Retirement of Najin, 32, leaves her daughter Fatu as the only egg donor in embryo implantation scheme
One of the world’s last two northern white rhinos is being retired from a breeding programme aimed at saving the species from extinction.
Najin, 32, is the mother of Fatu, who is now the only donor left in the programme, which aims to implant artificially developed embryos into another more abundant species of rhino in Kenya.
Continue reading...Scientists say the animals are vital to ecosystem and true number affected is probably far higher
More than 14,000 species of invertebrate lost habitat during Australia’s 2019-20 bushfires, according to a post-fire analysis that has recommended a doubling of the number of species listed as threatened.
The research, prepared for the federal government by scientists with the national environmental science program (NESP), found the number of insects, spiders, worms and other invertebrates affected by the disaster was much greater than the tally of vertebrates impacted.
Continue reading...Campaigners say draft regulation contains many loopholes, including exclusion of Cerrado and Pantanal
The fragile Cerrado grasslands and the Pantanal wetlands, both under threat from soy and beef exploitation, have been excluded from a European Union draft anti-deforestation law, campaigners have said, and there are many other concerning loopholes.
The European Commission has pledged to introduce a law aimed at preventing beef, palm oil and other products linked to deforestation from being sold in the EU single market of 450 million consumers. But campaigners said a leaked impact assessment reveals “significant omissions” in the plans, including the exclusion of endangered grasslands and wetlands, as well as products that raise environmental concerns, such as rubber and maize.
Continue reading...Four men – three Irish and one English – said to be members of the Rathkeale Rovers gang were given prison terms
A French court has convicted eight men including members of an Irish crime gang for trafficking rhino horn and ivory between Europe and east Asia.
Four men – three Irish and one English – said to be members of the Rathkeale Rovers gang were given prison terms, though two were spared jail as the sentences were suspended.
Continue reading...Number of species of sharks, rays and chimaeras facing ‘global extinction crisis’ doubles in a decade
A third of shark and ray species have been overfished to near extinction, according to an eight-year scientific study.
“Sharks and rays are the canary in the coalmine of overfishing. If I tell you that three-quarters of tropical and subtropical coastal species are threatened, just imagine a David Attenborough series with 75% of its predators gone. If sharks are declining, there’s a serious problem with fishing,” said the paper’s lead author, Prof Nicholas Dulvy, of Canada’s Simon Fraser University.
Continue reading...A parcel of land owned by the international airport is home to the largest population of the San Francisco garter snake
Across from the San Francisco international airport, and past the bustling highway that hugs it, lies what appears to be an empty lot. But the 180-acre, airport-owned parcel of land, which sits beyond the tarmac, tucked against residential homes, isn’t quite empty. It’s home to roughly 1,300 snakes.
With brightly painted bands of blue, orange-red and black that line their slender bodies, the garter snakes, which can grow up to 3ft long, are considered among the most beautiful in the world. They are also among the most threatened.
Continue reading...Numbers of the country’s carrion-loving birds dropped by over 97% in the 1990s. Now, a successful breeding scheme is giving them a boost
In February, the doors of an aviary in West Bengal’s Buxa tiger reserve were flung open. Eight critically endangered captive-bred white-rumped vultures cautiously emerged and within minutes were mingling with wild vultures, devouring the meat of carcasses left out by a team of researchers from the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).
The birds were raised in a nearby breeding centre by BNHS, led by assistant director Sachin Ranade, as part of efforts to save India’s Gyps vultures. Gradually, some of the released vultures perched on trees with their wild cousins, while others returned to the wire-mesh aviary where they had spent the previous few months getting acclimatised to their surroundings.
Continue reading...These fragile ecosystems are where the impacts of the climate crisis are often felt first, say experts
The Ebro delta appears to be in robust health, to a casual observer. There is water gurgling in the canals and irrigation channels, and what appears to be a mighty river flowing into the sea. The dazzling green rice fields are dotted with ibis, egrets and redshanks.
However, all is not what it seems. The Ebro, the only one of Spain’s three great rivers that flows into the Mediterranean, is one of the most abused and exploited in Europe.
Continue reading...Marsupials introduced to Maria Island, east of Tasmania, to safeguard their numbers but have decimated birdlife
An attempt to save the Tasmanian devil by shipping an “insurance population” to a tiny Australian island has come at a “catastrophic” cost to the birdlife there, including the complete elimination of little penguins, according to BirdLife Tasmania.
Maria Island, a 116-square-kilometre island east of Tasmania, was home to 3,000 breeding pairs of little penguins around a decade ago.
Continue reading...eBioAtlas programme aims to identify fish, birds, amphibians and land animals in freshwater systems from the Ganges to the Mekong
Concealed by the turbid, swirling waters of the Amazon, the Mekong and the Congo, the biodiversity of the world’s great rivers has largely remained a mystery to scientists. But now a multimillion-pound project aims to describe and identify the web of life in major freshwater ecosystems around the world with “gamechanging” DNA technology.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and UK-based environmental DNA (eDNA) specialists NatureMetrics have launched a partnership to take thousands of water samples from freshwater river systems like the Ganges and the Niger delta to identify the fish, birds, amphibians and land animals that live in and around them.
