Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter

NEWS ABOUT: wildlife

wildlife stories: 63 news summaries

1 - 20 of 63 Stories | 1 2 3 4 Next >>

 Calif. Buffalo Go on 
 Birth Control  

State thins Santa Catalina Island herd humanely

(Newser) - Southern California's only herd of wild buffalo has been put on birth control. A conservation authority seeking to protect unique plant life on Santa Catalina Island, where buffalo have roamed since 14 of them were shipped out for a silent film in 1925, has been corralling the animals and injecting... More »

MORE ABOUT:
contraception California conservation birth control wildlife Santa Catalina buffalo Catalina buffalo

 Feds Pitch 
 Polar Bear 
 Habitat 

Critics complain move doesn't address main threats

(Newser) - The federal government has proposed designating 200,000 square miles of land, sea, and ice in northern Alaska as a critical habitat for polar bears. The move is "one step in the right direction to help this species stave off extinction," said an Interior Department official. He acknowledged,... More »

 Hawaiian Island to Evict 
 Over-Friendly Seal 

Scientists fear monk seal pup raised by people will harm his human playmates

(Newser) - A seal pup that loves human company is facing deportation to hundreds of miles away from his Hawaiian home, the Wall Street Journal reports. Baby monk seal KP2, who often swims with people and even climbs on boogie boards, has become a much-loved local celebrity on Molokai since he showed... More »

MORE ABOUT:
wildlife NOAA Hawaii National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration seal


 Exxon Admits 
 Killing Birds, 
 Will Pay  
 $600K  

Company fined $600K over deaths of protected birds

(Newser) - Exxon has pleaded guilty in federal court and agreed to pay $600,000 in fines over the deaths of dozens of birds at its drilling and production facilities, the Los Angeles Times reports. The 85 birds, including owls, waterfowl, and hawks, died after being exposed to hydrocarbons at Exxon's natural... More »

(Newser) - The Army plans to evict more than 1,000 endangered desert tortoises to expand a tank training ground in the Mojave Desert, the Los Angeles Times reports. Conservationists warn that the last effort to shift the tortoises proved disastrous: Many were wiped out by predators, and others traveled up... More »

(Newser) - Sharpshooters with night-vision goggles have been dispatched to protect a penguin colony near Sydney, Australia, the BBC reports. The mutilated bodies of nine fairy penguins—the world's smallest penguin species at just 15 inches high—from the vulnerable colony have been found over the last two weeks. Wildlife officials have... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Australia wildlife penguin Sydney sniper

On Twitter, Palin Sings Praises of Grizzly Moms

'Mama bear doesn't
look 2 anyone else 2 hand her anything'

(Newser) - Sarah Palin Tweeted her immense respect for—or perhaps envy of—the adult female grizzly bear yesterday after meeting Alaskan biologists, Politico reports. The soon-to-be ex-governor praised “mama bears’ gutteral raw instinct to protect & provide for her young” and described the animal in action. “She sees danger?... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Alaska wildlife biologists grizzly bear animal Sarah Palin Twitter tweet mother

(Newser) - Mating season came to a speedy end for some turtles who strayed onto a runway at New York's JFK airport yesterday, the New York Post reports. After a pilot told air control he had  run over some turtles on his way to take-off, wildlife workers shut down the runway for... More »

MORE ABOUT:
JFK Airport wildlife runway airport turtle

(Newser) - Residents of a South Florida town found a surprise visitor in their pool last night: an 8-foot alligator. Someone—nobody owned up—tied the creature to a tree with an extension cord before calling for help, the Miami Herald reports. When deputies arrived, a crowd of 30 was ogling the... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Florida wildlife alligator animal reptiles

(Newser) - Darlean, a three-legged bobcat, was released into the wild southeast of Dallas yesterday along with several raccoons and families of possums, the Morning News reports. Darlean lost her back right paw in a claw trap, and subsequently learned to balance on three legs before she was captured by animal-control officers... More »

MORE ABOUT:
wildlife trapping bobcat

 Some Male, Mom 
 Baboons 'Just Friends' 

Primatologists baffled by sexless simian friendships

(Newser) - Scientists are trying to figure out why many male baboons enter into platonic friendships with single moms, the BBC reports. Researchers probing relationships within baboon tribes found that the friendships, which did not appear to involve sex in about half the instances, helped mother and offspring dodge the unwanted attentions... More »

