Australia’s spectacular palm cockatoo is being put at risk by proposed bauxite mines, conservationists have said. The Cape York palm cockatoo, Australia’s largest cockatoo, is listed as vulnerable under Australia’s federal environment laws. About 3,000 mature birds are thought to exist, and their numbers are declining. It is considered a distinct subspecies of the palm […]
Tag: Australia
Great Barrier Reef: devastating images tell story of coral colonies’ destruction
Devastating images showing the complete destruction of coral colonies on the Great Barrier Reef have been obtained by Guardian Australia and illustrate what is happening to coral there that would fill an area the size of Scotland. They reveal the rapid death of coral impacting much of the Great Barrier Reef, with estimates that as […]
The audacious plan to airlift 80 rhinos to Australia
A South African expatriate’s desire to protect rhinoceroses from poachers is driving an unusual plan to breed the giant animals down under. It’s sometimes said that people look like their pets. But that’s not the case with Ray Dearlove. He’s a a statuesque slab of fellow, built like a prop forward with the weathered features […]
POLL: Should Australia do more to protect threatened species?
Nearly 50 new species of flora and fauna have been added without fanfare to the federal government’s list of threatened species, including nine that are critically endangered. Among the species to be added to the list under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act were the brush-tailed bettong (endangered), the three-toed snake-tooth skink (vulnerable), the […]
Win for Critically Endangered Australian Regent Honeyeater in Court Decision
BirdLife Australia is celebrating a landmark court decision to protect the Critically Endangered Regent Honeyeater. In a desperately needed win for the Critically Endangered bird, the NSW Land and Environment Court has found in favour of a challenge to the approval of a development which would have destroyed its habitat. In the decision, it was […]
The World’s Smallest Penguin May Be In Danger
The world’s tiniest penguin may be in big trouble. Warming ocean waters could make finding food increasingly difficult for the little penguin, Eudyptula minor, which stands less than a foot (0.3 meter) tall. Because their prey is sensitive to heat, “we’re seeing that warm years are quite bad for the penguins, and it’s not hard to see that if the temperature keeps going up, things might get worse,” says Gemma Carroll, […]
Shooting lobby calls for five-year moratorium on duck hunting rules
The shooting lobby has called for a five-year moratorium on new duck hunting restrictions in Victoria, saying it would allow regulators to study the impact of hunting on duck and other waterfowl populations. The RSPCA has described the suggestion as “unbelievable” given the wealth of data, collected by the University of NSW annual aerial bird […]
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 […]