With humans sending probes to explore Mars and the sun, one might think we’ve already explored the full extent of our own planet. But scientists say we’ve only begun to find and describe the riches here on Earth. “I think most people believe that we know most species on Earth … but in the best-case […]
Tag: Ethiopian Wolf
Return of the pack: African wild dogs’ epic journey to a new home in Malawi
Under cover of night, a pack of African wild dogs swarms around an impala carcass. Awake and hungry after a 27-hour transcontinental journey, this animated scene in Liwonde national park is a sign of “mission accomplished”: African wild dogs are back in Malawi. “The feeling is absolutely surreal and so emotional,” says Cole du Plessis, […]
Spiny new chameleon species described from Bale Mountains of Ethiopia
Researchers have described a new chameleon species from the Bale Mountains of south-central Ethiopia, and say the biodiversity hotspot may harbor even more. Named Wolfgang Böhme’s Ethiopian chameleon (Trioceros wolfgangboehmei), in honor of the senior herpetologist at the Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig (ZMFK) in Bonn, Germany, the chameleon is around 15 centimeters (6 inches) […]
Vaccines may save Africa’s rarest wolves from extinction
During his 1991 field season, Claudio Sillero-Zubiri trekked through the rugged highlands of Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains for his PhD research, searching for the world’s rarest canid: the Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis). Fewer than 1,000 wolves remained, making conservation work on the species imperative. But even Sillero-Zubiri began having trouble finding them alive. Instead, he came […]
Over 75 percent of large predators declining
The world’s top carnivores are in big trouble: this is the take-away message from a new review paper published today in Science. Looking at 31 large-bodied carnivore species (i.e those over 15 kilograms or 33 pounds), the researchers found that 77 percent are in decline and more than half have seen their historical ranges decline […]
Endangered…
The Ethiopian Wolf (Canis simensis) is Africa’s most endangered carnivore and the rarest Canid worldwide. This female was photographed at 14,000 feet in the Bale Mountains National Park, last stronghold for these wolves. There are fewer than two-hundred and fifty adults left here and less than two hundred other adults found in a few scattered […]