20 species of grouper fish are endangered

Live fish catch, including a species of grouper.

20 of the world's 162 known species of grouper are threatened with extinction according to a survey by conservation groups. Grouper are popular food fish throughout the world, but due to their slow reproductive rates they are particularly vulnerable to overharvesting.

"This shows that over-fishing could decimate another major food and economic resource for humans, similar to the loss of the cod stocks off New England and Canada that has put thousands of people out of work," said Roger McManus, a senior director of Conservation International's Marine Program.

Groupers are often captured for the live fish trade in Hong Kong where a fish may go for more than $50 per kilogram. A study published earlier this year found that the trade is significantly depleting reef fish populations off northern coast of Borneo.

The latest research is the first comprehensive assessment of groupers worldwide. Previously eight species were listed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) as threatened.

"The results are worrying and highlight the urgent need for fishery management, more effective marine protected areas (MPAs), and more sustainable eating habits for consumers of these fishes," said Dr. Yvonne Sadovy, Chair of the IUCN Grouper and Wrasse Specialist Group and Associate Professor at the University of Hong Kong.

Endangered species status of the polar bear to be decided May 15

A federal judge has ordered the Bush administration to stop delaying its decision on whether to list the polar bear as an endangered species. Environmentalists say the bear is threatened by melting sea ice in its Arctic habitat.

Judge Claudia Wilken of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California ruled Monday that the Department of the Interior has violated the law by missing the deadline for filing a decision on the status of the polar bear by four months. She said the agency would have to arrive at a decision by May 15, 2008.

The Department of the Interior had sought to delay the decision until June 30, 2008. It had already missed a January 2008 deadline.

In March, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Natural Resources Defense Council, Greenpeace filed a complaint asking the court to end the delays. On Monday, Wilken ruled that "timeliness is essential" and "the issues are not complex."


Photo courtesy of Greenpeace
"Defendants [Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne and the Fish and Wildlife Service] offer no specific facts that would justify the existing delay, much less further delay," the decision states. "To allow Defendants more time would violate the mandated listing deadlines under the ESA and congressional intent that time is of the essence in listing threatened species."

Environmentalists cheered the ruling.

"Today's decision is a huge victory for the polar bear," said Kassie Siegel, climate program director at the Center for Biological Diversity and lead author of the 2005 petition seeking the Endangered Species Act listing. "By May 15th the polar bear should receive the protections it deserves under the Endangered Species Act, which is the first step toward saving the polar bear and the entire Arctic ecosystem from global warming."

"We have won in the court of public opinion and of law," said Melanie Duchin, Greenpeace global warming campaigner in Alaska. "We hope that this decision marks the end of the Bush administration's delays and denial so that immediate action may be taken to protect polar bears from extinction."

Scientists say the polar bear is at risk due to melting sea ice resulting from global warming. In September, biologists with the U.S. Geological Survey warned that the United States and Russia will likely lose all of their polar bear populations due to thinning and disappearing sea ice by 2050. The loss would amount to around two-thirds of the world's population of the species.


Declining sea ice is a major threat to polar bears, which are currently being considered for protection under the Endangered Species Act. A November 2006 study published by scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey and the Canadian Wildlife Service, revealed a 22 percent decline in the size of the western Hudson Bay polar bear population between 1987 and 2004. The research also found that only 43 percent of polar bear cubs in the surveyed area survived their first year, compared to a 65 percent survival rate in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Meanwhile in September 2006, Ian Stirling, a research scientist with the Canadian Wildlife Service, reported that the average weight of adult female polar bears in western Hudson Bay have fallen from 650 pounds in 1980 to just 507 pounds in 2004.

Other reports indicate that drowned polar bears are being found for the first time in Alaska. Researchers speculate that greater distances between ice sheets could be taking a toll on the bears. While bears are capable of swimming long distances--up to 60 miles (100 km) without stopping--it is conceivable that they could suffer from exhaustion during an unexpectedly arduous swim. A shorter spring hunting season caused by progressively earlier breakup of sea ice, reduces the chances of reproductive success for female polar bears.

The loss of ice also makes it more difficult for bears to find food. Unlike grizzly bears, polar bears aren't adapted to hunting land animals like caribou, instead feeding primarily on seals. However, recent aerial surveys by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service show that, over the past five years, polar bears are changing their habits and spending more time on land, congregating on beaches and scavenging whale carcasses. Accordingly, a USGS study published in July reported that polar bears in Alaska are increasingly setting up dens on land because sea ice is thinning. Using satellite telemetry to track the den-making habits of bears in northern Alaska, the scientists found the proportion of dens on ice compared with land fell from 62 percent in the 1985-1994 period to 37 percent between 1998 and 2004. The researchers say that declining quality sea ice makes ice less stable to mothers to raise their cubs. In recent years Arctic sea ice has been forming later and melting earlier, leaving it thinner.

USGS, which issued reports on three of 19 distinct subpopulations of polar bear, did not estimate precisely how many polar bear would remain 50 years from now. Scientists estimate there are currently 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears world-wide.

Environmentalists say while the outlook for polar bears and other Arctic species -- including walrus and 12 species of penguin -- is dire, it is not took late to protect wildlife threatened by climate change.

River dolphins fight for survival

Conservationists working to save India's endangered blind river dolphins say there are encouraging signs that the population is starting to stabilise in some areas.
But there are still many factors which give cause for concern.


