Endangered Species
grrlscientist | January 26, 2009tags: Alabama Beach Mouse, Peromyscus polionotus ammobates, Joel Sartore, National Geographic, image of the day
Alabama Beach Mouse (Peromyscus polionotus ammobates)
Image: Joel Sartore/National Geographic [larger view].
The photographer writes;
The Alabama beach mouse ekes out a living on a 14-mile stretch of the state's Fort Morgan Peninsula, where its dune habitat is fragmented by construction and lit up at night. Habitat saved under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) prevented these nocturnal mice from going the way of the dodo.
Joel Sartore has shared some of his work on this blog…
grrlscientist | January 25, 2009tags: California Condor, Gymnogyps californianus, Joel Sartore, National Geographic, image of the day
California Condor (Gymnogyps californianus)
336 (156 wild, 180 captive).
Image: Joel Sartore/National Geographic [larger view].
The photographer writes;
They survived the Ice Age, but condors barely held out against Homo sapiens. Many of these scavengers were shot or poisoned by fragments of lead left behind by hunters. In 1985 just nine wild birds remained. Captive breeding and reduced use of lead ammunition have brought the species back.
Joel Sartore has shared some of his work on this…
grrlscientist | January 24, 2009tags: Ocelot, Leopardus pardalis, Joel Sartore, National Geographic, image of the day
Ocelot, Leopardus pardalis.
195 animals remaining (Estimated U.S. population is fewer than 100 wild, 95 captive).
Image: Joel Sartore/National Geographic [larger view].
The photographer writes;
Wild ocelots are gone from all U.S. states except Texas, driven out by human development. The elusive cats still roam the wilds of Central and South America, but there's little reliable data on their true numbers.
Joel Sartore has shared some of his work on this blog before, so I am thrilled to tell you that…
grrlscientist | January 23, 2009tags: Gopher Tortoise, Gopherus polyphemus, Joel Sartore, National Geographic, image of the day
Gopher Tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus).
Image: Joel Sartore/National Geographic [larger view].
The photographer writes;
Gopher tortoises in the southeastern U.S. often end up as roadkill. Invasive fire ants and armadillos also prey on their eggs and young, while urban expansion, land conversion for pine plantations, and fire mismanagement degrade tortoise habitat, pushing these reptiles closer to the edge.
Joel Sartore has shared some of his work on this blog before, so I am thrilled to tell you…
grrlscientist | January 22, 2009tags: Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly, Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis, Joel Sartore, National Geographic, image of the day
Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly (Glaucopsyche lygdamus palosverdesensis)
4,300 (Estimated 300 wild and 4,000 captive).
Image: Joel Sartore/National Geographic. [larger view].
Wikipedia writes;
The Palos Verdes Blue butterfly is a small endangered butterfly native to the Palos Verdes Peninsula in southwest Los Angeles County, California. As its distribution has been proven to be limited to one single site it has one of the best claims to being the world's rarest…
grrlscientist | January 21, 2009tags: Dusky Seaside Sparrow, Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens, Joel Sartore, National Geographic, image of the day
The world in a jar: Is this the sort of world we wish to leave to our children?
Dusky Seaside Sparrow (Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens).Extinct.
Image: Joel Sartore/National Geographic [larger view].
The photographer writes;
Slipping into extinction almost unnoticed, the Dusky Seaside Sparrow, Ammodramus maritimus nigrescens -- found mainly on Florida's Merritt Island -- declined from roughly 3,000 pairs to none as its salt marsh habitat was sprayed with DDT and taken over for…
awild | December 3, 2008Linepithema flavescens, last seen in 1934
Linepithema flavescens, a small yellow ant from Haiti, is one of the species I re-described as part of my Ph.D. dissertation. All we know about this ant, apart from the brief notes on the specimen labels, is the external appearance of a few workers. Queens and males haven't been collected. No one has studied its ecology or behavior. The few existing museum specimens- gathered from two different field sites- may be too valuable to attempt DNA extraction.
A 1934 collection is the last time anyone has ever seen L. flavescens. As the natural…
grrlscientist | December 1, 2008tags: Ivory-billed Woodpecker, Ghost Bird, movie trailer, streaming video
This streaming video is a clip from an upcoming movie called Ghost Bird. This film is a documentary about the controversial rediscovery of North America's largest woodpecker species, the Ivory-billed Woodpecker, which went extinct early last century [3:29].
To learn more about the film, visit the Ghost Bird website. You might also be interested in reading this news article.
grrlscientist | November 23, 2008tags: Pileated Woodpecker, Dryocopus pileatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] photographed in the Big Woods region of eastern Arkansas.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | November 15, 2008tags: endangered species, endangered birds, world map, birds
"... species such as the house sparrow, snipe, starling, lapwing and corn bunting have been listed as birds of European concern, but these species have been declining in the United Kingdom's countryside for decades." Mark Avery, 2004.
A total of 9934 bird species were assessed for threatened species status by 2004; 1213 species were at risk of global extinction. In Indonesia 121 bird species were at risk of local extinction; in Brazil, 120 species. On average, over 18 bird species were at risk of local extinction per territory. […
grrlscientist | November 12, 2008tags: ecology, exotic species, introduced species, non-native species, invasive species, monk parakeets, quaker parrots, Myiopsitta monachus, Michael A Russello, Michael L Avery, Timothy F Wright
Monk (Quaker) parakeets, Myiopsitta monachus, with nest.
