Influence of weather on the behaviour of reintroduced Przewalski's horses in the Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area (Mongolia): implications for conservation.

BACKGROUND: Reintroduction is a common technique for re-establishing threatened species. However, the adaptation to novel habitats with distinct conditions poses a risk of failure. Weather conditions affect the behaviour of animals, and thus, their adaptation to new conditions and survival. Reintroduced Przewalski's horses living in Mongolia's continental arid climate with extreme temperature and precipitation variability, serve as an ideal model species for studying the behavioural response of selected groups to these harsh conditions. METHODS: The research was conducted in The Great Gobi B Strictly Protected Area, Mongolia. In summer 2018, three groups were recorded (Azaa, Tsetsen and Mares18) involving 29 individuals. In Spring 2019, 4 groups were recorded (Azaa, Tsetsen, Hustai1 and Mares19) involving 34 individuals. In Autumn 2019, 4 groups were recorded (Azaa, Tsetsen, Hustai2 and Tanan) involving 35 individuals. Thirteen weather variables were recorded in 10-min intervals, together with the percentage representation of selected behavioural categories (feeding, locomotion, resting, and social). The effect of weather on behaviour was analysed through GLMM. Influence of the group-history factors (recently reintroduced, long-term reintroduced and wild-born) was also analysed. RESULTS: Feeding significantly increased with cloudy and windy conditions and was more frequent in autumn than spring and summer. Locomotion was positively explained by temperature and cloudiness and was higher in summer than spring and autumn. Resting behaviour decreased with altitude and cloudiness, and the dispersion of the group was lower when resting. Increased social interactions were observed with higher temperatures and were more frequent in summer compared to spring and autumn. Differences were found in the display of the behaviours among the selected harems, showing interesting patterns when grouping them according to their origin and experience. CONCLUSIONS: Weather patterns seem to influence the behaviour of Przewalski's horse. These results might assist in further management plans for the species, especially in the view of intensifying climate change and alteration of weather patterns. As previously suggested, after approximately 1 year, horses adapt to novel conditions and display the typical behavioural pattern of wild-born Przewalski's horses.

Beauty ranking of mammalian species kept in the Prague Zoo: does beauty of animals increase the respondents' willingness to protect them?

Aesthetic preferences for animals correspond with the species' presence in the worldwide zoos and influence the conservation priorities. Here, we investigated the relationship between the willingness of respondents to protect mammals and some attributed characteristics such as their aesthetic beauty. Further, several methodological aspects of measuring mammalian beauty were assessed. Animal beauty was associated not only with the respondents' willingness to protect the species but also with its attributed dangerousness and usefulness. We found that the most preferred animals were carnivores and ungulates, whilst smaller species of rodents and afrosoricids were unpopular. The main characteristics determining that an animal will be ranked as beautiful were complex fur pattern and body shape. We demonstrated that the position of mammalian species along the 'beauty' axis is surprisingly stable, no matter the form (illustrations vs photographs), context of stimulus presentation (several number of stimuli per family vs one randomly selected species per family), or the method of beauty evaluation (relative order vs Likert's scale).

Integrating cancer genomics and proteomics in the post-genome era.

The dawn of the post-genome era is leading to extraordinary opportunities in biomedicine. Our group has embarked on a major effort to integrate genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics for the profiling of tumor tissues, an approach we refer to as operomics. Our major goals are the molecular classification of tumors and the identification of markers for the early detection of cancer. Molecular analyses of tumors rely on microdissected tissues, which are simultaneously investigated for genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic changes. Genomic alterations in tumor cells being investigated include deletions, amplifications and methylation changes across the entire genome as well as point mutations in specific genes. Expression analysis at the RNA level is being undertaken using oligonucleotide and cDNA based microarrays. An important aspect of our approach is the large-scale identification and quantitative analysis of tumor proteins in whole cell lysates as well as in protein compartments. Protein separation strategies include two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and liquid chromatography. Specific protein subsets, of interest include membrane proteins, secreted proteins and antigenic proteins as sources of biomarkers for early detection of cancer. Our current approach is illustrated with findings stemming from our studies of human gliomas.