“As they live in the high and cooler mountain regions, they are very sensitive to high temperatures, and are considered to be one of the best early warning systems for detecting global warming in the western United States.” Learn more: American Pika
art ecology science & animals
By resford
THE PRONGHORN ANTELOPE
“At the turn of the 20th century, members of the wildlife conservation group, Boone and Crockett Club, had determined that extinction of the pronghorn was more of a probability than a possibility…The protection of habitat and hunting restrictions have allowed pronghorn numbers to recover to an estimated population between 500,000 and 1,000,000” Learn more: Pronghorn Antelope
GRAPHING THE SALE OF ANIMALS
“More than 27 million animals were traded internationally in 2013 for purposes ranging from garment production to traditional Chinese medicine, trophies, and scientific testing.” Check out this amazing interactive graphic explaining global animal trade.
DECLINE OF THE ALEXANDER ARCHIPELAGO WOLVES
“Over the past year one of the most important populations* of Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago wolves (Canis lupus ligoni) has plummeted from 221 to as low as 60, according to data released last week.” Read the entire article: Alaska’s Alexander Archipelago Wolves
THE BIGHORN OF UTAH
The bighorn sheep have made a dramatic recovery since the turn of the 20th century when only a few thousand remained. Heavy hunting, competition with ranching, and infectious disease left the bighorns in dire need of help. Recovery efforts have made it possible to see them in their natural habitat, such as seen here along the Colorado River.
MOUNTAIN GORILLA BENEFITS FROM INBREEDING
“scientists have discovered inbreeding has actually benefitted mountain gorillas by removing many harmful genetic variations. They are also genetically adapted to living in small populations.” Read more here: BBC article
BISTATE SAGE GROUSE NOT LISTED
“Environmentalists and conservationists have long called for greater protection for sage-grouse habitats in Western states…Energy companies, meanwhile, have warned that a designation would effectively rope off Western lands to future oil and gas development.” read more: Bistate Sage Grouse Utah wildlife managers see reason to hope
NOAA PROPOSES REMOVAL OF MOST HUMPBACK WHALE FROM ENDANGERED STATUS
“NOAA’s proposal would consider 10 of the world’s 14 distinct populations of the whales “not warranted” for the endangered species list.” read more: Humpback endangered listing removal map of distinct populations by NOAA
CORAL GARDENING
Growing coral in Fiji to help rebuild coral reef.
WARM SPRING, STRONG START FOR A FEW ENDANGERED BUTTERFLIES
“More than half of 56 species studied saw their numbers rise compared with the previous year, according to the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme.” Read more: Here
SOUNDS OF ENCHROACHMENT
The Lyrebird
RAREST FISH IN THE WORLD ONLY IN DEATH VALLEY
The majority of their range is in this photograph. “Since researchers started monitoring them in the early 1970s, sending scuba divers down into the 129-metre-deep cavern to manually count each individual, the population has decreased from 200 to just 68 to 35 fish in 2013.” Read the Scientific American Article.
worldsendangeredspecies 