Biodiversity

"Suriname’s Saamaka Maroons still grow rice from seeds an ancestor escaping from a plantation carried in her hair. Now a gene bank seeks to widen use of the rare species to help fight the climate crisis".

"With confirmed or suspected cases in two Antarctic penguin species, researchers fear highly contagious virus could rip through colonies".

"Nine species could soon find themselves on federal threatened or endangered species list, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says."

"With wingspans over a metre and an insatiable love for fruit and nectar, grey-headed flying foxes have settled in massive numbers across South Australia".

"On a warm day last spring, dozens of protesters gathered outside a shopping center on the west side of Hawaii’s Big Island. They weren’t there to boycott a store or a pipeline or to deride a politician. They came to revolt against a new ban on feeding cats in the parking lot. “Stop starving the cats,” the protesters chanted, according to a local newspaper."

"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Thursday finalized their strategy on the protection of endangered North Atlantic right whales in the offshore wind power development process."

"Scientists have made history by successfully transferring a rhinoceros embryo for the first time, conservationists announced Wednesday, an achievement that could help save the embattled species from the growing threat of poachers."

"The Americas’ smallest wild cat, the guina (Leopardus guigna), is superbly adapted to its home range in Chile and Argentina. But the region is severely affected by deforestation and increasing human population, putting the cat’s future at risk."

"Populations of wild pigs are crashing due to the spread of African swine fever (ASF), threatening the livelihoods of millions who depend on them for food, researchers warn. With a fatality rate of almost 100%, ASF has swept across Asia, Europe and Africa, devastating domestic and wild pig populations over the past 10 to 20 years."

"A new rule imposing penalties for migratory bird killings associated with energy development, construction, and poaching is unlikely to be proposed by the Interior Department before the end of the current presidential term, legal experts say."