Success for Polar Bears
A mother polar bear and her cub. Photo: Scott Schliebe
As part of a settlement for a lawsuit brought to court by the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Greenpeace, the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced this week its proposal to designate over 200,000 square miles of both terrestrial habitat and Arctic sea ice as critical habitat for the struggling species. Polar bears were listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2008. If the proposal succeeds, polar bear habitat along the northern coast of Alaska will be protected from destructive human activities such as oil and gas drilling. You can learn more here and here.
Source: Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife
Exciting News for the Buena Vista Lake Ornate Shrew
One of the most endangered species on the planet, the Buena Vista Lake ornate shrew is finally receiving some serious attention.
A photograph of the endangered ornate shrew. Photo: Moose Peterson
Resulting from a lawsuit by the Center for Biological Diversity, the US Fish and Wildlife have proposed a 4,649-acre critical habitat designation in California for the small insectivorous mammal, an increase of 55 times over the previous measly designation of 84 fragmented, unsustainable acres in 2005. After over seventy years of habitat destruction, the Buena Vista Lake ornate shrew has been given a chance to recover at last. More information on this cool species here.
Source: Center for Biological Diversity
Loggerhead Sea Turtles Nesting Declines
Loggerhead sea turtle Photo: Geochelone files
2009 Nesting data for loggerhead sea turtles were the fourth lowest since records have been kept. The disappointing numbers are indicative of a species in peril as nesting populations have decreased more than 40 percent in the last decade. For more information on current conservation efforts, check out this comprehensive review.
Leatherback and Kemp’s Ridleys Sea Turtles: 2009 a Record Year
At the same time that declines in loggerhead nesting are being recorded, leatherback sea turtles in Florida and Kemp’s ridleys in Texas had the highest recorded nesting populations to date.
Kemp's ridley sea turtle Photo: South Carolina Aquarium
For the Kemp’s ridleys, this marks a highpoint for a conservation program enacted some 30 years ago. Kemp’s ridleys are the most endangered species of sea turtle. With this in mind conservationists set out to reintroduce these turtles to Padre Island National Seashore in South Texas where nesting sites had been present in the past. Through imprinting hatchling Kemp’s ridleys to the beach at Padre Island, the conservationists hoped that upon reaching sexual maturity that the adults would return to nest. By the year 2000, nine females had returned to nest, and in doing so provided the first scientific evidence that experimental imprinting can work and serve as a conservation tool when situations are as dire as they were with Kemp’s ridleys. Further reading is provided here.
Quick Hits
The Power of Images by Conservation International
The world’s most endangered frogs
And the always entertaining David Attenborough:
A great video on avian communication if you have the time:
One of nature’s best interior designers:
Wasps shagging flowers….what else could you ask for on Saturday night?