Continue reading...Undercover documentary investigates the trafficking of Latin America’s big cat to meet demand in China
Elizabeth Unger was a 25-year-old biology graduate working as a PhD research assistant for big cat and climate projects in Latin America when she heard about the Bolivian authorities intercepting dozens of packages containing jaguar fangs sent by Chinese citizens to addresses in China.
“I was really blown away as [the story] was completely under the radar,” she says. Six years later, she is making her directorial debut with a film about the trade, which is contributing to a decline in the population of Latin America’s iconic big cat.
Continue reading...Warning comes amid fears of further delays to Kunming summit, which aims to agree on curbing destruction of ecosystems
The world is running out of time to reach an ambitious deal to stem the destruction of the natural world, the co-chair of negotiations for a crucial UN wildlife summit has warned, amid fears of a third delay to the talks.
Negotiators are scheduled to meet in Kunming, China, in October for Cop15, the biggest biodiversity summit in a decade, to reach a hoped-for Paris-style agreement on preventing wildlife extinctions and the human-driven destruction of the planet’s ecosystems.
Continue reading...Conservationists thrilled at the sighting of the wild predator, last seen in the country in the 1980s
“It was a huge surprise,” said Sebastián Di Martino, director of conservation at Fundación Rewilding Argentina. “I was incredulous. An incredible feeling of so much happiness. I didn’t know if I should try to follow it or rush back to our station to tell the others.”
The cause of the excitement was the sighting, last week, of a wild giant river otter – an animal feared extinct in the country due to habitat loss and hunting – on the Bermejo River in Impenetrable national park, in north-east Argentina’s Chaco province. The last sighting of a giant otter in the wild in Argentina was in the 1980s. On the Bermejo, none have been seen for more than a century.
Continue reading...Native shorebirds and caribou among species at risk as survival strategies are upended
A drastic drop in caribou and shorebird populations is a reflection of the dire changes unfolding on the Arctic tundra, according to a new report from the Arctic Council.
The terrestrial Arctic spans approximately 2.7m sq miles (7m sq km), marked by extreme cold, drought, strong winds and seasonal darkness. Species living in this environment have adapted to thrive in the harsh conditions. But the climate crisis has upended such survival strategies, according to the State of the Arctic Terrestrial Biodiversity report, published by the council’s Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna (Caff) working group.
Continue reading...Court ruling gives go-ahead for sugar plantation in Bugoma forest, home to endangered chimpanzees
Conservationists in Uganda have condemned as “shallow and absurd” a court ruling that authorised the government to allow swathes of a tropical forest to be cleared for a sugar-cane plantation.
Three environmental groups had taken the government to court over a decision to allow Hoima Sugar Ltd to build on 5,500 hectares (13,500 acres) in the Bugoma Forest Reserve.
Continue reading...From Key West’s high-summer Hemingway Days, in which bearded hopefuls vie for the title of best Papa lookalike, to the annual hunt for the elusive (and imaginary) skunk ape, Florida is renowned for its calendar of curiosities.
Related: Toilet-invading iguanas among invasive species now banned in Florida
Continue reading...The red list of species at risk is well-known, but the list for protected sites is quietly helping to ‘paint the planet green’
When Kawésqar national park was formed in the Chilean part of Patagonia in 2019, just one ranger was responsible for an expanse the size of Belgium. Its fjords, forests and Andean peaks are a precious wilderness – one of the few remaining ecosystems undamaged by human activity, alongside parts of the Amazon, the Sahara and eastern Siberia.
Chilean officials hope that Kawésqar will, one day, meet the high standards for protected areas laid out by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and make it on to the organisation’s “green list”.
Continue reading...Landmark case says thousands of birds including endangered eagles die needlessly each year
In Leonard Cohen’s famous song, a bird on a wire is a symbol of freedom, but for thousands of birds it is the equivalent of being sent to the electric chair.
Now, in a landmark case, a Spanish electricity company is being prosecuted over the deaths of hundreds of birds electrocuted on pylons and overhead cables and for failing to comply with regulations designed to protect wildlife.
Continue reading...Buildings covered in plants do more than just make the cityscape attractive – they contribute to human wellbeing, biodiversity, and action on climate change
Our cities are dominated by glass-faced edifices that overheat like greenhouses then guzzle energy to cool down. Instead, we could have buildings that are intimately connected to the living systems that have evolved with us, that celebrate the human-nature connection that is central to our wellbeing.
As more of us in Australia live in urban areas and our cities grow, bringing nature into our cities is a key part of establishing and rebuilding that connection. As well as bringing beauty into urban environments, we know that people are healthier when they are connected to nature. Research also shows that crime rates decrease in areas with street trees and that property values increase.
Continue reading...North Atlantic right whales gave birth over the winter in greater numbers than scientists have seen since 2015, an encouraging sign for researchers who became alarmed three years ago when the critically endangered species produced no known offspring at all.
Related: The new humpback? Calf sighting sparks hope for imperilled right whale
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