Un 'animal' lejos de la jungla que domina
"La gente tiene el concepto de que soy un bruto que ha salido de una caverna y que si veo un coche digo: ¡Hostias, un animal que tira humo! He recorrido el mundo con el tenis, estoy a punto de terminar mi tercera carrera, hablo 5 idiomas e intento estar informado de lo que pasa en el mundo a diario. La civilización es mi vida diaria. La selva es mi vida diaria. Todo está unido pero separado por distancias y tabúes. No hay que separarlo tanto, porque la selva está más cerca de lo que nosotros pensamos…", matiza Cuesta.
Tras mostrar la fauna de Tailandia e Indonesia y las fronteras de Malasia, Camboya y Myanmar en las dos primeras temporadas de 'Frank de la jungla', este histriónico herpetólogo (por no decir 'showman') se encuentra ante un nuevo reto (que se estrena hoy domingo a las 21.30 horas), cruzar el charco para recorrer la selva centroamericana y el desierto de Mongolia. "En esta nueva etapa, Frank sale de la jungla que él domina y se enfrenta a un territorio desconocido", confiesa Jorge Luque, director de la tercera temporada.
"Me he vuelto loco, me atonto con cualquier animal que veo la primera vez, da igual que sea una hormiga o la serpiente más peligrosa. De Centroamérica he quedado cautivado totalmente con los anfibios, es un mundo apasionante una vez que te metes dentro. Ahora mismo estoy embelesado, obsesionado con ranas, ranas y ranas...", asegura Cuesta.
Confiesa que el peor rato lo vivió por una irresponsabilidad. "Estaba haciendo una foto a una serpiente, se retorció, me raspó un colmillo y me acojoné como nunca». No sabe qué ha pasado esta temporada. «Le ha picado de todo, serpientes, ratas, ardillas...Vamos a ver más sangre que nunca", matiza Luque.
El viaje no ha resultado nada fácil. Además de trasladarse de selva ha cambiado de compañeros. "La verdad es que al principio eché mucho de menos a Nacho y a Santi, pero soy un tío bastante solitario en ese sentido y voy a mi bola. Una vez que nos metimos en la selva, me daba igual quien me siguiera. Además, tengo que admitir que los caracteres que llevo conmigo este año son para dar de comer aparte". Tan diferentes son, que cree que las mejores anécdotas radican en la convivencia. "Yo, como siempre, a lo mío y cabreado cada vez que me hacen parar. Armando, que no habla más que para decir ‘yo aquí he venido a grabar’ y Jorge, que es como Bob Esponja, le hace a Nacho Medina el tío mas valiente del mundo".
A Jorge no le importa confesar que 'Fran de la jungla' es una mezcla entre un programa de divulgación animal y un 'reality'. El secreto de su éxito es su capacidad para seducir a los niños. "Ellos le consideran un héroe y explica todo tan claro. Si fuera maestro sería el mejor, es muy didáctico, te lo enseña todo con un lenguaje coloquial y con mucho respeto", explica el director.
- Esta noticia esta protagonizada por Francisco Javier Cuesta Ramos, más conocido como Frank Cuesta o Frank de la Jungla, es un presentador de televisión, licenciado en herpetología, y que actualmente vive en Bangkok, Tailandia. Desde el 2010 presenta y el programa Frank de la Jungla que se emite en Cuatro y Energy y ha recibido un Premio Ondas el 8 de noviembre de 2011.Es un hombre que en el ultimo año su programa ha conseguido unos altos niveles de audiencia, ya que es recomendado para todas las edades y en él se plasma la vida salvaje de los animales. Frank representa la valentía y la capacidad de subsistir en lugares con malas condiciones.
- En mi opinión este programa es una especie de ‘reality’ ya que se plasma la vida de una persona en este caso ‘Frank’ pero a la vez consigue que los espectadores aprendan otras formas de vida y cómo actuar en situaciones complicadas.
Parques Nacionales y la FOP colaboran en cultivar plantas para alimentar al oso pardo
Ministerio
de Agricultura, Alimentación y Medio Ambiente, a través del Organismo Autónomo
Parques Nacionales, suscrito un convenio de colaboración con la Fundación Oso
Pardo, para el cultivo de plantas autóctonas de Asturias y León como parte de
los proyectos de la Fundación para la recuperación de la especie.
