African Elephants

The African Elephant "Elephants are the largest living land mammals" with a height of around "3.5 metres" and a weight around "6000kg" although the females (cows) tend to weigh less. With they live for "55-60 years" in their natural habitat, Savannah grassland and desert. (http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/factfiles/177.shtml) Elephants eat bark, fruit, grass and leaves an adult needs at least 150kg a day. As well as plenty of food, water is essential and they can consume up to 50 gallons. Therefore the elephant is a herbivore. With such a remarkably complex and interesting social lives "Elephants are listed as endangered on the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Animals." The physical, mental, and social aspects of a wild elephant's life are so complex that "scientists and researchers are still discovering unknown facts about elephants." How can we possibly for fill all of an elephant's needs in captivity? (http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/AfricanSavanna/fact-afelephant.cfm) Keeping Elephants in Captive does not help conserve them. "Elephants have lived in captivity for more than 4,000 years", In captivity, whether in zoos, circuses or safari parks, they experience extremely different lifestyles compared to wild elephants. Elephants are very intelligent and social animals. In British zoos and circuses, many elephants are unnaturally kept singly

  • Word count: 963
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin By:Robyn Good A233685 November 5, 2003. Charles Darwin pioneered the path for evolution. Darwin was born in 1809, in Shrewsbury. He was born to a distinguished family of doctors and his grandfathers were the leading scientific figures of their time. Eramus, who was Darwin's paternal grandfather inspired and influenced Darwin to become a great scientist too. Darwin would eventually challenge the traditional views of his time. He pioneered the universal theory of evolution and gave the best explanation on how evolution works.1 Darwin developed the theory of natural selection, which he argued was the key mechanism of evolution. Darwin's early education did not inspire him and he was quite bored with his studies. In 1818, Darwin entered the Shrewsbury school for seven years. There he was taught an education that was mostly composed of classical subjects. Darwin did not enjoy his time at the school and thought the education he received did not help develop his mind.2 In 1825, he left the school to attend the University of Edinburgh to study Medicine. After two years Darwin left the University because he found little interest Medicine. Darwin enjoyed nature a great deal more. The only meaningful thing that came out of his studies at Edinburgh was his introduction to the theories of Lamarck that Darwin would later correct. In the following years he would develop

  • Word count: 1572
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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The Cloning of Non-Human Animals: Playing God for all the Wrong Reasons

Name: Gunes Gereyhan Student Number: 993857108 Teacher Assistant's Name: Jenny McDermid Lab Code: BM131 The Cloning of Non-Human Animals: Playing God for all the Wrong Reasons The existence of humanity ultimately depends on our use of plants and animals to nourish us with their resources. The quality and quantity of the food that these living entities provide us with determine how healthy we will be and it has been the work of farmers and breeders, for many thousands of years, to engineer plants, but mostly animals, that provide us with the best of the best. For some time, the only way to do this was through selective breeding, a process by which animal and plant breeders pick, choose and mate organisms with the most desirable characteristics, such as resistance to disease, high growth rates and other characteristics that would produce an almost perfect specimen with never-ending resources. Although selective breeding seemed like the ultimate solution, there were many disadvantages to this method, including the selective process of choosing the right male and female animal for the job, the length of time it took the animals to mate (or the many attempts at artificial insemination before a fetus was created), the time it took young to be born and raised, and most importantly, the uncertainty in the expression of valued features in the offspring or the dilution of wanted

  • Word count: 700
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Animal Cruelty – fiction

Animal Cruelty - fiction In today's society animal cruelty is a fact of life, there are many variations ranging from animal testing to hunting. Some of these issues are viewed upon lightly, whereas others are seen as harsher, crueler and have greater punishments. One of the main issues concerning animal cruelty today is animal testing. Which involves testing cosmetic products on animals (such as rabbits and mice) to try and insure that there are no negative effects on humans. There are many people, in fact most people are against animal testing, but there are particular groups, which actually act on trying to get rid of animal testing. People will gather together from all over the country and either protest for animal rights in the street and outside a laboratory, or write letters to important MP's and other organizations to try and demolish animal testing. There are two main ways that companies use to test their product on animals; these are the Draize Test (a cosmetic product is dropped in to an animals eye, usually that of an albino rabbit) and the LD50 (Lethal Dose 50) Test which involves force feeding a group of mice or rats until fifty percent of them are dead, hence the name. An important factor about this issue is that there is no law that states cosmetics should be tested on animals before they are released to the public, but there is a law, which was made in

  • Word count: 1125
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Is the goby hypoxia tolerant?

Hypoxia is a condition in which there is a decreased amount or absence of oxygen in the blood. This condition often arises when an organism is placed in an environment in which oxygen levels are much lower than normal. In the case of ocean dwelling creatures oxygen levels are determined by the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water. Most fish are not able to tolerate poorly oxygenated water conditions for any extended period of time. But, a recent study has shown that the coral-dwelling goby, a tropical fish, often endures the harsh conditions of poorly oxygenated water. Amazingly, although in shorter durations, they can also survive periods of complete air exposure. Other species of fish avoid hypoxia by swimming elsewhere when conditions are not favorable. This is not an option for the goby because, they choose to spend almost their entire lives in a tiny space created by the adjoining of two coral branches. While the coral provides the goby with a habitat safe from predators in which to live and mate in, the water around the coral is often prone to low oxygen levels. Three factors contribute to the low oxygen levels in this setting. The first is the obvious reason of restricted movement of current, not allowing for proper oxygenation. The second occurs when night falls and phototrophs can no longer perform photosynthesis, stopping their normal production of

  • Word count: 1112
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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In what ways are Rainforests special?

