23THE ZULULAND OBSERVER, JUNE 29, 2012

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New kids onthe block

Eighteen month-old Skye allows Emdoneni Cat RehabCentre owner Louis Nel to scratch him behind the ear

PHOTOS: CENESSA STORK

Life at the centre isobviously very laid-back...

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Virgin birth threatDirk Rezelman

I t’s called a marbled crayfish orMarmorkreb and no one knows

exactly where it comes from.It is the world’s only known de-

capod crustacean to reproduce byparthenogenesis.

In short, this creature has dispensedwith sexual reproduction and theusual evolutionary processes and onefemale - they’re all female - is allthat’s needed to launch a colony ofclones.

All off-spring are genetically iden-tical to the parent and they self-replicate at an amazing rate.

This makes them wonderful can-didates for laboratory research on allsorts of development as the variablesamong individuals are zero.

A great volume of work has beenpublished, particularly in Europeancountries where the creature has in-vaded local eco-systems with as yetunpredictable results.

Discovered in the pet trade in Ger-many in the ’90s, they have spreadacross the world.

I’m surprised there have been noconsistent reports of them in thiscountry as yet.

Perhaps the rising acid mine waterpolluting our rivers has killed them,with all other life?

South African aquarists have beenmost resourceful in importing, morecorrectly smuggling, all sorts of ex-otics into the country which havebecome established in our water sys-tems.

Included among these are Amer-

ican turtle species which are quite athome here.

Spiny catfish and foreign snailspecies have also been released intoour systems.

Today there are invasive colonies ofthese crayfish in Germany, Italy, Hol-land and Japan. The USA is fightingto keep its waterways clear of them.

In Madagascar these crayfish havebecome a great problem as they wereintroduced into rice paddies as apossible food source.

Causing havocInstead they flourished beyond

measure and not only eat the fish inthe rice paddies, but also the growingrice plants.

Currently one third of Madagascaris directly threatened by these alieninvaders and they are spreading.

One tends to forget that havingdispensed with sexual reproduction,such creatures need one single or-ganism only to establish theirspecies.

Add to this that they are omnivoresand the threat to the balance among

indigenous species in local eco-sys-tems becomes crystal clear.

The closest relative of these cray-fish, as far as can be ascertained, isProcambarus fallax (discovered in1870) which is widely distributedacross Florida, USA.

Despite intensive investigations nowild colonies of the crayfish haveever been discovered.

Given the affinities with Procam-barus fallax, the parthenogenic cray-fish has been given the status of asubspecies of P. fallax with the ap-pellation P.f. virginalis - obviously.

Currently the vagabond coloniesare being closely monitored and arebeing studied in their wilder state,with particular emphasis on theirimpact on other species.

Studies in the Saxony region ofGermany, by Martin, Fullner andScholtz, looks at the impact thesecreatures are having on local ecolo-gies.

Italian studies are adamant that theinvasions must be addressed as soonas possible to avert irreversible catas-trophe.

drnat2706

Spotted any genets lately?

Spotted genet

PHOTO: CRAIG WIDDOWS

Craig Widdows

H ave you seen any large spotted genetsin your area or on your property?

If your answer was yes, you can make avaluable contribution, not only to an MScresearch project on the species, but ul-timately to their urban conservation.

Large spotted genets (Genetta tigrina)are small (1.5- 3.2kg), exclusively noc-turnal carnivores.

Their body is elongated with spots andother dark markings that vary from blackto a rusty colour and have a long white-ringed tail.

Large spotted genets appear well able to

survive in urban environments and inparticular appear to find refugia in sub-urbia for resting in during the day.

Craig Widdows, from the University ofKwaZulu-Natal - Pietermaritzburg, is car-rying out a MSc research project under thesupervision of Prof CT Downs, on thehome range and habitat use of largespotted genets in an urban landscape.

Craig would be grateful for any sightingsreports or other feedback from people inthe area.

Anyone who has genets on their prop-erty or information about them can con-tact Craig Widdows on 083 7818725 or e-mail craigw@hotmail.co.za

A2606Genet

Cenessa Stork

T he Emdoneni Cat Reha-bilitation Centre nearHluhluwe recently wel-

comed two new members to theirwild cat pride - cheetah brothersShadow and Skye.

Eighteen month-old Shadowand Skye are still settling in totheir new surroundings, butshould soon become stars atthe centre, helping to giveincumbent duo Juba andMoya, who entertain vis-itors twice daily, a wel-come break.

Emdoneni owner LouisNel says the cheetahs are‘built for speed and notcomfort’, and eat often, butvery little at a time, whichhelps to keep them trim forhigh-speed hunting.

In the wild, when not hunting,cheetahs work hard at con-serving their energy.

Their daily exercises consistof yoga-like stretching andslow walking Nel says.

The cats’ pens at the centre arebuilt according to conservationistIan Player’s recommendations for

wildlife management and areamong the most spacious cheetahcamps in South Africa.

Rehabilitation and breedingcentres like Nel’s might just saveendangered cheetahs from ex-tinction, as there are only 9 000left in the wild in southernAfrica.

‘We exchange cats to preventinterbreeding. That is why we got

Shadow and Skye,’ saysNel.

‘Our aim is to createwildlife awarenessin the communityand local schools.

The new ar-rivals are go-ing to play abig part in

t h a t .’

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