Wildlife

"Wolves in the northern Rockies are more than holding their own, even in the face of increasing hunting pressure in some states. As of December 31, 2014, there were at least at least 1,657 wolves in 282 packs (including 85 breeding pairs) in Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which released its annual wolf recovery report this week. That represents a stable and robust population well above the recovery levels identified by in the wolf recovery plan, the USFWS explained in a press release, adding that wolves continue to press westward, with at least 145 wolves in 31 packs (including 13 breeding pairs) were estimated in Oregon and Washington." - Jessie

"Total confirmed depredations by wolves in 2014 included 140 cattle, 172 sheep, 4 dogs, 1 horse, and 1 donkey. Private and state agencies paid $274,885.90 in compensation for wolf-damage to livestock in 2014. And federal, State and Tribal agencies spent about $3,146,006.00 of federal funding for wolf management and research." - Jessie

"Unusual animal friendships are always adorable, and this friendship between Rupert, a rescued wild fennec fox, and William, a big black cat at the International Primate Rescue shelter in South Africa, is no different. Volunteers at the shelter captured video footage of the two best friends being reunited after spending some time apart. Rupert was hand-raised since he was 4 weeks old with William at his side. Rupert’s clearly very excited to have his friend back at his side!" - Jessie

YAAAAY - Soup in a TARDIS

LOOK HOW HAPPY HE IS!!! - Jessie

The scarlet dragonfly is a very rare vagrant in Britain. Its first record in the country was at Hayle Kimbro Pool, The Lizard, Cornwall on 7 August 1995. Since then there have been a few further records at scattered locations throughout Britain. - Halil

I'd love to see one! - Halil

"Maybe he was trying to catch a roadrunner. A wild coyote was spotted Monday roaming around the roof of a bar in Queens. The animal wandered out a broken window in an abandoned warehouse and strolled on top of the LIC Bar in Hunters Point, according to the blog LIC Post. Brian Porter, the owner of the bar, said that tenants who live above the establishment witnessed the canine outside their windows. “It looked well-fed,” Porter told the site. “It wasn’t a scrawny thing.”" - Jessie

Someone told him drinks were on the house. - Anika

Anika! - t-ra: sentimental gorgon

Well fed eh? Maybe it ate the owners - Mo Kargas

"David Attenborough has backed calls for the reintroduction of wolves to the Scottish highlands. The respected naturalist and broadcaster said that allowing wolves back into the wild would not harm anyone and that the animals had been unfairly demonised over the years. “I think getting wolves back into the wild cannot harm anyone,” he told Scots Magazine’s latest April edition. Wolves disappeared from the Scottish highlands towards the end of the 18th century when they were hunted to extinction and can now only be seen in Scotland in captivity. Mr Attenborough continued: “They have been demonised over the years, but really they’re gentle and very loyal creatures, whose sole purpose is to survive and look after each other. “There’s no ecological reason not to welcome wolves back - they shouldn’t be in captivity when there’s so much space for them to flourish in the environment.”" - Jessie

I agree with Attenborough on the merits, but I'm not optimistic about a reintroduction given the routine slaughter of birds of prey at the hands of rich landowners. - John (bird whisperer)

Twenty-five years ago it was a military zone where occupying Soviet troops held exercises. Today it's a sanctuary inhabited by wild animals that scientists hope will improve biodiversity among local plants as well as save endangered species. A herd of 14 wild mares from Britain's Exmoor National Park were moved in January to the former Milovice military base, 35 kilometers (22 miles) northeast of Prague, the Czech capital. - Halil

I've never seen a real wild British horse! :( Must fix that one day! - Halil

"A 35-year-old Canadian woman died from injuries suffered when a surfacing gray whale crashed onto a tourist boat, Mexican authorities said Wednesday. The Baja California Sur state prosecutor's office said the collision with the whale about a mile from the beach resort of Cabo San Lucas tossed the victim into the water. Firefighter commander Juan Carvajal Figueroa said the woman was in a boat with other tourists returning to port around noon when the whale jumped from the water and landed on the boat." - Jessie

http://www.standunited.org/petitio... ply sign to save - || بهاره ||

Wild bumblebees are infected with many of the diseases found in honeybees looked after by bee keepers, according to a national survey. With wild bees already under threat from habitat loss and pesticides, diseases could have a profound impact on populations, say scientists. In Britain, bumblebee species are declining, and two have become extinct. Conservation groups are calling for tougher regulations on importing bees for commercial use. - Halil

