![]() We are a charity and we rely on your support. Understanding and protecting life on our planet is the greatest scientific challenge of our age. To reverse the damage we've done and protect the future, we need the knowledge that comes from scientific discovery. People tell us they 'still get shivers walking through the front door', and thank us for inspiring the next generation of scientists. We must act on scientific evidence, we must act together, and we must act now.įor many, the Natural History Museum is a place that inspires learning, gives purpose and provides hope. But if we don't look after nature, nature can't look after us. This is the first time in Earth's history that a single species - humanity - has brought such disaster upon the natural world. Climate change is creating deserts and dead zones, and hunting is driving many species to the brink of extinction. Pollution has caused toxic air in our cities, and farming and logging have wreaked havoc on our forests. Our future depends on nature, but we are not doing enough to protect our life support system. Now we're wondering if you can help us.Įvery year, more people are reading our articles to learn about the challenges facing the natural world. or that it helped you learn something new. There is hope yet - and it perhaps won't be long until we can phase out the use of crab blood for good. In 2019 the IUCN and other conservation groups around the world called for stronger rules to protect horseshoe crabs, more scientific research, and better protections for their coastal habitat. The other two Asian horseshoe crab species are not thriving either. It is locally extinct in Taiwan, and may soon disappear from Hong Kong. The tri-spine horseshoe crab is classified as endangered. Crab mating grounds are being destroyed more quickly by rising sea levels and building work. The eggs are fertilised, raised in a hatchery and released back into the ocean to try to keep population numbers stable. Some medicine companies have started sustainability programmes that rescue eggs from crabs that have been caught for bait. Some crab populations are now increasing, although others are still struggling. ![]() The American horseshoe crab is not considered endangered (although it is classified as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species) and the number of crabs caught is monitored.Īmerican regulators and manufacturers also created guidance on how to reduce the number of crabs killed during the bleeding process, which is helping. It's also arguable medicine manufacturers aren't the biggest problem facing horseshoe crabs: in America many more are killed for fishing bait and lots are struggling in Asia because their habitat is disappearing. A small percentage of them die after being bled, although medicine producers are becoming ever more careful about keeping population numbers healthy. For instance, America still bleeds many crabs every year. Synthetic ingredients and alternative tests are not yet widely used in some countries. Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company developing one of the biggest potential Covid vaccines, said they won't be using crab blood in their jab. It is likely that a new Covid test manufactured in the UK will use synthetic ingredients, which are also approved by the European Union. Some governments, including the Japanese and Chinese, have approved the rFc test for use. This genetically engineered protein is called Recombinant Factor C, or rFC. ![]() The fourth is the American horseshoe crab ( Limulus polyphemus) which lives along the east coast of North America, with a particularly large number going to the beaches of the Delaware Bay to mate each year.įor years, no one managed to find any alternative ingredients to use in a test that were as sensitive as crabs' blood.īut there is hope: in the late 1990s biologists at the University of Singapore realised that a synthetic alternative could be created in a lab by cloning a molecule in the crab blood. These are the tri-spine horseshoe crab ( Tachypleus tridentatus), the coastal horseshoe crab ( Tachypleus gigas) and the mangrove horseshoe crab ( Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda). Three of them live in Asia, around the coasts of India, Vietnam, China, Borneo and southern Japan. There are four species of horseshoe crab. And since we'll want to vaccinate millions of people in a short space of time, horseshoe crabs could play a big part. In many parts of the world, researchers will be relying on horseshoe crab blood in those important tests. The successful jabs will have to be carefully checked before they are rolled out. More than 100 different vaccines are being tested in the hope that one will work. ![]() The world is rushing to find a safe vaccine to fight Covid-19, the viral lung disease which has swept the planet. ![]()
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