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27Dec2006
Tiger tears off photographer's ear at Ukraine zoo
> A Bengal Tiger living in a Ukrainian zoo tore the ear off of an
> intoxicated photographer falling into the animal's enclosure by
> accident, Sehodnia newspaper reported Monday. The incident took the
> city zoo of the Black Sea port Mykolaev after the victim, identified
> in the report only by his first name Oleg, climbed to the top of the
> tiger enclosure's six-metre wall in an attempt to take close up snap
> shots.
> The man, described by eyewitnesses as "highly intoxicated", lost his
> balance and fell into the enclosure, which contained three tigers at
> the time.
> Two of the big cats ignored the intruder, but a fifteen-year old
> tigress named Alfa reacted aggressively and bit Oleg in the head.
> The photographer fought back and called on onlookers for assistance.
> Members of the general public threw bottles at the tiger, without
> effect.
> Zoo staff were on the scene and gave the tiger a tranquilizer
> injection shortly after the attack. The tiger released the
> photographer and an emergency medical team transported Oleg and his
> severed ear to a city hospital.
> Police arriving before the tranquilizers took
> http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Tiger_tears_off_photographer_s_ear__12182006.html
>
> Thai panel to investigate tiger exports
> Thailand`s move to investigate the export of 100 undocumented tigers
> to China is being praised by conservationists.
> Surapon Duangkhae, secretary-general of Wildlife Fund Thailand, said
> the National Counter Corruption Commission investigation was critical
> in addressing a thriving illegal wildlife trade, the Bangkok Post
> said Saturday. Surapon blamed poor law enforcement for the lively
> trade.
> 'Investigators should find out where the tigers came from -- whether
> from Sri Racha Tiger Zoo in Chon Buri as claimed by the zoo owners --
> or from natural forests,' Surapon said.
> He said the zoo owners did not produced documentation about the
> tigers` origins, which is required for export. Tigers can be traded,
> but the exchange must be government-to-government.
> In the matter, a former forest department chief allegedly delivered
> tigers to China without approval from the
> http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1233917.php/Thai_panel_to_investigate_tiger_exports
>
> Zoo has big idea for elephants
> Brookfield intends to add 4 pachyderms and enlarge their surroundings
> Brookfield Zoo is planning to expand its elephant exhibit at least
> fivefold, build a state-of-the-art indoor house and increase the
> number of the pachyderms from two to six, zoo director Stuart Strahl
> said Monday.
> The improvements, which would cost tens of millions of dollars and be
> part of a sweeping master plan to modernize the entire zoo, is about
> seven years from realization and still in the early planning stages,
> he said. But it comes at a time when some institutions are shuttering
> their elephant exhibits altogether amid charges that zoos are
> inhumane places to keep earth's largest land animals.
> Lincoln Park Zoo shifted camels into the
> http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-0612190250dec19,1,806832.story
>
> Borneo rain forest yields new species
> 52 plants, animals found since 2005 in `final frontier'
> Scientists have discovered at least 52 new species of animals and
> plants on the southeast Asian island of Borneo since 2005, including
> a catfish with protruding teeth and suction cups on its belly to help
> it stick to rocks, the World Wildlife Fund said today.
> "The more we look the more we find," said Stuart Chapman, WWF
> International co-ordinator for the study of the "Heart of Borneo," a
> 220,000-square-kilometre rain forest in the centre of the island
> where several of the new species were found. "These discoveries
> reaffirm Borneo's position as one of the most important centres of
> biodiversity in the world," Chapman added.
> Much of Borneo, which is shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the
> sultanate of Brunei, is covered by one of the world's last rain
> forests. However, half of the forest cover has been lost due to
> widespread logging.
> The discoveries bring the total
> http://www.thestar.com/article/162843
>
> The Syntax and Meaning of Wild Gibbon Songs
> Esther Clarke1, Ulrich H. Reichard2,3, Klaus Zuberbühler1*
> 1 School of Psychology, University of St Andrews, St Andrews,
> Scotland, 2 Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology,
> Leipzig, Germany, 3 Department of Anthropology, Southern-Illinois
> University, Carbondale, United States of America
> Spoken language is a result of the human capacity to assemble simple
> vocal units into more complex utterances, the basic carriers of
> semantic information. Not much is known about the evolutionary
> origins of this behaviour. The vocal abilities of non-human primates
> are relatively unimpressive in comparison, with gibbon songs being a
> rare exception. These apes assemble a repertoire of call notes into
> elaborate songs, which function to repel conspecific intruders,
> advertise pair bonds, and attract mates. We conducted a series of
> field experiments with white-handed gibbons at Khao Yai National
> Park, Thailand, which showed that this ape species uses songs also to
> protect themselves against predation. We compared the acoustic
> structure of predatory-induced songs with regular songs that were
> given as part of their daily routine. Predator-induced songs were
> identical to normal songs in the call note repertoire, but we found
> consistent differences in how the notes were assembled into songs.
