City birds sing for silent nights

A Robin (Image: PA)


Urban robins find it too noisy to communicate during daylight
Robins in urban areas are singing at night because it is too noisy during the day, researchers suggest.

Scientists from the University of Sheffield say there is a link between an area's daytime noise levels and the number of birds singing at night.

Until now, light pollution had been blamed because it was thought that street lights tricked the birds into thinking it was still daytime.

The findings are published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters.

"You generally only seem to hear nocturnal singing in cities," explained Richard Fuller, one of the study's co-authors.

"So this led us to think that there was some aspect of the urban environment that was driving this phenomenon."

Shedding light

Light pollution had been widely held as the prime suspect. It was thought to prevent the birds from roosting, leading to them remaining active through the hours of darkness.


Noise levels were 10 times higher in places where birds were singing at night
Dr Richard Fuller,
University of Sheffield

"That was the stock answer you would get," Dr Fuller said, "that it was basically tricking the birds into thinking it was daylight and tripping some sort of physiological threshold.

"But we thought that was pretty unlikely because birds are much more complex than that."

He said that there had never been a scientific study to measure the impact of light pollution on the behaviour of urban robins.

"So we went out and measured both noctural light and daytime noise levels and we found that daytime noise had a far stronger effect.

"We found that night-time light had a small effect, but very much smaller than the impact of noise levels."

This led the team to conclude that it was an active decision by the birds to sing at night rather than passively responding to light levels.

"The birds appear to be singing at night to avoid competition with high noise levels caused by our cities during the day," Dr Fuller suggested.

"Noise levels were 10 times higher in places where birds were singing at night."

The findings form a part of a seven-year research programme by the university's Department of Animal and Plant Sciences to measure the impact of urbanisation on biodiversity.

New 'super-Earth' found in space

The new planet is not much bigger than the Earth Enlarge Image

Astronomers have found the most Earth-like planet outside our Solar System to date, a world which could have water running on its surface.

The planet orbits the faint star Gliese 581, which is 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.

Scientists made the discovery using the Eso 3.6m Telescope in Chile.

They say the benign temperatures on the planet mean any water there could exist in liquid form, and this raises the chances it could also harbour life.

"We have estimated that the mean temperature of this 'super-Earth' lies between 0 and 40 degrees Celsius, and water would thus be liquid," explained Stephane Udry of the Geneva Observatory, lead author of the scientific paper reporting the result.

'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask Alison Boyle London Science Museum

"Moreover, its radius should be only 1.5 times the Earth's radius, and models predict that the planet should be either rocky - like our Earth - or covered with oceans."

Xavier Delfosse, a member of the team from Grenoble University, added: "Liquid water is critical to life as we know it."

He believes the planet may now become a very important target for future space missions dedicated to the search for extra-terrestrial life.

These missions will put telescopes in space that can discern the tell-tale light "signatures" that might be associated with biological processes.

The observatories would seek to identify trace atmospheric gases such as methane, and even markers for chlorophyll, the pigment in Earth plants that plays a critical role in photosynthesis.

'Indirect' detection

The exoplanet - as astronomers call planets around a star other than the Sun - is the smallest yet found, and completes a full orbit of its parent star in just 13 days.

Indeed, it is 14 times closer to its star than the Earth is to our Sun.

However, given that the host star is smaller and colder than the Sun - and thus less luminous - the planet nevertheless lies in the "habitable zone", the region around a star where water could be liquid.

Gliese 581 is much cooler and dimmer than our own Sun

Gliese 581 was identified at the European Southern Observatory (Eso) facility at La Silla in the Atacama Desert.

To make their discovery, researchers used a very sensitive instrument that can measure tiny changes in the velocity of a star as it experiences the gravitational tug of a nearby planet.

Astronomers are stuck with such indirect methods of detection because current telescope technology struggles to image very distant and faint objects - especially when they orbit close to the glare of a star.

The Gliese 581 system has now yielded three planets: the new super-Earth, a 15 Earth-mass planet orbiting even closer to the parent star, and an eight Earth-mass planet that lies further out.

Future observatories will study exoplanets for signs of biology

The latest discovery has created tremendous excitement among scientists.

Of the more than 200 exoplanets so far discovered, a great many are Jupiter-like gas giants that experience blazing temperatures because they orbit close to hot stars.

