Add another species to the long list of plants and animals being eaten out of existence so men can try to get it up in the bedroom.This time, instead of medically useless tiger penises or sea turtle eggs, it's an African plant called White's ginger ( Mondia whitei ), often wrongly referred to as "white ginger." It goes by many names in Africa, most notably mukombero in Kenya, where it is said that chewing the root of the plant or drinking it in tea form can boost virility and stamina in the bedroom"It never disappoints, my wife is one happy woman," one Kenyan man told Radio Netherlands Worldwide .
July 30, 2011 — John Platt
Frog legs are still an amazingly popular food item around the world, including here in the U.S. According to a new report, an average of 2,280 metric tons of frog legs are imported into this country each year—that's the equivalent of somewhere between 450 million and 1.1 billion frogs.
July 27, 2011 — John Platt
Whitebark pine ( Pinus albicaulis ) are at risk of extinction due to climate change and invasive species, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) declared on Monday, but the trees will not be added to the endangered species list because other as yet protected species are a "higher priority." (In other words, there's just not enough money to protect them at this time.)According to the FWS press release on the matter, "The Service will add the whitebark pine to the list of candidate species eligible for ESA protection and review its status annually.
July 21, 2011 — John Platt
Many smartphone applications are designed more for fun than substance (Angry Birds, anyone?), but a new app from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Bat Conservation Trust offers individuals and communities a chance to get involved in citizen science in a very real way and to help conserve bat populations in the process.The app is called iBats, named after the Indicator Bats Program, which got its start in Transylvania in 2006.
July 19, 2011 — John Platt
Conservation groups are reporting better than expected news on two rare leopard species, the critically endangered Amur leopard ( Panthera pardus orientalis ) in Russia and the endangered snow leopard ( P.
July 15, 2011 — John Platt
The 1988 arrival of viral hemorrhagic disease (VHD) in Spain devastated that country's European rabbit ( Oryctolagus cuniculus ) population and, in the process, possibly doomed the local species most adapted to hunt rabbit, the Iberian lynx ( Lynx pardinus ).The wildcat is now critically endangered, with an estimated 100 to 200 animals remaining in the wild.
July 12, 2011 — John Platt
The critically endangered wild Bactrian camel ( Camelus ferus ) is so rare and lives in such remote areas that it was only recognized (after a few years of scientific debate) as its own species in 2008, decades after China started using one of its few habitats, the the Lop Nur Desert, to test nuclear bombs.Amazingly, this two-humped camel appears to be no worse for wear following the tests, but now more humans are entering those once-remote areas.
July 7, 2011 — John Platt
How do you find out why a 1.5-meter-long endangered sea turtle is having epileptic fits? The first step is to find an MRI machine big enough to accommodate her not-so-ladylike girth.On June 25, "Snorkel," a 68-kilogram loggerhead sea turtle ( Caretta caretta ), traveled more than 500 kilometers from her home at National Marine Aquarium (NMA) in Plymouth, England, to Cheltenham Imaging Center, home of one the country's first open-bore MRI machines.
July 5, 2011 — John Platt
Earlier this month, scientists for the Pan African Sanctuaries Alliance presented new research that predicted the extinction of the Nigeria-Cameroon chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes ellioti ), the world's rarest chimpanzee subspecies, within as little as 20 years.
June 30, 2011 — John Platt
Not every story about endangered species is horrible. Sometimes there's some good news mixed in with the bad. Although none of these stories is worth dancing in the streets over, each nonetheless merits at least a little bit of celebration.
June 28, 2011 — John Platt
The thick, waterproof fur that once made the platypus ( Ornithorhynchus anatinus ) a valuable target for trappers may soon present another danger for the unique mammal: Australia could soon end up being too hot for the species to survive.Platypus fur is so warm and watertight that it insulates the semiaquatic animals from virtually all heat loss—an important function, because platypus spend up to 10 hours a day in 0 degree Celsius streams and rivers.
June 23, 2011 — John Platt
Coco the Hyacinth macaw ( Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus ), one of the last males of his species in Paraguay, has had a rough start. Since his birth nine years ago he has been captured from the wild by illegal parrot traders, rescued, placed into Paraguay's Asunción Zoo, and then stolen from there—a crime that turned him into such a media celebrity that the thieves could not sell him and decided to set him free.Now he's back at Asunción Zoo and looking for a mate.
June 22, 2011 — John Platt
The latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species includes an all-too-rare victory: The Arabian Oryx ( Oryx leucoryx ) has been upgraded from the Endangered category to Vulnerable.
June 17, 2011 — John Platt
The ri sing and often illegal trade in bushmeat—wild-caught animals, often threatened species such as primates, birds and elephants—threatens African biodiversity and could drive numerous species into extinction.
June 16, 2011 — John Platt
The already rare Yangtze finless porpoise ( Neophocaena phocaenoides asiaeorientalis ) faces an 80 percent drop in its population over the next 30 years, according to research by the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.Currently, around 1,000 of the freshwater porpoises live in China's Yangtze River and its surrounding lakes, down from 2,700 in 1991 and 2,000 in the year 2000.
June 8, 2011 — John Platt
All things to nothingness descend, Grow old and die and meet their end... Nor long shall any name resound Beyond the grave, unless 't be foundIn some clerk's book, it is the pen Gives immortality to men ...and rhinosThe Norman poet Master Wace wrote those words (well, all but the last line) in the 12th century, and I have long taken his message to heart.
June 7, 2011 — John Platt
More than 30 years after 50 critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals ( Monachus schauinslandi ) died of suspected algal toxic poisoning, the presence of ciguatoxins in living seals has finally been confirmed through a new, noninvasive test.Ciguatoxins are produced by dinoflagellates, which live near coral and seaweed.
June 2, 2011 — John Platt
One year after a mysterious epidemic wiped out 12,000 critically endangered saiga antelope ( Saiga tatarica ) in Kazakhstan, the ailment has struck there again, this time killing more than 400 animals.Kazakhstan Today reports that 442 saiga antelope—including 360 does and 82 calves—were found dead in May.
June 1, 2011 — John Platt
Around the world, frogs and other amphibians are disappearing due to habitat loss, climate change, pollution and the deadly chytrid fungus, which has already driven a few dozen species into extinction.
May 31, 2011 — John Platt
This year has already been the most successful breeding season to date for endangered North Island brown kiwis ( Apteryx mantelli ) at New Zealand's Pukaha Mount Bruce national wildlife center, and now the rangers who manage the program have an extra reason to celebrate: the May 1 birth of an extremely rare all-white kiwi.The bird, named Manukura by elders from the local Maori tribe, is not an albino.
May 24, 2011 — John Platt