Researchers at Plymouth University found evidence of 44,000 animals and organisms becoming entangled in, or swallowing debris, from reports recorded from across the globe. - Halil

Fellow author Professor Richard Thompson, who is acknowledged as one of the world's leading experts on microplastics in the marine environment, said: "Encounters with marine debris are of particular concern for species that are recognised to be threatened, and with 17 per cent of all species reported in the paper as near threatened, vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered on the IUCN Red List, it is evident that marine debris may be contributing to the potential for species extinction." - Halil

"U.S. Customs and Border Protection apprehended a baby squirrel on Wednesday after discovering the tiny critter had stowed away on a flight from Costa Rica to Houston. Airline employees spotted the squirrel after passengers departed the plane at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, according to a news release from Customs and Border Protection. “During the course of performing our mission, we may encounter unusual opportunities to aid in the capture of seemingly harmless animals that have hitchhiked into the country,” said Port Director Charles Perez, according to the news release. “While there is a cute factor here, realistically, we understand that animals must be handled carefully.” An agency agriculture specialist boarded the plane and "caged the squirrel without incident" with assistance from an officer, according to the news release." - Jessie

At least it wasn't a raccoon. >.> - Jessie

"Sitting in the cold of an open jeep, we are waiting for dawn. The thick snow provides some reflective light and we strain our eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse of the wolf pack as they return home from their night’s hunt. This family of wolves holds one of the safest territories a large predator could possibly hope for: a minefield in the Golan Heights, near the Israel-Syria border. One step outside the barbed-wire fence, however, and the wolves must be very careful. Although wolves are provided with substantial legal protection from the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) – enabling one of the greatest wolf recoveries in the world – they are hunted, culled and poached across the region. In an effort to appease ranchers who fear for their livestock while simultaneously conserving this growing wolf population, three management zones were delineated." - Jessie

"Wolves live in extended family units, in which only one pair reproduces and the entire pack cooperate in raising and educating the young. They hunt together, patrol their territory together, and are deeply bonded to one another. Some wolves stay with their parents well into adulthood. It is these social ties that make wolves such powerful ecological players. It is the pack – not the individual wolf – that is the apex predator. The loss of pack members is therefore a terrible blow, both to the wolves and the ecosystem. “They haven’t fully recovered from the loss,” Itamar tells me. “I only hope that they keep their next litter of pups deep inside the minefield.”" - Jessie

For years, since the choughs first magically reappeared in Cornwall, the RSPB has been masterminding their protection and management down at the tip of the Lizard Peninsula but, as breeding pairs have spread elsewhere around the county, the charity has decided to move its main chough-operations west and hand over the running of the original site to the Trust. There is just the one occupied nest at Lizard Point and it has had a colourful history. The original male bird was killed a couple of years ago by a younger incomer who promptly moved in with the bereaved female. She then mysteriously died a few weeks later. But he turned from villain to hero by successfully raising the chicks she’d left behind. Now he has his own female partner and the Trust will be keeping a very close eye on the pair as this year’s breeding season gets into full swing. - Halil

Chough http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... https://www.rspb.org.uk/discove... http://www.cornishchoughs.org/ - Halil

"The only wolf ever documented in Southern California may have been a victim of mistaken identity nearly a century ago. The 100-pound male wolf was pursuing a bighorn sheep in the Mojave Desert's rugged Providence Mountains in 1922 when a steel-jaw trap clamped onto one of its legs. Based on measurements of its skull, biologists at the time determined that it was a lone Southern Rocky Mountain gray wolf that had wandered out of a population in southern Nevada. But a different story is emerging from a study of that skull at UCLA, where researchers have identified DNA markers indicating it was actually a Mexican gray wolf, the "lobo" of Southwestern lore." - Jessie

"Bob Wayne, an evolutionary biologist at the university, said the finding could help extend the historic range of the federally endangered Mexican gray wolf, which the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service contends ranged over parts of central and northern Mexico, western Texas, southern New Mexico and southeastern and central Arizona. "Broadening the species' historical range to include Southern California would allow for an assessment of additional habitats for Mexican wolf reintroduction programs," Wayne said. That, in turn, could enhance its chances of survival. "These results are provocative," Wayne said. "They are also very preliminary and need to be verified by additional analysis."" - Jessie

