Evolution at its extreme

One of the main tenets of evolution is to "survive long enough to produce viable offsprings". To ensure this, we have witnessed bizzare adaptations, e.g male birds of paradise, the peacock etc.

This undersea tubeworm beats it all. The male is basically nothing more than a packet of sperm living in the female's body.

See this National Geographic article.

Previously mentioned here, 30th July 2004: "Osedax rubiplumus and Osedax frankpressi that feed on the bones of dead whales. No eyes, legs, mouths, or stomachs, but colorful feathery plumes and green "roots.""

Cadavers pose no health risk after disasters

"Dead bodies do not pose health risk in natural disasters." By Scott Gottlieb, BMJ, 5th June 2004 (BMJ 328:1336).

'A search was conducted by Oliver Morgan using the PubMed online databases of the US National Library of Medicine for relevant literature on the infection risks for public safety workers and funeral workers as well as for guidelines for the management of the dead and prevention of infection. A small but important literature was also reviewed regarding the disposal of the dead and the contamination of groundwater by cemeteries.'

"Dr Morgan found that in natural disasters people usually die from trauma and are unlikely to have acute or “epidemic-causing” infections. This indicates that the risk that dead bodies pose for the public is extremely small.

However, people who are involved in close contact with the dead—such as military personnel, rescue workers, volunteers, and others—may be exposed to chronic infectious hazards, including hepatitis B and C viruses, HIV, enteric pathogens, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Suitable precautions for these people include training, use of body bags and disposable gloves, good hygiene practice, and vaccination for hepatitis B and tuberculosis.

But Dr Oliver found little evidence of microbiological contamination of groundwater from burial. Concern that dead bodies are infectious can be considered a “natural” reaction by persons wanting to protect themselves from disease. “However, clear information about the risks is needed so that responsible local authorities ensure that the bodies of disaster victims are handled appropriately and with due respect,” Dr Oliver writes."

From the PAHO press release, 23 Sep 2004:

'Contrary to popular belief, epidemics do not occur spontaneously after a natural disaster, and dead bodies will not lead to catastrophic outbreaks of exotic diseases, according to disaster experts at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The belief that dead bodies pose a serious health threat often leads authorities to take misguided action, such as mass burials, which can add to the burden of suffering already experienced by survivors. The key to preventing diseases is improving sanitary conditions and informing people, PAHO experts emphasize.

"Unfortunately, we continue to see the use of mass graves and mass cremations to dispose of bodies quickly, based on the myth that they pose a high threat of disease outbreaks," PAHO Director Mirta Roses writes in the introduction to a PAHO book "Management of Dead Bodies in Disaster Situations". The fact is that infectious agents do not survive long in dead bodies.

"The worst part of this is that these actions are taken without respecting the processes of identifying and preserving bodies, something that not only goes against cultural norms and religious beliefs but also has social, psychological, emotional, economic and legal consequences that add to the suffering directly caused by the disaster."

Dead bodies must be managed in such a way that it is eventually possible to identify them, say PAHO experts.

See also WHO page, "Myths and realities in disaster situations" and "Dead bodies pose no epidemic threat, say experts." By Debora MacKenzie, NewScientist.com news, 05 Jan 2004.

Cheap shrimp escalates tsunami devastation

It's not just shrimp farming, but mangrove and coal reef loss coupled with dense coastal settlements enssures widespread death when a natural force strikes.

Sadly, much the same was said after the Orissa cyclone of 29 October 1999, escalating mangrove replanting projects. EJF also has an ongoing campaign, "Why prawns will make you sick."


Photos from Digital Globe via Screenshots, showing the absence of
coastal vegetation and the extent of tsunamic inundation.

"Did humans make tsunami effects worse?
Paris, 28 Dec 2004 - Human activities, notably the building of coastal resorts and the destruction of natural protection , contributed to the enormous loss of life from killer tsunamis that hit the shores of the Indian Ocean after an earthquake, an environmental expert said last Monday. Jeff McNeely, chief scientist of the Swiss-based World Conservation Union (IUCN), who lived for several years in Indonesia and Thailand, two of the countries hit by Sunday's disaster, said it was "nothing new for nature" in a geologically active region.

"What made this a disaster is that people have started to occupy part of the landscape that they shouldn’t have occupied," he said in a telephone interview.

"Fifty years ago the coastline was not densely occupied as now by tourist hotels," he said. The hotels did not replace traditional villages because the villagers built inland, McNeely said. "What has also happened over the last several decades is that many mangroves have been cleared to grow shrimp ponds so that we, here in Europe, can have cheap shrimp," McNeely said.

"The mangroves were all along the coasts where there are shallow waters. They offered protection against things like tsunamis. Over the last 20-30 years, they were cleared by people who didn't have the long-term knowledge of why these mangroves should have been saved, by outsiders who get concessions from the governments and set up shrimp or prawn farms." The shrimps and prawns are sold to Europeans and other foreigners "at a price that does not include the environmental cost which is being paid today," McNeely said.

The same thing has been happening with the coral reefs that also provided protection to the coast, he explained. "When a tsunami comes in, it first hits the coral reef which slows it down, then it hits the mangroves which further slows it down. It may get through that but by then a lot of the energy has already been dissipated," McNeely said. Conservationists in India, Sri Lanka and Thailand had warned that mangroves had tremendous value for conservation and to protect the coastline, McNeely said.

On the other hand, Sunday's quake would not have been a disaster for local wildlife still left in the affected areas, he added. "Those living along the coast are seldom particularly rare, that's not a rare habitat, the mangroves are not particularly rich in species, the species that live there are used to typhoons, to storms and all that," he said. "Animals are smart enough to move."

Tens of thousands of people were killed in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Maldives, Burma (Myanmar) and Thailand as a result of the massive quake off the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Many victims were Europeans and other holidaymakers swept away when the waves hit beach resorts. But the bulk of the dead where residents of local towns inundated by waves more than 10 meters high and fishermen living in flimsy housings along the shores of the Indian Ocean. -AFP

See also Restoring manrgoves.