Information about animals
Week in wildlife: a hippo with a hitchhiker, a wallaby jailbreak and a fly on the wall
The best of this week’s wildlife photographs from around the world
Continue reading...Rhino horns made radioactive to foil traffickers in South African project
Isotopes can be detected at airports and borders even in large containers and are harmless to the animals
A South African university has launched an anti-poaching campaign to inject the horns of rhinoceroses with radioactive isotopes that it says are harmless for the animals but can be detected by customs agents.
Under the collaborative project involving the University of the Witwatersrand, nuclear energy officials and conservationists, five rhinos were injected in what the university hopes will be the start of a mass injection of the declining rhino population, which they are calling the Rhisotope Project.
Continue reading...Farmers and scientists join forces in Cornwall to vaccinate badgers against TB
The groups have long been at odds over culling of badgers in England as a way to control TB in cattle
The first farmer-led programme to vaccinate badgers against tuberculosis is beginning in Cornwall with an aim to prevent transmission of the disease to cattle.
The programme is significant because farmers and scientists have long been at loggerheads over the culling of badgers as a way to control TB. The three-year trial will start with 70 farms and involve farmers trapping, testing and vaccinating badgers, with training provided by scientists. An earlier pilot study of the approach showed TB rates in badgers fell from 16% to zero in four years.
Continue reading...Radioactive wasp nest discovered at nuclear waste storage site in South Carolina
Wasp nest was destroyed and disposed of after discovery near tanks used to store liquid nuclear waste
The US Department of Energy has reported the discovery of a radioactive wasp nest at one of its facilities in South Carolina that was once involved in the production of parts for nuclear weapons.
According to a 22 July department report, the contaminated nest was discovered at the facility – the Savannah River site – on 3 July near tanks used to store liquid nuclear waste.
Continue reading...Animal rights group warns over ‘misleading’ footwear labelling
Peta urges UK business secretary to update regulations so wool is no longer grouped under ‘textile’
British consumers trying to avoid animal-derived products are being misled by unclear footwear labelling, a leading animal rights charity has said.
Under current legislation in the UK, all footwear must be labelled to show the main materials – at least 80% – used in the upper, lining and sock, and outer sole.
Continue reading...Supersized stick insect discovered in high-altitude trees in Australia
The 40cm-long insect, named Acrophylla alta, weighs slightly less than a golf ball and may be the heaviest insect in Australia
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A newly discovered stick insect which weighs slightly less than a golf ball may be the heaviest insect in Australia, scientists say.
The 40cm-long new species, named Acrophylla alta, was found in the high altitudes of the Atherton tablelands in north Queensland – and scientists said the habitat could be part of the reason for its large size.
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