Category Archives: Wildlife

Bottom-breathing turtle among Queensland endangered species under threat from invasive fish

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Record floods propel aggressive Mozambique tilapia throughout Mary River, compromising efforts to save ancient fish and endangered turtles

Record floods have propelled an aggressive invasive fish species across a south-east Queensland river catchment, compromising efforts to save endangered and ancient fishes and turtles.

The Moonaboola (Mary) river catchment is home to several threatened species, including the Mary River turtle, the white-throated snapping turtle (known for breathing through its bottom), the Mary River cod and the Australian lungfish, which has survived for 150m years and is considered a living fossil.

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New species of invasive flatworm discovered in three southern US states

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Amaga pseudobama was first spotted in 2020 in North Carolina and has now spread to Florida and Georgia

A new species of invasive flatworm has been discovered in the United States and has been found in several states in the south, according to a new paper.

The species, named Amaga pseudobama, was discovered by an international team of researchers and first spotted in 2020 in North Carolina. It is thought to be native to South America.

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Suspected poisoning of 30 magpies in Cootamundra under investigation

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Local vet says nine birds have died and the rest are being treated, with many unable to stand or walk

The New South Wales environmental watchdog is investigating a suspected poisoning that has left nine magpies dead and more than a dozen others needing treatment.

Karlie Johnston, the practice manager at Cooper Street veterinary hospital in Cootamundra, said 30 magpies had been brought into the vet in recent days. Many were unable to stand or walk, and some had completely lost the use of their legs.

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Rare polar bear shot dead by police in Iceland after being thought a threat

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Environment agency advised that the animal posed a danger to elderly woman in remote summer house in Westfjords

A rare polar bear that was spotted in a remote village in Iceland was shot by police after being considered a threat, authorities have said.

The bear was killed in the north-west tip of the country after police consulted the national environment agency, which declined to have the animal relocated, according to the Westfjords police chief, Helgi Jensson.

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‘Australia’s next rabbit plague’: calls for feral deer in Victoria to be considered a pest instead of wildlife

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Victoria is home to perhaps the largest population and the only mainland state with ‘legislative relic’ of protections

Land holders and managers along with landcare and environment groups want Victoria to remove protections for feral deer, as booming populations wreak havoc on agriculture and the local environment.

Jordan Crook, from the Victorian National Parks Association, said recognising deer as pests – alongside foxes, rabbits and pigs – would bring Victoria in line with the rest of mainland Australia.

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‘Butterfly emergency’ declared as UK summer count hits record low

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Conservation group calls on government to ban insect-killing neonicotinoid pesticides outright

A national “butterfly emergency” has been declared by Butterfly Conservation after the lowest Big Butterfly Count since records began.

An average of just seven butterflies per 15-minute count were recorded by participants in this summer’s butterfly count, the lowest in the survey’s 14-year history.

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Shropshire zoo seeks runaway ‘beloved’ capybara

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Telford’s Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World urges public to report sightings of Cinnamon and not approach her

A zoo has issued a plea on social media for help in finding a capybara named Cinnamon which escaped from its habitat in Shropshire.

Hoo Zoo and Dinosaur World posted to its Facebook page on Monday announcing its “beloved capybara” was at large.

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Deadly avian flu strain could enter Australia via thieving migratory birds, scientists warn

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Birds practising kleptoparasitism – harassing each other until they drop their saliva-covered food – seen as ‘plausible pathway’ for arrival of H5N1

Scientists have identified a new way for an aggressive strain of bird flu to enter Australia, via the habit of some migratory birds of harassing other birds and stealing their food and potentially their viruses.

Australia is the only continent to have so far escaped a virulent H5N1 strain of avian flu – known as 2.3.4.4b and discovered in Europe in 2021– that has devastated bird populations in other parts of the world.

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Rare smelly penguin wins New Zealand bird of the year contest

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The hoiho, which means ‘noise shouter’, triumphed in a year free from the usual scandals surrounding the competition

One of the world’s rarest penguins has been crowned New Zealand’s bird of the year, in an unusually sedate year for the competition, free from the foreign interference and voting scandals of previous events.

The endangered yellow-eyed penguin, or hoiho, is the largest of New Zealand’s mainland penguin species and is distinctive for the pale yellow band of feathers linking the eyes.

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Zimbabwe orders cull of 200 elephants amid food shortages from drought

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Environment minister says country has more elephants than it needs while critics of hunt say they are a major tourist drawcard

Zimbabwe will cull 200 elephants as it faces an unprecedented drought that has led to food shortages, a move that tackle a ballooning population of the animals, the country’s wildlife authority has said.

Zimbabwe had “more elephants than it needed”, the environment minister said in parliament on Wednesday, adding that the government had instructed the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Authority (ZimParks) to begin the culling process.

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How national parks failed nature – and how to fix them

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The image of huge, glorious landscapes, where wildlife runs free under the protection of the state, is far from reality

What do you think of when you think of a national park? Is it a wide area of glorious natural beauty, where wildlife runs free under the protection of the state? Or is it a wide area mostly farmed by private landowners, in which nature is faring worse than outside its boundaries, and largely off-limits to the public?

In England, the reality is the latter, and this matters. The country is one of the most nature-depleted nations in the world, in the bottom 10% of nations for biodiversity. “Nature is in freefall in our national parks,” says Dr Rose O’Neill, the chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks (CNP).

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Fear for koalas after bushwalker finds fire ant nests near Queensland sanctuary

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Calls for suppression efforts to be extended after at least five nests discovered at Logan in the Daisy Hill koala bushlands

Fire ants have reached protected koala habitat and a koala priority area in south-eastern Queensland, with experts warning of the danger the highly invasive pest poses to native wildlife.

At least five red imported fire ant (Rifa) nests were discovered in Neville Lawrie reserve at Logan, which is part of the Daisy Hill koala bushlands, at the end of August.

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‘Miracle’ penguin found two weeks after escaping captivity in Japan

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Pen-chan defies expectations to be reunited with keeper safe and sound after swimming 30 miles in open sea

A fugitive penguin in Japan has been found safe and sound two weeks after escaping into the sea and paddling for miles in what her keeper called a miracle.

Pen-chan, a female Cape penguin born and raised in captivity, who had never swum in the open sea before or fended for herself, absconded from an event in the central Aichi region on 25 August.

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Giant tortoises in Seychelles face threat from luxury hotel development

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Conservationists and botanists express concern over plans for Qatari-funded upscale resort on Assomption Island

The habitat of the largest giant tortoise population in the world is threatened by a Qatari-funded hotel development that aims to bring luxury yachts, private jets and well-heeled tourists to a remote island in the Indian Ocean, conservationists have warned.

Plans for an upscale resort on Assomption, which is part of the Aldabra island group, are currently under discussion by the Seychelles authorities, and construction is already finished on an airport expansion that would allow bigger aircraft to land on the 11.6-sq-km (4.5-sq-mile) coral island.

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Marsupial of the year heats up as koala and glider take on animal that mates itself to death

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The Project hopes competition will raise big money for underfunded organisations working to protect beloved species

Tense competition is brewing between the greater glider and the koala in Australia’s marsupial of the year vote but there are hopes a silky-tailed species that “mates themselves to death” could win over voters and maybe even save it from heading towards extinction.

Network Ten’s The Project launched the competition in collaboration with organisations and charities that work with or help preserve the habitat of marsupials, many of them endangered, in a bid to raise funds for them.

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Golden eagle killed in Norway after attack on toddler in farmyard

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Young bird was believed to have attacked and injured at least four people in a week across wide area

A young golden eagle has been killed after reportedly attacking and wounding at least four people, including a 20-month-old toddler, in a large area of central and southern Norway.

The public broadcaster NRK said that in the most recent attack on Saturday the bird swooped on the girl, who was was playing in her family’s farmyard in the central Trøndelag region, despite being beaten away by her mother and a neighbour.

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Japanese eels can escape predators’ stomach through their gills, finds study

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Eels use tail-first technique to back up digestive tract of fish towards oesophagus before coming out of gills

It sounds like the plot of a horror movie – a predator swallows its prey only for the creature to burst out of its captor’s body. But it seems Japanese eels do just that.

Scientists in Japan have discovered that when swallowed by a dark sleeper fish, the eels can escape.

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Whale alleged to be Russian ‘spy’ died after stick became lodged in its mouth, say police

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Animal rights groups had claimed beluga named Hvaldimir, which was found dead last month, had been shot

A beluga whale that rose to fame in Norway after its unusual harness prompted suspicions that the creature was trained by Russia as a spy died after a stick became stuck in its mouth, police have said.

The lifeless body of the whale, named Hvaldimir – a combination of the Norwegian word for whale and the first name of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin – was found floating in the sea on 31 August by a father and son fishing in Risavika Bay, southern Norway.

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How Australian conservationists’ tunnel vision lets turtles swim to freedom

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Creating a fox-proof haven for endangered eastern quolls required a high, encircling fence. But what about the other wildlife?

Eastern long-necked turtles are known for their “ridiculously cute grin”, says Nick Dexter, and a much less charming ability to release a pungent stink to ward of predators.

But what they’re not good at, unsurprisingly, is climbing fences.

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Beluga whale alleged to be Russian ‘spy’ was shot, animal rights groups say

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Hvaldimir rose to fame in Norway after his harness sparked suspicions he was Russian spy

Animal rights groups have said that gunfire killed a beluga whale that rose to fame in Norway after its unusual harness sparked suspicions the creature was trained by Russia as a spy.

The organisations Noah and One Whale said they had filed a complaint with Norwegian police asking them to open a criminal investigation.

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