[MAIPC] FW: ANIMALS: For great apes, their own COVID-19 vaccine

Thu Mar 4 14:01:01 PST 2021

A tree from hell: The deciduous tree, with its quill-shaped leaves, light gray bark, and red-and-yellow-tinted seeds, looks pretty. But the foul-smelling “tree of heaven,” a native of China, wipes out native species with its dense thicket and toxins it excretes into the soil—and it harbors destructive non-native insects as well. A recent study says a newly isolated fungus has proven effective at killing the tree, Troy Farah reports for Nat Geo

From: National Geographic <ng at email.nationalgeographic.com> 
Sent: Thursday, March 04, 2021 2:58 PM
To: ialm at erols.com
Subject: ANIMALS: For great apes, their own COVID-19 vaccine

Smart cuddlefish; a Wisconsin wolf slaughter; the tree from hell; beetles find wrong love goddess  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌    ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌  ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌   

  <https://email.nationalgeographic.com/O/v600000177fed11503b6af1ef4bbe5cfc0/0610b0aef0484e9100004c5a42963aa1> 

ANIMALS 

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TODAY'S BIG TOPIC:

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FOR GREAT APES, A VACCINE OF THEIR OWN 

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Thursday, March 4, 2021 

PHOTOGRAPHS BY BRENT STIRTON

By Rachael Bale, ANIMALS Executive Editor

While they were busy eating treats and lounging against the barrier of their enclosure, the San Diego Zoo’s orangutans and bonobos, one by one, became the first great apes to get COVID-19 vaccines. 

The vaccine isn’t from Moderna, Pfizer, or Johnson & Johnson—it’s an experimental vaccine developed by the veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis for dogs and other animals. (I repeat: the apes did not take anyone’s place in line!) 

After the San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s troop of gorillas caught the coronavirus in January, their caretakers were willing to take a risk. Winston, the silverback gorilla, had developed heart disease and pneumonia. Non-human primates, it turns out, can get really sick from COVID-19, and the zoo needed to protect its other apes. (Pictured above, Frank, a 12-year-old gorilla at the zoo, who is recovering from COVID-19.)

“In my career, I haven’t had access to an experimental vaccine this early in the process,” the zoo’s head wildlife health officer, Nadine Lamberski, told Nat Geo’s Natasha Daly. “And [I] haven’t had such an overwhelming desire to want to use one.” (Lamberski is pictured below, outside the gorilla habitat.)

The gorillas are all recovered now, but they won’t be able to get the vaccine until they’ve been healthy a little while longer. In the meantime, four orangutans and five bonobos have gotten two doses each and are doing well. Most of them didn’t even notice the injection, Lamberski said, except for one orangutan who rubbed her arm a little after the shot. 

Next up: To see if the vaccine triggers an immune response in the apes (which would signal it’s probably working), and to continue testing it on mink—hundreds of fur farms have had outbreaks across Europe and the U.S.

The National Geographic Society’s new COVID-19 Science Fund will aim to help us better understand how this pandemic or the threat of another will shape our world—by providing solutions to situations created or magnified by COVID-19. Learn more.

Do you get this newsletter daily? If not, sign up here or forward to a friend.

YOUR INSTAGRAM PHOTO OF THE DAY 

PHOTOGRAPH BY @STEVEWINTERPHOTO 

Purr: The cheetah is the fastest land mammal on Earth and one of Africa’s most endangered cats. “Cheetahs purr like house cats—which is one reason they’re under threat,” says photographer and Nat Geo Explorer Steve Winter. Cubs are either captured to be sold as pets to the very wealthy, though many don’t survive the journey to their new "home." Research suggests there may be as few as 7,100 cheetahs left in Africa, and if their populations are to survive, they need more protected habitats to offset losses in community areas where they’re persecuted by farmers protecting their livestock.

In the wild: Documenting a cheetah in the snow 

TODAY IN A MINUTE 

Killing wolves: Outrage has grown after a Wisconsin wolf hunt led to at least 216 wolves dead in less than 60 hours—nearly a hundred more than the state quota. The hunt followed the gray wolf’s removal from the Endangered Species Act list, a move the Biden administration may reverse. The killings occurred during breeding season, say environmentalists, who tried to stop the hunt. Last week, we wrote about massive, unregulated hunts and “killing contests.”

A tree from hell: The deciduous tree, with its quill-shaped leaves, light gray bark, and red-and-yellow-tinted seeds, looks pretty. But the foul-smelling “tree of heaven,” a native of China, wipes out native species with its dense thicket and toxins it excretes into the soil—and it harbors destructive non-native insects as well. A recent study says a newly isolated fungus has proven effective at killing the tree, Troy Farah reports for Nat Geo. 

The trickster raven: A new U.S. postage stamp features an ancient story from the Northwest’s Tlingit tribe—and a mischievous raven. “It is a story that is a gateway for learning about Tlingit culture, Alaska Tlingit artist Rico Worl tells NPR. Worl’s stamp, to be released this summer, portrays a raven transforming into a human body, trying to steal stars from the sky to share light with the world. Here’s more on the trickster raven and Tlingit stories about it.

Smart cuttlefish: These adaptable cephalopods have passed a test designed for human children, but researchers are puzzled as to why. The cuttlefish showed patience to eat their food of choice in a version of the Stanford marshmallow test, Science Alert reports. But experts question whether that wait reflects the cautious way it’s learned to go after prey in a marine environment when it faces destruction while foraging.

THE BIG TAKEAWAY 

PHOTOGRAPH BY MEDIANEWS GROUP/ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, GETTY IMAGES 

Pets in distress: The United States is the world’s largest importer of wild animals as pets. Yet importers are almost never prosecuted if animals suffer or die en route, Nat Geo’s Wildlife Watch has found. The lack of legal repercussions for the inhumane treatment of exotic pets has helped create an industry in which “animal suffering, abuse, and the human greed behind it” is the norm, says Clifford Warwick, an independent reptile biologist and animal welfare specialist. (Pictured above, children check out a carpet python at a pet expo in California. Because reptiles typically don’t show the same signs of pain and disease as mammals, it can be hard for non-experts to know if they’re in distress.) Read more.

Wildlife Watch, funded by the National Geographic Society, shines a light on the commercial exploitation of wildlife and other valued resources. Learn more. 

IN A FEW WORDS 

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Between every two pine trees there is a door leading to a new way of life. 

John Muir 

>From his notes in the margins in volume one of 
Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Prose Works 

DID A FRIEND FORWARD THIS TO YOU? 

Come back tomorrow for Whitney Johnson on the latest in photography news. If you’re not a subscriber, sign up here to also get Debra Adams Simmons on history, George Stone on travel, and Victoria Jaggard on science.

THE LAST GLIMPSE 

PHOTOGRAPH BY JIRI LOCHMAN, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY 

Message in a bottle: Male jewel beetles oughta know: That discarded beer bottle in Australia should not be a mating object. Photographer Jiri Lochman captured this example of what researchers call supernormal stimuli. Female jewel beetles are much bigger than the males and roughly the shape of a bottle, which may lead to the confusion. And it’s not uncommon. “Males lose not only their minds for this gleaming love goddess but sometimes their lives as well,” Eva van den Berg writes in the March issue of National Geographic. 

SUBSCRIBER EXCLUSIVE 

This newsletter has been curated and edited by David Beard, with photo selections by Jen Tse. Kimberly Pecoraro helped produce this newsletter. Have an idea or a link? We’d love to hear from you at  <mailto:david.beard at natgeo.com> david.beard at natgeo.com. And thanks for reading.

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