I love to travel, mainly to Africa where I was born, I enjoy reading and playing bridge. I go for rambles in the countryside. I collect stamps and go to T'ai Chi classes. I love my two cats and my garden birds. I adore the African wildlife and try to help Conservation groups.
Trapped dolphin freed from marina.
A dolphin which had been trapped in Maryport Marina for almost a month has been set free by rescuers. Marine life experts were worried that Marra, a bottlenose dolphin, was losing weight and decided to drain the marina and net the animal. The rescue mission took 20 minutes and Marra was released a mile out to sea. The animal was later seen frolicking with a second dolphin. An attempt to coax Marra out into open waters using specialist equipment failed last week.
Tony Woodley, a spokesman for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group, said the rescue was launched due to the dolphin's flagging health in the cold. A 100-strong crowd gathered to watch the operation which was also overseen by the police, the RSPCA and the RNLI. Experts were also worried that Marra, who usually lives in saltwater, was suffering in the freshwater of the marina which was bleaching its skin due to lack of salt. Mr Woodley said: "It was a fantastic rescue and everything went just like clockwork. The decision was made to leave the lock gates open as the tide went out so the water level in the harbour decreased.
Marra is lifted to safety "A rescue team went into the water when it was around one metre deep and formed a semi-circle around the dolphin. "It was captured and put on to a waiting stretcher and then lifted on to the harbour by a crane. We then loaded it on to a trailer and took it to a waiting boat where it was taken out to sea and released." Marine experts were never able to establish whether the animal was male or female.
Mr Woodley added: "It was seen to dive and surface around four or five times and then, just like a Hollywood ending, it was seen to meet up with another dolphin and they swam away together. A really happy ending." A vet was at the marina to monitor the animal's stress levels and examine it during the operation. Marra had become a popular attraction for visitors who had flocked to the marina to catch a glimpse. Previous attempts to coax it out of the harbour had failed because it appeared to be afraid of the gates.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Johor to mount hunt for 'bigfoot'.
By Jonathan Kent - BBC correspondent in Kuala Lumpur.
The ape man is thought to be hiding in the jungle. The government of the Malaysian state of Johor says it is to organise an attempt to track down a legendary ape man reputed to roam its jungles. After a spate of sightings, Johor's chief minister says he will launch an official search for the beast, dubbed Malaysia's Big Foot by local media. Malaysians have a long-standing love affair with anything big.
The obsessions resulted in record-breaking buildings, bridges, even piles of food. Now they have gone crazy for Big Foot, known in local legend as Hantu Jarang Gigi - ghosts with widely spaced teeth. The country has been gripped since November when three fishery workers claimed to have seen a Big Foot family that left footprints up to 45cm long.
Conservationists say that damage to branches suggested that the creatures could have been up to 3m tall. There were similar sightings by members of the local indigenous minority who said they had seen a 'King Kong' covered in black fur. Now, the chief minister of Johor, Abdul Ghani Othman, says a proper scientific expedition will track Big Foot's big foot-prints. He is setting up two teams, one of which will scour likely locations, including the densely forested Endau Rompin National Park. Mr Abdul Ghani says Malaysia is the first country in the world to openly welcome such an attempt. However, he says it is important that the expedition should not harm or frighten the creatures.
BBC NEWS REPORT
Nations back elephant action plan.
Elephants' habitat is under threat from increasing human activity. All nations with wild populations of Asian elephants have met as a group for the first time to discuss the species' future survival. The aim of the meeting in Kuala Lumpur was to reach a consensus on the best way to tackle threats facing the continent's largest mammal. Delegates agreed that transboundary cooperation was necessary to protect the creatures' dwindling habitat.
The wild population of Asian elephants is estimated at 30,000 to 50,000.
The three-day gathering was convened by the Malaysian government, and facilitated by IUCN, the World Conservation Union, in an attempt to agree on the best way to protect the remaining elephant populations. "Many states face similar problems," said Dr Holly Dublin, chair of the IUCN's Species Survival Commission. "Therefore, the meeting focused on lessons learned and the sharing of expertise to help improve the Asian elephants' fortunes." Although the meeting could be described as historic, it was only the first step on a long road, the IUCN's Andrew McMullin told the BBC News website.
