1 . Are worms the heroes we didn’t know we needed? Silent, slimy and wriggling (扭动), you might think that worms are good for nothing except bait (诱饵) on the end of a fishing pole.     1    

The British naturalist Charles Darwin said that no other animal has “played such an important part in the history of the world as these lowly organised creatures”. They have lived on Earth for 600 million years and have even survived five mass extinctions.     2    

Earthworms literally move the earth, and this is why farmers love them. As they travel, they aerate (使透气) the soil by loosening, mixing and oxygenating it.     3     They are effectively a small but very efficient plough (犁). But it’s not just earthworms that deserve praise.

In 2022, a group of scientists at the Margarita Salas Centre for Biological Research isolated enzymes (酶) found in wax worm saliva (唾液) which are plastic-eating.     4     It’s hoped that by producing these enzymes on an industry-level scale, we will have a more environmentally friendly way to reduce plastic pollution.

    5     Bloodworms are small sea creatures which press themselves into the mud of the ocean floor. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara have been studying their jaws, which are made up of 10% copper proteins (铜蛋白) and are so strong that they last the worm’s entire five-year lifespan. Because of this research, engineers may start using the jaws as inspiration for the design and manufacture of materials like concrete.

So, next time you see a worm, show it a little respect. They really are changing the world!

2 . For millions of years, sea turtles (海龟) have been making the great journey from Costa Rican beaches to the ocean.

Female sea turtles come to shore to nest (筑巢) on the same beach where they were born. Scientists are not sure how sea turtles remember where they were born, but they believe that sea turtles can use the Earth’s magnetic field (磁场) to help them find their way back. Mother sea turtles usually nest every two to three years, but they might lay two or three nests in one year.

Unlike most animals, the temperature inside the nest determines whether the turtles will be male or female. Warmer nests produce more female turtles. It can take from six weeks to two months for baby turtles to appear from the nest. Once they sense cooler nighttime temperatures, they will begin their perilous journey towards the sea. The little turtles’ journey to the ocean isn’t a leisurely walk on the beach. In fact,on some beaches, only 10 percent of them make it to the ocean.

Natural hunters are not the only threat to sea turtles. Humans and their activities have also severely reduced the number of sea turtles in the oceans. Fishing activities, boat traffic, artificial (人工的) lighting, and pollution are making the trip from beach to ocean difficult. Due to a variety of these threats, six out of seven sea turtle species worldwide are considered endangered or threatened.

While sea turtles may face several threats to their survival, there are many opportunities for humans to help them. For example, avoid fishing in waters that are known to have sea turtles. If you do accidentally hook (钓) a turtle, do not remove the hook. Instead, call local wildlife authorities to help with removal. Lights draw baby turtles away from the ocean. Turn off your lights at night when you are near a sea turtle nesting area. Another way to help sea turtles is to reduce your plastic use. Plastic litter is among the number one causes of deaths of sea turtles. Last, get involved with sea turtle protection efforts.

3 . Humans and horses have enjoyed strong working relationships for nearly 10,000 years. Can these age-old relationships teach us something about building robots? Researchers at the University of Florida carried out research and said yes. “As we work to improve how humans communicate with robots, I thought why not learn from our partnership with horses to help solve the problem of natural interaction (互动) between humans and robots?” said Eakta Jain, an associate professor of computer and information science and engineering.

Looking at our history with animals to help shape our future with robots is nothing new. But Jain and her colleagues are the first to bring together engineering and robot researchers and horse experts and trainers to do on-the ground field studies with the animals.

Jain first reached out to Joel McQuagge, who managed the UF Horse Teaching Unit. He provided Jain with full access, so Jain spent months observing classes. She interviewed and observed horse experts, including horse trainers and owners. Jain’s notes resulted in findings and design ideas that can be applied by robot designers.

“Some of the findings are easy to visualize (可视化), while others are not very specific,” Jain said. “For example, we learned that a horse speaks with its body. You can see its ears pointing to where something caught its attention. We could build similar types of expressions without speech in our robots, like ears that point to something visual in the car when there’s a person walking on that side of the street.”

