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.
Cull concerns 'miss bigger picture' !
VIEWPOINT -Richard Leakey.
It is too soon for conservationists to ring the alarm bells over South Africa's elephant management plan that includes culling, argues Dr Richard Leakey. In this week's Green Room, he says the measures are necessary and based in animal welfare concerns.
The issue of culling is highly emotive
Last month's report on elephant management in South Africa has sent alarm bells ringing throughout the conservation and animal welfare circles, and headlines have been screaming that culling is about to be re-introduced.
This is a highly emotive issue and I have studied the government's report before making any judgment. Indeed, the report goes far beyond culling, and the headlines I have seen have been rather misleading.
Let me explain my position. By 1990, long-term research in Kenya and elsewhere had revealed that elephants have highly organised societies and a surprisingly well developed ability to communicate.
We consider them sentient creatures like whales and apes that deserve special consideration when it comes to their management.
I was part of the community of concerned professionals who objected to the culling of elephants in southern Africa during the 1990s and before because, at that time, the body of knowledge about elephants was ignored.
Elephants... will become an increasingly serious problem unless some key populations are reduced and maintained at appropriate levels
Culling appeared to be largely commercially motivated (for ivory and trade in baby elephants); it was not managed in a scientific manner and was unacceptably inhumane.
Unable to ignore the global concerns for the ethical and inhumane treatment of elephants, the South African government then banned the culling of elephants in the 1994.
The statement made by Marthinus van Schalkwyk, South Africa's Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, on the publication of the final Norms and Standards for Elephant Management, reveals that the nation has come a long way since its position in the 1980s.
The country has clearly looked seriously at the issues raised by experts from around the world by consulting widely within and beyond South Africa, and has prepared a carefully considered position on the management of elephants that aims to serve the interests of elephants as a species, their welfare, their impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem integrity, and their effects on the people - both locally and nationally.
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the guiding principles behind this piece of legislation begin with an acknowledgement that "elephants are intelligent, have strong family bonds and operate within highly socialised groups, and unnecessary disruption of these groups by human intervention should be minimised".
The welfare of elephants is further emphasised in the statement: "Management interventions must, wherever practicable, be based on scientific knowledge or management experience regarding elephant populations and must take into account the social structure of elephants.
"(It must) be based on measures to avoid stress and disturbance to elephants, and, where lethal measures are necessary to manage an elephant or group of elephants or to manage the size of elephant populations, these should be undertaken with caution and after all other alternatives have been considered."
While I will never "like" the idea of elephant culling, I do accept that given the impacts of human induced climate change, and habitat destruction, elephants in and outside of protected areas will become an increasingly serious problem unless some key populations are reduced and maintained at appropriate levels.
A part of the problem is caused by increasing demand for resources by humans, and I believe that we have a responsibility to check habitat impacts in order to reduce conflicts between elephants and humans by controlling human activities as well.
Reducing elephant populations may therefore be a necessary part of population management, and this will be done in a humane and considered manner.
South Africa intends to reserve culling as a last resort after all other options such as translocations and fertility control have been exhausted. Rising demand for resources is reducing land for elephants.
Though I find elephant culling repugnant, I can see the sense in it in these scenarios, as I imagine many others do also.
If culling is deemed necessary, then I would personally like to see the management authority ensure that entire families or bond groups are removed intact to eliminate or minimise the emotional trauma to remaining individuals, and secondly, to maintain smaller populations using tested and approved fertility control.
It means that the authorities have much work to do in terms of studying the family and bond groups and maintaining good records. If done well, culling entire bond groups would reduce cases of rogue elephants and would eliminate or reduce the frequency of further culling in the future.
Finally, it is with great relief that I note that the minister has prohibited any further capture of wild elephants for captivity. He acknowledges the unacceptably cruel practices that are common in captive elephant care and training in South Africa where baby elephants are beaten and tortured to "break their will" in order to train them for tourism, circuses and even zoos.
I look forward to seeing new legislation that completely eliminates cruelty in the captive care and training of these highly intelligent and feeling animals. Dr Richard Leakey is the founding chairman of WildlifeDirect, a former head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service and a leading palaeontologist
The Green Room is a series of opinion articles on environmental topics running weekly on the BBC News
Pairs of rooks can co-operate to solve problems, scientists report !
An experiment revealed that the rooks would team up so they could reach a tray of food that was inaccessible to lone birds. The researchers from the University of Cambridge were surprised to find that the birds performed as well as chimpanzees at the test. The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
The researchers presented pairs of captive birds with a tray topped with tasty morsels of egg yolk and mealworm - however, it was placed just out of reach, outside of the birds' cage. A single piece of string was threaded through two hooks on the tray, with each end left dangling 60cm (24in) apart, just inside the rooks' enclosure.
Psychologist Amanda Seed, the lead author of the paper, who is now based at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, said: "If just one bird pulled on one end of the string, it would slip out from the loops.
Rooks form monogamous relationships for life and live in colonies."The question was would they work out, without any training, that they needed one bird to pull on one end of the string and another to pull on the other, simultaneously, to get to the food?"
The team, including Nicola Clayton and Nathan Emery, discovered that the eight pairs were happy to cooperate, with some pairs solving the task straight away, others taking a day or two to work out that team-work was the key to getting their nibbles. Dr Seed told the BBC News website: "They performed remarkably well - as well as chimps when they were presented with the same test."
The team then gave the rooks another trial. This time a single rook was presented with the same tray-string set-up, while its pair waited in a neighbouring cage linked by a one-way flap. The idea was to see whether the rook would wait for the other rook to enter the enclosure so they could once again work together to reach the food.
Dr Seed said: "We found the birds just didn't wait." The researchers believe that while rooks had the ability to cooperate, they may have failed to understand the importance and value of the act. Dr Seed said: "The results suggest the rooks weren't using information about the efficacy of the partner: the need for the partner to solve that task."
However, chimps, when presented with the same scenario were happy to wait and team-up. Dr Seed explained: "In terms of the cognitive mechanisms underpinning co-operation, there may be a difference between rooks and chimps. "This could be because social groups of rooks and chimpanzees are structured differently. "Chimpanzee society is a dynamic mix of cooperative and competitive relationships, whilst rook groups seem to be more stable."
Rooks (Corvus frugilegus) are members of the crow family. They live in colonies and form monogamous relationships for life. The researchers are now keen to find out if other species of birds perform his kind of co-operative behaviour.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Elderly osprey set for 50th egg !
