Ours to Save identified 308 species and subspecies but only 10% considered ‘globally secure’ or ‘apparently secure’
There are few animals more iconically Canadian than the moose and the beaver, and few plants more closely associated with the country than the maple leaf.
But while those species have long considered part of the nation’s ecological identity they are also found elsewhere.
Continue reading...Creatures’ attempts are in vain, and as they are unable to burrow through the fish’s ribcage, the eels become trapped in the gut of their captor
It’s no secret that nature can be brutal and violent, but a new Queensland Museum report on the death of some snake eels reads more like the plot of a horror movie than a scientific paper.
Snake eels are a family of eel species that live most of their lives burrowed in the soft sand on the floor of the ocean.
Continue reading...Analysis shows 500 species on brink of extinction – as many as were lost over previous century
The sixth mass extinction of wildlife on Earth is accelerating, according to an analysis by scientists who warn it may be a tipping point for the collapse of civilisation.
More than 500 species of land animals were found to be on the brink of extinction and likely to be lost within 20 years. In comparison, the same number were lost over the whole of the last century. Without the human destruction of nature, even this rate of loss would have taken thousands of years, the scientists said.
Continue reading...Conservationists warn the species, which was almost extinct 10 years ago, could be under threat if Japanese fishery is MSC certified
A decade ago, the highly prized “king of fish”, the bluefin tuna, was taken off menus in high-end restaurants and shunned by top chefs, amid warnings by environmentalists that it was being driven to extinction. Recent assessments of Atlantic bluefin tuna, which can grow to the size of a small car and live for up to 40 years, have shown much healthier populations.
But now conservationists and scientists are warning that the largest and most valuable tuna species could once again be under threat if a Japanese bluefin fishery in the Atlantic Ocean is awarded an internationally recognised “ecolabel” they claim is based on flawed science.
Continue reading...Blood samples later recovered undamaged after fears incident could have helped spread virus
Monkeys mobbed an Indian health worker and made off with blood samples from coronavirus tests, prompting fears they could have spread the virus in the local area.
After making off with the three samples this week in Meerut, near Delhi, the monkeys scampered up nearby trees and one then tried to chew its plunder.
Continue reading...The zoo employee, who is in her 30s, was reportedly in critical condition and was being treated by several ambulance crews
A female zookeeper has been attacked by a lion at a zoo on the New South Wales south coast.
Emergency services were called to Shoalhaven Zoo on Friday morning after reports the woman, in her mid 30s, suffered serious face and neck injuries in the attack, a NSW Ambulance spokeswoman said.
Continue reading...With world’s attention on Covid-19, warnings that lack of measures to contain pandemic could lead to culling of record number of pigs
The African swine fever (ASF) pandemic will be even worse this year than in 2019, say experts, warning that the spread of the highly contagious virus, which is fatal to pigs, is unrelenting.
With world attention on the human viral pandemic of Covid-19, concern is growing that countries are not focusing enough on halting the spread of ASF through better biosecurity practices, cooperation on intensive vaccine development, or transparency regarding outbreaks.
Continue reading...A rare white grizzly bear has been spotted in Canada's Rocky Mountains. According to experts, the colouring is the result of a recessive gene in the cub – not albinism. Local wildlife officials have known about the white grizzly since 2017, but Cara Clarkson’s mobile phone video of the bear, which went viral, marks the first time the public has caught a glimpse of the predator
Continue reading...Kaavan, a 33-year-old elephant living a sorry existence in Islamabad zoo, to be released after campaign by pop icon
The plight of an animal known as Pakistan’s loneliest elephant is set to come to an end after a court declared he should be freed from Islamabad zoo – to the delight of his longtime champion, pop icon Cher.
Kaavan, a 33-year-old Asian elephant from Sri Lanka, has been the focus of a four-year campaign by Cher to secure his release from Murghazar Zoo in Pakistan’s capital, after the singer saw pictures of the elephant living alone and held miserably in chains in a small enclosure, with only a small dirty pond to play in.
Continue reading...Closure of meat plants due to coronavirus means ‘depopulation’ of hens and pigs with methods experts say are inhumane, despite unprecedented demand at food banks
More than 10 million hens are estimated to have been culled due to Covid-19 related slaughterhouse shutdowns. The majority will have been smothered by a water-based foam, similar to fire-fighting foam, a method that animal welfare groups are calling “inhumane”.
The pork industry has warned that more than 10 million pigs could be culled by September for the same reason. The techniques used to cull pigs include gassing, shooting, anaesthetic overdose, or “blunt force trauma”.
