The last known female Yangtze giant soft-shell turtle laid 188 eggs this year, but none of them will be hatching.
A disappointment for turtle conservationists: The world’s only known pair of critically endangered Yangtze giant soft-shell turtles (Rafetus swinhoei) have failed to reproduce for the second consecutive year. 81-year-old “China Doll” is the last known female of the species and her 101-year-old partner is one of possibly three known males.
Did you know there are only 358 critically endangered California condors left?
In 1980, the wild population of California condors (Gymnogyps californianus) was thought to consist of just five breeding pairs. In 1987, the species became extinct in the wild when the last wild California condors were taken into captivity to become part of a captive breeding program - the only way to save the species.
Today, thanks to that decision to start a captive breeding program, 189 California condors are flying free and 169 are in captivity. To help raise awareness for these majestic birds, here is a compilation of incredible California condor facts and a photo gallery of some of the most unusual faces you’ve ever seen. Enjoy!
A pair of male vultures at the Jerusalem Biblical Zoo who successfully reared two chicks together have split up and started new families with female vultures.
Ten years ago, two male Griffon vultures met and fell in love. They built a nest - as vultures do - but couldn’t produce an egg.
The situation prompted Israeli zoololgist Shmuel Yidov try an experiment: A newly-hatched vulture chick was carefully placed inside a swan’s egg shell and slipped into Dashik and Yehuda’s nest.
In a heartbreaking setback to Sumatran rhino conservation, the Cincinnati Zoo’s beloved Emi has died.
Emi the Sumatran rhino (Dicerorhinus sumatrensis) was the heart of the world’s only successful captive breeding program for the critically endangered species.
The Vulture Conservation Breeding Centre in Pinjore has reason to celebrate: The Centre’s first slender-billed nestling is now 140 days old and ready to fledge.
With fewer than 1,000 slender-billed vultures left, this event marks a triumphant milestone in VCBC’s captive breeding program. And there’s more good news: A slender-billed nestling hatched at Rajabhatkhawa Centre in West Bengal has recently fledged.
In a recent release from vulturerescue.org, the director of Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Dr. Asad R. Rahmani said
The hatching of this endangered species has given us more confidence in the husbandry and care of vultures practiced at our centres.
Three species of Gyps vulture are in danger of extinction - poisoned by the use of diclofenac in livestock. India, Nepal, and Pakistan have lost 95% of their vulture populations.
As recently as the early 1980’s, there were approximately 40 million vultures in India, comprised of nine species. Now there are only 60,000 of these important scavengers left. Captive breeding efforts are in progress, the last hope of saving these birds from extinction.
The alarming population decline was first observed In the late 1990’s by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), in a breeding colony of White-backed Vultures in Keoladeo National park, Bharatpur, Rajasthan.
Last year one of the most critically endangered birds in the world, the Northern Bald Ibis, nested in Spain for the 1st time in 500 years. Terrific news has now arrived that a pair is nesting again in the same location this year.
The current worldwide population of wild Northern Bald Ibises is thought to be around 510 in total, with around 500 of these individuals living in Morocco. In the last century the population of Northern Bald Ibises has declined by approximately 98% because of hunting, habitat loss, and pesticides. Its once great range is now small.
What’s most encouraging about the ibises in Spain’s Natural Park of Brena is that they were born in captivity, and are the first pair to successfully nest in the wild– an indication that captive breeding programs might work for this species. An estimated 1,000 ibises are currently living in captivity.
