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Sample records for hippopotamus hexaprotodon liberiensis

  1. THE MANAGEMENT OF AN ORAL ANAPLASTIC SARCOMA IN A PYGMY HIPPOPOTAMUS (CHOEROPSIS LIBERIENSIS) USING INTRALESIONAL CHEMOTHERAPY.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Franklinos, Lydia H V; Masters, Nicholas; Feltrer, Yedra; Pocknell, Ann; Bolt, David M; Dakin, Stephanie; Berry, Karla; Molenaar, Fieke M

    2017-03-01

    An adult female captive pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis) was diagnosed with an oral anaplastic sarcoma. The tumor was surgically debulked and intralesional chemotherapy with mitomycin C (0.4 mg/cm 3 of tumor) and cisplatin (1 mg/cm 3 of tumor) was administered. Chemotherapeutic treatment proved difficult due to the risks of repeated anesthetics and unknown drug efficacies. Marked proliferation of the mass was observed during estrus, and chemotherapy was repeated as an experimental treatment to slow tumor progression in order for the animal to remain in the species breeding program. Tumor proliferation was detected during the first trimester of pregnancy; however, in the lactation period, the mass became quiescent. No adverse reactions to chemotherapeutic drugs were observed and the animal continues to be monitored for tumor progression. This is the first report of an anaplastic sarcoma and of chemotherapy use in a pygmy hippopotamus and it highlights logistical considerations for treating neoplasia in this species.

  2. Collection and preservation of pygmy hippopotamus (Choeropsis liberiensis) semen.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saragusty, J; Hildebrandt, T B; Bouts, T; Göritz, F; Hermes, R

    2010-09-01

    Knowledge about the reproduction of the endangered pygmy hippopotamus is almost non-existent. This study takes the first step toward changing this by devising a protocol for the collection, evaluation, and short-term preservation of semen of this endangered species. Semen was collected successfully from seven bulls by electroejaculation, using a specially designed rectal probe. Mean +/- SEM values of native sperm parameters from combined best fractions were: motility-80.0 +/- 4.1%, concentration-2421 +/- 1530 x 10(6) cells/mL, total collected cell number-759 +/- 261 x 10(6) cells, intact acrosome-87.8 +/- 1.2%, intact morphology-52.7 +/- 4.3%, and, for some, hypoosmotic swelling test-79.3 +/- 4.4% and seminal plasma osmolarity-297.5 +/- 3.3 mOsm. Seven different extenders were tested for sperm storage under chilling conditions: Berliner Cryomedium (BC), Biladyl, modification of Kenney modified Tyrode's medium (KMT), MES medium, Androhep((R)), boar M III() extender and Human Sperm Refrigeration Medium. While differences between males were apparent, the BC was consistently superior to all other extenders in sperm motility and facilitated storage for 7 d with up to 30% motility and some motility even after 3 weeks. With this knowledge in hand, the obvious two directions for future research are to conduct artificial insemination and to develop a technique for sperm cryopreservation. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. The fossil hippopotamus from Hopefield, South Africa

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hooijer, D.A.; Singer, R.

    1961-01-01

    INTRODUCTION The fossil remains of Hippopotamus from the Pleistocene "Elandsfontein" site near Hopefield, Cape Province, have already been briefly described by Singer and Keen (1955), who found that the material available at the time was not different from the living Hippopotamus amphibius L.

  4. Echinococcus felidis in hippopotamus, South Africa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Halajian, Ali; Luus-Powell, Wilmien J; Roux, Francois; Nakao, Minoru; Sasaki, Mizuki; Lavikainen, Antti

    2017-08-30

    Hydatid cysts of Echinococcus felidis are described from the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) from Mpumalanga Province, South Africa. Among six hippopotami investigated, hepatic hydatids were found in three. The identification was based on mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. In addition, the rostellar hook morphology was analysed. This is the first morphological description of the metacestode of E. felidis, and the first molecularly confirmed report of the intermediate host of E. felidis in South Africa. The definitive host of E. felidis in South Africa is the lion (Panthera leo). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Organization of the sleep-related neural systems in the brain of the river hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius): A most unusual cetartiodactyl species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dell, Leigh-Anne; Patzke, Nina; Spocter, Muhammad A; Bertelsen, Mads F; Siegel, Jerome M; Manger, Paul R

    2016-07-01

    This study provides the first systematic analysis of the nuclear organization of the neural systems related to sleep and wake in the basal forebrain, diencephalon, midbrain, and pons of the river hippopotamus, one of the closest extant terrestrial relatives of the cetaceans. All nuclei involved in sleep regulation and control found in other mammals, including cetaceans, were present in the river hippopotamus, with no specific nuclei being absent, but novel features of the cholinergic system, including novel nuclei, were present. This qualitative similarity relates to the cholinergic, noradrenergic, serotonergic, and orexinergic systems and is extended to the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic elements of these nuclei. Quantitative analysis reveals that the numbers of pontine cholinergic (259,578) and noradrenergic (127,752) neurons, and hypothalamic orexinergic neurons (68,398) are markedly higher than in other large-brained mammals. These features, along with novel cholinergic nuclei in the intralaminar nuclei of the dorsal thalamus and the ventral tegmental area of the midbrain, as well as a major expansion of the hypothalamic cholinergic nuclei and a large laterodorsal tegmental nucleus of the pons that has both parvocellular and magnocellular cholinergic neurons, indicates an unusual sleep phenomenology for the hippopotamus. Our observations indicate that the hippopotamus is likely to be a bihemispheric sleeper that expresses REM sleep. The novel features of the cholinergic system suggest the presence of an undescribed sleep state in the hippopotamus, as well as the possibility that this animal could, more rapidly than other mammals, switch cortical electroencephalographic activity from one state to another. J. Comp. Neurol. 524:2036-2058, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Mitochondrial DNA variation of the common hippopotamus: evidence for a recent population expansion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Okello, John Bosco A.; Nyakaana, Silvester; Masembe, C.

    2005-01-01

    Mitochondrial DNA control region sequence variation was obtained and the population history of the common hippopotamus was inferred from 109 individuals from 13 localities covering six populations in sub-Saharan Africa. In all, 100 haplotypes were defined, of which 98 were locality specific....... A relatively low overall nucleotide diversity was observed ( =1.9%), as compared to other large mammals so far studied from the same region. Within populations, nucleotide diversity varied from 1.52% in Zambia to 1.92% in Queen Elizabeth and Masai Mara. Overall, low but significant genetic differentiation...... was observed in the total data set (FST=0.138; P=0.001), and at the population level, patterns of differentiation support previously suggested hippopotamus subspecies designations (FCT=0.103; P=0.015). Evidence that the common hippopotamus recently expanded were revealed by: (i) lack of clear geographical...

  7. Thermoregulation in the hippopotamus on land | Wright | African ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Restriction of a hippopotamus to the land under hot environmental conditions during the day resulted in an increase of no more than 1°C in core temperature. The rising adverse radiation and convection heat load was met by increase in evaporative water loss from the skin. The increased water loss was brought about by ...

  8. Role of Food Insecurity in Outbreak of Anthrax Infections among Humans and Hippopotamuses Living in a Game Reserve Area, Rural Zambia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lehman, Mark W; Craig, Allen S; Malama, Constantine; Kapina-Kany'anga, Muzala; Malenga, Philip; Munsaka, Fanny; Muwowo, Sergio; Shadomy, Sean; Marx, Melissa A

    2017-09-01

    In September 2011, a total of 511 human cases of anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) infection and 5 deaths were reported in a game management area in the district of Chama, Zambia, near where 85 hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibious) had recently died of suspected anthrax. The human infections generally responded to antibiotics. To clarify transmission, we conducted a cross-sectional, interviewer-administered household survey in villages where human anthrax cases and hippopotamuses deaths were reported. Among 284 respondents, 84% ate hippopotamus meat before the outbreak. Eating, carrying, and preparing meat were associated with anthrax infection. Despite the risk, 23% of respondents reported they would eat meat from hippopotamuses found dead again because of food shortage (73%), lack of meat (12%), hunger (7%), and protein shortage (5%). Chronic food insecurity can lead to consumption of unsafe foods, leaving communities susceptible to zoonotic infection. Interagency cooperation is necessary to prevent outbreaks by addressing the root cause of exposure, such as food insecurity.