De
acuerdo con el convenio, Parques Nacionales producirá durante dos años, en el
Centro Vivero de Navalcarnero, plantas autóctonas de la zona de Leitariegos y
del corredor comprendido entre La Pola de Gordon y Valdelugueros, plantando las
semillas que, previamente, han recogido miembros de la Fundación.
Posteriormente, las plantas se trasladarán para crear puntos de alimentación
del oso pardo en los corredores de paso.
El
convenio reafirma el interés de ambas partes en la búsqueda de medios adecuados
para lograr la consolidación de la población de oso pardo en España. Además,
está prevista la organización de actividades de educación ambiental con
voluntarios para dar difusión a las actividades realizadas y concienciar a la
población sobre la necesidad de realizar todos los esfuerzos necesarios para
asegurar el futuro de la especie.
- Con esta reforma el oso pardo tendrá de que alimentarse y no se extinguirá, es una forma de ayudar a los osos pardos, los cuales necesitan extensos espacios poco modificados y cierta tranquilidad en sus hábitats. Sin embargo, el desarrollo humano ha multiplicado las pistas forestales y la presión turística en muchas zonas, como la amenaza de autopistas y autovías y de nuevas estaciones de esquí que se planean dentro o en los alrededores del habitat del oso, que podrían limitar la conectividad dentro de la población.
Por otra parte se reforestan zonas que a causa de desastres naturales como fuegos, inundaciones o por el propio ser humano han sido arrasadas. Ése tipo de reformas se debería de llevar a cabo en otras zonas de España además de la zona de León. - Es importante mejorar la aceptación social del oso en el medio rural, fomentando la imagen positiva del oso como imagen típica de las áreas rurales, promocionando actividades turísticas sostenibles y comercializando productos artesanales, con el apoyo en la imagen del oso como símbolo y marca de calidad.
Wild
pigs may become Washington’s next big pest
Wild pigs — not the cute kind you see at the petting zoo but the ones with black bristly coats, narrow snouts and long, self-sharpening tusks — have quietly established themselves in much of Virginia, according to the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The department estimates that there are between 2,500 and 3,000 wild pigs in the commonwealth. That may seem like a lot, but this number is well behind Texas, where, by one estimate, as many as 3.4 million wild pigs are at large. According to biologist Glen Askins of the Virginia game department, 36 states are coping with the consequences of wild pigs in their midst.
Today, the wild pigs that are closest to the District are living around Catlett, about 10 miles southwest of Manassas, according to Mike Dye, a biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. In five to 10 years, the species could make its debut inside the Beltway, he says.
That estimate stems from the behavior and breeding habits of wild pigs. At about 10 months of age, the animals begin to wander from their mothers. On average, they move about six miles during the following eight months, before settling into a new home range. They tend to roam in all directions, but as the animals head toward the built-up areas close to Washington, there’s less chance that they will be hunted. Biologists such as Dye suspect that the pigs will move northeast along water sources before hooking north along the Potomac.
Wild and feral pigs have come and gone from the state over the past few hundred years. Feral populations were recently descended from domestic livestock, those familiar fat, pink pigs with floppy ears that look more like “Babe” than the beast on the logo of Boar’s Head deli meats. It takes generations in the wild for domestic pigs to revert to a wild-type body. These pigs can have a hard time becoming established in the face of predators such as bobcats and coyotes and direct competition from deer for food. In addition, wild pigs have completely disappeared from Virginia during periods of intense hunting.
But what if wild hogs were imported into Northern Virginia?
Dye and other biologists suspect that this may be what has happened — that rogue hunters who like the idea of having a tough, exotic animal to pursue have trapped wild pigs and transported them into the commonwealth for release. Some have brought the pigs from as far as the Great Smoky Mountains of North Carolina. Dye says that some people from other states “have come forward” about stocking these pigs in Virginia, though it has been difficult to track down the culprits because there are only one or two game wardens per county and they can only respond to complaints and are unlikely to witness a release taking place. The only physical evidence is the pigs — and they’re not talking.
- There are more problems with wild pigs than most people would even think
about. They are very strong. They will push under a chain fence, stretching it
into a mess that can only be repaired by changing it. The bottom wire
doesn’t slows them down. They also dig but not as agressively as
other digging animals. That gets them under fences. Their habits around roadways is quite different other wild animal. Hit one with your vehicle and you likely will set off your air bag as well as do considerable damage to your bumper. Since they have shorter legs, they tend to get their mass and head hit by the bumper and then get under the vehicle instead of going through the windshield. It can be a problem getting one out from under a vehicle.
