Stories tagged endangered species
I just downloaded the Raptor Resource 2008 Project Banding Report (how's that for a little light reading?), and I found the following:
"We removed the High Bridge stack nest box after the 2007 nesting season. Xcel Energy was converting from a coal facility to natural gas turbine operation, and planned to raze the stack some time in early 2008. We installed a replacement nest box on the nearby ADM stackhouse, but it appears that the falcons chose to nest under the nearby High Bridge instead."
All spring we watched and waited, and the birds were there all along! I'll get in touch with the folks at Xcel and Raptor Resource and see what we can do about watching the peregrines during the 2009 nesting season.
Tags : Here's a report of a metro man facing a prison sentence after shooting a wolf in northern Minnesota while the animals were still catagorized as an endangered species.
Return of the native: For the first time since the 1930s, a leatherback sea turtle has nested on Padre Island, Texas.
Courtesy NOAA
For the first time in 70 years, biologists have confirmed that a leatherback sea turtle has nested in Texas. Though they did not see the animal itself, the researchers found its unmistakable tracks and a freshly-dug nest.
The leatherback, the largest reptile in the world, is endangered worldwide. Many drown when caught in fishermen’s nets. Poachers steal their eggs. Development encroaches on the sandy beaches the turtles need for their nests. The return of at least one turtle to Padre Island, Texas is hopeful sign that the species may be making a slow comeback.
You can learn more about leatherbacks turtles here and here.
A drink with some bite: China cracks down on the sales of tiger bone wine
Here's some interesting video about a problem in Chinese wildlife preserves: the sale of tiger bone wine, which some Chinese believe has medicinal benefits.
Big trouble for a little animal: The federal government is studying if endangered status needs to be expanded for the pygmy rabbit, a little bunny that can be found in eight western U.S. states.
Courtesy WikipediaDid you know there was such a thing as the pygmy rabbit? Neither did I until I ran into a news story today that the federal government is considering adding the creatures to the endangered species list.
Pygmy rabbits have already hit endangered status in eastern Washington. Now, their numbers are looking to dip below that standard in other western states of California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and Utah.
As their name implies, pygmy rabbits are small – just nine to 12 inches long and weighing just under a pound. They live in tall brush and dig down into soily burrows. They’re one of the few rabbit species that live in the ground.
Why are their numbers going down?
Human development is pushing out places for the little bunnies to live. Farming, fires, mining and recreational development have encroached on their habitats. For several years, researchers have spent millions trying to develop a breeding program to re-establish their numbers in eastern Washington. A population of 20 pygmies put into the area earlier this year has been reduced down to one lone rabbit due mainly to the munching habits of predators.
Should these kinds of efforts continue or is this a lost cause? Share your thoughts about protecting threatened and endangered species here with other Science Buzz readers.
Preble's meadow jumping mouse: Preble's meadow jumping mouse. Photo courtesy U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.In what I personally consider to be a sweet move, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reversed rulings that denied seven endangered species increased protection, after an investigation found the actions were influenced by political pressure.
Once such species that is now given increased protection is one of my personal favorite rodents (I like so few rodents) – the Preble's meadow jumping mouse.
The person responsible for limiting the protection for these animals, Former Deputy Assistant Interior Secretary Julie MacDonald (who was at the time responsible for overseeing the Fish and Wildlife Service) was pressuring Fish and Wildlife scientists to alter their findings regarding the endangered animals. What other actions have been done – what other damage has been done – that we don’t know about? MacDonald was influential in delisting the Sacramento splittail, a fish found only in California's Central Valley where she owns a farm on which the fish live - come on!
The Center for Biological Diversity reports that the current administration has listed only 52 species under the endangered species act, the fewest of any administration since the law was passed in 1973. I hope this decrease is because of politics and not because we’re running out of species.
I know this sort of thing happens on both sides of the aisle, but I guess I would way rather that there be too many species listed as endangered, and that we were being overly cautious, rather than being to strict about what species deserves protection and then finding out later that we acted too late to preserve them. I would rather err on the side of caution, rather than crossing my fingers and hoping the problem fixes itself.
And there are very real trade offs here too. Set aside a habitat for a spotted owl you’re removing a source of income for families that have limited options. It’s not an easy choice.
What do you think?
Get my good side: Bears are showing up much more frequently than expected in a wildlife photo project being conducted along the Appalachian Trail.
Courtesy by grizzbassFrolicking through the Appalachian Trail wilderness, wildlife for the past six months have been secretly having their photos snapped through a project coordinated through the Smithsonian Institution. And for the most part, the results have been pretty predictable, outside of a few embarrassing images.
