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A global poaching epidemic is threatening the existence of countless species including rhinos, tigers, savannah elephants - and the lesser-known pangolin.

The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off from Cape Canaveral on Sunday after four previous launches were cancelled.

Many towns claiming to be the birthplace of Santa Claus have seen unseasonal temperatures

After a year in which the climate has been far more naughty than nice, even Father Christmas – in his various guises – is feeling the heat, according to the towns that claim to be his birthplace.

From Alaska to Finland, half a dozen Arctic towns have staked a claim to be the home of Santa Claus or whatever other name he is locally known as. And almost without exception, these winter wonderlands are hotting up.

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Releasing ‘pure’ animals could counter interbreeding with domestic cats, experts say

Conservationists could release wildcats captured from other European countries in the Scottish Highlands in a final effort to protect Scotland’s population from extinction.

Recent genetic testing by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland of 276 Scottish wildcat samples found those in the wild are so heavily interbred with domestic cats that they are close to becoming functionally extinct.

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One of the first astronauts to orbit the Moon thinks there's no public support to send people to Mars.

To mark Science Week, Life Matters teamed up with the Bureau of Meteorology to examine the impacts of weather on our lives. Starting with weather and its ability to influence our mood and behaviour.

Is it happening...or not?

We review 2018 in environment news — going vegan for the environment, dire climate warnings from the UN, and the troubled life of the world's largest organism, the 'trembling giant'.

We review 2018 in environment news — going vegan for the environment, dire climate warnings from the UN, and the troubled life of the world's largest organism, the 'trembling giant'.

Visitors face ‘disruption and disappointment’ as states scramble to keep key sites open

The doors remained locked at Fort McHenry National Monument in Maryland, the birthplace of the US national anthem. In Georgia, the Fort Pulaski National monument announced it would be closed except for one boat ramp. At Washington’s Mount Rainier national park, ranger-led snowshoe walks were cancelled.

And at the Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California, a scheduled talk by the nation’s oldest park ranger, 97-year-old Betty Reid Soskin, had to be called off.

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Alba, the world's only known albino orangutan, has been through many months of rehabilitation.

Numbers may be at an all time low as a new adaptation of the novel hits our TV screens

The real Watership Down is not hard to find.

In the introduction to his book, Richard Adams helpfully gives the Ordnance Survey map reference – sheet 174. Once located on paper, long-remembered names jump from the map: Nuthanger Farm, Ashley Warren and Honeycomb are all there. It was the multitude of rabbits found on this little square of England that inspired Adams to write Watership Down.

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For the next few months, Jemima Kiss explores how we can all move towards a life without plastic, starting with Christmas

We all know the physical and emotional toll Christmas can take, particularly on women; it is hard bloody work. But I also enjoy making the magic happen because I love the ritual, and the nostalgia, and the gratitude. I loved it when I was a kid, when Father Christmas left sooty boot prints across our lounge carpet, crumbs of mince pies and dribbles of whisky on the floor. I loved the map he left me that Christmas morning in 1984 that led to a real bunny rabbit waiting for me downstairs. I loved my Mum’s Christmas pudding. I loved hand-making my cards. I loved giving presents. Thirtysomething years later I still love all of this, and now I unironically have Michael Bublé’s Christmas album, too.

Related: Plastic pollution discovered at deepest point of ocean

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• White House denied administrator’s ‘red team, blue team’ idea
  
• Emails: staff considered questioning greenhouse gases finding

In Scott Pruitt’s final weeks as the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, his political advisers were still considering ways to formally raise doubts about climate change science, agency records show.

Related: Deadly weather: the human cost of 2018's climate disasters – visual guide

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Scientists can now quickly determine a chick’s gender before it hatches, potentially ending the need to cull billions of male chicks worldwide

The world’s first ever no-kill eggs are now on sale in Berlin after German scientists found an easy way to determine a chick’s gender before it hatches, in a breakthrough that could put an end to the annual live shredding of billions of male chicks worldwide.

The patented “Seleggt” process can determine the sex of a chick just nine days after an egg has been fertilised. Male eggs are processed into animal feed, leaving only female chicks to hatch at the end of a 21-day incubation period.

“If you can determine the sex of a hatching egg you can entirely dispense with the culling of live male chicks,” said Seleggt managing director Dr Ludger Breloh, who spearheaded the four-year programme by German supermarket Rewe Group to make its own-brand eggs more sustainable.

“It’s not about winning or losing,” he added of the worldwide race to find a marketable solution. “We all have the same goal, which is to end the culling of chicks in the supply chain. Of course, there’s competition, but it’s positive in that it keeps us all focused on that goal.”

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These curious coral reef inhabitants have evolved some remarkable adaptations to thrive in the underwater realm. [Repeat]

**CP Daily will not be published between Dec. 22 and Jan. 1. Carbon Pulse will file stories and send out CP Alerts on merit during that period. Regular coverage will resume Jan. 2. Happy holidays to all our readers!** Presenting CP Daily, Carbon Pulse’s free newsletter. It’s a daily summary of our news plus bite-sized […]

Emitters have surrendered more than 55% of all Colombian offsets issued to date against the country’s carbon tax, data compiled by Carbon Pulse shows, suggesting the market for the units is being squeezed as demand drastically outpaces supply.

Hamish the polar bear celebrates his first birthday in his Highland home.

Workshops have been held in Whitley Bay to help reduce the use of plastic over Christmas.