> The responses of out-of-sight receivers demonstrated that these
> syntactic differences were meaningful to conspecifics. Our study
> provides the first evidence of referential
> http://www.plosone.org/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0000073
>
> Virgin birth expected for Komodo dragon in UK zoo
> Flora, a pregnant Komodo dragon living in a British zoo, is expecting
> eight babies in what scientists said on Wednesday could be a
> Christmas virgin birth.
> Flora has never mated, or even mixed, with a male dragon, and
> fertilized all the eggs herself, a process culminating in
> parthenogenesis, or virgin birth. Other lizards do this, but
> scientists only recently found that Komodo dragons do too.
> "Nobody in their wildest dreams expected this. But you have a female
> dragon on her own. She produces a clutch of eggs and those eggs turn
> out to be fertile. It is nature finding a way," Kevin Buley of
> Chester Zoo in England said in an interview.
> He said the incubating eggs could hatch around Christmas.
> Parthenogenesis has occurred in other lizard species, but Buley and
> his team said this was the first time it has been shown in Komodo
> dragons -- the world's largest lizards.
> Scientists at Liverpool University in northern
> http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=scienceNews&storyID=2006-12-20T180712Z_01_L1874881_RTRIDST_0_SCIENCE-BRITAIN-DRAGONS-DC.XML
>
> KC panel endorses higher zoo subsidy
> Officials also support a plan for the Wizards to build a soccer
> training facility in Swope Park.
> The Kansas City park board on Tuesday approved an extended private-
> management agreement for the zoo that calls for steady increases in
> the animal park's annual city subsidy.
> The park board also responded favorably to a proposal by the Kansas
> City Wizards to improve soccer fields and build a training facility
> in Swope Park.
> The current agreement with the nonprofit Friends of the Zoo, which
> expires this year, calls for a city subsidy of $4 million a year. The
> new five-year agreement, which has been OK'd by the city budget
> office but not yet approved by the City Council, calls for a $300,000
> increase in that subsidy each year, to reach $5.5 million.
> Under the deal, Friends of the Zoo agrees not to seek city sales-tax
> dollars for capital improvements until it has spent the $30 million
> in bonds approved by voters in 2004.
> The park board also approved a request by zoo officials
> http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/16278136.htm
>
> Plan for zoo given go-ahead
> A multi-million pound plan to turn Dudley Zoo and Castle into a world-
> class visitor attraction, complete with a mini version of the Eden
> Project, has taken a major step forward after winning the backing of
> council planners.
> It has been more than two years since the £100 million scheme was
> drawn up but this week Dudley Council decided to give it the go-
> ahead, paving the way for around 1,000 new jobs.
> The original application hit a stumbling block over the number of
> homes planned for land known as Peggy's Meadow which has now been cut
> from 281 to 65 following an outcry from conservationists.
> Zoo chief executive Peter Suddock said the planning approval was a
> significant breakthrough although funding issues still had to be
> ironed out.
> As well as the new homes, the plans
> http://www.expressandstar.co.uk/2006/12/21/plan-for-zoo-given-go-ahead/
>
> Russian zoo closes after two geese found dead
> One of Russia's main zoos has closed down after the deaths of two
> geese sparked a bird flu scare, but the top sanitary official said on
> Tuesday that tests had not confirmed the outbreak of the disease.
> "Samples taken from the dead geese did not test positive for bird
> flu," chief sanitary expert and head of Russia's consumer rights
> watchdog Gennady Onishchenko told Interfax news agency.
> Zoo staff had also been given health clearance after examination, he
> added.
> The zoo in St Petersburg, one of Russia's oldest, officially
> http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19232640.htm
>
> Tiger mauls zoo trainer
> A 350-pound Siberian tiger attacked and injured its trainer shortly
> after a public feeding Friday at the San Francisco Zoo.
> The unidentified woman may lose an arm as a result of her injuries,
> and was in surgery Friday at San Francisco General Hospital with
> injuries to both arms, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White said.
> "My understanding is the injuries are not life-threatening, but
> perhaps limb-threatening," Hayes-White said.
> The 3-year-old female tiger, Tatiana, reached through the iron bars
> of her enclosure and grabbed the trainer with both front paws shortly
> after 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET), zoo officials said.
