Fur Seals Threatening Whales And Penguins?

Fur seals were once hunted almost to extinction. Careful conservation measures have helped the species to rebound. They have reached record levels - an estimated four million worldwide. This has however led to fears that soon there may be too little food in the Southern Ocean to enable the area's other wildlife - whales and penguins - to survive. The key is Krill. It is feared that the spurt in the population of Seals is denying other wildlife proper access to Krill. Conservationists believe that if the present trend continues we may have to think of culling Fur Seals in the immediate future.

Happy Christmas Eve News

A Giant Panda in a Japanese zoo (Adventure World in Wakayama) has given birth to twins bringing cheer to conservationists around the world. This brings the no of ex situ births this year to 30. The sex of the cubs is yet to be confirmed. Mei Mei, the mother, 12, and her breeding partner Eimei, 14, are both on loan from China. An estimated 1,590 Giant Pandas live in the wild in China

Greetings

Tahrcountry Wishes All Readers A Joyous Christmas

Cornucopia Of New Species

Scientists have discovered 52 new species of plants and animals in Borneo. The find includes catfish glyptothorax exodon with protruding teeth and suction cups on its belly, which help it, stick to rocks in fast flowing streams. Since 1994, 361 new species have been found in Borneo. The island shared by Indonesia, Malaysia and the sultanate of Brunei, is emerging as one of the most important biodiversity centers of the world but unfortunately the rain forest continues to be threatened with large areas of forest being destroyed for rubber, oil palm and pulp production.

Fish That Dance On Molten Sulpher Ponds

Researchers from the University of Victoria, Canada, have come across tonguefish that like to skip across pools of molten sulphur of undersea volcanoes in the western Pacific. The measured temperature is more than 180C (355F). The fish live on the edge of the pools, and in a couple of cases the scientists saw them out on the surface of a pool. The fish have been studied with remotely operated submersibles. The phenomenon has amazed the scientists and they are trying to work out how the creatures survive in such a hostile environment.

220-Million Year Old Microbes

Scientists have discovered in tiny drops of ancient amber, 220-million-year-old microscopic organisms. The amber was found near Cortina d'Ampezzo, a village in the Dolomites mountain range in northern Italy.The find has been described in this week's edition of the journal Nature by Alexander Schmidt and colleagues from the Humboldt University

Albatrosses And Weather Research

A team of scientists at the University of California-Santa Cruz headed by Dr Scott Schaffer is using Albatrosses to gather huge numbers of sea-surface temperature readings in the North Pacific. The birds are equipped with small data loggers that track their movements and record water conditions. According to Dr Scott Schaffer the project will bring in details missed by satellites, and in the process give important new insights into the behaviour of Albatrosses. Nineteen of the 21 albatross species are threatened with extinction. The Albatross conservation initiatives are sure to get boost as a spin-off of this project.

Mongolian Wildlife In Peril

According to a report by Zoological Society of London (ZSL), Illegal hunting and trade is pushing some Mongolian animals like the snow leopard, Saiga antelope, wild camel, and Gobi bear to the brink of extinction. The report is part of the preparation of the first comprehensive Red List for Mongolian mammals. Unprecedented international trade in species is another reason attributed to the decline. Unlike other areas where loss of habitat has led to declines in species, the threat in Mongolia is hunting. ZSL has called for immediate legislation and other protection measures to stem this tide.

International Mountain Day And IUCN

December 11^th is International Mountain Day, a day to reflect on the people who are directly affected by ecosystem degradation and climate change: mountain communities. IUCN is undertaking several initiatives for mountain peoples and ecosystems to adapt to global change. IUCN is also promoting Integrated Water Resource Management that entails democratic water governance from the watershed up to the regional level. For example, in Quito, Ecuador, part of the household water bill pays for conservation and compensates farmers in the Páramo - the highland natural grasslands that are important to water regulation. IUCN is also working in the Hindu Kush-Karakoram-Himalaya region to integrate ecosystem management in regional development and conservation processes. The whole idea is to give communities some control over their natural resources, and receive direct and indirect benefits from their conservation, so as to improve their living conditions and ensure the long-term delivery of ecosystem services.

For more info log onto www.iucn.org/themes/cem/ecosystems/mountains/

Indonesia - Greenpeace Activists Dump Logging Waste At The Door Of Logging Company.

Greenpeace activists have poured a truckload of logging waste at the office of Kayu Lapis Indonesia (KLI) one of the country's largest logging companies. This was in protest against destroying large parts of the last ancient forest in Papua and Kalimantan. Green Peace says deforestation rates in Indonesia were among the highest in the world and in the past five years the archipelago nation had lost an average area equivalent to six football fields a minute. 40 percent of its forests have been completely destroyed.

