Left: Lemurs in Madagascar on March 30, 2017. Mathias Appel / Flickr. Right: A North Atlantic right whale mother and calf. National Marine Fisheries Service
A new analysis by scientists at the Swiss-based International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that lemurs and the North Atlantic right whale are on the brink of extinction.
<p>For lemurs, the analysis found that almost one-third of the species in Madagascar are critically <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/endangered-species" target="_self">endangered</a> while 98 percent are threatened or worse, according to the IUCN's updated Red List of Threatened Species. The demise of lemurs is largely attributed to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation" target="_self">deforestation</a> and hunting on the giant island off eastern Africa, conservationists said Thursday, as the <a href="https://apnews.com/82146ce2b2b9b98bb21b110eb14a797b#:~:text=GENEVA%20(AP)%20%E2%80%94%20Nearly%20all,eastern%20Africa%2C%20conservationists%20said%20Thursday." target="_blank">AP</a> reported.</p><p>To put that in numbers, instead of percentages, 33 lemur species are critically endangered, with 103 of the 107 surviving species threatened with extinction, according to the IUCN. The updated list now has 13 species pushed into the critically endangered category due to human activity.</p>
<p>The IUCN also says there were fewer than 250 mature North Atlantic right <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/whales" target="_self">whales</a> believed to be alive in 2018, marking a 15-percent drop since 2011. That number includes about only 100 breeding females.</p><p>"At the heart of this crisis is a dire need for alternative, sustainable livelihoods to replace the current reliance on deforestation and unsustainable use of wildlife," Grethel Aguilar, IUCN's acting director general, said in a statement, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/07/09/north-atlantic-right-whale-is-face-an-extinction-crisis-report-says/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported. "These findings really bring home the urgent need for an ambitious post-2020 biodiversity framework that drives effective conservation action."</p>
<p>At the end of June, one dead whale was spotted off the coast of New Jersey. That six-month-old calf had been struck several times on the head, suggesting one or possibly two vessel collisions, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/climate/trump-north-atlantic-right-whale.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. Increasingly, collisions with ships, entanglements in fishing nets, and underwater noise pollution are killing the animals, which rely on echolocation for basic activities such as feeding, communicating and finding mates, as <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/07/09/north-atlantic-right-whale-is-face-an-extinction-crisis-report-says/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> reported.</p><p>The North Atlantic right whale also faces an increased threat from the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis" target="_self">climate crisis</a>. The IUCN says that warming ocean temperatures have likely pushed the species' main prey species further north during summer, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, where the whales are more exposed to accidental encounters with ships and also at high risk of entanglement in crab-pot ropes.</p><p>The whale's preferred home, in the Gulf of Maine's deep waters, has warmed nearly 9 degrees Fahrenheit since 2004, faster than 99 percent of the world's oceans for much of this century, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/climate/trump-north-atlantic-right-whale.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>The prospects are bleak for the North Atlantic right whale now that President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> lifted restrictions on commercial fishing in a key area of the whale's habitat.</p>
<p>"Unless we act decisively to turn the tide, the next time the right whale's Red List status changes it will be to 'extinct,'" Jane Davenport, a senior attorney for Defenders of Wildlife, said in a statement, as The Washington Post reported.</p><p>The deaths of 30 Atlantic right whales were confirmed as human-caused between 2012 and 2016, according to the IUCN report, and all but four were caused by entanglement in fishing gear.</p><p>Peter Corkeron, a senior scientist at the New England Aquarium, has chronicled the gruesome deaths of right whales as the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's research program for large whales for the last decade. He told the New York Times he feared the listing would have little impact.</p><p>"A lot of the dynamic was bad anyway, and under Trump it just got worse," Corkeron said. "People are terrified to do anything about right whales at the moment."</p>
<p>The update to the "Red List of Threatened Species" shows that 32,441 species are threatened out of a total of 120,372 on the list.</p><p>"We have to take bold and rapid action to reduce the huge damage we're doing to the planet if we're going to save whales, frogs, lemurs and ultimately ourselves," said Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, as The Washington Post reported. "We really can do all of these things, but we need world leaders to stand up and do them."</p>
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The Yersinia pestis bacteria causes bubonic plague in animals and humans. Illustration based on light microscope image At 1000x. BSIP / UIG Via Getty Images
A herdsman in the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia was diagnosed with the bubonic plague Sunday, The New York Times reported.
<p>The Bayannur city health commission confirmed the diagnosis and issued a third-level alert, the second from the bottom in a four-level system. Mongolian health authorities are also investigating a second suspected case involving a 15 year old who developed a fever after coming into contact with a marmot that had been hunted by a dog, China's Global Times tweeted.</p>
<div id="ca97d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c0d3acda528ec4db7145434d4e65ab83"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280031821980303360" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">#Mongolia discovered another suspected patient infected with the bubonic plague. The 15-year-old patient had a feve… https://t.co/AHQBW0KH1X</div> — Global Times (@Global Times)<a href="https://twitter.com/globaltimesnews/statuses/1280031821980303360">1594018342.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"At present, there is a risk of a human plague epidemic spreading in this city. The public should improve its self-protection awareness and ability, and report abnormal health conditions promptly," the local health authority said, according to <a href="https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202007/05/WS5f01d743a310834817257493.html" target="_blank">China Daily</a>.</p><p>The bubonic plague caused the Black Death that killed around 50 million people in Africa, Asia and Europe during the 14th century, according to <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-asia-china-53303457" target="_blank">BBC News</a>. But <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts say it is unlikely to give the new <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> a run for its money as a global pandemic.</p><p>"Unlike in the 14th Century, we now have an understanding of how this disease is transmitted," Stanford Health Care infectious disease physician Dr. Shanti Kappagoda told Heathline, according to BBC News. "We know how to prevent it. We are also able to treat patients who are infected with effective antibiotics."</p>
<p>Bubonic plague is caused by the Yersinia pestis bacterium which is spread from infected rodents to humans by fleas, according to The New York Times. In Inner Mongolia, the rodents in question are usually marmots, and the health alert put in place by Bayannur health officials warns against eating, hunting or transporting potentially infected animals and urges people to report diseased or dead rodents. The alert will remain in place till the end of the year, according to BBC News.</p><p>The plague can come in different forms, <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/plague/symptoms/index.html" target="_blank">according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)</a>: bubonic, septicemic and pneumonic. The latter is consistently fatal if left untreated and can be spread person to person via respiratory droplets, according to The New York Times. The bubonic plague is fatal 30 to 60 percent of the time if not treated. Antibiotics can cure it if administered early.</p><p>Symptoms of bubonic plague include swollen lymph nodes, fever, chills and coughing, according to <a href="https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/07/06/asia/china-mongolia-bubonic-plague-intl-hnk-scli-scn/index.html?__twitter_impression=true" target="_blank">CNN</a>. Pneumonic plague infects the lungs.</p>
<p>The plague in both its forms is an example of how the exploitation of nature and the consumption of wild animals <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/nature-destruction-pandemics-2646191121.html" target="_self">can put humans at risk from deadly pathogens</a>. A 1911 pneumonic plague epidemic in northeast China, which killed around 63,000 people, is believed to have been spread by the trade in marmot fur. Last week, two brothers in Mongolia caught bubonic plague from marmot meat, and a couple in Mongolia died of the plague after eating marmot kidney last May.</p><p>Worldwide, the plague infects 1,000 to 2,000 people a year, according to World Health Organization data reported by CNN, though that is likely an underestimate.</p><p>An average of seven cases are reported every year in the U.S., <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/plague/faq/index.html#cases" target="_blank">according to the CDC</a>.</p>
<p class=""><em>Correction: An earlier version of this article stated that there are two forms of plague. There are actually different forms and three common ones, and the article has been updated to reflect this. The source of this information has also been modified.</em> </p>From Your Site Articles
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In ‘Conservation Disaster,’ Hundreds of Botswana's Elephants Are Dying From Mysterious Cause
02 July
Animals
African bush elephants in the Makgadikgadi Pans Game Reserve in Botswana on Nov. 22, 2016. Michael Jansen / Flickr
More than 350 elephants have died in Botswana since May, and no one knows why.
