Invasive species are Australia's number-one extinction threat

MAY 10, 2019

by Andy Sheppard, The Conversation

This week many people across the world stopped and stared as extreme headlines announced that one eighth of the world's species – more than a million – are threatened with extinction.

According to the UN report from the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) which brought this situation to public attention, this startling number is a consequence of five direct causes: changes in land and sea use; direct exploitation of organisms; climate change; pollution; and invasion of alien species.

It's the last, invasive species, that threatens Australian animals and plants more than any other single factor.

Australia's number one threat

Australia has an estimated 600,000 species of flora and fauna. Of these, about 100 are known to have gone extinct in the last 200 years. Currently, more than 1,770 are listed as threatened or endangered.

While the IPBES report ranks invasive alien species as the fifth most significant cause of global decline, in Australia it is a very different story.

Australia has the highest rate of vertebrate mammal extinction in the world, and invasive species are our number one threat.

Cats and foxes have driven 22 native mammals to extinction across central Australia and a new wave of decline – largely from cats – is taking place across northern Australia. Research has estimated 270 more threatened and endangered vertebrates are being affected by invasive species.

Introduced vertebrates have also driven several bird species on Norfolk Island extinct.

Continued

Great apes face extinction: conservationist Jane Goodall

Jul 29, 2014

The world's great apes face extinction within decades, renowned chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall warned Tuesday, in a call to arms to ensure man's closest relatives are not wiped out.

"If we don't take action the great apes will disappear, because of both habitat destruction as well as trafficking," Goodall told AFP in an interview in the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

In the past half century, chimpanzee numbers have slumped from two million to just 300,000, spread over 21 countries, said Goodall, a British scientist who spent more than five decades studying chimpanzees in Tanzania's Gombe National Park.

"If we don't change something, they certainly will disappear, or be left in tiny pockets where they will struggle from inbreeding," said the 80-year-old, the first scientist to observe that apes as well as humans use tools.

Experts predict that at the current rate, human development will have impacted 90 percent of the apes' habitat in Africa and 99 percent in Asia by 2030, according to a UN-backed report last month.

Read more at: 

Frog Population Decline Linked to Killer Pathogen

Jacqueline Conciatore, National Science Foundation | July 28, 2014 02:06pm ET

A virus lethal to wood frog tadpoles may be partly responsible for the alarming and widespread extinction of amphibians seen in recent decades.

The study from the NSF-funded National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) showed that ranavirus, a killer pathogen that causes frogs' internal organs to bleed profusely, could lead to the extinction of isolated populations of wood frogs. "We looked at isolated populations because we wanted to know if it was at all possible that ranavirus could cause extinctions, and isolated populations were the most likely," said lead researcher and NIMBioS postdoctoral fellow Julia Earl.

Continued

Save the tiger: Tiger, tiger, dying out - a majestic animal on its knees

Sunday 27 July 2014

Save the tiger: Tiger, tiger, dying out - a majestic animal on its knees

To mark International Tiger Day, The Independent and the World Wildlife Fund are working together to highlight the dangers these iconic animals face

Smoke rose in the distance, above a homestead deep in the Siberian forest. The nearest neighbours lived miles away, so isolated is this barely populated spot five hours by car from Vladivostok. By the time they got close, the blaze had caught hold. The house was burning.

The property belongs to Vladimir Aramilev, whose work protects some of the world’s last surviving tigers. The cause of the fire was animal poachers who had doused it in petrol and lit it with a match. The objective: to force him out, so they can keep on killing.

Black scorch marks can still be seen today along the outside of the window frames. Inside, where the fire raged, the damage was near total. Wooden facings on the house’s walls and ceiling were burnt to ash while belongings simply melted in the heat. “I was shocked,” Mr Aramilev admits of the attack on his property. “Definitely I’m scared. I have a four-year-old daughter. My work is to protect animals. But now I know the risk to me is part of that job, too.”

Tigers once covered a vast stretch of Asia. They could be found in the tip of India, all the way across to Bali and even into eastern Turkey. Now they survive in a few pockets, primarily in India, South-east Asia, and here in Russia’s eastern Primorsky region. Worldwide numbers are estimated at little more than 3,000. In every one of these locations, they are under mortal threat.

Continued

From the Frontline: Saving Australia's Threatened Mammals

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Almost a third of Australia’s mammals have become extinct or are facing extinction, largely thanks to introduced predators such as cats and foxes. But what is the best way to save the species still alive?

In a recent article on The Conversation, John Woinarksi and Peter Harrison wrote that “controlling cats is likely to do more for the conservation of Australia’s biodiversity than any other single action”. But until we find a solution for controlling predators, we have to use more immediate measures.

