Wildlife

There is hope yet for the orangutan in forest plantations and sustainably logged forests. Selectively logged forests and timber plantations can serve as habitat for orangutans, and populations of the ape may be more resilient than previously believed. A team of researchers led by Erik Meijaard of Jakarta-based People and Nature Consulting International has found roughly equivalent population densities between natural forest areas and two plantation concessions in East Kalimantan, Indonesian...

Protected birds were illegally targeted during the night after hundreds of raptors and a flock of 22 spoonbills, among other protected birds, flew into Malta to roost on Tuesday, BirdLife Malta has reported. The 22 spoonbills roosted close to the Salina Bird Sanctuary, a known hotspot of illegal hunting and trapping activity. After dusk they left the area, followed by a team of BirdLife's Raptor Camp who lost sight of them in the dark. In the morning, only nine of the spoonbills headed south...

Climate change in the past was not directly responsible for the extinction of the spotted hyena in southern Europe, but it was certainly a factor in its disappearance, scientists have concurred. A team from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (CSIC) led by Sara Varela analysed the impact of climate change on spotted hyena survival in Europe 10,000 years ago. Climate change played an important role, but Varela and her team say studies are still needed to look at the influence of human...

Brazil has announced a new plan to protect the Cerrado, a massive expanse of biologically diverse savannah that is under huge pressure from encroaching development by boosting spot checks and sustainable development. The Cerrado Plan will see US$200 million of federal money being invested over the next two years to protect the mixed woodland-savannah, which covers 21percent of Brazil’s landmass, an area about the size of Greenland. Numerous important tributaries of the Amazon River originate in...

A landmark study has been launched that may help ensure the migratory success and survival of North America’s fastest land animal—the pronghorn—in Grand Teton National Park and the southern Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. The new study, to be conducted by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Grand Teton National Park, and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, will evaluate dynamics of this population as well as threats that may be faced by pronghorn as they travel the path to and from...

Researchers have discovered that the most common form of human malaria— Plasmodium falciparum—may have originated in western lowland gorillas. The closest genetic match between malaria that infects humans and one that infects gorillas has been found. The result, which contradicts previous studies that point to chimpanzees as the potential reservoir of malignant malaria, has been published in the latest issue of science journal Nature. This research was led by Dr Beatrice Hahn and colleagues at...

Two veterinarians, two safari operators, and a professional hunter are among nine people who were arrested Monday during a police raids in South Africa. Over 200 rhinos have been killed in the country this year. Dawie Groenewald, the wealthy driving force behind Out of Africa Adventurous Safaris in Polokwane, his wife, Sariette, and Tielman Erasmus, a professional hunter, are behind bars. They were arrested on Monday along with Dr Karel Toet and Dr Manie du Plessis, two veterinarians from...

The BBC's Natural History Unit has discovered the world's highest living tigers during an expedition to the remote Himalayas in Bhutan. With only about 3,000 tigers left in the wild, the discovery is a breakthrough for tiger survival. Working with tiger conservationists and scientists the team, from BBC One's 'Lost Land Of The Tiger', filmed the tigers over 4,000 metres high up in the Himalayas. The footage is the first real evidence that tigers are resident and breeding at this altitude. The...

Scientists have rediscovered three "lost" amphibian species that had not been seen for decades, Conservation International (CI) and the IUCN Amphibian Specialist Group (ASG) have announced. The three amphibians that have been rediscovered so far include a Mexican salamander not seen since it was discovered in 1941, a frog from the Ivory Coast not seen since 1967, and another frog from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) not seen since 1979. The cave splayfoot salamander ( Chiropterotriton...

The upsurge in rhino poaching in southern Africa is leading to a variety of responses to the crisis worldwide. This year around 200 animals have been poached in South Africa for horns, with five killed in a nature reserve alone in the last weekend. According to TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, the number of horns moving out of Africa is escalating, with poached horns able to move from the site of the kill to the global market in as little as 48 hours. Four rhino carcasses with...