"It is too early at this stage to see any outcomes. It has taken a long time for these 13 countries to come together like this," he said.
"Gaps in knowledge is one of the main things that has been identified, such as the distribution and occurrences of the elephants."
There are only rough estimates of elephant numbers in different countries, ranging from fewer than 100 in Vietnam to more than 20,000 in India. Conservationists admit many of these figures are little more than guesses. It is hoped that a bettter understanding of their location and movement will help reduce the growing conflict between humans and the animals.
South and south-east Asia have the highest human population density in the world, and numbers are increasing by between one and three percent each year.
ASIAN ELEPHANT
Population: 30,000 - 50,000
Life span: up to 70 years
Status: endangered
Found in 13 countries, from Bangladesh to Vietnam
Habitat: scrub forest; areas combining grass with low trees
Forests and other elephant habitats are being destroyed to make way for new settlements and agricultural land. Only an estimated five percent of their original habitat is left for the creatures to roam. As a result, an increasing number of elephants are entering newly developed areas and incurring the wrath of angry locals. The IUCN says the major cause of death for Asian elephants is now being poisoned or shot by farmers. This is why the 13-nation meeting was a welcome step forward in the effort to improve the balance between the needs of elephants and a growing human population, said Andrew McMullin. "We are very pleased that the nations have come together on this, and we hope that it is going to be the start of a long and fruitful cooperation between the countries."
BBC NEWS REPORT
Whale 'vomit' sparks cash bonanza.
An Australian couple who picked up an odd-looking fatty lump from a quiet beach are in line for a cash windfall. Leon Wright and his wife took home a 14.75kg lump of ambergris, found in the innards of sperm whales and used in perfumes after it has been vomited up. Sought after because of its rarity, ambergris can float on the ocean for years before washing ashore. Worth up to $20 a gram, Mr Wright's find on a South Australian beach could net his family US$295,000 (£165,300). At first, Mr Wright and his wife Loralee left the strange lump on the beach where it was found. However, two weeks later the couple returned to Streaky Bay and found it still lying there.
Floating gold !
Curious, Mrs Wright persuaded her husband to take it home.
AMBERGRIS FACTS
Found in warm water oceans around the world
Bile secreted by sperm whales as a digestion aid
Solidifies and floats on water, sometimes for years
Used in perfumes, medicines, flavourings
Banned in US under endangered species legislation
Internet investigations failed to resolve the mysterious matter of the lump's identity, so the couple turned to local marine ecologist Ken Jury for help.
"I immediately decided it was ambergris - it couldn't be anything else," Mr Jury told Australia's ABC radio. Mythologised for thousands of years, ambergris has been referred to as "floating gold" by scientists and scavengers who long for a windfall amid the surf. Expelled from the abdomen of the giant sperm whale, often while hundreds of kilometres away from land, ambergris is a natural excrement thought to be used by the whale as a digestion aid. The hard beaks of giant squid, a main source of food for the whale, have often been found inside lumps of ambergris. Initially, ambergris is a soft, foul-smelling waste matter that floats on the ocean.
But years of exposure to the sun and the salt water of the ocean transform the waste into a smooth, exotic lump of compact rock that boasts a waxy feel and a sweet, alluring smell. "It's quite remarkable when you think about it, because when the whale throws this out, it's discarded material that they can't digest," Mr Jury explained. "[But] after 10 years, it's considered clean and all you're getting then is the wonderful musky, very sweet perfume, which I've got to say is ultra smooth - it's unbelievable."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Stolen penguin's parents lay egg.
Toga was stolen from Amazon World zoo on 17 December. The parents of a baby penguin that was stolen from a zoo just before Christmas have produced a new egg. Toga, a three-month-old jackass penguin, has not been found despite a £25,000 reward after being stolen from Amazon World on the Isle of Wight.
Meanwhile, his parents, Kyala and Oscar, have laid a new egg. "They went through a stressful time when we lost Toga. Kyala was absolutely stressed for the first two weeks," said zoo owner Derek Curtis. "Then they started to beak tap and then they started carrying nesting material which we were quite happy about. "She (Kyala) laid the egg on Thursday last week and within 40 days we should have another Toga in our life. "That's what we are really excited about." Mr Curtis said he had given up any hope of Toga, who was taken on 17 December, being returned alive to the zoo. "It was a baby bird covered in down. It had never seen a fish. It had been fed on regurgitated food by its parents so it didn't really have a chance," he said.
