Spying on Farm Animals - VOA Special English - Phần 3 ppsx

Spying on Farm AnimalsThis is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.. This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written by George Grow.. This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT R

Spying on Farm Animals

This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT.

Wildlife experts like Jane Goodall are famous for studying animals

in the wild In recent years, a new kind of scientific study hasdeveloped More and more experts are studying cows and pigs onfarms Such experts are called farm animal ethologists They aresimilar to wildlife experts They observe farm animals in theirnatural environment and interfere as little as possible

The United States Department of Agriculture employs two farmanimal ethologists They measure stress in farm animals as part ofefforts to improve the way the animals are treated Stress is amental or emotional influence that is harmful to the body

Julie Morrow-Tesch was the first U-S-D-A farm animal ethologist.She says stress in animals can cause serious problems Theseinclude slower growth, disease, injury and sometimes death

Mizz Morrow-Tesch and her team work from a large vehicle thathas cameras and other equipment They work near large, openfeeding areas for cattle in the state of Texas Team members usehidden cameras or sit on top of the vehicle to study the animals.They observe the actions of individual cows every fifteen minutes

Each feeding area has two-hundred or more cattle The team canstudy several feeding areas at the same time The vehicle keepsteam members hidden from the cattle The team uses specialnight-observation equipment to avoid the need for bright lights

Mizz Morrow-Tesch and her team studied more than five-thousandcattle in thirty-one feeding areas They recorded the cows feeding,drinking, standing, lying and walking They also recordedaggressive actions among the animals

Their observations already have identified some problems andpossible answers For example, they found that feeding the

animals just before sunset instead of in the morning reducedaggression among the animals Aggressive cattle may injure otheranimals.

The team also identified the value of protecting cattle in hotweather Cattle kept away from direct sunlight reached their marketweight twenty days earlier than animals in unprotected areas Also,the protected cattle weighed about twenty-seven kilograms morethan the other animals

This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written

by George Grow

Penguins Dying

This is with the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT.

Experts say a shortage of fish and other food is threatening many

of the world's penguins They say as many as ten of the seventeenkinds of penguins may be in danger of disappearing

For example, thousands of Magellanic penguins build their nests atPunta Tombo, Argentina Wildlife Conservation Societyresearchers have studied these birds for eighteen years They saythe numbers of penguins have decreased by thirty percent sinceNineteen-Eighty-Seven

Penguins are black and white birds that live in the southern half ofthe world They are common to South America, New Zealand,Australia and South Africa Many live near cold waters But somelive near warm waters in the Galapagos Islands, near the coast ofEcuador Pengins cannot fly But they are fine swimmers.Penguins eat fish Some kinds of penguins eat a small shrimp-likecrustacean called krill

Many scientists blame global warming for the decrease in penguinpopulations They believe the heating of the atmosphere hascaused ocean waters to become warmer The scientists say higherwater temperatures have reduced the supply of fish and krill

Rising air and water temperatures may have especially harmedGalapagos penguins Researchers say that some years thesebirds are completely unable to reproduce In addition, many adultpenguins die of hunger.

Widespread fishing, exploration for oil and oil leaks also threatenpenguins Poisonous organisms in ocean water are anotherdanger These toxic blooms result from changes in the oceanwater Some scientists believe the warming of the oceans isresponsible

In Nineteen-Ninety, more than half the yellow-eyed penguins inNew Zealand died suddenly These endangered birds may havedied of a mysterious disease Penguins also have natural enemies,including wild dogs, sharks, seals and sea lions

News about penguins is not all bad, however About a year ago, oilleaking from a ship threatened forty percent of the penguins inSouth Africa The penguins became covered with oil Butthousands of people helped clean and treat the birds Then theyreturned the penguins to the wild Now these South Africanpenguins are reproducing in higher numbers than before the oilspill

This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written

by Jerilyn Watson

Beagle Brigade

By George Grow

This is the VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT

Diseases, insects and animals all can threaten agriculture Oftenthe threat of attack comes from foreign organisms The UnitedStates Department of Agriculture has many ways to protectAmerican agriculture One such method is the Beagle Brigade The Beagle Brigade is a group of non-aggressive dogs and theirhuman partners The dogs work with U-S-D-A inspectors and X-ray

equipment to prevent the entry of banned agricultural products intothe United States They search travelers' belongings for bannedfruits, plants and meat that could carry harmful organisms

