Family found a Lamarckdromia beagle specimen washed up on the beach in Denmark in southern WA
A “fluffy” crab discovered off the coast of Western Australia has been named after the ship that carried Charles Darwin around the world.
The new species, Lamarckdromia beagle, belongs to the Dromiidae family, commonly known as sponge crabs.
Continue reading...Pushed northwards by global heating, exotic birds like the rainbow bee-eater seen nesting in Norfolk will likely become established summer visitors
Rainbow-hued bee-eaters breeding on the Norfolk coast this summer and three rare black-winged stilts fledglings in Yorkshire are an “unmissable sign” that the nature and climate emergency has reached Britain, according to conservationists.
Birdwatchers are flocking to north-east Norfolk to see the bee-eaters, a colourful rare visitor from Africa and southern Europe, after seven birds were spotted close to Cromer by a local birder.
Continue reading...Ecologists raise concern over chicks’ attempts to escape high temperatures during one of earliest heatwaves on record
Hundreds of baby swifts in southern Spain have died after leaving their nests prematurely, in what ecologists described as an attempt to escape the extreme temperatures during one of the country’s earliest heatwaves on record.
Concerns were raised for the protected species late last week after residents in Seville and Córdoba noticed dozens of recently hatched birds scattered across sidewalks.
Continue reading...Insect’s journey probably began in west Africa on vessel that sailed from La Rochelle in 1743 to Guinea
An 18th-century cockroach named Peri, discovered in the ledger of a French slave-trading vessel, has become a surprise addition to the National Archives after the book was opened for the first time in more than two centuries.
The insect’s journey began onboard the slave-trading vessel that sailed from La Rochelle in 1743 for the Guinea coast. The crew later boarded a different vessel in modern-day Haiti bound for France, taking the ledger with them. But that ship was seized by British privateers during the war of the Austrian succession and sent into Plymouth.
Continue reading...Australian research shows six in 10 have sought professional help for their mental health
New research shows nearly 70% of veterinarians have lost a colleague or peer to suicide and about six in 10 have sought professional help for their mental health.
For those with decades of experience, including former Australian Veterinary Association national president Dr Warwick Vale, the figures come as no surprise.
Continue reading...US wildlife agency agrees to review protection for habitats after conservationists sue over mass die-offs from poor water quality
The US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has agreed to update critical habitat protections for manatees after legal pressure from environmental groups, as the animals continue to die in record numbers.
More than 1,000 manatees died in Florida last year, wiping out more than 10% of the state’s population, the deadliest year on record. The unusually high mortality rate for the threatened mammals has continued into 2022, with 562 deaths in the first five months.
Continue reading...American alligators usually live in and around rivers, swamps, marshes and lakes – not the desert
Finding alligators in swampy states like Florida and Louisiana is no big deal, but it’s much different when you’re talking about the west Texas desert.
And that’s exactly where one of the large reptiles turned up last week, when Midland county sheriff’s office deputies spotted a gator at a trailer park.
Continue reading...Controversial asphyxiation method used in 73% of culls this year despite vets urging its use to be limited
The US poultry industry has increasingly switched to “the most inhumane method available” to cull tens of millions of birds during the latest outbreak of avian influenza, according to government data.
Outbreaks of the disease, also known as bird flu, have wreaked havoc across Europe and the US this year, with 38 million birds killed in the US so far.
But how these birds are killed has generated controversy, with veterinarians and animal welfare campaigners urging an end to the use of the ventilation shutdown method, which kills animals by sealing off the airflow to the poultry sheds and increasing temperatures to lethal levels.
Workers have described the method as like “roasting animals alive”. European officials have said it should not be used in the European Union.
Sellers could pass off elephant products as derivatives from unprotected mammals, Born Free Foundation says
Ivory peddlers may continue to sell elephant tusks after a new ban by disguising their products as walrus or narwhal derivatives, campaigners have warned.
From Monday, trade in elephant teeth and tusks is illegal in the UK, punishable by fines of up to £250,000 or up to five years in prison under the Ivory Act. Pre-1975 musical instruments and antique items of “outstanding importance” are exempted from the act, as well as ivory from non-elephant species.
Continue reading...Exclusive: PM told there could be eight years’ decline before any gains despite already being at ‘rock bottom’
The government has set damaging and illogical targets for species recovery in England that could mean there is eight years of decline before any improvement, despite already being at “rock bottom”, scientists have warned the prime minister.
