Tag: Biodiversity
-
Advocacy Groups Say 1,000 Wind Turbine Project Could Cause Eagle Deaths
Groups like the American Bird Conservancy and Biodiversity Conservation Alliance are willing to be allies to wind energy, but only when they don’t believe that animals are at grave risk. The two organizations voiced opposition this week to plans for a large wind facility in Wyoming that would include 1,000 turbines on an equal amount…
-
How Smoking Pot Kills Wildlife
Marijuana illegally grown in the backwoods of Northern California uses large amounts of rat bait to protect their plants—and these chemicals are killing several species of wild animals, including rare ones, biologists say in a new report by NPR. According to the report, growers plant their marijuana in remote locations, hoping to elude detection. They…
-
Loss of Arctic Sea Ice Eliminates Major Barrier for Parasites in Marine Mammals
By Tim Radford The great Arctic thaw—up to 50 percent of sea ice by area and 75 percent by volume in the summer season—could be offering new opportunities for one of the planet’s most successful parasites. Toxoplasma gondii, an infection spread by almost all cat species, has been identified for the first time in the…
-
Yellowstone Begins 2014 Wild Bison Slaughter
Yellowstone National Park shipped 20 of America’s last wild bison to slaughter yesterday morning. Twenty-five bison were captured Friday in the Stephens Creek bison trap, located inside the world’s first national park. After being confined in the trap for five days, 20 of the bison were handed over to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes,…
-
Study Finds Proximity to Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling Rigs Threaten Humpback Whales
By Rob Jordan When you are 50 feet long and weigh more than 40 tons—the maximum allowed weight on most U.S. highways—you need a lot of space to move around. Humpback whales, still recovering from whaling that wiped out as much as 90 percent of their global population, are confronted with new challenges caused by…