Ivory ban to extend to hippos and killer whales

Georgina Rannard - Climate and science reporter, BBC News
Mon, May 22, 2023

Hippo

The sale of ivory from the tusks and teeth of five more species will be banned under government plans.

The import, export and dealing of elephant ivory was banned in the UK last year. The animals that could join the list are killer whales, hippos, walruses, narwhals, and sperm whales.

The creatures are hunted and killed for their ivory which is often used in decorative carvings.

The government plans to extend the Ivory Act 2018 to include them.

People found to be breaking the law can be given unlimited fines or be jailed for five years.

Parliament must vote on the extension of the Act before it can come into force.

The species set to be included in the ban are already at risk from climate change and habitat loss, and conservationists are concerned that poaching for ivory will drive them closer to extinction.

"The Ivory Act is one of the toughest bans of its kind in the world and by extending greater legal protections to five more species, we are sending a clear message the commercial trade of ivory is totally unacceptable," said Biodiversity Minister Trudy Harrison.

Hippos, killer whales and sperm whales are targeted for their teeth, while narwhals and walruses are hunted for their tusks.

An investigation in 2022 by conservation charity Born Free found 621 individual online ivory listings in the UK, with a total guide price of over £1.2m.

This was a significant decrease in the volume traded before restrictions were introduced, the charity said.

But last year wildlife campaigners also warned that the ban on elephant ivory trafficking had led to an increase in trade of hippo teeth.

In 2020 hippo teeth were among the mammal body parts most often seized in the EU, according to a European Commission report.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare welcomed the government's proposal.

"We welcome the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs's decision to extend this powerful legislation, which will go a long way in cracking down on a damaging trade. Today is a good day for conservation and a step change towards international commitments to safeguard our natural world," said Frances Goodrum, Head of Campaigns and Programmes at IFAW UK.

The five species are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates their trade internationally.

Hippopotamus, walrus and sperm whale are listed as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.

Ivory ban to be extended to five new species

Danny Halpin, 

PA Environment Correspondent
Mon, May 22, 2023 



It will soon be illegal to trade ivory from a hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, killer whale and sperm whale, the Government has said.

The Ivory Act 2018 is to be extended to cover these five species after it came into force last June to protect elephants.

Hippopotamus is the species most at risk of ivory exploitation after elephants, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said.

Along with walrus and sperm whale, it is classed as vulnerable on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s red list.

All three animals already face multiple threats from human activity including from pollution, shipping lanes, armed conflict and climate change, with the ivory trade adding extra pressure, Defra said.

Naturalist and TV presenter Steve Backshall said: “This is an important moment in the conservation of these iconic species.

“There is widespread public support for the ivory ban and today by extending it further we are sending a clear message that there is no place in the UK for this vile trade.”

Punishment for breaching the Ivory Act is an unlimited fine or up to five years in jail.

A spokesperson from Defra said the new extension will take effect “in due course” depending on the availability of parliamentary time.

Biodiversity minister Trudy Harrison said: “This is a pivotal moment in delivering one of our key manifesto commitments on international conservation.

“The Ivory Act is one of the toughest bans of its kind in the world and by extending greater legal protections to five more species, we are sending a clear message the commercial trade of ivory is totally unacceptable.

“The UK has long led the way in conservation and our ban shows continued global leadership in doing all we can to protect the world’s most endangered species.”



The decision comes after an “extensive public consultation” in the approach to the anniversary of the Act on June 6 last year.

Since then, Defra has issued over 6,500 registrations and certificates for exempted items which it said was necessary to protect the UK’s artistic and cultural heritage.

Frances Goodrum, head of campaigns and programmes at the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) charity, said: “As we approach the one-year anniversary of the UK Ivory Act coming into force, IFAW UK are encouraged by early indications that the ban is having a significant impact on the trade in elephant ivory.

“Yet other species are still poached globally to meet an unnecessary demand for luxury ivory products, including the hippopotamus, walrus, narwhal, sperm whale and killer whale.

“We welcome Defra’s decision to extend this powerful legislation, which will go a long way in cracking down on a damaging trade.

“Today is a good day for conservation and a step change towards international commitments to safeguard our natural world.”

Stop eradication of small mammals to protect vital ecosystems, say scientists

A new report suggests that policymakers should rethink the current measures to protect grasslands. The researchers propose a nature-based control strategy for more sustainable management of essential ecosystems.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

XI'AN JIAOTONG-LIVERPOOL UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: PLATEAU PIKA, A KEYSTONE SPECIES AND RELATED TO RABBITS view more 

CREDIT: KA ZHUO CAI RANG

A new article published in the Journal of Animal Ecology suggests that current measures to protect grasslands in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau are damaging the ecosystem and should be stopped.

The existing policy, introduced in 2000, calls for the eradication of small burrowing mammals. These include the mountain-dwelling herbivores, the plateau pika, and another small rodent, the zokor. Both are keystone species and are known as ecosystem engineers due to their modification of and impact on the environment.

The report's authors say that the current extermination programmes are not based on studies that considered the full effects of culling these rodents.

"The government agency's policy of conducting large-scale animal culling campaigns each year is not a good approach," says Professor Johannes Knops from the Health and Environmental Sciences department at Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) and corresponding author.

Professor Knops and the first author, Dr Wenjin Li from the College of Ecology at Lanzhou University, propose replacing the eradication policy with a nature-based control strategy.

"Our research shows that using natural predators and other ecological factors to regulate burrowing mammal populations can be a more sustainable and effective approach to grassland management."

The study has important implications for grassland management practices worldwide.
Small burrowing mammals are common in grasslands, and their eradication can negatively impact ecosystem health and productivity.

