Seashells Lost from the Sea Shore
Have you ever taken away a shell as a souvenir of your trip? This activity is perceived as harmless, yet multiply this by millions of tourists and we have a global environmental problem on our hands.
Articles & Blogs - Page 41
Bringing you the latest articles, opinion and analysis in the conservation world
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Leatherbacks and Longlines
One of the greatest threats to the survival of leatherback turtles is industrial longline fishing.
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Sahara Shocks
The Sahara Desert is a spectacular place. Sahara is Arabic for “The Great Desert” and it truly is. It is the third largest after Antarctica and the Arctic and is the world’s hottest. At 9.4 million square kilometres (3.6 million square miles) it makes up 10% of the African continent.
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Pika eat Moss to Survive Climate Change
The pikas ingest the low quality moss over and over again and, with the help of microbes in their gut, the moss is turned into high-quality food. The end product is 6 times more nutritious than the moss itself.
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Fulfilling my Childhood Dream: Jungle Living
Orangutans spend a lot of time stationary, but when they move it’s spectacular: they literally bend the trees to their will. The crash of an orangutan traversing the canopy can be heard a couple of hundred metres away. This helps them move more efficiently, preserving energy.
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Don’t Feed the Iguanas!
Male and female iguanas on the tourist islands had higher uric acid levels, as a result of feeding on animal protein such as ground beef, provided by the tourists. Males had raised cholesterol concentrations, also as a result of meat in their diet.
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R is for Rhododendron Leafhoppers
In the south-east of England at least, rhododendron leafhoppers are now pretty common, having first arrived in the 1930s. Since becoming aware of their existence, I’ve not failed to find them in any rhododendron-rich area I’ve searched.
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Museum Collections Reveal Effects of Climate Change
A team of scientists have taken advantage of digitised records of Canadian butterfly collections to show how butterfly flight times are changing as our planet heats up.
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The Red List Update
The Red List does highlight some great conservation successes, but the IUCN is clear that the message remains bleak.
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Saving the Saiga
Sadly, poaching remains a problem, not for food but for Chinese traditional medicine. The translucent, foot-long horns belonging to the males are ground into a powder and used for the treatment of headaches and fever, and a pound of powder can fetch US$2,000.