All dogs have noses that are well built for smelling Their noses aredesigned to receive and trap smells

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service chose beagles foruse at airports for several reasons Beagles are intelligent andactive dogs They are loyal and obey orders American officialshave found that most beagles will remain calm in crowded, noisyareas They also are gentle with people And they have anexcellent sense of smell

Experts say beagles can identify smells so weak that even modernscientific technology could not measure them Beagles also have

an excellent ability to identify differences among smells The part of

a dog's brain that receives messages from the nerves of the nose

is highly developed This area can store information the way acomputer does

The Agriculture Department established its program with dogs inNineteen-Eighty-Four At first, different kinds of dogs were used.Then officials worked with the armed forces in Texas to trainBeagle Brigade teams In Nineteen-Eighty-Seven, the Departmentopened three training centers and began training its own teams

Now the Beagle Brigade has more than fifty teams at twenty-oneinternational airports More teams are being added Plans arebeing made to deploy teams along the American border withMexico Plans also call for the use of dogs at some mail centers

U-S-D-A officials also have provided help to agriculture officials inother countries who want to start their own dog programs Officials

in Australia, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, New Zealand and SouthKorea have asked for help

This VOA Special English AGRICULTURE REPORT was written

by George Grow

Apes Endangered

By Cynthia Kirk

This is the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT

Great apes are the animals most like humans Experts say thatgreat apes in the forests of Africa and Asia will disappear within tenyears if nothing is done to save them The United NationsEnvironment Program has begun a campaign called the Great ApeSurvival Project

Its members are working with wildlife groups and governmental organizations Their goal to prevent thedisappearance of gorillas, bonobos, chimpanzees and orangutans.The project targets areas in Africa and southeast Asia where apesare threatened by war, environmental destruction and hunting

non-Ten years ago, there were more than six-hundred mountaingorillas in eastern and central Africa Today, there are only aboutthree-hundred They are disappearing from forests in theDemocratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda Many ofthem are being killed for food as part of the growing illegal bush-meat trade

Congo was once a safe area for gorillas But years of war andforest destruction have made the gorillas easier targets for hunters.Miners searching for minerals also hunt the great apes Thegorillas that are left have to be protected by armed soldiers innational parks

Bonobos are small apes found only in the forests of Congo Twentyyears ago, there were about one-hundred-thousand bonobos.There are only about three-thousand today Some bonobos havefled to nearby countries Most of them are being hunted for food Many chimpanzees have died out in countries where they oncelived Fifty years ago, there were millions of chimpanzees across

western and central Africa Today, only about thousand chimpanzees remain

one-hundred-fifty-The orangutan is endangered in Indonesia's rainforests one-hundred-fifty-Therainforests are shrinking because of farming, cutting down treesand gold mining in protected areas

Environmental experts say apes need more protection in nationalparks They say local people need to be educated about the value

of apes and their importance to the environmental system Expertssay the apes are important for scientific study because they are soclosely related to humans

United Nations officials say they need one-million dollars to supportthe Great Ape Survival Project They want private companies toassist in the campaign

This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written

by Cynthia Kirk

Ancestor of Humans

By Jill Moss

This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT

Scientists have discovered an extremely small animal they believecould have been the ancestor of all mammals, including humans.The animal lived one-hundred-ninety-five million years ago Itweighed only about two grams Yet researchers say it hadimportant qualities that link it to mammals Mammals are warm-blooded animals that feed their young milk from their bodies

A team of American and Chinese researchers discovered ancientremains of the animal's head bone in southwestern China Zhe-XiLuo of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History led theresearchers Their findings were published last month in Sciencemagazine

The scientists say the animal was one of the smallest mammalsthat ever lived But they say the animal's brain was large compared

to other mammals Mr Luo said the ancient animal had to be verysmart because it was able to survive in a world controlled by hugedinosaurs

The researchers named the tiny animal Hadrocodium wui, whichmeans "large and full head" in the Greek language Scientists sayHadrocodium was only a little bigger than the smallest mammalnow in existence - the bumblebee bat of Thailand

Mr Luo says Hadrocodium probably ate insects And it probablyhad to eat all the time because of its small size Researchers alsobelieve the ancient animal had to hide during the day whendinosaurs were hunting This meant Hadrocodium was able tokeep a continuous body temperature in the cold night air

