A new study is shedding fresh light into the incredible world of California’s temperate forests, and the daring survival techniques of one of its inhabitants: parachuting salamanders. The study, published on Monday in the journal Current Biology, shows how salamanders living in the canopy are able to parachute consistently, slowing their speed and controlling their […]
Tag: amphibians
Study: Breeding adaptations help tree frogs thrive in different climates
COLOMBO — Amphibians evolved from a fish ancestor that had functional lungs and bony lobed fins, which helped them become the first vertebrates to conquer land. Keeping these earlier trails, today’s frogs and toads also have larvae with gills that need an aquatic environment until they transform into air-breathing adults. But this unique feature hasn’t […]
21 percent of all reptile species worldwide are threatened with extinction
According to The Guardian, the largest study ever conducted on the extinction risk of reptiles on the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned that 21% of all reptile species worldwide are threatened with extinction, which could have a “devastating” effect on the planet’s ecosystems. According to […]
The millionaire rewilding the countryside, one farm at a time
Julia Davies had one only goal in mind when she sold her share of the outdoor equipment company Osprey Europe a few years ago. The entrepreneur decided she was going to spend her millions turning back the clock – by returning swathes of the British farmland to wilderness. Nature is in crisis in the UK, […]
What you should NEVER feed hedgehogs – three top tips to helping wildlife
HEDGEHOGS are popular visitors to your garden with as many as 10 visiting a garden over several nights, so if you want to feed these friendly creatures what should you avoid? Hedgehogs are widespread throughout England and Wales. They prey on invertebrates and are known to eat amphibians, small rodents and birds. They eat several […]
3 Reasons a Snake in the Yard Might Be a Good Thing
Happening upon a snake in the yard can be a startling—to put it mildly—experience. Whether it’s an evolutionary instinct to jump back at the sight of a snake or another one of those ingrained cultural fears, a close encounter with the slithering kind usually shocks the system, even for those among us who admire the […]
The Last Giraffes on Earth
The giraffe is nearly down. Two men have stretched a thick black rope in front of the animal, to trip her up. The giraffe hits the rope, and the plan seems to be working until she gains a second wind and breaks into a fresh run. Her body sways backward and forward like a rocking […]
Slash-and-burn farming eats away at a Madagascar haven for endangered lemurs, frogs
Deforestation is so rampant throughout Madagascar, an island far larger than California, that it’s easy to forget the impact of tree clearance in any one specific area of the country — the lemurs that lose their habitats, the orchids that no longer bloom, the people whose land becomes barren. But recent activity in the Ankeniheny-Zahamena […]