A team of scientists from Colorado State University, Save the Elephants and ElephantVoices used machine learning to confirm that calls of African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) contained a name-like component identifying the intended recipient. When the authors played back recorded calls, the elephants responded affirmatively to calls that were addressed to them by calling back […]
Cocaine trafficking threatens critical bird habitats, new study shows
In addition to its human consequences, cocaine trafficking harms the environment and threatens habitats important to dozens of species of migratory birds, according to a new study. Two-thirds of the areas that are most important to forest birds—including 67 species of migratory birds that breed in the U.S. and Canada and overwinter in Central America—are […]
Elephants Are the First Non-Human Animals Now Known to Use Names, AI Research Shows
In a study as amazing as it is probably unsurprising, a team of biologists and researchers using machine learning tools discovered that elephants call each other by names. For an animal that is known to perform deeply social acts like grieving, raising children collectively, and communicating across miles of countryside using complex low-frequency vocalizations, the […]
Wild Horses Return to Kazakhstan Plains After Two Centuries of Absence
In an inspiring return 200 years in the making, the last truly wild horse species has been reintroduced onto the open steppes of Kazakhstan. The Guardian reports that four mares from a breeding program in Berlin and a stallion and two other mares from Prague, were flown to the Central Asian country to mark the […]
For the First Time in Decades, Rare Birds Nest on Restored Chilean Island
In Pajaros Uno Island, La Higuera, Chile the Island Conservation is celebrating a groundbreaking milestone. For the first time in decades, the rare Peruvian Diving-Petrels, locally known as “yuncos,” have returned to nest on the island. These seabirds, crucial to the ecosystem’s health, have made their comeback less than a year after social attraction efforts […]
Rare white grizzly bear Nakoda and her cubs die in separate crashes in B.C. park
Parks Canada staff who spent hundreds of hours tracking a rare white grizzly bear known as Nakoda had recently celebrated her emergence from hibernation with two new cubs in British Columbia’s Yoho National Park, said parks wildlife management specialist Saudi Stevens. Now all three animals are dead, after two separate crashes on the same day […]
Eagle attacks, red invaders and a genetic bottleneck: inside the fight to save arctic foxes
Deep in the Norwegian mountains, amid a vast expanse of bright snow and howling winds, Toralf Mjøen throws a piece of meat into a fenced enclosure and waits for a pair of dark eyes to appear from the snowy den. These curious and playful arctic foxes know Mjøen well. He has been the caretaker at […]
Colorado Gray Wolves Possibly Cross State Lines into Wyoming
In recent wildlife monitoring developments, Colorado’s collared gray wolves, reintroduced in December as part of a state initiative to restore the species, may have expanded their range into neighboring Wyoming. This shift was detected through the Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Collared Gray Wolf Activity Map, which uses purple shading to signify the detected presence of […]