Female calf named Nessa will help efforts to protect species, of which fewer than 2,500 remain in the wild
An endangered Malayan tapir has been born at a UK zoo, in what the zoo said was an “important moment” for conservation.
The female calf, which zookeepers have named Nessa, was born weighing 9kg on Wednesday at Chester zoo, one of only two places in the country to keep tapirs, a species related to the horse and the rhinoceros.
Continue reading...Experts create guide to help save seabirds from bleak future caused by global heating
The majority of puffin nesting sites in western Europe are likely to be lost by the end of the century due to climate breakdown, a report has warned.
Other seabirds will also be affected unless urgent action to limit global heating is taken, with razorbills and arctic terns forecast to lose 80% and 87% of their breeding grounds respectively owing to reduced food accessibility and prolonged periods of stormy weather.
Continue reading...Security footage shows animal drag child across lawn and sidewalk before father intervenes
A coyote grabbed and injured a two-year old girl outside her Los Angeles home in a daytime attack before her father chased the animal off, her family said.
Home security video obtained by KTLA-TV showed the animal grab and drag the toddler across her lawn and sidewalk, seconds after her father took her out of a car seat, set her down and turned back inside the vehicle to gather her toys. They had just arrived home from preschool.
Continue reading...Jonathan, Seychelles giant tortoise given to Saint Helena in 1882, is also oldest known living land animal
If there is a party animal at large this weekend, Jonathan is it: the Seychelles giant tortoise is about to celebrate his 190th birthday with a three-day bash.
Living on Saint Helena since 1882, when he arrived as a gift to the governor of the small south Atlantic island, he is no stranger to fame, having scooped awards from the Guinness World Records for being the oldest known living land animal and the oldest chelonian – an order comprising tortoises, turtles and terrapins – ever recorded.
Continue reading...Young Country Diary is back, and taking pieces from children about the natural world in winter
Once again, the Young Country Diary series is open for submissions! Every three months, as the UK enters a new season, we ask you to send us a piece written by a child aged 8-14.
The article needs to be about a recent encounter they’ve had with nature – whether it’s climbing a tree, a chilly birdwatching trip, or watching a big beast like a red deer.
Continue reading...Growing list facing extinction and underresourcing of conservation means plans have not been updated
Hundreds of plans for the recovery of threatened species will reach their use-by date in the next six months as the government considers how to reform Australia’s flawed system of environmental protections.
Documents released to Guardian Australia under freedom of information laws detail how underresourcing, disagreement with state governments, and the growing list of species threatened with extinction have constrained the federal environment department’s ability to get on top of a backlog of conservation work.
Continue reading...Mammals were downgraded from endangered to threatened in 2017, even as pollution and habitat loss drive starvation
The deaths of almost 2,000 manatees in Florida’s coastal and inland waterways over the last two years has provoked an alliance of environmental groups to demand an urgent reclassification of the species to officially endangered.
The advocates, led by the non-profit Center for Biological Diversity, insist the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) made a critical error in 2017 by prematurely downgrading the status of the giant aquatic mammals from endangered to merely threatened.
Continue reading...The 500lb one-year-old moose fell through a basement window and became trapped, requiring six people to help get him out
Firefighters in Alaska got an unusual request for assistance last Sunday, from Alaska wildlife troopers.
“They were looking for some help getting a moose out of a basement,” said Capt Josh Thompson of Central Emergency Services on the Kenai Peninsula.
Continue reading...Tuan Tuan, gifted to Taiwan 14 years ago when relations were warmer, allowed to ‘continue to sleep’ after being anaesthetised
A panda given to Taiwan by China 14 years ago as a symbol of what were then warmer ties died on Saturday, after suffering seizures, Taipei zoo said.
Tuan Tuan and his breeding mate Yuan Yuan were given to Taiwan by Beijing in late 2008, at a time when relations between the two were more cordial.
Continue reading...Seriously injured victim airlifted to hospital after escaped animal went on rampage in Carmarthenshire village
An elderly man has been taken to hospital with serious injuries after being attacked and trampled by an “dangerously out-of-control” cow, police said.
Dyfed-Powys police received reports that the cow had escaped from Whitland Mart in Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Continue reading...Inadequate management and underinvestment in main Animal and Plant Health Agency facility has left country at risk, MPs warn
The UK’s main animal disease facility has been left to deteriorate to an “alarming extent” leaving the country vulnerable to major outbreaks on the scale of the devastating 2001 foot-and-mouth crisis, MPs have warned.
