Elephants are very social animals. Elephants travel in herds, containing about 6 to 30 individuals. The herd is made up of the oldest female (the matriach), females and their offspring.

The African elephant is the largest living land mammal, one of the most impressive animals on earth. Of all its specialized features, the muscular trunk is the most notable it serves as a nose, a hand, an extra foot, a signalling device and a tool for gathering food, siphoning water, dusting, digging and a variety of other functions. Not only does the long trunk permit the elephant to reach as high as 23 feet, but it can also perform movements as delicate as picking berries or caressing a companion. It is capable, of powerful twisting and coiling movements used for tearing down trees or fighting. The trunk of the African elephant has two finger-like structures at its tip, as opposed to just one on the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus).

The tusks, another noticeable feature, are greatly extended incisors (elephants have no canine teeth); about one-third of their total length lies hidden inside the skull. The largest tusk ever recorded weighed 214 pounds and was 138 inches long. Tusks of this size are not found on elephants in Africa today, as over the years hunters and poachers have taken animals with the largest tusks. Because tusk size is an inherited characteristic, it is rare to find one now that would weigh more than 100 pounds.

Both male and female African elephants have tusks, although only males in the Asiatic species have them. The growing of the Tusks for many elephant is the sign of the whole body growth. Elephants are "right- or left-tusked," using the favoured tusk more often as a tool, thus, shortening it from constant wear. Tusks will differ in size, shape and direction; researchers use them (and the elephant's ears) to identify individuals.

Elephants can live in nearly any habitat that has adequate quantities of food and water. Their ideal habitat consists of plentiful grass and browse.

An elephant spends about 16 hours of the day to eating and about threes to five hours to drinking, bathing, dusting, wallowing, playing and resting. As an elephant only digests some 40 percent of what it eats, it needs great amounts of vegetation (approximately 5 percent of its body weight per day) and about 30 to 50 gallons of water. A young elephant must learn how to draw water up into its trunk and then pour it into its mouth. Elephants eat an extremely varied vegetarian diet, including grass, leaves, twigs, bark, fruit and seedpods. The fibrous content of their food and the great quantities consumed makes for large volumes of dung.

African elephants are distinguished from Asian elephants in several ways, the most noticeable being their ears. Africans' ears are much larger and are shaped like the continent of their origin. The African is typically larger than the Asian and has a concave back. Both African males and females have external tusks and are usually less hairy than their Asian cousins.

African elephants have traditionally been classified as a single species containing two different subspecies, namely the savanna elephant (Loxodonta africana ) and the forest elephant (Loxodonta africana cyclotis),

Under the new two species classification the savannas elephant refers to as the largest of all elephants as well as the all land animals in the world standing up to 4 m (13 ft) at the shoulder and weighing approximately 7,000 kg (7.7 tons). The average male stands about 3 m (10 ft) tall at the shoulder and weighs about 5500–6000 kg (6.1–6.6 tons), the female being much smaller. Most often, Savanna Elephants are found in open grasslands, marshes, and lakeshores. They range over much of the savannas zone south of the Sahara.

The other suggested species is the Forest Elephant (Loxodonta cyclotis). Compared with the Savannas Elephant, its ears are usually smaller and rounder, and its tusks thinner and straighter and not directed outwards as much. The Forest Elephant can weigh up to 4,500 kg (10,000 lb) and stand about 3 m (10 ft) tall.

At the age of 14 years the males will leave the herd and group together with other males of the same age or older. When the group comes across a female, also called cow, the male of the highest rank is selected as the one to breed

A female is ready to breed at the age of 12, at which she is in an oestrus period. When in an oestrus period the female breeds with visiting males. After a period of 18 months, the female will give birth to a single offspring. The offspring can weigh up to 27 lbs.
The offspring feeds off its mother for 3 years until it is able to feed itself.

When it comes to taking care of the offspring, the mother is the main caretaker. When it comes to defend the offspring from predators or other bullying the entire herd pitches in to keep the young safe. Every offspring is essential to the power of the herd, since they mates once in every year.

The female elephant give birth to a new offspring 5 year later after caring of the past offspring. The young elephant will learn by watching and copy from the act of the others. It will learn how to eat and drink with its trunk, and what to do and not to do.

Tusks of the young elephant begins to erupt at 16 months but do not show externally until 30 months; when its tusks are 5 or 6 inches long, they begin to disturb the mother and she weans it. Once weaned usually at age 4 or 5, the calf still remains in the maternal group.

The average life span of an elephant is between 60 and 70 years.

