We share our planet with animals that are often adversely affected by human population
increase in development.
Technological advances are leading to loss of habitat and a general decrease in the Earth's
biodiversity, but some areas of science are making an effort to understand where creatures
live and how numerous they are.
A British research team has set up a unique arrangement with ferries running between the
UK and Spain to help monitor dolphins and whales.
As well, the research project known as Marine Life organises holidays on ferries leaving
the port of Portsmouth.
These allow tourists to see marine mammals and birds at close quarters.
From his home on the English South Coast, Professor Tom Breriton monitors the findings
when he's not on the water himself.
The Biscay Dolphin Research Program was started in 1995.
The aim was to find out what was in the Western English Channel and the Bay of Biscay, two
important areas about which there was very little information.
Because research in the open ocean is expensive, the team decided to use the ferries plying
the waters in the research area instead of chartering their own ship.
Tourists using the ferries to reach holiday destinations are encouraged to join the observation
team.
They can combine a holiday at sea with the opportunity to learn about marine life.
The site of dolphins speeding alongside the ship is a highlight of the trip for many of
the tourists on board.
Scientists who supervise these trips insist it's a serious undertaking and they say a
vast amount of data has been collected.
The tourist aspect helps finance the research project.
The dolphins are a talking point for young people alike.
The English Channel is a rich source of food for the dolphins.
Some of the species like the common dolphin are actually strongly attracted to ships.
The research team is carrying out surveys about their behaviour and they've noticed
some interesting patterns.
The groups of dolphins will change course towards the ship and will actually come close
enough to ride the pressure wave at the bow.
It's called bow riding.
The groups might follow the ship for several kilometers swimming around in the pressure
wave.
These waters are crowded with traffic.
The ferries have to share the seas with commercial shipping and the fishing fleets which continue
to prosper.
The research group leaders take the time to explain their work to their fellow travellers.
Over the 12 years the marine life group has been gathering information about the area.
Researchers have noticed some surprising changes.
In 1995 when the program started the group mainly saw typical temperate and normal species.
But now they're starting to see subtropical species come in and species that like more
water are spending longer periods of time in the bay of biscuit.
This is an incredibly important area for sea birds as well because it's a boundary between
different geographic and climatic zones.
It is regularly visited by birds that are associated with more northerly climates like
gillymops, razor built and puffins.
Northern species of whales such as the northern bottle boats also visit the area but the bay
of biscuit also gets tropical southern species, things like pygmy killer whales and striped
dolphins.
The European Union's habitat directives are designed to protect marine creatures like
dolphins and whales but without the work done by groups like marine life it would be
difficult to know even what species visit the area, let alone what changes are occurring.
The educational function of the program fulfills is another important aspect that wasn't foreseen
when the public were brought into the project.
A blue whale, the largest animal on the planet and a pod of pilot whales, children on the
ferry are learning what the cause of these distinctive creatures sound like.
Every month all year round the monitoring of marine populations in the English channel
and the bay of biscuit continues.
Most of the research program has seen 25 different species of dolphins and whales which is over
a quarter of the world's species list.
It was not expected that evidence of climate change would be apparent in the work but it
has now become one of the most important data sets that the team collects.
Other ferries are now developing these routes as the public appetite for such marine expeditions
increases.
In the heat of the Japanese summer, the rural ideal Arashiyama, just a few kilometers to
the west of Kyoto, attracts thousands of visitors each year.
Bottomed boats carry tourists along the cooler waters of the Oye River.
Rickshaws ferry passengers through the streets and in the surrounding mountains the unspoiled
forests provide a natural habitat to monkeys and other indigenous wildlife.
But it's as dusk falls and the last of the tourist boats that have made the journey downstream
are steered to their night-time moorings that the real tourist show begins.
Cormorant fishing, called Ukai in Japanese, has been practiced in Japan since the 8th
century and between July the 1st and September the 15th each year.
This ancient practice continues, though these days it's mostly for the benefit of tourists,
tourists for a glimpse into Japan's past.
Trained cormans are used to catch sweet fish with a technique that has been passed down
through generations.
Kawahari Hiroshi is an Usho-san or cormorant handler and leads the team of fishermen that
work at Arashiyama.
Kawahara says he is proud to continue the traditional method of fishing.
Each night approximately 400 spectators take to the flat bottom boats to watch the cormorants
at work.
To many the show offers a fascinating glimpse into both Japan's past and into an unusual
interaction between man and the natural world.
The cormorants used in this practice are seabirds not reed in captivity but are traditionally
caught at various locations along the coast in Ibaraki prefecture.
Deprived of their freedom and bound by a cord applied to the bird's necks that prevent
them from swallowing the fish that they catch, some observers have perceived the practice
as an abuse of animal rights.
