Chinese dam project in Guinea could kill up to 1,500 chimpanzees

Planned Koukoutamba dam to be built in reserve established to protect chimps from mining

Jonathan Watts

Thu 28 Feb 2019 06.00 GMT

Up to 1,500 chimpanzees could be killed by a new Chinese dam that will swamp a crucial sanctuary for the endangered primate in Guinea, experts have warned.

The 294MW Koukoutamba dam will be built by Sinohydro, the world’s biggest hydroelectric power plant construction company, in the middle of a newly declared protected area called the Moyen-Bafing National park.

The Chinese company is already facing similar criticism for building a dam in Indonesia that threatens the only known habitat of a newly discovered species of orangutan.

Its executives signed a contract this week with local representatives eager to secure a power project that will bring energy and funds to one of Africa’s poorest countries.

The flooding of swathes of the park is expected to force the displacement of 8,700 people. It will also increase the pressure on western chimpanzees, which have declined by 80% in the past 20 years, and are now considered critically endangered – the highest level of risk – by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

The highlands of Guinea are home to Africa’s healthiest remaining population of about 16,500 western chimpanzees. In most other countries, this subspecies is either extinct or perilously threatened in populations of less than 100 individuals.

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Climate change may destroy tiger's home

Date:  February 11, 2019

Source:  James Cook University

A James Cook University scientist says the last coastal stronghold of an iconic predator, the endangered Bengal tiger, could be destroyed by climate change and rising sea levels over the next 50 years.

"Fewer than 4,000 Bengal tigers are alive today," said JCU's Professor Bill Laurance, a co-author of the study.

"That's a really low number for the world's biggest cat, which used to be far more abundant but today is mainly confined to small areas of India and Bangladesh," he said.

"Spanning more than 10,000 square kilometres, the Sundarbans region of Bangladesh and India is the biggest mangrove forest on Earth, and also the most critical area for Bengal tiger survival," said lead-author Dr Sharif Mukul, an assistant professor at Independent University Bangladesh.

"What is most terrifying is that our analyses suggest tiger habitats in the Sundarbans will vanish entirely by 2070," said Dr Mukul.

The researchers used computer simulations to assess the future suitability of the low-lying Sundarban region for tigers and their prey species, using mainstream estimates of climatic trends from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Their analyses included factors such as extreme weather events and sea-level rise.

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Deadly rabbit virus threatens UK brown hare population

Cases confirmed in Dorset and Essex with public urged to report sick or dead animals

Fiona Harvey Environment correspondent

Fri 25 Jan 2019 06.30 GMTLast modified on Wed 30 Jan 2019 12.32 GMT

The first cases of rabbit virus have been confirmed in hares in the UK, highlighting a major new threat to the UK’s rapidly dwindling brown hare population.

Two cases of the deadly rabbit haemorrhagic disease type 2 have been confirmed in Dorset and one in Essex, so it may already be taking hold in the wild, but more testing will be needed to determine its spread.

Hare numbers have plunged by about 80% in recent decades, largely as a result of changing farming practices and more intensive agriculture, which has affected their food supply and habitat. Any further threat from disease would strike another blow at what was once a common fixture of the countryside – hunted by some and harried by farmers, but much-loved and with a special place in British folklore, from the mad March hare to the nut-brown hare of the bestselling children’s book Guess How Much I Love You.

Mountain hares are native to the UK, and are now largely restricted to Scotland, but brown hares were, like rabbits, introduced and are estimated to number about 800,000.

Suspicions that the virus, which causes lung haemorrhaging and hepatitis, may have jumped to the hare population were raised in September, when sightings of sick and dying hares were first reported. The rabbit virus is known to have made the leap to European brown hares in countries such as Italy, France, Spain and Australia.

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Newly Discovered Leaf-Tailed Gecko From Madagascar Is Already Threatened by Pet Trade – via Herp Digest

The master of camouflage is about 4-inches-long and hides amid dead leaves

Uroplatus finaritra by March Sherz

By Jason Daley, Smithsonian.com 1/24/19   

Some creatures have developed truly awesome camouflage: the owl butterfly, the leafy sea dragon, which looks like seaweed, or the self-explanatory stick insects, for example. One of the coolest are the leaf-tailed geckos, a group of animals in the genus Uroplatus that only live on the island of Madagascar. The animals have patterns that blend them perfectly into the local foliage, but most impressive are their tails, which resemble a rotting leaf, complete with discolored spots and little nicks and tears. Now, researchers have described a new species of these hard-to-see critters—and it may already be under threat from the pet trade.