Mr Curtis said police believed someone had stolen Toga as a Christmas gift.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Genes record orangutans' decline.
By Rebecca Morelle BBC News science reporter.
Deforestation has had a huge impact on orangutan numbers. The dramatic collapse of orangutan populations has been linked to human activity, new genetic evidence shows. Researchers report that a population crash occurred during the past 200 years, coinciding with deforestation in the same area. The study focuses on orangutans found in the forests of Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in Malaysia. Writing in the journal Plos Biology, researchers suggest that the outlook is "bleak" unless urgent action is taken. The team looked at 200 orangutans living along the Kinabatangan river. These animals are confined to fragmented patches of forest. By collecting the orangutans' hair and faeces, the researchers were able to extract DNA to create genetic profiles, which could then be used to study genetic diversity. If we don't put these changes in place... then the outlook is really very bleak indeed said Michael Bruford, Cardiff University.
Professor Michael Bruford, a senior author on the Public Library of Science journal paper and a conservation biologist at Cardiff University, told the BBC news website of his surprise at the results. "The genetic diversity of the population showed a very strong signal of a massive population decline," he said. "This was interesting because we didn't expect it to show that the decline has happened so recently - within the last 200 years." The period in which the population collapse occurred correlates strongly with the time that post-colonial habitat exploitation began in the region.
When north Borneo became part of the British Empire in the late 19th Century, deforestation began in earnest. In recent years, conservationists have linked the orangutans' decline to forest clearance for palm oil plantations, which produce the raw materials used for products like lipstick and soap.
However, the Malaysian authorities told the BBC in November that the plantations were mainly grown on land that had already been cultivated or in "secondary jungle". Environmental impact studies were also carried out before any plantations were established, they added. Orangutans numbers are now put at just 50,000, according to The World Atlas of Great Apes and their Conservation which is published by the UN's environment and biodiversity agencies. Professor Bruford warns that the animals' habitat needs to be better preserved, and that steps should be taken to re-establish corridors between fragmented forest patches. He says it may even be necessary to move orangutans around to prevent inbreeding. "The important thing you have to remember is that Kinabatangan is just one area, but these problems are significant in all orangutan ranges. If we don't put these changes in place throughout, then the outlook is really very bleak indeed," he urged.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Dead whale examined by experts.
The body of a whale that died after becoming stranded in the River Thames is to be examined by marine experts. An attempt to transport the 18ft (5m) northern bottle-nosed whale back to deeper water in the Thames Estuary ended on Saturday with its death. Thousands of onlookers lined the river to watch as the mammal was put on a special pontoon at Battersea Bridge and then onto a barge. It finally died from natural causes at 1900 GMT after suffering convulsions. Tony Woodley, of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR), said hopes the whale would survive initially rose after it was lifted onto the barge, but it quickly became clear its survival was in doubt.
"It is such a shame, and I know that so many people in the UK and around the world have been watching this," he said. The whale was being taken to Shivering Sands off the north Kent coast, where rescuers had hoped to release it back into the sea. This plan had already been scaled down from an earlier one to transfer it to an "ocean-going vessel" and take it to deep water off the south coast. Rescuers tried to keep the whale cool as they moved it by barge. As the whale had been carried upstream towards the estuary a vet administered antibiotics and it was constantly splashed with water and covered with a blanket in a bid to keep it alive.
Earlier, naturalist and television presenter Terry Nutkins said the rescue operation was the wrong thing to do and that the animal needed space. He told BBC Radio Five Live: "It wouldn't know what was happening, it was surrounded by boats...it would have been absolutely terrified as well as being stressed. "It was kept...like a goldfish in a bowl. So, it doesn't surprise me that it's died." However, he later concluded he had "no doubts" the rescue operation had been the best way to try to save the whale.
The operation is likely to have cost BDMLR up to £100,000. The whale, which could weigh about four tonnes, was first spotted at on Friday morning. There were reports of a pod of whales in the Thames estuary earlier in the week, and it was possible the whale had become separated from this group. It was the first sighting of the endangered species in the Thames since records began nearly a century ago.