A balancing act

The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau grasslands play a crucial role in the quality of water flowing into major Asian rivers, including the Yangtze, Yellow, Lancang-Mekong, Indus and Ganges. Grassland degradation can also increase the chance of flooding events.

The campaign to permanently eradicate plateau pikas and zokors is part of Chinese government agencies' efforts to protect the grasslands.

The policy is part of a nationwide initiative, the Returning Grazing Land to Grassland project, and is based on the assumption that the rodents cause damage to grasslands by consuming foliage and therefore compete with grazing livestock for food, and cause soil erosion.

However, the new study discusses the irrationality and consequences of this policy and reports that small burrowing mammals can actually help to prevent grassland degradation.

Professor Knops says: "If we look at the grasslands, we will find numerous plant species, and not all animals eat the same plants, so it is crucial to consider the entire food chain rather than killing all the small mammals."

The authors also say that burrowing animals can increase plant diversity as they increase seed dispersion and light availability by consuming taller grasses. Their burrows provide refuges and habitats for other species and can help to decrease surface water runoff and soil erosion.

The researchers advise that the eradication policy needs to be reconsidered and revoked, as small burrowing mammals play crucial ecological roles in grassland management. They say that diminishing the rodent population disrupts ecosystem processes and reduces biodiversity.

The research also suggests that the current poisoning method used to eradicate small burrowing mammals has several overlooked adverse effects.

The ecological functions of small burrowing mammals in grasslands 

The arrows indicate the positive impacts of small burrowing mammals on plant, animal, microbial and soil processes

CREDIT

Wenjin Li and Lanzhou University

Collateral damage

In the paper, the authors discuss the potential unintended consequences of using the high-cost and labour-intensive poisoning method to kill small mammals in grasslands. These include the development of resistance to poisons by target species and potential harm to non-target species.

Additionally, this policy can increase human-wildlife conflict by reducing natural predator populations and creating imbalances in the ecosystem.

Professor Knops explains: "It's important to consider the knock-on effects of reducing the small burrowing mammal population. If there are fewer small mammals, there is less food for their natural predators, such as red foxes, steppe polecats, upland buzzards, brown bears and mountain weasels.

"Not only will these larger mammals start to look for alternative food sources and increasingly prey on livestock, causing more human-wildlife conflict, but their populations will also decrease.

"The eradication policy, therefore, causes the opposite effect to the one intended, as when the number of the pika and zokor's natural predators is reduced, burrowing mammal populations can increase rapidly.

"This then requires more human control, which is costly and negatively impacts non-target species and the environment."

Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, yak herders summer camp 

Yak graze widely during the day and are brought back to the camp in the evening for milking

Yak livestock returning from grazing to be milked

CREDIT

J. Knops and XJTLU

Rethinking control

The researchers suggest the goal to control burrowing mammal populations should not be totally eradicated but can be regulated with a nature-based control strategy that uses natural predators and other environmental factors such as their preferred plant species and the height of vegetation.

The report proposes measures such as providing nesting spaces for raptors and reducing the over-grazing of livestock on the grasslands. This allows the grass to grow and keeps the small mammal population at a manageable level, as they prefer shorter vegetation.

The authors argue that this approach is more effective and sustainable for long-term grassland management than traditional methods that rely heavily on human intervention and poisoning.

Professor Knops says: "By maintaining a stable, low density of burrowing mammals using natural predators and ecological factors, we can promote sustainable livestock grazing practices while also preserving biodiversity and reducing human-wildlife conflicts."

Further research is needed to refine this approach and test its effectiveness in various grassland ecosystems. Still, the study's findings offer important insights into the ecological roles of small burrowing mammals in grasslands and how their presence can benefit ecosystem health and productivity.
 

The research team conducting experiments on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

CREDIT

Wenjin Li and Lanzhou University

JOURNAL

Journal of Animal Ecology

DOI

10.1111/1365-2656.13938 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Anchoring grassland sustainability with a nature-based small burrowing mammal control strategy

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

22-May-2023

Elephants enjoy presence of zoo visitors, researchers find

Nina Massey
Mon, May 22, 2023 



Elephants particularly enjoy the presence of zoo visitors, a new study suggests.

Researchers found significant results regarding elephants, with social activity among the animals increasing, and repetitive behaviours – which often indicate boredom – decreasing during public feedings.

Animal behaviour experts at Nottingham Trent University and Harper Adams University looked at more than 100 previous research papers exploring the various ways in which visitors impacted behaviour across more than 250 species in zoos.

The findings indicate that elephants in particular reacted positively to visitors.

According to the researchers, the repetitive behaviours also decreased in the presence of larger numbers of visitors.

The study also found that in the period after public feedings there was increased foraging by elephants and a decrease in their levels of inactivity.

However, elephants are not the only animals that react positively to zoo visitors.

Other species which displayed a positive response to visitors included penguins, jaguars, grizzly bears, polar bears, cheetahs, servals, banteng and black-tailed prairie dogs.

The social behaviour of cockatoos was also seen to increase – possibly as a result of the visitors stimulating the birds.

Other species which displayed a positive response to visitors included penguins (PA)

While another bird, the long-billed corella, spent the majority of time on busy days closer to the visitors, it was found.

Dr Samantha Ward, a zoo animal welfare scientist at Nottingham Trent University’s School of Animal, Rural and Environmental Sciences, said: “Some animal species have been born and raised in zoos and so have likely become used to the presence of humans.

“Zoo visitors are often aspects of a zoo animal’s environment that animals cannot control and as such can be stressful, although some species appear to show good adaptability for the changing conditions of visitors.

“There can be a lot of variation in stimuli from visitors in terms of their behaviour, the noise they make and the way they interact with the animals.