The newly discovered species comes from low altitude areas of Marojejy National Park on Madagascar’s northeastern tip. During the day, the leaf-tailed geckos are difficult to spot. They tend to hang out in dead leaves, covering themselves with their deceptive tail and sticking their limbs out like twigs. At night, however, they come alive, actively hunting in the dense rainforest—that's when researchers conduct their surveys.

Shreya Dasgupta at Mongabay reports Fanomezana Ratsoavina, a herpetologist at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar, collected the new species in 2003 during a field study, but at the time did not know it was new to science since it resembles another well-known species, the satanic leaf-tailed gecko. In May 2016, another herpetologist from Antananarivo who was conducting a survey in the park that involved collecting geckos noticed that some of the specimens were slightly larger than normal as well.

Jake Buehler at Earther reports that in November 2016, researchers collected a few more specimens and began analyzing them, finding that the 4-inch-long geckos are 50 percent larger than their satanic brethren and the interior of their mouth is scarlet red. Genetic analysis also confirmed the gecko is a new species, called Uroplatus finaritra, detailed in the journal Zootaxa. Finaritra is a Malagasy word meaning “healthy and happy,” which, Dasgupta reports, the researchers say describes their “delight in describing this splendid and exceptionally large species from a clade of generally small-sized leaf-tailed geckos.”

While it’s great to add another unique species to the list of life on Earth, Mark Scherz, study co-author and herpetologist at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, says the new species may already be in danger. While its primary habitat is in protected land, unlike those of many species on the island, it’s still imperiled. That’s because the satanic leaf-tailed gecko is often collected from the wild for the pet trade, and it’s difficult for collectors and herpetology enthusiasts to tell the two species apart.

“A young individual of U. finaritra can only be distinguished from U. phantasticus adults by checking the color of its mouth,” Scherz tells Dasgupta. “This is not an easy thing to do, requires stress to the animals, and could potentially hurt them irreparably if performed forcefully by a non-expert.”

Scherz says that some satanic geckos sold as pets are described as “giant” or “large” varieties of the species, and the researchers suspect those are actually U. finaritra. While inspecting every gecko shipped from Madagascar is not possible, the team tells Buehler that they suggest every reptile and amphibian shipment from the island includes information on where they animals were collected. Since the new species is believed to occur in a range north of the satanic leaf-tailed gecko, any animals collected from that region could be flagged as being likely misidentified.

“While discovering a new species is very exciting, we also need to think about its conservation,” Ratsoavina tells Dasgupta. “If the natural population of Uroplatus finaritra from Marojejy National Park stays intact without further habitat loss and illegal exploitation activities to supply the pet trade, this species will remain safe.”

Bolivian bees under threat from coca pesticides

January 4, 2019

High up in the Bolivian cloud forest, a woman tends to her bees, smoker in hand, working from hive to hive under a canopy of leaves to delicately gather panels of honeycomb. It's a bucolic scene that experts say won't last, for the bees are dying.

The culprit—as in so many other cases across the world—is pesticide. The difference in Bolivia is that pesticide use, along with the coca plantations it is being used to protect, is on the rise.

Environmentalists and beekeepers like Rene Villca say the bee population is being decimated by massive and intensive use of chemical pesticides to protect the region's biggest cash crop.

Here in the idyllic Nor Yungas region north of the cloud-high capital La Paz, the pesticides are taking a toll on Villca's hives.

"Of the 20 hives I have, 10 are producing normally and 10 are not."

On another part of the mountain where Nancy Carlo Estrada tends to her bees, a canopy of protective netting around her head, Exalto Mamami wades through a waist-high coca plantation, pumping out liquid pesticide from a canister on his back, face covered with a long cloth against harmful blowback from the spray.

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For these critically endangered marine turtles, climate change could be a knockout blow

December 14, 2018, Florida State University

Hawksbill turtles aren't the only marine turtles threatened by the destabilizing effects of climate change, but a new study from researchers at Florida State University shows that this critically endangered species could be at particular risk.

