[poochee]

U.S. close to decision on polar bears
Associated Press
By Kenneth R. Weiss, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
February 3, 2008

The Bush administration is nearing a decision that would officially acknowledge the environmental damage of global warming, and name its first potential victim: the polar bear.

The Interior Department may act as soon as this week on its year-old proposal to make the polar bear the first species to be listed as threatened with extinction because of melting ice due to a warming planet.

Both sides agree that conservationists finally have the poster species they have sought to use the Endangered Species Act as a lever to force federal limits on the greenhouse gases linked to global warming, and possibly to battle smokestack industry projects far from the Arctic.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others," said Kassie Siegel, an attorney with the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity. "And then there is the polar bear."

Even Frank Luntz, the political consultant who advised President Bush six years ago to focus on discrediting the science of global warming and refer to it as "climate change," has recognized the bear's potency. In an interview on the environmental website Grist.org, he said the public has a "soft side" for the bear.

Federal government scientists have presented increasingly compelling evidence that the top predator at the top of the world is doomed if the polar regions get warmer and sea ice continues to melt as forecast.

Excerpt from: http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-po...track=ntothtml

[lotuseclat79]

The Earth's 6th Great Mass Extinction is Occurring as You Read This
Article here.

"In one sense we know much less about Earth than we do about Mars. The vast majority of life forms on our planet are still undiscovered, and their significance for our own species remains unknown. This gap in our knowledge is a serious matter: we will never completely understand and preserve the living world around us at our present level of ignorance.

"If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos."

-- Tom

[LANMaster]

Cool link, Lotus.

I'm gonna add that to me fav's.

[poochee]

India Pledges $13 Million To Protect Endangered Tigers
March 3, 2008 11:32 p.m. EST
Nidhi Sharma - AHN News Writer

New Delhi, India (AHN) - Following pressure from international conservation groups to save the last remaining tigers in India, New Delhi plans to spend more than $13 million establishing a special ranger force to protect the wild cats. The numbers of tigers in India are on the decline mainly due to poorly armed and badly paid guards, mismanagement, corruption, rampant poaching and destruction of their habitat.

According to latest figures, there are just 1,411 tigers left in India. The number is half since 2002 census and the decline is even more worrying considering India had about 40,000 tigers a century ago.On Friday, Finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram announced a $12.5 million one-off grant, mainly to raise, arm and deploy a special Tiger Protection Force. The funding follows the previous announcement just weeks ago of a $153million program to create new tiger reserves.

Excerpt from: http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7010219808

[lotuseclat79]

Time running out for Cyprus vulture
Article here.

The majestic sight of vultures hovering over Cypriot skies may become a thing of the past if the island's fast dwindling griffon predator population is not protected from extinction.


A recent but undated handout picture shows a griffon vulture resting on the cliff tops surrounding Episkopi garrison, a British sovereign military base area. The majestic sight of vultures hovering over Cypriot skies may become a thing of the past if the island's fast dwindling griffon predator population is not protected from extinction.

-- Tom

[ekim68]

Bats Perish, and No One Knows Why

Al Hicks was standing outside an old mine in the Adirondacks, the largest bat hibernaculum, or winter resting place, in New York State.

It was broad daylight in the middle of winter, and bats flew out of the mine about one a minute. Some had fallen to the ground where they flailed around on the snow like tiny wind-broken umbrellas, using the thumbs at the top joint of their wings to gain their balance.

All would be dead by nightfall. Mr. Hicks, a mammal specialist with the state’s Environmental Conservation Department, said: “Bats don’t fly in the daytime, and bats don’t fly in the winter. Every bat you see out here is a ‘dead bat flying,’ so to speak.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/sc...hp&oref=slogin

[lotuseclat79]

I was beginning to worry that I hadn't seen the local fox yet this spring. Just saw her yesterday taking a stroll in my neighbor's yard - no doubt on her way to hunt mice/squirrels/chipmunks wherever she may find them. Ya can't mistake a fox, large bushy tail almost as long as the body.

-- Tom

[poochee]

Originally Posted by lotuseclat79

I was beginning to worry that I hadn't seen the local fox yet this spring. Just saw her yesterday taking a stroll in my neighbor's yard - no doubt on her way to hunt mice/squirrels/chipmunks wherever she may find them. Ya can't mistake a fox, large bushy tail almost as long as the body.

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Zoologists Unlock New Secrets About Frog Deaths
Article here.

