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.
Elephant is 'cut up and buried'
By Shalini Joshi - BBC News, Dehradun.
Elephants' habitats are under threat from human activity. Officials in the northern Indian state of Uttaranchal say a male elephant has been killed by villagers near a national park. Forest officials said the villagers cut the 35-year-old animal into pieces and buried the carcass near the Rajaji National Park. Experts believe the villagers' anger at the destruction of their crops by elephants may have led to the killing. Poaching does not seem to have been a motive as the tusks were not taken. Three people had been arrested in connection with the killing which happened nearly a week ago, an official said.
For some time, local villagers have been demanding the erection of an electric fence in the area to keep elephants away from their property. Last year, a female elephant was also killed in the same area. Rajaji National Park , the largest habitat of Asian elephants in the world, is spread over an area of 825 sq km. There are some villages inside the park, while there are a few on its fringes. Elephants in several parts of India have been encroaching in areas settled by humans because their own habitats have suffered huge devastation due to human development.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Dog owner gives pet kiss of life.
The owner saved her West Highland Terrier's life. An East Lothian dog owner has saved her pet's life by giving her the kiss of life after she choked on a large piece of meat. West Highland Terrier, Daisy, was struggling for breath when her owner, May Buchanan, 37, found her at their home in Port Seton. Mrs Buchanan explained how she removed the piece of meat before giving her pet mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Daisy choked on a large piece of food stolen from another dog's bowl. When the vets answered the phone I shouted that my dog was choking Mrs Buchanan said: "I'd cut bigger pieces for my huskies and smaller pieces for the Westies. "But Daisy is so greedy and she just nabbed one of the bigger pieces."
Mrs Buchanan followed the instructions of a local vet, over the phone, to remove the meat from the dog's throat before giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and massaging her heart until she and husband Michael were able to get Daisy to the nearest veterinary surgery. The eight-year-old dog has now made a full recovery. Recounting the incident, Mrs Buchanan added: "I got down beside Daisy and tried to remove the meat from her throat. But I was bitten because her jaws were locking. "When the vets answered the phone I shouted that my dog was choking. The receptionist ran off straight away and brought the vet to the phone." The vet at Dunedin Veterinary Centre in Tranent, East Lothian, was able to talk Mrs Buchanan through the mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Pacific isles get wildlife drive
By Tim Hirsch - BBC News Environment Correspondent in Curitiba, Brazil.
Setting up protected areas has been a conservation success.. A major initiative has been launched to conserve the fragile wildlife of the islands of the Pacific. It includes a commitment to protect nearly a third of coastal waters and a fifth of the land area of Micronesia. The announcement was made on the fringes of a UN conference on the protection of the world's biodiversity. Scientists have warned that the variety of life on Earth is declining at a rate unprecedented since the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. In a separate move, one of the world's largest marine parks will be created in the Pacific island nation of Kiribati to protect an extraordinary untouched coral ecosystem.
Islands contain a disproportionate number of the world's species, as their isolation over millions of years has resulted in separate evolutionary pathways. For example, the exotic white-crested Kagu (Rhynochetos jubatus) is the sole member of an entire bird family, and lives only on the island of New Caledonia. Some 16% of the world's known plant species have evolved on islands and their coastal waters contain half of the planet's variety of marine life. This isolation makes the wildlife uniquely vulnerable to extinction as environmental changes in just a small area can easily wipe out entire species. Half of all known extinctions have involved island species, including the notorious case of the dodo on Mauritius. Current threats include deforestation, over-fishing and the degradation of coral reefs, 30% of which are already severely damaged.
The initiative to increase protection of Pacific islands was launched by the president of the tiny nation of Palau, an island group with a human population of barely 20,000. Its aim is to provide effective protection by 2020 of 30% of the inshore marine life of the ocean region of Micronesia, and of 20% of land ecosystems. At the launch of the programme in the Brazilian city of Curitiba, a total of $18m was pledged towards conservation in Micronesia, coming from a combination of government funds, conservation organisations and international finance institutions.