Using 50 cameras attached to motion detectors, the project is set up to document wildlife patterns along the trail without the influence of humans being around. Once a month volunteers go to the cameras to collect the digital images and move the cameras to new locations.
Among the findings: deer, very unsurprisingly, have a glazed-over look when getting their picture taken; bear are curious and aggressive; wild horses are still running in the eastern wilderness.
Here's a link to some of the photos that have been captured of animals at night along the trail.
Since starting in the spring, the project has collected about 1,900 images of animals both at daytime and night. And researchers are already learning some things about the changing wildlife conditions in Appalachia. Bear populations are rebounding big time, with bear images being captured at 75 of the 273 camera locations used so far. Also, photos have been taken of species thought to be possibly extinct in the area: the long-tailed weasel, a variety of flying squirrels and bobcats. However, there are also concerns about one species that hasn’t shown up on photos yet: the eastern cougar.
How do these unsuspecting animals cooperate for the camera? It’s all in the nose. Project organizers knew they had to have a way to stop the animals in their tracks to get a photo. They concocted a blend of animal secretions called “the stink” to stop animals in their tracks. That aromatic blend is put on a stick near the camera area to entice the animals to stop for the camera.
To say that the photos are candid might be an understatement. Some mysterious black, fuzzy photos had researchers stumped for a while. Then they realized that bear were using the camera lens as a way to scratch their, um, posteriors.
Pass on the ortolan: This song bird is now off of the menus of fine French restaurant. Roasted ortolan used to be a favorite delicacy, but over hunting of the birds has lowered their numbers to endangered status. (Flickr photo by Sergey Yeliseev)Okay, it’s pretty well known fact that Americans and the French just don’t understand each other too well. The fascination with Jerry Lewis is the classic case. Here’s the latest example.
The French delicacy of roasted ortolan is being put on hold for a while as the songbird that is used for the dish is now classified as an endangered species. That’s good news for ortolans, sparrow-sized song birds that I’m sure most Americans would ever think of eating.
In fact, I was thrown for a loop reading about the traditions and process of eating roast ortolan. Here’s how the delicacy is supposed to go:
The bite-sized bird is killed by being drowned in armagnac, plucked and roasted with its yellow skin and skeleton intact. The French then shroud their head in a napkin to eat ortolan.
But it’s now officially off the menu in France. In 1998 a law was passed to ban the hunting of ortolans. Because the birds are so small, they’re not hunted with guns, but caught in traps hung in trees. Often, a secured male ortolan will be used as a decoy to attract females to the trap. Once caught, they’ll be kept live for a few weeks and fed to fatten them up before being consumed.
While ortolans, which migrate between Africa and Europe, are not endangered worldwide, the over hunting in France has greatly diminished their numbers. Penalties for private possession of an ortolan in France are a fine of up to $12,500 and six months in prison.
With its new black-market status, a single bird can now fetch between $140-$210.
Start with this: Japanese scientists have taken a salmon similar to this, injected it with rainbow trout sprem-producing cells…This might sound like something out of Jurassic Park, but Japanese fish researchers have successfully made the first step in artificially boosting low numbers of fish populations.
Through the use of what they call “surrogate broodstocking,” they’ve used salmon to breed rainbow trout. The process injects the sperm-growing cells of rainbow trout into newly hatched Asian masu salmon.
End up with this: a biologically correct rainbow trout that is able to reproduce. (Photos courtesy of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)If that’s not creepy or weird enough for you, check out this. The process has also worked with injecting the male cells into female salmon, who then have ovulated rainbow trout eggs. The offspring are “pure” trout and are able to reproduce offspring that genetically match the trout species.
The ultimate goal by the Japanese researchers is to replicate these efforts to be able to boost the low numbers of bluefin tuna. The research will turn to the U.S. next month in Idaho where the process will be reversed, using the plentiful trout population to be surrogates for creating the ever-increasingly rare sockeye salmon population.
What do you think? Is this tinkering too much with nature? Or is this just the technological gimmick we can use to help adjust the balance of nature our technologies of the past have thrown so far out of whack? Share your thoughts here with other Science Buzz readers.
No, he's not dead, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Brazilian blue. Beautiful plumage!: Photo by gnakcgnackgnack at Flickr.com
Chalk up another victory for environmental protection. Lear’s Macaw, a brilliant blue parrot native to Brazil, is coming back from the brink of extinction. Ten years ago, a survey found only 70 birds in the wild. A June count by the American Bird Conservancy found 751.
The bird is still endangered by hunting and illegal pet trade. But protecting its habitat in northeastern Brazil has helped bring the bird back.
Oh, and before I forget: Season 1, episode 8.
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