BBC NEWS REPORT
Fears for health of Thames whale.
Rescue operation.
The condition of a whale stranded in the River Thames has worsened which has scuppered plans for it to be released into the open sea. The 18ft (5m) northern bottle-nosed whale was placed in a special pontoon in shallow water near Battersea Bridge. It was then tethered close to two boats and towed to a barge which is heading for the river estuary. It was hoped it could be let out into deep waters but the plan now is to release as soon as possible. If the whale is too weak experts may take the decision to put it down.
A sighting of the whale on Saturday near Albert Bridge, in Chelsea, disappointed rescuers buoyed by an earlier report that it had been seen in Greenwich, which is closer to open water. As the rescuers moved the whale applause broke out among the 3,000 onlookers some on Battersea Bridge, which had been closed, as the whale passed beneath. It is on an inflatable raft which is functioning as "makeshift whale mattress" on which it is being constantly watered down and monitored by experts. It has been given several injections including antibiotics and earlier a vet on board the barge said the whale's had sustained cuts and its breathing was irregular.
Mark Stevens, from British Divers Marine Life Rescue, speaking to the BBC from the barge, said the first thing vets did was carry out ultra sound tests to see how much blubber it had. He said lifting the animal onto the barge had "gone like clockwork" but it was the "scariest thing I've ever done in rescuing whales".
Tony Woodley, spokesman for the British Divers Marine Life Rescue group, said: "If the vet's opinion is that it's not likely to survive [a rescue attempt] we might have to euthanise the whale - but we don't want to do that." The whale, which could weigh about four tonnes, was first spotted at 0830 GMT on Friday by a man on a train and has since attracted massive public and media attention.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Snake 'befriends' snack hamster.
Aochan, the snake 'seems to enjoy' being with Gohan, the hamster. A rodent-eating snake and a hamster have developed an unusual bond at a zoo in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, the Associated Press news agency reports. Their relationship began in October last year, when zookeepers presented the hamster to the snake as a meal. The rat snake, however, refused to eat the rodent. The two now share a cage.
"I have never seen anything like it," a zookeeper at the Mutsugoro Okoku zoo said, adding that the hamster was known to fall asleep sitting atop the snake. The hamster was initially offered to Aochan, the two-year-old rat snake, because it was refusing to eat frozen mice, the Associated Press reports. As a joke, the zookeeper said they named the hamster Gohan - the Japanese word for meal. "I don't think there's any danger. Aochan seems to enjoy Gohan's company very much," zookeeper Kazuya Yamamoto told the Associated Press news agency.
The apparent friendship between the snake and hamster is one of many reported bonds spanning the divide between predator and prey.
BBC NEWS REPORT
Monkeys have become a major nuisance in Delhi.The High Court in the Indian capital, Delhi, has directed the city's civic authorities to rid the premises of a top court of marauding monkeys. The court told the authority to catch monkeys who were disrupting work at the Tis Hazari courts within a month. A petitioner complained that the monkeys were attacking lawyers and their clients and snatching their food. Delhi suffers from a serious monkey menace, with scores of animals seen across the city. The monkeys are mostly seen around top government offices.
Petitioner Nirmal Chopra said lawyers at Tis Hazari had asked the state government and the municipality to tackle the simians, but no action had been taken. Tis Hazari is Asia's largest law complex with 162 courts. "If you cannot catch monkeys, then better close down your institution," Judges Vijender Jain and Rekha Sharma told the municipality. The Press Trust of India quoted the municipality's lawyer as saying that catching monkeys was no longer its responsibility. He told the court that a monkey catcher hired by the municipality had required 72 stitches after being mauled during an operation. Other monkey catchers were reluctant to take up the work.
Delhi's monkeys have gained a notorious reputation for invading homes, schools and government offices. The monkeys who have moved into residential areas and official enclaves due to Delhi's shrinking forests, are said to have become a security threat. Two years ago, the ministry of defence found some of its top secret documents scattered all over the place one morning. It was blamed on the many rhesus monkeys which flock around the colonial-era building. The prime minister's office, which is situated in the same block, is also within reach. A cabinet minister could not enter his official bungalow for months because the monkeys would not let anybody enter the house. The presidential palace, too, has been targeted and staff there have been forced to employ a dark-faced langur monkey to scare away the rhesus monkeys.
