Chief forester Hermann Merkel was worried. In the summer of 1904, he noticed areas of cracked, dry bark on the American chestnut trees in New York Zoological Park (known today as the Bronx Zoo). Tiny orange-red bumps dotted the bark like an angry rash. e injured bark was forming a canker—an area of dead tissue. e canker would eventually encircle the trunk and strangle the tree. Merkel suspected it was a fungus, but not one he’d ever seen before.
Merkel was right to worry. Cryphonectria parasitica, also known as the chestnut blight, ended up killing an estimated four billion American chestnut trees. It was a devastating loss, especially in the Appalachian Mountains. ere, people depended on the chestnut for food, livestock feed, and timber. In these Eastern forests, American chestnuts were giants, growing as tall as 100 feet (30 meters), with trunks 13 feet wide (four meters). Some were at least 600 years old.
How could a fungus kill so many trees? Cryphonectria parasitica is not native to North America. It likely came to the US as a stowaway on imported Japanese chestnut trees. Japanese and Chinese chestnut trees often survive the blight. Scientists call this “blight resistance.” Because Asian chestnuts evolved alongside of Cryphonectria parasitica, they had thousands of years to adapt to it. When the fungus invaded the bark of one of Merkel’s trees—likely through an animal’s scratch or an insect’s burrowing—the American chestnut had no defense.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2023-Ausgabe von Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Diese Geschichte stammt aus der April 2023-Ausgabe von Muse Science Magazine for Kids.
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Who's Your Cousin?
The great apes are among the most popular animals in most zoos. Their actions, facial expressions, and family life remind us so much of ourselves. Have you ever wondered, though, how we might look to them?
Is it possible to die of boredom?
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, we called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada.
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SERGE WICH
Serge Wich’s favorite days at work are spent out in the forest, studying orangutans in Sumatra and Borneo or chimpanzees in Tanzania.
ELODIE FREYMANN
When you’re feeling sick, it probably doesn’t occur to you to try eating tree bark.
Guardians of the Forest
EARLY, MAKESHIFT WILDLIFE DRONES HELPED TO DETECT AND PROTECT ORANGUTANS.
APE ANTICS
The Whirling World of primate play
Dr. Ape Will See You Now
HUMANS AREN’T THE ONLY PRIMATES THAT USE MEDICATION.
THE LEFT OVERS
A lot has happened for modern humans to get to this point. We lost most of our hair, learned how to make tools, established civilizations, sent a person to the Moon, and invented artificial intelligence. Whew! With all of these changes, our bodies have changed, too. It’s only taken us about six million years.
SO, WHAT IS A PRIMATE?
What do you have in common with the aye-aye, sifaka, siamang, and potto? If you said your collarbone, you re probably a primatologist—a person who studies primates. If you’re not, read on.