The osprey has been nesting at the reserve since 1991. An elderly osprey could be about to lay her 50th egg at a Perthshire wildlife reserve, experts hope. The female bird has been nesting at the Loch of the Lowes reserve near Dunkeld since 1991. She laid three eggs last year, bringing the total number of chicks she has produced at the site to 47.
The osprey returned to the reserve on Sunday and has already been joined by and mated with a male. It is hoped she will produced a clutch of eggs soon. Once the first egg is laid, staff and nearly 70 volunteers will take it in turns on a round-the-clock watch to safeguard the nest.
Once settled, the female osprey is likely to lay between two and four eggs in early April, with the chicks hatching six weeks later.
Centre manager Peter Ferns said the male osprey was not the reserve's resident male, who has not yet been seen but could still arrive some time after his partner. If the resident male does arrive, he will attempt to chase any interloper away and take over the breeding process.
Mr Ferns added: "If the female lays yet another clutch of eggs this year we could be celebrating a 50th egg here at the reserve. "It is amazing that just one pair of birds can play such a significant role in the survival of their species. "She is now getting on in years, so whether sadly this may be her last contribution to Scotland's osprey population before a younger female takes her place we will just have to wait and see."
Visitors to the centre can watch close-up video images of the birds and their nest on a big screen. It can also be viewed on the Scottish Wildlife Trust website. Once a common species in Britain, ospreys were all but extinct by 1916, but their numbers have since increased thanks to conservation efforts.
The first pair of ospreys arrived at Loch of the Lowes in 1969, when they were only the fifth known pair in Scotland.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Snake bursts after gobbling gator !
An unusual clash between a 6-foot (1.8m) alligator and a 13-foot (3.9m) python has left two of the deadliest predators dead in Florida's swamps. The Burmese python tried to swallow its fearsome rival whole but then exploded. The remains of the two giant reptiles were found by astonished rangers in the Everglades National Park.
The rangers say the find suggests that non-native Burmese pythons might even challenge alligators' leading position in the food chain in the swamps. The python's remains were found with the victim's tail protruding from its burst midsection. The head of the python was missing.
"Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild... And here we are," Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor, was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency. "They were probably evenly matched in size. If the python got a good grip on the alligator before the alligator got a good grip on him, he could win," Professor Mazzotti said.
He said the alligator may have clawed at the python's stomach, leading it to burst. "Clearly, if they can kill an alligator they can kill other species," Prof Mazzotti said. He said that there had been four known encounters between the two species in the past. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.
Burmese pythons - many of whom have been dumped by their owners - have thrived in the wet and hot climate of Florida's swamps over the past 20 years.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Somaliland zoo lion kills woman !
A minister in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland has expressed regret after a lion from his private zoo killed a woman in the capital. Civil Aviation Minister Ali Mohammed Waran Addeh says he has shot and killed the lion involved in the incident.
The police commissioner says the victim was Hinde Hassan Isse, 25.
Questions are now being asked about security at the zoo in Hargeisa after it emerged that an employee was injured in a previous lion attack. The minister says he is also reconsidering whether he should keep the remaining seven lions in the zoo, which also contains leopards and gazelles.
Somaliland has escaped most of the instability seen in southern Somalia since the last national government was overthrown in 1991. But its declaration of independence has not been internationally recognised.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Why are magpies so often hated?
By Denise Winterman - BBC News Magazine.
Magpies are now one of the most common birds in the UK, says the RSPB. But they've also become one of the birds people most love to hate. Why? They are described as challenging and arrogant, and that's by their supporters. With a reputation like that magpies would probably have an Asbo slapped on them if they were teenagers.
Love them or hate them, you can't miss them. Their numbers have increased by 112% over the last 30 years and they are now the 13th most commonly seen bird in British gardens, according to the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
But when it comes to this intelligent black-and-white bird, most people love to hate them. After pigeons, they are one of the most vilified birds in the UK. Reasons for this include their "cheekiness", according to the RSPB.
"It's their challenging, almost arrogant attitude, that has won them few friends," says a spokeswoman. "But magpies are beautiful striking birds."
WHY I HATE MAGPIES
The sight of another lone magpie still stops me short. Far from wanting the numbers to halve, I instantly want them to double. I scan the horizon looking for its mate. If I fail to find it, I salute, I spit, and I count down from 10 - Paddy O'Connell on his irrational dislike.
They are scavengers and collect objects, with a weakness for shiny things. They are also seen as predators, eating other birds' eggs and their young, as well as plants. Magpies are sometimes blamed with the overall decline in songbird numbers. But the flipside, often overlooked, is that they are good pest-destroyers.
"We would never villainise them, they are just playing their role in nature's big picture," says the RSPB spokeswoman. Where suspicion of the bird exists it often goes back to folklore and myth. In western Europe and North America magpies were thought to be bearers of bad omens and associated with the devil.
The bird has found itself in this situation mainly by association, says Steve Roud, author of The Penguin Guide to the Superstitions of Britain and Ireland. "Large blackbirds, like crows and ravens, are viewed as evil in British folklore and white birds are viewed as good," he says. "Magpies have a dubious reputation because they are a bit of both. Over the years they have been lumped in with blackbirds." The negative connotations attached to magpies can be traced as far back as Shakespeare's time, when their "chattering" was complained about.
In the late 19th Century, superstitions circulated locally, says Mr Roud. So, in Durham in the 1880s, it was believed they were the only bird not to go on the ark with Noah, preferring to sit outside "jabbering over the drowning world". To this day many people still have a ritual to negate the perceived bad influence of the magpie. What's more, they're the only bird in British folklore to elicit such a response.
MAGPIE FACTS
Magpies mate for life
A typical magpie clutch is six eggs
It it takes 24 days for them to hatch
Young magpies leave the nest around 27 days after hatching
Source: Bird On! website
If one is seen on its own some people salute it and say: "I salute you Mr Magpie." Many variations exist, others turn around three times and say: "Hello Mr Magpie, how are you today, where's your wife, your child and your family?"
"Having such a ritual is extremely unusual," says Mr Roud. "The original form of these ritualistic sayings was about banishing the devil. It went 'devil, devil, I defy thee' and can be traced back to Shropshire in the 1880s."
Thankfully, for bird lovers, magpies are not viewed with universal suspicion. The magpie is the national bird of Korea, where it's seen as a bird of great good fortune, of sturdy spirit and a provider of prosperity and development. Shamanism believes that the magpie's wisdom includes prophecy, intelligence and good luck.
