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Endangered Animal Species

lordmongrove

Justified & Ancient
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Wildlife Extra is now part of the Petside Family.

To help educate people about the crucial role that nature and particularly animals have in our lives, Wildlife Extra—once a leading magazine devoted to wildlife and conservation news—provided completely free access to the latest information on animals and their habitats. By sharing important news and information about animals, the goal was to make it easy for everyone to learn about the natural world and how they can help protect it. Aside from wildlife, Wildlife Extra was also interested in the various ways people can improve the quality of life of domesticated animals, including pets such as fish, birds and reptiles. After all, all animals, and particularly pets, enrich our lives in many ways so it’s only fair to want to give back.


http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/th ... 00.html#cr
 
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Skirting the edges of strict cryptozoology; but threads seem to be permitted here, about species which are under threat, but indubitably still exist “at the time of writing”. A tale about a most beguiling creature, totally new to me. In part, initially attracted by the wondrously bizarre heading to the thread on the site where I found it (see below).

Quoting from the original post (dated 21 / 9 / 2013) of the immediately-above-referred-to:


“The Pygmy Three-toed Sloth (Bradypus pygmaeus) lives only on tiny Escudo de Veraguas island off the Caribbean coast of Panama. There may be only a few hundred of these animals, about two-thirds the size of a regular sloth, on this 1,000 acre island. The island is nearly uninhabited except for a few indigenous families who live there seasonally.

Last week a team working for the Dallas World Aquarium, a private zoo owned by a Texas billionaire, captured 8 sloths on the island and attempted to fly 6 of them to the US from the local airport at Bocas del Toro town. (The others were destined for another private zoo in Panama.) The excuse was that they intended to establish a “contingency population” just in case anything happened to the sloths on the island. However, three-toed sloths survive very poorly in captivity and have never bred there. While there are sometimes good reasons to establish captive populations, they need to be done as part of a species management plan. This group was going forward in great secrecy, without consulting other scientists who had been studying the sloths on the island for years. They had obtained official permits from Panama’s natural resources agency, ANAM, but no-one can explain how or why they were granted.

The people of Bocas town heard that the sloths were being kept at a hotel in town and started asking questions. When the DWA team tried to load them on the billionaire’s private jet, a near riot broke out. The crowd prevented the plane from taking off. The sloths were eventually taken off and returned to their island home.

Although they are safe for now, everyone expects these guys to make another try.”


If more info about this matter, wished for: unfortunately I’m a complete dunce about posting links, so can only give the following, cumbersome I’m afraid, directions.

Log on to www.straightdope.com/

Click on “Message Boards”.

When there, click on the tenth option down, “Mundane Pointless Stuff I must Share (MPSIMS)” -- I’m serious, that’s what the sub-forum is called.

When there, scroll down to (highly informative) thread “Plot to kidnap Panamanian Pygmy Sloths foiled (for now) “.
 
You wouldn't believe it would you. I must admit to have heard of these little creatures somewhere before.

As per the article there doesn't appear to be any reason to relocate these things away from there, especially if captive breeding is extremely dubious.

Really their Island sounds like the best place for them.

http://simbania.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/sloth.jpg

As an aside I do remember hearing that one of the Caribbean Islands, I think it was Cuba, was home to a ground sloth about the size of a domestic cat. Surely we could have kept that.

Another weird, to me anyway, sloth fact is that some of the famous giant ground sloths were in fact semi aquatic.
 
oldrover said:
You wouldn't believe it would you. I must admit to have heard of these little creatures somewhere before.

As per the article there doesn't appear to be any reason to relocate these things away from there, especially if captive breeding is extremely dubious.

Really their Island sounds like the best place for them.

http://simbania.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/sloth.jpg

As an aside I do remember hearing that one of the Caribbean Islands, I think it was Cuba, was home to a ground sloth about the size of a domestic cat. Surely we could have kept that.

