news: 国际犀牛基金会eBay拍卖犀牛粪
Here honey, Merry Christmas!!!Stumped about what to give that special someone this Christmas? How about some rhino poop? The International Rhino Foundation is auctioning on eBay four pieces of dung from the endangered species and will use the proceeds to fund conservation efforts.
The pieces come from four of the five types of rhino: white, black, Indian and Sumatran. The Javan rhino is so rare that a sample could not be collected.
Each piece is dried, mounted in a clear trophy case and marked with the type of rhino that produced it.
The auction ends Sunday and as of Thursday afternoon bidding had been light, with the top bid for Sumatran rhino poop standing at $500. Black rhino poop was standing at $255, Indian was at $250 and white was at $122.50.
The foundation, which is based at the White Oak Conservation Center, says only about 17,500 rhinos remain in the wild with another 1,200 living in captivity.
正在为圣诞节送什么礼物给你的那个他（她）而发愁？来点犀牛粪如何？国际犀牛基金会目前正在eBay上拍卖四块犀牛粪，拍卖所得将用于保护这一濒危物种。
这四块粪便产自四种不同的犀牛，分别是白犀牛、黑犀牛、印度犀牛和苏门答腊犀牛。由于爪哇犀牛十分稀有，因此未能收集到这种犀牛的粪便样本。
这四块干犀牛粪被放在透明的陈列柜中，瞄粪便还注明来自哪种犀牛。
该拍卖活动将于本周日结束。截至本周四下午，竞拍价尚未达到理想水平，苏门答腊犀牛粪的当前拍价最高，达到500美元；黑犀牛粪为255美元，印度犀牛粪和白犀牛粪分别为250美元和122.5美元。
据位于（佛罗里达）白橡树保护中心的国际犀牛基金会介绍，目前全球仅存1.75万只野犀牛及1200只笼养犀牛。
抑制全球变暖有奇招：让牛羊放“袋鼠屁”
Eco-friendly kangaroo farts could help global warming: scientists
Australian scientists are trying to give kangaroo-style stomachs to cattle and sheep in a bid to cut the emission of greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.
Thanks to special bacteria in their stomachs, kangaroo flatulence contains no methane and scientists want to transfer that bacteria to cattle and sheep who emit large quantities of the harmful gas.
While the usual image of greenhouse gas pollution is a billowing smokestack pushing out carbon dioxide, livestock passing wind contribute a surprisingly high percentage of total emissions in some countries.
"Fourteen percent of emissions from all sources in Australia is from enteric methane from cattle and sheep," said Athol Klieve, a senior research scientist with the Queensland state government.
"And if you look at another country such as New Zealand, which has got a much higher agricultural base, they’re actually up around 50 percent," he said.
Researchers say the bacteria also makes the digestive process much more efficient and could potentially save millions of dollars in feed costs for farmers.
But it will take researchers at least three years to isolate the bacteria, before they can even start to develop a way of transferring it to cattle and sheep.
Another group of scientists, meanwhile, has suggested Australians should farm fewer cattle and sheep and just eat more kangaroos.
The idea is controversial, but about 20 percent of health conscious Australians are believed to eat the national symbol already.
"It’s low in fat, it’s got high protein levels and it’s very clean in the sense that basically it’s the ultimate free range animal," said Peter Ampt of the University of New South Wales’s institute of environmental studies.
为了减少导致全球变暖的温室气体的排放，澳大利亚科学家目前正在想办法将牛羊胃变成袋鼠式的胃。
袋鼠胃中有一种特殊的细菌能使其放的屁中不含有甲烷。科学家想将这种细菌移至牛羊的胃中，以抑制它们所排放的大量有害气体。
说到二氧化碳等温室气体的排放，人们脑中通常会出现一个大烟囱冒出滚滚浓烟的画面。但在一些国家，牲畜放的屁在温室气体排放总量中所占的比例十分惊人。
昆士兰州政府的高级科研人员阿索尔•克里弗说：“在澳大利亚，牛羊排放的甲烷占温室气体排放总量的14%。”
“而在农业更为发达的新西兰，这一比例则高达约50%。”
研究人员称，袋鼠胃中所含的那种细菌还可以促进消化，从而能为农民节省几百万美元的饲料成本。
但科学家至少得用三年的时间分离出这种细菌，然后还得设法将其移至牛羊的胃中。
此外，另一组科学家建议澳大利亚人应少养牛羊，多吃袋鼠肉。
尽管这一观点有争议，但目前约有20%健康意识较强的澳大利亚人已经吃上了被视为“国家象征”的袋鼠。
新南威尔士大学环境研究所的彼特•阿姆普特说：“袋鼠肉富含蛋白质，脂肪含量低。而且由于袋鼠是散养动物，所以它的肉很干净。”
[ 本帖最后由 妮妮 于 2007-12-12 08:12 编辑 ]
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