Chances are, the works of the world’s insects touch your lips every day. The coffee or tea you savor, both are insect pollinated. Apples, oranges, cabbages, cashews, cherries, carrots, broccoli, watermelon, garlic, cinnamon, basil, sunflower seeds, almonds, canola oil — all are insect pollinated. Honey, dyes, even some vaccines require insects to come to fruition. […]
Tag: deforestation
Deforestation spurred by road project creeps closer to Sumatra wildlife haven
JAKARTA — An upgrade to a road that cuts through one of Southeast Asia’s last great swaths of intact rainforest is driving deeper encroachment by humans into blocks of forest that may spread into a national park. The road runs 36 kilometers (22 miles) between the districts of Karo and Langkat in Indonesia’s North Sumatra […]
Officials Use Crane to Free Elephant from Well in India
Officials in India’s Tamil Nadu state said they used a crane to pull an elephant from a well after 12 hours of trying to rescue the animal. The elephant wandered into a village and fell into a well without a fence. District forest officer Rajkumar said of the situation, “It was a deep and narrow […]
Snare traps decline, but still pose a threat to Leuser’s Sumatran rhinos
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — For the rhinos of Sumatra’s Leuser Ecosystem, snare traps set by poachers are a key factor that threatens to drive them closer to extinction. The Leuser Ecosystem is one of the last refuges of the critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis). Fewer than 80 of the animals are believed to remain […]
At-risk Cerrado mammals need fully-protected parks to survive: Researchers
Each April for six consecutive years, Guilherme Braga Ferreira and three other researchers set out on a half-year journey, methodically installing remote camera traps across 386 square miles of the Brazilian Cerrado savanna. Their goal: to photograph maned wolves, giant anteaters, pumas, tapirs and other Neotropical mammals, residents of the world’s most biodiverse grasslands. The […]
Wildlife emergency in Bolivia as fires threaten animal sanctuaries
A ghastly orange grin extends across the treetops in Guarayos, Bolivia, marking a cruel turn of fate for rescued wildlife. On the ground, the air is too smoky to breathe, and hot enough to scorch. The woods are so dry that everything burns. Fire is eating its way through one of the world’s great efforts […]
As the Amazon burns, what happens to its biodiversity?
The number of fires burning in standing Amazon rainforest spiked dramatically in recent weeks, threatening the forest’s biodiversity — a richness of flora and fauna not adapted to withstand the flames. Of all major fires detected in the Amazon this year, 43% were in standing forests, as of Sept 21, (up from only 13% in […]
Wildcats threatened by their domestic cousins
European wildcats, thought to be extinct 50 or so years ago in the Jura mountains, have since recolonised part of their former territory. This resurgence in an area occupied by domestic cats has gone hand-in-hand with genetic crosses between the two species. The hybridisation between wild and domesticated organisms is known to endanger the gene […]