By Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–Colored tags attached to tuna species like the “tangi” or “tambakul” can earn fishermen or consumers money rewards, an official of the Department of Agriculture said Monday.

“This tuna tagging project carries a $10 reward for yellow tag, $50 for green tag and $250 for orange tag. The latter two have accompanying devices inserted in the body cavity of the fish (near the abdomen). The tag on the former is attached on the back of the fish near the second dorsal fin,” said Malcolm Sarmiento, director Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in DA’s press statement.

“We are calling on our fishermen and the consuming public to surrender to BFAR or the LGUs, any tag found in fishes particularly big-eye, skipjack, or yellowfin tuna and other marine fishes, as these are part of scientific studies,” Sarmiento said.

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Izah Morales
INQUIRER.net

A NEW rodent species discovered in May 2006 in Mt. Hamiguitan in Davao Oriental needs a wider area of habitat, researchers said.

Currently, the Batomys hamiguitan or the Hamiguitan hairy-tailed rat lives in the Mt. Hamiguitan Range Wildlife Sanctuary, which is 6,834 hectares in total surface area. However, this sanctuary is adjacent to seven Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA) also in Mt. Hamiguitan which cover 17,572 hectares, which is half of the mountain’s cover.

Leonilo Rivera, DENR Protected Area and Wildlife Division Chief of Region XI, said that expanding the protected area will take some time.

However, Edwin Domingo, assistant director of DENR Mines and Geosciences Bureau, clarified that there is no mining activity yet in Mt. Hamiguitan.

“We don’t have any conflict with [the] protected area. Normally, pinag-aaway kami [they let us fight]. Any and all protected and critical areas proclaimed as watershed are closed to mining applications, so if by chance, nagsubmit ka sa amin ng [you submit an] application, and we find out when we double check that you’re encroaching in this, we have to tell you that you have to [take] that out,” said Domingo.

Domingo said the mining applications have already existed prior to the proposal to make the area a protected area.

“It is not up to us in the DENR to make that categorical statement because in the NIPAS [National Integrated Protected Areas System] law, there is a procedural guideline. There is a process for consultation. We are not in the position to say, yes or no,” said Domingo when asked on their action on the requested expansion of the protected area.

Republic Act 7586 or the National Integrated Protected Areas System NIPAS law protects “outstandingly remarkable areas and biologically important public lands that are habitats of rare and endangered species of plants and animals representative of bio-geographic zones and related ecosystems.”

Through Republic Act 9303, Mt. Hamiguitan was declared as a protected area under the category of wildlife sanctuary in July 2004.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, Mt. Hamiguitan includes at least 11 endangered vertebrate species.

“We are requesting the Protected Area Management Board to consider expanding the current protected to cover the majority of the habitat of the rare and restricted Hamiguitan hairy-tailed rat,” said Jayson Ibañez, coordinator of the field research program of the Philippine Eagle Foundation (PEF).

Researchers from the US-based Field Museum of Natural History discovered the Hamiguitan hairy-tailed rat during an expedition in the Davao region.

Researchers along with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the PEF collected specimens from Mt. Hamiguitan and conducted a biodiversity survey that led to the discovery of the new species.

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By Agence France-Presse

PARIS — A Japanese researcher has put paleo-biologists in a flap by suggesting pterosaurs — the winged lizards beloved of toymakers and dino movies — were unable to fly, New Scientist says.

Katsufumi Sato of the University of Tokyo carried out an unusual study on the Crozet Islands, in the southern Indian Ocean, to test flying ability among large sea birds.

He attached accelerometers the size of AA batteries to the wings of 28 birds from five large species, including the wandering albatross, the world’s biggest flying bird.

Albatrosses fly by riding shifting winds, thanks to wings spanning 3.5 metres (11.4 feet) whose shape can be varied to exploit each draft.

When there is no wind, or if the wind blows at a constant speed, the bird can only stay aloft by flapping its wings, otherwise it is forced down by gravity and air resistance.

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By Alex Villafania
INQUIRER.net

WHAT do the sheep Dolly, the dog Snuppy and Amy the cow have in common? They’re all clones, exact copies of their parents from a single cell. Now the Philippines is hoping to replicate the same cloning techniques to deliver the country’s first cloned carabao or water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis carabanesis).

The Philippine Carabao Center (PCC) and the Department of the Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry, and Natural Resources Research and Development (DOST-PCARRD) are working together to create a breed of cloned “super buffalos” for use primarily to improve the country’s livestock supply.

These super buffalos are actually the regular carabaos that have been naturally bred specifically to yield more milk and meat while resistant to carabao diseases. They have not been genetically modified in any way.

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By Louise Daly
Agence France-Presse

CHICAGO–It sounds like something out of “Star Trek” — a tropical plant that uses toxic and come-hither odors and rising temperatures to ensure pollination.

But in fact, this scenario is straight out of nature.

In a paper released Thursday, US biologists report that the Australian cycad, a primitive tropical plant with large seed cones, uses a novel “pull-push” method to manipulate the tiny flying insects, or thrips, that it relies on for pollination.

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