Rare black bear seen in no-go zone between North and South Korea

Find shows ecological value of demilitarised zone after decades cut off from humans

Daniel Hurst in Tokyo

Fri 10 May 2019 14.27 BSTLast modified on Fri 10 May 2019 18.20 BST

When an unmanned camera captured movement inside the demilitarised zone (DMZ) that separates North and South Korea, it wasn’t a sign of troops on the march. Instead, photographs released this week show a rare black bear clambering on rocks next to a peaceful stream.

The animal has been identified as an Asiatic black bear, a species that is native to parts of Asia including the Korean peninsula and is classified as “vulnerable” on the Red List of Threatened Species compiled by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Experts say the discovery underlines the ecological importance of a region that is largely cut off from human observation because of landmines and long-running tensions between the two Koreas.

In South Korea, the Asiatic black bear was nearly eradicated before the government launched a recovery programme 15 years ago. The number of these bears in South Korea has increased from five in 2001 to 61 now, according to figures cited by the Yonhap news agency.

Information about the status of threatened species within the DMZ, however, is harder to collect.

“The ecological value of the Korean DMZ has been documented for several decades as many scientists in Korea and from around the world have researched the region,” explains Seung-ho Lee, the president of the DMZ Forum, a group that campaigns to protect the area’s ecosystem.

Read on

Dolphin liberation in Korea

Date: May 27, 2018

Source: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology(UNIST)

"Dolphin liberation in South Korea has raised awareness towards the welfare of marine animals and has resulted in the strengthening of animal protection policies and the level of welfare."

An engineering student, affiliated with UNIST has recently carried out a scientific investigation on dolphin liberation in South Korea. The paper presents the overall analysis of the social impact of the first case of dolphin rehabilitation in Asia, which occurred in 2013.

This study has been carried out by Sejoon Kim in the School of Energy and Chemical Engineering in collaboration wit Professor Bradley Tatar in the Division of General Studies at UNIST. Their findings have been published in the April issue of the journal, Coastal Management and will be published online, this month.

Continued 

Dead dog lives again after British owners successfully clone him

DECEMBER 28, 2015

by Emily Bills

After losing their beloved pet dog Dylan to a brain tumor in June, this British couple successfully had him cloned by a company in South Korea for $100,000.

The first-of-its-kind boxer puppy was born on Boxing Day and was cloned from Dylan two weeks after his death—the previous record for dog cloning was held at five days after death, according to the Guardian.

Laura Jacques, 29, and Richard Remde 43 of West Yorkshire, England enlisted the help of the controversial cloning company Sooam Biotech Research Foundation to bring back their pup. The only laboratory of its kind, it can bring back your pet for a cool price of $100,000 per procedure.

The newborn puppy's name isn't Dylan like his predecessor, but the couple named him Chance after a character in the Disney movie Homeward Bound. Chance is expected to have a brother in just a few short days—another clone puppy named Shadow also after a character in the movie.

Read more at

Mini Winnie - Britain's first cloned dog

Britain's first cloned dog has been born after a West London cook won a £60,000 contest to have her pet reproduced.

Rebecca Smith's 12-year-old dachshund Winnie was cloned as a puppy - called 'Mini Winnie' - in a laboratory in Seoul, South Korea.

Ms Smith, 29, has had Winnie since when she was 18 and says the pet helped her overcome bulimia.

"Winnie is the best sausage dog in the whole world. She is desperate to be cloned because the world would be a better place with more Winnies in it," she said.

After winning the competition, a sample of Winnie's skin tissue was taken and stored in liquid nitrogen before being transported to South Korea.

In Seoul, her cells were put into eggs from a donor dog of the same breed. A spark of electricity then created a cloned embryo which was transferred into a surrogate dog.

Mini Winnie was born via caesarean from a mongrel dog much bigger than itself and weighed just over 1lb.

"I saw it being born and it looks exactly like Winnie," Ms Smith said.

