Tuesday 20 January 2009

UK Team Crack Tiger DNA Code

A team from Royal Holloway College is in a position to use state-of-the-art technology to recreate a creature that became extinct more than 70 years ago. RUSSELL BUTT discovers more
Scientists in Egham have made a Jurrasic Park-style breakthrough that could potentially bring the Tasmanian tiger back to life - more than 70 years after it went extinct.
In a story echoing the plot of the blockbuster dinosaur movie, researchers at Royal Holloway University of London, have revealed the complete 'mitochondrial genome sequence' for the thylacine, a marsupial commonly known as the Tasmanian tiger, which died out in 1936.

Read more here.

Mystery Cat a Dog?

AS cats go, Scott Burnett says at least one of the Gympie Region's big cats looks like a bit of a dog.

Dr Burnett's analysis, which he freely describes as less than 100 per cent certain, was made possible by Glenwood resident Colin Russow, who responded scientifically when he noticed unusually large animal prints of indeterminate origin at his property.

Read more here.

Trail of Panther Leads to Kenthurst

MYSTERIOUS panther-like creatures, long reported to be stalking the outskirts of Sydney, could be moving towards homes.

With at least 19 sightings reported this year, big cat hunters believe they're becoming bolder as they search for food and mates.

Read more here.

Skeptics Tackle Qld Cat

Reports of a panther-like cat roaming bushland in south-east Queensland have been met with scepticism by a Sunshine Coast academic.

Glenwood resident Colin Rossow claims to have found footprints of "big cats" on his property north of Gympie.

Mr Rossow has plaster casts of the paw prints, which he believes are from two different cats.

Read more here.

Glenwood Panther Revives Mystery

THERE'S nothing quite like a mystery animal sighting to divert attention from life's less-happy realities such as the global economic crisis.

So this week's reports of a big cat prowling the rural suburb of Glenwood, north of Gympie, have not only given some light relief on the news front, they have also reignited the age-old debate over the existence of mythical and mysterious creatures in Queensland.

Read more here.

Tale of the Dead Tiger

Scientists face a mammoth task in bringing back extinct species, such as Tasmanian tigers or sabre-tooths, writes Richard Macey.

Out on the grasslands, a woolly rhinoceros grazes. Over a fence, a sabre-toothed cat stands, watching. Elsewhere, a dodo nests on the ground, while nearby a Tasmanian tiger paces through a eucalypt forest.

Beyond the enclosures, crowds of curious visitors, including ginger-haired Neanderthals, gaze in fascination.

However, unlike in Jurassic Park's cinematic wildlife reserve, there is not a dinosaur in sight.

"There's no chance of bringing back the dinosaurs but other extinct beasts could rise again," the journal New Scientist declared last week, naming its 10 top candidates for resurrection through the rapidly advancing technologies of genetics and cloning.

Read more here.

Extinction in the Tasmanian Tiger's Genes?

Tasmanian tigers, also known as thylacines, had dangerously low genetic diversity decades before disease and human hunting drove them extinct, an analysis of the first complete mitochondrial genomes from the extinct marsupials reveals.

An international group of scientists used powerful new technology to decode mitochondrial and some nuclear DNA from two thylacine museum specimens. The researchers report their findings online January 13 in Genome Research.

Read more here

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