Provisions of CITES Not Adequately Utilized In Combating Illegal Logging

A new report published by TRAFFIC says, CITES, the Convention on the International Trade on Endangered Species is not being used to its full potential in combating illegal logging. The report gives several recommendations that could help combat illegal logging and promote international co-operation. To download your personal copy of the full TRAFFIC International report titled ‘The Role of CITES in Combating Illegal Logging – Current and Potential’ click here

City Birds Trying Out Music Variations

A team of researchers from the University of Leiden in the Netherlands has found that urban species of birds sing short, fast songs rather than the slower melodies of countryside birds. This is an adaptation to counter background noise and increase their chances of finding a mate. The researchers targeted great tits in ten major European cities, including London, Paris, Amsterdam and Prague, and compared them to forest-dwellers. Urban tits consistently experimented with between one and five note calls, while those in forests close to the cities stuck to more normal combinations of two, three and four note tunes. One Rotterdam great tit attempted a 16-note song, which the researchers believe could have been copied from a blue tit. The findings are published in the current issue of journal Current Biology

Rainforest Protection-Good News From Brazil

15 million hectares (57,915 sq miles) of Rain Forests in the northern Para state, Brazil, is getting the status of protected area bringing cheer to conservationists the world over. The decline in Amazon forest area has been a worrying feature.A host of wild denizens inhabit the proposeed conservation reserve including the Jaguars, anteaters, Giant Otters and Black Spider Monkey. Conservationists are hailing this visionary decision by Para Governor Simao Jatene.

River Salmon Bounces Back

20 years back acid rains had completely wiped out River Salmon in Wye River in mid Wales. Now they are returning owing to the successful conservation measures. Lime was added to water in the upper reaches of the river to help neutralise the chemical's impact and this has encouraged fish to breed again. The process has been going on since 2003 but it was only recently that fishes started breeding again. The partners in this venture are Wye and Usk Foundation, the European Union, Welsh Assembly Government, Environment Agency and Countryside Council for Wales.

Good Initiatives For Migratory Birds

The recently launched a project to protect the migratory flyways of water birds throughout Africa and Eurasia under the aegis of UN is the best thing that could have happened to migratory birds. The project christened Wings Over Wetlands (WOW) is the largest international wetland and water bird conservation initiative ever to take place in the African-Eurasian region. The USD 12 million project is designed to cover the entire African-Eurasian area, including Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia, Greenland and the Canadian Archipelago. The project will help foster international collaboration along the entire flyways, build capacity for monitoring and conservation, and demonstrate best practice in the conservation and wise use of wetlands in 12 selected countries.

New Discoveries In Venezuela

13 new species of freshwater fishes previously unknown to science have been discovered at the confluence of the Orinoco and Ventuari rivers in Venezuela. The discovery includes a Ray, a miniature Catfish and a type of meat-eating Piranha. The area is notorious for illegal gold mining, which is a threat to the ecosystem here. Scientists from Conservation International, Fundacion La Salle and Fundacion Cisneros participated in the survey. The scientists have appealed for immediate conservation measures.

US Supreme Court To Hear Global Warming Case

Even though the US, with 5 per cent of the world’s population, is responsible for 25 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions and accounts for 37 per cent of the world’s vehicles the administration has repeatedly refused to agree to limits on emissions, saying it would damage the economy. Now resorting to a piece of legislation enacted during the Nixon years, twelve states led by Massachusetts and 13 campaign groups have brought a case against the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the supreme court. The EPA says the 1970 Act does not give it the powers to impose limits because CO2 is not deemed to be a pollutant. Industry groups go with the view of EPA that hat CO2 is a naturally occurring gas, thereby falling outside the purview of the law. The Supreme Court is expected to rule on the case, known as Massachusetts verses EPA, in June 2007.

Big Boost For The Protection Of Rare Song Bird

Protection strategies for Europe's rarest songbird, the aquatic warbler (Acrocephalus paludicola), is getting a shot in the arm following a deal to protect a key breeding site. UK's Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) part-funded the purchase of land in Poland's Biebrza Marshes which support 80% of the European Union's population. It is the first time in the society's 117-year history that it has secured land outside of the UK.

Snow leopard fitted with GPS tag

For the first time, a team 0f scientist from the Snow Leopard Trust, the Northwest Frontier Province Wildlife Department of Pakistan and WWF-Pakistan has fitted a snow leopard with a Global Positioning System (GPS) collar to track the secretive creature's movements. The 35kg (75lb) female was captured on the Purdum Mali ridge in Pakistan in the Chitral Gol National Park in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The collar will stay attached to the animal for 14 months. The best spin off from this project is that it will tell us how much space a snow leopard needs. This will aid in devising suitable conservation strategies. The scientists hope to to tag more animals in the days to come.

Shocking-Zoo Poisons Lions

Ethiopia’s Lion Zoo is poisoning lion cubs and selling the corpses to be stuffed because it cannot afford to feed them. The dead cubs are sold to taxidermists for $175 each. The zoo costs about $4000 a month to run, but receives only $3500 as total revenues from entrance fees. Ethiopia's lions, which are smaller than other lions, are famous for their black manes. Less than 1000 are believed to exist in the wild now. Kenya-based International Fund for Animal Welfare said this is cruel and the zoo should prevent the animals from breeding if it could not care for them.