A Tanzanian court has sentenced Yang Fenglan, a Chinese national dubbed the “Queen of Ivory,” to 15 years in prison for smuggling the tusks of more than 350 African elephants over several years. Yang, 69, was arrested in 2015 and charged with trafficking 860 ivory pieces, which, according to authorities, were worth at least $5.6 […]
Tag: Shreya Dasgupta
From a new bird to a new community reserve: India’s tribe sets example
SINGCHUNG, India — “Follow the rustling in the bushes,” whispers Phurpa Tsering, tiptoeing aside. I hear a brief low-pitched call. A bird, larger than a sparrow but smaller than a pigeon, stirs in the branches before diving deeper into another bush in the ravine. Its partner trails behind, revealing a fleeting glimpse of the bird’s […]
Whale stress levels influenced by human activity, earwax study suggests
Scientists have mapped whale stress levels in relation to human activity going back nearly a century and a half — using earwax collected from baleen whales. From 1870 to 2016, the whales’ stress levels seem to be closely associated with activities such as industrial whaling, naval operations during World War II, and rising sea-surface temperatures, […]
Illegal cheetah trade continues through Instagram, 4sale, YouTube
Cheetahs continue to be illegally traded through social media platforms, according to a new analysis published by theCheetah Conservation Fund (CCF), a non-profit research and lobby organization based in Namibia. Between February 2012 and July 2018, a total of 1,367 cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) were offered on sale through 906 posts on social media, the analysis […]
Protected landscape across India-Bhutan border a refuge for wildlife during armed conflict
From the late 1980s until 2003, recurring ethno-political violence rocked Manas National Park, a protected area in the northeastern Indian state of Assam, in the Himalayan foothills. The conflict changed the park’s spread and abundance of wildlife, including the endangered Bengal tiger (Panthera tigris tigris). But Manas’s continuity with Bhutan’s Royal Manas National Park (RMNP) […]
The Japan pig is a tiny colorful pygmy seahorse smaller than a fingernail
Researchers have just described a species of colorful pygmy seahorse that’s both adorable and very easy to miss. The newly described creature,occurring in the watersoff the coast of southeast Japan, is much smaller than the average fingernail and camouflages well against the corals and rocks it lives on, researchers report in a new study published in […]
Krill fishing companies pledge to protect key food of Antarctic animals
A majority of krill fishing companies have announced their commitment to voluntarily stop harvesting the tiny crustaceans from vast areas of the Antarctic Peninsula, including around important breeding penguin colonies.The announcement on July 9 follows years of campaigns and negotiations led by environmental groups such as Greenpeace. “This is a bold and progressive move from […]
Death by hippo poop: Scientists solve a fish massacre in the Mara River
In the Mara River in Kenya, fish die in the thousands every now and then. And the hippopotamus is to blame, a new study has found. Hippos (Hippopotamus amphibius) spend a considerable amount of time in rivers to cool off their bodies. They also spend a lot of time defecating in the water, their tails […]