  9. CEREBELLAR AND MESENCEPHALON NEOPLASIA IN A NILE HIPOPPOTAMUS (HIPPOPOTAMUS AMPHIBIOUS).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schiaffino, Francesca; Sander, Samantha J; Bacares, Marcia E Pereira; Barnes, Katie J; Kiupel, Matti; Walsh, Timothy; Murray, Suzan

    2016-12-01

    A 52-yr-old female Nile hippopotamus ( Hippopotamus amphibious ) was presented for acute onset anorexia, depression, lethargy, instability, and weakness in the pelvic limbs. Clinical signs were rapidly progressive, despite empiric therapy with anti-inflammatory medications, resulting in the death of the animal. Gross necropsy evaluation revealed two tan, firm masses in the cerebellum and mesencephalon and a single mass in the right cranial adrenal gland. All three masses had a similar histologic morphology, and immunohistochemical investigation confirmed the general diagnosis of an adenocarcinoma, but the exact cell of origin remains unclear. In addition, there was evidence of neuroendocrine differentiation in the adrenal gland and not in the brain. These findings suggest either two distinct neoplastic populations or a metastasizing adenocarcinoma with focal endocrine differentiation. In dogs, anal sac and clitoral adenocarcinomas have been reported to undergo focal endocrine differentiation, and both can cause widespread metastasis while the primary lesion can be small. A small neoplasm of these glands may have been missed on gross examination.

  10. Reposicionamento do restaurante Hippopotamus do Hotel Tivoli Oriente

    OpenAIRE

    Neves, Carlota Alves Vieira Duque

    2015-01-01

    Mestrado de Gestão / JEL-M3-Marketing e Publicidade A presente tese de mestrado é um projeto-empresa em colaboração com o restaurante Hippopotamus, um restaurante conhecido pelas suas carnes grelhadas, destinado à classe média-alta, localizado no piso térreo do hotel Tivoli Oriente, no Parque das Nações. Após visita e conversação com o gerente do restaurante, surgiu a oportunidade de criar um produto único, não existente até à data naquele restaurante, com o intuito de angariar mais client...

  11. Some remarks about biometric characters of skulls of Hippopotamus pentlandi Von Meyer (Cannita Cave, Sicily and pleistocene hippopotami of Western Europe / Osservazioni sui caratteri biometrici del cranio di Hippopotamus pentlandi Von Meyer della grotta della Cannita (Sicilia e degli ippopotami pleistocenici dell'Europa Occidentale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucia Caloi

    1986-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Biometric data from the examination of skulls of Hippopotamus pentlandi Von Meyer (Canninita cave, Palermo, Sicily are compared with the data relative to the skulls of two fossil hippos of european Pleistocene and of the living species Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus. Even taking into account the inhomogeneity of the fossil specimens and the deformation suffered by the skulls of H. pentlandi from Cannita cave, the examination confirms on one hand the stronger affinity of the sicilian species with the living H. amphibius and from the other hand the peculiarities that characterize this form with respect to the european continental ones. A comparative examination of the biometric characters of the skull of these latter species confirms the greater distance of H. antiquus Desmarest from the living species. It is stressed how the relations between the less bulky Pleistocene species (Hippopotamus incognitus Faure with H. antiquus and with the living H. amphibius have not yet been completely clarified, owing both to the scantiness of the documentation and to the strong variability observed in the biometric characters of the few known skulls. It is noted how, in any case, this fossil form appears more similar to the living H. amphibius. For the moment its distinction at a specific level is accepted, even if with reservation, taking into account also the distinctive elements recognized in the post-cranial skeleton (FAURE, 1985, not examined here. Riassunto Vengono analizzati e posti a confronto i dati biometrici ricavati dall'analisi dei crani di Hippopotamus pentlandi Von Heyer della Grotta della Cannita (Palermo, Sicilia, degli ippopotami fossili del Pleistocene continentale europeo e della specie vivente Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus. Vengono da un lato confermate le maggiori affinità tra H. pentlandi

  12. Fore limb bones of late Pleistocene dwarf hippopotamuses (Mammalia, Cetartiodactyla from Madagascar previously determined as belonging to the crocodylid Voay Brochu, 2007

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    O. Hampe

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available A humerus and two radii of juvenile dwarf hippopotamuses are redescribed. The subfossil bones from the collection of the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin were erroneously assigned to the horned crocodile Voay robustus (Grandidier & Vaillant, 1872 by Bickelmann & Klein (2009. All three limb bones presented here belong to immature animals. The epiphyses are not fused, except the proximal extremity of the right radius; and the radius and ulna are also unfused. The two radii are from individuals of different size, whereas the left radius and the humerus are from animals of similar size. Morphologically, the limb bones cannot be identified to species level. A tentative assignment to Hippopotamus madagascariensis is discussed based on the knowledge of the geographic origin on the island. doi:10.1002/mmng.201000003

  13. Effects of the hippopotamus on the chemistry and ecology of a changing watershed.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stears, Keenan; McCauley, Douglas J; Finlay, Jacques C; Mpemba, James; Warrington, Ian T; Mutayoba, Benezeth M; Power, Mary E; Dawson, Todd E; Brashares, Justin S

    2018-05-29

    Cross-boundary transfers of nutrients can profoundly shape the ecology of recipient systems. The common hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius , is a significant vector of such subsidies from terrestrial to river ecosystems. We compared river pools with high and low densities of H. amphibius to determine how H. amphibius subsidies shape the chemistry and ecology of aquatic communities. Our study watershed, like many in sub-Saharan Africa, has been severely impacted by anthropogenic water abstraction reducing dry-season flow to zero. We conducted observations for multiple years over wet and dry seasons to identify how hydrological variability influences the impacts of H. amphibius During the wet season, when the river was flowing, we detected no differences in water chemistry and nutrient parameters between pools with high and low densities of H. amphibius Likewise, the diversity and abundance of fish and aquatic insect communities were indistinguishable. During the dry season, however, high-density H. amphibiu s pools differed drastically in almost all measured attributes of water chemistry and exhibited depressed fish and insect diversity and fish abundance compared with low-density H. amphibius pools. Scaled up to the entire watershed, we estimate that H. amphibius in this hydrologically altered watershed reduces dry-season fish abundance and indices of gamma-level diversity by 41% and 16%, respectively, but appears to promote aquatic invertebrate diversity. Widespread human-driven shifts in hydrology appear to redefine the role of H. amphibius , altering their influence on ecosystem diversity and functioning in a fashion that may be more severe than presently appreciated.

  14. The Effect of Reduced Water Availability in the Great Ruaha River on the Vulnerable Common Hippopotamus in the Ruaha National Park, Tanzania.

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    Claudia Stommel

    Full Text Available In semi-arid environments, 'permanent' rivers are essential sources of surface water for wildlife during 'dry' seasons when rainfall is limited or absent, particularly for species whose resilience to water scarcity is low. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius requires submersion in water to aid thermoregulation and prevent skin damage by solar radiation; the largest threat to its viability are human alterations of aquatic habitats. In the Ruaha National Park (NP, Tanzania, the Great Ruaha River (GRR is the main source of surface water for wildlife during the dry season. Recent, large-scale water extraction from the GRR by people upstream of Ruaha NP is thought to be responsible for a profound decrease in dry season water-flow and the absence of surface water along large sections of the river inside the NP. We investigated the impact of decreased water flow on daytime hippo distribution using regular censuses at monitoring locations, transects and camera trap records along a 104km section of the GRR within the Ruaha NP during two dry seasons. The minimum number of hippos per monitoring location increased with the expanse of surface water as the dry seasons progressed, and was not affected by water quality. Hippo distribution significantly changed throughout the dry season, leading to the accumulation of large numbers in very few locations. If surface water loss from the GRR continues to increase in future years, this will have serious implications for the hippo population and other water dependent species in Ruaha NP.

  15. Browse Title Index

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Items 151 - 175 of 1853 ... Vol 15, No 4 (1980), A study of feeding in some inshore reef fish of the Natal ... A study of the feeding habits of the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus ... Peritricha) associated with crustacean fish ectoparasites in South Africa ...