520 species of reef fish have been identified in the Phoenix IslandsThe new marine protected area in Kiribati will cover an area twice the size of Portugal, and will heavily restrict human activities in the Phoenix Islands, a group of eight coral atolls between Hawaii and Fiji. They are nearly uninhabited, and have stunned conservation scientists with an extraordinary variety of unique wildlife including 120 species of coral and more than 500 fish, some new to science. In addition, it is an important stopping point for migrating birds and sea turtles. While the Phoenix Islands are still in a remarkably pristine condition, the creation of the new protected area is designed to prevent future damage from over-fishing and to offset the impact of climate change.
This will involve setting up an endowment fund to compensate the government of Kiribati for revenue it could have got from the issuing of commercial fishing licences, and also to finance professional management of the wildlife. It is hoped that by protecting coral ecosystems, the long-term future for small-scale fishing can be secured for people in the region, as the reefs provide important spawning grounds.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Lula attacks rich on environment.
By Tim Hirsch - BBC News environment correspondent.
More than 800 species animal and plant species face extinction. Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva has criticised richer countries for not providing enough money to help preserve the variety of life on Earth. President Lula made his comments while opening the ministerial meeting of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. He told delegates in Curitiba it was unacceptable the world's poorest nations were suffering the main burden.
Earlier, ministers were warned time was running out in the battle to slow the loss of plant and animal species. With the world's most diverse ecosystems located in developing countries, the international effort to slow the rate of their decline has become mired in North-South political arguments. President Lula said it was unacceptable that the poorest countries in the world should be bearing the main brunt of environmental degradation caused by unsustainable consumption of resources by the richer world. He went on to say it was worrying that at the very moment in which conservation efforts were growing around the world, the financial resources to support them were being reduced.
That was a reference to an argument at this conference over contributions from the United States and other industrialised countries to a UN fund directed at environmental protection. Earlier, the official in charge of the biodiversity convention, Ahmed Djoghlaf, warned that time was running out for governments to meet their commitment to slow the loss of species variety by 2010. If the world carried on with business as usual, he said, that target would be missed.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Snippets harvested from the week's news, chopped, sliced and diced for your weekend convenience.
1. Goths, those pasty-faced teenagers who revel in black clothing, are likely to become doctors, lawyers and architects, according to a study by Sussex University.
2. Nelson Mandela used to steal pigs as a child.
3. In the UK there are: 275,000km of gas pipes; 353,000km of sewer pipes; 396,000km of water pipes, and 482,000km of electricity cables.
4. Jacques Chirac spent time in his youth as a forklift driver at a US brewery.
5. More than 3,000 BT internet customers download up to 200 gigabytes each month.
6. There are an average of 4.4 sparrows in each British garden, a study has found. In 1979, there were 10 per garden.
7. No chancellor of the exchequer in more than 150 years has delivered 10 Budgets in a row. Gordon Brown achieved that feat this week.
8. Electricity for Number 10 Downing Street is supplied by a French company.
9. Boris Johnson calls Harriet Harman "Hattie".
10. Under the Estate Agents Act 1979, anyone can set up in business as one unless they have been banned by the Office of Fair Trading or are bankrupt.
BBC NEWS MAGAZINE.
Canada seal cull gets under way.
Protestors say they are determined to stop the hunt next year.Canada's annual seal hunt has begun, amid international appeals for an end to the controversial cull. Up to 325,000 young harp seal pups could be killed in the coming weeks.
Celebrities such as former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney and his wife have joined animal rights groups in condemning the cull as barbaric and unnecessary. Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Canada was victim of an "international propaganda campaign", and insisted the cull would be carried out humanely.
HARP SEALS
Found in north Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
Feed on fish and crustaceans and spend much of year at sea.
Pups born on the ice and nurse for two weeks, after which their mothers abandon them.
Can be legally hunted only once their white coats darken, at about two weeks old.
The cull, which reportedly earns C$16.5m (£8.3m) in meat and pelt sales, is an important source of income for fishing communities in Quebec and Newfoundland that have been hit hard by dwindling fish stocks in the Atlantic. The hunt is "an annual harvest and it is based on economics... It is harvesting animals on a sustainable basis", Roger Simone of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans told the BBC.
