In the last four decades, dugong (Dugong dugon) aggregations have been rarely reported from the geographically isolated, vast seascape of the Andaman Islands, India. The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, hunting, coastal development, and habitat loss are the major causes of this change in the social system of dugongs in …
An Australian-led expedition says it has discovered three new mammal species in Papua New Guinea, releasing for the first time a picture of one of the animals – a diminutive wallaby – to Guardian Australia. More than 40 camera traps were set up in two little-studied mountains in the remote …
Governments have agreed to expand the global protected area network from 13% to 17% of the world's land surface by 2020 (Aichi target 11) and to prevent the further loss of known threatened species (Aichi target 12). These targets are interdependent, as protected areas can stem biodiversity loss when strategically …
Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON) has recommended the expansion of Meghamalai Wildlife Sanctuary in Theni district to boost conservation in the southern Western Ghats. After conducting studies on distribution, abundance and conservation of primates and mammals in the Meghamalai landscape for sixty years, the SACON scientists …
Experts have added 817 species to the threatened categories of the IUCN Red List in the latest update. Those added include 51 mammals—mostly lemurs—and over 400 plants. The new update finds that over 90 percent of lemurs and 79 percent of temperate slipper orchids are threatened with extinction. "What was …
White sharks are highly migratory and segregate by sex, age and size. Unlike marine mammals, they neither surface to breathe nor frequent haul-out sites, hindering generation of abundance data required to estimate population size. A recent tag-recapture study used photographic identifications of white sharks at two aggregation sites to estimate …
The Kosi River corridor is situated in the Nainital and Almora districts of Uttarakhand and connects the Corbett Tiger Reserve with the forests of Ramnagar Forest Division. This corridor serves as a vital link between the source population of tigers in Corbett and the adjoining forest areas and enables them …
A recent study has found that Australian marsupials such as tree possums, bandicoots and quolls are suffering a sudden decline, placing them at risk of extinction in Australia. Several of Australia's unusual marsupials, including bandicoots and phascogales, are currently experiencing a dramatic decline in the north of the country, according …
The Great Himalayan National Park (GHNP) of Himachal Pradesh has been nominated for the prestigious UNESCO-approved World Heritage Site status. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the advisory body to the UNESCO Committee on Nature, has nominated 12 natural and mixed sites from across the world for the …
Studies about the movement of mammals have recently gained much emphasis thanks to the development of new tracking technology, allowing highly accurate recording of animal movement. However, the amount of data made available requires eff ective theoretical and analytical framework for appropriate scientifi c use, i.e. to answer questions of …
Due to anthropogenic pressures, African lion (Panthera leo) populations in Kenya and Tanzania are increasingly limited to fragmented populations. Lions living on isolated habitat patches exist in a matrix of less-preferred habitat. A framework of habitat patches within a less-suitable matrix describes a metapopulation. Metapopulation analysis can provide insight into …
Cattle grazing, movement of humans help spread disease Wild animal populations of Kerala are at risk of contracting foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which may prove fatal. The outbreak is most likely to affect ungulates, wildlife experts say. Two instances of gaur deaths owing to acute FMD infection were reported from the …
Four years of scientific expeditions have found previously unknown animals and plants in world's largest tropical rainforest A purring monkey, a vegetarian piranha and a flame-patterned lizard are among more than 400 new species of animals and plants that have been discovered in the past four years in the Amazon …
Prioritizing efforts for conserving rare and threatened species with limited past data and lacking population estimates is predicated on robust assessments of their occupancy rates. This is particularly challenging for elusive, long-lived and wide-ranging marine mammals. In this paper we estimate trends in long-term (over 50years) occupancy, persistence and extinction …
Perceived As A Threat To Elephant Habitats; Task Force Report Pointed To Fraudulent Clearances Being Granted To These Projects; Green Crusaders Welcome HC Directive The Karnataka High Court’s directive to the government to review clearances to various projects in elephant habitats and corridors has come as a major respite to …
Climate change, rather than humans, may have been responsible for driving the woolly mammoth to extinction, according to a new study. The study by British and Swedish researchers analysed DNA samples from 300 specimens of woolly mammoths collected by themselves and other groups in earlier studies. Scientists, led by Dr …
Dugong dugon (dugongs) is probably one of the few living marine mammals surviving in pockets around the Indian Ocean to the western part of the Pacific Ocean. These marine mammals are herbivores which spend their full life in the sea. They are the only extant species of the family Dugongidae. …
The Gangetic River Dolphin, Asian Elephant, Pangolin and Dugong (sea cow) are among some of the most endangered species from India that feature in the Evolutionary Distinct and Globally Endangered map recently developed by the Zoological Society of London. The map was developed to identify high-priority conservation areas for mammals …
Over 2,000 Fires Reported, Many Were Deliberate, Says State Forest Department Pune: As many as 2,420 fires spread through 24,000 hectares of the state’s forest area in 2012-13, resulting in an estimated loss of Rs 19 lakh, the latest statistics available with the state forest department showed. In the previous …
The vision to establish within the Terai-Arc Landscape (TAL) a contiguous tiger habitat is contingent upon extending conservation efforts beyond the Protected Areas. The Reserve Forests between the Gola and Sharda rivers (encompassing three Forest Divisions – Haldwani, Terai East and Champawat), henceforth, the Nandhaur region, provides a crucial link …
Borders of Sri Lanka's World Heritage Site, Sinharaja rainforest reserve have been expanded to add over 2000 hectares of land to the forest, the Land and Land Development Ministry said today. The government has taken over 2,488 hectares of the surrounding land that has direct impact on the forest to …