BP
settlement a boon to conservation group
The foundation’s executive director, Jeff Trandahl, usually spends his time defending federal funding from the budget ax and cajoling corporate titans into making contributions. On Friday, he was fielding a slew of calls as people asked him how he might start spending millions of dollars.
“In conservation, everyone’s been
waiting for this day,” he said. “This is the first step forward toward
restoration and recovery. Now, the question is how do the troops start moving
forward.”
The decision to steer so much to
a single group sparked questions from some invested in the settlement’s
outcome, including Sen. Mary
Landrieu (D-La.) and a few environmentalists.
Landrieu praised that the money
was being used “in a creative way to leverage it with private dollars” but
expressed concern that the foundation’s board “includes only one person from
the Gulf of Mexico. I would have liked to have seen a little more
representation from the Gulf Coast, but at least the work they’ve done along
the Gulf Coast has been very good.”
The foundation — created in 1984
by Senate Republicans seeking new ways to muster conservation funding in the
face of Reagan administration budget cuts — is not an environmental advocacy
organization. It receives an annual appropriation of about $15 million from the
government, along with other federal grants totaling as much as $45 million, and
solicits donations of about $16 million a year from private donors and
corporations including Wal-Mart, Shell,
Southern Co. and the American
Petroleum Institute.
In its 28-year history, it has
been responsible for $2.1 billion in conservation projects around the country,
from acoustic monitoring of marine mammals in the Arctic to restoring fish
habitat in the Ozarks. The next five years will more than double that figure.
Still, few other groups were as
well-positioned to dole out the massive funds BP has agreed to hand over as
part of its agreement with federal officials. The foundation oversees
environmental grants and contracts totaling $75 million to $100 million a year,
working with state and federal agencies as well as scientists, environmental
groups and landowners to address threats to fish, wildlife and the habitat on
which these animals depend.
“We are somebody who brings
together all the experts to identify a strategy, and are focused on outcomes,”
said Thomas Kelsch, the group’s vice president for conservation programs.
And it is a group trusted by BP,
which already gave it $22 million in profits that BP got for selling recovered
oil from the 2010 spill.
That money has funded 77 projects in five states, including saving
80,000 to 100,000 sea
turtle hatchlings annually and protecting bird nesting sites on 30 islands
and beahes.
- It is interesting to
note that so much oil was spilled that BP made $22 million in profits from
selling oil they recovered from the spill.
- This kind of information people want and need to hear themselves among the full of more information that they get daily. Positive functionality of media is the most visible in this role to let people know the situation . The positive action to change this world, to become a better living environment. So people have the ability to participate depending in their opinions of this type of information that media gives.
16 English bulldogs rescued from Baldwin Park garage
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/11/sixteen-english-bulldogs-rescued-from-baldwin-park-garage.html
Sixteen English bulldogs
confiscated from a Baldwin Park home by the Los Angeles County Department of
Animal Care and Control may soon be put up for adoption through a rescue group.The 13 adult dogs and three puppies were seized this week after authorities were tipped off that they were being kept in unsanitary conditions in the 3300 block of Frazier Street, said animal control officials.
The dogs, unlicensed and unvaccinated, were being kept in wire cages.
Members of the Southern California Bulldog Rescue, based in Orange County, will assist county officials in finding new homes for the animals once they are cleared for adoption.
“They’re a high-maintenance breed that have certain medical issues,” said Val Valejo, a volunteer with bulldog rescue. The flat-nose animals often have respiratory problems.
Additionally, they are expensive to keep, she said .
“They have to be on a high-quality diet,” said Valejo, of Rancho Cucamonga.
It was unclear Friday what charges, if any, the dogs’ former owner may face.
- It is incredible that anyone could treat an animal with such disregard...keeping them in small cages in a cold, dirty garage. Fortunately, neighbors in the area were alert, and called authorities. Anyone who do this types of acts should be severely punished. I would like to see those people who did this, forced to live in those conditions. These dogs need loving homes because they are little lives, with fears, and emotions just like people.
Pine martens making comeback in Ireland and grey squirrel is their favourite meal.
