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Freshwater Dolphins get new protections in Asia

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 23:48:16 +0000

The Government of Bangladesh recently declared three new wildlife sanctuaries for endangered freshwater dolphins in the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem – the Sundarbans, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) whose conservation work helped pinpoint the locations of the protected areas. The sanctuaries, which were officially declared on January 29, will protect the last two remaining species of freshwater dolphins in Asia: the Ganges River dolphin and the Irrawaddy dolphin. Although there is no global population estimate for either species, both have disappeared from major portions of their range. However, both species occur in the Sundarbans in sufficient numbers, which may serve as a global safety net for preventing their extinction

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Freshwater Dolphins get new protections in Asia

U.S. Geological Survey Releases Assessment on Shale Resources in Alaska’s North Slope Region

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:49:44 +0000

The U.S. Geological Survey has approximated how much undiscovered onshore shale oil and gas resources are available for use in Alaska’s North Slope region. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), about zero up to two billion barrels of oil is available in the region. The USGS also estimated that there is zero up to 80 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. These resources represent recoverable assets, and are quantities of gas and oil that are obtainable with using modern and readily available technology. Production has never been attempted in this Alaskan region because of economic and infrastructure capabilities. The shales in this region span most of the area, but exclude the environmentally-sensitive Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

U.S. Geological Survey Releases Assessment on Shale Resources in Alaska’s North Slope Region

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:49:44 +0000

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U.S. Geological Survey Releases Assessment on Shale Resources in Alaska’s North Slope Region

Alaska is about to get fracked up

admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:55:51 +0000

By Sarah

Flashback: Gingrich opposed ANWR drilling, pushed for efficiency instead

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 22:38:06 +0000

By David

In the News: New sanctuaries to help threatened dolphins

admin — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 05:20:15 +0000

Three new wildlife sanctuaries have been declared by the Government of Bangladesh, in the hope that they will help to prevent the extinction of the threatened Irrawaddy and Ganges river dolphins.

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In the News: New sanctuaries to help threatened dolphins

Clammed up: Digging for local, sustainable protein on a muddy beach

admin — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 08:16:54 +0000

By Elisabeth

Raccoon invasion! Masked bandits are taking over our cities

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 20:13:00 +0000

By Sarah

Republic of Congo Expands National Park to Protect Great Apes

admin — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:01:05 +0000

The Nouabale-Ndoki National Park is a lush rainforest park within the equatorial nation of the Republic of Congo (ROC), not to be confused with the much larger Democratic Republic of Congo to the south and east. The ROC has followed through on its commitments to expand the NNNP by 8 percent, from about 1,500 square miles to about 1,630 square miles. The newly included area holds a unique ecosystem known as the Goualougo Triangle. The Goualougo is a very dense, swampy forest that is home to a nearly pristine and untouched great ape population that was first discovered in 1989 by Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) scientists.

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Republic of Congo Expands National Park to Protect Great Apes

As Bear Population Grows, More States Look At Hunts

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:26:49 +0000

Wildlife officials don’t usually base hunting policies on how the public feels about an animal. But the black bear seems to be different. The revered king of the forest has bounced back from near-extinction to being a nuisance in some areas. Some states are trying to figure out if residents can live at peace with bears, or if they’d rather have hunters keep numbers in check.

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As Bear Population Grows, More States Look At Hunts

Roads to ruin: Why ‘drill and drive’ is the new motto in Washington

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 08:00:26 +0000

By Greg

Stand by for baby eagles on webcam!

admin — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:39:38 +0000

By Jess

Unbroken homes: Five creative reuses for foreclosed houses

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 20:04:21 +0000

By Greg

Corn, corn everywhere — and not a drop to eat

admin — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 17:19:53 +0000

By Tom

The Pygmy Nile Crocodile

admin — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:37:16 +0000

A new study from researchers at the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) has uncovered secrets of the mysterious pygmy Nile crocodile. Once thought to be a unique population of the more well-known Nile crocodile, the pygmy Niles are in fact a very distinct crocodile species of West Africa. A couple years ago, their existence was confirmed within the nation of Uganda. The recent WCS study found that their habitat extends into more areas, shedding insight upon this beautiful rare creature.

