The Malaysian Insider :: Features
The Malaysian Insider :: Features |
| Elephants can tell difference between human languages Posted: 10 Mar 2014 08:23 PM PDT The study suggests elephants, already known to be intelligent creatures, are even more sophisticated than previously believed when it comes to understanding human dangers. African elephants – Loxodonta Africana – are the largest land animals on Earth and are considered a vulnerable species due to habitat loss and illegal hunting for their ivory tusks. Researchers played recordings of human voices for elephants at Amboseli National Park in Kenya to see how they would respond, according to a report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Some of the voices were from local Maasai men, a group that herds cattle and sometimes comes into conflict with elephants over access to water and grazing space. Occasionally, elephants are killed in clashes with Maasai men, and vice-versa. Other recorded voices were from Kamba men, who tend to be farmers or employees of the national park, and who rarely represent a danger to elephants. Still other voices tested on the elephants included female Maasai speakers and young boys. All were saying the same phrase: "Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming." The recorded voices were played for hundreds of elephants across 47 family groups during daylight hours. When elephants heard the adult male Maasai voices, they tended to gather together, start investigative smelling with their trunks, and move cautiously away. But when elephants heard females, boys, or adult male Kamba speakers, they did not show concern. Discriminating between languages "The ability to distinguish between Maasai and Kamba men delivering the same phrase in their own language suggests that elephants can discriminate between different languages," said co-author Graeme Shannon, a visiting fellow in psychology at the University of Sussex. That is not the same as understanding what the words mean, but still shows that elephants can decipher the more sing-songy Maasai language from the Kamba tongue, perhaps based on inflections, use of vowels, and other cues. "It is very sophisticated what the elephants are doing," said Keith Lindsay, a conservation biologist and member of the scientific advisory committee of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project. "A lot of animals will take flight at just the general threat posed by people, but a smart animal doesn't do that," he told AFP. "Their response to hearing Maasai men talking was to be alert, to move away, but not to run away in total fear," added Lindsay, who was not involved in the study. "It is suggesting that elephants are capable of thinking, of recognizing that if Maasai men are talking, they are not likely to be hunting because if they were hunting, they would be quiet." Wiser with age Elephant groups with older matriarchs in their midst did best at assessing the threat from different speakers, further bolstering the presumed role of learning in the animals' behaviour. The elephants also did not act the same way as they did when recordings of lions were played, as was shown in a previous study. In those scenarios, they bunched together so that juveniles – those most at risk from a lion attack – were in the centre, and moved toward the sounds as if to scare the lion away. When it comes to recognizing people, elephants may not be alone in this ability. Other research has suggested that wild bottlenose dolphins in Brazil have become so familiar with humans that they engage in cooperative hunting with artisanal fisherman. Great apes, crows and even prairie dogs have also been shown to differentiate between humans on some level. A separate study published last month in the journal PLoS ONE showed elephants even have specific alarm calls for when humans are near, suggesting the relationship between people and elephants has reached a troubling point and that conservation efforts are more important than ever. "We have become a formal enemy of the elephants," said Lori Marino, an expert on animal intelligence at Emory University. "They can not only make some distinctions between us, but we are now on their list of species to watch out for." – AFP, March 11, 2014. |
| Nepal’s miracle gel saves newborns from cord infection Posted: 10 Mar 2014 07:51 PM PDT "I was naturally worried and getting impatient. Now I am happy to know that my daughter is safe from infection," 18-year-old Shrestha said at the Dhulikhel hospital, 30 km (19 miles) east of Kathmandu, Nepal's capital. The baby was briefly separated from her mother when an antiseptic gel known as "Navi Malam", or chlorhexidine, was applied to avoid umbilical cord infection – a main cause of newborn deaths in the impoverished Himalayan nation. Made by local firm Lomus Pharmaceuticals and backed by the government, the United States aid agency and other donors, the gel was introduced in 2011 in hospitals across Nepal and has helped to reduce the number of babies dying from umbilical cord infection. Trials have shown a 23% drop in newborn deaths due to infection since the gel was introduced, according to USAID. Nepal was the first country to adopt chlorhexidine for newborn cord care, with Nigeria and Madagascar in the process of implementing it in their health programmes. "The US will work to bring the chlorhexidine to the world," Rajiv Shah, the head of USAID, said during a visit to Nepal last month while presenting the government with the "Pioneers Prize" for leading the cord care programme. Taboos and hurdles Nepal, which emerged from a decade-long civil war in 2006 and political infighting, has since then deepened the economic woes of its 27 million people, a quarter of whom live on less than US$1.25 a day. The crisis has hit development efforts, driving thousands of young people to seek work abroad. Experts say Nepal's public health sector is in tatters, with fewer than 2,000 doctors and some 63,000 health workers at about 100 hospitals. Many of the country's 4,000 villages do not have a health facility and nearly two-thirds of babies are born at home without the presence of skilled midwives. Part of the reason for the high number of newborn deaths, experts say, is because pregnancy in the majority-Hindu nation is attached with taboos that confront women with social and religious hurdles to safe delivery. Many women cannot discuss pregnancy with anyone or take a decision to seek medical help without the family's consent. Families often apply a paste of turmeric powder, mustard oil and ash to the newborn after cutting the umbilical cord, raising the risk of infection and death. The newborn and the mother are considered "unholy" for 11 days after delivery and often have to live in a dark, cold and unhygienic room with the mother lacking a nutritious diet. Government officials say many people are still unaware that they should go to health facilities and seek the assistance of skilled birth attendants. "But things are gradually changing," said Baburam Marasini, a senior Health Ministry official. "The use of the simple technology and the low-cost naval gel has made a positive impact in reducing newborn deaths due to infection." – Reuters, March 11, 2014 |
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