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DocWatch endangered list Twitterit? News stories about "endangered list," with punchlines: http://apocadocs.com/d.pl?endangered+list Related Scary Tags: hunting to extinction  ~ sixth extinction  ~ overfishing  ~ ecosystem interrelationships  ~ marine mammals  ~ bird collapse  ~ bad policy  ~ species restoration  ~ canary in coal mine  ~ predator depletion  ~ unintended consequences   Mon, Jun 24, 2013 from BirdLife International: New report: State of the World's Birds Declines in birds across the globe are providing evidence of a rapid deterioration in the global environment that is affecting all life on earth - including people. However, birds also tell us that saving the planet comes at a relatively small price - an investment that's vital to secure our own future. These are some of the messages in a new report State of the world's birds: indicators for our changing world by the world's largest Partnership of conservation organisations, BirdLife International, who have gathered in Ottawa, Canada to launch the report and unveil their vision for a world rich in biodiversity, where people and nature live in harmony.... "Birds provide an accurate and easy to read environmental barometer that allows us to see clearly the pressures our current way of life are putting on the world's biodiversity", said Dr Leon Bennun, BirdLife's Director of Science, Information and Policy.... ... It's as if these bird species were functioning as canaries. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Mar 27, 2012 from Fox News: Hammerhead shark 'twin' means species is rarer than formerly thought Scientists recently confirmed that endangered scalloped hammerhead sharks have a fishy twin -- a newfound species, still unnamed, that is distinct, yet very closely resembles the threatened sharks. The case of mistaken identity indicates that scalloped hammerhead sharks are even more scarce than once thought, according to some researchers. Since it's very hard to tell the two species apart -- only differences in their DNA and number of vertebrae reveal their true identities -- it's likely that previous assessments of scalloped hammerhead sharks exaggerated their numbers because the counts likely included the look-alike sharks. "It's a classic case of long-standing species misidentification that not only casts further uncertainty on the status of the real scalloped hammerhead, but also raises concerns about the population status of this new species," Nova Southeastern University Oceanographic Center professor Mahmood Shivji said in a statement. ... Let's just pretend we didn't know that. It's working so far everywhere else! ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 2, 2012 from OnEarth: A Safer Fish: NOAA Lists Atlantic Sturgeon as Endangered After years of disagreement, NOAA's Fisheries Service has decided to list the Atlantic sturgeon as an endangered species. The listing will include five distinct populations of the fish -- four are endangered, and one will be listed as threatened. The action comes in response to an NRDC listing petition filed in 2009. Since 1998, the government has banned fishing for these ancient creatures -- they haven't changed much in 85 million years -- but recent studies have suggested the ban hasn't effectively protected them. Some scientists and advocates say the endangerment listing will be the extra push the fish need to rebound. Sturgeon were overfished for years for their roe. ... Maybe we're beginning to respect our very, very, very, very, very elders. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Dec 15, 2011 from University of Adelaide via ScienceDaily: Hundreds of Threatened Species Not On Official U.S. List, Research Shows ...A study -- now published in the latest issue of Conservation Letters -- has compared the ESA [Endangered Species Act] list of endangered species with the world's leading threatened species list, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. The study has found that of the American species included on the IUCN Red List, 40 percent of birds, 50 percent of mammals, and 80-95 percent of other species such as amphibians, gastropods, crustaceans, and insects, were not recognised by the ESA as threatened. This amounts to approximately 531 American species on the IUCN Red List that have not made the ESA protection list. ... In America, to get attention, you need lobbyists. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Apr 12, 2011 from Telegraph.co.uk: Rare fish carried up a mountain on backs of llamas to escape global warming The endangered vendace, that has been in Britain since the Ice Age, is in danger of dying out as lakes and rivers warm up because of man made global warming. To ensure the species survival, the UK's environmental watchdog took eggs from Derwentwater in Cumbria, thought to be the only remaining site where the fish are found in England and Wales. They then took 25,000 young fish from the hatchery to a cooler lake higher up the mountains of the Lake District, Sprinkler Tarn, to establish a new 'refuge' population that is more likely to survive warming temperatures. Because the route to the lake is so rocky and uneven, it was impossible to use conventional transport like a 4x4 motorbike or landrover. So, the fish were given a ride during part of the two-hour trek by sure-footed llamas from a local charity. The journey was finished by fisheries officers on foot to ensure none of the smarts were spilt. ... That'll work. For awhile. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Feb 11, 2011 from New York Times: Seizure Highlights Illegal Wildlife Trading This week the authorities at Bangkok's international airport intercepted a would-be wildlife smuggler, an Indonesian man whose three suitcases contained dozens of turtles and tortoises, 44 snakes, including pythons and two boa constrictors, assorted lizards and spiders -- oh, and a parrot. All were headed for Indonesia, and the full list was compiled by Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network. The size and variety of the catch was unusual, but the incident itself was not.... The main driver is vastly increased demand from Asia, China in particular, where wealth is rising and endangered species are valued as ingredients for traditional medicines or foods or as pets. ... Nature just has to step up to the laws of supply and demand. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Nov 24, 2010 from AFP, via DesdemonaDespair: More than a million Atlantic sharks killed yearly At least 1.3 million sharks, many listed as endangered, were harvested from the Atlantic in 2008 by industrial-scale fisheries unhampered by catch or size limits, according to a tally released Monday. The actual figure may be several fold higher due to under-reporting, said the study, released by advocacy group Oceana on the sidelines of a meeting of the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT).... Of the 21 species found in the Atlantic, three-quarters are classified as threatened with extinction. North Atlantic populations of the oceanic white tip, for example, have declined by 70 percent, and hammerheads by more than 99 percent, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).... Regional studies have shown that when shark populations crash the impact cascades down through the food chain, often in unpredictable and deleterious ways. ... A little shark's-fin soup never hurt me! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 25, 2010 from National Geographic: Whale Sharks Killed, Displaced by Gulf Oil? The Gulf oil spill fouled a vital stretch of feeding habitat for whale sharks, possibly killing some of the world's largest fish, new research suggests. An estimated 4.9 million barrels of oil (one barrel equals 42 gallons, or 159 liters) flowed into an area south of the Mississippi River Delta, where of one-third of all northern Gulf of Mexico (map) whale shark sightings have occurred in recent years, scientists say.... Sightings confirmed that the animals were unable to avoid the slick at the surface, where the giant fish may feed for seven to eight hours a day. The oil may have clogged the fish's gills, suffocating them, or it might have contaminated their prey--though no dead whale sharks have been found, Hoffmayer noted.... "At the end of the day, if these animals were feeding in an area where there was surface oil, and if they ingested oil, there is a good possibility that they died and sank to the bottom. At this point we have no idea how many animals have been impacted." ... At what point do man-made species murders become genocides? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 19, 2010 from TreeHugger: Super Rare Asian "Unicorn" Captured, Dies in Captivity [I]n late August, a group of Laotian villagers in the Annamite Mountains captured a saola, one of the rarest animals on the planet. The Bolikhamxay Provincial Agriculture and Forestry Office, advised by the IUCN Saola Working Group and the Lao Programme of the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), sent a team to examine and release the animal. Sadly, the saola, weakened by its capture, died after a few days in captivity. So why isn't this purely bad news? The upside is that efforts to protect the species, despite the loss of one more of its members, will benefit greatly from the saola's capture.... "Study of the carcass can yield some good from this unfortunate incident. Our lack of knowledge of Saola biology is a major constraint to efforts to conserve it. This can be a major step forward in understanding this remarkable and mysterious species." ... We killed the unicorn in order to save it. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Sep 11, 2010 from EnvironmentalResearchWeb: A sea of troubles This year has been a tough one for the world's oceans. Sea-surface temperatures have continued to rise, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill caused serious pollution, as did numerous smaller leaks, and over-fishing and acidification continue apace. So it's no surprise that ocean life, from the smallest plankton to the largest whale, is showing signs of damage. Only this week the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration designated the eastern North Pacific basking shark a "species of concern" because of the dramatic drop in its numbers despite years of protection from fishing.... And earlier this summer researchers in Canada found that the amount of phytoplankton in the ocean has decreased by 40 percent since 1950 in 8 out of 10 large ocean regions. They ascribed this decline to rising sea-surface temperatures, but added that there may be other factors that they haven't yet discovered. ... Is that the ocean horizon I see, or the drop-off? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Aug 21, 2010 from Mongabay: Lion populations plummet in Uganda's parks Lion populations across Uganda's park system have declined 40 percent in less than a decade, according to the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The results, based on the country's first ever carnivore survey, indicate that bushmeat poaching remains a problem in one of Africa's most biodiverse countries. Hunters poach lion prey animals and kill lions as a perceived threat to their livestock.... "If we outlive this iconic African species, we will have to explain what has happened to future generations--that lions had no protection, that these wild animals were unfairly judged, and are no more." Lion populations across Africa are estimated to have fallen by roughly 80 percent over the past 100 years due to habitat destruction, loss of prey, and direct killing. WCS found 415 lions remain in Uganda's network of national parks. 132 live in Murchison Falls National Park, the country's largest protected area. ... With 3D High Def IMAX versions recorded, do we truly need the real thing? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 30, 2010 from PhysOrg: World's smallest whale population faces extinction The world's smallest known whale population has dwindled to about 30 individuals, only eight of them females, according to a study released Tuesday.... The Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska once teemed with tens of thousands of North Pacific right whales. But hunting in the 19th century wiped out most of them, with up to 30,000 slaughtered in the 1840s alone, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Poaching by the Soviet Union during the 1960s claimed several hundred more, making Eubalaena japonica probably the most endangered species of whale on Earth. "Its precarious status today ... is a direct consequence of uncontrolled and illegal whaling, and highlights the past failure of international management to prevent such abuse," said the study, published in the British Royal Society's Biology Letters.... "The probability of ship-strike mortalities may increase with the likely future opening of an ice-free Northwest Passage," the researchers note. ... At least now we can remember their names! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 29, 2010 from BBC: Finless porpoises in China on brink of extinction Finless porpoises, a rare type of toothed whale, may be even more endangered than previously thought. A survey of finless porpoises in Asia has revealed there are two species, not one, and that they rarely intermingle. More worrying, finless porpoises living in the freshwater of China's Yangtze river are genetically unique, say scientists, who warn that greater efforts must be made to prevent these animals, numbering fewer than 1000, from following another Yangtze cetacean, the Baiji, to extinction.... "The most recent field survey conducted in 2006 suggested that there were around 1000 individuals in the Yangtze River," says Prof Yang. "This is much smaller than previous estimates, suggesting a significant population decline in the past two decades." ... Compared to the Baiji, there's lots of 'em! ApocaDoc permalink Want more context? Try reading our book FREE online: Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! More fun than a barrel of jellyfish! Sun, Jun 27, 2010 from Xinhua: Illegal fishing endangers Red Sea marine life Looking at the dead fish on the Ras Mohammed nature reserve shores of the Red Sea, Mohammed Salem said those who murdered the fish were criminals and should be put behind bars. "During the last few days, we found a large amount of dead fish, killed by the explosions by fishermen," Salem, general director of the national parks in South Sinai province, told Xinhua. Fishing by means of explosions at the Ras Mohammed National Park, some 25 km southwest of the Egyptian resort of Sharm El- Sheikh, has led to the death of rare fish and dolphins. Last week, local police arrested 16 fishermen who used dynamite to fish in the nature reserve. They had already been fined 1 million Egyptian pounds (about 177,000 U.S. dollars) for the damage they caused to the coral reefs. They might also be sentenced to at least three-year jail terms according to Egyptian law. The Red Sea boasts a rich and diverse ecosystem. More than 1, 200 species of fish have been recorded in the area. And 10 percent of them are native, including 42 species of deepwater fish. ... If they just used miles-long hooked nets, they wouldn't be so loud. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 23, 2010 from PhysOrg: Humans will be extinct in 100 years says eminent scientist Eminent Australian scientist Professor Frank Fenner, who helped to wipe out smallpox, predicts humans will probably be extinct within 100 years, because of overpopulation, environmental destruction and climate change.... [He] said homo sapiens will not be able to survive the population explosion and "unbridled consumption," and will become extinct, perhaps within a century, along with many other species.... Fenner told The Australian he tries not to express his pessimism because people are trying to do something, but keep putting it off. He said he believes the situation is irreversible, and it is too late because the effects we have had on Earth since industrialization (a period now known to scientists unofficially as the Anthropocene) rivals any effects of ice ages or comet impacts. ... It's always darkest before the doom. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 9, 2010 from BBC: Snakes in mysterious global decline Snakes may be declining across the world, according to a global study. Researchers examined records for 17 snake populations covering eight species over the last few decades, and found most had declined markedly. For reasons that are not entirely clear, some populations shrank in number abruptly around 1998. Writing in the journal Biology Letters, the researchers describe the findings as "alarming" but say much more work is needed to understand the causes.... The researchers believe they amassed most, if not all, long-term datasets for this study - although "long-term" in this context means going back more than one decade, in some cases more than two. Nevertheless, within this relatively short timeframe, eight of the 17 populations were seen to fall markedly in size - some by more than 90 percent - with only one showing any sign of a rise. ... Enough is enough! I've had it with these mother#!"!ing snakes down the mother#!"?ing drain! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, May 30, 2010 from Guardian: Caviar gangs dish up illegal roe to bypass authorised importers Organised criminal gangs are being blamed for a thriving trade in caviar imported illegally into the UK. A global shortage of the delicacy - made from the raw eggs of sturgeon - is playing into the hands of black market traders smuggling it into the country and bypassing legal importers. The finest beluga caviar can cost up to £4,000 per kilogram, but much of the smuggled caviar is unlabelled - which means its provenance cannot be checked, an issue raising concerns with environmentalists who fear fishing stocks are being depleted. ... I'll follow that appetizer course with some shark's fin soup. Mmmm. Then, hummingbird tongue! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, May 19, 2010 from NYT, via DesdemonaDespair: 148 North America bird species in rapid decline A new survey has found that 148 land bird species in North America are facing rapid decline, the majority of them in Mexico. The assessment, the first ever to include all three countries, reveals information about populations and migratory patterns and is is intended as a tool for conservationists. It was released Tuesday by Partners in Flight, a cooperative of government agencies, conservation groups, academics and philanthropists. The study has detailed information on the 882 species of land birds that live across the continent. One-third of them spend substantial amounts of time in at least two of the countries, it found. "Birds don't know boundaries," said Ashley Dayer, one of the managing editors of the report... The imperiled birds include 124 species that are mostly found in Mexico.... ... So, it's an immigration problem. We just need to build that fence lots taller. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 18, 2010 from UN, via AFP/Yahoo: Ocean fish could disappear in 40 years: UN The world faces the nightmare possibility of fishless oceans by 2050 unless fishing fleets are slashed and stocks allowed to recover, UN experts warned. "If the various estimates we have received... come true, then we are in the situation where 40 years down the line we, effectively, are out of fish," Pavan Sukhdev, head of the UN Environment Program's green economy initiative, told journalists in New York. A Green Economy report due later this year by UNEP and outside experts argues this disaster can be avoided if subsidies to fishing fleets are slashed and fish are given protected zones -- ultimately resulting in a thriving industry.... Environmental experts are mindful of the failure this March to push through a worldwide ban on trade in bluefin tuna, one of the many species said to be headed for extinction. Powerful lobbying from Japan and other tuna-consuming countries defeated the proposal at the CITES conference on endangered species in Doha. But UNEP's warning Monday was that tuna only symbolizes a much vaster catastrophe, threatening economic, as well as environmental upheaval.... According to the UN, 30 percent of fish stocks have already collapsed, meaning they yield less than 10 percent of their former potential, while virtually all fisheries risk running out of commercially viable catches by 2050. ... But wasn't I taught "there's always another fish in the sea"? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, May 14, 2010 from BBC: Climate change link to lizard extinction Climate change could wipe out 20 percent of the world's lizard species by 2080, according to a global-scale study. An international team of scientists also found that rising temperatures had aready driven 12 percent of Mexico's lizard populations to extinction. Based on this discovery, the team was able to make global predictions using an "extinction model". They conclude, in an article in Science journal, that "lizards have already crossed a threshold for extinctions". Although the grim prediction for 2080 could change if humans are able to slow global climate warming, the scientists say that a sharp decline in their numbers had already begun and would continue for decades. ... Pshaw, in 70 years we'll have fixed every problem. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 10, 2010 from BBC: Nature loss 'to damage economies' The Earth's ongoing nature losses may soon begin to hit national economies, a major UN report has warned. The third Global Biodiversity Outlook (GBO-3) says that some ecosystems may soon reach "tipping points" where they rapidly become less useful to humanity. Such tipping points could include rapid dieback of forest, algal takeover of watercourses and mass coral reef death. Last month, scientists confirmed that governments would not meet their target of curbing biodiversity loss by 2010.... The global abundance of vertebrates - the group that includes mammals, reptiles, birds, amphibians and fish - fell by about one-third between 1970 and 2006, the UN says.... "If the world made equivalent losses in share prices, there would be a rapid response and widespread panic."... "Humanity has fabricated the illusion that somehow we can get by without biodiversity, or that it is somehow peripheral to our contemporary world: the truth is we need it more than ever on a planet of six billion heading to over nine billion people by 2050." ... And who are you to be calling my belief system an illusion? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, May 9, 2010 from Times Online: Third of all plants and animals face extinction ANIMAL and plant species are being killed off faster than ever before as human populations surge and people consume more, a United Nations report is expected to say this week. It will warn that the expansion of countries such as China, India and Brazil is adding hugely to the environmental threats already generated by developed western nations, and that a third of species could face extinction this century. The report is one of the starkest issued by the UN and the decision to draw an explicit link between extinction rates and economic growth makes it politically sensitive. It will point out that the extinction threat extends across all main ecosystems, affecting living things as diverse as tree frogs, coral reefs and river dolphins.... "The magnitude of the damage [to ecosystems] is much bigger than previously thought," said Djoghlaf. "The rate of extinction is currently running at 1,000 times the natural historical background rate of extinction." ... That sounds a little alarmist. How about "only three orders of magnitude greater"? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Apr 12, 2010 from AP, via PhysOrg.com: Calif. gray whale-watchers fear dip in population Long held as an environmental success story after being taken off the endangered list in 1994, California gray whales draw legions of fans into boats or atop cliffs to watch the leviathans lumber down the coast to spawning grounds in Baja. But whale-watching skippers became alarmed after sightings dropped from 25 a day in good years to five a day this season. Such anecdotal evidence has left conservationists and state officials worried about the whale's future, especially now. The federal government's monitoring of the mammals has fallen off in recent years. And the International Whaling Commission in June will consider allowing 1,400 gray whales to be hunted over the next decade.... "You can't set specific quotas for 10 years based on 2006 data," said Sara Wan, a California Gray Whale Coalition member who is also a state coastal commissioner. "It's irresponsible." In January, the California Coastal Commission pressed the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for an updated gray whale study. The count is done but the analysis won't be finished until long after the whaling commission's decision. ... Seeing nothing can be the same as seeing something. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Apr 9, 2010 from BBC: 'World needs a barometer of life' The world needs a "barometer of life" to prevent ecosystems and species being lost forever, scientists have warned. Existing schemes, they said, did not include enough species from groups such as fungi and invertebrates to provide a detailed picture of what is at risk. Writing in the journal Science, the researchers said the barometer would increase the number of species being assessed from almost 48,000 to 160,000. The data would help identify areas in need of urgent action, they added.... "The barometer would broaden the reach of the Red List to make it representative of all life, that's what it's all about," Dr Stuart explained. The authors hope that broadening the taxanomic base of the Red List and increasing the database to 160,000 species would deliver practical benefits. "A representative barometer would provide a solid basis for informing decisions globally," the authors suggested. ... The high pressure zone shows no sign of abating. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Apr 3, 2010 from Scientific American: Are cadmium-contaminated insects killing endangered carnivorous plants? Around the world carnivorous plants are on the decline, the victims of habitat loss, illegal poaching and pollution. But now a new factor has come to light: The very insects the plants rely on for food may be poisoning them. According to new research by Christopher Moody and Iain Green of Bournemouth University in England, prey insects could be contaminated with toxic metals such as cadmium that, when ingested by meat-eating flora, affect the plants' growth.... Cadmium is widely used in fertilizers, metal coatings, electronics, batteries and other products. Both metals can accumulate in the environment, and thus in insects, through improper waste disposal. ... It's tough, going vegan. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 22, 2010 from BBC: Internet threatens rare species, conservationists warn Conservationists say the internet has emerged as one of the biggest threats to endangered species. Campaigners say it is easier than ever before to buy and sell anything from live baby lions to polar bear pelts on online auction sites and chatrooms. The findings were presented at the 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites), which is meeting in Doha, Qatar. Several proposals to give endangered species more protection were defeated.... A proposal from the US and Sweden to regulate the trade in red and pink coral - which is crafted into expensive jewellery and sold extensively on the web - was defeated. Delegates voted the idea down mostly over concerns the increased regulations might impact poor fishing communities. ... Internet doesn't kill species, profit kills species. ApocaDoc permalink You're still reading! Good for you! You really should read our short, funny, frightening book FREE online (or buy a print copy): Humoring the Horror of the Converging Emergencies! We've been quipping this stuff for more than 30 months! Every day! Which might explain why we don't get invited to parties anymore. Sat, Mar 13, 2010 from Associated Press: Endangered listing eyed for US loggerhead turtles The federal government on Wednesday recommended an endangered-species listing for the loggerhead turtles in U.S. waters, a decision that could lead to tighter restrictions on fishing and other maritime trades. The massive, nomadic sea turtles have been listed since 1978 as threatened, a step below endangered, but federal scientists proposed ratcheting up the designation after reviewing the state of the species. Researchers said primary threats to the loggerheads include injury and death from fishing gear and damage to their nesting areas. ... Let's not move too slowly on this. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Feb 24, 2010 from Mongabay: Extinct animals are quickly forgotten: the baiji and shifting baselines Lead author of the study, Dr. Samuel Turvey, was a member of the original expedition in 2006. He returned to the Yangtze in 2008 to interview locals about their knowledge of the baiji and other vanishing megafauna in the river, including the Chinese paddlefish, one of the world's largest freshwater fish. In these interviews Turvey and his team found clear evidence of 'shifting baselines': where humans lose track of even large changes to their environment, such as the loss of a top predator like the baiji. "'Shifting baseline syndrome' is a social phenomenon whereby communities can forget about changes to the state of the environment during the recent past, if older community members don't talk to younger people about different species or ecological conditions that used to occur in their local region," Turvey explains. "These shifts in community perception typically mean that the true level of human impact on the environment is underestimated, or even not appreciated at all, since the original environmental 'baseline' has been forgotten." In other words, a community today may see an ecosystem as 'pristine' or 'complete', which their grandparents would view as hopelessly degraded. In turn what the current generation sees as a degraded environment, the next generation will see as 'natural'. The shifting baseline theory is relatively new—first appearing in 1995—and so it has not been widely examined in the field. ... How handy! The extinctions are just a figment of our memories. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Feb 18, 2010 from Guardian: Almost half of all primates face 'imminent' extinction Almost half of the world's primate species – which include apes, monkeys and lemurs - are threatened with extinction due to the destruction of tropical forests and illegal hunting and trade. In a report highlighting the 25 most endangered primate species, conservationists have outlined the desperate plight of primates from Madagascar, Africa, Asia and Central and South America, with some populations down to just a few dozen in number.... "All over the world, it's mainly habitat destruction that affects primates the most," said Christoph Schwitzer, head of reseaarch at the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation and one of the authors of the report. "Illegal logging, fragmentation of forests through fires, hunting is a big issue in several African countries and also now in Madagascar. In Asia one of the main problems is trade in hearts for traditional medicine, mainly into China." ... Lucky for us we're not primates! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jan 31, 2010 from PhysOrg.com: Coral in Florida Keys suffers lethal hit from cold Bitter cold this month may have wiped out many of the shallow water corals in the Keys. Scientists have only begun assessments, with dive teams looking for "bleaching" that is a telltale indicator of temperature stress in sensitive corals, but initial reports are bleak. The impact could extend from Key Largo through the Dry Tortugas west of Key West, a vast expanse that covers some of the prettiest and healthiest reefs in North America. Given the depth and duration of frigid weather, Meaghan Johnson, marine science coordinator for The Nature Conservancy, expected to see losses. But she was stunned by what she saw when diving a patch reef 2.5 miles off Harry Harris Park in Key Largo.... Star and brain corals, large species that can take hundreds of years to grow, were as white and lifeless as bones, frozen to death. There were also dead sea turtles, eels and parrotfish littering the bottom.... "Corals didn't even have a chance to bleach. They just went straight to dead," said Johnson, who joined teams of divers last week surveying reefs in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. "It's really ecosystem-wide mortality."... Cold-water bleaching is unusual, last occurring in 1977, the year it snowed in Miami. It killed hundreds of acres of staghorn and elkhorn corals across the Keys. Neither species has recovered, both becoming the first corals to be federally listed as threatened in 2006. ... "Ecosystem-wide mortality" -- is that a euphemism? ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 30, 2010 from Houston Chronicle: Officials fear another whooping crane die-off The world's last remaining natural flock of endangered whooping cranes, which suffered a record number of deaths last year, will probably see another die-off because of scarce food supplies at its Texas nesting grounds this winter, wildlife managers said. The flock lost 23 birds in the 2008-2009 winter season, in part because its main source of sustenance, the blue crab, all but vanished from drought-parched southern Texas. The rains eventually came, but they were too late to produce healthy amounts of blue crabs for this winter. "We're looking at a pretty slender year, prey-wise, and it's going to make the cranes work harder to get food," said Allan Strand, field supervisor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in South Texas. "I feel that we're probably going to have a die-off. It's conceivable that we could have a significant die-off."... According to the most recent aerial survey, there are an estimated 263 birds in the Texas flock. The survey, conducted last week, found that one chick has already died and another was missing. ... Can't we just truck in some crabs? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 11, 2009 from EcoWorldly: Only 8 Northern White Rhinos Still Survive As Controversy Brews Among Rhino Experts Now believed extinct in the wild, the world's only surviving northern white rhinos are currently in captivity in just two locations: ZOO Dvur Kralove in the Czech Republic and San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park.... Most rhino experts understand that the window for achieving a "pure" population of the northern white rhino (NWR) subspecies (Ceratotherium simum cottoni) is now tragically closed. And while it is generally acknowledged that the best chances of preserving any genetic material is via hybrid offspring of NWR and the southern white rhino (Ceratotherium simum simum), rhino experts are currently divided on how to successfully preserve the NWR genes. At the heart of the controversy is a plan to move four of the eight surviving NWR from the Czech Republic to Africa. ... At least we know where the eight are. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Dec 4, 2009 from Center for Biological Diversity: Polar Bears Poisoned by Pesticide Pollution: Lawsuit Filed Pesticides approved by EPA for use in the United States are known to be transported long-distance via various atmospheric, oceanic, and biotic pathways to the Arctic. Such pesticides are biomagnified with each step higher in the food web, reaching some of their greatest concentrations in polar bears, the apex predators of the Arctic. Pesticides and related contaminants have been linked to suppressed immune function, endocrine disruption, shrinkage of reproductive organs, hermaphroditism, and increased cub mortality in polar bears. Human subsistence hunters in the Arctic, who share the top spot on the food web with the polar bear, also face increased risks from exposure to these contaminants. "The pesticide crisis is a silent killer that threatens not only the polar bear but the entire Arctic ecosystem and its communities," said Rebecca Noblin, a staff attorney with the Center for Biological Diversity in Anchorage. "The benefits of protecting the polar bear from pesticide poisoning will reverberate throughout the entire Arctic ecosystem, with positive impacts for Arctic people, who share the top of the food pyramid with polar bears." ... Has the Arctic warmed enough for a Silent Spring? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Dec 2, 2009 from WWF, via EurekAlert: Rhino poaching surges in Asia, Africa Rhino poaching worldwide is on the rise, according to a new report by TRAFFIC and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The trade is being driven by Asian demand for horns and is made worse by increasingly sophisticated poachers, who now are using veterinary drugs, poison, cross bows and high caliber weapons to kill rhinos, the report states.... The situation is most serious in Zimbabwe where rhino numbers are now declining and the conviction rate for rhino crimes in Zimbabwe is only three percent. Despite the introduction of a number of new measures, poaching and illicit horn trade in South Africa has also increased. ... I'd better get my "Natural Viagra" now, before it's too late. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Dec 1, 2009 from The Missoulian: Bitterroot bighorn pneumonia outbreak worsens An outbreak of pneumonia in bighorn sheep from the East Fork Bitterroot herd worsened over the past week. State wildlife biologists collected almost 30 infected bighorn sheep from the area south of Darby. Some of the infected animals were shot in an effort to slow the spread of the disease. Others were found already dead. "Any hope for a moderate infection rate is waning," said Craig Jourdonnais, the Bitterroot-based biologist for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. "I think we are in full blown die-off mode." Last week, biologists confirmed that sheep from the herd were infected with the nearly always fatal respiratory disease after two rams were discovered dead along the road. In the past, some bighorn herds infected with pneumonia in Montana have seen dramatic die-offs in the 60 percent to 70 percent range.... "It appears to be pretty extensive at this point," Jourdonnais said. "On Sunday, we headed up into nearby draws. We found a lot of coughing sheep." ... Do H1N1s dream of coughing sheep? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 20, 2009 from University of Adelaide via ScienceDaily: Conservation: Minimum Population Size Targets Too Low To Prevent Extinction? Conservation biologists are setting their minimum population size targets too low to prevent extinction. That's according to a new study by University of Adelaide and Macquarie University scientists which has shown that populations of endangered species are unlikely to persist in the face of global climate change and habitat loss unless they number around 5000 mature individuals or more....Conservation biologists worldwide are battling to prevent a mass extinction event in the face of a growing human population and its associated impact on the planet. ... Can we pleeeeze not use the word "targets" in these kinds of stories? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 12, 2009 from Diversitas, via EurekAlert: World will miss 2010 target to stem biodiversity loss, experts say The goal was agreed at the 6th Conference of Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity in April 2003. Some 123 world ministers committed to "achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction of the current rate of biodiversity loss at the local, national and regional levels, as a contribution to poverty alleviation and to the benefit of all life on Earth."... "Yet changes to ecosystems and losses of biodiversity have continued to accelerate. Since 1992, even the most conservative estimates agree that an area of tropical rainforest greater than the size of California has been converted mostly for food and fuel. Species extinction rates are at least 100 times those in pre-human times and are expected to continue to increase." However, she adds, "the situation is not hopeless. There are many steps available that would help but we cannot dawdle. Meaningful action should have started years ago. The next best time is now." ... I hate goals that merely reduce the current rate of loss. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Sep 7, 2009 from Telegraph.co.uk: Iceland kills 93 fin whales, according to conservationists The conservation group said at least 93 endangered fin whales were killed this summer, more than at any time since an international ban on commercial whaling was brought in more than 20 years ago. In addition 63 minke whales were killed making it the largest commercial whale hunt in North Atlantic waters for decades. The meat and blubber from the whales may yield a staggering two million kilograms of edible products, the charity said. "There is simply no way that so much whale meat and blubber can be consumed domestically, and the whalers are deluding themselves if they think they can make any money exporting whale meat to Japan," she said. "Sales of whale products in Japan have made financial losses for much of the last 20 years, and market demand there has dropped. Iceland’s whaling policy seems as ill-founded as its economic policies have been." ... No data yet on the heavy metals, PCBs, and other yummy spices embedded in that murdered flesh. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 4, 2009 from Times Online (UK): Bengal tiger breeding plan at Sariska in doubt over fears that new mates are siblings When Indian wildlife authorities took three Bengal tigers by helicopter to an empty reserve in Rajasthan last year it was hailed as a groundbreaking experiment to revive the country's flagging tiger population. Now, some experts fear that the male and two females relocated to the Sariska reserve could all be siblings -- reducing their chances of a successful long-term breeding programme. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII), which is in charge of the project, began testing DNA samples from the three tigers yesterday to decide if they need to introduce others from different parts of the country. It already had blood samples from the two females but had not taken a sample from the male until it was briefly captured on Monday to have its broken radio collar replaced. "We're to blame -- we should have done this earlier but everything was done in a hurry," K. Sankar, a WII tiger expert who is overseeing the project, told The Times. "Now we have the samples, the analysis is under way and after that we will be able to say for sure. We're keeping our fingers crossed." Results are expected this weekend, when the Indian Environment Minister is due to visit Sariska. ... What's the hurry? It's not as if... oh, right. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jul 4, 2009 from BBC: No safe haven for rarest antelope Fleeting sightings of the world's rarest antelope, the hirola, in a new safe haven are cases of mistaken identity, a survey has found. That has dashed hopes that some of the last hirola have managed to colonise a new territory where they would be less vulnerable to flooding and hunting. Fewer than 600 wild hirola remain, confined to a small area in Kenya. It is sometimes called a 'living fossil', being the sole survivor of a once diverse group of antelope species.... The hirola is special because of both its rarity and evolutionary uniqueness. Scientifically named (Beatragus hunteri), the hirola belongs to the family Bovidae, the group that includes all antelopes, cattle, bison, buffalo, goats and sheep. Within that group, it belong to the subfamily Alcelaphinae, meaning it is most closely related to topi, wildebeests and hartbeest antelopes. But what makes the hirola stand out is that it is the last living representative of the genus Beatragus. ... Species extinction, then Genus extinction... how soon before Family extinction? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, May 19, 2009 from BBC (UK): Dragonflies face uncertain future At least one in ten species of dragonfly and damselfly are threatened with extinction, according to the first world survey of their numbers. The figure may be an underestimate as so little is known about many species. However, the news is not all bad. The survey published in Biological Conservation is the first to assess the vulnerability of any insect group on a global scale. And it suggests the extinction risk faced by insects has been exaggerated.... "Amphibians are more threatened than dragonflies in general," says Clausnitzer. Amphibians are being particularly afflicted by the deadly chytrid fungus. "Another difference is that adult dragonflies are more mobile. If one site is destroyed they still have the chance to fly to another site, which frogs don't have." They also seem less to be less threatened than the mammals, but at a similar level of risk as birds. "We were a bit surprised that the dragonflies are not that bad off," says Clausnitzer. ... So the threat-o-meter for dragonflies isn't as bad as mammals and amphibians. And birds. Well, whew!. ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Mar 21, 2009 from BBC: US birds in 'widespread decline' Almost one third of the 800 species of birds found in the US are "endangered, threatened or in significant decline", a report has concluded. Described as the most comprehensive assessment of its kind, the study listed habitat loss and invasive species as being the main threats.... The report also found that at least 39 percent of ocean bird species were declining, and about half were of "conservation concern".... But the report also presented evidence that populations of birds recovered quickly when conservation measures were taken. ... Mr. Bluebird's not on my shoulder anymore. ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Mar 8, 2009 from Mongabay: Only one out of 91 antelope species is on the rise The springbok is the only antelope species whose population is on the rise, according to a new review by the Red List for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In addition, over a quarter of the antelopes, 25 species out of 91, are considered threatened with extinction. "Unsustainable harvesting, whether for food or traditional medicine, and human encroachment on their habitat are the main threats facing antelopes," says Dr Philippe Chardonnet, Co-Chair of the IUCN Antelope Specialist Group. "Most antelopes are found in developing countries which is why it's critically important that we collaborate with local communities there since it is in their own interest to help preserve these animals." ... What do they expect, when they're using our land like they do? ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Mar 4, 2009 from New Scientist: Inbreeding sabotages rare species' sperm It's a triple whammy for male animals on the brink of extinction: not only are there fewer mates around to have sex with, but, to make things worse, their sperm are more likely to carry genetic abnormalities and less likely to be good swimmers, research shows.... The team found that, on average, 48 percent of the sperm of endangered species was abnormal, compared with 30 percent in non-endangered species. In addition, the percentage of the sperm that was motile -- or capable of movement -- was around 10 percent lower in endangered species. Earlier research has shown that both characteristics make a male less likely to produce viable offspring. ... The endangered species sperm bank may have a problem with derivatives. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jan 14, 2009 from Glouster Daily Times: NOAA: Six nations illegally caught bluefin The federal government yesterday identified six foreign countries it said engaged in illegal fishing during the last two years, including the illicit harvesting of valuable and endangered stocks of Atlantic bluefin tuna. The six nations named in a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration -- France, Italy, Libya, Panama, China and Tunisia -- were the first the United States has ever specifically identified as violators of international fishing regulations. The six nations now face potential trade sanctions from the United States, including a possible ban on the sale of their seafood in this country.... The majority of violations identified in the NOAA report involved illegal or unregulated catches of bluefin tuna, a fish prized for its use as sushi and which has been severely depleted because of its popularity. ... France!? Time for "freedom sushi." ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jan 12, 2009 from The Desert Sun (CA): Protected species moves from valley Warmer, drier weather linked to global climate change has caused at least one native species to disappear from the Coachella Valley -- and ecologists warn more could be lost if the conditions persist. The Jerusalem cricket, an inch-long insect protected under the Coachella Valley Multiple Species Habitat Conservation Plan, used to live in the Thousand Palms area and near the Palm Springs International Airport. But after more than a decade of drought, the moisture-needing cricket has shifted completely to more humid areas west of the valley, past Windy Point near Cabazon, according to local ecologists. Its "dramatic" disappearance is "the canary in the coal mine telling us what's going on" regarding local effects of climate change, said Dr. Cameron Barrows, a research ecologist who's studied the Coachella Valley the past 23 years. ... And likely no "new Jerusalem" here... ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Jan 10, 2009 from New Scientist: Medicinal plants on verge of extinction THE health of millions could be at risk because medicinal plants used to make traditional remedies, including drugs to combat cancer and malaria, are being overexploited. "The loss of medicinal plant diversity is a quiet disaster," says Sara Oldfield, secretary general of the NGO Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Most people worldwide, including 80 per cent of all Africans, rely on herbal medicines obtained mostly from wild plants. But some 15,000 of 50,000 medicinal species are under threat of extinction, according to a report this week from international conservation group Plantlife. Shortages have been reported in China, India, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda. Commercial over-harvesting does the most harm, though pollution, competition from invasive species and habitat destruction all contribute. "Commercial collectors generally harvest medicinal plants with little care for sustainability," the Plantlife report says. "This can be partly through ignorance, but [happens] mainly because such collection is unorganised and competitive." ... Thank goodness for pharmaceuticals! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Dec 6, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk: 21 new species in danger of extinction, UN convention hears Twenty-one animal species, including the cheetah, three dolphin families and an Egyptian vulture, were added to the list of those in danger of extinction by a UN conference in Rome. Six other bird species as well as manatees have also been placed on the list of animals benefiting from increased protections, called list I. In addition, next year has been proclaimed the "Year of the Gorilla" to help the survival of threatened species.... Several species of sharks have been placed on the list of threatened species, including two families of Mako sharks in the Mediterranean whose population have fallen off by 96 per cent in recent years due to overfishing. ... Not a one of them are natural declines. We know what species to blame: Austrolopithicus Africanus. ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Nov 21, 2008 from Washington Post: New Rule Would Discount Warming as Risk Factor for Species The Bush administration is finalizing changes to the Endangered Species Act that would ensure that federal agencies would not have to take global warming into account when assessing risks to imperiled plants and animals.... The main purpose of the new regulations, which were first unveiled in August, is to eliminate a long-standing provision of the Endangered Species Act that requires an independent scientific review by either the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of any federal project that could affect a protected species. Under the administration's proposal, individual agencies could decide on their own whether a project would harm an imperiled species. ... Nor will gun shot wounds in their heads be considered a risk factor either! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 10, 2008 from Guardian (UK): Quarter of Atlantic sharks and rays face extinction More than a quarter of sharks and rays in the north-east Atlantic face extinction from overfishing, conservationists warned today. A "red list" report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that 26 percent of all sharks, rays and related species in the regional waters are threatened with extinction. Seven per cent are classed as critically endangered, while a fifth are regarded as "near-threatened". ... So "jump the shark" is no longer just a metaphor. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Nov 3, 2008 from Associated Press: Mexico City's 'water monster' nears extinction MEXICO CITY-- Beneath the tourist gondolas in the remains of a great Aztec lake lives a creature that resembles a monster - and a Muppet - with its slimy tail, plumage-like gills and mouth that curls into an odd smile. The axolotl, also known as the "water monster" and the "Mexican walking fish," was a key part of Aztec legend and diet. Against all odds, it survived until now amid Mexico City's urban sprawl in the polluted canals of Lake Xochimilco, now a Venice-style destination for revelers poled along by Mexican gondoliers, or trajineros, in brightly painted party boats. But scientists are racing to save the foot-long salamander from extinction, a victim of the draining of its lake habitat and deteriorating water quality. In what may be the final blow, nonnative fish introduced into the canals are eating its lunch - and its babies. ... Like an ax to the axolotl. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Oct 28, 2008 from Reuters: Europe cracks down on fishing for deep-sea species Europe's exotic deepwater fish, some of which can live up to 150 years, won more protection from the European Union on Monday as fisheries ministers agreed to hefty quota cuts for the next two years. Bearing names like forkbeard, black scabbardfish, greater silver smelt and roundnose grenadier, Europe's deep-sea fish grow and reproduce far more slowly than fish in shallower waters and are far more vulnerable to overfishing.... With the depletion of mainstay commercial fish such as cod and hake in recent years, they have become an attractive catch as trawlers switch from their regular fishing grounds. ... We've got to get something to make fishmeal with. Otherwise what'll we feed those cows? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 27, 2008 from Telegraph.co.uk: Endangered birds tracked by conservationists are found poisoned The birds, northern bald ibis, are thought to have fallen victim to poisons left out by farmers to kill rats.... The species numbered more than 6,000 in Turkey and Syria 50 years ago but development and the use of the farm chemical DDT is thought to have caused the collapse in numbers. It is thought that many of the young birds who disappear without trace fall victim to poisoning. ... Who would have thought that rat poison would be toxic to other critters? ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Oct 17, 2008 from Associated Press: Government declares beluga whale endangered The federal government on Friday placed the beluga whales in Alaska's Cook Inlet under the protection of the Endangered Species Act, concluding that a decade-long recovery program has failed to ensure their survival... The findings by NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service conflict with claims by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who has questioned scientific evidence that the beluga whale population in the waters near Anchorage continues to decline. ... It almost onomatopoetically sounds like the alarm siren for threatened species: beLUga! beLUga! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 15, 2008 from McClatchy Newspapers: Memos tell wildlife officials to ignore global-warming impact New legal memos by top Bush administration officials say that the Endangered Species Act can't be used to protect animals and their habitats from climate change by regulating specific sources of greenhouse gas emissions, the cause of global warming. The assessment, outlined in memos sent earlier this month and leaked Tuesday, provides the official legal justification for limiting protections under the Endangered Species Act. One of the memos, from the Interior Department's top lawyer, concluded that emissions of greenhouse gases from any proposed project can't be proved to have an impact on species or habitat, so it isn't necessary for federal agencies to consult with government wildlife experts about the impact of such gases on species as stipulated under the Endangered Species Act. ... Humans aren't the only ones anxious for this administration to end! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Oct 6, 2008 from Associated Press: 1 in 4 mammals at risk of extinction, scientists say Conservationists have taken the first detailed look at the world's mammals in more than a decade, and the news isn't good... "We estimate that one in four species is threatened with extinction and that the population of one in two is declining," the researchers said in a report to be published Friday in the journal Science... "How impoverished we would be if we lost 25 percent of the world's mammals," said Smith, one of more than 100 co-authors of the report. ... If human mammals would start controlling their population numbers, maybe other mammals wouldn't be in such peril! ApocaDoc permalink Sat, Oct 4, 2008 from Science Daily (US): Atlantic Wolffish: Fearsome Fish That Deserve Protection? ... seeking endangered species protection for the Atlantic wolffish, a fish threatened with extinction due to years of overharvesting and habitat loss due to modern fishing gear. If the petition is successful, this will be the first listing of a marine fish as an endangered in New England.... According to federal statistics, the number of wolffish landed by commercial fishermen has dropped 95 percent from over 1,200 metric tons in 1983 to just 64.7 metric tons in 2007. More critically, wolffish have virtually disappeared from the annual scientific research trawls that take place twice a year in the state and federal waters of the Atlantic Ocean off the New England coast. In addition to fishing, habitat alterations are also suspected as a major threat to the wolffish. One scientist has estimated that virtually every inch of the seafloor in New England's ocean waters was impacted by commercial trawling (in which football field-sized nets are dragged through the ocean) between 1984 and 1990. ... aaaooooOOOOOOOOO! ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Oct 1, 2008 from Associated Press: Feds propose listing 48 Hawaiian species at once HONOLULU - The federal government took a new, ecosystem-based approach to the endangered species list on Tuesday, proposing an all-at-once addition of 48 species, including plants, two birds and a fly, that live only on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. The action by the Interior Department would designate about 43 square miles as critical habitat for all the species rather than considering each species' habitat separately, which has been the practice for three decades. Officials said considering the species all at once should save time and resources and would help the whole ecosystem. ... Why don't we name the entire planet threatened and get it over with? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Sep 9, 2008 from Center for Biological Diversity: Penguins Marching Toward Endangered Species Act Protection A federal judge today approved a settlement between the Center for Biological Diversity and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service over the fate of 10 penguin species imperiled by global warming. Under the settlement, the Service must by December 19th complete its overdue finding on whether the penguins should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The finding is due on the emperor, southern rockhopper, northern rockhopper, Fiordland crested, erect-crested, macaroni, white-flippered, yellow-eyed, African, and Humboldt penguins. ... Don't get cold feet! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Sep 7, 2008 from Baltimore Sun: Bighorn sheep may lose habitat The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working on the final details of a map that would cut by nearly half the habitat previously considered critical to the species' survival. The plan could be approved by the end of this month. Scientists and environmental advocates say the downsized habitat could deal a permanent setback to a species that has had 10 years of federal protection. They accuse the Department of the Interior, which governs Fish and Wildlife, of mixing politics with science, caving in to mining and tribal interests. One mining operation already has applied to expand its operation into land once listed as critical to the sheep's recovery, documents show. ... They're ramming this through. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 26, 2008 from Ecological Society of America: Ecological Society of America Criticizes Bush Administration's Overhaul of the Endangered Species Act "The concept of independent scientific review has been in practice since the 18th century and is crucial to ensuring that ideas and proposed work are scientifically sound," said Alison Power, president of the Society and professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Cornell University. "This overhaul of the Endangered Species Act would place the fate of rare species in the hands of government stakeholders who are not qualified to assess the environmental impacts of their activities." ... What, you think scientific expertise should be involved? Where have you been the last seven years? ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 26, 2008 from KDRV: Bush administration cuts spotted owl habitat 23 percent The Bush administration has decided that the Northern Spotted Owl can get by with less old growth forest habitat as it struggles to get off the threatened species list. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Tuesday it would cut by 23 percent the federal forest land designated as critical habitat for the owl in Washington, Oregon and Northern California. Designating critical habitat for protection is a requirement of the Endangered Species Act. Meanwhile, owl numbers are dropping by 4 percent a year. ... Hoo-ha! We're whuppin' that spotted owl! ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Aug 12, 2008 from Washington Post: Endangered Species Act Changes Give Agencies More Say "The Bush administration yesterday proposed a regulatory overhaul of the Endangered Species Act to allow federal agencies to decide whether protected species would be imperiled by agency projects, eliminating the independent scientific reviews that have been required for more than three decades." ... Scientists... nothing but a bunch of worrywarts! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Aug 11, 2008 from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette: It's time to declare mussel extinct, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says The turgid-blossom pearly mussel -- a shiny yellow-green mollusk less than 1. 6 inches in length -- has been on the endangered species list since 1976.... "One of the things that we say as biologists is that these are kind of like canaries in a coal mine," Christian said. "They are an indicator that environmental conditions aren't good, and that may be an indicator of water quality." ... Yet another bivalve in a coal mine. That mine's getting full of canaries. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 29, 2008 from WLUC (MI): Cute, cuddly and endangered And it's because of low survival rates and poaching that Siberian tigers are nearly extinct in the wild. "All tigers, no matter what subspecies it is, will be extinct by 2015," said Cramer. "The Siberian tiger is the most endangered of any of the large carnivores in the world," DeYoung said. "They claim over in Russia, there's only 200 left on the Russia-China border." ... Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! ApocaDoc permalink Fri, Jul 11, 2008 from New Scientist: Corals join frogs and toads as world's most endangered "Within one generation, diving on coral reefs could be a very rare holiday opportunity. The first comprehensive review of tropical coral species reveals that over one-quarter reef-building coral species already face extinction. This means corals join frogs and toads as the most threatened group of animal species on the planet." ... Can't you just see their little tentacles reaching up, pleading for our help? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 10, 2008 from San Francisco Chronicle: U.S. proposes to put smelt on endangered list "The delta smelt, a tiny but important fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, could officially become "endangered" under a proposal announced Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Smelt are an indicator of the delta's health, and nearly 750,000 acres of farmland and 25 million people from the Bay Area to Central and Southern California rely on water from the delta." ... Our new canary in the coal mine: the smelt in the delta! ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jul 6, 2008 from Guardian (UK): Wildlife extinction rates 'seriously underestimated' Endangered species may become extinct 100 times faster than previously thought, scientists warned today, in a bleak re-assessment of the threat to global biodiversity. Writing in the journal Nature, leading ecologists claim that methods used to predict when species will die out are seriously flawed, and dramatically underestimate the speed at which some plants and animals will be wiped out.... "Some species could have months instead of years left, while other species that haven't even been identified as under threat yet should be listed as endangered," said Melbourne. ... Why do we never see headlines that read human impact seriously overestimated? ApocaDoc permalink Sun, Jul 6, 2008 from The National (United Arab Emirates): Gazelles: Changing with the winds It was not that long ago that gazelles outnumbered people in the vast deserts of the Arabian peninsula. Now, with the rapid modernisation in the UAE having had a profound effect on local flora and fauna, the Arabian gazelle is estimated to have a global population of less than 20,000 and the sand gazelle has been placed on the list of endangered species.... One of only a handful of mammals whose biological adaptations allow them to survive in the harsh desert climate, gazelles have a similar method of water conservation to that of the camel and both species can live without surface water for significant amounts of time without suffering dehydration. ... You mean to tell me deserts have ecosystems? ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Jul 3, 2008 from Great Ape Trust: Orangutans 'declining more sharply' than previously estimated Endangered wild orangutan (Pongo spp.) populations are declining more sharply in Sumatra and Borneo than previously estimated, according to new findings published this month by Great Ape Trust of Iowa scientist Dr. Serge Wich and other orangutan conservation experts in Oryx – The International Journal of Conservation. Conservation action essential to survival of orangutans, found only on the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, must be region-specific to address the different ecological threats to each species, said Wich and his co-authors, a pre-eminent group of scientists, conservationists, and representatives of governmental and non-governmental groups. The experts' revised estimates put the number of Sumatran orangutans (P. abelii) around 6,600 in 2004. This is lower than previous estimates of 7,501 as a result of new findings that indicate that a large area in Aceh that was previously thought to contain orangutans actually does not. ... In the Primate Death Match, humans are kicking ass -- though we may be sustaining mortal wounds in the process. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jul 1, 2008 from World Wildlife Fund, via EurekAlert: Traditional medicine in Cambodia and Vietnam endangering rare flora and fauna Two reports from TRAFFIC, the world's largest wildlife trade monitoring network, on traditional medicine systems in Cambodia and Vietnam suggest that illegal wildlife trade, including entire tiger skeletons, and unsustainable harvesting is depleting the region's rich and varied biodiversity and putting the primary healthcare resource of millions at risk.... "In Vietnam, we estimate between 5-10 tiger skeletons are sold annually to be used in traditional medicine. With each skeleton fetching approximately $20,000, there is a strong incentive to poach and trade tigers that we must address from the grassroots up." ... Apocaiku: that skeleton price is the start of "Peak Tiger" the last one: priceless. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 30, 2008 from Afriquenligne (France): Namibian govt to auction eight live black rhino The Namibian government said Monday it would auction eight live black rhinos to foreign buyers and hundreds of other wildlife to raise funds for conservation purposes.... Government also said it would auction 40 disease-free buffalo to foreign buyers... [as well as] 16 sable from the Etosha national park and 21 giraffe from the Waterberg Plateau park. ... We're selling the species to save them. ApocaDoc permalink Wed, Jun 18, 2008 from Times Online (UK): Poachers kill last four wild northern white rhinos The last four northern white rhinoceros remaining in the wild are feared to have been killed for their horns by poachers and are now believed to be extinct in the wild. Only a few are left in captivity but they are difficult to breed and the number is so low that the species is regarded as biologically unviable. ... Dead rhinos walking. ApocaDoc permalink Tue, Jun 17, 2008 from CTV (Canada): Supermarkets contribute to failing fisheries by selling 'Red List' North American supermarkets can be blamed for contributing to the looming global fisheries collapse, according to a report authored by Greenpeace.... "As key players in the seafood supply chain, retailers have an important role to play in ensuring their customers only have one seafood choice: fair and sustainable products," says the report. ... Hey, there's a market for this stuff! ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Jun 16, 2008 from Brownsville Herald (TX): Police investigate sale of tigers in Wal-Mart parking lot Police and federal authorities are investigating the sale of six Bengal tiger cubs in a Wal-Mart parking lot Sunday afternoon. The animals appear to have been bound for Mexico and neither the buyer nor seller had the permits needed to legally transport the endangered species across national borders, a federal agent said.... There are about 2,000 Bengal tigers living in the wild. ... Where else can you get a tiger cub for the low low price of $900? ApocaDoc permalink Mon, May 26, 2008 from The Australian: Tasmanian devils now on endangered list "The decision to upgrade the Tasmanian devil's status from vulnerable to endangered at the state level follows the failure to stem the spread of the deadly facial tumour disease. ... "Vulnerable" just didn't seem macho enough for the little devils. ApocaDoc permalink Thu, Apr 24, 2008 from Wildlife Conservation Society, via Science Daily: Rare Musk Ox May Be Threatened By Climate Change "Musk ox are a throwback to our Pleistocene heritage and once shared the landscape with mammoths, wild horses, and sabered cats," said the study's leader Dr. Joel Berger, a Wildlife Conservation Society scientist and professor at the University of Montana. "They may also help scientists understand how arctic species can or cannot adapt to climate change." Once found in Europe and Northern Asia, today musk ox are restricted to Arctic regions in North America and Greenland although they have been introduced into Russia and northern Europe. They have been reintroduced in Alaska after being wiped out in the late 19th century. Currently they found in two national parks: Alaska's Bering Land Bridge National Park and Cape Krusenstem National Monument. ... I'm surprised "Musk Ox Bill" didn't wipe them out for their tongues, long ago. Too cold, I guess. ApocaDoc permalink Mon, Mar 24, 2008 from Guardian (UK): US authority failing to list endangered species Conservation groups claim that Bush appointees have been deliberately making it harder to designate animals and plants as endangered, and have launched a series of lawsuits. Administration officials admit that there are about 280 species waiting to be added to the list....   The Washington Post yesterday published internal documents from the interior department showing that officials have frequently overruled recommendations from scientists. The lack of recent designations could be motivated by various interests such as a desire not to see oil exploration or housing development shackled by a need to protect habitats that are home to threatened species. ... Heckuva job, Dirk. ApocaDoc permalink Copyright 2009 The Apocadocs.com