Sports and Wildlife Conservation – Project Worthy of Emulation

The project launched by Wildaid, the conservation organization, in association with Ecuador´s premier soccer team Seleccion Nacional and Norlop JWT is proving to be a tremendous success. Sports is directly helping the cause of conservation. Soccer celebrities Alex Aguinaga, Johny Baldeon, Ivan Hurtado, Ulises de la Cruz, Edwin Villafuerte, and Técnico Luis Fernando Suarez have agreed to act as spokespersons. The immediate aim is Shark Conservation. Over-fishing, over-consumption of shark products and wasteful practices such as finning and needless bycatch are threatening Sharks in Ecuador.

At the fag end of 2005 Tahrcountry call up on Sportspersons worldwide to contribute their mite for conservation of endangered species.

Monkeys Have Accents

Research by Japanese scientists over an eight-year period has thrown up fascinating facts about monkeys. It has revealed that Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata), can acquire different accents based on where they live. Until now humans were considered to be the only primates able to mimic each other's vocalizations.Groups living far apart had acquired distinct accents.The finding, the first of its kind, will appear in the January 2006 edition of the German scientific journal Ethology

Female Gorillas and Menopause

A new study of gorillas at 17 U.S. zoos has thrown up surprising facts about Gorillas. Female gorillas reach menopause just like human women do. The researchers are quite excited by the significant parallels found between gorillas and human females in their life stages. The findings could aid our understanding of the physiological changes that occur at menopause, including diseases linked to the onset of menopause.

WWF Wildfinder study creates world's most comprehensive database of of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians.

Scientists have long debated whether it is more effective to focus on areas with endemic species or on areas with many species overall. A paper published in the latest issue of journal Nature, sheds new light on this debate. The paper authored by scientists from WWF and the University of Virginia comes to the conclusion that conserving places with many endemic species will also conserve overall species richness. As part of the study titled Wildfinder,
the authors created the world's most comprehensive database of the distributions of birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians. For the first time, geographic information for 26,000 species can be found in one place.

Gorilla conservationist Dian Fossey remembered

Rwandans are commemorating the 20th death anniversary of Dian Fossey. The ceremonies were held in the Volcanoes National Park, where she had had her research base. It has never been established who killed her in her jungle cabin in 1985.She spent two decades working among Rwanda's rare mountain gorillas. Only about 700 gorillas survive in the remote range of volcanoes spanning the borders of Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A third of them live in Rwanda.

Russia's Indigenous People Fear the Worst

Nanai, Russia's Indigenous People in the Far East village of Dzhari are a worried lot. Potentially cancer-causing nitrobenzene and other poisons spewed into their river by a chemical plant explosion in China last month is expected to arrive in the village any time now. A shamanic legend holds that when fish disappear from the Amur River, so will the Nanai from the face of the earth. The Nanai eats fish for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Top Environment Award for Ecosystem Assessment

The 2005 Zayed International Prize for the Environment, awarded for 'scientific and or technological achievement in environment' went to 1,300 biodiversity experts from 95 countries for their work on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), whose final report was completed earlier this year. The award was set up in 1999 by the crown prince of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in memory of the environmental commitments of the late Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan. The international jury that awarded the prizes described the MEA as a "landmark study on the condition of the world's ecosystem services from fisheries and freshwaters up to the carbon capture of the world’s forests". The prizes will be presented in Dubai on 6 February 2006.

Thousands of Miles across Asia in search of baby food

A Frigate bird named Lydia has made a record, by flying non-stop for 26 days and covering nearly 2,500 miles - across Indonesian volcanoes and some of Asia's busiest shipping lanes, in search of food for her baby. Scientists at Christmas Island National Park tracked the trip with a global positioning device. Though the journey was a record for a frigate bird, it falls short of the top trip among birds monitored by scientists. The record is a 46-day round-the-world trip by a Grey-headed Albatross.

Scientists discover well preserved bones of dodos

A team of Dutch and Mauritian scientists led by Dutch geologist Kenneth Rijsdijk has discovered well-preserved bones of about 20 dodos at a dig site in Mauritius. Researchers believe the bones are at least 2,000 years old. The discovery has been hailed as a breakthrough by the scientific world. DNA samples from the dodo bones could revolutionize understanding of how the birds lived. Dodo took its name from the Portuguese word for "fool" for its apparent lack of fear of armed hunters. The bird was hunted to extinction within 200 years of Europeans landing on Mauritius.

Merry Christmas

Tahrcountry wish all readers a Merry Christmas

Journal Science proclaims evolution the breakthrough of 2005.

