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Niamey (AFP) Aug 16, 2010 Poachers in Niger killed two baby West African Giraffes, the first attack on the endangered species in the country for 20 years, an environment official said on Monday. "In less than a month, we have recorded two giraffe deaths linked to poaching," Colonel Malam Issa, who heads Niger's environment and wildlife efforts, told AFP. One of the giraffes had its foot "completely broken" after stepping into a trap, and the other had a foot tendon "systematically cut", Issa said. "These are the first cases of poaching since we started tracking these giraffes 20 years ago," said Omer Dovi from the Association to Safeguard the Giraffes of Niger (ASGN). Niger's public television on Sunday broadcast pictures of a government mission aimed at raising awareness of the new threat in areas inhabited by the giraffes. The West African Giraffe is considered an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with a population of under 200, though its numbers are rising due to conservation efforts.
earlier related report "The deaths of the animals were a result of neglect in the zoo as the officials were busy fighting over who would manage the facility," Surabaya zoo's interim management member Tony Sumampau told AFP. A 20-year-old critically endangered Sumatran tiger died on Saturday. A lioness died on Wednesday and female Papuan kangaroo two days earlier. Between June and August alone, 20 animals died from illnesses and poor living conditions such as overcrowded cages, he said. "In January, 13 baby Komodo dragons died due to overcrowded cages and lack of sunlight," he said. Sumampau recorded 362 animal deaths in 2008, and 327 last year, attributing the majority to treatable illnesses including pneumonia, diarrhoea and malnutrition. Thousands of animals in the zoo are languishing in cramped and dirty cages, he said. Due to internal conflicts, the zoo's management had not renovated the cages for about 20 years, although the government allocated billions of rupiah annually for the zoo's upkeep, Sumampau said.
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Brain Size Determines Whether Fish Hunters Or SlackersOntario, Canada (SPX) Aug 16, 2010 Whether a fish likes to hunt down its food or wait for dinner to arrive is linked to the composition of its brain, a University of Guelph researcher has revealed. Prof. Rob McLaughlin has discovered that foraging behaviour of brook trout is related to the size of a particular region in the fish's brain. "We found that the fish that swim around in the open in search of food have large ... read more |
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