Spying on Farm Animals This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT. Wildlife experts like Jane Goodall are famous for studying animals in the wild. In recent years, a new kind of scientific study has developed. More and more experts are studying cows and pigs on farms. Such experts are called farm animal ethologists. They are similar to wildlife experts. They observe farm animals in their natural environment and interfere as little as possible. The United States Department of Agriculture employs two farm animal ethologists. They measure stress in farm animals as part of efforts to improve the way the animals are treated. Stress is a mental or emotional influence that is harmful to the body. Julie Morrow-Tesch was the first U-S-D-A farm animal ethologist. She says stress in animals can cause serious problems. These include slower growth, disease, injury and sometimes death. Mizz Morrow-Tesch and her team work from a large vehicle that has cameras and other equipment. They work near large, open feeding areas for cattle in the state of Texas. Team members use hidden cameras or sit on top of the vehicle to study the animals. They observe the actions of individual cows every fifteen minutes. Each feeding area has two-hundred or more cattle. The team can study several feeding areas at the same time. The vehicle keeps team members hidden from the cattle. The team uses special night-observation equipment to avoid the need for bright lights. Mizz Morrow-Tesch and her team studied more than five-thousand cattle in thirty-one feeding areas. They recorded the cows feeding, drinking, standing, lying and walking. They also recorded aggressive actions among the animals. Their observations already have identified some problems and possible answers. For example, they found that feeding the animals just before sunset instead of in the morning reduced aggression among the animals. Aggressive cattle may injure other animals. The team also identified the value of protecting cattle in hot weather. Cattle kept away from direct sunlight reached their market weight twenty days earlier than animals in unprotected areas. Also, the protected cattle weighed about twenty-seven kilograms more than the other animals. This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow. Penguins Dying This is with the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT. Experts say a shortage of fish and other food is threatening many of the world's penguins. They say as many as ten of the seventeen kinds of penguins may be in danger of disappearing. For example, thousands of Magellanic penguins build their nests at Punta Tombo, Argentina. Wildlife Conservation Society researchers have studied these birds for eighteen years. They say the numbers of penguins have decreased by thirty percent since Nineteen-Eighty-Seven. Penguins are black and white birds that live in the southern half of the world. They are common to South America, New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Many live near cold waters. But some live near warm waters in the Galapagos Islands, near the coast of Ecuador. Pengins cannot fly. But they are fine swimmers. Penguins eat fish. Some kinds of penguins eat a small shrimp-like crustacean called krill. Many scientists blame global warming for the decrease in penguin populations. They believe the heating of the atmosphere has caused ocean waters to become warmer. The scientists say higher water temperatures have reduced the supply of fish and krill. Rising air and water temperatures may have especially harmed Galapagos penguins. Researchers say that some years these birds are completely unable to reproduce. In addition, many adult penguins die of hunger. Widespread fishing, exploration for oil and oil leaks also threaten penguins. Poisonous organisms in ocean water are another danger. These toxic blooms result from changes in the ocean water. Some scientists believe the warming of the oceans is responsible. In Nineteen-Ninety, more than half the yellow-eyed penguins in New Zealand died suddenly. These endangered birds may have died of a mysterious disease. Penguins also have natural enemies, including wild dogs, sharks, seals and sea lions. News about penguins is not all bad, however. About a year ago, oil leaking from a ship threatened forty percent of the penguins in South Africa. The penguins became covered with oil. But thousands of people helped clean and treat the birds. Then they returned the penguins to the wild. Now these South African penguins are reproducing in higher numbers than before the oil spill. This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written by Jerilyn Watson. Beagle Brigade By George Grow This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT. Diseases, insects and animals all can threaten agriculture. Often the threat of attack comes from foreign organisms. The United States Department of Agriculture has many ways to protect American agriculture. One such method is the Beagle Brigade. The Beagle Brigade is a group of non-aggressive dogs and their human partners. The dogs work with U-S-D-A inspectors and X-ray equipment to prevent the entry of banned agricultural products into the United States. They search travelers' belongings for banned fruits, plants and meat that could carry harmful organisms. All dogs have noses that are well built for smelling. Their noses are designed to receive and trap smells. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service chose beagles for use at airports for several reasons. Beagles are intelligent and active dogs. They are loyal and obey orders. American officials have found that most beagles will remain calm in crowded, noisy areas. They also are gentle with people. And they have an excellent sense of smell. Experts say beagles can identify smells so weak that even modern scientific technology could not measure them. Beagles also have an excellent ability to identify differences among smells. The part of a dog's brain that receives messages from the nerves of the nose is highly developed. This area can store information the way a computer does. The Agriculture Department established its program with dogs in Nineteen-Eighty-Four. At first, different kinds of dogs were used. Then officials worked with the armed forces in Texas to train Beagle Brigade teams. In Nineteen-Eighty-Seven, the Department opened three training centers and began training its own teams. Now the Beagle Brigade has more than fifty teams at twenty-one international airports. More teams are being added. Plans are being made to deploy teams along the American border with Mexico. Plans also call for the use of dogs at some mail centers. U-S-D-A officials also have provided help to agriculture officials in other countries who want to start their own dog programs. Officials in Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, New Zealand and South Korea have asked for help. This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow. Apes Endangered By Cynthia Kirk This is the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT. Great apes are the animals most like humans. Experts say that great apes in the forests of Africa and Asia will disappear within ten years if nothing is done to save them. The United Nations Environment Program has begun a campaign called the Great Ape Survival Project. Its members are working with wildlife groups and non- governmental organizations. Their goal to prevent the disappearance of gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees and orangutans. The project targets areas in Africa and southeast Asia where apes are threatened by war, environmental destruction and hunting. Ten years ago, there were more than six-hundred mountain gorillas in eastern and central Africa. Today, there are only about three-hundred. They are disappearing from forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda. Many of them are being killed for food as part of the growing illegal bush- meat trade. Congo was once a safe area for gorillas. But years of war and forest destruction have made the gorillas easier targets for hunters. Miners searching for minerals also hunt the great apes. The gorillas that are left have to be protected by armed soldiers in national parks. Bonobos are small apes found only in the forests of Congo. Twenty years ago, there were about one-hundred-thousand bonobos. There are only about three-thousand today. Some bonobos have fled to nearby countries. Most of them are being hunted for food. Many chimpanzees have died out in countries where they once lived. Fifty years ago, there were millions of chimpanzees across western and central Africa. Today, only about one-hundred-fifty- thousand chimpanzees remain. The orangutan is endangered in Indonesia's rainforests. The rainforests are shrinking because of farming, cutting down trees and gold mining in protected areas. Environmental experts say apes need more protection in national parks. They say local people need to be educated about the value of apes and their importance to the environmental system. Experts say the apes are important for scientific study because they are so closely related to humans. United Nations officials say they need one-million dollars to support the Great Ape Survival Project. They want private companies to assist in the campaign. This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written by Cynthia Kirk. Ancestor of Humans By Jill Moss This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT. Scientists have discovered an extremely small animal they believe could have been the ancestor of all mammals, including humans. The animal lived one-hundred-ninety-five million years ago. It weighed only about two grams. Yet researchers say it had important qualities that link it to mammals. Mammals are warm- blooded animals that feed their young milk from their bodies. A team of American and Chinese researchers discovered ancient remains of the animal's head bone in southwestern China. Zhe-Xi Luo of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History led the researchers. Their findings were published last month in Science magazine. The scientists say the animal was one of the smallest mammals that ever lived. But they say the animal's brain was large compared to other mammals. Mr. Luo said the ancient animal had to be very smart because it was able to survive in a world controlled by huge dinosaurs. The researchers named the tiny animal Hadrocodium wui, which means "large and full head" in the Greek language. Scientists say Hadrocodium was only a little bigger than the smallest mammal now in existence - the bumblebee bat of Thailand. Mr. Luo says Hadrocodium probably ate insects. And it probably had to eat all the time because of its small size. Researchers also believe the ancient animal had to hide during the day when dinosaurs were hunting. This meant Hadrocodium was able to keep a continuous body temperature in the cold night air. The researchers compared Hadrocodium's skull to other ancient and modern-day mammals. They say Hadrocodium could be the closest known ancestor of