Conserving to Maintain the Diversity of the Big Cats

The conservation of many endangered species is a struggle for many environmentalists. The struggle between environmentalists and people who do not care for the conservation of endangered species has led to the death of many animals. Some examples of this are the struggles to preserve the whales from being killed in Japan and the white rhinos in Africa. Although the struggle to save endangered species has been enormous and painful, some signs of hope are being shown from some of the residents of Central and South American countries. The article titled “Helping Jaguars Survive by Easing Their Commute,” by Elisabeth Rosenthal, published in the New York Times on May 12, 2010, talks about a few farmers willing to help the commute of these big cats. Jaguars are animals that travel hundreds of miles during their lifetime. The article talks about the importance of the maintenance of multiple passages for jaguars that are traveling.
The conflict between farmers, developers, and the jaguars is still large. However, at least a few people are becoming conscious of the importance in providing a “jaguar corridor” to help these big cats on their journeys. Besides Costa Rica, other countries, such as Brazil, Peru, and Colombia are also involved in the project to facilitate the jaguar’s journey. What is really important is that the conservation efforts is being brought to the classrooms in Costa Rica to make younger generations of people aware of the importance in maintaining diversity in the ecosystem.

Elephants and People

Governments throughout the world have often tried to conserve their endemic wildlife by use of national parks. Within these parks, wildlife can thrive without the threats of poaching and other dangers caused by humans. These parks are not always successful in their purpose of saving wildlife, though. In Africa, many national wildlife conservation parks are threatened by poachers who illegally hunt the animals in the parks.
Recently, The New Yorker magazine, April 5, 2010, published an article titled “The Hunted” about two biologists who fought against poaching and tried to protect national parks in Africa from poaching. The biologists—Mark and Delia Owens—started out studying wildlife in the Kalahari desert of Botswana. After seeing hunters kill many migrating wildebeest, Mark and Delia went to the government of Botswana to try and stop the hunting. Instead of doing this, the government banned Delia and Mark from the country.
The Owenses now focused their efforts on trying to conserve animals in the North Luangwa park of Zambia. Poachers there were destroying the elephant population—it went from 70,000 elephants to 5,000 elephants. The park guards could not stop them because the poachers were better armed and had more people. Delia and Mark aided the park rangers by providing them with more pay, food, and weapons. The rangers were given permission to kill poachers on sight. Both poachers and rangers were killed in the minor war that raged to protect the elephants. In the end, the rangers won, and the elephants and other animals in the park are now safe from poachers.
How important is it for us to preserve endangered species? Biological diversity is a necessity for a healthy ecosystem—it maintains a balance among organisms. Excessive killing of organisms takes away from this diversity, and ultimately brings ecosystems out of balance, which destroys them. Therefore, the fight to conserve the elephants, whales, and other hunted species is extremely important for the survival of the different habitats and ecosystems of the world.

Are You Fascinated With the Huge Creatures That Became Extinct about 65 million Years Ago?

The study of evolution, although it does not fully explain how life began, is fascinating and mysterious. The fact that life began with tiny organisms, evolved to gigantic creatures that are now extinct, and than evolved to “normal” sized creatures is one of the facts that intrigues me. Why don’t we have the gigantic creatures that once inhabited planet Earth? Although we do have the blue whale, which is currently the largest recorded living thing with length of about 33 meters
(108 ft).
When thinking of gigantic creatures, most of us immediately recall dinosaurs. However, some of the gigantic groups of creatures that perished 65 million years ago were not dinosaurs, but were marine reptiles that gave birth to live young.
The New York Times from March 23, 2010, has an article titled “For Extinct Monsters of the Deep, A Little Respect.” The article shows a fossil and talks about one of these gigantic creatures that lived in the ocean about 250 million years ago. The article, written by Sean B. Carroll, is very informative and talks about different evolutionary characteristics between marine reptiles that give birth to live young and those reptiles that live in water, but need to come to land to lay their eggs.

Life Beyond Earth?

Over the last couple of years, scientists have been reporting the presence of water and ice on Mars, the moon, and in/on one of Saturn’s moons (Enceladus). One of the most recent articles in the New York Times, titled “Scientists See Fresh Evidence of More Water on the Moon,” (March 9, 2010) describes the presence of ice on several lunar locations. For the future lunar explorer, the presence of water on the moon is extremely significant. Water can be used for drinking, can be broken down to provide oxygen for breathing, and also for fuel made from hydrogen, as stated in the article.
The existence of water in other parts of the universe may well point to the existence of life beyond Earth. Since one of the prerequisites for known life is water, one of mankind’s next trips to outer space may well be followed by other living creatures. People have always been reporting the existence of extraterrestrial visiting the Earth. Perhaps these sightings are not at all illusionary visions as thought by many scientists, but true accounts.

Not Everything is Damaging When Talking About UV

“Fish Use UV Patterns To tell Species Apart,” New York times, March 2, 2010.
While watching a school of damselfish, it is hard for a human being to separate them apart. This article talks about a study done on the University of Queensland, Australia, in which it was found that UV is used by some species of damselfish to tell one another apart. Maybe they should repeat the experiment without the use of UV to see what would happen. Would different species of damselfish mate or change their aggressive behavior toward each other?

What does Yeast do Besides Rise?

“In Plants, Yeast Raises Temperature”
This is an article from the New York Times, published on March 2, 2010.
It is a short article that discusses the importance of yeast, going beyond the uses that we already known, such as in baking and beer production. This unicellular organism is also capable of “keeping plants warm,” among other benefits. The article goes on to discuss how heat is provided to the plant and it also explain the benefits of this symbiotic relationship between the herb, yeast, and bumblebees.

Vitamin D

The use of vitamin supplements to increase a person’s vitamin level and the not so clear benefit of the use of extra Vitamin D.
“Vitamin D, Miracle Drug: Is it science, or just talk? This article, published in the New York Times on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, talks about the increased use of vitamin D as a solution for many health problems. The article, written by Tara Parker-Pope, points out the increase in consumption of this vitamin without the clear knowledge of its benefits or the proper dosage. The problem, as stated in the article, is that the use of too much vitamin can cause more damage than benefit. This claim is backed up by the results of several studies on vitamins E and B. For most of us, all we need is to change our daily habits and spend more time outside in the sun in order to receive the dose of Vitamin D necessary for a healthy body. In addition to receiving the necessary amount of Vitamin D required for a healthy body, by going outside we would also spend more time moving and burning some of the extra calories that also cause health problems.