In a study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers from FSU's Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science suggest that projected increases in air temperatures, rainfall inundation and blistering solar radiation could significantly reduce hawksbill hatching success at a selection of major nesting beaches.

Earth's history abounds with examples of climate shifts, but researchers say today's transforming climate, paired with unabated human development, imperils hawksbills and other marine turtles in new and alarming ways.

"Marine turtles have been around for millions of years, and during this time they have adapted to substantial climatic changes," said Assistant Professor of Oceanography Mariana Fuentes, co-author of the study. "In the past they have adapted by shifting their nesting grounds and nesting season to align with more favorable conditions. However, increasing impacts to nesting habitats from coastal construction, storms and sea level rise are jeopardizing their ability to adapt."

To evaluate climate change's effects on hawksbill hatching success, FSU researchers analyzed more than 5,000 nests from the five Brazilian beaches where a majority of the region's hawksbill nesting occurs. The team focused specifically on five climatic variables—air temperature, rainfall, humidity, solar radiation and wind speed—in order to render a more comprehensive model of the various and subtle effects of a changing climate on the sensitive incubation process.

"Research is lacking on how climate change may influence hawksbills, and this population in particular," said former FSU graduate student Natalie Montero, who led the study. "We chose to study how climate change may impact hatchling production because significant changes to how many baby marine turtles are born can dramatically alter population stability."

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Axolotls in crisis: the fight to save the 'water monster' of Mexico City

The city’s floating gardens are a prime party spot – but pollution has driven the axolotl population to the verge of extinction. Can a radical plan save them?

Alan Grabinsky in Mexico City

Tue 4 Dec 2018 11.00 GMTLast modified on Tue 4 Dec 2018 11.12 GMT

Like many residents of Mexico City, my experience of the floating gardens of Xochimilco has mostly been tinged with alcohol. After all, every weekend, this Unesco world heritage site turns into a bacchanal, with groups aboard the canals’ iconic boats celebrating everything from high school graduations to engagements and weddings.

But this is a weekday morning, and Carlos Sumano, who is steering my canoe through the floating gardens, or chinampas, says that sort of unfettered use has taken its toll on the ecosystem. During his six years working in Xochimilco, Sumano has come across everything from pushchairs to television sets in canals. 

The loss of the axolotl is traumatic for Mexico City: the creature is vital both to its ecosystem and its imagination

Water pollution has also affected the region’s most unique creature: the axolotl.

When the Aztecs established themselves in the nearby city of Tenochtitlan, they found in Xochimilco what appeared to be the larva of a salamander. Fascinated, they called the animal “water monster” and incorporated it into their mythology as the mischievous and renegade brother of the god Quetzalcoatl.

Its divine character didn’t keep the Aztecs from eating it but, thanks in large part to the low-impact agriculture of Xochimilco, human and amphibian thrived.

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China's appetite for 'stinky' durian fruit threatening endangered tigers

Forests in the region of Raub in Malaysia are being burned and cleared to make way for durian plantations

The habitat of one of the world’s most endangered tigers is under threat, according to environmental groups, as forests in Malaysia are cleared to meet growing demand for durians, the divisively pungent fruit hugely popular in China.

Forests in the region of Raub in Malaysia, which has become a popular destination for Chinese and Singapore tourists on “durian tours”, are being burned and cleared to make way for plantations to grow the Musang King variety of the spiky but stinky fruit.

The land is home to the Malayan tiger, which is considered “critically endangered” with fewer than 300 left in the world. Environmental groups have said destroying their habit could have a “devastating” impact on the tigers’ survival.

World’s most controversial fruit may depend on giant bats for pollination

 

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Siti Zuraidah Abidin from WWF Malaysia said the Hulu Sempan area, where new plantations are planned, had been designated an “expected tiger habitat”. The area is adjacent to a protected area where most of the tigers live, she said. Malayan tigers are found only on the Malay Peninsula and in the southern tip of Thailand.

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Older than dinosaurs: last South African coelacanths threatened by oil exploration

Just 30 of the prehistoric fish known to exist, raising fears oil wells will push it to extinction

Tony Carnie in Durban

Fri 17 Aug 2018 11.29 BSTLast modified on Mon 20 Aug 2018 09.52 BST

Bright blue, older than dinosaurs and weighing as much as an average-sized man, coelacanths are the most endangered fish in South Africa and among the rarest in the world.