  16. 9 CFR 93.802 - Import permit.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Elephants, Hippopotami, Rhinoceroses, and Tapirs § 93.802 Import permit. (a) An elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, or tapir shall not be imported into the United States... export an elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, or tapir to the United States; (2) The name and address of...

  17. Identification and phylogenetic analysis of novel cytochrome P450 1A genes from ungulate species.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darwish, Wageh Sobhy; Kawai, Yusuke; Ikenaka, Yoshinori; Yamamoto, Hideaki; Muroya, Tarou; Ishizuka, Mayumi

    2010-09-01

    As part of an ongoing effort to understand the biological response of wild and domestic ungulates to different environmental pollutants such as dioxin-like compounds, cDNAs encoding for CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 were cloned and characterized. Four novel CYP1A cDNA fragments from the livers of four wild ungulates (elephant, hippopotamus, tapir and deer) were identified. Three fragments from hippopotamus, tapir and deer were classified as CYP1A2, and the other fragment from elephant was designated as CYP1A1/2. The deduced amino acid sequences of these fragment CYP1As showed identities ranging from 76 to 97% with other animal CYP1As. The phylogenetic analysis of these fragments showed that both elephant and hippopotamus CYP1As made separate branches, while tapir and deer CYP1As were located beside that of horse and cattle respectively in the phylogenetic tree. Analysis of dN/dS ratio among the identified CYP1As indicated that odd toed ungulate CYP1A2s were exposed to different selection pressure.

  18. ‘Konstige tanden’. Gebitsprothesen van bot en ivoor in Nederlandse collecties

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    Marloes Rijkelijkhuizen

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available ‘Konstige tanden’ – False teeth made of bone and ivory from Dutch collectionsDental healthcare in the past was not as advanced as nowadays. Most people who suffered from caries (or worse had no other option than to have the ‘bad’ tooth extracted. A set of false teeth was only an option the rich could afford. Finding a suitable material for these prostheses was a struggle for the manufacturers. For a long period ivory, and sometimes bone, was the only option.The aim of this study was to examine more than one hundred false teeth made of bone and ivory from archaeological and museum collections, with the purpose to identify the used materials and to investigate the development of these dentures. Archaeological examples were the oldest false teeth recovered, the oldest dating to the 17th century.A persistent misinterpretation is the use of walrus ivory for the manufacture of false teeth in the time under investigation. Both walrus and hippopotamus ivory have been misidentified for a long time mainly because both species have been named ‘seahorse’. Of all the examined dentures 71% was made of hippopotamus ivory, 18% of walrus ivory, 8% of elephant ivory and only 3% of bone. Before the discovery of vulcanised rubber in the mid-19th century hippopotamus ivory was the best material to manufacture false teeth, because of the hard enamel layer which retained its white colour much longer than other materials. Archaeological finds show that hippopotamus ivory was imported for only one purpose: the manufacture of false teeth.These false teeth were probably made more often by ivory workers rather than by ‘tooth masters’. Although ivory false teeth were a good solution for esthetical reasons and to regain speech and chewing abilities, the lack of hygiene must have caused a lot of pain and trouble to their rich wearers.

  19. JUST 27 No. 3 December 2007

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    User

    2007-12-03

    Dec 3, 2007 ... weight hydrocarbon of like asphalts, taps, pitches and asphaltenes. In general, tar ... have been recorded in these areas since the dawn of this century. .... The hippopotamus, elephant, giraffe, leopard, and lion now remain.

  20. Analysis of ecotourism activities in Kainji Lake National Park, Nigeria

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Utilization of tourism as an effective tool for poverty alleviation can hardly be ... core and supporting tourist attractions packaged in forms of natural, artificial, cultural, ... cave Kali Hills and Shrines, Museum, Hippopotamus pools, crocodile creek, ...

  1. 9 CFR 93.807 - Other importations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Elephants, Hippopotami, Rhinoceroses, and Tapirs § 93.807 Other importations. (a) Elephants, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, and tapirs are exempt from the regulations in this part... or bedding materials with any elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, or tapir imported into Canada...

  2. Thermoregulation in the hippopotamus on land

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    1986-11-28

    Nov 28, 1986 ... tadpoles (Anura: Bufonidae). Zool. Afr. 8:153-156. CHANNING, A. 1976. Rana johnstoni inyangae tadpoles from Rhodesia. Amoldia Rhod. 8: 1-4. CHANNING, A. 1978. A new bufonid genus (Amphibia: Anura) from Rhodesia. Herpetologica 34: 394-397. FROST, D.R 1985. Amphibian species of the world.

  3. Environmental Impact Statement for Proposed Closure of Los Angeles Air Force Base, California and Relocation of Space Systems Division

    Science.gov (United States)

    1990-05-01

    1. The slender- horned spine flower is a federally-listed endangered species. Because of the highly disturbed nature of the proposed sites, none of...deposit include deer, antelope, gazelle, horse, pig, camel, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, rabbit, beaver, mole, shrew, ground sloth, hedgehog

  4. in vitro production of virus free sweet potato [ipomoea batatas (l

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    preferred customer

    ABSTRACT: The phylogeny of the East African Hippopotamidae is problematic. A particularly controversial relationship is that between aff. Hippopotamus protamphibius and aff. .... ficient reconstruction of the symphysis, corpora, and canine processes has been completed to warrant a preliminary description of the fossil.

  5. Genetic consequences of population expansions and contractions in the common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) since the Late Pleistocene

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stoffel, Céline; Dufresnes, Christophe; Okello, John B A

    2015-01-01

    Over the past two decades, an increasing amount of phylogeographic work has substantially improved our understanding of African biogeography, in particular the role played by Pleistocene pluvial-drought cycles on terrestrial vertebrates. However, still little is known on the evolutionary history...

  6. 9 CFR 93.804 - Declaration upon arrival.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... FOR MEANS OF CONVEYANCE AND SHIPPING CONTAINERS Elephants, Hippopotami, Rhinoceroses, and Tapirs § 93.804 Declaration upon arrival. Upon arrival of an elephant, hippopotamus, rhinoceros, or tapir at a..., rhinoceros, or tapir was shipped; (h) The number, species, and purpose of importation of the elephant...

  7. Competition in the perception of spoken Japanese words

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Otake, T.; McQueen, J.M.; Cutler, A.

    2010-01-01

    Japanese listeners detected Japanese words embedded at the end of nonsense sequences (e.g., kaba 'hippopotamus' in gyachikaba). When the final portion of the preceding context together with the initial portion of the word (e.g., here, the sequence chika) was compatible with many lexical competitors,

  8. Seroprevalence of Toxoplasma gondii infection in zoo and domestic animals in Jiangxi Province, China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luo Houqiang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic protozoan parasite that infects a wide range of warm-blooded animals throughout the world. In the present study, antibodies to T. gondii were determined using a commercial indirect hemagglutination (IHA test in wild animals in a zoo. Three of 11 giraffes (Giraffa camelopardalis (27%, 1 of 5 wolves (Canis lupus laniger (20%, 1 of 6 hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibious (17%, and 2 of 9 tundra swans (Cygnus columbianus (22% were found to be positive. No antibodies were detected in leopards (Panthera pardus, wild geese (Anser cygnoides, and Eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus. Domestic species from 13 counties of Jiangxi Province, China were also investigated by an indirect hemagglutination (IHA test. Thirty-five of 340 goats (10%, 94 of 560 water buffaloes (17%, and 4 of 35 cattle (11% were found to be seropositive. This is the first report of T. gondii infection in animals kept in zoos and domestic animals in this province.

  9. Decline of large mammals in the Katavi-Rukwa ecosystem of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    (iv) Some assessments of illegal hunting indicate little influence on herbivore populations but one measure points to giraffe, hippopotamus, warthog and perhaps other species being adversely affected. (v) Tourist hunting quotas of lions and greater kudu in hunting blocks appear high and there are indications that both may ...

