Mystery ailment hits South African crocs


	Mystery ailment hits South African crocs

A53GG4

7-22-2008 3:12 AM

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<div style="margin: 12px 0px; font-family: arial; color: #333333; background: #ffffff; border: solid 4px #e5e5e5; width: 100%; clear: left;"><div class="CM_CTB_Content_Wrap" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;background-color: #ffffff;"><div style="border-bottom: solid 1px #dcdcdc; white-space: nowrap; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: #eeeeee ;background-image: url(http://clipmarks.com/images/source-bg.gif); background-repeat: repeat-x; height: 24px; line-height: 24px; vertical-align: middle; padding-bottom: 4px; color: #666666; font-size: 10px;" ><a href="http://clipmarks.com/clip-to-blog/" title="see clips that are hot right now"><img src="http://content.clipmarks.com/blog_embed/2a4e172c-b558-48ce-9d24-391430f538ee/FB5E6119-E138-4B76-AB81-340E24D6A44C/" alt="" width="19" height="19" border="0" style="vertical-align: middle; margin: 0px 4px; display: inline; border: none; float:none;" /></a>clipped from <a title="http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926653.800-mystery-ailment-hits-south-african-crocs.html?feedId=online-news_rss20" href="http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926653.800-mystery-ailment-hits-south-african-crocs.html?feedId=online-news_rss20" style="font-size: 11px;">environment.newscientist.com</a></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926653.800-mystery-ailment-hits-south-african-crocs.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><DIV id="artHeadline"><H1 class="inline">Mystery ailment hits South African crocs</H1>
</DIV></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926653.800-mystery-ailment-hits-south-african-crocs.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">
19 July 2008
</LI></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926653.800-mystery-ailment-hits-south-african-crocs.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><li style="margin-left:16px;padding-left: 0px;">
NewScientist.com news service
</LI></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926653.800-mystery-ailment-hits-south-african-crocs.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>Crocodile carcasses with hardened, fatty deposits in the tails are posing a macabre puzzle for researchers at South Africa's Kruger National Park.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926653.800-mystery-ailment-hits-south-african-crocs.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>Staff at the park are speculating over what killed at least 30 of the animals in late May and early June. "We suspect that because of the hardening fat in the tails, the animals could no longer swim and so sank and drowned," says park spokesman William Mabasa.</P></blockquote><div style="height: 2px; font-size: 2px; background: #dcdcdc; border-bottom: solid 1px #f5f5f5; margin: 2px 4px;"></div><blockquote style="text-align: left; padding: 0px 8px; margin: 4px 0px 8px 0px; background: transparent; border: none;" cite="http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19926653.800-mystery-ailment-hits-south-african-crocs.html?feedId=online-news_rss20"><P>Preliminary tests at the University of Pretoria were inconclusive, so the fat samples have been sent to Spain for further tests. The appearance of the tough fat has been associated in the past with a condition called pansteatitis, brought on by eating rotten or rancid fish. "But the fish are OK, and all the other animals in the Olifants river are OK," says Mabasa. One other possibility is exposure to pollutants: the Olifants is the most polluted of all the park's rivers.</P></blockquote></div><div style="margin: 0px 6px 6px 4px;"><table style="font-size: 11px;border-spacing: 0px;padding: 0px;" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tr><td style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;">&nbsp;</td><td align="right" style="background:transparent;border-width:0px;padding:0px;width:107px" width="107"><a href="http://clipmarks.com/share/FB5E6119-E138-4B76-AB81-340E24D6A44C/blog/" title="blog or email this clip"><img src="http://content7.clipmarks.com/images/c2b-foot.png" border="0" alt="blog it" width="107" height="17" style="border-width:0px;padding:0px;margin:0px;" /></a></td></tr></table></div></div>

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