By almost any calculation, the Colorado River at the bottom of the Grand Canyon is one of the most isolated places in the contiguous United States. Although about half a million people a year hike Grand Canyon trails, only a tiny fraction of them make the arduous trek to the bottom, almost a mile from […]
Tag: endangered
In Iceland You Can Watch Rare Whales by Day and Eat Whales (Rare) by Night
The harpoon had clearly done its job: All around its tip the fin whale’s flesh and organs were shredded, turned into a bloody pulp. “It was a good shot,” says Kristjan Loftsson, pointing to the gaping cavity. The grenade-tipped weapon was embedded deep inside the 60-foot mammal. The violence of the impact meant that – […]
Is the RSPB to blame for the loss of England’s rare hen harriers?
The hen harrier has begun to drag its way back from extinction in England. But according to the grouse industry one organisation is stomping on its claws – the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). On Tuesday, according to the Telegraph, a report by government environment advisory body Natural England was “set to […]
Rare White Rhino Dies, Leaving Only Four Left on the Planet
A northern white rhinoceros named Nabiré died Monday at a Czech zoo, leaving only four of the subspecies alive in the world. Their outlook is bleak: Only one male remains, and at 42 years old he can no longer breed. The 31-year-old female died at the Dvůr Králové Zoo after suffering complications from the rupture […]
Why Are Most of Tanzania’s Elephants Disappearing?
Tanzania’s elephant population has plummeted by more than 60 percent during the past five years, the country’s government announced this month. Elephants in this East African country—a major, if not the world’s biggest source of illegal ivory—were estimated to number only 43,330 at the end of 2014, down from 109,051 in 2009. Tanzania’s Minister of […]
Saving the dhole: The forgotten ‘badass’ Asian dog more endangered than tigers
Let’s start at the beginning: what’s a dhole? It’s not a giant fruit corporation. It’s not Homer Simpson’s catch phrase. It’s not welfare payment by a government. Dholes are actually wild canids, efficient predators and communal pack hunters. These rust-coloured carnivores roam the jungles and montane forests of Central and East Asia filling the humid […]
Lion among 23,000 species threatened with extinction
The mighty lion, reclusive cave crabs and the world’s rarest sea lion are among nearly 23,000 species at risk of dying out, a top conservation body warned on Tuesday. In an update to its “Red List” of threatened species, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) hailed some clear advances in saving endangered […]
Iberian lynx: back from the brink of extinction … and run down by cars
The world’s most endangered feline species, the Iberian lynx, is making a comeback in Spain after being pushed to the brink of extinction. But the costly efforts to reintroduce the spotted cat into the wild face an unexpected enemy – cars. The number of lynx killed by collisions with vehicles has soared since Spain’s economic […]