The Canadian government says the cull is also necessary to control seal numbers, saying the seal population is now almost six million, nearly triple the level of the 1970s. It recently increased the total allowable catch by 5,000, to 325,000 seals. The first stage of the cull has begun in the Gulf of St Lawrence region in Quebec. Some 90,000 seal pups in the area are expected to be killed before the hunt moves on to Newfoundland, where thousands more will be culled. On the first day, sealers and protesters came face to face, sparking confrontations. At one point, a sealer flung the carcass of a skinned seal at an inflatable craft carrying protesters and journalists. "They threw carcasses at our Zodiac and they came rushing at us in their boat and tried to capsize us in the wake," Rebecca Aldworth of the Humane Society of the United States told the AP news agency.
Canada says it will not stop the controversial hunt. "This is standard behaviour out here. The sealers feel that they're completely above the law." But the sealers say they are misunderstood. Mark Small, president of the Northeast Coast Sealers Cooperation, has been sealing in Newfoundland waters for about 40 years. "I think the Canadian public realises these are coastal people who live off the sea and depend on the hunt to survive in small communities where the fish stocks are not there," he told AP. "Coastal communities have to live, too."
The head of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw), Fred O'Regan, said in a statement that the cull was a "cruel hunt for products that nobody needs". "Canada is better than this. It's time for the new Canadian government to shut down the seal hunt," he said. It is the market that is determining the amount of seals killed - if people didn't buy fur there would be no market. - Eric Hovius, Ontario, Canada.
Ifaw has asked the Canadian government to cancel this year's hunt due to poor ice conditions, which it says means many pups will drown anyway. Sir Paul and Heather McCartney, who visited the region earlier this month to protest against the cull, made a last-minute video appeal. "We are absolutely committed to making sure this is the last slaughter of baby seals in Canada anyone will ever have to witness," Sir Paul said. They urged Canada to consider a "win-win" plan to end the hunt while compensating fishermen for lost revenue. Celebrity campaigner Brigitte Bardot also asked the Canadian government to halt the cull earlier this week. "Canada is a rich country. It doesn't need to sell skin, oil, fat and powdered seal penises to make aphrodisiacs for countries in Asia... You cannot continue a genocide of animals like this," the 71-year-old actress said.
But Mr Harper, who refused a request to meet Bardot, dismissed the suggestion. "We don't harvest the pups," he said, referring to a 1987 ban on the killing of newborn seals with white coats pictured in many anti-hunt posters. "Unfortunately, we're to some degree the victim of a bit of an international propaganda campaign... We believe the country is acting responsibly and we'll make sure all rules are enforced."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Australians hunt down toxic toads.
By Phil Mercer - BBC News, Darwin.
The toxic toads have wrought havoc on indigenous animals. Residents in Australia's Northern Territory are staging a day of action to stop marauding cane toads. They are being encouraged to hunt and destroy these toxic pests, which have spread in plague-like numbers across tropical Australia. The cane toads were introduced from South America 70 years ago in a failed attempt to eradicate cane beetles. They are big, ugly creatures and their advance has taken them to the outskirts of Darwin. Residents are being urged to defend the front-line on "Not In My Backyard Day", which is sponsored by the Northern Territory government.
Federal MP Dave Tollner says that the toads deserve no mercy. "I suggested that people should hit them with golf clubs or cricket bats or, you know, lumps of wood - whatever was at hand. The only fun bit about them is squashing them and killing them said a school girl."Other people have suggested that you should put them in a box and then gas them with the exhaust of your car. The RSPCA also suggests chemical euthanasia. "You know, to me it seems far easier just to flog them over the head with a lump of wood," he says.
The toads have become a serious hazard to local wildlife. Crocodiles have died after eating their toxic skin, while lizards have been no match for them either. Safe to say that cane toads have few friends in Australia's lush tropics. "I think they're really disgusting and the only fun bit about them is squashing them and killing them," a schoolgirl says. Asked whether she thinks that is a bit mean, she replies: "No, not to me... Because cane toads are disgusting!" Australia's RSPCA believes that these warty creatures are a menace and should be destroyed. It recommends that they be smeared with haemorrhoid cream. It contains a local anaesthetic that induces a coma. The toads are then placed in a freezer and the job is done humanely.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Sumatran rhino tracks spark hopes
By Jonathan Kent - BBC News, Kuala Lumpur.
