 Sri Lankan Turtle Hatcheries: cause for concern
The government has voiced it concern on the welfare of the sea turtles which live and breed on the Southern Coast. Reports indicate that some of these operations contravene conservation laws and are in fact a threat to the survival of these threatened species rather than being a conservation tool.
One of the Local Daily newspapers has revealed that some of these hatcheries which use them for commercial or leisure purposes are harming the species.
Sri Lanka is a vital habitat for sea turtles as five of the seven species come ashore here to lay their eggs. Watching adult and newly hatched turtles is also popular with tourists. That seems to be contributing to the problems faced by these endearing reptiles.
Turtles visit the same beach in order to lay its eggs whether annually or once in several years. The female lays its eggs in a pit that it digs in the sand and covers it afterwards. The young are not cared for by the parents thus after hatching the young crawl out from the pit and swim towards the ocean by ‘instinct”. The problem with hatcheries is that the young do not go out to sea on their own but are helped to do so by humans thus depriving them of this learnt experience that would usually be hard wired to their brains which would enable them to come back to the same beach years later once they themselves are ready to lay eggs.
However the authorities seemed to have finally realized the plight of the turtles and are said to be preparing new guidelines on how turtle hatcheries should be maintained and making the law tighter to prosecute those who violate them.
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ANIMAL TESTING; It’s your call
Ninety-four percent of animal testing is done to determine the safety of
Cosmetics and household products leaving only 6% for medical research!
Cosmetic testing is banned in Belgium, Netherlands and the U.K.. Europe has
been phasing out all products related to animal testing since 2002 and they
have completely banned all products since last year. This is a big step in right
direction for millions of animals who were helplessly killed during tests
for cosmetics and household products. Unfortunately the U.S. is still home
to many companies who continue to legally perform horrible test on animals
even though the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the
Consumer Product Safety Commission doesn’t require animal testing for
cosmetics or household products!
Most of the animals that are used in testing are bred just for testing,
but many others come from the pound. Mice, rabbits, dogs, guinea pigs, cats
and monkey’s are the most commonly used animals for tests. It has been
proven that there is already enough existing safety data, as well as in
vitro (test tube) alternatives to make animal testing for cosmetics and
household products even more unnecessary and unethical.
These are some of the tests that these poor animals are put through: Whole Body, Short-term Toxicity, Skin Penetration, Skin Irritancy, Eye irritancy, Skin Sensitization, Phototoxicity &
Photosensitisation, Mutagenicity, Carcinogenicity, Reproductive Toxicity,
Teratogenicity and Finished Product Testing are all common tests performed
on animals.
The LD50 test short for lethal dose, is one of the worst tests that was
developed back in 1927 and is still in use today. Groups of animals are
dosed with different amounts of a test substance in order to determine the
dose which kills half of the animals! Animals are often force-fed the
substance. The LD50 test is known to use huge, unrealistic doses that are
completely unrelated to possible exposure levels. There are now other tests
available that use less animals and lower doses, yet this old, discredited
LD50 test continues.
During another common test, the Draize eye-and
skin-irritation test, rabbits are immobilized in full-body restraints while
a substance is dripped or smeared into their eyes or onto their shaved
skin. Rabbits often scream in pain and many break their necks trying to get
free. The Draize test has been proven in studies to “grossly over predicted
the effects that could be seen in the human eye, and does not reflect the
eye irritation hazard for man". The human four-hour patch skin test has
proved to provide chemical skin-irritation data that are “inherently
superior to that given by a surrogate model, such as the rabbit.”
With so much going on in the world and our lives, it’s easy to feel
overwhelmed and helpless. But by reading this article you have proved that
you do care.. But right now there are millions of animals
who are caged, tortured, and can’t speak for themselves. You can make
progress and reach out to help them, first and foremost by not purchasing products from companies that continue to test on animals that which will send them a powerful message that will make them alter their polices and do the right thing.
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Whales and Global Warming
Global Warming is the biggest environmental predicament we have faced in our lifetime or any generation before us. With time it seems more and more information is revealed about the causes but who would have thought whaling out of all activities could make quite a contribution to the carbon affluence that is threatening the very existence of our planet.