Continued

Canadian Polar Bear Hunt Continues, Despite Extinction Threat (Op-Ed)

Zak Smith, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) | May 14, 2014 01:28am ET

Zak Smith is an attorney for the Marine Mammal Protection Project at NRDC. This Op-Ed is adapted from one that first appeared on the NRDC blogSwitchboard. Smith contributed this article to Live Science's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

Most people don't know that Canada is the only country where polar bears are still hunted and killed to supply the world trade in polar bear skins and other parts (teeth, claws, skulls, etc.). But Canada's practice of allowing polar bears to be killed for profit when their very existence is threatened by climate change is now going to be scrutinized by the international community, which is expressing concern that such trade is not sustainable.

This critical issue came into focus at a meeting I recently attended in Veracruz, Mexico, of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) — the international organization tasked with managing trade in endangered species.

read on

African forest elephants decline by 62% in 10 years

Forest elephant numbers have decreased by 62% across Central Africa over the last 10 years, according to a study.

The analysis confirmed fears that African forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) are heading for extinction, possibly within the next decade.

Conservationists said "effective, rapid, multi-level action is imperative" in order to save the elephants.

They are concerned the forest elephants are being killed for their ivory.

Results of the study, undertaken by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and several other conservation organisations, are published in the scientific journal PLoS One.

Over 60 co-authors contributed to the study, which was led by Dr Fiona Maisels, a WCS conservation scientist from the School of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, and Dr Samantha Strindberg, also a WCS conservation scientist.

"Although we were expecting to see these results, we were horrified that the decline over the period of a mere decade was over 60%," Dr Maisels told BBC Nature.

Findings also indicated that large areas where the elephants ranged just 10 years ago now have very few elephants remaining.

Continued: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21655613

Critically Endangered Honeyeaters released into the wild in Australia

Helmeted Honeyeaters' released to save species

May 2012. Fifteen critically endangered Helmeted Honeyeaters were released into the wild as efforts by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) (Australia) and Healesville Sanctuary continue to save the bird from extinction.

Survives at just 2 sites
The release will boost the numbers to an estimated 100 in the wild at just two sites; Bunyip State Park, 20km south-east of Gembrook and Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve, 18km south of Healesville.

DSE's Senior Ornithologist Bruce Quin said this is the first time Helmeted Honeyeaters have been released in this section of Bunyip State Park. "The park was burnt by the Black Saturday fires however, wild birds moved into the site once it started to regenerate. They are surviving here with no supplementary feeding that suggests ideal habitat," Mr Quin said.

"The birds were fitted with transmitters, for tracking purposes, and transferred to aviaries at Bunyip State Park earlier this week to allow them to get used to their wild environment without danger of predation, especially from birds of prey. All released birds are also leg banded making it easier to track them."

The wild population is supported by DSE, Healesville Sanctuary, Parks Victoria and volunteer groups such as Friends of the Helmeted Honeyeater.

"We work with volunteers to keep a close watch on the birds, including undertaking nest protection works during the breeding season, but the new birds are still vulnerable to natural predators," Mr Quin said.

The release will take the wild population of Victoria's bird emblem to an estimated 100, a stark contrast to many years ago when there was plentiful habitat for the birds from Healesville to South Gippsland.

Healesville Sanctuary Director Glen Holland said: "The team at Healesville Sanctuary have learned so much about captive breeding and caring for this secretive little bird since Zoos Victoria first became involved more than 20 years ago. Since then, we have successfully bred 350 Helmeted Honeyeaters for release back to the wild."

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/helmeted-honeyeaters.html

Ducklings signal hope for world’s rarest bird

Madagascar pochard ducklings hatch in captivity

April 2012. The Madagascar pochard - arguably the world's rarest bird - has bred successfully in captivity, building hope that it can be saved from extinction.

18 ducklings
Eighteen precious pochard ducklings are being reared at a specially built centre in Antsohihy, Madagascar, opened last year by Dr Lee Durrell. The birth of the ducklings is a key milestone in the conservation of the species, including an emergency expedition two years ago to take eggs into captivity. It is the ducks from those eggs that have now bred for the first time.

Extinct until 2006
Dr Glyn Young, a conservation biologist with Durrell, has spent much of his life studying the Madagascar pochard. He said: "The ducklings represent an incredible step forward in the fight to save the pochard from extinction. Six years ago, people thought this bird was already extinct and yet the discovery of one small population and now the arrival of these ducklings has led to real hope that the birds can one day flourish again."

The pochard was believed to be extinct until its rediscovery in 2006 on a single small lake, Lake Matsaborimena (or Red Lake), in northern Madagascar. Numbering just 22 birds, the ducks remain extremely vulnerable to extinction from a single event such as pollution or a disease outbreak.