  10. Conservation challenge: human-herbivore conflict in Chebera Churchura National Park, Ethiopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Datiko, Demeke; Bekele, Afework

    2013-12-01

    An investigation on human-herbivore conflict was carried out in CCNP between 2011 and 2012 in seven randomly selected villages (Chebera, Serri, Yora, Shita, Delba, Chuchra, Chewda) around the Park. A total of 312 household samples were identified for interview. Group discussion and field observation were also carried out. Among the respondents, the majority (83.9%) faced crop damage. African elephant (Loxodonta africana), Hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibious), African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), Desert warthog (Phacochoerus aethiopicus), Wild pig (Sus scrofa), Porcupine (Hystrix cristata), Vervet monkey (Cercopithecus aethiops) and Anubis baboon (Papio anubis) were identified as the most problematic animals in the area. However, buffalo, monkey and warthog were considered as the notorious pest. Crop damage and threats to human safety were the major problems encountered resulting in conflict between human and wildlife. Most respondents had a negative attitude towards the problem-posing animals. This will lead to a change in public attitude from one that supports wildlife conservation to sees wild herbivores as a threat and a potential negative consequence for wildlife conservation. Active measures have to be implemented to solve the problems and safeguard the future of the wildlife management in the park.

  11. HOW MANY HIPPOS (HOMHIP: ALGORITHM FOR AUTOMATIC COUNTS OF ANIMALS WITH INFRA-RED THERMAL IMAGERY FROM UAV

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    S. Lhoest

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available The common hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius L. is part of the animal species endangered because of multiple human pressures. Monitoring of species for conservation is then essential, and the development of census protocols has to be chased. UAV technology is considering as one of the new perspectives for wildlife survey. Indeed, this technique has many advantages but its main drawback is the generation of a huge amount of data to handle. This study aims at developing an algorithm for automatic count of hippos, by exploiting thermal infrared aerial images acquired from UAV. This attempt is the first known for automatic detection of this species. Images taken at several flight heights can be used as inputs of the algorithm, ranging from 38 to 155 meters above ground level. A Graphical User Interface has been created in order to facilitate the use of the application. Three categories of animals have been defined following their position in water. The mean error of automatic counts compared with manual delineations is +2.3% and shows that the estimation is unbiased. Those results show great perspectives for the use of the algorithm in populations monitoring after some technical improvements and the elaboration of statistically robust inventories protocols.

  12. Lake Turkana National Parks Kenya.

    OpenAIRE

    2005-01-01

    Lake Turkana is the largest, most northerly and most saline of Africa's Rift Valley lakes and an outstanding laboratory for the study of plant and animal communities. The three National Parks are a stopover for migrant waterfowl and are major breeding grounds for the Nile crocodile and hippopotamus. The Koobi Fora deposits are rich in pre-human, mammalian, molluscan and other fossil remains and have contributed more to the understanding of Quaternary palaeoenvironments than any other site on ...

  13. Eco-epidemiological and pathological features of wildlife mortality events related to cyanobacterial bio-intoxication in the Kruger National Park, South Africa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roy Bengis

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Over the past decade, several clustered, multispecies, wildlife mortality events occurred in the vicinity of two man-made earthen dams in the southern and south central regions of the Kruger National Park, South Africa. On field investigation, heavy cyanobacterial blooms were visible in these impoundments and analysis of water samples showed the dominance of Microcystis spp. (probably Microcystis aeruginosa. Macroscopic lesions seen at necropsy and histopathological lesions were compatible with a diagnosis of cyanobacterial intoxication. Laboratory toxicity tests and assays also confirmed the presence of significant levels of microcystins in water from the two dams. These outbreaks occurred during the dry autumn and early winter seasons when water levels in these dams were dropping, and a common feature was that all the affected dams were supporting a large number of hippopotamuses (Hippopotamus amphibius. It is hypothesised that hippopotamus’ urine and faeces, together with agitation of the sediments, significantly contributed to internal loading of phosphates and nitrogen – leading to eutrophication of the water in these impoundments and subsequent cyanobacterial blooms. A major cause for concern was that a number of white rhinoceros (Ceratotherium simum were amongst the victims of these bio-intoxication events. This publication discusses the eco-epidemiology and pathology of these clustered mortalities, as well as the management options considered and eventually used to address the problem.

  14. LIVELIHOOD DIVERSIFICATION AND INCOME: A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNITIES RESIDENT ALONG THE KIRI DAM, ADAMAWA STATE, NIGERIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael Amurtiya

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available This research analysed livelihood diversifi cation and income in resident communities along the Kiri Dam, Adamawa state, Nigeria. The specifi c objectives of the study were: to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents, assess the level of livelihood diversifi cation of the respondents, analyse income of the respondents, identify factors associated with varying levels of income, and identify constraints to livelihood diversifi cation in the area. A multistage sampling technique was used to collect primary data from 120 respondents from the study area. The data collected were subjected to descriptive and inferential statistical analysis. The results showed that the majority of the respondents were male (78%, married (76%, educated (70%, below 60 years of age (93% and employed in agricultural activities (83%. The Simpson index of diversifi cation shows that 43% of the respondents diversify at an average level. The majority (60% of the respondents’ annual income is over ₦ 200,000. The ordinary least square estimation shows that age, marital status, education, irrigation activities, fi shing, farm size and level of diversifi cation aff ect income level in the area. The main constraints to diversifi ed livelihood in the area were a lack of basic social infrastructure, a hippopotamus menace and fl ooding. The study recommended the provision of social infrastructure and the control of hippopotamuses

  15. Las faunas pleistocenas de Fuensanta del Júcar y El Provencio y su significado en la evolución del Cuaternario de la Llanura manchega.

    OpenAIRE

    Mazo Pérez, Ana Victoria; Pérez-González, Alfredo; Aguirre, Emiliano

    1990-01-01

    Las terrazas fluviales de +60 m de Fuensanta del Júcar (Sistema aluvial del río Júcar) y de +15-16 m de El Provencio, perteneciente al Sistema fluvial del Guadiana, han proporcionado restos de vertebrados del Pleistoceno. En la primera localidad, que se encuentra en Albacete, se han identificado: Mammuthus meridionalis NESTI, forma progresiva, Hippopotamus major CUVIER y Cervidae ind. En El Provencio (Cuenca): Mammuthus meridionalis NESTI y Bovidae ind. (Bos o Bison). El grado de evolución de...

  16. The Particle Physicists’ Song : the CERN Choir in full voice in the CERN Control Centre, with writer Danuta Orlowska

    CERN Multimedia

    Maximilien Brice

    2010-01-01

    The song was submitted to CERN Courier by Danuta Orlowska, a clinical psychologist with Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust in London. It is written to be sung to the tune of The Hippopotamus Song, by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, which will be well known to many British readers. On 3 February, members of the CERN choir gathered to give a rendition in the CERN Control Centre – the nerve centre of the LHC, which lies at the heart of the lyrics.

  17. [A text-book case of tropical facial elephantiasis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dilu, N-J; Sokolo, R

    2007-02-01

    Tropical facial elephantiasis is a nosological entity which can arise from various underlying causes: von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis, lymphatic and cutaneodermal filarioses, deep mycosis. We report an exceptional case of tropical facial elephantiasis caused by onchocercosis and entomophtoromycosis (rhinophycomycosis). The patient's facial morphology was noted "hippopotamus-face" or "dog-face". Onchocercosis and entomophtoromycosis are two diseases known to cause facial elephantiasis. We have not however been able to find any case report in the literature of co-morbidity nor any information on factors predictive of concomitant occurrence.

  18. A recent bottleneck in the warthog and elephant populations of Queen Elizabeth National Park, revealed by a comparative study of four mammalian species in Uganda national parks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Muwanika, Vincent B.; Siegismund, Hans Redlef; Okello, John Bosco A.

    2003-01-01

    Until 1972, Uganda's national parks boasted of large numbers of large mammal species. Following the breakdown of law and order between 1972 and 1985, large-scale poaching led to an unprecedented decline in numbers of most large mammals in Uganda's national parks. However, the extent of decline...... varied in the different parks across different animal species. We have investigated the genetic effects of these reductions in four mammalian species (the common warthog, African savannah elephant, savannah buffalo and common river hippopotamus) from the three major parks of Uganda using both...