The researchers compared Hadrocodium's skull to other ancientand modern-day mammals They say Hadrocodium could be theclosest known ancestor of living mammals

The researchers discovered that the ancient animal had middle earbones that separated from the lower jaw bone This is an importantquality that separates mammals from the cold-blooded animalscalled reptiles The researchers also discovered that Hadrocodiumhad a large head bone This suggests that its expanding brain mayhave pushed the middle ear bones away from the jaw Mr Luo saythe ancient remains of Hadrocodium prove that some qualities ofmammals developed about forty-five-million years earlier than theyhad believed

This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Jill Moss

Insects to Control Harmful Trees

By George Grow

This is the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT

Researchers are planning to use natural enemies to stop thespread of a harmful tree in the American state of Florida Themelaleuca tree threatens to spread throughout the Everglades TheEverglades is a system of wetlands that is home to many kinds ofplants and animals

Scientists with the Agricultural Research Service have beenexploring natural methods to control the melaleuca The tree isnative to Australia In that country, more than one-hundred kinds ofinsects feed on it and keep it under control The melaleuca wasfirst brought to the United States in the early Nineteen-Hundreds.But it had no natural insect enemies in its new environment Somelaleuca trees spread uncontrolled across the southern UnitedStates

The tree kills and replaces other plant life in the Everglades It isnow blamed for environmental losses of up to one-hundred-seventy million dollars a year

The Fergusonina fly is a natural enemy of the melaleuca Anextremely small worm, called a nematode, lives inside the fly Ateam of American scientists is working with the AustralianBiological Control Research Laboratory They collectedFergusonina flies from Australia The scientists put the flies on testplants to see if they attacked them They found that the flies arelikely to survive and reproduce only on the melaleuca trees inFlorida The flies would not harm other plants This information wasimportant for officials who approved a request to send thousands

of flies to the University of Florida for additional tests

Ted Center is the chief of the Agriculture Department's InvasivePlant Research Laboratory He says tests show that theFergusonina fly and the nematode are genetically different fromother insects that attack other plants He says this means that theyeat, live and reproduce only in one kind of plant The scientists noware planning more testing before proposing the release of theinsects in the Everglades

Four years ago, scientists from Florida and Australia releasedanother natural enemy of the melaleuca, the snout beetle.Scientists have released more than fifty-thousand of those insects

in south Florida The scientists believe the Fergusonina fly andnematode would help the beetle and strengthen the effort againstthe melaleuca trees

This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written

by George Grow

Dolphins' Self-Recognition

By Jill Moss

This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT

Many people believe that dolphins are among the smartest animals

on Earth Dolphins are warm-blooded sea animals Recently,scientists discovered that dolphins could do something thathumans can do They say dolphins can recognize themselves in amirror, a shiny piece of glass

Scientists Diana Reiss and Lori Marino discovered this special skill.They did separate studies with two bottlenose dolphins at the NewYork Aquarium in Brooklyn, New York Their findings werepublished in a National Academy of Sciences publication

The researchers say their study proves that dolphins have a highlevel of intelligence Mizz Reiss and Mizz Marino say that dolphinshave a level of self-knowledge because they are able to recognizethemselves in mirrors This level of self-knowledge has beenidentified only in humans and one other kind of animal - the greatapes

The two researchers discovered this by using a test created thirtyyears ago by scientist Gordon Gallop Mr Gallop placed a mark onanimals He wanted to find out if the animals were able torecognize themselves in a mirror He found that when animalsstudy the marking in a mirror, they show signs of self-recognition

Mizz Reiss and Mizz Marino tested the two dolphins many timeswith two markers They used one marker filled with ink that madereal marks They also used a marker filled with water that did notmake a mark Each dolphin repeatedly swam to the mirror toinspect the place where it had been marked with ink The scientistssay the dolphins turned and positioned themselves to get a betterlook in the mirror

Mizz Reiss says that most animals either refuse to look at a mirror

Or they react aggressively as if the image were another animal

Experts say this new research provides more information abouthow the brain develops During the past sixty-million years, thebrains of dolphins and primates have developed differently.Primates include humans, apes and monkeys For example,dolphin brains lack a front part, or lobe, found in primate brains.Also, one area of dolphin brains is organized differently from that ofprimates Mizz Reiss says that even though these animals havedeveloped differently over time, their brains have developed asimilar intelligence

