Saturday, 1 February 2014
STUDENTS HELP TO SAVE RHINO
Students from CORNWALL COLLEGE,NEWQUAY are going to SOUTH AFRICA,S GREATER NATIONAL PARK next month to observe white and black rhino.The idea is to immerse themselfs into the culture of south africa and to learn safari giude techiques,conservation skills,wildlife photography techiques.KRUGER NATIONAL PARK is the size of wales,in 1945-black rhino became extinct due to poachersbut between 1971to 1981 -81 reintroduced through conservation efforts-white rhino -only 50 remained but now figureis over20,000.WESTERNMORNINGNEWS-PAGE 25 -25.01.2014
DONT GIVE DOGS AWAY
DOGS are being used as part of illegal underground fighting syndicate,tied up,tortured,abandoned and set on fire.LAST CHANCE HOTAL.Often dogs are offered free to a good home were taken ,abused to be bait dogs.WESTERNMORNINGNEWS-PAGE5-25.1.2014
Friday, 31 January 2014
Neanderthals gave us disease genes
Gene types that influence disease in people today were picked up through interbreeding with Neanderthals, a major study in Nature journal suggests.
They passed on variants involved in type 2 diabetes, Crohn's disease and - curiously - smoking addiction.
Genome studies reveal that our species (Homo sapiens) mated with Neanderthals after leaving Africa.
But it was previously unclear what this Neanderthal DNA did and whether there were any implications for human health.
Between 2% and 4% of the genetic blueprint of present-day non-Africans came from Neanderthals.
By screening the genomes of 1,004 modern humans, Sriram Sankararaman and his colleagues identified regions bearing the Neanderthal versions of different genes.
That a gene variant associated with a difficulty in stopping smoking should be found to have a Neanderthal origin is a surprise.
It goes without saying that there is no suggestion our evolutionary cousins were puffing away in their caves.read more
Climate change is 'killing Argentina's Magellanic penguin chicks'
Penguin chicks in Argentina are dying as a direct consequence of climate change, according to new research.
Drenching rainstorms and extreme heat are killing the young birds in significant numbers.
The study, conducted over 27 years, looked at climate impacts on the world's biggest colony of Magellanic penguins, which live on the arid Punta Tombo peninsula.
The research has been published in the journal Plos One.
About 200,000 pairs of these penguins make their nests on the peninsula every year.
They reside there, in desert-like conditions, from September until February to hatch their young.
However, the life of a newborn chick is perilous, to say the least.read more
Project targets 2016 for Asian vultures release
After the devastation wrought by a drug on Asian vulture populations, a project hopes to begin releasing captive-bred birds into the wild by 2016.
The Saving Asia's Vultures from Extinction (Save) programme says it plans to release up to 25 birds into a 30,000-sq-km drug-free "safe zone".
Diclofenac - used by vets on cattle - was identified as causing a crash in vulture numbers and banned by India.
But, says Save, the version for human use is still given illegally to cattle.
Diclofenac was banned for use by vets and farmers in 2006 because of its effect on vultures that feed on livestock carcasses.
The link between the anti-inflammatory drug, used to reduce swelling in injured or diseased animals, and the devastating demise of Asia's vulture populations was firmly established in 2004.
Until the breeding programme, the threatened species of vulture had not been bred in captivity
Tests on captive vultures fed carcass flesh traced with the drug produced symptoms that were strikingly similar to those witnessed in sick birds in the wild.read more
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