> At least 50 visitors were at the zoo's big cat exhibit, called the
> Lion House, when the tiger attacked, said Robert Jenkins, director of
> animal care and conservation at the zoo. They were quickly evacuated
> after the incident.
> The trainer has been an animal keeper at the
> http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/12/22/tiger.attack.ap/index.html
>
> Rare Alligator Missing From Ellen Trout Zoo
> Zoo Director Gorden Hendley says its possible someone may have
> climbed over a wall to steal endangered crocodilian that is small in
> size, but worth thousands of dollars. Thursday zoo workers spent most
> of the day searching for a missing rare Chinese Alligator. During a
> head count, workers noticed the alligator was missing. The staff at
> Ellen Trout Zoo in Lufkin reported the theft of a rare and valuable
> Chinese Alligator to Lufkin police.
> It is believed the 3 foot Chinese Alligator was stolen from an open
> air exhibit at the zoo. The same open air exhibit contained four
> other alligators that were not taken. According to Celia Falzone,
> the exhibit coordinator, the Chinese Alligator is one
> http://www.ktre.com/Global/story.asp?S=5848178&nav=2FH5
>
> Escape of wild cat briefly closes zoo
> The National Zoo was briefly shut down Friday after a clouded leopard
> was discovered missing from a wire-mesh enclosure, and the animal was
> found snoozing just outside the exhibit 30 minutes later.
> Mook, a 5-year-old, 24-pound female, apparently escaped overnight,
> zoo spokesman John Gibbons said.
> Zookeepers realized she was missing shortly after 7 a.m. and alerted
> other staffers, he said. Joggers and other early morning visitors
> were escorted off zoo property, while others were ushered into a
> building for safety.
> Gibbons said one of the keepers found Mook sleeping just outside the
> exhibit on the new Asia Trail. She was anesthetized with a
> tranquilizer gun shortly after 7:30 a.m. and returned to captivity.
> "Everything went according to plan," Gibbons
> http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_BRF_Zoo_Leopard_Escapes.html
>
> Expert says everybody can help save the orang-utans
> After the devastating forest fires that raged throughout the
> Indonesian rainforest in late 2006, the future of the endangered
> orang-utans has become even more critical. According to Canadian
> scientist Dr Birute Galdikas, the great apes could be extinct within
> the next five to 10 years.
> The world famous primatologist and author of the international
> bestseller, Reflections of Eden, has been studying wild orang-utans
> in Borneo for more than three decades.
> In 1986, she founded the Orangutan Foundation International (OFI), a
> non-profit organisation which supports the conservation and
> understanding of the orang-utan and its rain forest habitat while
> caring for individuals, previously held in captivity, as they make
> their way back to the forest.
> Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: Doctor Galdikas, what would you say to
> someone who were to ask you: Why should I care about orang-utans?
> Galdikas: Orangutans are gentle, marvellous creatures. And they are
> important for the biodiversity of the rainforest as well, because
> they are essential agents for seed dispersal throughout the forest by
> eating and spitting fruits.
> And then, of course, orang-utans are the largest arboreal animals in
> the world and they share 97 per cent of our DNA. Female orang-utans
> have a baby only once every eight years, so every single one is
> precious. All species are important, but orang-utans especially. I
> call them the 'Gardeners of the Garden of Eden'.
> dpa: How would you describe the current state of conservation of the
> orang-utans in Borneo? Which, in your opinion, is the biggest threat
> to their survival?
> Galdikas: The situation is absolutely dreary.
> http://www.brunei-online.com/bb/fri/dec22b1.htm
>
> Singapore Zoo's polar bear Inuka celebrates 16th birthday
> Singapore Zoo's Inuka the Polar bear turned 16 on Tuesday and he
> celebrated it in style with family and friends.
> A polar bear ice carving and a birthday cake, made of ice, carrots
> and frozen fish, were presented to the birthday boy.
> His mother, Sheba, at 29, is four years over the average 25-year
> lifespan for polar bears in captivity.
> The Zoo has made plans to relocate Inuka to another zoo when his
> mother dies.
> It has to do this, it says, as it will now be focusing more on
> species from the
> http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/249179/1/.html
>
> Bhubaneshwar zoo launches snake awareness programme during Christmas
> holidays
> A zoo here has launched an awareness campaign about snakes in a bid
> to remove misconceptions about reptiles.
> Officials at the Nandankanan Zoo feel that this is the best time to
> hold a reptile awareness drive.
> "We want to create an awareness education about snakes," said S.C.
> Dinaharan, the deputy director of the zoo.
