All posts tagged "Nature"

Santa Cruz (United States) (AFP) - As devastating storms pounded California, nature lovers feared for endangered monarch butterflies that winter there as part of a seemingly magical migration pattern. The colorfully winged insects that travel vast distances over the course of generations have been closely watched in the US state since they neared extinction just three years ago. As the sun rose one January morning, volunteers began counting monarch butterflies, finding them clustered atop cypress and eucalyptus trees in various sites along the California coast. The butterflies huddled in clust......

Washington (AFP) - Scientists often study the grim impacts of losing wildlife to hunting, habitat destruction and climate change. But what happens when endangered animals are brought back from the brink? Research has shown restoring so-called "keystone" species -- those with an outsized impact on their environment -- is vital for the health of ecosystems, and can come with unexpected benefits for humans. Here are some notable examples from North America.  WolvesFew species evoke the American wild as much as wolves.  Though revered by Indigenous communities, European colonists who arrived in th......

MIAMI — A shallow grave with human remains was found Friday in the same Florida nature preserve where a severed arm and part of a leg were located earlier this week, Martin County Sheriff’s Office said. Law enforcement investigators are still searching for other body parts. The arm and leg were found about a mile apart on the banks of a gator-infested canal in the the John C. and Mariana Jones/Hungryland Wildlife and Environmental Area on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively. The more than 16,600-acre park, home of rugged terrain and gators, panthers and other wildlife, is in both Martin and P......

Animal lovers in Berlin got a shock on Tuesday when it was revealed that the parents of beloved polar bear Hertha are actually brother and sister. The young Hertha - named after the local football team - was born in the Tierpark zoo in east Berlin in December 2018. Her mother, Tonya, was born in Moscow in 2009, but was given the wrong documents, Tierpark director Andreas Knieriem said on Tuesday. Volodya, Hertha's father, was sent to the Netherlands in 2019 from Berlin. He had the same parents as Tonya, according to the zoo's announcement on Tuesday. The discovery was made when a biologist at ......

We've known for decades just how damaging diesel and petrol fumes are for the environment and human health, but the impact of traffic noise pollution on birds is only now emerging. Young songbirds, just like human infants, are particularly susceptible to noise, and researchers now say roads busy with cars and trucks are making it more difficult for birds to learn to sing. A new study by Germany's Max Planck Institute for Ornithology says that constant traffic noise is causing "inaccuracies and delays" when young birds learn to sing. It also weakens their immune system. "Our findings indicate t......

Monkeys have escaped from a zoo in south-western Germany for a third time in two weeks, police said. Ten Barbary macaques managed to break free from their enclosure at the zoo in Loeffingen, outside the city of Freiburg, on Saturday. Zoo keepers spotted them roaming around the surrounding forest and were working to apprehend them, police said. How the animals managed to escape was still unclear. Police asked the public to avoid approaching, feeding or attempting to capture the primates should they run across them. Four monkeys escaped from the same zoo on Thursday and were found hanging around......