endangered species

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Australia Wants to Kill 2M Cats

The feral version, and only to save many other endangered species

(Newser) - Australia is trying to save the mountain pygmy-possum, the brush-tailed rabbit-rat, and nearly 40 other mammal and bird species, but to do so, it wants to exterminate about 2 million cats—the feral variety. Feral cats are in the Aussie government's sights under its "Threatened Species Strategy,"...

Mass Extinction Underway, Will Kill Off Humans: Report

Current extinction rate is shocking, scientists say

(Newser) - Feeling upbeat? Enough of that: Planet Earth is undergoing a sixth mass extinction that will likely annihilate the human race unless we can curb the trend, scientists say. According to a new paper , the current rate of species extinction outpaces the natural rate far more than anyone knew, NBC News...

Sexed-Up 'Bachelor' Birds Could Save Their Species

Single male hihi birds can cut down inbreeding, ensure genetic diversity

(Newser) - Is the male hihi bird native to the Jersey Shore? Because, like The Situation and Pauly D, the single male birds in this endangered species (they're actually only found in New Zealand) are decidedly boorish, creeping for already taken ladies to mate with. But this actually might save the...

Jane Goodall May Have Just Ended Experiments on Chimps

US rules give more protection to those in captivity

(Newser) - The US is alone in conducting medical experiments on chimps, but a move yesterday by federal officials may end the practice, reports the Washington Post . The US Fish and Wildlife Service declared that all chimps are now endangered. Previously it made a distinction between those in the wild, which have...

Turkey Baster May Save Rare Turtle From the Brink

Scientists hope artificial insemination works for endangered Yangtze turtle

(Newser) - Scientists racing to save the Yangtze giant softshell turtle from extinction may have just taken a big step toward their goal. Just four of the freshwater turtles are known to exist—and only one of them, discovered in 2007, is female. After years of failed breeding with her 100-year-old male...

Mass Antelope Die-off Baffles Scientists

Saiga antelope numbers halved in the space of weeks

(Newser) - After many thousands of years roaming much of central Asia, the saiga antelope has had a terrible couple of decades—and a devastating few weeks. A mysterious illness that causes severe diarrhea and breathing difficulties has wiped out what could be up to half of the remaining population of the...

World's Smallest Dolphin Could Vanish in 15 Years

Researchers call new study a 'loud wake-up call'

(Newser) - The world's smallest dolphin, found only off the coast of New Zealand, could disappear within 15 years unless efforts are taken to bring the critically endangered animal back from the brink of extinction. In what they deem a "loud wake-up call," researchers at German conservation group NABU...

After Paying $350K, Texan Kills Black Rhino

It was 'an emotional thing,' Corey Knowlton says

(Newser) - The "kill a rhino" stage of the Dallas Safari Club's " kill a rhino to save the rhinos " plan is now complete. Corey Knowlton, the Texas hunter who bid $350,000 for a permit to bag a black rhino in Namibia, killed one on Monday. He was...

Meet the Loneliest Guy in the World

Watched by armed guards, Sudan is the last male northern white rhino

(Newser) - If you think your Friday nights are boring, we present you with Sudan, the last male northern white rhino and one of only five of their kind left on planet Earth. At age 42 or 43, he's getting on in years (he's estimated to have about 10 years...

Feds: Most Humpbacks No Longer Endangered

NOAA wants to split species into 14 groups

(Newser) - NOAA says it's a whale of a success story: Most of the world's humpback whale populations, including all those that enter US waters, are no longer endangered, according to the agency. NOAA, which says 45 years of protection have helped whale populations rebound, wants to reclassify the...

Roar! World's Rarest Cat Makes a Comeback

Amur leopard has doubled its numbers, but there are still only about 65-69

(Newser) - It's what the WWF is hailing as an "amazing tale of recovery," but the numbers involved are still pretty small: The Amur leopard, dubbed the rarest cat on planet Earth, has doubled its numbers over the past seven years, but as Phys.org reports, there are now...

Utah Hunter Kills Famed 'Grand Canyon' Gray Wolf

Hunter said he thought endangered gray wolf was a coyote

(Newser) - Hundred of miles from its Wyoming home, "914F" wandered to the rocky North Rim of the Grand Canyon last fall—the first gray wolf spotted there in 70 years, the Arizona Republic notes—before heading into Utah, likely searching for food or a mate. But in December, the wolf'...

Government Spending Millions to Save This Butterfly

Monarch population has dropped by 970M in just 2 decades

(Newser) - Just two decades ago, there were about a billion monarch butterflies ; today, there are only some 30 million of the creatures that Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota calls "the most iconic butterfly in North America." The trouble starts when the butterflies are caterpillars whose only food is milkweed,...

China Cops Busted Feasting on Giant Salamander

Endangered species on the menu at gathering of officials

(Newser) - A group of police officers in southern China lived up to negative stereotypes about both their country and their profession by allegedly dining on a critically endangered animal and beating up journalists who sneaked into the restaurant. According to local media in Shenzhen, senior public security officials were at a...

Rare Tiger Devours Own Cubs at Zoo

Hana seemed to be taking good care of her 2 little ones, Jerusalem zoo officials say

(Newser) - Everything had been going so well, staff at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo claim. Hana, a rare Sumatran tiger, had given birth to three cubs on Nov. 17, and though one hadn't made it long past the birth, the other two seemed to be thriving and bonding with their mother,...

1 of Last 6 Northern White Rhinos Dies

San Diego Zoo's Angalifu leaves no heirs

(Newser) - The number of northern white rhinos left on the planet can now be counted on one hand. Angalifu, one of the last six members of the species remaining and one of only two males, died yesterday at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, apparently of old age, the San Diego ...

Orca Found Dead, Then Story Worsens

Endangered creature was pregnant, had teeth sawed out

(Newser) - That an endangered orca was found dead on the eastern side of Vancouver Island Thursday was itself gloomy news: Named J-32 and nicknamed Rhapsody, it was part of a population that had only 78 members, and thought to be one of only 18 able to reproduce. But the completed necropsy...

Giraffes Are Silently Disappearing

Group says numbers have dropped 40% in 15 years

(Newser) - It's apparently time to start worrying about giraffes. While they don't get the attention of elephants or other high-profile animals on the brink, new numbers from a conservation group show a startling decline: The world had 140,000 giraffes in 1999, and it has 80,000 today. “...

Scientists May Have Saved Continent's Rarest Mammal

Black-footed ferret is making a comeback

(Newser) - The black-footed ferret is the rarest mammal on the continent, but conservation efforts are making strides in preventing it from disappearing altogether. That's what people thought had happened 35 years ago, when the animal was declared extinct—for the second time. But after a dog found a black-footed ferret...

70-Year First? Gray Wolf Spotted in Grand Canyon

Conservationists trying to confirm multiple sightings

(Newser) - There's a new visitor roaming the Grand Canyon National Park's North Rim, and it's not exactly the fanny-pack-wearing/Nikon-toting variety: As National Geographic reports, wildlife officials are scrambling to confirm multiple sightings of a "wolf-like animal" that's believed to be a gray wolf—if it is,...

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