They aren't as cuddly as panda bears or as majestic as bald
eagles, but leeches have found a champion. The pharmaceutical
company Glaxo Wellcome has donated 54,000 pounds ($88,500)
toward the well-being of the medicinal leech, a threatened
species in the U.K. The money, which will be split over 3 years,
will be used to identify existing leech populations and to
protect the 20 known populations. Physicians have used the
medicinal leech, Hirudo medicinalis, to reduce swelling, prevent
blood clots, and heal bruises for more than 2000 years. The
8-centimeter-long leeches were once abundant throughout
freshwater streams and ponds of western Europe, where they fed
on blood from amphibians or mammals. But their numbers declined
during the mid 1800s, when heavy use by doctors and drainage of
wetlands for agriculture wiped out many natural populations.
Ignored for most of this century, leeches have enjoyed a recent
boost in popularity, thanks to a resurgence of medicinal leech
use in neuroscience research and in plast