Joseph Henney, 69, grew up on a farm in the same area of Dover, Pennsylvania he lives in now. From a young age, Henney was surrounded by a wide range of animals, such as cattle, coyotes, snakes and hogs, which makes owning a pet alligator perhaps the least surprising thing about him. But Henney’s gator […]
Tag: Komodo Dragon
Scientists Find Huge Aggregations of Reef Manta Rays in Komodo National Park
The reef manta ray is a species of ray in the family Mobulidae, one of the largest rays in the world. They are typically 3 to 3.5 m in disc width, with a maximum size of about 5.5 m. First described in 1868 by the Australian researcher Gerard Krefft, they tend to reside and feed in […]
Komodo dragon in danger of extinction as sea levels rise
The komodo dragon, the world’s largest lizard, is threatened with extinction as rising water levels driven by the climate crisis shrink its habitat, according to the latest “red list” update. Endemic to a handful of Indonesian islands, the komodo dragon lives on the edge of forest or in open savannah, rarely venturing higher than 700 […]
Climate change threatens Komodo dragons
The world’s largest lizard, the Komodo dragon, could be driven to extinction by climate change unless significant measures to intervene are taken soon. A new international study, led by the University of Adelaide and Deakin University, has found that the impact of both global warming and sea-level rise threatens the extinction of Komodo dragons, which […]
Indonesia arrests 7 for allegedly selling Komodo dragons over Facebook
JAKARTA — Indonesian authorities have arrested seven suspected members of a trafficking ring believed to have used Facebook and other social media to sell at least 40 Komodo dragons and other protected species. Police are holding five of the suspects in Surabaya, in East Java province, and two in Jakarta, the capital, according to Wiratno, […]
For Species At Risk of Extinction, Size Matters
Scientists have been warning about a sixth mass extinction, and when it comes to species at risk of disappearing, size is going to matter a lot, according to a new study. For the study, which was just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of scientists from the U.S., […]
Komodo dragon: one of Indonesia’s rare conservation success stories
The Komodo dragon – that giant monitor lizard inhabiting a few islands in Eastern Indonesia – is an exception. Biologically-speaking, of course, it is the world’s largest lizard, and a last survivor of monster lizards (bigger even than the Komodo) that once roamed a good portion of both Indonesia and Australia. But the Komodo dragon […]
New photos offer rare glimpse of the mysterious Saharan Cheetah
The Saharan cheetah is one of the world’s rarest big cats. At face value, that isn’t all that surprising. Deserts are harsh environments that support few large herbivores, which means there are even fewer carnivores around. But if we’ve learned anything about ecology, it’s that healthy ecosystems require the survival of apex predators; they keep […]