endangered species Archives - Page 3 of 7

The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world

Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do

Lisa S. French

Back in Black—and Orange: California Monarchs

1-minute read

If you’re in need of some good news this week, we’re happy to oblige with a hopeful update from the Pacific Grove monarch butterfly sanctuary in Northern California. Since the 1980s, the number of monarchs west of the Rockies has dropped by an alarming 99%. In 2019, as reported by the Washington Post, there were zero sightings at the sanctuary. Zero. This year, observers counted 2,500 monarchs in the pollinator’s Pacific Grove migratory rest stop. That’s good news, indeed!

While the 2021 sightings aren’t a guarantee of more monarchs to come, taking action to make the planet more hospitable for butterflies by increasing pollinator habitat, reducing pesticide use, and combating climate change will improve the odds of long-term recovery. If you’d like to help ensure that monarch butterflies east or west are back to stay, here are some make-it-better organizations offering handy tools to enable you to lend a hand with monitoring and mapping the migration of the winged beauties across the United States:

And if you’d like to attract monarchs as well as other pollinators to your personal patch, we’re firm believers in the plant-it-and-they-will-come paradigm. You can find useful info on how to garden to increase biodiversity by cultivating habitats in your backyard, front yard, side yard, or window box here. Because whatever else is going on in the world, and something’s always going on, it’s better with butterflies. Just ask our in-house butterfly gardeners, Frankie and Peaches.

To encourage budding young pollinator gardeners in your school or neighborhood, you can order milkweed seeds from Save Our Monarchs to hand out as a special butterfly-saving treat this spooky season and year-round. Wishing you a happily hair-raising Halloween!

…

Lisa S. French October 23, 2021

The Prophecy of the Manatee

2.5-minute read

What does the manatee, Florida’s beloved native marine mammal, have to teach us about the importance of maintaining healthy coastal ecosystems? As recent environmental events indicate, quite a lot. A keystone species, the gentle, slow-moving occupants of the Sunshine State’s rivers, marshes, and lagoons are sensitive to environmental stressors that impact the normal functioning of their underwater world. Although manatees have few natural enemies, harmful changes in water quality have become a matter of life and death for the iconic animals—alerting us to the fragility of marine ecosystems.

Manatees, a.k.a sea cows, need two things to stay comfortably in the swim: access to warm water (at least 68°F) and a whole lot of vegetation to eat. The 1,000-pound animals can consume up to 10% of their body weight a day in plant matter, primarily seagrass. Because manatees don’t have blubber to keep them warm like whales and dolphins, the colder the water, the more calories they need to survive. The seagrass that manatees depend on for the bulk of their diet, in turn, depends on sunlight for photosynthesis.

As reported in Science, 761 manatees wintering in one Florida lagoon died of starvation in 2021 due to a shortage of seagrass. Because massive algal blooms resulting from excess nitrogen and phosphorous in the water prevented sunlight from reaching carbon-storing seagrass beds, the plants that support manatees, as well as sea turtles, fish, crustaceans, and mollusks, failed to reproduce. Although Florida manatee numbers have doubled from 3300 in 2001 to close to 7000 in 2021 thanks to protective legislation, last winter’s die-off represents a gut-wrenching 10% loss of the marine mammal’s population.

In addition to struggling to survive the algal blooms that diminish life-supporting seagrass, manatees, and other marine life, are facing the environmental effects of toxic red tides that are increasing in size and duration due to rising ocean temperatures. Between 2017 and 2018, an estimated 200 manatees died from ingesting and inhaling the neurotoxic algae from a year-long red tide event.

Despite the manatee’s status as a protected species, as with many living creatures, its capacity to adapt to adverse environmental and climate impacts is limited. The fate of the manatee and other marine animals rests on protecting and restoring life-supporting habitat. Changes to the population and well-being of the silent marine sentinels speak volumes about the health of coastal ecosystems and marine biologists and conservationists are paying close attention. They’re developing strategies to provide manatees with adequate food supplies and warm-water sanctuaries when temperatures drop and promoting policies that will help to improve water quality year-round in a rapidly warming world.

To find out how you can become a citizen scientist and help make coastal ecosystems user-friendly for the magnificent manatee and other aquatic creatures, check out this fact-sheet from the University of Florida, which includes tips on how to reduce nutrient runoff and the next right thing to do if you come across a manatee in distress.

