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Alpha-male bear facing castration as sexual dominance threatens population

The Guardian - Mon, 2014-06-09 01:51
Officials in the Pyrenees are considering how to curb the sexual appetite of Pyros the bear to give his rivals a chance to mate

The dolphin who loved me: the Nasa-funded project that went wrong

An elderly brown bear in the Pyrenees is facing castration or segregation amid fears that his sexual dominance is threatening the species' survival in the region by limiting genetic diversity.

Pyros, one of the oldest of the 30 or so bears who roam the mountains between France and Spain, is the father, grandfather or great-grandfather of nearly all of the cubs born in the Pyrenees over the past two decades. There are four other males in the colony – only one of them is not related to Pyros – and none of them have fathered any offspring.

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Categories: Around The Web

The dolphin who loved me: the Nasa-funded project that went wrong

The Guardian - Sun, 2014-06-08 19:00
In the 1960s, Margaret Lovatt was part of a Nasa-funded project to communicate with dolphins. Soon she was living with 'Peter' 24 hours a day in a converted house. Christopher Riley reports on an experiment that went tragically wrong

Like most children, Margaret Howe Lovatt grew up with stories of talking animals. "There was this book that my mother gave to me called Miss Kelly," she remembers with a twinkle in her eye. "It was a story about a cat who could talk and understand humans and it just stuck with me that maybe there is this possibility."

Unlike most children, Lovatt didn't leave these tales of talking animals behind her as she grew up. In her early 20s, living on the Caribbean island of St Thomas, they took on a new significance. During Christmas 1963, her brother-in-law mentioned a secret laboratory at the eastern end of the island where they were working with dolphins. She decided to pay the lab a visit early the following year. "I was curious," Lovatt recalls. "I drove out there, down a muddy hill, and at the bottom was a cliff with a big white building."

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Europe's vultures under threat from drug that killed millions of birds in Asia

The Guardian - Sat, 2014-06-07 21:06
After an ecological disaster in India, wildlife groups call for ban on vets using diclofenac in Italy and Spain

Wildlife groups have launched a Europe-wide campaign to outlaw a newly approved veterinary drug that has caused the deaths of tens of millions of vultures in Asia. They say that the decision to allow diclofenac to be used in Spain and Italy not only threatens to wipe out Europe's vultures but could harm other related species, including the golden eagle and the Spanish imperial eagle, one of the world's rarest raptors.

Diclofenac, an anti-inflammatory agent and painkiller, was introduced around the end of the 20th century in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh to treat sick cattle. But when the cattle's carcasses were eaten by vultures, the birds contracted a fatal kidney condition. Within a few years, vulture numbers had declined by a staggering 99.9% across south Asia. The worst-affected species included long-billed, slender-billed and oriental white-backed vultures. Dead cattle were left to rot without vultures to consume their flesh. Packs of feral dogs grew to fill the ecological gap. The risk of rabies also rose, said health experts. Now diclofenac has been approved for use in Italy and Spain.

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The claim of a 97% consensus on global warming does not stand up | Richard Tol

The Guardian - Sat, 2014-06-07 00:59

Consensus is irrelevant in science. There are plenty of examples in history where everyone agreed and everyone was wrong

Dana Nuccitelli writes that I “accidentally confirm the results of last year’s 97% global warming consensus study”. Nothing could be further from the truth.

I show that the 97% consensus claim does not stand up.

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Arctic 30: Russia releases Greenpeace ship

The Guardian - Fri, 2014-06-06 21:05

Russian authorities have released the Arctic Sunrise, which was involved in a high-profile protest against Arctic oil drilling

The Greenpeace icebreaker confiscated by Russia after activists tried to board a Gazprom oil rig has been released. But it could take two months before the Arctic Sunrise leaves Murmansk harbour, according to the campaigning group.

The ship was boarded by the Russian coast guard and towed 500 miles from the Pechora Sea to the northern Russian port of Murmansk in September 2013. Thirty activists, including six Britons, were arrested and accused of hooliganism and piracy.

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Tasmanian Giant Crab Fishery

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2014-06-06 13:43
Agency application on ecological sustainability - comments close 9 July 2014.
Categories: Around The Web

Scientists warn against China's plan to flatten over 700 mountains

The Guardian - Thu, 2014-06-05 03:00

Environmental consequences of removing hills to create more land for cities not considered, academics say in Nature paper

Scientists have criticised China's bulldozing of hundreds of mountains to provide more building land for cities.

