Articles by Alex Taylor - Page 37

Through rewildling, a conservation measure that is becoming more popular across the globe, bison are now being returned to the wild, where they once lived, back where they belong.

As well as hunting, their populations have fallen due to an increase in the practice by local farmers of releasing cattle indiscriminately into national parkland for retrieval later in the year, which has damaged their habitat.

Despite being listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 1992, conservation efforts haven’t come close to increasing their population, and haven’t even been able to halt their decline.

Small populations survived in Wales and areas of northern England at very low densities, but the only viable populations left could be found in the North West Highlands of Scotland where persecution pressures were less.

Poachers are decimating their populations to sell ivory to markets in the Far East. The lesser sized, and lesser known, African forest elephants however are also on the brink of becoming poached out of existence.

One new study has proved that climate change is not causing all species to lose out – some will actually benefit from a warmer world.

Last year was the UK’s second wettest year on record and although the high rainfall has benefited some species, 2012 was the worst year for butterflies since scientific monitoring began in 1976.

The appearance of red tides is a natural occurrence in south-west Florida, but sometimes last for just a few weeks. This year, the red tide has lingered for longer than usual and has settled in an area frequented by the manatees, accounting for the high number of deaths.

A team of scientists called the Lazarus Project have just announced that the genome of an extinct species has been revived and reactivated.