Sperm whales (抹香鲸) living in the Eastern Mediterranean numbered not more than 200-300 individuals during the past decade. Alarming results from the Pelagos Cetacean Research Institute, conducting systematic observations since 1998, indicate that the population might have been halved to only 100-150 whales. The main threat to this population is the more than 30,000 ships that annually cross their habitat at high speed and the risk of collision with them.

International and regional agreements force Greece to take action to protect the sperm whales, including their habitat, the Hellenic Trench. The pilot system SAvEWhales, which was developed by a team of Greek researchers, contributes to this direction.

SAvEWhales records the clicking sounds of the sperm whales, processes them and sends the data to a land-based analysis center where computer models are used to detect, precisely locate the animals, and finally forward the localization fixes (定位) to nearby ships, all in real time. Specifically developed software combines localization results with shipping information from Marine Traffic, a leading ship tracking service provider, to assess collision risk. If a ship is on a collision course with a whale, its captain can be warned well in advance, so that the ship slows down and/or changes course in time to prevent the collision.

Despite its promise, it may be some time before SAvEWhales, or something like it, can be in permanent use. So far, Emmanuel Skarsoulis, research director of Greece’s Foundation for Research and Technology-Hellas, and his teammates have already identified a few barriers. These include analytical challenges, such as the difficulty of differentiating individual whales when a group is traveling together. Besides, SAVEWhales can’t pick up the location of singing whales like the Mediterranean fin whale which is also endangered.

Still, passive whale detection is relatively inexpensive and can protect at least one of the endangered whale species in the Hellenic Trench.

Animals have developed a circadian clock—an internal body clock that runs in 24-hour cycles. It is regulated by cues (提示) from their environment. But they may suffer from a “jet lag （时差反应）” when the cues animals are exposed to do not match the ones of their natural environment.

Kristine Gandia, a PhD student at the University of Stirling in Scotland, and a team of observers set out to understand how the “jet lag” of living in latitudes (纬度) that animals were not used to can affect them. Giant pandas were chosen as the focus for the study partly because they live highly seasonal lives.”

“Giant pandas are very good animals to focus on,” Gandia said. “They are very popular in zoos and there are a lot that have cameras so we can see how their behavior changes across different latitudes. These cameras enabled us to monitor the giant pandas’ behavior across a 24-hour period.”

Gandia explained that the latitudinal range for giant pandas is between 26 and 42 degrees north. Matching latitudes could also be considered between 26 and 42 degrees south, as these mirror the temperature and lighting conditions.

The team monitored 11 giant pandas in six different zoos. Some zoos were within the animals’ natural latitudes but in other countries and the others were outside that range.

Gandia explained, “We recorded giant panda behavior, trying to account for behaviors that are positive, neutral (中性的) and negative indicators for welfare. So, this would include behaviors like play and grooming as positive behaviors, drinking and defecating as neutral maintenance behaviors, and several abnormal behaviors as negative behaviors, with pacing being the most common.”

Those living in zoos outside of their home latitude were found to be less active and display more negative behaviors.

“Giant pandas living in zoos could be suffering from a ‘jet lag’ if their body clocks don’t match their environments,” Gandia said.

Pet and animal-related apps are creating cybersecurity risks to their owners, new research has shown. While being able to keep track of your cat and dog may be an attractive benefit to many pet owners as it can provide peace of mind, allowing a third party to track your movements may be much less attractive.

Computer scientists at Newcastle University and Royal Holloway, University of London have exposed multiple security and privacy issues by evaluating 40 popular Android apps for pets. The results show that several of these apps are putting their users at risk by exposing their login or location details.

Password vulnerability (漏洞) was one of the areas exposed by the team. They identified three applications that had the user’s login details visible in plain text within non-secure HTTP traffic. This means that anyone is able to observe the internet traffic of someone using one of these apps and will be able to find out their login information. In addition to login information, two of the apps also showed user details, such as their location that may enable someone to gain access to their devices and risk a cyber-attack.

Another area of concern identified in the study was the use of trackers. All but four of the applications were found to feature some form of tracking software. A tracker gathers information on the person using the application, on how they use it, or on the smartphone being used.

Scott Harper is a PhD student at Newcastle University’s School of Computing and the lead author of the study. He said: “Pet tech such as smart collars and GPS trackers for your cat or dog, is a rapidly growing industry and it brings with it new security, privacy, and safety risks to the pet owners. We would urge anyone using these apps to take the time to ensure they are using a unique password, check the settings and ensure that they consider how much data they are sharing or willing to share.”