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/madagascar-pochard-2012.html

Lizards, not oil and gas, at risk of extinction – via Herp Digest

By Jay Lininger, Las Cruce Sun News,  3/12/12

Only 2 percent of the Permian Basin oil and gas lands in southeast New Mexico and west Texas are habitat for the rare dunes sagebrush lizard. Yet oil-friendly Chicken Littles continue to squawk that the sky will fall if the lizard is protected as an endangered species.

State Rep. Dennis Kintigh (R-Roswell) has claimed wildly that: "The negative impact the listing will have on jobs is frightening. The effect on New Mexico's economy and the ability of the state to fund education and health care for the poor would be devastating."

But the lizard's shinnery oak sand dune habitat makes up a tiny sliver of New Mexico - less than a half-million acres.

And there's no shortage of drilling opportunities elsewhere. Oil and gas firms own roughly 7,000 drilling permits that have been issued by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management but not yet developed. That figure has remained steady for more than a year. While industry has leased roughly 38 million acres of public land, it is actively producing or exploring on just 16 million of those acres, according to the BLM.

Moreover, oil and gas leases offered by the BLM on public land in New Mexico vastly outnumber those purchased by industry. Indeed, the only barrier to drilling is the industry itself.

Mr. Kintigh has inflated the minuscule lizard into a Godzilla-like menace, stoking fear that endangered species protection will wreck the economy as part of an ideological agenda to roll back protections for air, water, lands and wildlife.

Kintigh accepted $35,000 from the oil and gas industry in the 2010 election cycle - almost 20 percent more than he received from all other donors of campaign cash combined, according to Project Vote Smart. In short, the industry is his main backer.

At the behest of U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, who categorically opposes federal wildlife protections, Kintigh audaciously convened a farce "science review" of the proposal to protect dunes sagebrush lizard as endangered. Kintigh stacked his panel with people lacking expertise on the lizard who voiced opposition to its protection before they showed up, including a cowboy museum curator, a rancher and two petroleum geologists - in addition to Kintigh himself, a retired FBI agent. Conveniently, they concluded the animal should not be protected.

In contrast, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service obtained independent peer review of its proposal by scientists - including the world's foremost experts on dunes sagebrush lizards - who supported protections. The science-based proposal will help to safeguard the animal's future, and it will help to protect the environment upon which we all depend.

The New Mexico Game and Fish Department forbids deliberate harm to dunes sagebrush lizards under threat of fines or imprisonment. But even that law does not protect habitat, which continues to be lost as society escalates its demand for fossil fuel.

Since 2009, the BLM has leased nearly 30,000 acres of lizard habitat for drilling. New roads, drilling pads and other infrastructure fragment habitat and inch the animal toward extinction.

Voluntary agreements to conserve lizard habitat have no teeth and therefore leave key habitat highly vulnerable. Industry's refusal to concede an inch to prevent extinction - even on a mere 2 percent of the Permian Basin - makes a strong case for federal protection.

Turning a blind eye to the permanent loss of an animal, for the sake of short-term profit, is a betrayal of future generations - and telling the public that helping that vanishing animal will bring economic calamity is dishonest and cynical. Mr. Kintigh should serve the American people and their future, not the special interest that bankrolls him.

Jay Lininger is an ecologist with the Center for Biological Diversity in Albuquerque.

Twelve per cent of marine species in tropical eastern Pacific threatened

Overfishing and habitat loss to blame
February 2012: Twelve per cent of marine species surveyed in the Gulf of California, the coasts of Panama and Costa Rica and the five offshore oceanic islands and archipelagos in the tropical eastern Pacific are threatened with extinction, according to a study by IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature). Main threats to the region's marine flora and fauna include overfishing, habitat loss and increasing impacts from the El Nino Southern Oscillation.

Released this week, the study is the first IUCN Red List of Threatened Species assessment available for all known species of marine shore-fish, marine mammals, sea turtles, sea birds, corals, mangroves and seagrasses in a major marine biogeographic region.

Drastic declines for many speciesThe analysis identifies specific geographic zones where conservation efforts are needed most, including around the mouth of the Gulf of California and the coastlines of Panama and Costa Rica , while also identifying the nature and location of the greatest dangers to marine life. 

‘Understanding species vulnerability to major threats is paramount for determining how species and marine environments are likely to respond to one or more simultaneous threats,' says Beth Polidoro, lead author of the study.

Read on:  http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/marine-extinctions.html

Monitor lizards heading for extinction in Malacca (via Herp Digest)

Malacca:  Frequent hunting of Malacca's giant monitor lizards, allegedly for their skin and meat as well as their body liquid for aphrodisiac purposes, could drive the reptile to extinction.

"Fifteen years ago, these reptiles could be easily spotted lazing along the river bank of scenic Malacca River. Now, they are hard to come by," said city councillor Ronald Gan Yong Hoe.

"In some countries, monitor lizards are protected under Endangered Species Acts. We hope the state government will move to conserve our local reptiles," the member of the Malacca Historic City Council said.

