Zoo: For conservation education

The growing awareness for nature and wildlife conservation has made the zoo a popular institution. Zoos have a great potential to educate people and all modern zoos in the world are contributing to saving this planet through conservation and environmental education. "Central Zoo", the only zoo of Nepal, was established by late Prime Minister Juddha Shamsher Jung Bahadhur Rana on the occasion of Bhote Jatra in 1932 as his personal collection of wild animals, reptiles and birds. In 1951 the jurisdiction of the zoo came under the Government after the fall of the Rana Regime. But the zoo was only opened for the general public on 1956. The management of the Central Zoo was given to the government under the power conferred by the Development Committee Act, 1956 until 1995. At that time, due to inefficient management and lack of resources many wildlife were badly affected as they did not get sufficient foods, medicine and treatment in time and were also kept in unhygienic conditions with very small cages bearing multiple animals.

Later on the auspicious of the Golden Jubilee Celebration of late King Birendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev, the management of the Central Zoo was formally handed over to the King Mahendra Trust for Nature Conservation (KMTNC), a non-government, non-profit and autonomous environmental organisation. The zoo was handed over to KMTNC on 29th December 1995 for 30 years and had the option to be renewable up to next 30 years for the management. KMTNC has developed many reformatory plans and even implemented some major plans for the better management and sustainability of the zoo for conservation education and wildlife research. It is estimated that more than 1 million visitors from different part of Nepal and foreign countries visit the zoo yearly which include school students, researchers, animal lovers and tourists.

The zoo at Jawalakhel covers a land area of six hectares and has more than 800 animals in small and big cages including open cages having about 121 species. The record shows that among these, there are 32 mammals, 9 reptiles, 21 fishes and 59 bird species. The National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act, 1973 protects 38 species of wildlife among which 14 species are exhibited at the Central Zoo, like the rhino, elephant, tiger and bear. The Central Zoo is very much famous for its Conservation Education Programme to school students. The zoo conducts the programme to respect nature as well as wildlife by involving students directly for taking care of wildlife from time to time. In a query, the Director of Central Zoo, R.K. Shrestha elaborated that such programmes help student to build a positive attitude towards the nature. Another interesting educational programme is the Friend’s of Zoos (FOZs). This attracts local people, students, tourists and researchers who care about wildlife.

The Central Zoo with the management of KMTNC has improved its environment and performance. Credit goes to His Majesty King Gyanendra Bir Bikram Shah Dev who was the former Chairman of KMTNC, for the promoting the zoo in the past. Similarly, credit also goes to HRH Crown Prince Paras Bir Bikram Shah Dev, who is the present chairman of KMTNC. People have a strong believe that KMTNC management will enhance the zoo for further tangible development. Nonetheless the visions of Shrestha is highly appreciable because his effective and efficient management have improved the conditions of the zoo. Similarly he played a good role in re-establishing and running the Central Zoo after 5 years of handover without any financial help from the Government.

In Nepal, after democracy some so called zoos were opened at different place such as Biratnagar, Butwal, Hetauda, Dhankuta and Nepalgunj, which do not even have the minimum standard required to keep animals safely. As there is no policy to regulate zoos in Nepal, such activities are giving a negative impact and hampering the longevity of zoos in the society. But, the Central Zoo could be a blue print for the Nepalese zoo at the present time. We should try to understand the educational and economic values of wildlife management. Similarly, we want sustainable zoos rather than the caged zoos that torture animals. A zoo is another form of natural paradise and we should learn to cash them without hampering animals.

The Central Zoo lacks sufficient space to accommodate different animals. Each animal needs certain area to be healthy and friendly. Most of the time, the zoo is forced to keep orphaned or rescued animals found in the Kathmandu Valley. One of the most important aspects to be remembered is that a zoo should not be a place to dump animals in an unproductive manner. Similarly, as zoos are good instruments to educate people about wildlife and nature, it is strongly recommended to open satellite zoos in different regions to provide conservation education and natural entertainment to the people.

It is also relevant for any modern zoo to create conditions for captive breeding so that the endangered animals have a chance for survival. Similarly, any modern zoo should present itself to the public as a living museum, rather than a mere entity having an assortment of animals for display. It should enlighten the public that animals are equally important, interesting and are essential for the life support system. The zoo management should also consider itself as a custodian of the natural gene pool, and should strive hard to make as many scientific observations on their collection as possible within the available resources.

Finally, the main role of the zoo in a country like Nepal is to create empathy amongst visitors in all forms of life and to convince them for living in harmony with nature. Last but not the least; it is urgently needed to bring a zoo policy to regulate all types of zoos in Nepal for better management and to save wildlife from being tortured.