In a paper published in journal Nature this week, three Chinese academics say plan to remove over 700 mountains and shovel debris into valleys to create 250 sq km of flat land has not been sufficiently considered “environmentally, technically or economically.”

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Community Impacts of Coal Seam Gas

Newsletters QLD - Wed, 2014-06-04 18:25
Community Impacts of Coal Seam Gas
Categories: Newsletters QLD

Jamaica's rare wildlife – in pictures

The Guardian - Tue, 2014-06-03 00:48

The Portland Bight protected area is home to the iconic Jamaican iguana and 20 other endangered species. Its fragile coastal ecosystem and wildlife faces the risk of being lost for ever as Jamaica approves a Chinese company to build a port. Photographs by Robin Moore

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Water Recovery Strategy for the Murray-Darling Basin released

Department of the Environment - Mon, 2014-06-02 11:39
The Strategy outlines the Government's approach to recovering water for the environment in the Murray-Darling Basin.
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SENG National Newsletter - June 2014

Newsletters National - Sat, 2014-05-31 17:30
SENG National Newsletter - June 2014
Categories: Newsletters National

Invitation to comment on an ecological community listing

Department of the Environment - Fri, 2014-05-30 11:48
The Threatened Species Scientific Committee is seeking comments on: Shale Sandstone Transition Forest in the Sydney Basin Bioregion ecological community assessment. Comment period closes 11 July 2014.
Categories: Around The Web

Northern Territory Trepang Fishery

Department of the Environment - Wed, 2014-05-28 15:54
Agency application on ecological sustainability - comments close 27 June 2014.
Categories: Around The Web

Northern Territory Trepang Fishery

Department of the Environment - Wed, 2014-05-28 15:54
Agency application on ecological sustainability - comments close 27 June 2014.
Categories: Around The Web

SENG Victoria Newsletter - May 2014

Newsletters VIC - Wed, 2014-05-28 14:00
SENG Victoria Newsletter - May 2014
Categories: Newsletters VIC

Public consultation: draft assessment bilateral agreement between the Commonwealth and Western Australia

Department of the Environment - Tue, 2014-05-27 14:43
The Department is seeking public comment on a draft assessment bilateral agreement with the Western Australia. Comments close 27 June 2014.
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2012-13 data added to the National Pollutant Inventory

Department of the Environment - Tue, 2014-05-27 13:45
The NPI now has 15 years of data on industrial emissions of 93 substances. Search NPI data
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Whale killed by cruise ship near New York amid upsurge in cetacean strikes

The Guardian - Sat, 2014-05-24 23:13

• Sei whale carcass dragged into Hudson River
• Strike is third in north-east waters in recent weeks

A cruise ship heading for New York this month struck and killed a whale and dragged it into the Hudson River, part of a higher-than-usual rate of strikes along the eastern seaboard for this time of year, a federal agency said.

There were three whale strikes recently, including one in which a cruise ship hit a sei whale and did not discover it until it reached port, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

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Fracking in Tunbridge Wells: 'Where is it going to stop?'

The Guardian - Sat, 2014-05-24 01:51

Residents in the Kent Weald react with mixture of fear and enthusiasm to news of shale oil reserves and plans to change the law to allowing fracking without clearance

Residents of Kent have reacted angrily to a government announcement that fracking companies will no longer need to ask permission before drilling beneath their homes.

In Tunbridge Wells, Sue Reddick, a local housekeeper, said she was shocked to learn the government was preparing to amend trespass laws to allow companies to operate beneath homes without first asking the owner’s permission.

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Sloth baby surprises keepers at London zoo

The Guardian - Fri, 2014-05-23 19:22
Two-toed sloths can take up to decade to bond and breed, but 'sneaky' Marilyn and Leander needed just six months to mate

A pair of sloths have speeded up their usual slow courtship to produce London zoo's first baby sloth – to the surprise of their keepers.

Keepers at London zoo were shocked to discover two-toed sloth Marilyn was pregnant as they were unaware she had mated with male partner Leander, who arrived from Germany in 2012 to be paired with her.

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