Continued

Genomes of big cats revealed

International scientists have mapped the genomes of the tiger, lion and snow leopard, in conservation efforts to protect endangered species.

The research give clues to how big cats evolved to become top predators with superior muscle strength and a carnivorous diet.

The tiger shares 96% of its genes with the house cat, the study in Nature Communications reveals.

Taeguek

Until now, the only cat to have its DNA mapped was the domestic one.

A team led by Yun Sung Cho at the Personal Genomics Institute, Genome Research Foundation in Suwon, South Korea, sequenced the genome of a Siberian tiger.

The individual, Taegeuk, is a nine-year-old male from Everland Zoo in South Korea.

Continued

Festival-goers tuck into live octopus… despite risk of choking on wriggling legs

If you had to eat any live animal, you would probably opt for one that does not have eight arms, dozens of powerful suction cups and the ability to choke you once ingested.

But none of that seems to have bothered these foodies, who spent yesterday tucking into the raw and slimy invertebrates at a food festival in South Korea’s capital Seoul.

They were not even put off by a court ruling – issued the same day – that declared a woman’s death to be the result of choking on a live octopus.

The woman’s 32-year-old boyfriend had been convicted of murder after it emerged they had taken out a £120,000 life insurance policy, days before she died in Incheon City.

But the decision was reversed after the defendant – identified only as Mr Kim – explained to the supreme court how she had collapsed after downing her still-writhing meal.

Continued

Dolphins try to save dying companion

By Matt Walker

Editor, BBC Nature

Common dolphins have been seen gathering to aid a dying companion, trying to support it in the water and help it breathe.

This is the first time that a group of dolphins has been recorded trying to help or save another dying dolphin.

Korean-based scientists witnessed the event in the East Sea off the coast of Ulsan, in South Korea.

Five individual dolphins formed a raft with their bodies in an attempt to keep the stricken dolphin afloat.

Details of the behaviour are reported in the journal Marine Mammal Science.

Healthy cetaceans, the group of animals that includes whales and dolphins, have been seen attempting to provide supportive care to individuals before.

Read on:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21146455

South Korea customs officials find thousands of pills filled with powdered human baby flesh

Thousands of pills filled with powdered human baby flesh discovered by customs officials in South Korea

More than 17,000 pills smuggled into country have been intercepted since last AugustPills viewed as a “miracle cure” for all ailments – but unsurprisingly they are harmful

Thousands of pills filled with powdered human flesh have been discovered by customs officials in South Korea, it was revealed today.

The capsules are in demand because they are viewed as being a medicinal “cure-all”.

The grim trade is being run from China where corrupt medical staff are said to be tipping off medical companies when babies are aborted or delivered still-born.

Dead baby pills: This is ground baby powder which tests discovered is 99.7 per cent human last year. South Korean officials have stopped 17,000 dead baby pills being imported since last August

The tiny corpses are then bought, stored in household refrigerators in homes of those involved in the trade before they are removed and taken to clinics where they are placed in medical drying microwaves.

Once the skin is tinder dry, it is pummelled into powder and then processed into capsules along with herbs to disguise the true ingredients from health investigators and customs officers.

The discoveries since last August has shocked even hardened customs agents who have pledged to strengthen inspections.

Chinese officials are understood to have been aware of the trade and have tried to stop the capsules being exported but thousands of packets of them have been smuggled through to South Korea.

Continued: http://4yous.info/south-korea-customs-officials-find-thousands-of-pills-filled-with-powdered-human-baby-flesh/

South Korea drops scientific whaling plan

South Korea prime minister criticises fishing ministry

July 2012. In an apparent about turn, South Korea has ditched plans to launch a scientific whaling programme. Korea announced at the recent IWC meeting that it planned to launch a scientific whaling programme, which caused outrage in many parts of the world, and was described by on erudite media outlet as ARSE! A brief announcement seem to blame the South Korean Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for announcing a decision that they had not discussed with the prime minister.

