Mine-Sniffing Rats
An international effort to remove land mines from former
conflict zones has begun using giant African rats, known for their
fine sense of smell and stamina.
Mine-Sniffing Rats
An international effort to remove land mines from former conflict zones has begun using giant African rats, known for their fine sense of smell and stamina.
“Currently, a fully trained platoon of African hamster rats, brooded and raised in Tanzania, is engaged in the process of demining (in Mozambique),” said project manager Frank Weetjens. The rodents are easier to deploy and manage than explosive-sniffing dogs, and are so light there is no danger of them setting off an explosion, Weetjens added. When the rats sniff out a buried mine, they doggedly scratch the surface and are immediately rewarded with bananas and peanuts.
Anthrax Returns
A fresh outbreak of anthrax in Botswana killed about 33 elephants and 21 buffaloes in the Chobe area, according to wildlife officials. It was the second outbreak of the fatal bacteria to occur in the country’s wildlife since September, and a total of 830 carcasses have been burned so far to contain the disease.
The Botswana Department of Wildlife warned people against eating meat from animals that have died through mysterious circumstances, as the disease can be passed to humans.
Japanese Tempest
A Pacific storm brought record-breaking winds to Tokyo, toppling trees, halting trains and forcing a tanker to run aground. A wind gust of 90 mph in the capital was the highest since records began, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency. Higher winds were reported on the coast of Chiba prefecture.
Tropical Cyclones
The number of people left dead or missing in the Philippines from Typhoon Nanmadol and a preceding tropical depression rose to nearly 1,500, with government agencies in Manila saying they were running out of money to continue relief efforts. The U.S. military stepped in to dispatch troops and aircraft to the disaster zone. The tens of thousands left homeless in the northeast coastal towns of Real, Infanta and General Nakar were facing the threats of disease and poisonous cobras, which emerged into populated areas following the storms.
• Cyclone 04S formed briefly over the Indian Ocean between Java and northwest Australia.
Earthquakes
At least 46 people were injured around the Algerian capital of Algiers by a magnitude 4.7 temblor that struck only four days after a stronger temblor injured 100 people in the same area on Dec. 1. Light damage was reported by both shakings.
• Earthquake-weary Japan was rocked by a magnitude 6.9 temblor off eastern Hokkaido Island, which injured five people and prompted a brief warning for a tsunami ocean wave.
• Several buildings on the southeast Caribbean island of Trinidad were damaged by a magnitude 5.4 temblor centered just south of the capital, Port of Spain.
• Earth movements were also felt in south-central Alaska, northwestern California, the German-French border area, the Greek capital of Athens, eastern and northwestern Turkey, southern Iran and parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra and Java islands.
Migratory Mystery
Scientists may be closer to discovering the winter destination of the most endangered Arctic goose in Eurasia as it travels from breeding areas in northern Europe, according to a group linked to the World Wildlife Fund. It says a lesser white-fronted goose equipped with a radio transmitter was tracked to a winter resting site about 50 miles east of Baghdad.
Earlier this autumn, the group tracked the goose from the Russian Urals to Azerbaijan, where it continued to Turkey, Iran and most recently Iraq. Only about 30,000 of the birds still migrate to points unknown from Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. The group plans to continue to follow the goose through the winter months.
Superfine Wool
A select group of Australian sheep that was pampered and allowed to listen to opera music has created a bale of the world’s finest and most expensive wool, according to one of the farmers who contributed sheep to the project.
The Highland Partnership handpicked several of the animals in the Snowy Mountains region of New South Wales, and kept them in small groups under the care of a sheep nutritionist. The tender loving care resulted in strands of wool averaging only 11.9 microns in thickness, compared to the Australian sheep average of 20 to 21 microns. The entire bale was purchased by Italian designer Loro Piana at about 345 times the going rate for wool. He plans to create about 50 men’s suits out of the superfine fibers, retailing at more than $11,000 apiece.
– By Steve Newman