The Gliese 581 super-Earth is in what scientists call the "Goldilocks Zone" where temperatures "are just right" for life to have a chance to exist.

Commenting on the discovery, Alison Boyle, the curator of astronomy at London's Science Museum, said: "Of all the planets we've found around other stars, this is the one that looks as though it might have the right ingredients for life.

"It's 20 light-years away and so we won't be going there anytime soon, but with new kinds of propulsion technology that could change in the future. And obviously we'll be training some powerful telescopes on it to see what we can see," she told BBC News.

"'Is there life anywhere else?' is a fundamental question we all ask."

Growing deserts 'a global problem'

(CNN) -- Millions of people could lose their homes and livelihoods as the world's deserts expand because of climate change and unsustainable human activities, an environmental report warned on Friday.

The report, part of a series examining the state of the world's biological resources, was released on the eve of "World Day to Combat Desertifcation," which marks the 11th anniversary of a UN agreement to tackle spreading deserts.

But Zafar Adeel of the United Nations University International Network on Water, Environment and Health, an expert on water management and a leading author of the report, warned that more needed to be done to combat desertification.

"Desertification has emerged as a global problem affecting everyone," said Adeel. "There are serious gaps in our understanding of how big deserts are, and how they are growing."

Drylands, which range from "dry sub-humid" to "hyper-arid" regions, make up more than 40 percent of the world's land surface and are home to two billion people. The largest area stretches from Saharan Africa across the Middle East and Central Asia into parts of China.

Most of Australia is also classified as drylands, along with much of the western U.S., parts of southern Africa, and patches of desert in South America.

The report said that that up to 20 percent of those areas had already suffered some loss of plant life or economic use as a consequence of desertification.

It said that global warming was likely to exacerbate the problem, causing more droughts, heat waves and floods.

But human factors have also played their part, with over-grazing, over-farming, misuse of irrigation and the unsustainable demands of a growing population all contributing to environmental degradation.

Adeel warned that some of the world's poorest populations were likely to be among the worst affected, with large swathes of Central Asia and the areas to the north and south of the Sahara in danger of becoming unsuitable for farming.

"Without strong efforts to reverse desertification, some of the gains we've seen in development in these regions may be reversed," he said.

Desertification has also been linked to health problems caused by dust storms, poverty and a drop in farm production, with infant mortality in drylands double the rate elsewhere in developing nations.

But the problem causes dangerous changes to the environment on a global scale, the report warned, with dust storms in the Gobi and Sahara deserts blamed for respiratory problems in North America and damage to coral reefs in the Caribbean. Scientists estimate that a billion tons of dust from the Sahara are lifted into the atmosphere each year.

While very difficult to reverse, the report said that specific local strategies should be employed to tackle spreading deserts. Alternative livelihoods such as ecotourism and fish farming could provide an alternative to intensive crop farming, while better management of crops and irrigation and the adoption of alternative energy sources such as solar power would all contribute to environmental sustainability.

The first Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report, released in March, warned that approximately 60 percent of the ecosystem supporting life on Earth was being degraded or used unsustainably and that the consequences of degradation could grow significantly worse in the next half century.

robot future poses hard questions

As they become more common, these machines could also have negative impacts on areas such as surveillance and elderly care, the roboticists warn.

The researchers were speaking ahead of a public debate at the Dana Centre, part of London's Science Museum.

Discussions about the future use of robots in society had been largely ill-informed so far, they argued.

Autonomous robots are able to make decisions without human intervention. At a simple level, these can include robot vacuum cleaners that "decide" for themselves when to move from room to room or to head back to a base station to recharge.

Military forces

Increasingly, autonomous machines are being used in military applications, too.

Samsung, for example, has developed a robotic sentry to guard the border between North and South Korea.


Robot Einstein, Eric Ishii Eckhardt

In Pictures: Robot menagerie

It is equipped with two cameras and a machine gun.

The development and eventual deployment of autonomous robots raised difficult questions, said Professor Alan Winfield of the University of West England.

"If an autonomous robot kills someone, whose fault is it?" said Professor Winfield.

"Right now, that's not an issue because the responsibility lies with the designer or operator of that robot; but as robots become more autonomous that line or responsibility becomes blurred."