Already catching 200 whales per year as ‘bycatch'

Korea already catches an estimated 200 Minke whales per year by ‘accident' (They must be incredibly careless).

Read more details in 'The Age' 

Seoul bends to whaling outcry

SOUTH Korea said yesterday it may scrap its fiercely criticised plan to resume "scientific" whaling if experts come up with non-lethal means to study the mammals in its waters.

"We may not conduct whaling for scientific research if there is another way to achieve the goal," said Kang Joon-suk, an official of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

South Korea unveiled its plan at an International Whaling Commission meeting last week, saying it would use the loophole in a global moratorium that permits killing of whales for "scientific" research.

Seoul cited what it called a significant increase in whale stocks in its waters and consequent damage to fisheries. If it goes ahead, it would be the fourth country to kill whales, joining Norway, Iceland and Japan.

Yonhap news agency said Seoul could be backtracking in the face of criticism at home and abroad.

Greenpeace described scientific whaling as ``just thinly disguised commercial whaling''.

Norway and Iceland openly defy the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling, saying they believe stocks are healthy.

Japan already uses the loophole for scientific research, with the meat then going on dinner plates.

Mr Kang said yesterday South Korea would fully consult international and domestic experts before and after presenting a detailed whaling programme to the IWC's scientific committee, set to meet in South Korea in May next year.

``We will respect the committee's recommendations in making our decision,'' he said.

Continued:  http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/seoul-bends-to-whaling-outcry/story-e6frg6so-1226423958177

South Korea launches alleged ‘Scientific whaling’ to add to their ‘bycatch’ – ARSE

NZ opposes South Korean whaling proposal
July 2012. South Korea has announced plans to launch ‘scientific whaling' of Minke whales, similar to that run by Japan, but potentially even more damaging to whales as they will target Minke near the shores of Korea, a small and vulnerable population. 

Already catching 200 whales per year as ‘bycatch'
Korea already catches an estimated 200 Minke whales per year by ‘accident' (They must be incredibly careless). If the Korean scientific community are so keen to get hold of some whales for science, they already have plenty to choose from.

‘Accidental bycatch'
In 2007 Wildlife Extra reported on the improbable number of whales caught by the Korean fishing industry as ‘accidental bycatch', some 200 per year. Though it is illegal to directly hunt Minke whales in South Korea, those caught in fishing nets can be killed and sold as ‘bycatch' if officially reported. Economic incentives make such pursuits attractive, as individual whales were thought to fetch as much as $100,000.

The 2007 study, involving numerous researchers, was led by Scott Baker of Oregon State University. Researchers estimated that the true number of Minke whales that probably passed through Korean markets from 1999 to 2003 was around 827 individuals, or nearly twice the number in official reports.

‘If the mortality is really twice as great as the number reported to the government and to the International Whaling Commission, it has major implications for the survival of the species,' Baker said. ‘Researchers who have done sighting surveys of Minke whales report difficulty in even locating the whales and it has been hard to reconcile the small numbers sighted at sea with the numbers reported via bycatch.

Continued:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/south-korea-whaling.html

World's largest dinosaur tooth marks found in S. Korea

South Korean researchers said Monday that they have discovered the world's largest fossilized tooth marks of a carnivorous dinosaur in the country's southeastern province.


The unusual tooth scores, found on the tailbone of the adult herbivorous dinosaur Pukyongosaurus from the early Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic Era, measured 17 centimeters long, 2 centimeters wide, and 1.5 centimeters deep, the longest and deepest scores ever discovered in the world, according to Paik In-sung, a professor at Pukyong National University, who led the research.


The tailbone fossil itself was found in 2008 in Hadong, South Gyeongsang Province, some 470 kilometers southeast of Seoul, Paik added.

The W-shaped marks showing the two teeth of the dinosaur form sharp grooves in the bone and were presumably etched there when the predator bit meat off the carcass, according to Paik.

