Wildlife populations monitored across the globe have declined by a massive 69 per cent between 1970 and 2018, according to this WWF's Living Planet Report (LPR) 2022. Monitored wildlife populations - mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish - have seen a devastating 69% drop on average since 1970, according to …
Solitary nesting of olive ridleys at Gahirmatha rookery occurred almost every month during the nesting season. However, solitary nesting turtles were more frequent between February and April, suggesting this is the main nesting season for the species (Dash and Kar, 1990). As solitary nesting activity of olive ridley turtles on …
The habitats of many common plants and animals will shrink dramatically this century unless governments act quickly to cut rising greenhouse gas emissions, scientists said on Sunday after studying 50,000 species around the world. The scientists from Britain, Australia and Colombia said plants, amphibians and reptiles were most vulnerable as …
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 …
Almost 1 in 5 of the world’s reptile species are in danger of extinction as their habitats are cleared away for farming and logging, a new report says. An assessment by more than 200 experts of 1,500 randomly selected species of snakes, lizards, crocodiles, tortoises and other reptiles found that …
Climate is one of the main drivers of species distribution. However, as different environmental factors tend to co-vary, the effect of climate cannot be taken at face value, as it may be either inflated or obscured by other correlated factors. We used the favourability models of four species (Alytes dickhilleni, …
Effective and targeted conservation action requires detailed information about species, their distribution, systematics and ecology as well as the distribution of threat processes which affect them. Knowledge of reptilian diversity remains surprisingly disparate, and innovative means of gaining rapid insight into the status of reptiles are needed in order to …
The evolution of elongated body shapes in vertebrates has intrigued biologists for decades and is particularly recurrent among squamates. Several aspects might explain how the environment influences the evolution of body elongation, but climate needs to be incorporated in this scenario to evaluate how it contributes to morphological evolution. Climatic …
New Delhi: The National Zoological Park has grand plans for the future: plans that promise to create a green lung for the city amid all the din and bustle over the next 20 years. The zoo has drawn up a new master plan and proposes to set up a new …
The Forest Department is all set to conduct a bird census in the Biligiriranganathaswamy Tiger (BRT) Reserve forest in November, after a gap of 15 years. The Biligiriranganabetta is a unique hill where the Eastern and Western Ghats meet. It is home to more than 1,000 varieties of plants. Twenty-four …
Imphal, Aug. 3: Tokay gecko (gekko gecko), a harmless Asian lizard, suddenly finds itself being hunted by poachers and traders, who, in turn, are being trailed by wildlife officials and police. Eight tokay geckos were rescued by police from Bishnupur and Thoubal districts in three cases in the past few …
Bhubaneswar: Taking note of inclusion of Similipal Biosphere Reserve and its reserve forest in World Network of Biosphere Reserves, the state government has decided to scale up livelihood projects to provide alternative livelihood for the people living inside the bio-sphere to lessen their dependency on forest resources. Presiding over a …
From smooth newts living by the Tate Modern to common frogs across London, amphibians are widespread in the capital, but snakes and other reptiles are largely confined to its outer rings, the first map of the city's amphibian and reptile populations shows. The map shows London's native amphibians - common …
Even in death, Lonesome George’s star power burns brightly. After the iconic giant tortoise died last month, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa mourned the reptile’s loss in an address to the nation, expressing hope that “one day, science and technology will be able to reproduce him, to clone him”.
DIBRUGARH, July 12 – Snakes so far had been a relishing meal for various ethnic communities toiling and sweating in the tea gardens of Assam. Although reptiles still happens to be edible for some, most of these communities have practically given up killing and feasting on them. In this context, …
Sustained loss of habitat has now placed the world’s longest venomous snake, the king cobra, on the ‘endangered’ list. The snake is found mostly in the Indian rainforests in the Western Ghats. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s latest “Red List of Threatened Species” features king cobra. Besides …
The biodiversity of marine and coastal areas of Khar Danda has been studied in the year of 2010. In all there were total 21 species of flora 10 species of aquatic fauna and 20 reptiles were identified at the site. This region is prone to large scale erosion due to …
Wetlands are amongst the Earth's most productive ecosystems. In Bangladesh these are of great importance because of the extensive food webs and rich biodiversity they support. In the past, wetlands have been undervalued. However, in recent times, awareness increases of the fact that natural wetlands provide many services toward mankind …
WASHINGTON: Half of the 24 new lizard species known as skinks, all discovered on the Caribbean islands, may be close to extinction and the other half are also under threat. Researchers led by Blair Hedges, professor of biology at Penn State University, attributed their loss to the mongoose, a predatory …
The study tracked the waxing and waning of the range and diversity of families of mammals that inhabited the continental United States during this extended period. Diversity is the mammal's best defense when it comes to adapting climatic changes. That is one of the conclusions of the first study of …
A new species of gecko with black and gold bands like a bumblebee and slender toes termed a "striking surprise" has been discovered deep in the tropical forests of Papua New Guinea, the U.S. Geological survey said. The lizard, which measures about 13 cm (5 inches) from head to tail …
