Yellowstone Bison (wild buffalo a la Americans) in deep trouble

Yellowstone bison, an icon of the American West, is facing a new threat. Animals, which wander on to public grazing lands used by cattle ranchers are being butchered. The thin veil of justification used for this atrocity is that the buffalo present a disease threat to domesticated cattle
50 million buffalo once roamed the Great Plains. Millions were slaughtered and at the end of the 19th century only 23 wild bison remained. The survivors, who found refuge in Yellowstone National Park, are the ancestors of America's only remaining wild herd.
Environmentalists have appealed to the US Government for more humane, science-based programs to manage Yellowstone buffalo.

New Zombie Worm discovered

The UK-Swedish team, Adrian Glover and Thomas Dahlgren affiliated to Goteborg University,
have discovered new species of marine worm that lives off whale bones on the sea floor. The new species has been named Osedax mucofloris. The findings have been reported in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Yellowstone – Wolf reintroduction brings Spectacular results - New book tells it all

Wolf reintroduction has brought in its wake spectacular changes in the ecology of Yellowstone.
The remarkable changes have been recounted in the recently released book "Decade of the Wolf: Returning the Wild to Yellowstone," by Mr. Smith and Gary Ferguson. In 1995, 14 wolves from Canada were brought into the park by truck and sleigh, held in a cage for 10 weeks and released. Seventeen were added in 1996.10 years after wolves were introduced to Yellowstone, the park has 130 wolves dispersed across 13 packs.

Cameroon trying to get back smuggled Apes from South Africa Zoo

Cameroon is negotiating the return of four endangered Western Lowland gorillas,
smuggled via Malaysia to a South African zoo. The primate is classified as endangered by the World Conservation Union (IUCN). The gorillas were smuggled via Nigeria to Malaysia's Taipeng Zoo in July 2002, then shipped to South Africa's Pretoria National Zoological Gardens two years later. South Africa is bound by CITES, to return smuggled animals to their country of origin

Mauritius - Prime Minister stops the construction of road in ecologically sensitive area

Mauritius Prime MinisterNavin Ramgoolam has stopped the construction of a road aimed at speeding up journeys to Ferney Valley, primarily to service the island's lucrative tourism industry. Ferney Valley has flora and fauna found nowhere else in the world. Environmentalists have been crying hoarse from the beginning. The Prime Minister made an on the spot evaluation before taking this decision.

Former Chairman of Greenpeace passes away.

Former Chairman of Greenpeace Matti Wuori has died. Wuori died in Helsinki on Saturday of lung cancer. He was 60. Wuori was chairman of Greenpeace International from 1991 to 1993

Surprising facts about Plesiosaurs

A team of researchers led by Dr Steve Roe from the University of Sidney has come up with surprising facts about the feeding habits of Plesiosaurs. Analysis of fossilized remains of 2 elasmosaurids,the most extreme form of Plesiosaurs have revealed that they were eating lot of bottom dwelling(benthic) animals. Traditionally it was assumed that Plesiosaurs, which existed in Dinosaur times, were fish and squid eating animals. The results of the study have been detailed in latest issue of Science magazine.

Hawaiian Monk Seals to get more protection

In an effort to give more protection to Hawaiian endangered monk seals and turtles, Government of Hawaii has formed North Western Hawaiian Marine refuge. Fishing in the tiny islands and atolls has been banned. Public access has also been regulated

Whose gene is it now?

A study reported in the latest issue of journal Science, reveals that more than 4,000 genes, or 20 percent of the almost 24,000 human genes, have been claimed in U.S. patents. 63 percent of patents are assigned to private firms and 28 percent to universities. In the U.S. patent system, human DNA is treated like other natural chemical products. Genes are valuable research tools, useful in diagnostic tests or to discover and produce new drugs.

Brought back from dead

Botanists at Kew’s country garden in Wakehurst Place, West Sussex have resurrected Bromus bromoideus, a Belgian grass not seen in its native habitat for the last 70 years. Only a quarter of the stored seeds found in Belgium were viable, so the National Botanic Garden of Belgium,
sent some to the Millennium Seed Bank at Wakehurst Place to increase their chances of germination. Belgium grass success has shown that modern seed banking is a vital conservation tool.

England – Frogs in a mess

Britain’s common frog (Rana temporaria) is threatened by Chytridiomycosis and ranavirus. A third of species is facing extinction.