Professor Noel Sharkey, of the University of Sheffield, said there could be more problems when robots moved from military to civil duties.

"Imagine the miners strike with robots armed with water cannons," he said. "These things are coming, definitely."

The researchers criticised recent research commissioned by the UK Office of Science and Innovation's Horizon Scanning Centre and released in December 2006.

Robot rights

The discussion paper was titled Utopian Dream or Rise of the Machines? It addressed issues such as the "rights" of robots, and examined developments in artificial intelligence and how this might impact on law and politics.

In particular, it predicted that robots could one day demand the same citizen's rights as humans, including housing and even "robo-healthcare".


I can imagine a future where it is much cheaper to dump old people in big hospitals where machines care for them
Professor Noel Sharkey
"It's poorly informed, poorly supported by science and it is sensationalist," said Professor Owen Holland of the University of Essex.

"My concern is that we should have an informed debate and it should be an informed debate about the right issues."

The robo-rights scan was one of 246 papers, commissioned by the UK government, and complied by a group of futures researchers, the Outsights-Ipsos Mori partnership and the US-based Institute for the Future (IFTF).

At the time, Sir David King, the government's chief scientific adviser, said: "The scans are aimed at stimulating debate and critical discussion to enhance government's short and long-term policy and strategy."

Other scans examined the future of space flight and developments in nanotechnology.

Raised questions

The Dana Centre event will pick up some of these issues.

"I think that concerns about robot rights are just a distraction," said Professor Winfield.

"The more pressing and serious problem is the extent to which society is prepared to trust autonomous robots and entrust others into the care of autonomous robots."

Caring for an ageing population also raised questions, he said.

Robots were already being used in countries like Japan to take simple measurements, such as heart rate, from elderly patients.

Professor Sharkey, who worked in geriatric nursing in his youth, said he could envisage a future when it was "much cheaper to dump a lot of old people" in a large hospital, where they could be cared for by machines.

Scenarios like these meant that proper debate about robotics was imperative, he added.

"In the same way as we have an informed nuclear debate, we need to tell the public about what is going on in robotics and ask them what they want."

Chimps more diverse than humans

Monday, 23 April 2007

chimpanzee
African chimps show surprising genetic diversity (Image: iStockphoto)
Chimpanzees from different parts of Africa are genetically more diverse than all of humanity, researchers report.

Experts have long marvelled that the notion of 'race' is not reflected in human DNA.

In fact, genetic diversity is more pronounced within population groups than between them.

And only a few gene differences accounting for the wide variations seen in eye, skin and hair colour across humanity.

So animals all about the same size and colour and showing few behavioural differences must be even more genetically identical, right?

Wrong, says Molly Przeworski, assistant professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago. African chimps show surprising genetic diversity.

Przeworski's team looked at the DNA of the three designated populations of chimpanzees in Africa - the eastern, western and central populations - designated by some researchers as sub-species of the chimpanzee.

They found that a western chimpanzee has more genetic differences from an eastern chimp than any one human being has from another.

"It is the first genetic confirmation that they are distinct populations," Przeworski says. "I stay away from the word 'subspecies'."

The study, done with experts at the Broad Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and at Arizona State University, is interesting in its own right, but also sheds light on human origins, Przeworski says.

"This gives us a working model of how human evolution might have proceeded," she says.

Clue to pre-human past

Millions of years ago in Africa, ancient remains indicate that several species of pre-humans emerged and lived perhaps side-by-side.

Chimpanzees, the closest genetic living relative to human beings, may be undergoing changes similar to those that drove human evolution.

Przeworski's team also looked at bonobos, a separate species of chimpanzee. The chimpanzee genome differs from the bonobo genome by about 0.3%, which is one-quarter the difference between humans and chimps, the researchers found.

bonobo
The bonobo genome differs from the chimp genome by 0.3% but bonobos have very different traits to their larger cousins (Image: Science)
And yet bonobos are very different from the common chimpanzee. They are smaller, much gentler and known for their frequent sexual interactions.

The differences among the three common chimpanzee species are smaller but still significant. And they reflect geographic barriers, says Celine Becquet, a graduate student who did the analysis for Przeworski.

"We think most of this separation is genuine, a long-term consequence of geographic isolation," Becquet says.

One major barrier between the populations is the Congo River.

