wildlife

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Rudolph Is Female, and Other Crazy Reindeer Facts

Reindeer travel 3K miles a year—not including flights

(Newser) - Climate change is blamed for a drop of nearly 60% in reindeer numbers in recent decades and scientists warn that Arctic ecosystems are likely to suffer as a result. LiveScience lists other surprising—and less depressing—facts about St. Nick's beasts of burden.
  • They're actually caribou. Caribou and reindeer are
...

Siberian Tigers Vanishing
 Siberian Tigers Vanishing 
Nov 26, 2009 5:03 AM CST

Siberian Tigers Vanishing

Population may be down to mere hundreds

(Newser) - The last remaining wild population of Siberian tigers is rapidly declining, researchers warn. A study of a portion of the tiger's range found just 56 tigers when the average of the last decade had been 95. Researchers blame the decline on poaching and habitat loss, and believe only a few...

Calif. Buffalo Go on Birth Control

State thins Santa Catalina Island herd humanely

(Newser) - Southern California's only herd of wild buffalo has been put on birth control. A conservation authority seeking to protect unique plant life on Santa Catalina Island, where buffalo have roamed since 14 of them were shipped out for a silent film in 1925, has been corralling the animals and injecting...

Feds Pitch Polar Bear Habitat

Critics complain move doesn't address main threats

(Newser) - The federal government has proposed designating 200,000 square miles of land, sea, and ice in northern Alaska as a critical habitat for polar bears. The move is "one step in the right direction to help this species stave off extinction," said an Interior Department official. He acknowledged,...

Hawaiian Island to Evict Over-Friendly Seal

Scientists fear monk seal pup raised by people will harm his human playmates

(Newser) - A seal pup that loves human company is facing deportation to hundreds of miles away from his Hawaiian home, the Wall Street Journal reports. Baby monk seal KP2, who often swims with people and even climbs on boogie boards, has become a much-loved local celebrity on Molokai since he showed...

Exxon Admits Killing Birds, Will Pay $600K

Company fined $600K over deaths of protected birds

(Newser) - Exxon has pleaded guilty in federal court and agreed to pay $600,000 in fines over the deaths of dozens of birds at its drilling and production facilities, the Los Angeles Times reports. The 85 birds, including owls, waterfowl, and hawks, died after being exposed to hydrocarbons at Exxon's natural...

Army Seeks New Home for Desert Tortoises

(Newser) - The Army plans to evict more than 1,000 endangered desert tortoises to expand a tank training ground in the Mojave Desert, the Los Angeles Times reports. Conservationists warn that the last effort to shift the tortoises proved disastrous: Many were wiped out by predators, and others traveled up...

Aussie Snipers Guard Penguins

(Newser) - Sharpshooters with night-vision goggles have been dispatched to protect a penguin colony near Sydney, Australia, the BBC reports. The mutilated bodies of nine fairy penguins—the world's smallest penguin species at just 15 inches high—from the vulnerable colony have been found over the last two weeks. Wildlife officials have...

On Twitter, Palin Sings Praises of Grizzly Moms

'Mama bear doesn't look 2 anyone else 2 hand her anything'

(Newser) - Sarah Palin Tweeted her immense respect for—or perhaps envy of—the adult female grizzly bear yesterday after meeting Alaskan biologists, Politico reports. The soon-to-be ex-governor praised “mama bears’ gutteral raw instinct to protect & provide for her young” and described the animal in action. “She sees danger?...

Turtles Shut Down NYC Runway
 Turtles Shut Down NYC Runway 
Jul 9, 2009 6:18 AM CDT

Turtles Shut Down NYC Runway

(Newser) - Mating season came to a speedy end for some turtles who strayed onto a runway at New York's JFK airport yesterday, the New York Post reports. After a pilot told air control he had  run over some turtles on his way to take-off, wildlife workers shut down the runway for...

Floridians Gang Up on New Neighbor: 8-Foot Gator

Said to have come from local canal

(Newser) - Residents of a South Florida town found a surprise visitor in their pool last night: an 8-foot alligator. Someone—nobody owned up—tied the creature to a tree with an extension cord before calling for help, the Miami Herald reports. When deputies arrived, a crowd of 30 was ogling the...

Three-Legged Bobcat Goes Back to Wild

(Newser) - Darlean, a three-legged bobcat, was released into the wild southeast of Dallas yesterday along with several raccoons and families of possums, the Morning News reports. Darlean lost her back right paw in a claw trap, and subsequently learned to balance on three legs before she was captured by animal-control officers...

Some Male, Mom Baboons 'Just Friends'

Primatologists baffled by sexless simian friendships

(Newser) - Scientists are trying to figure out why many male baboons enter into platonic friendships with single moms, the BBC reports. Researchers probing relationships within baboon tribes found that the friendships, which did not appear to involve sex in about half the instances, helped mother and offspring dodge the unwanted attentions...

Moose on the Loose Hits Saratoga Race Course

Wayward moose wanders onto ground of historic racetrack

(Newser) - Fans spotted a different kind of four-legged visitor yesterday at the Saratoga Race Course when a wayward moose wandered onto the grounds, reports the Albany Times-Union reports. Dozens of surprised onlookers—most of whom had never seen a wild moose before, let alone one on a racetrack—gathered to see...

Poachers' Poison Slays Rare Elephant

Giant male ate spiked pineapples

(Newser) - A rare Sumatran elephant died after eating pineapples spiked with poison by poachers in northwestern Indonesia, officials report. The giant 30-year-old male, its tusks ripped out for the ivory, was the ninth Sumatran elephant found dead in the region in the last three months. At least seven of them were...

Lobster 'Fiona' Is 1-in 30-Million Phenomenon

Fiona is a 1-in-30-million genetic mutation

(Newser) - The one-in-30-million special at one Boston eatery isn’t on the menu. Caught off the Canadian coast, “Fiona” is believed to be a rare yellow lobster. The spotted 7-year-old (the coloring is actually closer to orange) is fed sushi-quality tuna and will eventually be sent to live at a...

Lovey-Dovey Hummers Faster Than Jet Fighters

Courtship dive involves G-forces that would make stunt pilots swoon

(Newser) - The courtship dive of an American species of hummingbird involves speeds that—relative to its size—outpace even fighter jets at full throttle, the Independent reports. Researchers discovered that the male Anna's hummingbird moves 383 times its body length each second as it swoops, creating G-forces strong enough to make...

One in 3 Airports Hasn't Studied Bird-Strike Risk: FAA

150 haven't taken required steps

(Newser) - A third of US airports haven't completed a mandated study of their bird-strike risk, USA Today reports. "This problem has been ignored and shuffled to the side by the aviation community," said an airport wildlife-control expert. The 150 airports won't be named until the FAA has contacted each...

Fla. Eyes Loosing Bounty Hunters on Pythons

Some 150K snakes living in Everglades

(Newser) - With pythons slithering amok in the Everglades, Florida wildlife managers are toying with the notion of employing bounty hunters to cull the population, the Miami Herald reports. “If we don't get on top of this, they're going to eradicate the indigenous species of the Everglades,” said one. Officials...

After 3 Maulings, Anchorage Mulls Bear Policy

(Newser) - Anchorage has long been a bear-friendly town, but with three uncharacteristic maulings last summer some residents want a more aggressive wildlife management policy this year, the AP reports. The city of 285,000 is also home to more than 300 bears and borders a national park that officials have called...

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