Last year the Delhi administration began a drive to catch the catch the errant monkeys. Some 500 of them were captured and are kept on the outskirts of Delhi.
BBC NEWS REPORT
African hopes ride on Norway camels.
By Lars Bevanger - BBC News, Oslo.
Camels have no problem surviving Norway's cold winters. A small community in wintry Norway wants to help a group of East African refugees back to work by importing a flock of camels. The local refugee council says it will allow refugees with nomadic background to use their camel-farming skills while also securing an alternative income for local agriculture. But how do camels adapt to Arctic conditions in the far north of Europe? Igor, a five year-old Bactrian camel, is living proof his particular breed of camel has no qualms about snow and sub-zero temperatures. Igor roams a large, snow-covered enclosure at the Amadeus animal park north of Oslo, together with his family of three. "Our camels are very different camels, because they are from Mongolia and Russia," owner Jon Rian told the BBC News website. "He's very happy because he's built and made to live in temperatures to minus forty, and maybe colder than that."
In the nearby village of Loeten, the camels have given the local refugee council an idea. It has been looking for new ways of finding work for some 100 refugees, who mainly come from East African countries. "It's hard to find jobs for anyone here," explained refugee council leader Wenche Stenseth. "Then we found out that many of the refugees here have nomadic backgrounds, and know a lot about camel farming. So we want to import camels, and employ the refugees so that they can use the skills they already have." Ms Stenseth argued a camel farm could help integrate the refugees, and give them self-respect and pride through working with something they excel at. She and her colleagues have applied for government money to explore the possibility of importing some 20 camels, which could provide produce like milk, fur, hides and meat. Refugees such as Isman already have camel farming skills. The farming expertise, they say, will come from refugees like Abdirahman Abdille Isman, who fled Somalia eight years ago.
He is very positive to the idea of a camel farm in wintry Loeten. "I farmed camels in Somalia for many years," he told the BBC News website. "I had around one hundred camels there. I think camel farming here is a great idea. "I don't know any other refugees here who don't think this is a good idea." Around the village of Loeten lies some of Norway's best farm land, and local farmers have been approached to see whether they will agree to house the camels. Einar Myki is one of them. For now, he breeds pigs and angora rabbits. He is cautiously optimistic about the project. Local farmers such as Einar Myki are intrigued by the idea. "It's an interesting idea, but of course we'll have to check out government rules and a lot of things before we can see camels here. "Of course, if [the refugees] know camels from before, they can educate us if we want to start with this."
Mr Myki points out, however, that camels are very different from ordinary Norwegian farm animals like pigs and cattle. They breed slowly, and need much more space to roam. The local authorities also have to secure an exemption from a ban on the import of exotic animals for farming purposes. If they do, the first 20 camels could arrive here towards the end of this year. In which case the camel Igor and his family in the animal park would become far less exotic than they are today.
Taiwan breeds green-glowing pigs.
By Chris Hogg - BBC News, Hong Kong.
When lit up in the dark, the pigs glow green. Scientists in Taiwan say they have bred three pigs that "glow in the dark". They claim that while other researchers have bred partly fluorescent pigs, theirs are the only pigs in the world which are green through and through. The pigs are transgenic, created by adding genetic material from jellyfish into a normal pig embryo. The researchers hope the pigs will boost the island's stem cell research, as well as helping with the study of human disease.
The scientists, from National Taiwan University's Department of Animal Science and Technology, say that although the pigs glow, they are otherwise no different from any others. Taiwan is not claiming a world first. Others have bred partially fluorescent pigs before; but the researchers insist the three pigs they have produced are better. In daylight, their eyes and skin are green-tinged. They are the only ones that are green from the inside out. Even their heart and internal organs are green, the researchers say.
To create them, DNA from jellyfish was added to about 265 pig embryos which were implanted in eight different sows. Four of the female pigs became pregnant and three male piglets were born three months ago.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
What are the rules on wearing fur?
WHO, WHAT, WHY? - The Magazine answers...
