Endangered Species

tags: Okapi, Okapia johnstoni, camera trap, zoology, rare mammals, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo rainforest, African Wildlife, Zoological Society of London This undated image provided by the Zoological Society of London, Thursday, 11 September 2008, shows an okapi, Okapia johnstoni, in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo proving that the species is still surviving there despite more than one decade of civil conflict. The Zoological Society of London says cameras set up in Congo have snapped the first photos of the rare okapi roaming wild. Okapi have…
tags: researchblogging.org, animal migration, ecology, conservation, habitat destruction, global warming, overexploitation Image: Makoa Farm Horseback Riding Safaris in Tanzania [larger view]. What do salmon, passenger pigeons, American bison and wildebeest have in common? They all are (or were) migratory, and their populations either are declining or have become extinct. In fact, the populations of nearly all migratory animals, from insects to fishes, birds to mammals, are suffering disproportionate population declines that sedentary species are not experiencing. This is hardly…
tags: conservation, captive breeding, Houston Zoo, St. Vincent Parrot, St. Vincent Amazon, Guilding's Amazon parrot, Amazona guildingii, ornithology Adult St. Vincent Amazon parrot, Amazona guildingii. Image: Orphaned [larger view]. The Houston Zoo in Houston, Texas, successfully hatched another endangered St. Vincent Amazon parrot, Amazona guildingii, on 28 May 2008. The young parrot was the third of this species to hatch at the Houston Zoo, which is the only zoo in the United States to successfully breed this species in captivity. The chick was named Vincent after the father of the…
tags: researchblogging.org, endangered species, estimating extinction risk, demographic heterogeneity, demographic stochasticity, environmental stochasticity, Mechanistic stochastic models, Brett Melbourne The endangered pelagic thresher shark, Alopias pelagicus. More than half of the world's shark species are under the threat of extinction due to overfishing by humans, especially for sharkfin soup. Image: Kevin Markey, 2004 (Pacific Shark Research Center). The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) released a report in 2007 indicating that more than 16,000 animal species…
tags: The Last Flight of The Scarlet Macaw, conservation, endangered species, parrots, politics, Bruce Barcott, book review Nonfiction books are often thought of as being "good for us", as if they were literary vitamin tablets, but many people take their summers off from their vitamins by reading trashy novels or mysteries while ensconced under an umbrella on a sandy beach. So what would you say if you could read a book that has the best qualities of both genres? If you think that such a book doesn't exist, well, think again: Bruce Barcott's recently published book, The Last Flight of The…
On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear Winter v. Natural Resources Defense Council, a case regarding the Navy conducting sonar training exercises in the proximity of marine mammals--some of which are threatened or endangered species. A large body of evidence indicates that these sorts of sonar exercises--which generate extremely loud underwater sounds--damage the hearing of these animals and disrupt their behavior, often leading to beached whales. And, at their worst, these exercises have been linked to scores of whale deaths--likely from decompression sickness as the whales panicked…
tags: researchblogging.org, quaternary ammonium compounds, fertility problems, repoductive problems, zoos, aviculture, medicine, disinfectants I know a fair number of zoos and aviculturists who disinfect the premises occupied by their breeding flocks of birds with quaternary ammonium compounds to prevent the spread of diseases, especially viral disease. But according to a story that just appeared in the top-tier journal, Nature, exposure to the quaternary ammonium compounds, ADBAC (n-alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride) and DDAC (didecyl dimethyl ammonium chloride), could cause a sharp…
tags: researchblogging.org, phylogeny, British birds, population decline, range contraction, Gavin H Thomas An adult male Eurasian blackbird, Turdus merula. Image: Wikipedia commons [larger view]. A paper recently published by British scientist, Gavin Thomas, a population biologist at Imperial College London, finds that British bird species that currently are suffering population declines tend to be close relatives of each other. The reason is obvious: closely related species tend to share many traits, such as very precise habitat requirements, and what's bad for one species is also bad…
tags: Gerry Ellis, WoLong Nature Preserve, Ultimate Pandas, Giant panda, Ailuropoda melanoleuca, nature filming, endangered species, DVD review Everyone loves pandas, right? In fact, these lovable bears are the most recognizable icons worldwide for endangered species, even while remaining endangered themselves. But recently, China has made an effort to protect the giant pandas' native habitat and to establish several in situ captive breeding programs to bolster the dwindling numbers of wild giant pandas, as revealed in a charming new video, Ultimate Pandas, by nature photographer, Gerry Ellis…
tags: New Guinea, Papua, deforestation, satellite analysis, biodiversity, field research, endangered species Before and After: Forest area near Milne Bay in 1990 (top) and 2005 (bottom). Image University of Papua New Guinea. I have been fascinated by New Guinea ever since I first read about this unique island in Wallace's marvelous book, The Malay Archipelago, when I was just a kid. My fascination with New Guinea led to my passion for the birdlife there, especially my love for the Birds of Paradise, and the lories and other parrot species. I had always secretly dreamt of visiting this…
tags: mountain cow, Baird's tapir, Tapirus bairdii, mammals, streaming video This streaming video shows you a little bit about the mountain cow .. the tapir. In this case, the Baird's Tapir, Tapirus bairdii, the state animal of Belize, a country in Central America. This animal, which is endangered, is not a cow at all, but is related to horses and rhinoceros [1:47]. There is one mistake on this video. When a person discovers a new species they cannot name it after themselves -- that's a rule.