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/poaching" target="_self">Poaching</a> has been ruled out, because no tusks have been removed from the elephants' bodies, but it is possible the animals are dying of a disease that could spread to the human population.</p><p>"Yes, it is a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> disaster — but it also has the potential to be a <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> crisis," <a href="https://t.co/FOYIlddwzZ?amp=1" target="_blank">National Park Rescue</a> Director of Conservation Dr. Niall McCann told <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-africa-53257512" target="_blank">BBC News</a>.</p>
<div id="9deed" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="101a9cd3a64051511e2bb793a9782a58"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1278329244767137792" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">A catastrophic die-off of elephants is happing in northern Botswana, and no one knows why. It’s vital that a team o… https://t.co/G4VlI5hZJA</div> — Niall McCann (@Niall McCann)<a href="https://twitter.com/NiallPMcCann/statuses/1278329244767137792">1593612416.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Botswana's tourism ministry first said that it was investigating the deaths in mid-May, when 12 dead elephants were found over two weekends in the country's Okavango Delta, <a href="https://phys.org/news/2020-05-botswana-probes-mysterious-death-elephants.html" target="_blank">Phys.org reported</a> at the time.</p><p>By the end of May, 169 elephants had died, and that number had more than doubled by mid-June, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/01/more-than-350-elephants-dead-in-mysterious-mass-die-off-botswana-aoe" target="_blank">The Guardian reported</a>.</p><p>"This is totally unprecedented in terms of numbers of elephants dying in a single event unrelated to drought," McCann told BBC News.</p><p>But despite the scale of the deaths, the government has not yet completed testing of the animals to determine the cause, earning the criticism of conservation groups.</p>
<p>"There is real concern regarding the delay in getting the samples to an accredited laboratory for testing in order to identify the problem — and then take measures to mitigate it," <a href="https://eia-international.org/" target="_blank">Environmental Investigation Agency</a> Executive Director Mary Rice told The Guardian. "The lack of urgency is of real concern and does not reflect the actions of a responsible custodian. There have been repeated offers of help from private stakeholders to facilitate urgent testing which appear to have fallen on deaf ears … and the increasing numbers are, frankly, shocking."</p>
<p>The government, meanwhile, attributed the delay to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic.</p><p>"We have sent [samples] off for testing and we are expecting the results over the next couple of weeks or so," Dr. Cyril Taolo, acting director for Botswana's department of wildlife and national parks, told The Guardian. "The Covid-19 restrictions have not helped in the transportation of samples in the region and around the world. We're now beginning to emerge from that and that is why we are now in a position to send the samples to other laboratories."</p><p>Taolo said the government had confirmed 280 out of 350 reported deaths and is working to confirm the rest.</p>
<p>Local reports indicate that animals of all ages and sexes are dying, with some spotted wandering in circles, a sign of neurological damage. The cause is likely a poison or disease, but experts are not sure which.</p><p>More than 100 elephants died in October 2019 in a suspected anthrax outbreak, Phys.org reported, but McCann told BBC News he had tentatively ruled out anthrax as the cause of the most recent deaths. Cyanide poisoning used by poachers is another possibility, but scavengers are not dying after eating the carcasses, The Guardian pointed out.</p><p>"It is only elephants that are dying and nothing else," McCann told BBC News. "If it was cyanide used by poachers, you would expect to see other deaths."</p>
<p>Botswana hosts the world's largest elephant population at more than 135,000 animals, about a third of all the elephants in Africa, Phys.org pointed out. The Okavango Delta, meanwhile, is home to 10 percent of Botswana's total population, or around 15,000 animals. African elephants are considered vulnerable by the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/12392/3339343" target="_blank">International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List</a>. Botswana was considered one of the safest countries for elephants until recently, <a href="https://www.sciencealert.com/hundreds-of-elephants-have-died-in-botswana-for-months-and-we-still-don-t-know-why" target="_blank">Science Alert pointed out</a>. But the government made a controversial decision to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/botswana-lifts-elephant-ban-2637907016.html" target="_self">lift</a> its elephant hunting ban in May of 2019, and poaching is on the rise. An <a href="http://elephantswithoutborders.org/" target="_blank">Elephants Without Borders</a> study <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S096098221930675X" target="_blank">published in Current Biology last year</a> found that new elephant carcasses in northern Botswana had increased by 593 percent between 2014 and 2018 and that at least 385 elephants had been poached between 2017 and 2018.</p>
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Bison and motorists try to navigate the same road in Yellowstone National Park on July 12, 2014. Roan Retera
A woman was gored by a bison in Yellowstone National Park last week, in a reminder that there are serious consequences for forgetting that the wildlife in Yellowstone is wild.
<p>The incident took place after the woman, a 72-year-old from California, moved within 10 feet of the bison more than once in order to take a photograph, the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/national-parks" target="_self">National Park</a> Service (NPS) <a href="https://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/news/062920.htm" target="_blank">said in a statement Monday</a>.</p><p>"The series of events that led to the goring suggest the bison was threatened by being repeatedly approached to within 10 feet," Yellowstone's senior bison biologist Chris Geremia said in the statement. "Bison are wild animals that respond to threats by displaying aggressive behaviors like pawing the ground, snorting, bobbing their head, bellowing, and raising their tail. If that doesn't make the threat (in this instance it was a person) move away, a threatened bison may charge."</p>
<p>The goring took place the evening of June 25 at the woman's campsite at the Bridge Bay Campground. She was wounded multiple times and received medical attention from rangers before being flown by helicopter to the Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center. <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/woman-72-gored-bison-yellowstone-after-getting-too-close-photos-n1232496" target="_blank">NBC News</a> was not able to obtain any more information about her condition as of Monday night.</p><p>NPS is investigating the incident.</p>
<p>This is not the first time a park visitor has been injured after standing too close to a bison since the park reopened following its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/national-parks-coronavirus-closings-2645599791.html" target="_self">closure</a> due to the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic. Another woman was hurt in late May, only days after the park's <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/national-parks-opening-coronavirus-2645998472.html" target="_self">reopening</a>, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/bison-gores-woman-yellowstone-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN reported</a>.</p><p>That woman was "knocked to the ground" after coming too close to an animal in the Old Faithful Upper Geyser Basin, officials said, as <a href="https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/29/california-woman-gored-bison-yellowstone-national-park/3283467001/" target="_blank">USA TODAY reported</a>. That woman received medical attention from park staff but did not choose to go to the hospital, <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/travel/article/yellowstone-bison-attack-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">according to CNN</a>. Hers was the first injury of the 2020 season, USA TODAY reported.</p><p>NPS recommends that Yellowstone visitors stay more than 25 yards away from large animals like bison, elk and moose and at least 100 yards away from bears and wolves.</p><p>"To be safe around bison, stay at least 25 yards away, move away if they approach, and run away or find cover if they charge," Geremia said.</p>
<p>One positive example of bison safety went viral in March, when reporter Deion Broxton saw a herd of bison approaching while on the job in Yellowstone and packed up his gear and drove away, <a href="https://abc11.com/bison-reporter-montata-deion-broxton/6052358/" target="_blank">ABC 11 reported</a>.</p><p>"I ain't messing with you," he said in a video he tweeted of the incident.</p>
<div id="6e24a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="98502f801663ce63637c38b8b636d002"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1242965245414391808" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Here's the video of the bison I shot once I got a safe distance away lol https://t.co/uL3XiR2ISR</div> — Deion Broxton (@Deion Broxton)<a href="https://twitter.com/DeionBroxton/statuses/1242965245414391808">1585180982.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>NPS hailed Broxton as a positive role model for bison safety.</p><p>"A perfect example of what to do when approached by wildlife!" the <a href="https://twitter.com/YellowstoneNPS/status/1242912596488933376" target="_blank">park tweeted</a>.</p><p>The park said there are usually one to two bison-related injuries every year, ABC 11 reported.</p>
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An aerial view shows the pollution in a river outside Norilsk, Russia following an oil spill, on June 6, 2020. IRINA YARINSKAYA / AFP via Getty Images
Russia's Norilsk Nickel ran into trouble earlier this month when one of its subsidiaries accidentally spilled 21,000 tons of diesel that ended up polluting a pristine Arctic lake. Now the company admits that it has been dumping wastewater into the Arctic tundra, as Agence-France Press, (AFP) reported.
