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Extinction Countdown: Asian Cheetahs Racing Toward Extinction
The conventional wisdom about cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) is wrong, according to new discoveries that could have wide-ranging impacts on conservation of the world's fastest land animal.
First of all, the long-held belief that cheetahs had little genetic variation throughout their range appears to be false. A study published January 8 in Molecular Ecology(http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-294X.2010.04986.x/abstract) reveals that cheetahs in Asia—specifically Iran—are a subspecies that separated from their African cousins 30,000 to 70,000 years ago. The last 100 or so Iranian cheetahs, now dubbed A. j. venaticus, should be considered a conservation priority, the authors of the paper concluded.
"We are running out of time to save the Asiatic cheetah," Alireza Jourabchian, director of Iran's Conservation of the Asiatic Cheetah program(http://www.panthera.org/programs/cheetah/iranian-cheetah-project), said in a prepared statement(http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110117082300.htm). "We have been successful in stabilizing numbers in Iran but we still have a long way to go before we can consider this unique subspecies secure. We are hopeful these new findings will bring even greater attention to its plight."
Iran's remaining cheetahs are threatened by overhunting of their prey by humans, habitat degradation and poaching.
Meanwhile, the two African cheetah subspecies (A. j. soemmeringii in the continent's north and A. j. jubatus in its south) are also further apart genetically than previously believed.
This actually makes it even harder to conserve the Iranian cheetahs. If they were the same species or subspecies, African cats could be imported to Asia to renew and expand the isolated Iranian population. But because we now realize that African and Asian cheetahs are different subspecies, the Iranian population must remain pure for its unique genetic material to be preserved. Relocating African cheetahs to Iran "would promote interbreeding between the forms and thereby dilute the genetic distinctiveness of the Asiatic cheetahs," which probably evolved to suit their habitat, said one of the paper's authors, Pamela Burger of the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna.
The new study took five years and also involved researchers from several national science bodies, universities and conservation groups. Another of the paper's authors, Antoinette Kotze, manager for research and scientific services at South Africa's National Zoological Gardens, told Times Live(http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/article860335.ece/Cheetahs-need-extreme-intervention) in Johannesburg that it was a "long and arduous project" involving gathering DNA samples from the wild, zoos and museums in eight countries.
All cheetahs remain threatened by habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade. Last month(http://articles.cnn.com/2010-12-30/world/middle.east.animal.trade_1_animal-trade-exotic-pets-animal-welfare?_s=PM:WORLD), a cheetah escaped from its captors in the United Arab Emirates city of Sharjah, where it panicked worshippers at a local mosque before it was caught and placed in a wildlife sanctuary.
Speaking of relocation, India is slowly moving forward on its plan to reintroduce cheetahs(http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=should-cheetahs-be-reintroduced-in-2009-09-16) to that country. India's ministry of forest and environment has chosen two sites for reintroduction, but locals protested that the cats could be a danger to people, tourism and the oil industry. But R. K. Ranjitsinh, chairman of the Wildlife Trust of India, disagrees, telling The Times of India(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/jaipur/Cheetahs-will-not-hit-tourism-oil-exploration/articleshow/7299829.cms) that "bringing the cheetah to the Shahgarh Bulge will not affect tourism or oil exploration in the region." India's original plan was to source cheetahs from multiple locations, including Iran, but that might need to be revisited now that the new subspecies has been recognized.The conventional wisdom about cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus) is wrong, according to new... more-
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The Frozen Zoo | ForUsToBe
See how our greatest scientists are trying to preserve (cryopreserve) genetic diversity for future generations
http://www.4us2be.com/animal-plant-life/the-frozen-zoo/See how our greatest scientists are trying to preserve (cryopreserve) genetic... more-
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Apatosaurus lands triple axel
Add "falling through ice" to the list of possible causes of dinosaur extinction...Add "falling through ice" to the list of possible causes of dinosaur... more-
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As Income Rises, So Does Animal Trade
The New York Times
December 19, 2010
As Incomes Rise, So Does Animal Trade
By BETTINA WASSENER
HONG KONG — Four suitcases full of ivory, intercepted by customs at Suvarnabhumi International Airport near Bangkok. Rare tortoises, openly for sale at a fair in Jakarta, the Indonesian capital. More than 2,000 frozen pangolins — scaly anteaters — seized from a fishing vessel off China.
Oh, and a 2-month-old tiger cub, alive but sedated, found inside a suitcase, also at the Bangkok airport.
If you think all of this sounds like old news — didn’t we see this in the 1970s and ’80s? — think again.
Every one of these incidents, documented by Traffic, the wildlife trade monitoring network, took place within the past few months. They provide just a glimpse of the massive trade in endangered animals — and their bones, skins and other organs — that is taking place across Asia.
And they illustrate that half a century’s worth of efforts by governments, international organizations and conservationists have failed to stem wildlife trade and the extinction of numerous animals and plants.
Yes, conservation projects have helped preserve individual species, but over all the trade in rare creatures has grown, not shrunk — thanks largely to rising demand from an increasingly affluent Asia.
