Animals

Wolves Will No Longer Be ‘Strictly Protected’ in Europe

Wolves Will No Longer Be ‘Strictly Protected’ in Europe

Wolves in Europe will go from being “strictly protected” to “protected” next year after the Council of Europe backed a proposal by the European Union to downgrade their status. Conservationists are concerned about the survival of the species, which bounced back after being on the edge of local extinction, reported The Guardian. “This decision is […]

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    Largest Known Coral Colony Discovered Near Solomon Islands

    Largest Known Coral Colony Discovered Near Solomon Islands

    The largest known coral colony in the world has been found in the southwest Pacific, near the Solomon Islands. Visible from space, the “mega coral” — a collection of tiny coral polyps forming one organism — could be over three centuries old, reported BBC News. The giant coral colony was discovered by a National Geographic […]

    Insect Larvae Capable of Digesting Plastic Discovered in Kenya

    Insect Larvae Capable of Digesting Plastic Discovered in Kenya

    Plastics, ubiquitous in modern society, have become a toxic menace all over the world, leaching PFAS “forever chemicals,” breaking down into microplastics and choking the world’s seas and landfills.  In a promising study, scientists have discovered that mealworm larvae are capable of consuming polystyrene. They are one of few insects — and the first native […]

    Wildland-Urban Interface Areas Have Increased by More Than 35% in the Past Two Decades, Study Finds

    Wildland-Urban Interface Areas Have Increased by More Than 35% in the Past Two Decades, Study Finds

    Over the course of the last several decades, people seeking to move out of populated areas have been increasingly building homes in neighboring wildlands. Wildland-urban interface (WUI) — places where human development meets undeveloped natural areas like grasslands, deserts or forests — grew by 35.6 percent from 2000 to 2020, according to new research led […]

    COP16 Ends Without Consensus on Financing for Nature Conservation

    COP16 Ends Without Consensus on Financing for Nature Conservation

    The COP16 biodiversity summit in Cali, Colombia, ended in disappointment this weekend, with countries failing to determine how to raise $200 billion a year in funding for conservation by 2030, reported Reuters. Originally intended as a check-in on countries’ progress with meeting the goals of the 2022 Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), COP16 went into […]

    Puerto Rico’s New Marine Reserve Will Protect More Than 14 Endangered Species

    Puerto Rico’s New Marine Reserve Will Protect More Than 14 Endangered Species

    After 16 years of efforts by grassroots organizations, local Puerto Rico communities are celebrating the establishment of the country’s new marine protected area (MPA), Jardines Submarinos de Vega Baja y Manatí. The new marine reserve on Puerto Rico’s north coast will protect 77 square miles of marine biodiversity, a press release from the Wildlife Conservation […]