For decades, renowned oceanographer Sylvia Earle has been sounding the alarm—the Earth’s oceans are dying and we need to protect them, not just for ecological reasons but for our own survival. Her lifelong work is the subject of Mission Blue, a documentary co-directed by Fisher Stevens and Robert Nixon that explores how things like overfishing, oil spills, garbage dumping and polluted runoff have ravaged the ocean over time. - Halil

In order to protect young salmon and steelhead trout in the Columbia River, US federal officials have come up with a proposal to cull around 11,000 Double-crested Cormorants that feed off them, reports the online National Monitor. The fish are listed under the Endangered Species Act as either threatened or endangered. - Halil

It's easier to kill a predator than to change human behavior. Culling predators is the oldest trick in the book, but it's always a temporary stopgap measure. As far as I'm concerned, predator culls should only be used as an early step in a multistep plan. - Heather

Reporting in a recent edition of the journal eLife, Dr. Eli Eisenberg of the Tel Aviv University Department of Physics and Sagol School of Neuroscience and his colleagues explained that the Doryteuthis pealieii squid can alter most of its own proteins on an as-needed basis. - Halil

ah ha: "This species (ie the squid in this study) is a model organism in neuroscience and was used by Andrew Huxley and Alan Hodgkin in their studies on axons." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki... I've met Andrew Huxley, he was an interesting guy, very nice bloke. - Halil

"The Reykjavík Zoo and Family Park recently sent animals to be kept at foreign zoos for the first time. These were the five cubs of fox couple Frosti and Flandra, which were born last spring. After undergoing medical examination and vaccination, one cub was sent to Norway and four to Sweden. The purpose of the transport is to prevent inbreeding and support the Arctic fox stock in Scandinavia, where it has declined significantly, among other reasons because of the invasion of red foxes. It is believed that only around 50 wild Arctic foxes exist in Norway, a press release from the Reykjavík Zoo and Family Park states." - Jessie

EEEEEEEEE - Soup in a TARDIS

I confess I was never a big fan of zoo's, but I guess they can do some good like this. - Halil

"Federal biologists say they’re now 100 percent sure that a wolf killed in late December in Utah was the same one that had previously been spotted wandering around the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said University of Idaho geneticists matched DNA samples of the dead Utah wolf with samples taken from the wolf near the Grand Canyon. The results were conclusive that it is the same wolf, identified by the Service as 914F, collared near Cody, Wyoming on January 8, 2014." - Jessie

"The latest shooting is a clear sign that wolves still need protection of the Endangered Species Act, according to Robinson. Dozens of wolves that dispersed far from their home territories seeking mates have been killed in recent years, often by people claiming to have mistaken the animal for a coyote. Coyotes, which are common and aren’t federally protected, are smaller than wolves, and display a more pointed snout and ears, whereas wolves appear bulkier and with markedly longer legs and a bushier tail." - Jessie

:( - Jessie

"During the First World War, the price of wheat went through the roof, and one of the best places to farm it was in northern Texas and western Oklahoma. These expansive, dry states were thought too parched to farm, but turned out to have vast stores of water in underground reservoirs. After clearing the native grasses, farmers discovered the land was so rich that some only visited the state for planting and harvest and still made a fortune. Ten years of soil-stripping farming later, the crops dried up, and the newly-exposed soil got carried away in storms so huge they half-buried houses. Then the jack rabbits came. The rabbits were migratory, came in "herds," and reproduced every 32 days. They ate everything that grew, starving the people and cattle who stayed on the lands. Farming and ecological disaster had eliminated many of their predators, and their population just kept expanding. In 1935, there were an estimated 8,000,000 rabbits in western Kansas alone." - Jessie

Ah, yes. The Great Darkness. - Steven Perez

"Opened in 1990 and located in Miyagi Prefecture, "Zao Fox Village" is a sanctuary home to over a hundred free-roaming foxes, including the silver fox and the platinum fox as well as the Japanese red fox. You can get close to the animals, so in that regards, the fox village is kind of like cat island or bunny island." - Jessie

African golden cats are hardly ever photographed in the wild. In their rare, camera-trap cameos, the cats are usually seen licking their spotted fur or innocuously inspecting the unfamiliar lens. - Halil

The video, released yesterday (Jan. 27), may be the first footage of a golden cat hunting in the daylight, according to Panthera, the conservation group that released the video from inside Kibale National Park. - Halil

Here we have a rare video from Kruger National Park in South Africa that doesn’t involve any blood, death, or mutterings of “that’s nature’s way.” A lioness had somehow gotten separated from her pride -for three days. She hid in the brush and sadly called out for them. Then on the third day, here they come down the road! She wants to make sure its her pride, but as soon as she recognizes them, the party is on. - Kristin

“Documentaries, to me, are the most powerful way to change the world,” he said. “My hope is that if you can show people the beauty of these animals, there’s a chance to save these things.” - Halil

I don't think it's a new problem. Big, sexy species like pandas, polar bears, cheetahs, and wolves have been stealing the scene for a very long time. Yes, it's bad to lose large species and apex predators, but you can have catastrophic food web collapses from the bottom, as well. I think there isn't a lot of ecosystem literacy in the world. - Jenny H.