Pete Burns is 'thrilled' his fur coat offends other housemates. Celebrity Big Brother contestant Pete Burns could be jailed for wearing a coat that is reportedly made out of gorilla fur. What are the rules on wearing fur? Big Brother often feels like a zoo, but celebrity contestant Pete Burns has taken it a step closer by wearing a fur coat which is said to be made from gorilla skin. His boasts have caused outrage inside and outside the house. Biodiversity minister Jim Knight said: "Gorilla skins belong on gorillas, not on reality TV show contestants." Burns could be in a lot of trouble if it turns out to be true. Gorillas top the list of critically endangered species and trading in any such species carries a penalty of up to five years in prison and an unlimited fine.
The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), which was passed in 1975, states that any gorilla skin acquired after June 1947 would require an exemption permit. This would be highly unlikely to be granted. Equally any products made of the skin require an import permit to be brought into this country. The same goes for all endangered species. "Any acquisition, any sale of a gorilla skin item is counted as trading," says a spokesman for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. "Even if you buy something on eBay it is considered trading." After consulting with a monkey expert, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) says the fur is more likely to from a Colobus monkey. It is also endangered so the same strict guidelines apply.
The charity will be writing to Burns when he leaves Big Brother to inform him of issues surrounding the fur trade and will ask him to donate the coat to Peta to use as part of its education programmes. "Whether the animal is endangered or not all animals suffer horrifically at the hands of the fur industry," says a spokeswoman. "Even if that coat dates from before Cites, just wearing it puts animals in danger. Some people always want something unusual and wearing that coat just provokes interest." Other endangered species whose fur is traded on the black market include tiger, river otter, platypus, jaguar and ocelot, according to Peta. The farming of non-endangered animals for their fur takes place mainly in Denmark, Finland, Norway and Holland in Europe, but China is the largest exporter of fur in the world.
The government banned fur farming in Britain in 2003 but it can still be imported from other countries. Despite the ban, the fur trade is worth up to £500m a year to the UK, according to the British Fur Trade Association (BFTA). Mink and fox are among the most popular furs in the UK. Dog and cats fur is legal here, although issues around the treatment of the animals has caused concern among animal charities and the government. The sealskin trade is entirely legal, although skins are banned in Europe and the United States.
Major stores, including Harvey Nichols, Marks and Spencer, Mango, Morgan, Monsoon, Liberty and most recently Selfridges, have banned fur from their racks. But in recent years it has started to increase in popularity. Furriers have reported a surge in sales in the past year, with fur reappearing on fashion show runways. The BFTA says its sales have risen by a third in the past year and the International Fur Trade Federation (IFTF) says global sales have increased from $9.1bn (£5bn) in 2000 to $11.7bn (£6.6bn) last year. Both support Cites and say they do not handle or deal in 5endangered species. "As an industry, we are against any form of animal cruelty," says BFTA.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Study sounds global vulture alert.
By Roland Pease - BBC science correspondent.
Once very common, vultures are now rare in India (Image: Asad Rahmani) . A widely used livestock pain killer could endanger the survival of vultures around the world, researchers suggest. The rapid decline of Indian vulture populations has been blamed on the use of the drug diclofenac to treat inflammation in cattle. A new study for the British Royal Society for the Protection of Birds says diclofenac is highly toxic to other vulture species. It warns they could be poisoned when feeding off contaminated carcasses.
Oriental white-backed vultures (Gyps bengalensis) were once the most common large bird of prey anywhere in the world. Oriental white-backed vultures are critically endangered (Photo: rspb-images.com) Flocks of them could be seen across India; but over a matter of years, they have become almost extinct. The long-billed vulture (Gyps indicus) and the slender-billed vulture (Gyps tenuirostris) have also seen dramatic declines.
In early 2004, the painkiller diclofenac was identified as the cause by a US-led team. Extremely cheap to buy, it has been widely used in South Asia to treat cattle for conditions like lameness, or mastitis - inflammation of the udder. The trouble was that vultures were feeding off carcasses of dead, treated animals, and the drug was destroying their kidneys.