“I’ve been doing this job for close to 20 years,” said Chris R. Shepherd, who helps oversee Traffic’s Southeast Asia operations, “and I can say it’s never been anywhere near as bad as it is now.”
In the 1970s, when international conservation efforts began to take off, the issue was one of largely niche demand from wealthy consumers in the West. Now, however, the picture has changed radically.
Rapid growth across developing Asia over the past decade or two has caused wealth to increase quickly across much of the region. Credit Suisse, in a recent study, estimated that parts of Asia, including China, India and Indonesia, have seen the average wealth per adult soar between 100 percent and 400 percent since 2000.
Along with many of its neighbors, China is now a giant consumer of items like machinery, cars, washing powder, clothes and — yes — python-skin handbags and tiger penises, bear bile and other ingredients for traditional medicines or meals that once belonged to the aristocracy.
“Over the past 20 years, the nature of the demand has changed, thanks to a rising middle class in Asia,” said Colman O’Criodain, a wildlife trade policy analyst in Switzerland for the environmental group W.W.F. International.
James Compton, senior program director for Asia at Traffic, said from Beijing, “Whether it’s high-end luxury stores or the man on the street corner selling dried sea horses — you can see animals and animal parts being sold quite openly. Wildlife trade is now quite pervasive in Asia.”
The problem, experts say, is often not a lack of top-level political will. Many Asian countries, like those elsewhere, ban the trade of rare plants and animals. Rather, the problem is enforcement on the ground and growing demand from populations that are often simply not fully aware of just how endangered the creatures they are consuming are.
Wildlife species with high commercial value have declined drastically, and many are now rare, endangered or even locally extinct, Traffic wrote in a report about Southeast Asia in late 2008.
Figures are hard to come by, as only select species can be closely monitored. But here are a couple of examples to illustrate the scale of some the population declines:
•Some species of sharks are thought to have declined 90 percent. Considered a status symbol in Chinese culture, the soup made from pricey shark fins is now within the reach of many, many more people than it once was.
• There are now thought to be as few as 3,200 tigers left in the wild globally, down from 100,000 a century ago. Despite their acute rarity and international bans on tiger trade, officials throughout most of the tiger range countries, which span Russia and much of Asia, are intercepting the claws, skins or bones of about 100 tigers every year, a report published by Traffic last month found.
On the upside, attitudes are starting to change. Shark’s fin soup, for example, is becoming a decidedly uncool meal to serve in Hong Kong, the main hub for trade in the fins.
And in mainland China, where there was barely any coverage of animal welfare and related topics a decade ago, the media are now engaged, said Jill Robinson, founder of the Animals Asia Foundation, which campaigns for animal welfare and the conservation of endangered animals.
The sale of bear bile — often harvested from animals kept in tiny cages, and used in traditional medicine to cure ailments as varied as headaches and hemorrhoids — is legal in China, and demand is booming. But many doctors are starting to turn away from its use, not least because of a growing realization that bile from bears farmed in such conditions is often diseased, Ms. Robinson said.
Unfortunately, these efforts, commendable though they are, make only a small dent. Unlike in the West, where generations of children have grown up with nature programs, populations in Asia are not yet sensitized to issues like conservation, said Mr. O’Criodain of the W.W.F.
And while some countries have pretty advanced projects for preserving terrestrial species, “most consider the resources of the high seas — including overfished species of fish — as up for grabs,” he added.
Often, said Mr. Compton of Traffic, it is actually the rarity of the animal that makes it attractive to consumers, driving up its price.
For example, in Vietnam, where it is illegal to sell bear bile, a milliliter, or one-fifth of a teaspoon, of fresh, liquid bear bile can fetch as much as $30 on the black market, Animals Asia said.
Such prices mean fines and other penalties are an insufficient deterrent to often impoverished local populations.
“Wildlife crime is becoming more and more organized and sophisticated, and enforcement capacities are not managing to keep up,” said Mr. Shepherd of Traffic.
“The political will is changing; we’re seeing a lot of high-level commitments. But we need to see that translate into action on the ground. Otherwise, it will just be business as usual.”
For some species, even the welcome change in awareness may already simply be too little, too late.The New York Times December 19, 2010 As Incomes Rise, So Does Animal Trade By... more-
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The Obama Administration Is Setting Aside 187,000 Square Miles in Alaska as a "Critical Habitat" for Our Polar Bears
The Obama administration is setting aside 187,000 square miles in Alaska as a "critical habitat" for polar bears,
Greenspace (Los Angeles Times)
Obama administration moves to protect polar bear
November 24, 2010 | 9:02 pm
The Obama administration is setting aside 187,000 square miles in Alaska as a "critical habitat" for polar bears, an action that could restrict future offshore drilling for oil and gas. The total, which includes large areas of sea ice off the Alaska coast, is about 13,000 square miles, or 8.3 million acres, less than in a preliminary plan released last year.
