Latest Zoology News
Environmentalists fight move to reduce beetle's protections
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An environmental group said Tuesday that it plans to sue the U.S. government over a decision to reclassify a large scavenging beetle as threatened instead of endangered. The Arizona-based Center for Biological Diversity said it will sue the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services over its move...
Scientists decry death by 1,000 cuts for world's insects
The world’s vital insect kingdom is undergoing “death by a thousand cuts,” the world’s top bug experts said. Climate change, insecticides, herbicides, light pollution, invasive species and changes in agriculture and land use are causing Earth to lose probably 1% to 2% of its insects...
No snake soup for Hong Kong's young snake catcher
HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong is home to a variety of snakes — from the venomous king cobra to larger species such as the Burmese python. Whenever one of these reptiles is spotted slithering into a home or coming alarmingly close to a residential area, Ken Lee is among the snake catchers called to...
Feds to delay seeking legal protection for monarch butterfly
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Federal officials on Tuesday declared the monarch butterfly “a candidate” for threatened or endangered status, but said no action would be taken for several years because of the many other species awaiting that designation. Environmentalists said delaying that long...
Scientists focus on bats for clues to prevent next pandemic
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Night began to fall in Rio de Janeiro’s Pedra Branca state park as four Brazilian scientists switched on their flashlights to traipse along a narrow trail of mud through dense rainforest. The researchers were on a mission: capture bats and help prevent the next global pandemic....
Endangered-species decision expected on beloved butterfly
Trump administration officials are expected to say this week whether the monarch butterfly, a colorful and familiar backyard visitor now caught in a global extinction crisis, should receive federal designation as a threatened species. Stepped-up use of farm herbicides, climate change and destruction of milkweed...
Researchers say new species of beaked whale found off Mexico
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Researchers looking for an elusive species of beaked whale said Wednesday they think they have found another new, previously unknown species off Mexico’s western Pacific coast. Dr. Jay Barlow, a retired adjunct professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, said Wednesday...
Avoiding cheetah hangouts helps ranchers protect herds
WASHINGTON (AP) — On the dusty savannahs of Namibia, one of the last strongholds of cheetah populations on Earth, conflicts between cattle ranchers and big cats threaten the survival of the embattled carnivores. But new research on how cheetahs use the landscape has allowed some ranchers to reduce the...
Study looks at impact of ocean and dams on salmon runs
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — A controversial new study challenges long-standing science that pins salmon declines in the Snake River Basin on dams. The Lewiston Morning Tribune reports the work by British Columbia scientist David Welch puts the blame for poor returns of adult Snake River spring and fall chinook...
Mysterious silver monolith disappears from Utah desert
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A mysterious silver monolith that was placed in the Utah desert has disappeared less than 10 days after it was spotted by wildlife biologists performing a helicopter survey of bighorn sheep, federal officials and witnesses said. “We have received credible reports that the...
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