Many of our readers email us for more details of the books we quote. Although we don't have the time to review every book that passes across our desks, we thought you might be interested in this review submitted by one of our readers.
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(02/05/2004) Emergence of peaceful culture in wild baboons
Reports exist of transmission of culture in nonhuman primates. Robert M. Sapolsky (Stanford University, California, USA) and Lisa J. Share (National Museums of Kenya Karen, Nairobi, Kenya) examined this in a troop of savanna baboons studied since 1978.
This article, published by the Public Library of Science, tells of some of their
findings.
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(03/05/2004) Fruit flies have conscious experiences
Scientists in California have discovered that fruit flies seem to respond to stimuli in a similar way to a mammal or human – exhibiting traits of attention and interest.
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(04/05/2004) SERBIA: The Case of the Missing Monkeys
BELGRADE - Serbia is trying to account for around 600 monkeys thought to be missing from a consignment imported from Africa, the daily Balkan reported last week.
According to the Serbian Statistics Bureau, the monkeys were imported
from Tanzania two years ago and paid for by the kilo. The shipment weighed
two tons, which works out at about 1,000 monkeys weighing two kilos each,
the paper said.
The national vaccine producer Torlak Institute bought 400 for polio vaccine testing, but the fate of the others is unclear.
Belgrade Zoo director Vuk Bojovic said he had not bought a single monkey in 20 years.
The Serbian Chamber of Commerce said only Torlak would buy monkeys for laboratory use, and while some people took them as pets, it was unlikely 600 were sold to individuals...
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(05/05/2004) Study: Traditional Fishing Damages Coral Reefs
LONDON (Reuters) - Even traditional fishing methods can disturb the delicate
balance of fragile ecosystems and are destroying some of the world's finest
coral reefs, according to a study published on Wednesday.
Although more intensive fishing was thought to pose a greater danger to reefs, a British
team of scientists said that subsistence fishing also has an impact on reefs
near the Fijian islands in the Pacific...
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(06/05/2004) Whaling Critics Blast Norway Over Sensors Trial
OSLO (Reuters) - Environmentalists started the 2004 whale hunting season by
criticizing a Norwegian trial system that replaces inspectors on ships with
computerized sensors.
Critics said the new "blue boxes" -- which are to be
installed on 14 out of about 40 whaling boats this year -- can be too easily
manipulated and will not record how long it takes for the huge sea mammals
to die after they are harpooned.
"Human surveillance is best," said Frode
Pleym of Greenpeace. "Any other system allows manipulation." Norway resumed
commercial hunts of minke whales in 1993, arguing that Atlantic stocks of the small species had recovered, despite a 1985 moratorium by the
International Whaling Commission. Norwegians mostly eat minke whales fried
as steaks.
Norway has set a quota of 670 whales for 2004 and estimates that
there are more than 100,000 in the northeast Atlantic. Japan and Iceland also hunt minke whales...
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(07/05/2004) Mobile phones continue to decimate Gorillas
Mobile phones continue to decimate Gorillas - not mobile phones themselves, but one of the key minerals used in the
production of mobile phone handsets, according to scientists. The apes' population has declined by over 70 per cent in the past ten years, it was
reported Wednesday.
The number of apes has declined to around 5,000, down
from some 17,000 in 1994...
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(08/05/2004) World's Great Apes Running Out of Time, Leakey Says
Mankind's closest animal relatives the Great Apes are
facing extinction and need urgent action
to ensure their survival, Kenyan
environmentalist Richard Leakey said
Wednesday...
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(09/05/2004) Japan Hones Harpoons Before Whale Meeting
Institute of Cetacean Research prepares plugs taken
from whales' ears for age analysis.
Scientists study their reproductive habits, food
sources, and the mercury
levels in their tissue.
And then, of
course, there's the guy who
studies the best way to kill them. For
nearly two decades, as commercial
whaling has largely vanished under a global
ban, a half-dozen Japanese vessels have
sailed off to the waters of Antarctica and the
northwestern Pacific
each year to hunt, kill and bring home samples of
whales for an ongoing research program -
along with tons of meat for sale...
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(10/05/2004) China couple split over dead dog
Household pets are becoming increasingly popular in China A Chinese
woman who hired four hit men to kill her husband's beloved pet wolfhound
now faces divorce.
The woman, Xiao Fang, told the official Xinhua news agency she did not
want the dog to mess up their new apartment in the eastern city of
Nanjing.
She tried to throw the dog out but it always came
back, so she hired four men to kill it
while her husband was away on business...
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(11/05/2004) Jordan's Neglected Animals Get Help from Charity
AMMAN - A group of children rush into a pet shop in one of Amman's
up-market shopping districts and peer into a small, cramped cage holding a
baboon.
The youngsters squeal with delight as the clearly
agitated animal leaps in frustration from
one metal bar to the next.
"It's not cruel
keeping it like this," insists the shop owner...
