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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (April 13, 2000)
illy hard to tell what’s real* t’s up to the individual tofe , , n ■ i l ,1i®iay.April 13,2000 11 take it all seriously,bull ; — 1 ally blow it olf either. I think lossiblity; I definitely beliei ; | o be life out there. I don'tb •, leeessarily come to earth or nti here are so many stars- overed some planets. I thin retty good there’s somethii hilerioti said. I lastings said he doei inibts about the validityorni ic documents “Absolutely none... Igoottl ot to o\ erstate the case," he J ide documents and allowpein THE BATTALION Page 7 Deep dives of larine animals T w n conclusions.” stint ■dentist now think they understand Bhat has long mystified them - Bow ocean mammals can dive Btousands of feet. Underwater , • e. v Jlkessure partially collapses the ilsomlormshaaJB of wt V aies , se ai s and ihey can obtain thesedot« 0 |pp,j nSi allowing them to ! he time has comefo: fesmk. The rest of the lung i,, |v forlhri | ’htwithll! Hemains inflated, aiding in tie regarding its knowk%^ e asCRn ' Here is lings said. I 1 ()s: The Hidden His«i ai Rudder Tower Theaters i sday ; admission is free.! ram begins there will beas tisixle of" The X-Files”af Lung Blue whale fills and expands lungs on the surface before diving. process for a blue whale. r D.C. Coi e will work withsomi ne Marvel collaboralorJolm trator Dave Gibbons, and Bi ‘Batman" and ‘‘Superman' ns the comic book industry ifier 60 \ ears in the busin& f Spider-Man, The Hulk at lair emeritus of Marvel. He tan Tee Media: his stante to liis animated oi Car artilage Pressure During descent, the lower lung collapses as the body compresses from the pressure of water. The upper lungs are supported by cartilage which maintains its shape for ascent. Blue Whale 275 feet Bottlenose dolphin 377 feet Depth of dives [Seals are able to dive the ■deepest — some up to ■ nearly a mile. Here are the depths of the dives for the mammals in the study. under a considerable amoun iad already written his Wondffi way through Superman. H 1 ■ vr li c I "C So Elephant seal 1,092 feet Weddell seal 1,263 sea level 200 feet 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400 What's up,doc? Veterinarians warn of diseases spread from animals to humans T! Emily Holmes/AP f Seal-cam 55 films dives IN CONCERT iHDr. Randall Davis, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University-Galveston, and a team of researchers showed that sea mammals such as seals, dolphins and whales Wnserve energy by free-falling during deep ocean dives. ■ Davis said scientists have wondered how the mammals can stay underwater for so long. The Weddell seal, for example, can dive as deep as l ,600 feet and stay there for 20 minutes before surfacing. ■ To observe the mammal’s behavior, Davis attached cameras to four kinds of sea Brnmals to videotape their activity below the surface. ■ “The animals are putting their oxygen supply on reserve. They know they can do this by gliding and not swimming,” Davis said. j The scientists reported their research in the current issue of Science. BY NONI SRIDHARA The Battalion I he faces of many young kids will light up this month as they wake to find that in their Easter baskets the Easter bunny has brought them cute cuddly chicks and real live bunny rabbits. However, once one realizes the various dis eases these lovable animals can carry, they might not seem so cute anymore. Dr. Leon Russell, a Texas A&M professor of veteri nary medicine and anatomy said there are a wide range of diseases that can spread from animals to humans, known as zoonotic diseases, that frequently occur. “There might not be some occurrence of a zoonotic disease everyday, but the Center for Dis ease Control (CDC) keeps track of the most recent occurrences and where they are located,“ he said. Russell said there are more than 200 known zoonotic diseases. “While most of these are rare here in the United States, there are a couple dozen that are common and can be fatal,” he said. One of the most common diseases is salmonella. Salmonella is a bacterial disease which is found in poultry, eggs and uncooked meat. Russell said this disease alone can kill thou sands of people every year, but it is one of the most preventable. One way of preventing