<p>The metallurgical giant said on Sunday that it had taken steps to suspend the workers who dumped the wastewater, saying that their actions were in "flagrant violation of operating rules," according to AFP.</p><p>Independent newspaper <a href="https://novayagazeta.ru/news/2020/06/28/162616-novaya-grinpis-i-eks-sotrudnik-rosprirodnadzora-norilskoy-oblasti-nornikel-prodolzhaet-sbrasyvat-proizvodstvennye-othody-v-ozero-pyasino-foto" target="_blank">Novaya Gazeta published videos</a> from the scene showing large metal pipes carrying wastewater from the reservoir and dumping foaming liquid among nearby trees.</p><p>The company issued the statement just hours after the Novaya Gazeta video surfaced that showed water tainted with heavy metals from the tailings at a nickel-processing plant were being pumped into a river, according to <a href="https://apnews.com/bb823ae09f205fe32d0cd5b83d11b9e7" target="_blank">The Associated Press</a>.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/russian-nickel-mining-firm-admits-pollution-in-arctic/a-53976282" target="_blank">Deutsche-Welle</a> reported, when investigators arrived at the scene, the pipes were "hastily" removed, and a car that had delivered officials to the scene was partly squashed by a heavy earthmoving machine. Nobody was injured in the accident that crushed part of the car.</p><p>Before the time when investigators arrived, 6,000 cubic meters of liquid had been dumped over "several hours," reported the Russian news agency Interfax, according to Deutsche-Welle. It was impossible to tell how far the wastewater had dispersed.</p>
<p>The incident occurred at the Talnakh enrichment plant near the Arctic city of Norilsk, the company said, as <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/russian-metal-giant-admits-pollution-arctic-tundra-200628181846954.html" target="_blank">Al-Jazeera</a> reported. This incident is just one month after the unprecedented fuel leak led President Vladimir Putin to declare a state of emergency.</p><p>The journalists who investigated the area claimed the factory deliberately sent the wastewater into <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife" target="_self">wildlife</a> areas and then hastily removed their pipes when they caught wind of investigators and emergency services arrived on the scene. That hasty removal led to the accident that dropped machinery on an investigator's car, according to Al-Jazeera.</p><p>The Investigative Committee, which probes serious crimes, said it had received reports of "unauthorized dumping of liquid waste into the tundra" on the site of the facility, and had opened an inquiry.</p>
<p>According to the AFP, Russia's natural resources agency said the decision to remove water from the reservoir was taken to avoid an emergency after heavy rains and recent tests had caused water levels to increase dramatically. The local emergency services in a statement said the wastewater was unlikely to reach the nearby Kharayelakh River.</p><p>A similar statement was made by Norilsk Nickel spokeswoman Tatiana Egorova who said on Sunday that employees at the factory had pumped out "clarified water" and that an internal investigation was under way.</p>
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KESSR
By John R. Platt
It takes a lot of effort and more than a little bit of luck for researchers like André Raine to get to the remote mountaintops of Kauai, where they're working to save endangered Hawaiian seabirds from extinction.
<p>First you need a helicopter capable of reaching sites more than 4,600 feet above sea level.</p>
<p>Then you need exactly the right weather to fly — and the hope that conditions don't shift, as they frequently do.</p><p>"The weather's not that great," said Raine, the project coordinator for the <a href="https://kauaiseabirdproject.org/" target="_blank">Kaua'i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project</a>. "We keep going and hanging out at the helipad, waiting and watching. And then it looks like it's going to be okay but it gets fogged in, or you get up there and then you get stuck. The joys of working in a remote, inaccessible area."</p><p>The seabirds — including Newell's shearwaters (<em>Puffinus newelli</em>) and Hawaiian petrels (<em>Pterodroma sandwichensis</em>) — obviously have a much easier time getting up the tops of these mountains.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQyMjUxMS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYzNDI0MDYzOX0.Xckl7lehoaKqVpDcl2Iauq_7FsUd3dhhJCqlQ_00T7w/img.jpg?width=980" id="3eff9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a188467cc0cf6aaf6e732ff033bf58be" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Raine holding a Hawaiian petrel chick. Courtesy Kaua'i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project
<p>So, unfortunately, do several species of invasive predators — including feral cats, black rats and feral pigs — that have put these ground-nesting birds, and so many other native Hawaiian species, on the fast track toward extinction.</p><p>"People are always really surprised by this," Raine said, "but it doesn't matter how remote the area, or how apparently inhospitable it is to predators like cats. You're going to find cats and rats and pigs in these areas. There wasn't a single site that we work in that doesn't have all these predators, busy eating the birds."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQyMjUxMi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwMDA1OTUzNX0._y8WyIKu-gqIxghf0MAe4M2Jct0kKO_8dRVZeFTkP5s/img.jpg?width=980" id="9566a" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a6b43d8eb34efa6830b67e9c9b760acb" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
An endangered chick in the mouth of a feral cat. Courtesy Kaua'i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project
<p>Like many island endemics, Hawaii's bird species grew up without mammalian predators, so they're ill-adapted to the teeth and claws that arrived with human society. The cats descended from housecats, while pigs escape from agricultural sites and rats descended from stowaways on ships.</p><p>That's why the Kaua'i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project has spent the past nine years constructing fences and establishing other predator controls — work that is proving essential in giving these native birds a chance.</p><p>The first step in controlling predators is quantifying the threat.</p><p>According to a paper Raine and his colleagues published earlier this year in <a href="https://wildlife.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jwmg.21824" target="_blank">The Journal of Wildlife Management</a>, introduced predators killed at least 309 endangered seabirds at six monitored breeding colonies between 2011 and 2017. That's quite a blow for each of these endangered species.</p><p>"Newell's shearwaters and Hawaiian petrels have suffered catastrophic declines over the last few decades," Raine said. "Any chick that's lost in the population is one that we can't afford to lose."</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQyMjUxMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NzM0Mjk0NH0.OQtFhGyhMY0IdQIFof0hJQjrsMnarkKMPZ7pxFGmbxQ/img.jpg?width=980" id="28423" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="67a9f67f9d9b15b91d0c4fb08f3a4018" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Hawaiian petrel. © Ken Chamberlain, some rights reserved (CC-BY-NC). Via iNaturalist.