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(12/05/2004) Nepal's Vanishing Snow Leopards
KATHMANDU, May 11 (OneWorld) - Nepal's loft
Himalayan ranges are home to one-tenth of the
world's population of snow leopards, but the
endangered animals, which globally number around
5,000, are battling to survive amid
habitat loss, poaching and attacks by locals...
(20/05/2004) Police Kill Mountain Lion in California
SAN FRANCISCO - A policeman killed a wild mountain
lion in a prosperous residential neighborhood of Palo
Alto, at the center of California's Silicon Valley, an
official said this week.
Several surprised local residents reported sighting the
animal at dawn this week, prompting a search by
police, including by aircraft, in an area less than a mile
from Stanford University.
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(21/05/2004) Rare Penguin Stolen from Sanctuary
LONDON - Thieves stole a rare penguin called Piglet
from a sea life center in northeast England and dumped
it in a garden, police said yesterday.
Its donkey-like braying was heard more than a mile
from its home and worried residents rang the
Scarborough Sea Life and Marine Sanctuary...
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(22/05/2004) Homes Evacuated After Venomous Snake Spotted
AMSTERDAM -
Three Rotterdam houses were evacuated Monday
after a man saw a poisonous snake slithering
through a hole in the wall of his home.
Firemen
demolished part of a wall in the man's home but
could not find the meter-long snake, which experts
believed to be the venomous Sundevall's Garter...
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(23/05/2004) Woman arrested carrying 266 dead parrots
YAOUNDE - Cameroon has arrested a Nigerian woman
who was found carrying more than 200 dead parrots and
rare Bannerman Turaco feathers, a customs official
says.
The central African country has recently stepped up its
fight against the poaching and killing of endangered
species.
Officers stopped Meimuna Ahmed while she was on a
bus with 266 embalmed grey parrots and 597 red
Bannerman Turaco feathers in the northwestern town
Bamenda...
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(24/05/2004) Pooch breeds identified by genes
Researchers have worked out how to identify a dog's
breed just by looking at its DNA, Science magazine
reports.
By examining the genes from 85 breeds of dog, the
scientists have also been able to establish how they are
related...
All the breeds fall into three "modern" categories -
associated with guarding, herding and hunting - and one "ancient" group,
that dates back to antiquity...
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(25/05/2004) Ostrich Roams Besieged Gaza Camp from Broken Zoo
RAFAH, Gaza Strip - Palestinian boys chased a limping
ostrich through a Gaza refugee camp Thursday after an
Israeli raid spelled disaster for a zoo that was a rare
amusement spot for local children.
The Israeli army, which uprooted over 1,000 Rafah
residents by demolishing homes in a hunt for Palestinian
militants, denied flattening the zoo and suggested its
creatures had escaped because they were not being
cared for.
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(26/05/2004) Seychelles Court Sends Turtle Poachers
to Jail
VICTORIA - Six men found guilty of poaching marine
turtles in Seychelles were sentenced to two years in jail
as part of a drive to crack down on the illegal trade,
police said Thursday.
The Indian Ocean archipelago hosts globally important
populations of marine turtles, with four of the world's
eight species found in the region.
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(27/05/2004) White Rhinos on the Critical List - Conservationists
LONDON - The northern white rhino, one of the world's
most endangered animals, could be extinct in the wild
within months unless poaching by Sudanese rebels
stops, conservationists said Thursday as they launched
an urgent appeal for funds.
The world's 25 or so remaining wild white rhinos all live
in the Garamba National Park, a United Nations World
Heritage Site on the northern border of the Democratic
Republic of Congo with Sudan.
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(28/05/2004) Detroit Zoo to Free Elephants on Ethical Grounds
DETROIT - The Detroit Zoo will become the first major
zoo to stop exhibiting elephants on ethical grounds
because they can develop arthritis and stress-related
ailments in captivity, officials said on Thursday.
The Detroit Zoo has one of the largest facilities in the
country, but its Asian elephants Winky and Wanda still
have recurring foot problems due to the cold weather,
Director Ron Kagen told Reuters.
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(29/05/2004) Sick California Gorilla Dies After Novel Surgery
SAN FRANCISCO - Kubi, a 29-year-old male gorilla at the
San Francisco Zoo who attracted worldwide attention
when he had a lung removed in an unusual operation to
save his life, has died, officials said on Wednesday.
Kubi died on Tuesday, 11 days after a team of surgeons
and veterinarians at the University of California-San
Francisco medical center donated their time to remove
the 422-pound gorilla's diseased lung.
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(30/05/2004) Pooch breeds identified by genes
Researchers have worked out how to identify a dog's breed just by
looking at its DNA, Science magazine reports.
By examining the genes from 85 breeds of dog, the
scientists have also been able to establish how they are
related.
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(31/05/2004) New centre to reduce animal tests
The UK
Government has announced that it is establishing
a national centre for "best practice" in
animal testing.
Announcing the
proposals on Friday,
science minister Lord Sainsbury said the institute would
seek to reduce tests and raise standards
of welfare.
Funding for
reduction, replacement and refinement of
animal tests, known as the "three R's" will
rise from £330,000 to £660,000 in
financial year.
The government
is expect to follow this with further
funding increases...
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