The rhinos have fallen prey to poachers. A wildlife expedition in Malaysia has found evidence that there may be hope for the endangered Sumatran rhino. A search of an area known as the Heart of Borneo last May found the tracks of at least 13 animals in a confined area - though no rhino was actually seen. Environmentalists say the are may be home to a viable breeding population.
The Sumatran rhino, the smallest of the world's rhino species, is threatened by extinction. Only 300 of the animals are thought to remain. On the Malay peninsula, only a handful survive, as many have fallen prey to poachers or have died in poorly maintained captive breeding centres. They are also thought to be extinct across most of Borneo island. However, this latest survey offers a glimmer of hope. Malaysian scientists based in Sabah state on Borneo believe they have found a substantial group in a small area untouched by poachers.
"Poaching has decimated Borneo's once-healthy rhino population, but we were heartened to find that a few individuals have managed to cling to survival," said Raymond Alfred of the Malaysian branch of the conservation group WWF. Previous estimates had put the total number of Sumatran rhinos in Sabah at between 30 and 70. However, many are thought to be scattered over wide distances.
DICERORHINUS SUMATRENSIS
In 2001, there were about 300 Sumatran rhinos
They live in dense tropical forest, mainly in the Malay Peninsula and Borneo
They weight 600-950kg (1,300-2,000 lbs)
They stand at 1-1.5 metres (3-5 ft)
Source: International Rhino Foundation
This latest discovery has excited scientists because there are so many animals in one small area, meaning they stand a better chance of breeding. "We believe this population may be viable and could recover if their habitat is protected and the threat of poaching is eliminated," said Dr Christy Williams, head of the WWF's Asian rhino programme. The WWF and the state authorities have now launched rhino protection patrols in the area where the creatures were found. Their horns are said to be worth kilogram for kilogram almost as much as gold, and are prized for their use in traditional Asian medicine.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Explorers flee polar bear attack.
The team made noise for 10 hours to scare the polar bear away. Two Cumbrian Arctic explorers have told how they had to fight off a polar bear that rampaged through their camp. Paul Walker, 40, and Baz Roberts, 44, both from Kendal, were in a team of eight climbing the Arctic's highest mountain, Gunnbjorns Fjeld. The pair, who are now back in the UK, said the bear ripped through tents before they managed to scare it off. The team maintained an all-night vigil, making noise for 10 hours until dawn, to ensure the bear did not come back. The team had just entered the history books by becoming the first people to climb the 3,693m mountain in the punishing Arctic winter, when temperatures drop as low as minus 60C. Expedition co-leader Mr Walker raised the alarm on Saturday night after the polar bear slashed its way into his tent.
As half the team played Trivial Pursuit in another tent, the bear peered in through the tent door of the expedition's other leader, Mr Roberts. Mr Roberts said: "The bear attack was the most frightening face-to-face encounter of my life with a killer animal and you just react on gut instinct to survive. "The team all pulled together and we are relieved to have got out alive. This could very well have ended in tragedy. "It doesn't take away from our magnificent achievement of making the top of Gunnbjorns Fjeld and all the team played their part in completing one of the last great Arctic challenges. "But we are still wondering what the bear was doing in the Watkins mountains in the first place." The team was airlifted from their base camp on Sunday and arrived back in the UK on Tuesday night.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Plaque and tree for dead giraffes.
Paddy died despite several days of intensive treatment. A Devon zoo has announced it is to have a commemorative plaque and tree for three giraffes who died as a result of a fire last month. An electrical fault at Paignton Zoo started the fire in which mother Kizi and her six-day-old calf died. Calf father Paddy died a few days later.
