Wildlife enthusiasts can track black bears

Wildlife enthusiasts around the world can now follow the daily journey of Yosemite National Park's black bears from their laptops and smartphones, tracking the iconic animals as they lope up steep canyons and cross vast distances in search of food and mates. Park rangers unveiled keepbearswild.org, a site that shows where select bears fitted with GPS collars are heading. A bear's location is delayed so people aren't tempted to track it down in real time, rangers said. But the tracking collars alert rangers so they can block a bear from going to a campground or parking lot in search of food. The park has used up to 20 GPS collars for the last three years, learning that bears in the park begin mating in May, more than a month earlier than previously thought, rangers said. The tracking devices also show that bears move more than 30 miles in a day or two, moving with ease up 5,000-foot canyon walls.

German scientists map rye genome

Scientists in Germany have for the first time mapped the entire genome of rye, a cereal known for its hardy properties. Eva Bauer, a plant researcher at the Technical University of Munich and lead author of the study, says rye has received less attention than wheat, barley and maize, which are more widely cultivated. This meant there was less funding from industry to sequence the rye genome, which is about 2½ times the size of the human genome. Bauer said rye's ability to cope with droughts, poor soil and resist frost — which makes it popular in the colder climates of Central and Eastern Europe — is of particular interest for future research.

Spelunker discovers Europe's first cave fish

A German man who goes diving underground for a hobby has discovered what scientists say is Europe's first known cave fish. Spelunker Joachim Kreiselmaier chanced upon the fish in August 2015 while exploring the Danube-Aach cave system in southern Germany. It resembled stone loaches found in nearby rivers, but with smaller eyes, longer whisker-like barbels, larger nostrils and almost no color on its body. In an article in the journal Current Biology, scientists who studied the fish concluded that it is a genetically distinct species. It likely arose within the last 20,000 years and has adapted to life underground.

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