Tom Strickland, assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks at the Interior Department, said the designation would help polar bears stave off extinction, recognizing that the greatest threat is the melting of Arctic sea ice caused by climate change.
"This critical habitat designation enables us to work with federal partners to ensure their actions within its boundaries do not harm polar bear populations," Strickland said. "We will continue to work toward comprehensive strategies for the long-term survival of this iconic species."
Designation of crucial habitat does not in itself block economic activity or other development, but requires federal officials to consider whether a proposed action would adversely affect the polar bear's habitat and interfere with its recovery.
Nearly 95% of the designated habitat is sea ice in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas off Alaska's northern coast. Polar bears spend most of their lives on frozen ocean where they hunt seals, breed and travel.
Alaska Gov. Sean Parnell and the state's oil and gas industry had complained that the preliminary plan released last year was too large and dramatically underestimated the potential economic impact. The designation could result in hundreds of millions of dollars in lost economic activity and tax revenue, they said.
Parnell said that the state is pleased that existing man-made structures will be exempted from critical habitat considerations. But, he said in a statement, the state is disappointed it was not consulted on other recommendations. "This additional layer of regulatory burden will not only slow job creation and economic growth here and for our nation, but will also slow oil and gas exploration efforts," Parnell said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said reductions included in the final rule were mostly due to corrections that more accurately reflect the U.S. border in the Arctic Ocean. Five U.S. Air Force radar sites were exempted from the final rule, as were Native Alaskan communities in Barrow and Kaktovik, Alaska.
The Interior Department has declared polar bears "threatened," or likely to become endangered, citing a dramatic loss of sea ice. Officials face a Dec. 23 deadline to explain why the bears were listed as threatened instead of the more protective "endangered."
Kassie Siegel, a lawyer for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group that has filed a lawsuit to increase protections for the polar bear, hailed the decision. "Now we need the Obama administration to actually make it mean something so we can write the bear's recovery plan — not its obituary," she said. Siegel called for a moratorium on oil and gas drilling in bear habitat areas. "An oil spill there would be a catastrophe," she said. "That seems like an understatement."
The Arctic Slope Regional Corp., which advocates for Alaska native business interests, said in a statement that the decision disproportionately affects Alaska natives and called the designation the "wrong tool" for conserving the polar bear because it does nothing to address climate change.
"The burden of the impacts will be felt by the people of the Arctic Slope," said Tara Sweeney, vice president of external affairs for ASRC, which is based in Barrow, Alaska. "This is a quality-of-life issue for our people."
Kara Moriarty, deputy director of the Alaska Oil and Gas Assn., said the action would hurt oil and gas exploration in Alaska by creating more delays and added costs to projects in what already is a high-cost environment.
"The companies and the industry will be required to go through more permitting and create mitigation measures without a direct benefit to the polar bear or oil and gas development," Moriarty said. "The Fish and Wildlife Service has found over and over again our activities pose no threat to the polar bear."The Obama administration is setting aside 187,000 square miles in Alaska as a... more-
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GLOBAL POLITICAL AWAKENING: Mass Extinction Events – Are We Next?
Feeling secure with life these days? If you are secure like granite then you should possibly have your head examined and confess all your sins because insecurity is one of the facts of life. After all we might be knocking on the gates of heaven at any moment if we are good little boys and girls; life for any of us could end in the next day.
There are no guarantees in life but one. But to talk about the one solid framework of life one has to get religious, one has to talk about God or what I like to call the light of pure consciousness. No matter what, we can count on the backbone of the universe to shine 24/7 no matter what we are doing or where we are, and that is why it says to seek first the kingdom of heaven because if you do, you discover the eternal light that never fails.
The heart chakra is the security center and its color is green and even our skin turns pale greenish when flashes of insecurity and jealousy envelop us. Insecurity is such an uncomfortable feeling, so much so that people would rather just shut down this emotional/feelings center and not be bothered with all the pain. Often the more someone has the more insecure they actually become because the fear of loss grows as we gather power and wealth.
It is not easy to open up a discussion about humanity’s chances of coming through the next decade or two. There is a high probability event on the horizon that puts billions of souls on the path to the gates that lead from this earth to somewhere else, but global warming is not included in our future destiny, yet President Barack Obama saidhe will look for ways to control global warming pollution anyway.
This is no exaggeration and we need to realize that right at this moment, as we are still comfortable and secure, a cool billion people or more are already in dire straits. There are that many people who are very hungry and starving for the very elements of life, starving for water, food, and shelter. A significant percentage of humanity is already at death’s door. Even in the richest country on the planet, over 40 million are on food stamps.
The drop from July is significant, and very steep, losing more than half of the temperature anomaly since then. The southern hemisphere has dropped the most. Very threatening to global temperatures is the tremendous recent increase in volcanic activity around the world.
