An elephant's tale.To discover the favorite foods of the world's largest land animals, scientists have plucked pluck v. plucked, pluck·ing, plucks v.tr. 1. To remove or detach by grasping and pulling abruptly with the fingers; pick: pluck a flower; pluck feathers from a chicken. out the tail hairs of African elephants. As an elephant's hair grows, the strand incorporates chemicals from the animal's food. Each type of plant that an elephant eats--from grasses to trees--contains different isotopes An isotope a type of neutral atom but the number of neutrons is different from the number of protons in the nucleus. May be radioactive. Elements 1-15 Hydrogen
electropositive, positive charged - of a particle or body or system; having a net amount of positive or negative electric charge; "charged particles"; "a charged battery" particles, but a different number of neutrons, or electrically neutral particles In physics, a neutral particle is a particle with no electric charge. Stable or long-lived neutral particles Long-lived neutral particles provide a challenge in the construction of particle detectors, because they do not interact electromagnetically, except possibly , from other atoms of the same element. By detecting which isotopes are in the elephant's hair, scientists can determine what it was eating at the time the hair grew, explains Henrik Barner Rasmussen, a zoologist at the University of Oxford in England. Tracking the elephants' diets may help to protect the endangered en·dan·ger tr.v. en·dan·gered, en·dan·ger·ing, en·dan·gers 1. To expose to harm or danger; imperil. 2. To threaten with extinction. animals. By discovering which plants elephants prefer to eat, scientists hope to establish protected reserves where the animals can live safely and find all of their favorite snacks. |
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