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An elusive, palm-sized bird that spends its entire life in marshlands may help scientists unravel a mystery that, they say, could have profound implications for a lot of other creatures.
BILLINGS, Montana - Federal officials are considering a tentative proposal that calls for capturing or killing infected elk in Yellowstone National Park to eliminate a serious livestock disease carried by animals in the area.
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| ©Robert Durell/Los Angeles Times |
| A young deer watches firefighters. |
The fires burning in Big Sur and Goleta are forcing evacuations, destroying thousands of acres and threatening more damage. Among the victims of the wildfires are animals--both wild, like this deer in Big Sur, and domestic. Pets have had to be sheltered, animals have been forced from their habitat and some condor chicks may have been lost.
A school has been forced to close after being infested by a swarm of bees.
Almost 300 pupils of Larkman Primary School in Norwich were sent home after thousands of the insects buzzed into the music department.
A spokeswoman for Norfolk County Council said no pupils had been stung and that pest controllers had sprayed a chemical to destroy the bees.
"The bees were found in a wall cavity of the school by pest control officers," the spokeswoman said.
Almost 300 pupils of Larkman Primary School in Norwich were sent home after thousands of the insects buzzed into the music department.
A spokeswoman for Norfolk County Council said no pupils had been stung and that pest controllers had sprayed a chemical to destroy the bees.
"The bees were found in a wall cavity of the school by pest control officers," the spokeswoman said.
Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, penguins are sounding the alarm for potentially catastrophic changes in the world's oceans, and the culprit isn't only climate change, says a University of Washington conservation biologist.
Oil pollution, depletion of fisheries and rampant coastline development that threatens breeding habitat for many penguin species, along with Earth's warming climate, are leading to rapid population declines among penguins, said Dee Boersma, a University of Washington biology professor and an authority on the flightless birds.
"Penguins are among those species that show us that we are making fundamental changes to our world," she said. "The fate of all species is to go extinct, but there are some species that go extinct before their time and we are facing that possibility with some penguins."
In a new paper published in the July-August edition of the journal BioScience, Boersma notes that there are 16 to 19 penguin species, and most penguins are at 43 geographical sites, virtually all in the Southern Hemisphere. But for most of these colonies, so little is known that even their population trends are a mystery. The result is that few people realized that many of them were experiencing sharp population declines.
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| ©Dee Boersma |
| Rain has soaked this Adélie penguin chick in Antarctica before its feathers are capable of repelling water. Though the icy continent is in essence a desert, coastal rainfall is becoming more common with changing climate. |
Oil pollution, depletion of fisheries and rampant coastline development that threatens breeding habitat for many penguin species, along with Earth's warming climate, are leading to rapid population declines among penguins, said Dee Boersma, a University of Washington biology professor and an authority on the flightless birds.
"Penguins are among those species that show us that we are making fundamental changes to our world," she said. "The fate of all species is to go extinct, but there are some species that go extinct before their time and we are facing that possibility with some penguins."
In a new paper published in the July-August edition of the journal BioScience, Boersma notes that there are 16 to 19 penguin species, and most penguins are at 43 geographical sites, virtually all in the Southern Hemisphere. But for most of these colonies, so little is known that even their population trends are a mystery. The result is that few people realized that many of them were experiencing sharp population declines.
KABUL - Afghanistan's snow leopards have barely survived three decades of war. But now the few remaining mountain leopards left in Afghanistan face another threat -- foreigners involved in rebuilding the war-torn country.
Despite a complete hunting ban across Afghanistan since 2002, snow leopard furs regularly end up for sale on international military bases and at tourist bazaars in the capital. Foreigners have ready cash to buy the pelts as souvenirs and impoverished Afghans break poaching laws to supply them.
Tucked between souvenir stores on Chicken Street, Kabul's main tourist trap, several shops sell fur coats and pelts taken from many of Afghanistan's threatened and endangered animals.
"This one is only $300," one shopkeeper told Reuters, producing a snow leopard pelt from the back of his shop.
"It was shot several times," he said pointing to the patches of fur sewn together. "The better ones are only shot once. The skin remains intact," he says as his assistant brings out a larger pelt, this time with no patches. "This one is $900."
Despite a complete hunting ban across Afghanistan since 2002, snow leopard furs regularly end up for sale on international military bases and at tourist bazaars in the capital. Foreigners have ready cash to buy the pelts as souvenirs and impoverished Afghans break poaching laws to supply them.
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| ©REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri |
| A female snow leopard with its cub is seen inside its enclosure at a zoological park in Darjeeling, about 80 km (50 miles) north from the northeastern Indian city of Siliguri June 21, 2007. |
Tucked between souvenir stores on Chicken Street, Kabul's main tourist trap, several shops sell fur coats and pelts taken from many of Afghanistan's threatened and endangered animals.
"This one is only $300," one shopkeeper told Reuters, producing a snow leopard pelt from the back of his shop.
"It was shot several times," he said pointing to the patches of fur sewn together. "The better ones are only shot once. The skin remains intact," he says as his assistant brings out a larger pelt, this time with no patches. "This one is $900."
Seth Belson remembers getting a phone call last month asking him to remove a bee swarm the size of a Volkswagen from a man's front yard in Merchantville, New Jersey.
The beekeeper found a mass of bees towering 50 feet (15 meters) above the ground. There was nothing he could do but wait for them to move on, he said.
The beekeeper found a mass of bees towering 50 feet (15 meters) above the ground. There was nothing he could do but wait for them to move on, he said.
HELENA - A video posted on the Web site of the U.S. Geological Survey captures remarkable interaction between a wolf and a family of 3 grizzly bears in Montana's Glacier National Park.
The wolf draws close to the cubs, only to be chased away by the youngsters and, more seriously, by their mother. But the wolf is not deterred, returning repeatedly for another run at the cubs in what looks like a tease.
The wolf draws close to the cubs, only to be chased away by the youngsters and, more seriously, by their mother. But the wolf is not deterred, returning repeatedly for another run at the cubs in what looks like a tease.
A fast-spreading virus recently killed thousands of round gobies near Milwaukee, and officials fear the same fate may await fish elsewhere in Lake Michigan.
The gobies washed ashore May 28 after dying from viral hemorrhagic septicemia, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The virus causes fish to hemorrhage and suffer organ failure.
The Milwaukee incident made Lake Michigan the fourth of the five Great Lakes to suffer a large VHS-related fish kill.
Only Lake Superior has avoided the disease. It has killed millions of fish in lakes Erie, Ontario and Huron and threatens the Great Lakes' $7 billion sport and commercial fisheries.
The gobies washed ashore May 28 after dying from viral hemorrhagic septicemia, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
The virus causes fish to hemorrhage and suffer organ failure.
The Milwaukee incident made Lake Michigan the fourth of the five Great Lakes to suffer a large VHS-related fish kill.
Only Lake Superior has avoided the disease. It has killed millions of fish in lakes Erie, Ontario and Huron and threatens the Great Lakes' $7 billion sport and commercial fisheries.
Wild salmon in the Broughton Archipelago, off the west coast of Canada's British Columbia, will be extinct within 10 years due to parasite contamination from fish farms, according to a study published in the journal Science.
"The impact is so severe that the viability of the wild salmon populations is threatened," said lead researcher Martin Krkosek, from the University of Alberta.
"The probability of extinction is 100 percent," Krkosek said, "and the only question is how long it is going to take."
"The impact is so severe that the viability of the wild salmon populations is threatened," said lead researcher Martin Krkosek, from the University of Alberta.
"The probability of extinction is 100 percent," Krkosek said, "and the only question is how long it is going to take."
