmental factors influencing their foraging site selection,including altitude,terrain openness,human activity intensity and human construction.Our findings revealed a significantly shorter FID among individuals relocating to plain habitats,indicating a higher tolerance of human proximity.The results showed that FID decreased with distance to the nearest human settlement.Another finding is that FID was independent of instant human activity intensity and environmental factors(altitude and terrain openness).These different may arise from various combinations of human activity,predation risk,and food abundance within the two habitats.These results provide insights into the in situ conservation of the threatened species within the context of global urbanization.

Transmutation of Cai Lun’s Image

The earliest description of Cai Lun is that of an inventor of papermaking,which is included in historical books such as Dong Guan Han Ji and The Book of the Later Han;later,in his hometown,he was also inked by scholars because of some monuments about him,or the authors used his experience to express their own emotions.Recently,Cai Lun’s image has been clarified in textbooks,literary works,and urban civilization construction and is no longer considered merely a pioneer of papermaking.The development of his historical and literary image derives not only from the need for academic research but also the need to establish the Chinese nationalism and patriotism and promote traditional culture.

High-repetition-rate 1.5 μm passively Q-switched Er:Yb:YAl3(BO3) 4 microchip laser

End-pumped by a 976 nm diode laser,a high-repetition-rate Er:Yb:YAl3(BO3)4 microchip laser passively Q-switched by a Co2+:MgAl2 O4 crystal is reported.At a quasi-continuous-wave pump power of 20 W,a 1553 nm passively Q-switched laser with the repetition rate of 544 kHz,pulse duration of 8.3 ns,and pulse energy of 3.9 μJ was obtained.To the best of our knowledge,the 544 kHz is the highest reported value for the 1.5 μm passively Q-switched pulse laser.In the continuous-wave pumping experiment,the maximum repetition rate of 144 kHz with the pulse duration of 8.0 ns and pulse energy of 1.7 μJ was obtained at the incident pump power of 6.3 W.

Are cognition and personality related in budgerigars?

In recent years,researchers have been attempting to relate differences in personality(e.g.,boldness,aggressiveness,exploration tendency)to variation in cognition(performances in tasks that require learning,reasoning,attention,or memory,etc.)both theoretically and empirically.However,it is unclear on what basis personality and cognition might be associated with each other.Previous theory suggests a connection between fast–slow personality types and cognitive speed–accuracy tradeoffs.In this study,we tested this hypothesis in budgerigars and found that,in their 1st associative learning,birds with fast personality(less fearful of handling stress)were fast learners in the beginning,while slow personality individuals improved faster,but both types of birds did not differ in accuracy.However,these relationships were context-dependent.No significant relationship was found in subsequent learning tasks(reversal learning and a 2nd associative learning)in the familiar context(task setup and apparatus similar to the 1st associative learning).We then conducted a problem-solving experiment with novel setup and apparatus to test 1 possible explanation that the association between personality and cognition in the 1st associative learning might be caused by noncognitive constraint,such as fearfulness when facing novel task setup and apparatus.We found that fast individuals interacted more with the problem box and solved it,whereas the slow birds were not.We suggest that personalities can influence cognitive performances and trigger a cognitive speed-improvement tradeoff under the novel context.However,there are no consistent cognitive styles that co-varied with different personalities.