salmonella is to thor oughly clean cutting boards, use different knives to cut chicken and other foods and to wash hands between handling poultry and handling other food products. It is commonly known that salmonella can be transmitted by ingesting chicken, but many peo ple are unaware that you can contract the disease by just handling the animal, according to Dr. Leslie Wilson, a small animal veterinarian for the Well born Animal Clinic. “Salmonella can be transferred through the fe ces of the chicken, so people should be be cau tious of not to directly touch these areas in the process of cleaning,” she said. While most rabbits around this time are auditioning for the coveted job as Cadbury bunny, others are infected with tularemia. Tularemia causes skin lesions, high fever and and swollen lymph nodes, ac cording to Russell. Another zoonotic disease, anthrax, has been in the news lately because of fears that anthrax spores can be used as a biological weapon and because of re sistance by some military personnel from being injected with a vaccine they fear to be dangerous. But the disease is also of general concern. According to officials at the CDC, anthrax is an acute infectious disease cause by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis, which occurs in warm-blooded animals but can also in fect humans. A CDC official reported that al though anthrax is not typically reported in high volumes in the United States, most of the reports of animal infection are re ceived from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Okla homa and South Dakota. The CDC said the anthrax infection can oc cur in three forms: cutaneous, inhalation and gastrointestinal. The anthrax spores can live in the soil for many years, and humans can become infected with anthrax by handling animal prod ucts from infected animals or by inhaling an thrax spores from contaminated animal prod ucts. This disease can also be spread by eating undercooked meat. Wilson said since she only deals with small an imals, the majority of the pets she sees are do mestic animals such as dogs and cats. “The most common zoonotic diseases that COMMON ZOONOTIC DISEASES ¥ w Pf If i Pf DISEASE ANIMAL SOURCE SYMPTOMS METHOD OF TRANSMISSION Salmonella Poultry, eggs and raw meat Intestinal problems Ingesting and handling live chickens Anthrax Livestock Colds, death Inhaling spores from animal products Tularemia Rabbits Skin lesions, high fever, swollen lymph glands Ingestion of wild rabbit meat Leptospirosis Cattle and dogs Similar to infectious viral hepatitis, fever, chills, kidney damage Exposure to water contaminated by urine from infected animals Toxoplasmosis Cats Especially dangerous to pregnant women, possibly causing birth defects Handling cat litter Brucellosis > Cows Causes high fever and cau retard bone development Through skin abrasions while handling animals or ingesting dairy products JEFF SMITH/The Battalion worm and mange,” she said. So does this mean people should lock up their pets and never be around animals again for fear of contracting some wild zoonotic disease? Not at all, but they should take preventive measures. Even though a stray dog’s sad “puppy-dog eyes” or a stray cats soft purrs may make it difficult to refuse petting them, Wilson warned if there is a vis ible disease such as rabies or mange, the best solu tion is to call the local animal shelter and not directly handle the animal. Russell said most of the preventive measures are common sense.“If you wash your hands after handling animals and pets, avoid kissing dogs or cats near their mouths, treat bites effectively and keep litter boxes and bird cages clean, this should ease any worries animal or pet owners might I ?000 w 7:00 pm . lege Station, ll!I al Admission Z Box Office : (979) 845-1234 )0-5667 xoffice.tamu.edu : (979) 846-0728 Men’s Club and /eek t Unity NOW -‘P ===S5 lems? & \ 5: mBm* i||| u ? g n ’U r 'J fa I llil §S , * A, ■ Jf llill Wm H J 7 G \1 ‘'V 1 ' . • G , ' . f ^ ' ■* : : ' " ' ■ ■ : , v ; ;; y y; ;jr icoi *1! ML dAdamI INE IPM lOLISEUWj fAILABli Bee To doesn’t need posters to in assistance from: (p ' those of Texas •nter, MSCICON^ 845-1515 to infornuf ification, three (3)wo44 ; to assist you to the I" yilitfl yxSOdls CsfBgir with our new Resume Builder. 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