Saiga antelope population declines 95% in 15 years

By Jeremy Hance In a decline on par with that suffered by the American bison in the Nineteenth Century, in the 1990s the saiga antelope of the Central Asian steppe plummeted from over one million individuals to 50,000, dropping a staggering 95 percent in a decade and a half. Since then new legislation and conservation […]

Black rhinos airlifted out of Zululand to undisclosed location

By Rhishja Larson, Published on September 17th, 2009 Nine black rhino from Zululand game reserves are being airlifted to a new home as part of a range expansion project for the critically endangered species. In an effort to ensure the survival of critically endangered black rhino, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife […]

Scores of walrus carcasses found on Arctic coast

By DAN JOLING, The Associated Press Up to 200 dead walruses have been spotted on the shore of Chukchi Sea on Alaska’s northwest coast. Federal wildlife researchers from the U.S. Geological Survey on their way to a walrus tagging project spotted 100 to 200 carcasses near Icy Cape about 140 miles southwest of Barrow. They […]

Polar bears run riot as ice melts

By Shanta Barley You can almost hear Sarah Palin cocking her rifle. As climate change causes sea ice to shrink, the number of “problem” polar bears appears to be increasing. “Hungry bears don’t just lie down – they go looking for an alternate food source,” says zoologist Ian Stirling at the University of Alberta in […]

One in six Mediterranean mammals face extinction

MADRID (AFP) – One in six Mediterranean mammals is threatened with extinction at the regional level, mainly due to the destruction of their habitat from urbanization, agriculture and climate change, nature body IUCN said Tuesday in a new study. Of the 320 mammal species assessed by the Geneva-based International Union for the Conservation of Nature, […]

Rhino poaching epidemic in South Africa

In July, national parks in South Africa lost 26 white rhinos and one black rhino to poachers, bringing the total rhinos lost to in South Africa to 84 this year alone. The situation has led Water and Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica to call for an integrative approach to the crisis. “The minister and the […]

Melting sea ice drives walruses to Alaska shore

By DAN JOLING, Associated Press Writer ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Thousands of walruses are congregating on Alaska’s northwest coast, a sign that their Arctic sea ice environment has been altered by climate change. Chad Jay, a U.S. Geological Survey walrus researcher, said Wednesday that about 3,500 walruses were near Icy Cape on the Chukchi Sea, some […]

Grizzly bears vanishing from Canada's Great Bear Rainforest

BELLA BELLA, British Columbia, Canada, September 9, 2009 (ENS) – It’s called the Great Bear Rainforest, but few grizzly bears have been seen on British Columbia’s north and central coast this year. Conservationists and bear viewing guides are blaming the disappearance of the bears on the overfishing of salmon, their main food source. “I have […]

Extinction of bat highlights critical ecosystem failure

By TOM ARUP, ENVIRONMENT CORRESPONDENT A LAST-DITCH effort to save the Christmas Island pipistrelle bat has failed, leaving the animal facing almost certain extinction. A dejected Lindy Lumsden from the Australasian Bat Society said a four-week trapping program to breed the endangered pipistrelle – endemic to Christmas Island – had failed to net a single […]

Endangered Madagascar lemur nears extinction from forest destruction

By Josia Razafindramanana, special to mongabay.com A small group of crowned sifaka lemurs Propithecus coronatus have been located in the corridor d’Amboloando-Dabolava, Miandrivazo district-Madagascar, but are immediately threatened with local extinction. The small, fragmented, and isolated forest shelters a group of only six adults and one baby. Interviews with local people revealed that once several […]

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