  19. Distribution and extinction of ungulates during the Holocene of the southern Levant.

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    Ella Tsahar

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The southern Levant (Israel, Palestinian Authority and Jordan has been continuously and extensively populated by succeeding phases of human cultures for the past 15,000 years. The long human impact on the ancient landscape has had great ecological consequences, and has caused continuous and accelerating damage to the natural environment. The rich zooarchaeological data gathered at the area provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct spatial and temporal changes in wild species distribution, and correlate them with human demographic changes. METHODOLOGY: Zoo-archaeological data (382 animal bone assemblages from 190 archaeological sites from various time periods, habitats and landscapes were compared. The bone assemblages were sorted into 12 major cultural periods. Distribution maps showing the presence of each ungulate species were established for each period. CONCLUSIONS: The first major ungulate extinction occurred during the local Iron Age (1,200-586 BCE, a period characterized by significant human population growth. During that time the last of the largest wild ungulates, the hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus, aurochs (Bos primigenius and the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius became extinct, followed by a shrinking distribution of forest-dwelling cervids. A second major wave of extinction occurred only in the 19th and 20th centuries CE. Furthermore, a negative relationship was found between the average body mass of ungulate species that became extinct during the Holocene and their extinction date. It is thus very likely that the intensified human activity through habitat destruction and uncontrolled hunting were responsible for the two major waves of ungulate extinction in the southern Levant during the late Holocene.

  20. Distribution and extinction of ungulates during the Holocene of the southern Levant.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsahar, Ella; Izhaki, Ido; Lev-Yadun, Simcha; Bar-Oz, Guy

    2009-01-01

    The southern Levant (Israel, Palestinian Authority and Jordan) has been continuously and extensively populated by succeeding phases of human cultures for the past 15,000 years. The long human impact on the ancient landscape has had great ecological consequences, and has caused continuous and accelerating damage to the natural environment. The rich zooarchaeological data gathered at the area provide a unique opportunity to reconstruct spatial and temporal changes in wild species distribution, and correlate them with human demographic changes. Zoo-archaeological data (382 animal bone assemblages from 190 archaeological sites) from various time periods, habitats and landscapes were compared. The bone assemblages were sorted into 12 major cultural periods. Distribution maps showing the presence of each ungulate species were established for each period. The first major ungulate extinction occurred during the local Iron Age (1,200-586 BCE), a period characterized by significant human population growth. During that time the last of the largest wild ungulates, the hartebeest (Alcelaphus buselaphus), aurochs (Bos primigenius) and the hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) became extinct, followed by a shrinking distribution of forest-dwelling cervids. A second major wave of extinction occurred only in the 19th and 20th centuries CE. Furthermore, a negative relationship was found between the average body mass of ungulate species that became extinct during the Holocene and their extinction date. It is thus very likely that the intensified human activity through habitat destruction and uncontrolled hunting were responsible for the two major waves of ungulate extinction in the southern Levant during the late Holocene.

  1. Biomimicry as a route to new materials: what kinds of lessons are useful?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reed, Emily J; Klumb, Lisa; Koobatian, Maxwell; Viney, Christopher

    2009-04-28

    We consider the attributes of a successful engineered material, acknowledging the contributions of composition and processing to properties and performance. We recognize the potential for relevant lessons to be learned from nature, at the same time conceding both the limitations of such lessons and our need to be selective. We then give some detailed attention to the molecular biomimicry of filamentous phage, the process biomimicry of silk and the structure biomimicry of hippopotamus 'sweat', in each case noting that the type of lesson now being learned is not the same as the potential lesson that originally motivated the study.

  2. First description of the immature stages and redescription of the adults of Cosmiomma hippopotamensis (Acari: Ixodidae) with notes on its bionomics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Apanaskevich, Dmitry A; Walker, Jane B; Heyne, Heloise; Bezuidenhout, J Dürr; Horak, Ivan G

    2013-07-01

    Cosmiomma hippopotamensis (Denny, 1843) is one of the most unusual, beautiful, and rare tick species known to the world. All stages of this species possess a unique morphology, on the one hand making them easy to identify, while on the other they exhibit similarities to certain species of Amblyomma Koch, 1844, Dermacentor Koch, 1844, and Hyalomma Koch, 1844. Adults of C. hippopotamensis have been collected on only two occasions from their hosts, namely Hippopotamus amphibius L. and Diceros bicornis (L.), and have been recorded from only a few widely separated localities in East and southern Africa. Here, the larva and nymph are described and illustrated for the first time, while the male and female are illustrated and redescribed. Data on hosts, geographic distribution, and life cycle of C. hippopotamensis are also provided.

  3. Ethnobotanical study of some Ghanaian anti-malarial plants.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asase, Alex; Oteng-Yeboah, Alfred A; Odamtten, George T; Simmonds, Monique S J

    2005-06-03

    An ethnobotanical study was conducted in the Wechiau Community Hippopotamus Sanctuary area in Ghana, through interviews and quadrate studies, to investigate the range and abundance of species used in the treatment of malaria. Forty-one species belonging to 17 families were encountered during the study. Of the 17 families studied Leguminosae and Anacardiaceae predominated in terms of number of species used to treat malaria. Eight plant species namely, Afraegle paniculata (Rutaceae), Haematostaphis barteri (Anacardiaceae), Indigo era pulchra (Leguminosae), Monanthotaxis sp. (Annonaceae), Ozoroa insignis (Anacardiaceae), Strychnos innocua (Loganiaceae), Strychnos spinosa (Loganiaceae) and Xeroderris stuhlmannii (Leguminosae) have not previously been documented for the treatment of malaria in Ghana. The results are discussed and recommendations made for future research to support the conservation and sustainable harvesting of the species reported to have medicinal properties.

  4. Preliminary description of the diet of Hippopotamus amphibius L. in Loango National Park (Gabon

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michez, A.

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Due to the paucity of suitable habitat, hippos are very rare in the Congo Bassin. Compared to East-African populations, Central African populations of hippos have been less studied. Information found in the literature regarding the animal's basic ecology is limited. This study focuses on the description of the diet of an isolated hippo population in Loango National Park (Gabon, comparing faecal analysis with a reference collection of herbaceous species from the savannas. The effectiveness of using faecal analysis versus using the floristic description of hippos' pastures was demonstrated. The most frequent herbaceous species identified in faeces samples were Paspalum vaginatum, Axonopus compressus, Stenotaphrum secundatum (Poaceae and Desmodium triflorum (Fabaceae. The voluntary consumption of a dicotyledonous species (Desmodium triflorum is novel for this species.

  5. A successful land rehabilitation programme in Kenya

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hardouin, J.

    1985-01-01

    Full Text Available Open strip mining for cement production, out of fossil coral limestone has left hectares of man-made quarry, a stone desert at Bamburi near Mombasa. A rehabilitation programme initiated in 1971, started with a Casuarina plantation and fish pond culture. Later on, the production of humus assisted by introducing millipedes created soils, which enabled the planting of other trees and the creation of a forest. Simultaneously, intensive Tilapia tank culture was developed to a pilot commercial scale. A small nature trail has also been set up with tortoises, hippopotamus, crocodiles, waterbucks, antelopes, and numerous other wild animals as well as plenty of birds. A small herd of oryx and elands is also successfully reared while snail, earthworm and wild fowl production experiments are under way. The principes adopted here constitute a very impressive example of how man can correct the environmental damage he is making, and that reafforestation and rehabilitation programmes can be effective under near desert like conditions.

  6. Développement rural et conservation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linet, C.

    1985-01-01

    Full Text Available Développement rural et conservation. Open strip mining for cement production, out of fossil coral limestone has left hectares of man-made quarry, a stone desert at Bamburi near Mombasa. A rehabilitation programme initiated in 1971, started with a Casuarina plantation and fish pond culture. Later on, the production of humus assisted by introducing millipedes created soils, which enabled the planting of other trees and the creation of a forest. Simultaneously, intensive Tilapia tank culture was developed to a pilot commercial scale. A small nature trail has also been set up with tortoises, hippopotamus, crocodiles, waterbucks, antelopes, and numerous other wild animals as well as plenty of birds. A small herd of oryx and elands is also successfully reared while snail, earthworm and wild fowl production experiments are under way. The principes adopted here constitute a very impressive example of how man can correct the environmental damage he is making, and that reafforestation and rehabilitation programmes can be effective under near desert like conditions.