Kawahari denies that the birds are badly treated and argues that many of the allegations of
cruelty are based on a misunderstanding of how the birds are harnessed.
He says the cord allows small fish to pass into the bird's throat and not larger ones
and that the method is not painfully restrictive.
Kawahara says the use of two cords prevents any weight being applied to the bird's neck
when the harness is pulled.
Kawahara is proud to practice this age-on technique as a part of Japanese culture.
However, the animal rights group, the people for the ethical treatment of animals issued
are the following statement on cormorant fission.
For birds there is likely no punishment cruel than to be robbed of their freedom to fly.
Strapping a bird to a choking leash and taking advantage of his natural urge to fish, only
to make him a cop-up his dinner for profit, has no place in modern society.
Cormorants naturally prefer to nest on the tops of rocky islets or in cavities alongside
a shed of sheer clips of offshore rocks, suppressing their natural desires is nothing but blatant
abuse.
History has taught us that tradition is never a good excuse for cruelty.
shark fin soup is an expensive delicacy that is becoming more affordable with the increased
wealth of China and many of its neighbors.
The shark is not only fished in its own right, it is caught in the long nets used by some
European countries to have a sea product and also on the 1,000 hook lines used for catching
swordfish and tuna.
In European waters there are 130 species of shark.
This includes rays and skates.
The shark aligns estimate that one third of the population is under direct.
Shark alert is the report they have published to help jock the European Parliament into
reducing further bans on shark fishing and also to get European member countries, particularly
Spain, to observe bans that are already in place.
The sharks are vulnerable because in general they grow very slowly maturing late.
They produce a small number of young which means they have slower recover from overfishing.
Sharks also have a negative public image while at the same time they are not as valuable
as other commercial species so they have a low priority in research and conservation.
And this is the practice, the definning of sharks that is causing most concern.
Often the sharks are still alive when the fins are cut off and the body thrown back into
the ocean.
As the Shark Alliance report says, this is not only a waste but causes unsustainable shark
mortality and dangerous declines in shark populations.
Regulations exist to ensure that fins and bodies are stored on board so the catch can
be monitored.
In Australia sharks are in need of protection too, they are essential to a healthy marine
ecosystem but fears that illegal fishing is taking too high a toll of shark numbers has
led scientists and fishermen to cooperate on research into shark populations.
Scientists currently do not know enough about shark habits of growth and reproduction to
understand what effect the extensive poaching might have on the population.
Through the partnership with the fishermen, the research program aims to measure and tag
over 4,000 sharks in the waters off the coast of Northern Australia.
The sharks are caught, they are measured, examined, tagged and released.
Other studies expect it to take 3 years.
Scientist Dr Ian Fields from Charles Darwin University says the greatest threat to the
sharks comes from illegal foreign poachers.
He says without understanding how and why the population behaves and changes they will
be unable to preserve it.
The tagging will give scientists a greater insight into the ocean's makeup and it will
also be used to form a genetic database.
This database will allow scientists to effectively catalogue the different types of sharks in
a particular area and how far they move.
More importantly, it will enable researchers to identify sharks that have come from local
waters.
Researchers hope this will help in any prosecutions for illegal fishing and acts to tear it to
poachers.
Both scientists and fishermen are worried that the illegal shark fishing is moving further
south.
An insight into the shark's population dynamics will enable improved management of the fisheries
and the baseline study will also be a useful reference to indicate if the legal fishing
rates increase.
While the idea of fishermen conducting scientific research might seem unusual, Bill Mountsey
was one of the first to join the study.
A shark fisherman for 10 years, he believes the industry can only benefit from the project.
He admits fishermen know very little about sharks but believes any research will help.
Four Asian elephants arrived in Sydney recently after a long flight and a long battle with
animal rights activists to keep them at their home in Thailand.
The elephants had been on a 14-hour trip from the Kophos Islands in the Indian Ocean where
they had been quarantined.
The female elephants were caged and put on trucks and transported to their new home at
Turonga Zoo in Sydney.
The journey from the airport to the zoo was a major logistical exercise.
Vets didn't want to stress the large animals any more than was absolutely necessary.
The four are part of a group of eight elephants who will take part in captive breeding programs
in Australian zoos.
The remaining four elephants will arrive in Australia soon.
Over the past two years, campaigns have launched a series of protests and legal challenges
in a bid to stop the elephants coming from Thailand to Australia, arguing it was cruel
to keep them in zoos.
While there were no protests at the arrival, Australian activists aren't backing down.
International Fund for Animal Welfare Spokesperson Rebecca Kiebel said putting animals in captivity
is very damaging to their health.
The organisation believes any captive breeding programs will be far more effective in the
animals' country of origin.
But Turonga Zoo believes it's doing what is best for the elephants, ensuring their
survival through its captive breeding program.
