Task force to study growing habitat of Asiatic lions in Guj

Ahmedabad: Gujarat government has decided to form a high-level task force to study the growing habitat of Asiatic lions, after the latest census revealed that their population has increased outside the protected area of Gir National Park and Sanctuary.

The forest department will form the task force to analyse the census data in the wake of growing lion population outside Gir Wildlife Sanctuary, the sole home of the Asiatic lions, officials said.

The aim of the task force will be to prepare a report about growing habitat of lions outside the sanctuary and suggest measures to reduce man-animal conflicts, they said.

"We will chalk out a plan based on the census data, which suggests increase in habitat area of lions. I have asked the officials to form a task force comprising 4-5 senior officials to suggest corrective measures on how to reduce threat on lions and decrease man-animal conflicts," Additional Chief Secretary (ACS) in state forest and environment department P K Taneja said.

As per the 14th lion census, the results of which were revealed on May 10 this year, the lion population has gone up to 523, which was 411 in the 2010 census.

While the Gir sanctuary is spread across 1,412 sq kms, the census report of 2015 suggests that the habitat area of the lions has increased to around 22,000 sq kms, which is almost double than 2010.

Out of total 523 lions spotted during this census, 268 were registered in Junagadh district, 44 in adjoining Gir-Somnath district, 174 in Amreli and 37 in Bhavnagar.

When asked if the state government was considering to extend the sanctuary limits or form a new sanctuary where lion habitat is found, Taneja said the committee will also look into these aspects. He also pointed out the need for re-deployment of forest staff to keep a check on lion movement outside the sanctuary.

"The task force will also suggest us all necessary steps to be taken for re-deployment of forest staff in areas outside the sanctuary. Before taking any decision on forming a new sanctuary, we need to analyse several aspects about the availability of herbivores as well as quality of forests," Taneja said.

Officials also admitted that lion population has significantly increased outside the sanctuary, particularly in Amreli district, where the number of the big cats has gone up from 108 in 2010 to 174 in 2015.

"Amreli as well as Bhavnagar are showing significant presence of lions. To avoid chances of man-animal conflict, we are now establishing regular communication with locals and farmers. We are also providing training to social forestry staff to handle the situation," Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife) C N Pandey said.

"We have also launched an Asiatic Lion Landscape Scheme last year to handle lion population outside the sanctuary. Our main aim is to improve the habitat of lions in those areas and take measures for better conflict management," Pandey added.

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Urban poor aging faster at cellular level - study

New blood tests show that poor populations in urban areas of the United States are actually aging faster at the cellular level than others, thanks to chronic stress connected to income and identity, according to a new study by scientists.

Conducted on a small group of black, white and Mexican adults in three Detroit neighborhoods, the tests were an attempt by scientists to learn what contributed to early aging-related diseases and excessive mortality rates in the urban poor.

The study of racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health inequality involved collaboration between social researchers and cellular biologists at Stanford University. It was based on blood test samples from 239 people, ages 25-64, with a community survey of residents in three Detroit neighborhoods. The blood tests were used to measure telomere length (TL), an indicator of stress-mediated biological aging.

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Previous studies have argued that racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health inequality affect a person's mortality, but many of the studies were based on social research. The Stanford study marks the first collaboration between science and social research that measures telomeres – the caps on chromosomes that protect them from deteriorating.

The telomeres shorten with cell division and over time, as a person ages, they shorten to mark cellular death. Several large studies have argued that telomere length can be affected by stressful life experiences and contribute to early aging, leading to higher risk of infectious and chronic disease like cancer, diabetes and heart disease. Other studies find no significant association between TL and mortality.

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What the Stanford study found was that "the poverty rates for the study participants [in Detroit] were more than double the national rate for blacks and Mexicans and six times the national rate for whites.

" In Detroit, poverty rates are roughly comparable for whites, blacks and Mexicans at 55.6 percent, 50 percent and 52.3 percent, respectively. They found poor whites had the shortest TL compared to nonpoor whites, and that poor and lower middle class blacks had equivalent TL. But poor Mexicans had longer telomeres than Mexicans with higher incomes.

To account for the different results, the study's author reasoned that poor whites had the shortest TL readings because of an association between short TL and having less than a high school education. Researchers also considered the mass exodus of whites and jobs from Detroit, which led to a growing black population and a white population that then became a minority.

With the city experiencing an overall reduction in taxation, shrinking benefits from labor union membership and public pensions, the effects of urban austerity has taken a significant toll, particularly on whites.

"Lacking the financial resources, social networks, and identity affirmation of the past, remaining Detroit whites may have less to protect them from the health effects of poverty, stigma,"

said Dr. Arline Geronimus, visiting scholar at the Stanford Center for Advanced Study and lead author of the report.

READ MORE: 'Endless & vicious cycle' of misdemeanor charges targeting America's poor - reportWhen reasoning why Mexicans might have longer telomeres, other factors were at play.

"If they're immigrants, then they come with a different cultural background and upbringing that didn't stress that as Mexicans they were somehow 'other' or 'lesser' than other Americans,

" Dr. Geronimus told The Huffington Post.

"They come with a set of support systems and with a cultural orientation that doesn't undermine their sense of self-worth,”

she added. “They then often live in these ethnic enclaves, many of them don't speak anything other than Spanish, and so they're not interacting with Americans who view them as 'other' or who treat them badly. It's not that they're immune to that treatment but they're not as sensitive to it and they also just don't experience it as often."

Geronimus said there are "effects of living in high-poverty, racially segregated neighborhoods -- the life experiences people have, the physical exposures, a whole range of things -- that are just not good for your health."

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