the Arabian leopard

The Arabian leopard, which once thrived in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Yemen and Oman, is today a critically endangered species. Barely 250 such cats are now left in the peninsula. The Arabian Leopard Research Project in Oman, which was conceived by the Diwan of Royal Court almost a decade ago, has been at the forefront of conservation efforts.Biosphere Expeditions, a nonprofit-making organisation offering hands-on wildlife conservation expeditions in various parts of the world, has been involved with this project since 2006, working with scientists from the Office of the Advisor for Conservation of Environment (OACE) of the Diwan of Royal Court with the aim to see whether the endangered cat is still present in the Musandam Peninsula. Last year, Biosphere Expeditions was able to report that the Arabian leopard still survives in the Musandam area though the animal’s numbers have dwindled considerably. This year, OACE invited Biosphere Expeditions again to conduct a collaborative research in Dhofar, where a sizeable population of Arabian leopards still exists. Marcelo Mazzolli, a key member of the expedition team, mentioned that the results were stimulating.

Turn off the TV

Not all TV is bad, but try to cut back on your TV viewing. Decide how long

you are going to watch TV and turn it off when your time is up. Try cutting

back your daily TV viewing by one hore at first. You can use that time to

read a book, listen to a motivational tape, or spend time with your family.

Read right

Newspapers always focus on bad news. So do not read them before 10am.
Instead, read good books that inspire and motivate you-booksthat can show
you something new and interesting. Do not just read at night before you go
to sleep-try reading first thing in the morning before work too.

Smoking risk to babies

Middle-class women who smoke while pregnant do little harm to their unborn babies. Smokers from poorer backgrounds do risk damage to their children, but only because they combine cigarettes with alcohol and a poor diet.

Emma Tominey, from the London School of Economics, studied data on 3,368 mothers and 6,860 children taken between 1973 and 2000. Smoking during pregnancy reduced birth weight by 5.6%, but when adjusted for other factors it accounted for just 1.8%.