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Of the many species of wild birds and animals that inhabit the 88 Bijago islands spread over more than 10,000sqkm none is more sacred than the turtle.

“We Bajagoans see ourselves as the keepers of the turtles,” Domingo Alves, the head game warden at Eticoga, the main village on Orango island, told IRIN, adding that the animal is featured in many local ceremonies.

The problem is that Bajagoans also eat this most sacred of animals, and, with the nets from the now ever-present industrial fishing trawlers accidentally trapping more turtles than before, all five turtle species in the archipelago are nearing extinction.

So ecologists, together with donors and aid organisations, have come together to try to make the estimated 27,000 inhabitants of the islands aware that they could lose one of their most valued resources.

“It takes time and patience to get people to understand that something they have always had could one day disappear,” said Castro Barbosa, biologist and the director of João Vieira and Poilão National Marine Park, who is employed by the Institute for Biodiversity and Protected Areas (IBAP) headquartered in Guinea Bissau’s capital on the mainland. “Turtles have been a source of nutrition but there are plenty of substitutes available,” he added.

The institute is funded by the World Bank to help the government’s ailing national park system to protect fauna and flora in the islands. With many rare species of wildlife including gazelles, crocodiles, manatees (sea cows), and unusual hippopotami which live mostly in salt water, the area is currently under review by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for World Heritage Site status.

“Communities take part in the management of the national parks, so that they benefit from them while saving the biodiversity resources,” said Peter Kristensen, the World Bank taskforce team leader for the project.

Some funding goes to special primary schools on the islands that focus on environmental education. “The children are made aware of the species of mammals, fish and birds that are under threat,” said Alves, who sometimes teaches the children on the issues.
In November the World Food Programme started a trial school feeding programme in two of the schools. In the two months since then, attendance rates have doubled and officials expect that after a survey has been conducted the children’s nutritional levels will have increased.

Endangered species

Still a big question: Will the turtles survive. Even the most common of the five turtle species that inhabits the islands, the green turtle Chelonia mydas, is on the World Conservation Union (IUCN)’s “red list” of endangered species.

The species migrates along the West African coast as far north as Mauritania but according to IUCN Poilão Island in the outer Bijagos is the largest single nesting area anywhere in the eastern Atlantic Ocean.

Guinea Bissau’s government has a law banning the killing of turtles but the environmentalists IRIN spoke to all said the law only exists on paper.

Also IRIN talked with people on the islands who say they eat turtles. “It’s the most delicious meat I know,” Richardo de Pina, a young man resting on one of the many pristine beaches at Orango Island, told IRIN. “My mother cooks it so well; we all pester her with the question: ‘When are you going to cook it again?’”

The Green Turtle is considered particularly tasty. Its name comes not from the colour of its shell but its green fat which gives it a distinctive taste, according to turtle researcher and conservator Blair Witherington author of the 2006 book “An Extraordinary Natural History of Some Uncommon Turtles”.
Still, the young man in Orango seemed aware of a problem. “We used to eat turtle more when I was young but now when you look for the animals along the shore they’re harder to find.”

Barbosa, the IBAP biologist, said banning the killing of turtles would never work but that does not mean that efforts to conserve them are failing. “Conservation of rare species is possible as long as people eat them in moderation” he said.

He said IBAP’s message is that people should only kill a turtle when others are around and they should only kill one turtle at a time.

Alves, the head game warden, said people now only eat turtle on very special occasions. “It is part of some ceremonies here to eat turtles and that will never change, but the waters are teeming with all sorts of seafood that people can eat at other times. They now know that eating turtle any time is wrong.”

Industrial fishing threat

Experts agree that the main reason turtle populations are declining is that they are being killed by fishermen coming from elsewhere “An emerging threat [to the turtles] is the rapid development of fisheries in this region,” states the Marine Turtle Research Group at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation in the University of Exeter in the UK.

Big international fishing boats which often operate illegally are the main culprits, Barbosa said. “Every time they haul in their big nets at least two or three turtles die.”

Bijago fishermen do not use nets, only spears and fishing lines.

An added problem comes from fishermen from neighboring countries, particularly Senegal and Sierra Leone, who cut down the mangroves in the Bijagos to make fires to smoke and preserve fish they catch before transporting them home in their canoes. “They are destroying the natural habitats of turtles and other rare species at an alarming rate,” Barbosa said.

With locals becoming more aware of the fragility of their environment they are on the look-out for abusers. “People come to us all the time to report poaching, illegal fishing and the cutting down of mangroves,” said Barbosa. “The problem is that nobody here - not even the government - has the means to do anything about it.”

Introduction

The alien species means an organism which is not indigenous to the place and they have been introduced either accidentally or intentionally transported to these new location human activities.

The great increase in the introduction of alien species that people are importing for economic, aesthetic, accidental, or even the complex reasons is leading to more species invading native ecosystems, which bring about results: they become invasive alien species (IAS) that have significant harmful effects on both ecosystems and economies.

The impacts on the ecosystems to this world continue to grow due to the increasing population and expanding levels of consumption, mean that more people are demanding more of nature's goods and services, hence pushing against the limits of sustainability. One serious aspect in this economic globalization is the movement of organisms from one part to another through trade, tourism or any other transport, many of these movements of organisms into new ecosystems where they become alien are generally beneficial or interested by the individual or specific group of the people, but the majority meet many and serious impact. And in a few cases, especially disease organisms and pests of forests or agricultural crops, the alien species is clearly harmful to all, or nearly so. Similarly, those who have been responsible for accidentally introducing species into new habitats may not have been willing to make the dealings necessary to prevent such accidents from occurring. They may not have understood the dangers, and in any case the dangers would be unlikely to have much economic impact on their own welfare, instead, the costs of such accidents are bear excessively by people other than those who are permitting the accidents to happen.

However the problem of introducing the alien species is on the man and it is caused by the following reasons. A/ People are largely responsible for moving the eggs, vegetative part, and the whole organism from one place to another, especially through modern global transport and the travel. B/ while some species are capable of invading well-protected ’intact’’ ecosystem, IAS more often seem to invade habitants altered by the humans, such as the agriculture fields human settlement, and the roadways. C/ Many alien species are intentionally introduced for economic reasons, a major human Endeavour .D/ The dimensions of the problem of invasive alien species are defined by people, and the response is also designed and implemented by people, with differential impacts on different groups of people.

The fauna and flora which are found in any particular location have been greatly influenced by past human activities, and people are likely to have an even greater impact in the future. This leads to the reflection of whether the current experience of globalization might lead to increased diversity in at least some places after the dust settles on the current extinction contraction. As one example, New Zealand has twice as many plants today as it did when humans first arrived, as well as a whole collection of new mammals; one tragic cost was the loss of an extensive unique fauna of birds. Further development of biotic communities as climates change will depend on organisms invading into origin habitats, sometimes hybridizing with the native species, sometimes replacing them, and sometimes adding to the diversity of the ecosystem with new species interactions. Through introducing species, humans are creating their own ecosystems, often more or less by accident, and disturbing ecosystems that had evolved over millions of years.

Humans apparently evolved in Africa, and then Homo sapiens spread to Europe and Asia over 100,000 years ago, Australia 40-60,000 years ago, the Americas about 15-20,000 years ago, and the far reaches of the Pacific less than 1000 years ago. Our species is a good example of a naturally invasive species, spreading quickly, modifying ecosystems through the use of fire, and driving other species too furthermore
For at least several thousand years, armies have been an important pathway for moving species from one region to another, with at least some of these becoming invasive (like the armies). The spread of new diseases by armies is well known. For example, measles were carried into the Americas from Europe by the early conquistadors and perhaps syphilis went in the opposite direction a virus that is a close relative of measles is native to the Steppes of Central Asia, but it frequently swept through Europe, being carried by cattle moved to feed armies during military campaigns. Africa remained free of this disease until 1887, when it appeared in Eritrea at the site of the Italian invasion, spreading through Ethiopia in 1888 and conquering the entire continent in less than a decade. In some parts of Africa, rinderpest was followed by wars and cattle raids as the tribal pastoralists sought to maintain their herds. Another result was that rinderpest led an ecological revolution against people and cattle and in favors of wildlife species that were resistant to the disease.

In general there are some mostly impact of introducing alien species this is that it destroy the nature of the ecosystem, it cause the spreading of disease organism such as small pox, syphilis, etc, also in other way it introduce the new species which can be more importance than the previous species to the eco system such as the introduction of a certain type of fishes (sangara) in the lake Tanganyika which become more famous than the previous specious.

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About the Author: Frederick Mlaponi is a Tanzanian Student researcher on work experience with Wild Things Safaris in Tanzania http://www.wildthingsafaris.com . http://www.mksafaris.com .

In a "fireside chat" at Yale University on Wednesday, prominent naturalists Edward O. Wilson and Peter H. Raven predicted dire consequences for the planet's biodiversity and habitability unless current trends in consumption and environmental degradation are reversed. The two scientists were awarded the Addison Emery Verrill Medal by the Peabody Museum of Natural History for their contributions to natural science before a capacity crowd at Yale's Sprague Hall. Both are known for their environmental activism as well as extensive research and popular writing.