living mammals. The researchers discovered that the ancient animal had middle ear bones that separated from the lower jaw bone. This is an important quality that separates mammals from the cold-blooded animals called reptiles. The researchers also discovered that Hadrocodium had a large head bone. This suggests that its expanding brain may have pushed the middle ear bones away from the jaw. Mr. Luo say the ancient remains of Hadrocodium prove that some qualities of mammals developed about forty-five-million years earlier than they had believed. This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Jill Moss. Insects to Control Harmful Trees By George Grow This is the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT. Researchers are planning to use natural enemies to stop the spread of a harmful tree in the American state of Florida. The melaleuca tree threatens to spread throughout the Everglades. The Everglades is a system of wetlands that is home to many kinds of plants and animals. Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service have been exploring natural methods to control the melaleuca. The tree is native to Australia. In that country, more than one-hundred kinds of insects feed on it and keep it under control. The melaleuca was first brought to the United States in the early Nineteen-Hundreds. But it had no natural insect enemies in its new environment. So melaleuca trees spread uncontrolled across the southern United States. The tree kills and replaces other plant life in the Everglades. It is now blamed for environmental losses of up to one-hundred- seventy million dollars a year. The Fergusonina fly is a natural enemy of the melaleuca. An extremely small worm, called a nematode, lives inside the fly. A team of American scientists is working with the Australian Biological Control Research Laboratory. They collected Fergusonina flies from Australia. The scientists put the flies on test plants to see if they attacked them. They found that the flies are likely to survive and reproduce only on the melaleuca trees in Florida. The flies would not harm other plants. This information was important for officials who approved a request to send thousands of flies to the University of Florida for additional tests. Ted Center is the chief of the Agriculture Department's Invasive Plant Research Laboratory. He says tests show that the Fergusonina fly and the nematode are genetically different from other insects that attack other plants. He says this means that they eat, live and reproduce only in one kind of plant. The scientists now are planning more testing before proposing the release of the insects in the Everglades. Four years ago, scientists from Florida and Australia released another natural enemy of the melaleuca, the snout beetle. Scientists have released more than fifty-thousand of those insects in south Florida. The scientists believe the Fergusonina fly and nematode would help the beetle and strengthen the effort against the melaleuca trees. This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written by George Grow. Dolphins' Self-Recognition By Jill Moss This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT. Many people believe that dolphins are among the smartest animals on Earth. Dolphins are warm-blooded sea animals. Recently, scientists discovered that dolphins could do something that humans can do. They say dolphins can recognize themselves in a mirror, a shiny piece of glass. Scientists Diana Reiss and Lori Marino discovered this special skill. They did separate studies with two bottlenose dolphins at the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn, New York. Their findings were published in a National Academy of Sciences publication. The researchers say their study proves that dolphins have a high level of intelligence. Mizz Reiss and Mizz Marino say that dolphins have a level of self-knowledge because they are able to recognize themselves in mirrors. This level of self-knowledge has been identified only in humans and one other kind of animal - the great apes. The two researchers discovered this by using a test created thirty years ago by scientist Gordon Gallop. Mr. Gallop placed a mark on animals. He wanted to find out if the animals were able to recognize themselves in a mirror. He found that when animals study the marking in a mirror, they show signs of self-recognition. Mizz Reiss and Mizz Marino tested the two dolphins many times with two markers. They used one marker filled with ink that made real marks. They also used a marker filled with water that did not make a mark. Each dolphin repeatedly swam to the mirror to inspect the place where it had been marked with ink. The scientists say the dolphins turned and positioned themselves to get a better look in the mirror. Mizz Reiss says that most animals either refuse to look at a mirror. Or they react aggressively as if the image were another animal. Experts say this new research provides more information about how the brain develops. During the past sixty-million years, the brains of dolphins and primates have developed differently. Primates include humans, apes and monkeys. For example, dolphin brains lack a front part, or lobe, found in primate brains. Also, one area of dolphin brains is organized differently from that of primates. Mizz Reiss says that even though these animals have developed differently over time, their brains have developed a similar intelligence. This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Jill Moss. Alligators' Success Story By Paul Thompson This is Steve Ember. And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program, EXPLORATIONS. Not too long ago, the American alligator was in danger of disappearing from the Earth. Today we tell the success story of this animal. When Spanish explorers reached what would become the southern State of Florida, they found a long, fierce green animal. It had a wide head and a large mouth that opened to show up to eighty teeth. The Spanish explorers called this dangerous creature "El lagarto." The words mean, "the lizard." In time the Spanish words would change to the modern English word, "alligator." For many years, the huge green animals were hunted and their territory destroyed. Their tough, beautiful skin was made into shoes, belts and other leather products. Their natural territory was [...]