“We have identified that species show varied responses to people in zoos – some cope well, others not so well.”

According to the findings, across all studies the interpretation of the impact of visitors was predominantly neutral, with some considered positive and negative.

Animal groups for whom visitors were reported to have a negative impact included flightless birds, odd and even-toed ungulates, marsupials, ostriches, tuatara and hedgehogs.

Dr Ellen Williams, a zoo animal welfare scientist at Harper Adams University, said: “We have robust methods to measure animal welfare in zoos. Animal responses are attributed to various factors and recognising what these may be is important to improve welfare.

“In elephants and birds it was encouraging to see a reduction in those repetitive behaviours towards something more positive in the presence of people, although the absence of change in the majority of species was also really good, because it suggests enclosure design is changing to better support animals in responding to visitors.”

The research is published in the journal Animals.

In the Amazon, Brazilian ecologists try new approach against deforestation and poverty

The Canadian Press
Mon, May 22, 2023 



CARAUARI, Brazil (AP) — In a remote corner of the Amazon, Brazilian ecologists are trying to succeed where a lack of governance has proved disastrous. They're managing a stretch of land in a way that welcomes both local people and scientists to engage in preserving the world’s largest tropical forest.

The goal is ambitious, counter the forces that have destroyed 10% of the forest in less than four decades and create something that can be replicated in other parts of the Amazon.

It began with a four-month expedition along the Juruá River in 2016. Researchers visited some 100 communities that at first sight looked similar: rows of wooden homes on stilts along the water. But they were struck by contrasts in the living conditions.

To understand what they saw, it's important to know that 29% of the Amazon, an area roughly three times the size of California, is either public land with no special protection, or public land for which no public information exists, according to a study by the Amazon Institute of People and the Environment.

These areas have been shown to be more vulnerable to deforestation. Land robbers drive traditional communities off the land and then clear it, hoping the government will recognize them as owners, which usually happens.

“It's very unequal. Inside protected areas, there are many positive things happening, but outside, they seemed to be 40 years behind,” João Vitor Campos-Silva, a tropical socio-ecologist, told The Associated Press.

The researchers were aware that the part of the river known as Medio Juruá, near the city of Carauari, has remarkable social organization and people manage its fish and forest products, such as acai, sustainably. The land designation here is “extractive reserves,” public lands where residents are allowed to fish and harvest some crops.

But outside these reserves, in many places, people take orders from self-appointed landowners, Campos-Silva said. Entire communities are denied access to lakes, even to fish to feed their families. People don´t own the land, and they don’t know who does.

“We started thinking that it might be interesting to design a conservation model based on a basin scale,” where communities could harvest forest produce and fish and protect the forest, instead of moving to the city or resorting to illegal activities, such as unlicensed logging and overfishing.

So they created the non-profit Juruá Institute and purchased a 13 km (8 miles) rainforest property along the Juruá River. It includes about 20 lakes, some with good potential for raising prized pirarucu, the world’s largest freshwater scale fish, which can reach up to 200 kilos (440 pounds).

The goal, Campos-Silva said, is to promote high-quality science, grounded in working together with the region's people.

In the vicinity of the Institute's land there are 12 communities of former rubber-tappers. Brazilians call them “ribeirinhos,” or river people, as distinguished from Indigenous residents.

In the past, the chance to make a living from rubber trees drew their grandparents to the Amazon. Nowadays the main revenue comes from pirarucu. Controlling that fishery has proved to be sustainable, reviving a species that was in decline and generating income without the need to clear the forest, with all that means for loss of biodiversity.

The Amazon rainforest, covering an area twice the size of India, also holds tremendous stores of carbon and is a crucial buffer against climate change. Driven by land-robbers, deforestation surged to a 15-year high in recent years while Jair Bolsonaro, who left office in January, was president. Destruction in the eastern Amazon has been so extensive that it has become a carbon source, rather than a carbon sink.

To involve the riverine communities in governance, the institute set up a steering committee and launched a series of public meetings called “community of dreams,” where people could prioritize the improvements they want most.

To avoid potential gender and age biases, they worked in three groups - women, youth, and men, said Campos-Silva.

The president of the river communities' association, Fernanda de Araujo Moraes, said the main purpose is to prevent river people from moving to Amazon cities, where unemployment among low-skilled people is rampant and violence is widespread, thanks to drug-trafficking.

In her own community of Lago Serrado, where 12 families live in stilt houses, both the women and men listed 24-hour electricity as their top priority. Currently, it's only available three hours a day. The youths chose fishing training.

Moraes believes this kind of collaboration is the fastest route to progress. “We want to improve people’s lives and the Institute wants the same thing," she said, seated on the floor of her house, tending to her infant daughter. The government, she said, is not always on the same page.

“This is something that doesn’t exist here in the Amazon, it doesn’t exist anywhere in Brazil. If it works, which it will, it will attract a lot of people’s attention,” said resident José Alves de Morais, in an interview by the lake just behind the community.

Morais works as a lake keeper, watching for trespassers who might take fish or cut trees. His family hopes to take part in the institute's management of pirarucu fishing, which awaits federal approval.

On the scientific front, the institute has built a houseboat and a wooden house for as many as 20 researchers to spend seasons along the Juruá River. One is studying the uakari monkey. Others are looking at what makes social arrangements successful in the region. They created a program, Forest Scientists, to train local high school students in field collection, data systematization, and how to prepare reports.

The initiative is led by Carlos Peres, an Amazon-born professor of tropical conservation ecology at the University of East Anglia, in the United Kingdom. In April this work, begun as an experiment, got some recognition from a Swiss nonprofit when he and three other scientists won the Frontiers Planet Prize, which comes with $1.1 million. The money will be reinvested in the project, which has already received support from Synchronicity Earth, National Geographic and Rolex within Perpetual Planet Project.