> Volunteers handling several dangerous snakes like the python and
> cobra showed people how to handle a snake without threatening it. The
> volunteers also made people touch and hold the creatures.
> While many were scared to touch the snakes,
> http://www.dailyindia.com/show/96929.php/Bhubaneshwar-zoo-launches-snake-awareness-programme-during-Christmas-holidays
>
> Anonymous donor gives $6 million to Woodland Park Zoo
> An anonymous donor has given $6 million to Seattle's Woodland Park
> Zoo to help build a new penguin exhibit and zoo entrance.
> Zoo spokeswoman Wendy Hochnadel said the donation was the largest in
> the zoo's history. The money was earmarked for the Humboldt penguin
> exhibit, which will house 10 breeding pairs of the endangered animal.
> Zoo President and CEO Dr. Deborah Jensen said the new exhibit will
> include beaches and rocky tide pools, and that guests will be able to
> see the penguins swim underwater.
> "This gift demonstrates how cherished
> http://www.komotv.com/news/5010016.html
>
> Malaysian Company Wins Bid To Modernise Mumbai Zoo
> HKS Designer and Consultancy International, a Malaysian-owned company
> based in Thailand, has beaten eight other bidders to win the Rs100-
> crore or US$24 million project to modernise the 125 year-old Byculla
> Zoo in India's commercial city of Mumbai.
> A company executive said that the company, which has been in the
> zoological and other business in the kingdom for the past seven
> years, was given the nod to prepare the Master Plan with Portico
> Group of the United States.
> The American company has undertaken a master plan for 37 zoos and
> aquaria worldwide.
> "We were selected for having better technical aspects, expertise,
> experience and putting the lowest bid," the executive said.
> When the expression of interest for the project was open in July,
> four out of the eight initial bidders stayed in the race, namely HKS,
> Bernard Harrison and Friends from Singapore, Zoological Society of
> London and STUP Consultancy which teamed up with Ayers Saint Gross
> New York.
> He said both the companies would design the master plan, call for
> contracts and provide management consultancy during the entire
> project which was expected to be completed in three years.
> The Master Plan will incorporate strategic planning to undertake and
> modernise all issues concerning animals, planning a quasi-natural
> habitat, conceptualising a theme park, the possibility of building an
> aquarium, veterinarians, enclosures, security and fully trained staff.
> The 21ha zoo, which attracts about 8,000 visitors daily, currently
> has 212 mammals of 21 species, 401 of 41 bird species and 54 reptiles
> of 10 species.
> The Mumbai administration decided to modernise the zoo after it came
> close of losing its recognition from the Central Zoo Authority due to
> the poor condition at the zoo.
> The HKS company, formerly known as Asian Wildlife Consultancy,
> provides
> http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news.php?id=238258
12Dec2006
Rare Chinese dolphin declared extinct
> An expedition searching for a rare Yangtze River dolphin ended
> Wednesday without a single sighting and with the team's leader
> saying one of the world's oldest species was effectively extinct.
> The white dolphin known as baiji, shy and nearly blind, dates back
> some 20 million years. Its disappearance is believed to be the first
> time in a half-century, since hunting killed off the Caribbean monk
> seal, that a large aquatic mammal has been driven to extinction.
> A few baiji may still exist in their native Yangtze habitat in
> eastern China but not in sufficient numbers to breed and ward off
> extinction, said August Pfluger, the Swiss co-leader of the joint
> Chinese-foreign expedition.
> "We have to accept the fact, that the Baiji is functionally extinct.
> We lost the race," Pfluger said in a statement released by the
> expedition. "It is a tragedy, a loss not only for China, but for the
> entire world. We are all incredibly sad.''
> Overfishing and shipping traffic, whose
> http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1166008026364&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News
>
> Gorillas heading home
> The Taiping Four are set to leave the National Zoo on December 13.
> The four sub-adult gorillas had been at the zoo for two-and-a-half
> years when it was found they had been illegally imported to Malaysia
> from Nigeria.
> A wistful, but realistic, Dr Gerhard von Gruenewalt, zoo interim
> executive director, said the four had “captured the heartsâ
> €� of
> Pretoria’s public with their antics and visible affinity for
> people.
> “It will be a sad day when they leave.�
> The gorillas and their caregiver from Limbe Wildlife Centre in
> Cameroon leave on a scheduled Kenya Airways flight on December 13.
> “Two of the zoo’s primate conservators will also travel
> to
> Cameroon to assist in the settling-in process.