The charity Froglife is now asking Brits to count common frogs in an effort to find out how serious is the effect of the diseases. Charity says to provide a scientifically sound report they need at least a 1000 responses. Froflife has appealed to all concerned citizens to chip in with their efforts.

Orangutans’ survival threatened

Orangutans, Asia's only great ape could be wiped out within 12 years, says environmentalists. Orangutans are found only on Borneo, which is shared by Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei, and on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Destruction of jungles has caused a decline in orangutan numbers. Wildlife centers in Indonesia had plenty of orphaned baby orangutans this year that had been rescued from forests cleared to make way for new palm oil plantations. Representatives from Fauna and Flora International (FFI) World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the UN's Great Apes Survival Project (GRASP), and UNESCO gathered on Wednesday in Pontianak to try and pool their expertise to save the orangutan, and come up with firm proposals for their welfare.

Combating Poaching- Kerala goes in for modern techniques

Alarmed by the recent spurt in poaching of tigers, the Kerala Forest and Wildlife department has decided to go in for genetic finger printing of animals. A start will be made with tigers and leopards. The collaborating agency is Thiruvananthapuramm based Rajiv Gandhi center for Biotechnology. The center is already at work, developing primers and probes.

Bonobo Peace Forest formed

At the just concluded 8th Wilderness congress one of the highlights, was the formation of Bonobo peace forest in the Congo Basin rainforest, for the protection of endangered ape Bonobos (Pan paniscus). It covers 20000 square kilometers of bonobo habitat. Genetically very close to human, the little known bonobos lives in the rainforests of Republic of Congo only. The initiative will benefit the bonobos and the interests of the local communities. The interests of the local community will not be prejudiced in any way.

International League of Conservation Photographers

International League of Conservation Photographers was launched at the 8th Wilderness congress by 40 of the world’s finest conservation photographers. The photographers will work on global campaigns to highlight current issues. They will contribute their mite in the conservation communities’ efforts in protecting wilderness areas and endangered species around the world.

Hurricane Katrina – Wildlife returns to New Orleans

The hurricane Katrina had brought in its wake extensive damage to wildlife in New Orleans. The wildlife is slowly limping back. In the lake Pontchartrain 8 dolphins were seen gamboling this week. The Manatees have not been seen so far. Flocks of Pelicans were also seen which is an indication that fish is also bouncing back

Rethink on bird evolution

Discovery of fossil remains of a small birdlike dinosaur, Buitreraptor gonzalezorum, with wing-like forelimbs, from the Nequén Basin in central Argentina has the scientific community in a huddle. This latest find could imply that flight evolved twice, once in birds and once among this group of Gondwanan dromaeosaurs. The lineage can be traced back to the Jurassic (206 to 144 million years ago). Details of the discovery appear in the journal Nature

Oil spills, climate change spell doom for British birds

Research led by Professor Tim Birkhead of the University of Sheffield shows for the first time that major oil spills double the mortality rate of adult guillemots in Britain. Surprising fact is that pollution occurs, hundreds of kilometres from the birds` breeding grounds. The researchers also found a direct link between a warmer North Atlantic climate and a higher mortality rate among British guillemots. November issue of the journal Ecology Letters carries the details of this study.

Trans-frontier conservation initiative in Africa

At the summit held by central Africa leaders in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, in February 2005, TRIDOM accord was signed, which set up the institutional framework to facilitate implementation of a trans-boundary conservation programme in Cameroon, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo. Now following that initiative Cameroon has set up two new national parks.Boumba Bek and Nki National Parks, both located in southeast Cameroon, cover an area of more than 600,000ha. The area has rich population of elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, forest antelopes, Nile crocodiles and bongos, as well as 283 bird species such as the rare Dja warbler, Nkulengu rail, and Bate’s night jar and 300 species of fish.

Dragon flies with radio tags

Very little is known about dragonfly migration. Now a study is underway in USA, which is being led by Martin Wikelski, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton University .The first radio tags were attached in September. The transmitters, which weigh .0.3 gram and are about 1 centimetre long, are glued to the insects' undersides Wikelski puts the receiver in his plane and follow the insects. Uncertainties exist on how dragonflies navigate. Do they use their big eyes as an aid in navigation? Or do they have an internal compass? Scientists are intrigued.