Pest-Eating Birds

http://animalzoon.blogspot.in/

hi friends,,,,,,,Sep-11,.

This is the first time scientists have assigned a monetary value to the pest-control benefits rainforest birds can provide to agriculture. Their study could provide the framework for pest management that helps both farmers and biodiversity.

The latest finding from these researchers suggests that the birds are returning the favor to farmers by eating an aggressive coffee bean pest, the borer beetle, thereby improving coffee bean yields by hundreds of dollars per hectare.

The study is the first to put a monetary value on the pest-control benefits rainforest can provide to agriculture, which the researchers hope can inform both farmers and conservationists.

"The benefits that we might get are huge," said Daniel Karp, a graduate student in biology and lead author of the study. "There's lots of unrealized value in these small patches of rainforest. This looks like a sustainable, win-win opportunity for pest management."

The researchers hope that the work will improve conservation efforts in heavily farmed areas by illustrating to farmers the financial benefits of leaving some land in its natural state, while also guiding governments toward the best conservation methods

Pufferfish Meditate Magnesium

http://animalzoon.blogspot.com/

Scientists at Tokyo Institute of Technology collaborate colleagues at Japan's Shimonoseki Academy of Marine Science and Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Minnasota, USA, to uncovered the molecular mechanisms behind Mg2+ secretion in fresh and seawater Takifugu pufferfish species.
The bodily functions of creatures that live in aquatic environments are affected by the presence of ions of different elements in the water. Bodies naturally absorb and retain ions as essential nutrients, but an excess of any one ion in the body can be damaging.
The magnesium ion Mg2+ is the second most abundant cation in seawater. Both freshwater and seawater fish maintain a certain level of Mg2+ in the plasma in their bodies, and it has long been known that seawater fish secrete Mg2+ into their urine in order to avoid an excess of absorbed Mg2+ from their surroundings. However, certain species of fish are capable of living in both salt and freshwater conditions, and how they alter Mg2+ secretion in their bodies accordingly is not well understood.
Now, Akira Kato and co-workers at Tokyo Institute of Technology, together with researchers from Japan's Shimonoseki Academy of Marine Science and Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Minnasota, USA, have uncovered the molecular mechanisms behind Mg2+ secretion in fresh and seawater Takifugu pufferfish species.
"For freshwater fish, Mg2+ is an important nutrient which should be retained if excess Mg2+ is not absorbed from food," explains Kato. "Seawater contains around 30 times more Mg2+ than the blood of seawater fish. If seawater fish cannot excrete excess Mg2+, they face hypermagnesemia which causes failure of normal tissue functions in the nerves, muscles, and heart."

Safe' Levels of Environmental Pollution May Have Long-Term Health Consequences

This study adds evidences for rethinking the way of addressing risk assessment especially when considering that the human population is widely exposed to low levels of thousands of chemicals, and that the health impact of realistic mixtures of pollutants will have to be tested as well," said Brigitte Le Magueresse-Battistoni, a researcher involved in the work from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM). "Indeed, one pollutant could have a different effect when in mixture with other pollutants. Thus, our study may have strong implications in terms of recommendations for food security. Our data also bring new light to the understanding of the impact of environmental food contaminants in the development of metabolic diseases."

To make this discovery, scientists used two groups of obese mice. Both were fed a high-fat, high-sucrose enriched diet, with one group receiving a cocktail of pollutants added to its diet at a very low dosage. These pollutants were given to the mice throughout -- from pre-conception to adulthood. Although the researchers did not observe toxicity or excess of weight gain in the group having received the cocktail of pollutants, they did see a deterioration of glucose tolerance in females, suggesting a defect in insulin signaling. Study results suggest that the mixture of pollutants reduced estrogen activity in the liver through enhancing an enzyme in charge of estrogen elimination. In contrast to females, glucose tolerance was not impacted in males exposed to the cocktail of pollutants. However, males did show some changes in liver related to cholesterol synthesis and transport. This study fuels the concept that pollutants may contribute to the current prevalence of chronic diseases including metabolic diseases and diabetes.

Kerala Elephants

       Elephants fun:The Elephant Festival Kerala or the Kerala Elephant festival is celebrated
every year in the month of Medam (Mid April -Mid-May) as per the Malayalam Calendar at
Thrissur in the Indian coastal state of Kerala . This annual festival is referred to as
Thrissur Pooram in Thrissur and is regarded as the festival of all festivals in Kerala.

 But He fires the enthusiasm among the elephant lovers by the elegant beauty and
the majestic look. The most popular elephant of Kerala owned by Guruvayoor Devaswom.
He has the privilege to carry the 'golden thidambu' of Lord Guruvayoorappa during
'Ekadasi Vilakku'and 'Arattu Ezhunnallippu' since 1962.
People had a strong belief that he had the blessings of Lord Guruvayoorappa.
He has been considered as the rebirth of 'Eiravatha' the elephant of King Indra.
So his presence attracts the elephant lovers and devotees. He has all the auspicious signs of the elephant explained in 'Mathangaleela' -a book about the elephants.
He is also known for the calm and obedient behavior and has never run amok during a festival.

Almost all temples in Kerala own one or more elephant which are donated by devotees.
These Temple elephants are very well looked after and carry the resident temple deity during
the annual festivities & processions.
These temple elephants are decorated with gold plated Forehead ornament called Nettipattom,
and are further adorned with bells and necklaces. The Mahouts and Priests mounted on the elephants hold silk
parasols called Muthukuda and sway large white Yak tail whisks called Venchamaram and Large peacock feather fans
called Aalavattom to the rhythm of the Panchavadyam.(http://youtu.be/04I1TTV1Nx4).