Wildlife

Over the years, we’ve run a lot of stories about the spotted owl (most recently, Spotted owl or red herring? and Hostile Takeover). The threatened raptor, which depends on old growth forests, was blamed for the decline of logging in the 90s, and timber companies have continually pushed to reduce the bird’s protection. Both enviros […]

Research conducted by NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center and Washington State University has discovered that common agricultural pesticides which attack the nervous systems of salmon can turn more deadly when they combine with other pesticides.  This development is likely to underscore requirements for no spray buffer zones along salmon waterways – a requirement which agricultural […]

In words typical of claims by environmental organizations, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently trumpeted “a big step forward for polar bear protection” when the Bush Administration agreed to designate critical habitat for the Polar Bear as part of a settlement with the group and its allies (Nature’s Voice, Jan/Feb 2009).  Based on my […]

The bats of America are in dire straits. In the Eastern U.S., hundreds of thousands of hibernating bats have died from the mysterious fungal affliction known as white nose syndrome. To  make matters worse, tree bats are getting whacked by wind turbines. Bats live up to 30 years and have one of the lowest reproductive rates among […]

On Feb. 20, we wrote that for the first time ever in the U.S., scientists had trapped a jaguar and fitted it with  a radio tracking collar.  Just 10 days later, though, the big cat was dead. Known as Macho B, he had prowled 500 square miles of the U.S.-Mexico border region  for more than […]

In Wyoming, some legislators are straining to connect the dots between two of their biggest management headaches. The livestock disease brucellosis, which causes cows to abort their calves, has cost ranchers millions. And the gray wolf, reintroduced in ’95, has created huge controversy.  Now, a state lawmaker is asking for $45,000 to test wolves for […]

Idaho is not exactly known for its wolf tolerance, so it’s not surprising that the state is again proposing to kill wolves in an effort to boost elk numbers on the eastern side of the panhandle. The Ravalli Republic reports: In the next few weeks, the Idaho Fish and Game Department will ask the federal […]

It’s been just over two years since the notorious quagga mussel first turned up in Lake Mead. The mussel, an invader from the Black Sea, first hit the Great Lakes, then hitchhiked across the country to California, Colorado, Arizona and Utah. The fingernail-sized quagga mussels (and their close relatives, zebra mussels) are incredibly destructive — […]

Scientists studying black bears and mountain lions near Tucson, Ariz. found a surprise in one of their traps this week — a 120-lb. male jaguar. They put a radio tracking collar on the big cat and released him. Now, for the first time ever, biologists will get regular updates on the location of a U.S. […]

Researchers John Swaddle and Stavros Calos have found that high bird diversity is linked with low incidence of the West Nile virus in humans. Their study can be found online. Called the “dilution effect,” the link between biodiversity and disease rates is not completely clear, but scientists believe that increased diversity within an ecosystem reduces […]