> “This will also be a skills
> http://www.citizen. co.za/index/ article.aspx? pDesc=28731, 1,22
>
> Govt delays gorillas' flight home
> The government has delayed the return of the Taiping Four gorillas
> to Cameroon because of red-tape â€" just two days before their
> flight.
> While everyone involved had agreed to their relocation, South Africa
> was required to officially indicate its consent, the Department of
> Science and Technology said on Monday.
> "In the absence of this, the Malaysian authorities have not yet been
> in a position to action Cameroon's request to return the animals to
> that country," it said in a statement.
> The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), which is funding
> the relocation, said it was "desperately disappointed" at the
> postponement.
> "This has come as a complete bolt from the blue," said spokesperson
> Christina Pretorius.
> IFAW had been working on the relocation with the National Zoological
> Gardens in Pretoria (Pretoria zoo) and the Pandrillus Foundation,
> which manages the sanctuary in Cameroon to which the animals will be
> sent.
> They had developed a close cooperation in the last few weeks to
> ensure the smooth transition of the animals to their new home, she
> said.
> "Keepers from Limbe have worked alongside their (Pretoria zoo)
> colleagues for the last three weeks, and staff from the Pretoria Zoo
> were to travel with the gorillas to Cameroon to ensure them safely
> settled."
> While IFAW understood the position
> http://iafrica. com/news/ sa/518896.htm
>
> 27 Maharashtra zoos may shut down soon
> Zoological parks in Maharashtra may soon be passé, as the Central
> Zoo Authority (CZA), a statutory body under union ministry of forest
> and environment, has asked as many as 27 small zoos across the state
> to shut down for violating rules.
> The apex body has also written to the state government some time
> back saying barring Rajiv Gandhi Zoological Park in Pune, no other
> zoo follows the standards prescribed under the National Zoo Policy,
> 1988.
> Some of the popular Sunday stops that are facing the closure are
> the Maharajbagh zoo of Nagpur and the Jeejmata Udyan of Mumbai.
> Forest minister Babanrao Pachpute confirmed the move while speaking
> to DNA. He said the CZA has issued notices to the respective zoo
> managements, after several warnings since 2001.
> "Most of the zoos in the state are either run by local civic bodies
> or the agriculture universities; we are not directly involved," he
> said.
> He said that the CZA has written to his department to take up the
> rehabilitation of wild animals.
> "We have informed that we'll have to study the matter before taking
> any decision," the minister said.
> The CZA authorities told DNA that many of the zoos and parks do not
> have open enclosures and regular health check-ups for
> http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1068576
>
> Researchers finds ocean species thought extinct
> Oceans around the globe are teeming with life and hundreds of
> species either unknown to science or thought to be extinct,
> according to researchers creating one of the most extensive
> inventories of the marine world.
> Ron O'Dor, a senior scientist with the Census of Marine Life, said
> that in the last year, an international team of scientists has
> discovered at least 500 new underwater species, including gangly and
> googly-eyed creatures that can live in the most hostile of
> environments.
> "The diversity in the oceans is huge and dramatic, more than anyone
> ever expected," the Halifax-based scientist said from London, where
> he was doing interviews prior to the release Monday of a report
> outlining some of the census's key findings.
> "Historically there was a belief that the
> http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1165756626310&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News
>
> The pelican who fell in love - with a woman
> Male bird displays rituals of mating
> He responded to wildlife park nurse
> A pelican has fallen in love with the wildlife officer who nursed it
> back to health.
> The pink-backed pelican, a native to sub-Saharan Africa, escaped
> from a wildlife park on the Isle of Man in October and flew to
> Northumberland, where it was found suffering from blood poisoning.
> The bird, having been taken into care by the Scottish Society for
> the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SSPCA), soon started to show
> signs of affection towards Alexis Bailey, one of the charity's
> workers. It displayed mating rituals whenever she entered the room
> and bit others who approached.
> Ms Bailey, 47, who has worked at the SSPCA for eight years, said
> yesterday that she had never seen anything like it.
> "We responded to a call to take in a sick pelican one night in
> October, and I was the person on hand," she said. "I came in, gave
> him his antibiotics and got him settled down for the night. He seems
> to have been in love with me ever since.
> "He looks right into my eyes and puts on what I can only describe as
> a mating display, with his wings up and his head bowed down. He'll
> walk over to me, snuggle in and preen me. He loves to take my hair
> or my hand in his mouth
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2493904,00.html
>
> Ebola outbreaks kill 25% of world's gorillas
> Disease hits African parks, $35M could save apes from hemorrhagic
> fever
> The Ebola virus, a nasty hemorrhagic fever that causes massive organ
> failure and bleeding, is killing thousands of endangered gorillas
> across Central African forests according to new research published
> in the journal Science. While the findings suggests that even in
> strictly protected wildlife sanctuaries gorillas are not safe, the
> research provides insight on how to control Ebola outbreaks among
> wild gorillas (Gorilla gorilla) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) .
