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A28 SCIENCE
Friday 18 OctOber 2019
Groups: Saving Mexican gray wolves requires new approach

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRY- lack of genetic diversity.
AN Mexican wolves are in a
Associated Press more precarious position
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) than other gray wolves in
— Dozens of environmental the U.S. because of their
groups and scientists have limited numbers. The most
asked U.S. wildlife manag- recent survey showed there
ers to rethink how they plan were at least 131 in the wild
to ensure the survival of in the southern mountain
Mexican gray wolves in the ranges of New Mexico and
Southwest. Arizona.
Following a loss in federal There are an estimated 30
court last year, the U.S. wolves in the wild in Mexi-
Fish and Wildlife Service co.
is crafting a new rule to The population is still far
guide management of the from where biologists had
endangered predators in initially envisioned by now.
New Mexico and Arizona. In their latest plea, environ-
In a letter Wednesday to mentalists and professors
U.S. Interior Secretary Da- from around the U.S. con-
vid Bernhardt and federal tinue to call for the release
wildlife managers, the co- of more captive wolf fami-
alition said the rule should In this May 20, 2019, file photo, a Mexican gray wolf is seen at the Endangered Wolf Center in lies to boost the wild popu-
be based on "an entirely Eureka, Mo. lation and its genetic diver-
new approach" that incor- Associated Press sity. They also complained
porates the best science about removals of wolves
while acknowledging the The Fish and Wildlife Service 2021. Officials say they can wolf recovery coordi- from the wild, saying more
recovery effort's past short- said Thursday it is using the plan to meet that deadline nator, told The Associated can be done by manag-
comings. best available science to while seeking peer review Press in an email. ers and ranchers to ensure
"Please do not keep go- craft a plan for the wolf that and public comment. The rarest subspecies of protection of livestock.
ing in the same fruitless di- can be accommodated "We remain committed to gray wolf in North Ameri- The coalition also has con-
rection that has not even within the species' historical our goal of working with ca, Mexican wolves have cerns about limiting the
met your own metrics, but range in the Southwest and partners to address the struggled to gain ground physical boundaries of the
instead chart a new path in Mexico. threats facing Mexican since the first release in 1998 recovery program, saying
that will actually recover The agency is under a court wolves and ensure the re- because of poaching, poli- wolves should not be re-
the Mexican gray wolf," the mandate to revise the wolf covery of the subspecies," tics, legal challenges and moved if they roam farther
letter states. management rule by May Brady McGee, the Mexi- even complications from a north.q

Queuing for eternity: Fossils show lining up is primal urge

By FRANK JORDANS spines.
BERLIN (AP) — Ever felt like The researchers from
you've been queuing for- France, Switzerland and
ever? Morocco analyzed the fos-
Scientists say fossils found in sils and concluded that the
Morocco suggest the prac- tiny trilobites, which look
tice of forming orderly lines similar to modern horse-
may date back 480 million shoe crabs, probably inten-
years and could have had tionally formed a queue as
evolutionary advantages. they swarmed along the Picture taken in August 2017 show linear clusters of trilobites (arthropods) on the surface of the
Their study, published Thurs- prehistoric sea floor. rock slab.
day in the journal Scientific "Given the scale of the pat- Associated Press
Reports, describes groups terns seen, this consistent
of blind trilobites — known linearity and directionality Jean Vannier, a researcher tionary advantage among the lives of these very an-
as Ampyx — all facing in is unlikely to be the result at the University of Lyon, ancient animals," Vannier cient but clearly sophisti-
the same direction, ap- of passive transportation or France, who co-authored said. cated creatures," she said.
parently maintaining con- accumulation by currents," the study, said possible rea- Lucy McCobb, a paleon- Vannier said the findings
tact via their long rearward they said. sons for this group behav- tologist at the National support the idea that col-
ior include environmental Museum Wales who wasn't lective behavior like form-
stresses or reproduction. involved in the study, said ing lines emerged around
Similar behavior is also that while similar 'conga the same time or shortly af-
found in modern-day mem- lines' of fossilized Ampyx ter animals first developed
bers of the extended family have been reported be- sophisticated nervous sys-
of arthropods that trilobites fore, the researchers be- tems and sensory organs.
belonged to, such as cat- hind the study had built "a He and fellow research-
erpillars, ants and lobsters, very strong case for the in- ers said re-examining 520
who band together for pro- tentional lining up of the tri- million-year-old fossils of
tection or to find mates. lobites in response to some shrimp-like creatures found
"Living and moving in cue." in China could offer evi-
groups seems to have rap- "These fossils give us a won- dence that such behavior
idly represented an evolu- derfully vivid glimpse into began even earlier.q