Wherever you are in the world, if you’re looking for another great reason to head to the beach, the Ocean Conservancy has more bright ideas on how to participate in the global mission to combat water pollution by starting a local trash cleanup. And for ten simple ways to help power the pristine by reducing your plastic footprint stop by the World Wildlife Fund. Planet tidying—good for water, good for people, good for wildlife.

…

Lisa S. French June 17, 2021

Zebras: Snazzy-Suited Insect Repellers

1.5-minute read

It would be understandable if the zebra’s fellow savanna dwellers experienced pelt envy. The wild horses’ intricate black and white coat patterning is an extraordinary sight to behold. According to researchers at the University of California at Davis, there is more to the snazzy fur of the African equine than meets the eye. After a century of stripe speculation, scientists studying how differences in color and pattern help species adapt to their natural environment have concluded that the zebra’s markings aren’t just good-looking—they’re functional, signaling pesky biting flies to bug off.

So how do zebra stripes repel insects? As it turns out, dreaded blood-sucking, disease-carrying tsetse, stable, and horse flies are fairly picky when it comes to landing sites. They are far less likely to land on black and white striped surfaces than either all white or all black surfaces. And the greater the number and the narrower the stripes, the fewer the insect attacks. Researchers discovered that zebras in regions of Africa with more flies had more and thinner stripes, especially on the vulnerable face and legs where flies bite while the animals graze.

You may be wondering why zebras, in particular, evolved to develop insect-repelling markings. Biologists believe that because zebras have shorter and thinner fur than many other horse species, nature may have equipped the African equine with the extra protection of stripes to help increase its odds of survival on the savannas.

Even with built-in bug protection, zebras will need ongoing assistance from their friends to keep prettifying the planet. There are currently three species of stripey-suited wild horses roaming the African continent: the plains, mountain, and endangered Grevy’s zebras. As a result of habitat loss, poaching, disease, competition for food, and lack of access to water, Grevy’s populations have declined from 15,000 in the 1970s to only 3,000 across Kenya and Ethiopia. You can find out how conservationists are working to prevent the extinction of one of Africa’s largest remaining land animals and how you can pitch in to help at Grevy’s Zebra Trust and Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

What else this week? June 4th and 5th, 2021, kick off the Virtual Launch Gala for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration—a global rallying cry to heal the planet. Can we get a determined woohoo for getting out there to reimagine, restore, and recreate healthy ecosystems? Generation restoration—heck yeah!

And on the local-to-FWP front, for the very first time, Cornell University scientists have recorded humpbacks singing in the waters off New York City. Have a listen to their haunting whale songs—goosebumps! Happy to have you, big fellas—be careful out there!

…

Lisa S. French June 4, 2021

Endangered Species Day: Say Hello to the Hairy-Nosed Wombat

2.5-minute read

We think one of the best ways to honor Endangered Species Day (May 21) is to increase awareness of the most precious wild creatures remaining on our planet because we believe that to know them is to love them and to love them is to protect them. So, to aid the conservation of a rare one, we’d like to introduce you to the critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat. A species is classified as critically endangered if its population has declined by at least 90%. At last count, there were only 250 of the iconic Australian marsupials left in the wild. Although conservation scientists are working diligently to prevent the hairy-nosed wombat’s extinction, the cuddly-looking critter remains one of the most at-risk animals on Earth.

For your ESD information, here’s a wombat what’s what:

Claim to fame:
In addition to having an unusually furry snout, the northern hairy-nosed wombat is the largest, plant-eating, burrowing mammal on Earth. The average weight of an adult wombat is about 70lbs—roughly the same weight as a golden retriever. Now, that’s a big digger! By comparison, a burrowing groundhog weighs only 9 lbs.

Aboriginal name:
When the Dharug people of southeast Australia first came across the short-legged, bear-like marsupial, they christened the animal wambad, which officially evolved into wombat in 1798. Although they’ve also been called native badgers and native bears, we think they definitely have more of a wambad look about them.