In what ways are Rainforests special? What types of animals are in them? The Rainforest is the most diversely populated place on earth, containing from a known 50% to a possible 90% of all species on this planet, and supporting around 35% of all plant matter on this planet, although it only covers around 6% of the Earth's land surface. It is so diverse that on closer study of one species of tree 600 new species of beetles were discovered. Considering this, it may be surprising that as little as 8% of the world's rainforests are protected. All the plants and animals in the forest have evolved together and rely on each other, take away one and you may be affecting many other species. So why are they so dependent on each other? The Rainforest has in the past been the most stable environment on Earth, remaining the same way for the past 70 to 100 million years. Because of this, the animals and plants have become interdependent, which means that they depend on each other to survive. For example animals and plants depend on fruit and rotting leaves from trees for their energy and many trees depend on animals to pollinate their flowers and spread their seeds. So what do they do for us? It is not just a matter of what they do for us, but also what they do for other species of plants and animals. They are the last great wilderness of the world and the only place some animals

  • Word count: 991
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Should vivisection be banned in Britain ?

Should vivisection be banned in Britain ? What is vivisection? Vivisection is the testing of products and cosmetics on live animals. In this essay I will be explaining the for and against of vivisection. Many people have no idea of the cruelty that is involved in this certain treatment. Animals such as cats have weights dropped on there backs. This is so there backs brake and they can try and find a cure for the pain. Likewise they make dogs smoke until there lungs are black. Just so that they can find a cure for lung cancer. Scientist argue that it is necessary for the medicines because there is so many people suffering from cancer, aids and many other illness'. Anti-vivisectionist believe that there is to many products on the market already. Also we know cancer and heart disease are terrible illness' but they are often bought on by the people themselves in many cases. For example people could stop smoking or go on diets to reduce the chance of getting ill. But labs still insist that more medicines are needed. Although research is only carried out for necessary treatment. But still over 6 million experiment are taken each year. Labs will not give out there results because they try to make as much money as possible. Many illnesses are preventative but they still experiments are carried out. Latest research shows that they experiment are carried out on rats and mice.

  • Word count: 508
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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Ladies and Gentlemen, I strongly support the motion that animals in zoos should not be caged.

The debate Ladies and Gentlemen, I strongly support the motion that animals in zoos should not be caged Freedom is something we all take for granted, the ability to do what we want and when we want is something we have become accustomed to. Unfortunately we in our infinite wisdom have decided that as humans, this right only applies to us and therefore we can cage and treat species such as animals in such a disgusting and revolting manner and yet we consider our actions to be justified. How would you consider the idea of being shot, put to sleep, taken away from your natural habitat, woken up in a new environment to be surrounded by steal bars, to be fed at a given time, to be restricted of movement and communication. I believe in today's society we call such individual's criminals and such places jails so why do we continue treating animals in such a way. Animals in zoos are usually kept in very cramped cages and do not behave as their wild counterparts do. Polar bears, for example, are given about 10 metres of walking space whereas in their Arctic home they roam for many hundreds of miles. Similarly other animals such as big cats and birds are often confined in cages where they lack exercise and encouragement. This lack of exercise can result in many of these animals developing unnatural habits such as pacing back and forth or swaying from side to side. We do not

  • Word count: 790
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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A comparison of humans and animals

A COMPARISION OF HUMAN AND ANIMALS Argument: Since we use selective breeding to develop better breeds of animals, we should use selective breeding to develop better human being. I. The general principle is that any practice that is acceptable for animals is also acceptable for humans. First let us look at the relevant similarities and differences between animals and humans to determine the truth of the general principle. Even though there are similarities between dogs, cows and humans, in that they are all mammals, there are many important differences. Humans have a much higher level of Intelligence and self determination than other animals; this level of intelligence gives us freedom of choice at that animals do not possess. Since humans possess freedom of choice, issues related to reproduction should be left to the choice of the individual. A practice that is acceptable for them is not necessarily acceptable for human. Also, if we extend our general principle, we could say that since we routinely kill dogs taken to the dog pound and not claimed after several days, we could kill humans that nobody cares about. Hence the unstated general principle is false. II. ANIMALS IN COMAPRISON TO HUMANS GENETICALLY Narcolepsy - sleeping sickness - is a strange enough disease in humans, but the idea that dogs fall victim to it as well seems far fetched. Except that it's true

  • Word count: 903
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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The effects of deforestation on animal suffering

The effects of deforestation on animal suffering It is a statistical fact that every day a large amount of forest is destroyed. The main cause inflicting this destruction is without any doubts deforestation. The cutting of trees, for the consumption of man is a full time threat to the world's natural forests along with the animal species which inhabit the area. Factual statements say that over eighty percent of the Earth's natural forest has been destroyed due to mankind, a large number when seen in perspective. This makes one think, "how long can it last for?" The growing population demands more every day, and if up until now the depletion of woodland has been so severe, then what can we expect in the future? It is proven that if the current rate of destruction is to continue, most countries will lose their rainforests and woodland within our lifetime. This is a critical state. It takes only a couple of minutes to cut down a tree, but takes thousands of years to grow one. Place all that data together, and you're not likely to have much left within a hundred years. It is said that "If the world continues at the current rate of deforestation, the world's rainforests will be gone within 100 years-causing unknown effects to the global climate and the elimination of the majority of plant and animal species on the planet."* It is due to this that measures must, at all costs, be

  • Word count: 1268
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Biological Sciences
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