The zoo has received £5,500 in donations since their deaths. Bosses said they had been overwhelmed with condolence cards and said a memorial tree will also be planted. Paddy, the adult male giraffe, survived for several days after the fire before succumbing to injuries sustained as a result of smoke inhalation. A working party set up to decide how to spend the cash decided to plant the tree with the plaque close to the giraffe paddock. Any remaining money will go towards transporting new giraffes to the zoo. It is likely to cost £4,000 to £5,000 per animal to bring in replacements.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Vulture makes break from training.
Guinevere has been spotted about 10ft up an oak tree. A four-year-old black female vulture has escaped from a wildlife centre during a training session. The North American predator with a 5ft wingspan made a break from the Tropical Wings World of Wildlife in South Woodham Ferrers, Essex, on Saturday. Staff were trying to catch her on Tuesday after she was traced to an oak tree on farmland two miles away. Jason Davey, assistant general manager, said: "A gust of wind lifted her up, she panicked and off she went." Mr Davey said that staff were training Guinevere to take part in a bird of prey display at Easter.
"She is a captive-bred bird and will take food from the hand so that is why we were going to use her in the display," he said. "Everyone was gutted when we realised what had happened. "We immediately went out searching for her and managed to track her across fields. We found her about two miles away from the centre, about 10ft up an oak tree. "She hasn't had anything to eat since Saturday so we are hoping that she will come down soon." Mr Davey said that staff were trying to tempt Guinevere down with her favourite foods - rabbits and chicks. No pets are at risk because vultures feed on carrion. He added that the centre's other black vulture, Lancelot, was missing his companion.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Pandas 'cute but costly' for US.
Zoos say they want to pay China less for renting the animals. Zoos in the United States have told China they cannot afford to keep paying $1 million (£580,000) each year for the loan of Giant Pandas. The endangered mammals are the A-list celebrities of the animal kingdom when it comes to pulling in the crowds. Yet zoos in Washington, San Diego, Atlanta and Memphis say current loan deals are not viable in the long-term. Officials recently made a joint trip to China to say they want to renegotiate fees when current contracts expire. 'Crowds peak and tail off'
Giant pandas are an endangered species, with about 1,600 living in the wild. For the four zoos that keep them in the US they are a both a top visitor attraction and important case studies for zoological researchers. Yet the institutions say the cost of keeping the animals is not offset by profits from visitors and merchandising - which peak with the birth of cubs but quickly tail off. Washington National Zoo spokesman John Gibbons told the BBC: "There is a possibility that there may be a day when there may not be Giant Pandas at the zoo.
"We have had informal discussions with the Chinese and told them that we can't sustain the current expenditure and we are waiting for a response." The Washington zoo was the birthplace of "panda diplomacy" in the 1970s when the Chinese Government donated two pandas amid efforts to improve Sino-US relations. China still views pandas as valuable ambassadors of friendship between the two countries. In 2000, WNZ signed a 10-year, $10m deal to bring pandas Tian Tian and Mei Xiang to Washington. The pair had a cub, Tai Shan, last July - for which the zoo paid China a one off fee of $600,000 ($348,000). San Diego Zoo has paid out even more, because it has had three panda births since 1999.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
10 THINGS WE DIDN'T KNOW THIS TIME LAST WEEK .
Snippets harvested from the week's news, chopped, sliced and diced for your weekend convenience.
1. A new product is launched every three-and-a-half minutes.
2. The Palestinians have a supreme court.
3. Syriana - the title of George Clooney's latest film - is a term used by Washington think-tanks to describe hypothetical realignment of the Middle East.
4. Rhubarb, that classic English fruit, was introduced to Britain from Siberia.
5. The "Rhubarb triangle" is an area of West Yorkshire farms bordered by Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford, where rhubarb is grown.
6. Pooh Bear illustrator EH Shepard hated Pooh bear.
7. Chimpanzees ruin their fingers by walking on their knuckles.
8. It's possible to generate a temperature 133 times greater than the interior of the sun - scientists have produced a gas exceeding 3.6 billion degrees Fahrenheit, although they don't know how they did it.
9. Hummingbirds are the only creatures, apart from humans, known to have an episodic memory - enabling them to remember where and when they last fed.