The winning study used data gathered during that 2016 trip. Co-authored by Campos-Silva and others, it found communities living inside protected areas enjoy better access to health care, education, electricity, and basic sanitation, plus a more stable income, than communities in undesignated areas. They found only 5% of adults inside protected areas aspire to move to a city, compared with 58% of adults in unprotected areas.

The article argues that in tropical countries with limited resources, it is possible to achieve conservation and benefit local communities at the same time, by putting more power in their hands.

Peres, the Institute's scientific director, says it hopes to inspire solutions across the Amazon region, by integrating traditional knowledge with the science of Western models.

“We do not have all the answers,” he said. “But we have the audacity to try to advance on these issues.”

____

Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Fabiano Maisonnave, The Associated Press

Few things spark uproar like trophy hunting photos - now some want to change the narrative

Sky News
Sun, May 21, 2023 



In July 2015, American dentist Walter Palmer sparked global outrage when a photo was shared of him standing over Cecil the lion.

The majestic big cat, who was 13 years old, was the most popular visitor attraction at Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe until Mr Palmer shot him with a bow and arrow.

It is inarguably one of the most high-profile examples of the inevitable uproar whenever images of smiling hunters, posing with guns in front of dead animals, make their way on to the internet.

To many of us, trophy hunting is an inexcusable trade and an abhorrence that should be punished - a fate more than 140,000 people tried to force upon Mr Palmer by sending a petition to the White House.

But do those provocative images tell the whole story?

Jens Ulrik Hogh has hunted in Africa more than 40 times, and thinks it's time to change the narrative.

Speaking to Leah Boleto on the Sky News Daily podcast, the hunter said while he understood why many observers found such photos "problematic", they had given hunting itself an unfair reputation.

"It's very counterintuitive to understand that hunting is beneficial for, say, the black rhino population, because the black rhino is listed as critically endangered," he said.

"But in fact, the only two countries in the world with a rising population of black rhino are Namibia and South Africa.

"And coincidentally, they are also the two countries in the world that allow very limited, and very harshly regulated, hunting of black rhinos."

'We should be proud'

Maxi Pia Louis is a community leader working in conservation in Namibia.

She told the Sky News Daily that trophy hunting does in fact support their efforts to protect species like the black rhino and elephants.

"It's a pillar in terms of income that is generated for our GDP - it's the third-largest," she said.

"Those funds coming in, they contribute quite heavily to some of the work we are doing to try and conserve wildlife in those areas, but also making sure there is motivation for people to manage those resources."

She believes her country should be "very proud" of its approach to elephant hunters - there are 24,000 elephants now, compared to around 7,000 in the 1980s.

It's a stance that will no doubt prove difficult to understand for many in the UK, where a prospective ban on trophy hunting imports returns to the House of Lords for debate next month.

Time to consign hunting to history?

Henry Smith, the Conservative MP who put the ban forward, told the Sky News Daily body parts from endangered species should no longer be imported "just for some sort of sick display".

"We're not telling countries in Africa how to run their conservation efforts," he insisted. "[But] I'd say there's very little evidence to suggest that fees from hunting trophies go back into African communities.

"If an animal is endangered and on the brink of extinction, then it seems very strange to me that you would kill that animal to conserve that animal."

Wildlife expert Professor Amy Dickman, from the University of Oxford, is sympathetic to Mr Smith's stance - trophy hunting can look "horrible", she admits.

But the reaction to images like those shared by Mr Palmer almost eight years ago can do more harm than good.

"Saying we must ban it, what you're very likely to have is those areas get less economically valuable, people convert them maybe to farmland, cropland, livestock keeping - then people will snare lions, will poison them," she said.

"No one will see those pictures on the front of the Daily Mail, but we will see them in the field. And those deaths are horrifying and far worse in terms of conservation and welfare, actually, than most trophy hunting deaths."

Nordic hunter Hogh describes himself as an animal lover, but also a man who enjoys the hunt.

To ensure his hobby remains "sustainable", he wants hunters to think again about the images they share online.

"We go out hunting because we really enjoy hunting," he said.

"I don't think that any hunter goes out to say: 'I want to help conservation today.'

"But of course we would not do this unless conservation worked because we need our hunting to be sustainable, meaning that we can do the same next year. Our children will be able to do the same in the future."

Two of the ‘rarest big cats on the planet’ born at Colorado zoo. Look at the cute cubs

Paloma Chavez
Mon, May 22, 2023 

Screengrab from Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's Facebook page

A zoo in Colorado welcomed two Amur leopard cubs, a species that’s critically endangered, officials said.

Anya, a 9-year-old Amur leopard, became a first-time mama on Wednesday, May 17, three days after Mother’s Day, according to a May 19 Facebook post by the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

The two cubs make up 4% of the endangered species’ population, the Colorado Springs zoo said.

There are around 100 Amur leopards — described as “the rarest big cats on the planet” — left in the wild in Russia and China, zoo officials said.

“I think Anya is absolutely incredible. She looks confident and comfortable with the cubs, and we’re elated for her and her babies,” the post read. “I’m so proud of our animal care team and their commitment to Anya and the future of the Amur leopard species.”

Animal care manager Rebecca Zwicker said the first few weeks after a leopard cub’s birth are “extremely fragile” but that there’s no reason for concern as their mother is “patient and attentive.”

The first baby “quickly showed instincts to nurse,” which helped Anya get into mommy-mode when the second cub arrived, the zoo said.

