Chytridiomycosis cured by Chloramphenicol
Permalink: Chytridiomycosis cured by Chloramphenicol
Good news for frogs!
As some may be aware, Chytridiomycosis has been devastating amphibian populations around the world for over 25 years now, and is believed a key factor in the extinction of as many as a third of amphibian species - 120 - during this time.
However, scientists in New Zealand have found that a common and inexpensive drug - Chloramphenicol - can be used to completely cure affected frogs.
The strange thing is that Chytridiomycosis is a fungal disease, yet Chloramphenicol is an antibiotic.
Still, at least now a cure has been found, an effective development for distributing and applying it can be researched.
Due to known side-effects in humans, we’re unlikely to see mass spraying of affected areas, though considering humanities past cock-ups in this area, probably a good thing.
Frog killer fungus ‘breakthrough’
New Zealand scientists have found what appears to be a cure for the disease that is responsible for wiping out many of the world’s frog populations.
Chloramphenicol, currently used as an eye ointment for humans, may be a lifesaver for the amphibians, they say.
The researchers found frogs bathed in the solution became resistant to the killer disease, chytridiomycosis.
Fearful that chytridiomycosis might wipe out New Zealand’s critically endangered Archey’s frog (Leiopelma archeyi), the researchers have been hunting for a compound that would kill off the disease’s trigger, the fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis.
They tested the chloramphenicol candidate on two species introduced to New Zealand from Australia: the brown tree frog (Litoria ewingii) and the southern bell frog (L. raniformis).
“We found that we could cure them completely of chytrids,” said Phil Bishop from the University of Otago.
“And even when they were really sick in the control group, we managed to bring them back almost from the dead.”
“You could put them on their back and they just wouldn’t right themselves, they would just lie there. You could then treat them with chloramphenicol and they would come right,” Dr Bishop explained.
South China Tiger spotted in wild
Permalink: South China Tiger spotted in wild
It’s not often we see good news about endangered species being spotted, but it does happen - as recently demonstrated by sightings of what appears to be the South China Tiger:
Rare China tiger seen in the wild
A rare South China tiger has been seen in the wild for the first time in decades, according to reports from China’s official Xinhua news agency.
The sighting, which came after a farmer handed in some pictures, surprised researchers who feared the tiger was extinct.
Experts have now confirmed that the photographs do show a young, wild South China tiger.
The tiger is critically endangered and was last sighted in the wild in 1964.
The farmer, who took the pictures at the beginning of this month, lives in Shaanxi province.
Experts have said that no more than 20 to 30 of the tigers were believed to remain in the wild, but none have been spotted in decades, with many fearing that a small number of captive-born tigers were all that remained.
Red List of Threatened Species 2007
Permalink: Red List of Threatened Species 2007
Unfortunately, as always, bad news - as the Red List of Threatened Species for 2007 is released:
Gorillas head race to extinction
Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are sliding closer to extinction.
The Red List of Threatened Species for 2007 names habitat loss, hunting and climate change among the causes.
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) has identified more than 16,000 species threatened with extinction, while prospects have brightened for only one.
The IUCN says there is a lack of political will to tackle the global erosion of nature.
Governments have pledged to stem the loss of species by 2010; but it does not appear to be happening.
Bones recovered from gorilla slaughter
Permalink: Bones recovered from gorilla slaughter
Bones belonging to a mother gorilla, missing after a family of mountain gorillas slaughtered in July have been recovered.
Her infant has not been found, but wildlife officials are not optimistic of the young gorilla surviving.
The mother and infant were part of a 12 strong family of mountain gorillas, living in the north west of the Congo, which were attacked by gunmen in July with at least 4 confirmed shot dead at the time.
Sickeningly, it has been suggested that they were shot for the sake of it, as poachers would normally be expected to recover parts of the bodies for sale - something that did not happen here.
It is estimated that there are less than 400 mountain gorillas alive in the wild - and the death toll from human encroachment this year al already 9.
The plight of the mountain gorillas illustrates both the worst and the best about human beings - the worst in the wanton killing of an intelligent and endangered species, but the best in the heroic efforts of park rangers to put up with a difficult job in order to protect them, for all humanity.
New mammals discovered in Congo
Permalink: New mammals discovered in Congo
It’s not always bad news - while Extinction Watch may be a reminder of the problems of the loss of biodiversity, sometimes good news actually comes in of recent fauna discoveries.
Usually these involve discoveries of new species, alongside warnings of their imminent disappearance - but this time it’s the other way around.
In the Republic of Congo, in a biologically isolated area of forest already long used as a rebel base - and off-limits to researchers since 1960 - reports have come in of no less than 4 new species of mammal and 2 of frogs being discovered.
Larger fauna such as chimpanzees, bongos (antelope), buffalo, elephants, leopards and several species of monkey show diminished numbers because of the conflict, but there were enough samples of the smaller new species to begin the classification process.
What’s especially encouraging is that the research only covered a single kilometre square of forest as well:
Lost forest reveals new species
The survey, led by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), was carried out between January and March 2007.
WCS researcher Dr Andrew Plumptre said: “If we can find six new species in such a short period it makes you wonder what else is out there.
“The block of forest has probably been isolated from the rest of the Congo forest block for about 10,000 years.”
Of the two new amphibian species discovered, one, a small bright green frog, is in the Hyperolius genus, the other, a 1-2cm-long black frog may belong to a completely new genus.
