Green Options

September 27th, 2009, marks the beginning of the 7th annual Sea Otter Awareness Week.   Aquariums across the United States, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands are featuring a variety of activities, exhibits and educational events to raise awareness and bring attention to those utterly charming and charismatic mammals, the sea otters. 

Both economic theory and experimental data concur–increasing the distance traveled to find food incurs “negative fitness consequences”, by decreasing total energy for maintenance, repair and reproduction. Yet, most animals must travel to find food. Individual, small groups, and large herds of eutherian (placental) mammals–like wild buffalo, gazelles, lions, and elephants–often travel great distances to find food. This expenditure of energy, at the apparent risk of biological fitness, has puzzled zoologists for some time.

A new species of Samoan fruit bat or ‘flying fox’ was discovered at the Academy of Sciences in Philadelphia by Kristofer M. Helgen, a Research Zoologist and Curator of Mammals at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Helgen, the lead author of the paper published in American Museum Novitates, noticed the bat within one hour of being on the premises of the Academy of Sciences. (There are about 17 million biological specimens housed at the Academy.)

Wild sheep on the island of Hirta off the shore of Scotland are smaller than 25 years ago, and scientists have found climate change to be the cause.

On average these wild sheep are weighing in at 5 percent smaller than 25 years ago, an indication that climate change can have a rapid effect on natural populations and a sign of possible more widespread changes in future, researchers said on Thursday.

For years and years parents have taken their children to zoos to see exotic animals, animals that they don’t get to see everyday. They want to see lions and tigers and bears. Oh my! High on the the list of animals to be seen are elephants, nature’s gentle giants. These cute, (hardly) cuddly animals are the largest of the land mammals. But all of that could change. Elephants could be removed from zoos forever if In Defense of Animals (IDA) [...]

The Slovenian Environment Ministry has approved a wild bear kill of 70 animals. The country has between 430 and 480 bears according to one estimate.

Some environmentalists put the number slightly lower. In 2008 the Environment Ministry approved a kill of 75, and in 2007 it was 100. In 2006 it was also 100. That will make 345 wild bears killed in the last four years.  The number of cubs born each year is estimated at 60-90.
(Brown bears in Slovenia are a protected species.)

With only 60 Javan rhinos still in existence, the World Wildlife Fund is desperately tracking the animals with 34 video cameras in their native habitat in Indonesia’s Ujung Kulon National Park to better determine their behaviors and plan a conservation effort.

“The project is helping the most endangered large mammal species,” said Adhi Rachmat Hariyadi who leads WWF-Indonesia’s project in Ujung Kulon National Park. “We’ve already recorded video of 9 individuals, including a mother and calf.”

Last week news surfaced that several raccoons had been seen repeatedly in areas around the White House grounds. Humane traps have been set to capture them, and if caught, the fuzzy-looking bandits will be released in a forested area by the National Park Service.

Forget the need for economic stimulus, Barack, can you come up with a better plan for the raccoons? The Obama family is always looking for opportunities to put action behind their beliefs, so would it be better for them to send out a pro-wildlife message by letting the raccoons stay?

World Species Survey details gloomy outlook for many animal species.In early October of 2008, the results of a global species  survey, conducted by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, were released.  The numbers are startling:

• At least a quarter of mammal species are headed toward extinction in the near future.
• Nearly 80 percent of the primate species in southern and southeastern Asia are immediately threatened.
• At least 22 percent of reptile species are at risk of extinction.
• Perhaps 40 percent of North American freshwater fish are threatened.
• In Europe, 45 percent of the most common bird species are rapidly declining, and so are the most common bird species in North America.

But perhaps these figures are a bit too abstract. Here’s a more precise way to look at the present state of bio-diversity on Earth.

Endangered US animal and plant species are in danger of losing vital legal protection designed to prevent them from extinction.

An endangered giant African bat has been spotted again in swelled numbers by conservationists who think it may have emerged from near extinction.

Under the constant watch of environmental conservation groups for more than two decades, the fruit bat with a wing span of almost 6 feet wide has faced numerous odds to recover its numbers which now stand at a remarkable 22,000, according to a newly released research finding.