Links

The governments of many poor nations are alarmed at the rise in food prices. There are even problems in the Indian region of Punjab, where science once seemed to have found answers for a hungry world.

California and Oregon, western states with considerable commercial and recreational fishing industries, are looking at the very real possibility of not being able to fish any salmon at all this year.

Frans Lanting Stock Photography

Tafforeau is a palaeontologist. But whilst others of his profession will be in the dirt with a rock hammer and trowel, you'll find him at the end of one of the most remarkable "cameras" in the world.

They are unpaid medical bills, stretching back a year, arising from treatment for Crohn's Disease, the chronic intestinal condition she suffers from. She thinks she owes nearly $15,000 (£7,500) in all.

The co-ordinator of Angola's de-mining commission, Madalena Neto, says the aim of the competition is to restore self-esteem in women injured in mine explosions, and to show that there is beauty in all people.

Because sea temperatures are now a lot higher, they are now reaching the thresholds at which coral get into distress Professor Ove Hoegh-GuldbergUniversity of Queensland "The Great Barrier Reef is still a resilient system... and herbivorous fish play a critical role in that regenerative capacity, by keeping the dead coral space free of algae, so that new juvenile coral can re-establish themselves," said Professor Terry Hughes from James Cook University in Townsville.

Achim Steiner, Under-Secretary General of the UN and executive director of its environment programme (UNEP), said: "Millions if not billions of people depend directly or indirectly on these natural water storage facilities for drinking water, agriculture, industry and power generation during key parts of the year.

To get a sense of the scale of the problem, I visited the Tottenham, a small agriculture community in rural New South Wales about a five-hour drive from Sydney, which is home to a massive grain storage complex.

NEW YORK—Responding to recent events on Earth, God, the omniscient creator-deity worshipped by billions of followers of various faiths for more than 6,000 years, angrily clarified His longtime stance against humans killing each other Monday.

"I don't speak whale and I don't speak dolphin," Mr Smith told the BBC, "but there was obviously something that went on because the two whales changed their attitude from being quite distressed to following the dolphin quite willingly and directly along the beach and straight out to sea."

Jelly fish blooms predicted.

"It is now time to act and save tigers from human beings. We have to create inviolate areas for tigers and provide modern weapons to forest guards," conservationist Valmik Thapar told Hindustan Times newspaper.

Por siglos la Rana Dorada ha formado parte significativa de la fauna panameña. Su existencia esta envuelta bajo un manto de misterio, leyendas y tradiciones. Los nativos de Panamá contaban a sus pequeños historias increíbles sobre ella. Se decía que cuando una Rana Dorada moría se convertía en oro puro; también, que el poseer una ranita era símbolo de muy buena suerte. Estas leyendas hicieron que los indios Pre-Colombinos copiasen en oro puro la forma y el tamaño real de una Rana Dorada, la cual se colgaban en el cuello como símbolo de buena suerte... Las llamaban Huacas.

A deadly fungus is killing hundreds of thousands of amphibians and putting the golden frog at risk of extinction. “...the golden frog was already in critical danger, however, the advance of the fungus outbreak makes matters worse to a point that this species is likely to become extinct,” said STRI research associate Roberto Ibáñez to Reuters. According to popular beliefs in Panama, those that see the golden frog—that graces Panama's lottery tickets and tourism brochures—will be blessed with good luck. The mysterious mold threatening the frog is spreading quickly in Panama, according to a group of scientists including Karen Lips, STRI visiting scientist from Southern Illinois University, to be published anytime in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Check Neal Smith's sendings). “Many frogs use their skin as we use our lungs. If it gets blocked up, they die,” explains Lips. A separate study published last month in Nature cited global warming as a probable cause for the proliferation of the fungus. "We don't have actual numbers on population size. Such figures are notoriously difficult to confirm," said Ibáñez. "But the fungus has the capacity to completely wipe out populations of any size, and if the fungus doesn't kill them, the areas where they can be found are being deforested and polluted or developed," he said. Researchers say the fungus, which causes the infectious disease chytridiomycosis that affects amphibians, arrived in Panama in 1993 and was detected in El Copé, near the Caribbean with many frogs, in October 2004. Within four months, it had wiped out 57 out of a total of 70 frog, toad and salamander species, including many golden frogs, in the area. “It was one of the species we found dead and infected with the fungus at El Copé. As far as we know, every species at the site was probably infested with it and died," added Lips. The fungus exists in much of the world and the Panama study is the latest example of its potential to wipe out entire amphibian populations. Scientists do not know where the fungus came from, but it has been spreading through the Americas, Australia and Europe since 1970. Its first documented appearance was in South Africa in the 1930s, Lips said. "It's as if we came across a disease that regularly kills everyone in a city, but also dogs, cats, horses, whales, bats and so on. It's a very unusual pathogen, with an incredible impact." On the other hand, The Washington Times recently published the efforts by the Maryland Zoo, the first to breed Panamanian golden frogs in captivity. “The only hope is for us to keep them going”, said the zoo spokesman Kerry Graces. “In a few years, we may actually go back to Panama to create a conservatory there.” According to St. Louis Zoo, golden frogs could become extinct in five years. They survive by eating small insects and other invertebrates. Females lay their eggs in water, where they hatch, usually within 24 hours. Adults have a poisonous chemical in their skin that protects them from predators. Last year, the National Zoo in the District borrowed four males and four females from the Maryland Zoo. They laid a "clutch" of golden frog eggs, all of which hatched in just a few hours. The Maryland Zoo, as well as the Detroit Zoo—that reported on February 6 the hatching of hundreds of Panamanian golden frog tadpoles—are members of the Project Golden Frog, established in collaboration with STRI. See: http://www.ranadorada.org/goldenfrog.htm

ranadorada (golden frog) breeding / protection project

The frogs (Atelopus zeteki) were filmed at a remote location in the Panamanian rainforest. The population had all but disappeared because of a fungus that grows on the amphibians' skin and suffocates them.

E2C's post current direction the US is taking.

Pet ownership is increasingly popular in JapanA Japanese company is offering its employees a monthly "pet allowance" to help with the upkeep of their cats and dogs. Kyoritsu Seiyaku, which makes animal medicines, said pets were a lifelong obligation for their owners. Kyoritsu Seiyaku is offering its pet-owning employees about $9 (£4.70) per month, and hopes the system will spread to other Japanese firms. The company does not, however, offer paid leave when employees' pets die. "For now, we have introduced only the allowances, but we want to consider the condolence holiday system in future," a spokeswoman for Kyoritsu Seiyaku told Reuters news agency. Employees may be keen to take advantage of this in the future. The Japan Pet Food Manufacturers' Association estimates that the country's cat and dog population of nearly 18 million animals is ageing rapidly, after a boom in ownership in the early 1990s. Analysts say that many Japanese families are deciding to put off having children, and buy pets instead. Many older people are living alone and keep pets as companions. "Everyone has the right to own a pet, but they also have the obligation to raise the pet for its whole life," Kyoritsu Seiyaku said in a statement quoted by Reuters. E-mail this to a friend Printable version Bookmark with:DeliciousDiggredditFacebookStumbleUponWhat are these?