Why do turtles wash ashore?

February 7, 2007—It’s nesting season for the sea turtles of Bangladesh and India, but this year the beaches where the animals lay their eggs are eerily still. Nearly a thousand dead turtles have washed ashore along the coasts of both countries in the past few weeks, conservation workers report.

About 200 dead reptiles have appeared in the past week alone along a single stretch of beach, pictured here, in the Bangladeshi tourist town of Cox’s Bazar.

A team of scientists visiting the beach on Monday to investigate the mysterious mass deaths concluded that fishing nets were to blame.

Sea turtles swarming the shores to nest are getting entangled in poorly laid nets and drowning, the experts told Bangladesh’s Financial Express.

Local fishers have denied the charge, claiming that they seldom catch sea turtles, but when they do they quickly return the animals to the water alive.

Hundreds of miles away in eastern India, however, conservationists say they too are finding evidence that nets are to blame.

“We counted 763 [dead turtles] in the last two months, all dead after getting caught in fishing nets,” Biswajit Mohanty, coordinator of the conservation group Operation Kachchappa, told Reuters news service.

“They had bulging eyes and necks,” he added, “which indicate they died due to a lack of oxygen after getting dragged underwater in fishing nets for hours.”

—Blake de Pastino

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Less and less green gold

What is is all about?Nicolas Hulot speaks about cutting down the forests and about the fact that our planet deserves more than we offer. Instead of taking care of our own beings, by preserving the forests, we cut permanent traces into our planet. WWF has tried to make a difference since the 1980′s but apparently few people do care. Therefore the planet’s issues concerning the environment risks accelerate.

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World wildlife fur

furOnly 29 more of these animals are needed for your fur coat. How many reasons do you have to buy one? Animals have at least 30 to make you change your mind. From the need to preserve the existing species and the environment as clean as possible, to the benefits of getting to a self commitment, each woman or man must think twice before buying the next fur.

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Marine turtles

turtle Marine turtles fulfil important roles in marine ecosystems
Marine turtles feed many species in the open ocean. The small turtles eat tiny animals that they find in the floating seaweed concentrations where they live. Fish, sharks and birds in turn prey upon the young turtles. The marine turtles fill an important ecological role by controlling prey species and themselves providing food to larger predators. The disappearance of marine turtles could therefore have widespread effects in open ocean and coastal ecosystems.

Marine turtles are biological nutrient transporters
All species of marine turtle carry energy from the coastal and pelagic ecosystems where they feed, to the sandy beaches where they deposit their eggs and therefore they function as biological nutrient transporters. The energy contained inside turtle eggs comes from the food items that the turtles have found in the marine environment. Through marine turtles, the health of the ocean and of the ecosystems on land are directly connected.

A live turtle is worth more than a dead turtle
Marine turtles are economically important to humans. Coastal communities in developing countries use marine turtles as a source for food. Also, the catch of fish and invertebrates that are used for human consumption or commerce ultimately depend on healthy marine turtle populations.

In recent years, marine turtles have become increasingly important as an ecotourism attraction. This has led to a rise in tourism operations that in turn provide jobs and income to seaside communities throughout the tropical and subtropical part of the world. Marine turtle watching increases people’s interest in marine and coastal issues and inspires commitment to support conservation efforts. Marine turtles are flagship species that attract help to themselves as well as to the many species with which they co-exist.

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Pandas

We apologize for any inconvenience but until we receive a written permission from WWF to use their materials, too, we have to take some of our endangered species articles, out.

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Pudu

puduThe pudú (Pudu spp.) is considered to be the world’s smallest deer and lives throughout the lands of Argentina and Chile in South America. Scientists have split the main pudu species in two sub species: the Southern Pudu and the Northern Pudu. Nevertheless, both of them are endangered species and need preservation, being one of the top animals World Wildlife Foundation tries to preserve.

What makes the pudu endangered specie quite interesting is their specific characteristics which differentiate them from any other deer. The pudu can climb trees, and escapes predators by climbing bamboo stalks, which alternatively turn out to be their food. If threatened, pudu barks in alarm.

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Mastodon Tooth Stumps Experts

Blake Nicholson, Associated Press: Feb. 5, 2007

A mastodon tooth fossil found in an Ontario, Canada, attic remains a mystery, after a paleontologist concluded it does not belong with a skeleton here that is one of the world’s most complete.

John Hoganson with the North Dakota Geological Survey climbed a ladder about 10 feet this week to take measurements inside the jaw of the skeleton in the North Dakota Heritage Center on the state Capitol grounds.

“The tooth at (the University of) Waterloo was larger than the ones … here,” he said. “The bottom line is it just would not fit.”

The Earth Sciences Museum at the University of Waterloo has on display three mastodon teeth and a tusk that were found in an attic about a year ago and donated to the school. The skeleton in North Dakota’s state museum came from the Highgate, Ontario, area more than a century ago.

Mastodons — elephant-like animals with large teeth and tusks — became extinct more than 13,000 years ago.

Hoganson traveled to the University of Waterloo last October to study the teeth. He said at the time that he was fairly certain one of them came from the Bismarck skeleton, based on wear patterns and the fact that the 4-by-3-inch tooth was from the same side of the jaw.

However, after measuring, he found “the tooth up there (at Waterloo) is from another mastodon,” he said Friday.

“I’m not necessarily disappointed (but) it would have been nice … to kind of close the book,” Hoganson said.

He said the skeleton at the Heritage Center is about 80 percent complete. Other missing parts are a tusk, two leg bones and some toe bones.

Hoganson said the missing tusk apparently was never unearthed. The missing tooth, however, was.

“We have some old correspondence from 100 years ago that indicates that there might have been a tooth that was lost when this animal was on the road being taken around to different fairs and so forth,” he said. “There was some indication that a tooth might have been taken during that particular period of time.

“Something happened to it. It got lost or stolen … after the animal had been excavated,” Hoganson said. “Possibly. it may turn up.”

Peter Russell, curator of the Earth Sciences Museum at Waterloo, was out of the office and not available for comment Friday. He said late last year that he would like to keep the mastodon tooth even if it belonged to the Bismarck skeleton.

Hoganson said Friday that he would not have asked for the tooth even had it came from the North Dakota skeleton.

“The Highgate mastodon came from that part of the world,” he said. “It would have been nice to have part of it on display there, too.”

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