The eight animals will form Australasia's first breeding program for endangered Asian
elephants.
His numbers have dwindled to about 34,000.
On the other side of the world in Kenya, a different type of elephant, the African elephant,
is the subject of a different type of program.
Near the hills of Kajiado, veterinary officers and game rangers have gathered to embark on
an exercise designed to reduce conflict between humans and wildlife.
Kenya's elephant population plummeted from an all-time high of 167,000 to 16,000 in the
1990s, due to massive poaching, primarily for ivory.
Elephants retreated to the safety of protected areas in the parks and a few private areas.
Using ground personnel and aid by helicopter to help locate the elephants, a veterinary
office of darts and elephant.
Then the team begins fitting the elephant with a global positioning system to help track
its movements.
If the elephants move from the habitat, the officers can move in and return them to the
wild.
The formation of the Kenya Wildlife Service in the 1990s significantly reduced the number
of elephants being shot, and poachers were arrested and put behind bars.
Security was improved but inside and outside the parks, and elephant numbers have nearly
doubled to about 30,000 within a short period of 16 years.
This increase in population and improved security has prompted elephants to begin moving into
their former dispersal areas, and their corridors of movement have been affected by human encroachment.
Conflict with humans and livestock is inevitable, since some of their former range areas have
become farming areas.
With the help of conservation groups and other partners like the African Conservation Centre,
the Kenya Wildlife Service will now monitor the movement of these wild animals in a bit
to protect them from humans.
Now to a third type of elephant, and yet another country.
There's time it's Belgium, and the 42-ton elephant is made of metal.
A spectacle launched a series of summer festivals called "Summer of Antwerp" in the Belgian
port city.
The story goes that the elephant descended on Antwerp after a huge marionette girl felt
out of the sky.
It's owner, the Sultan, who built the time-traveling elephant in order to search for the giant
girl has been taking the creature around the city.
On the second day of a four-day show, the Sultan's elephant gets prepared to have a
walk through Antwerp.
It has to bring its master to the city hall, where the Sultan was due to call in on the
mayor for lunch.
Originally meant as a fairy tale spectacle for children, the Sultan's elephant managed
to put a spell on thousands of Antwerp citizens, or curious to see it.
Created by France's leading street arts company, Royal Deluxe, the Sultan's elephant
is more than 12 metres tall.
The Sultan's elephant is said to be inspired by the stories of Jules Vernes around the
world in 80 days.
Royal Deluxe has performed all over the world, visiting countries in Europe as well as Korea,
China, Vietnam, Chile, and Africa.
One of Britain's rareest butterflies has returned to a habitat where it hasn't been
seen for 40 years.
It's the Adonis Blue, which up to now has been confined to the chalky hills of Dorset
in the south-west of the country.
The butterflies don't signal their presence as you go in search of them down the steep
hillside which they have made their new home.
They have crossed hills and a motorway to get here.
The Adonis Blue loves these whistles.
This one was slightly ragged wings, is at the end of its short line.
Butterfly experts thought they would never again see one of these butterflies as far
nor offers the cotswolds.
Novices in search of the butterfly need to be aware of the differences between the Adonis
Blue and its more commonplace relative, the Common Blue.
The Adonis is an iridescent blue, which reveals different tones of blue at different angles.
This land has been specially grazed to attract the Adonis and the whole shoe vetch is perfect
for its grubs.
The beauty of this part of rural England with its yellow stone houses has been enhanced
by the return of this long-lost visitor.
British people who are known for the eccentricities are ecstatic about the return of the Adonis
Blue.
Finally to the American capital, Washington, people here now have the option of dropping
their pamper dogs off at an upmarket pit hotel outfitted with television and lactose free
ice cream treats.
This is not the boarding kettle of Dan's past.
The pet hotel, located in the suburb of Bethesda, has attracted a niche market willing to pay
between $23 and $35 per night to have their dogs cared for, $14 per night for cats.
This facility is equipped to handle 80 dogs and 26 cats at one time.
Large and small dogs are separated and run around in play areas called decamp, a stay
at the camp without the overnight stay is $20 US.
Cats however are housed in traditional cages unless the owner pays an additional fee for
the pet to stay in a larger area, outfitted with a raised cot and a television set that
plays pet friendly programming.
For relief breaks, staffers take the dogs to the relief room where dogs are free to be
free.
The growing popularity of upscale pet services is attributed to pet owners treating their
pets like family.
Some people these days don't have children and these dogs have become their pseudo children.
The pet care industry is steadily growing.
Men consumers spend more than $40 billion US dollars per year on their pets.
Dog and cat areas are equipped with separate ventilation systems to keep the pets from
picking up distracting the sales.
To order a DVD or video of this program, call 1-800-876-2447 or visit our website at www.chiptailor.com.