The Flores hobbit met modern man?

Scientists have found fossil skeletons of a hobbit-like species of human that grew no larger than a three-year-old modern child [in a cave on Flores, Indonesia]. The tiny humans, who had skulls about the size of grapefruits, lived with pygmy elephants and Komodo dragons on a remote island in Indonesia as recently as 13,000 years ago."

Read the rest of it at "Hobbit" Discovered: Tiny Human Ancestor Found in Asia." By Hillary Mayell, National Geographic News, 27 Oct 2004. This is a significant find and National Grographic sponsored the research, so expect a documentary sometime soon. Eight skeletons have apparently been unearthed so far.

See also "Little lady of Flores forces rethink of human evolution." By Rex Dalton, News @ Nature.com, 27 Oct 2004 and the special on Flores which includes the original scientific article.

SARS came from S. China civet cats

Chinese study showed that civet cats were the host of SARS virus. although the researcher admitted that it was not known if civet cats were the source of the SARS virus, most samples collected from civets cats were tested positive for SARS.

In anticipation of the coming winter (period of spread for SARS), at least the Chinese authorities are clamping down on consumption of civet cats. But I think the ban should be extended to all game animals that are consumed.

now with tigers in Thai zoo coming down with bird flu, I hope our AVA does not come up with a bright idea to cull cats in S'pore. I can see where their logic will flow: tigers=cats=bird flu!

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SARS came from S. China civet cats -- study
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-10-23 10:08

Civet cats were confirmed to be host of the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreaks in south China's Guangdong Province in late 2002, but the animal was harmless in north China.

Professor Zhong Nanshan, a Guangzhou-based medical expert, who helped control and treat SARS during the outbreaks, made the remark at a seminar on lung diseases recently held in Guangzhou, capital city of Guangdong Province.

Studies of 103 civet cats' blood samples collected across China show that 70 percent of the sampled civet cats from Guangdong Province possessed SARS virus while cats from other places such as north China's Hebei Province and east China's Jiangxi Province were free of the virus, said Zhong.

The study, being conducted this year, also found that the SARS virus separated from Guangdong civet cats is of the same as that of SARS patients affected in previous outbreaks, reports Information Daily.

The research of experts from Guangdong and Hong Kong indicates that many of the earliest SARS patients were civet-cats-contacting cooks and foreign traders, further stamping civet cats as the probable source of SARS epidemic.

Currently, it is unclear whether civet cats are source of the deadly SARS disease and how the SARS virus was transmitted from civet cats to human beings, said the professor.

Guangdong Province has launched a preventive plan including a ban on consumption of civet cats in local restaurants to avoid newSARS outbreaks this winter.

Poetry in conservation

This beautiful piece of work was written by an undergrad who took our conservation module last semester.
Enjoy.

Over the sweet work of verdant greens and violet blues
ruleth Nature - the sovereign queen.
One touch of Her Majesty makes the whole world kin,
The mightiest space in fortune she does bring;
Of riches and beauty in her glorious kingdom her people do sing.

Why do we now see her countenance pale and glory stripped?
Wherein did the sacred and fragile balance tip?
Where and why did things go wrong?
Why do we no longer hear the fair queen's song?

Hath not in Nature's mystery more knowledge and science,
Than can be beheld by Men's painful ignorance and vile defiance?
Hath not Nature given them eyes,
Can they not hear Her Majesty's piteous and stoic cries?

Now Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams of Men suffuse,
Wanton destruction and evil schemes perfuse.
A vicious tear in Nature's fabric Men hath wrought,
Portending ills that were never before about.

To Men's unkindness and blind avarice,
Nature has shown clemency and great patience.
Long before Men hath come to realize that Nature is sick of her sufferance,
Tired of shedding claret tears and choking on silent laments,

Her Majesty may hath given up,
Her life sapped and light snuffed out.
Will the queen rise again one day,
Before the final end comes and the world starts to sway?

Will Men’s repentance cast the spell,
To save the world on which all life dwell?
Now Men can only hope, Men can only pray,
His efforts to save and conserve will one day pay.

May all is well that ends well,
And that to greed our heritage we do not sell.

China's conservation efforts

China moves to save endangered wildlife
By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
2004-10-04 09:12

Nature reserves, forest parks, geo-parks or scenic areas can be found almost everywhere in China nowadays. They are the last sanctuary of the country's wildlife.

Through establishing these protected areas, improving the management on them and amending relevant laws and regulations, scientists and conservationists are saving many of the country's endangered species from extinction.

More than 90 per cent of giant pandas, China's national treasure, are protected in nature reserves in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces.

Latest figures from the State Forestry Administration claim the number of wild pandas has increased from 1,100 in 1988 to more than 1,590 today, and that does not include those aged under 18 months.
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World unites to save chiru
(China Daily)
2004-10-04 11:34

Stringent protection measures have brought the majestic Tibetan antelope, known as the chiru, back from the brink of extinction.

The animal - which once roamed in millions - had been decimated by poaching.

But tough protection measures by the government and crucial enforcement and monitoring work by devoted international volunteers have given the antelopes enough breathing space to breed.

For thousands of years, millions of Tibetan antelopes have been roaming freely on the vast Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

They are unique to the area. Because of the threat posed by the poacher's gun in recent decades, the beast is today categorized by the State as a Class A species, a status which affords it greater protection.

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