"Chimps don't swim," Becquet says. "For them, water provides a very effective border."

Writing in the Public Library of Sciences journal PLoS Genetics, the researchers say they estimate that bonobos, which live south of the Congo River, split off from the ancestors of modern chimpanzees about 800,000 years ago.

Western chimps appear to have separated from central and eastern chimpanzees about 500,000 years ago and central and eastern chimps would have divided from one another about 250,000 years ago.

The interest is more than academic, Przeworski says, noting that all chimpanzees are a threatened species.

"It means we have to protect three separate habitats, all threatened, instead of just one," she says.

Maggie Fox
Reuters

Related Stories
Chimps have the jump on us in evolution, News in Science 18 Apr 2007
Early humans had sex with chimps, News in Science 18 May 2006
Chimp DNA sheds light on humanity, News in Science 1 Sep 2005

Knut Must Die, Says Crazed Killer

Cuddly Knut the polar bear has bounced back into the headlines -- but this time, the news won't warm your heart. According to a leading tabloid, an anonymous killer is out to get him. Today.

Last week, a spot of toothache was the only cloud on Knut's horizon. Now, he's staring in the jaws of death.

But it's the price of fame, as many a stalked celebrity can tell you. Only recently spotted gambolling at the feet of Leonardo DiCaprio on the cover of US Vanity Fair, Knut is now the recipient of sinister death threats.

The mass-circulation Bild daily reported Thursday that the Berlin zoo authorities had received a letter from someone threatening that Knut was about to breathe his last.

Taking matters in their own hands

Bildunterschrift: World stars know they're never safe

Police are assuming the culprit is "confused" and said they would not take the threat "too seriously."

What with the recent media circus surrounding Berlin's favorite bear, the police already maintain a daily presence in the zoo, but said Thursday they would not "increase security at (his) cage" merely because of the threat -- the additional officers visitors might have observed on patrol were there on account of a visit from the president of Madagascar.

That wasn't good enough for the zoo authorities, who have now hired 15 private security guards to protect their VIP charge.

Global warming

Global warming

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Galapagos Islands 'facing crisis'

Giant Galapagos tortoise (BBC reporter Andrew Marr is in the background - photo from 2002)
Galapagos species inspired Darwin's theory of evolution
Ecuador's President Rafael Correa has declared the Galapagos Islands, home to dozens of endangered species, at risk and a national priority for action.

The islands, Ecuador's top tourist draw, was suffering an environmental and social crisis, he said.

Mr Correa's call came as a UN delegation was visiting to see if the islands should be declared "in danger".

The Galapagos Islands were made a World Heritage Site 30 years ago for their unique plant and animal life.

"We are pushing for a series of actions to overcome the huge institutional, environmental and social crises in the islands," Mr Correa said, adding that these problems were the result of years of neglect by previous governments.

He did not detail the measures, but indicated Ecuador would consider suspending some tourism permits, Reuters news agency reported.

Outcry

The islands, located some 1,000km (620 miles) off Ecuador's mainland, are home to an array of species, including giant tortoises, blue-footed boobies and marine iguanas.

map

Some 20,000 people, working mainly in fishing and tourism, also live there.

The Galapagos Islands inspired naturalist Charles Darwin and helped him develop his theory of evolution.

Last month, several rangers of the ecological reserve in the islands clashed with members of the Ecuadorean Armed Forces over what the rangers say was illegal fishing in protected waters.

The incident provoked an outcry in Ecuador as it illustrated for many the practices which are damaging the site.

Mr Correa announced that a number of military officials had been suspended pending an investigation.

However, ecologists say the problems in the Galapagos run much deeper than the government has acknowledged.

They fear that a rapid increase in the human population and the gradual introduction of external species of flora and fauna are threatening the entire ecosystem on the islands.

Representatives of the UN's scientific, educational and cultural body, Unesco, have travelled to their research station on the Galapagos to inspect the state of conservation there.

Last month, a senior Unesco official warned of threats to the "fragile and delicate" ecology of the Galapagos.

Penis dog

Beijing's penis emporium
By Andrew Harding
BBC News, Beijing

There are many thousands of Chinese restaurants around in the UK and everyone has their favourite dish, but only in China itself do chefs specialise in a range of slightly more unusual delicacies.

