Iron storage disease (ISD) in lemurs has been reported since as early as the 1960s, and in the 1980s was demonstrated to be a consistent finding in postmortem investigations of captive lemurs. Since then this disease has consistently been diagnosed at the point of necropsy. In the current study we describe a preclinical screening procedure, as well as the quantified preventive effects of dietary intervention upon iron absorption. Twenty-three individual lemurs of four species were initially tested with the transferrin saturation test (%TS); 21 of these animals were on conventional zoo diets, and two were fed a specific diabetic diet. Initially, 20 of 21 lemurs on conventional zoo diets were demonstrated to have %TS levels above the normal range for humans; 17 of these lemurs were in the category (for humans) of excessive iron absorption. A dietary change aimed at reducing dietary iron and vitamin C levels and increasing the levels of iron-chelating tannins and/or phytates was instigated. After the animals were retested, a matched-pair comparison of %TS values before and after the diet change revealed significantly (P

1. Dabry's sturgeon, a large, long-lived migratory fish is endemic to the Yangtze River. Overfishing and habitat destruction have caused large-scale declines in natural stocks in the last two decades. 2. Examining patterns of genetic diversity has become an integral component of many management plans for endangered species. DNA fingerprinting was applied to detect genetic diversity in Dabry's sturgeon collected in 1958-1959, 1980-1981 and 1998-1999. 3. Studies on direct genetic parameters (genetic variability, hypervariable loci and heterozygosity) and indirect parameters (band-sharing coefficient and allelic frequency) showed that the continuous decline in wild populations has caused the loss of genetic diversity in present-day sturgeon. 4. The present-day populations have the lowest genetic variability; thus, effective management is needed to preserve genetic diversity. 5. A conservation strategy is urgently required, comprising artificial rearing facilities coupled with breeding management plans. Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Globally, tigers are considered to be endangered, and are listed on Appendix I of CITES. A simple test, using a species-specific primer pair, was developed to identify tiger meat, faeces and dried skin, and provide forensic evidence of illegal wildlife trade. The specific fragment of mitochondrial cytochrome b gene was also successfully amplified from raw DNA products extracted from single tiger hairs. This PCR-based approach opens a new avenue to forensic identification of less-than-optimal samples.