Home/Posts Tagged ‘extinction’
Posts Tagged ‘extinction’
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 25th, 2013,
Is the cloning of extinct species, or de-extinction, simply a fascinating exercise in futility? Or perhaps you consider it blasphemous – a bunch of modern-day Doctor Frankensteins “playing God”. On the other hand maybe could it lead to something truly exciting and monumental – a doable Jurassic Park where the visitors don’t get eaten? There are, of course, a host of potential issues that pop up as is the case with any experimental technology. Genetically engineered hoards of revived passenger pigeons could spread disease. And do we want billions to be spent on reintroducing species only to have them die…
Tags: cloning, de-extinction, extinction, woolly mammoth
Climate Change, Pollution, Wildlife & Flora, Jun 21st, 2011,
“Shocking”, “unprecedented”, “catastrophic” – some of the words being used to describe the state of the Earth’s oceans and where things are headed, in light of a new study by Ipso, the International Programme on the State of the Ocean. Factors such as overfishing, massive agricultural and chemical pollution, warming temperatures and acidification due climate change are combining to cause mass extinction in the Earth’s oceans. Marine scientists believe these factors are working in tandem to create conditions seen in previous mass extinctions. From the Guardian: In recent years, human effects on the oceans have increased significantly. Overfishing has cut…
Tags: agricultural pollution, emissions, extinction, ipso, ocean acidification, oceans, overfishing, plastic, report, study
Wildlife & Flora, Sep 12th, 2010,
Did large herbivores like the woolly mammoth go extinct because of climate change, hungry humans, or both? The debate is out. It makes sense that as climate change disrupts everything we know about our natural world we would look to the past for answers. This is like watching the neighbor’s house go up in smoke, thanking god it’s not your own, knowing meanwhile that it could easily happen to you. So you prepare yourself, at least mentally. You then decide what sentimental items you’ll grab and where you’ll go next. And if your neighbor’s house burned down because they hadn’t…
Tags: extinction, global warming, ice age, Pleistocene
Wildlife & Flora, Aug 15th, 2010,
The CI campaign to find missing frogs will help us protect the creatures that ward off crop pests and disease-carrying insects Seemingly less cuddly than the fuzzy white Polar Bear, or the cute black and white panda whose face decorates cups and tote bags around the world, amphibians are no less important. In fact, some scientists believe that amphibians, whose moist, permeable skin is especially sensitive to environmental change, are harbingers of the overall state of the environment. Threatened by habitat loss, disease, and climate change, many species have been wiped out while others face extinction. Since research is outdated,…
Tags: extinction, frogs, wildlife conservation
Climate Change, Nature, Weird Stuff, Jun 1st, 2010,
European beavers, which have been wiped out in parts of Europe, are now apparently taking revenge on humanity for once being hunted to near extinction. Since European nations – namely Germany, Romania and the Netherlands – have reintroduced beavers into the wild and dedicated time and money to help their recovery, the furry aquatic rodents have been gnawing on the hand that feeds. Typical, thankless behavior. From an article in the London Times: The rodents, Castor fiber, have been munching through dykes and aggravating the floods currently sweeping along the River Oder in Central Europe. They are also holding up…
Tags: beaver, beavers, Europe, European, extinction, flooding, floods, Poland, reintroduced, rodent, species
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, May 27th, 2010,
Yesterday, conservations confirmed the extinction of the Alaotra Grebe: a bird that was only found in the lakes of Madagascar. The announcement comes 25 years after the last confirmed sighting of the bird, also known as the Rusty Grebe and Delacour’s Little Grebe. The decline and ultimate extinction of this little bird can be contributed to habitat destruction, numerous accidental captures in nylon gill-nets, and the introduction of a predator: the Snakehead Murrel. This is a fish that can grow up to 1 meter (about 3 feet) in length and is native to the southeastern region of Asia. The status…
Tags: Africa, Alaotra Grebe, Birdlife International, Delacour's Little Grebe, extinct, extinction, IUCN Red List, Madagascar, Rusty Grebe, species
Climate Change, Green living, Nature, Politics, Science & Technology, Wildlife & Flora, May 11th, 2010,
The world faces a critical tipping point and potentially irreversible damage, according to a new warning from the UN yesterday. According to the outlook of the third Global Biodiversity Outlook report: “In 2002, the world’s leaders agreed to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. Having reviewed all available evidence, including national reports submitted by Parties, this third edition of the Global Biodiversity Outlook concludes that the target has not been met…” “…The consequences of this collective failure, if it is not quickly corrected, will be severe for us all. Biodiversity underpins the functioning of…