Strokes at Home

DR DIPAK DEVKOTA

Many people with high blood pressure will suffer either a heart at tack or a stroke. High pressure can also lead to other problems like blindness and kidney failure. It can be seen that sedentary habits (lack of exercise with obesity) is associated with high blood pressure. Prevention and control of hypertension (high blood pressure) may be a major contributor in decreasing stroke victims in the community. Smoking is a major contributor to hemorrhagic stroke.

The unfortunate person with a stroke ends up an invalid who may be incontinent of urine and/or faeces. The severe restriction of life style, the need for constant attention and care for simple things in life is highly distressing. If the paralysis is associated with impairment of speech the person is left in a most miserable state. One only needs to place oneself mentally in this situation, to realise how important, attention and love is to the person with stroke. Most people with stroke will be an additional burden to family members beside the fact that they will lore their means of earning.

This situation calls to mind several important points which society (especially the government) needs to address. For one, psychiatric help and professional counselling by experts is a must for both the patient and the supporting family members. Simply prescribing antidepressants is not the answer. Social security is a must if we believe in any ethics. An invalid has to be looked after and a government that turns a blind eye to the needy is itself in need of painful and soul searching.

These are goals beyond the common man who needs to take care of a person with stroke. Immediate problems after bringing back the invalid from a short stay at busy hospitals would involve massaging, feeding, communication, toileting (taking care of urine and faeces), bathing, manicuring, dressing, grooming, movements of body etc. Most people do not understand the importance of physiotherapy which could bring back lost function in limbs. Financial circumstances prelude paying exorbitant prices to private physiotherapists for regular home visits. It may be necessary to produce more physiotherapists who would be willing to visit at home from governmental institutions – much like the community nurse.

Physicians are paid huge sums to cure bed sores that should not have happened in the first place. Tell people than an invalid should lie in the same position for large stretches of time, skin at pressure points should be managed, painful contractures of limbs can be prevented by 10-15 minutes of pressure movements of limbs is awareness that is urgently required. These are few important issues concerning stroke which, if we understand now, could help us face strokes at an older age when our sons and daughters will be too busy in their each daily chores to care about us inspite of their love.

(The author is a Senior Consultant at Kanti Children’s Hospital)

Know more: Mushrooms

Ghana Shyam Sharma

Mushrooms are the members of higher fungi. Nowadays, edible mushrooms are cultivated in about 80-90 countries including Nepal. The USA took up this work in late 19th Century. There are many varieties of edible mushrooms which are cultivated for consumption in daily life and for selling purposes. Some edible mushroom species are white butlom mushroom/gober chyau, kanye chyau, honey mushroom, chamre chyau, and parasol mushroom.

Mushroom cultivation has become quite popular among middle class farmer families in Kathmandu and other parts of our country. Mushroom are called different names in various regions of our country. It is termed as goberchhata in Saptari, Siraha and other districts of the Terai region. Another wild variety of mushroom, which is termed as conchatar in Saptari is used to cure infections, especially in children having wounds in the ear region. It is a traditional method of wound curing in which the wounded area is covered with the paste of conchatar regularly for 3 to 4 days.

Mushrooms generally contain 80 to 90 percent of water in its dry matter. The amount of water in a mushroom is greatly influenced by humidity and temperature during growth and storage. 30 to 90 percent of mushroom proteins are digestible. The fat content of mushrooms may vary from 1 to 20 percent of its dry weight. Mushrooms are also good sources of vitamins (thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, biotin, ascorbic acid, vitamins A, B, C, D) and minerals (sodium, potassium, calcium, iron). The use of mushrooms can contribute positively in facing the challenges of worldwide food shortage originating with rapidly expanding human population.

However, some species of mushrooms are also poisonous such as the death cap, fly agaric, and devil’s mushroom. Generally both poisonous and non-poisonous mushrooms are similar in appearance. Poisonous mushrooms may be slightly olive, dusty in color with unpleasant smelling characteristics. In poisonous mushrooms the bottom of the stripe is set in a cup like structure called volva, which is black in colour. Poisonous mushrooms may be detected by using the silver spoon test. After cooking mushroom, if a silver spoon is brought into contact with the mushroom the colour of the spoon will decolorise if poisonous.

Do women prefer ‘manly’ faces?

Anthony Little and David Perrett

According to the evolutionary view, the attractiveness of individuals is directly linked to their
value as mates. A "high-value" mate is someone who best enhances your reproductive success. Going back into the evolutionary past of the human race, someone who noticed the cues to the value of a potential partner, and intentionally selected a high-value mate, would leave behind more children. These children would tend to inherit genes for attentiveness. Attention to attractiveness is thus part of our evolutionary design.

