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Post by moabiter on Sept 29, 2010 7:54:06 GMT -8
Back from the dead: One third of 'extinct' animals turn up again By David Derbyshire Environment Editor Last updated at 9:10 AM on 29th September 2010 Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said. A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well. Some of the more reclusive creatures managed to hide from sight for 80 years only to reappear within four years of being officially named extinct in the wild. The shy okapi – which resembles a cross between a zebra and a giraffe – was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1901. www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1315964/One-extinct-animals-turn-again.html
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Post by moabiter on Sept 29, 2010 7:54:45 GMT -8
(Two thirds don't.)
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Post by clone on Dec 2, 2010 9:04:07 GMT -8
Protect RUDOLPHS, Canada's Woodland Caribou! Canada's woodland caribou are in urgent danger. In Alberta, some herds have less than 100 caribou left. To save caribou, we must take action today. Caribou are considered threatened species under Canada's Species at Risk Act, yet Alberta's tar sands development and forestry operations are driving vulnerable herds to the brink of survival. Unfortunately, Alberta has refused to implement a moratorium on mineral and timber allocations in caribou ranges, and the federal government has delayed their own recovery strategy for this threatened species. Effective protection is likely another three to five years away, placing the province's declining herds at risk of total disappearance. www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/742/485/841/?z00m=19916111The reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), also known as the caribou in North America, is a deer from the Arctic and Subarctic, including both resident and migratory ...
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Post by clone on Nov 22, 2011 16:00:26 GMT -8
AP, they found your missing caribou November 22, 2011 The story two Octobers ago by Charles J. Hanley of the Associated Press was a sad one. Caribou were dwindling due to mankind’s global warming! A survey found that a quarter-million caribou had disappeared. Wrote Charles J. Handley: “Global warming has boosted temperatures in the Arctic twice as much as elsewhere, and Canadian researchers say the natural balance is suffering.” Two years later, those missing caribou have been found. In Saskatchewan. From the Canadian Press: A vast herd of northern caribou that scientists feared had vanished from the face of the Earth has been found, safe and sound — pretty much where aboriginal elders said it would be all along.
“The Beverly herd has not disappeared,” said John Nagy, lead author of a recently published study that has biologists across the North relieved.It turns out that the Beverly herd has simply shifted its calving grounds north from the central barrens near Baker Lake, Nunavut, to the coastal regions around Queen Maud Gulf. Nagy’s analysis of radio-tracking data showed caribou in the region once thought to belong to the Ahiak herd are, in fact, Beverly animals.blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/46673
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Post by clone on Dec 13, 2011 10:50:36 GMT -8
Rare U.S. bumblebee rediscovered Tue, Dec 06 2011 at 1:21 PM EST After a 55-year disappearance, the Cockerell's bumblebee is back. Now scientists want to help it avoid the recent declines of other U.S. bee species. The Cockerell's bumblebee is finally generating some buzz again this week, more than half a century after the species supposedly vanished. Scientists from the University of California-Riverside have rediscovered the bee living in the White Mountains of New Mexico, ending a five-decade fugue for America's rarest bumblebee. www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/blogs/rare-us-bumblebee-rediscovered
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Post by clone on Jan 5, 2012 11:30:17 GMT -8
Nine-Spotted Ladybug Sighted After 29 Years (video) by Kristina Chew - November 26, 2011 After 29 years, the nine-spotted ladybug — Coccinella novemnotata, the state insect of New York — has been sighted. Peter Priolo, a volunteer participant with the Lost Ladybug Project, found the long-unseen ladybug on July 30 in a patch of sunflowers at the Quail Hill Organic Farm that is part of the 10,000 acre Peconic Land Trust in Amagansett on Long Island. “I didn’t realize it was a nine-spotted when I found it,” Mr. Priolo said. He was on his way to do an end-of-the-day ladybug tally, so, he said, “I put it in my jar and hurried back to meet with everybody.” Good thing he did: Back in 2006, the New York State Assembly, on realizing it had been so many years since the nine-spotted ladybug had been seen in New York state, attempted to name another species of ladybug as the state insect. Fortunately, that bill never went to the New York Senate and eventually “fell victim to legislative inaction.” www.care2.com/causes/nine-spotted-ladybug-sighted-after-29-years-video.htmlThe Lost Ladybug Project www.lostladybug.org/index.php
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Post by moabiter on Jan 14, 2012 10:51:03 GMT -8
10 Marine Species on the Brink of Mass Extinction Due to Ocean Acidification January 11, 2012 The ocean is a delicate place, and tiny changes to its composition can cause serious devastation. Adding carbon to the atmosphere contributes to global warming and climate change. Another less-discussed impact is ocean acidification—whereby carbon molecules diffuse into the ocean from the atmosphere, causing a steady rise in acidity—even though the impacts are already being felt by many species. 1. Blue Sea Slug 2. Pteropods Pteropods, too, are threatened by ocean acidification. They may not look like much, but these tiny creatures are the foundation of arctic food webs that support larger marine animals like whales and polar bears. As the ocean becomes more acidic, pteropods actually begin to dissolve. 3. Brittle Star Brittle stars, which are an important food source for flat fish, have been found to be highly vulnerable to ocean acidification in both adult and larval forms. 4. Squid Acidic water has been found to interfere with squids' blood, making it harder for them to absorb oxygen. In addition to being an important part of marine food webs, squid are also part of lucrative markets around the world. 5. Shrimp Shrimp, too, are immediately threatened by ocean acidification. Even more than squid, these crustaceans represent an important part of food webs and livelihoods around the world. Read more: www.treehugger.com/slideshows/ocean-conservation/10-marine-species-brink-mass-extinction-due-ocean-acidification/page/5/