<p>The researchers took on the sad task of collecting the dead and examining the wound patterns to determine which type of predator made the kill.</p><p>Rats, it turned out, killed the most — more than 50% of mortalities — usually from entering the birds' rocky burrows and eating eggs and chicks. That dramatically slows recovery efforts, but the research shows that adult birds who've lost their chicks returned to the same burrows the following year to try again.</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="8dd9a93a40e27d91a7d4be3e64989e97"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QqxzWxyzQhc?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>Pigs kill fewer birds — about 10% of all tracked mortalities — but they were the most destructive, digging up and taking out entire nests. "It's literally like someone's taken a hand grenade and stuffed it down the burrow and blown it up," Raine said. "They just eat whatever's inside."</p><p>Cats were responsible for another 35% of known deaths, and Raine says the research shows those mortalities were the worst for the long-term health of the bird species. Cats target breeding birds, taking out not just the current generation but any hope of successive generations. The seabirds are very faithful to both their burrow sites and their mates, so if a cat takes out one parent the other might not breed again for several years, if at all. (Without predation, the researchers say an amazing 98.6% percent of breeding pairs matched up again and bred each year of the study.)</p>
<span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="4fc7193649ed712ac1e3c32f773b9299"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FS8meaFqnIQ?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>And while cats in general are the most destructive, some individual cats are downright scary.</p><p>"Every now and then, you get a sort of super cat, which is really good at finding burrows and killing the birds," he said.</p><p>In one incident recounted in the paper, the seabird recovery team found images of a cat taken by nine out of 30 remote cameras on the same day. Each camera was trained at a different seabird burrow — which provided ready meals for the feral feline.</p><p>"It just shows that all you need is for a cat to get into an area for a very short period," Raine said. "When the birds are sitting in a hole in the ground, they're entirely vulnerable to predation. The cat can very easily wipe out a huge number of birds."</p><p>Raine describes another incident as "quite horrific to watch." It took place at a remote site the team can only visit about once a month during breeding season, "because it's expensive and hard to get to," he said. They arrived one day to review the site's automatic cameras and the images revealed "this one cat just wreaking havoc across the site. It goes in and kills an adult Newell's shearwater, and they next thing you know it's emerging from the same burrow with four kittens. So it uses that burrow to raise the kittens, and then we get it on camera at another burrow with the kittens, basically training them how to kill more shearwaters."</p><p>That's a tough thing to see — especially when these researchers have followed the comings and goings at these burrows for years.</p><p>"You start to really empathize with these birds, because you're watching them on the burrow cameras and you're seeing all these amazing behaviors," Raine said. "And we're tracking them as well. We're seeing that they make these incredible journeys to feed their chicks. Hawaiian petrels go towards the coast of Alaska, 11-14,000 kilometers on a feeding voyage, and then you go to the site and you find this bird that's just been shredded by an introduced predator and the chicks left to starve to death. It's quite hard to deal with."</p><p>But as difficult and dangerous as these predators can be, the research also shows that the situation is far from hopeless.</p>
Fence Me In
<p>Over the past decade, the Kaua'i Endangered Seabird Recovery Project and its many organizational partners have concentrated on establishing predator controls at six of their seven regularly monitored seabird breeding sites.</p><p>Again, this isn't easy to accomplish in these remote, rarely visited locations. Materials must be flown in, ungulate-proof fences built, other traps set, and pig-hunting expeditions organized. All of it must be accomplished and maintained in precarious territory full of wet vegetation, narrow ridgelines and steep canyon walls.</p><p>To make things even more difficult, the human visitors must leave the habitat as undisturbed as possible.</p><p>"If you start making trails in these areas, then you're basically just opening them up to the hordes of predators that are out there," Raine says.</p><p>But the hard work pays off.</p><p>According to the paper, fences and other controls not only keep the invasive predators out, they give the birds the opportunity to thrive.</p><p>The research team used seven years data from the six sites, from before and after predator controls were established, and projected striking results for the future of the two seabird species.</p><p>The first model looked at what would happen to each site without predator controls. It was a disaster — mostly due to cats. "We ran that for 50 years, and we found that all of the colonies dwindle toward extinction."</p><p>The paper, in what Raine acknowledges as gallows humor, calls this the <em>CATastrophe</em> model.</p><p>The second modeling approach incorporated data from successful breeding that took place after more extensive predator controls (fences and traps) were put in place. "We found that the populations increased over those 50 years," Raine said. Under the model, which was based on 2017 population growth rates at sites with predator controls, most sites would see a 50-60% increase over the 50-year projection, while one site more than doubled.</p><p>"It really does show that if you remove the predators, the birds will begin to recover."</p><span style="display:block;position:relative;padding-top:56.25%;" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="ac52cff84afea378f9a779341a21e9c7"><iframe lazy-loadable="true" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/FGzpq0g0KnA?rel=0" width="100%" height="auto" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;"></iframe></span><p>This isn't the be all and end all. Hawaiian seabirds face a laundry list of additional threats, including climate change, collisions with power lines, reduced fish populations at sea, and invasive plants that change forest compositions. The models don't address those threats, which also require mitigation.</p><p>There's also another introduced predator: barn owls. Hawaii introduced barn owls in the 1960s to control rats, but — as we've seen in so many other similar examples — they quickly became a new problem. Owls only killed 12 seabirds during the study, but Raine says these newest invaders pose an increasing threat that's proven harder to control. You can build fences to protect birds, after all, but you can't prevent other birds from flying over those protections.</p><p>But this research does prove that current management techniques to protect Hawaiian seabirds from their most pressing threats — cats, rats and pigs — really do work, and that they can be applied to more locations, even by private landowners who have birds on their properties. "Although we've got seven managed sites, there are other sites on the island where the birds are still hanging on, and there's no reason to expect that these techniques wouldn't be effective at other colonies."</p><p>That's important, because some of those additional sites are on the edge.</p><p>"We're finding that these other sites are just going silent," Raine said. "With no management on them, the birds just flit away." The paper recommends predator-proof fences at all sites, as well as dedicated year-round funding for both seabird monitoring efforts and predator-control operations designed to specifically target the composition of animals at each location. The authors also suggest additional port biosecurity to prevent more invasive species from arriving, and possibly the targeted use of landscape-level toxicants to remove rats and cats.</p><p>In addition, Raine says, these techniques can be applied to other species and other island locations where invasive predators threaten ground-nesting birds.</p><p>Perhaps most importantly, the research helps show these conservationists — whose work has continued as "essential" during the pandemic — that their efforts to fight extinction in these challenging, hard-to-reach habitats are paying off.</p><p>"I remember one of our sites in particular — in fact the one I was trying to get into today — the first time I went there I found within a five-foot area a burrow that had been predated by a cat, a dead chick that had been pulled out by a rat, and a burrow that had been destroyed by a pig," Raine recounted. "Now you can go a month without even seeing predators at some of these sites because of the great work that the controllers' crews are doing."</p><p>And this raises one more issue: this work isn't just about birds. It may help heal Hawaii — the extinction capital of the world — in the process.</p><p>"I think it's really important that people understand the critical importance of seabirds as the architects of the island itself," Raine said. "They bring all those ocean nutrients up into the mountains, and their partly responsible for the watersheds that we all rely on. It's a whole ecosystem that needs to be addressed."</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://therevelator.org/hawaii-predator-catastrophe/" target="_blank">The Revelator</a>. </em><em></em></p>
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Museums Preserve Clues That Can Help Scientists Predict and Analyze Future Pandemics
26 June
Science
Together, the world's natural history collections are estimated to contain more than three billion specimens, including preserved specimens of possible hosts of the coronaviruses that have led to SARS, MERS and COVID-19. Kieran Guckian, CC BY 2.0
By Pamela Soltis, Joseph Cook and Richard Yanagihara
In less than 20 years, communities around the globe have been hit by a string of major disease outbreaks: SARS, MERS, Ebola, Zika and now, COVID-19. Nearly all emerging infectious diseases in humans originate from microorganisms that are harbored by wildlife and subsequently "jump," either directly or indirectly – for example, through mosquitoes or ticks – to humans.
