FLORA FAUNA

5,060 articles

Snipers to cull up to 10,000 camels in drought-stricken Australia
Jan 08, 2020 (AFP)
Local officials in South Australia state said "extremely large" herds have been encroaching on rural communities -- threatening scarce food and drinking water, ...
Four held for lion body part trafficking in S.Africa
Jan 07, 2020 (AFP)
The four were arrested on Monday in South Africa's northern city of Rustenberg, around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from Swartruggens, where the carcasses were foun...
Flying radically transformed gut microbiomes of bats, birds
Jan 07, 2020 (UPI)
Scientists can predict what an animal's gut microbiome is likely to be like by studying the microbes in the guts of their closest relatives. Or at least, that's...
Australia's 'insurance' koala population halved by bushfires
Jan 05, 2020 (AFP)
Kangaroo Island, a popular nature-based tourist attraction off the coast of South Australia state, is home to many wild populations of native animals including ...
Nepal elephant festival scrutinised for beauty and bruises
Jan 03, 2020 (AFP)
With her toe nails painted red and a lotus on her trunk, 35-year-old Buffkali took the trophy at the end of the nine-day festival that ended Friday. But while e...
How grizzly bears prevent muscle atrophy during hibernation
Dec 30, 2019 (UPI)
Grizzly bears need their big, strong muscles to fight off rivals and catch fish. But from late fall until early spring, grizzlies don't use their muscles. Durin...
In an African forest, the enduring mystery of a giant butterfly
Dec 26, 2019 (AFP)
Somewhere beneath the forest canopy was the African giant swallowtail: the largest butterfly to appear by day on the African continent, virtually unrecorded in ...
Vietnam seizes two tonnes of ivory and pangolin scales
Dec 24, 2019 (AFP)
The bust comes at the end of a year of big wildlife seizures destined for communist Vietnam, a hotbed of the illicit but lucrative trade in animal parts from el...
Division of mitochondria, key to animal evolution, is similar across species
Dec 20, 2019 (UPI)
Now, researchers have shown that the genes powering mitochondrial replication, or division, a key component of animal evolution, are conserved across different ...
Interactions in the Earth system amplify human impacts
Dec 19, 2019 (SPX)
Two core boundaries - climate change and biosphere integrity - contribute more than half the combined strengths of all the interactions in that network, the sci...
Koalas climb like apes but bound on the ground like marsupials
Dec 19, 2019 (SPX)
Equipped with two thumbs on their grasping hands, koalas (Phascolarctos cinerus) rarely descend to the ground and appear to be as comfortable with heights as ap...
Boorish boars hog highways in Israel's Haifa
Dec 16, 2019 (AFP)
Dozens of the beasts have taken up residence in the northern coastal city since it banned culling them. The wild pigs rip up vegetation and rummage through bins...
Bitter moths can't be bothered by hungry bats
Dec 16, 2019 (UPI)
While studying predator-prey interactions, scientists noticed some tiger moth species appeared unfazed by attacking bats. While most moths use aerial maneuvers,...
Bali's drugged, smuggled orangutan headed back to the wild
Dec 16, 2019 (AFP)
The case made headlines in March when suspicious authorities on the Indonesian holiday island stopped Andrei Zhestkov, who was flying back to Russia, and opened...
Botswana animal groups outraged at elephant killing
Dec 13, 2019 (AFP)
Officials confirmed that an elephant wearing a collar -- which marks it as a protected animal -- was killed during a legal hunt in a "regrettable" incident in N...
Fighting climate change, protecting nature go hand in hand
Dec 13, 2019 (AFP)
The year 2020 will be crucial as nations submit their commitments to the fight to curb global warming ahead of the COP26 conference in Glasgow, Scotland. At the...
Species under increasing threat from climate change: IUCN
Dec 10, 2019 (AFP)
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature added 1,840 new species to its catalogue of plants and animals that risk extinction. The list now contain...
Tiger skin, foetuses found in Indonesia poacher case
Dec 09, 2019 (AFP)
The suspects may have been planning to sell the skin to a foreign collector, while its bones were earlier sold, possibly for use in medicinal products popular i...
Phone home Kermit? Keeping tabs on frogs
Dec 09, 2019 (AFP)
"The FrogPhone is the world's first solar-powered remote survey device," relaying real-time data about the study site and its occupants to scientists, according...
Israeli fish farmers give peckish pelicans free lunch
Dec 08, 2019 (AFP)
In their desperation, they have come up with another way: offering the birds a free lunch. An estimated 50,000 pelicans stop off in Israel during their annual m...
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