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Post by clone on Jan 21, 2012 17:10:18 GMT -8
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Post by clone on Jan 24, 2012 21:42:46 GMT -8
In the event that any owls are spotted... Canada’s Spotted Owl All but ExtinctMP accuses province of allowing logging in protected habitat Last Updated: December 29, 2011 VICTORIA, Canada—With the northern spotted owl reduced to about a mere dozen in the wild in Canada, one member of Parliament says the federal government may need to come in and take emergency measures. Northern Spotted Owlwww.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/canadas-spotted-owl-all-but-extinct-166173.html
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Post by clone on Apr 7, 2012 4:51:48 GMT -8
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Post by USGC on Apr 7, 2012 5:01:53 GMT -8
^^^^^^ Polar bears succumb to mystery disease Posted April 07, 2012 15:15:46 Symptoms of a mysterious disease that has killed scores of seals off the US state of Alaska and infected walruses are now showing up in polar bears. Nine polar bears from the Beaufort Sea region near Barrow were found with patchy hair loss and oozing sores on their skin, similar to conditions found in diseased seals and walruses, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said on Friday. Unlike the sickened seals and walruses, the affected polar bears seem otherwise healthy, said Tony DeGange, chief of the biology office for the USGS's Alaska Science Centre. He said there had been no deaths among polar bears. www.abc.net.au/news/2012-04-07/polar-bears-succumb-to-mystery-disease/3937640
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Post by polar bear census on Apr 17, 2012 16:25:48 GMT -8
Healthy polar bear count confounds doomsayers WINNIPEG— From Thursday's Globe and Mail Last updated Thursday, Apr. 05, 2012 5:05AM EDT ^^^^^^"There’s much at stake in the debate. Population figures are used to calculate quotas for hunting, a lucrative industry for many northern communities. Hunting polar bears is highly regulated but Inuit communities can sell their quota to sport hunters, who must hunt with Inuit guides. A polar-bear hunting trip can cost up to $50,000. Demand for polar-bear fur is also soaring in places like China and Russia and prices for some pelts have doubled in the past couple of years, reaching as high as $15,000. "__________________________________________ Polar bear populations remain on thin ice, U of A researchers say April 9, 2012 Lost in the debate, says Stirling, is the fact that the polar bears of western Hudson Bay might be producing only 20-50 per cent as many cubs as they did 30 years ago when the bears had a month or more time to hunt seals on the sea ice. Now that global warming is forcing the bears to spend more time on land where there is virtually no food, females are on average 30 to 40 kilograms lighter than they were in the early 1980s and producing far fewer cubs, say Stirling. Those cubs that are born are now less likely than they were in the past to live beyond two years, the age at which they became independent adults. That disturbing trend, Stirling notes, is acknowledged in the latest report by the Nunavut government. more: www.canada.com/life/Polar+bear+populations+remain+thin+researchers/6432690/story.html__________________________________________ U of A distances itself from polar bear researcher Date: Wednesday Aug. 3, 2011 3:10 PM ET "Pursuant to their investigation, the United States Department of the Interior's inspector general's office contacted the University of Alberta on July 13, 2011, to issue a 'stop-work' order on a research project, funded by the U.S. government, being conducted by University of Alberta biologist Andrew Derocher," Hanlon said in an email. "The University of Alberta complied and co-operated fully. A 'notice-to-proceed' order was issued by the investigating office on Aug. 1, 2011, for Derocher to resume his study." American Arctic biologist Charles Monnett has been under investigation in the U.S. for weeks over his handling of about $50 million in government research funding. American investigators have told Monnett that the research contract with the University of Alberta was among their concerns. Hanlon said the university has no legal relationship with Monnett. "It was a contract that was awarded by the U.S. government," he said. Monnett's 2004 aerial observation of four dead and presumably drowned polar bears floating in Arctic waters was published in a peer-reviewed journal and became a powerful talking point for those fighting climate change. The paper suggested the bears drowned in rough seas and high winds. It suggested that more polar bears could drown as Arctic sea ice continues to retreat, which is commonly considered one of the main effects of climate change. An American advocacy group has suggested Monnett is being investigated as a consequence of that paper. The U.S. is currently considering allowing Arctic offshore drilling. www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20110803/university-of-alberta-distances-polar-bear-researcher-charles-monnett-110803/
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Post by penguin census on Apr 17, 2012 16:28:24 GMT -8
Penguins from Space: A New Satellite Census Doubles the Known Population of Emperors April 13, 2012 A group of geographers and ecologists from three continents has taken an unprecedented look at Antarctica's emperor penguins. Using very high resolution (VHR) images from satellites 450 kilometers above Earth, the team has come up with the first total population count for an entire species. With a whopping 595,000 penguins, they found nearly twice as many emperor penguins as did previous studies, and they counted 46 colonies, up from the earlier total of 38. Their results were published today in PLoS One. www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=penguins-from-space-a-census
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Post by clone on May 7, 2012 12:15:22 GMT -8
Garbage droppings confirm tiger quoll encounter Updated May 07, 2012 16:02:20 A late night encounter has resulted in the first confirmed sighting of a critically-endangered tiger quoll in over a decade. The Otway Ranges in Victoria's south-west are a known habitat of the carnivorous marsupial, but for the past 10 years no-one has been able to confirm if the species was still alive in the wild. www.abc.net.au/news/2012-05-07/tests-confirm-sighting-of-endangered-tiger-quoll/3994814
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Post by clone on May 23, 2012 17:42:02 GMT -8
Last year, environmental advocacy organization Defenders of Wildlife reported that only four woodland caribou were spotted–the most seen in the U.S. since 2000. Thirty years ago, the woodland caribou was listed as an endangered species. www.defenders.org/woodland-caribou/basic-facts
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