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Poecilotheria metallica, also known as the Sapphire Gooty Ornamental Tarantula, is a rare but aggressive breed of tarantula found in India. The species is critically endangered. This one seen here was bred from captive tarantulas by keeper Daniel Valcárcel Muñoz de León.
A breeding pair of endangered takahē birds in New Zealand were found to be rearing a chick, having previously been thought of as infertile.
Described by park officials as a Christmas miracle, a breeding pair of endangered takahē birds in New Zealand were found to be rearing a chick, having previously been thought of as infertile.
With around 500 of these flightless birds left in the country, every chick counts.
The miracle happened in Zealandia, a fenced-in ecosanctuary 10 minutes’ drive from Wellington’s city center.
The sanctuary conservation team was searching for a nest in early November after a female bird named Waitaa hadn’t been seen at the feeders for some time.
They heard some high-pitched calls indicating the pair had—miraculously—produced a chick. Waitaa’s partner, Bendigo, was previously believed to be infertile.
Jo Ledington, General Manager of Conservation and Restoration, says the news was kept under wraps until the team was more confident the chick was doing well and the worst of the spring weather had passed.
“I’m thrilled that Zealandia can support national takahē recovery efforts not only by providing opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people to connect with this amazing species, but to also add more birds to the national population.”
The takahē is a relative of the rail, a ground-dwelling, amphibious family of birds with short wings, large feet and long legs. Breeding once a year, they were believed to be extinct on New Zealand’s South Island before being rediscovered in 1948. A fully-grown bird sports iridescent blue and green feathers and becomes quite fat—giving them the famous appearance, when viewed straight on, of the Earth.
At Zealandia, Bendigo and Waitaa arrived last year as a non-breeding paired couple, but after a failed nesting season, it was believed they were unable to conceive. Following Waitaa’s disappearance, Ledington and colleagues set up a trail camera in an area they thought she might be nesting in. Sure enough, the chick was discovered.
“Any chick that we can add to that population is just incredibly valuable,” Ledington told the Guardian.
It will be some time before they know the chick’s gender. It will eventually be banded and health checked, and in time, gifted a name and moved to a new home. “For now, we are delighted that Zealandia is its safe playground,” the sanctuary officials wrote in a statement.
The really quite unfortunate cuteness problem
I think it's safe to say that everybody knows about how giant pandas are at risk, but have you ever heard of the Yangtze river dolphin? No? Well, both were going extinct, but in 2006 while us regular people were donating money to save the giant panda, the Yangtze river dolphin was quietly slipping away in the wild, and was declared functionally extinct (meaning they are still found in nature reserves but not in the wild) that same year. Plants are completely out of the question in terms of cuteness conservation. Did you know that 71% of all cycads are considered threatened with extinction? 34% of conifers? Whole ecosystems could crash and burn because of our lackadaisical efforts. All this preamble to say, us humans have a problem. And our problem is that we are 100% biased towards saving what we deem cute animals, or, in conservation terms, poster species - whales, pandas, polar bears, elephants, and the like. My ecology professor brought up a great point when she said poster animals can be useful to bring in donations for broader wildlife conservation funding, but what if there's so little public knowledge about these species that they can't even attract the funding from these larger organizations? What about ugly reptiles? Amphibians? Who's going to eat all the horseflies and mosquitoes? Even then, those species eating bugs that we find annoying are still useful to us, whereas species that may be useful to their habitat at large go completely unnoticed and go extinct quietly into the night.
The Hawaiian crow, or ‘alalā, has been extinct in the wild since 2002. A new effort to reintroduce birds of this species—considered importan
Multiple attempts to reintroduce captive-born ‘alalā to Hawaii’s Big Island have been unsuccessful, in large part because of the ‘io, or Hawaiian hawk, the ‘alalā’s last surviving natural predator. But now new hope is taking wing: a fresh class of five young ‘alalā has been released into the wild on the slopes of the Haleakalā volcano on the island of Maui, where ‘io are absent.
Horse breed of the day: Ojibwe/Lac La Croix
Height: 12 -14hh
Common coat colors: Bay, black and dun
Place of origin: Canada
Long Spurred Angraecum (Angraecum Longicalcar) Kyoto, Japan
Before I forget, have you ever featured the Tamaraw? The Tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis) is the only bovine species endemic to the Philippines, specifically in the island of Mindoro. They're smaller than carabaos, with lighter markings on their face, and having shorter, V-shaped horns.
October is Tamaraw Month, and like many endemic species in the country, these solitary fellas are critically endangered, their small population confined to the Mounts Iglit-Baco National Park. Here's a link regarding conservation efforts, and I hope more people get to know about this beautiful creature and root for their survival! :)
Have you seen the tamaraw (Bubalus mindorensis)?
I have now
Yes, in photos/videos
Yes, irl
I'm not sure
Pink-headed duck
Critically endangered probably extinct
Cause of decline hasn’t been confirmed. Probably habitat loss and hunting though they were already uncommon. Before people started paying attention
Watercolor and marker
