endangered species

‘We’re Wiping Out One of the World’s Oldest and Toughest Creatures’: Green Groups Urge Endangered Protections for Horseshoe Crabs

‘We’re Wiping Out One of the World’s Oldest and Toughest Creatures’: Green Groups Urge Endangered Protections for Horseshoe Crabs

Horseshoe crabs have been on Earth for more than 450 million years — since before the dinosaurs. They are more closely related to spiders and scorpions than crustaceans and can live as long as 25 years. Despite having lived through ice ages, the breaking apart of the continents and many other geological and atmospheric changes […]

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    Mexico’s Maya Train Project Threatens Vulnerable Ecosystems, Including Ancient Caves

    Mexico’s Maya Train Project Threatens Vulnerable Ecosystems, Including Ancient Caves

    Mexico’s 966-mile Yucatán Peninsula Maya Train rail project — Tren Maya — is causing concern because of the potential for harm to environmentally sensitive areas like an ancient ecosystem of thousands of subterranean caves. In late 2023, a southeastern portion of the train service connecting Cancún opened, with the government announcing the remaining routes would […]

    Climate Change Will Harm Older Elephants the Most, With Major Impacts on Ecosystems, Study Finds

    Climate Change Will Harm Older Elephants the Most, With Major Impacts on Ecosystems, Study Finds

    A first-of-its-kind study by researchers from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) has found that older elephants will have less chance of survival as the climate warms, and this will reverberate throughout the surrounding landscape. The research team has developed models for potential mitigation scenarios, which have already […]

    Successful IVF Breakthrough Could Save Northern White Rhino

    Successful IVF Breakthrough Could Save Northern White Rhino

    In a major breakthrough, the first successful southern white rhino in vitro fertilization has been carried out by scientists. It could mean hope in the quest to save the northern white rhino, whose last remaining members — cousins of the southern rhino — are both female. Neither of the two northern white rhinos, Najin and […]

    Bumble Bee Species Found in 20 States Could Be Listed as Endangered

    Bumble Bee Species Found in 20 States Could Be Listed as Endangered

    Bumble bees are synonymous with summer, buzzing about pollinating flowers and crops. Now, one common North American bee may be joining the more than 70 pollinator species listed as endangered. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service has found that petitions for nine new animal species may warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act, including […]

    California Mountain Lion Population Is Thousands Fewer Than Previously Estimated

    California Mountain Lion Population Is Thousands Fewer Than Previously Estimated

    The first large-scale study of mountain lion numbers in California has been completed by scientists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW); the nonprofits Audubon Canyon Ranch and the Institute for Wildlife Studies; University of California, Santa Cruz; and University of California, Davis. The population estimate of between 3,200 and 4,500 cougars is […]

    Scientists Spot Rare Leopard Barbel Fish in the Wild, Giving Hope for Freshwater Species

    Scientists Spot Rare Leopard Barbel Fish in the Wild, Giving Hope for Freshwater Species

    Despite a recent report from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) that highlighted that 25% of freshwater fish were threatened with extinction, scientists in Turkey have recently come across a rare species sighting that gives some hope to the situation.  Ichthyologists in Turkey recently spotted the leopard barbel (Luciobarbus subquincunciatus), a rare freshwater […]