The new study, led by Dr Deborah Pain and published in Biology Letters, shows the drug is just as deadly to other closely related vulture species which are not so widespread. The research centred on the Eurasian griffon (Gyps fulvus) and the African white-backed vulture (Gyps africanus). The Eurasian vulture may be particularly at risk, as juveniles migrate into northern India, where dead cattle are left unburied. But the study will alert conservationists across the world to the peculiar risk posed by diclofenac. The researchers fear that more distantly related birds may be equally endangered, and that substitutes for diclofenac might be similarly toxic. They are currently seeking safe alternatives.
The loss of these scavenging birds - the world's natural rubbish collectors - could damage the quality of the environment.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'Gang of sharks' kills Australian .
Australia's coastal waters are popular with sharks and swimmers. An Australian woman from Brisbane has been killed in a brutal shark attack at a popular beach near the city. Ambulance workers said the 21-year-old suffered extensive injuries, losing both arms below the elbow and sustaining deep wounds to her leg. Police suspect that several sharks carried out the attack, which happened on North Stradbroke Island. The victim was thought to have been swimming in shallow water with a local church group when she was attacked. Friends carried her from the water and she was quickly flown to hospital by helicopter. However, she had lost large amounts of blood and had gone into shock. She died later in hospital. Police believe that three bull sharks could have attacked the young woman, and have launched a large-scale hunt in local waters. We've always thought someone was going to be taken here said Miles Scott a fisherman.
Bull sharks are notorious for being aggressive during mating season and often try to attack humans. "If we found them I suppose we would try to retrieve them and see if they have any body parts," said Queensland police inspector Ray Harding. "Realistically it's virtually impossible [but] the idea is to retrieve what we can." The victim was swimming with friends and her dog about 15m (49ft) offshore when she was attacked in water which had become murky and muddy after a storm on Friday night. Locals near the site of the attack on Amity Beach said they often saw sharks in the water, and had been concerned about a possible attack. "We've been waiting for this for a long time," said fisherman Miles Scott. There have been 10 fatal shark attacks in Australian waters in the past five years.
BBC NEWS REPORT
New cat family tree revealed
By Helen Briggs - BBC News science reporter.
Cats were domesticated 6,000 years ago.
Modern cats have their roots in Asia 11 million years ago, according to a DNA study of wild and domestic cats. The ancient ancestors of the 37 species alive today migrated across the globe, eventually settling in all continents except Antarctica, say scientists. Eight major lineages emerged, including lions, ocelots and domestic cats. The moggy is most closely related to the African and European wild cat and the Chinese desert cat, an international team reports in Science.
Warren Johnson of the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, Maryland, US, led the study. He said they were able to trace the ancestry of all living cat species back to South East Asia some 11 million years ago. In a relatively small number of migrations, cats spread across the world, as land bridges sprang up between continents. It turns out that the domestic cat is most closely related to the wild cats of Africa, Europe and China.
"You can take a look at your cat, that you share so much of your life with, and imagine that in the relatively recent evolutionary past, it was connected and related to species such as the European wild cat," Dr Johnson told the BBC News website. "We now have a much better idea of where the domestic cat fits in with all of the 36 wild species and what ecological and geographical events led to the development of each one of these species," he added. "Through that we have a much better understanding of what makes a domestic cat a cat and what evolutionary event distinguished the domestic cat from its ancestor and what it retains today." The family history of the cat has been notoriously murky in the past, in part because the few discovered cat fossils are very difficult to tell apart. Lions and other 'roaring cats' diverged first.
The international team took a different approach by sampling DNA from living cats. They looked at both mitochondrial DNA - the scrap of DNA within the parts of the cell that generate energy and are passed along the maternal line - and DNA from the X and Y sex chromosomes. A picture has emerged of a feline ancestor that wandered all over the world, becoming one of the most successful carnivore families. The Panthera lineage, which includes the lion, jaguar, cloud leopard and tiger, emerged first. This was followed rapidly by a group of three Asian species - the bay cat, Asian golden cat and marbled cat, three African Species (caracal, African golden cat and serval) and the path that led to the New World ocelot.
More recently, four further lines branched off - the pathways to the lynx, puma, leopard cat and domestic cat. The scientists believe the common ancestor of modern cats migrated to Africa from Asia six to eight million years ago, giving rise to the Caracal lineage. Cats then crossed the Bering land bridge to North America about eight million years ago, later moving into South America by the Panamanian land bridge.
BBC NEWS REPORT
Two-headed snake 'up for auction' .