Macho-face and baby-face : Faces with masculine features - such as a large jaw and prominent cheekbones - appear dominant, and dominance is associated with male reproductive success in many species, including humans. For example, surveys show that male teenagers with dominant facial features report sexual intercourse at an earlier age than less dominant looking adolescents. In some situations facial dominance can predict career success. Researchers have found, for instance, that the facial dominance of graduates from a military academy predicts their final rank at the end of their careers.

At the other extreme are feminine or ‘baby-like’ faces, characterised by smaller chins, high eyebrows and larger eyes. Both men and women with baby-like faces are seen as being warmer, more honest, and more sincere - but also more naïve and less physically strong. In simulated court trials, baby-faced individuals are less likely to be found guilty of charges involving intentional criminal behaviour. They are also given lighter sentences. Both results reflect the effects of attributed naïvety and honesty. These stereotypes appear to reflect reality. Researchers have found that the more baby-faced a man looks, the more he perceives himself as approachable and warm, and the lower he ranks in terms of aggression. In other tests, people whose faces were rated as being ‘less honest’ were more likely to volunteer for experiments that involved them in deception than people who were judged to look more honest.

Reading a face : Our research here at the University of St Andrews has demonstrated that people both in the UK and Japan prefer a feminised male face-shape to a masculinised one. This finding probably reflects the fact that people read different personalities into subjects’ face shapes. They tend to associate feminised male faces with positive traits such as honesty, warmth, co-operation and skill as a parent. Conversely, traits such as dominance are associated with masculinised face shapes. The personality of a potential partner is an important factor in reproductive success, so it’s not surprising that the personality people ‘read’ from a face influences their perception of how attractive that face is. Femininity in male faces may be attractive because it is associated with positive personality traits. But the matter is not as simple as that. Other studies have shown that people find masculinity and dominance in male faces to be attractive. The contradictory findings may reflect the costs and benefits of masculine and feminine faced males. A high status/testosterone partner may offer good immunity genes but such a partner may possess negative personality traits and be more likely to desert the female who chooses him. A resolution to this conflict could be that very attractive male faces possess a combination of both masculine and feminine features. The most attractive faces could indicate both a dominant and a co-operative partner.

Manly men and short-term relationships : We all know - often to our cost - that relationships are very variable in duration: some last for a long period time, while others are over in a single night. How long a relationship lasts is dependent on the choices of both the individuals involved in it - and that may be reflected in face shapes. Masculine-faced males are thought to make poor parents but have high quality genes, so they may make bad long-term partners but be attractive in the short-term. Conversely, feminine-faced males are seen as better parents and more co-operative, and so we might expect that they would make attractive long-term partners. We recently tested this idea with an experiment conducted on British television, which involved over 18,000 participants. We presented images of a masculine-faced male and a feminine-faced male, along with two dating adverts. The viewers had to link each male with one of the adverts. The only difference in the adverts was the potential length of the relationship sought: short-term or long-term.

We found that people associated the masculine-faced male with this advert: Attractive, young (single) professional, back in town for short period, likes pubbing, clubbing, being funny and plenty of sports, would like to meet someone for fun and laughter.

And they associated the feminine-faced male with this advert: Attractive, sporty, young, single, male with good sense of humour, professional job, looking to settle, into pubs, clubs etc, seeks someone fun for love and to cherish forever.

The results show that people think men with masculine faces are more likely to pursue short-term relationships, while more feminine-faced men are thought to be interested in long-term relationships. Why? Possibly people think that masculine-faced males are likely to invest less in relationships than feminine-faced men. Or women may select more masculine-faced males for short-term relationships.

Time of the month : Other research at St Andrews suggests a reason why females may show preferences for masculinity in some studies and femininity in others: they employ a mixed mating strategy, which varies with their menstrual cycle. According to the St Andrews results, women prefer more masculine faces at peak fertility in their cycle - when they are most likely to become pregnant. This implies that women are more attentive to good immunity genes when they are most likely to conceive, and at this time they are less interested in the long-term potential investment from feminine-faced males.

Work on the timing of affairs has shown that flings or affairs tend to coincide with a woman’s peak fertility. Putting together the two findings - masculine male faces are more attractive at peak fertility when affairs are most likely and they are also associated with short-term relationships - suggests that women may be making the best of both worlds. They take a more feminine male partner for long-term investment, while occasionally having affairs or short-term relationships with masculine males to provide good immunity genes for some of their children.

(First Science)

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