Latest Biota Stories
Reindeer and caribou populations are declining around the world, from Alaska and Canada, to Greenland, Scandinavia and Russia.The iconic deer is incredibly important to indigenous groups in the north. However, it is growing trickier for the deer to live in a world growing hotter from climate change and changed by industrial development.Reindeer and caribou all belong to the same species, Rangier tarandus.Caribou live in Canada, Alaska and Greenland, while reindeer live in Russia, Norway,...
The bitter debate over gray wolves in Wyoming and Montana will be decided by a pair of federal judges that will determine which states in the Northern Rockies have enough wolves to allow public hunting.According to the Associated Press, a lawsuit filed on Tuesday by environmental groups will seek to restore protections for more than 1,300 wolves in Montana and Idaho. In April, the Obama administration upheld a Bush-era decision to take wolves off the endangered species list in those two...
The cuckoo has joined Britain's red list of endangered birds, researchers said Thursday. Boasting an unmistakable two-note call and noted as a traditional harbinger of spring, the cuckoo has joined 51 other species of birds considered to be in danger of dying out, The Daily Telegraph reported. The assessment comes from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds that added the cuckoo to the endangered for the first time along with such birds as the lapwing, tree pipit, wood warbler, yellow...
An international team of scientists has identified a nesting population of leatherback sea turtles in Gabon, West Africa as the world's largest. The research, published in the May issue of Biological Conservation, involved country-wide land and aerial surveys that estimated a population of between 15,730 and 41,373 female turtles using the nesting beaches. The study highlights the importance of conservation work to manage key sites and protected areas in Gabon.Leatherbacks are of profound...
Organizations Use the Internet to Mobilize While Reducing Environmental Impact TORONTO, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- This Earth Day millions of people around the world will stop and do something good for the planet. What started as a grassroots demonstration in 1970 has grown into worldwide phenomena with participants from more than 170 countries. While Earth Day may have gone global, it still remains a grassroots movement made up of local initiatives focused on improving the environment....
A U.S.-led study has documented for the first time how bats land and the scientists discovered that not all bats land in the same manner. The Brown University-led researchers said their findings offer new insights into how the Earth's second-largest order of mammals evolved. Daniel Riskin, lead author of the study, said the scientists studied the landing approaches of three species of bats -- two that live in caves and one that roosts in trees. The team filmed each species of bat as it...
HARRISBURG, Pa., Jan. 27 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners today gave preliminary approval to hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits for 2009-10, including a new hunting hour table for the new license year. The public may offer comments on all proposed 2009-10 seasons and bag limits, as well as other Board actions, between now and the Board's next meeting, April 20-21, at which time the Board will finalize seasons and bag limits for 2009-10....
SANTA ROSA, Calif., Dec. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Family-owned Kendall-Jackson Winery today announced a limited "green" holiday gift that offers an opportunity to adopt a wooden barn owl nesting box located on Kendall-Jackson's Hawkeye Mountain. The gift package includes wines made from grapes grown in the same vineyards the barn owls guard. Kendall-Jackson partnered with Marin-based non-profit Hungry Owl Project (hungryowl.org) to craft 100 boxes made from recycled and donated...
Wildlands, Inc. is pleased to announce the opening of Laguna Terrace East Conservation Bank in Sacramento County, California. The 200-acre Laguna Terrace East Conservation Bank will permanently preserve habitat for endangered and threatened vernal pool species and the state threatened Swainson's hawk. Conservation bank credits are available now to be purchased by the development community and public sector to fulfill obligations required under federal, state, and county regulations such...
By Bob Frye Pennsylvania routinely attracts a lot of non-resident hunters, but some of the most spectacular ones to show up this fall will be a breed apart. They'll be an entire species apart, in fact. Over the next few weeks, golden eagles -- magnificent birds whose wings can span 87 inches -- will begin migrating through Pennsylvania. They'll start to show up in noticeable numbers in mid- to late October, with the peak of the migration coming in November. If you don't know a lot about the...
Latest Biota Reference Libraries
The striped polecat (Ictonyx striatus), also known as the zoril, zorilla, zorille, or the African polecat, is a member of the weasel family. It can be found in sub-Saharan Africa, West Africa, and the Congo Basin. It prefers a habitat within open areas and savannahs. This species resembles a skunk, and even releases a foul odor when threatened by predators. It is black in color with four white stripes running down its body. It can reach an average body length of 24 inches, with a tail length...
The wild water buffalo (Bubalus arnee) is a member of the Bovidae family that is native to Southeast Asia. It is also known as the Asiatic buffalo and the Asian buffalo. Its range includes Nepal, India, Cambodia, and Thailand and once included other areas like Laos and Pakistan, but populations there have gone extinct. In India, populations are mainly restricted to protected areas including Manas and Dibru-Saikhowa National Parks and D'Ering Memorial Wildlife Sanctuary, among other areas....
The pronghorn (Antilocapra americana) is native to the central areas of North America, where it is also known as the prong buck, or pronghorn antelope and antelope, although it only resembles true antelopes. The pronghorn is the only remaining species in the Antilocapridae family, which once held five other species. Its range stretches throughout the United States, and starts in Alberta and southern Saskatchewan in Canada. It holds five subspecies, including the Baja California Pronghorn,...
Franklin’s ground squirrel (Poliocitellus franklinii) is native to the northern area of the United States and Canada, inhabiting tall grasses on the American prairie. Joseph Sabine who named it after Sir John Franklin, a British Arctic explorer, first described this squirrel in 1822. Previously, it was classified in the Spermophilus genus, within its own subgenus. However, genetic testing showed that it belonged in a different genus because it was paraphyletic, and so it was placed in...
Coquerel's sifaka (Propithecus coquereli) is native only to the island of Madagascar. It can only be found in habitats that are at an altitude of less than 300 feet in arid deciduous forests. These areas include coastal forests and it mainly resides east and north of the Betsiboka River. Its range extends south to Ambato-Boéni. As is typical with all lemurs, Coquerel's sifaka is a tree dweller, and so has long, muscular legs that allow it to leap and climb trees. It has a body length that...
