The fearsome mongoose. It can fight a cobra, kill a snake with one bite, and keep a farmer’s field clear of mice, rats, and insects. But to some in India, which is home to six species of the ferret-like animal, they’re valuable in another way. Their fur makes expensive—and illegal—paintbrushes for artists. As long ago […]
Tag: endangered
Winter migration of monarch butterflies to Mexico drops after one-year recovery
The number of monarch butterflies wintering in Mexico dropped by 27% this year, reversing last year’s recovery from historically low numbers, according to a study by government and independent experts released Thursday. The experts say the decline could be due to late winter storms last year that blew down more than 100 acres (40 hectares) […]
Saving the Egyptian Vulture – Have your say!
As part of the EU LIFE+ project ‘The Return of the Neophron’, a public consultation exercise on its proposed ‘Flyway Action Plan’ (EVFAP) has been launched to save the Egyptian Vulture. Stoyan Nikolov explains how – and why – citizens should take this opportunity to participate and have their say. There was a time when […]
The Montserrat Oriole is no longer Critically Endangered
With two thirds of its suitable forest habitat completely destroyed, the population of Montserrat Oriole Icterus oberi dramatically declined after a series of volcanic eruptions during the late 1990s, and suffered from the impact of invasive species. Here’s how RSPB (BirdLife in the UK) and partners turned things around. Found on the southern part the […]
POLL: Should the trade in captive lions and their bones be stopped?
Conservationists have condemned plans for the skeletons of 800 captive bred lions to be shipped to the Far East for use in traditional medicines. The highly-prized bones would come from South African big cats used for canned hunting as well as captive animals that died naturally or were euthanised. Producers of the film Blood Lions […]
A new hope for the Blue-throated Macaw
The discovery of a new roosting site for Blue-throated Macaw Ara glaucogularis coupled with an innovative and successful programme geared towards promoting the use of artificial feathers in ceremonial headdresses, gives renewed hope for the survival of this charismatic parrot. The Blue-throated Macaw is one of South America’s rarest parrots, with a population estimated at […]
This man has just broken the record for most bird species seen in a year
Interview: Arjan Dwarshuis has just broken the world record for the number of bird species spotted in a single year. And he is doing it to raise money for BirdLife. Despite birdwatching around the world almost non-stop since January 2016 for his “Biggest Year”, which is also being captured in a documentary film, Arjan has […]
Breeding for their lives: the fragile plight of orange-bellied parrots
This summer, I’ve been glued to my phone, awaiting every Twitter notification. But what I’m following is happening in Tasmania’s Southwest Wilderness World Heritage Area, far from celebrities, politics or online trolls. I am watching a succession of videos portraying the wiggling, fuzzy, yellow-beaked bodies of the next generation of orange-bellied parrots. These striking birds […]