FLORA FAUNA

5,060 articles

Hong Kong mulls following China to destroy ivory stockpile
Jan 08, 2014 (AFP)
Hong Kong's government is considering destroying its stockpile of over 30 tonnes of ivory obtained through seizures of elephant tusks, it said Wednesday. The Ch...
Death of elephant, 73, sparks mourning at India wildlife park
Jan 08, 2014 (AFP)
A giant 73-year-old elephant died Wednesday at a famed wildlife sanctuary in northeast India, bringing tears to the eyes of his keepers -- and fellow pachyderms...
New fossils shed light on the origins of lions, and tigers, and bears (oh my!)
Jan 07, 2014 (SPX)
New fossils from Belgium have shed light on the origin of some of the most well-known, and well-loved, modern mammals. Cats and dogs, as well as other carnivoro...
Niger's giraffe population on the rise again
Jan 07, 2014 (AFP)
The small number of surviving giraffes in western Africa is on the rise again, after 366 were counted in southwest Niger in 2012, up from 311 the previous year,...
Novel 'attract-and-kill' approach could help tackle Argentine ants
Jan 07, 2014 (SPX)
After being inadvertently introduced in the United States from South America, Argentine ants have successfully invaded urban, agricultural, and natural settings...
Worker Wasps Grow Visual Brains, Queens Stay in the Dark
Jan 07, 2014 (SPX)
A queen in a paperwasp colony largely stays in the dark. The worker wasps, who fly outside to seek food and building materials, see much more of the world aroun...
Reproduction matters for microbes
Jan 06, 2014 (SPX)
Caught in the act! Researchers from the University of Bristol have observed mating for the first time in the microbes responsible for African sleeping sickness....
25 years of DNA on the computer
Jan 06, 2014 (SPX)
DNA carries out its activities "diluted" in the cell nucleus. In this state it synthesises proteins and, even though it looks like a messy tangle of thread, in ...
China crushes six tonnes of ivory: state media
Jan 06, 2014 (AFP)
China crushed a pile of ivory reportedly weighing more than six tonnes on Monday, in a landmark event aimed at shedding its image as a global hub for the illega...
Population stability 'hope' in species' response to climate change
Jan 06, 2014 (SPX)
Stable population trends are a prerequisite for species' range expansion, according to new research led by scientists at the University of York. The climate in ...
Reconstructing the New World monkey family tree
Jan 06, 2014 (SPX)
When monkeys landed in South America 37 or more million years ago, the long-isolated continent already teemed with a menagerie of 30-foot snakes, giant armadill...
First Taiwan-born panda charms media
Jan 04, 2014 (AFP)
The first Taiwan-born giant panda cub was unveiled to the media on Saturday in a warm up for her highly-anticipated public debut next week. Yuan Zai agilely cli...
Competition in a rough neighborhood: Plant success in a desert environment
Jan 01, 2014 (SPX)
Many people think of deserts as inhospitable places devoid of life, but numerous plants and animals have adapted to this harsh environment, where they often com...
Elephant put down after attacking tourists in S.Africa
Dec 31, 2013 (AFP)
An elephant was put down in South Africa's Kruger National Park after it attacked and overturned a vehicle, ripping open a British woman's thigh with its tusk, ...
Poll: Fewer Republicans, more Democrats say they believe in evolution
Dec 30, 2013 (UPI)
Fewer U.S. Republicans believe in evolution now than five years ago, with a Pew Research poll finding an 11 percentage point drop. In a poll of almost 2,000 Ame...
Major upsurge in Tanzania elephant poaching: official
Dec 30, 2013 (AFP)
Tanzania has been hit by a sharp upsurge in poaching, with at least 60 elephants killed in the two months since the government was forced to halt a controversia...
Some plants may not adapt quickly to future climate change
Dec 27, 2013 (SPX)
Using the largest dated evolutionary tree of flowering plants ever assembled, a new study suggests how plants developed traits to withstand low temperatures, wi...
'Be different or die' does not drive evolution
Dec 27, 2013 (SPX)
A new study has found that species living together are not forced to evolve differently to avoid competing with each other, challenging a theory that has held s...
DNA of storied plant provides insight into the evolution of flowering plants
Dec 27, 2013 (SPX)
The newly sequenced genome of the Amborella plant addresses Darwin's "abominable mystery" -- the question of why flowers suddenly proliferated on Earth millions...
Modern caterpillars feed at higher temperatures in response to climate change
Dec 27, 2013 (SPX)
Caterpillars of two species of butterflies in Colorado and California have evolved to feed rapidly at higher and at a broader range of temperatures in the past ...
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