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/pamela-soltis-1127758" target="_blank">Pamela Soltis</a> is a </em><em>Distinguished Professor and Curator, Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida.</em>
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/joseph-cook-1127761" target="_blank">Joseph Cook</a> is a </em><em>Professor of Biology and Curator, Division of Mammals, Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico.</em>
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<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/richard-yanagihara-1127792" target="_blank">Richard Yanagihara</a> is a </em><em><em>Professor of Pediatrics and Principal Investigator, Pacific Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Research, University of Hawaii.</em></em>
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<em><em></em>Disclosure statement: </em><em>Pamela Soltis receives funding from the National Science Foundation. She serves on leadership boards of the American Institute of Biological Sciences and the American Society of Plant Taxonomists. </em><em>Joseph Cook receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </em><em>Richard Yanagihara receives funding from the National Institutes of Health. He works at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, of the University of Hawaii at Manoa.</em>
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<em>Reposted with permission from </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-preserve-clues-that-can-help-scientists-predict-and-analyze-future-pandemics-141175" target="_blank"><em>The Conversation.</em></a>
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<p>One factor driving the increase in zoonotic disease outbreaks is that human activities – including population growth, migration and consumption of wild animals – are leading to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.2736" target="_blank">increased encounters with wildlife</a>. At the same time, genetic mutations in viruses and other microbes are creating new opportunities for disease emergence.</p><p>But humans remain largely ignorant of our planet's biodiversity and its natural ecosystems. Only two million species – about 20% of all the estimated species on Earth – <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/all-2-3-million-species-are-mapped-into-a-single-circle-of-life/" target="_blank">have even been named</a> In our view, this fundamental ignorance of nearly all aspects of biodiversity has resulted in an inefficient, poorly coordinated and minimally science-based response to key aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p>We have diverse backgrounds in <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pamela_Soltis" target="_blank">plant</a> and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=WSfSPbgAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">mammal</a> evolution and <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=dOknrtAAAAAJ&hl=en" target="_blank">emerging infectious diseases</a>. In a newly published commentary that we wrote with colleagues from across the U.S. and in six other countries, we identify <a href="http://dx.doi.org/%2010.1093/biosci/biaa064" target="_blank">a largely untapped resource for predicting future pandemics</a>: natural history collections in museums around the world.</p><p>These collections preserve specimens of animals, plants and other organisms that illustrate the diversity of life on Earth. They are <a href="https://cetaf.org/covid19-taf-communities-taking-action" target="_blank">reservoirs of information and samples</a> that can help scientists identify likely pathogen sources, hosts and transmission pathways. We believe that leveraging collections in this way will require more resources and more collaboration between biodiversity scientists and disease outbreak sleuths.</p>
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Archives of Life on Earth
<p>Research shows that zoonotic diseases have increased due to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2019.2736" target="_blank">human intrusion into animal habitats</a>. In particular, <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-where-did-zika-virus-come-from-and-why-is-it-a-problem-in-brazil-53425" target="_blank">destruction of tropical rain forests</a> throughout the world has brought us face to face with microbes that occur naturally in wild animals and can cause disease in our own species.</p><p>Earth's biodiversity is connected through a <a href="http://www.onezoom.org/otop/@biota=93302?img=best_any&anim=flight#x1068,y2073,w4.9401" target="_blank">family tree</a>. Viruses, bacteria and other microbes have evolved with their hosts for millions of years. As a result, a virus that resides in a wild animal host such as a bat without causing disease can be highly pathogenic when transmitted to humans. This is the case with zoonotic diseases.</p><p>Unfortunately, national responses to disease outbreaks are often based on very limited knowledge of the basic biology, or even the identity, of the pathogen and its wild host. As scientists, we believe that harnessing centuries of biological knowledge and resources from natural history collections can provide an informed road map to identify the origin and transmission of disease outbreaks.</p><p>These collections of animals, plants and fungi date back centuries and are the richest sources of information available about life on Earth. They are housed in museums ranging from the <a href="https://naturalhistory.si.edu/" target="_blank">Smithsonian Institution</a> to <a href="http://scnet.acis.ufl.edu/" target="_blank">small colleges</a>.</p><p>Together, the world's natural history collections are estimated to contain <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.352.6287.762" target="_blank">more than three billion specimens</a>, including preserved specimens of possible hosts of the coronaviruses that have led to SARS, MERS and COVID-19. They provide a powerful distribution map of our planet's biodiversity over space and through time.</p><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B5I8lD0FzSz/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:16px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B5I8lD0FzSz/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;" target="_blank"> <div style=" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; 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font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;"> View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style=" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"></div> <div style=" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"></div> <div style=" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"></div></div></div></a> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B5I8lD0FzSz/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Sunbirds are a family of brilliantly colored birds that live in Africa and Asia. Their plumage exemplifies the two ways feather color is formed: by pigment or structure. 🌈 The red feathers on the breast are colored by pigments in the feathers. These colored substances can be naturally present or come from diet—like the carotenoids in crustaceans that result in pink flamingos. The feather colors on the neck and face are formed structurally. As light refracts through the proteins in the feathers, certain colors pass through while others reflect back as iridescent purple and green. ✨</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A post shared by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/fieldmuseum/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px;" target="_blank"> Field Museum</a> (@fieldmuseum) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2019-11-21T19:49:38+00:00">Nov 21, 2019 at 11:49am PST</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script>
Preserved Pathogens