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/environment/pine-martens-making-comeback-in-ireland-and-grey-squirrel-is-their-favourite-meal-16243733.html#idc-container
Northern Ireland's red squirrels have suffered hard times in recent years, after being ousted from their native homeland by their invasive grey counterparts.
But the beleaguered
reds now appear to be mounting a fightback with help from an unlikely ally —
the predatory pine marten.
Experts have
noticed a changing trend in the midlands of Ireland that could signal a
reversal of fortune for our squirrel population.
An upsurge in the
number of pine martens could be ousting the alien grey squirrels from a number
of counties. This marks a change which could in turn benefit native red
squirrels that have been steadily losing ground to greys, giving them a chance
to bounce back.
Scientists in NUI
Galway investigating the mysterious decline of the American grey squirrel in
the midlands believe a surge in the number of pine martens could be
responsible.
The woodland
predator was eradicated in many parts of Ireland by gamekeepers but is now
spreading back into areas where it once thrived.
This could be good
news for red squirrels, who for years have been outcompeted by the advancing
greys. Grey squirrels are also carriers for a pox virus which is lethal to
reds. Squirrel expert Dr Colin Lawton of NUI Galway said the results show that
the grey squirrel population in the midland counties of Laois and Offaly has
undergone a substantial decline.
“The red squirrel,
despite being considered absent from this area for about 30 years, is once
again widespread and common,” he said.
Reports of
disappearing grey squirrels in the midlands coinciding with a pine marten
comeback have been boosted by studies by Emma Sheehy, a PhD candidate in
Lawton’s group in NUI Galway, who predicts greys will continue to decline.
“We expected them
to have disappeared from a few woodlands. But it seems to be quite a large
area,” Dr Lawton said.
Dr Lawton suggests pine martens prey more often on grey squirrels than
reds, but this may not be the full story.
Pine martens would
find it harder to hunt and capture a red. The time they spend in the (forest)
canopy and their light size means they go out on to finer branches,” he said.
“I would be leaning
toward a more stress-induced factor, where (pine martens) are causing the greys
to breed less or causing them not to settle in woodlands when they detect a
pine marten population.”
Dr Neil Reid of
Quercus, a centre at Queen’s which carries out wildlife research, said pine
martens had undergone huge declines across Ireland but lingered in refuges in
the west and in Crom estate in Co Fermanagh.
“They had been
eradicated in many areas by gamekeepers who were protecting birds’ eggs and
poultry. But gamekeeping has now gone into decline and more lately they are
being found throughout Northern Ireland,” he said.
“Pine martens are
known to prey on squirrels, and given the high density of greys in some areas
it makes logical sense that they would prey on them.
“But I don’t know
whether this is good news for red squirrels as I suspect they will eat red
squirrels as easily as grey squirrels. Although red squirrels and pine martens
have been co-evolving in Europe as predator and prey for a long time, there
might have been a certain naivete among grey squirrels.”
And Dr Lawton
cautioned against over-optimism.
“Their long-term prospects are not as good as we thought. But we are
trying to find the cause and figure out whether this retraction is permanent or
temporary. The one worry I have is that this is a temporary blip. A change to
the habitat conditions in the areas could see the greys bounce back,” he said.
- The grey squirrel is
native of the deciduous forests of North America. It has colonised much of
Ireland in less than 100 years. It has short front legs and a long bushy tail.
It is similar to the red squirrel, but larger and sturdier.
- The Pine marten is the size of an ordinary domestic cat with a long body, small head, pointed muzzle, round ears and eyes that are usually dark brown. Males have territories of 50-80 hectares, while females tend to have smaller territories of 14-25 hectares. Pine martens are hunters or predators, taking rodents, birds, frogs, rabbits, and occasionally fish on the coast. They are good climbers. They are known to catch squirrels. Pine martens are now totally protected under the Wildlife Act.
- I think that it must be more research on pine martens predation of grey squirrels. Pine martens are nocturnal, because of that, it is difficult to find one in daylight. I would assume they hunt in the night hours. It is difficult to believe much predation would take place on the ground during the hours of darkness, so how the two different species sleep in the night.
New ash tree disease cases found
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/uk/ash-tree-disease-found-at-115-sites-16235003.html
A disease threatening to devastate the UK's ash trees has now been found in
woodlands in 10 English counties - as experts warn little can be done to stop
its spread.