  7. Conservation education in Madagascar: three case studies in the biologically diverse island-continent.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dolins, Francine L; Jolly, Alison; Rasamimanana, Hantanirina; Ratsimbazafy, Jonah; Feistner, Anna T C; Ravoavy, Florent

    2010-05-01

    Few Malagasy children and adults are aware of the rare and unique fauna and flora indigenous to their island-continent, including flagship lemur species. Even the Malagasy ancestral proverbs never mentioned lemurs, but these same proverbs talked about the now extinct hippopotamus. Madagascar's geography, history, and economic constraints contribute to severe biodiversity loss. Deforestation on Madagascar is reported to be over 100,000 ha/year, with only 10-15% of the island retaining natural forest [Green & Sussman, 1990]. Educating children, teacher-training, and community projects about environmental and conservation efforts to protect the remaining natural habitats of endangered lemur species provide a basis for long-term changes in attitudes and practices. Case studies of three conservation education projects located in different geographical regions of Madagascar, Centre ValBio, Madagacar Wildlife Conservation Alaotra Comic Book Project, and The Ako Book Project, are presented together with their ongoing stages of development, assessment, and outcomes. We argue that while nongovernmental organizational efforts are and will be very important, the Ministry of Education urgently needs to incorporate biodiversity education in the curriculum at all levels, from primary school to university. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  8. Ciliate protozoa

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dehority, B.A.

    2005-01-01

    Gruby and Delafond discovered the rumen protozoa in 1843 and suggested that their digestive activity was the primary means by which ruminants could survive on an all-plant diet. However, subsequent studies have clearly shown that bacteria actually play a prominent role in the fermentation of plant materials, and fungi are also involved. The rumen ciliates range in size from 18 to 500 μm and can be enumerated and identified microscopically at relatively low magnifications. On the basis of cell morphology, they have been classified into at least five families containing 24 different genera. Although new species are still being reported yearly, the last summary was compiled in 1992 by Williams and Coleman and listed 257 separate species. Ciliate protozoa belonging to different families are found in most other herbivorous mammals. This includes those animals in which fermentation occurs in the hindgut, such as the horse, elephant, rhinoceros and capybara, as well as in the non-ruminant foregut fomenters, i.e. camelids, hippopotamus and kangaroo. These ciliates can be enumerated and identified using the methods and techniques presented in this chapter, presuming appropriate procedures are used for obtaining representative samples from the animal

  9. Tafonomia del yacimiento de vertebrados pleistoceno de Huéscar-1 (Granada, españa

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberdi, M. T.

    2003-08-01

    Full Text Available This work analyses the sedimentary and taphonomic processes that induced the selective preservation and spatial distribution of Húescar-1 bone assemblage (early Galerian. The bone fossil remains are associated with an alluvial fan system that flowed into a lacustrine area with calcareous sedimentation. The fossils show numerous scratch and abrasion marks produced during their transportation as channel lag. The remains appear in three sedimentological settings: in paleochannel filling-up sequences, in pockets built at the outlet of the channels in the lacustrine area, and scattered within calcareous silts. Nevertheless, most of them are found in the second instante. The cumulative process was attritional as pointed out by the mortality profiles of Equus altidens and could be explained by selective predation and/or seasonal bone accumulation. The notably small number of artiodactyl species, particularly in the typical foms of bush or forest habitats and the presence of amphibious forms (Hippopotamus are indicative of an open grassland habitat. The aquatic birds represent the autochthonous component of the association. For each bone recovered severa1 variables were measured, the data obtained underwent graphic and statistical treatment that provided useful information for the site taphonomic interpretation.Se estudia el conjunto de procesos sedimentarios y rasgos tafonómicos que condicionaron la preservación selectiva y disposición espacial de los restos de vertebrados que forman el yacimiento de edad Galeriense inferior de Huéscar-l. Los restos óseos están asociados a un sistema de abanicos aluviales que desembocaba en una zona lacustre carbonatada amplia. Es un conjunto transportado donde los restos muestran numerosas señales de abrasión y arrastre. Los restos óseos aparecen en tres situaciones sedimentológicas: carga de fondo en el relleno de los paleocanales, bolsadas formadas en el punto de la desembocadura y dispersos espor

  10. Entropy and the Magic Flute

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morowitz, Harold J.

    1996-10-01

    Harold Morowitz has long been highly regarded both as an eminent scientist and as an accomplished science writer. The essays in The Wine of Life , his first collection, were hailed by C.P. Snow as "some of the wisest, wittiest and best informed I have ever read," and Carl Sagan called them "a delight to read." In later volumes he established a reputation for a wide-ranging intellect, an ability to see unexpected connections and draw striking parallels, and a talent for communicating scientific ideas with optimism and wit. With Entropy and the Magic Flute , Morowitz once again offers an appealing mix of brief reflections on everything from litmus paper to the hippopotamus to the sociology of Palo Alto coffee shops. Many of these pieces are appreciations of scientists that Morowitz holds in high regard, while others focus on health issues, such as America's obsession with cheese toppings. There is also a fascinating piece on the American Type Culture Collection, a zoo or warehouse for microbes that houses some 11,800 strains of bacteria, and over 3,000 specimens of protozoa, algae, plasmids, and oncogenes. Here then are over forty light, graceful essays in which one of our wisest experimental biologists comments on issues of science, technology, society, philosophy, and the arts.

  11. Pesticide residues in adipose tissue from hippopotami (Hippopotamus amphibius L living in and adjacent to the Luangwa River Zambia : research communication

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Flaoyen

    2005-09-01

    Full Text Available The concentration of organochlorines (OCs such as organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls were measured in adipose tissue collected from 14 male hippopotami at Mfuwe in the southern part of the Luangwa National Park, Zambia. The samples contained low levels of OCs, and the concentrations of OCs were comparable to or lower than reported for wild herbivores studied in other parts of the world.

  12. Fetal and early post-natal mineralization of the tympanic bulla in fin whales may reveal a Hitherto undiscovered evolutionary trait.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno Cozzi

    Full Text Available The evolution of the cetacean skeleton followed a path that differentiated this group from other terrestrial mammals about 50 million years ago [1], and debate is still going on about the relationships between Cetacea and Artiodactyla [2], [3], [4]. Some skeletal traits of the basilosaurids (the more advanced forms of Archaeocetes, such as the expansion of the peribullary air sinuses, dental modification and vertebral size uniformity [5] are maintained and further emphasized also in contemporary odontocetes and mysticetes. Using Dual-Energy X-Ray Absorptiometry here we report that the deposition of bone mineral in fetal and newborn specimens of the fin whale Balaenoptera physalus is remarkably higher in the bulla tympanica than in the adjacent basal skull or in the rest of the skeleton. Ossification of the tympanic bulla in fetal Artiodactyla (bovine, hippopotamus is minimal, becomes sensible after birth and then progresses during growth, contrarily to the precocious mineralization that we observed in fin whales. Given the importance of the ear bones for the precise identification of phylogenetic relationship in therian evolution [6], this feature may indicate a specific evolutionary trait of fin whales and possibly other cetacean species or families. Early mineralization of the tympanic bulla allows immediate sound conduction in the aquatic medium and consequently holds potential importance for mother-calf relationship and postnatal survival.

  13. Tooth enamel mineralization in ungulates: implications for recovering a primary isotopic time-series

    Science.gov (United States)

    Passey, Benjamin H.; Cerling, Thure E.

    2002-09-01

    Temporal changes in the carbon and oxygen isotopic composition of an animal are an environmental and behavioral input signal that is recorded into the enamel of developing teeth. In this paper, we evaluate changes in phosphorus content and density along the axial lengths of three developing ungulate teeth to illustrate the protracted nature of mineral accumulation in a volume of developing enamel. The least mature enamel in these teeth contains by volume about 25% of the mineral mass of mature enamel, and the remaining 75% of the mineral accumulates during maturation. Using data from one of these teeth (a Hippopotamus amphibius canine), we develop a model for teeth growing at constant rate that describes how an input signal is recorded into tooth enamel. The model accounts for both the temporal and spatial patterns of amelogenesis (enamel formation) and the sampling geometry. The model shows that input signal attenuation occurs as a result of time-averaging during amelogenesis when the maturation interval is long compared to the duration of features in the input signal. Sampling does not induce significant attenuation, provided that the sampling interval is several times shorter than the maturation interval. We present a detailed δ 13C and δ 18O record for the H. amphibius canine and suggest possible input isotope signals that may have given rise to the measured isotope signal.

