Clever Manatees

The much-maligned manatee, a slow, wrinkled, and ugly creature is cleverer than it looks. So much for our innate sense of physiognomy! And despite its poor eyesight, it has a highly developed sense of touch, with over 2000 sensory vibrissae (sensory hairs like the whiskers of a cat) on its face and 3000 over the rest of its body. Perhaps this quote from a biologist who studies them sums it up best: "They’re too smart to jump through hoops the way those dumb dolphins do."

revenge of the snails

50 people were down with meningitis in Beijing after eating freshwater snails at a local Sichuan restaurant chain. They were infected by a nematode parasite, rat lung-worm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis).

actually Schistosomiasis, another snail-born parasite disease is also prevalent in Southern China.

I was wondering earlier if another favourite local Sichuan dish, spicy freshwater crabs 香辣蟹, might carry a heavy parasite load. This dish is very popular in Beijing especially on hot summer nights. people quaffed beer and chomp this fiery hot dish.

well, another food scare in jolly old China. one of the many and won't be the last...

update: number of cases had climbed to 87

Japanese whaling logic full of baloney

Asia Times article:

excerpt:
"In one breath Japan says whales are hunted for scientific research. In another it says whale killings will benefit some of Japan's small fishing communities. Japanese logic is so easily justified: the ocean beasts monopolize and deplete fish stocks to the detriment of the Japanese appetite.

Two of the three possible reasons are commercial, but it cannot justify Japanese cruelty toward whales. Japan, Norway and Iceland have killed 2,500 whales in the past 12 months. That's more than in any year since the ban came into effect. Yet the Japan Whaling Association (JWA) says it "strongly believes that [whales] should continue to be protected".

But here's the caveat: "On the other hand, there are species which are abundant enough that marine management is needed, such as the Antarctic and northwestern Pacific minke whales and northwestern Pacific Bryde's whales."

Somehow this is justification enough, morally and ethically, for Japan to continue killing whales.

Here's more evidence the scientific research behind Japan's whaling operations is horrendously bogus. Japanese consumer demand for whale meat has been plummeting to the point there is now an oversupply, so much so that Japanese schoolchildren are being urged to eat whale meat for lunch. Even the elderly are being encouraged. But the marketing campaigns have failed - dismally.

Consequently, whale-meat prices have dropped. Richer Japanese are buying other meat products, such as imported beef. The JWA hopes poorer Japanese will step in to buy the cheaper whale meat. And still there's abundant whale meat left over. That is processed, piled into cans and sold as cat and dog food.

For this Japan insists it needs a whale scientific research body, and for that, it needs to kill whales. Now, here's an idea for Tokyo: set up a scientific research institute for Japanese baloney."