The plains-wanderer is a small, critically-endangered bird with a tawny marking on its chest that can only be found in south-eastern Australia’s arid grasslands. It is estimated that only 250 to 1,000 of these speckled birds are left in the wild, according to Bush Heritage Australia. The plains-wanderer is at risk of impending extinction and […]
Tag: grasslands

Plan for ‘sea of roofs’ will destroy last koala habitat in western Sydney, critics say
A plan to build up to 73,000 houses in new suburbs in western Sydney relies on conservation promises that might not be delivered until decades into the future, environment groups say. The New South Wales government recently approved the Cumberland Plain conservation plan, a major planning policy that will guide the development of four new […]

71-year-old Pennsylvania woman gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park
The wildlife of Yellowstone National Park, which welcomes over three million tourists annually, is one of its main draws. More than 360 species live in the 3,472 square miles of alpine meadows, sagebrush steppe, grasslands, and subalpine woods that make up the park, including black bears, moose, elk, bighorn sheep, bison, Canada lynx, and gray […]

Nepal’s key habitat could lose 39% of its tigers in 20 years, study says
KATHMANDU — Roads that run close to an important national park in Nepal’s southern plains could result in an increased rate of roadkill that would cut the park’s population of adult tigers by nearly two-fifths over two decades, a new study shows. The study forecasts that 46 Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) could be killed […]

Tiger-centric conservation efforts push other predators to the fringes
KATHMANDU — The monsoon season in Nepal is expected to begin in the second week of June, which means officials in the country’s prime habitats for Bengal tigers (Panthera tigris tigris) are busy with their seasonal work. They’re setting fire to the tall grasses that grew throughout the year, and uprooting trees that may have […]

Green light for return of red-footed tortoises to Argentina
It may be one of the slowest-moving conservation projects in history, not just because of the red tape, but due to the animals themselves: 40 red-footed tortoises are being released into El Impenetrable national park in Argentina in the coming weeks after being rescued from the illegal pet trade in Paraguay and transported to Argentina. […]

A study finds that bison restoration on tribal lands has cultural, ecological, and economic benefits
Beginning in the early 1800s, the American bison, our national mammal, was hunted to near extinction, with fewer than a thousand remaining by the end of the century. Bison, America’s biggest land-dwelling mammal, helps in the balance and maintenance of a healthy ecosystem, as well as the creation of habitat for a variety of species, […]

Saving the Raja of India’s grasslands: new efforts to conserve the Critically Endangered Great Indian Bustard
The Great Indian Bustard, one of India’s iconic birds, once ranged across most of the Indian subcontinent. Due to a variety of factors, however, the Great Indian Bustard is also now India’s rarest bird and faces imminent extinction. The following is an interview with Ramki Sreenivasan, co-founder of Conservation India, a group that recently petitioned […]