Italy


 * Italy**

**Background Information**

-Located in Southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula -The Prime Minister is Silvio Berlusconi -The Ambassador is Ronald P. Spogli -Head of State, Executive, Legislative Branch, Judicial branch -Italy joined the G8 in 1975 -Ha been unified since 1861 -Industrialized after 1945, less than 3% deals with agriculture -Italy is advanced in manufacturing techniques and systems, high-quality design, and precision engineering.



**Endangered Species Regulations**

-Italy is part of the European Union and has to follow the stated EU endangered species regulations. -Items that are protected by the EU often cannot be imported or sold. These include ivory and turtle items. Anything else involving parts of protected animals like tigers or rhinos or other protected plants are included. -If one wants to artificially propagate certain species of orchids and cacti that are protected, a CITES permit is necessary. -If one wants anything made out of coral, verification is needed to insure that it is not of a protected species. This also applies to shells. -The caviar trade is under control. No more than 125 grams per person may be in the EU. - Live pets must have an import permit.

**Endanged/ Extinct Animals**

Mouflon

A mouflon is a wild sheep. It is red-brown with a dark back-stripe. The males and females are both horned. They originated in Southwest Asia. The Mouflon was introduced to the islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Rhodes, and Cyprus during the Neolithic period. Since the 1980s, Mouflons have been introduced successfully in game ranches in North America for the purpose of hunting. A mouflon was cloned successfully in early 2001 and lived at least seven months, making it the first clone of an endangered mammal to survive beyond infancy. This animal is already exstinct.

Fin Whale

Long and slender, the Fin Whale's body is brownish-grey with a paler underside. There are at least two distinct subspecies: the Northern Fin Whale of the North Atlantic, and the larger Antarctic Fin Whale of the Southern Ocean. Fin Whale was heavily hunted during the twentieth century and is an endangered species, this caused them to become endangered.


 * Endangered Plants**

Physoplexis comosa and Primula glaucescens

Physoplexis comosa and Primula glaucescens, endemic to calcareous grasslands of the Lombardy Prealps, northern Italy, are protected under Annex IV of European Community Directive. Seed germination dynamics of these species were studied with the aim of producing appropriate germination protocols for use in ex situ conservation.


 * Bibliography:**

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V5X-4BMC9DG-1&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=6538b5190dafaed8c47fbcee087bbffd http://www.mincomes.it/cites/cites_eng.htm http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/4033.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Italy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fin_Whale http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouflon