Researchers have found that insects sense the breath of approaching herbivores and flee plants to survive. A process of elimination isolated the characteristics of their detection system

The team suspected that several cues might have motivated the mass dropping, including the sudden shadow cast by the goat, plant-shaking triggered by the munching marauder, and/or the herbivore’s exhalations. The researchers tested the effects of each cue individually and found that simply casting a shadow on the plants had no effect on the aphids. Vibrations caused by leaf picking caused only one quarter of the insects to flee the plant. By contrast, when the researchers placed a lamb within five centimeters of the foliage (close enough to breathe on it, but not nibble on it), nearly 60 percent of the bugs dropped to the floor, suggesting that breath was the key danger signal.

Temperature and humidity turned out the be the most important factors

Altering either parameter alone produced only modest increases in aphid dropping, but the combination of increased warmth (to 35 degrees Celsius) and humidity (at 90-100 percent) caused nearly 40 percent of the aphids to plummet.

The next question should be whether they vacate completely or come back shortly after.

The Daily Record reports that the FDA is considering camel milk. Camel dairies already exist in America and promote camel milk benefits

To milk a camel, you need warm hands, a gentle touch and quick timing — camels give milk only in 90-second bursts.

Gil and Nancy Riegler, owners of the nation’s largest camel dairy near San Diego, said the extra work pays off with milk that is therapeutic, nutritious and delicious.

It’s also illegal to sell in the United States.

Illegal to sell milk?

Millions of tons are produced in desert regions around the world but Europe and the US do not yet allow it to be sold. There is no doubt the hundreds of thousands of Somalis, Mongolians, Ethiopians in America alone would purchase the milk if available. The problem will be how to try and fit camels into the industrialized cattle model, or how to learn to let go of the cattle model and start over. A new approach to dairy sounds interesting — it might even improve milk quality enough to make quantity a non-issue.

The Camelicious dairy, opened in 2006, uses mechanized milking technology and trains camels to walk into the milking parlor. When the dairy first started, “the Bedouins said, ‘No way will the animals enter that milking parlor,'” said Peter Nagy, the Hungarian farm manager there.

He and his wife, both veterinarians, solved the problem, he said, but “I cannot explain exactly how this was done.” Mr. Nagy credits training by his wife: “A woman has a sixth sense” that allows her to “know how the animals feel.”

I would wager his wife also is good at information security and risk management. Reuters in Australia suggests Europe also is looking at legalizing camel milk.

“People with lactose intolerance can drink it with no problem, unlike cow’s milk, it doesn’t cause protein allergies, and it’s high in insulin,” said Ulrich Wernery, the scientific director of Dubai’s Centre for Veterinary Research Laboratory.

Similar in taste and appearance to cow’s milk, he said camel milk is closer in composition to human milk, making it a healthier option than cow milk.

Camel milk also is high in vitamin C, which Wernery said explains its importance to Bedouins, Arab desert nomads, who historically lacked fruits or vegetables in their diet and have been drinking camel milk for generations.

Many health benefits compared to cow milk, a history of safe consumption…the FDA would be wise to legalize.