Eco Minute 13:30

BULLETIN 13 June 1:30 pm

Good afternoon, here is your Eco Minute:

# A tyre recycling plant in Newcastle, KwaZulu-Natal, Cryochem, has received about seven-million-rand in government support. Using pyrolysis, the company converts scrap tyres into fuel, carbon-black, and metals. With over 20 staff, it seeks more machinery to boost production and compete globally. The provincial legislature’s Quality of Life Committee recently visited the company, praising its role in youth employment and green economy development.

# Targeted action against invasive alien species could reduce the risk of the extinction of species in the European Union by up to 16-percent. Across the EU, three-thousand-759 species have been assessed as near threatened or threatened with extinction, of which 579 are documented to be threatened species that have been introduced to areas outside their natural range. Researchers believe the Macaronesian Islands present the largest opportunities for reducing species extinction risk.

# And finally: Scientists have discovered a new species of dinosaur they say rewrites the evolutionary history of tyrannosaurs. The two 86-million-year-old skeletons in the collection of a Mongolian museum is now the closest known ancestor of all tyrannosaurs, the group of predators that includes the iconic T Rex. It is named Khankhuuluu Mongoliensis, meaning Dragon Prince of Mongolia. Prince refers to it being an early, smaller tyrannosauroid that walked on two legs. Khankhuuluu would have weighed about 750 kilograms, with an adult T Rex at least eight times heavier.

Stay tuned for more news………….