Preferred Hangout:
Underground. Wombats are expert excavators, digging 70 to 100 ft of tunnels, 10 to 13 ft below the earth with multiple entrances for easy access. The northern hairy-nosed wombat’s burrowing habitat once spanned parts of New South Wales and Queensland, but now they can only be found in Epping Forest National Park and Richard Underwood Nature Refuge in Queensland. However, their reduced range hasn’t stopped the wombats from digging in—they’ve tunneled out 470 burrows in their Epping Forest habitat.

Social style:
The nocturnal hairy-nosed wombat is a social distancing specialist, spending about 70% of burrow time on its lonesome. In 1300 hours of video recorded in Epping Park, there were only 12 social interactions. Although wombats occasionally burrow hop, they prefer home base, avoid unfamiliar situations and aren’t particularly chatty. When the introverted marsupials do vocalize, they communicate through whispery squeaks. You can listen to the cautious chittering of the common wombat here.

Favorite foods:
The wombat might look a bit like a bear, but it eats like a bunny—90% of its diet is grasses.

Special skills:
What’s good for the wombat is good for healthy ecosystems. Burrowers help to improve soil quality and plant diversity and create habitats for other endangered animals like wallabies, echidnas, and bettongs.

Why they need TLC:
Between 1870 and 1920, the northern hairy-nosed wombat was nearly wiped out. Researchers believe that their burrows were destroyed to eliminate pests that inhabited their tunnel system. Habitat loss, invasive species, and competition for food resulting from worsening drought continue to take a toll on the critically endangered animals.

How to help:
Like many of Australia’s amazing species, wombats need help to survive the increasing threats of climate change and habitat loss. If you would like to find out how you can support the work of scientists and volunteers dedicated to ensuring the northern hairy-nosed wombat can tunnel on, visit the good people at The Wombat Foundation.

To learn more about the status of threatened wildlife globally, check out the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List—the world’s most comprehensive source of information for endangered flora and fauna. For a compelling overview of where we are on the wildlife conservation front and where we’re headed, we highly recommend The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.

And because we’d like to leave you with some hopeful news, you can learn about a bold initiative launched by Leonardo DiCaprio to restore some of the planet’s rarest species at re:wild.org. The other good news is you don’t have to be a celebrity to help protect and preserve wildlife. You can find local ESD events, educational material, and more recommended reads at Endangered.org. Then head on over to World Wildlife Fund to sponsor a favorite creature year-round. Until we get Endangered Species Day off the calendar, it’s all hands on deck.

…

Lisa S. French May 21, 2021

Survival of the Friendliest

1-minute read

Much has been written about the stress-reducing, joy-inducing power of human friendship. In good times and in bad, positive social interactions can provide a life-affirming sense of community and belonging. In addition to being psychologically restorative, the company of trusted friends has also been proven to reduce the risk of health problems and increase longevity.

Researchers studying whether members of the animal kingdom experience similar benefits from sociability have determined that for adult female giraffes being friendly is also more than just a nice idea—it’s a lifesaver. Compared with other environmental factors (food sources and distance from towns), chewing cud and slurping savanna water in familiar and amiable company is critical to their survival.

And just how do giraffes configure friendships to increase their lifespan? Do the endearingly long-necked animals benefit more from having exclusive besties, or do they gain a greater advantage from mixing and mingling within a larger group? According to a January 2021 study, it appears that female giraffes that are more gregarious and form stable associations with at least three other group members, live longer. Similar to human friendship groups, giraffes that connect with other members of their community (known as a tower) may experience life as more predictable and less stressful. And faced with ongoing environmental change, compared to lone roamers, giraffes inclined towards sisterhood also benefit from cooperative calve care and the sharing of important knowledge about the location of food and predators. When it comes to survival in the Serengeti, it looks like sticking your neck out and being gir-affable results in a life-extending payoff.

As the world turns, if you’re feeling more sociable today, and you’ve got a bit of a spring in your step, it could be because March 20th marks the vernal equinox. Or perhaps you’re particularly chirpy this Saturday because it also happens to be World Sparrow Day. You can learn more about how to keep the little brown fellows flying from the Audubon Society. Now that’s something to tweet about, friends!

