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<div><font face="Geneva">India's next weapon against climate change?
The heat-tolerant dwarf cow</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva"
size="-1"><u
>http://www.businessinsider.com/r-indias-next-weapon-against-climate-</u
>change-the-heat-tolerant-dwarf-cow-2015-6#ixzz3eTQMBjz6</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1">REUTERS JUN. 29, 2015, 6:38 AM
49 </font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1">By K. Rajendran</font><br>
<font face="Geneva" size="-1"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva"><b>Excerpts</b></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1"><br>
</font><font face="Geneva">"This is nothing less than a
catastrophe," said Ananthakrishnan Kannappan, a livestock agent
for 30 years in Anantapur. "This is the first time that due to
lack of water and fodder, farmers are eagerly competing to sell off
their livestock for throwaway prices."<br>
<br>
But the solution to the problem is simple and small, livestock experts
argue: heat-tolerant dwarf cows.</font><br>
<font face="Geneva"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva">A team of researchers from Kerala Veterinary
and Animal Sciences University and the state government's Animal
Husbandry Department are now promoting a switch to Vechur and Kasargod
cattle, two local varieties known for being easy to raise, resistant
to diseases and - most important - better at tolerating high
temperatures than the more popular crossbred cattle.</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva"><br></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva">Dwarf cows were already gaining popularity
among some farmers because they consume less food and water than
conventional cattle varieties, the experts said. Small-scale farmers
need only one or two dwarf cows to meet the milk needs of their
households, they said.</font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva"><br>
With India facing growing heat and drought threats, other state
governments have reached out to learn more about Kerala's dwarf cows
as a way to help protect their own cattle and dairy industries.<br>
<br>
Government officials from the state of Gujarat recently bought three
Vechur cows from Kerala, while Punjab Chief Minister Prakesh Singh
Badal took six dwarf cows from Kerala to his farm in Chandigarh,
livestock experts say.</font><br>
<font face="Geneva"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva">"It is a fact that the characteristics
of the seasons have been altered by the disastrous impacts of climate
change, so our lifestyle needs to adapt to using our indigenous flora
and fauna," said K. Ramankutty, a dairy farmer in
Palakkad.</font><br>
<font face="Geneva"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva">(Reporting by K. Rajendran; editing by Jumana
Farouky and Laurie Goering :; Please credit the Thomson Reuters
Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers
humanitarian news, climate change, women's rights, trafficking and
corruption. Visit<u> www.trust.org/climate</u>)</font></div>
<div><font
face="Geneva"><u
>http://www.businessinsider.com/r-indias-next-weapon-against-climate-</u
>change-the-heat-tolerant-dwarf-cow-2015-6#ixzz3eTQMBjz6</font></div>
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>
"The resulting flood calendar spans the last ca 270 years (AD
1740-AD 2007). Š.. Our record thus suggests climate warming is
favouring the occurrence of high magnitude torrential flood events in
high-altitude catchments."</font><br>
<font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#000000"></font></div>
<div><font face="Geneva" size="-1" color="#000000">B. Wilhelm et al.
Does global warming favour the occurrence of extreme floods in
European Alps? First evidences from a NW Alps proglacial lake sediment
record.<i> Climatic Change,</i> online 10 December 2011<br>
DOI 10.1007/s10584-011-0376-2<br>
Received: 21 September 2009 / Accepted: 14 November 2011<br>
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