The Animals are Not Waiting for Us

The 2012 Scenario, Steve Beckow, 28 September 2012

Cross-species friendships are springing up all over. Of them, Matthew said in 2010:

“The innocence of animals, who act from instinct, never from malice, automatically qualifies all except a few species to ascend with Earth. Along the way those who now are wild will become tame, predators will become vegetarians, and all will live peaceably with each other and humankind. Already there is evidence of cross-species friendship, even mothers of one species nurturing infants of another, and instances of bonding between wild animals and humans.”  (Matthew message - Channelled by Suzanne Ward, Aug 13, 2010)

Thanks to Odette.

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Give us a cuddle: Baby rhesus macaque Taoqi cosies up to a young tiger

cub at a zoo in Hefei, China

Molly The Dog Plays Mom To A Bundle Of Kittens

Swiss Shepherd dog adopts 3 baby tigers in Sochi, Russia

Swiss Shepherd dog Talli feeds orphaned tiger cubs and her own cubs in the
Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi. The little tigers were born last month
in the Oktyabrsky Zoo but abandoned by their birth mother, tigress Bagira.
 (AFP PHOTO /  MIKHAIL MORDASOV)

Related Articles:

Sacred Animal Kingdom - Healing Divine Love" - FEB 16, 2012 (Metraton channelled by Tyberonn)

"Do Animals Reincarnate?" - NOV 22, 2010 (Kuthumi channelled by Lynette Leckie-Clark)

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Forest Fires Rage in Central Java, East Kalimantan

Jakarta Globe, SP/Imron Rosyid & Tunggadewa Mattangkilang, September 27, 2012

A forest fire on Lawu mountain is seen from Magetan, East Java,
on Tuesday. (Antara Photo/Siswowidodo)

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Solo/West Kutai. Forest fires have razed thousands of hectares of land in Central Java and East Kalimantan as an unusually intense and protracted dry spell drags on, officials reported on Wednesday.

In Karanganyar, Central Java, more than 500 hectares of forests and tree nurseries on the slopes of Mount Lawu have been torched since Monday, with the fires still raging as of Wednesday.

Aji Pratama, head of the Karanganyar Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), said the extremely dry conditions and strong winds were fueling the flames and making it hard for firefighters to douse them.

“The fires started in Ngawi district [in East Java] and have spread here because of the winds,” he said.

“It’s not just the brush and shrubs that are getting burned, but also trees, especially pines.”

Much of the affected area on Mount Lawu consists of logging concessions that include pine, acacia and eucalyptus trees.

Sunardi, a resident of Ngargoyoso subdistrict further down the slope, said the ash from the burning vegetation was raining down on residential areas. He added residents were afraid that the fire would reach their homes.

“We’re 25 kilometers away from the fires, but you never know with the way the wind’s blowing,” he said.

Maryono, coordinator of the district emergency response unit, said the size of the scorched area was increasing by the hour, with the fire now encroaching on a community forest.

Rina Iriani, the Karanganyar district head, said fires were not an uncommon problem on Lawu’s slopes, but this year’s blaze was worse because of the dry conditions and strong winds.

She said she had ordered all hiking routes in the area to be temporarily closed and called on resident’s living on the mountain’s slopes to help in putting out the fires.

In West Kutai, East Kalimantan, forest fires have razed more than 1,500 hectares of land since Monday. A harsh dry spell has also been blamed for the extent of the disaster there.

Yustinus A.S., head of the district forestry office, said the fires were not believed to be man-made. He said the affected area, on the periphery of the Kersik Luway orchid park, a forest conservation area, had previously experienced severe fires lasting several months in 1987 and 1997.

“Both those previous times we lost around 5,000 hectares of forest. This time it’s only around 1,500 hectares, most of which was forest area that was replanted after the 1997 fire,” Yustinus said.

He added that firefighters and residents alike were trying to put out the flames and prevent the fire spreading to the orchid park.

Haze from the fire is also causing problems at West Kutai’s Melalan Sendawar Airport, where visibility was down to one kilometer on Wednesday, well below the usual three kilometers.

The conditions forced the airport to freeze operations from Wednesday. Suparno, the airport manager, said scheduled flights to Samarinda and Balikpapan had to be canceled because of the haze. “We don’t know yet when we can reopen the airport,” he said.

New monkey species identified in Democratic Republic of Congo

Lesula found in remote forests is only the second new monkey species to be discovered in Africa in 28 years

guardian.co.uk, Adam Vaughan, Thursday 13 September 2012

A new species of monkey (Cercopithecus lomamiensis), known locally
as the lesula. Photograph: Hart JA, Detwiler KM, Gilbert CC/PA

A new species of monkey has been identified in Africa, only the second time such a discovery has been made on the continent in 28 years.

The identification of the monkey in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is significant, as identification of mammals new to science is rare.