READ MORE: http://globalpoliticalawakening.blogspot.com/2010/11/mass-extinction-events-are-we-next.htmlFeeling secure with life these days? If you are secure like granite then you should... more-
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Peak Energy, Climate Change, and the Collapse of Global Civilization
A New Report:
Peak Energy, Climate Change, and the Collapse of Global Civilization: The Current Peak Oil Crisis
Global Climate Change, Human Security & Democracy
Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies
Department of Global & International Studies
University of California, Santa Barbara
October 2010
(free download available)
direct link:
http://www.global.ucsb.edu/climateproject/papers/pdf/Morrigan_2010_Energy_CC.pdf
all publications:
http://www.global.ucsb.edu/climateproject/papers/index.html
Synopsis
Peak oil and the events associated with it will be an unprecedented discontinuity in human and geologic history. Peak oil crises will soon confront societies with the opportunity to recreate themselves based on their respective needs, culture, resources, and governance responses. Peak oil will require a change of economic and social systems, and will result in a new world order. The sooner people prepare for peak oil and a post-peak oil life, the more they will be able to influence the direction of their opportunities. Nevertheless, there are probably no solutions that do not involve at the very least some major changes in lifestyles. Consequently, peak oil will probably result in some catastrophic upheavals. Peak oil will also present opportunities to address many underlying societal, economic, and environmental problems.
Humanity has already passed the threshold for dangerous anthropogenic interference with the natural climate system. Peak energy resources and economic decline may make it more challenging for societies and their economies to adapt to future climate and environmental changes.
This report considers energy resources, climate change, ecological balance, and the Earth’s capacity to supply food and water to support human life from the perspective of governance and human security
Some key messages from the report include:
• Peak oil is happening now.
• The era of cheap and abundant oil is over.
• Global conventional oil production likely peaked around 2005 – 2008 or will peak by 2011.
• Global oil reserve discoveries peaked in the 1960's.
• New oil discoveries have been declining since then, and the new discoveries have been smaller and in harder to access areas (e.g., smaller deepwater reserves).
• Huge investments are required to explore for and develop more reserves, mainly to offset decline at existing fields.
• An additional 64 mbpd of gross capacity – the equivalent of six times that of Saudi Arabia today – needs to be brought on stream between 2007 – 2030 to supply projected business as usual demand.
• Since mid-2004, the global oil production plateau has remained within a 4% fluctuation band, which indicates that new production has only been able to offset the decline in existing production.
• The global oil production rate will likely decline by 4 – 10.5% or more per year.
• Substantial shortfalls in the global oil supply will likely occur sometime between 2010 – 2015.
• Furthermore, the peak global production of coal, natural gas, and uranium resources may occur by 2020 – 2030, if not sooner.
• Global peak coal production will likely occur between 2011 – 2025.
• Global natural gas production will likely peak sometime between 2019 – 2030.
• Global peak uranium will likely occur by 2015 to sometime in the 2020's.
• Oil shortages will lead to a collapse of the global economy, and the decline of globalized industrial civilization.
• Systemic collapse will evolve as a systemic crisis as the integrated infrastructure and economy of our global civilization breaks down.
• Most governments and societies – especially those that are developed and industrialized – will be unable to manage multiple simultaneous systemic crises. Consequently, systemic collapse will likely result in widespread confusion, fear, human security risks, and social break down.
• This current transition of rapid economic decline was triggered by the oil price shock starting in 2007 and culminating in the summer of 2008. This transition will likely accelerate and become more volatile once oil prices exceed $80 – $90 per barrel for an extended time. Demand destruction for oil may be somewhere above $80 per barrel and below $141 per barrel.
• Economic recovery (i.e., business as usual) will likely exacerbate the global recession by driving up oil prices.
• A managed “de-growth” is impossible, because effective mitigation of peak oil will be dependent on the implementation of mega-projects and mega-changes at the maximum possible rate with at least 20 years lead time and trillions of dollars in investments.
• Peak oil and the events associated with it will be an unprecedented discontinuity in human and geologic history.
• Adaptation is the only strategy in response to peak oil.
• Mitigation and adaptation are the only strategies for climate change.
• Peak oil crises will soon confront societies with the opportunity to recreate themselves based on their respective needs, culture, resources, and governance responses.
• The impacts of peak oil and post-peak decline will not be the same equally for everyone everywhere at any given time.
• There are probably no solutions that do not involve at the very least some major changes in lifestyles.
• The localization of economies will likely occur on a massive scale, particularly the localization of the production of food, goods, and services.
• Existential crises will soon confront societies with the opportunity to recreate themselves based on their respective needs, culture, resources, and governance responses.
• If the international community does not make a transcendent effort to cooperate to manage the transition to a non-oil based economy, it may risk a volatile, chaotic, and dangerous collapse of the global economy and world population.
• Since the advent of the Green Revolution, the global human population has increased from 2.5 billion in 1950 to nearly 7 billion today.
• Global demand for natural resources exceeded planet’s capacity to provide sustainably for the combined demands of the global population between 1970 – 1980.
• The global population is projected to grow to around 9.2 billion by 2050.
• Current trends in land, soil, water, and biodiversity loss and degradation, combined with potential climate change impacts, ocean acidification, a mass extinction event, and energy scarcity will significantly limit the human carrying capacity of the Earth.