Another weird, to me anyway, sloth fact is that some of the famous giant ground sloths were in fact semi aquatic.
Thanks for link to gorgeous pic of baby sloth.

With Cuba trying these days to survive chiefly on tourism, now that their sugar industry is kaputt -- damn ! If only they still had that ground sloth, the visitors would come flocking in. (I gather that you can still meet a solenodon there, if you're extremely lucky.)
 
Thanks for link to gorgeous pic of baby sloth.

Now you see after the discussion we're having on the squirrel thread I worry when you say that. It makes me think you're holding two pieces of bread.
 
Well -- perhaps it is as well that the Romans never discovered the Americas...
 
Giant 240lb lake sturgeon caught in Detroit River

estimated to be more than 100 years old, almost 7ft long.

The large aquatic creature was caught using frozen round goby, small, soft-bodied fish that serve as tasty snacks for sturgeon, as bait, on a long line reaching deep into the Detroit River. It took about six minutes for the crew of fishing biologists to get the large fish into their boat, using a net.

“I felt the fish thumping on the line. As it got closer, it just got bigger and bigger,” said Jason Fischer, who was with fellow biologists Paige Wigren and Jennifer Johnson.

The agency said it quickly released the fish back into the river after it was weighed and measured.

Lake sturgeon, a threatened species in Michigan and 18 other states, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service, are freshwater fish that are known to inhabit the bottoms of lakes, river basins and drainages including the Hudson Bay, the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Over-harvesting and habitat loss from dam construction are known reasons for the fish’s decline.

While the typical lifespan is 55 years for a male sturgeon and 70 to 100 years for females, according to the Michigan department of natural resources, the gargantuan Detroit River sturgeon, a female, is believed to have lived even longer.

1620392414768.png
 

Most endangered cat in Americas found living on outskirts of Chilean capital

Teetering over an arid cliff face above the sprawling Chilean capital, Bernardo Segura reviews the footage from the camera trap and lets out a yell of excitement as the images reveal a flickering striped tail.

On the screen displaying the conservationist’s latest video capture is an Andean cat – the most endangered feline in the Americas. Looking a little like a miniature snow leopard, the 4kg (9lb) male enters the frame and begins spray-marking the shrubs at the base of the cliff, before stealing away through sharp rocks with his banded brown and grey tail aloft.

Segura is excited for many reasons. With a shrinking population of fewer than 1,400 mature Andean cats left, any sighting is good. But this one heralds a signal of hope in a different way for the species and the conservationists battling against the cats’ extinction because it confirms a new population living close to humans – on the very edge of Santiago, a city of eight million people.
“We have never found a population so close to a large city before,” says Segura. “This changes what we know about Andean cats and may offer some solutions to how to protect this and other species in the wider mountain ecosystem, which is highly under-studied. Finding one of the most elusive animals in the world just outside Santiago strikingly illustrates this.”

Until now, Andean cats were believed to live only in extremely remote rocky terrain far from cities. But after seeing high numbers of the cats’ favourite prey – rodents from the chinchilla family called mountain vizcachas – around the popular Parque Mahuida nature reserve on the edge of Santiago, Segura trusted a hunch and in February placed camera traps on a terraced precipice above the neighbourhood of La Reina, about 2.5km, or 1.5 miles, from Santiago. In July, he had his first images of an Andean cat. Since then, his camera has taken about 40 more.

Until now, Andean cats were believed to live only in extremely remote rocky terrain far from cities. But after seeing high numbers of the cats’ favourite prey – rodents from the chinchilla family called mountain vizcachas – around the popular Parque Mahuida nature reserve on the edge of Santiago, Segura trusted a hunch and in February placed camera traps on a terraced precipice above the neighbourhood of La Reina, about 2.5km, or 1.5 miles, from Santiago. In July, he had his first images of an Andean cat. Since then, his camera has taken about 40 more.
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Tiny Gecko has big defenders.

Dressed in camouflage and combats and with self-defence training under their belts, the Union Island wardens look prepped for battle.

