In October 2014, tens of young elephants were taken from their family groups in Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park, where they were held in a capture unit for eight months until July 2015. That’s when 24 were flown to the Qingyuan quarantine facility in Guangdong Province before being transferred to Chimelong Safari Park, also in Guangdong. […]
Happy New Year!
My creature of the year award for 2015 goes to the neighborhood favorites — Brooklyn’s monk parakeets! The monk parakeet, Myiopsitta monachus, is also called Quaker parrot or parakeet and a few other names. There are colonies of them in Queens and Manhattan and elsewhere in New York City, but my favorite flock lives in […]
Wildlife catastrophe at Amazon dam a warning for future Tapajós dams
When the Balbina Dam was completed in 1986, it flooded primary forest in the state of Amazonas along Brazil’s Uatumã River, forming a massive reservoir speckled by 3,546 flood-induced islands. In 1990, the Reserva Biológica (REBIO) do Uatumã was established, protecting the entire 443,700 hectare (109,6427 acre) reservoir, dubbed Balbina Lake, along with the adjacent […]
Grackle Pros and Cons
Common grackles stay in New York year round. I saw one the other day, striding around on its long legs and looking cocky. Whenever I see one I take a moment to admire its glossy colors. I usually see a single bird in a park, or just a few at a time — they look […]
POLL: Should Australia’s customs ship monitor Japanese whaling?
Australians overwhelmingly support calls for the federal government to send a customs ship to monitor Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean, a poll commissioned by the anti-whaling activist group Sea Shepherd indicates. The Coalition has previously been accused of backing away from a pre-election commitment to tackle whaling in the Southern Ocean, after refusing to […]
Video: Extremely Rare White Lions Caught on Camera
In September 2014, a white lion cub was spotted in Singita Kruger National Park. While hundreds of these animals exist in captivity, only 13 remain in the wild, making the sighting unique. Black Bean Productions set out to capture footage of these remarkable big cats, whose coloration is not albinism but is caused by a […]
VOTE for the Best Photo of the Week 02 Jan 2016
Welcome to the “Best Photo of the Week” competition showcasing and celebrating the biodiversity of Planet Earth. Voting is easy and lots of fun. First click an image and browse through the slideshow. Then select the three images you like best of all and click the VOTE button at the bottom of the page. […]
Mountain lion kitten spotted near Los Angeles fuels conservation hopes
Conservationists are celebrating after sighting a young mountain lion they did not know existed amid a tiny, threatened population of the animals in the hills around Los Angeles. Wildlife experts were amazed both that they had not previously spotted the animal and that it was alive at all. The kitten survived a spate of recent […]