"If nothing is done, the extensive poaching of this reptile could lead to its extinction," he said.

Gan said the local monitor lizards, known locally as biawak, are large water monitor species (varanus salvator) capable of growing up to three metres long and 25 kilos in weight.

He said that apart from their skin and meat, the reptlie was sought for a liquid from its body that was commonly believed to increase sexual prowess in both men and women.

Gan said the reptile's thick and leathery skin was used for clothing accessories, such as bags and belts, while its meat was said to have healing powers for ailments such as asthma and pneumonia besides increasing sexual prowess.

He said that besides poaching, the reptiles were often exposed to other risks, such as being hit by vehicles when crossing roads.

On a more positive note, Gan said a father and daughter from Australia, who dubbed themselves as Biawak Dundees, were rescuing and treating injured monitor lizards here.

Gan added that following a proposal by Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam, the state government has made lizard- watching one of the features of the Malacca River cruise.

Meanwhile, mayor Zainal Abu said poaching activities along the river bank has declined due to continuous patrols by the council's enforcement officers.

However, he added, there could still be some hunting upstream and it was up to the state Wildlife and National Parks Department to curtail such activity.

Summit hears that wild salmon are dying in “alarming numbers,”

A SALMON summit in La Rochelle this week has seen scientists confirming that wild Atlantic salmon are dying at sea in alarming numbers, it emerged today.

Southern stocks, including some in North America and Europe, are threatened with extinction, the summit also heard.

The summit, a major international symposium co-convened by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation (NASCO) and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (www.ices.dk), and entitled 'Salmon at Sea: Scientific Advances and their Implications for Management,' was held at L'Aquarium, La Rochelle, from October 11-13.

As many as 130 scientists and managers involved in research and management of salmon in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and Baltic Sea participated.

The Atlantic salmon is seen as a unique iconic species and an indicator of healthy environments from pristine upland streams to vast oceanic feeding grounds in the North Atlantic.

And utilising new technologies, scientists are starting to unravel the mysteries of salmon in the ocean and providing managers with management options to save this fish.

But Dr Malcolm Windsor, Secretary of NASCO warned: “Unless we adopt conservation measures identified during the summit there is a real risk that Southern stocks will become extinct by 2040.”

Dr Windsor said, the goal of the SALSEA Programme, a unique collaboration between international scientists, is to increase understanding of how salmon use the ocean, where they go, how they utilise currents and the oceans, food resources and what factors influence their migration and distribution at sea.

This Programme used innovative new technologies, including genetic fingerprinting, to map the domain of salmon and identify factors affecting its survival. This has revealed, for instance, that some of the food chain of salmon is moving further North, seemingly in response to a warming ocean.

And because we now know where salmon are at sea, management measures could be implemented to limit impacts on them, such as fisheries for other species.

A clear message to managers in this challenging global environment was to ensure the maximum number of healthy wild salmon go to sea from their rivers.

Keeping salmon populations abundant involved addressing impact factors in freshwater, estuarine and coastal waters. These include degraded freshwater habitat, barriers to migration, over-exploitation and salmon farming.

http://www.fishnewseu.com/latest-news/world/6846-summit-hears-that-wild-salmon-are-dying-in-alarming-numbers.html

New Bolivian bird species on the edge

Protecting a subspecies before it becomes an extinct species: The Palkachupa Cotinga in Bolivia September 2011. The Bolivian subspecies of the Swallow-tailed Cotinga Phibalura flavirostris merits recognition as a species, says Bennett Hennessey, Executive Director of BirdLife's Bolivian Partner Asociación Armonía, in a paper just published in The Wilson Journal of Ornithology.

Fewer than 600 birds
Now reduced to fewer than 600 individuals in a few fragments of forest within an area of just over 1,000 km2, the "Palkachupa Cotinga" will be a candidate for a high threat category in the 2012 Red List update by BirdLife International.

Rediscovered in 2000
Unrecorded for 98 years, P. f. boliviana was rediscovered at the edge of a small (2-4 km2) forest fragment near Pata, north-west of the municipality of Apolo in Bolivia's Madidi National Park, in September 2000.

Bennett Hennessey rediscovered the bird, and is now leading Armonía's efforts to conserve it. It is still relatively common in patches of good habitat, but with so little good habitat remaining the population is very low. A stronghold of the population has been found at the original collection site, near the village of Aten.

"Without more support, we have another dry season on the horizon, during which more of Palkachupa's habitat will be cut and burnt for pasture land," says Bennett Hennessey. Armonía is seeking donations of $3000 to $5000 to protect the Palkachupa Cotinga (see end of story for details on how you can help).