The conservationists believe they might also have found several new plant species in the forested region, which includes the Misotshi-Kabogo Forest.
The expedition’s botanists were unable to identify about 10% of the new plant samples they collected. The specimens will now be examined by specialists to confirm if they represent new species.
Yangtze river dolphin could be extinct
Permalink: Yangtze river dolphin could be extinct
A study aiming to find out more about the Baiji - a rare freshwater dolphin in the Yangtze river - has failed to locate any sign of the species.
Last spotted in 2004, a six week acoustic survey at the end of 2006 was unable to find any trace of the animal, and have since reported in Society Biology Letters journals that the species is “likely to be extinct”.
The species (Lipotes vexillifer) was the only remaining member of the Lipotidae, an ancient mammal family that is understood to have separated from other marine mammals, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, about 40-20 million years ago.
“The Yangtze river dolphin was a remarkable mammal that separated from all other species over 20 million years ago,” Dr Turvey explained.
“This extinction represents the disappearance of a complete branch of the evolutionary tree of life and emphasises that we have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet.”
If confirmed, it would be the first extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years.
Frog killer chytridiomycosis - airborne?
Permalink: Frog killer chytridiomycosis - airborne?
It’s been no secret that for the past few years - even decades - amphibians around the world have been in serious decline.
Facing a doubly whammy of habitat destruction on a huge scale, coupled with a killer disease ravaging populations globally, it really is a serious situation for this entire animal group.
The disease itself - chytridiomycosis - has already been identified and continues to be studied.
However, disturbing news reported today is that the infection may not simply be water-borne - but may also disperse via fungal spores in the air:
A fungus that is devastating amphibian populations around the world is a relatively new disease that is spreading rapidly, rather than an old disease that has recently become more virulent, according to research on frogs in California’s Sierra Nevada.
Worse, not only is the fungus being spread by infected water, it may also be transmitted in the form of spores carried on the wind or birds’ feathers, for example, a genetic analysis of the Californian frogs suggests. This would help to explain outbreaks of the disease, called chytridiomycosis, in remote, inaccessible habitats like the Sierra Nevada lakes.
It’s a disturbing kicker of a revelation - and all the more reason why we should look to especially protect amphibians where possible against this killer disease.
Shock Bonobo extinction threat?
Permalink: Shock Bonobo extinction threat?
The Bonobo - a species of Chimpanzee made famous for the fact that their societies are founded on sexual relations - have been found shockingly absent from their major reserve, the Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Where once they had been easily found and encountered, researchers found nothing but a few physical remains, and a single bonobo call in the trees. No live animals were found in the national park.
In a country racked by civil war and armed conflicts with neighbouring African States, Congolese Institute for Nature Conservation, which runs the national parks in the Congo Basin, has been completely unable to cope. The dense jungle has become a hiding ground for armed milita groups, and rampant poverty in areas of conflict has made the Bonobos easy prey for the bushmeat trade.
Estimates of the Bonobo population are now being made at around 10,000 to 50,000 individuals, but with numbers
Rare Hawaiian Bird: now extinct?
Permalink: Rare Hawaiian Bird: now extinct?
The last known Po’o-uli, a very rare type of Hawaiian Honeycreeper, has died in captivity from avian malaria.
Discovered only as recently as 1973, and given the scientific nomenclature Malamprosops phaeosoma, as few as 200 were recorded in the world - a figure that plummeted to just 3 by 1997. Despite desperate attempts by conservationists to encourage the three known remainging individuals to mate, no progress was made. Only one individual had been sighted this year and was captured in September of this year, in the hope of starting a captive breeding program.
It’s death marks the possibly extinction of yet another species of Hawaiian Honeycreeper - already 13 have become extinct since classification, and a further 7 species are classed as “Critically Endangered”.
Hawaii has suffered not simply due to the introduction of cats and rodents , that predate on the individual birds and their eggs, but the introduction of mosquitoes has also create new vectors for the spreading of avian malaria.
More on that story: Rare bird falls to avian malaria
Bering Strait: humans not responsible
Permalink: Bering Strait: humans not responsible
A recent report highlights an important claim - that environmental change was primarily responsible for the extinctions of megafauna from the Ice Ages.
Previously, some researchers had tried blaming very small numbers of humans for wiping out entire species, simply by the killing of a few choice animals from any population.
A reflection on the modern relationship between humans and animals, should have clearly wiped out any suggestion that the meagre post-Ice Age human population, could have been responsible for collapsing such extensive populations. After all, humans have been hunting for thousands of years, but had yet to make a point to decimate common and widespread megafauna until the industrialisation of Europe.
Climate - not early human hunters - may have caused the crash in bison populations and the extinction of other big mammals at the end of the last ice age, suggests a new study.
An analysis of the genetic diversity of bison shows that the decline in Beringia - the prehistoric land mass joining Alaska and Siberia - began 37,000 years ago, more than 20,000 years before large human populations reached the area.
And the bison were lucky they did not go extinct as the ice sheets melted about 10,000 years ago, unlike other ice-age megafauna such as sabre-toothed cats.
It is a “big surprise” that the decline began long before people arrived, says Alan Cooper at Oxford University, UK, a member of the international research team. He had thought early North Americans wiped out the megafauna, much like human settlers are believed to have devastated the flightless moa of New Zealand.