Maybe someone should tell the MEPs who recently called for a bounty of one euro to be placed on the head of all magpies, along with crows.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Eggs saga osprey returns to breed !
A female osprey at the centre of a feathered soap opera has returned to a Highlands breeding site following a 3,000-mile journey from West Africa. EJ had incubated two separate clutches to rival males at RSPB Scotland's Loch Garten reserve, near Aviemore, last year but they all perished. The wild birds conservation charity said it hoped a male would join her over the next few days.
From Monday, live images of the nest site will be streamed on the internet. Last year's breeding season at Loch Garten was brought to an abrupt end following a series of unfortunate events. A male called Henry kicked the eggs fathered by a rival from a nest before his own clutch failed.
It was thought that he accidentally trampled on one of his three offspring while trying to free himself from a piece of fishing line. Days later the two remaining chicks also died. Richard Thaxton, RSPB Scotland site manager at Loch Garten, said staff were delighted by EJ's return. He said: "I'm sure everyone remembers the saga last year, where she laid two different clutches to two different fathers, although sadly not one chick survived. "She has successfully reared young at Loch Garten in two of her five previous seasons with us and we are really hoping that she can get back to form this year."
Mr Thaxton added: "Her regular mate Henry is probably en route, on the 3,000 mile annual migration from West Africa, and we hope he arrives soon so that the pair can settle down to breed."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Burma's capital opens its new zoo !
By Jonathan Head -BBC South East Asia correspondent
There are 420 animals in the zoo, including tigers and elephants. Burma's new capital city Nay Pyi Taw has some new inhabitants. The city's first zoo has just been opened, after animals from the zoo in the old capital, Rangoon, were moved up to Nay Pyi Taw in February. The zoo will offer some rare entertainment for the thousands of government officials who were forced to move to Nay Pyi Taw two years ago. The 420 animals who have made the journey to the new zoo include white tigers, elephants and penguins.
Despite huge amounts of construction, it is still proving difficult for the government to attract people and businesses to move to the new capital. Building an entirely new city amid hot, dusty hills 10 hours' drive north of Rangoon has been an exercise of sheer will by Burma's military rulers. It has drained the government's meagre resources, and getting people to move there has been a struggle.
So they have been ordered to go, tens of thousands of civil servants were literally bussed up overnight two years ago, although many of their families have refused to follow them. Most foreign embassies have also stayed in Rangoon. Despite its grandiose name - Nay Pyi Taw means Abode of Kings - the new capital remains a desolate place.
Its bleak new government quarters and housing projects lack the bustling street life you would see in any other comparably-sized city in Burma. Its eight-lane highways are deserted after dark. But now at least they have a zoo, and the government is promising Nay Pyi Taw's inhabitants a lot more - a huge recreation centre is now being finished beside a large reservoir outside the city.
No one knows the true cost of all this construction, but it is believed to be consuming a huge chunk of a government budget, which already devotes some of the lowest levels of spending to health or education anywhere in the world.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
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'Cool' elephants caught on film
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The tactics used by elephants to keep their cool in extreme desert heat have been caught on camera. A BBC crew filmed the tusked beasts spraying themselves with water that they had stored in a reservoir in their throats several hours earlier. Although this skill for storing water was first documented 100 years ago, the team believes this is the first time it has been filmed. The footage was recorded over six months in the Namib Desert, Namibia.
It forms part of Natural World's Elephant Nomads of the Namib Desert programme. Cameraman Martyn Colbeck, who has spent the last two decades filming elephants, said: "Elephants normally drink every day, but the desert elephant has adapted to go up to five days without drinking. "Just behind the tongue they have this little pouch called the pharyngeal pouch. This is an area that is used partly in communication - it allows the elephants to have all of the deep calls, but they can also store several litres of water in it. "The desert elephants obviously regularly keep water in this pouch, but it is very rare to see them actually use it."
Mr Colbeck was able to film the elephants take advantage of their water reservoirs as extreme temperatures hit the region. He told the BBC News website: "Seven elephants left the main river system and went right up into the mountains to get to a plant that they like eating." However, once the creatures had reached the top of the mountain, the temperature shot up to 45C (113F) and shade was extremely limited. He said: "At midday, the elephants started to regurgitate the water that they had stored earlier that morning into the tips of their trunks. "They sprayed it on to the outside of the ear that was facing the wind to cool down; they also sprayed it on to the inside of the ear where all the really thick veins lie to maximise the cooling effect. "The bulls, the females and the calves were all doing it - this went on every 20 minutes for several hours - they must have had several litres stored," Mr Colbeck explained. "This is a very unusual thing to see. Before this, I'd only seen it twice in 18 years - and this is the first time we have filmed it." Elephant Nomads of the Namib Desert will be shown on BBC Two on Wednesday 26 March at 2000 GMT BBC NEWS REPORT. |
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Dolphin woos with wood and grass !
By Richard Black -Environment correspondent, BBC News website.
A South American river dolphin uses branches, weeds and lumps of clay to woo the opposite sex and frighten off rivals, scientists have discovered. Researchers observed adult male botos carrying these objects while surrounded by females, and thrashing them on the water surface aggressively.
Writing in the journal Biology Letters, they say such behaviour has never before been seen in any marine mammal. The boto lives in only two rivers, and numbers are thought to be declining.
A group of British and Brazilian researchers studied the dolphin's unique courtship behaviour over three years in the Mamiraua Reserve, a flooded rainforest area on the Amazon. "You see them coming up with bits of wood or lumps of rock in a very ritualised manner," recalled Tony Martin from the Sea Mammal Research Unit at St Andrews University. "Quite often they'd slowly come up above the surface in a vertical posture holding this stuff in their mouths, then sink down rotating on their own axis. "They would also throw it or smash it against the surface, and it does appear that the waving around and bashing is to impress the ladies; but at the same time there's a lot of aggression between adult males, and we have to infer that's part of it."
Professor Martin's group established that rock carrying and branch thrashing were almost exclusively the preserve of adult males, and that they did it more when lots of adult females were present. Although the males were more aggressive towards each other at these times, they were never seen to hit each other with the rocks or plants.
Three years ago, scientists found bottlenose dolphins in Australian waters carrying pieces of sponge, either to help with foraging or to defend against predators. But using objects for socio-sexual display is a novel finding. "I naively imagined this kind of thing was seen in other mammal species," said Professor Martin. "But I was quite surprised when I consulted friends and colleagues, and it turns out that only chimps do anything similar - and that's much less sophisticated."
