The world’s largest amphibian sounds like a work of fiction: virtually unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs, and reportedly growing as long as a man, the Chinese Giant Salamander (Andrias davidianus) is clinging to survival in the wild in a few fast-flowing rivers scattered across the highlands of China. Meanwhile, the aquaculture industry is […]
Category: News
Video: Flock of birds invades pitch at Brazilian football match
A flock of lapwings took to the turf during an under-20 Copa do Brasil football game between São Paulo and Joinville on Wednesday. The feathered invaders forced the game, which was being broadcast live, to suffer a short but amusing stoppage.
Video: Africa’s vultures are sliding towards extinction
Six of Africa’s 11 vulture species – the continent’s largest and most recognisable birds of prey – are now at a higher risk of extinction, according to the latest assessment of birds carried out by BirdLife International for the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species™. The main causes of the drop in African vulture populations […]
Macedonia dam faces the axe over risk of Balkan lynx extinction
A controversial €100m (£71m) dam project in a Macedonian national park is expected to be scrapped after independent experts called for a halt to all funding and construction work because of risks to critically endangered species, including the Balkan lynx. A Bern Convention mission to the Mavrovo national park reported that the planned hydropower dam […]
Half of world’s rare antelope population died within weeks
More than half of the world’s population of an endangered antelope died within two weeks earlier this year, in a phenomenon that scientists are unable to explain. At least 150,000 adult saiga antelopes were buried during a fortnight in May, but scientists say the actual figure will be significantly higher as many more carcasses were […]
Red List reveals Europe’s farmland wading birds in crisis
The latest update of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is out – and it’s sounding alarm bells for some of Europe’s most charismatic and cherished shorebirds (also known as wading birds). The list highlights sharp declines in most farmland wader species across much of Europe in recent decades. In some cases, these falls […]
Bar Tailed Godwit: New Zealand’s Bird of the Year
The bar-tailed godwit (kuaka) has been crowned New Zealand’s Bird of the Year after three weeks of close competition, heated campaigning and attempts at cheating. The Bird of the Year competition is run each year by Forest & Bird, the New Zealand BirdLife partner. The godwits spur public imagination having the longest migratory flight of […]
Africa’s lion population forecast to drop by half
Lion populations in Africa are likely to shrink by half over the next two decades unless a concerted effort is made to conserve them, a study has found. The study included that grim news that the number of lions in Africa has already halved since the early 1990s. The research looked at 47 African lion […]