Gaia, the eight-month-old black-footed cat at Utah’s Hogle Zoo is adorable. The type of cat you could see napping on your windowsill. But Gaia is also a deadly hunter. Black-footed cats catch about 60% of their prey, yet their numbers are decreasing. Smithsonian Magazine tells us more about the species' vulnerability and the so-called “endangered species dating” program designed to save them. https://flip.it/jMFIYu #Science#Caturday#Cats#EndangeredSpecies
Twenty-one creatures were just removed from the #EndangeredSpecies List last year for the worst possible reason: They're officially #extinct.
Once found across much of America, these birds, bats, fish and mussels are now gone forever. Their loss is a wake-up call for us to do all we can to protect Earth's #biodiversity -- from the grizzly on the ridgeline to the butterfly in our backyard.
Happy to announce that you can now purchase my photo book ''Vancouver Island Marmot, The World's Rarest Marmot'' at the Vancouver Island University Campus store. Dr. Gorrell, a prof at VIU, has written in my book about his research on the Vancouver Island marmot and it is fascinating. He is part of the amazing team of experts involved in the VI marmot's recovery from extinction.
Wild animals are having their bones crushed, their spines snapped, and their lives slowly suffocated out of them in vicious #traps that are currently legal and allowed in #NationalWildlifeRefuges.
Now, a new bill seeks to end this torture. The #RefugeFromCruelTrappingAct, or H.R. 5217, seeks to amend the National Wildlife Refuge System Administration Act to ban the use of steel-jaw leg-hold traps,
That’s a particularly important point given that the National Wildlife Refuge System is incredibly #biodiverse — with more than 700 birds, 220 mammals, and more than 380 #EndangeredSpecies.
The wild animals who call these protected lands their home should not be gruesomely and inhumanely killed simply because they exist.
"If the flytrap is destined to be confined to the greenhouses of Walmart and the community gardens of posh retirement communities, is it really surviving?"
Quite simply: As human population grows and our footprint expands, more human habitat means less habitat for endangered species. Pile on invasive species (like domestic cats) and climate change and native species don't stand a chance.
But the author almost entirely misses Section 7 in their word-fluffed up article, where critical habitat is defined as off-limit to developers. But developers rule in #hawaii
Keep these animals and hundreds like them with a signed copy of our new 400-page hardcover book Photo Ark: One Man’s Quest to Document the World’s Animals. 100% of profits support the Photo Ark.
A veterinarian tends to a newly born Sumatran rhino calf at a sanctuary at Way Kambas National Park, Indonesia. The baby is a very welcome arrival, since the species is critically endangered; there are less than 80 left in the world. It is our smallest rhinocerous and the most vocal, making noises such as whistles, whale-like calls and what scientists call ‘the eep’.
You live in Nanaimo and are looking for a unique Christmas gift? Very soon you'll be able to buy my book ''Vancouver Island Marmot, The World's Rarest Marmot'' at the Vancouver Island University Campus store. Dr Jamie Gorrell, a professor at VIU, has written in my book about his research on the Vancouver Island marmot and it's fascinating.
The Book of Vanishing Species is a stunning homage to the planet's most mysterious, bizarre and wondrous creatures and plants. Their stories are captivating, from the eyeless and tiny dragonlike olm to the hawksbill turtle, whose gender will be determined by the temperature of the sand it is born in. These species may have survived for hundreds of thousands of years by cleverly adapting to their environments, but their future remains far from certain.
#DYK that the IUCN SSC Seahorse, Pipefish & Seadragon Specialist Group (SPS SG) is dedicated to the conservation of seahorses, pipefishes, pipehorses and seadragons— as well as related species such as trumpetfishes, cornetfishes, and shrimpfishes?
Project Seahorse is the host for this specialist group, and our director, Prof. Amanda Vincent, is it's Chair.
@projectseahorse I found the whole website very interesting, a great introduction to the work of an #IUCN#SpecialistGroup - & I enjoyed the glorious images scattered throughout.
This may be the first IUCN entity officially represented on the Fediverse; may others follow! Meanwhile I appreciate the gorgeous photo stream of #EndangeredSpecies from @redlist & look forward to more portraits of #QuirkyFish.
A revealing article on the headwinds facing the transition to #sustainable#green-energy.
From the article:
#Wind and #solar stocks are declining due to higher costs of raw materials and slow supply response.
#EV chargers and copper mining, critical for the energy transition, face demand uncertainties and reluctance in investment, and
Despite government subsidies, #renewable energy sectors struggle with high costs and interest rates, indicating a slower and more expensive transition than anticipated.
This is the problem with entrusting matters of such dire importance to #capitalism -- especially in an age of resource scarcity. As I say in my pinned toot:
Capitalism is little more than an ideological hangover produced from a time long past when low hanging fruit was everywhere for the taking and people thought it would never disappear.
That quote has deeper context than most suspect. I penned it years ago shortly out of law school after taking a Wildlife Law class from the, now deceased, Professor Dale Goble. He literally wrote the book on the #EndangeredSpecies Act. There he introduced me to the reason species have, historically, been driven to #extinction -- new technology + capitalist opportunism:
Gun powder killed the mega-predators. Whales? Spear gun. Passenger pigeon? Net guns. I could go on. But then we invented the petroleum economy, and in the opportunistic race for economic growth the decline has quickened by means of the collateral damage caused by #habitat degradation. Which, brings me to my point ---
The ideology that is capitalism was built around gluts. It cannot exist without low hanging fruit to fuel the #consumption#orgy necessary to get past the bottleneck of widespread consumer adoption. We are seeing the problem in stark outline today. Without #monopoly in the resource extraction sector, generating the necessary momentum to survive the capitalist "valley of death" is nearly impossible.
I conclude, there must first be an ideological transition away from the hangover that is capitalism, if we ever want to transition sustainable green-energy. The fruit is gone, folks. If we ever want it back, capitalism won’t take us there #ClimateCrisis#climate#environment#ecosocialism#economy#SteadyStateEconomy
Take a look at my book! https://youtu.be/g7VF7lUK6ng
The Vancouver Island marmot is British Columbia’s sole endemic mammal species and the most endangered mammal in Canada. In my photo book, you will learn about the conservation efforts undertaken to save this amazing species from extinction through the words of dedicated experts and my photos.