A glass of deer penis juice amongst food on a table at the restaurant (Photo credit: Stefan Gates)
Many of the restaurant's guests are wealthy businessmen

The dish in front of me is grey and shiny.

"Russian dog," says my waitress Nancy.

"Big dog," I reply.

"Yes," she says. "Big dog's penis..."

We are in a cosy restaurant in a dark street in Beijing but my appetite seems to have gone for a stroll outside.

Nancy has brought out a whole selection of delicacies.

They are draped awkwardly across a huge platter, with a crocodile carved out of a carrot as the centrepiece.

Nestling beside the dog's penis are its clammy testicles, and beside that a giant salami-shaped object.

"Donkey," says Nancy. "Good for the skin..."

She guides me round the penis platter.

"Snake. Very potent. They have two penises each."

I did not know that.

Deer-blood cocktail

"Sheep... horse... ox... seal - excellent for the circulation."

She points to three dark, shrivelled lumps which look like liquorice allsorts - a special treat apparently - reindeer, from Manchuria.


Government officials... two of them... they're having the penis hotpot
Nancy

The Guolizhuang restaurant claims to be China's only speciality penis emporium, and no, it is not a joke.

The atmosphere is more exotic spa than boozy night-out.

Nancy describes herself as a nutritionist.

"We don't call them waiters here. And we don't serve much alcohol," she says. "Only common people come here to get drunk and laugh."

But she does offer me a deer-blood and vodka cocktail, which I decide to skip.

Medicinal purposes

The restaurant's gristly menu was dreamt up by a man called Mr Guo.

Boiled ox penis
The Chinese believe that eating penis can enhance your virility

He is 81 now and retired.

After fleeing China's civil war back in 1949, he moved to Taiwan, and then to Atlanta, Georgia, where he began to look deeper into traditional Chinese medicine, and experiment on the appendages of man's best friend.

Apparently, they are low in cholesterol and good, not just for boosting the male sex drive, but for treating all sorts of ailments.

Laughter trickles through the walls of our dining room.

"Government officials," says Nancy. "Two of them upstairs. They're having the penis hotpot."

Most of the restaurant's guests are either wealthy businessmen or government bureaucrats who, as Nancy puts it, have been brought here by people who want their help.

What better way to secure a contract than over a steaming penis fondue.

Discretion is assured as all the tables are in private rooms.

The glitziest one has gold dishes.

"Some like their food served raw," says Nancy, "like sushi. But we can cook it anyway you like."

Rare order

"Not long ago, a particularly rich real estate mogul came in with four friends. All men. Women don't come here so often, and they shouldn't eat testicles," says Nancy solemnly.

The men spent $5,700 (£3,000) on a particularly rare dish, something that needed to be ordered months in advance.

"Tiger penis," says Nancy.

Bull's perineum (Photo credit: Stefan Gates)
Bull's perineum is also a delicacy

The illegal trade in tiger parts is a big problem in China.

Campaigners say the species is being driven towards extinction because of its popularity as a source of traditional medicine.

I mention this, delicately, to Nancy, but she insists that all her tiger supplies come from animals that have died of old age.

"Anyway, we only have one or two orders a year," she says.

"So what does it taste like?" I ask.

"Oh, the same as all the others," she says blithely.

And does it have any particular potency? "No. People just like to order tiger to show off how much money they have."

Welcome to the People's Republic of China - tigers beware.

Sliced and pickled

"Oh yes," she adds, "the same group also ate an aborted reindeer foetus.

"That is very good for your skin. And here it is..."

Another "nutritionist" walks in bearing something small and red wrapped in cling film.

My appetite is heading for the airport.

Still, I think, it would be rude not to try something.

I am normally OK about this sort of thing. I have had fried cockroaches and sheep's eyes, so...

There is a small bowl of sliced and pickled ox penis on the table.

I pick up a piece with my chopsticks and start to chew. It is cold and bland and rubbery.

Nancy gives me a matronly smile.

"This one," she says, "should be eaten every day."

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 23 September, 2006 at 1130 BST on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

Insect expert, FBI agent testify

Insect expert, FBI agent testify
Judge will let defense dispute time of death
BY JESSICA LOGAN, Californian staff writer
e-mail: jlogan@bakersfield.com | Saturday, Apr 7 2007 8:05 PM

Last Updated: Saturday, Apr 7 2007 8:08 PM

The prosecution in the Vincent Brothers trial finished presenting the bulk of its evidence last week.

