April 17, 2007, 4:53 AM CT

Ebola outbreaks killing thousands of gorillas

Why have large outbreaks of Ebola virus killed tens of thousands of gorillas and chimpanzees over the last decade? Observations reported in the recent issue of The American Naturalist provide new clues, suggesting that outbreaks may be amplified by Ebola transmission between ape social groups. The study provides hope that newly developed vaccines could control the devastating impact of Ebola on wild apes. The following facts are to be considered as well. Direct encounters between gorilla or chimpanzee social groups are rare. Therefore, when reports of large ape die-offs first surfaced in the late 1990s, outbreak amplification was assumed to be through "massive spillover" from some unknown reservoir host. The new study, conducted by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Cambridge University, and Stony Brook University at three sites in northern Republic of Congo, suggests that Ebola transmission between ape groups might occur through routes other than direct social encounter. For instance, as a number of as four different gorilla groups fed in the same fruit tree on a single day. Thus, infective body fluids deposited by one group might easily be encountered by a subsequent group. Chimpanzees and gorillas also fed simultaneously in the same fruit tree at least once every seven days.

The study also provided the first evidence that gorillas from one social group closely inspect the carcasses of gorillas from other groups. Contact with corpses at funerals is a major mechanism of Ebola transmission in humans. Together with other recent observations on patterns of gorilla mortality, these results make a strong case that transmission between ape social groups plays a central role in Ebola outbreak amplification......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

April 12, 2007, 6:41 PM CT

Medicinal Leeches Belong To Three Species

Genetic research has revealed that commercially available medicinal leeches used around the world in biomedical research and postoperative care have been misclassified for centuries. Until now, the leeches were assumed to be the species Hirudo medicinalis, but new research reveals they are actually a closely related but genetically distinct species, Hirudo verbana.

The study also shows that wild European medicinal leeches are at least three distinct species, not one. The results appear in the April 10, 2007, online version of the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

"This raises the tantalizing prospect of three times the number of anticoagulants, and three times as a number of biomedically important developments in areas like protease inhibitors," said Mark Siddall of the American Museum of Natural History, who led the research team. "However, it will also require a better effort to conserve these much-maligned animals, in a way that takes into account their impressive diversity".

While Hirudo medicinalis was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2004, for use as a prescription medical device that helps restore blood flow following cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, Hirudo verbana has not been approved by the FDA and has no special conservation status......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:51:03 GMT

Katmai National Park & Preserve

Katmai National Monument was created in 1918 to preserve the famed Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes, a spectacular forty square mile, 100 to 700 foot deep ash flow deposited by Novarupta Volcano. A National Park & Preserve since 1980, today Katmai is still famous for volcanoes, but also for brown bears, pristine waterways with abundant fish, remote wilderness, and a rugged coastline.

 
Get on the Bus!
A 4-wheel drive bus provides daily access from Brooks Camp to the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes. A Park Ranger Naturalist accompanies visitors on this truly Alaskan adventure.
 
A Wilderness Untouched?
Think Katmai is just a wilderness of bears, salmon, and volcanoes? Think again: For at least the last 9,000 years-before the Valley of Ten Thousand Smokes and before Brooks Camp was a paradise for bears-Katmai has been a home for people.
   
Write to
P.O. Box 7
King Salmon, Alaska 9E-mail Us

Phone
Visitor Information
(907) 246-3305
Fax
(907) 246-2116

Climate
Be prepared for stormy weather and some sunshine. Summer daytime temperatures range from about mid-50s to mid-60s degrees Fahrenheit; the average summer low is 44 degrees Fahrenheit. Strong winds and sudden gusts-williwaws-frequently sweep the area, occassionally at speeds up to 50 to 60 miles per hour. Skies are clear about 20% of the summer. Light rain can last for days. Did You Know?
In 1918, the scarcity of beef caused many Alaskans to call for the repeal of all legal protection for bears. Katmai park promoters were cautioned,"the word bear should never be mentioned in connection with establishing a National Monument." Ironically, today visitors flock here to view bears. Posted by: Gracy      Read more     Source

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 00:50:01 GMT

Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve

The marine wilderness of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve includes tidewater glaciers, snow-capped mountain ranges, ocean coastlines, deep fjords, and freshwater rivers and lakes. This diverse land and seascape hosts a mosaic of plant communities and a variety of marine and terrestrial wildlife and presents many opportunities for adventuring and learning about this unique and powerful place.

 
Dynamic Change
Glacier Bay's story is one of dynamic change in the wake of dramatic glacial movements.

• Glacier Bay collects many glaciers flowing from the tall surrounding mountains with abundant snowfall.
• As recently as 1750 a single glacier thousands of feet thick filled what is now a 65-mile long fjord.
• This glacial retreat has exposed a resilient land that hosts a succession of marine and terrestrial life.
• Here is an opportunity to see how the physical world shapes the biological.

 
Natural Laboratory
Botanist William Cooper spearheaded efforts to preserve not only a place to view glaciers, wildlife, and grandeur, but also a living laboratory to study and enjoy through the ages.