The BBC quotes scientists who say that a century of whaling may have released more than 100 million tonnes - or a large forest's worth - of carbon into the atmosphere. Whales store carbon within their huge bodies and when they are killed, much of this carbon can be released.
Dr Andrew Pershing from the University of Maine described whales as the "forests of the ocean".
Dr Pershing and his colleagues from the Gulf of Maine Research Institute calculated the annual carbon-storing capacity of whales as they grew.
He has pointed out that, particularly in the early days of whaling, the animals were a source of lamp oil, which was burned, releasing the carbon directly into the air.
"And this marine system is unique because when whales die [naturally], their bodies sink, so they take that carbon down to the bottom of the ocean.
"If they die where it's deep enough, it will be [stored] out of the atmosphere perhaps for hundreds of years."
In their initial calculations, the team worked out that 100 years of whaling had released an amount of carbon equivalent to burning 130,000 sq km of temperate forests, or to driving 128,000 Humvees continuously for 100 years.
Other scientists said that Dr Pershing had raised an exciting and interesting problem and has touched on the importance these giants may have in the Carbon Cycle.
Dr Pershing said: "These are huge and they are top predators, so unless they're fished they would be likely to take their biomass to the bottom of the ocean [when they die]."
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Primates in Peril
Primates in Peril: The World’s 25 Most Endangered Primates, 2008–2010 compiled by 85 experts from across the world, reveals that nearly half of all primate species -mankind’s closest relatives - are now in danger of becoming extinct from destruction of tropical forests, illegal wildlife trade and commercial bush meat hunting.
The list includes five primate species from Madagascar, six from Africa, 11 from Asia, and three from Central and South America, all of which are the most in need of urgent conservation action.
Conservationists want to highlight the plight of species such as the golden headed langur (Trachypithecus p. poliocephalus), which is found only on the island of Cat Ba in the Gulf of Tonkin, north-eastern Vietnam, where just 60 to 70 individuals remain. Similarly, there are thought to be less than 100 individual northern sportive lemurs (Lepilemur septentrionalis) left in Madagascar, and around 110 eastern black crested gibbons (Nomascus nasutus) in northeastern Vietnam.
The list has been drawn up by primatologists working in the field who have first-hand knowledge of the causes of threats to primates.
Almost half (48 percent) of the world’s 634 primate species are classified as threatened with extinction on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. The main threats are habitat destruction, particularly from the burning and clearing of tropical forests (which results in the release of around 16 percent of the global greenhouse gases causing climate change) and hunting.
Despite the gloomy assessment, conservationists point to the success in helping targeted species recover. In Brazil, the black lion tamarin (Leontopithecus chrysopygus) was down listed to Endangered from Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List, as was the golden lion tamarin (Leontopithecus rosalia) in 2003, as a result of three decades of conservation efforts involving numerous institutions, many of which were zoos. Populations of both animals are now well-protected but remain very small, indicating an urgent need for reforestation to provide new habitat for their long-term survival.
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Breakaway Antarctic ice sheet threatens to disrupt the ocean current system
A vast iceberg that broke off eastern Antarctic earlier this month could disrupt marine life in the region, scientists have warned. They say the iceberg, which is 78km long and up to 39km wide, could have consequences for the area's colonies of emperor penguins. The emblematic birds may be forced to travel further afield to find food.
The iceberg calved from the Mertz Glacier Tongue after it was hit by another huge iceberg, called B9B.
The calving of the iceberg, which has an estimated mass of 700-800bn tonnes, has changed the shape of the local geography.
Before the formation of the iceberg, the Mertz Peninsula provided the right conditions for a polynia - an expanse of open water surrounded by sea-ice - to exist.
Scientists say that as well as providing a feeding site for the region's wildlife, the polynia also was a key production site of "bottom water"; very cold, dense water that sinks to the ocean floor adding that the new iceberg had shortened the length of the Mertz Glacier Tongue, which could result in pack ice entering the area and disrupting the polynia -
which in return means that the bottom water production rate... will decrease.