One previous theory, blamed the fungus on global climate change.The scientists, however, found climate change doesn’t appear to trigger outbreaks of the fungus, but that it instead spreads in wave-like patterns often seen in exotic species and emerging infectious diseases. They call their theory the “spreading pathogen hypothesis.”


Red-eyed Tree Frog. 43 percent of known amphibian species in the world are at risk because of a fungus. (Credit: iStockphoto/Mark Kostich)

-- Tom

[poochee]

Originally Posted by lotuseclat79

Zoologists Unlock New Secrets About Frog Deaths
Article here.

One previous theory, blamed the fungus on global climate change.The scientists, however, found climate change doesn’t appear to trigger outbreaks of the fungus, but that it instead spreads in wave-like patterns often seen in exotic species and emerging infectious diseases. They call their theory the “spreading pathogen hypothesis.”


Red-eyed Tree Frog. 43 percent of known amphibian species in the world are at risk because of a fungus. (Credit: iStockphoto/Mark Kostich)

-- Tom

Interesting article.

Colorful frog.

[lotuseclat79]

Tenn. zoo breeds endangered frogs
Article here.

A new breeding program at the Memphis Zoo could nearly double the known population of an endangered frog species. Biologists estimate there are only about 100 adult Mississippi gopher frogs left in the wild, but zoo officials say they've successfully produced 94 tadpoles through in-vitro fertilization.

-- Tom

[poochee]

Originally Posted by lotuseclat79

Tenn. zoo breeds endangered frogs
Article here.

A new breeding program at the Memphis Zoo could nearly double the known population of an endangered frog species. Biologists estimate there are only about 100 adult Mississippi gopher frogs left in the wild, but zoo officials say they've successfully produced 94 tadpoles through in-vitro fertilization.

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Humans were final cause of woolly mammoth extinction
Article here.

The woolly mammoth was driven to extinction by our ancestors, after the giant creatures had been pushed to the brink by climate change, marking a milestone in the destructive effects of mankind on the Earth's ecosystems.


Mammoth found in Siberia, 1903: Humans, not climate change, were the final factor in causing woolly mammoth extinction

-- Tom

[poochee]

Originally Posted by lotuseclat79

Humans were final cause of woolly mammoth extinction
Article here.

The woolly mammoth was driven to extinction by our ancestors, after the giant creatures had been pushed to the brink by climate change, marking a milestone in the destructive effects of mankind on the Earth's ecosystems.


Mammoth found in Siberia, 1903: Humans, not climate change, were the final factor in causing woolly mammoth extinction

-- Tom

[poochee]

Reflective collars may help save Riverside County's wild burros
The animals have become a traffic hazard along increasingly busy Reche Canyon Road, where residents hope to protect them.
By David Kelly, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
April 13, 2008

Former rodeo rider and jockey Kim Terry has been around all sorts of animals his whole life, but it's the wild burros that have snorted and kicked their way into his heart. He loves their moxie, respects their survival skills and is smitten with what he calls their "fantastic personalities."

"Just don't get behind them," he advised recently as he prepared to flush a dozen or so from a holding pen.

Terry let rip with a sharp "heyaaaah!" and charged them, swinging a long blue stick. The burros stampeded into a narrow chute. He straddled the bars above them, struggling to fasten shiny red collars around their thick necks.

"Man, that's hard work," he said, sucking deeply for air. "That'll make you sweat."

Terry and a handful of Reche Canyon residents are trying to save the feral burros prowling the badlands of the rural enclave between bustling Colton and sprawling Moreno Valley.

The burros are California's only herd on private land. They arrived at least half a century ago, and state officials think there are about 50 within Reche Canyon. Terry believes as many as 400 others live in neighboring canyons and wander over.

They have become major hazards on increasingly busy Reche Canyon Road, a convenient shortcut between the two cities.

Animal control officers said there were 37 accidents involving burros between 2003 and 2006, with 17 of the small donkeys killed. A 21-year-old Rialto resident died when her car struck a burro in 2005.

"I saw her laying dead," Terry said. "A burro went right through their windshield. It was the most heartbreaking thing you can imagine."

Terry, 55, and Rhonda Leavitt, 50, are now putting reflective collars on the animals to make them easier to spot at night. Terry rounds them up while Leavitt makes the collars.

"I go to thrift stores to get my belts, then sew on this reflecting tape," she said recently as she sat in the back room of her hilltop house, carefully feeding belts through an old sewing machine. "I can make 10 or 15 in a couple hours."

Two notches on the sewing table mark how long a belt must be to fit a burro's neck. Style isn't a question.

"They don't care what they look like," she said. "And the belts reflect like you wouldn't believe."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...track=ntothtml