Tag Archives: endangered species

Maud Island Frogs are Making a Comeback

A piece of good news in the International Year of the Frog: a rare and threatened species of frog in New Zealand is making a comeback. New Zealand is home to four native frog species. The rarest — Hamilton’s frog — numbers less than three hundred total. The Maud Island frogs — numbering around forty thousand — are breeding for the first time in recorded history, giving hope for other frog species. You read that right — Maud Island frogs have NEVER been found breeding before. A few facts about Maud Island frogs: They are normally found on only two … Continue reading →

Why Are Amphibians in Trouble (and What Can You Do?)

Starting on Leap Day, people around the world are celebrating the International Year of the Frog. Experts fear that approximately two thousand species of frog, toad, and salamander are in danger of extinction — many within the next five years if we don’t take action. Why are amphibians in trouble? One main factor is a fungus that comes from South Africa. Here’s how the chytrid fungus became a problem: In the 1930s, scientists discovered that the African clawed frog could be used as a human pregnancy test. Inject the frog with female urine. Within a day, if the frog produced … Continue reading →

Teaching Survival Skills to Pandas

Less than a year ago, China released a five year old panda into the wild. Why is this news? He was the world’s first artificially bred panda to be released. Unfortunately, Xiang Xiang didn’t survive. Scientists believe the panda fell from a height after a fight with wild animals (possibly other pandas) over food or territory. This is a terrible loss for the Wolong giant panda breeding center. But the loss of Xiang Xiang is inspiring scientists to work on better preparing future pandas for life in the wild. China has been making a serious effort to save the giant … Continue reading →

A Terrible Month for Tigers

Photo By Marieke Kuijpers Two Siberian tigers killed in less than a week at two different zoos…what the heck’s going on here? There’s only like 400 in the world as it is. Like mountain gorillas, they’re on the severely endangered list. So why have two purposely been killed recently? Let’s take a look. The Slaughter in China Leads to Discoveries of Tiger Neglect On Thursday December 20th a female Siberian tiger was found beheaded and skinned at the Three Gorges Forest Wild Animal World in a province of Yichang City, China. They’re still not sure what happened, but investigators suspect … Continue reading →

National Wildlife Day: How You Can Help

Last month I wrote about National Dog Day sponsored by the Animal Miracle Foundation. Today is another AMF sponsored day, National Wildlife Day. What It’s About Initially the woman who created these days, Colleen Paige, was going to have this one fall on June 6th. However, she changed it to September 4th to honor “the last day that Steve Irwin graced this planet.” The goal is to raise awareness of the non-domestic creatures those of us who are urban dwellers may forget about. The ones who are endangered or otherwise threatened, but who can be saved with a little help … Continue reading →

Going Ape Over Prehistoric Fossils and Baby Gorillas

Recently I figured out how to subscribe to BBC News’s Daily Email. Hence blogs like Radioactivity Less Dangerous to Animals Then Man? and now this one might be created with more frequency. Today’s BBC email sort of had a theme to it: primates. Very, very old ones as well as a precious little newcomer. New Species of Great Ape Discovered Researchers studying the Afar rift in eastern Ethiopia found nine fossilized teeth estimated to be 10 million years old. They suspected the teeth belonged to a member of the gorilla family, but after running tests, making comparisons and doing whatever … Continue reading →

The Sea, the Storm, and the Mangrove Tangle – Lynne Cherry

This is a non-fiction nature book for children, written with the intent of educating children and their parents about an endangered form of plant life, the mangrove tree. As we proceed through the pages, we see how many animal species are dependent on the tree for their own survival. We begin with a flock of pelicans landing on a mangrove island. As they settle in the branches, they knock off one of the seeds, known as a propagule, and it falls into the sea and is swept away until it reaches a lagoon. There it takes root and begins to … Continue reading →

Owls Well That Ends Well – Donna Andrews

Meg Langslow is a unique woman with a unique talent – she’s a blacksmith. For the time being, however, she’s had to put her forge aside and forge ahead with something even bigger, in the form of a fifteen-family yard sale. She and her boyfriend Michael have purchased an older home on the outskirts of the small town of Caerphilly, and all the things that were in the house now belong to them. Most of it junk, some of it collectable, they’ve decided to have a yard sale and all the relatives decided to join them and bring their own … Continue reading →