59 hectares published
In June 2010, Armonía achieved the first step toward the creation of a Palkachupa Nature Reserve with the purchase of 59 ha near Aten. Negotiations with landowners continue, and they hope to purchase additional land. "The area requires complete boundary fencing to prevent further cattle grazing, and to allow reforestation. Restoration of savannah breeding habitat is needed, and for this we will first need to work with neighbouring landowners on fire management. Isolated trees will be planted to improve nesting habitat" said Bennet Hennessey.

"We will initiate a programme of protecting Palkachupa Cotinga nesting trees in the Aten area by purchasing the protection rights of important trees. These trees will be fenced off, and signs will be placed declaring these small areas as sanctuaries for nesting Palkachupa."

It would not be possible to protect the Palkachupa's habitat without the support and cooperation of the people of Aten. Armonía is working with a former Madidi park guard and Aten native, William Ferufino, to coordinate research and outreach activities with the local communities.

Local people have responded enthusiastically, and images of Palkachupa play a prominent role in annual Independence Day celebrations. Four high school students are working with William Ferufino as volunteer field assistants. In recognition of this important support, and to build greater local participation, Armonía provided assistance for improvements to the Aten school, including construction of three additional classrooms.

Swallow-tailed Cotinga
The Near Threatened Swallow-tailed Cotinga has traditionally been considered to consist of two subspecies with disjunct ranges. The nominate race is found in south-eastern Brazil, and also perhaps in northeast Argentina and east Paraguay, though with no records from these countries since 1977. 2,500 km separate the nearest known population of the nominate race from the area in central-western Bolivia where three specimens of the taxon known as P. f. boliviana were collected in 1845 and 1902.

Evidence presented by Hennessey in The Wilson Journal (123(3):454-458, 2011) indicated that the Bolivian population should be treated as a separate species, Phibalura boliviana. The plumage is distinctly different: boliviana males have longer tails than flavirostris, and their body plumage is significantly less sexually dimorphic. The iris of boliviana is mustard yellow, distinct from the blood red iris of flavirostris, andboliviana has orange-yellow feet while those of flavirostris are pink. Only one vocalisation type is recorded for flavirostris, whereas at least five calls and a song are known for boliviana, which vocalises significantly more often. The Brazilian flavirostris has strong seasonal movements, whereas boliviana is sedentary.

The proposed common name proposed for the species comes from the indigenous Quechua language: "palka" meaning fork and "chupa" meaning tail.

"On first speaking with the people of Aten, their comment was that they did not know Palkachupa was so rare" says Bennett Hennessey. "Being so common in their village they assumed it was found everywhere."

Armonía is seeking donations of $3000 to $5000 to protect the Palkachupa Cotinga. Please contact abhennessey@armonia-bo.org if you wish to help efforts to save the species from extinction.

http://www.wildlifeextra.com/go/news/Palkachupa-Cotinga.html

Bid to save sandpiper at risk of extinction in Russia

Will this spoon-billed sandpiper chick make it to adulthood?

3 June 2011
By Matt Walker
Editor, BBC Nature

Conservationists have embarked on a mission to save one of the world's rarest birds, the spoon-billed sandpiper, from extinction.

Fewer than 200 pairs of spoon-billed sandpipers were thought to exist in 2009, and since then, the population has thought to have declined by a quarter each year.

So a specialist team of bird experts are flying to the sandpiper's home in northeast Russia to collect and incubate eggs and set up a captive breeding population.

The captive population of spoon-billed sandpipers will be housed in Moscow Zoo for quarantine purposes, then moved to a specially built unit at the headquarters of the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) in Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, UK.

The emergency mission is being undertaken by the WWT and Birds Russia, working with colleagues from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), BirdLife International, ArcCona, the Spoon-billed Sandpiper Task Force and Moscow Zoo.

Experts fear that, without intervention, the spoon-billed sandpiper could be extinct within ten years.

The count of 200 pairs in 2009 is an upper estimate and there may have been as few as 120 pairs at that time.

Surveys since suggest that the counted population is falling by 26% a year, with juveniles having a particularly low rate of survival.

Spoon-billed sandpipers (Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) are a small Arctic wading bird, sporting a bill shaped like a spoon.

"This adaptation, entirely unique to its family, makes it one of the most weird and wonderful bird species on the planet," says Dr Geoff Hilton, Head of Species Research at the WWT.

The BTO's shorebird expert, Dr Nigel Clark, agrees: "There is only one wader that eats with a spoon and we need to try everything we can to save it from extinction."

The bird divides its time between northeast Russia and the Bay of Bay of Martaban, Myanmar (Burma) and the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh.

Travelling between, they migrate over 8,000km (4,970 miles) on a journey that may pass through Japan, North Korea, the Republic of Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh and India.

Unsustainable levels of subsistence hunting, particularly within the wintering areas in Myanmar and Bangladesh, are thought to be driving the species's decline.

Degradation and reclamation of the inter-tidal mudflats along many countries in Asia is exacerbating the problem.