An inquiry by the Public Accounts Committee found that the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) in Weybridge was “continually vulnerable to a major breakdown” because the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs had “comprehensively failed” in its management of the site.
Continue reading...Return of one of one of Britain’s rarest fish confirmed after DNA found in water samples above fish passes
For nearly two centuries, one of Britain’s rarest fish has been shut out of its spawning grounds by large weirs.
But the endangered twaite shad has now returned to its historic spawning habitat on the River Severn, thanks to four new fish passes that enable the migratory fish to negotiate weirs and swim up river to lay eggs.
Continue reading...Adult ape sharing information and just wanted mother to look at foliage with no motive otherwise, scientists say
Chimpanzees show each other objects just for the sake of it, researchers have found, revealing it isn’t only humans who like to draw attention to items that have captured their interest.
As anyone who has spent time with a child knows, even very young humans like to point out objects to others. However, it was previously thought this behaviour only occurs in our species.
Continue reading...Tassal and Huon Aquaculture did not announce use of antibiotics, which may contribute to growth of antibiotic-resistant superbugs
More than a tonne of antibiotics was used to control a potentially deadly fish disease at two salmon farms in southern Tasmania earlier this year, but the companies and government made no public announcements at the time.
Reports submitted to the Environment Protection Agency by Tassal and Huon Aquaculture revealed wild fish had scavenged antibiotic-laced pellets below the salmon cages. One sample of three flathead caught off Coningham beach, 2km from the boundary of Tassal’s Sheppards lease, revealed antibiotics in the flesh of the fish above the reportable threshold. The monitoring reports were not made public until months after the disease outbreak.
Continue reading...Aura, born when just 94 Iberian lynxes remained, dies in Spain at record age and leaves a ‘phenomenal legacy’
A grumpy, strong-willed Iberian lynx called Aura that helped snatch her species from the jaws of extinction, and whose genes live on in more than 900 of the spotted and tufty-eared felines, has died in southern Spain at the record age of 20.
When Aura was born in Andalucía’s Doñana national park in 2002, there were a mere 94 Iberian lynxes on the peninsula. Decades of eradication efforts, together with a massive drop in rabbit numbers because of myxomatosis and rabbit hemorrhagic disease – not to mention human encroachment – had left the animals on the brink of disappearing.
Continue reading...Australian Wildlife Conservancy to manage the site allowing ecologists to restore crucial habitat for multiple species
Almost 4,000 hectares of koala habitat in the Hunter region of New South Wales will be protected after the land was privately acquired for conservation.
Sydney philanthropists Andrew and Jane Clifford bought the property north of Newcastle, which scientists from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) estimate is habitat for more than 100 vertebrate species, including the endangered koala and 11 other animals listed as threatened.
Continue reading...Exclusive: charities say animal abusers are not being held to account as figures show small number of inspections
Just one in 300 complaints about animal welfare at UK farms led to a prosecution over the last four years, with half of the accused holdings not even inspected, analysis has shown.
A report by Animal Equality and the Animal Law Foundation also said that fewer than three in 100 of the UK’s estimated 291,000 farms had an annual inspection by a public body between 2018 and 2021.
Continue reading...The 50-year-old, who survived the encounter, is being treated for the wounds to her upper right thigh
A California woman has given her first interviews about surviving a shark attack while swimming off the coast of San Diego.
Lyn Jutronich, 50, said she was resting in the water during her morning ocean swim when something rammed her hard out of the water.
Continue reading...Former president Moon Jae-in says he will give up gift of Pungsan dogs if no support from Yoon Suk-yeol
South Korea’s former president Moon Jae-in has said he plans to give up a pair of dogs sent by the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, as a gift after their 2018 summit, citing a lack of support from his successor.
Moon has raised the white Pungsan dogs, named Gomi and Songgang, since their arrival and took them to his personal residence after his term ended in May.
Continue reading...Scientists have long sought to farm the scarce seafood staple, but critics say animals are not suited to intensive methods
Scientists in Japan say they have developed a groundbreaking method of farming squid that could solve shortages of the seafood staple, amid warnings from environmental groups that aquaculture is incompatible with the animal’s welfare.
Researchers at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) say their system produced a reliable supply of squid and has the potential to be commercialised.
Continue reading...