A groundbreaking finding is the sense of respect. When a trainer works with a horse, he looks for signs of respect from the horse for its human partner. “We don’t typically think about respect in the situation of human-robot interaction,” Jain says. “Can we design behaviors similar to what the horse uses? Will that make the human more willing to work with the robot?”

4 . An experiment published in iScience provides evidence that octopuses (章鱼) feel pain like humans do.

During the experiment, Crook, who comes from San Francisco State University, placed an octopus between two rooms with different lines and spots on the walls, and then observed where she preferred to stay. The next day, in another part of the lab, Crook put acetic acid into one of the octopus’s arms. She says doing so is like pouring lemon juice on a paper cut. When the animal awoke with an aching arm, Crook kept her in the room she had preferred before. The researcher removed the octopus 20 minutes later and used lidocaine to numb (使麻木) her arm. Crook then placed her in the room she had not liked as much at first. After another 20 minutes, Crook returned her to her home container.

Finally, about five hours later, Crook brought the octopus back to the rooms and gave her an alternative: return to the originally preferred room, where she was kept with an aching arm, or go to the one she had not liked as much but where she was numb. Crook ran the experiment with seven octopuses. They all chose to go to the non-preferred room. As a control, Crook put salt water into seven other octopuses. Unlike the experimental group, those octopuses returned to their originally preferred room.

It turned out the octopuses related the room they had once liked better to the ache they felt the last time they were there. Then they compared that experience with their typical pain-free state and decided that how they usually felt was better. Using that information, the octopuses chose to go to the non-preferred room. “There’s a lot of brain processing that has to happen,” Crook says.

Crook’s study suggests that there should be more focus on the welfare of octopuses. Due to people’s ignorance, animals like octopuses are not properly protected in both research and industry in the U.S. Luckily, Crook’s findings, giving us more insights into them, have led to increased protection for octopuses.

5 . In the thick forest, a New Caledonian crow carefully removes a branch, pulls off unwanted leaves and makes a tool from the wood. The crow is a perfectionist. When it’s satisfied, the bird advances the finished tool into a hole in the tree and fishes out a wriggling grub (蠕动的幼虫).

The New Caledonian crow is one of the only birds known to make tools, a skill once thought to be unique to humans. The remarkable originality that Christian Rutz, a behavioral ecologist at the University of St Andrews in Scotland, observed changed his understanding of what birds can do. He started wondering if there might be other ignored animal abilities. Experiments have shown that different crow groups in the forest have distinct vocalizations (发声). Rutz wanted to know whether these vocalizations could help explain cultural differences in tool-making among the groups.

New technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is ready to provide exactly these kinds of insights. Whether animals communicate with one another in terms we might be able to understand is a question of enduring question. “With recent breakthroughs in AI, people realize that we are on the edge of fairly major advances in regard to understanding animals’ communicative behavior,” Rutz says.

Beyond creating chat-bots that attract people and producing art that wins fine-arts competitions, machine learning may soon make it possible to crack (破解) things like crow calls, says Aza Raskin, one of the founders of the nonprofit Earth Species Project. Cracking animal vocalizations could aid conservation and welfare efforts. It could also have a shocking impact on us. Raskin compares the coming revolution to the invention of the telescope. “We looked out at the universe and discovered that Earth was not the center,” he says. The power of AI to reshape our understanding of animals, he thinks, will have a similar effect. “These tools are going to change the way that we see ourselves in relation to everything.”

6 . Spearmint the seal has an addiction. Being too overly friendly to humans around Plymouth, England, she’s been sent to kick her human habits.

Spearmint was first seen in Caws and Bay, Cornwall, almost seven months ago, and was found hanging out with tourists and swimmers, as well as paddlers. She was even known to have visited a local outdoor pub.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) put the North Atlantic gray seal into a treatment program, where rescuers were “working around the clock to get her fit and healthy” enough to be released.

After rehab, the organization hopes to release her into a remote area of Scotland where she won’t be so tempted by people. The Rame Wildlife Rescue Network has also provided assistance, raising more than $6,500 for the seal’s relocation.

Jessica Collins, a medical worker at British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), initiated the rescue. She says Spearmint is an endangered seal that has become used to human contact.   “Despite receiving treatment at a young age, to change her human-related behavior is far from easy. Spearmint’s interest in humans grew once released as she was fed regularly by tourists,” Collin s explained. “After multiple relocations we found Cawsand Bay, where we were able to control the situation better and keep people away.”

The RSPCA plans to either reintroduce Spearmint to the wild or place her in permanent care in a shelter intended for seals. “Give wild animals space and avoid feeding them. We hope the message carries through beyond Spearmint’s story,” the RSPCA said in a statement.

7 . From the world’s last seven to a global population of more than 5,000, China spent nearly 40 years bringing back crested ibises(朱鹗)from the edge of extinction.

With its typical red crest and face, as well as a long black mouth and snow-white feathers, the crested ibis is known as “the oriental gem” in China. They were once widespread in East Asia and Siberia until the 20th century when hunting, ecological damage and increased human activities drove the birds to near extinction.

In 1981, the entire species around the world was down to the seven crested ibises which were found only in Yangxian County, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and deep in the Qinling Mountains, making Qinling, a natural boundary between China's north and south,the last shelter of the wild birds.

Since 1981, the local government of Yangxian County has put forward four bans for the protection of the species, prohibiting activities including hunting in the birds' living areas,cutting down trees where they nest, using chemicals in their food-finding areas, and firing guns in their breeding(繁殖)areas. The Chinese government arranged special funds to protect the habitat of crested ibises, sealing off mountains to plant trees in the birds' living areas.China started the artificial breeding of crested ibises in 1991 and had bred more than 400 birds in Shaanxi as of last year.

Years of constant effort have brought promising results. It is estimated that there are more than 5,000 crested ibises in the world now, and a majority of them live in Shaanxi. The bird's habitat in China has risen from less than 5 square km in 1981 to the current 15,000 square km.

“It is lucky that the crested ibis, an ancient bird, is still flying around,” said Zan Linsen, head of the Shaanxi Academy of Forestry. “The conservation story of crested ibises not only shows us the power of ancient life, but also the necessity and urgency of ecological environment protection.”

10 . [1] What do North Carolina’s red wolves, the Eurasian beaver and Przewalski’s horse have in common?

[2] All of them went extinct in the wild — and all of them came back, thanks to reintroduction programs.

[3] Conservation scientists use translocation and captive breeding (圈养繁殖) to re-establish animal populations that have died out in the wild — either entirely or in certain areas. Reintroducing extinct-in-the-wild animals to their native territories can be a double win: helping to restore damaged ecosystems, as well as increasing population numbers.

[4] But setting a species loose in the wild is a risky balancing act. Reintroductions often take years and involve multiple stages. Before bringing back a species, conservationists have to evaluate the threat level — both to and from the animal — and the role it played in the ecosystem. In places where wild populations have died out more recently, there’s a better chance of success. The less time that has passed, the more likely that environment is the same as when the species went extinct. But scientists still need to address the reason why it went extinct in that environment to begin with.

[5] Reintroduced animals can have a positive impact on the landscape, but how fast this happens depends on the type of animal and how damaged the environment is. Herbivores (食草动物) can make a significant change relatively quickly, while predators tend to be reintroduced slowly and carefully. Although they can be useful for managing pest species, conservationists have to ensure they don’t overhunt or threaten other vulnerable animals.

[6] A 2020 study highlighted species reintroduction as one of the most effective ways to save endangered animals. The study estimates that conservation action between 1993 and 2020 saved up to 48 species of birds and mammals from extinction, and that the rate of extinction would have been three to four times higher, during that period, without those efforts.