MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS OF WILD BOAR IN SUB-TROPICAL CHIR PINE FOREST IN SIRAN FOREST DIVISION, TANGLAI RESERVE FOREST, DISTRICT MANSEHRA, KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA

The current study was conducted in May & June 2021 in Tanglai State Forest which is a Sub-Tropical Chir Pine Forest Type, the key species are: Common Leopard (Pathera pardus), Wild Boar (Sus scrofa), Jackals (Canis aureus), Rhesus Monkey (Macaca Mulatta), Kalij Pheasant (Lophura leucomelanos), Flying Squirrels (Pteromyini). In KPK, Wild Boar is found mostly in the west of Indus around Peshawar, Mardan Bannu, D.I Khan etc. In this paper it is recommended that the presence of Wild Boar and the way they may affect their habitat should be monitored because its population multiplies so fastly having high reproduction potential i.e. reaching sexual maturity as early as six (06) months of age, therefore, it is required to be managed in the habitats, the aim of such control should be to bring Wild Boar population into balance on particularly sensitive sites or in response to disease control. Moreover, this work is also aimed to suggest wild boar management to the authorized department, these approaches of management will be profitable to mitigate its adverse damages to the agricultural crops, forest crops, human beings, livestock i.e. wildlife conflicts.

A de novo genome assembly and annotation of the southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans)

Northern (Glaucomys sabrinus) and southern (Glaucomys volans) flying squirrels are widespread species distributed across North America. Northern flying squirrels are common inhabitants of the boreal forest, also occurring in coniferous forest remnants farther south, whereas the southern flying squirrel range is centered in eastern temperate woodlands. These two flying squirrel species exhibit a hybrid zone across a latitudinal gradient in an area of recent secondary contact. Glaucomys hybrid offspring are viable and can successfully backcross with either parental species, however, the fitness implications of such events are currently unknown. Some populations of G. sabrinus are endangered, and thus, interspecific hybridization is a key conservation concern in flying squirrels. To provide a resource for future studies to evaluate hybridization and possible introgression, we sequenced and assembled a de novo long-read genome from a G. volans individual sampled in southern Ontario, Canada, while four short-read genomes (two G. sabrinus and two G. volans, all from Ontario) were resequenced on Illumina platforms. The final genome assembly consisted of approximately 2.40 Gb with a scaffold N50 of 455.26 Kb. benchmarking universal single-copy orthologs reconstructed 3742 (91.2%) complete mammalian genes and genome annotation using RNA-Seq identified the locations of 19,124 protein-coding genes. The four short-read individuals were aligned to our reference genome to investigate the demographic history of the two species. A principal component analysis clearly separated resequenced individuals, while inferring population size history using the pairwise sequentially Markovian coalescent model noted an approximate species split 1 million years ago, and a single, possibly recently introgressed individual.

Using mass spectrometry to investigate fluorescent compounds in squirrel fur

While an array of taxa are capable of producing fluorescent pigments, fluorescence in mammals is a novel and poorly understood phenomenon. We believe that a first step towards understanding the potential adaptive functions of fluorescence in mammals is to develop an understanding of fluorescent compounds, or fluorophores, that are present in fluorescent tissue. Here we use Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) of flying squirrel fur known to fluoresce under ultraviolet (UV) light to identify potentially fluorescent compounds in squirrel fur. All of the potentially fluorescent compounds we identified were either present in non-fluorescent fur or were not present in all species of fluorescent flying squirrel. Therefore, we consider that the compounds responsible for fluorescence in flying squirrels may also be present in non-fluorescent mammal fur. Some factor currently unexplained likely leads to excitation of fluorophores in flying squirrel fur. A recently suggested hypothesis that fluorescence in mammals is widely caused by porphyrins is consistent with our findings.

Winter nest trees of sympatric northern and southern flying squirrels: a test of reinforcement in a hybrid zone

Shifting range boundaries can lead to secondary contact of closely related species, which might in turn lead to hybridization when the evolution of reproductive isolation is incomplete. We examined winter nest use of northern (Glaucomys sabrinus Shaw, 1801) and southern flying squirrels (G. volans Linnaeus, 1758) in an area of recent secondary contact and known hybridization in Ontario, Canada to test for evidence of reinforcement due to different and diverging nesting behaviours. We radio-collared 26 flying squirrels (12 G. sabrinus and 14 G. volans) between two survey periods (winters of 2008-9 and 2019-20) and identified all nest trees used by individuals throughout each winter. For each nest tree we identified the nest type and collected tree classification information to compare differences in nest use between species. We also present a novel application of habitat suitability modelling to test for evidence of divergence in nest use through time, which would suggest reinforcement. We found southern flying squirrels used a higher proportion of cavities in large, hardwood trees, whereas northern flying squirrels used more external nests and softwood trees. Conditional probabilities provided some evidence for increased differentiation in nest use by flying squirrels through time. Overall, we found relatively little overlap in winter nest use between flying squirrel species, despite evidence for hybridization at this site, and some weak evidence for increased divergence between species in nest use over 11 years

Emigration Effects on Estimates of Age- and Sex-specific Survival of Small Mammals