They are in fact on a mission to protect one of the world's tiniest species - one so rare it exists in just 50 hectares (123 acres) in a remote corner of one of the smallest islands in the Caribbean.

The Union Island gecko is the size of a paperclip, critically endangered and facing an insidious enemy - poachers.

Following its official discovery in 2005, the unique creature quickly became a coveted curio by collectors enthralled by its gem-like markings, earning it the dubious distinction of the most trafficked reptile in the Eastern Caribbean.


Close-up of a Union Island gecko
IMAGE SOURCE, FFI/J BOCK Image caption, The tiny Union Island gecko is threatened by poachers, but wardens are on patrol to protect it

That is at least until Union islanders got involved. Since 2017, local residents trained as wardens have been patrolling the dense virgin forest of this location in St Vincent and the Grenadines, on call 24/7 in the event of an intruder.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-64026176
 
Frog as big as a cat?!

The mission to save the biggest frog on earth​

    • Published
      12 hours ago
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Cedric Fogwan holding goliath frog
IMAGE SOURCE, JEANNE D'ARC PETNGA. Image caption, Cedric Fogwan holds aloft one of the record-breaking goliath frogs
By Helen Briggs
Environment correspondent

When Cedrick Fogwan had his first encounter with the goliath frog he was impressed by its mighty proportions.

Growing to the size of a cat, it's the world's largest living frog. Almost like holding a (human) baby, he says, having handled one in a rescue mission. The Cameroonian conservationist was so captivated he set up a project to fight for the future of the endangered species.

"When I found this species was unique - the biggest one in the world - I said this is something that we cannot easily find elsewhere and I was proud of it," he says. "People in the area say they are blessed to have something like that; they attach to it a cultural value."

For decades, the goliath frog has been over-hunted for food and the pet trade in Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea. Its habitat beside rivers and streams is fast being destroyed and the frog is now classified as endangered on the official extinction Red List. The frog is little-known to science and even in Cameroon many local people are unaware of its value to the ecosystem, such as preying on the insects that damage crops. ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-64745722
 
France's favourite food. Coming to a table near you.
 

The Polar Wildlife Report 2022

Key Findings

• There were no reports in 2022 that would suggest polar wildlife is suffering as a result of reduced sea-ice extent; in both the Arctic and Antarctic, less summer sea ice and increased primary productivity over the last two decades has meant more food for all animals, which explains in part why polar wildlife has been thriving.

• Arctic sea ice in summer has declined since 1979, but has had an overall flat trend since 2007; coverage was again well below average in the Barents and Chukchi Seas in 2022, where continued high primary productivity has provided abundant food resources for wildlife; winter ice coverage in 2022 was slightly lower than 2020 but overall has shown a relatively flat trend since 2011.

Ice-dependent polar bears worldwide probably now number about 32,000, with a wide range of potential error; a survey of Western Hudson Bay polar bears in 2021 generated a population decline of 27% since 2016, but this did not correlate with lack of sea ice. A genetically-distinct subpopulation of polar bears was discovered thriving in SE Greenland, and western Barents Sea bears (Norway) are still doing well despite the most profound summer sea-ice loss of all Arctic regions.

• Atlantic walrus numbers are still low, but recovering in the Barents Sea and eastern North America. A new population estimate of Pacific walrus in 2019 reveals more than 200,000 exist in the Chukchi/Bering Sea area. More killer whales were reported visiting the Eastern Canadian Arctic, and in Alaska and the Western Canadian Arctic, bowhead whales are thriving.

Antarctic sea ice extent has barely changed since 1979: vital winter ice has slightly increased overall while summer ice has slightly declined (with its lowest extent in December 2022), all while overall primary productivity has increased. A new sea ice predictive model acknowledges previous flaws and does not predict a future decline until 2050 at the earliest.

