The Holocene Extinction

[typhlonectes]

Devil rays get worldwide protection – and genetic tools could catch out illegal traders

Technology will help in fight to save celebrated creatures, as new law comes into force.

Devil rays, close cousins of the enormous manta rays, are stars of nature documentaries. They tend to collect together in large numbers, and some species leap from the water. Because of this they are popular with divers and, like mantas, important for tourism. But as is so often the case with some of our favourite species, these charismatic creatures are under threat from humans, specifically, because of the gill plate trade.

Devil rays are pulled out of the sea in huge numbers, all over the world, and butchered on beaches for their gill plates, the feather-like organs that they use to filter plankton and small fish – their preferred prey – from the oceans. The gill plates are then sold in markets in parts of Asia as a purported health tonic, despite the fact that there is no scientific evidence whatsoever to support this claim…

[zsl-edge-of-existence]

Once, the Hawaiian islands were home to five different species of corvid.  The Hawaiian crow was the only one to survive to the modern era.  It was once one of the most common birds seen in the tropical forests, but has suffered a catastrophic decline in the last 50 years.  By the year 1994, only 31 of these crows remained in the world.  The last wild pair of Hawaiian crows was seen in 2002, and it has since been declared extinct in the wild.  This gives the Hawaiian crow the dubious honours of being both Hawaii’s only remaining endemic corvid and the rarest corvid on our planet.

[sixth-extinction]

The pink-headed duck (Rhodonessa caryophyllacea) was a diving duck that once lived in the swamps and wetlands of India, Myanmar and Bangladesh. This bird is presumed to be extinct, though it is officially classified by the IUCN as critically endangered. Occasional sightings have been reported, but none have been substantiated; numerous searches have failed to produce evidence of the bird’s continued existence. The last confirmed specimen was shot in 1935 in Bihar, India.

The male pink-headed duck’s striking plumage made them a sought after target of hunters and collectors. Habitat destruction is also believed to have played a role in their disappearance.

The eggs of the pink-headed duck were unusual in that they were almost perfectly round. The adults were non-migratory, and likely fed on molluscs and aquatic plants.

The black and white photograph above shows a pair of pink-headed ducks in captivity in England, taken around 1925 [x]. About 70-80 specimens are preserved in museum collections worldwide.

[earthlynation-blog]

Spectacled Fruit Bat. Photo by Bruce Thomson

[typhlonectes]

Spectacled Flying Foxes, Pteropus conspicillatus, Australia in their daytime roost (camp) in the Tolga Scrub near Atherton, Queensland, endangered species (vulnerable)

[typhlonectes]

Good News:  Hellbender salamander, once thought vanished, found again in Alabama

Local scientists have been on a years-long hunt for the elusive - and large - hellbender salamander in Alabama's southern creek beds.

A team, led by James Godwin, an aquatic zoologist with the Auburn University Museum of Natural History’s Alabama Natural Heritage Program, began searching for the Eastern hellbender in Alabama last year after reports of its existence in Butler County surfaced…

[typhlonectes]

First puggles born at Taronga Zoo in 29 years

Three short-beaked echidnas have been born at Sydney's Taronga Zoo, the first puggles born at the zoo in decades.

TARONGA ZOO KEEPERS are monitoring the health of three new short-beaked echidnas that hatched in August this year. The youngest of the puggles was born to mother Pitpa, who was the last echidna to be born at the zoo, back in 1987.

The tiny trio have just started opening their eyes and developing their characteristic spines in their burrow at Taronga Zoo’s new echidna breeding facility.

Echidnas – one of only two Australian mammals that lay eggs, called monotremes – are notoriously difficult to breed in captivity, but the keepers are pleased with the puggles’ progress…

[rjzimmerman]

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service calls for conservation efforts to protect the beleaguered rusty patched bumble bee.

Have any other members of the huge bee family been given protected status under the Endangered Species Act? I dunno.

Excerpt:

A beleaguered wild bee species is on its way to protected status by the U.S. Endangered Species Act following a proposal by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) was once found in abundance across a wide swath of North America that included 28 states in the U.S. and two provinces in Canada.

But the past couple of decades have been rough for these buzzing critters — they’ve suffered a steep 91 percent decline in population since the mid 1990s due to a combination of climate change, pesticide exposure, habitat loss, population fragmentation and transmitted diseases from infected commercial domesticated honeybees.

Today, the rusty patched bumble bee exists only in tiny populations across the Midwest and mid-Atlantic, and they’re considered by the IUCN to be critically endangered.

The rusty patched bumble bee plays an important role in pollinating plants and wildflowers — which in turn provide habitats and sustenance for other wildlife. They also are a vital force in ensuring the success of commercial agriculture.

“Bumble bees are able to fly in cooler temperatures and lower light levels than many other bees, such as honey bees, making them excellent pollinators for crops like tomatoes, peppers and cranberries,” according to a press release by the USFWS. “Even where crops can be self-pollinated, the plant produces more and bigger fruits when pollinated by bumble bees.”

[zsl-edge-of-existence]

These images aren’t photoshopped; white kiwis are real!  In fact, these pictures are of the first white kiwi born in captivity, a chick who startled keepers at the Pukaha Mount Bruce Wildlife Centre when she popped out of her shell.  Named “Manukura”, which means “of chiefly status”, this little bird and her two similarly-coloured siblings are not albinos, but rather are the offspring of two carriers of a recessive gene, much like white tigers.  Manukura’s birth was regarded as a “taonga”, or blessing, by the Maori community, and she has become something of a celebrity since her birth in 2011, and it’s hoped she will soon begin producing chicks of her own.