Lesula (Cercopithecus lomamiensis) has a naked face and a mane of long blond hairs, and is described by the researchers who identified it as shy and quiet. It lives on the ground and in trees in a 6,500 square mile habitat of the lowland rainforests in the centre of the DRC between the middle Lomami (the inspiration for its name) and the upper Tshuapa Rivers. Its diet is mostly fruit and vegetation.

John and Terese Hart of Yale University's Peabody Museum of Natural History first saw the species in 2007 at the home of a primary school director, who was keeping a young female in the town of Opala. Later that year, the team found the species – which is similar in appearance to the owl-faced monkey (Cercopithecushamlyni) but with different colouring – in the wild. Genetic tests later verified it was a new species.

"This was a totally unexpected find, and we knew we had something unusual and possibly unknown when we first saw the animal. But it was not until we had the genetic and morphological analyses of our collaborating team that we knew we really had a new species," said the Harts, who are also conservation biologists at the Lukuru Wildlife Research Project.

The monkey lives mostly in small groups of one to five, and only one animal was seen on its own during eight encounters. In what they describe as an "exceptional" sighting, the researchers observed an apparent attack on one of the monkeys by a crowned eagle (Stephanoaetus coronatus), which killed the female monkey.

There are already fears for the newly discovered species' fate despite its home in a relatively remote and underpopulated region, as it is hunted for bushmeat. The director who owned the captive monkey said he had acquired it after a family member had killed its mother in the forest. The researchers have provisionally categorised it as already vulnerable under the authoritative IUCN red list of threatened species.

"The challenge now is to make the lesula an iconic species that carries the message for conservation for all of Congo's endangered fauna," said John Hart. "Species with small ranges like the lesula can move from vulnerable to seriously endangered over the course of just a few years."

The last monkey to be discovered in Africa was the kipunji (Rungwecebus kipunji) in Tanzania in 2003, nearly two decades after the last find, the sun-tailed monkey (Cercopithecus solatus) in Gabon, in 1984.

The researchers' work on the Lesula was published this week in the journal PLOSONE

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Endangered tiger cubs and pangolins seized by Vietnam police

BBC News, 4 September 2012

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About 85 pangolins seized from suspected
smugglers were released into the wild in July

Four rare tiger cubs and more than 100 endangered pangolins have been seized from suspected wildlife smugglers in Vietnam, police say.

The animals were found in a car in central Ha Tinh province, they said. Two men have been arrested on suspicion of illegally transporting them.

A police official told the AFP news agency that all the animals apart from one pangolin were alive.

It is estimated that globally as few as 3,200 tigers remain in the wild.

The animals are hunted for their fur, bones and other body parts which are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

Pangolins, often referred to as "scaly anteaters", are also prized in China and Vietnam for their food and medicinal value.

The WWF conservation and environmental group in June labelled Vietnam as having one of the worst records in the world in the fight against trade in endangered species - an accusation which Vietnam has denied.

Police said the animals discovered on Tuesday will be handed over to forest rangers who will soon release them into the wild.

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Coconut oil could combat tooth decay

BBC News, 3 September 2012

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Coconut oil attacks the bacteria behind tooth decay and could be used in dental care products, according to research.

Scientists found that coconut oil which had been treated with enzymes stopped the growth of Streptococcus bacteria - a major cause of tooth decay.

Tooth decay affects 60% to 90% of children in industralised countries.

Speaking at the Society for General Microbiology's conference, the Irish researchers say that coconut oil also attacks the yeast which causes thrush.

The research team from the Athlone Institute of Technology in Ireland tested the impact of coconut oil, vegetable oil and olive oil in their natural states and when treated with enzymes, in a process similar to digestion.

The oils were then tested against Streptococcus bacteria which are common inhabitants of the mouth.

Only the enzyme-modified coconut oil showed an ability to inhibit the growth of most strains of the bacteria.

It also attacked Streptococcus mutans, an acid-producing bacterium which is a major cause of tooth decay.

Active acids

It is thought that the breaking down of the fatty coconut oil by the enzymes turns it into acids which are active and effective against bacteria.

Previous research found that enzyme-modified milk could stop Streptococcus mutans from binding to tooth enamel.

Researchers now want to look at how coconut oil interacts with Streptococcus bacteria at the molecular level and which other strains of harmful bacteria it can inhibit.

Dr Damien Brady who led the research at the Athlone Institute of Technology with Patricia Hughes, a Masters student, said coconut oil could be an attractive alternative to chemical additives.

"It works at relatively low concentrations.

"Also, with increasing antibiotic resistance, it is important that we turn our attention to new ways to combat microbial infection."

Their studies are also looking into the workings of antibacterial activity in the human gut.

"Our data suggests that products of human digestion show antimicrobial activity. This could have implications for how bacteria colonise the cells lining the digestive tract and for overall gut health," said Dr Brady.