State of U.S. birds report is "'a clarion call to action"
The U.S. is home to an amazing 800 species of birds, but nearly a third of those species are endangered, threatened or in decline. That’s the news from “The U.S.
Stories by John Platt
Hawaii to pay farmers to grow endangered native species
Thanks to its status as the world's most isolated island chain, Hawaii boasts hundreds of species that don't exist anywhere else on Earth. But because of that isolation, and the threat caused by invasive species, Hawaii is also the endangered species capital of the world, with "more endangered species per square mile on these islands than any other place on the planet," according to the web site of Honolulu's Bishop Museum.State and federal officials are hoping to change that with a new program -- the first of its kind -- that will pay Hawaii farmers over the next 20 years to plant native species on unused portions of their land...
Quagga terror: Alien mussels in U.S. waters cause problems for other species
Individually, the quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) doesn't look like much. Barely the size of a human thumbnail, with a non-descript shell, most people probably wouldn't give a quagga mussel a second glance if they saw one in a lake or river...
Drop in endangered moapa dace populations subject of potential lawsuit
Moapa dace ( Moapa coriacea ) live in just a few warm springs in Nevada. For more than 40 years, this tiny fish have been protected under the Endangered Species Act.
Radio tagging to track Nepal's endangered gharials
One of the world's largest crocodilian species is also its rarest. With just a few hundred individuals left, the critically endangered gharial ( Gavialis gangeticus) faces an uncertain future in its remaining river habitats in India and Nepal...
Ecologists propose stopgap method to slow mysterious bat deaths
It's a condition as mysterious as it is deadly: white-nose syndrome (WNS), a bizarre fungal infection that has killed half a million bats in the U.S.
Last 100 Balkan lynx face possible extinction
Cat species don’t get much rarer than the Balkan lynx ( lynx lynx martinoi ). At most, 100 members of this critically endangered subspecies of the Eurasian lynx ( lynx lynx ) remain in the wilds of Macedonia and Albania, according to extensive surveys organized* by the Coordinated Research Projects for the Conservation and Management of Carnivores (KORA), based in Switzerland...
Could the financial crisis mean more danger for elephants?
The number of African elephants ( Loxodonta africana and Loxodonta cyclotis ) poached in Kenya's Tsavo National Park more than doubled last year, from 48 in 2007 to 98 in 2008, according to the Kenya Wildlife Service -- numbers the likes of which have not been seen since the poaching crisis of the 1980s garnered the international support that made a 1989 ban possible...
"Doomsday Vault" aims to save the world's crops from extinction
What would happen if disease, global warming or invasive insects wiped out a nation's crops (as seems to be happening in Liberia right now)? Would vital crop species go extinct?
Salt marsh mouse: An endangered species becomes a stimulus scapegoat
The salt marsh harvest mouse ( Reithrodontomys raviventris ) has been on the Endangered Species List since 1970. So why, after all of this time, has it gotten so much media attention in the last few weeks?...
Artificial uterus could save grey nurse shark from extinction
Plenty of species have been observed eating their own young. Still other species see their young competing for resources, so only the strongest survive.
Can the last 20 Christmas Island pipistrelle bats be saved? Ask Midnight Oil's former lead singer
Collectively, the world's last 20 Christmas Island pipistrelle bats ( Pipistrellus murrayi ) weigh less than a fifth of a pound (around 60 grams). That's not much mass for any species – let alone one on the razor's edge of extinction...
Big win for a tiny endangered species, the American pika
The rabbit-like American pika ( Ochotona princeps ) got lucky this week. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, responding to a lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity and Earthjustice, has agreed to assess whether the increasingly rare animal qualifies for protection under the Endangered Species Act...
Salamanders slipping away, global warming may be to blame
Biologists report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences this week that they were unable to find a pair of previously common Guatemalan salamander species -- Pseudoeurycea brunnata and Pseudoeurycea goebeli -- and say they are apparently extinct...
Coral reefs: Vital to the oceans, vital to humans
Coral reefs are dying off at record rates, thanks to pollution, disease and global warming. Scientists worldwide are trying to come up with new ideas to conserve and protect not just the coral reefs, but also the biodiversity and human economies that depend upon them for their survival...
After 1,000 years, the milu returns to the wild
Few species have come as close to extinction as the milu ( Elaphurus davidianus ) and survived. For centuries, the rare Chinese animal, also known as Père David's deer, has existed only in captivity...
Hello again, Pyrenean ibex: Can cloning resurrect an extinct species?
The last Pyrenean ibex (Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica) died nine years ago, the victim of loneliness (and a falling tree). But for a brief, seven-minute window, the extinct species may have recently been resurrected, thanks to cloning...
Who will stand up for the prairie dog as their populations shrink?
Yesterday was Groundhog Day, but what about Prairie Dog Day?
The prairie dog—the "groundhog of the West"—could use a little attention these days.
