A conservation nonprofit in Chile has delighted South American ecologists with the daytime camera trap footage of a Pampas cat, an extremely rare, non-endangered, and little-understood small wildcat species. Named after the characteristic South American environment they thrive in, the “Colocolo,” to use the local name, looks like a small lynx, or large house cat. […]
Global wildlife trafficking: Endangered felines found in Paris apartments
Wildlife trafficking is one of the most profitable criminal activities in the world, after drug trafficking, human trafficking and arms smuggling. At the end of last year, an international operation uncovered 20,000 live, wild animals, including reptiles, felines, turtles and monkeys. Some 365 people were arrested in connection with six different illegal networks. Here in […]
Scientists Bring Back the Dire Wolf Using Ancient DNA
In an achievement that sounds straight out of science fiction, scientists have successfully revived the extinct dire wolf using genetic engineering. According to TIME’s Jeffrey Kluger, biotech company Colossal Biosciences created three dire wolf pups—Romulus, Remus, and Khaleesi—by editing the genes of a modern gray wolf. These pups are the first of their kind to […]
Birdwatch: The wader with a muddy name whose numbers are in steep decline
When the tide is out on my Somerset coastal patch, there’s so much mud it looks as if you could walk all the way across the bay to Wales. That seemed apt when I came across a flock of black-tailed godwits, whose scientific name, Limosa limosa, literally means “muddy muddy”. The name seems inappropriate for […]
Nevada man arrested after 7 ’emotional support’ tigers are seized from his home
A Nevada man who was arrested Wednesday after seven tigers were seized from his home said they were his “emotional support animals.” Officials raided Karl Mitchell’s home in Pahrump on Wednesday morning and arrested him on suspicion of resisting arrest. Mitchell, 71, did not have a special conditions animal permit to own the animals, which […]
Designers Unveil Bird Feeders Designed to Help Prevent Disease
UK design studio Foster + Partners Industrial Design has introduced a sleek new bird feeder that could make backyard birdwatching safer for birds everywhere. Unveiled at Milan Design Week, the Ori bird feeder was created to reduce disease transmission, which can happen when birds share contaminated feeders. According to a Dezeen article by Tom Ravenscroft, […]
With the Great Mussel Die-Off, Scientists Scramble for Answers
Throughout his professional life, U.S. Forest Service researcher Wendell Haag has studied freshwater mussels in their hotspot of biological diversity, which extends across a vast swath of the southeastern United States. His more than 30-year career has been overshadowed by a single question: Why are the bivalves in this region disappearing? Freshwater mussels are one […]
How a penguin ‘massacre’ led to historic new protections in Argentina
As spring turns to summer in the southern hemisphere, the Punta Tombo Natural Protected Area on Argentina‘s central coast comes alive, with the chicks of some 180,000 pairs of nesting Magellanic penguins braying and peeping 24/7. That penguin-palooza was nearing a crescendo in November 2021 when tragedy struck. A local rancher named Ricardo La Regina, […]