• Glacier Bay offers unexcelled opportunities to study earth's most fundamental geologic processes.
• A center where researchers from multiple disciplines collaborate to conduct management and ecosystem directed research.
• What scientists learn at Glacier Bay may one day foretell changes to the region and the world.

 
Place of Hope
Glacier Bay is a globally significant marine and terrestrial wilderness sanctuary.

• A place that offers human solitude and a remote wildness that is rapidly disappearing in today's world.
• A place of hope--for the continued wisdom, restraint, and humility to preserve a sample of wild America, the world as it was.
• It is part of one of the largest internationally protected Biosphere Reserves in the world, and it is recognized by the United Nations as a World Heritage Site.

 
Place of Inspiration
Long before there were written records of Glacier Bay, there were stories.

• Tlingit elders told of an ancestral homeland covered by advancing ice. For the Tlingit, Glacier Bay is woven into the tapestry of their lives.
• Glacier Bay is a powerful place that also inspires cultural expression in the scientist, the artist, the resident, the traveler, and those who make their livelihood from the sea.
• Glacier Bay continues to offer inspiration as we each endeavor to explore our connections to this dynamic landscape.

 
Write to
PO Box 140
Gustavus, AK 99826-E-mail Us

Phone
Headquarters, General Information
(907) 697-2230

Recreational Permit Information
(907) 697-2627
Fax
(907) 697-2654

Climate
Summer temperatures average 50 to 60 degrees F (10 to 15 degrees C). Winter temperatures rarely drop into the single digits, with average nighttime lows of 25 to 40 degrees F (-2 to 5 degrees C). Rain is the norm in southeast Alaska. April, May and June are usually the driest months of the year. September and October tend to be the wettest.
 Did You Know?
Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, opened its doors to the first students in July 1881, only four months after Booker T. Washington first arrived in Tuskegee. Posted by: Gracy      Read more     Source

Wed, 04 Apr 2007 03:44:44 GMT

Panda Poop to Produce Fine Quality Paper!

Its really nice to watch those gentle giant pandas in a reserve. But, from the environmental point of view, keeping the reserve out of their poop is not that easy. Researchers at a southern Chinas giant panda reserve have comebetter solution to this recycle the poop!

Taking inspiration form paper made from elephant dung, the researchers planned to recycle the surplus of the fiber-rich panda excrement into high quality paper. They think that panda poop would produce an even finer quality paper.

Liao Jun, a researcher at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base in Sichuan province hopes to have a product line of panda poop-made paper available by next year.

Presently, the base is on with talks with several paper mills on turning the droppings of Jing Jing, Ke Bi, Ya Ya and dozens of other pandas into reams of office paper and rolls of wrapping paper at the base.

Liao said,

We are not interested in doing this for the profits but to recycle the waste. It’s environmentally friendly. We can use the paper ourselves and also we can sell whatever is left over. Posted by: Irani      Read more     Source

April 1, 2007, 9:07 PM CT

Right angles are all wrong for tree frog adhesion

Tree frogs have the unique ability to stick to smooth surfaces even when they are tilted well beyond the vertical - some small tree frogs can even adhere when completely upside down. On the other hand when walking or jumping they can detach their toe pads easily. Scientists from the University of Glasgow will present insights into how this fascinating ability is controlled at the Society for Experimental Biologys Annual Meeting in Glasgow, UK.

The toe pads of tree frogs are coated with a thin mucus which adhere to surfaces by wet adhesion, like wet tissue paper sticking to glass. The process by which they detach their toe pads is called peeling and is akin to us removing a sticking plaster from ourselves, explains Dr Jon Barnes, head of the research group, We were keen to understand why a tree frog on an overhanging surface didnt simply peel off rather than adhere.

To investigate this, researchers measured adhesive and frictional forces simultaneously on individual toe pads of Whites tree frogs (Family Hylidae), while varying the surface angle. It was observed that the change from adhesion to peeling is a gradual process, with adhesive forces weakening at angles above 90. Thus frogs maintain a grip by keeping the angle of their toes with respect to a surface at a low value, and detach when this angle increases beyond 90. By examining the behaviour of the frogs scientists were able to correlate this observation with how the animals positioned their legs - they spread their legs out sideways to minimise the angle between their feet and the surface......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 02:11:55 GMT

The Majestic Elephants of Southern Africa Face Mass Culling

Zimbabwe plans to kill thousands of elephants in its forests to control the growing population of these majestic animals.

Parks and Wildlife Authority of Zimbabwe has said that the number of elephants in the country has crossed 100,000, way above the 45,000 limit the country can sustain.

The animals have often sauntered through villages, trampling crops and destroying property.

The wildlife authority spokesperson Edward Mbewe says We are having an explosion of the elephant population.This has proved to be destructive to the environment and there are more cases of humans encountering elephant invasions and attacks.

A British woman and her ten year old daughter were trampled to death last Saturday by a rampaging wild elephant in the Hwange national park in northwest Zimbabwe.

