While waiting for colleagues at a small natural history museum in the state of Chiapas, Mexico last year, Cornell paleontologist Greg Dietl chanced upon a discovery that has helped rewrite the evolutionary history of crabs and the shelled mollusks upon which they preyed.
The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth have developed a new scientific model that accurately maps where coral reefs are in the most trouble and identifies regions where reefs can be protected best.
Researchers say fishing disrupts age structure, making regulation difficult
Using a lowly bloodless worm, University of Maryland researchers have discovered an important clue to how iron carried in human blood is absorbed and transported into the body. The finding could lead to developing new ways to reduce iron deficiency, the world's number one nutritional disorder.
Using data from thousands of species of lemurs, frogs, geckos, butterflies, ants, and plants, scientists from the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society, University of California, Berkeley and other organizations have completed an analytical colossus for Madagascar that will guide future conservation efforts.
According to a report released today by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), several species of rare waterbirds from Cambodia's famed Tonle Sap region have staged remarkable comebacks, thanks to a project involving a single team of park rangers to provide 24-hour protection to breeding colonies.
Scientists are tracking elephants using satellite collars in Botswana and Tanzania to document their movements and prevent human/elephant conflicts, which can be deadly. This research led to the founding of a nonprofit group "Elephants Without Borders" dedicated to building the World Elephant Conservation Center in Tanzania.
Take a deer's body, attach a camel's head and add a Jimmy Durante nose, and you have a saiga "“ the odd-ball antelope with the enormous schnoz that lives on the isolated steppes of Central Asia.
The term Colony Collapse Disorder, which was coined by scientists in 2007, is being used to describe the sudden disappearance of adult bee populations, an unexplained phenomenon that has plagued honeybee colonies around the world.
The pending federal decision about whether to protect the polar bear as a threatened species is as much about climate science as it is about climate change.
Without a ripple in the water, alligators dive, surface or roll sideways, even though they lack flippers or fins. University of Utah biologists discovered gators maneuver silently by using their diaphragm, pelvic, abdominal and rib muscles to shift their lungs like internal floatation devices: toward the tail when they dive, toward the head when they surface and sideways when they roll.
Snow leopards "“ the world's most elusive big cat "“ roam the high mountains across 12 Asian nations, from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan. Representatives from those countries, along with leading big cat experts, are expected in Beijing from March 9 "“ 11 to frame a multinational conservation plan to save these highly endangered and rarely observed predators.
A long-term study by the Wildlife Conservation Society, the BioDiversity Research Institute, and other organizations has found and confirmed that environmental mercury"”much of which comes from human-generated emissions"”is impacting both the health and reproductive success of common loons in the Northeast.
As western states debate removing the gray wolf from protection under the Endangered Species Act, a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society cautions that doing so may result in an unintended decline in another species: the pronghorn, a uniquely North American animal that resembles an African antelope.
On Leap Day, February 29th, the Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Bronx Zoo, New York Aquarium, and other city zoos will raise awareness of the global plight of amphibians by joining the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) in welcoming 2008 as the Year of the Frog.
A University of Maryland/National Zoo study suggests that the environmental conditions migrating birds face in their first year may help determine where they breed for the rest of their lives, a factor that could significantly affect the population as climate change makes their winter habitats hotter and drier.
New research uncovers the social dynamics of yellow jackets, which includes multiple sex partners, extreme cooperation and a caste system. Results show that multiple mating does not cause conflict within a colony, but instead creates a more successful colony. The researchers also found that certain genes are turned on or off to create the different castes.
A new study by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society found that jack rabbits living in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem have apparently hopped into oblivion.
The Wildlife Conservation Society and the Panthera Foundation announced plans to establish a 5,000 mile-long "genetic corridor" from Bhutan to Burma that would allow tiger populations to roam freely across landscapes.
Scientists from the Wildlife Conservation Society and Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology have released the first known photographs of gorillas performing face-to-face copulation in the wild.
The traditional view that shrews are primitive mammals is challenged by a new study of the hunting methods of an aquatic member of the species, the water shrew, that finds it uses remarkably sophisticated hunting that allow it to catch its prey as readily in the dark as in daylight.
Madagascar's turtles and tortoises, which rank among the most endangered reptiles on earth, will continue to crawl steadily toward extinction unless major conservation measure are enacted, according to a recent assessment by the Wildlife Conservation Society and other groups.
The Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society has called for protection of a recently discovered site in Nigeria where millions of migratory swallows (Hirundo rustica) gather to roost each night.
An unusual new species of whirligig beetle from India is being named Orectochilus orbisonorum in honor of the late rock "˜n' roll legend Roy Orbison and his widow Barbara. Arizona State University entomologist Quentin Wheeler announced the description and discovery of the beetle species Jan. 25 during a Roy Orbison Tribute Concert in Tempe, Ariz.
While nature's showiest subjects step out to promote reproductive success and survival with bright colors, flash and iridescence in feathers, scales, petals and wings, biologists, physicists, behaviorists and materials scientists will delve into what's behind all the bling at a workshop on "Iridescence" to be held Feb. 6-9 at Arizona State University.