MORE ABOUT:
wildlife monkey animal behavior primates animal baboon

Moose on the Loose Hits Saratoga Race Course

Wayward moose wanders onto ground of historic racetrack

(Newser) - Fans spotted a different kind of four-legged visitor yesterday at the Saratoga Race Course when a wayward moose wandered onto the grounds, reports the Albany Times-Union reports. Dozens of surprised onlookers—most of whom had never seen a wild moose before, let alone one on a racetrack—gathered to see... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Saratoga Race Course wildlife Saratoga New York state racetrack moose

 Poachers' 
 Poison Slays 
 Rare Elephant 

Giant male ate spiked pineapples

(Newser) - A rare Sumatran elephant died after eating pineapples spiked with poison by poachers in northwestern Indonesia, officials report. The giant 30-year-old male, its tusks ripped out for the ivory, was the ninth Sumatran elephant found dead in the region in the last three months. At least seven of them were... More »

MORE ABOUT:
crime ivory poison wildlife elephant Sumatra Sumatran elephant poachers

 Lobster 'Fiona' 
 Is 1-in 30-Million 
 Phenomenon 

Fiona is a 1-in-30-million genetic mutation

(Newser) - The one-in-30-million special at one Boston eatery isn’t on the menu. Caught off the Canadian coast, “Fiona” is believed to be a rare yellow lobster. The spotted 7-year-old (the coloring is actually closer to orange) is fed sushi-quality tuna and will eventually be sent to live at a... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Massachusetts wildlife seafood lobster crustacean yellow lobster

 Lovey-Dovey 
 Hummers 
 Faster Than 
 Jet Fighters 

Courtship dive involves G-forces that would make stunt pilots swoon

(Newser) - The courtship dive of an American species of hummingbird involves speeds that—relative to its size—outpace even fighter jets at full throttle, the Independent reports. Researchers discovered that the male Anna's hummingbird moves 383 times its body length each second as it swoops, creating G-forces strong enough to make... More »

MORE ABOUT:
fighter jet birds wildlife hummingbird

(Newser) - A third of US airports haven't completed a mandated study of their bird-strike risk, USA Today reports. "This problem has been ignored and shuffled to the side by the aviation community," said an airport wildlife-control expert. The 150 airports won't be named until the FAA has contacted each... More »

MORE ABOUT:
FAA US Airways plane crash wildlife airport airlines bird strike

Fla. Eyes Loosing Bounty Hunters on Pythons

Some 150K snakes living in Everglades

(Newser) - With pythons slithering amok in the Everglades, Florida wildlife managers are toying with the notion of employing bounty hunters to cull the population, the Miami Herald reports. “If we don't get on top of this, they're going to eradicate the indigenous species of the Everglades,” said one. Officials... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Florida snake wildlife Everglades bounty hunter burmese python pythons

(Newser) - Anchorage has long been a bear-friendly town, but with three uncharacteristic maulings last summer some residents want a more aggressive wildlife management policy this year, the AP reports. The city of 285,000 is also home to more than 300 bears and borders a national park that officials have called... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Alaska wildlife population control grizzly bear bear Anchorage bear attack

 Scots Move to 
 Save Rare 
 Wildcats 

Experts warn that only 400 of the unique predators remain

(Newser) - Scotland has launched a program to save the last of its rare Scottish wildcats, the BBC reports. Experts warn that fewer than 400 of the unique cats—endangered by persecution, habitat loss, and interbreeding with domestic cats—are believed to remain. Officials are seeking to raise awareness, encourage the neutering... More »

MORE ABOUT:
endangered species conservation Scotland wildlife wildcat cat

 Baby Gorilla 
 Stashed in 
 Smuggler's Bag 

Had been inside for 6 hours; 'is responding to treatment'

(Newser) - A live baby gorilla was found at the bottom of a smuggler’s plastic bag in the Democratic Republic of Congo after a 3-month undercover smuggling probe, MSNBC reports. The female eastern lowland gorilla, which has a street value of up to $20,000, had been in the bag for... More »

1 - 20 of 63 Stories | 1 2 3 4 Next >>