Archives for March, 2009
Posted by NGS photo by George F. Mobley By including two percent fish oil in the diet of cattle, the amount of methane released by the animals can be reduced, experiments in Ireland have demonstrated. “The fish oil affects the methane-producing bacteria in the rumen part of the cow’s gut, leading to reduced emissions,” says Lorraine Lillis,…
Eleven groups that fund and help manage conservation of Madagascar’s remaining wilderness heritage issued a joint statement at the weekend, deploring the invasion by armed looters of national parks and forests, illegal timber extraction, illegal mining, and intensified smuggling of endangered species. The groups came together after numerous reports that Madagascar’s conservation areas were being plundered by…
“I dance to give thanks to Great Grandfather for giving us wonderful things–songs and dances, animals, birds, creatures, and insects; trees and plants and all human beings,” says Fabian Fontenelle, a powwow dancer of Omaha and Zuni descent. Photo by Ben Marra Ben Marra, a Seattle commercial photographer, and his then new bride, Linda, attended their…
Earth at Night picture courtesy NOAA This opinion piece was sent to the media by WWF and the South African civil rights leader/Nobel Peace Prize laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It is published in full as a public service on the occasion of Earth Hour 2009. By Archbishop Desmond Tutu & James Leape, Director General, WWF…
Posted by Being sick is a real drag, especially when it leaves you too physically and mentally weak to do much more than lie on the couch and wonder whether it’s possible to create a playlist of good songs with planets for titles. Sometime during my fevered haze I started playing around on the ol’ laptop searching…
Sumatran Tiger Cubs on Exhibit at San Diego Zoo San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park photo by Ken Bohn Three Sumatran tiger cubs roll, romp and rumble in the tiger exhibit at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park this week. The trio, born November last year, was only recently allowed outdoors for public viewing, the…
Photo of turtle souvenir by Adrian Reuter/TRAFFIC North America Critically endangered hawksbill turtles are no longer being sold as tourist souvenirs in the Dominican Republic after a powerful government campaign cracked down on shops illegally trading such items, TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, said today. More than 99 percent of these souvenirs have been…
Smithsonian’s National Zoo photo by Lisa Ware An endangered clouded leopard at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s Conservation & Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia, gave birth to a genetically valuable litter of two cubs today. They are the first such births at the special breeding facility in 16 years. “Staff has been on pregnancy watch of the two-and-a-half…
Maize was domesticated from its wild grass ancestor more than 8,700 years ago, according to biological evidence uncovered by researchers in Mexico’s Central Balsas River Valley. This is the earliest dated evidence — by 1,200 years — for the presence and use of domesticated maize. The researchers, led by Anthony Ranere of Temple University and…
Updated with new images and text Photo of silky sifakas in Marojejy National Park by Jeff Gibbs/courtesy Erik Patel Looters are invading Madagascar’s protected wildlife sanctuaries, harvesting trees and threatening critically endangered lemurs and other species, conservationists said today. Marojejy National Park in the northern part of the African island country has been closed to tourism. Rangers…
Bear Necessities at San Diego Zoo Photo taken March 19, 2009, by Ken Bohn, San Diego Zoo The grizzly bear Montana, one of two at the San Diego Zoo, in his enclosure Thursday. As part of “Zoo Discovery Days: Bear Bonanza,” a mock campsite was set up in the grizzly enclosure, according to a zoo…
Spring is in the air — it’s the vernal equinox today. That means it’s also time to start considering the gardening season. If you’ve never contemplated gardening, now is the time to try it. Do your bit for the planet by greening your patch. It’s a great way to grow local food (following the example…
Posted by News from the 5th World Water Forum: Finding water is usually the work of women and girls, according to Joke Muylwijk, executive director of the Gender Water Alliance, a network of more than a thousand people around the globe dedicated to equitable access to water resources and decision-making. “There are some women who spend their…
A third of the 800 bird species in the United States are endangered, threatened or in significant decline due to habitat loss, invasive species, and other threats, according to a study released today by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. The first ever comprehensive report on bird populations in the United States also highlights…
This post is part of a special National Geographic news series on global water issues. Loss and degradation of habitat from deforestation and agricultural runoff, unsustainable levels of water extraction, and the introduction of alien invasive species are serious threats to southern Africa’s freshwater fish, birds, plants, and other species, IUCN (International Union for Conservation…
News from Africa for the 5th World Water Forum: Tanzania Brewer Drafted into Water Efficiency Effort To brew just one 250 ml glass of beer it takes 75 liters of water, according to the Water Footprint Network. Water is primarily used for growing barley, but the brewing process itself also uses the resource. Despite re-occurring drought…
All eyes swiveled toward me when the tie-breaker question was asked at last week’s pub quiz: How many times Earth’s mass is that of Uranus? [insert suppressed giggle here] Think you know? Think carefully. This is pub quiz after all, not Jeopardy—who’s to say the question writers knew the difference between size and mass? On…
Wild chimpanzees using tools to raid bee nests have been observed in many parts of Africa. Now observations of chimpanzees in the Congo Basin indicate that they may have developed sophisticated technical solutions to gather honey that differ from those of apes in other regions. The Goualougo Triangle Ape Project research, funded in part by the…
Wildlife Conservation Society conservationist Angela Yang holds a rare-white rumped vulture, one of two birds that survived a poisoning incident in Cambodia’s Stung Treng province. Photo by Allan Michaud/Courtesy WCS A small victory in a region where vultures of several species in Asia have become endangered was the saving of this critically endangered white-rumped vulture…
NGS Video by Tasha Eichenseher News from the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey: Rose George, British author of the 2008 book “The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters,” tells National Geographic Digital Media Science Editor Tasha Eichenseher why people should care about the 2.5 billion people around the…
Mandara, a 26-year-old female western lowland gorilla and her two-month old daughter, enjoyed the St. Patrick Day festivities. Mandara is eating a lime and honeydew melon kabob that she found in her goodie bag. The public can vote to name the baby gorilla on the Zoo’s Web site. Smithsonian’s National Zoo photo by Mehgan Murphy The…
This week Tasha Eichenseher covers the 5th World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey. Organized every three years by the World Water Council, an international platform based in France, the World Water Forum is the largest international event in the field of water. Its purpose is to support discussions and formulate proposals toward the solution of…
Making a public debut at San Diego Zoo today were these two sun bear cubs, Pagi and Palu. The 5-month-old twins are only the third Bornean sun bear litter to be born in North America, all of which have occurred at the San Diego Zoo, the zoo said in a caption accompanying this photo. Zoo…
Elephants may be falling to the guns of poachers in central Africa, but in the U.S. a survivor of an elephant culling program in southern Africa gave birth to a male calf on Friday at the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park. “The unnamed calf bolsters the population of African elephants at the Wild Animal Park to 12,”…
This photo of a buffalo herd in Zakouma National Park was used to determine that there are exactly 794 animals in the herd. Photo mosaics made by Mike Fay and his team of conservationists allow them to make an accurate assessment of the types and numbers of animals in the sanctuary. Photo courtesy Mike Fay…
