Bears in Romania

Doug Saunders of The Globe and Mail has been writing dispatches from Romania. The article linked to in the title refers to the large population of black bears there. The black bear is more or less extinct in Europe���except in Romania where, according to Saunders, they���re something of a menace.

Contagious dog cancer

About 200 years ago, a single cancer cell detached from a dog's or wolf's tumor and began to travel as a dog's sexually transmitted disease or a disease of intimacy. It can be transmitted by licking, biting, and sniffing of tumours. The resulting disease, CTVT for canine transmissible venereal tumor, is found on dogs all around the world. Scientists noticed that the tumors were similar. They found that the tumors were related to each other rather than to the dogs they were infecting.

Now the cancer has been shown to be a clone of a single cell--the oldest known living cancer. It's a cancer cell that has become a parasite. It has split into two related strains that each have a broad geographical distribution. The tumor seems most closely related to grey wolves.

The tumour is foreign tissue that "ought not" to grow. In most dogs, there's a fast, aggressive growth stage, but after several months, the tumor shrinks and disappears. It seems that the dog's immune system wins after all.

The research was described in the August, 2006 issue of the journal Cell.

P.S. This was covered much more thoroughly by Ed Yong at Not Exactly Rocket Science, "Of dogs and devils - the rise of contagious cancer" and by Azra Reza at Three Quarks Daily, "Long-lived Cancer Goes to the Dogs".

De-scenting a skunk

A veterinarian on the Dead Runners' Society occasionally posts about his work. This was a propos of meeting skunks while running:

I've dealt with several skunks in my profession. Skunks can make good pets if descented. Their personality is similar to cats: equal parts friendly and aloof.

Just to see if I could do it I agreed to descent a skunk. The owner had called every vet in four states before reaching me. When I said yes she made the long drive from eastern Kansas. As she held the tail down, (tightly!) I injected an anesthetic. When it was out we took it to the barn for the surgery. I planned for the worst by wearing a plastic face shield and a plastic rain poncho with hood.

The scent glands are two bulbs, one on each side of the anus and interposed with the sphincter. In a ferret, the glands are smaller than a pencil eraser. In this skunk, each gland was larger than a golf ball. But the procedure was essentially the same as for a ferret. Working in the barn in summer, the flies got pretty aggressive as I was removing the first gland. It went so well I thought it was safe to go back to the clinic to do the next gland in my surgery. While removing the second gland I nicked the gland and the secretion exploded onto the face shield. The stuff ate into the plastic shield and I had to remove it to be able to see. It also ate into the poncho but nobody would enter the surgery to help me get it off. So with tearing eyes I continued the procedure, blinking furiously and trying not to gag at the odor.

I finished the surgery. The skunk lived. As soon as it was done I took off the poncho, my shirt and jeans and ran to my office. The office has a shower. After running out of hot water I got out and into scrubs. While I was showering the staff gingerly put all my clothing in a garbage sack, sealed it and threw it in the dumpster. Wearing surgical masks to blunt the odor they scrubbed the wall behind where I sat during the procedure. It had been doused as well.

For several weeks I had the skunk odor trapped in my sinuses. Every client entering the building asked. "Skunk?"

The skunk went back to Kansas and we got Xmas cards from the owner, showing the skunk playing with her granddaughter. Occasionally I get a request to descent another skunk. So far nobody has wanted to pay the $1000 fee. The first time someone agrees, I'll say that's per side. And if anyone wants to pay $2000 maybe I'll do it.

More about the Bornean Clouded Leopard

There are perhaps 8,000 to 18,000 Bornean clouded leopards on Borneo and Sumatra. Those numbers sound high to me.

On the islands the clouded leopard is the top predator, preying on monkeys, deer, wild pigs and lizards, and has a crucial influence on the regional ecosystems. At their largest they reach just over 1m long, and for their size sport the largest canine teeth of the cat family. Their name comes from the mottled white patches that cover their skin.

New big cat species: Bornean Clouded Leopard

The first new species of big cat in 200 years has been identified. Genetic analysis shows that the clouded leopard of Borneo is a different species from others, having separated about 1.4 million years ago. The new leopard will be called Neofelis diardi. Genetically, it is a different from its cousins as the lion is from the tiger.

Clouded leopards, found in China, Nepal and northeast India, were described in 1821 by the British naturalist Edward Griffiths and were the last of the big cats to be discovered.

