Salmon fry before being released just outside San Francisco Bay. Jim Wilson / The New York Times / Redux
By Alisa Opar
For Chinook salmon, the urge to return home and spawn isn't just strong — it's imperative. And for the first time in more than 65 years, at least 23 fish that migrated as juveniles from California's San Joaquin River and into the Pacific Ocean have heeded that call and returned as adults during the annual spring run.
Cyanea superba, endemic to the island of Oahu and now extinct in the wild. David Eickhoff / CC BY 2.0
Researchers have found that nearly 600 plant extinctions have taken place over the last two and a half centuries, according to a new paper published in Nature Ecology and Evolution.
A related species photographed in 1991. John Wombey / CSIRO / CC BY 3.0
By John R. Platt
Got good eyesight and some time on your hands? Australia needs you.
Zoos Victoria has issued a public appeal to help find a lizard species that hasn't been credibly observed in 50 years. The Victorian grasslands earless dragon (Tympanocryptis pinguicolla) was last seen in 1969 and could possibly be mainland Australia's first reptile extinction — if it isn't just hiding.
These related species — which, along with chimaeras, are known collectively as chondrichthyans — include some of the most threatened marine fishes in the world. Sharks and rays face a variety of threats depending on where they live and swim, but the biggest risk comes from overfishing, which takes a noticeable toll on these slow-growing, slow-to-reproduce animals. As a result, nearly 1 in 4 species of chondricthyan fishes is estimated to be, or assessed as, threatened, according to the IUCN Red List.
Seahorses are among the species that will benefit from the new protections. Andrey Nekrasov / iStock
The UK government has added 12,000 square kilometers (approximately 4,633 square miles) to England's "blue belt" of protected marine areas, meaning the UK now protects a swath of its ocean nearly twice the size of England itself, The Guardian reported Friday.
Supporters hold signs aloft as part of the 'Stop Adani Convoy' event on April 18 in Melbourne, Australia. Scott Barbour / Getty Images
Australia's controversial Adanicoal mine is one step closer to being built as the Queensland Government approved the company's plan to protect the black-throated finch Friday, The Guardian reported.
Panamanian golden frog. Brian Gratwicke / CC BY 2.0
By John R. Platt
We've been hearing it for years: The world is in the midst of a biodiversity crisis, with species going extinct at a rate 1,000 times faster because of human impact on the environment.
The animal was recorded in April by an infrared wildlife camera in Wolong National Nature Reserve in China's southwestern Sichuan province, local authorities said.
"You are looking at the first-ever photo of a WHITE giant panda in the world," The People's Daily China announced in a tweet Saturday.
Botswana, home to one third of Africa's elephants, announced Wednesday that it was lifting its ban on the hunting of the large mammals.
"The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources Conservation and Tourism wishes to inform the public that following extensive consultations with all stakeholders, the Government of Botswana has taken a decision to lift the hunting suspension," the government announced in a press release shared on social media.
De Molen windmill and nuclear power plant cooling tower in Doel, Belgium. Trougnouf / CC BY-SA 4.0
By Grant Smith
From 2009 to 2012, Gregory Jaczko was chairman of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which approves nuclear power plant designs and sets safety standards for plants. But he now says that nuclear power is too dangerous and expensive — and not part of the answer to the climate crisis.