“Once cub #2 smelled where cub #1 was having its meal, it made a baby beeline for the nipple. After a short sibling squabble, a full-bellied cub #1 moved aside for cub #2 to settle in for its first meal,” the post said. “Since then, both cubs have been nursing regularly and cub #2 is quickly catching up to its sibling’s energy level.”

Anya is the only one to have seen her cubs in person as the zoo is watching remotely from cameras placed in her den, officials said.

Officials haven’t identified the cubs’ sex and won’t be able to for some time, the post said.

As for naming, the zoo plans to keep its tradition by waiting 30 days before giving the cuties a name.

Colorado Springs is about 70 miles south of Denver.

Captive breeding helps endangered Iberian lynx population hit record

Reuters
Fri, May 19, 2023


: A female Iberian lynx, a feline in danger of extinction, named Ilexa is released in Arana mountain range, southern Spain

MADRID (Reuters) - The number of endangered Iberian lynx in the wild in Spain and Portugal reached 1,668 in 2022, Spain's environment ministry said on Friday - a new record since a conservation push began 20 years ago to save a population that had dwindled to below 100.

In 2002, the species was on the brink of extinction due to poaching, road accidents and encroachment on their habitat by farming and industrial development. Only 94 specimens were registered in Spain and none in Portugal at that time.

Known for its pointy ears, long legs and leopard-like spotted fur, the Iberian lynx is a species distinct from the more common Eurasian lynx found from France to the Himalayas.

According to the annual population survey by the ministry, 563 kits were born last year to 326 she-cats, continuing the strong growth trend seen since 2015, when the International Union for Conservation of Nature downgraded the threat level to "endangered" from "critically endangered".

There are now 15 core habitats spread across the Iberian Peninsula, with more than four fifths of the wild cats located throughout central and southern Spain and the rest in Portugal, where 261 lynxes have been counted.

The ministry's report partly attributed the demographic boom to the success of a captive breeding and reintroduction programme launched in 2011. Since then, 338 lynx born in captivity have been released into the wild.

"This positive demographic evolution allows us to be optimistic about the reduction of the risk of extinction," the ministry said.

However, it added that it was necessary to continue ongoing conservation efforts, given that the species remains classified as endangered.

(Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Aislinn Laing and Alison Williams)

Stock assessments show Maritime lobster population strong, fishery sustainable

CBC
Mon, May 22, 2023 

So far, increasing water temperatures don't appear to have affected lobster stocks in Atlantic Canada. (Brian McInnis/CBC - image credit)

Lobster populations off all three Maritime provinces remain strong and the $1.7-billion fishery is sustainable, according to the latest assessments from Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO).

It's good news for coastal communities, but warming ocean temperatures caused by climate change is a potential cloud on the horizon.

Adam Cook is a DFO biologist who tracks lobster populations along the Scotian Shelf and Bay of Fundy — waters that support nearly 3,000 commercial licence holders in 12 lobster fishing areas (LFAs).

Cook and his colleagues recently posted stock assessments for 2022. He said all LFAs in the Maritimes are in a healthy zone for stock status.

"Which suggests there's still enough lobster to not raise any sort of conservation concerns. The commercial biomass is doing quite well," Cook said.

It's the same story in the southern Gulf of St. Lawrence, although DFO's stock assessments for five fishings area in that region have not been posted.

Healthy zone

"Our official publication has yet to be released, but it should not be a huge surprise or secret to anybody that the Gulf lobster stock is still thriving and in the healthy zone," said Amelie Rondeau, a division manager for ecosystem science for DFO in the Gulf region.

LFA 34 off southern Nova Scotia accounts for 20 per cent of all Canadian landings and 10 per cent of North American totals.

Landings have averaged 21,800 tonnes annually over the past five years — high relative to historic levels, but down from the peak of nearly 30,000 tonnes in 2016.

CBC/Source: DFO

In LFA 33 next door — from Halifax to Shelburne County — landings have fallen from 8,400 tonnes in 2017-18 to a little over 7,000 tonnes in 2021-2022.

Both fishing areas remain firmly in the healthy zone, but scientists want to know if the population decline is part of a natural cycle or if climate change is playing a part.

Since 2012, there have been several unusually warm water years in the area — including 2022, when record-high temperatures were broken.

CIimate change concerns

"So it is something we're monitoring," said Cook. "We're currently working through some analysis to see what that impact could be. Whether we can already detect it or when we might expect to see some of those changes."

Cooks says warming water is most likely to negatively affect young lobster and it would be seven to eight years before it shows up in landings.

"Those are the sort of things we are looking at from warm water events that may be affecting reproduction survival," Cook said.

CBC

Dan Fleck represents inshore fishermen in southwest Nova Scotia. He said catches in the 2022-23 winter season have dropped — especially this spring.

"We're pleased to hear that positive information that we are still within the healthy zone, but we are concerned because we have members between Eastern Passage and Digby and there are some pretty grim stories coming out," Fleck said. "Some people [are] down 40 plus per cent, other people not as much. But when we average that out, it's down 25 per cent."

Fishermen are also watching for the impact of rising ocean temperatures, aware of the dwindling lobster catches off southern New England.

Lobsters a resilient species

"We've seen some serious downturns over the last number of years in the southern waters and is it global warming, water temperatures, stocks migrating?"

Cook says there is no smoking gun to explain the dip off southern Nova Scotia.

Lobsters are more resilient than species that survive within a narrow temperature range like snow crabs. Lobsters can tolerate a broader range of temperatures.

"I'm not ready to put it on a single factor right now. We are coming down from the all-time high that we've ever seen for lobster stocks within that area. So at some point, populations are going to decline through natural cycles," Cook said. "We're working to try and parse out that variability, so be able to describe how much variability is in the system and whether we're seeing trends that we can relate back to various factors that are changing."

