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Amanda Onion writes in abcnews.com that monogamy may be good for a marriage, but in some animals, it’s bad for the species. Researchers in Ghana have discovered that animals living on reserves, with access to fewer mates than they would have in the wild, have a higher risk of extinction.

“In avoiding extinction, it pays to be promiscuous,” says biologist Justin Brashares. He analyzed the population levels of large mammals in six reserves in Ghana, where rangers have kept careful records for more than 30 years. In that time, 78 species became locally extinct, mostly due to hunting and loss of habitat. But it was monogamy that dealt the final blow: the males had only a small group of females available to mate with.
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In New Zealand, farmers have to pay a “gas tax” based on the flatulence of their farm animals. Scientists say methane emitted by farm animals is responsible for more than half of New Zealand?s greenhouse gases. Last year, New Zealand joined the Kyoto Protocol, agreeing to reduce the production of greenhouse gases, and since they’re not a heavily industrialized country, controlling flatulence is the only way they can do it.

Worldwide, animal flatulence accounts for about 15% of methane emissions, but the percentage is higher in heavily agricultural countries. The new taxes are expected to raise almost 5 million dollars, which will be used to fund research on reducing animal emissions.

Don’t laugh?they’re doing more than we are about this problem.
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Robert Roy Britt writes in Space.com that the SOHO spacecraft, which warns us about large solar flares, has a stuck antenna which causes blackout periods, when it can’t send home data. If a giant solar flare should occur?and there have been many during the last few years?we would have no warning about interrupted satellite communications. Solar storms affect cell phones and TV broadcasts. More importantly, intelligence agencies and the military also rely on satellites.
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It’s not just humans who practice cannibalism: birds, certain flies, our close cousins the chimpanzees, and even bacteria eat their own kind. Intelligent species, like humans, may eat each other for psychological or religious reasons. Chimps seem to do it in a fit of revenge or just plain nastiness, as when females eat other mothers’ babies. Lions do it to preserve their genetic line?when a male takes over a pride, he eats the previous king’s cubs. Praying mantises do it as part of good sex: At the end of the sex act, the female bites the head off her mate and eats him.
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