Norway has announced a 28% increase of its annual whaling quota to 1,278 whales in a bid to revive the declining hunt amid international controversy. Whalers have for several years failed to meet the quotas set by Oslo and the number of whaling boats has plunged. “I hope the quota and the merging of fishing […]
During Winter Storm Grayson, aka the “Bomb Cyclone,” temperatures on the East Coast dropped below those on Mars. While 21 people had died as of Jan. 6, the storm also affected animals that aren’t used to such cold weather, including iguanas in Florida, sea turtles along the Gulf Coast and even penguins in a zoo. […]
The great barrier reef that harbours a substantial amount of aquatic life is under threat from climate change and a careless disregard for the environment. As one of the one of the seven wonders of the world and being the largest living organism on this planet, the great coral barrier reef is home to many […]
Each day increasingly dangerous hurricanes, wildfires, and floods betray the influence of climate change. We are appalled at the accruing losses of life and property. The arguments to address climate change at the recent UN climate conference in Bonn focused most often on these more concrete risks. However, the worst effects of climate change will […]
New research suggests that African wild dogs’ chances of survival might be dealt a serious setback as global temperatures continue to rise. The African wild dog (Lycaon pictus), a native of sub-Saharan Africa, is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, which reports that there are only an estimated 6,600 adults in 39 subpopulations […]
The beluga whale is one of the most extraordinary species of marine creature known to science. It is a gregarious, pure white Arctic dweller that emits strange, high-pitched twitters that have given it its nickname: the sea canary. Belugas are on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s “near threatened” list, because of past […]
The woolly mammoth vanished from the Earth 4,000 years ago, but now scientists say they are on the brink of resurrecting the ancient beast in a revised form, through an ambitious feat of genetic engineering. Speaking ahead of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual meeting in Boston this week, the scientist […]
Reindeer are shrinking on an Arctic island near the north pole as a result of climate change that has curbed the amount of winter food available to the animals, scientists said on Monday. The average weight of adult reindeer on Svalbard, a chain of islands north of Norway, fell from 55kg (121lb) to 48kg (106lb) […]
The number of wild animals living on Earth is set to fall by two-thirds by 2020, according to a new report, part of a mass extinction that is destroying the natural world upon which humanity depends. The analysis, the most comprehensive to date, indicates that animal populations plummeted by 58% between 1970 and 2012, with […]
The planet is warming at a pace not experienced within the past 1,000 years, at least, making it “very unlikely” that the world will stay within a crucial temperature limit agreed by nations just last year, according to Nasa’s top climate scientist. This year has already seen scorching heat around the world, with the average […]
Life on Earth is in trouble. That much we know. But how bad have things become – and how fast are events moving? How soon, indeed, before the Earth’s biological treasures are trashed, in what will be the sixth great mass extinction event? This is what Gerardo Caballos of the National Autonomous University of Mexico […]
Mikhail Verevkin points his spyglass toward the Gulf of Finland and squints into the distance. “One, two, three.” He counts 19 animals lounging on rocks before looking up. They are all gray seals. The Baltic ringed seal is nowhere to be found. It’s April 20, the time of year when seal scientists like Verevkin, who […]
Global warming is now the single most important threat to the survival of the polar bear with retreating sea ice set to decimate populations, according to a new study by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It found a “high probability” that the planet’s 26,000 polar bears will suffer a 30% decline […]