An American aquarium says it intends to auction a rare two-headed albino rat snake for $150,000 (£87,000). The World Aquarium in St Louis has been home to the unique reptile, named "We", for the past six years. Aquarium president Leonard Sonnenschein said he hoped the snake would generate as much demand on the eBay auction site as a priceless work of art. However eBay bans the sale of live animals and says if the creature is listed it will promptly be removed.
A spokesman told the BBC News website: "It is against eBay policy to sell this on the site. We can't stop them from listing this snake, but we've told them we'll pull it down immediately." An aquarium spokeswoman said conditions were in place to make sure the snake went to a responsible buyer.
We was being sold to pay for education, conservation and research programmes, the aquarium said. The aquarium purchased the snake for $15,000 (£8,700) when it was six-and-a-half years old, despite knowing that most two-headed snakes do not live for more than a few months. "It's an amazing snake," Mr Sonnenschein told the Associated Press news agency. "When people see it they are awe-struck." The snake is a healthy size for a rat snake, at 2.5cm (one inch) thick and 1.2m (four feet) long.
It is currently at the prime age for breeding and is expected to live for another 10 to 15 years. It has survived for so long because both heads are connected to the same stomach, Mr Sonnenschein added. We was almost sold in 2004, after it was stolen by a city museum worker. Fortunately, authorities found the snake in the man's garage at his home in Illinois. Mr Sonnenschein said the man was intending to sell it.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Elephant tail reveals diet clues.
Chemical analysis of elephant hair can provide clues about the animal's diet and behaviour, say scientists. Researchers studied wild elephants in Kenya's Samburu National Reserve by tracking the animals with GPS devices and analysing their tail hair. One elephant had turned to eating crops, a major source of conflict between humans and elephants. The study is published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). It is aimed at helping conservationists decide where to site sanctuaries.
Conflict between humans and elephants becomes inevitable, as the human population rises. As elephants are squeezed out of their natural habitat by human settlements, they fall short of food and may take to raiding crops to supplement their diets. In rare cases, they may kill, or are themselves shot in retaliation. To find out more about elephants' movement patterns, scientists led by Thure Cerling of the University of Utah, US, fitted radio collars to wild elephants. They analysed their roaming habits over the course of two years and collected samples of tail hair. By studying the ratios of naturally-occurring carbon and nitrogen isotopes, they were able to deduce the diet of seven of the elephants. All but one had a similar diet. The seventh, a bull elephant named Lewis, showed a higher intake of grasses, suggesting it had raided nearby crop fields.
The elephant appears to have eaten lowland grasses in a sanctuary during rainy times, then moved up into the mountains, where it dined on shrubs and trees by day, and cornfields by night. The elephant was shot after the study was completed, possibly by a farmer, says the international team, from the US, UK and Africa. "One big question is how can we secure a future for elephants when we know that the areas set aside for their protection are too small," said study co-author and zoologist Iain Douglas-Hamilton, founder of the Save the Elephants Foundation in Nairobi, Kenya. "Tracking an elephant's diet through stable isotopes defines essential elephant dietary needs and can help inform land use planning," he added. "The fine information from the isotopes and actual elephant tracking can help us define the critical minimum space needed by elephants and other animals."
BBC NEWS REPORT
Stranded whales shot dead in NZ.
Dozens of stranded pilot whales have been shot dead in New Zealand to end their suffering when it was ruled too difficult to get them back in the sea.
The department of conservation said any attempt to refloat the whales would be too dangerous for the humans involved and would probably not have worked. The whales were stranded on a beach near Farewell Spit, on the north-western tip of the South Island. More than 100 whales were freed from the same area about two weeks ago. These latest stranded whales are not thought to have been from the same pod.
The latest whales were stranded further out on the spit than the previous group, meaning that any rescue attempt could have resulted in people being swept out to sea. Eight of the whales died within hours of being stranded, the New Zealand Herald reported. Another 41 whales were shot to end their suffering. "Given the hopelessness of being able to successfully refloat the whales, our prime concern was then to avoid the whales having a long and painful death," said a conservation department spokesman, Greg Napp, quoted by the paper. Scientists are not sure what causes whales to beach themselves.
BBC NEWS REPORT
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