Twenty-three leading scientists from institutions including Oxford and Cambridge universities, the Natural History Museum, the Zoological Society of London and the RSPB have written to Boris Johnson expressing their alarm over the nature targets.
Continue reading...Laboratory chief blames Brexit for closure as money for corvid brain power research dries up
One of Britain’s most important, and unusual, centres for studying cognition is facing imminent closure as a result of Brexit. Set up 22 years ago to study the minds of crows, rooks and other birds noted for their intelligence, the Cambridge Comparative Cognition Laboratory is set to cease operations in July.
Its director, Professor Nicola Clayton, told the Observer she was devastated by the prospect of ending her research there. Nor was she in any doubt about the prime reason for the centre’s closure.
Continue reading...The animals are a crucial part of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s Newhaven scheme to reintroduce 11 vulnerable native mammals
In the red centre of Australia, a ring-fenced refuge for threatened native mammals is slowly but surely expanding its population.
Earlier this week, 32 threatened greater bilbies moved in and 65 burrowing bettongs will join them before the weekend is out.
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Continue reading...A drone emitting orca sounds will be used in attempt to guide the animal, whose health is fast deteriorating
An orca lost in France’s River Seine is to be guided back to sea using sounds made by the species under a last-ditch plan to save the animal’s life.
The local prefecture said it would monitor the animal, also known as a killer whale, from a distance with a drone while emitting orca communications in an attempt to guide it back to the sea, following a meeting with national and international scientists, including marine mammal specialists.
Continue reading...Study finds pacific rattlesnakes, which can’t control their own temperature, prefer places where the climate averages 80F
Many species are suffering at the hands of a warmer world, but one California inhabitant seems to be enjoying hotter temperatures: the pacific rattlesnake. Their populations across the south-west are thriving, according to a study by researchers at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the University of Michigan.
The study found that when given the choice, rattlesnakes – which cannot control their own temperature and rely on the environment for warmth – actually prefer to live in places where the climate averages more than 80F, suggesting they’re likely to do well as the planet gets hotter.
Continue reading...Terrier’s family contacted Guinness World Records after learning younger dog had received honor
The world’s oldest dog has been crowned – stealing the throne from another dog who was only recently making headlines.
Pebbles, a toy fox terrier, was awarded the Guinness World Record this month. Born on 28 March 2000, Pebbles is 22 years old – making him older than TobyKeith, the 21-year-old chihuahua from Florida who was only recently named the champion.
Continue reading...Reports handed to EU claim vessels likely to have entered coastal states’ waters where stocks are dwindling
European fishing fleets have been illegally netting tuna from dwindling stocks in the Indian Ocean, according to data presented to EU authorities and analysed by expert groups.
EU purse seine (a type of large net) fishing vessels were present in the waters of Indian Ocean coastal states, where they were likely to have carried out unauthorised catches, and have reported catches in the Chagos archipelago marine protected area and in Mozambique’s exclusive economic zone.
Continue reading...Residents tell of close encounters with the blood-sucking creatures which are spreading because of high rain and humidity
Relentless rainfall has sparked a leech invasion in New South Wales, with no reprieve in sight for already damp dwellings.
The blood-sucking creatures have been attracted into suburban areas, where higher than normal rainfall and humidity are providing suitable conditions to feed.
Continue reading...Time is running out to save 58 resident species, Butterfly Conservation warns
Half of Britain’s butterfly species are now listed as threatened with extinction after five more joined the new “red list” of endangered butterflies.
The increase in the number of species listed as “vulnerable” from nine in 2011 to 16 today is a warning that time is running out to save the 58 resident species, according to Butterfly Conservation, which compiled the red list from scientific monitoring data according to the criteria set out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Continue reading...Experts say 35% rise in acreage covered by migratory insects my reflect adaptation to changing climate
Mexican experts have said that 35% more monarch
butterflies arrived this year to spend the winter in mountaintop forests, compared with the previous season.
Experts say the rise may reflect the butterflies’ ability to adapt to more extreme bouts of heat or drought by varying the date when they leave Mexico.
Continue reading...Wisconsin couple say they stabbed bear with a kitchen knife and then killed animal with a firearm after it attacked them at home
A Wisconsin couple say they killed a bear who attacked them inside their home after they spotted it eating from their bird feeder.
The Taylor county sheriff’s office said the attack happened at about 11pm Friday at a home near Medford in north-central Wisconsin. The couple told authorities that the bear charged through a window after they yelled at it to go away.
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