Posted by Nepal marks 2 yrs since last rhino poached on Mon, 23 May 2016 19:39 | #

    ICYMI: Nepal is celebrating an amazing two consecutive years of zero rhino poaching!

    Nepal marked two consecutive years since its last rhino was poached on 2 May 2014

Posted by Amphibian die off on Sun, 26 Jun 2016 04:19 | #

       
        Red Bellied Newt

Radio National Australia, “The decline of amphibians - we’re witnessing a mass extinction”, 2016:

Twenty years ago, the world was caught unaware as a die-off of amphibians took hold across the planet. Amphibians are the most endangered group of animals. Today, 47% of described species are in decline. Amphibians play vital roles in the environment. They control insects, and are food for birds and reptiles. And they offer us important information based on their biochemistry. Three researchers describe the problem including the increasingly important role of zoos and museums as amphibians slowly disappear.

Posted by Endangerd species decision process on Wed, 27 Jul 2016 19:12 | #

Planet experts, “New Policy Changes Endangered Species Decision Process”, 26 July 2016:

By: Center for Biological Diversity

WASHINGTON— In a move that will condemn uncharismatic, little-studied species to greater risk of extinction, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service finalized a new methodology for prioritizing decisions on whether species petitioned by citizens and conservation groups warrant protection under the Endangered Species Act. The Service claims the policy, which places species into one of five categories or “bins,” is intended to provide clarity and transparency as the agency evaluates nearly 500 plants and animals backlogged for protection decisions. But in practice the policy will leave species vulnerable to extinction when limited information is available about them, or when conservation efforts or new science is underway but not completed.

Posted by Remember the Rhino on Tue, 20 Jun 2017 09:30 | #

    Close to the edge: Remembering Rhinos interview https://goo.gl/bD6d7t

Posted by most eligible bachelor on Tue, 27 Jun 2017 00:42 | #

 
Meet Sudan: ‘The most eligible bachelor in the world’ and last male northern white rhino”

    https://goo.gl/sHmfDF

Posted by Green-haired Turtle on Fri, 13 Apr 2018 10:54 | #

Guardian, “Green-haired turtle that breathes through its genitals added to endangered list”, 11 April 2018:

With its punky green mohican the striking Mary river turtle joins a new ZSL list of the world’s most vulnerable reptiles

The Mary River turtle, found in Queensland, Australia, features on a new list of the most vulnerable reptile species on the planet. Photograph: Chris Van Wyk/ZSL/PA

It sports a green mohican, fleshy finger-like growths under its chin and can breathe through its genitals.

The 40cm long turtle, which is only found on the Mary river in Queensland, features in a new list of the most vulnerable reptile species compiled by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

Despite the turtle’s punk appearance – derived from vertical strands of algae that also grow on its body – its docile nature made it historically popular as a pet.

Gill-like organs within its cloaca – an orifice used by reptiles for excretion and mating – enable it to stay underwater for up to three days, but it was unable to hide from the pet collectors who raided its nests during the 1960s and 1970s.

The turtle is placed at 30th on ZSL’s Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (Edge) list for reptiles. First established in 2007, Edge lists have previously been published for amphibians, birds, corals and mammals, helping guide conservation priorities for 100 most at-risk species. Each species is given a score which combines extinction risk with its evolutionary isolation or uniqueness, with the latest list supported by a study in the journal Plos One.

Top of the list is the Madagascar big-headed turtle, which has an Edge score higher than that of any other amphibian, bird or mammal, and is still taken for food and global trade.

Other unusual and endangered species include the Round Island keel-scaled boa from Mauritius, a snake which is the only terrestrial vertebrate known to have a hinged upper jaw; the minute leaf chameleon from Madagascar which is the size of a human thumbnail; and the gharial, a slender-snouted fish-eating freshwater crocodile. Less than 235 gharial survive in the rivers of northern India and Nepal.

The Mary river turtle is one of the most striking creatures on the planet, and it is also one of the most endangered.

Rikki Gumbs, co-ordinator of Edge reptiles, said: “Reptiles often receive the short end of the stick in conservation terms, compared with the likes of birds and mammals. However, the Edge reptiles list highlights just how unique, vulnerable and amazing these creatures really are.”

He added: “Just as with tigers, rhinos and elephants, it is vital we do our utmost to save these unique and too often overlooked animals. Many Edge reptiles are the sole survivors of ancient lineages, whose branches of the tree of life stretch back to the age of the dinosaurs. If we lose these species there will be nothing like them left on Earth.”

Posted by endangered rhino artificially inseminated on Wed, 26 Jun 2019 12:19 | #

New hope to save the rhino as fertilised embryo is implanted in female in the first successful IVF treatment for the endangered species.


Female southern white rhino, 17-year-old Hope, is shot with tranquillising darts, so a team of experts can harvest her eggs, at a zoo park in Chorzow, Poland.

By EMER SCULLY FOR DAILY MAIL, PUBLISHED: 13:04 BST, 25 June 2019 | UPDATED: 12:15 BST, 26 June 2019:

- Southern white rhino at Chorzow Zoo in Poland was implanted with an embryo

- Only two female northern white rhinos are left after last male died May 2018

- It is not yet known whether implantation will result in a successful pregnancy

- Scientists hope successful IVF could help revive the endangered species

The almost extinct northern white rhino sub-species could be saved after scientists successfully transferred an embryo in to a female of the same species.

A southern white rhino at Chorzow Zoo in Poland was implanted with the test tube embryo last month to test scientists’ theory they could use frozen sperm samples from several males to revive the northern sub-species.

Only two northern white rhinos — both females — are left, after the last male northern white rhino, names Sudan, died in March last year.

Scientists have chosen to test an IVF transfer on southern white rhinos, a closely related sub-species to see if the northern white rhino can be saved.

Thomas Hildebrandt of the Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research in Berlin said: ‘This is the first positive proof that the entire procedure we’ve developed in theory can be successful.’

Hildebrandt cautioned that while ultrasound tests show the embryo transferred at Chorzow Zoo has grown, it is smaller than expected.

It is not yet known whether it will implant in the mother’s uterine lining and result in a pregnancy.   

The BioRescue team is now waiting for permission from the Kenyan government to harvest eggs from the final two surviving female northern white rhinos — a mother and daughter called Najin and Fatu.

They are unable to bear offspring themselves so once the embryos are fertilised they would be implanted in a southern white rhino surrogate mother.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE

RELATED ARTICLES

Previous

Climate change protester who super-glued himself to a city…

Rhino poachers are killed by a goat: Two men die when their…

Posted by White Rhino on Wed, 11 Sep 2019 13:49 | #

“Today we achieved an important milestone”: Scientists have successfully created the first embryos of the near-extinct northern white rhino. https://qz.com/africa/1707103/ via
@qzafrica

Posted by Rainbow Snake not seen since 1969 on Tue, 25 Feb 2020 23:56 | #

A rare, ‘cryptic’ rainbow snake was spotted in a Florida forest for the first time since 1969

USA TODAY

Jordan Culver, USA TODAY. February 25:

A rare, ‘cryptic’ rainbow snake was spotted in a Florida forest for the first time since 1969

In a state constantly dealing with animals it wants gone — like pythons and green iguanas — someone found something rare.

A Florida hiker discovered a rainbow snake (Farancia erytrogramma) last week in Ocala National Forest, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s Wildlife Research Institute.

It’s the first time a rainbow snake has been spotted in Florida’s Marion County since 1969, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.

The snake, also known as an “eel moccasin,” specializes in eating eels. According to FWC, it is rarely seen, even by those who study reptiles and amphibians “due to their cryptic habits.”