Frozen Mouse cloned - Whats Next ?

Japanese Scientists have successfully cloned a mouse which has be frozen for 16 years. taking a step in the long impossible dream of bringing back extinct animals such as mammoths.

Scientists at the government-backed research institute Riken used the dead cell of a mouse that had been preserved at minus minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit -- a temperature similar to frozen ground.

The scientists hope that the first-of-a-kind research will pave the way to restore extinct animals such as the mammoth.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in the United States.

Source: ABCnews

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Mammals facing Threat of Extinction

According to a survey 25% of the mammals are on the verge of extinction. The Red List of Threatened Species says populations of more than half of mammalian species are falling, with Asian primates particularly at risk. The main cause of this due to the deforestation. Red list for the current year checked with 5,487 mammals and out of this 1,141 are identified to be on the very verge to disappearance.

The Red List is published approximately once every year. Although designed as the definitive global list of threatened species, in practice the rankings come from assessments covering different types of plants and animals, and some areas of the list will be more up to date than others.

Source: BBC

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Elephant cured from Drug Addiction

An Asian elephant that was fed bananas laced with heroin by cruel smugglers to keep him under control has been put through a detox program by Chinese vets in Beijing.

Big Brother is four years old and has suffered much in his young lifetime. He was illegally captured in 2005 in southwest China and when police arrested the smugglers some months later and freed the elephant, authorities noticed that the poor creature was displaying repeated signs of distress.

The elephant was suffering from drug withdrawal symptoms and was sent to a wild animal protection center, which provided a three-year detox program.

Big Brother is fine today. He received a year of treatment that consisted of methadone injections at five times the maximum human dosage.

The dose was gradually reduced and he rallied and recovered. He and three other elephants that had been held by smugglers will soon arrive at a wildlife park in Kunming, the capital of southwest China’s Yunnan province to live their lives drug-free and as happy as can be expected.

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