Wilson, known for his contributions to island biogeography as well as the controversial field of sociobiology, said that humans—like all earth species—are adapted to this world. But most people have the dangerous attitude that this world is "a waystation for a better world", warned Wilson. Humans could cause the extinction of half of all species by the end of the next century, he stated.

The event was billed as a debate between the two scientists, but they found little to disagree about. (Raven quipped that he did not care for Wilson's tie, the extent of their disagreement for the evening.) Raven pointed to unsustainably high levels of consumption, especially in the United States, that will lead to ecological disaster if left unchecked. Levels of consumption have to be cut drastically, he argued. But Wilson claimed that it would be possible to maintain and even improve quality of life even while significantly reducing the population's ecological footprint. Current models, he said, predict that human population will peak at around 9 billion, and that "if we use what we have" intelligently, the world could be a sustainable paradise by the 22nd century.

Raven and Wilson both argued for the compatibility of christian and environmentalist viewpoints. According to the second chapter of Genesis, said Raven, man was put on the earth in order to preserve it. Wilson said that we need to "form an alliance" to save life on earth—an alliance including both religious and non-religious people—and that one can be a "conservative right-wing Christian" and an environmentalist. His recent work, including the Encyclopedia of Life, has focused on creating such an alliance.

The most important thing, Raven said, is to expose children to nature. Invoking the argument of Rachel Carson's 1965 A Sense of Wonder, Raven said that children between the ages of 4 and 10 are extremely impressionable, and that teaching them to appreciate the natural world will be the most effective way to ensure environmental consciousness in the next generation. But although Raven was a naturalist from a young age, he said that he "didn't give a thought to conservation" while in graduate school in the 1950s. Carson's 1962 book on the dangers of pesticides, Silent Spring, was Raven's introduction to dangers of environmental degradation. Wilson also emphasized Carson's legacy for the environmental movement; he proudly noted that Carson biographer Linda Lear had recently called him the "only surviving person who actually helped Rachel Carson" put together Silent Spring.

Raven and Wilson were only the 16th and 17th, respectively, to receive the Verrill Medal, which is the highest honor awarded by the Peabody Museum. Before a sympathetic crowd, Wilson tactfully avoided any mention of his own institution, Yale's rival Harvard University.

There have been many myths about spiders that have propogated through the ages. Here I will explain the truth with regards to the ten most popular spider myths.

Myth 1: The daddy-longlegs has the world's most powerful venom, but fortunately its fangs are so small that it can't bite you. Fact: This is a fully-fledged urban legend, with no basis in fact whatever. It is so widespread that many people believe it who should really know better, including some teachers and TV documentary producers.

Three different unrelated groups are called "daddy-longlegs." Harvestmen have no venom of any kind. None at all! Same with crane flies. Pholcid spiders have venom (like almost all spiders) but there's nothing special about it. In fact a recent study showed that pholcid venom is unusually weak in its effect on insects.

Myth 2: Spiders are insects. Fact: I find it amazing that a vast percentage of people actually believe this to be the case. How often, in mass media, do we read or hear a phrase like "spiders prey on other insects"? Spiders belong to the class Arachnida and insects to the class Insecta. Arachnids are as distant from insects, as birds are from fish. It really is not a trivial distinction!

Myth 3: All spiders make webs.Fact: Technically a web is not just anything a spider makes out of silk, it is a silk structure made to catch prey. The truth is that only about half of the known spider species catch prey by means of webs.

Others actively hunt for prey (including members of the wolf spider, jumping spider, ground spider, sac spider, lynx spider, and other spider families), or sit and wait for prey to come to them (trap door spiders, crab spiders, and others). What is true is that all spiders have the ability to spin silk.

Myth 4: You can always tell a spider because it has eight legs. Fact: Not exactly. scorpions, harvestmen, ticks, and in fact all arachnids (not just spiders) have four pairs of legs. Insects have three pairs. Also, notice that I said "four pairs" instead of "eight." The number of leg pairs (one pair per leg-bearing segment) is more significant than individual legs, which can be lost.

Myth 5: Most spiders could not bite humans because their fangs are too small. Fact: That may actually be true of a few of the smallest spiders. However, there are well-documented human bite cases from spiders as small as 3 millimeters long. (The bites caused no ill effects, of course!)

It's not that spiders can't bite, but that they don't bite except very rarely. And even on those rare occasions the bite almost always has only trivial effects on the human, who after all weighs from one to several million times as much as the spider!