  14. Learning new vocabulary during childhood: effects of semantic training on lexical consolidation and integration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henderson, Lisa; Weighall, Anna; Gaskell, Gareth

    2013-11-01

    Research suggests that word learning is an extended process, with offline consolidation crucial for the strengthening of new lexical representations and their integration with existing lexical knowledge (as measured by engagement in lexical competition). This supports a dual memory systems account, in which new information is initially sparsely encoded separately from existing knowledge and integrated with long-term memory over time. However, previous studies of this type exploited unnatural learning contexts, involving fictitious words in the absence of word meaning. In this study, 5- to 9-year-old children learned real science words (e.g., hippocampus) with or without semantic information. Children in both groups were slower to detect pauses in familiar competitor words (e.g., hippopotamus) relative to control words 24h after training but not immediately, confirming that offline consolidation is required before new words are integrated with the lexicon and engage in lexical competition. Children recalled more new words 24h after training than immediately (with similar improvements shown for the recall and recognition of new word meanings); however, children who were exposed to the meanings during training showed further improvements in recall after 1 week and outperformed children who were not exposed to meanings. These findings support the dual memory systems account of vocabulary acquisition and suggest that the association of a new phonological form with semantic information is critical for the development of stable lexical representations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. The role of pioneers as indicators of biogeographic range expansion caused by global change in southern African coastal waters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitfield, Alan K.; James, Nicola C.; Lamberth, Stephen J.; Adams, Janine B.; Perissinotto, Renzo; Rajkaran, Anusha; Bornman, Thomas G.

    2016-04-01

    The South African coastline is just over 3000 km in length yet it covers three major biogeographic regions, namely subtropical, warm temperate and cool temperate. In this review we examine published information to assess the possible role of climate change in driving distributional changes of a wide variety of organisms around the subcontinent. In particular we focus on harmful algal blooms, seaweeds, eelgrass, mangroves, salt marsh plants, foraminiferans, stromatolites, corals, squid, zooplankton, zoobenthos, fish, birds, crocodiles and hippopotamus, but also refer to biota such as pathogens, coralline algae, jellyfish and otters. The role of pioneers or propagules as indicators of an incipient range expansion are discussed, with mangroves, zoobenthos, fishes and birds providing the best examples of actual and imminent distributional changes. The contraction of the warm temperate biogeographic region, arising from the intrusion of cool upwelled waters along the Western Cape shores, and increasingly warm Agulhas Current waters penetrating along the eastern parts of the subcontinent, are highlighted. The above features provide an ideal setting for the monitoring of biotic drivers and responses to global climate change over different spatial and temporal scales, and have direct relevance to similar studies being conducted elsewhere in the world. We conclude that, although this review focuses mainly on the impact of global climate change on South African coastal biodiversity, other anthropogenic drivers of change such as introduced alien invasive species may act synergistically with climate change, thereby compounding both short and long-term changes in the distribution and abundance of indigenous species.

  16. Inverse methods for estimating primary input signals from time-averaged isotope profiles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Passey, Benjamin H.; Cerling, Thure E.; Schuster, Gerard T.; Robinson, Todd F.; Roeder, Beverly L.; Krueger, Stephen K.

    2005-08-01

    Mammalian teeth are invaluable archives of ancient seasonality because they record along their growth axes an isotopic record of temporal change in environment, plant diet, and animal behavior. A major problem with the intra-tooth method is that intra-tooth isotope profiles can be extremely time-averaged compared to the actual pattern of isotopic variation experienced by the animal during tooth formation. This time-averaging is a result of the temporal and spatial characteristics of amelogenesis (tooth enamel formation), and also results from laboratory sampling. This paper develops and evaluates an inverse method for reconstructing original input signals from time-averaged intra-tooth isotope profiles. The method requires that the temporal and spatial patterns of amelogenesis are known for the specific tooth and uses a minimum length solution of the linear system Am = d, where d is the measured isotopic profile, A is a matrix describing temporal and spatial averaging during amelogenesis and sampling, and m is the input vector that is sought. Accuracy is dependent on several factors, including the total measurement error and the isotopic structure of the measured profile. The method is shown to accurately reconstruct known input signals for synthetic tooth enamel profiles and the known input signal for a rabbit that underwent controlled dietary changes. Application to carbon isotope profiles of modern hippopotamus canines reveals detailed dietary histories that are not apparent from the measured data alone. Inverse methods show promise as an effective means of dealing with the time-averaging problem in studies of intra-tooth isotopic variation.

  17. Awareness and attitudes towards anthrax and meat consumption practices among affected communities in Zambia: A mixed methods approach.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Doreen Chilolo Sitali

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available In Zambia, human anthrax cases often occur following cases of animal anthrax. Human behaviour has been implicated in this transmission. The objective of the study was to explore human behavioural patterns that may contribute to outbreaks of anthrax among affected communities.A mixed methods study was conducted in four districts of Zambia from November 2015 to February 2016. A cross sectional survey involving 1,127 respondents, six focus group discussions and seven key informant interviews with professional staff were conducted. Descriptive statistics on socio-demographic characteristics, awareness of anthrax, attitudes towards cattle vaccination and risk factors for anthrax and vaccination practices were run using STATA 12 for analysis.Overall, 88% of respondents heard about anthrax, 85.1% were aware that anthrax is transmitted by eating infected meat and 64.2% knew that animals and humans can be infected with anthrax. However, qualitative data suggested that awareness of anthrax varied across communities. Qualitative findings also indicated that, in Western and Muchinga provinces, human anthrax was transmitted by eating infected beef and hippo (Hippopotamus amphibious meat, respectively. Although survey data indicated that 62.2% of respondents vaccinated their animals, qualitative interviews and annual vaccination reports indicated low vaccination rates, which were attributed to inadequate veterinary service provision and logistical challenges. While 82% of respondents indicated that they reported animal deaths to veterinary officers, only 13.5% of respondents buried infected carcasses. Majority (78.1% of respondents either ate, sold or shared meat from dead animals with other community members. Poverty, lack of access to meat protein and economic reasons were cited as drivers for consuming infected meat.Health education campaigns must be intensified to reduce the risk of human exposure. Veterinary extension services should be strengthened and

  18. A juvenile subfossil crocodylian from Anjohibe Cave, Northwestern Madagascar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joshua C. Mathews

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Madagascar’s subfossil record preserves a diverse community of animals including elephant birds, pygmy hippopotamus, giant lemurs, turtles, crocodiles, bats, rodents, and carnivorans. These fossil accumulations give us a window into the island’s past from 80,000 years ago to a mere few hundred years ago, recording the extinction of some groups and the persistence of others. The crocodylian subfossil record is limited to two taxa, Voay robustus and Crocodylus niloticus, found at sites distributed throughout the island. V. robustus is extinct while C. niloticus is still found on the island today, but whether these two species overlapped temporally, or if Voay was driven to extinction by competing with Crocodylus remains unknown. While their size and presumed behavior was similar to each other, nearly nothing is known about the growth and development of Voay, as the overwhelming majority of fossil specimens represent mature adult individuals. Here we describe a nearly complete juvenile crocodylian specimen from Anjohibe Cave, northwestern Madagascar. The specimen is referred to Crocodylus based on the presence of caviconchal recesses on the medial wall of the maxillae, and to C. niloticus based on the presence of an oval shaped internal choana, lack of rostral ornamentation and a long narrow snout. However, as there are currently no described juvenile specimens of Voay robustus, it is important to recognize that some of the defining characteristics of that genus may have changed through ontogeny. Elements include a nearly complete skull and many postcranial elements (cervical, thoracic, sacral, and caudal vertebrae, pectoral elements, pelvic elements, forelimb and hindlimb elements, osteoderms. Crocodylus niloticus currently inhabits Madagascar but is locally extinct from this particular region; radiometric dating indicates an age of ∼460–310 years before present (BP. This specimen clearly represents a juvenile based on the extremely small

  19. Differentiation of MIS 9 and MIS 11 in the continental record: vegetational, faunal, aminostratigraphic and sea-level evidence from coastal sites in Essex, UK

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roe, Helen M.; Coope, G. Russell; Devoy, Robert J. N.; Harrison, Colin J. O.; Penkman, Kirsty E. H.; Preece, Richard C.; Schreve, Danielle C.