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‘Uncommon’ creature — with ‘groins of fire’ — discovered as new species in Peru

Aspen Pflughoeft
Mon, May 22, 2023 

Walking through the Peruvian Amazon at night, a pair of researchers noticed something tucked among the leaves. The scientists took a closer look at the creature — and discovered a new species.

Study co-authors Germán Chávez and Wilmar Aznaran were surveying a “well-visited” lowland forest in central Peru, Chávez wrote in a May 17 Pensoft blog post. One night, they spotted a small treefrog unlike any they’d ever seen.

“We were quite surprised and kind of speechless,” Chávez said in the blog post. “Externally, the frog is clearly different from any other similar species, and that was evident for us at the very moment we caught it.”

Seen from the top, the roughly 1.5-inch-long treefrog has a dark brown coloring with some speckles of green, according to a study published May 9 in the journal Evolutionary Systems. The animal’s skin looks almost bumpy and textured, photos show.

Scinax pyroinguinis as seen from above.

From the underside, the treefrog has “bright orange blotches” along its groins, thighs and legs, researchers said. Photos show the frog’s cream-colored stomach and vibrant, almost fluorescent, orange spots.

Researchers named the new species Scinax pyroinguinis, a Latin name meaning “groins of fire,” after the creature’s “striking” coloring. The name also refers to “the flames of the wildfires threatening its habitat,” the study said.

Scinax pyroinguinis was found only in a small forest patch near the Ucayali River, the study said. The treefrog’s habitat “was surrounded by farms where vegetation has been burnt or converted to pastures.” The remaining forest is still at risk of wildfires.

The underside of Scinax pyroinguinis.

“We hope that this discovery encourages people and institutions to protect these remnant forests in central Peru, because they may yet harbour unknown species,” Chávez wrote in the blog post. “ If these forests disappear, we will probably lose a diversity that we do not even know now yet, and may never will.”

The new species is morphologically and genetically distinct from other treefrog species, the study said.

Researchers described Scinax pyroinguinis as an “uncommon” animal. In 108 days searching for the treefrog, researchers found only two specimens, the study said.

Still, researchers “tentatively” identified Scinax pyroinguinis as the “most basal” species of its taxonomic group, the study says. This evolutionary categorization means the newly discovered frog likely gave rise to other species of treefrog.

Chávez told McClatchy News that he hopes to study the new species further in upcoming surveys. “We still need to know more about its reproduction and population status. Our hopes are lying on the next rainy season,” he said.

The Ucayali River is about 330 miles northeast of Lima.

‘Dancing’ creature emerges after rainfall — and discovered as new species in Thailand


Aspen Pflughoeft
Mon, May 22, 2023 

A small creature crawled along the rain-dampened ground in a forest in Thailand. The animal’s “dance-like movement” caught the attention of researchers who took a closer look and discovered a new species.

Researchers spotted the animal in a limestone rock area of the Phu Pha Lom Forest, according to a study published May 19 in the journal ZooKeys. They surveyed the area after rainfall and discovered the creature “hiding on the ground and in the leaf litter.”

The animal was identified as a new species of “dancing” semislug: Cryptosemelus niger, researchers said.

Semislugs are slug-like molluscs with snail-like shells that are too small for them to live inside. Dancing semislugs are named for the “dance-like movements that it makes when it is disturbed or attacked,” researchers said.

When the new species was disturbed, “they escaped by quickly flipping and (wagging) their tail,” the study said. Researchers don’t know Cryptosemelus niger’s natural predators but suggested the “dancing” escape mechanisms might be used to avoid carnivorous snails found in the area.

Cryptosemelus niger as seen on a leaf.

Cryptosemelus niger has a “blackish body” with a “dark brown” shell and four antenna-like structures jutting out from its head, researchers said.

Photos show the animal’s coloring and the deep textured grooves on its skin. Among the soil and wood of its habitat, the semislug appears to blend in relatively well.

The new species was named after the Latin word for “black” because of its distinct coloring, the study said.

Cryptosemelus niger crawling along ground.

Researchers identified the new species by its morphological characteristics, specifically its tongue-like radula structure, genitalia and body coloring, the study said. They did not analyze the semislug’s DNA or compare its genetic composition to other species.

“Future studies on the (molluscs) of the northeastern part of Thailand require more surveys in overlooked and isolated natural areas,” the study said.

The Phu Pha Lom Forest is about 325 miles northeast of Bangkok and near the Thailand-Laos border.

Hundreds of new species discovered in this remote part of the world, researcher say

JULIA JACOBO
Mon, May 22, 2023 

PHOTO: Cyrtodactylus rukhadeva (Thai Nation Parks)

Researchers have discovered hundreds of new animal and plant species in remote parts of the world previously inaccessible to humans, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Among the 380 newly found species include animal vertebrates such as a color-changing lizard, a thick-thumbed bat, a poisonous snake named after a Chinese mythological goddess, an orchid that looks like a muppet and a tree frog with skin that resembles thick moss. They were all found in the greater Mekong region in Asia, according to the WWF's New Species Discoveries report published on Sunday.

Along the Mekong River, which separates Laos and Thailand, lies miles and miles of forests housed in mountainous regions. Without roads, people have no access to the undiscovered species, which causes them to remain a mystery but also allows them to thrive, K. Yoganand, conservation biologist and wildlife ecologist and WWF-Greater Mekong regional wildlife lead, told ABC News.

"These species have been there," Yoganand said. "It's just, they've escaped, so far, the human destruction."