Brothers could face the death penalty if he is convicted of murdering wife, Joanie Harper; their three children, Marques, Lyndsey and Marshall; and Joanie Harper's mother, Earnestine.

Brothers, a former vice principal, has pleaded not guilty.

His family was found dead on July 8, 2003, and he was arrested in April 2004 on suspicion of committing the murders.

The following is a daily account of testimony from the past week:

Monday: An entomologist said bugs that only exist in the western United States were found on the car Vincent Brothers rented while visiting relatives in Ohio. The prosecution needs to prove that Brothers traveled from Ohio to Bakersfield to kill his family driving this car. The other renters testified earlier they did not drive in the western part of the country.

Tuesday: An FBI agent testified he reviewed the evidence in the Brothers case and believes that the family was killed by someone who knew them and not as a result of a botched robbery or to sexually assault Brothers' wife or mother-in-law.

Wednesday: The jurors were released this day so the attorneys could discuss evidence. The judge ruled the defense can call a coroner's investigator to challenge the prosecution's theory on the time the family was killed. The prosecutor objected to this testimony because she believes the investigator does not have the expertise to render this opinion.

This week: The defense is expected to start calling witnesses Monday.

I eat only organic meat. I love animals

A herpetologist and explorer, Nick Baker seeks out some of the ugliest and strangest creatures in Animal Planet’s Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures
Ruchika Talwar

Inspired by the Natural History Museum, London which he considered his second home as a child, Baker fell in love with the diverse and bizarre world of animals. He lives in Dartmoor, England along with a growing menagerie of small animals including spiders, scorpions, stick insects, amphibians, reptiles, butterflies and moths. He keeps pet leeches in the fridge at home and often feeds them by attaching them to his leg! Among his favourites are cane toads and a collection of hissing cockroaches. Baker has written Nick Baker’s Bug Book and the Natural History Almanac for the UK. He has presented The Really Wild Show since 1996. In his TV series Under the Skin, he literally attempted to get under the skin of animals like grizzly bears, penguins, rattlesnakes and rhinos, examining their habitats and behaviour in his own unique way. In 1999, he worked on two science series: he presented Twister and joined the presenting team of the cult science series Tomorrow’s World. Other ventures included copresenting BBC2’s Watch Out with Simon King. Nick is a regular contributor to Radio 4 and writes for an impressive array of publications. our correspondent spoke to Nick Baker about his daring profession.

You are a herpetologist. What does that mean?
A herpetologist studies reptiles and amphibians. However, I prefer to say I am a naturalist or a zoologist.

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What made you develop interest in something considered scary and obnoxious?
I am interested in all living beings. As a child, one doesn’t have the biases or prejudices of an adult. For me as a child, an ant was as interesting as anything else. We consider certain animals scary because of the irrational fear that has been passed to us down the generations. I always wanted to speak for the underdog. We live in a protected society where we’ve lost contact with nature. We work in a world that is too safe and get bored. That is why India is losing its tigers. We’ve all read about bears and wolves in England. They no longer exist. It’s high time we start paying attention to the environment.

You champion the cause of biodiversity. What does that mean?
By bio diversity I mean that each species is as important as every other. Each kind is required in sufficient numbers to maintain the ecological balance of the universe.

Tell us about some of your most daring exploits.
Diving into Lake Titicaca, up in the Andes trying to find giant frogs was my most risky exercise. The lake being in the Andes is a high-altitude water body, which means I was tired all the time. Oxygen being in short supply makes your system feel worn out and breathing becomes difficult. A lot of energy and safety measures were required.

Do you think you were dwarfed by Steve Irwin as he was the most well known, rather the only known person pursuing reptiles ?
Steve was a larger-than-life person. He wasn’t a reptile lover and manhandled them. I treat reptiles with respect. And before he made a foray into TV, I made a series for Channel 5 named Nick’s Quest.

After Steve’s death by the barb of a stingray, are you taking precautions?
None at all. I treat animals with respect and know my limitations. All I can say about Steve’s death is that it was a very unfortunate incident.

Which is your favourite creature?
The human being! But I love wasps and bees.

