Primatologists tracked a herd of Grauer’s gorillas through rugged terrain for weeks. They cut through dense rainforest, followed sharp-ridged canyons, and crossed nearly impenetrable mountains in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A field team of Stuart Nixon, Chryso Kaghoma, and Congolese tracked the “Eastern Lowland Gorilla” using GPS to learn … Read more
Last month, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) launched a global campaign to eliminate two major types of marine litter by 2022: microplastics commonly used in cosmetics and single-use plastic items such as plastic bags. According to a report released last year by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, more than 8 million tons of plastic enter … Read more
Despite the decline of countless fish species due to overfishing and other threats, and the increased demand for more fish and shellfish, scientists are clearly looking for a drastic solution (fishing on the high seas). ban and switch to ‘the world’s reef’). Don’t worry, doing so won’t affect the economic profits of the fish industry, and … Read more
Human rights groups have accused a proposed hydropower project on Guatemala’s Icboray River of serious human rights violations. The 24-megawatt Santa Rita Dam is scheduled to be built in the Alta Verapaz department in central Guatemala. The construction is backed by the World Bank, several European banks and the Guatemalan government. Despite allegations of human rights violations, … Read more
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus are closing after 146 years, citing declining ticket sales . Growing antipathy among Americans to circus shows that treat animals inappropriately or inhumanely is contributing to declining sales, says People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) Primatologist Julia Galluci said. However, in certain parts of Asia, where circuses and … Read more
US President Donald Trump’s campaign promises to overhaul climate change policies have begun to take shape with talks with climate skeptics critical to supporting the US government’s views. The removal of the climate change regulations of the Paris Agreement, which would have been of great benefit to the United States, seems to be a throwback to … Read more
Small changes in the right places can sometimes make a big difference. That’s exactly what scientists found when they were looking at what benefits nature parks, game reserves and reserves could offer to the conservation of the birds and mammals that inhabit them. In it, lead author Laura Pollock and colleagues found that if we could … Read more
Even if the world does its best to reduce carbon emissions and combat climate change, rising carbon dioxide concentrations will continue to harm the oceans for decades to come. A new paper argues that marine protected areas (MPAs) are a cost-effective way to mitigate the worst that climate change has brought to the oceans. MPAs, where … Read more
If that were true, the world would have lost a truly wonderful seed. The largest member of the squirrel family, the woolly flying squirrel stands two feet tall and sports a bushy two-foot tail. Despite their size, they are very adept at using gliding covers to navigate their habitat in high-altitude coniferous forests effectively. They are known to … Read more
Clean and renewable energy has limitless potential to help stop the rapidly advancing global warming. But unless we drastically stop using fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas, that is just a possibility. And now, in a new paper published in the journal Joule, 139 countries have come up with policies to transition to … Read more