2009 was the deadliest year on record for Florida panthers ( Felis concolor coryi ) and manatees ( Trichechus manatus ), two endangered species that most often lose their lives when their habitats collide with that of humans.A record high 17 panthers were struck by vehicles and killed in Florida last year, two deaths above the previous high set in 2007...
The deadly, contagious cancer that puts Tasmanian devils ( Sarcophilus harrisii ) at risk of extinction may have originated in another species, according to research published Thursday in the journal Science ...
Like looking for a needle in an entire field of haystacks, volunteers and scientists will fan out across Europe, Africa and Asia this winter to try to find a rare bird species that has not been seen in nearly a decade...
The last Indochinese tiger in China was killed and eaten by a man who has now been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his crime.
The Indochinese tiger (also known as Corbett's tiger or Panthera tigris corbetti ) is an endangered tiger subspecies that used to live in China, but now only exists in Cambodia, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam, where it remains under heavy threat from poachers...
Four of the world's last eight surviving northern white rhinos ( Ceratotherium simum cottoni ) are now living in Africa for the first time in decades as part of a last-ditch effort to save the subspecies from extinction.Only eight northern white rhinos exist in the world, all in captivity until recently...
Conservationist Jeff Corwin is known for often bringing a goofy passion to his television projects for Animal Planet and other networks. His latest effort displays no less passion, but switches out most of the jokes for gravitas...
Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. But if we're not careful, his reindeer could soon be nothing more than a myth.
Climate change has put quite a toll on Santa's herd over the last 40 years...
Could a plan to build a 2.5-mile-long airfield in Okinawa, Japan, doom a rare manateelike species to extinction? That's the assertion of more than 400 environmental organizations (pdf), which recently sent a letter to President Obama urging him to cancel the plans to expand Camp Schwab, a U.S...
As if it weren't bad enough that 99.9 percent of Asian vultures have been killed off in the past 20 years, now comes news that yet another potential man-made disaster waits in the wings.Millions of Asian vultures, particularly those in India, have died off over the last two decades after being poisoned by the veterinary drug diclofenac...
Poaching and habitat loss have caused populations of Siberian tigers ( Panthera tigris altaica ) to drop as much as 40 percent in the past 12 years, according to a new report from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).Also known as Amur tigers, Siberians are the largest of the six living tiger species...
The net worth of Indonesia's 40 richest men has doubled to $42 billion in the past year, driven in no small part by the growing demand for palm oil, according to Forbes magazine's annual examination of the country's top richest people.Global demand for palm oil is now more than 40 million tons per year, making it "central to the economies of Malaysia and Indonesia," according to the Jakarta Globe .Palm oil is a common ingredient in many processed foods...
Cats can get the H1N1 virus. So can dogs, ferrets and (obviously) pigs. But what about endangered species like giant pandas ( Ailuropoda melanoleuca )?
The world's deadliest cattle disease could be wiped off the face of the planet in the next 18 months, according to a report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)...
I usually write about species that we're about to see for the last time, but the past few weeks have brought news of literally hundreds of newly discovered species.
For nearly 20 years, the critically endangered Siamese crocodile ( Crocodylus siamensis ) has been considered nearly extinct in the wild, victimized by habitat loss and poaching.
It has been 22 years since the last 22 California condors ( Gymnogyps californianus ) were collected from the wild and placed in captive breeding programs.
The common skate ( Dipturus batis ), a type of ray, isn't common at all. The rare fish species is already critically endangered, but now new research indicates that the common skate is actually two species, so both are more at risk than previously thought.According to a paper to be published this week in the journal Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems , the common skate is really two similar-looking species, the flapper skate ( D...
Bluefin tuna fishing in the Atlantic will be reduced nearly 40 percent in 2010, but will that be enough to save this threatened species from extinction?
The rarest of the nine giraffe subspecies, the West African giraffe ( Giraffa camelopardalis peralta ), almost didn't make it to the 21st century. After years of being poached and losing habitat to development, only 50 of these animals were left in Niger in 1996, and the subspecies's future seemed bleak...
Every time you open a can of tuna, an albatross dies.Okay, that's not exactly true, but albatrosses and other seabirds are increasingly endangered by commercial tuna fishing, according to a new report from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and BirdLife International...
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