Gender Benders

Pollution and human waste appear to causing the majority of male roach, one of Britain’s most common freshwater fish, to undergo sex changes. A study of Brunel University revealed that 100 percent of the male roach examined in the Nene and Aire rivers showed signs of feminization. In the worst case, large parts of the fish’s sperm-producing testes had turned into egg-making tissue. This is the first time that feminization of male fish has been attributed to factory discharges. Earlier studies have linked fish sex changes to human and synthetic estrogen released into waterways through sewage.

Ongoing Deforestation

Brazil’s National Space Research Institute reported that satellite images reveal the country’s Amazon rain forest continues to be ravaged at an alarming rate. While deforestation has declined since the peak year of 1995, slash-and-burn farming techniques and logging still cleared an area of 4,888 square miles during 1997. Some environmental groups say the 20 percent decline in deforestation during the past two years is due to heavy rains that interfered with the burning and logging. The government attributes the decline to its environmental policies, and says that further protection is being hampered by legal complications, inadequate funding and problems in analyzing data.

Earthquakes

Several rare tremors shook western parts of Yemen, causing cracks in some buildings. No injuries were reported.

Earth movements were also felt in metropolitan Tokyo, southern Japan, the Kuril Islands, Cyprus, the Netherlands, the southern Yukon Territory and southwest Mexico.

Back from Extinction

A huge colony of an Australian wallaby thought to be extinct for most of this century was discovered on an off the coast of New Zealand’s North Island. A colony of 2,00 wallabies, known locally as damas, were positively identified as descendants of Australia’s lost tammar wallaby by using genetic marking techniques. A massive cull of the animals in Australia during the 1920s wiped out the marsupials in their native habitat, but a few that had been transplanted to Kawau Island in the late 1800s by a former governor of South Australia thrived in the isolated environment. Australian wildlife authorities are exploring the possibilty of bringing the tammar home.

Monkey Attacks

A pack of wild monkeys swooped down on a Japanese seaside resort, injuring 26 people in a broad-daylight attack that has left animal experts baffled. A spokesman for the town of Ito, 63 miles southwest of Tokyo said that the animals targeted only women, especially the elderly. In one case, a monkey opened a door and bit a woman who was inside her home.

Sources: Australian Bureau of Meteorology U.S. Climate Analysis Center, U.S. National Earthquake Information Center and the World Meteorological Organization