Tags: biodiversity, Climate change, Convention on Biological Diversity, extinction, Global Biodiversity Outlook, global warming, irreversible damage, report, third, tipping point, UN, UNEP
Climate Change, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, May 10th, 2010,
Economic growth and the quest for raw materials in developing nations are threatening to devastate global biodiversity, according to a forthcoming UN Global Biodiversity Outlook report. Ahmed Djoghlaf, head of the Convention on Biological Diversity is reported as claiming the current rate of extinction to be 1,000 times its ‘natural historical background rate’. From an article in the Telegraph: Population growth, pollution and the spread of Western-style consumption are also blamed for hitting plant and animal populations. The dangerous behavior already practiced by industrialized developed nations will increase dramatically as it is adopted by the developing world. China, India, Brazil…
Tags: animal, biodiversity, developing, extinction, global, nations, plant, report, species, UN
Climate Change, Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Mar 9th, 2010,
Species extinction is a hot issue. All the reasonably decent papers, TV nature shows and news programs are running stories on bluefin tuna, African elephants, tigers and fluffy polar bears more than ever before. Heck, the New York Times even ran a story about the greater sage grouse – a plains bird from the American West – being classified as ‘warranted but precluded’ instead of receiving the coveted endangered species status. That’s like when your movie is up for the Oscar for Best Picture, but you go home with Best Costume Design. New ideas in species conservation are becoming more…
Tags: African, elephant, extinction, Guardian, Nature, New York Times, sage grouse, species, tiger
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Jan 21st, 2010,
![]( "<!--:en-->China")
' src='http://gf3.statico.be/wp-content/themes/greenfudge/thumbnails/5505.jpg' alt='chinas-wild-tigers-face-extinction-in-30-years' class='art-teaser' width='95' height='95' /> China’s wild tigers are moving ever close to extinction and unless something is done, it may be a mere 30 years before they are completely wiped out. Right now, China’s State Forestry Administration (SFA) estimates that only 50 wild tigers are left: 20 Bengal, 20 Siberian, and 10 Indochinese. Their habitats have been on the decline or, in some cases, completely destroyed. Humans continue to poach the tigers and their prey, despite the tigers’ critically endangered status. One tiger may not have even made it this far: the South China tiger. Their numbers were around 4,000 in 1950, but once…
Tags: 30 years, bengal tiger, China’s wild tigers, endangered species, extinction, indochinese tiger, Save China’s Tigers, siberian tiger, tigers, WWF
Nature, Science & Technology, Nov 8th, 2009,
Many animals have come and gone through the history of the world. We all know of the passing of the dinosaurs, the dodo birds, and possibly the Tasmanian tigers. Unfortunately for the creatures of the world, the list of extinctions keeps getting longer, with little hope of survival in sight. The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) surveyed 47,677 animal and plant species for this year’s “Red List”. Their results show that 17,291 of all the species surveyed face risk of extinction. To break down the numbers even more: 20% of all known mammals, more than 25% of reptiles,…
Tags: 17000 animals, endangered species, extinction, extinction events, IUCN, Wildlife & Flora
Nature, Wildlife & Flora, Oct 1st, 2009,
Sadly, this is not just a tabloid heading predicting apocalyptic doom. Research conducted by Met Office scientists recently discovered that if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise, with no heavy attempts to lessen them or at least keep them under better control, then global warming will exceed 4 degrees by the end of the century. What does this mean? Different parts of the globe could warm up by 7 degrees or more; the Arctic is at risk of a 15 degree increase, while Africa could warm up by 10 degrees. At least half of the world will have an inadequate…
Tags: endangered species, extinction, Wildlife & Flora
Wildlife & Flora, Sep 17th, 2009,
Six degrees of separation may not be such a good thing for the animals of the Mediterranean. One out of every six Mediterranean mammals is threatened with extinction at the regional level. Out of 320 mammal species assessed for the IUCN Red List, 49 were threatened. This includes 20 species that are not found anywhere else in the world. To break this down even more, three percent are critically endangered, five percent are endangered and eight percent are vulnerable. According to IUCN expert Annabelle Cuttelod, “the number one threat is habitat destruction, which affects 90 percent of the threatened species”….
Tags: Climate change, endangered species, extinction, global warming