No spoon-billed sandpipers currently exist in captivity.

Currently the team are in Russia waiting to locate and collect eggs from the breeding grounds.

They will construct an incubation facility out on the tundra where they will hatch the chicks before transferring the fledged young via sea and air back to Moscow Zoo for quarantine.

"It is absolutely clear that the spoon-billed sandpiper cannot be saved without action to reduce the threats to the wild population, but it is going to be difficult to achieve a turnaround quickly enough to avert extinction. Creating a captive population now may buy us some time," says Dr Hilton.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/13627796

Why are chimps hunting red colubus monkeys to death?

Alasdair Wilkins — Time is running out for the red colubus monkey, which lives in Uganda's Kibale National Park. Chimpanzees appear to be huntings these poor guys to death. It's the first time that one primate species has overhunted another, without humans being involved.

According to census data collected between 1975 and 2007, the Ugandan red colubus monkey has seen an 89% population drop, and the hunting habits of common chimpanzees are almost entirely to blame. Disease and competition with similar monkey species have also been cited as factors, but the researchers say these still just pale in significance when compared to the effects of chimp hunting.

Indeed, these chimps seem to be actively trying to wipe out their primate brethren. The chimps generally target younger monkeys that haven't yet reached reproductive age, which means there are far fewer red colubus monkeys around who can help bring the population back. Chimpanzees have been doing very well during all this, as their population has increased by 53% over the same time period that the monkeys have nearly disappeared.

It's a good reminder that overhunting is not a strictly human practice, although we tend to be particularly adept at wiping out other species through excessive hunting. The researchers aren't sure what is driving the chimps to kill so many colubus monkeys - it's possible that other food sources decreased or that environmental shifts could have made increased hunting the most effective option.

There is a bit of good news, though - the chimpanzees seem to have seriously cut back on their hunting in recent years, which might mean the red colubus monkeys can survive after all. This means that fewer adult chimps are passing on their hunting skills to their young, which is creating generations of poor hunters, which can only help the colubus monkeys. No one is quite sure why the chimps changed their hunting patterns, but I'd like to think this is our first evidence of chimp conservationism.

American Journal of Primatology via Scientific American. Image via.

http://io9.com/monkeynews/

Oldest Albatross Survives Tsunami Damage to Midway Atoll Read more at Suite101: Oldest Albatross Survives Tsunami Damage to Midway Atoll

hoto of a Laysan Albatross pair at nest on Midway Atoll.
John Klavitter (US Fish and Wildlife Service)

By Suzan Phillips
Last Updated Mar 14, 2011,
Published Mar 13, 2011

The Laysan Albatross, Wisdom, one of the world's oldest known birds, and her newly hatched chick, have survived a tsunami at Midway Atoll.

14th March 2011 - Among the terrible human tragedy of the Japan earthquakes and the tsunami waves that have swept the Japanese coastline and across the Pacific ocean, comes a good news bird story.

Last week, news sources around the world celebrated Wisdom’s efforts to raise another chick when she is reported to be the oldest known albatross, at more than 60 years old.

Wisdom had returned safely to her nest on Sand Island to raise another chick in the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific Islands.

Last Saturday, one of the tidal waves from Japan’s 8.9 magnitude earthquake hit Midway Atoll.
The islands of Midway Atoll include a large colony of Laysan Albatross and the second largest breeding population of Black-footed Albatross and these were nesting on the ground with eggs and chicks in the nests this week when the tsunami waves struck.

Tsunami washes away nests and chicks

Staff on Midway Atoll reported that the tsunami that hit Midway Atoll was about 1.4 metres high and flooded some parts of the island. At least some chicks and adult Laysan Albatross were killed and hundreds of chicks were washed away from their nests onto roadways and under bushes. The nests inland were not affected, and by the morning both the adults and chicks there were going about their business as usual, according to one report.

Volunteers and visitors to the island spent the afternoon freeing dozens of albatross chicks that had been washed into and caught inside thickets of naupaka. This often required hacking through the bushes with large clippers and small saws, and either crawling through the spaces or climbing on top of the branches to perch suspended over the ground. Visitors also dug out many petrels who had been trapped and buried in their burrows.

Wisdom had a nest in the inland area, and so was safe. The first Short-tailed Albatross to nest on hard hit Eastern Island was also out of danger.