This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Jill Moss

Alligators' Success Story

By Paul Thompson

This is Steve Ember And this is Shirley Griffith with the VOA

Special English program, EXPLORATIONS

Not too long ago, the American alligator was in danger ofdisappearing from the Earth Today we tell the success story of thisanimal

When Spanish explorers reached what would become the southernState of Florida, they found a long, fierce green animal It had awide head and a large mouth that opened to show up to eightyteeth The Spanish explorers called this dangerous creature "El

lagarto." The words mean, "the lizard." In time the Spanish wordswould change to the modern English word, "alligator."

For many years, the huge green animals were hunted and theirterritory destroyed Their tough, beautiful skin was made intoshoes, belts and other leather products Their natural territory wasused to build roads, streets, homes and cities For years theAmerican alligators were disappearing faster than they couldreproduce Scientists knew the animal was in danger ofdisappearing from the Earth

In Nineteen-Sixty-Seven, Congress approved a law that wouldprotect the American alligator The United States Fish and WildlifeService announced rules for saving the animals

To better understand the situation, come with us for a few minutes

We will take you to a large hole filled with water that is the home of

an American alligator

The water hole is in the extreme southern part of the state ofFlorida It is in a land area protected by the federal government the Everglades National Park

((MUSIC BRIDGE))

A large green animal slowly comes to the surface of the water Atfirst, only its eyes and front of its long nose can be seen above thewater It moves very slowly in the water without effort Its long tailmoves slowly from side to side From its nose to the end of its tail it

is almost three meters long

The animal is hungry But it is in no hurry It caught and killed asmall deer several days before It attacked the deer that had come

to the water to drink Then it hid the dead deer under water Nowthe alligator wants to eat

It is the hot dry summer season now There has been little rain forseveral weeks The huge reptile dug this large hole that is filledwith water

Digging the hole has taken the alligator several years Each yearthe hole became bigger and deeper Digging was slow hard work.

As the animal dug with its short legs, it pushed away the plants itfound Some of the plants grew around the outside of the hole.Seeds from trees blew into the area and grew where the alligatorhad pushed dirt and mud out of the hole Now, the huge water filledhole was surrounded by many different kinds of plants and trees

Millions of liters of water are just below the surface of the ground,

so the large hole is always filled with fresh, clear water In the dryseason, other animals come here for the needed liquid Otheranimals and birds are able to survive the dry season because ofthe water hole And, the other animals became a fresh supply offood for the dark green alligator, which did not have to leave home

to hunt

This alligator is a large female Several weeks before, she had built

a nest above the water She had laid almost forty eggs Each eggwas just a little larger than that of a chicken

She had covered the nest with wet plants and mud She had beencarefully guarding the nest since she placed the eggs there Thesun and plants had kept the nest and the eggs warm

Early this morning she heard the sound young alligators makewhen they have left the egg Because the eggs were so wellprotected by the nest, the young alligators can not climb out

The mother alligator opens the nest area to permit the smallreptiles to enter the water They weigh only about sixty gramseach They are about twenty centimeters long As the young leavethe nest, birds come to the area Within an hour, birds eat twelve ofthem

The mother alligator tries to protect her young She will protectthem for almost three years But even an alligator can not protectall of the young that leave the nest Until they grow large enough,the young alligators are in danger of being eaten by birds and otheranimals

Yet in time, each of the young alligators who survive will become afierce looking animal up to four meters long Each one will be aruler of its own small area Each one will be a dangerous hunter ((MUSIC BRIDGE))

The story we just told could have taken place ten thousand yearsago Or it could be taking place today The alligator is a veryancient and successful creature It has not changed much sincethe time huge reptiles called dinosaurs ruled the Earth

The Everglades National Park is home to many thousands of thesehuge green animals When the alligators began to disappear,scientists started to understand the effect of the animals on theenvironment of the Everglades area

Without the alligators to help provide water, other animals couldnot survive the dry season Without the water holes dug by thealligators, fewer plants and trees would grow in the area Scientistsdiscovered that one kind of turtle places its eggs near the alligator'snest The turtle depends on the alligator to survive The turtle isonly one of several animals that needs the water provided by thealligator

