Category Animal World

What is Lumpy Skin Disease?

Many States are grappling with the problem of Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD) in cattle. The disease poses a serious threat to the dairy sector. Thousands of cattle have died since July due to LSD in different parts of the country, including Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana. The Centre, along with States, is making efforts to control the disease. But what is Lumpy Skin Disease or LSD? Come, let’s find out.

Contagious viral disease

LSD is a contagious viral disease that affects cattle. Detected only in cows and buffaloes, LSD causes high fever, reduced milk yield, large nodules on the skin, and loss of appetite. It affects the lymph nodes of animals, causing the nodes to enlarge which appear aslumps on the body, and hence the name. With the progression of the disease, the nodules rupture, resulting in the animals bleeding. LSD also causes discharge from the nose and eyes andexcessive salivation. It can also lead to the death of the cattle. Brought on by capripoxvirus, it is transmitted by blood-feeding insects such as certain species of flies, ticks, and mosquitoes. The disease can also spread through contaminated fodder and water. LSD currently has no known treatment; instead, only clinical symptoms are treated.

Not transmissible to humans

As it is not a zoonotic disease, LSD is not transmissible from cattle to humans. It is said that there is no danger to humans in consuming milk of affected animals. According to reports, a senior official at Indian

Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), said, “It is safe to consume milk from the infected cattle. There is no problem in the quality of milk even if you have it after boiling or without boiling.”

Vaccine for LSD

The disease was first observed in Zambia in 1929 and later spread to many other African countries. It first surfaced in India in 2019. Ever since, research institutes have been engaged in developing a vaccine for LSD. The recent outbreak was in

June this year. The indigenous vaccine named Lumpi-ProVac was launched by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in August 2022 to protect livestock from the disease. The vaccine has been developed by the scientists of two Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) institutes (National Equine Research Center, Hisar, and Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izzatnagar). It is expected to become commercially available at the earliest.

Since the disease in cattle impacts milk production, affecting dairy farmers and their income, the government is focussing on universal vaccination of livestock. At present, cattle are being inoculated with goat pox vaccine, which is found to be effective against LSD.

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How is climate change affecting penguin in Antarctica?

The warming climate is having an impact on Antarctica and its large penguin population. Here’s a firsthand account of a trip through the frozen continent by an agriculture and environment scientist

No one owns Antarctica, but the penguins call it home. A frozen landmass that is over four times bigger than India, it has become a bellwether of the climate crisis.

Last year, a large chunk of ice-1.270 sq. km wide-split from the continental shelf causing concern among scientists. Was it due to climate change? Scientists are not sure. But what they know is that the rate of ice loss in Antarctica has tripled since 2012 compared to two decades earlier. Large chunks are splitting regularly from ice shelves, often requiring maps to be redrawn. The warming climate is having an impact on the 6-km-deep ice sheets and the resident penguin population.

Home of penguins

An estimated 12 million penguins live in Antarctica, though it is not their only habitat. Of the 18 species, only five live in Antarctica, including the renowned emperor penguins who march across the frozen tundra in a mating ritual that was featured in the documentary. “March of the Penguins” (Unfortunately, a new report forecasts that the entire population of emperor penguins may disappear by the year 21001)

Inspired in part by the movie and a desire to see the impact of climate change, I flew with two friends to Antarctica a few years ago. It was quite an adventure.

A plane took us from Punta Arenas, Chile, to the Chilean air base on King George Island. As it landed, a group of curious gentoo penguins came out to greet us. They were probably wondering who we were and why we were invading their space! We saw more of their cousins and their colonies as well as elephant seals and leopard seals when we explored the land and the sea over the next few days.

Cause for concern

About 90 per cent of the world’s ice and 70 per cent of fresh water is in Antarctica. Some have calculated that if all of Antarctica’s ice melted, sea levels would rise 60 to 70 m. drowning all coastal cities. Should we be concerned? Most certainly, as we would want to bequeath a better planet to future generations.

Antarctica is regarded by scientists as the perfect place to do research on flora and fauna, climate and a variety of issues-so there are 70 research stations involving 29 countries. Though there is no native human population, visiting researchers hope to find new organisms or data that could reveal the Earth’s climate history and signs of a changing environment.

 

Living and doing research in a place, where temperatures can dip to minus 90 degrees Celsius and dark winters last six months, can be a challenge in the best of times. But it became a bigger challenge during the pandemic. In December 2020, the Chilean research station reported 36 COVID cases and the affected persons had to be evacuated to their home country.

