Wildlife

"Wind power can help the world fight climate change, but it’s not so great for bats."

EPA says a new non-native species of zooplankton has been found in the Great Lakes. Scientists suspect it may have come from ship ballast, and are not sure what effects, if any, it will have on ecosystems.

"In 1996, Botswana erected an 83-mile fence along its border with Namibia. The goal was to protect domestic cattle from the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease. Within a year, though, the barrier had snared five giraffes, one elephant, several antelopes and numerous other wild animals."

"A small, dark-feathered bird known as the common swift flies for 10 months on end without ever landing, the longest time spent aloft of any known bird, scientists said Thursday."

"South Carolina’s newest social media star is young, friendly, and could weigh up to 700 pounds. It’s a bull elk that likely wandered from North Carolina across state lines, the first time an elk has been spotted in the woodlands of South Carolina in more than 200 years."

"The Great Thicket National Wildlife Refuge will span New York and five New England states. It will be the 18th refuge created under President Obama."

"Worldwide populations of mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles have plunged by almost 60 percent since 1970 as human activities overwhelm the environment, the WWF conservation group said on Thursday."

"Scarcely two months have passed since the Obama administration announced a major breakthrough in its program to resurrect the population of the world’s most endangered wolf."

"Conservation groups dismayed as Japan and other pro-whaling nations vote against plans for a protected area for whales, dolphins and porpoises".

"Bycatch is now the No. 1 killer of cetaceans. Some say the IWC, one of the oldest international environmental organizations in history, hasn’t kept pace."