The American alligator is a real success story It is a good example

of how federal and state laws helped an animal increase innumbers

In Nineteen-Sixty-Seven, the Federal Government declared thealligator to be endangered Laws were passed that said it could nolonger be hunted The government also approved laws to make itillegal to buy and sell products made from alligator skin

Government scientists began projects in Louisiana, Florida,Georgia Texas and South Carolina These are states where thealligator is found in the wild

The projects called for some alligators to be raised on farms Morethan one-hundred-fifty alligator farms were built in the states ofFlorida, Louisiana, and Texas All of these farms were linked to a

central program that supervised the project to increase the number

of alligators

Scientists started the farms by collecting eggs and young alligatorsfrom their natural area These alligators were cared for andprotected

The young alligators were returned to natural areas when theybecame large enough to survive on their own About seventeenpercent of the alligators raised on farms were returned to the wild.Others were kept on the farms to reproduce

In a little more than ten years, the number of the animals survivingincreased Government records now show that more than three-hundred-fifty-thousand alligators live on farms Many of thesefarms no longer belong to the government They are businessesthat use the alligator as a crop

Leather products from the alligator can once again be found forsale Some eating places offer alligator meat However the farmsand alligator products still are carefully controlled

The federal government also learned that helping the alligatorrecover called for educating the public about what can be a verydangerous animal In the past, alligators were killed if they cameanywhere near a population center Now, special workers removethem if possible and take them back to wild areas

The public has been taught about how to live with alligators Forexample, Alabama now has about thirty-five thousand alligatorsliving in natural areas State records show there have been onlyfive recorded alligator attacks on people While these attacks wereserious, no one was killed

In Nineteen-Eighty-Seven, the federal government declared theAmerican alligator to be fully recovered It was no longerconsidered to be an endangered animal Yet many protectionmeasures remain in place to make sure the population of alligatorsdoes not decrease

Today, visitors to the southern state of Florida can see manyalligators at the Everglades National Park Park workers showvisitors alligator water holes, young alligators, and huge adults.Alligators can also be seen in great numbers in many other areaswhere they live in the wild

The alligator is a success story today because of the work of theUnited States Fish and Wildlife Service Yet it is only one animalthe agency is working to help survive Five-hundred-elevenanimals are on the list of those that need help if they are to surviveinto the future

Dinosaurs and Birds

By Mario Ritter

This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT

A debate has continued in the scientific community concerning theancestors of modern birds Some scientists believe birdsdeveloped from the ancient creatures called dinosaurs Othersbelieve birds developed separately

A recent discovery seems to support the idea that birds developedfrom dinosaurs Nature magazine has published a report byChinese and American researchers It describes the first clearevidence of a dinosaur with feathers Ji Qiang of the ChineseAcademy of Geological Sciences in Beijing and Mark Norell of theAmerican Museum of Natural History in New York wrote the report

Fossils are the mineral remains of bones buried millions of yearsago The fossil of a feather-covered dinosaur was discovered inLiaoning Province in northeastern China Several fossils ofdinosaurs with feathers have been found in this area of China But,

it is not always easy to confirm fossil discoveries

Last year, we reported that a fossil dinosaur with feathers wasfound to be false But, this most recent discovery appears to beconfirmed

The dinosaur was about a meter long It walked on two legs andhad a feather-like covering all over its body The small dinosaur didnot have wings and could not fly But some of its bone structurewas similar to that of birds The animal lived about one-hundred-thirty-million years ago

Hans-Dieter Sues of the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto,Canada says the fossil evidence shows that non-flying dinosaurshad a feather covering Mr Sues says the most recent fossilsprovide strong evidence that birds developed from dinosaurs

Both Chinese and American researchers now believe that feathersdeveloped to keep dinosaurs warm They believe that somedinosaurs may have been warm-blooded like mammals and birdsare today For many years, paleontologists studying dinosaurshave thought that some dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded.Now the confirmed discovery of a non-flying dinosaur with feathersappears to support that theory

The theory that feathers covered many dinosaurs requires a greatchange in the way we imagine those ancient creatures In the Latinlanguage, "dinosaur" means "terrible lizard." Instead, dinosaursmay have looked like terribly large birds

This VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT was written by

Mario Ritter

Spiders and Silk

By Jill Moss

This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT

Spiders are very small So it is easy to think that they do not makeanything strong However, a scientist at Oxford University in Britainhas discovered this it not true David Knight says that eight-leggedspiders create a material called silk that could be as strong asrope

