Thousands of rainbow lorikeets and hundreds of flying foxes have been hospitalised in Queensland in the past year with a mysterious paralysis that can affect the animals’ ability to fly, swallow and even breathe. Lorikeet paralysis syndrome has struck birds in Queensland and New South Wales since at least 2012, and a similar syndrome was […]
Category: Wildlife
New study reveals why some birds are all about that bass
Birds produce an impressive variety of songs and calls, but the biological and ecological factors that influence the pitch, or frequencies, that birds create hasn’t been well understood — until now. Previous studies haven’t come to a consensus likely because they were small in scope, focusing on an individual species or a specific range. But […]
Rare January Slaughter: A Grim Start to 2025
On January 10th, the Faroese whalers carried out the first grind of 2025 in Árnafjarðarvík, where 47 pilot whales were slaughtered, including an unknown number of pregnant whales and young calves. This unseasonable practice—occurring in the heart of winter—marks a disturbing shift in the timing and frequency of these hunts, which are already steeped in […]
Victory! Petitions to Reduce or Remove Protections for Wolves are Denied
Petitions from hunting organizations that aimed to reduce or remove protections for gray wolves in the western Great Lakes and West Coast regions have been rejected by Federal wildlife regulators. Groups such as the Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation and various bear hunting associations submitted their petitions to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in June 2023. […]
Spiders ‘Smell’ Using Their Legs, Research Finds
Most spiders have eight legs, no ears and use fine leg hairs connected to nerve cells or their webs to hear sounds in their environment. But how do they smell? A new study by an international team of researchers has found that male spiders “smell” with their legs, using olfactory hairs — wall-pore sensilla — […]
Calls to halt kangaroo culling in Victoria’s Grampians after bushfires
Wildlife advocates are calling for a halt to the commercial harvesting of kangaroos in Victoria’s Grampians region after bushfires there. Wildlife Victoria warned of “long-term impacts” on native plants and animals due to the fires, which burned through 76,000 hectares of national park and farmland, and called for a stop to the controversial practice until […]
New National Park Widens Protection of Legendary ‘Asian Unicorn’ Mountain Home
The government of Laos DPR recently turned a vast area of hills and tropical forests over to conservation with the establishment of Xesap National Park (NP). Aided by Western endowments and nonprofits, the establishment expands an already existing protected area to a total of 202,300 hectares, including the 49,000-hectare Pale area, which is thought to […]
Colombian tree frog found by Sheffield florist highlights invasive species threat
A tiny tree frog hitchhiking in a bunch of roses to Sheffield from Colombia has inspired a study into invasive species reaching the UK’s shores. Dr Silviu Petrovan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s zoology department and a senior author of a paper published today in the journal BioScience, had his interest piqued when […]