There are hundreds of UNESCO World Heritage sites around the world that have been protected because they are culturally, ecologically and economically valuable. These sites are among the last strongholds for some of the earth’s most iconic and endangered species, including orangutans, tigers, elephants and rhinos. Unfortunately, even though these sites are recognized for their […]
Tag: extinction
More than a quarter of UK birds face extinction risk
More than a quarter of UK birds, including the puffin, nightingale and curlew, require urgent conservation efforts to ensure their survival, according to a new report on the state of the UK’s birds. Since the last review in 2009, an additional 15 species of bird have been placed on the “red list”, a category that […]
Walk with penguins in ground-breaking virtual reality video
For the first time, you can instantly transport yourself to a sub-antarctic island and immerse in the lives of penguins—thanks to a new 3D 360-degree film launched today Walk with Southern Rockhopper, King, Magellanic, and Gentoo Penguins on a remote island, in a new short film produced with Visualise for BirdLife International’s “Protect a Penguin” […]
These parrots can make other parrots ‘laugh’ – a first !
Forget the laughing kookaburra – kea are the birds that really tickle each other’s funny bones. The highly intelligent parrot has a specific call, that – like human laughter – puts other parrots that hear it in a good mood. This makes the kea the first known non-mammal to show contagious emotion, joining the ranks […]
High price of rhino horn leaves bloody trail across the globe
On the black market it is reputedly worth more than its weight in gold or cocaine, and this week the lure of rhino horn brought the bloody business of poaching to a zoo near Paris. There, in the dead of night, criminals broke in, shot a white rhino called Vince three times in the head […]
POLL: Does the world still need zoos?
I have written before about the importance of zoos and the role they have to play in the world for conservation and education. They are in particularly important for endangered species – many animals are critically endangered in the wild and may go extinct there soon but are going strong in zoos. Many others are […]
Curlews in crisis?
To the layman, the curlews are a shy, unassuming family of birds. Their mottled-brown plumage makes for effective camouflage against their marshland and mudflat feeding grounds, meaning they can go about their business unnoticed, prying out invertebrates such as ragworms with their purpose-built curved bills. But if, like the curlews, you take time to dig […]
POLL: Should Australia’s feral cats be culled?
Feral cats now inhabit virtually the entire Australian landscape, and have been implicated in multiple recent mammal extinctions by conservationists. Illuminating the urgency of controlling cat populations across the continent, a new study in Biological Conservation finds that cats occupy over 99.8% of Australia. The study was conducted by over forty scientists—led by wildlife ecologists […]