Mr Knight has been studying spiders and the natural silk materialthey produce for many years The main subject of his research isthe complex chemical process that spiders use to make their silk

Mr Knight's findings were published recently in the Britishmagazine, Nature

Mr Knight says that silk is very thin But it is extremely strong This

is because the threads of silk are made into a complex structure

Mr Knight says the silk is made from protein molecules It forms inthe parts of the spider's body called silk glands The silk is likepieces of string It is rolled into small balls

When the spider wants to make, or spin, some silk, it carefullyunrolls the balls The pieces of string join together When thespider wants to move, it joins all the small strings of silk into onelong thread Then it can move down the thread Wherever a spidergoes, it spins a silk thread behind itself

Mr Knight says that spiders can make and use as many as sevenkinds of silk It uses one kind of silk for making the structure of thespider's web where it traps insects It uses another stretchy silkfor making round links in the web Mr Knight says those links arecovered by another kind of silk that is very sticky This stickymaterial makes it difficult for insects to escape after they arecaught in the spider's web

Spider silk is strong enough to catch insects Its strength can bemeasured Mr Knight says the silk from an Orb web spider is fivetimes stronger than fiber made by man He also estimates that arope of spider silk as thick as one pencil could pull a large ship

through the water He says one day people may be able to makematerial as strong as a spider's silk It could be used in place ofrope

Spider silk is a useful material It does not harm the environment Itcan be re-used by spiders So people may wonder why theycannot use spiders to manufacture silk for industrial use Mr Knightsays it is because spiders can not be farmed He says if you putthem in a room together, they will try to eat each other

This VOA Special English Science Report was written by Jill Moss

Oregon Frog Study

By Cynthia Kirk

This is the VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT

Scientists have tried for years to understand what is causing frogs

to disappear around the world Since Nineteen-Eighty, at leasttwenty kinds of frogs have disappeared Many explanations havebeen proposed They include pollution, infections and unidentifiedenvironmental threats

Scientists have warned about the possible harm to theenvironment caused by warming of the Earth Now researchers saythey have evidence that climate change could be a cause of thefrog deaths The findings are the first to link climate change withthe decreasing frog population in North America

A team of researchers studied frog eggs in small bodies of water inthe northwestern American state of Oregon Joseph Kiesecker ledthe study in Oregon's northern Cascade Mountains

Scientists have known for years that frog eggs in the westernstates are dying from a fungal infection in water The latestresearch suggests that the infection is the result of a complexseries of events caused by warming temperatures

The scientists believe the frogs' eggs become infected becausewater levels where the eggs are laid are too low They say climatechange has reduced the amount of rainfall in areas where the frogslay their eggs Lower water levels permit more dangerousultraviolet light from the sun to reach the eggs Ultraviolet radiationcan cause the eggs to lose their ability to resist deadly fungalinfections

The researchers had done other experiments in the mountains Inthose studies, scientists thought that ultraviolet radiation from thedecreasing amount of ozone in the atmosphere was causing thefrog deaths Ozone in the upper atmosphere blocks ultravioletradiation from the sun

Some scientists disagree with the new study They say the effects

of ultraviolet radiation in Oregon probably would not happenanywhere else They also disagree about whether the fungalinfection is the direct cause of the frog deaths Some scientists saythe fungus could have developed in the eggs after they hadalready died of a different cause

Scientists note that not all of the world's frogs lay their eggs inwater They say there are probably many reasons for thedecreasing populations of frogs around the world

This VOA Special English ENVIRONMENT REPORT was written

by Cynthia Kirk

Sleeping Rats Dream

By George Grow

This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT

A new American study offers strong evidence that animals dreamabout their daily experiences

Scientists in Massachusetts performed laboratory experiments withfour rats They found that the sleeping rats' brains showed activitythat suggested dreaming The scientists say the animals appeared

to be remembering real life events They say the rats could beusing dreams to learn or to memorize, much the way humans do.The publication Neuron reported the findings

Matthew Wilson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology inCambridge organized the study The scientists placed tinyelectrode devices in the brains of the rats The devices measuredactivity in a part of the brain called the hippocampus In humans,the hippocampus is involved in forming and storing memories