PHOTO: Theloderma khoii. (Le Khac Quyet and Nguyen Thien Tao via WWF)

Hundreds of scientists from universities, conservation organizations and research institutes around the world discovered 290 plants, 19 fishes, 24 amphibians, 46 reptiles and one mammal in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam, according to WWF.

The lush evergreen forests drenched regularly by rainfall and hidden in the mountains may contribute to the plethora of plant and animal species that live there, Yoganand said.

MORE: Asian elephants have lost 64% of their suitable habitat, scientists say

Nearly 4,000 vascular plants, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals have been discovered in the Greater Mekong region since 1997, according to the report.

One of the species scientists learned of is the Khoi's mossy frog, a large, mossy-green colored amphibian, which helps it blend into the lichen and moss-covered stony, leafy background. The discovery was described as a "spectacular find" by the WWF.

An extremely venomous snake called the Suzhen's krait was also found. It was named after the Bai Su Zhen, a snake goddess from a Chinese myth called the Legend of the White Snake, according to the WWF.

PHOTO: Akysis patrator. (Parinya Pawangkhanant via WWF)

Discovered in the Tenasserim Mountains bordering Myanmar, researchers found Thailand's bent-toed gecko, named after the mythical tree nymph Rukha Deva, who is said to live in trees and protect the forests, according to the WWF. The gecko aggressively opens its mouth and waves its tail side-to-side when threatened, the scientists said.

A semi-aquatic snake now known as Hebius terrakarenorum was found in the Dawna-Tenasserim Landscape between Thailand and Myanmar, according to the report. It is about 2-feet long and was identified entirely from road-kill specimens collected over a decade, as well as a few photos, researchers said.

MORE: Previously extinct bird, gecko populations from the Galapagos Islands have reappeared

Human encroachment is already affecting some of the newly discovered species. In Vietnam, agricultural encroachment and logging, as well as collection by communities to use as a traditional cure for abdominal pain and parasitic infection, is threatening the Thai crocodile newt, researchers said.

In Vientiane, the capital of Laos, the habitat of a new species of gecko is also being fragmented by construction projects, according to the WWF.

PHOTO: A buffalo is seen grazing on grass by a muddy stream that runs into the Mekong River, Aug. 20, 2022, in Si Phan Don, Laos. (Sirachai Arunrugstichai/Getty Images)

While many of the discoveries were the result of people surveying a never-before-explored area, some of the discoveries were known species that, after further analysis, researchers determined have several different subspecies, Yoganand said.

In Cambodia, researchers discovered the blue-crested agama, an aggressive lizard that changes color as a defensive mechanism. It was identified by studying lizards found near an Angkor era archeological site, according to the WWF. While the species has been known since the first specimen was collected in Myanmar in the 19th century, genetic analysis conducted in 2021 determined that these actually constitute many different species, Yoganand said.

MORE: Climate change, human activity 'decimating' marine life, according to IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

Hayes' thick-thumbed myotis, a mouse-eared bat with unusual fleshy thumbs that was named a new species after a specimen sat in a Hungarian museum for 20 years.

"These remarkable species may be new to science but they have survived and evolved in the Greater Mekong region for millions of years, reminding us humans that they were there a very long time before our species moved into this region," Yoganand said in a statement.

While the Mekong region is a global diversity hotspot it is also experiencing a "vast array of threats," WWF-US Asian Species Manager Nilanga Jayasinghe said in a statement.

"We must continue to invest in the protection and conservation of nature, so these magnificent species don't disappear before we know of their existence," Jayasinghe said.

There are 25 known global diversity hotspots around the world, including the Amazon in Central America and the eastern Himalayas, Yoganand said, adding that he expects the scientific community to keep discovering more and more species.

Immediate action and increased use of new technologies, such as bio-acoustics and genetic sequencing, are needed to help scientists discover more species in the region, Truong Nguyen, a researcher with the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, said in a statement.

"To reverse the rapid biodiversity loss in the region, more concerted, science based, and urgent efforts need to be made and conservation measures need more attention from governments, NGOs and the public," Nguyen said.

Hundreds of new species discovered in this remote part of the world, researcher say originally appeared on abcnews.go.com

Huge prehistoric-looking creature spotted in California lake. Take a look — if you dare

Don Sweeney
Mon, May 22, 2023

Screengrab from KGO video

At first, Carlos Rubio couldn’t figure out what he saw beneath the water of Lake Ralphine in a California park.

“At first I thought it was a boulder moving in the water,” Rubio told KGO.

Video posted to Reddit by Rubio shows a large, rock-like object moving under the water in the Howarth Park lake in Santa Rosa.

“I realized it was a pretty big snapping turtle,” Rubio told KGO. He said the turtle appeared to be about the size of a spare tire.

Snapping turtle at Howarth Park
by u/CRSR707 in santarosa

Snapping turtles are not native to California and are illegal to own without a permit, wildlife experts told The Press Democrat.

“Unfortunately, a lot of people get them when they’re babies and do not care about the law,” Wendy Rozonewski of JNW Animal Rescue in Vallejo told the publication. “But when they start to get too big or aggressive, they start releasing the animals in water or not far from where they live. It will survive. The problem is, it kills off our native species.”

The turtle in Lake Ralphine could be one of three subspecies, SFGate reported.

One, the “dinosaur-like” alligator snapping turtle, can reach up to 175 pounds, the National Wildlife Federation said.

“They’ll eat anything — I mean anything. If you put your foot in front of it, it will bite you,” Rozonewski told KGO.

Greg Martinelli, a program manager with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Bay Delta Region, told The Press Democrat the turtles are “voracious and omnivorous.” They’ve been known to bite the legs off birds floating in the water.

The agency and Santa Rosa parks officials are investigating.