How and why the boto evolved the behaviour is unclear; although as cetaceans communicate largely with sound, it appears likely that the displays also create an impressive auditory impact on females, rival males, or both. This research stemmed from a larger project, Projeto Boto, aimed at conserving the Amazon dolphin and its habitat.
River dolphins are among the most threatened of all cetaceans; the baiji, a native of the Yangtze in China, may already have gone extinct in the last two years, while numbers of the Indus or blind river dolphin of South Asia are believed to be down to around the 3,000 mark. Botos are increasingly turning up harpooned, their flesh used for bait.
Compared to these species, the South American dolphin is in good health in its traditional haunts along the Amazon and Orinico rivers. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species suggests "there are probably tens of thousands of botos in total".
But the future does not appear secure. The Red List concludes that the boto is threatened by dams (causing fragmentation of their habitat) and pollution, such as from mercury used in gold mining. "With growing human populations in Amazonia and Orinoquia, the conflicts between fisheries and dolphins are certain to intensify", it notes.
Projeto Boto has found that fishermen are increasingly catching the dolphins for use as bait to catch a fish, the piracatinga, which usually feeds on dead flesh. Meat from the caiman, a close relative of the alligator, is also used for this purpose. Projeto Boto scientists are regularly finding dead dolphins, either harpooned or entangled in ropes.
"We lost half of the animals from our study area in just five years," said Tony Martin. "They may be fairly numerous now, but they're going downhill fast and we can't see any end to it."
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Sharks 'may predict the storms' !
Sharks could be used to predict storms following research by a marine biology student. Lauren Smith, 24, is close to completing her PhD studies into the pressure-sensing abilities of sharks. If her studies prove the theory, scientists in future could monitor the behaviour of sharks to anticipate severe weather fronts.
Research was partly carried out in an altitude chamber at the National Hyperbaric Centre in Aberdeen. Miss Smith, originally from West Bromwich, had previously investigated the behaviour of lemon sharks in the Bahamas. She then used their near relations, the lesser spotted dogfish, for further research at Aberdeen University's altitude chamber at the National Hyperbaric Centre.
It is thought her work is the first of its kind to attempt to test the pressure theory. It was prompted by an earlier shark habitat study in Florida, which coincided with the arrival of Hurricane Gabrielle in 2001, when observations suggested that juvenile blacktip sharks moved into deeper water in association with the approaching storm.
Miss Smith said: "I've always been keen on travelling and diving and this led me to an interest in sharks. "I was delighted to have been able to explore this area for my PhD, particularly as it's the first time it's really been explored fully. "How many other students get the chance to put a shark in a chamber to study its behaviour? "Who can say if this could lead to sharks predicting weather fronts, there's so much more we need to understand. But it certainly opens the way to more research."
The chamber's changes in pressure mimic the pressure changes experienced in and around the ocean, caused by weather fronts, and the protocol was approved by the Home Office.
Sharks were found to head for deeper water ahead of bad weather.
Miss Smith, who completed her first degree in marine biology and coastal ecology at Plymouth University, studied shark behaviour in the wild at the Bimini Biological Field Station in the Bahamas. It has been established that a shark senses pressure using hair cells in its balance system.
Work at the Bimini Shark Lab enabled her to observe shark behaviour by placing data-logging tags to record pressure and temperature on juvenile lemon sharks, while also tracking them using acoustic tags and GPS technology. In Aberdeen, she was able to study the effects of tidal and temperature changes on dogfish, none of which were harmed, in the aquarium.
She also tested the pressure theory by recreating weather conditions at the chamber at the National Hyperbaric Centre. She is due to complete her PhD and prepare papers for publication later this year and will be looking for a job which will give her the chance to expand her experience of shark research.
David Smith, of the National Hyperbaric Centre, described the student's research as "ground-breaking".
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Tower's royal lions 'from Africa' !
Two lion skulls found during excavations at the Tower of London originated in north-west Africa, genetic research suggests. The big cats, which were kept by royals during medieval times, have the same genetic make-up as the north African Barbary lion, a DNA study shows.
Experts believe the animals were gifts to English monarchs in the 13th and 14th centuries. At the time, the Barbary lion roamed across much of Africa. The two well-preserved lion skulls were recovered during excavations of the moat at the Tower of London in 1937. They have been radiocarbon dated to AD 1280-1385 and AD 1420-1480. Researchers at the University of Oxford extracted DNA from the skulls, and found that it matched that of the north African Barbary lion.
The Barbary Lion is a subspecies of lion that is now extinct in the wild
There are about 40 in captivity in Europe, with less than a hundred in zoos around the world
The Barbary lion formerly lived in North Africa from Morocco to Egypt
Comparison with the skulls of Asiatic and north African Barbary lions kept in museums in the UK and Europe gave further evidence of the link. Dr Richard Sabin, Curator of Mammals at London's Natural History Museum, said the results were the first genetic evidence to clearly confirm that lions found during excavations at the Tower of London originated in north Africa.
He said: "Although we have one of the best mammal collections in the world here at the Natural History Museum, few physical remains survive of the Royal Menagerie. "Direct animal trade between Europe and sub-Saharan Africa was not developed until the 18th Century, so our results provide new insights into the patterns of historic animal trafficking." In historical times, the lion was found across Africa, the Middle East and India.
Dr Nobuyuki Yamaguchi of the Wildlife Conservation Unit at the University of Oxford said the growth of civilisations along the Egyptian Nile and Sinai Peninsula almost 4,000 years ago stopped gene flow, thereby isolating lion populations. The lion survived in the wild in western north Africa until about 100 years ago.
Dr Yamaguchi said: "Western north Africa was the nearest region to Europe to sustain lion populations until the early twentieth century, making it an obvious and practical source for mediaeval merchants.
"Apart from a tiny population in north-west India, lions had been practically exterminated outside sub-Saharan Africa by the turn of the 20th Century." The Royal Menagerie was a collection of lions, leopards, bears and other exotic animals that were probably gifts to English monarchs.
It was established in the 12th and 13th Centuries by King John, in Woodstock near Oxford, and was later moved to the Tower of London. It was finally closed in 1835, on the orders of the Duke of Wellington. The remaining animals were moved to the Zoological Society's Gardens in Regent's Park, now known as London Zoo.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Hospital bridles at horse in lift !
The hospital's policy is to inspect all animals brought by visitors . A Hawaiian hospital has restated its rules on pets after a man took a horse up in a lift in a bid to cheer up a sick relative with his favourite steed.