<p>How can researchers channel these collections toward disease discovery? Each specimen – say, a species of pitcher plant from Florida or a deer mouse from arid New Mexico – is catalogued with a scientific name, a collection date and the place where it was collected, and often with other relevant information. These records underpin scientists' understanding of where host species and their associated pathogens are found and when they occurred there.</p><p>Connecting the site of a disease outbreak to potential pathogen hosts that occur in that area can help to pinpoint likely hosts, sources of pathogens, and pathways of transmission from hosts to humans and from one human to another. These natural history collections are connected worldwide through massive online databases, so a researcher anywhere in the world can find information on potential hosts in far-off regions.</p><p>But that's just the beginning. A preserved specimen of a rodent, a bat or any other potential host animal in a collection also carries preserved pathogens, such as coronaviruses. This means that researchers can quickly survey microbes using specimens that were collected decades or more before for an entirely different purpose. They can use this information to quickly identify a pathogen, associate it with particular wild hosts, and then reconstruct the past distributions and evolution of disease-causing microbes and hosts across geographic space.</p><p>Many collections contain frozen samples of animal specimens stored in special low-temperature freezers. These materials can be quickly surveyed for microbes and possible human pathogens <a href="https://www.idigbio.org/content/idigbio%E2%80%99s-directory-genetic-resources-enhances-discoverability-materials-covid-19-and-beyond" target="_blank">using genetic analysis</a>. Scientists can compare DNA sequences of the pathogens found in animal specimens with the disease-causing agent to identify and track pathways of transmission.</p><img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzQxOTc2NC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1NzM2NjQyMn0.O49HSxx0PbmCPqus8Io6ngW4sQKHZBZFdDFR4GTsvRs/img.jpg?width=980" id="1bc86" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eb0f33656e27819657da82a45221f72e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Nitrogen freezers for cryo-preserving specimens in the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History's Biorepository. Donald E. Hurlbert/Smithsonian, CC BY-ND
<p>For example, museum specimens of deer mice at the University of New Mexico were key to the rapid identification of a <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid2411.180381" target="_blank">newly discovered species of hantavirus</a> that caused 13 deaths in the southwest United States in 1993. Subsequent studies of preserved specimens have revealed many new species and variants of hantaviruses in other rodents, shrews, moles and, recently, bats worldwide.</p>Equipping Museums and Connecting Scientists
<p>Natural history collections have the potential to help revolutionize studies of epidemics and pandemics. But to do this, they will need more support.</p><p>Even though they play a foundational role in biology, collections are generally underfunded and understaffed. Many of them lack recent specimens or associated frozen tissues for genetic analyses. Many regions of our planet have been poorly sampled, especially the most biodiverse countries near the tropics.</p><p>To leverage biodiversity science for biomedical research and public health, museums will need more field sampling; new facilities to house collections, especially in biodiverse countries; and expanded databases for scientists who collect the samples, analyze DNA sequences and track transmission routes. These investments will require increased funding and innovations in biomedical and biodiversity sciences.</p><p>Another challenge is that natural history curators and pathobiologists who study the mechanisms of disease work in separate scientific communities and are only vaguely aware of each other's resources, despite clear benefits for both basic and clinical research. We believe now is the time to reflect on how to leverage diverse resources and <a href="https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/_cache/files/8/1/81a51199-e72e-480c-b0b1-1c6919c7ae62/D4FF9185D7B48C250A9B0EEEB4269B7F.national-one-health-awareness-month-resolution.pdf" target="_blank">build stronger ties</a> between natural history museums, pathobiologists and public health institutions. Collaboration will be key to our ability to predict, and perhaps forestall, future pandemics.</p>From Your Site Articles
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The Kobuk River in Alaska on Aug. 30, 2011. 16Terezka / CC BY-SA 3.0
Around 15,000 gallons of fuel oil spilled in a Native Alaskan village Saturday, threatening a nearby river and the local drinking water supply.
<p>The spill occurred during a routine fuel delivery to the Northwest Arctic village of Shungnak. The fuel spilled around 12:30 p.m. June 20, but was not discovered by the villagers until 1:06 p.m. They reported it to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) immediately thereafter, <a href="http://www.thearcticsounder.com/article/2026thousands_of_gallons_of_heating_oil_spill_in" target="_blank">The Arctic Sounder reported</a>.</p><p>"A response crew from Shungnak responded to the spill immediately, removing the spilled heating oil using sorbent material and also by pumping it into containers," ADEC said in a situation report.</p>
<p>There have been no injuries reported and the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/oil-spill" target="_self">oil spill</a> has not harmed any wildlife so far. However, there are concerns that it could spread to sensitive areas.</p><p>"The extent of contamination has been reported by the incident commander to be approximately 160 feet from the Kobuk River and approximately 295 feet from the Shungnak drinking water source," ADEC said.</p><p>The spill occurred when fuel intended for the Shungnak Native Store was delivered to the school instead, <a href="https://www.ktuu.com/content/news/15000-gallon-oil-spill-reported-near-Kobuk-River-571436521.html" target="_blank">KTUU reported</a>. This caused fuel tank #1 to overflow. The fuel was being transferred from a barge on the Kobuk River. All transfers have now been stopped.</p>
<p>The cleanup efforts have been impacted by the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/coronavirus" target="_self">coronavirus</a> pandemic, <a href="https://www.alaskapublic.org/2020/06/23/15000-gallon-heating-oil-spill-reported-in-kobuk-river-village-of-shungnak/" target="_blank">Alaska Public Radio reported</a>. Because of travel restrictions, officials from ADEC and the Environmental Protection Agency cannot travel to the spill site. Instead, both agencies are in contact with local responders.</p><p>"ADEC will continue to monitor the response actions and review plans being developed to clean up contaminated soils from the area and prevent heating oil migration to nearby resources," ADEC said, according to The Arctic Sounder.</p><p>The Kobuk River flows for 380 miles from the Endicott Mountains to Kotzebue Sound, according to the <a href="https://www.nps.gov/gaar/kobukriver.htm" target="_blank">National Park Service</a>. It is one of the only two spawning grounds for the Kobuk/Selawik population of sheefish and also an important habitat for grayling, arctic char, whitefish, chum salmon and lake trout. It is also a subsistence fishing site for Native Alaskan communities and the wintering grounds for the Western Arctic caribou herd.</p>
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Trending
A hummingbird feeds on a butterfly bush in Washington state on Aug. 18, 2017. Jim Culp / Flickr
Hummingbirds live a more colorful existence than humans do, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Monday confirmed.