Cases of Chalara
ash dieback have been confirmed in woodlands in six more counties - Sussex, Berkshire,
Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Bedfordshire and Northumberland - in addition to
Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent and Essex where it had already been identified in the
countryside.
The latest figures
show the disease, caused by the fungus Chalara fraxinea, has been found in 61
locations in the wider countryside, as well as 39 planting sites and 15 tree
nurseries, a total of 115 sites across the UK.
Some of the sites
had hundreds of infected ash trees, while in others, just a handful were found.
The Chalara
fraxinea fungus, which causes leaf loss and crown dieback and can lead to tree
death, has wiped out 90% of ash trees in some parts of Denmark and is becoming
widespread throughout central Europe.
There are fears
that the UK's ash trees are facing a similar fate to its elms, which were
destroyed by Dutch elm disease in the 1970s.
The results of the
survey by hundreds of officials in the past week were revealed as Environment
Secretary Owen Paterson held a summit with representatives of industry,
conservation groups and experts to discuss the problem.
An action plan to
deal with the disease is due to be published on Friday following another
meeting of the Government's emergency committee on the issue.
After the summit,
Mr Paterson said: "We called this summit to bring together the best ideas
from experts and all who care for our forests so we can urgently prepare an
action plan on how to tackle Chalara and better protect our trees for the
future.
"Many of the
ideas discussed today are extremely interesting, and our scientists and plant
health experts will examine them urgently and include the most effective ones
in an action plan by the end of the week.
- Chalara dieback of ash is a serious disease of ash trees caused by a fungus called Chalara fraxinea (C. fraxinea), including its sexual stage, Hymenoscyphus pseudoalbidus (H. pseudoalbidus). The disease causes leaf loss and crown dieback in affected trees, and usually leads to tree death.
- This a serious desease so be careful and observe your ash tree, the spores are unlikely to survive for more than a few days; spore dispersal on the wind is possible from mainland Europe; trees need a high dose of spores to become infected; the spores are produced from infected dead leaves during the months of June to September; there is a low probability of dispersal on clothing or animals and birds; the disease will attack any species of ash; the disease becomes obvious in trees within months rather than years; wood products would not spread the disease if treated properly; once infected, trees can’t be cured; and not all trees die of the infection, and some are likely to have genetic resistance. But I think that the govement has to take care of this desease.
Revista "MUY INTERESANTE" Número 193- Junio 1997
- Es frustrante para los que aman la naturaleza y a los linces en particular que en nuestra tierra tengamos que dar noticias de cepos, lazos, etc. pero por desgracia existen, están en la cultura de muchas personas y seguirán estando hasta que no se tomen medidas ejemplarizantes, porque hasta ahora los linces, perdiceras, etc, siguen muriendo en lazos y cepos y estos señores se van de rositas. En este caso el lince no ha muerto, pero si no le hubieran hecho esta operación, no hubiera podido alimentarse y por tanto habría muerto.
- Los paleontólogos consiguen la mayoría de la información mediante el estudio de los depósitos de rocas sedimentarias que forman estratos y que se han ido sucediendo durante millones de años. Además, la mayoría de los fósiles se encuentran en estas rocas sedimentarias. Gracias a los avances en la tecnología se puede conseguir más información del pasado, en este caso de los dinosaurios. Estos fósiles ayudan al conocimiento de las formas de vidas existentes en esa época y por consiguiente, tambien sabremos de qué se alimentaban, cual era su tamaño o simplemente cuales eran sus funciones principales.
Revista "MUY INTERESANTE" Número 151- Diciembre 1993
- Los animales son propensos a las mutaciones debido a la gran cantidad de descendencia que tienen, según los zoólogos, en este caso son las tortugas de orejas rojas que además de este tipo de mutaciones son portadoras potenciales de enfermedades infecciosas y salmonella. La tortuga de orejas rojas (Trachemys scripta elegans) son populares mascotas, que pertenece a la familia Emydidae y que en cautiverio puede llegar a crecer de 25 a 30 cm. Es originaria de el sueste de EE.UU. y noreste de México, desde el río Mississippi hasta las costas del Golfo de México.Requieren de cuidados especiales como una dieta variada y una luz fluorescente de rayos UVB.
- Éste tipo de mutaciones existente en animales y en personas, ayuda a que se investigue tanto en enfermadades raras como en malformaciones y así, crear nuevos medicamentos para prevenir nuevas mutaciones o simplemente para cuerar otras ya existentes.
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