tags: The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus, marine biology, environment, conservation, Jacques Cousteau, Susan Schiefelbein, book review . . . I am a part of all that I have met; Yet all experience is an arch wherethro' Gleams that untravell'd world whose margin fades For ever and forever when I move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The lights begin to twinkle from the rocks; The long day wanes: the slow moon climbs: the deep Moans round many voices. Come, my friends, 'Tis not too late to seek a newer world . . . "Ulysses" Alfred, Lord Tennyson In the ten years before he died, world-famous…
tags: researchblogging.org, birds, aves, ornithology, Zosterops somadikartai, Togian white-eye, Indonesia, Sulawesi An undated artist's rendering of Zosterops somadikartai, or Togian white-eye. This small greenish bird that has been playing hide-and-seek with ornithologists on a remote Indonesian island since 1996, but was declared a newly discovered species on March 14, 2008 and promptly recommended for endangered lists. Image: Agus Prijono. Sharp-eyed scientists have discovered a new species of bird on a remote Indonesian archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean. A formal description…
tags: John James Audubon, Bird Art, ornithology, birds, avian, New York Historical Society, endangered species Carolina Parakeet (Carolina Parrot), Conuropsis carolinensis, by John James Audubon (American, born Santo Domingo [now Haiti], 1785-1851). Havell plate no. 26. Watercolor, graphite, pastel, gouache, and black ink with scratching out and selective glazing on paper, laid on thin board. The Carolina parakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis, now extinct, was the only native species of parrot in the United States. The last known wild Carolina parakeet was killed in Florida in 1904 [larger size…
tags: North Island brown kiwi, Apteryx australis mantelli, endangered species, conservation, birds, National Zoo The National Zoo welcomed a new North Island brown kiwi chick, Apteryx australis mantelli, on March 7, 2008. The chick, whose sex has yet to be determined by DNA testing, is the third chick to ever hatch at the National Zoo. The first hatching occurred in 1975 and was the first to occur outside of New Zealand. Kiwis are endangered and are extremely rare to see in captivity -- only four zoos outside of New Zealand have successfully bred kiwis, and only three US zoos exhibit them,…
After our miniature pigs post last week, an astute Zooillogix reader reminded us that there already are mini-pigs native to India. Weighing only about 10-20lbs, the Pygmy Hog is critically endangered with less than two hundred thought to be left in the wild. Once native to India, Bhutan and Nepal, these little guys were thought extinct from the 1950s-60s, until a small population was discovered. They can now be found only in the northwest Assam region in India. The pygmy hog is notable as it is the only surviving member of the genus Porcula - which would make an awesome bad horror movie…
tags: pygmy hippopotamus, pygmy hippo, Hexaprotodon liberensis, zoology, endangered species, conservation A rare pygmy hippopotamus, Hexaprotodon liberensis, was thought to be extinct up until recently, after this image was captured at night by a photo trap set up by researchers in a Liberian rainforest. A team of zoologists set up a series of camera traps in a west African rainforest to determine whether the rare pygmy hippopotamus, Hexaprotodon liberensis, still survives, despite wars, habitat degradation and poaching in the area. After a three-day wait, they were pleasantly surprised…
tags: black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes, endangered species, cute overload, streaming video An endangered black-footed ferret, Mustela nigripes, steals a CNN microphone cover. This is an animal that can move as fast backwards as forwards, or so it appears. Short, but incredibly cute footage of this lovely species. [0:46]
tags: endangered species, red knot, Caladris canutus rufus, Delaware Bay, horseshoe crab, streaming video This a streaming video about the shorebirds, the Red Knot, that migrate through Delaware Bay from South America. Red Knots stay in the bay for 10 days or so and feed on horseshoe crab eggs to fatten up for their long journey to their Arctic nesting grounds. In this streaming video, scientist trap and tag migratory shore birds to gather information about them. [7:04]
tags: birds, red knot, Calidris canutus rufus, ornithology, endangered species, conservation, streaming video This Sunday, 10 February, at 8pm EST, the award-winning PBS series "Nature" will feature migratory shorebirds, the Red Knot, and the horseshoe crab. This program, Crash: A Tale of Two Species, examines the amazing relationship between these two threatened species. The red knot migrates from the tip of South America to its breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic, and stops off briefly at Delaware Bay. Here it relies almost completely on horseshoe crab eggs to refuel for the second…