Mr Wilson and an assistant trained the rats to run through a series

of complex passages called a maze They gave the animals foodfor successfully completing each run

The scientists measured the brain activity of the rats while theanimals were running through the maze They also measured brainactivity when the rats slept Experts say animals have the samekinds of sleep periods that people do They say animalsexperience periods of rapid eye movement sleep This is a deepsleep period when people have dreams

The scientists examined the rats' brain activity during rapid eyemovement sleep They say the brain activity was almost exactly thesame as when the animals were running through the maze Thescientists believe the rats were dreaming about running

Experts have long thought that animals dream Mr Wilson says thestudy suggests that the brains of rats are more complex than hadbeen believed He says the findings could help scientists betterunderstand how the human mind works

Some scientists praised the study They say the technology opensnew possibilities for understanding sleep and dreams Otherscientists say the findings support the idea that sleep is importantfor learning and storing memories However, still other scientistssay more studies and investigation are needed

This VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT was written by

George Grow

Genetically Engineered Monkey

By Mario Ritter

This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT

American scientists have created the world's first geneticallyengineered monkey A team of scientists at the Oregon RegionalPrimate Research Center did the research that led to the birth ofthe monkey

The scientists took a gene from a kind of jellyfish They put it into aspecial virus that does not cause infection Then they put the virusinto more than two-hundred eggs from rhesus monkeys Only forty

of the eggs were successfully fertilized and began to develop Thescientists placed the fertilized eggs into twenty female monkeys.Three baby monkeys were born and survived One monkey carriedthe jellyfish gene

The gene from the jellyfish makes a protein that looks green underblue light The gene was chosen because it produces an effect thatcan be seen However, no part of the monkey appears green underblue light The scientists say the jellyfish genes are in the cells ofthe monkey But, they say the genes are not fully working in thecells

The method used to place genes from one kind of animal intoanother is not new The method has been used since Nineteen-Seventy-Six The process has been used to genetically engineerfruit flies, cows, pigs, and other animals However, this is the firsttime scientists have genetically changed a member of the group ofanimals that includes monkeys, apes and humans

Head researcher Gerald Schatten says the experiment shows thatgenetic engineering works He said his goal is to create monkeysthat have been genetically engineered to develop human diseases.Scientists could then use the animals to study new treatments forhumans with the disease However, he says the value of the workremains uncertain because of the many problems involved in the

process The scientists published their findings in the publicationScience Other scientists disagreed about the importance of theresearch

Rudolph Jaenisch of the Massachusetts Institute of Technologysays using a virus to put genes into an egg is not an effectivemethod He says this method only creates animals with addedgenes He says most human genetic diseases are caused by amissing or abnormal gene

This VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT was written by

Mario Ritter

Rare Animal Clone Dies

By George Grow

This is the VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT

American scientists have reported producing the first exact copy of

a rare animal

The baby gaur was born on January eighth in the state of Iowa Hedied two days later from a common bacterial infection Thescientists say the infection probably did not result from the methods

of cloning they used to create him

The gaur successfully grew and developed inside a common cow.Experts say he is the first clone ever born to another kind ofanimal

Gaurs are native to India and southeast Asia The wild oxen aregenerally brown or black in color In recent years, hunting byhumans has sharply reduced the gaur population Only aboutthirty-thousand of the animals are believed to exist

The baby gaur was created with the cells of a male gaur that lived

at the San Diego Zoo in California That gaur died eight years ago.Zoo officials saved his skin cells for future experiments

Scientists with an American company, Advanced Cell Technology,supervised the project The scientists removed genetic materialfrom hundreds of cow eggs Then, they added the gaur cells to theeggs They say this helped to guarantee that the resulting animalwould not be a mix between a gaur and a cow

Only one successful pregnancy resulted from the experiment Thescientists named the baby gaur Noah He weighed thirty-sixkilograms when born and seemed healthy However, he quicklydeveloped a bacterial disease common among young animals Thescientists were unable to save his life

The scientists say they are sad that the animal died They sayNoah was full of energy and friendly during his short life However,they are pleased that the experiment was successful

The American company is planning other projects The scientistshope to produce a clone of a wild mountain goat native to Spain.They plan to use cells from the last known bucardo goat, whichdied last year No other bucardos are know to exist