Barely 30 of these critically-endangered fish are known to exist off the east coast of South Africa, raising concern that a new oil exploration venture in the area could jeopardise their future.

Coelacanths, whose shape has remained almost unchanged for 420m years, captured world attention when the first living specimen was caught off the port city of East London in 1938. This discovery was followed by the subsequent capture of several more off the Comoros islands in the early 1950s, confirming that coelacanths were definitely not extinct.

December 2000 brought further excitement when divers found a small coelacanth colony in underwater canyons near South Africa’s Sodwana Bay, adjacent to the iSimangaliso wetland park and world heritage site.

Now the Rome-based energy group Eni plans to drill several deep-water oil wells in a 400km long exploration block known as Block ER236.

Dr Andrew Venter, the chief executive of Wildtrust, one of several conservation groups lobbying for a significant expansion of South Africa’s protected ocean areas, said: “The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 decimated fish populations – so if we had an oil spill off iSimangaliso it is very likely it could wipe out these coelacanths.”

The Sodwana coelacanths are about 40km from the northern boundary of the Eni exploration area and nearly 200km north of the first drilling sites, but Venter said oil spills spread far and swiftly.

His concerns have been echoed by the coelacanth expert Prof Mike Bruton, who said the fish are specialist creatures, sensitive to environmental disturbance.

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Can Namibia’s desert lions survive humanity?

The lions of the Namib Desert survive against incredible odds, but can they survive trophy hunting, human-wildlife conflict and climate change? 

Jeremy Hance

Wed 22 Aug 2018 15.53 BSTLast modified on Wed 22 Aug 2018 17.03 BST

Desert lions aren’t a distinct species or even a subspecies, but they are different. Drop a plains lion into the Namib Desert — where it may rain only 5 millimeters a year — and watch it perish.

According to Izak Smit, who runs the local NGO, Desert Lions Human Relations Aid (DeLHRA), the desert lions of Namibia are able to go long periods of time without water, getting most of their moisture from the blood of their kills. They are leaner and woolier (due to frigid nights). And they behave distinctly than other lions: prides are smaller, they have bigger home ranges and travel further and there is no infanticide — a common practice among plains lions.

“Cub mortality is mostly close to zero as the mothers are formidable providers and guardians,” Smit said. “The mere fact that they can sustain themselves in such a harsh environment [makes them distinct] from other lions.”

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Meet the orangutans: a guide to three species and how they're in danger

Orangutans are beautiful animals, but there isn’t just one type of orangutan, there are three species – and the continued deforestation of their rainforest habitats in Indonesia has put them all in peril

Fri 17 Aug 2018 16.42 BSTLast modified on Wed 22 Aug 2018 15.26 BST

Bornean Orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus)

Wild Bornean orangutans can live to about 45 and are the world’s largest tree-dwelling mammals, weighing around 87kg and standing some 1.3 metres tall. Their armspans can reach 2.1 metres, but their limbs are used for more than just physical power: they also perform clever feats of hunting, such as skewering fish with sticks.

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Britain's biggest butterfly threatened by rising seas

New charity warns Britain’s largest butterfly could be lost within four decades as rising seas turn its habitat into saltmarsh

Patrick Barkham

Fri 29 Jun 2018 12.27 BSTLast modified on Fri 29 Jun 201813.40 BST

Britain’s biggest butterfly, the swallowtail, could become extinct within four decades because of rising sea levels, a new charity has warned.

New inland habitat needs to be created for the swallowtail because rising seas are predicted to turn much of its current home, the Norfolk Broads, into saltmarshes later this century.

The British swallowtail caterpillar’s only food plant, milk parsley, cannot survive in saltwater, and so the plant and the butterfly will need to be translocated to the Cambridgeshire fens, according to butterfly experts.

“At least 90% of the current swallowtail breeding sites will become salt marsh with a sea level rise of 50cm,” said Mark Collins, chair of the Swallowtail and Birdwing Butterfly Trust, a new charity working to save the 500 swallowtail and birdwing butterfly species worldwide. “We could be looking at 30 or 40 years and these sites will be gone, given the rate of sea-level rise and also tidal surges and ‘salination events’, where saltwater comes rushing up the Broads’ rivers.”