10. HSBC, which has announced record UK banking profits of £11.9bn, makes a profit of just £1.05 per week from each of its UK personal customers.
Attributes: 1 - Mintel's GNPD - Global New Products Database; 3 - Observer Review, 4 March; 4 - Guardian, 10 March; 5 - Daily Telegraph, 9 March.
Almond farmers seek healthy bees.
By Mark Ward - BBC News website.
The varroa mite has devastated bee colonies all over the world. The US is in danger of running out of honey bees to pollinate its almond crop - the country's number one horticultural export. February and March are the crucial months for almond growers, as this is when trees blossom and need pollinating. At this time of year, owners of commercial hives take their valuable cargos to California, where almost 80% of the world's almonds are grown, to service the blossom. Annually the crop is worth more than $2.5bn and a lot of jobs depend on a good harvest, explains Dan Cummings, one of the directors of California's Almond Board and head of its bee task force. Currently about 222,000 hectares are under production to grow almonds. Mr Cummings expects this to grow to 330,000 hectares over the next five years. But, said Mr Cummings, that growth presented a real problem. "Roughly two-thirds of the bees in the US need to come to California for almond pollination," said Mr Cummings. "Beekeeping in the US is very much migratory."
The danger is that as the demands of almond growers for healthy hives grow, America will simply not have enough commercial colonies available to travel. Bees travel from as far away as North Carolina to California just so they can be used at the key pollination season. "Last year we were a little short," said Mr Cummings. Already, he said, demand for colonies was driving up the price that beekeepers charged for renting out their colonies.
Mites stunt bee growth and make them vulnerable to disease. In 2004, beekeepers could get, on average, $54 for every hive they sent to almond groves in California. Last year, prices peaked at about $85, and in 2006 there are reports of owners charging more than $150. To make matters worse, American bees are suffering a resurgence of debilitating attacks from the varroa mite. These tiny parasites stunt the growth of bees, sap hive resources and slowly kill off the colony. Unfortunately, said Mr Cummings, bee colonies badly affected by varroa typically collapsed at about the same time as almond trees came into flower. While chemical treatments can help manage the problem, many pesticides have been so widely used that some mites have developed resistance. Finding a better way to manage mites had become a pressing problem, said Mr Cummings, because of the tight relationship between the health of beehives and the size of the almond crop. American beekeepers are now turning to a British development to help them tackle resistant varroa mites. Developed by Vita Europe, the thymol-based treatment is derived from thyme, and vapours from oil extracted from the herb have proved useful in killing the varroa mites.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Hurricane award for dog coat firm.The award is in recognition of the company's effort. An Alderney company has received an award for helping dogs made homeless by Hurricane Katrina in the United States. Trover Coats sent 30 specially-made dog jackets to New Orleans to help keep the rescued animals warm during the winter. The coats were made from old duvets and sleeping bags donated by people from across the Channel Islands and the UK. The company said it was more than happy to help and was delighted to receive the Hurricane Partnership Award from the Humane Society of Louisiana. Toni Cherrett and Jane Aireton, who run the company, received an unexpected "emergency SOS" email from one of the volunteers who had been helping rescue the dogs in New Orleans last November. About 600 dogs had been rescued, many of whom were too traumatised to be rehomed.
It's hilarious to think a tiny island like Alderney has been sending aid to the United States said Jane Aireton, Trover Dog Coats.
After contacting the Humane Society to find out exactly what was needed, the company set to work and made the dog coats out of duvet covers and old sleeping bags. Jane Aireton told BBC News: "We felt we had to do something to help and the generosity of people has been amazing. "The freight company DHL transported all the coats for us free of charge and we have been absolutely inundated with sleeping bags and duvets from right across the UK. "We've even had a £20 donation from an 81-year-old woman. It's been amazing and it's hilarious to think a tiny island like Alderney has been sending aid to the United States." The coat is specially designed not to slip Jeff Dorson, the executive director of the Humane Society of Louisiana, said: "The hard work and selflessness of Jane and Toni really touched all of us at our recovery centre, which was dubbed Camp Katrina.