Age- and sex-specific survival estimates are crucial to understanding important life-history characteristics and variation in these estimates can be a key driver of population dynamics. When estimating survival using Cormack-Jolly-Seber (CJS) models and capture-recapture data, emigration is typically assumed to have a negligible effect on estimates such that apparent survival is indistinguishable from true survival. Consequently, especially for populations or age classes with high dispersal rates, apparent survival estimates are often biased low and temporal patterns in survival might be masked when site fidelity varies temporally. We used 9 years of annual mark-recapture data to estimate age-, sex-, and time-specific apparent survival of Humboldt's flying squirrels (Glaucomys oregonensis) and Townsend's chipmunks (Neotamias townsendii). For Humboldt's flying squirrels, these estimates support a small body of research investigating potential variation of survival among age and sex classes, but age- and sex-specific survival has not been evaluated for Townsend's chipmunks. We also quantified the effects of age- and sex-specific emigration on confounded estimates of apparent survival. Our estimates of juvenile flying squirrel survival were high relative to other small mammal species and estimates for both species were variable among years. We found survival differed moderately among age and sex classes for Humboldt's flying squirrels, but little among age and sex classes for Townsend's chipmunks, and that the degree to which emigration confounded apparent survival estimates varied substantially among years. Without correcting for emigration, apparent survival estimates were lower and temporal variation was obscured, particularly for male Humboldt's flying squirrels and female Townsend's chipmunks. Our results demonstrate that emigration can influence commonly used estimates of apparent survival. Unadjusted estimates confounded the interpretation of differences in survival between age and sex classes and masked potential temporal patterns in survival because the magnitude of adjustment varied among years. We conclude that apparent survival estimators are robust during some time periods; however, when emigration rates vary in time the effects of emigration should be carefully considered and accounted for, especially in comparative studies and those with policy and conservation implications.

A de novo genome assembly and annotation of the southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans)

Northern (Glaucomys sabrinus) and southern (Glaucomys volans) flying squirrels are widespread species distributed across much of North America. Northern flying squirrels are common inhabitants of the boreal forest, also occurring in coniferous forest remnants farther south, whereas the southern flying squirrel range is centered in eastern temperate woodlands. These two flying squirrel species exhibit a hybrid zone across a latitudinal gradient in an area of recent secondary contact. Glaucomys hybrid offspring are viable and can successfully backcross with either parental species, however, the fitness implications of such events are currently unknown. Some populations of G. sabrinus are endangered, and thus, interspecific hybridization is a key conservation concern in flying squirrels. We sequenced and assembled a de novo long-read genome from a G. volans individual sampled in southern Ontario, Canada, while four short-read genomes (2 G. sabrinus and 2 G. volans, all from Ontario) were re-sequenced on Illumina platforms. The final genome assembly consisted of approximately 2.40Gb with a scaffold N50 of 455.26Kb. Benchmarking Universal Single-Copy Orthologs reconstructed 3,742 (91.2%) complete mammalian genes, and genome annotation using RNA-seq identified the locations of 19,124 protein-coding genes. The four short-read individuals were aligned to our reference genome to investigate the demographic history of the two species. A Principal Component Analysis clearly separated re-sequenced individuals, while inferring population size history using the Pairwise Sequentially Markovian Coalescent model noted an approximate species split one million years ago, and a single, possibly recently introgressed individual.

Design and Demonstration of a Flying-Squirrel-Inspired Jumping Robot with Two Modes

The jumping–gliding robot is a kind of locomotion platform with the capabilities to jump on the ground and glide through the air. The jumping of this robot has to juggle the requirements of initial velocity and posture for entry to gliding and progressing on the ground. Inspired by flying squirrels, we proposed the concept of flexible wing-limb blending platform and designed a robot with two jumping modes. The robot can takeoff with different speeds and stances, and adjust aerial posture using the swing of forelimbs. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first miniature and bio-inspired jumping robot that can autonomically change the speeds and stances when takeoff. Experimental results show that the robot can takeoff at about 3 m/s and pitch angle of 0° in the mode of jumping for gliding and adjust the pitch angle at the top to 0°~10° by actuating the forelimbs swing according to the requirement of gliding. In the mode of jumping for progress, the robot can takeoff at about 2 m/s with a pitch angle of 20° and then intermittently jump with a distance of 0.37 m of once jump and an average progress speed of 0.2 m/s. The robot presented in this paper lays the foundation for the development of flexible wing-limb blending platform, which is capable of jumping and gliding.

Vivid biofluorescence discovered in the nocturnal Springhare (Pedetidae)

Biofluorescence has been detected in several nocturnal-crepuscular organisms from invertebrates to birds and mammals. Biofluorescence in mammals has been detected across the phylogeny, including the monotreme duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhyncus anatinus), marsupial opossums (Didelphidae), and New World placental flying squirrels (Gluacomys spp.). Here, we document vivid biofluorescence of springhare (Pedetidae) in both museum specimens and captive individuals—the first documented biofluorescence of an Old World placental mammal. We explore the variation in biofluorescence across our sample and characterize its physical and chemical properties. The striking visual patterning and intensity of color shift was unique relative to biofluorescence found in other mammals. We establish that biofluorescence in springhare likely originates within the cuticle of the hair fiber and emanates, at least partially, from several fluorescent porphyrins and potentially one unassigned molecule absent from our standard porphyrin mixture. This discovery further supports the hypothesis that biofluorescence may be ecologically important for nocturnal-crepuscular mammals and suggests that it may be more broadly distributed throughout Mammalia than previously thought.