Mammalogy

In midst of poaching crisis, illegal rhino horn tops gold

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 11/25/2009

By Jeremy Hance, www.mongabay.com , November 25, 2009 Rhino poaching has hit a fifteen-year high, and the rising price for black-market rhino horn is likely the reason why. For the first time in a decade rhino horn is worth more than gold: a kilo of rhino horn is worth approximately 60,000 US dollars while gold is a little over 40,600 US dollars. Eighty-four rhinos were killed by poachers in South...

Fears for one in five mammal species

The Guardian (Free subscription) | 11/02/2009

Many reptiles and amphibians also critically endangered, while up to 70% of plants could be wiped out, say conservationists A fifth of the world's known mammals, a third of its amphibians, more than a quarter of its reptiles and up to 70% of its plants are under threat of extinction according to the red list of threatened species, the latest annual survey compiled by the International Union for Conservation...

Rains came too late for Kenya wildlife

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 10/23/2009

By STEVEN BULL, Thursday, October 22 2009 The rains are finally here, heralding a new start for the agricultural masses. But welcome as they are, they came a bit too late for the country’s prime tourist attraction – the wildlife. According to the Kenya Wildlife Services, hundreds of animals died solely due to the drought. The country lost 40 of its 2,000 grevy’s zebra to the drought,...

Poachers kill 100 elephants a day in Africa

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 10/21/2009

By John Platt Twenty years after the international ban on ivory trade took effect, poachers are still slaughtering more than 100 elephants a day, according to a report by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW). The ban on ivory trade, established by the U.N.'s Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), took effect on October 17, 1989. At the time...

Man-made noise is blamed for driving whales to their deaths

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 10/14/2009

By Frank Pope, Ocean Correspondent Scientists say man-made noise equipment, including anti-seal sonar devices used in fish farms, is driving deep-water animals such as whales to shore, where they die. A northern bottlenose whale was washed up dead on a beach in Prestatyn, North Wales, on Saturday morning, the tenth of the species to become trapped or stranded on British shores this year. Scientists...

Endangered Alaska beluga whales declining

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 10/08/2009

By MARY PEMBERTON Associated Press Writer ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- A government study found that a group of endangered beluga whales in Alaska is declining, raising concern that bolstered protection for the animals is not coming quickly enough. The downward trend comes after two years where numbers for the Cook Inlet belugas appeared to have stabilized. But now numbers have slipped again to 321 animals,...

• Study: Endangered AK beluga whale group declining - Arizona Republic
• Study: Endangered AK beluga whale group declining - Examiner
• See the 7 articles on the same subject

Feds reviewing humpback whale endangered status

Physorg (Free subscription) | 09/28/2009

(AP) -- The federal government is considering taking the humpback whale off the endangered species list in response to data showing the population of the massive marine mammal has been steadily growing in recent decades.

Feds reviewing humpback whale endangered status

Examiner (Free subscription) | 09/28/2009

The federal government is considering taking the humpback whale off the endangered species list in response to data showing the population of the massive marine mammal has been steadily growing in recent decades.

Saiga antelope population declines 95% in 15 years

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 09/21/2009

By Jeremy Hance In a decline on par with that suffered by the American bison in the Nineteenth Century, in the 1990s the saiga antelope of the Central Asian steppe plummeted from over one million individuals to 50,000, dropping a staggering 95 percent in a decade and a half. Since then new legislation and conservation measure have helped the species stabilize in some areas but in others the decline...

Black rhinos airlifted out of Zululand to undisclosed location

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 09/19/2009

By Rhishja Larson, Published on September 17th, 2009 Nine black rhino from Zululand game reserves are being airlifted to a new home as part of a range expansion project for the critically endangered species. In an effort to ensure the survival of critically endangered black rhino, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife (EKZNW) are partnering on a project designed to establish founder...

First gray wolf hunt in decades begins tomorrow

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 09/01/2009

By Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York Starting tomorrow, the gray wolf is about to be hunted for the first time in decades. The Obama administration removed the wolves from the endangered species list last March. And unless a federal judge decides to halt the hunt and reopen the question of whether the species is threatened, the gray wolf hunt starts tomorrow in Idaho--and hundreds of wolves will be...

World's largest bat hunted nearly to extinction

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 08/26/2009

By Jeremy Hance Under the current legal hunting rate scientists predict that the world's largest bat, the aptly-named large flying fox or Pteropus vampyrus , faces extinction in six to 81 years. Increasing the urgency to save the large flying fox is the vital role it plays as an ecosystem engineer (a species whose behavior can shape an ecosystem); the species maintains Southeast Asian forests by dispersing...

Mammal database identifies species destined for trouble

New Scientist (Free subscription) | 08/25/2009

A new interactive tool that allows users to explore survival chances of various mammal species could be useful in planning conservation schemes

20,000 orangutans poached this decade -- no prosecutions

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 08/25/2009

At least 20,000 orangutans have been killed or captured for the illegal pet trade in the past ten years in Indonesia without a single prosecution, according to a report published by Nature Alert and the Centre for Orangutan Protection , groups that campaign on behalf of orangutans. The report, titled The Indonesian Chainsaw Massacre , blames the Indonesian government and the palm oil industry for failing...

Vietnam eats one million wild animals per year, many species near extinction

Desdemona Despair (Free subscription) | 08/20/2009

Prosperous middle class contributing to a growing appetite for 'forest food' By Andrew Buncombe, Asia correspondent As any visitor to Vietnam can confirm, its people have a remarkable taste for meals made from each and every creature. From snakes and spiders to monkeys and rats, there are few wild animals not prized when it comes to the cooking pot. But there is a price for this extreme omnivorousness....