"These strangers from across the Atlantic quickly became our friends and we have stayed in touch ever since." Mr Dorson said the Hurricane Partnership Award signified the effort made by the Alderney company when it was needed most. Last year Toni Cherrett was named as one of the top 10 British female inventors for the Trover dog coat which has matching accessories and special cuffs to prevent the coat slipping.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Alaska hosts epic dog sled race.
The mushers will be going without sleep in days to come. Alaska's annual Iditarod Trail dog sled race has got under way, with dozens of teams heading off into the wilderness for the 1,770km (1,100-mile) run. It is perhaps the best known race of its kind in the world and 83 teams, each consisting of a "musher" and dogs, are competing this year. They will race for nine to 10 days across windswept tundra, two mountain ranges and frozen seas and rivers. The winner will receive a prize of $69,000 (£39,000) and a pickup truck. The event was inspired by a 1925 dog sled relay which sent life-saving medicine to the Bering Sea town of Nome to stop a diphtheria outbreak.
Saturday saw the teams parading through the city of Anchorage, handing out autographs and souvenirs to fans. The actual race started in Willow, a small community about 110km (70 miles) to the north. Willow has been standing in as the starting area for the third successive year because of a lack of snow in the traditional start town of Wasilla. Five past champions are taking part in this year's race, including Martin Buser, a four-time winner who holds the speed record of eight days, 22 hours and 46 minutes. Five-time winner Rick Swenson is also racing again and another musher to watch is Norwegian Bjornar Andersen, who reached Nome in fourth place in 2005 - the highest-ever for a first-time racer.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
10 THINGS WE DIDN'T KNOW THIS TIME LAST WEEK
Snippets harvested from the week's news, chopped, sliced and diced for your weekend convenience.
1. Cats can catch bird flu.
2. There is a road called Psycho Path in Traverse City, Michigan, US.
3. Elspeth Campbell, wife of new Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies, wrote her thesis on Coronation Street.
4. And her father (Major General Roy Urquhart) was portrayed by Sean Connery in the film a Bridge Too Far.
5. Stephen King doesn't own a mobile phone.
6. US Secret Service sniffer dogs are put up in five-star hotels during overseas presidential visits.
7. Alexei Sayle won an International Emmy for comedy, but no one told him. The first he knew was when he saw Channel 4 News, which showed Benny Hill collecting Alexei's award on his behalf.
8. Flushing a toilet costs, on average, 1.5p.
9. The name Swarfega, the hand-cleaning product, is derived from "swarf" which is the name for greasy grit in a wheel axle and "ega", which suggested it would work quickly.
10. Anna Nicole Smith's real name is Vickie Lynn Marshall.
BBC MAGAZINE.
'Jurassic beaver' found in China.
The discovery of a beaver-like fossil that lived when the dinosaurs ruled the Earth could challenge some currently accepted ideas on mammal evolution. Castorocauda lutrasimilis, which was unearthed in China, is a species previously unknown to science. It dates back to 164 million years ago, a time when mammals were thought to be primitive creatures confined to land. But this animal was adapted to life in water, meaning scientists may now have to rethink their theories. The fossil was found in the Middle Jurassic Jiulongshan Formation, a deposit rich in the remains of dinosaurs, early insects and other organisms.
The creature had fur, a broad scaly tail, and webbed feet for swimming. It was about the size of a small female platypus and had seal-like teeth for eating fish. Castorocauda lutrasimilis resembled a modern-day beaver, but belonged to a group that became extinct long before rodents appeared.
Such advanced features have surprised many scientists, suggesting mammals that lived during the hey-day of the dinosaurs had already conquered a variety of environments. The mammals of the time were once thought to be largely primitive shrew-like creatures, scuttling at the feet of dinosaurs, and only flourishing when the dinosaurs died out some 65 million years ago.
Commenting on the find, revealed in the journal Science, Thomas Martin of the Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg in Frankfurt, Germany, said it showed mammals had conquered the water 100 million years earlier than previously thought. "This exciting fossil is a further jigsaw-puzzle piece in a series of recent discoveries, demonstrating that the diversity and early evolutionary history of mammals were much more complex than perceived less than a decade ago," he wrote.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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