University of Arkansas researchers have found that not all pools of water are equal from year to year when it comes to housing fish species during dry spells "“ a finding that becomes increasingly important during unusual and prolonged drought conditions.
Outbreaks of the notorious crown of thorns starfish now threaten the "coral triangle," the richest center of coral reef biodiversity on Earth, according to recent surveys by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society and ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies.
The world's tallest animal species"”the giraffe"”may actually be several species, and some of them are highly threatened with extinction, according to new genetic studies supported by the Wildlife Conservation Society.
Thailand's Western Forest Complex "“ a 6,900 square mile (18,000 square kilometers) network of parks and wildlife reserves "“ can potentially support some 2,000 tigers, making it one of the world's strongholds for these emblematic big cats, according to a new study by Thailand's Department of National Park, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation and the New York-based Wildlife Conservation Society.
In the wake of a study that documented for the first time the use of weaponry by Cross River gorillas to ward off threats by humans, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced today new field surveys to better protect this most endangered great ape.
Policies that encourage hunters to go after male polar bears in order to conserve females, could make it harder for the animals to find mates. University of Alberta researchers determined there is a critical threshold in the male-to-female ratio. Below it, their model predicts a sudden and rapid collapse in fertilization rates.
Wind energy is one of the fastest growing sectors of the energy industry, but not without environmental consequences. Nocturnally active birds and bats have become prey to turbines, yet little guidance could be found for assessing impacts of wind energy on this group until now. A new article published in the latest issue of The Journal of Wildlife Management gives guidance about the methods and metrics of this subject.
The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) was recently petitioned to list the wolverine as threatened or endangered under the federal Endangered Species Act. As a valuable tool for the USFWS to evaluate this potential listing, a special section of eight papers discusses the wolverine's current challenges as well as its historical distribution, habitat relations and interactions with humans.
A rare Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), one of only an estimated 30 left in the wild has been captured and health-checked by experts from a consortium of conservation organizations, before being released.
Scientists have been studying the interaction and interdependence of wolves and moose at Isle Royale National Park for nearly 50 years--the longest predator-prey study ever conducted. The study, which continues today, is helping to explain the complex and unpredictable environmental factors that influence wildlife systems.
When it's time for moose to give birth in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, they head to where it is safest from predators "“ namely closer to people, according to a new study by the Wildlife Conservation Society.
2007 has been a big year for removal of protected animals from the endangered species list. Three species native to North America that were among the first to be listed after the passage of the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966 have been recovered and no longer need protection. In February, Canis lupus was delisted in certain areas of its range; in March, Ursus arctos horribilis was delisted; in July Haliaeetus leucocephalus was delisted, making headlines.
When someone feigns sadness they "cry crocodile tears," a phrase that comes from an old myth that the animals cry while eating.
Livestock producers in the United States should be cautious but not overly fearful of bluetongue virus, according to a veterinary laboratory director at Kansas State University.
In its ability to learn, the cockroach is a moron in the morning and a genius in the evening. Dramatic daily variations in the cockroach's learning ability were discovered by a new study performed by Vanderbilt University biologists and published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dalhousie professor, Jeff Hutchings, reports on the recent findings of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. He notes that two species on the edge of extinction have recovered, but many more may be added to the list of species at risk.
Authors of a new paper about the prevention and management of venomous snakebites in mountain terrain have synthesized the abundant knowledge of snakebites with the realities of first aid and mountain rescue to develop recommendations. The paper is published in the latest issue of Wilderness and Environmental Medicine.
Tufts biologists have discovered a dark side behind fireflies' summer light shows. While it's energetically cheap for fireflies to produce their distinctive flash signals, flashier males are more likely to end up on the dinner table. The importance of these two conflicting forces could shift in different firefly populations. This evolutionary balancing act might generate entirely new firefly species with distinctive flash codes.
If you want to catch a trophy northern pike, walleye or brook trout in the northern Canadian wilderness, better plan your trip soon. That's because according to a report released today by the Wildlife Conservation Society, looming development, including forestry, mining and dam construction, threatens this pristine region of untouched forests, wetlands, lakes and streams.
Biologists have found a major clue in a 50-year-old mystery about what happens to green sea turtles after they crawl out of their sandy nests and vanish into the surf, only to reappear several years later relatively close to shore.
The answer to a mystery that long has puzzled biologists may lie in prehistoric Polynesians' penchant for pretty white shells, a research team headed by University of Michigan mollusk expert Diarmaid Ó Foighil has found.
While the wily coyote reigns as top dog in much of the country, it leads a nervous existence wherever it coexists with its larger relative, the wolf, according to a new study from the Wildlife Conservation Society. In fact, coyote densities are more than 30 percent lower in areas that they share with wolves.
Efforts to protect many of the world's largest and most endangered wild relatives of cats and dogs recently moved a step closer to victory with a congressional hearing on the "Great Cats and Rare Canids" bill.
Ancient DNA harvested from pigs has allowed scientists, for the first time, to accurately determine the arrival of early farmers into Europe 11,000 years ago during the latter part of the Stone Age.
Starving snakes employ novel survival strategies not seen before in vertebrates, according to research conducted by a University of Arkansas biologist. These findings could be used in conservation strategies to determine the health of snake populations.
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