Santa Rosa is a city of 177,000 people about 55 miles north of San Francisco.

Elon Musk is nicknamed 'Karen Musk' in a Reddit thread that slams him for calling remote working immoral

Sawdah Bhaimiya
Mon, May 22, 2023


Elon Musk is being criticized for calling remote work immoral.


Redditors nicknamed the billionaire "Karen Musk" and say his comments are out-of-touch.


Musk previously asked both Tesla and Twitter employees to return to the office.

Elon Musk is getting flack for his latest comments disparaging people for working from home with one Reddit thread dubbing him "Karen Musk," as an insult.

The billionaire recently said remote work is "morally wrong" in an interview with CNBC, adding that remote workers need "get off the goddamn moral high horse with the work-from-home bullshit because they're asking everyone else to not work from home while they do."

The Reddit Thread, which links to a video accusing Musk of being out of touch with the average Joe, is titled "Karen Musk: Working from home is IMMORAL!" The name "Karen" is a moniker used to refer to white women who are thought to be acting inappropriately or who are perceived as entitled.

It's now being used to insult Musk who is the owner of five companies including Twitter, Tesla, Neuralink, SpaceX, and The Boring Company.

One Redditor said that remote working "allows companies to not have a large real estate footprint, while employees spend less time in traffic reducing carbon footprint. This is all immoral coming from a guy who's trying to "save the world" with his EVs?"

Another mocked Musk by saying that it's "immoral to work in an office if the company isn't paying rent," referring to reports that Musk hasn't paid rent to the landlords of some of his offices.

Musk was previously referred to as a "Karen" in insults that were projected onto the side of Twitter's office building in San Francisco a few weeks after he bought Twitter in 2022.

These messages appeared just hours after Musk gave company employees the ultimatum to either quit or join his new "hardcore" Twitter 2.0.

Musk has always taken an extreme stance on remote working across his various companies including ordering Tesla workers to return to the office or quit in June 2022, and then later ending Twitter's flexible working policies by calling staff back to the office 40 hours a week in November.

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New nasal spray to reverse fentanyl and other opioid overdoses gets FDA approval

Mon, May 22, 2023 



WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. health regulators on Monday approved a new easy-to-use version of a medication to reverse overdoses caused by fentanyl and other opioids driving the nation’s drug crisis.

Opvee is similar to naloxone, the life-saving drug that has been used for decades to quickly counter overdoses of heroin, fentanyl and prescription painkillers. Both work by blocking the effects of opioids in the brain, which can restore normal breathing and blood pressure in people who have recently overdosed.

The Food and Drug Administration endorsed Opvee, a nasal spray update of the drug nalmefene, which was first approved as an injection in the mid-1990s but later removed from the market due to low sales. Naloxone comes as both a nasal spray and injection.

It’s not immediately clear how the new drug will be used differently compared to naloxone, and some experts see potential downsides to its longer-acting effect. The drug will be available via prescription and is approved for patients 12 and older.

In studies funded by the federal government, Opvee achieved similar recovery results to Narcan, the leading brand of naloxone nasal spray.

Opvee was developed by Opiant Pharmaceuticals, which was recently acquired by rival Indivior, maker of several medications for opioid addiction. Indivior expects to launch Opvee in October at the earliest.

As the opioid epidemic has shifted to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, researchers in the pharmaceutical industry and the U.S. government saw a new role for the drug.

Because fentanyl stays in the body longer than heroin and other opioids, some people may require multiple doses of naloxone over several hours to fully reverse an overdose.

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health worked with pharmaceutical researchers on a nasal spray version of nalmefene that would quickly resuscitate users, while also protecting them from relapse. Testing and development was funded by more than $18 million in grants from the U.S. government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and the NIH, which also helped design the studies.

“The whole aim of this was to have a medication that would last longer but also reach into the brain very rapidly,” said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Still, some experts see potential downsides.

A side effect of all opioid reversal drugs is that they create intense withdrawal symptoms including nausea, diarrhea, muscle cramps and anxiety. With naloxone, those symptoms might last 30 to 40 minutes.

Dr. Lewis Nelson of Rutgers University says those problems can last six hours or more with nalmefene, requiring extra treatment and management by health professionals.

“The risk of long-lasting withdrawal is very real and we try to avoid it,” said Nelson, an emergency medicine physician and former adviser to the FDA on opioids.

Nelson said it's easy enough to give a second or third dose of naloxone if it wears off.

“We’re not suffering from a naloxone shortage where we need to use an alternative,” he said. “We have plenty of it and it works perfectly well.”

The FDA approval comes as drug overdose deaths inched up slightly last year after two big leaps during the pandemic. More than 109,000 fatal overdoses were recorded in 2022, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

More than two-thirds of those deaths were linked to fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, which have largely replaced heroin and prescription opioids.

Naloxone has long been at the center of government efforts to fight the overdose crisis at the federal and local levels. Police, firefighters and other first responders routinely carry the drug. And officials in all 50 states have given orders to pharmacists to sell or dispense the drug without a prescription to anyone who wants it.

In the latest federal push, the FDA recently approved Narcan to be sold over the counter. The change will allow the new version of the drug to be stocked in grocery stores, vending machines and other retail locations. The nasal spray — which includes updated instructions for regular users — is expected to launch this summer. Emergent Biosolutions hasn't yet announced a price for the over-the-counter version.

Indivior said it is still considering what to charge for its drug. It will compete in the same market as naloxone, where most buyers are local governments and community groups that distribute to first responders and those at risk of overdose. Indivior has told investors that Opvee could eventually generate annual sales between $150 million to $250 million.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Matthew Perrone, The Associated Press