Man and beast were stopped by security guards only after reaching the third floor, after apparently passing through the lobby unchallenged. The patient was allowed to see them but it turned out to be the wrong horse. A hospital spokeswoman said there was a visitation policy for dogs and cats, but not for horses.
"We just hope people understand this is not a place for a horse," said Lani Yukimura at Wilcox Memorial Hospital. "It's a very dangerous thing. Our greatest concern is patient care." Security managed to remove the visitor and the horse with "just a few scuff marks", she added.
According to the Star Bulletin newspaper, the man had arrived after staff at the front desk went home, and called from the lobby to announce his arrival. After he and the horse were escorted out, he put the animal in a trailer in the car park and left, the paper adds.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Trunk-cam reveals jungle secrets !
Cameras attached to elephants' trunks have been used to provide an intimate view of tigers in the jungle.
Because the big cats are used to the presence of elephants, the tusked giants were able to get far closer to them than a human film crew ever could.
Thanks to the "trunk-cams", the team was able to follow four newborn tiger cubs all the way through to adulthood. The footage was recorded over a period of three years in the Pench National Park in India. It is the basis of a three-part BBC One series: Tiger - Spy in the Jungle, which is narrated by David Attenburgh.
Series producer John Downer, from John Downer Productions, said: "Tigers are so secretive and they live in such dense jungle that it is very difficult for a human film crew to get close to them. "But elephants are the ultimate four-by-four camera vehicle - and have allowed us to film these animals closer than we have ever been able to film them before."
The crew used three types of high-definition cameras, all designed and built by Geoff Bell: A remotely-operated trunk-cam, which could film while the elephants were on the move and could also be set down.
A remotely-operated tusk-cam, which was smaller than the trunk cam and could be carried by the elephants for much longer periods. Log and rock cams - cameras disguised as logs or rocks - which could be set down either by an elephant or human crew member and were activated by motion sensors.
Mr Downer said: "The elephants were remarkably stable - almost like a steady-cam, and they only needed a little bit of training to carry and set down the cameras. "With these cameras, anywhere a tiger went or whatever it did, we could keep on filming it. They were the ultimate filming devices." Mr Downer added: "This sort of thing hasn't been done before.
"It is a bit of a bonkers idea, and in my wildest dreams, when I thought about the challenges of filming tigers, I never thought we would suceed in doing what we did in this way, but now it seems the most natural thing in the world." The cameras also recorded other animals, including langur monkeys, sloth bears and red dogs
The first programme of Tiger- Spy in the Jungle will be shown on BBC One on Sunday 30 March at 2000 GMT.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Donkey bows out of Russian ballet !
The Mariinsky Ballet of St Petersburg, formerly the Kirov, has said farewell to one of its longest-serving artistes - Monika, a 21-year-old female donkey. The animal retired after 19 years' service carrying the character Sancho Panza around the famous stage in productions of the ballet Don Quixote.
At her retirement party, Monika danced a waltz with a ballerina and was given a carrot cake, pinafore and kerchief. Her role will be taken over by another female donkey called Alina. "It is a pity that she is retiring so early, but of course as it is well known, ballerinas also retire early," Anastasia Kolegova, one of the Mariinsky's star ballerinas, told Reuters news agency.
"It doesn't mean that she will stop working altogether, and we hope she will share her experience with the new star, Alina." Ms Kolegova said there were times when Monika would become the focus of attention on stage during productions of Don Quixote. "She always coped easily with her duties, and she seemed to do it with pleasure," she said. "She sometimes nodded her head to the music, and drew some of the attention from the ballerinas. We sometimes told her off about that!"
Tatyana Solomatina of St Petersburg Zoo, where Monika lives, said the donkey always knew the correct time to appear on stage and required no prompting.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'Praying' dog at Japanese temple !
Conan the dog joins the priests at Jigenin temple at prayer time. Attendance at a Buddhist temple in Japan has increased since the temple's pet, a two-year-old dog, has joined in the daily prayers. Conan, a Chihuahua, sits on his hind legs, raises his paws and puts them together at the tip of his nose.
"He may be showing his thanks for treats and walks," says a priest at Jigenin temple on Okinawa island. Priest Joei Yoshikuni would like Conan to meditate, but "it's not like we can make him cross his legs", he says. "Basically, I am just trying to get him to sit still while I meditate," he told Associated Press news agency.
Mr Yoshikuni said it only took Conan a few days to imitate the motions of praying. "I think he saw me doing it all the time and got the idea to do it too," he said. Jigenin temple now gets 30% more visitors than it did before Conan joined in the prayers, Mr Yoshikuni said.
BBCNEWS REPORT.
Royal Mail's lead on dog safety !
A postman who runs dog obedience classes is spearheading a campaign to prevent Royal Mail workers from being attacked. Flint postal worker John Doley, who has been bitten once himself, is urging local dog owners to keep their animals inside when mail is being delivered.
"Some people think it's a joke but you can get quite seriously hurt.....a small dog can do just as much harm as a big dog can," he said. "When I was bitten I had to go to hospital but it's not as serious as some people. "Dogs can do permanent damage....people have had their fingers bitten off as well."
Mr Doley's warning follows a spate of attacks by dogs across the region. In north Wales, 98 postmen and women were attacked as they went about their rounds between April 2002 and March 2003. Across Wales, there were 5,868 dog attacks, resulting in 5,770 days lost in sick leave.
Although the majority of attacks are by dogs, there have been incidents reported involving cats, pheasants and geese. Royal Mail's area manager for north Wales, Ian Johnstone said dog owners need to help the delivery service.
"The majority of dog owners are very responsible when it comes to keeping our delivery staff safe," he said. "But dog bites are still a major cause of injury to our postmen and women and the effects can cause considerable distress to those concerned. "We therefore appreciate it when dog owners take extra care to keep their pets under control when we arrive with their post."
Following an attack or near miss, householders receive a letter from Royal Mail asking them to keep their pets under control or risk losing their doorstep delivery. In more serious cases the local dog warden and police are informed.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Cameroon's bushmeat dilemma !
Food writer Stefan Gates investigates the appetite for bushmeat that is threatening to wipe out many endangered species in Cameroon.
Help! I am in an unfamiliar city in Cameroon, and I am being chased across a busy market by an angry group of women holding smoked monkeys.