<p>While humans only have three color cones, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/birds" target="_self">birds</a> have four, meaning they can theoretically see colors on the ultraviolet spectrum, <a href="https://api.nationalgeographic.com/distribution/public/amp/animals/2020/06/hummingbirds-see-colors-outside-rainbow" target="_blank">National Geographic</a> explained. Until now, however, no <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scientists" target="_self">scientist</a> had really tried to discover what a bird's eye view of color would look like.</p><p>"Humans are color-blind compared to birds and many other animals," lead study author and Princeton University assistant professor Mary Caswell Stoddard said in a <a href="https://www.princeton.edu/news/2020/06/15/wild-hummingbirds-see-broad-range-colors-humans-can-only-imagine" target="_blank">Princeton press release</a>. "Not only does having a fourth color cone type extend the range of bird-visible colors into the UV, it potentially allows birds to perceive combination colors like ultraviolet+green and ultraviolet+red — but this has been hard to test."</p>
<p>To overcome these difficulties, Stoddard and a team of scientists from Princeton, the University of British Columbia (UBC), Harvard University, University of Maryland and the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory (RMBL) set up a series of outdoor experiments with broad-tailed hummingbirds in Colorado. They wanted to test the birds' abilities to see nonspectral colors, colors perceived from widely distinct parts of the color spectrum.</p><p>The only nonspectral color humans can see is purple, which is not part of the rainbow.</p><p>"Instead of being formed by a single light or mixture of similar lights, purple is formed by simultaneously stimulating our non-adjacent red-sensitive and blue-sensitive cones in our eyes," study coauthor and UBC Ph.D. student Harold Eyster explained on Twitter.</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Since purple is my favorite color, & birds are my favorite animals, I wondered, "Can birds see purple?" Today, our paper led by Dr. Cassie Stoddard with <a href="https://twitter.com/dylanhmorris?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dylanhmorris</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/B_G_Hogan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@B_G_Hogan</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidInouye1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DavidInouye1</a> Ed Soucy is in <a href="https://twitter.com/PNASNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PNASNews</a> that shows that yes, birds can! <a href="https://t.co/lcFuu2yt1l">https://t.co/lcFuu2yt1l</a> 3/n</p>— Harold Eyster (@HaroldEyster) <a href="https://twitter.com/HaroldEyster/status/1272627051229376513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 15, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>But birds, because of their fourth cone, can in theory see up to five nonspectral colors: purple, ultraviolet+red, ultraviolet+green, ultraviolet+yellow and ultraviolet+purple.</p><p>To test whether the birds really did see these colors, researchers placed feeders containing sugar and plain water in an alpine meadow next to LED tubes designed to emit a variety of colors, including nonspectral ones, the press release explained. The researchers conducted 19 experiments over three years, recording data from more than 6,000 feeder visits. They found that the birds could learn to visit the sugar water feeder even when the two LED tubes marking the feeders were indistinguishable to human eyes.</p>
<div id="d4f75" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f65de188636d57ec4f34c1168ac5f4db"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1272627060561768448" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">The details of color vision are usually studied in the lab, but we wanted to know how birds act in the wild. Thus,… https://t.co/3JoxVNIY29</div> — Harold Eyster (@Harold Eyster)<a href="https://twitter.com/HaroldEyster/statuses/1272627060561768448">1592252910.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"Seeing them do this right in front of my eyes is one of the most exciting things I've ever witnessed," Stoddard told National Geographic.</p><p>The hummingbirds could see purple, ultraviolet+green, ultraviolet+red and ultraviolet+yellow, the researchers confirmed, according to the press release.</p><p>University of Chicago evolutionary biologist Trevor Price, who was not involved with the research, told National Geographic that the findings marked a "big step forward" for understanding how birds and other animals see.</p><p>"We're really only beginning to scratch the surface in our understanding of color vision in animals," he said.</p><p>The scientists think the birds use their enhanced color vision to locate a wide variety of plants for nectar. They found that the birds would be able to distinguish nonspectral colors in 30 percent of birds' plumage and 35 percent of plants from a database.</p>
<div id="3386f" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="dfb13639f3ff74769af6bf57ef30515a"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1272627073484374016" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Birds can see nonspectral colors, and these colors make up a substantial part of the bird visual environment. We ho… https://t.co/160gQITMyo</div> — Harold Eyster (@Harold Eyster)<a href="https://twitter.com/HaroldEyster/statuses/1272627073484374016">1592252913.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>"The colors that we see in the fields of wildflowers at our study site, the wildflower capital of Colorado, are stunning to us, but just imagine what those flowers look like to birds with that extra sensory dimension," co-author David Inouye of the University of Maryland and RMBL said in the press release.</p><p>The findings also have <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation" target="_self">conservation</a> implications.</p><p>"We are now studying how hummingbirds use color to find flowers and impress mates — and how these behaviors might be impacted by <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="_self">climate change</a>," Stoddard told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/16/world/hummingbird-ultraviolet-light-colors-scn-trnd/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a>.</p>
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Destruction of Nature Is Triggering Pandemics, Say Leaders of WWF, UN and WHO
17 June
Health + Wellness
Deforestation and wildlife habitat loss in Uganda. Ron Waddington / CC BY-SA 2.0
Leaders from three international NGOs — the United Nations, the World Health Organization and WWF International — teamed up to issue a stark warning that pandemics like the coronavirus are a direct result of the destruction of nature caused by humans.
<p>In an op-ed published by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/17/coronavirus-warning-broken-relationship-nature" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, top figures from each organization argued that the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a> trade, coupled with the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/deforestation">destruction of forests</a> and other habitats for wildlife, is causing a large number of animal diseases to migrate to human hosts.</p><p>The op-ed was written by Marco Lambertini, director general of World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) International; Elizabeth Maruma Mrema, executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity; Maria Neira, director of the World Health Organization department of environment, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-change">climate change</a> and health.</p>
<p>In their call to action ahead of the <a href="https://www.cbd.int/article/Summit-on-Biodiversity-2020" target="_blank">UN biodiversity summit in September</a>, the three senior representatives cited examples from prior incidents of environmental destruction that triggered new viruses in humans.</p><p>"We have seen many diseases emerge over the years — such as Zika, AIDS, SARS and Ebola — and although they are quite different at first glance, they all originated from animal populations under conditions of severe environmental pressures," they wrote, adding those examples "all illustrate that our destructive behavior toward nature is endangering our own health."</p><p>As <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/06/17/coronavirus-live-updates-us/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a> noted, the novel coronavirus that has led to a global pandemic likely started in a bat — the same host that was also linked to SARS, Ebola and MERS, among other viruses.</p>
<p>The three authors call for a green and healthy recovery in the wake of COVID-19. They note the importance of ending farming practices that destroy nature and the need to reform <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/meat-consumption">meat-intensive diets</a>. And yet, they're watching the world go the wrong way.</p><p>"Worryingly, while COVID-19 has given us yet another reason to protect and preserve nature, we have actually seen the reverse take place," the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/17/coronavirus-warning-broken-relationship-nature" target="_blank">authors write</a>. "From the Greater Mekong to the Amazon and Madagascar, alarming reports have emerged of increased poaching, illegal logging and forest fires, while many countries are engaging in hasty environmental rollbacks and cuts in funding for <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a>. This all comes at a time when we need it most."</p>
<p>A <a href="http://panda.org/pandemics" target="_blank">WWF report</a> titled <em>COVID 19: urgent call to protect people and nature</em> was also published Wednesday. It warns: "The risk of a new [wildlife-to-human] disease emerging in the future is higher than ever, with the potential to wreak havoc on health, economies and global security," as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/17/pandemics-destruction-nature-un-who-legislation-trade-green-recovery" target="_blank">The Guardian</a> reported.</p><p>As <a href="https://www.oceanographicmagazine.com/news/wwf-urgent-global-action/" target="_blank">Oceanographic Magazine</a> reports, the <a href="http://panda.org/pandemics" target="_blank">WWF report</a> shows that 60 to 70 percent of new diseases since 1990 started in wildlife. During the same time period, an area of forests measuring roughly seven times the area of the UK has been destroyed.</p><p>"We must urgently recognize the links between the destruction of nature and human health, or we will soon see the next pandemic," said Lambertini, in a WWF <a href="https://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/press_releases/?364416/Conditions-are-rife-for-next-pandemic-unless-urgent-action-is-taken-WWF-warns" target="_blank">press release</a> that accompanied the new report. "There is no debate, and the science is clear; we must work with nature, not against it. Unsustainable exploitation of nature has become an enormous risk to us all."</p>
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Cats Wreak Havoc on Native Wildlife, but We’ve Found One Adorable Species Outsmarting Them
16 June
Animals
The long-nosed potoroo may have developed strategies to avoid prowling cats. Dave Catchpole / CC BY 2.0
By Euan Ritchie, Amy Coetsee, Anthony Rendall, Tim Doherty and Vivianna Miritis
Feral and pet cats are responsible for a huge part of Australia's shameful mammal extinction record. Small and medium-sized ground-dwelling mammals are most susceptible.
