2004-6-21
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VOICE ONE:
This is Science in the News, in VOA Special English. I'm Doug
Johnson.
VOICE TWO:
And I'm Faith Lapidus. On our program this week: concerns about
particles of plastic waste in the oceans.
VOICE ONE:
A hot discovery near Antarctica.
VOICE TWO:
And, a visit to an American zoo to look at a very unusual
decision.
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VOICE ONE:
Our first story is about two of
the largest animals to walk the Earth. Their names are Wanda and
Winky. They are Asian elephants. And they are not young anymore.
Wanda is about forty-five years old. She has arthritis. Her joints
hurt when she moves. Winky is fifty-one. She has foot problems.
Wanda and Winky live at the Detroit Zoo, in the state of
Michigan. Recently the zoo decided that they need a better home.
Soon they will move to a wildlife refuge somewhere else in the
United States.
A lot of people were surprised that zoo officials would do this.
You see, Wanda and Winky are the last two elephants in the Detroit
Zoo. They are among the most popular animals in the collection.
VOICE TWO:
Yet their health problems are believed to be the result of the
limited space they have. Six years ago, the Detroit Zoo expanded
their living area. The elephants now have about one-half of a
hectare to move around. This is two times as much space as they had
before. Zoo Director Ron Kagan says this is still not nearly enough
space. In the wild, elephants travel up to forty-eight kilometers a
day.
Elephants come from Africa and parts of Asia. They come from
areas that are much warmer than places like Michigan. Winters there
can be severe.
Ron Kagan also notes that elephants are social animals. They
normally live in groups and establish relationships. And he says
elephants need lots of physical and mental activity to be happy.
The Humane Society of the United States praised the Detroit Zoo
for its decision to stop keeping elephants. The animal protection
group has asked other animal parks to do the same. Wayne Pacelle is
the chief of the Humane Society. He says even zoos with excellent
conditions like the Detroit Zoo cannot provide a good home for
elephants.
VOICE ONE:
The American Zoo and Aquarium Association has set new
requirements for its members. These include more open space and
activities to keep elephants from feeling depressed. But Ron Kagan
at the Detroit Zoo notes that the new rules still permit several
control methods. He says elephants can still be struck with a metal
tool and, in some cases, electric shock devices.
Mister Kagan also says the new requirements do not bar very young
elephants from being separated from their mothers. In the wild,
elephants stay with their mothers for years. Female elephants stay
with their mothers all their lives.
Mister Kagan says zoo and circus elephants often live in smaller
groups than the herds that exist in the wild. And he says elephants
reproduce with greater ease in the wild. He sees this as another
sign that elephants should not be kept in zoos or circuses.
VOICE TWO:
Animal rights activists welcome the idea of ending the use of
elephants for public show. But not everyone else does. Many people
would agree with the comments of a young mother in Encino,
California. She says if zoos and circuses no longer have elephants,
her children may never see one.
Many people enjoy circus performances by trained elephants. But
Mister Kagan and other experts argue that these actions are
unnatural for the animals. They say circus elephants are chained and
sometimes treated badly. Some circus animals are said to travel up
to fifty weeks a year.
VOICE ONE:
In the United States, millions of parents take their children to
see the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Ringling
Brothers has a center in Florida where Asian elephants are born and
go to retire. The Center for Elephant Conservation does research and
works to increase reproduction.
The circus says it takes excellent care of all its animals. For
years, it had the famous animal trainer Gunther Gebel-Williams. He
got elephants and tigers to perform together. Now his son works with
the animals.
In two-thousand-one, Mark Oliver Gebel was charged with
mistreating an elephant. Ringling Brothers said the accusations were
made by extremist animal rights activists. A jury in San Jose,
California, found Mister Gebel not guilty. But legal problems for
the circus did not end there. Three animal protection groups brought
a civil action in two-thousand over its treatment of animals. The
groups expect a federal court in Washington, D.C., to hear that case
next year.
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VOICE TWO:
This is SCIENCE IN THE NEWS, in VOA Special English.
Scientists have known for a long time that plastic is harmful to
ocean animals. But a new British study shows that plastic may
continue to do harm even after it has broken into extremely small
particles.
British scientists collected pieces of plastic on seventeen
British beaches as well as deep in the Atlantic Ocean. The pieces
are so small they can only be seen with a microscope. The scientists
found that nine kinds of plastic were common. These included nylon
and polyester.
The researchers also examined plankton, very small ocean animals
and plants. These had been collected off the British coast during
the past forty years. The scientists found particles of plastic in
the plankton. They found three times more plastic in plankton from
the nineteen-nineties than in plankton from the nineteen-sixties.
VOICE ONE:
Professor Richard Thompson of the University of Plymouth led the
study. Professor Thompson says his team will investigate how plastic
affects the environment. For example, they want to learn if the
plastic in plankton could poison fish and other sea life eaten by
humans.
The study appeared in the magazine Science.
A spokesman for the American Plastics Council says a lot of the
information from the British study was old. But he says the group
will re-examine it. He also says industry must educate people about
their responsibility to keep all waste out of oceans.
Professor Thompson agrees that humans need to be more
responsible. Plastic is a popular substance for containers and other
objects partly because it is not easily destroyed. The professor
estimates that plastic lasts from a hundred to a thousand years.
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VOICE TWO:
Scientists have found what they believe is an active volcano near
Antarctica. The volcano is outside an area known to have volcanic
activity.
Eugene Domack of Hamilton College in New York is the chief
scientist on the project. He says the volcano stands seven-hundred
meters above the sea bottom. It extends to within about
two-hundred-seventy-five meters of the surface.
The scientists first suspected the presence of the volcano in
January of two-thousand-two. They were in the area on a ship
operated by the National Science Foundation in the United States.
VOICE ONE:
The scientists mapped the sea floor with images made from sound
waves. These maps first suggested the presence of a volcano. Also,
there had been reports in the past from sailors who saw discolored
water in the area. Changes in water color are often a sign of an
active volcano.
The volcano is in Antarctic Sound, at the northern edge of
Antarctica. Mister Domack says there were no scientific records of
active volcanoes in this area before.
In April, the researchers returned to the area. They recorded
video images of the sides and top of the volcano. They said these
images showed a surface heavily populated by organisms that live on
the sea bottom.
However, there are also areas of black rock and no life on the
edges of the volcano. The scientists say these dark areas show that
lava, or liquid rock, has flowed from the volcano. This appears to
have happened recently. The scientists also found heated seawater,
especially around the freshest rock.
The researchers are from five colleges in the United States and
one in Canada. Their discovery was an unexpected part of a trip to
investigate a huge area of ice that broke up several years ago.
Mister Domack said more research was needed, since no one on their
ship was an expert in volcanoes.
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VOICE TWO:
SCIENCE IN THE NEWS was written by Jerilyn Watson and Doreen
Baingana. Cynthia Kirk was our producer. This is Faith Lapidus.
VOICE ONE:
And this is Doug Johnson. Listen again next week for more news
about science in Special English on the Voice of America.