• Based on these estimates, the global population may have nearly reached or already exceeded the planet's human carrying capacity in terms of food production.
...A New Report: Peak Energy, Climate Change, and the Collapse of Global... more -
Malaysia Conservationists Alarmed by New Plans to Dam Rivers on Borneo |
PHOTO: Orangutan populations in Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatera island are facing severe threats from habitat loss, illegal logging, fires and poaching. Conservationists predicted that without immediate action, orangutans are likely to be the first great ape to become extinct in the wild, 17 Aug 2010. http://www.voanews.com/english/news/The-Malaysian-Government-See-Red-on-Borneo-Over-Fresh-Dam-Plans-105667523.html
Borneo island is home to some of the world's rarest animals and plants. But conservationists are alarmed by new plans to dam some of the rivers on Borneo, which is divided among Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. Luke Hunt reports from Kota Kinabalu, on Malaysian Borneo.
The Malaysian government has approved construction of dams in the Kaiduan Valley and near Kota Belud in the state of Sabah. Another dam on the Tutoh River is planned for the neighboring state of Sarawak.
Conflict brews
The government says the dams and perhaps more will be needed to ensure East Malaysian water and electricity needs.
However, environmentalists, villagers and a growing number of people in the broader electorate disagree. They want the dams stopped.
S.M. Muthu is a spokesman for the Malaysia Nature Society and says energy supplies - such as biomass fuel, gas and solar - are plentiful in Sabah and Sarawak and should be developed.
He says engineers have examined East Malaysia's infrastructure needs and determined dams are not required to produce electricity given the abundance of fast flowing rivers and natural catchments that are capable of producing electricity.
"The problem is we are destroying the water catchment areas. Then we have a lack of water. Then we want to build dams which is actually trying to find a solution to a problem we keep repeating," Muthu says, "Whereas if you go to the root cause of the problem and we maintain our water catchment areas then you don't even need a dam.
Residents and environmentalists opposition against dam
Residents in the Kaiduan valley have built a blockade to stop preliminary work on the dam. They raised a 1.8-meter Christian cross and the dam location and have also voiced opposition to the dam planned for Kota Belud.
Activists in Sarawak state on the island warn a hydropower dam on the Tutoh River also risks changing the boundary of a national park. That could see its World Heritage status revoked under the regulations of the United Nations cultural body UNESCO.
In addition, Bakun Dam - also in Sarawak - has raised eyebrows. The federal government decided to sell the project, which covers an area the size of Singapore, back to the state government despite intense criticism over environmental damage caused by its construction.
Malaysian Borneo's wildlife threatened
Borneo is home to scores of rare species, including the orangutan, the pygmy elephant and the Borneo rhinoceros. Its wildlife, however, is threatened by development, logging and the expansion of palm oil plantations.
The environmental movement in Malaysian Borneo has grown significantly in recent years. It has managed to block construction of a coal-fired power plant along a pristine stretch of coastline. Environmentalists say the plant threatened the globally recognized Coral Triangle off east Borneo.
Cynthia Ong is the executive director for LEAP Conservancy, an environmental advocacy group that has been at the heart of a coalition of organizations challenging the authorities over their environmental practices. "You know about the coal fired power plant issue. That single issue has mobilized the environment movement in a way I haven't seen before. We hung in there with each other and then made breakthrough after breakthrough after breakthrough and each time when we had successes on our campaign it really empowered us," Ong said.
As momentum within the environmental movement in Sabah spreads among the villagers and urban middle class, environmentalists and government officials in Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and beyond are closely monitoring developments here.
"Whether it's coal or whether it's logging it doesn't stop at our borders. It's a line on a map, right. As we work locally there's always this alignment with what's happening in Borneo and what's happening in the region, what's happening globally even," Ong says, "It's not grandiose for us to think that Sabah's a leader and has the potential to be a leader in the region of Southeast Asia."
The Malaysian government says the dams are needed - not only to ensure water supplies - but to guarantee electricity to power the economic growth this country must generate if it is to meet its target of becoming an industrialized nation by 2020.
Managing those economic targets within the constraints of a burgeoning environmental movement could prove difficult, if Borneo's rare and endangered species are to be protected.PHOTO: Orangutan populations in Indonesia's Borneo and Sumatera island are facing... more-
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A fifth of the world's animals face oblivion: Scientists fear 'sixth mass extinction' has begun
One in five of the world’s mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians are under threat of extinction, according to a major stocktake of life on Earth.The shocking study found that the number of endangered vertebrates – animals with backbones – is still rising and that humans are largely to blame.