Any disruption to the net flow of bottom water could result in a weakening in the deep ocean circulation system, which plays a key role in the global climate system.
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Largest ever Shellfish eating shark fossil unearthed
 The fossilized remains of a gigantic 10m-long predatory shark have been unearthed in Kansas, US. Scientists dug up a gigantic jawbone, teeth and scales belonging to the shark which lived 89 million years ago. The bottom-dwelling predator had huge tooth plates, which it likely used to crush large shelled animals such as giant clams.
Palaeontologists already knew about the shark, but the new specimen suggests it was far bigger than previously thought.
The scientists who made the discovery, published in the journal Cretaceous Research, last week also released details of other newly discovered giant plankton-eating fish that swam in prehistoric seas for more than 100 million years.
But this new fish, called Ptychodus mortoni, is both bigger and more fierce, having a taste for flesh rather than plankton. It may even have been the largest shellfish-eating animal ever to have roamed the Earth.
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RABBITS love liquorice - but it is very bad for them because they cannot digest sugars.
DALMATIONS are the only breed of dog that gets gout (because they are the only mammals, other than humans, which produce uric acid).
SLUGS have four noses - well actually a pair of gills for breathing and a pair of rhinopores (chemosensory organs) used for smelling.
HONEYBEES have hairs on their eyes to help them collect pollen.
The left leg of a CHICKEN is more tender than the right one, which it uses most, therefore increasing muscle development.
The sperm of a MOUSE is longer than the sperm of an elephant.
Mice are highly promiscuous and need particularly large testes to keep up with demand.
More human deaths have been attributed to FLEAS than all the wars ever fought.
As carriers of the bubonic plague, fleas were responsible for killing onethird of the population of Europe in the 14th century.
A CAT uses its whiskers to determine if a space is too small to squeeze through.
The whiskers act as feelers or antennae, helping the animal to judge the precise width of any passage.
Many HAMSTERS blink only one eye at a time.
A FLAMINGO can eat only when its head is upside down.
Its tongue pumps water through the sieve-like ridges that line its beak in order to trap microscopic algae.
A DOLPHIN’S hearing is so acute that it can pick up an underwater sound from 15 miles away.
BUTTERFLIES taste with their hind feet.
A SNAIL can sleep for three years if conditions are adverse (such as during a drought).
BEES have five eyes - three small ones on top of their head and two larger ones in front.
POLAR BEARS are the only mammal with hair on the soles of their feet.
It helps them to get a good grip on icy surfaces, and also acts as a heat insulator.
Most ELEPHANTS weigh less than the tongue of a blue whale.
The only two animals that can see behind themselves without turning their head are the RABBIT and the PARROT.
PENGUINS can jump as high as 6ft in the air.
The last animal in the dictionary is the ZYZZYVA, a tropical weevil.
ELEPHANTS have been found swimming miles from shore in the Indian Ocean.
The leg bones of a BAT are so thin that they cannot walk.
GREAT WHITE SHARKS can go as long as three months without eating.
GOAT’S eyes have rectangular pupils, which enable them to watch over their broad, flat grazing area for predators.
KIWI BIRDS are blind and hunt by smell.
GIRAFFES have no vocal cords and communicate by vibrating the air around their necks.
A female OYSTER may produce 100 million young over her lifetime.
MOSQUITOES are attracted to the colour blue twice as much as to any other colour.
No two ZEBRAS have the same markings.
The longest recorded flight of a CHICKEN is 13 seconds.
A BEE must visit 4,000 flowers to make one tablespoon of honey.
By swallowing water, the PUFFER FISH becomes too big for other fish to swallow.
A full-grown BEAR can run as fast as a horse.
Female FLEAS drink 15 times their weight in blood every day.
When a GIRAFFE’S baby is born, it falls from a height of 6ft, usually without being hurt.
A DRAGONFLY can spot an insect moving 33ft away.
CAMEL milk does not curdle, because it has adapted to the desert heat.
POLAR BEARS can swim 60 miles without pausing for a rest.
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