You say you love and respect animals a lot. So are you vegetarian?
No, but I am thoughtful meat eater. I eat only organic meat. I love animals; I find them, watch them and then eat them. Human beings can’t make profits out of animals. We can’t meddle with nature.

(Nick Baker’s Weird Creatures airs on Animal Planet every Thursday at 10 pm)

Mysterious disappearance of millions of bees

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US beekeepers have been stung in recent months by the mysterious disappearance of millions of bees threatening honey supplies as well as crops which depend on the insects for pollination.
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Bee numbers on parts of the east coast and in Texas have fallen by more than 70 percent, while California has seen colonies drop by 30 to 60 percent.

According to estimates from the US
Department of Agriculture, bees are vanishing across a total of 22 states, and for the time being no one really knows why.

"Approximately 40 percent of my 2,000 colonies are currently dead and this is the greatest winter colony mortality I have ever experienced in my 30 years of beekeeping," apiarist Gene Brandi, from the California State Beekeepers Association, told Congress recently.

It is normal for hives to see populations fall by some 20 percent during the winter, but the sharp loss of bees is causing concern, especially as domestic US bee colonies have been steadily decreasing since 1980.

There are some 2.4 million professional hives in the country, according to the Agriculture Department, 25 percent fewer than at the start of the 1980s.

And the number of beekeepers has halved.

The situation is so bad, that beekeepers are now calling for some kind of government intervention, warning the flight of the bees could be catastrophic for crop growers.

Domestic bees are essential for pollinating some 90 varieties of vegetables and fruits, such as apples, avocados, and blueberries and cherries.

"The pollination work of honey bees increases the yield and quality of United States crops by approximately 15 billion dollars annually including six billion in California," Brandi said.

California's almond industry alone contributes two billion dollars to the local economy, and depends on 1.4 million bees which are brought from around the US every year to help pollinate the trees, he added.

The phenomenon now being witnessed across the United States has been dubbed "colony collapse disorder," or CCD, by scientists as they seek to explain what is causing the bees to literally disappear in droves.

The usual suspects to which bees are known to be vulnerable such as the varroa mite, an external parasite which attacks honey bees and which can wipe out a hive, appear not to be the main cause.

"CCD is associated with unique symptoms, not seen in normal collapses associated with varroa mites and honey bee viruses or in colony deaths due to winter kill," entomologist Diana Cox-Foster told the Congress committee.

In cases of colony collapse disorder, flourishing hives are suddenly depopulated leaving few, if any, surviving bees behind.

The queen bee, which is the only one in the hive allowed to reproduce, is found with just a handful of young worker bees and a reserve of food.

Curiously though no dead bees are found either inside or outside the hive.

The fact that other bees or parasites seem to shun the emptied hives raises suspicions that some kind of toxin or chemical is keeping the insects away, Cox-Foster said.

Those bees found in such devastated colonies also all seem to be infected with multiple micro-organisms, many of which are known to be behind stress-related illness in bees.

Scientists working to unravel the mysteries behind CCD believe a new pathogen may be the cause, or a new kind of chemical product which could be weakening the insects' immune systems.

The finger of suspicion is being pointed at agriculture pesticides such as the widely-used neonicotinoides, which are already known to be poisonous to bees.

France saw a huge fall in its bee population in the 1990s, blamed on the insecticide Gaucho which has now been banned in the country.

Senegal fights hunger to save birds

enegal fights hunger to save birds

By Jane Deith BBC News, Senegal

A former fisherman, Mr Falls now takes tourists on bird watching trips

Arona Fall lives beside the Langue de Barbarie national park, a sandy peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Senegal River.

The Senegalese delta is rich in shrimps and fish, and attracts thousands of migratory birds who come to feed, rest and reproduce.

Like most men here Mr Falls used to be a fisherman. But it was a struggle to feed his family

Now he is a national park eco-guard - and a trained ornithologist.

He uses his fishing boat to take tourists on bird watching trips, telling them about the pelicans, herons, egrets and ospreys.

Arona believes eco-tourism is a good thing for Senegal. But it is not just his own future he is thinking about.

"It's our environment. It's our inheritance. It's up to us to conserve our biodiversity."

Poachers

But not everyone agrees with Arona.