[typhlonectes]

It's not too late to stop the slaughter. A petition to save the wolves has already gathered over 10,000 signatures, and some are contacting Washington state's Wolf Advisory Group directly.

There are only an estimated 90 gray wolves in Washington state, but on August 5, state wildlife officials shot and killed two of them from a helicopter.

These wolves, both breeding females, were part of the Profanity Peak wolf pack, composed of six adults and five babies and just one of 19 gray wolf packs in Washington. Because the wolf pack had been killing cattle in the region, the state has decided to kill off the whole pack — and plans to shoot the remaining nine wolves…

[zsl-edge-of-existence]

Although numbats have strong front claws for digging, they are not strong enough to break into the cement-like outside walls of termite mounds.  As such, they hunt when the termites are travelling through shallow underground tunnels between their nests and their feeding sites.  Because termites have such soft bodies, the numbat has a very simple digestive system without the adaptations many other insectivores have for breaking down hard shells and exoskeletons.  The numbat also absorbs enough water from its diet that it has no need to drink.

[currentsinbiology]

WWF buys $100,000 shark fishing licence to stop someone else from using it

Conservation group WWF Australia has purchased a commercial shark fishing licence on the Great Barrier Reef, with the sole aim of removing it from circulation.

The Great Barrier Reef has been in the news a lot lately, with 93 percent of the reef bleached earlier this year, hordes of Crown of Thorns starfish still causing damage, and plans to dredge the sea floor in a number of areas. But at least fishing is banned in the area… unless you spend enough money on a special licence, that is.

The AU$100,000 licence that WWF Australia has purchased, would have given its owner the right to drag a 1.2 km net (which is included in the purchase of the license) anywhere along the Great Barrier Reef, to target sharks, or other species.

“We’re going to take it out of the water and make sure it doesn’t go fishing,” Conservation director Gilly Llewellyn told the ABC.

“We have a chance to … help save some of those sharks… This will also prevent dugongs, turtles and dolphins being killed as by-catch, and help the reef heal after the worst coral bleaching in its history.”

[typhlonectes]

Leatherback sea turtles are the largest turtles on Earth. They’re also one of the most endangered. 

A 607kg (1,338 lb.) leatherback sea turtle, one of the largest specimens ever brought on board by a NOAA research team. This photo was taken to document its size. It was caught under NOAA Endangered Species Act Permit 1596, and returned safely to the water.

Learn more: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/turtles/leatherback.html

photograph: Heather Harris/NOAA Fisheries

(via: NOAA Fisheries Service)

[typhlonectes]

Record breaking year of Kākāpō breeding for the New Zealand Kakapo Recovery Program in New Zealand!

Find out more about efforts to save this critically endangered flightless parrot from New Zealand:

http://kakaporecovery.org.nz/

[typhlonectes]

50% Of The Great Barrier Reef Is Now Dead Or Dying, 93% Is Bleached

The news keeps getting worse for the the world's greatest coral reef system. Fresh on the heels of news that most of the Great Barrier Reef (GBR) has bleached comes the announcement that more than half of the coral in the reef has died this summer. Prospects look grim for most of the rest...

[sdzoo]

Our Avian Propagation Center is caring for a brown kiwi chick for the first time in more than a decade. This endangered species is an unusual bird: it doesn’t fly, the parents don’t feed their chicks, and the egg is 4x the expected size for a bird of the kiwi’s proportions. Details: http://bit.ly/1TCdzmf

[ayellowbirds]

For the first time, scientists have treated and cured bats infected with White-Nose Syndrome.

Exciting news for fans of flying mammals:

This little guy was released after being successfully treated for White-Nose Syndrome. It’s a great day for conservation!

10 years ago, a fungus was introduced in the United States that quickly decimated populations of bats in American and Canada.

The culprit? Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), which causes White-Nose Syndrome in bats.

But now, for the first time, scientists have successfully treated bats infected with White-Nose Syndrome.

On May 19, 2015, scientists and conservationists gathered outside the historic Mark Twain Cave Complex in Hannibal, Missouri, to release back into the wild some of the first bats successfully treated for deadly White-Nose Syndrome.

The 75 bats released in May were part of the first field trials of a novel way to protect bats from this syndrome.

More at the link.

[pitchforking-deactivated2022030]

This is amazing news! But I wish the article had more detail because I have SO MANY QUESTIONS.

[endangereduglythings]

I am always willing to hear good news about bats!

[typhlonectes]

Insect Conservation:  Betting on a Beetle

Agencies Team Up to Help Save the Threatened Coral Pink Sand Dunes Tiger Beetle

by Brendan Davidson

Relative to its body size, the Coral Pink Sand Dunes tiger beetle (Cicindela albissima) is estimated to run approximately 20 times faster than a human-being, making it a formidable predator in the insect world.  Despite its impressive abilities, the species once faced significant threats in its limited habitat in the Coral Pink Sand Dunes area of southern Utah.

Climate change, off-road vehicle use in tiger beetle habitat, and drought were identified as significant threats that warranted federal protection of the species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Service biologists and university researchers have been studying the species – characterized by a metallic green and copper head, a dull milky white body, and fearsome looking mandibles – for the past 20 years, and know that the tiger beetle’s habitat is fragile. The beetle only lives in Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park, roughly 27 miles (43 kilometers) west of the town of Kanab, in south central Utah. Inside the park, the beetle occupies approximately 20 percent of the 3,500 acres (1,416 hectares) covered by the park…

(read more: USFWS - Endangered Species)

photograph by Mark Capone, USFWS