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The Pygmy Nile Crocodile

Satellite Study Reveals Critical Habitat and Corridors for World’s Rarest Gorilla

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:45:02 +0000

Conservationists working in Central Africa to save the world’s rarest gorilla have good news: the Cross River gorilla has more suitable habitat than previously thought, including vital corridors that, if protected, can help the great apes move between sites in search of mates, according to the North Carolina Zoo, the Wildlife Conservation Society, and other groups.

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Satellite Study Reveals Critical Habitat and Corridors for World’s Rarest Gorilla

Obama’s Forest Service Weakens National Forest Wildlife Protections

admin — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 22:30:28 +0000

WASHINGTON— The U.S. Forest Service today released a new proposal for the nation’s 193-million-acre national forest system that will weaken rules protecting fish and wildlife from logging, livestock grazing, mining and off-road vehicles. The new proposal, which was released as part of the final environmental impact statement for the rule, is the Forest Service’s fourth attempt since 2000 to revise nationwide regulations governing national forests. All three previous attempts were challenged in court by the Center for Biological Diversity and allies, and all three prior attempts were found unlawful. Like the 2000, 2005 and 2008 rules, the Obama administration’s planning rule would decrease longstanding protections for wildlife on national forests.

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Obama’s Forest Service Weakens National Forest Wildlife Protections

The World is Still Consuming Dolphins and Other Marine Mammals

admin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 02:02:17 +0000

Not too long ago, a big problem with the fishing industry was that dolphins were being captured in the large nets used to harvest tuna. They would get mixed in and their meat would be ground up and served with the tuna in the tuna can. When people caught on, they were outraged. Now tuna fish providers offer their tuna cans with labels which say dolphin free. But not everything is so peachy for the dolphin in other parts of the world. According to a new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Okapi Wildlife Associates (Okapi), dolphins and other marine mammals are still being eaten. In fact, since 1990, 114 countries claim to consume one or more of at least 87 species of marine mammals.

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The World is Still Consuming Dolphins and Other Marine Mammals

Mexico pipeline oil spill may take month to clean

admin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:24:25 +0000

Two weeks after a pipeline leak in coastal Mexico sent oil gushing into a river, state oil monopoly Pemex has recovered about two-thirds of the spilled crude, but the full clean-up could take another month. Mexico’s environmental protection agency, Profepa, is supervising containment of the 1,500-barrel spill that killed fish, injured wildlife and left greasy slicks in the Coatzacoalcos river. “Right now it is more about containing the emergency,” Profepa official Sergio Herrera told Reuters. “There will be further actions to clean the river, the banks of the river, and the zone where the damage has happened.” Pemex blamed the December 31 leak in Veracruz state on vandalism. Fuel thieves routinely tap into Mexico’s network of pipelines to steal oil and gas for sale on the black market, often causing small spills. The company has contracted 140 workers to clean up the mess, which it said was mostly contained in a lagoon near the affected valve.

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Mexico pipeline oil spill may take month to clean

Top-secret snake!

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 23:37:11 +0000

by Jess Zimmerman. This newly-discovered snake species , named Matilda's Horned Viper after the discoverer's 7-year-old daughter, lives in Tanzania somewhere. Beyond that, who can say? The answer is nobody (except Matilda's dad Tim Davenport, who took the photo above, and maybe a handful of other people from the Wildlife Conservation Society), because the snake lives in an undisclosed location. The viper is so endangered that conservationists are keeping its exact habitat is a secret , out of fear that it will attract trophy hunters and exotic animal poachers. It is often the case that the first few specimens of a newly discovered bush viper can be worth a high price and this can have a very damaging impact on the population, In the case of Matilda’s Horned Viper, a sudden rush to collect as many specimens as possible could actually extirpate the species in the wild. To avoid the unsustainable collection of such a rare snake, we have agreed with the editor of the scientific journal Zootaxa – where the species description is published – to keep the locality as vague as possible (only very general information is given), with the possibility of more specific information provided by the authors on request, for scientific purposes only. Such a practice should be taken into consideration by taxonomists every time a new, rare species of potential commercial interest is described. A species this new can't be classified as endangered — there's some paperwork to do first. But the snake has a range of only a few square miles (SOMEWHERE), and researchers are predicting that it will be considered critically endangered. They've set up a breeding program in Tanzania (SOMEWHERE), partly to ensure the species' survival even if it does get overrun with poachers, and partly to provide specimens of the new snake to animal breeders in order to dissuade them from trying to collect the vipers in the wild.