War on illegal felling, poaching can save Amur tiger - ecologists.

VLADIVOSTOK, January 16 (Itar-Tass) -- For the work to save the
endangered Amur triger to be effective more resolute action is to be taken
against illegal forest felling and poaching, and the number of wild-life
preserves in the beast's habitat, increased, a group of ecologists said
this week. The specialists proposed a seven-point program for the Amur
tiger's protection.

The press-secretary of the World Wildlife Fund's Amur branch, Yelena
Starostina, told Itar-Tass the ecologists suggest a complete ban on
felling the cedar. Cedar nuts are the main food in the diet of animals in
the Far Eastern taiga forests. Local people also call the cedar "the bread
tree". With the disappearance of the cedar nut the wild boar will migrate
elsewhere and the tiger will have to prey to hunt. Another effective
measure the ecologists have proposed will be the comprehensive
introduction of a variety of bio-technical measures at all hunting
estates, which will allow for an increase in the population of hoofed
animals by 200-300 percent. Also, subventions for the protection of rare
species addressed to the hunting watchdog agencies of the Primorye and
Khabarovsk territories are to be expanded manyfold.
The ecologists suggest increasing the area of wild-life preserves to
25 percent of the Amur tiger's natural habitat. For this the protected
zones of the Ussuri and Lazo preserves, the national parks 'Tiger's Voice,
'Udege Legend' and 'Antyuisky' will have to be increased and three new
game reserves, three natural parks and four ecological corridors created.
The ecologists recommend tighter punishment for trade in tiger skins,
creation of a rehabilitation center for injured animals, the introduction
of a mandatory system of government insurance of lifestock and the
education and briefing of the local population.
According to 2005 statistics, the population of the Amur tiger in the
Primorye and Khabarovsk territories was estimated at 400-500 animals. The
tiger population is monitored on the annual basis. The latest four surveys
have exposed a downtrend, though. However, opinions vary as to how
significant the decline was. Some US wildlife protection specialists say
there has been a 40-percent reduction, while the World Wildlife Fund
estimates it at about 10-15 percent. A team of biologists and ecologists
is currently on a mission in the Ussuri forests with the aim to clear up
the situaiton.

.Baby mammoth unearthed in Yamal May 2007 proves 5,000 years older.

TYUMEN, January 16 (Itar-Tass) -- It looks like the baby mammoth,
unearthed in Russia's permafrost ground Yamal Peninsula in the Arctic in
May 2007, is 5,000 years older than it was originally estimated.
Scientists in St. Petersburg now say that the tiny she-mammoth met her
fate 42,000 years ago, and not 37,000, a senior researcher at the
Shemanovsky Museum and Exhibition Complex of the Yamal Nenets Autonomous
Area, Galina Karzanova, told the media this week. Now it is pretty clear
that the baby mammoth drowned, when the ice under it failed, and inhaled
silt.
At present the body of the world's most famed baby mammoth is in St.
Petersburg, where local scientists are preparing it for transportation to
the United States for display at several paleontological exhibitions. Some
researchers say that the mammoth, named Lyuba, represents the branch of
the mammoth family that at a certain point migrated to North America only
to return to what is now Russia's Yamal Peninsula. The baby mammoth's body
will be brought to the museum in Salekhard, the capital city of the
Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area, by the end of the year.
Scientists are unanimous the baby mammoth is an absolutely unique
fossil find. It is in a far better condition than any of those discovered
previously. It has a well-preserved trunk and eyes and hair fragments.
The Yamal Peninsula, where it was found, extends roughly 700
kilometers and is washed by the Kara Sea in the west, and by the Gulf of
Ob in the east. In the language of the indigenous ethnic group 'Yamal'
literally means the End of the World.
Lyuba the Baby Mammoth was spotted by reindeer Yuri Khudi in the upper
reaches of the Yuribei River in May 2007. It was named after the man's
wife.

-0-str