…

Lisa S. French March 20, 2021

Saving Lions with Solar Lights

1.5-minute read

Clever farmers in Kenya are lighting up the night for the love of lions. Because the big cats need big meals to maintain their body weight, which ranges from 280 pounds for females and up to 450 pounds for males, they are always on the prowl for large prey. In areas where people have settled in close proximity to increasingly fragmented wildlife habitats, lions are roaming into farm communities in search of food, leading to conflict that is contributing to the decline of the iconic African animals. Working alongside conservationists, livestock keepers around Nairobi National Park are implementing a simply ingenious strategy to help lions and farmers peacefully co-exist—the installation of flashing solar lights around livestock enclosures.

The bright idea was originally devised by an 11-year-old school student determined to find a non-violent method to discourage lions from helping themselves to the farm animals that his family depended on for survival. Since lions have learned to associate flashlights with life-endangering night patrols, they steer clear of light-protected enclosures. Now, a growing number of farm communities are successfully employing the light-fright-based technique to protect their livestock. By installing continuously flickering solar-powered LED flashlight bulbs around animal pens, participating farmers were able to reduce night raids by 96%. At a time when lion populations are in decline (43% over 21 years), this is roaring good news.

Paying careful attention to how lions interact with their environment enabled livestock farmers to come up with a simple solution to one of the sticky problems that can arise when humans and wild animals occupy the same space. Local communities and conservationists are continuing to explore innovative ways to live in harmony with wildlife, united in the common purpose of maintaining the healthy functioning of ecosystems and preserving Africa’s precious, natural heritage. Good for people, good for wildlife, good for the planet.

…

Lisa S. French March 2, 2021

Wildlife Love Action Alert

1-minute read

If you’ve been busy meditating on the possibility of potentially contemplating a plan to consider thinking about eventually exercising in 2021, we’ve got just the thing to help you separate from the sofa and combat the midwinter slumpies—love!

This Valentine’s Day, you can show your passion for the wild ones by participating in the World Wildlife Fund’s virtual Race for Love on Sunday, February 14th. Whether you’re a treadmill warrior or a cross country champion, thanks to the miracle of technology, you can run a socially distanced 5K, 10K, or half-marathon and experience the vibe of a live race in real time. Running solo or as part of a team, every step you take will help to protect and preserve some of our planet’s most precious inhabitants—and the places they roam. You can register for the WWF Race for Love here.

And if you need some inspiration to shake a leg, or two, channel the cheetah! Built for speed, the beautiful, fleet-footed feline is able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in three seconds and run as fast as 70-75 mph in short bursts. Now, don’t be discouraged if you can’t match the stride of the fastest land animal on Earth. The cheetah’s competitive advantage is due in part to its small head, long limbs, super-flexible spine, and oversized heart and lungs.

Sadly, the cheetah is Africa’s most endangered big cat. Extinct in 25 countries, there are currently only 7,100 left in the wild. By supporting WWF, you can take action to help keep them on the move! For the love of the cheetah and all of the feathered and furry, we hope you’ll join us on February 14th and get up out of your seat and run around.

…

Lisa S. French January 25, 2021

Welcome Little Big Whales

1.5-minute read

In the how-about-some-hopeful-news category, two baby bright spots have appeared in the Atlantic Ocean, helping to dispel a bit of the 2020 gloom. As recently reported by CNN, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has announced dual special deliveries. North Atlantic right whales, 13-year-old Chiminea, and 16-year-old Millipede have successfully given birth and been observed swimming alongside their newborn calves off of the coasts of Georgia and Florida.

At a time when the small remaining population of fewer than 400 North Atlantic right whales is struggling to survive, these two youngsters are very welcome additions to their pod. According to an April 2020 study from universities in Denmark and Australia, the critically endangered species has been declining at a rate of about 1% a year. The two biggest threats to the rare animals are ship strikes and entanglement in fishing gear. In one year alone, between November 2016 and November 2017, 17 juvenile and adult whales died from strikes and entanglements. More than 83% of North Atlantic right whales carry scars from getting caught in fishing gear.

Scientists aiming to come up with strategies to keep northern right whales safely in the swim have been analyzing how their health and environmental conditions compare to those of the growing populations of tens of thousands of Southern right whales (pictured above) in Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.