Myth 6: Spiders are easy to identify. Fact: No such luck! The world holds over 50,000 species of spiders classified into over 100 families. In your local area there are likely at least 30 families and a few hundred species. Even identifying a spider to family is no trivial task.

All the many published guides to spider families are so organized that a beginner will get it wrong about half the time. At species level, one needs an expensive microscope, a library of hundreds of separate books, monographs and articles, and a few years of experience to understand the many microscopic details that identify a spider, their similarities, differences and variation.

Myth 7: A deadly exotic spider has been found lurking under toilet seats in airports and airplanes. Fact: This urban legend began in August 1999 as a deliberate Internet hoax, disguised as a news story. The original version refers to a spider allegedly called Arachnius gluteus, or South American Blush Spider. Nothing mentioned in the story is genuine; there is no such spider, no such airport, no such medical association, no such doctor, no such restaurant, and no such aeronautics board.

In October, 2002 a new version of the same hoax surfaced. This one mentions a real species, the south Asian jumping spider Telamonia dimidiata, but it is still a hoax. A jumping spider is one of the least likely to be found in such a situation - they are sun-lovers and in any case are no more than mildly toxic to humans.

Myth 8: Tarantulas are dangerous or deadly to humans. Fact: Outside of Southern Europe (where the name is used for a wolf spider, famous in medieval superstition as the alleged cause of "tarantella" dancing), the word tarantula is most often used for the very large, furry spiders of the family Theraphosidae.

Hollywood is mostly to blame for these 'spiders are toxic-to-humans' reputation. Tarantulas are large, photogenic and easily handled and therefore have been very widely used in horror and action-adventure movies.

When some "venomous" creature is needed to menace James Bond or Indiana Jones to invade a small town in enormous numbers, or to grow to gigantic size and prowl the Arizona desert for human prey, the special-effects team calls out the tarantulas! In reality, the venom of these largest-of-all-spiders generally has very low toxicity to humans.

Myth 9: Spiders can lay their eggs under human skin in wounds created by their bites. Fact: In a surprisingly widespread urban legend, a nameless woman is bitten by a spider (usually on her cheek) while on vacation. She later develops a swelling, from which baby spiders emerge!

Somehow or other, the venom must have transformed into eggs. Spiders do not find the human body a suitable site for egg laying and no actual case anything like this can be found anywhere in scientific or medical literature.

Myth 10: Some spiders are deadly. Fact: There is no spider species anywhere that can properly be called "deadly." Obviously a few people have died from spider venom, but there is no species anywhere on earth capable of causing death in humans in as much as 10% of cases, even if untreated.

If the person bitten obtains medical aid, death from genuine spider bite is almost unknown in North America and a decided rarity worldwide. Deadly spiders that can incapacitate you in minutes? Only in the movies!

About the Author:
Nikki Fox has studied spiders for over 2 years to help beat her own fear of them. She is sharing her advice on arachnophobia and spider prevention in the home or workplace on a special website www.spiderpanic.com

Researchers say that new, 10 million year old fossils found in Ethiopia, prove that the theory that humans may have evolved from a species of great apes 8 million years ago, may not be true, but that humans may have split from apes as long as 10.5 million years ago.

At least nine fossilized teeth, one canine tooth and 8 molars, of a previously unknown species of apes found in Africa were discovered by a team of researchers from Ethiopia and Japan who then compared the 3-D make up of the teeth to other fossils that date back as far as 8 million years and found that the fossils are likely a "direct ancestor" of apes currently living in Africa and that the new ape fossils were that of a species of gorilla who ate mostly plants high in fiber.

Current fossils and research say that the evolutionary split from apes to humans occurred at least 8 million years ago. The new fossils say that the split may have happened as long as 10.5 million years ago.

"Based on this fossil, that means the split is much earlier than has been anticipated by the molecular evidence. That means everything has to be put back," said researcher at the Rift Valley Research Service in Ethiopia and a co-author of the study, Berhane Asfaw.

Despite the finds, other researchers are not convinced that the findings are correct.

"It is stretching the evidence to base a time scale for the evolution of the great apes on this new fossil. These structures appear on at least three independent lineages of apes, including gorillas, and they could relate to a dietary shift rather than indicating a new genetic trait," said a Professor at the London Natural History Museum in the United Kingdom, Peter Andrews who also added, "but the fossil evidence for the evolution of our closest living relatives, the great apes, is almost non-existent.

Researchers have named the newly discovered species Cororapithecus abyssinicus whose remains were found in the Afar Region of Ethiopia, the same place where the remains of Lucy were discovered in 1974.