> The new study, led by Magdalena Bermejo of the University of
> Barcelona, provides strong evidence that Ebola killed at least 5,500
> at a single site -- the western portion of the Lossi Sanctuary in
> northwest Republic of Congo -- in outbreaks between 2001 and 2005.
> Bermejo, along with José Domingo RodrÃguez Teijeiro (University of
> Barcelona), Carles Vilà (Uppsala University in Sweden), and Peter
> Walsh (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology) found
> extraordinarily high rates of ape mortality caused by Ebola
> outbreaks in 2002 and 2003 in Lossi. Gorillas suffered a 95 percent
> mortality rate, while chimps had 77 percent mortality rate,
> according to transect surveys conducted by the researchers. While
> exact numbers aren't yet known, the team estimates that Ebola
> outbreaks over the past twelve years may have killed 25 percent of
> the world's gorilla population.
> "We don't have a scientifically rigorous estimate of how many
> gorillas there are in the world, much less how many have been killed
> by Ebola," said Dr. Peter Walsh, a Group Leader in the Department of
> Primatology of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary
> Anthropology in Leipzig Germany. "But based on the proportion of
> prime gorilla habitat that has been affected and typical Ebola
> mortality rates, an educated guess is that about 25% of the world
> gorilla population has been killed by Ebola in the last 12-15
> years."
> The researchers say the Ebola outbreaks are particularly troubling
> because they are occurring in areas set aside for ape conservation.
> "The conservation implications are huge because the outbreaks have
> been concentrated in large, remote protected areas that were
> supposed to be the stronghold for gorilla and chimpanzee
> protection," Walsh told mongabay.com via email. "Ebola is not going
> to drive gorillas extinct, but it is going to push them onto a
> slippery slope which it will be difficult to climb back up."
> The researchers say that while Ebola has not totally extirpated apes
> from Lossi, it has reduced once large populations down to smaller
> http://news. mongabay. com/2006/ 1207-gorillas. html
>
> Rwanda: 'Gorillas Safe From Ebola'
> Mountain gorillas in Virunga Park do not face a threat from Ebola, a
> senior official with Rwanda Office of Tourism and National Parks
> (ORTPN), has said.Fidel Ruzigandekwe, the Executive Director of
> Rwanda Wildlife Authority, a department under ORTPN, said on Monday
> that the primates are not endangered as those in the Congo basin
> region.
> He was reacting to a recent report published in a US science
> journal, which said that over 5,000 lowland gorillas in Central
> Africa had died from Ebola over the past five years.
> "The disease was reported in lowland gorillas in the Congo basin but
> the gorillas in the region are not under threat," Ruzigandekwe told
> The New Times on Monday. The mountain gorillas are shared between
> Rwanda, Uganda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
> The Congo basin which covers DRC, Congo-Brazzaville, Gabon,
> Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic is
> located about 2000 kilometres from the Virunga Mist, home to
> hundreds of the Mountain gorillas.
> Ruzigandekwe said there are both regional
> http://allafrica.com/stories/200612130217.html
>
> Zoo workers strike over unpaid wages, job cuts
> Hong Kong- About 400 workers at a safari park in Shenzhen, across
> the Chinese border from Hong Kong, have gone on strike in a row over
> unpaid wages, job cuts and alleged management corruption, a media
> report said Saturday. The closure of the park has disappointed
> visitors including several Hong Kong tour groups, the South China
> Morning Post said.
> Park managers have been forced to step in to feed the 10,000 animals
> at the complex, which houses lions, tigers, hippos, elephants, bears
> and an extensive monkey house and aviary.
> About 70 police officers swooped on the park Friday to stop hundreds
> of employees from hanging protest signs. Police left after most of
> the employees abandoned their sit-in and left the park.
> "We found on Wednesday night that some senior staff had left the
> company after getting a huge payout. But the compensation amount for
> regular staff members was too little to be fair," park employee Qiu
> Zhongli said.
> "We've been working for the park for
> http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Zoo_workers_strike_over_unpaid_wage_12092006.html
>
> Milwaukee Zoo Animals Dead After Eating Yew
> A moose, caribou and American elk died at the Milwaukee County Zoo
> after being mistakenly fed donated yew -- a plant that can be
> poisonous to animals.