People need to eat. You can't tackle the environment unless you tackle hunger Mamadou Sidibe Park conservator

Millions of Senegalese have no jobs, and no money for electricity or food - many villagers say worrying about the environment is a luxury they cannot afford. Poverty forces them to fish illegally inside the park, and cut down the trees for firewood.

Armed park workers, with military training, try to stop the poachers.

Despite the military presence, the park's conservator Mamadou Sidibe insists he wants to find a compromise which helps villagers and conserves the fragile ecosystem of the Langue de Barbarie.

He allows limited fishing inside the park - the men are able to catch enough fish to feed their families. This is something which is not permitted in any other national park in Senegal.

And he helps the fishermen earn extra money as tourist guides.

"People need to eat. They need food in their stomachs before they can think about the environment. You can't tackle the environment unless you tackle hunger."

Profits

Although the park authorities allow local people to use some of its natural resources, some villagers still resent it.

Thousands of migratory birds come to Langue de Barbarie

They say the Langue de Barbarie national park only benefits the white tourists.

And it is true, most of the money made from tourism never touches Senegalese soil.

But now people on the Langue de Barbarie are being given a financial stake in its success.

US Peace Corp volunteer Nat Parker has spent two years recruiting men and women from seven surrounding villages to work in the park as eco-guards.

They plant trees, carry out bird counts and look after tourists.

On top of their wages, the park also ploughs 15% of its profits into a community fund which offers loans and credit for services such as healthcare.

Mr Parker describes himself as a small business consultant.

He holds workshops in Wolof - the local language - teaching the staff the basics of management, hospitality and marketing.

The park now has a restaurant, regular boat tours and a website.

And visitor numbers are up.

Ongoing battle

Mr Parker is convinced lifting people out of poverty is the key to conservation.

"We have to look after the population as much as the park. Ecology won't work if it's at the detriment of local people," he says.

Yet the environment is not high on Senegal's list of priorities.

A canal built in 2002 to prevent flooding in the city of St Louis, is letting seawater into the park, killing freshwater fish and eroding the sand where the birds lay their eggs.

And the Diama dam, which irrigates farmers fields, means fish cannot swim down river to the park.

There is a long way to go to change attitudes towards conservation in Senegal.

But Mr Parker's vision of sustainable tourism is a park the villagers can conserve and develop themselves, to lift themselves out of poverty.

For many, life here has not been sustainable.

Every week men desperate for work leave Senegal in packed fishing boats, and die attempting to reach Spain illegally.

If the Langue be Barbarie can protect its rare birds and fish, and make eco-tourism work, more people will be able to earn enough to live, and to stay in Senegal.

Peru must act swiftly to protect isolated Amazonian tribes

Peru must act swiftly to protect isolated Amazonian tribes from illegal loggers, Latin America's top human rights body has ruled.

Indigenous leaders say the tribes have already suffered untold deaths from diseases contracted from outsiders.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights judged the risk to these isolated communities so great that it bypassed all the usual procedures.

Peru has been given two weeks to take steps to protect the isolated tribes.

If it fails to do so it could ultimately be subject to economic sanctions.

Profitable business

The pan-American human rights body says that although Peru has created reserves for the indigenous communities who live in voluntary isolation, it does nothing to protect them from gangs of illegal loggers who are chopping down the mahogany-rich forests in which they live.

Indigenous leaders say several loggers have been killed in confrontations with the tribes in the last few years.

But they fear many more of the jungle dwellers have died through enslavement, violence or from contracting illnesses from which they have no immunity.

The steady advance of logging has forced the isolated groups, among them the Mashco-Piro and Yora tribes, deeper into Peru's jungle frontier with Brazil and Bolivia.

The hugely profitable but illicit business sees most of the tropical hardwoods exported to the United States.

This has forced the Peruvian state to take notice.

The Democrat-controlled US Congress has said it cannot ratify a free trade agreement with Peru until makes certain changes, among them adopting and enforcing laws on logging mahogany.

Earlier this week, the Peruvian President Alan Garcia provoked criticism from environmentalists when he said the quantity of mahogany which left the country, legally or not, was insignificant.

To many human rights workers the president's statement confirmed their suspicion that there is little political will to tackle the illegal trade and the isolated people's reserves might not be worth the paper they are written on.

By Dan Collyns bbc