The journal Science on Thursday proclaimed evolution the breakthrough of 2005. According to the editors 2005 stands out as a banner year for uncovering the intricacies of how evolution actually proceeds. Path breaking research has shown that there is a mere 4 percent difference between human and chimpanzee DNA. Other breakthroughs in the journal's Top 10 include research in planetary exploration, the molecular biology of flowers, the violent ways of neutron stars, the relationship between genetics and abnormal human behavior, the new field of cosmochemistry, a protein that controls the flow of potassium ions to cells, fresh evidence of global warming, an engineering approach to molecular biology and superconductivity.

Panama - Environmentalists Oppose Jungle Power Plan

A plan by Panama and Colombia to link power grids via Panama’s Darien Gap have the environmentalists and indigenous groups worried. The project will require cutting a path of at least 40 meters wide through virgin rainforests. The Darien Gap hosts more than 900 different species of mammals and birds, and over 2,000 plant species. It is also one of the world's most unspoiled wildernesses. Kuna Indians who inhabit the area has the apprehension that this will also impact their livelihood. The environmentalists have urged the Government to abandon this project, which will have serious impacts on this delicate environment.

A Quarter-Century of Giant Panda Protection

WWF and Chinese researchers are celebrating 25 years of giant panda conservation. 25 years of work has moved giant pandas from the brink of extinction to a solid foundation for survival. According to the results of a survey conducted by WWF and China's State Forestry Administration, there are nearly 1,600 pandas in the wild now.

Stranded Whales Rescued off New Zealand

Volunteers and conservation officials refloated more than 100 pilot whales stranded on a beach near New Zealand’s South Island on Wednesday. Conservation officials washed them with water to keep them cool and prevent their skin from drying and then herded the whales out to sea. New Zealand, which has 41 whale species in its waters, has a high rate of strandings because of its long coastline and sometimes shallow waters.

South Asian experts meet to protect endangered Elephants

75 elephant experts from five South Asian countries have met in a two-day meeting in southern Bangladesh in an effort to Protect Endangered Elephants. The conference was jointly sponsored by the Washington-based Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and Nairobi-based organisation for Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants. The meeting adopted policies and programmes for the conservation of endangered elephants. Asian elephant numbers across Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Combodia, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, are now 60,000, down from 150,000 two decades ago.

Tracking Pygmy Elephants in Borneo

Five Pygmy elephants collared by WWF and Malaysia's Wildlife Department in Sabah, with support from the US Fish and Wildlife Service are being tracked by the same satellite system used by the US military to track vehicle convoys in Iraq. The pygmy elephants were determined by WWF in 2003 to be a likely new subspecies of Asian elephant but very little is known about them, including how many there are. They are found only on the Northeast tip of Borneo, mainly in the Malaysian state of Sabah. Since elephants live in matriarchal societies, WWF collared only adult female elephants so that each elephant collared represents a whole herd’s movements. The Sabah Wildlife Department described the study as very important and the results could be used to assist the department in preparing Sabah’s elephant conservation plan.

Kofi Annan Awarded $1 Million UAE Environment Prize

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has been awarded the United Arab Emirates' $1 million Zayed environment prize established in honour of the UAE's late President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahayan. The jury mentioned Annan's efforts "to catalyse political and public opinion to an understanding that the environment is a fundamental pillar of sustainable development". Previous winners include former US President Jimmy Carter and the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Rabbit decline threatens endangered Iberian Lynx

Myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease, combined with habitat loss and over-hunting, have brought rabbit numbers in Spain and Portugal to as low as 5% of population estimates 50 years ago. The Iberian Lynx, whose diet consists of 80-100% rabbits, has seen its own numbers fall to little more than 100 adults, according to the latest official figures, partly due to rabbit decline. The Iberian Imperial Eagle, another rabbit specialist predator has declined to around 150 pairs. At least 39 predator species rely partly or exclusively on the rabbit, and rabbits are also important for many invertebrate and plant species. Rabbit expert Andrew Smith, Chairman of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) LagomorphSpecialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN said it was now vital to recover rabbit populations in Spain and Portugal.

Extinct Mammoth DNA decoded

A team of researchers - from Germany, the UK, and the US has decoded DNA of extinct Mammoth. Mammoths lived in Africa, Europe, Asia and North America between about 1.6 million years ago and 10,000 years ago during the Pleistocene epoch. The results show that the Mammoth was most closely related to the Asian rather than the African elephant. The findings have been published in online edition of Nature.

Kenya's Maasai Protest Against export of wild animals to Thailand

During last month's visit by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Kenya had agreed to ship 175 assorted wild animals for a tourism project in Thailand. Now Maasai tribesmen are protesting against the Kenyan government deal to export wildlife to Thailand. Masais say they would even take up weapons to defend the animals. The protesters appealed to President Mwai Kibaki to overturn the government's decision to send wild animals to Thailand. A petition signed by 15,000 people was also sent to the Government.