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Scientists Try to Save Rarest Creatures in the World
by Jeremy Lovell, ENN
LONDON -- Scientists launched a bid on Tuesday to save some of the
world's rarest and most neglected creatures from extinction.
With an initial list of just 10 -- including a venomous
shrew-like creature, an egg-laying mammal and the world's smallest
bat -- the program will give last ditch conservation aid where to
date there has been little or none.
"We are
focusing on EDGE species -- that means they are Evolutionarily
Distinct and Globally Endangered," said Zoological Society of London
scientist Jonathan Bailli...
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Ancient Mexican
Carvings Being Erased by Acid Rain, Experts Say
by Stefan Lovgren, National Geographic
News
Pollution is
threatening to erase thousand-year-old stone carvings at one of
Mexico's most important archaeological sites, a new study shows.
The
pre-Aztec city of El Tajin, located on Mexico's Gulf coast, is
famous for its temple pyramids and intricately carved reliefs.
But acidic air
pollutants pumped out by oil-drilling platforms and power stations
along the coast are slowly eroding these carvings, according to
Humberto Bravo, an air pollution specialist.
"The
deterioration is alarming … and could cause irreparable damage to
monuments that are an important part of our cultural heritage," said
Bravo, of the University of Mexico's Center for Atmospheric
Sciences...
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for the rest of the story.
More Polar Bears Giving Birth on Land
by Dan Joling,
ENN
ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- Pregnant polar bears in Alaska, which spend
most of their lives on sea ice, are increasingly giving birth on
land, according to researchers who say global warming is probably to
blame.
The study by three scientists for the U.S. Geological
Survey suggests the state's bear population could be harmed if the
climate continues to grow warmer. Though bears are powerful
swimmers, at some point they might have to cross vast stretches of
open water to reach habitat on shore suitable for building dens in
which to give birth.
From 1985 to 1994, 62 percent of the female polar bears
studied dug dens in snow on sea ice. From 1998 to 2004, just 37
percent made dens on ice. The rest dug snow dens on land, according
to the study.
Researchers "hypothesized that the sea ice changes may have
reduced the availability or degraded the quality of offshore denning
habits," said wildlife biologist Anthony Fischbach, lead author of
the study. In recent years, Arctic pack ice has formed progressively
later and melted earlier each season, he said...
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rest of the story.
Grizzly Bears in Peril
By Center
for Biological Diversity
The Cline Mining
Corporation wants to gouge a heavily polluting coal mine out of the
Flathead River Valley, a thriving Rocky Mountain habitat for grizzly
bears that straddles the border of Montana and British Columbia.
We need your
immediate action to block this dangerous open-pit mining scheme,
which would poison the headwaters of the Flathead River and
jeopardize the survival of downstream populations of imperiled
grizzly bears, wolves, cutthroat trout and other wildlife.
Please go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/bears/takeaction
and urge the
British Columbia government to protect the spectacular wildlands and
wildlife of the Flathead basin by rejecting the Cline Mining
Corporation's reckless plan.
Cline's mining
proposal calls for removing mountain tops and building waste dumps
and settling ponds right on top of the headwaters of the Flathead
River in British Columbia.
Hazardous pollution
from the mine would travel downriver into Montana, putting the
endangered grizzlies and other wildlife of Glacier National Park at
even greater risk.
Please go to
http://www.savebiogems.org/bears/takeaction
and join Governor Brian Schweitzer and
Senator Max Bauchus of Montana in speaking out against this scheme.
Thank you for
helping to protect grizzly bears and other imperiled Rocky Mountain
wildlife.
Sincerely,
Frances Beinecke
President
Natural Resources Defense Council |