> "This was a miscommunication among the staff on what happened,"
> Bruce Beehler, deputy zoo director for animal management and health,
> said Friday. "As a result, the yew was fed to the animals when it
> shouldn't have been."
> Beehler said the zoo got a shipment of the ornamental yew from local
> donors and didn't have it inspected by horticulturists as it should
> have been before being fed it to the animals. While some species of
> animals, such as white-tailed deer, can tolerate yew, others cannot,
> and it is not on the zoo's list of animal foods.
> "Why some animals were affected, and others not, might be a matter
> of what they ate," Beehler said. "We are thinking that the animals
> that died happened to eat the most of it."
> No employees were disciplined, and
> http://wfrv.com/topstories/local_story_343094622.html
>
> Residents Want Stinking Jeddah Zoo Gone, Management Unsure
> The management of the Beautiful Creatures Zoo in Jeddah's Al-Rihab
> district said that it hasn't received any official notification from
> the authorities regarding the non-renewal of the zoo's property
> lease.
> The local press published reports this week that municipal
> authorities received instructions from the Makkah Governorate not to
> renew the lease after receiving complaints from local residents.
> The zoo's manager, Abou Nawaf, said that they haven't received any
> official notification about the issue from the municipality.
> "We cannot speculate what would happen (if they ask us to leave),"
> he said, adding that once the picture is clear actions would be
> taken.
> Wasmi Al-Wasmi, the zoo's owner, said he built the 20,000-square-
> meter zoo 20 years ago when the area was undeveloped. Today it sits
> in a heavily residential zone.
> "The zoo cost over SR50 million to become what it is today," he
> said, adding that such investment is not popular because of the
> narrow profit margin.
> According to a Jeddah
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=90084&d=16&m=12&y=2006&pix=kingdom.jpg&category=Kingdom
>
> World's tallest man saves choking dolphins
> The long arms of the world's tallest man saved two dolphins in
> northeast China by reaching inside of them to remove plastic they
> had swallowed, state media reported Thursday.
> The dolphins at an aquarium in Fushun, Liaoning Province, had fallen
> sick after swallowing the plastic from the edge of their pool, and
> attempts to use surgical instruments to remove the plastic failed
> because of the contraction of the dolphins' stomachs in response to
> the
> http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&pubid=968163964505&cid=1166097911876&col=968705899037&call_page=TS_News&call_pageid=968332188492&call_pagepath=News/News
>
> Ethiopian Leader Helps Abyssinian Lions
> Ethiopia is a perilous place to be an Abyssinian lion _ so perilous
> that an Italian aid group brought two orphaned cubs to the Italian
> Embassy, where the wife of a diplomat has been caring for them
> inside a fenced garden.
> The Lion Zoo in the impoverished nation's capital has been killing
> the endangered animals, poisoning six cubs this year because
> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/11/AR2006121101585.html
6Nov2006
Croak Addiction
> A zoologist roaming the wilds of Papua New Guinea has found dozens of
> frog species unknown to science
> It was just after midnight when frog researcher Steve Richards heard
> a strange melodious whistle amid the patter of rain in the Papua New
> Guinea cloud forest. The sound swept away the Australian zoologist's
> exhaustion as he struggled through the thorny vines and stinging
> nettles covering the remote mountain slope in the Southern
> Highlands. "When I heard this, I knew it was going to be fantastic,"
> he says. Switching on his tape recorder and headlamp, he moved
> carefully toward the sound, trying not to blunder into one of the
> limestone sinkholes that dot the area.
> After an hour's searching, Richards and his companion, a local
> hunter, found the source: a "warty
> http://www.time.com/time/pacific/magazine/article/0,13673,503061113-1555158,00.html
>
> Estates leave Columbus Zoo $4.2 million
> The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium's endowment fund boosted its bottom
> line by more than $4 million thanks to two bequests.
> Zoo officials said they waited to announce the gifts, made in 2003
> and 2004, until all legal details of the estates were settled, the
> Columbus Dispatch said.
> Officials said the donations -- $2 million and $2.2 million -- are
> two of the largest bequests in the zoo's history and came as a
> surprise, the Dispatch said. The zoo's development department had not
> worked with the estates, learning of the gifts through letters from
> the estates' attorneys.
> Officials said the gifts will go into an
> http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20061104-052326-6093r
>
> Spain sees first Baluga born in European zoo
> Yulka, a whale in a Spanish zoo, has given birth to the first Beluga
> born in captivity in Europe.
> After a six-month pregnancy and an eight-hour labour, Yulka gave
> birth to the grey blue baby of undisclosed sex on Thursday, the
> Valencia Zoo in eastern Spain said in a statement.
