Mammals on 'sky islands' may be threatened by climate change, human development
A new study sheds light on how climate change and human development threaten mammal species living in isolated biodiversity hotspots known as "sky islands."
A new study sheds light on how climate change and human development threaten mammal species living in isolated biodiversity hotspots known as "sky islands."
Plants & Animals
Apr 29, 2024
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In the Southern Ocean about 4,000 kilometers from Perth lies a truly extraordinary place. Known as the Heard Island and McDonald islands, they are among the most remote places on Earth: a haven for marine life amid the vast ...
Ecology
Mar 27, 2024
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Avian influenza is killing tens of thousands of seals and sea lions in different corners of the world, disrupting ecosystems and flummoxing scientists who don't see a clear way to slow the devastating virus.
Veterinary medicine
Mar 22, 2024
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Elephants are the natural carriers of a virus called Elephant Endotheliotropic Herpesvirus (EEHV) that can, for yet unknown reasons, cause profound clinical signs in some young elephants and be rapidly fatal. For nearly two ...
Plants & Animals
Mar 6, 2024
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Asian elephants loudly mourn and bury their dead calves, according to a study by Indian scientists that details animal behavior reminiscent of human funeral rites.
Plants & Animals
Mar 1, 2024
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Wildlife is vanishing around the world, plummeting at rates unprecedented in human history. Then there are elephant seals.
Plants & Animals
Feb 28, 2024
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University of Sydney researchers have shown it is possible to shield plants from the hungry maws of herbivorous mammals by fooling them with the smell of a variety they typically avoid.
Plants & Animals
Feb 2, 2024
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A collaborative team of researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), which runs the world's largest field conservation program, has conducted first-of-its-kind research ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 31, 2024
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Africa is home to about 410,000 savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana), most of them living in southern Africa. Over 290,000 elephants (70%) are spread across 103 protected areas which vary in size, connectivity and protection.
Plants & Animals
Jan 27, 2024
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The late December morning rain left droplets on Christine Heinrichs' glasses as she stood among a throng of tourists and watched dozens of elephant seals tussle and sleep on a beach just south of the Piedras Blancas Light ...
Plants & Animals
Jan 19, 2024
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Elephants are large land mammals of the order Proboscidea and the family Elephantidae. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant (also known as the Indian Elephant). Other species have become extinct since the last ice age, the Mammoths, dwarf forms of which may have survived as late as 2,000 BC, being the best-known of these. They were once classified along with other thick skinned animals in a now invalid order, Pachydermata.
Elephants are the largest land animals. The elephant's gestation period is 22 months, the longest of any land animal. At birth it is common for an elephant calf to weigh 120 kilograms (260 lb). They typically live for 50 to 70 years, but the oldest recorded elephant lived for 82 years. The largest elephant ever recorded was shot in Angola in 1956. This male weighed about 12,000 kilograms (26,000 lb), with a shoulder height of 4.2 metres (14 ft), a metre (yard) taller than the average male African elephant. The smallest elephants, about the size of a calf or a large pig, were a prehistoric species that lived on the island of Crete during the Pleistocene epoch.
The elephant has appeared in cultures across the world. They are a symbol of wisdom in Asian cultures and are famed for their memory and intelligence, where they are thought to be on par with cetaceans and hominids. Aristotle once said the elephant was "the beast which passeth all others in wit and mind". The word "elephant" has its origins in the Greek ἐλέφας, meaning "ivory" or "elephant".
Healthy adult elephants have no natural predators, although lions may take calves or weak individuals. They are, however, increasingly threatened by human intrusion and poaching. Once numbering in the millions, the African elephant population has dwindled to between 470,000 and 690,000 individuals according to a March 2007 estimate. While the elephant is a protected species worldwide, with restrictions in place on capture, domestic use, and trade in products such as ivory, CITES reopening of "one time" ivory stock sales, has resulted in increased poaching. Certain African nations report a decrease of their elephant populations by as much as two-thirds, and populations in certain protected areas are in danger of being eliminated Since recent poaching has increased by as much as 45%, the current population is unknown (2008).
This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA