Amazonian students help monitor threatened frog populations

Amazonian students help monitor threatened frog populations

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, amphibians are the most threatened group of animals on Earth: currently around 30 percent of the world’s amphibians are listed as threatened with extinction. However this percentage doesn’t include those species about which too little is known to evaluate (26 percent). Amphibians face many threats but […]

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Bird extravaganza: scientists discover 15 new species of birds in the Amazon

Bird extravaganza: scientists discover 15 new species of birds in the Amazon

From 2000-2009, scientists described on average seven new bird species worldwide every year. Discovering a new bird is one of the least common of any species group, given that birds are highly visible, mobile, and have been scrutinized for centuries by passionate ornithologists and birders. But descriptions this year already blows away the record year […]

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Scientists capture one of the world’s rarest big cats on film (photos)

Scientists capture one of the world’s rarest big cats on film (photos)

Less than a hundred kilometers from the bustling metropolis of Jakarta, scientists have captured incredible photos of one of the world’s most endangered big cats: the Javan leopard (Panthera pardus melas). Taken by a research project in Gunung Halimun-Salak National Park, the photos show the magnificent animal relaxing in dense primary rainforest. Scientists believe that […]

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Malaysia may be home to more Asian tapirs than previously thought (photos)

Malaysia may be home to more Asian tapirs than previously thought (photos)

You can’t mistake an Asian tapir for anything else: for one thing, it’s the only tapir on the continent; for another, it’s distinct black-and-white blocky markings distinguishes it from any other tapir (or large mammal) on Earth. But still little is known about the Asian tapir (Tapirus indicus), including the number surviving. However, researchers in […]

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New giant tarantula that’s taken media by storm likely Critically Endangered (photos)

New giant tarantula that’s taken media by storm likely Critically Endangered (photos)

Described by a number of media outlets as “the size of your face” a new tree-dwelling tarantula discovered in Sri Lanka has awed arachnophiliacs and terrified arachnophobes alike. But the new species, named Raja’s tiger spider (Poecilotheria rajaei), is likely Critically Endangered according to the scientist that discovered it in northern Sri Lanka. “I would […]

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