<p>But we've found one mammal in particular that can outsmart cats and live alongside them: the long-nosed potoroo.</p><p>These miniature kangaroo-like marsupials are <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=66645" target="_blank">officially listed as vulnerable</a>. And after the recent devastating fires, extensive swathes of their habitat in southeastern Australia were severely burnt, leaving them <a href="https://theconversation.com/hunter-hunted-when-the-world-catches-on-fire-how-do-predators-respond-126280" target="_blank">more exposed to predators</a> such as foxes and cats. But the true extent of the impact on their numbers remains unclear.</p>
<p>Amid the devastation, our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/WR19202" target="_blank">new study</a> is reason to be optimistic.</p><p>Using motion-sensing camera traps on the <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/wildlife">wildlife</a> haven of <a href="https://www.visitmelbourne.com/regions/mornington-peninsula/things-to-do/nature-and-wildlife/national-parks-and-reserves/french-island-national-park" target="_blank">French Island</a> – which is free of foxes, but not cats – we found potoroos may have developed strategies to avoid prowling cats, such as hiding in dense vegetation.</p><p>If these long-nosed potoroos can co-exist with one of the world's most deadly predators, then it's time we rethink our <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/conservation">conservation</a> strategies.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM5ODAyNi9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwODM4NzUwN30.TFy8fOUpIHibMo8jiA0RmvA_vjNA8QYXOIgYDKyiybo/img.jpg?width=980" id="70bd8" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2f7efec2b09e9df39e92e666798f498e" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Long-nosed potoroos are a bit like mini kangaroos, but spend much of their time digging for fungi. Zoos Victoria
<h3>Surviving Cats With a Deadly Game of Hide and Seek</h3><p>We conservatively estimated that between five and 14 cats lived in our study area (but it takes <a href="https://theconversation.com/one-cat-one-year-110-native-animals-lock-up-your-pet-its-a-killing-machine-138412" target="_blank">only one cat</a> to eradicate a population of native animals).</p><p>Although cats were common here, we detected them less often in areas of dense vegetation. By contrast, this was where we found potoroos more often.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM5Nzk5OS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTU5NzE1NTAwNH0.Ov-J2Ev09EKtQihUlVrwqato8BkjwHHLjGyjBed0KGg/img.jpg?width=980" id="72169" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f51eb57f22ef37850e5021cfb5ed1865" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
French Island's thick vegetation provides potoroos with critical refuge to evade feral cats. Vivianna Miritis
<p>Long-nosed potoroos are nocturnal foragers that mainly, but not exclusively, feed in more open habitat before sheltering in dense vegetation during the day. But we found potoroos rarely ventured out of their thick vegetation shelter.</p><p>This may be because they're trading off potentially higher quality foraging habitat in more open areas against higher predation risk. In other words, it appears they've effectively learnt to hide from the cats.</p><p>Another intriguing result from our study was that although potoroos and feral cats shared more than half of their activity time, the times of peak activity for each species differed.<br></p><p>Cats were active earlier in the night, while potoroo activity peaked three to four hours later. This might be another potoroo strategy to avoid becoming a cat's evening meal.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM5ODAwMy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTY1MDcwNzY4OH0.iRn5y6xhnl6xeyua6mIwvL0OwZKGqEswsPy64izi4PM/img.jpg?width=980" id="c4365" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="01caa00879333b92b2bf24b53f6bce2b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Temporal activity of cats and long-nosed potoroos for winter and summer, on French Island, Victoria. Their overlap is represented by the area shaded in grey. Modified from Miritis et al. (2020).
<p>Still, completely avoiding cats isn't possible. Our study site was in the national park on French Island, and it's likely cats saturate this remnant patch of long-nosed potoroo habitat.</p><p>It's also possible cats may be actively searching for potoroos as prey, and indeed some of our camera images showed cats carrying young long-nosed potoroos in their mouths. These potoroos were more likely killed by these cats, rather than scavenged.</p>
<h3>Cats Are Expert Hunters</h3><p>Cats are exceedingly difficult to manage effectively. They're adaptable, elusive and have a preference for live prey.</p><p>The two most common <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/mam.12080" target="_blank">management practices for feral cats</a> are lethal control and exclusion fencing. Lethal control needs to be intensive and conducted over large areas to benefit threatened species.</p><p>And outside of predator-free sanctuaries, it must be ongoing. If control stops, <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12251" target="_blank">cats can reinvade from surrounding areas</a>.<br></p><p>"<a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wr/wr17172" target="_blank">Safe havens</a>" – created through the use of exclusion fencing or predator-free islands – can overcome some of these challenges. But while exclusion fencing is highly effective, it can create other bad outcomes, including an over-abundance of herbivores, leading to <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/am15040" target="_blank">excessive grazing of vegetation</a>.</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzM5ODAwNy9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYwNDgxMTkyN30.F4xNclFGjetlgKNzuEbAC6QWNRLEesPGgaZ3vg6zi2c/img.jpg?width=980" id="238bb" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="f9ae62e85daefe21325c18434edefa28" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" />
Camera traps can tell us a lot about how introduced predators and native wildlife interact. Zoos Victoria and Deakin University
<p>Fencing and islands can result in native animals <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2018.0222" target="_blank">rapidly losing their anti-predator behavior</a>. This can limit the success of <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/AM15020" target="_blank">reintroducing</a> them to areas outside predator-free havens.</p><p>In any case, removing introduced predators might not be really necessary in places native species can co-exist. If long-nosed potoroos have learnt to live with feral cats, we should instead focus on how to maintain their survival strategies.</p>
<h3>Why Cat Eradication Isn't Always the Best Option</h3><p>It's clear cats are here to stay, so we shouldn't simply fall back largely on predator eradication or predator-free havens as the only way to ensure our wildlife have a fighting chance at long-term survival.</p><p>Yes, for some species, it's vital to keep feral predators away. But for others like long-nosed potoroos, conserving and creating <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320715002086" target="_blank">suitable habitat and different vegetation densities</a> may be the best way to keep them alive.</p><p>But perhaps most important is having predator-savvy insurance populations, such as long-nosed potoroos on French Island. This is incredibly valuable for one day moving them to other areas where predators – native or feral – are present, such as nearby Phillip Island.<br></p><p>In the absence of predators, native wildlife can rapidly lose their ability to recognize predator danger. Programs aimed at eradicating introduced predators where they're co-existing with native species need to pay careful attention to this.</p>
<p>
<em>Euan Ritchie is an associate professor in wildlife ecology and conservation at the Centre for Integrative Ecology, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, Deakin University.<br/>
<span style="background-color: initial;">Amy Coetsee is a t</span>hreatened species biologist at the University of Melbourne.<br/>
<span style="background-color: initial;">Anthony Rendall is an a</span>ssociate lecturer in conservation biology at Deakin University.<br/>
<span style="background-color: initial;">Tim Doherty is an </span>ARC DECRA fellow at the University of Sydney.<br/>
<span style="background-color: initial;">Vivianna Miritis is a </span>Ph.D. candidate at the</em><em> University of Sydney.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Disclosure statements: Euan Ritchie receives funding from the Australian Research Council, The Australia and Pacific Science Foundation, Australian Geographic, Parks Victoria, Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, and the Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC. <br/>
Euan Ritchie is a director (Media Working Group) of the Ecological Society of Australia, and a member of the Australian Mammal Society.<br/>
Amy Coetsee is employed by Zoos Victoria, a not-for-profit zoo-based conservation organization and is a member of the Australian Mammal Society.<br/>
Anthony Rendall is a member of the Australian Mammal Society.<br/>
Tim Doherty receives funding from the Hermon Slade Foundation, NSW Environment Trust, Australian Academy of Science and Australian Research Council. He is a board member for the Society for Conservation Biology Oceania and a member of the Ecological Society of Australia.<br/>
</em><em>Vivianna Miritis is a member of the Ecological Society of Australia, Australian Mammal Society, and Royal Zoological Society of NSW.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/cats-wreak-havoc-on-native-wildlife-but-weve-found-one-adorable-species-outsmarting-them-132265" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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