LINK : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1324088/A-fifth-worlds-animals-face-oblivion-Scientists-fear-sixth-mass-extinction-begun.htmlOne in five of the world’s mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians are... more-
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More species slide to extinction
One fifth of animal and plant species are under the threat of extinction, a global conservation study has warned.Scientists who compiled the Red List of Threatened Species say the proportion of species facing wipeout is rising. :http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11630355One fifth of animal and plant species are under the threat of extinction, a global... more-
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50 Inspiring Blogs Fighting for Endangered Species
An endangered species is a population of animals, plants, or other organisms which are at risk of becoming extinct because they are low in numbers. This can be due to a number of factors from human intervention to environmental change.
link: http://www.vettech.org/50-inspiring-blogs-fighting-for-endangered-speciesAn endangered species is a population of animals, plants, or other organisms which are... more-
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LHC has 70% chance of producing dangerous ICE-9 this November
"1st extinction event: Leaked CERN documents state LHC has 70% chances to produce ‘ice-9′ strangelets on 11/9."
I'm not a science major so I don't know how worried I should be about this, post up your thoughts below!
http://www.cerntruth.com/?p=125"1st extinction event: Leaked CERN documents state LHC has 70% chances to produce... more-
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1/3 of 'Extinct' Animals Turn Up Again
Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to extinction, scientists have said.
A study has found that a third of all mammal species declared extinct in the past few centuries have turned up alive and well.
Some of the more reclusive creatures managed to hide from sight for 80 years only to reappear within four years of being officially named extinct in the wild.
The shy okapi – which resembles a cross between a zebra and a giraffe – was first discovered in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1901.
Other mammals ‘back from the dead’ include the rat-like Cuban solenodon, the Christmas Island shrew, the Vanikoro Flying Fox of the Solomon Islands, the Australian central rock rat and the Talaud Flying Fox of Indonesia.
The revelations come as the world’s leading conservationists prepare for a major United Nations summit on biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan, next month.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1315964/One-extinct-animals-turn-again.html#ixzz113zJ3SbU
More fear-mongering propaganda from eugenicist tax havens, posing as environmental groups, looking to implement a global carbon tax to fund their 1 World Gov't. By the way, the polar bear population has more than doubled since 1950. Look it up eco-fascists.Conservationists are overestimating the number of species that have been driven to... more-
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Either We Go Into Space or We Go Extinct
We need to get society off this rock as soon as possible and establish a permanent self-sustaining settlement on another one as a means of risk mitigation against the various calamities that could destroy human civilization.
(Continues...)
http://talkingskull.com/column/world-outside/either-we-go-into-space-or-we-go-extinctWe need to get society off this rock as soon as possible and establish a permanent... more-
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17 Arctic Animal Species Are Under Serious Extinction Threat, Warn Two Reports | Photos
Arctic species under threat, report warns
By Matthew Knight for CNN
September 14, 2010 2:41 p.m. EDT
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* New report highlights extinction threat to Arctic wildlife
* Whales, walruses, Arctic foxes, even plankton are all at risk of dying out
* Rapid melting of Arctic ice sheet in recent years means habitats are disrupted or destroyed
* Lead author says reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a must to prevent further losses
London, England (CNN) -- Polar bears clinging to melting ice sheets have become one of the most frequently used images to portray the perils of climate change.
But a new report by the U.S. Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) and UK-based Care for the Wild International (CWI) is bringing attention to the predicament of other equally endangered Arctic species.
Seventeen Arctic animals are highlighted in "Extinction: It's Not Just for Polar Bears."
Shaye Wolf, lead author and climate science director of the CBD told CNN: "The plight of the polar bear due to global warming is very well known and familiar. But many other Arctic species are suffering a similar fate -- from plankton all the way to the great whales."
The impacts of climate change are "unfolding far more rapidly in the Arctic than any other area on the planet" threatening its ecosystem, the report said.
A 2009 study by Donald K. Perovich and Jacqueline A Richter-Menge -- "Loss of Sea Ice in the Arctic" -- reported that the sea ice extent in 2007 was one million square miles below the average figure recorded between 1979 and 2000.
This, and other data suggests, say scientists, that summer sea ice could completely disappear in the Arctic by 2030.
The ice retreat is already spelling trouble for marine mammals like the Pacific walrus and the harp seal.
Pacific walruses, like many of the mammals in the report, are sea ice dependent says Wolf, with many having already suffering population declines.
"As we speak, there are 10 to 20,000 walruses holed up on Alaskan Arctic coastline. And that is attributable to sea ice loss," Wolf says.
"Walruses need sea ice for resting because they can't swim continuously. When they lose that sea ice, especially moms and calves, they are forced to come to shore -- where calves are very vulnerable to be trampled in stampedes."
Last year, Wolf says the stampede claimed 131 young walruses.
The number was even higher off the Russian coast in 2007 where several thousand calves died when around 40,000 walruses were pushed ashore.
Ocean acidification -- caused by increased uptake of carbon dioxide -- is happening more quickly in the Arctic than in warmer waters, says Wolf.
Shell-building marine creatures like the sea butterfly (Clione limacina) are particularly vulnerable to acidification.
Their loss would be potentially devastating for other species.
On land, the Arctic fox -- found on the southern edges of the Arctic tundra -- is facing "myriad threats from climate change," including shrinking sea ice and tundra, declines in lemming prey and increased competition from the larger, more dominant red fox -- which is edging north as temperatures rise.
All the animals in the report are at risk of extinction due to climate change says Wolf.
