Results for the Summer 2011 International Furry Survey led by Dr. Gerbasi and Nuka were released last month, and some are quite surprising. The study attracted 1940 participants (179 'non-furry'). 45% came from Anthrocon 2011; the rest filled out the survey online.

The same team ran an online survey last January, and a follow-up at Furry Fiesta 2011.

This survey swept in members of several related groups, most of whom saw themselves as distinct from furries. 74.4% of participants identified solely as furry, while 8.8% claimed to be therians and 4.7% otherkin. 3.6% felt they belonged to both furry and one of these groups.

Significant differences were found between furries and therians, and male and female furs.

Researchers at Tokyo Metropolitan University have combined non-contact motion detection with animatronics to build a fursuit head which reacts to a performer's facial movements.

The technology, exhibited at the 19th International Collegiate Virtual Reality Contest, allows the wearer to control the eyes and mouth; ear and eyebrow control is planned. [scottbob3]

British medical researchers are calling for tighter regulation on research involving animals with human tissue or genes, while cautiously approving some experiments, the BBC reports.

Professor Christopher Shaw highlighted objectionable 'category three' experiments such as:

• the mixing of non-human primate and human cells to make an embryo
• the mixing of human and non-human gametes (reproductive cells)
• the replacement of monkey brain cells with human ones to gain human characteristics

Dr Robin Lovell-Badge suggested a gap between fantasy and reality:

Everyone laughs at talking meerkats and cats with opposable thumbs, but if we were actually doing that in the labs I don't think people would be so happy.

Read: Animals containing human material (synopsis) – Exploring the boundaries (evaluation)

A: Basket sponge
B: Dolphin wearing sponge
C: Debris on the sea bed
D: Hidden fish

Researchers in Shark Bay, Australia have identified tool use and cultural transmission of the tool use in dolphins.

The scientists observed some dolphins occasionally pulling basket sponges from the sea bed and using them to cover their snouts as they foraged for food on the sea bed. The sponges presumably provided them protection from the rocks and shells on the sea bed. However, it wasn't known why the dolphins bothered to forage there.

The research team now report that dolphins perform this activity to catch fish living under the sand's surface.

Wired UK and BBC News report that the mitochondrial DNA in all polar bears today descends from a single Irish female brown bear who lived 20,000 to 50,000 years ago.

Read more: Ancient Hybridization and an Irish Origin for the Modern Polar Bear Matriline

Those who missed out on taking the survey led by Nuka and Dr. Gerbasi at Anthrocon 2011 get a second chance, as it's now available online for both furries and non-furries.

In lieu of physical prizes, online participants will be invited to a $50 Amazon.ca gift certificate drawing. Those who completed the survey already are requested not to participate.

Results from February's survey are also available, and make interesting reading.

Wired.com reports researchers at Newcastle University are studying honeybees to determine whether they exhibit human-like emotions. They are known to act pessimistic in some situations (as do rats, dogs and starlings). Next the researchers will test for the emotion of happiness.

In a followup to the recent report on escaped and released Himalayan rose-ringed parakeets in London, BBC News reports that a new study shows that the parakeets stake out backyard bird feeders and intimidate traditional native British songbirds away from them.

The wild parakeet population in Southern England is growing at an estimated 23% per year. This has led to new demands that the parakeets be culled as an invasive pest.

To better help understand the "Furry Fandom" - the mindsets of the participants, and how we compare to and differ from other fandoms (i.e. sci-fi and fantasy based fandoms), the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and Niagara County Community College in Sanborn, New York, are conducting an international online survey of the Furry Fandom.

Conducting the study is Courtney "Nuka" Plante, a furry social psychology graduate student at the University of Waterloo and Dr. Kathy Gerbasi, a social psychologist at the Niagara County Community College in Sanborn, New York.

Dr. Gerbasi and Courtney (Nuka) have been studying furries through the use of rigorous scientific methodology in the hopes of understanding furries and their fandom. There is a lot of bad media and misinformation about furries, and they hope that by scientifically studying the furry fandom they can do away with misconceptions regarding the furry fandom.

Continue reading at Furry News Network, and see Flayrah's prior coverage of Dr. Gerbasi's work.

Update (20 Feb): The survey has concluded, with almost 7000 responses – wildly exceeding the 250–1000 anticipated. Now the analysis begins!

Researchers have found that Egyptian Jackal is actually a member of the Grey Wolf species complex. [thesaprophelite/a.f.f]

Phylogenetic testing confirmed that the species – previously classified as a sub-species of the Golden Jackal – is most closely related to the Indian and Himalayan Wolf, confirming long-held suspicions over its heriatige.

The paper also notes discovery of individuals in the Ethiopian highlands, and suggests the taxon be renamed the African Wolf.

The BBC reports from the forests of Daraina, Madagascar, where wildlife researchers believe they've found a new species of fork-marked lemur.

The lemur has a distinctive structure beneath its tongue, which Dr. Russ Mittermeier suggested might be used to capture nectar.

The discovery may save the lemur's habitat from the axe.

According to a recent story on NPR, a large number of coyotes roam the streets and parks of Chicago. The 60 mentioned in the article are those monitored via tracking collars; there are many more uncollared ones. The tracking is part of research by The Cook County, Illinois, Coyote Project.

Roman Stocker, of MIT, was inspired by his cat, Cutta Cutta, to study how cats drink. Although humans are able to suck liquids, dogs and cats are unable to seal their cheeks and so need to lap. While dogs bend their tongue to form a scoop cats, both domesticate and wild, were found to use a different mechanism.

Recent research on how dolphins interact with one another has shown surprising levels of complexity. Groups of dolphins have been observed working together and dolphins of different species may even be able to communicate – or at least attempt to.

Science NOW reported on two dolphin papers showing social co-operation, while the BBC covered preliminary research on dolphin communication.

Creating a feline character? You might want to decide on their habitat before picking a coat.

Research by the University of Bristol's School of Experimental Psychology has found correlations between the complexity or irregularity of a cat's pattern and its habitat:

[...] cats living in dense habitats, in the trees, and active at low light levels, are the most likely to be patterned.

The researchers admitted that this rule did not explain the coat of cheetahs, who have evolved spots despite a preference for open plains.

The team discounted suggestions that coat patterns in big cats were linked to social hierarchy or gender, as they did not differ significantly between such individuals. Their paper, Why the leopard got its spots, was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.