— shallower than rain pits, the clustered dimples in soft sand are rendered almost flat by the harsh desert light. yet christine ellis reads the ground as she walks. “look here, it went that way” she says. “we always follow the freshest tracks, some cats are smarter than other cats … we follow them till they get tired, maybe get blisters on their feet. then we hit them with a crowbar.” read article : the feral-proof fence
art ecology science & animals
From photography
landscape photography
TRANQUIL TRANSITIONING
— known as a vacancy chain, it’s a term originally used by social scientists to describe a way that people trade resources. you can see it all unfold in this wonderful bbc1 video, consider it a lesson from the crustacean world. read article/watch video : hermit crabs swapping shells is a crazy remarkable thing
MIND-BLOWINGLY COOL
—tiny wings entombed in amber reveal that plumage (the layering, patterning, coloring, and arrangement of feathers) seen in birds today already existed a hundred million years ago. a study published in nature communications and funded in part by the national geographic society’s expeditions council, indicated they most likely belonged to enantiornithes that became extinct at the end of the cretaceous period. read article : rare dinosaur-era bird wings found trapped in amber more : bird wings from age of dinosaurs found trapped in amber
SEIZED SKULL
— u.s. customs and border protection officers seized the skull of an african elephant on the endangered species list last week after a man tried to drive a truck with the skull into mexico. read article : endangered species elephant skull seized at anzalduas bridge
CATCH AND RELEASE
— PIT tag acts as a kind of barcode for an individual animal, with an antenna in the cave recording the comings and goings of the tagged bats. bats are placental mammals, just like us and incredibly intelligent. read article : tracking 1,000 bats: study sheds light on critically endangered species more : recruitment in a colorado population of big brown bats: breeding probabilities, litter size, and first-year survival
GROW UP WILD FOR LIFE
— children are more likely to become proactive adults who have an appreciation and awareness of the environment, after viewing endangered animals. read article : atlantic biodiversity display raises awareness for endangered species
PRECEDENT-SETTING PRESERVATION
— there hasn’t been a lot of money poured into snake research so the scientists learned as they went along. read article : windsor parkway sets precedent protecting endangered species
FIRST RECORDED EXTINCTION TO HUMAN-CAUSED CLIMATE CHANGE
— this is the first recorded extinction of a mammal anywhere in the world thought to be primarily due to human-caused climate change. revealed: first mammal species wiped out by human-induced climate change
WE HAVE TO HUNT MORE
— “if they shoot animals with a gun then they can make sure to only catch the adults. a snare or trap can cause extinction because its indiscriminate and could catch a young animal before it has the chance to reproduce. we make round checks in the forest two or three times a month, but we do not see any hunters because they hunt at night and we dare not stay in the jungle over night.” read article : hunting in the jungles of myanmar
AI & HUMINT COLLAB
PAWS, which stands for protection assistant for wildlife security, is a newly developed ai that takes data about previous poaching activities and outputs routes for patrols based on where poaching is likely to occur — algorithms used by homeland security, the transportation security administration, and the coast guard to predicts where resources like agents and surveillance would best be placed to interfere with smuggling and terrorism. read article : rangers use artificial intelligence to fight poachers
A BUSINESS CEASED
— “i cannot sell it in this country. i don’t even know if i can donate it.” read article : huge news for elephants; u.s. bans ivory trade
FIXING DAMAGED OBJECTS
— it appears that human nature requires patience in realizing that we have environmental issues which we are responsible for. read article : artist fixes damaged objects by placing them in beehives
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