Mighty huntress

Chimpanzees in Fongoli, Senegal, make and use weapons. On 22 occasions, they were seen making or using spears.

The chimps used the spears to hunt other primates that were hiding out of reach in hollows of trees or branches. They were stabbing, not probing, possibly with the intent to injure prey so that it could not flee. They often smelled or licked the points, and then stabbed again. One chimpanzee was seen drawing a bushbaby out of a hollow with a spear.

In most cases, the Fongoli chimpanzees carried out four or more steps to manufacture spears for hunting.

In all but one of the cases, chimps broke off a living branch to make their tool. They would then trim the side branches and leaves.

In a number of cases, chimps also trimmed the ends of the branch and stripped it of bark. Some chimps also sharpened the tip of the tool with their teeth.

Young or female chimps were seen to fashion spears more often than adult males. Dr. Preuetz said,

"It's classic in primates that when there is a new innovation, particularly in terms of tool use, the younger generations pick it up very quickly. The last ones to pick up are adults, mainly the males."

Jill Pruetz and Paco Bertolani are publishing their findings in the Feb. 22 issue of Current Biology. You can read a Eureka alert here.

Book: The Velvet Claw

This special book tells the story of the carnivore family: cats, dogs, weasels, bears, and their kin. In a classic evolutionary pattern, the family tree has branched and been pruned, branched and been pruned, over millions of years. It is based on a BBC television show and has many illustrations.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in natural history, loves animals, wants to understand evolution better, or wants to get to know the Carnivore family. It explains what a carnivore is and introduces us to the few animals descended from the earlier members of the family, such as the Swift Fox. There is a precis of The Velvet Claw at Bob Pickett.org.

Sixteen pandas...

Sixteen baby pandas sounds like another form of Cute Overload.

The Sichuan Wolong Panda Protection and Breed Center is dealing with the results of a breeding boom -- 16 pandas have been born since July.

Coyote observations?

I've been having an e-mail discussion about urban coyotes with someone at Animal Services in the City of Toronto.

I started with "I think I saw a coyote." When I reported that sighting I got a response from Animal Services; and I've just responded with my own observations, somewhat contrary to theirs.

Does anyone have experience with coyotes or other wildlife vs. pets?

My neighbour said he was in Banff one morning (a small town in the Rocky Mountains) and saw a coyote trotting down the street with half a poodle in its mouth; but I'm not sure he's a reliable witness.

Dingo attacks 4-year-old

Dingos, or feral dogs, inhabit Australia. In this case, a dingo on a small island attacks a child on a beach, but is chased off by the child's parents. Small children are vulnerable.

The article includes photos.

The foxes have landed!

This is a handy page from the Tasmanian government on distinguishing foxes from other animals.

Thanks to Invasive Species Weblog for fox article.

Tiger habitat down 40% in ten years

Things are looking bad for tigers. There are only about 7 500 of them left. The habitat that in 1996 was about 10% of its historical area has been depleted by a further 40% in a mere ten years. Only about half of the areas that they inhabit can support as many as 100 tigers. Remember that the limit for significant genetic drift is about 500 individuals. There's little doubt that their future, if they have one, will be dictated more by chance than by evolution and will be eked out in zoos.

Exercise helps against cystic fibrosis

Dr. Elizabeth Tullis says

Anything that helps to clear the mucus will reduce damage to the lungs. Coughing alone cannot dislodge mucus from the small airways, only from large airways. Exercise (aerobic) increases the breathing rate and helps dislodge this mucus and move it to the larger airways where it can be cleared. Exercise is a form of physical therapy.

See the Cystic Fibrosis and Exercise fact sheet or the Cystic Fibrosis Mutation database from Toronto's Sick Children's Hospital.

Bobcat

Follow the link for some beautiful pictures of a young bobcat.
I am "borrowing" a bobcat picture, but only because I want to entice you to go and look at the whole series.

Tags: bobcats, cats, Felidae, mammals, wildlife, outdoors, nature

Saving the tigers of Myanmar

Alan Rabinowitz has established five reserves for tigers in Myanmar. Now he battles cancer to ensure their safety before he runs out of time.

Carnivora

Lioncrusher's Domain has a very nice, non-scientific description of the Carnivora. This is not a science site but gives a standard taxonomy, then lists and describes the species. Carnivores include the cat, dog, bear, hyena, civet, mongoose, raccoon, and weasel families. Seals are counted here as part of the dog family.

There's also a section of nice original art.