Kure Atoll colonies also devastated

The colony on Kure Atoll (89km east of Midway), was also devastated. Field Camp manager, Cynthia Vanderlip from Kure Atoll Conservancy said they climbed up onto the roof of their building.
“We are all fine. We stayed on the roof from 12pm until 4 am (on March 11th). Midway called and said that the wave had passed. ... I took a quick walk to see the damage at the beach and it is extensive. The wave washed about 400 feet inland,” she said.
“The Black-foot colony at the pier is gone, chicks are everywhere. Thousands of ghost crabs are cleaning up the dead. The wave washed over the top of the pier and tore the window frames out. The ocean is chocolate brown.”
“I am thankful that our building is 700 feet inland and 20 feet above sea level. We were spared, but I fear for all the other folks in the Pacific. The loss of wildlife breaks my heart. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers,” she said.
News came through to them later on that Wisdom and her chick, as well as the nest of the first Short-tailed Albatross to nest at Midway, had all survived the tsunami.

An albatross with a long record

Biologists suspect that Wisdom’s age may be double or triple the expected life span for a Laysan albatross, but were still gathering information and learning about the species.

Wisdom is the oldest wild specimen in American records, documented during the 90-year history of the US and Canadian bird-banding research program. A US Geological Survey scientist first tagged the bird with an aluminum identification band when she was about 5 years old in 1956 as she was incubating an egg. Since then, Wisdom has logged more than three million flying miles - the equivalent of six round trips to the Moon.

"It's really exciting to see that these birds are long-living and still raising chicks at 60 years old or older," said US Fish and Wildlife Service biologist, John Klavitter, who spotted Wisdom with her chick in February.

Sand Island is the largest piece of land in the Midway Atoll area. Midway is a tiny US territory that lies about a third of the way between Honolulu and Tokyo in the North Pacific. The chick, whose gender is unknown at present, was doing well. Wisdom and her mate were taking turns feeding it, and the young bird will soon be banded, said Klavitter.

“Wisdom has probably raised about 35 chicks during her lifetime. Her species generally mates with one partner for life and lays only one egg at a time”, he said. Wisdom also nested in 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Many threats to breeding success

Wisdom has had five bird bands since she was first banded by US Geological Survey scientist Chandler Robbins in 1956 as she incubated an egg. Chandler rediscovered Wisdom in 2001.

In 1956, he estimated Wisdom to be at least five years old then, since this is the earliest age at which these birds breed, though they more typically breed at 8 or 9 after an involved courtship lasting several years. This means, of course, that Wisdom is likely to be in her early sixties.

“Wisdom is now the oldest wild bird documented in the 90-year history of our USGS-FWS and Canadian bird banding program,"said Bruce Peterjohn, the chief of the North American Bird Banding Program.

"To know that she can still successfully raise young at age 60-plus, that is beyond words. While the process of banding a bird has not changed greatly during the past century, the information provided by birds marked with a simple numbered metal band has transformed our knowledge of birds," he said.

Albatross lay only one egg a year, but it takes much of a year to incubate and raise the chick. After years in which they have successfully raised and fledged a chick – which on Midway is about two-thirds of the time – the adults may take the occasional next year off from parenting.

Laysan albatross also breed on the Hawaiian islands of Oahu, at Kaena Point, and on Kauai, at Kilauea Point. They feed in areas off the west coast of North America, including the Gulf of Alaska, and spend their first three to five years constantly flying, never touching land. Scientists believe they even sleep while flying over the ocean.

Nineteen of the world’s 21 albatross species are listed as threatened with extinction from a variety of causes, including lead poisoning. On Midway Atoll, injuries from longline fishing, climate change and ingestion of garbage floating on the ocean threaten the area’s albatross species.

http://www.suite101.com/content/oldest-albatross-survives-tsunami-damage-to-midway-atoll-a358474

Amur tigers in population crisis

Monday, 28 February 2011
By Victoria Gill
Science and nature reporter, BBC News

The effective population of the critically endangered Amur tiger is now fewer than 14 animals, say scientists.

Approximately 500 Amur tigers actually survive in the wild, but the effective population is a measure of the genetic diversity of the world's largest cat.

Very low diversity means any vulnerability to disease or rare genetic disorders is likely to be passed on to the next generation.

So these results paint a grim picture for the tiger's chance of survival.

The findings are reported in the journal Mammalian Biology.

The Amur tiger, or Siberian tiger as it is also known, once lived across a large portion of northern China, the Korean peninsula, and the southernmost regions of eastern Russia.

During the early 20th Century, the Amur tiger was almost driven to extinction, as expanding human settlements, habitat loss and poaching wiped out this biggest of cats from over 90% of its range.

By the 1940s, just 20 to 30 individuals survived in the wild. The new study has identified that this recent "genetic bottleneck" - when the breeding population of tigers was so critically low - has decimated the Amur tiger gene pool.

A more genetically diverse population of animals has a much better chance of survival; it is more likely, for example, to contain the genetic resistance to a variety of diseases and less likely to succumb to rare genetic disorders, which can be "cancelled out" by healthy genes.

'Worryingly low'

Scientists in Russia, Spain and Germany worked together to analyse DNA samples from 15 wild Amur tigers in the Russian Far East.