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Climate change may even threaten one of the world's most resilient lizards

Date:  May 9, 2018

Source:  Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Sporting a bright red-and-yellow dewlap under its chin, the color-changing Bahamian anole lizard is a popular exotic pet. This wily anole has escaped captivity on enough occasions to successfully invade large areas across the Western Hemisphere. At first glance, this suggests that the anole is well-suited to adapt to a changing climate. But a new study led by a Smithsonian researcher, suggests that may not be the case.

Michael Logan, post-doctoral fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, studies the brown anole in its home range in the Bahamas. His most recent study shows that the anole's genetic makeup is surprisingly ill-suited to future climate scenarios. The anole is therefore unlikely to adapt fast enough to keep pace with current rates of environmental change.

The findings, published May 9 in Proceedings of the Royal Society B, have important implications for the future of cold-blooded species (such as other reptiles, amphibians and fish), especially since rapid evolution is considered a key way for many of these species to survive a global increase in temperatures.

"Brown anoles have huge population sizes and therefore should have loads of genetic variation in most traits, permitting rapid adaptation," Logan said. "Instead, we found that genetic variation in several traits that are critical under climate change is basically zero."

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World’s newest great ape threatened by Chinese dam

The discovery of the Tapanuli orangutan has not stopped a Chinese state-run company from clearing forest for a planned dam. Conservationists fear this will be the beginning of the end for a species only known for six months

Jeremy Hance

Mon 23 Apr 2018 08.13 BSTLast modified on Mon 23 Apr 2018 15.18 BST

Last November scientists made a jaw-dropping announcement: they’d discovered a new great ape hiding in plain sight, only the eighth inhabiting our planet. 

The Tapanuli orangutan survives in northern Sumatra and it is already the most endangered great ape in the world; researchers estimate less than 800 individuals survive. But the discovery hasn’t stopped a Chinese state-run company, Sinohydro, from moving ahead with clearing forest for a large dam project smack in the middle of the orangutan population. According to several orangutan experts, Sinohyrdo’s dam represents an immediate and existential threat to the Tapanuli orangutan. 

“Building the dam means chopping the orangutan population in half,” Erik Meijaard, the director of Borneo Futures and one of the experts to describe Pongo tapanuliensis, said. “You end up with two smaller populations, and these will have much reduced chances of survival, because a small population is more likely to go extinct than a large one.”

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Climate change threatens rare British orchid that tricks bees into mating

Researchers find that warmer temperatures are upsetting the seasonal relationship between the early spider orchid and pollinating bees

Patrick Barkham

Thu 5 Apr 2018 12.37 BSTLast modified on Thu 5 Apr 2018 22.00 BST

It is one of the most cunning and elaborate reproductive deceits: the early spider orchid (Ophrys sphegodes) wafts a floral bouquet into the air that mimics the irresistible scent of a virgin female solitary mining bee, tricking gullible male bees into attempting intercourse with several flowers, thereby ensuring the plant’s pollination.

But the sexual success of this rare and declining orchid in Britain is imperilled by climate change, researchers have found.

The orchid’s ruse only works if a female mining bee, Andrena nigroaenea, has not emerged from hibernation, because as soon as this happens, the orchid cannot compete with the alluring scent of the real thing – and the plant is ignored by the male bees.

While warmer springs cause the early spider orchid to flower earlier in May, climate warming is also causing female bees to emerge from hibernation even earlier – confounding the orchid’s attempts to dupe the male bees.

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Uncoordinated trade policies aid alien bee invasions

March 6, 2018 by Conicet-Universidad Nacional Del Comahue Press Release, British Ecological Society

Patagonia may lose its only native bumblebee species due to invasions by alien bee species sanctioned by government policy.

In a paper published today in Journal of Applied Ecology, Marcelo Aizen from the Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Argentina, and colleagues from four countries draw attention to the severe conservation, economic and political consequences of intentional species introductions supported by government policies.

They illustrate these consequences based on the recent spread of invasive European bumblebees, especially the buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) from Chile to southern Argentina.

Chile formally allows continuous importation of alien bumblebees to pollinate agricultural crops. Since 1997, this policy has authorized importation of more than a million bumblebee colonies. During 2015 alone, more than 200,000 colonies and queens were imported.