The successful cloning of a gaur suggests that other rare animalscould be brought back into existence Yet, wildlife activists notethat the technology is costly And, they say there is no reason tocreate more rare animals if nothing is being done to deal with thecauses of their disappearance

This VOA Special English SCIENCE REPORT was written by

Today we report on Americans and their cats on the VOA Special

English program, THIS IS AMERICA

Americans have more than sixty-two million pet dogs But evenmore cats more than sixty-four million live in American homes

These pet cats may have long hair or short hair They are differentcolors and sizes Some are costly animals that take part incompetitions Many more are common American mixtures ofseveral kinds of cats

Most house cats live a good life They are not expected to work fortheir food Instead, they rule their homes like furry kings andqueens They wait for their owners to serve them

Americans are increasingly serious about their cats Theseconcerns have made the care of cats into big business

Each year, cat-owners buy tons of food especially prepared forcats They buy toys and other equipment They buy jewelry andclothes for themselves with images of cats on them Some ownerseven bury their dead pets in special burial grounds

Humans have loved and respected cats for centuries Scientistshave evidence that cats and people lived together as long as eight-thousand years ago The small house cat was once a highlyhonored animal In ancient Egypt, for example, people who killed acat could be punished by death

Early in American history cats were not treated as gods, however.They probably arrived in the United States with settlers and tradersfrom Europe These cats worked They killed rats and mice

Sometimes, Americans mistreated their cats During the early days

of the nation, religious extremists believed that some cats wereworking for the devil Black cats were especially suspected ofbeing evil

Later, American families who had enough food began taking catsinto their homes People cared for the cats because the animals

gave them pleasure The cats thanked people for feeding them bymaking a purring sound This pleasant noise usually means a cat ishappy

((BRIDGE MUSIC))

Animal experts offer several reasons why cats have become sopopular as house pets They say cats need less care than dogs.And cats do not seem to suffer as much as dogs from being alone

if the owners are away

Still, millions of other people do not like cats at all They say dogsare better and more loving pets They say cats do not have muchfeeling They believe cats stay with people only to be fed

Cat owners defend their pets against such criticism They say catsare just much more independent than dogs

A student of animal medicine explains the situation this way: Dogsfollow you around They want you to talk to them and play withthem a lot of the time Cats like more space and more privacy Thisdoes not mean they do not love their owners

Cat owners often like to read about cats Many books about catsare in American libraries and bookstores Cats also appear as theheroes of newspaper comics, television programs and movies.Among the most famous is Garfield He is an orange, striped tigercat

Garfield eats too much His owner, Jon, is always trying to get thecat to lose weight However, Garfield usually eats what he wants

He often shows more intelligence than his owner

Some cat lovers raise and show costly, pure-bred cats at specialcompetitions The United States has a number of organizationsthat investigate cats before declaring them pure-bred A pure-bredcat has ancestors who were only a single kind of unusual cat likethe Siamese or the Manx

One such organization is the Cat Fanciers Association,incorporated, in the eastern city of Manasquan (Man' ah skwahn),New Jersey The Cat Fanciers organization recognizes more thanthirty-five kinds of pure-bred cats It says Persians and Mainecoons are some of the most popular cats in America today

A Persian looks something like a ball covered by fur A Maine coonhas large bones and a wide nose Some people think the Mainecoon looks like a small mountain lion

Thomas Dent is the head of the Cat Fanciers Association Mr Dentand his wife raise Silver Persian cats in their home He says thetwo humans share one room while the cats rule the rest of thehouse He says he does not count the number of cats he owns

Caring for these cats costs a lot of money The Dents buy themfood and pay for their health care They also pay for travel andother costs involved in showing the cats at competitions

Cat shows are held throughout the United States They also areheld in many other countries Pure-bred cats are judged on theirappearance and size They also are judged on how they act

A truly fine show animal may earn its owners a large amount ofmoney Mr Dent says someone once paid about twenty-five-thousand dollars for a cat to be shown in competitions.Surprisingly, this was not an unusual animal like an Abyssinian or

an Angora It was an American short-hair The seller said the pricerepresented the money spent on preparing the cat for its showappearances

Most cats of mixed breed are not worth much money Still, theirowners think of them as family members Such cats are probablyamong the most-loved animals in America

An animal doctor in the city of Rockville, Maryland, examines andtreats pets in their owners' homes She takes care of all kinds ofanimals with all kinds of problems