"What is going on in the Arctic isn't something that we can consider completely remote from ourselves. Actually, it's a fantastic barometer of what is going to happen in the rest of the world," CWI's Rebecca Taylor told CNN.
"The Arctic is ground zero for climate change and we're already pushing many species towards extinction. The key to preventing their loss is reducing our greenhouse gas emissions -- specifically carbon dioxide -- to a level of 350ppm or below. That is a level many leading scientists have called for to restore Arctic sea ice," Wolf said.Arctic species under threat, report warns By Matthew Knight for CNN September 14,... more-
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Shark Survivors Team Up To Save Species | Some Lost Limbs, But They Now Lobby the U.N. for Protections
Shark survivors team up to save species
Some lost limbs, but they now lobby U.N. for protections
Photo - Diane Bondareff / AP - Shark attack survivors organized by The Pew Environment Group gather outside the United Nations in New York on Sunday.
By JOHN HEILPRIN
updated 9/13/2010 3:04:12 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS — They have the scars and missing limbs that make it hard to forgive, but these victims are tougher than most. And now they want to save their attackers.
They are shark attack survivors, a band of nine thrown together in an unlikely and ironic mission to conserve the very creatures that ripped their flesh, tore off their limbs and nearly took their lives.
They want nations to adopt a resolution that would require them to greatly improve how fish are managed, including shark species of which nearly a third are threatened with extinction or on the verge of being threatened.
"If a group like us can see the value in saving sharks, can't everyone?" asked Florida shark bite victim Debbie Salamone, 44, whose Achilles tendon was severed in a 2004 attack that temporarily halted her ballroom dance hobby.
Salamone, a former journalist, initially made plans to eat shark steaks in revenge. Then, she said, she turned tragedy to something productive by joining the Washington-based nonprofit Pew Environment Group and recruiting like-minded shark attack survivors to work for shark conversation.
The group gathered at U.N. headquarters Monday hoping to win new protections globally for the ocean's top predators.
"We do not have scientific management plans for how many sharks can be caught," Matt Rand, director of Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Environment Group told reporters at the United Nations. "There are no limits."
Speaking with the attack survivors at a news conference held to draw attention to the world's dwindling shark population, Rand said the U.N. and its member nations must do more to resolve the problem.
Among the group's goals is to end the practice of shark finning, which kills an estimated 73 million sharks a year. Fishermen slice off shark fins, which sell for hundreds of dollars a pound for use in soup mostly in Asian markets, but dump the animal back in the water where it drowns or bleeds to death.
Because sharks are slow growing, late to mature and produce few young, they are unable to replenish their populations as quickly as they are caught, Rand said in an earlier interview. Shark attack survivors also have sought U.S. legislation to close what they view as loopholes in the country's shark finning ban.
The survivors, ages 21 to 55, say being in the wrong place at the wrong time needn't diminish their love for the ocean, where they enjoyed surfing, swimming and diving and knew the risks.
They now see greater risks to the sharks and are asking the U.N. to halt fishing of threatened and near-threatened shark species and adopt shark conservation plans to study and impose scientific limits on shark catches.
Former lifeguard Achmat Hassiem, 29, of Cape Town, South Africa, lost his foot when a shark attacked him during rescue practice four years ago and said he now believes certain things happen for a reason.
"My dream was to one day become a marine biologist and focus on helping and protecting Earth's aquatic life. To participate in this event is an honor," he said.
More than a decade ago, nations agreed to voluntarily produce shark management plans, but only about 40 of some 130 nations followed through. International trade restrictions are in place for only three shark species: basking, whale and white sharks.
"Do we have the right to drive any animal to the brink of extinction before any action is taken?" asked Navy diver Paul de Gelder, 33, of Sydney, Australia, who lost his right hand and right lower leg in an attack last year during antiterrorism exercises.
"Regardless of what an animal does according to its base instincts of survival, it has its place in our world," he said. "We have an obligation to protect and maintain the natural balance of our delicate ecosystems."Shark survivors team up to save species Some lost limbs, but they now lobby U.N. for... more-
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New dinosaur extinction theory, a brand new dinosaur and more
First up some corrections to our last episode, then we hit the news. Find out how fires and floods shaped the Isle of Wight, if dinosaurs were warm or cold blooded, a new theory on extinction, a breakthrough on one dinosaur, and finally a brand new dinosaur. It is a news-packed episode.
More information at http://DinoShow.comFirst up some corrections to our last episode, then we hit the news. Find out how... more-
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Earth's Animals Face GRIM Future | Major Extinction Event Is Taking Place
Earth's animals face grim future
Major extinction event taking place, with many wondering what animals will disappear from the planet forever
Getty Images: Two of the most important and plentiful groups of marine animals 250 million years ago were corals and brachiopods, also called lamp shells. After the Great Dying, corals were almost wiped out
By Jennifer Viegas
updated 9/2/2010 2:34:41 PM ET
Corals, big mammals and many tropical species could all go extinct in the not too distant future, predict scientists who are attempting to forecast the fate of today's animals by studying what happened to those in the distant past.
