In a safety study, Cape GriVon vultures (Gyps coprotheres) were dosed with ketoprofen at single doses of »1 mg/kg (n = 5) and 5 mg/kg (n = 11). No toxicity was reported in the 1 mg/kg group, with the AUC inf , V z and Cl being 10.42 g/ml h, 0.37 l/kg and 0.10 l/h kg, respectively. Toxicity occurred in the 5 mg/kg group, with 7 of the 11 birds dying. Clinical signs of toxicity included depression, loss of appetite and apparent coma. Animals died within 48 h of dosing. The AUC inf , V z and Cl in the birds that survived were 52.26 g/ml h, 0.45 l/kg and 0.10 l/h kg, respectively. The AUC inf , V z and Cl in the birds those died were 207.90 g/ml h, 0.26 l/kg and 0.02 l/h kg, respectively. Based on the increase in the AUC inf and C max in the birds that died, we surmise that toxicity resulted from saturation of the metabolic process. While the exact metabolic pathway remains unknown in these vultures, we believe that toxicity may be due to pharmacogenomic diVerences in the cytochrome P450 pathway.

Zoo animals, including tigers, have been reported to suffer from barbiturate intoxication, with pentabarbitone being most commonly recorded. Clinical signs range from mild ataxia to general anaesthesia with recovery over hours to days with several factors affecting hepatic barbiturate metabolism and tissue partitioning. Botulism is an often fatal intoxication in man, animals, birds and certain fish. The occurrence in carnivores is uncommon to rare, with only 2 reports found of botulism in felids. This report relates to 3 adult captive cohabiting tigers that simultaneously developed signs of abdominal discomfort, progressive ataxia, recumbency and comatose sleep resembling stage 2 anaesthesia, alternating with periods of distracted wakefulness and ataxic movements. These signs occurred 4 days after being fed the carcass of a horse that had ostensibly died of colic and not been euthanased. The male tiger that was the dominant animal in the feeding hierarchy was worst affected and had to be given intravenous fluids. The female that was lowest in hierarchy was unaffected. After 48-72 hours of treatment at the Onderstepoort Veterinary Academic Hospital the females could eat and made an uneventful recovery. The male tiger showed partial recovery but died during the night a few hours after drinking water on his return to the owner. Necropsy revealed severe oesophageal dilation and impaction with decaying grass; some of this material and water were present in the pharynx and trachea, and had been aspirated causing acute widespread bronchopneumonia. Colon content tested negative for common pesticides but, together with liver, tested positive for barbiturate. Serum taken on the day of admission had tested negative for barbiturate and the residual serum from the 3 animals later tested negative for botulinum toxin. Colon and oesophageal content from the male at necropsy were positive for Clostridium botulinum toxin type C by the mouse bioassay neutralisation test, confirming that this male had had concomitant barbiturate toxicity and botulism, and had succumbed to aspiration bronchopneumonia secondary to pharyngeal, laryngeal and oesophageal paralysis and oesophageal impaction

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Research shows that flirting is found in all cultures and societies. However, very littleresearch has been conducted on the differences in the courtship and flirting behaviourof people from diverse cultures. Like all other communication behaviour, flirting behaviourvaries from culture to culture, and acceptable flirting behaviour in one culture might beviewed as inappropriate in another. Likewise, because all forms of communication aredynamic, generation gaps may lead to conflict as a result of differences in opinion aboutthe appropriateness of certain behaviours. Thus, the patterns of flirting behaviour areculture-specific and even generation-specific. Although there are research findingsavailable on flirting behaviour in Western and Eastern cultures, very few scholars haveresearched flirting behaviour in African cultures. This article provides a brief summaryof existing research findings. In order to gain insight into culture-specific views andopinions, a qualitative research design in the form of focus group interviews with aselection of black South African youths was utilised. The primary aim of the study is toexplore the similarities and differences between the flirting behaviour of a selection ofSouth African youths from an African background and Western research findings on flirtingbehaviour. Secondary aims are to explore whether some black South African youths’perceptions of acceptable flirting behaviour differ from their interpretation of theirparents’ views, and to utilise a qualitative research design in order to identify useful andappropriate variables that could be tested quantitatively in follow-up studies. It iscautiously concluded that there are both similarities and differences between the reportedflirting behaviour of South African youths from an African background and Westernresearch findings on flirting behaviour. Furthermore, most of the participants indicatedthat the flirting behaviour they exhibit is unlikely to be viewed as proper behaviour bytheir parents