The leading court at the UN will rule on Monday on whether Japan has the right to hunt whales in the Antarctic, an emotive case that activists say is make-or-break for the mammals' future.
These are caused by parasites from more than 20 species of Leishmania being transmitted to a variety of mammals, including humans, by the bites of phlebotomine sandflies.
Stefan Kappe, principal investigator, Seattle BioMed, Seattle, US, @SeattleBioMed Stefan studies how malaria parasites develop in mosquitoes and in the livers of mammals, and works on developing new drugs and vaccines.
Japan has used a loophole in a 1986 global moratorium that allows lethal research on the mammals, but has made no secret of the fact that their meat ends up in restaurants and fish markets.
Tokyo has used a legal loophole in the 1986 ban on commercial whaling that allowed it to continue slaughtering the mammals, ostensibly so it could gather scientific data.
Andrewsarchus – a big, prehistoric mammalian carnivore that resembled the villainous Gmork from The Neverending Story – is not a household name despite its apparent ferocity, and the shovel-tusked elephants and bear dogs of the age of mammals have not inspired a "Miocene Park" film franchise.
Japan ceased whaling in the Antarctic after the ruling, but has continued to hunt the sea mammals in the North Pacific, and now plans to propose a new round of 'scientific whaling' programmes at the IWC.
We can see no mammals or wildlife save a few birds, but the stillness, the scentless air, and the abundant ice is magical.
Perversely, 150 miles north-west of Edinburgh, one of Scotland's very few indigenous mammals and iconic of this country, struggles daily to retain a foothold on its very existence.
Japan has killed more than 10,000 whales under the programme since 1988, according to Canberra, allegedly putting it in breach of international conventions and its obligation to preserve marine mammals and their environment.
The May issue of Observer Tech Monthly carried a graphic outlining the gestation periods of a variety of mammals, from the tiniest to the largest.