COOKING IN THE DANGER ZONE
Sunday, 16 March, 2008
1900 GMT, BBC Two
As I get to the road, I wonder if this is just some gruesome Freudian nightmare about carnivorous guilt, but the taxi I jump into, my heart beating like a drum, is real and drives off at speed. We have come here to make a film about the bushmeat crisis in central West Africa, which is causing an ecological catastrophe and aiding zoonosis - whereby animal diseases jump species to humans.
The scale of the problem is huge.
Bushmeat, mainly rodents, antelopes, monkeys and primates, makes up a huge proportion of the diet here - around 60-80% of all protein eaten and some scientists predict that the great apes will be wiped out within 20 years. In the streets and market, there are scores of traders openly displaying monkeys, pythons, porcupines and pangolins
It also has cultural importance, as Madame Pascaline, a bushmeat chef, explains to me: "People like bushmeat. It reminds them of living in the forest," she says as she shows me how to cook a porcupine. Like many a Cameroonian I meet during my trip, she is also in denial about the ecological consequences, saying: "I know they can never die out, no matter the amount that we eat."
The Cameroonian government has officially clamped down on the hunting and trading of bushmeat, but in the streets and market, there are scores of traders openly displaying monkeys, pythons, porcupines and pangolins (scaly anteaters). They will happily sell you illegal food, but they do not like people with cameras trying to film them, fearful that the footage will lead to them being raided by the police.
But something does not add up. How can they openly trade without fear of arrest, but be angry about us filming? According to Ofir Drori, who runs the Last Great Ape organisation, the government does not have the will or the resources to prosecute, so he and others have come here to encourage them and expose the worst cases.
He does not think it is cultural imperialism: "The great apes are being wiped out, and it's illegal and people shouldn't do it." Deep in the forest heartlands I meet up with Andre, a hunter, whose family eat the bushmeat he catches and sends the surplus for sale in city markets.
I thought he would be a relatively wealthy, wily character, but he is friendly, unapologetic and clearly desperately poor. His family living in a small hut made from mud and wood, with few possessions.
Andre takes me on a hunting and trapping expedition into the forest, finding civet cat and porcupine to bring home. He admits that he has caught gorillas before: "I hide it because if news gets out that I killed a gorilla, they'll try to catch me." He is well aware of the law, but he says: "Look, I'm not a rich man, I'm just making some money for my family."
On the midnight train back to the capital, Yaounde, we accompany a team of forest rangers who search the entire train looking for illegal bushmeat. The bushmeat trade is clearly going strong here, rooted deep in Cameroonian culture and heedless of the law
I am not entirely sure if they are putting on this display just for our benefit. The World Bank has provided funding to help the Cameroonian railways, and it is partly contingent on halting the bushmeat traffic. But the passengers are angry and upset by the search.
It yields results though. Two large bags of smoked monkeys are found, and the woman who sits next to them is clearly devastated by their confiscation but denies that they are hers. The bushmeat trade is clearly going strong here, rooted deep in Cameroonian culture and heedless of the law.
But one of the biggest problems is the lack of any alternative.
Cameroon has no great history of agriculture and few large-scale farms. Unless someone comes up with a decent, affordable alternative to forest animals, what else are people going to eat?
Well, there may be one thing. On the outskirts of the city I have something of a revelation when I visit Cameroon's first commercial cane rat farm.
A group of entrepreneurs have built this place to train people to set up their own farms and raise these ferocious little beasts that are about the size of a small dog. I have to admit that I am sceptical at first, but I fall for their plan the moment I taste it. Cane rat is delicious. It is succulent, tender, sweet and ecologically-sound.
The meat commands high prices in the market too, so it is a pretty good business proposition. It is currently a drop in the ocean compared to the market for wild meat but if the government ever manages to crack down on the traders, this could really catch on.
Paul, the manager of the cane rat farm, asks if I think they could export it to Britain, and I admit that people at home would probably be appalled at seeing supermarket shelves groaning with rat meat. I suggest that they come up with a new name: "heaven toad", perhaps, or "chicken of love". Paul looks at me with his eyes raised and says he will get back to me.
Cooking in the Danger Zone: Feast and Famine in Africa was broadcast on Sunday, 16 March, 2008 at 1900 GMT on BBC Two.
Leaping stingray kills US woman !
A US woman on a boat off the Florida Keys has died after a stingray leaped up and struck her in the face. Judy Kay Zagorski was boating with her family in the Atlantic Ocean when the 75lb (34kg) spotted eagle ray hit her.
The force of the blow knocked the 57-year-old over and her head struck the deck of the vessel, in what officials called a "bizarre incident". The stingray died in the impact. Mrs Zagorski, of Pigeon, Michigan, was pronounced dead in hospital.
"It's just as freakish an accident as I have heard," wildlife official Jorge Pino told the Associated Press news agency. Mr Pino said she did not appear to have been pierced by any of the ray's barbs.
The incident occurred near the town of Marathon in southern Florida. In September 2006, Australian TV naturalist Steve Irwin died when a stingray's barb punctured his heart as he filmed at Queensland's Great Barrier Reef.
A month later, an 81-year-old Florida man was lucky to survive after a stingray landed in his boat and left a foot-long barb in his chest.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Cagey lions are just scaredy cats !
By Brady Haran - BBC News.
Are the new lions at Twycross Zoo just a couple of scaredy cats?
The lionesses arrived at the Leicestershire zoo on Wednesday, but by Thursday afternoon neither had emerged from their transport crates. Curator Neil Dorman said: "A lot of people think these cats are big, brave animals that aren't scared of anything. "But actually big cats can get nervous like anybody."
The two Asiatic lionesses - Kyra and Asha - are both two years old. They arrived from Edinburgh Zoo as part of Europe's captive breeding programme. The endangered species is found only in India. There are thought to be about 350 remaining the wild.
One woman keeping an eye on the new pair was Twycross Zoo's marketing head, Kim Riley, who was hoping they would appear in time for the busy Easter period. "It would be brilliant for people to come along and see them... if they peek out," she said. "At the moment they seem to feel very comfortable inside their boxes."
Mr Dorman was confident the lions would emerge soon. He would consider using food as an incentive, but lions rarely show interest in food when they are in new surroundings. "As you can imagine, it is not the easiest thing to get a lion to move if it doesn't want to," he said.
The lionesses replace Twycross's male, Kamal, who recently moved to Bristol Zoo for breeding purposes.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
'Healthier hearts' for cat owners !