New research

In 1985, British scientists discovered a hole in the ozone layer above Antarctica, which revealed the damage done to the Earth’s atmosphere by manmade chemicals. In 2012, U.S. researchers discovered that Antarctica was melting twice as fast as previously thought. They also found that a warming ocean west of Antarctica would enable the king crab to move from the deep sea to shallower waters, making it a big predator and disrupting the ecosystem.

In 2017, India’s polar biologists stumbled upon a species of moss they named Bryumbharatiensis. How had moss survived in this barren landscape? Dr Felix Bast, a member of the Indian research team, observed that the moss is nourished by penguin poop, which contains nitrogen and does not decompose in a frigid climate.

Impact of climate change

Sadly, Antarctica will not remain a winter wonderland for long on account of climate change. A group of scientists led by Stephen Rintoul have presented two stark images of Antarctica by 2070. In Vision 1, assuming global air temperatures rise 2.9 degrees Celsius, they predict sea levels will rise 27 cm, ice sheets will be reduced by 23 per cent and damage to the ecosystem will be most severe. In Vision 2, assuming a 0.9 degrees Celsius temperature rise, sea levels will rise only 6 cm, ice shelf loss will be 8 per cent, and damage to the ecosystem will be less severe. The outcomes will be determined by the climate actions we take in this decade. If global warming remains unchecked, it is quite possible that Antarctica will “be the world’s only habitable continent by the end of this century,” warns Sir David King, former Chief Scientist to the British government. Will humanity rise to the climate challenge?

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Pantanal’s jaguars in peril

A lot has been said about the benefits of wildfires-from removing alien species and helping native species thrive to killing harmful insects and weak animals. But given the intensity and frequency with which they have been occurring of late, many wildfires are devastating. A case in point is the 2019-2020 wildfire season in Australia that is said to have harmed about three billion animals. Meanwhile, a recent study has discovered that around the same time, fires in another continent have had a harmful impact on an apex predator.

Pantanal is the world’s largest tropical wetland, located in South America. Covering more than 1,80,000 sq.km., it spans Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. The region has one of the highest concentrations of wildlife in this continent; it houses the world’s second-largest jaguar population – 1,668. But just like the Amazon, it is plagued by several threats. Among them is the increase in agricultural activity, resulting in negative human-jaguar interactions and the eventual killing of the predator.

And in 2020, these predators faced another severe form of threat – fires. That year Pantanal was particularly dry, and the situation was made worse by a “combination of rising temperatures and a drop in water draining to the Pantanal due to deforestation of the Amazon and the Cerrado uplands”. The fires “burnt 31% of Pantanal ecoregion”, and in the process. “45% of jaguars in region were displaced, injured or killed”. They “burned thousands of square kilometres of critical jaguar habitat and may threaten the big cats long-term survival”, according to the research, based on 12 years of jaguar distribution data and 16 years of maps of the burned area.

These carnivores do not migrate, which means, when their habitats shrink, they are crowded in one location, leading to disputes over sharing both territory and prey. And if they do travel afar in search of food, their energy could be sapped, affecting their reproductive capacity. In the long run, if the jaguars disappear from the region, it could throw the ecosystem into disarray since they are at the top of the food chain.

The 2020 fires “burnt 31% of Pantanal ecoregion”, and in the process, “45% of jaguars in region were displaced, injured or killed”. They “burned thousands of square kilometres of critical jaguar habitat and may threaten the big cats’ long-term survival”, according to a research, based on 12 years of jaguar distribution data and 16 years of maps of the burned area.

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1 in 5 reptiles worldwide is threatened with extinction

A fifth of reptile species is threatened with extinction, with those living in forest habitats (27%) in greater danger than those inhabiting arid areas (14%).

Out of 10,196 reptile species examined, around 2,000 species are critically endangered, endangered or vulnerable to extinction as defined by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

Australia’s saltwater crocodile, the world’s largest reptile, is listed in the category ‘least concern’, but its cousin, India’s gharial, is ‘critically endangered’. Indonesia’s Komodo dragon, the world’s largest lizard, is ‘endangered’; the King Cobra, the world’s longest venomous snake; the leatherback, the largest sea turtle, and the Galapagos marine iguana, are all ‘vulnerable’; and the various Galapagos tortoise species range from vulnerable to extinct.

Many reptiles are being pushed towards extinction by deforestation for agriculture, logging and development, urban encroachment and hunting by people, while climate change is a looming threat.

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ARE CHEETAHS COMING BACK TO INDIA?

Cheetahs to prowl India for the first time in 70 years! The country will be home to the world’s fastest land animal for the first time since 1952, when the indigenous population was declared extinct.