Image: Arthur Grosset [larger view].
Invasive species are everywhere: from plants such as Scotch (English) broom, Cytisus scoparius, whose yellow flowers bloom prolifically along roadways of North America, Australia and New Zealand to mammals such as human beings, Homo sapiens, which are the ultimate invasive species because we have…
grrlscientist | November 10, 2008tags: pets, cutest kitten in the world, streaming video
This video is a 5 minute amateur documentary about Hawai'i's endangered birds and the causes of their decline. The filmographer writes; "This was somewhat a difficult topic and we suffered from a lack of suitable footage of native birds as most endangered birds are not seen regularly as they used to be decades ago. Could have done better for sure, in fact if I had the chance I'd do it over for the sake of sharing the issues of the human impact on island birds." I think this is a great start for a conservation filmographer! [5:14]
grrlscientist | October 26, 2008tags: po'ouli, Melamprosops phaeosoma, endangered species, endangered species act, conservation, extinction, birds, island species, Hawai'i, book review
For scientists, naturalists and birders, islands are the most amazing places on earth because their evolutionary legacy has provided them with their own fascinating flora and fauna that are found nowhere else in the world. But because humans also like to live on islands, along with their pets and crop plants, islands are a conservation nightmare, and certainly, the Hawai'ian islands are no exception. In Alvin Powell's book, The Race to Save…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2008tags: parrots, endangered species, conservation, birds, ornithology, Indonesia
Masakambing (Abbott's) yellow-crested cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea abbotti at Sukun tree.
Image: Indonesian Parrot Project, summer 2008 [larger view].
I had the most fascinating telephone discussion with Bonnie Zimmermann, Vice President of the Indonesian Parrot Project, about the recent reported rediscovery of several individuals of the rarest cockatoo in the world. This species, known as the Masakambing (Abbott's) yellow-crested cockatoo, Cacatua sulphurea abbotti, is a subspecies of Yellow (Sulfur)-crested…
gregladen | October 17, 2008ZooBorns is a new site dedicated to scarfing up everyone else's internet traffic by posting nothing but cute baby animals, like these Red Panda Cubs recently born in the Edmonton Valley Zoo:
Zooborn is produced by Chris and Andrew, who are very dedicated animal-symps. Andrew runs the blog Zooillogix.
ZooBorns brings you the newest and cutest exotic animal babies from zoos and aquariums around the world. As you can see, the site itself is a newborn, but we're here to stay, so check back frequently for new critters!
The Red Panda (Ailurus fulgens) lives in central/southern Asia (China, India,…
grrlscientist | October 15, 2008tags: ethics, endangered species, conservation
Woman with a Parrot by Gustav Courbet (1866)
Oil on canvas
51 x 77 in. (129.5 x 195.6 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York [larger view].
A little while ago, I received an odd question from a reader, and I was slow in responding (my bad!), but her question has bothered me ever since I first read it and responded. First, her question:
You have to save the world (and I assume you also want to). You are the only one who can do so, and to do so, you have to destroy one or the other:
The Louvre (with everything inside but people)
or
one…
grrlscientist | October 12, 2008tags: Seattle Washington, Biology Department Greenhouse, University of Washington, poison dart frogs, Dendrobates, Dendrobatidae
Captive-bred Dyeing Poison Dart frog, Dendrobates tinctorius, from the Guianas of northeastern South America.
Image: GrrlScientist 29 September 2008 [larger view].
This is part two of my UW Biology Department greenhouse photoessay. In part one, I showed you seedpods and a lot of flowers (some of which need to be identified), but in this, the second and last part, I am focusing on The Surprise I kept telling you about. As you can see, the surprise discovery I…
grrlscientist | October 10, 2008tags: parrot, Lories, Lorikeet, Loriinae, Loriidae, Rimatara Lorikeet, Kuhl's Lory, Vini kuhlii, conservation, ornithology, South Pacific Islands
Endangered Rimatara Island (Kuhl's) lory, Vini kuhlii,
peer down upon their fledgling chick
in a nest hollow of an albizia tree, Falcataria moluccana,
on the island of Atiu, in the Cook Islands.
Image: Gerald McCormack [larger view].
Those of you who have been following the story of the endangered Kura, or Rimatara Lory, Vini kuhlii, will be very excited to know that these rare birds are producing babies! Last year, 27 Rimatara lories, or Kura,…
bleimanb | October 6, 2008Scientists in England working with an international conservation group have compiled a sample list which will be used much like the Dow Jones Industrial Average to track the overall status of endangered and threatened species in the world.
Andrew and I should never have sunk our life savings into Steller's sea cows!
You may have seen the news today that according to "Red List" released by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), 1 in 4 species of mammel is on the edge of extinction, due to habitat loss, overhunting, pollution and the effects of global warming. Every known…
grrlscientist | September 25, 2008tags: researchblogging.org, Seychelles magpie-robin, Copsychus sechellarum, behavioral ecology, conservation biology, endangered species, population dynamics, ornithology, birds
Seychelles magpie-robin, Copsychus sechellarum.
Image: Tony Randell (Wikipedia) [larger view].
Every once in awhile, I read a paper that surprises me. Today, I read one of those papers, and it surprised me because it analyzes a phenomenon that is so obvious that I wonder why no one ever thought of studying it in a systematic and rigorous way before. I am referring to a paper that was just published by a team of…