Two gorillas at San Diego Zoo in California have tested positive for COVID-19, in the first reported cases of great apes contracting the novel coronavirus. Three of the primates showed symptoms as of this week, and zoo authorities have not ruled out other troop members also being infected. Since the pandemic broke out last year, […]
Category: News
‘Glum future for the platypus’: why the elusive mammal is disappearing under our noses
It is dusk beside a creek and we are instructed to look for a trail of bubbles, under which could be one of the world’s weirdest mammals. When you’re desperate to see a platypus in the fading light, everything looks like one. Floating logs from bank-side paperbark trees, gyrating leaves caught in a dance with the […]
Historical data point to ‘imminent extinction’ of Tapanuli orangutan
JAKARTA — Onrizal Onrizal remembers hearing stories of human-like creatures living in the forest when he was growing up in Sungai Dareh, a town in western Sumatra, Indonesia. Legend had it that the creatures, called orang pendek, or “short people,” by the locals, disappeared from the forest in the 1970s. Today, Onrizal is a forestry […]
Alaska SeaLife Center Needs Support Rehabilitating Animals
The Guardian recently published news that the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC), an aquatic rehabilitation, scientific research, and education site, has had trouble during 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic. The ASLC rescues and rehabilitates animals like Pushki, a sea otter, and is the only facility in the state to do so. With visitors down because of […]
Three men filmed beating dolphin to death arrested in India
Three men in India have been arrested after they were filmed brutally beating an endangered river dolphin to death in a video that went viral. The attack, which happened on 31 December, involved a gang of young men violently hitting a Gangetic dolphin with wooden rods and an axe until it bled, and then suffocating […]
Australian wildlife 20 times more likely to encounter deadly feral cats than native predators
Australia’s wildlife are at least 20 times more likely to come across a deadly feral cat than one of the country’s native predators, according to a new study. Invasive cats, which kill billions of native animals each year, form a triple threat, the study finds, by hunting with greater intensity, in broader environments and in […]
New Zealand: woman dies after suspected shark attack near Auckland
A woman has died after a suspected shark attack off New Zealand’s north island. She was pulled from the waters at Waihi Beach, a two-hour drive south-east of Auckland, late on Thursday afternoon with leg wounds, local media reported. Emergency services were called but the woman died at the scene, police officials said. New Zealand […]
To pack a trunk or not? Battle over retirement plans of ‘Britain’s loneliest elephant’, saved from the circus
She’s a grande dame who over the years has made headlines for surviving more horrors than anyone should in a lifetime. And now, in the twilight of her life, she is again in the spotlight but unaware of the controversy surrounding her future. Anne, Britain’s last circus elephant, captured hearts in 2011 when video footage […]