... Organization released a report with the new findings The findings are based on information collected in one-hundred-seventy nations during the past ten years F-A-O officials say the world has lost about one-thousand kinds of farm animals in the past one-hundred years The officials say many other breeds are still in danger They warn that one-third of them are at risk of disappearing About two-thousand-million... partly on farm animals to earn money That is one-third of the world population FA-O officials are concerned about farmers producing enough to feed the world's growing population They warn that meat, milk and egg production will need to increase by more than two times during the next twenty years F-A-O officials have gathered information about more than fourthousand kinds of bird and animal populations... experiment may help farmers in many countries who cannot pay for vaccinations or test their animals for diseases This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow Disappearing Farm Animals By George Grow This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT United Nations officials warn that many animals important to agriculture are disappearing forever The U-N Environment Program and... Grow George Grow This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT A team of American and South African scientists has discovered evidence that life developed on land much earlier than experts had thought The researchers found fossil remains in South Africa that developed at least two-thousand-six-hundred-million years ago They say that is more than one-thousand-four-hundred-million years earlier than had... best for the environment of the areas they come from It says they may have a difficult time surviving under extreme conditions The F-A-O says having different breeds of animals is a way to protect against loss of animals from severe weather conditions or the spread of disease The U-N agency is starting a five-year project to help countries better understand the issue This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE... more than one-thousand-four-hundred-million years earlier than had been thought The publication Nature reported the findings Scientists believe that small organisms have lived in the Earth's oceans for about three-thousand-eight-hundred-million years However, they are not sure when the first life forms appeared on land Until now, scientists believed fossils found in the American state of Arizona were... publication Nature reported the findings Scientists believe that small organisms have lived in the Earth's oceans for about three-thousand-eight-hundred-million years However, they are not sure when the first life forms appeared on land Until now, scientists believed fossils found in the American state of Arizona were the oldest proof of life on land Those fossils are believed to be one-thousand-two-hundred-million... about one centimeter thick They are thought to be at least two-thousand-six-hundredmillion years old The researchers say they also confirmed the presence of hydrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus in the rocks The combination of the elements suggests a common biological link The researchers say their findings suggest that Earth's ozone layer and oxygen in the atmosphere existed two-thousand-six-hundredmillion... dinosaur was about a meter long It walked on two legs and had a feather-like covering all over its body The small dinosaur did not have wings and could not fly But some of its bone structure was similar to that of birds The animal lived about one-hundredthirty-million years ago Hans-Dieter Sues of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada says the fossil evidence shows that non-flying dinosaurs had a... about one centimeter thick They are thought to be at least two-thousand-six-hundredmillion years old The researchers say they also confirmed the presence of hydrogen, nitrogen and phosphorus in the rocks The combination of the elements suggests a common biological link The researchers say their findings suggest that Earth's ozone layer and oxygen in the atmosphere existed two-thousand-six-hundredmillion . parks. Bonobos are small apes found only in the forests of Congo. Twenty years ago, there were about one-hundred-thousand bonobos. There are only about three-thousand today. Some bonobos have. The animal lived about one-hundred- thirty-million years ago. Hans-Dieter Sues of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Canada says the fossil evidence shows that non-flying dinosaurs had a. forty-five-million years earlier than they had believed. This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Jill Moss. Insects to Control Harmful Trees By George Grow This is the VOA Special