Mbewe also said the killing would be within the annual hunting quota of 500, permitted under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites). No immediate figures are available, however, on how many elephants Zimbabwe has allowed to be hunted in recent years. Elephant hunting brings about US $15 million every year to Zimbabwes coffers.

Elephant culling is not new in southern Africa. South Africa says Zimbabwe plans to kill thousands of elephants. South African National Parks (SANParks), the custodians of the Kruger National Park, has told the South African Government that the elephant population is too big and its size is affecting biodiversity in the park. The park has a capacity to accommodate 7,500 elephants, while their numbers now stand at around 12,500. SANParks proposes killing several thousand elephants. South Africa says the present population, if left uncontrolled, could double by 2020.

But, South Africa fears sending a wrong signal to the world by killing several thousand elephants. The KNP is visited by 1.3 million tourists every year, many of whom are attracted by the herds of elephants that could be seen from close quarters in their natural habitat.

Animal welfare and environmental groups are strongly opposed to the mass killing of these large mammals. Jason Bell-Leask, International Fund for Animal Welfares Southern Africa Director, says A decision by South Africa to allow a cull will send a disturbing message to the world about South Africas attitude towards wildlife management.

Actually South Africa planned cullingZimbabwe plans to kill thousands of elephants.

As an alternative to killing, contraception is proposed to reduce the increase in population though this is not welcome among many here, as it will work rather slowlyZimbabwe plans to kill thousands of elephants are considered to be wise and they are affectionate and loyal to humans when tamed.

Via Posted by: Rmpraj      Read more     Source

March 25, 2007, 8:24 PM CT

Watch Out When They Get Near Wine

Ladybugs may look pretty but they also have a dark side. In some places, the polka-dotted insects have become a nuisance by invading homes and crops, including some vineyards. To make matters worse, the bugs produce a foul-smelling liquid that, besides irritating homeowners, can be inadvertently processed along with grapes and taint the aroma and flavor of wine.

Now, chemists at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, say they have identified several compounds that are responsible for the ladybugs noxious odor, a finding that could lead to new strategies to detect and eliminate the offensive compounds. Their study, which could lead to better tasting wine, was presented today at the 233rd national meeting of the American Chemical Society.

A growing number of winemakers say that their wines have an abnormal aroma and flavor, known as ladybug taint, that resembles the bugs characteristic odor. Winemakers report that there are more ladybugs in vineyards and on the grapes during harvest. Experts think that the bugs accidentally become mixed into the juice during processing and fermentation, resulting in inferior wine.

Led by Jacek Koziel, Ph.D., an agricultural engineer at the university, the Iowa scientists used a highly-sensitive multidimensional gas chromatograph and a panel of human sniffers to characterize and identify the odors emitted by a group of live ladybugs as a number of as 300 in all. All of the ladybugs were a single species of multicolored Asian ladybird beetle (Harmonia axyridis)......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 22, 2007, 10:29 PM CT

Decline In Alaska's Sea Lion Population

A new study out of Alaska points out the impacts of climate change on marine ecosystems, and the need for increased research and stronger science based management to address future concerns.

Studies by a team of scientists at the North Pacific Universities Marine Mammal Research Consortium http://www.marinemammal.org/ revealed that a sudden ocean climate change 30 years ago changed todays Alaska marine ecosystems, and may be a leading factor in the decline of Alaskas endangered western stock of Steller sea lions.

Theories why the Steller sea lion population declined by more than 80 percent during the 1980s include pollution, commercial fishing, and subsistence harvesting. The new study points instead to a climate regime shifta natural event in the oceans climatic cyclein the late 1970s that may be responsible for current regional population of about 40,000, compared with 235,000 in the 1970s.

The publication, entitled Bottom-up forcing and the decline of Steller sea lions in Alaska: assessing the ocean climate hypothesis observed that climate change affected water temperatures and ocean currents determining the abundance of available fish for the sea lions to eat. Changes in prey led to a decline in the sea lion population. Using interdisciplinary research methods was key in determining the root cause of the sea lion decline......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source

March 21, 2007, 8:23 PM CT

Coyote - Canis latrans

There are several predators in the Park, including bobcats, eagles, badgers, and cougars, but the coyotes are the most easily seen.

Most research has shown that coyotes commonly feed on small mammals and birds. They do not feed heavily on livestock or larger ungulates, like elk, deer, or bison unless the animal is already dead or dying.

Little is known about the predatory behavior of wild coyotes, but a sudden hop or pounce is most often used for capturing small animals, like shrew or mice, where group effort may be used in the prairie dog towns. Coyotes depend on various senses to locate their prey, with sight, hearing, and smell being most important-commonly in that order.

Coyotes are small mammals, about the size of a medium-sized dog. They vary widely in coloration, ranging from an almost pure gray to a red-brown. The fur is generally much thicker in winter-giving the animal a heavier appearance, with the summer coat being much shorter and lighter.

A wide variety of habitats all across the United States can be called home for the coyote. They are found in both the grasslands and pine forest here in the Park. Each individual coyote or coyote pack has a home territory that is used on a regular basis, but not actively defended except during mating periods and when the coyote pups are in their dens......... Posted by: Kelly      Read more         Source