Unfortunately, bumblebees are mobile and do not respect international boundaries, even those established along major geographic barriers. As a consequence, the alien species have spread widely in Chile and Argentina, and one species is on the verge of entering Bolivia and Perú. The invasion of Argentina across the Andes and its unintended consequences have occurred despite Argentina having banned importation of non-native bumblebees.

The most serious biological impact of this invasion is the decline of the Patagonian giant bumblebee (Bombus dahlbomii), the only native bumble bee in southern South America and one of the world's largest bumblebees.

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Boat traffic threatens the survival of Panama's Bocas Del Toro dolphins

Geneticists recommend designating isolated dolphin population as 'endangered'

Date:December 22, 2017

Source:Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute

Summary:Bottlenose dolphins in Panama's Bocas Del Toro Archipelago should be designated as endangered say the authors of a new study. Biologists have discovered that the roughly 80 dolphins in the archipelago do not interbreed with other Caribbean bottlenose dolphins. Their low numbers jeopardize their long-term survival, which is threatened by increasing local boat traffic that killed at least seven dolphins in 2012.

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Dahl's toad-headed turtle threatened by fragmented habitat, shrinking populations

Date:  December 5, 2017

Source:  Wildlife Conservation Society

Summary:

A recent study published in Conservation Geneticsby researchers from the Universidad de los Andes, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, WCS (Wildlife Conservation Society), and the Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) shows that the Dahl's Toad-headed Turtle (Mesoclemmys dahli), a rare reptile found only in Colombia, is threatened with extinction due to alarmingly small and fragmented populations and high levels of inbreeding.

The authors of the study will pursue both a genetic rescue strategy for the species to reduce inbreeding and an initiative to identify and protect the most important areas for the Dahl's Toad-Headed Turtle.

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Mexico takes ‘unprecedented’ action to save vaquita

by Mongabay.com on 15 October 2017

A team of marine mammal experts have begun a search for the last vaquitas (Phocoena sinus) in a last-ditch effort to capture the remaining 30 porpoises until they’re no longer threatened by gillnets.

VaquitaCPR seeks to house the vaquita in sea pens and includes plans for long-term care and breeding.

Though seen as ‘risky’ and ‘bold,’ many conservation organizations agree that finding the animals before it’s too late is the only option.

A team of marine mammal experts is searching for the last vaquitas (Phocoena sinus) in the Gulf of California. They’ve gathered in northern Mexico, at the invitation of the government of Mexico, to make a last-ditch effort to capture and keep the remaining 30 porpoises safe until they’re no longer threatened by the gillnets that have decimated their numbers in recent years.

“We are watching this precious native species disappear before our eyes,” said Rafael Pacchiano, Mexico’s minister of the environment and natural resources, in a January 2017 statement from the National Marine Mammal Foundation (NMMF). “This critical rescue effort is a priority for the Mexican government and we are dedicated to providing the necessary resources in order to give the plan its best chance of success.”

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How Slovenia is helping its ‘baby dragons’

The eyeless subterranean salamanders that live in the watery depths of Postojna Cave are under threat – but there’s hope in sight

Robin McKie

Sunday 27 August 2017 10.30 BST

Postojna Cave in Slovenia is one of Europe’s longest cave networks and one of the world’s most spectacular subterranean tourist sites. Hundreds of thousands of visitors come here every year to gaze at its wonders: its huge stalactites and stalagmites, its curtains of coloured rock and bridges that have been carved out of the local limestone by the river Pivka over millions of years.

Given such glories, it is not surprising that few tourists take note of the two concrete huts draped with black polythene that have been erected in a shadowy alcove in one obscure part of the 24km-long labyrinth. But the huts contain wonders of their own. In racks of trays of water, scientists have placed specimens of one of the world’s strangest creatures: the blind aquatic salamander Proteus anguinus – or olm, as it is known locally. It constitutes a project that could have profound implications for the future of these remarkable creatures.

Slovenia is extremely proud of its remarkable little blind salamander which featured on the country’s pre-Euro coins

“We now have 21 baby olms flourishing in our trays,” said Primoz Gnezda, a biologist working in Postojna Cave. “For the first time we have witnessed the hatching of proteus larvae – and, after one year, they are all healthy. And that gives us hope we can save our olms for the future.”

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