29 March 2012 (AFP) – Leading scientists on Thursday called on the upcoming Rio Summit to grapple with environmental ills that they said pointed to “a humanitarian emergency on a global scale.” In a “State of the Planet” declaration issued after a four-day conference, the scientists said Earth was now facing unprecedented challenges, from water […]
By Rachel Nuwer26 March 2012 Reeking of infection, the elephant stumbled into the Tanzanian camp where Thomas Appleby works as a safari manager. Its back legs festered with gangrene radiating from the open, pungent wounds that the animal had evidently endured for at least two long weeks. Ivory poachers had shot the elephant in both […]
By Daily Mail Reporter16 March 2012 These heartbreaking photos show the extent of an elephant slaughter in the troubled nation of Cameroon. At least half the elephant population in Bouba N’Djida reserve have been slaughtered because the west African nation sent too few security forces to tackle poachers, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) […]
VIENNA, Austria, 7 March 2012 (ENS) – There are no more brown bears to be found in Austria, say European wildlife conservationists, despite the fact that neighboring Slovenia has a stable population of about 400 bears. “Unfortunately there is no bear left in the Northern Limestone Alps,” said Christian Pichler with WWF Austria. “The last […]
SINGAPORE, 24 February 2012 (ENS) – The World Bank today announced the Global Partnership for Oceans, gathering governments, scientists, advocacy organizations, the private sector, and international public institutions to confront the increasingly urgent issues of over-fishing, marine degradation, and habitat loss. “Oceans are the lifeblood of our world,” said World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick, […]
Media Contacts: Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734, cdybas@nsf.gov Greg Hand, University of Cincinnati, (513) 556-1822, handgl@ucmail.uc.edu 3 February 2012 The deadliest mass extinction of all took a long time to kill 90 percent of Earth’s marine life–and it killed in stages–according to a newly published report. It shows that mass extinctions need not be sudden […]
By Steve Connor, Vancouver 18 February 2012 The indiscriminate slaughter of vast numbers of turtles, sharks, albatrosses, and other endangered marine animals that get unintentionally caught by fishermen as “by-catch” could be prevented by a radical proposal of mobile marine reserves, scientists said yesterday. Protected areas of the ocean where commercial fishing is banned would […]
NEW YORK, New York, 15 February 2012 (ENS) – Bangladesh has established three new wildlife sanctuaries for endangered freshwater dolphins in the world’s largest mangrove ecosystem, the Sundarbans. Officially declared on January 29, the sanctuaries are intended to protect the last two remaining species of freshwater dolphins in Asia – the Ganges River dolphin, Platanista […]
By Richard Gray, Science Correspondent19 February 2012 Biologists at the University of Sussex have been analysing how effectively different species of flowers attract foraging insects. Preliminary results have revealed there is a 100-fold difference in the lure that some popular garden plants have for honey bees and bumblebees. The best plants are the Mexican giant […]
By MICHELLE FAUL Associated Press 16 February 2012 JOHANNESBURG (AP) – Poachers have slaughtered at least 200 elephants in the past five weeks in a patch of Africa where they are more dangerously endangered than anywhere else on Earth, wildlife activists said. The money made from selling elephant tusks is fueling misery throughout the continent, […]