A complication is that no prior mass extinction event on the planet was driven by a single species. In a period of more than a half-billion years, only three such extinction events appear to have been as devastating as the present one, which is being caused by humans.
"We're 100 percent responsible for it," John Alroy, a researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at Macquarie University, told Discovery News.
"There is no precedent at all for what we're doing," he added. "All well-understood extinctions in the deep fossil record are tied to environmental changes that were not triggered by the behavior of individual species, such as the asteroid impact 65 million years ago that wiped out the terrestrial (non-avian) dinosaurs."
Alroy used the Paleobiology Database, which compiles data from nearly 100,000 fossil collections worldwide, to track the fate of major groups of animals during Earth's most massive extinction event 250 million years ago: the Permian-Triassic Extinction Event, also known as the "Great Dying."
Alroy, whose findings are published in the latest issue of the journal Science, focused on marine animals, since the fossil record includes many such species.
He determined that two of the most important and plentiful groups of marine animals 250 million years ago were corals and brachiopods, also called lamp shells. After the Great Dying, corals were almost wiped out.
"There are almost no early Triassic coral fossils in the world," explained Alroy, who added that corals "eventually recovered all of their lost diversity."
The lamp shells, on the other hand, never recovered. While they're still in existence, they exhibit little diversity and not many of them are around compared to other animal populations.
He said these are just a few examples from the past that demonstrate how a species-rich animal group may not necessarily fare well after a major extinction event. The rules governing their, and other animals', diversity change over time, and really go off the chart during and after mass extinction events.
Species-rich animal groups "could happen to be very vulnerable to the particular mechanism that creates a particular mass extinction," he said. They could also lose all of their subspecies, or "during the scramble to fill empty niches after a mass extinction, rival groups may get there first, making it difficult for a group to get back where it was."
Alroy is particularly worried about today's corals.
"They don't seem to do well when there's a big environmental change," he explained. "It's possible that future reef builders won't be corals at all. At different times in the past, reefs have been built by such organisms as sponges and clams."
Mammals with big body sizes, highly endemic tropical species, and certain plants may also die out before this latest extinction event concludes, Charles Marshall told Discovery News. Marshall is a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California at Berkeley, where he also directs the university's Museum of Paleontology. He wrote an accompanying "Perspectives" article in the latest Science.
Marshall agrees with Alroy that studying past extinctions and diversity patterns can help us to learn what makes different groups of animals more or less prone to dying out.
In terms of humanity's impact on the planet, Marshall also agrees that "we have no evidence of a single species causing such havoc."
"However," he added, "if you are willing to broaden the taxonomic scope a little, when cyanobacteria started producing oxygen in abundance, they basically poisoned the world, converting it from one that was primarily anoxic (without oxygen) to one that was oxic."Earth's animals face grim future Major extinction event taking place, with... more-
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New Species of Monkey Found | Red-Bearded Monkey Risks Extinction
August 13th, 2010
10:42 AM ET
Red-bearded monkey discovered, but risks extinction
A new species of monkey that sports a bushy red beard has been discovered in the Amazon, researchers announced this week, but the primate is at risk of becoming extinct.
The species of titi monkey, Callicebus caquetensis, is a cat-size creature and has grayish-brown hair. Its long tail is stippled with gray, and it has a bushy red beard around its cheeks.
Unlike other monkeys closely related to it, Callicebus caquetensis does not have a white bar on its forehead, environmental nonprofit group Conservation International said Thursday. The finding was also published in the journal Primate Conservation.
Hints that an unknown primate species was living in Colombia’s Caquetá region, close to the border with Ecuador and Peru, surfaced 30 years ago, but researchers were never able to access the region because of violence and insurgent fighting.
It was only two years ago that professors Thomas Defler, Marta Bueno and their student, Javier García, from the National University of Colombia were able to travel up the upper Caquetá River. They used GPS to find their way around the area, searching for the monkeys on foot and listening for their calls.
"This discovery is extremely exciting because we had heard about this animal, but for a long time we could not confirm if it was different from other titis,” Defler said in a statement.
Unlike most primates, these titi monkeys form lifelong relationships. Researchers reported that pairs are often seen sitting on a branch with their tails entwined. They usually have one baby per year.
But this newly discovered species is struggling to survive because of deforestation. It is estimated that fewer than 250 Caquetá titi monkeys exist – a healthy population should be in the thousands.
The small population size and the fragmented habitat should qualify the species as critically endangered, according to criteria from the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which means that it faces an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future.
"This discovery is particularly important because it reminds us that we should celebrate the diversity of Earth but also we must take action now to preserve it," said José Vicente Rodrígue, head of science at Conservation International in Colombia and president of the Colombia Association of Zoology.
Listen to the Callicebus caquetensis morning call here.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/13/red-bearded-monkey-discovered-but-risks-extinction/?hpt=C2August 13th, 2010 10:42 AM ET Red-bearded monkey discovered, but risks extinction... more-
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