endangered species

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Scientists Urge French to Cut Down on Frog Legs

French taste for the delicacy was called out by 557 experts as overconsumption

(Newser) - Hundreds of concerned scientists are asking French President Emmanuel Macron to put the brakes on a very French custom: eating frog legs. The open letter , signed by 557 research, veterinary, and conservation professionals, notes that the European Union isn't exactly practicing what it preaches in how native frogs are...

Half of Migratory Species Are in Trouble: UN

New report has bad news for critters who roam the planet to feed, breed

(Newser) - Nearly half of the world's migratory species are in decline, according to a new United Nations report released Monday. Many songbirds, sea turtles, whales, sharks, and other migratory animals move to different environments with changing seasons and are imperiled by habitat loss, illegal hunting and fishing, pollution, and climate...

A Unique Love Story Has Ended
A Unique
Zoo Love Story
Has Ended

A Unique Zoo Love Story Has Ended

Walnut, a white-naped crane who attacked potential mates but bonded with her keeper, has died

(Newser) - One of the great interspecies love stories of our time has come to an end. Walnut, a white-naped crane and internet celebrity, has passed away at age 42, reports the AP . She is survived by eight chicks, the loving staff at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute,...

For This Nearly Extinct Rhino, a Chance to Bounce Back

Successful embryo transfer into southern white rhino could bode well for northern white rhinos

(Newser) - A rhinoceros was impregnated through embryo transfer in the first successful use of a method that conservationists said might later make it possible to save the nearly extinct northern white rhino. In testing with another subspecies, the researchers created a southern white rhino embryo in a lab from an egg...

A Fifth of Freshwater Fish Are in Big Trouble

Climate change adds to threats endangering thousands of species, researchers say

(Newser) - This has been a terrible year for the world's freshwater fish and a lot of work needs to be done to stop thousands of species from hurtling toward extinction in 2024, researchers say. The International Union for Conservation of Nature says that about 21% of freshwater fish—3,086...

US Wildlife Experts Play Dating Game With Rare Wolf

Wildlife officials pick up wandering female gray wolf, will try to mate her with one of two brothers

(Newser) - A match made in the wilds of New Mexico? An endangered Mexican wolf captured last weekend after wandering hundreds of miles from Arizona to New Mexico is now being readied for a dating game of sorts as part of federal reintroduction efforts. But as the AP reports, only time will...

'Cats Eat a Lot More Than We Thought'
'Cats Eat a Lot More
Than We Thought'
NEW STUDY

'Cats Eat a Lot More Than We Thought'

Hundreds of endangered species are on the menu for free-roaming cats, researchers say

(Newser) - Cats are far from finicky eaters when it comes to wildlife, researchers say. According to a study published in Nature , cats are "indiscriminate predators and eat essentially any type of animal that they can capture at some life stage or can scavenge." Researchers say cats worldwide—feral cats...

Interpol's Animal Trafficking Crackdown Sees Big Results

Operation Thunder sees primates, big cats, ivory, rhino horns, and more confiscated in 133 countries

(Newser) - Interpol and the World Customs Organization said Tuesday they seized 53 primates, four big cats, and more than 1,300 birds, as well as some 660 pounds of ivory, thousands of turtle eggs, and rhino horns, leopard skins, and lion teeth and paws in their sweeping annual crackdown on wildlife...

Ecologists Want People to 'Adopt' These 'Water Monsters'

Mexican researchers launch fundraiser to bolster conservation for endangered axolotl

(Newser) - Ecologists from Mexico's National Autonomous University last week relaunched a fundraising campaign to bolster conservation efforts for axolotls, an iconic, endangered fishlike type of salamander. The campaign, called "Adoptaxolotl," asks people for as little as 600 pesos (about $35) to virtually adopt one of the tiny "...

Not Seen for 80 Years, This Little Guy Reappears

De Winton's golden mole was presumed extinct

(Newser) - Researchers in South Africa say they have rediscovered a species of mole with an iridescent golden coat and the ability to almost "swim" through sand dunes after it hadn't been seen for more than 80 years and was thought to be extinct. The De Winton's golden mole—...