Cat owners appear to have a much lower risk of dying from a heart attack than their feline-spurning counterparts, a study suggests. Researchers looked at nearly 4,500 adults and found that cat ownership was related to a 40% lower risk of suffering a fatal heart attack. The team speculated that having a cat may reduce stress and anxiety, and so protect against cardiovascular disease.
The findings of the study were unveiled at the International Stroke Conference. The study, led by Professor Adnan Qureshi at the University of Minnesota, suggested that even those who no longer owned a cat benefited from these protective effects. But specifically, some 3.4% of those who owned a cat during the duration of the study died from a heart attack, compared with 5.8% of those who did not.
The benefits held true even after the researchers adjusted for cardiovascular risk factors such as blood pressure, diabetes, smoking and high cholesterol. However the authors warned against impulsive cat purchases. They said while cats may indeed have a calming effect, it was unclear whether the kind of people who opted for a cat in the first place may have a lower risk of heart attack. This study did not examine the advantages of having a dog, although previous research has suggested this too may have health benefits above and beyond taking them for walks.
The Pet Health Council notes "there is an increasing amount of research proving that contact with animals can bring real physiological and psychological benefits including reducing stress, helping to prevent illness and allergies, lowering blood pressure, aiding recovery and boosting fitness levels.
"Research has also shown that pet owners make fewer annual visits to the doctors than non pet owners proving the saying, 'a pet all day keeps the doctor away'."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Pair dress in 'dead dog' jumpers !
A Newcastle couple have found a unique way of keeping their beloved dead pets close to their hearts - by having the dog hair made into woolly jumpers.
Beth and Brian Willis lost their white Samoyed, called Kara, 12 years ago and Swedish Lapphund, Penny, in 2002.
After seeing a picture of Princess Diana wearing a dog fur stole at Crufts, they collected thousands of dog hairs from brushes and carpets. The pair said the his and hers dog memorials were "warm and waterproof".
Mr Willis, who worked for Pickfords Removals for 27 years, wears his doggy jumper into town every Saturday to do the weekly shop. The 73-year-old said: "They are extremely warm and pretty much waterproof. I've always got a sweat on by the time I get from the bus to the shops."
Mother-of-three Mrs Willis first used the fur of Kara, to knit her husband's sweater in 1990. Mrs Willis, 71, said she had the idea after seeing a picture of Princess Diana wearing a dog fur stole at Crufts. She said: "Kara was a pedigree Samoyed. She was so posh, if she could have talked she'd not have spoken to the likes of us. "We found out from the breeders we got the pups from that it was possible to use their coat for clothes. "It is the most amazing stuff. It's like mohair but more lightweight and more soft, and the more you wash it, the more soft and fluffy it gets."
Mrs Willis added: "People are surprised when they find out we're wearing dog wool clothes. Some think it's disgusting and ask how we can do it, but it seems very normal to us." Even now, Mrs Willis has enough hair left over to make a new jumper, and it has been sent to a friend in Derby to be spun.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Ranger held over gorilla killings !
Conservationists around the world were shocked by the gorilla killings. A senior wildlife park official in Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested amid claims that he organised the killing of rare mountain gorillas. The Congolese Nature Conservation Institute (ICCN) is reported to have brought the charges against Honore Mashagiro - one of its members.
Ten gorillas were killed in 2007 in the Virunga National Park, a Unesco world heritage site. The park is in a volatile region where rebels have set up a base. The area is also home to more than half of the world's last 700 mountain gorillas living in the wild.
Six other foresters could be questioned over the killings, and their role in trapping and slaughtering the animals on the alleged orders of Mr Mashagiro, reports say.
At the time, conservationists described the killings as "executions" because the gorillas' bodies were left at the scene, whereas poachers would have sold the carcasses as either food or trophies. Local environment experts told AFP news agency that the killings could be linked to mining and trafficking of a coal-like mineral called makala. They suggested that the gorillas could have been killed to create a diversion from this illicit trade.
Mr Mashagiro, head of the southern section of the Virunga park, was arrested in the eastern town of Goma on Tuesday. The conservation group Wildlife Direct, which works in the park, said the arrest was a positive sign for wildlife protection in DR Congo.
"The national parks have suffered during this period of instability which DR Congo has gone through," said Congo programme manager Amir Bazarbacha. "After more than a decade of civil war and conflict, ICCN has been considerably incapacitated.
"This arrest shows that ICCN has clearly regained control of its management and is making the effort to purge itself of any person responsible for weakening the organisation by favouring the bushmeat trade or any other illegal activities."
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Iceland whaling go-ahead 'likely' !
By Richard Black - Environment correspondent, BBC News website
Iceland is likely to approve the commercial hunting of whales for this summer, the BBC has learned. Its whaling industry is asking for a quota of about 100 minke whales and a number of fin whales too. A government official confirmed it is "likely" that quotas will be issued soon, with the season starting in May.
Iceland resumed commercial whaling in 2006, but said last year that quotas would only be issued if there was a demand for the meat. This was interpreted in some quarters as spelling an end to the Icelandic hunt; but the minke whaling industry says it has sold all the meat from the last two years' catch, which shows there is an appetite for whale products.
"We're hoping for a quota for minke - we've been talking about taking 100 whales," the head of Iceland's minke whaling association, Gunnar Bergmann Jonsson, told BBC News. "We caught 45 last summer, and we've sold it all. The minister says he's basing his decision on whether there's a market, so we hope he would give us a quota."
Stefan Asmundsson, a senior official in Iceland's fisheries ministry and its commissioner to the International Whaling Commission (IWC), confirmed that the hunt was likely to go ahead. "We are not expecting any big quotas, but we are likely to see in the relatively near future some quotas for minke whales.
THE LEGALITIES OF WHALING
Objection - A country formally objects to the IWC moratorium, declaring itself exempt. Example: Norway
Scientific - A nation issues unilateral 'scientific permits'; any IWC member can do this. Example: Japan
Aboriginal - IWC grants permits to indigenous groups for subsistence food. Example: Alaskan Inupiat
"The most important factor is to ensure the quotas are within sustainable limits."
The IWC estimates there are about 175,000 minke whales in the North Atlantic, and Icelandic scientists say a quota of 100 easily fits within the definition of "sustainable". In 2006, Iceland also issued a quota for fin whales, a species currently categorised as Endangered. The fin whaling company, Hvalur hf, is hoping that it will receive a quota again, perhaps as large as 150 whales.
"There are 25,000 fin whales in the area where we hunt," said the owner of Hvalur, Kristjan Loftsson. "If a farmer had 25,000 cattle in his field, I don't think he would agree to a zero take. If this (150 whales) is not sustainable, I don't know what is."
Mr Asmundsson did not rule out issuing a fin quota, although 150 appears unlikely. There is a very small domestic market for fin meat, and most of the 2006 catch is still in cold storage. Hvalur is hoping eventually to set up an export trade to Japan.
Environmental groups greeted the news with dismay. "It's meaningless, it's useless, it's futile, it's against the spirit of the whaling regime that Iceland says it wants internationally," said Arni Finnsson of the Iceland Nature Conservation Association (Inca).
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Guide to Great Whales
"There is little domestic market, the export route to Japan is closed; is Iceland just trying to make a point?"
His feelings were echoed by Robbie Marsland, head of the UK office of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (Ifaw).
"We feel this would be an extremely damaging step for Iceland's international reputation, for its tourism and its wider economy," he said.
Mr Marsland was speaking from Iceland where Ifaw is holding a conference on whale-watching, which it argues is an ethically and economically superior way of using cetaceans.
Internationally, an Icelandic decision to continue its commercial hunt would offer renewed support for Japan's position, which maintains that whales can and should be regarded like any other living marine resource, and harvested sustainably.
Fisheries minister Einar Gudfinnsson is likely to make the final announcement within a month.
Richard.Black-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
Leakey backing for elephant cull !
By Richard Black -Environment correspondent, BBC News website.
Culling is back on South Africa's agenda after more than a decade.The eminent conservationist Richard Leakey has given qualified backing for South Africa's plan to cull elephants.
In an article for the BBC News website, the former head of the Kenyan Wildlife Service says culling is "a necessary part of population management". But Dr Leakey says there is also a responsibility to curb human activities that impinge on elephant habitat.
South Africa plans to allow culling after a gap of 14 years because of growing numbers of elephants. The population is estimated to have expanded from 8,000 to 18,000 in little more than a decade. The plan has aroused the ire of some environment and animal welfare groups. Some are so opposed to the plan that they have called for tourist boycotts.
Having made his name as a palaeontologist studying the origins of humanity in Africa, the 1980s saw Dr Leakey at the forefront of the movement campaigning for the suspension of elephant culling. But now he sees it as necessary. "While I will never 'like' the idea of elephant culling, I do accept that given the impacts of human-induced climate change and habitat destruction, elephants inside and outside of protected areas will become an increasingly serious problem unless key populations are reduced and maintained at appropriate levels," he writes in an article for the BBC's Green Room series.
BBC NEWS REPORT.
Green Room: Richard Leakey
"Though I find elephant culling repugnant, I can see the sense in it [in some scenarios]."
The resumption of culling was announced last month by environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk as part of a package of measures for controlling elephant numbers.
In some parts of the country, people have complained that the animals are dangerous, and that they eat crops and drink water intended for the human population.
The South African plan lists culling as a last resort, with measures such as better management of elephant enclosures, translocation, and contraception examined first.
Social impacts
Richard Leakey says the priority given to animal welfare in the South African plan is a major reason for his change of stance.
"I was pleasantly surprised to find that the guiding principles... begin with the acknowledgement that 'elephants are intelligent, have strong family bonds and operate within highly socialised groups'," he writes.
Dr Leakey's career has spanned science, conservation and politics
In contrast, he says the previous culling programme which his campaigning helped to end in 1994 appeared to be largely commercially motivated, was not managed in a scientific manner and was unacceptably inhumane".
Dr Leakey, whose most recent work includes founding the conservation group WildlifeDirect, believes it is essential to recognise that conflicts between elephants and human communities can and should be addressed by looking at the human end of the problem as well.
With human activities encroaching ever further into traditional wildlife habitat, competition for land, food and water is increasing.
"I believe that we have a responsibility to check habitat impacts in order to reduce conflicts between elephants and humans by controlling human activities as well," he writes.
The South African management plan sees culling becoming an option from 1 May.
Pet hamsters banned in Vietnam !
By Andre Vornic -BBC News
Vietnam has banned the sale and possession of hamsters, whose popularity has been soaring. The Ministry of Agriculture says anyone caught with a hamster will be fined up to 30m dong ($1,900) - almost double the average annual wage in Vietnam. The authorities say the creatures are a potential source of disease. Officials have also expressed concern that the animals are imported from China and Thailand without proper licensing or controls.
In a tropical Asian country like Vietnam, hamsters are not a traditional pet of choice. That role has normally been held by various types of fish. But a combination of factors including growing incomes and the Chinese Year of the Rat have made the beady-eyed rodents highly desirable. They have been trading for $10 to $20 each and are reported to be a hit with the young population of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, spawning a whole sub-culture of hamster forums and hamster clubs.
But the authorities are concerned.
Traded illegally over the Chinese or Thai borders, the hamsters are unlicensed and unchecked. The Ministry of Agriculture has highlighted the risk of disease. The animals are just one of many imports that escape adequate scrutiny or epidemiological control in Vietnam.
A recent survey alarmingly showed that most anti-malaria drugs - in Vietnam and other countries of the region - were fakes traced back to China. And reports abound of other counterfeit or dangerous items sold for human consumption - including rather startling internet rumours of a trade in fake chicken's eggs.
BBC NEWS REPOERT.
New tests on rare polar bear find !
By Steven McKenzie - Highlands and Islands reporter, BBC Scotland news website.
Today, the polar bear is the world's largest land predator. Scientists hope to unlock secrets contained in the DNA of what are believed to be the only polar bear remains to be found in Britain. The skull, of which only a part survives, was found at Inchnadamph in the Scottish Highlands in 1927. Genetics experts at Trinity College in Dublin have now approached the National Museum of Scotland about running tests on its DNA. The results could reveal what the bear ate and how it came to be in the area.
Dr Ceiridwen Edwards, of Trinity's Smurfit Institute of Genetics, said it may be found that the animal had a terrestrial diet, rather than a marine one, and preyed on reindeer and not seals. She said the results could also shed light on what it was doing in Assynt 18,000 years ago and reinforce scientists' understanding that it is Britain's only confirmed polar bear find.
The research will involve drilling a small hole in the skull then extracting DNA from the powdered residue. Several copies of the DNA will be made for a series of tests.
BONE CAVES FACT FILE
Arctic fox, reindeer and tundra vole were among the many remains found
As well as the
How elephants keep their cool 
This is a very unusual thing to see - before this, I'd only seen it twice in 18 years - and this is the first time we have filmed it 
