Washington, April 22 : A new study has shown widespread and substantial declines in wildlife in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve in only 15 years.

The study was analyzed by researchers at the Nairobi-based International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and led and funded by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

It is based on rigorous, monthly monitoring between 1989 and 2003 of seven “ungulate,” or hoofed, species in the Maasai Mara National Reserve, which covers some 1500 square kilometers in southwestern Kenya.

Washington, Apr 22 : American filmmaker Ron Howard has slammed a member of the Catholic League for trying to show him as an anti-Catholic because of the movie ‘Angels and Demons’ that he directed.

William Donohue, the author of a small pamphlet called “Angels and Demons: More Demonic Than Angelic”, had condemned the film for failing to hide an “animus against all things Catholic.”

Howard, 55, retaliated by writing in a blog for the Huffington Post that he has great respect “for the Catholics and their church.”

Washington

Washington, April 22 : Afghanistan’s National Environment Protection Agency (NEPA) has announced the establishment of the country’s first internationally recognized national park.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided key funding that led to the park’s creation, including support of Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS) to conduct preliminary wildlife surveys, identify and delineate the park''s boundaries, and work with local communities and the provincial government.

Washington, Apr. 22 : Former US Vice President Dick Cheney has revealed that there are still things about working in the government that he misses.

In an interview to Fox News, Cheney said that while he did not feel bad about retiring, “I spent 40 years in government and there are things about it I miss.”

Washington, Apr 22 : Humans might take into account many factors while deciding a house for themselves, it''s the ants who score over them when it comes to choosing the best home possible, according to a new study.

In the study, led by Dr Elva Robinson in the University''s School of Biological Sciences, researchers fitted rock ants with tiny radio-frequency identification tags, each measuring 1 / 2,000 (one two-thousandth) the size of a postage stamp.

They then observed as they chose between a poor nest nearby and a good nest further away.