This Little Guy Is Big News for Endangered Species

There's a new calf for the population of Sumatran rhinos, which number fewer than 50

(Newser) - A critically endangered Sumatran rhino was born in Indonesia's western island of Sumatra over the weekend, reports the AP , the second Sumatran rhino born in the country this year and a welcome addition to a species that currently numbers fewer than 50 animals. A female named Delilah gave birth...

Cyclops Mountains Expedition Makes Amazing Finds

Team captured first images of a platypus relative long feared extinct

(Newser) - The Cyclops Mountains in a remote part of Indonesia are not an easy place to explore—but braving the rugged terrain—and leeches that drop from trees—was worth it, expedition members say. An expedition led by Oxford University researchers found dozen of creatures new to science and one that...

One of Our Biggest Mammals Finally Gets a Sanctuary

Caribbean island of Dominica preserves about 300 square miles for nearly 3 dozen whale families

(Newser) - The tiny Caribbean island of Dominica is creating the world's first marine-protected area for one of Earth's largest animals: the endangered sperm whale. Nearly 300 square miles of royal blue waters on the western side of the island nation that serve as key nursing and feeding grounds will...

The Scottish Wildcat Is Now ... Basically Just a Cat

Over the last 7 decades, it has mated with domestic cats to the point of pushing it to extinction

(Newser) - For millennia, the Scottish wildcat prowled Great Britain, stalking prey and ignoring humans and its domesticated cousins alike. But as a study in Current Biology reports, that all changed in the 1950s and '60s, when disease killed off much of the rabbit population the wildcats depended on for food...

400 Elephants Dropped Dead. Now, a 'Very Worrying' Find
400 Elephants Dropped Dead.
Now, a 'Very Worrying' Find
in case you missed it

400 Elephants Dropped Dead. Now, a 'Very Worrying' Find

In a first, researchers link 'Pasteurella' Bisgaard taxon 45 to blood poisoning

(Newser) - Experts believe they've gotten to the bottom of a "conservation disaster" that killed hundreds of endangered African savanna elephants across Botswana and Zimbabwe, and the explanation isn't likely to soothe those hoping to save the beautiful beasts. Nearly 400 elephants of all ages were found dead in...

21 Species Off Endangered List—Because They're Extinct

US Fish and Wildlife Service pulls 10 bird species, 8 types of mussels, 2 fish, 1 fruit bat

(Newser) - Twenty-one animals have been removed from the Endangered Species Act because, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service, they're not endangered—they're extinct. The majority of the species—10 types of birds, eight types of mussels, two species of fish, and one type of bat—were listed...

Recently Discovered Whale Poses Threat to Oil Drilling

Endangered Rice's whale is at the heart of Gulf of Mexico dispute

(Newser) - A newly discovered (and uniquely American) whale may disrupt the business of oil drilling off the Gulf of Mexico. But despite the critically endangered status of the "Rice's whale," Big Oil is fighting to keep its lease active in those lucrative waters, the Washington Post reports. Rice'...

Things Are Looking Up for America's Hellbenders

Federal judge's ruling is a 'great victory' for country's biggest salamander species

(Newser) - America's largest salamander has disappeared from much of its historic range in the eastern US, but things are starting to look up for the hellbender. A federal judge has overturned a 2019 US Fish and Wildlife Service ruling that the hellbender doesn't warrant protection under the Endangered Species...

Conservation Group Is Freeing 2K Rhinos

African Parks has acquired South African farm that housed private breeding operation

(Newser) - When a South African farm home to a herd of around 2,000 white rhinos went up for auction earlier this year, there were fears the animals could end up with a buyer that didn't have their best interests at heart. Instead, there were no bids at all, but...

Pair Accused of Trafficking Sea Cucumbers Could Get 25 Years

Zunyu Zhao, Xionwei Xiao plead guilty to illegal importation of endangered species worth $10K

(Newser) - Wildlife traffickers pleaded guilty this week in federal court in California to illegally importing endangered sea cucumbers—which are prized in China for food and medicine and as a reputed aphrodisiac—from Mexico. Zunyu Zhao and Xionwei Xiao were charged with conspiracy and illegal importation of brown sea cucumbers worth...

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