Eight cheetahs are set to arrive in August from Namibia, home to one of the world’s largest populations of the wild cat. The first arrivals will make their home in the State of Madhya Pradesh at Kuno-Palpur National Park, selected for its cheetah-friendly terrain.

Separately, India is also expected to get 12 cheetahs from South Africa, for which a draft agreement has already been signed, with a final one expected soon, officials familiar with the matter said.

The Asiatic cheetah could once be found in areas stretching from the Arabian Peninsula to Afghanistan. It is now known only to survive in Iran, where in 2022 only 12 were reportedly still alive.

Only about 7,000 cheetahs remain in the wild globally, with most of them in African savannahs. The animal is classified as a vulnerable species under the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s red list of threatened species. The arrival of the cheetahs is expected to coincide with India’s 75th Independence Day celebrations on August 15.

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WHAT IS THE MOST COMMON SPECIES OF BEAR?

Brown bears! They are found in Europe, Asia and North America – where they are called grizzlies. Mostly solitary animals, brown bears are good hunters, able to run at speeds of up to 48 km per hour; they also swim well.

One way to identify a brown bear is by the hump at the top of its shoulder. The hump is made of muscle and helps the bear dig a den. No other extant species of bear has this hump. Adult bears have short tails and sharp teeth with curved lower canines. Their skulls are heavy and concave.

Brown bears claws are large, curved, and blunt. Their claws are straighter and longer than those of black bears. Unlike the black bear, which readily climbs trees, the brown bear climbs less frequently due to its weight and claw structure.

You might guess from their name that brown bears are brown. However, these bears can be brown, red, tan, cream, bicolored, or nearly black. Sometimes the tips of their fur are colored. Fur length varies according to the season. In the summer, their fur is shorter. In the winter, some brown bears’ fur can reach 4 to 5 inches in length.

Brown bear size is highly variable, depending both on subspecies and food availability. Males are about 30% larger than females. An average-sized bear might range from 5 to 8 feet in length and weigh 700 pounds, however, much smaller and much larger specimens occur. On average, polar bears are larger than brown bears, but a large grizzly and a polar bear are comparable.

Habitat and Distribution

The brown bear’s range includes northern North America and Eurasia, including the United States, Canada, Russia, China, Central Asia, Scandinavia, Romania, Caucasus, and Anatolia. At one time, it was also found throughout Europe, in northern Africa, and as far south as Mexico in North America.

Diet

Although brown bears have a reputation as fierce carnivores, they actually obtain as much as 90% of their calories from vegetation. Bears are omnivorous and naturally curious about eating nearly any creature. Their preferred food is anything abundant and easy to obtain, which varies according to the season. Their diet includes grass, berries, roots, carrion, meat, fish, insects, nuts, flowers, fungi, moss, and even pine cones.

Bears that live near people may prey on pets and livestock and scavenge for human food. Brown bears eat up to 90 pounds of food per day in autumn and weigh twice as much as when they emerge from their dens in the spring.

Adult brown bears face few predators. Depending where they live, they may be attacked by tigers or other bears. Brown bears dominate gray wolves, cougars, black bears, and even polar bears. Large herbivores rarely threaten the bears, but may fatally wound one in self-defense or protecting calves.

Behavior

Most adult brown bears are crepuscular, with peak activity in the early morning and evening. Young bears may be active during the day, while bears living near humans tend to be nocturnal.

Adult bears tend to be solitary, except for females with cubs or gatherings at fishing spots. While a bear may roam over a huge range, it tends not to be territorial.

Bears double their weight from the spring going into winter. Each bear selects a protected spot as a den for the winter months. Sometimes bears will dig out a den, but they will use a cave, hollow log, or tree roots. While brown bears become lethargic in the winter, they do not truly hibernate and can be easily woken if disturbed.

Reproduction and Offspring

Female bears become sexually mature between 4 and 8 years of age and come into heat once every three or four years. Males typically begin mating a year older than females, when they are large enough to compete with other males. Both males and females take multiple mates during the mating season, which runs from mid-May to June. Fertilized eggs remain in the female’s uterus for six months, implanting in her uterus while she is dormant during the winter.

Cubs are born eight weeks after implantation, while the female is sleeping. The average litter is 1 to 3 cubs, although as many as 6 cubs may be born. Cubs nurse on their mother’s milk until she emerges from her den in spring. They remain with her for about two and a half years. Males do not aid in rearing. They will engage in infanticide of another bear’s cubs, presumably to bring females into heat. Females often successfully defend cubs from males, but may be killed in the conflict. In the wild, the average brown bear life expectancy is around 25 years.

Credit : Thoughtco.com 

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