Continue reading...Rescuer hailed a hero on social media but risks penalty for interfering with shark controls
A man who rescued a whale calf trapped in nets off the Gold Coast from a small boat may face a fine of almost $27,000.
The man rescued the stricken animal on Tuesday morning as officials took more than two hours to respond.
Continue reading...Birds born in one of three nests at Knepp estate in West Sussex as part of breeding project
White stork chicks have hatched in the wild in the UK for the first time in centuries.
Eggs in one of three nests at the Knepp estate in West Sussex have hatched, the White Stork Project announced.
Continue reading...£500,000 government funding for project that ‘could revolutionise’ screening
Dogs are to be trained to try to sniff out the coronavirus before symptoms appear in humans, under trials launched with £500,000 of government funding.
Dogs have already been successfully trained to detect the odour of certain cancers, malaria and Parkinson’s disease, and a new study will look at whether labradors and cocker spaniels can be trained to detect Covid-19 in people.
Continue reading...Around 200 escaped goats stormed residential streets of San Jose, California, after breaking through a fence. The goats were rounded up and under control within minutes but 'everyone had to spend the next hour or so picking up their poop', Zach Roelands, a local resident, said.
Continue reading...Animals storm residential area of San Jose after breaking through a fence in incident caught on video
Nature is healing, and in some parts of northern California, nature is revolting.
About 200 goats broke through a fence in San Jose and briefly stormed the streets of a residential neighborhood on Tuesday evening, in clear violation of social distancing guidelines as well as the state shelter-in-place order.
Continue reading...Voiceover narrates fairy penguin’s high-stakes waddle from shoreline to burrows in parade that used to attract thousands of visitors nightly
With live sport now a scarce resource, BBC commentator Andrew Cotter has lent his distinctive voice to the fairy penguins of Phillip Island.
He has narrated the birds’ nightly waddle back to their burrows, turning Victoria’s famous penguin parade into a high-stakes, long-distance race.
Continue reading...Queen guitarist says ‘I won’t be able to walk for a while’ after injury during lockdown and lambasts Boris Johnson over coronavirus
Brian May has complained of “relentless pain” after he was taken to hospital following a gardening injury that tore muscles in his buttocks – and, while in recovery, made a sustained attack on Boris Johnson’s preparedness for coronavirus.
Writing on Instagram, the Queen guitarist said: “I managed to rip my gluteus maximus to shreds in a moment of overenthusiastic gardening. So suddenly I find myself in a hospital getting scanned to find out exactly how much I’ve actually damaged myself. Turns out I did a thorough job – this is a couple of days ago – and I won’t be able to walk for a while … or sleep, without a lot of assistance, because the pain is relentless.”
Continue reading...Otters are often scene playing with pebbles, throwing and catching them, known as 'stone juggling' and researchers from the University of Exeter believe they know why.
It was previously thought the game helped hone their foraging skills. The study revealed older and young otters tended to juggle more, but when the researchers tested them with food games, they were no better at solving them than adults, who are less likely to juggle.
Hunger was found to be a big factor in juggling and researches believe the action could be linked to excitement for food
Continue reading...Wharfedale, Yorkshire: There are moments of beauty, but the silence can also be eerie and strange, or mask an underlying hostility
In Lower Wharfedale, there are new kinds of silences everywhere. Around Beacon Hill, on the Chevin, the seismic roar of aircraft booming off to Edinburgh or Alicante from the airport nearby has given way to the white noise of a sunny heath in April; a silence textured with the bee-charged buzz of a goat willow, the delicate song of a dunnock, or the soft gloops of mating frogs in a pond. Along the verdant stretch of the Wharfe near Otley Mills, where peace is usually eclipsed by the rush of traffic on the A660, birdsong glitters in the fresh green trees like sun in a stream, and a dipper alerts me to its presence with the tiniest of chirps.
Related: Name that song - it's the perfect time to learn to identify birds
Continue reading...She-wolf in country’s north is pregnant, and newcomers from France or Italy spotted in south
Belgium is becoming “the wolf crossroads of Europe”, a conservation charity has said as it reported new sightings from France and Germany, while Flemish authorities separately announced the imminent arrival of wolf puppies.
Flanders’ environment minister, Zuhal Demir, announced that a pair of wolves in the north of the country were expecting cubs, four months after arrival in the area of a female wolf, Noëlla, who was billed as “a potential new love” for a previously lone wolf, August.
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