California and Indonesia Urged to Build Relationships to Save Leatherback Sea Turtles

California and Indonesia Urged to Build Relationships to Save Leatherback Sea Turtles

In response to Governor Brown’s signing of Assembly Bill 1776, which designates the endangered leatherback sea turtle as California’s official state reptile and designates October 15 as Leatherback Conservation Day, state and federal agencies have been encouraged to build cooperative relationships with the Western Pacific island nations, where Pacific leatherback sea turtles return from California […]

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“Elephant killers should be brought to justice” tweets Indonesia’s president

“Elephant killers should be brought to justice” tweets Indonesia’s president

Indonesia’s president spoke out against the killing of a critically endangered Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) last week, using his Twitter account to urge local authorities to take action in the case. The large male elephant was found dead last Saturday morning near Rantau Sabon village in Indonesia’s Aceh province. The elephant’s face was crushed, […]

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Growing Caterpillar

Growing Caterpillar

For the past few weeks, I have been watching black swallowtail caterpillars in a nearby stand of fennel plants. Like many butterfly species, black swallowtails are picky about what they eat. They prefer host plants in the carrot family, Apiaceae, which includes parsley, fennel, dill, Queen Anne’s Lace, and of course, carrots. Fennel smells like […]

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