Although right whales can grow up to 50 feet long and weigh up to 140,000 pounds, North Atlantic right whales are significantly smaller, have less blubber, and are in poorer overall condition compared to southern whales. Researchers believe that the reduced body size is negatively impacting resilience and female whales’ ability to support their calves. Northern right whales only give birth every seven years, while southern whales reproduce about every three years. Not a single northern whale was born between 2017 and 2018.

The primary difference between the two populations is the location. Southern right whales live in remote environments while their northern relatives occupy heavily developed coastal areas with some of the world’s busiest and noisiest shipping lanes. As oceans warm due to climate change, North Atlantic right whales follow their food supplies into cooler waters and higher traffic areas leading to strikes. In light of the daily challenges to the animals’ existence, the birth of two healthy calves is all the more remarkable. Well done, ladies!

It’s clear that North Atlantic right whales are going to need additional support to increase their chances for survival. You can learn more about the ongoing efforts to keep one of the planet’s largest mammals out of harm’s way from the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium.

…

Lisa S. French December 15, 2020

The Platypus: You Could Even Say It Glows

1.5-minute read

As quirky creatures go, the platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) is a pretty tough act to follow. The web-footed, duck-billed, paddle-tailed, venom-producing water dweller is one of only five egg-laying mammals on Earth. Although the ancient, semi-aquatic oddity has been paddling around the streams, lakes, and lagoons of eastern Australia for around 110 million years, researchers have only recently discovered another unusual platypus-ian trait—biofluorescence. Platypus fur contains special proteins that absorb sunlight and re-emit it as a blue-green glow under ultraviolet (UV) light.

Why the need for built-in brightness? Because the platypus is primarily active at night, scientists believe its biofluorescence could be an adaptation to the murky, low-light underwater world it inhabits. By absorbing rather than reflecting UV light, the fluorescent fur of the platypus may help keep it hidden from the prying eyes of predators with UV sensitive vision. Navigating in stealth mode could be especially important to the animal’s survival, given that it closes its eyes and ears underwater and can’t see or hear when trouble is headed its way.

While St. Nick’s reindeer could probably do with a break, it looks like he won’t be hitching a submersible sleigh to a team of platypuses anytime soon. Unlike Rudolph’s blinking, bright-red nose, the nocturnal animal’s blue-green fluorescence isn’t visible to the naked human eye.

You may also be interested to learn that the platypus doesn’t glow it alone. Fluorescent substances that emit light in shades of yellow, green, red, blue, and pink have also been found in the bones, fur, and skin of birds, reptiles, amphibians, and other night critters, including the flying squirrel, which glows hot pink and the water opossum, which glows purple.

Blue platypuses, pink flying squirrels, and purple opossums! We might have to spring for a UV flashlight!

…

Lisa S. French December 7, 2020

Charmingly Chubby Champion

1.5-minute read

We’ve got some exciting news about an important election! Forest & Bird, one of New Zealand’s leading independent conservation organizations, have announced the results of the 2020 Bird of the Year contest. The winner is—drumroll please—one of our favorite birds Down Under, and the world’s only flightless parrot, the charismatic, critically endangered kākāpō. Take a bow your royal feathered green-ness—no bird waddles quite like you!

Once widespread across New Zealand, the parrot’s populations have been decimated by habitat loss and the introduction of invasive predators. Although the number of kākāpōs has been increasing from a low of just 18 birds in 1977, according to the IUCN, there are currently only 209 on the planet.

The slow-moving, ground-dwelling kākāpō can live up to 95 years, given a fighting chance. Scientists continue to work intensely to save the rare species from extinction through captive breeding and identification and protection of safe habitat. The ultimate goal of conservationists is to establish a self-sustaining population of the beloved birds as part of a healthy island ecosystem.

You can learn more about the kākāpō and all of the beautiful Bird of the Year contestants here.

On a related creature-conservation note, if you’d like to help bee the change, through November 30th, non-profits, schools, and community organizations in the U.S. can apply to the Bee Conservancy through their Sponsor-A-Hive program for a custom bee house to host mason, leafcutter, and carpenter bees. While spring may seem a long way off, flowering plants in need of pollination will be popping up before you know it!

And since it is Monday, we leave you with a sweet, soothing dose of musical sunshine to help ease you into your week.

Wherever you are in the world, stay safe and be well.

…

Lisa S. French November 16, 2020