Encyclopedia of Life

 

Comprehensive, collaborative, ever-growing, and personalized, the Encyclopedia of Life is an ecosystem of websites that makes all key information about life on Earth accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world. Our goal is to create a constantly evolving encyclopedia that lives on the Internet, with contributions from scientists and amateurs alike. To transform the science of biology, and inspire a new generation of scientists, by aggregating all known data about every living species. And ultimately, to increase our collective understanding of life on Earth, and safeguard the richest possible spectrum of biodiversity.

Source: Encyclopedia of Life

Call to tame China's tiger farms

 

The global body regulating wildlife trade has called on China to reduce the scale of its tiger farming industry.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species meeting passed a resolution endorsing captive stocks only where they aid conservation. China has about 5,000 tigers held in captive enclosures - more animals than remain in the wild. Source: BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Call to tame China's tiger farms

Mass wildlife migration in Sudan

Conservationists say they have discovered one of the largest migrations of land mammals on Earth in southern Sudan.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) said it found 1.3m migratory animals, despite fears of damage to numbers after a civil war in the region.

Link to BBC NEWS | Africa | Mass wildlife migration in Sudan

Kenya, Mali cut ivory trade ban call to 12 years | Science | Reuters

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Kenya and Mali cut demands on Tuesday to expand and tighten a 1989 world ban on the trade in elephant ivory as a compromise to avoid a standoff with other African nations at a U.N. forum. The two countries scaled-back their proposal to a 12-year ban from 20 years and conceded that a one-off sale of ivory approved last week would be acceptable.

Link to Kenya, Mali cut ivory trade ban call to 12 years | Science | Reuters

African rhinos to be dehorned

 

Harare - Authorities in Zimbabwe, where the rhinoceros population is under threat from poachers, have launched a massive dehorning exercise, reports said on Thursday. The horns of black and white rhinos are coveted by poachers who can sell them to dealers for use as dagger handles in the Middle East and for traditional medicine in Asia. "We want poachers to know that if they kill any rhino in Zimbabwe, they will not find any horns," Henry Madzikanda, the chief ecologist in the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management told the state-controlled Herald newspaper. A team of experts from the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and Zimbabwe's Parks Department are to carry out the exercise on more than 780 rhinos, starting in southeastern Zimbabwe, Madzikanda said. Source: African Hunting Info

Mommy deer-est takes care of all babies in ear-shot

 

An intriguing study of mule deer and white-tailed deer conducted by the University of Alberta and the University of Lethbridge shows that both species of deer respond to the recorded distress calls of fawns - cries similar to those elicited when coyotes attack fawns.

Source: Mommy deer-est takes care of all babies in ear-shot - ExpressNews - University of Alberta

Darwin's letters archived on web

Darwin was a prolific letter writer, exchanging correspondence with nearly 2,000 people during his lifetime (1809-1882). Nearly 14,500 of his letters are known to exist, with the biggest collection residing in Cambridge. Link to BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Darwin's letters archived on web

Reproductive Speed Protects Large Animals From Being Hunted To Extinction

The slower their reproductive cycle, the higher the risk of extinction for large grazing animals such as deer and antelope that are hunted by humans. Source: ScienceDaily: Reproductive Speed Protects Large Animals From Being Hunted To Extinction

Black-market boom for ivory - African proposal to ban all trade may not be the answer.

 Sophisticated smuggling syndicates are driving a soaring trade in illegal ivory from Africa to Asia. Source: news @ nature.com - Black-market boom for ivory - African proposal to ban all trade may not be the answer.

The Pleistocene re-wilding gambit

Conservation biology has developed into a science of documenting population declines, species losses and habitat destruction in excruciating detail but sadly doing little about it. Pleistocene re-wilding is a proactive idea that could galvanize the conservation community out of its helplessness and, for that alone, deserves merit. Source: ScienceDirect - Trends in Ecology & Evolution : The Pleistocene re-wilding gambit