meter (three feet) tall. The adult was surrounded by
34 juveniles, a close association that indicates that
the dinosaur continued to care for its young even
after they hatched from eggs. This specimen is a rare
snapshot of a moment - the last moment - in these
dinosaurs' lives and shows them clustering around an
adult. That is a compelling case that there was a
strong bond between these animals. The discovery
suggests that the care that crocodiles, birds, and
other modern descendents of dinosaurs give to their
young may be an ancestral characteristic.
5. A new study suggests that a striking mammal, the
Irish elk, lived way beyond the last ice age. The Irish
elk is also known as the giant deer. Analysis of
ancient bones and teeth by scientists based in Britain
and Russia show the huge herbivore survived until
about 5,000 B.C. - more than three millennia later
than previously believed.The research team says that
additional factors, besides climate change, probably
hastened the giant deer's eventual extinction. These
factors could include hunting or habitat destruction
by humans. However, the animal may have also suf-
fered from increased competition from other species
such as moose, which spread rapidly once the climate
warmed.
6. The giant deer made its last stand in western Siberia,
some 3,000 years after the ice sheets receded. The
eastern foothills of the Urals became very densely
forested about 8,000 years ago, which could have
pushed the giant deer on to the plain. Some scientists
have suggested another explanation for the deer's
demise - the male's huge antlers. This exaggerated
feature - the result of females preferring stags with
the largest antlers, possibly because they advertised a
male's fitness - contributed to the mammal's down-
fall. Such antlers would have been a serious inconve-
nience in the dense forests that spread northward
after the last ice age.
7. Joining dogs that sniff out contraband in the customs
halls, falcons have been enlisted to scare off gulls and
other birds that can be hazardous for airplanes in the
critical moments of take-off and landing. "What
we're doing is utilizing the predator-prey relation-
ship that they use in the wild," said Mark Adam,
owner of a private company specializing in the
medieval art of falconry and applying it to modern
situations. The swooping shape of the predator in
flight triggers nearby birds to find a safer place to
stay. "They say, oh boy, this bird is dangerous,"
Adam said. "They'll give off an alarm call that other
birds can hear for miles."
8. The idea of using birds of prey to control birds is not
a new idea. Falcons and falconers began to appear in
records from China, Arabia, and Persia nearly 4,000
years ago. From Aztecs to English kings, many cul-
tures have hunted using falcons. But pesticide-use
hit falcons hard. In 1970 the peregrine falcon, the
world's fastest bird, was placed on the endangered
species list with only 39 known mating pairs in the
western United States. An increasing awareness of
problems like pesticides, as well as the development
of wildlife refuges, has helped these bird populations
enormously.
9. The annual global wildlife summit, which agreed to
new controls to prevent illegal trafficking in endan-
gered species, paid special attention this year to
marine fish and commercially prized trees.
Elephants, whales, and other charismatic mammals
which appear regularly on the summit's agenda also
featured. The great white shark, the world's largest
predatory fish, gained protection for the first time at
this year's conference. Delegates heard that
increased demand for the shark's jaws, teeth, and
fins was decimating already vulnerable populations.