Apart from the largest tooth marks, many tooth scores of different sizes and shapes were also detected on the tailbone, which offers insight into the feeding behavior of meat-eating dinosaurs that lived on the earth some 120 million years ago, Paik said.

"The discovery of both large and small tooth marks on a single bone of a plant-eating dinosaur serves as telltale evidence that the meat-eating dinosaurs in the past had eating habits of exploiting a single sauropod carcass, identical to that of modern carnivores," he added.

The study, funded by the country's Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the National Research Foundation of Korea, was published on the online version of the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology last week.

Palaeontologists say dinosaurs lived in South Korea from 120 million to 80 million years ago, throughout much of the Cretaceous period, the last stage of the Mesozoic era and the heyday for dinosaurs. Their fossils, relatively well-preserved and discovered in a richly diverse spectrum across the southern South Korean coasts, are currently registered on a tentative list of U.N. World Heritage sites, en route to gaining major recognition.

Source: Yonhap News Agency [July 18, 2011]

http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2011/07/worlds-largest-dinosaur-tooth-marks.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheArchaeologyNewsNetwork+(The+Archaeology+News+Network)

South Korean scientists create glowing dog: report

SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korean scientists said on Wednesday they have created a glowing dog using a cloning technique that could help find cures for human diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, Yonhap news agency reported.
A research team from Seoul National University (SNU) said the genetically modified female beagle, named Tegon and born in 2009, has been found to glow fluorescent green under ultraviolet light if given a doxycycline antibiotic, the report said.

The researchers, who completed a two-year test, said the ability to glow can be turned on or off by adding a drug to the dog's food.

"The creation of Tegon opens new horizons since the gene injected to make the dog glow can be substituted with genes that trigger fatal human diseases," the news agency quoted lead researcher Lee Byeong-chun as saying.

He said the dog was created using the somatic cell nuclear transfer technology that the university team used to make the world's first cloned dog, Snuppy, in 2005.

The scientist said that because there are 268 illnesses that humans and dogs have in common, creating dogs that artificially show such symptoms could aid treatment methods for diseases that afflict humans.

The latest discovery published in 'Genesis', an international journal, took four years of research with roughly 3.2 billion won ($3 million) spent to make the dog and conduct the necessary verification tests, Yonhap said.

(Reporting by Jeremy Laurence; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE76Q1MK20110727?irpc=932

Lethal bird flu confirmed in S.Korea wild duck

SEOUL — One of five wild ducks found dead in South Korea this week was confirmed Saturday to have been infected with a lethal strain of the bird flu virus as the country battles its first outbreak in over two years.


Tests showed one of the five dead birds found in Sacheon City on December 26 had been stricken with the H5N1 virus, the agriculture ministry said in a statement.

The same strain -- which poses a risk to humans -- has also been detected in wild birds and their faeces at four other locations across the country since December 7, it said.

South Korea on Friday confirmed the outbreak of bird flu and more than 100,000 birds have been slaughtered as authorities seek to contain its spread.

Two poultry farms, one in the central city of Cheonan and the other in the southwestern city of Iksan, were confirmed to have been contaminated, the ministry said.

Health authorities placed a quarantine zone over a 10 kilometre (6.25 mile) radius, restricting movements of vehicles and people and carrying out emergency disinfection.

They have also stepped up inspections of wild birds and urged poultry businesses to take extra precautions such as erecting nets around their farms to keep wild birds out.

The avian influenza outbreak is likely to further strain the country's health system, which has already been struggling to contain swine flu and foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) cases across the country.

South Korea has been hit by bird flu three times, with the last outbreak in April 2008.

In 2008, South Korea had to cull more than eight million birds to curb the virus, resulting in damages estimated at 200 billion won (194 million dollars at the time).

Four people were confirmed to have been infected with the bird flu virus in late 2003 in South Korea but they showed few symptoms, health authorities said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j6RZqSGB3laVpjiY3BD9kWTH4oHA?docId=CNG.2ed0801c7a83ed76b6d4fc3f23c9c7a5.831