> The baby whale weighed 90kg and measured 1.20m.
> A team of experts will attend to the young mammal to give it the best
> chance of survival. The zoo noted the mortality rate for newborn
> Belugas was high.
> It will be at least a month before the public is allowed to see the
> zoo's new arrival.
> http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=qw116262774376B215
>
> Elephants grow reflective in zoo
> Elephants can recognise their reflection, placing them in an elite
> group of self-aware animals that includes humans, apes and dolphins.
> Scientists made the discovery after setting up a mirror in front of
> three female elephants at Bronx Zoo in New York. The animals used it
> to watch themselves eat and used their trunks to examine inside their
> mouths.
> One repeatedly touched an X painted on her forehead with her trunk
> http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2429786,00.html
>
> Dhaka zoo affected too
> Number of visitors dropped drastically at the peak season but now it
> is gradually picking up
> The turbulence caused by the present political situation and
> continuous blocking of roads has seen a reduced number of visitors to
> the Dhaka Zoo.
> This has also hindered the supply of food for the zoo animals.
> The Zoo usually wears a festive look as it had a large number of
> visitors during the Eid holidays. This outlook lasted for about 10
> days, but unfortunately it did not last for more than two days, said
> Dr NC Banik, deputy curator, Dhaka Zoo.
> "This year there was a large number
> http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/11/01/d611012503131.htm
>
> Leopards, macaque arrive in Mysore zoo
> Under the animal exchange programme, the Mysore Zoo will host three
> new guests -two male leopards and one female lion-tailed macaque.
> They were brought from Pilikula Biological Park, Mangalore, in
> exchange for a pair of lions from here.
> Generally called Asian Leopard, it is native to India, China, Korea,
> Russia and the far East. It is also found in Sumatra, Phillippines,
> Taiwan, Borneo, Bali and Java islands. Despite the name, it is not
> restricted to Southern Asia, executive director of the Mysore Zoo G V
> Ranga Rao said.
> The build of a leopard cat is similar to a normal domestic cat with
> long legs and a stretched back. The female
> http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEK20061101005857&Page=K&Title=Southern+News+%2D+Karnataka&Topic=0&
>
> Expansion plan for Islamabad zoo shelved
> The Capital Development Authority of Pakistani capital city Islamabad
> has dropped the plan for huge expansion of its Marghazar Zoo.
> Official sources said here yesterday that the expansion plan of
> Marghazar has been dropped in order to protect the forests on
> Margalla Hills along with the environment.
> We do not want expansion of a recreational site like a zoo at the
> cost of the environment,CDA Director General Environment Mazhar
> Hussain said.
> He said the zoo would be upgraded at the existing site, which spreads
> over an area of 40 to 50 acres. There might be little expansion in
> size of the zoo if required,?he said.
> CDA had planned to double the area of the zoo while expansion was
> possible only towards Margalla Hills. The authority plan faced some
> opposition from NGOs working for protection of the environment.
> Previously, CDA conducted a thorough study for development of a new
> zoo at two different sites in Zone IV of
> http://www.thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=World_News&subsection=Pakistan+%26+Sub%2DContinent&month=November2006&file=World_News2006110173429.xml
>
> Zoo holds excrement exhibition
> The Miami Zoo is devoting a 450-square-metre exhibit to excrement.
> Filled with photos of animals in some of their most indelicate
> moments, "The Scoop on Poop" includes stool sample models ranging
> from the elephant's haylike football-sized balls, to the kidney-bean-
> looking pellets of the porcupine, and the black bear's coal-like
> lumps coated with fur.
> Zoo officials and the exhibit's creators say exhibit does not focus
> on the disgusting it is about science. Visitors can smell the stench
> of flowers that mimic dung to attract flies for pollination. Videos
> include one of a hippo spreading its droppings around to mark its
> territory.
> "We didn't want this to be a gross exhibit for shock value," said
> Chad Peeling, who helped create the display. "Our goal with the
> exhibit was to make people think, kids especially, about the science
> in all aspects in life and this thing that adults don't like to talk
> about."
> Miami is the exhibit's second stop after opening at a Virginia museum
> in May. Created by Clyde Peeling's Reptiland whose namesake is Chad
> Peeling's father in Allenwood, Pennsylvania, it is based on a 2001
> book of the same name. After the exhibit closes at the Metrozoo in
> January, it will make stops in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Redding,
> California.
> On a recent afternoon one woman cheered "Go, go, go" as two children
> raced model dung beetles at a station in the Miami exhibit. Students
> http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200611/01/eng20061101_317037.html
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