【推荐1】Every year from May to July, tens of thousands of Tibetan antelopes from regions in Qinghai, Tibet autonomous region, and Xinjiang autonomous region make their way to Hoh Xil nature reserve in Qinghai to give birth. The mothers and newborn Tibetan antelopes make the return trip around August.

This journey is rather tough. More than 90 percent of the female animals give birth every year, but only about 30 percent of the newborns survive. Many of them die on the return journey, unable to withstand the predators(捕食性动物) and disease. The government has adopted some high-tech methods to assist in the safe return of newborn antelopes and protect the species.

In 2013, with the help of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, researchers discovered and confirmed the largest Tibetan antelope “birth room” on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, and they mapped the migration routes of Tibetan antelopes. Since late 2018, a solar-powered drone has been used to monitor the migration herds. “The solar-powered drone has a long flying time with high-resolution cameras, which gives us a new understanding of many specific routes during the migration of Tibetan antelopes,” said Wu Xiaomin, an expert from the Shaanxi Institute of Zoology. “For example, the nomads(牧民) put fences on the grassland to protect the grass, but sometimes these hinder the normal activity of the Tibetan antelopes.”

To clear the way for the Tibetan antelopes, the government of the Tibet has taken action in recent years to give more protected space to wildlife. They relocate nomads from places at altitudes above 4,800 meters to other places in the region.

Known as “plateau elves”, Tibetan antelopes have adapted to the unique and severe natural conditions of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. According to Wu, the Tibetan antelope is recognized as an important indicator species of the natural ecosystem.

The population of Tibetan antelopes has grown. “With a recorded low population of fewer than 20,000 in Qinghai, the number has now reached over 70,000,” said former Qinghai governor Xin Changxing at an event to mark World Environment Day.

【推荐3】Both ants and human beings respond to isolation in similar ways. In isolated individuals of both species, researchers have observed that the immune system is less efficient.

Humans and other social mammals will experience high levels of stress when they are isolated from the group, which has a negative effect on both well-being and physical health. Isolated people tend to become anxious, depressed, lonely, and more subject to addictions. They will also have a weaker immune system, and the isolation will impact their health negatively overall. While these effects have been well studied in humans and mice, relatively little is known about how isolation affects social insects.

Ants are extremely social. They will live their entire lives as part of the same colony (群体) and their survival will be entirely dependent on their nest mates. This social function is so important to them that worker ants will abandon their reproductive capacity and devote themselves to tending to the needs of the queen and the colony.

Researchers paid attention to ants of the Temnothorax nylanderi, which is a European species that will create colonies inside acorns (橡实) and sticks. These colonies consist of a few dozen workers, and the researchers took individual members and isolated them for various periods of time, from an hour to 28 days. The study revealed three key aspects of the effects of isolation.

When the isolated workers were returned to the colony, they showed less interest in other adult ants, and instead chose to spend more time with the brood (幼雏). They were also less interested in cleaning themselves, which is a behavior noticed in most social animals that are isolated. This behavior increased the risk of parasite (寄生虫) infections. The third observation was related to the gene activity of the isolated individuals — genes that were responsible for stress response and immune system function were less active. Once again, this is something observed across all social animals. What this research tells us is that social behavior is something extremely ancient and it could be traced back to a very old common ancestor between animal and insect species.

【推荐2】Tropical nations have never won a medal at the Winter Olympics. But this has not stopped more and more countries from striving to break this fate. At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, some of these countries are “coming for gold”. Let’s check them out.

From Arabian Dunes to Ice Slopes

Fayik Abdi, 24, was Saudi Arabia’s only representative at the Winter Olympics and competed in alpine skiing. The Winter Olympics, which opened in the Chinese capital on February 4, was the first participation in Saudi Arabia’s history. In this part of Saudi Arabia, snow falling from the sky is a rarity, enough to make news all over the world.

So, how did Abdi get here? His Olympic dream had an unusual start. Abdi initially responded to an ad, like more than 100 other applicants. It was handed out by the newly established Saudi Arabian Winter Sports Federation, looking for potential candidates to join the Olympic team. Abdi learned to ski at the age of four, and when he was in college in the United States, he took to the slopes whenever he had time. And his journey, as a trend representative of more and more “snowless” countries participating in the Winter Olympics, is a perfect fit. When the first Winter Olympics were held in 1924, only 14 European countries and the United States and Canada participated. By the last Winter Olympics hosted by Pyeongchang, South Korea, in 2018, a record 92 countries had participated.

Jamaica Snow Team

When it comes to a “layout country participating in the Winter Olympics”, you often think of Jamaica, a Caribbean island country, mainly because Hollywood had a movie Cool Runnings in 1993. The film is based on the Jamaican four-person snow team at the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics in Canada. The film not only entertained audiences all over the world, but also inspired other “snowless countries” to try it out.

Although Jamaica had participated in the two-person snowmobile event in several Winter Olympics since then, the Beijing Winter Olympics was the first time the country had participated in the men’s four-person snowmobile event since the Nagano Winter Olympics in 1998.

In Beijing, the Caribbean island nation also had a men’s duo sled team, while Jazmine Fenlator-Victoria competed in the women’s sled.