• Krill are crucial prey for many species of wildlife (especially huge numbers of great whales and penguins) that live or feed in the Southern Ocean. Future intensification of commercial fishing of krill (largely to feed farmed fish) is likely the largest conservation threat to local wildlife, given recent geopolitical tensions over effective fisheries management.

Numbers of fin, blue, humpback, and southern right whales feeding in Antarctic waters in summer have increased in recent years, and while minke whale numbers appear to have declined, an estimated 500,000 individuals still frequent the region.

• Killer whales (orcas) are the top predator in the Southern Ocean and most populations appear to be thriving. The IUCN lists all ice-dependent seals in Antarctica as ‘least concern’.

• Several albatross and large petrel species are considered ‘vulnerable’ by the IUCN due to deadly interactions with long-line trawlers fishing for Antarctic toothfish (Patagonian sea bass), while over-fishing of this cod-like species and the herring-like Antarctic silverfish is also a concern.

• Emperor penguins, the largest and most ice-dependent penguin species, were classified as ‘Threatened’ on the US Endangered Species List in 2022 but remain ‘Near Threatened’ according to the IUCN Red List because of the large size of their breeding population and the acknowledged uncertainty of future sea-ice predictions.

The Polar Wildlife Report 2022 (pdf)

https://www.thegwpf.org/publications/the-polar-wildlife-report/

maximus otter
 
Saving Canis rufus).

In a turning point for a long-running conservation dispute, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has agreed to continue to release captive-bred red wolves (Canis rufus) to boost the world’s only remaining wild population of this endangered species. The court settlement, announced yesterday, stems from a lawsuit from conservation groups that objected to FWS’s decision in 2015 to stop releasing red wolves into a 688,000-hectare recovery area in North Carolina.

The settlement provides “a durable solution and an enduring commitment to wild red wolf conservation,” according to a statement by Ben Prater, southeast program director at Defenders of Wildlife, one of the groups that sued FWS. Adrian Treves, a conservation ecologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is not involved, calls the agreement “a good step,” but he says it doesn’t adequately protect red wolves from hunters and traffic.

Although the species once lived in most of the southeastern United States, hunting and habitat loss caused a massive decline. By 1972 only a handful of wolves remained in Texas and Louisiana. FWS trapped all of them and established an experimental recovery population in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on a North Carolina peninsula in 1987. Decades of captive breeding and release boosted the population to a peak of 100 to 120 animals in 2012.

https://www.science.org/content/art...ed-conservation-efforts-endangered-red-wolves
 

Water voles brought back to the Lake District

More than 200 captive-bred water voles have been released at a secret location close to Haweswater, as part of an attempt to create a thriving population of the endangered species in Cumbria.

Conservationists and volunteers carried the semi-aquatic mammals to their new home in temporary soft-release pens, to allow them a few days to acclimatise.

Although, 10 of the older ones were freed directly into the water.

Nearly wiped out in recent decades, the species was widespread across the UK.
This reintroduction is the first in the Lake District.

This release is the culmination of more than two years of work restoring a river valley in the Haweswater Reserve, which is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and United Utilities.

According to the charity, in the past century the UK has seen an estimated water-vole population of eight million drop to about 132,000, as the species disappeared from 94% of the sites it had occupied.

One of the key projects in Haweswater has been controlling the population of American mink, first brought to Britain in the 1920s for fur farms.

The water vole's defences, diving beneath the water and kicking up a screen of dirt or hiding in their burrows, were insufficient. A female mink can fit into water-vole burrows and wipe out entire colonies and populations along waterways.

RSPB conservation scientist Dr Ashely Lyons said the water vole had become a "missing piece" of this landscape.

"Through their burrows, they dig up the soil and bring nutrients to the surface, which helps vegetation," she said.

"They also nibble plants, leaving room for other plants to come through. And they're an important part of the food chain. It's fabulous to see them back here.”

The project, a partnership between the Eden Rivers Trust, Cumbria Connect and the Environment Agency, will see a total of about 350 voles released at two locations.
 
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