With their population still struggling to recover from over three centuries of whaling, the North Atlantic right whale is now just “one step from extinction”, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The IUCN last week moved the whale’s status on their Red List from “endangered” to “critically endangered” – the […]
Tag: climate change
Rapidly warming oceans have left many northern marine mammals swimming in troubled waters. But perhaps none more so than than the strange and mysterious “unicorn of the sea,” the narwhal.
An exhaustive new study estimates, habitat suitable to narwhals could shrink by a staggering twenty-five percent by century’s end. Thanks to manmade climate change, their watery home is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth. And, in a scant few decades, sea-ice, so vital to their survival, could be gone altogether during Arctic summers. Narwhals […]
Adélie penguins could thrive as result of sea ice melting
Adélie penguin populations could boom in coming years, according to research revealing the small birds find it easier to forage when sea ice is sparse around continental Antarctica. While, overall, sea ice extent has increased in the Antarctic over recent decades, in the past few years it has fallen dramatically – a matter of deep […]
The plight of the “Short-Ear.” A wild dog in trouble
Whether famous or obscure, Earth’s wild creatures cannot hide from the hand of man. Scant months ago, more than a billion animals, including iconic kangaroos and cuddly koalas, perished in Australia’s calamitous bushfires, found by scientists to have been worsened by man-made climate change. Now, researchers say, one of Amazonia’s least-known species could be all […]
Oregon Wildlife Commission Keeps Cruel Trapping Practices in Place
PORTLAND,Ore.— After a contentious 12-hour meeting, the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission rejected conservation proposals to adopt a uniform 24-hour trap check time for all wildlife and to ban beaver trapping on federally managed public lands. The commission also voted 6-1 last Friday to continue the state’s existing furbearer trapping and hunting regulations for the […]
Migratory Birds Like Native Berries Best
Twice a year, millions of birds embark on long, perilous journeys between their breeding and wintering grounds. These flights, spanning hundreds or thousands of miles, require a lot of energy. In the spring, neotropical migrants travel from Latin America to nest in the Northern Hemisphere, where they take advantage of budding plants and abundant insects. […]
In lockdown’s calm, glossy ibis finds prime nesting conditions in Sri Lanka
BUNDALA, Sri Lanka – The glossy ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) is a fairly rare but regular winter visitor to Sri Lanka, seen at the Bundala National Parkin the island’s south before it leaves again in spring. So the sight of these black birds in the middle of May left park warden Ajith Gunathunga puzzled. He kept […]
Great Indian Bustard gets new level of protection
At first sight, the Great Indian Bustard Ardeotis nigriceps (Critically Endangered) certainly doesn’t look as if it needs protecting. Towering at a metre tall, this imposing, robust bird struts slowly through the grassland of the Indian subcontinent as if it owned the place. And once upon a time, it did. Formerly widespread and abundant, this […]