    2009-11-01

    Multidisciplinary investigations of the vegetational, faunal and sea-level history inferred from the infills of buried channels on the coast of eastern Essex have a direct bearing on the differentiation of MIS 11 and MIS 9 in continental records. New data are presented from Cudmore Grove, an important site on Mersea Island that can be linked to the terrace sequence of the River Thames. The vegetational history has been reconstructed from a pollen sequence covering much of the interglacial represented. The temperate nature of the climate is apparent from a range of fossil groups, including plant remains, vertebrates (especially the rich herpetofauna), molluscs and beetles, which all have strong thermophilous components. The beetle data have been used to derive a Mutual Climatic Range reconstruction, suggesting that mean July temperatures were about 2 °C warmer than modern values for southeast England, whereas mean January temperatures may have been slightly colder. The sea-level history has been reconstructed from the molluscs, ostracods and especially the diatoms, which indicate that the marine transgression occurred considerably earlier in the interglacial cycle than at the neighbouring Hoxnian site at Clacton. There are a number of palynological similarities between the sequence at Cudmore Grove and Clacton, especially the presence of Abies and the occurrence of Azolla filiculoides megaspores. Moreover, both sites have yielded Palaeolithic archaeology, indeed the latter is the type site of the Clactonian (flake-and-core) industry. However, the sites can be differentiated on the basis of mammalian biostratigraphy, new aminostratigraphic data, as well as the differences in the sea-level history. The combined evidence suggests that the infill of the channel at Cudmore Grove accumulated during MIS 9, whereas the deposits at Clacton formed during MIS 11. The infill of a much later channel, yielding non-marine molluscs and vertebrates including Hippopotamus, appears

  20. The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov, Israel: environment, hominin culture, subsistence and adaptation on the shores of the paleo-Hula Lake

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goren-Inbar, N.

    2014-12-01

    The Acheulian site of Gesher Benot Ya'aqov (GBY), located in the Hula Valley, northern sector of the Dead Sea transform, stretches along 3.5 km of the Jordan River and its banks. The accumulation of tilted lake-margin sediments interfingered with basalt flows began 1.1 Ma and ended after 0.6 Ma. The excavations (1989-1997) exposed 34 m thick deposits that provide unique data sets on climate, environment, biology, culture and hominin behavior. Hominin presence is known throughout the sequence, providing information on Acheulian technology and cognition along the time trajectory, but the richest sites (15 in number) occur above the M/B Chron Boundary. Reconstructions of paleoenvironment and habitats are based on fossil remains yielding an extremely rich typically Mediterranean biomass of diverse biogeographic origins. Macro and micro organic material (over 140 identified taxa) exhibits a typical Mediterranean environment similar to the extant flora, with few extinctions (20 species). The rich fossil faunal include molluscs, ostracods, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, micromammals and medium-sized to large mammals (over 237 taxa), predominantly Palearctic in biogeographic origin. Many of these taxa are still extant, attesting to stable habitats and paleoclimatic conditions. Hominin occupations are documented by thousands of lithic artifacts (flint, limestone and basalt), all assigned to the Large Flake Acheulian culture. These assemblages show a continuous cultural tradition of the same tool kit along the time trajectory. The lithic reduction required developed cognitive abilities and communication abilities, interpreted as language. Evidence of hominin subsistence includes data on carcass processing including extraction of marrow, with a preference for consumption of fallow deer, elephant, hippopotamus and fish. Edible plant remains include nuts, USO, fruits, seeds and vegetables in association with stone artifacts and animal bones. Fire, present throughout, was

  1. Studies on elephant tusks and hippopotamus teeth collected from the early 17th century Portuguese shipwreck off Goa, West coast of India: Evidence of maritime trade between Goa, Portugal and African countries

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Tripati, S.; Godfrey, I.

    of excavated stoneware dated the wreck to the early 17th century AD. The Carbon 14 date of the ivory is 740 ± 130 yrs; with a calibrated age range of 740 to 560 yrs BP. The elephant tusks are highly degraded, discoloured and soft to the touch where...

  2. Evolutionary processes involved in the diversification of chelonian and mammal polystomatid parasites (Platyhelminthes, Monogenea, Polystomatidae) revealed by palaeoecology of their hosts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Héritier, Laurent; Badets, Mathieu; Du Preez, Louis H; Aisien, Martins S O; Lixian, Fan; Combes, Claude; Verneau, Olivier

    2015-11-01

    Polystomatid flatworms (Platyhelminthes) are monogenean parasites that infect exclusively aquatic or semi-aquatic sarcopterygians such as the Australian lungfish, amphibians, freshwater turtles and the African common hippopotamus. Previous studies on the phylogenetic relationships of these parasites, excluding Oculotrema hippopotami infecting common hippos, showed a global coevolution between hosts and their parasites at a macroevolutionary scale. These studies also demonstrated a strong correlation between the diversification of early neobatrachian polystomes and Gondwana breakup in the Mesozoic period. However the origin of chelonian polystomes is still in question as a switch from presumably primitive aquatic amniotes to turtles at the time of their first appearance, or soon after during their radiation, was assumed. In order to resolve this sticking point, we extended the phylogeny of polystomes with broader parasite sampling, i.e. 55 polystome species including Nanopolystoma tinsleyi a polystome infecting caecilians and O. hippopotami, and larger set of sequence data covering two nuclear and two mitochondrial genes coding for the ribosomal RNA 18S and 28S, the Cytochrome c Oxidase I and the ribosomal RNA 12S, respectively. The secondary structure of nuclear rRNAs genes (stems and loops) was taken into account for sequence alignments and Bayesian analyses were performed based on the appropriate models of evolution selected independently for the four designed partitions. Molecular calibrations were also conducted for dating the main speciation events in the polystome tree. The phylogenetic position of chelonian parasites that are phylogenetically closer to N. tinsleyi than all other amphibian polystomes and molecular time estimates suggest that these parasites originated following a switch from caecilians, at a geological period when primitive turtles may already have adapted to an aquatic life style, i.e. at about 178Million years ago, or a little later when

  3. The use of sperm whale ivory in Chalcolithic Portugal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Schuhmacher, Thomas X.

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Scientific analysis were undertaken within a research project concerning ivory objects from the Chalcolithic to Early Bronze Age of the Iberian Peninsula. In several of the analyses of objects from Portuguese Estremadura, especially V-perforated buttons, we could detect for the first time the presence of sperm whale ivory. This highlights the advantage and necessity of scientific analysis of ivory. It also clearly demonstrates that not all ivory used was ivory from African or Asian elephants, but we also did find ivory from the extinct Elephas antiquus, the hippopotamus and in this case sperm-whale. Thus, already in the Chalcolithic the raw material provenience was highly diverse, which in the absence of scientific analysis might lead to an erroneous interpretation of prehistoric exchange networks. Different methods, including optical microscopy, measurement of hardness and specific gravity, Micro-Raman Spectroscopy, elemental analysis and Isotopic Ratio Mass Spectrometry have been applied. In this paper we present these methods and the results, and we discuss about the implications of these results for the reconstruction of prehistoric economy and life in this region. Finally, taking into account the natural conditions as well as prehistoric and historic data of whale hunting and scavenging of beached animals, we conclude that the most plausible explanation for the presence of sperm whale ivory in Chalcolithic Portugal is the use of the teeth obtained from stranded animals. This interpretation is possible because of the human populations using this ivory are those living close to the sea and exploiting – among others– marine resources.En el marco de un proyecto de investigación sobre objetos de marfil del Calcolítico al Bronce Antiguo en la Península Ibérica efectuamos análisis científicos. En varios de los objetos de la Estremadura portuguesa, en especial en los botones con perforación en V, detectamos por primera vez la presencia