THE start of the fishing season

across North America is often

marked by another springtime

ritual: grumbling by sport fishers

over the special fishing rights of

Native Americans. Complaints

that this leads to fish populations

being harmed by “unethical”

practices may be unfounded,

however. The two groups’ values

turn out to be closer than most

sport fishers realise.

Psychologist Douglas Medin

at Northwestern University in

Evanston, Illinois, and colleagues

surveyed the attitudes of

15 fishers from the Menominee

tribe in central Wisconsin, and

17 fishers of European descent.

The researchers asked all

the fishers to rate the ethical

acceptability of 17 fishing

practices, and also to guess how

members of the opposite group

would answer.

The values of the Menominee

turned out to be much closer to

those of the sport fishers than the

latter expected (Human Ecology,

vol 35, p 315). For example, the

European-Americans thought

the Menominee would approve

of practices such as keeping

undersized fish and fishing on

spawning beds, whereas both

groups disapproved of them.

THE world’s loneliest animal, a

giant tortoise widely thought to

be the last of his kind, may not

be alone after all, say geneticists.

The revelation offers hope that

“Lonesome George” – the famous

Galapagos bachelor – may yet

have a chance to breed.

Thousands of giant tortoises

once roamed the volcanic slopes

of Pinta, one of the Galapagos

islands. None roam today, owing

to centuries of exploitation by

passing sailors in search of a slow-

moving, tasty meal. Lonesome

George, the only known Pinta

tortoise, was discovered in 1971

and kept in captivity in the hope

that a mate could be found. That

day may finally be close.

Conservation geneticists

studying the DNA of tortoises

on nearby Isabela island have

stumbled upon a tortoise with

clear signs of Pinta ancestry. “It’s

a real surprise,” says Jeff Powell of

Yale University.

Powell and colleagues analysed

the DNA of 27 tortoises from Wolf

Volcano on Isabela. One of these

appears to be a cross between a

Pinta male and an Isabela female

(Current Biology, vol 17, p R317).

“The values of the Menominee turned out to be close to those of the sport fishers”

“A female carrying Pinta Island genes would make a suitable match for Lonesome George”

SOON it will be illegal to deny US

citizens jobs or insurance simply

because they have an inherited

illness, or a genetic predisposition

to a particular disease.

On 25 April, the House of

Representatives voted 420 to 3

to pass the Genetic Information

Nondiscrimination Act (GINA).

The Senate is expected to endorse

the act within a few weeks, which

is also supported by President

Bush. “I am so stunned by the

majority,” says Sharon Terry,

president of the Genetic Alliance,

a charity lobbying for the rights of

people with inherited illnesses.

“Clearly the House finally

understood the incredible

significance this has. The

American public can now access

genetic tests, feel safe about their

genetic information not being

misused and participate in

research that involves genetic

information.”

DAVI

D HO

SKIN

G/FL

PA

Unfortunately, it too is male, but

its mere existence raises the

exciting possibility of a female

carrying Pinta genes that would

make a suitable match for George.

The animal, dubbed PBR03, is

about 30 years old, Powell

estimates. The creature could

have plenty of sisters carrying a

similar share of Pinta genes. There

may even be a full-blown Pinta

female out there, he says.

ACTI

ON IM

AGES

– Lonely male seeks like-gened female for fun times –

–In harm’s way–

60 SECONDS

No human rights for chimps

An Austrian court has refused to grant

Hiasl the chimpanzee basic human

rights, such as protection from being

owned. Hiasl’s supporters were

worried that the Vienna animal shelter

where he lives might not be able to

keep him, and a UK citizen living in

Austria wanted to be appointed his

legal guardian to safeguard his future.

Animal extremists raid

Police in Europe arrested 30 suspected

animal rights extremists on Tuesday in

the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands.

About 300 officers were involved

in raids at 30 addresses “as part of

an ongoing investigation into criminal

activity associated with animal rights

extremism”, a police spokesman

told the BBC.

Telescope airborne

NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for

Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) completed a

successful test flight on 24 April. The

heavily modified Boeing 747 was being

tested to see how it would cope with

the 20-tonne telescope on board. SOFIA

could start observing by late 2008.

Slip slidin’ away

Arctic ice is melting nearly three times

faster than computer models predicted.

Julienne Stroeve of the National Snow

and Ice Data Center in Boulder,

Colorado, and colleagues came to this

conclusion after comparing past

predictions with actual measurements

of ice loss in the Arctic (Geophysical Research Letters, vol 34, p L09501).

Gulf war brain drain

People with Gulf war syndrome

have a brain cortex around 5 per cent

smaller than that of healthier soldiers

who also served in the 1991 conflict,

a small study suggests. Roberta White

of the Boston University School of

Public Health in Massachusetts and

colleagues say their findings, drawn

from 18 veterans with the syndrome

and 18 controls, provide hard biological

evidence that the controversial

syndrome is real.

www.newscientist.com 5 May 2007 | NewScientist | 5

Net values

Hope never dies

Insurance for all

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