They took blood samples from the animals and screened them for certain "markers" - points in the DNA code that show that an animal had parents that were genetically very different from each other.

The results revealed evidence of the genetic bottleneck during the tigers' recent history, when the variety of genes being passed on dramatically reduced.

Genetically speaking, the Amur tiger has not recovered from this.

"Our results are the first to demonstrate a quite recent genetic bottleneck in Siberian tigers, a result that matches the well-documented severe demographic decline of the Siberian tiger population in the 1940s," the researchers wrote in the paper.

"The worryingly low effective population size challenges the optimism for the recovery of the huge Siberian cat."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9407000/9407744.stm
(Submitted by Dawn Holloway)

Chinese pandas leave for Japan

Female panda Xian Nu looks out of the cage at Shanghai Pudong Airport in Shanghai, east China, Feb. 21, 2011. A pair of giant pandas left their home in southwest China's Sichuan Province Monday for a 10-year stay in Japan, under a joint research agreement on the endangered species. Female panda Xian Nu and male Bi Li, accompanied by two keepers from the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong, stopped in Shanghai before heading to Tokyo's Narita International Airport. They are scheduled to arrive Ueno Zoo at around 9 p.m.. (Xinhua/Chen Fei)

CHENGDU/TOKYO, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- A pair of giant pandas left their home in southwest China's Sichuan Province Monday for a 10-year stay in Japan, under a joint research agreement on the endangered species.

Female panda Xian Nu and male Bi Li left Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, on board a Sichuan Airlines passenger flight at 7:50 a.m., said a spokesman with the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center in Wolong.

The pandas, accompanied by two keepers from Wolong, stopped in Shanghai before heading to Tokyo's Narita International Airport. They are scheduled to arrive Ueno Zoo at around 9 p.m., the spokesman said.

Panda keepers prepared 80 kg of fresh bamboo and 8 kg of dim sum for the animals to eat on the 13-hour journey.

Xian Nu and Bi Li are both aged 5 years. Pandas born in captivity can live up to 25 years.

Tokyo is rolling out the red carpet for the pair's arrival.

The Ueno Zoo was closed Monday, but a giant panda poster at its entrance caught the attention of many locals.

Read more at:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684_2.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684_3.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684_4.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-02/21/c_13741684_5.htm

Shark-Catching Nations Fail To Protect Threatened Species

NICOLE WINFIELD
01/27/11 03:10 PM

ROME — Two environmental groups on Thursday accused the 20 countries that catch the most sharks of failing to fulfill promises made to the U.N. to better conserve the animals that are increasingly threatened with extinction.

In 1999, more than 100 governments adopted a plan of action at the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization to try to stem overfishing of sharks, pledging, among other things, to develop national action plans to ensure that shark catches are sustainable.

The non-governmental groups Traffic and the Pew Environment Group said Thursday that only 13 of the top 20 shark catching countries had developed national plans, and that it was unclear if such plans had done any good where they were adopted.

They issued their report ahead of a meeting next week of government members of the FAO's fisheries committee, which will discuss the state of the world's fisheries in detail.

Some 73 million sharks are killed annually, primarily to meet the high demand in Asia for fins which are used in shark fin soup.

Because sharks are slow growing, late to mature and produce few young, they are unable to replenish their populations as quickly when they are caught. As a result, some 30 percent of all shark species are now threatened or nearly threatened with extinction.

Traffic and Pew analyzed fisheries data and made a list of the top 20 shark catchers which account for nearly 80 percent of the total shark catch reported globally. In order, the top 10 are Indonesia, India, Spain, Taiwan, Argentina, Mexico, Pakistan, United States, Japan, and Malaysia. Yet according to the two groups, Indonesia has only made a draft national plan and India is developing one. Other countries have adopted them but, because reporting is voluntary, it's not clear if they've been implemented or have done any good.

The groups urged governments at the FAO meeting next week to have the U.N. agency complete a thorough review to determine what countries have and haven't done to comply with their pledges to manage their fisheries.

"The fate of the world's sharks is in the hands of the top 20 shark catchers, most of whom have failed to demonstrate what, if anything, they are doing to save these imperiled species," said Glenn Sant, Traffic's global marine program leader.

Jill Hepp, manager of shark conservation for Pew, said sharks play a critical role in the ocean environment.

"Where shark populations are healthy, marine life thrives; but where they have been overfished, ecosystems fall out of balance," she said.

The report suggests that national action plans with lofty goals that are never implemented might not be the answer to saving sharks. Rather, countries that take smaller, incremental steps toward conservation might achieve better results.

It noted that Palau had announced in 2009 it would create the world's first shark sanctuary by banning all commercial shark fishing in its territorial waters and that Honduras had announced a moratorium on shark fishing last year.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/30/sharkcatching-nations-fai_n_815064.html