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 …
Two new tree frog species with gemstone-colored eyes have been discovered in broadleaf forests in the island country of Taiwan. Aside from their dazzling eyes, researchers from the University of Taipei report that these frogs demonstrate a reproductive behavior unlike their siblings from mainland China and Southern Asia: As tadpole …
The discovery of a new Himalayan forest frog clade in Tibet has been confirmed. It will join 12 other Chinese amphibian families. After five years of field research, scientists from Kunming Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences confirmed the discovery of the rare frog that can breed …
For more than a century, two mysterious tree frog specimens collected by a British naturalist in 1870 and housed at the Natural History Museum in London were assumed to be part of a vanished species, never again found in the wild. Until now. A group of scientists, led by renowned …
The UK saw "unprecedented" jellyfish invasions and another bad year for wasps as wildlife faced weather highs and lows in 2015. An annual review of the year's weather and wildlife from the National Trust has revealed a mixed picture for the nation's plants and animals in 2015, from a superb …
Venezuelan frogs and toads are in critical danger due to climate change as rising temperatures complicate reproduction and spread a deadly fungus, say scientists, who liken the species to canaries in a coalmine warning of imminent danger. Scientists studying global warming have warned that rising temperatures make many species worldwide …
MIAMI – Scientists have discovered six new kinds of African clawed frog, boosting the number of known species by 30 percent and offering new avenues for research on human disease, said a study Wednesday. The creatures are the “most widely studied amphibians in the world,” and now there are 29 …
A new species of tree frog was discovered and another species of bush frog was rediscovered by a team of researchers during their recent exploration in the Western Ghats. The discovery, published in the latest issue of International Taxonomic Journal Zootaxa , is a joint effort by a team comprised …
Metrics that synthesize the complex effects of climate change are essential tools for mapping future threats to biodiversity and predicting which species are likely to adapt in place to new climatic conditions, disperse and establish in areas with newly suitable climate, or face the prospect of extirpation. The most commonly …
Only 25 per cent of the original habitats in the eastern Himalayas remain intact and hundreds of species in the region face threat to their existence from unbridled developmental activities and climate change, a new study has said. The latest regional species discovery report--'Hidden Himalayas: Asia's Wonderland', a World Wildlife …
Scientists studying diseases threatening amphibian, reptile and fish populations now can report findings on a new online portal. This new wildlife disease reporting system is called the Global Ranavirus Reporting System (GRRS) and was developed by researchers from the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTIA). Researchers from Purdue University …
It turns out that estrogen may be causing frogs to change in suburban areas. Scientists have found that estrogen is changing the ratio of male to female green frogs at nearby ponds. In this latest study, the researchers looked at ponds with varying degrees of suburban neighborhood impact. On one …
CHENNAI: From the ancient Chinese to kingdoms in ancient Europe, Africa, and Britain, otters have for more than a thousand years helped humans fish and been a source of wonder for their industry and resilience. They may not have been put to the same use in the country or the …
Effects of pathogens on host life-history characteristics can be influenced by changes in the immune system that occur during development as well as by environmental factors that negatively affect immune system function. Amphibians worldwide are experiencing population declines from chytridiomycosis caused by the fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis. Disease outbreaks can …
To biologists’ delight, the Azuay stubfoot toad, believed to be extinct after its last sighting in 2002, has just leapt back to life. Three independent teams of scientists were involved in the rediscovery of a small group of the toads living in mountain forests near Cuenca (map)—and most crucially, the …
Many of world’s frogs may be at risk of extinction, but something new always hops up in the amphibian world. In two separate journals in one afternoon, scientists have identified a brand new tree frog species high in the Peruvian cloud forest, while on the other side of the Andes, …
The Arabian Peninsula is home to a unique fauna that has assembled and evolved throughout the course of major geophysical events, including the separation of the Arabian Plate from Africa and subsequent collision with Eurasia. Opportunities for faunal exchanges with particular continents occurred in temporally distinct periods, and the presence …
When it comes to vaccinating their babies, bees don't have a choice - they naturally immunise their offspring against specific diseases found in their environments, scientists say. Researchers from Arizona State University, University of Helsinki, University of Jyvaskyla and Norwegian University of Life Sciences studied a bee blood protein called …
Four new species of tooth-frog have been identified in West Africa, over 100 years after initially being identified as one single species Odontobatrachus natator. Tooth-frogs are named so because of their unique jawbones that have tusk-like appendages on the lower jaw and curved upper teeth. O. natator was discovered in …
The oft-repeated claim that Earth’s biota is entering a sixth “mass extinction” depends on clearly demonstrating that current extinction rates are far above the “background” rates prevailing in the five previous mass extinctions. Earlier estimates of extinction rates have been criticized for using assumptions that might overestimate the severity of …
HCM CITY (VNS) — A bat with nightmarish fangs (Hypsugo dolichodon), the world's second longest insect (Phryganistria heusii yentuensis) and a colour-changing thorny frog (Graciaxal lumarius) were among the 70 new species found in Viet Nam in 2014, according to a report from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). …