So awesome! - Kristin

When I saw this headline last night, my first thought was, "How much did they give him?" I just realized I read 'spots' wrong. - Anika

Illinois prosecutors next month will take wildlife photographer Steve Patterson to trial. His crime? Removing baby bald eagles from the wild. His punishment could be up to a year in prison and $10,000 in fines if convicted of violating state laws that protect wildlife. - Halil

The question for the jury—did Patterson save two eaglets that had fallen from a tree from certain death, or did he criminally harass a protected species—will reverberate far beyond La Salle County, Illinois, and could influence the public’s willingness to help injured wildlife. - Halil

"Dogs are man's best friend and partner. The origins of this dog-human relationship were subject of a study by behavioural scientists from the Messerli Research Institute at the Vetmeduni Vienna and the Wolf Science Center. They showed that the ancestors of dogs, the wolves, are at least as attentive to members of their species and to humans as dogs are. This social skill did not emerge during domestication, as has been suggested previously, but was already present in wolves. The researchers have published a summary of their results and present their new theory in the journal Frontiers in Psychology." - Jessie

"Commonly accepted domestication hypotheses suggest: "Dogs have become tolerant and attentive as a result of humans actively selecting for these skills during the domestication process in order to make dogs cooperative partners." Friederike Range and Zsófia Virányi from the Unit of Comparative Cognition at the Messerli Research Institute question the validity of this view and have developed the "Canine Cooperation Hypothesis." Their hypothesis states that since wolves already are tolerant, attentive and cooperative, the relationship of wolves to their pack mates could have provided the basis for today's human-dog relationship. An additional selection, at least for social attentiveness and tolerance, was not necessary during canine domestication." - Jessie

Bar-headed geese rise and fall with the terrain below them when they migrate, scientists report in the Jan. 16 Science. This roller coaster flight pattern saves the birds energy, even though they must repeatedly climb to recover the altitude they lose at each dip in the topography. - Halil

Nice international study, hence why this article in important! -> Paul Nurse accuses politicians of 'cowardice' over scientific evidence http://ff.im/1kPDQ0 - Halil

By using a camera on the Autosub6000 AUV to take a continuous stream of high resolution photographs of life on the sea floor, this new method revealed a tenfold increase in the precision of deepsea ecosystem diversity estimates relative to the use of scientific trawling. - Halil

Dr Kirsty Morris, the lead author of this research, published in Limnology and Oceanography: Methods, said: “This is an important step towards the automated imaging of the deep sea, which is essential for understanding the complexity of seafloor biodiversity and its future management” - Halil

This research showed that anemones were the most abundant animal on the sea floor, information that has been previously missed from trawling because they became damaged in the nets and rendered unrecognisable. - Halil

Ash dieback is now unstoppable and could wipe out 45 native species and endanger the habitats of nearly 1,000 others, ecologists have warned. #ashdieback - Halil

Haven't posted an update for a while, but this is depressing! :( - Halil

Researchers from the University of Granada and the Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) have found that hoophoes cover their eggs with a secretion produced by themselves, loaded with mutualistic bacteria, which is then retained by a specializad structure in the eggshell and which increases successful hatching. So far this sort of behaviour has only been detected in this species of birds, and it is a mechanism to protect their eggs from infections by pathogens. - Halil

That's so cool! - Jenny H.

The British Trust for Ornithology's latest report shows extremely worrying long-term declines in a quarter of Britain's commonest bird species. - Halil

“Information generated by ringing birds and monitoring their nests proved that the majority of farmland bird declines were driven by a reduction in food availability during the winter. Drivers of garden bird declines are more variable; reduced winter food availability and disease appear to have caused a fall in Starling and Greenfinch numbers respectively, while House Sparrows seem to be struggling to rear enough chicks. Data gathered by BTO ringers and nest recorders will help us to identify the mechanisms underlying declines of other species.” - Halil