It has been illegal to kill the river dolphins since 1972, but until a High Court ruling last year many dolphin poachers went unpunished.

Now, according to Dr RV Sinha, head of the Indian Government's Dolphin Conservation Project, the conservationists' message is starting to get across.

While the dolphin population across India is under 2000, numbers are starting to stabilise in the Vikramshila Gangetic Dolphin Sanctuary - a 50-kilometre (30 mile) stretch of the Ganges in India's eastern state of Bihar.

Fishy business

Dolphins used to get entangled in the nets used by fishermen in the Ganges.

Many were killed, some accidentally, but others deliberately because fishermen wanted dolphin oil and fats to use as bait.

Last year the Chief Justice of Patna High Court directed the State Government of Bihar to ensure the protection of the dolphin under the 1972 Indian Wildlife Protection Act.

Dr Sinha says that several people have been prosecuted since this order and that "fishermen are now more conscious and more alert".

But the dolphins also face threats from pollution, the erosion and degradation of their habitat and the construction of barrages which mean that the dolphins are confined to certain parts of the river.

Low profile

The river dolphins are blind - the only species in the world to have eyes without lenses.


They used to be common throughout much of South Asia but over the past century have completely disappeared in some areas.

According to Dr Sinha the dolphins have suffered from a public image problem.

The tiger and elephant have been much more successful in galvanising the attention of the world.

Now he, and other organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund, are hoping to promote eco-tourism as a means of increasing awareness about the dolphins.

But before tourists can be taken to the remote parts of Bihar where the dolphins live, the law and order situation must improve, he says.

Group seeks salvation for 189 endangered bird species

Species Champions: Funds from the British Birdwatching Fair will support ongoing conservation efforts to save Bengal Florican in Cambodia. Picture by Allan Michaud

BirdLife International has launched an appeal to save 189 endangered bird species over the next 5 years. The U.K.-based conservation group is seeking to raise tens of millions of dollars through its Species Champions initiative, by finding "Species Champions" among individuals, private foundations, and companies who will fund the work of identified "Species Guardians" for each bird.

"Critically Endangered birds can be saved from extinction through this innovative approach," said Dr Mike Rands, Chief Executive of BirdLife International. "This is an enormous challenge, but one we are fully committed to achieving in our efforts to save the world's birds from extinction."

"One hundred and eighty-nine wonderful and fascinating bird species are on the brink of disappearing forever. Any such extinction diminishes us, and narrows our world," said Dr Leon Bennun, Birdlife's Director of Science, Policy & Information. "But these birds can be saved -- the support of Species Champions will make this possible."

Researchers have estimated that one-eighth of the world's 10,000 bird species could be threatened with extinction by 2100 due to climate change and habitat destruction. Humans have already caused the extinction of around 1,000 bird species over the past millennium, especially in the South Pacific. Places like Hawaii and modern-day French Polynesia lost more than 80 percent of their endemic species.

Conservationists say best to minimize extinctions is to significantly expand protected areas while aggressively cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing destruction of bird habitat.

Unknown but critically endangered iguana species discovered in Fiji

Researchers have discovered a third species of iguana in Fiji. It is believed to be critically endangered, with a population of a "few hundred".

The bright green lizard, which reaches a length of around 90 cm (35 inches), is marked with white bands. According the species has been dubbed the Fijian banded iguana. Its scientific name is Brachylophus bulabula.

Scott Keogh from the Australian National University told The Sydney Morning Herald that the species — like many other species native to Fiji — is at risk from introduced animals, including cats, dogs, mongoose, goats, and rats. Habitat loss could also pressure the species, which lives in the rainforest canopy.

Keogh said that Fiji was once home to at least two other species of iguana that were likely eaten into extinction long ago by humans when they settled the islands.

There are X species of iguana, most of which live in the New World. Scientists believe the species in Fiji colonized the islands after floating in vegetation across the Pacific Ocean.

Extinction nears for whales and dolphins

The warning comes from an international group of cetacean experts at IUCN-The World Conservation Union.

They say species like the baiji (the Yangtze River dolphin) are unlikely to last for another 10 years.

Other small cetaceans and several of the great whale species are almost as endangered, they believe.

The experts issue their warning in Dolphins, Whales and Porpoises: 2002-2010 Conservation Action Plan for the World's Cetaceans.

The plan is the third of three written by IUCN's Cetacean Specialist Group (CSG) in the last 15 years.

Help for the overlooked

It lists the 86 recognised cetacean species, from the whales of the high seas to the small and increasingly seldom-seen freshwater species in southern Asia and Latin America.


Dr Randall Reeves, who chairs the CSG, said: "Some of the great whales such as the blue, humpback, sperm and right whales often receive a lot of attention.

"They are magnificent animals, and certainly important to the CSG's mission. The Group focuses, however, on smaller species, often lesser-known and in developing countries, that are particularly threatened with extinction."

The CSG says humans have not so far caused the extinction of any cetacean species, but it thinks that could change.

A former CSG chair, William Perrin, said: "It seems unlikely the baiji will still be around when the next action plan is formulated eight or 10 years from now."

Vanishing fast

The baiji, a freshwater dolphin now limited to the main channel of the Yangtze river in China, is considered the most endangered cetacean.


From surveys in 1985 and 1986, the total population was estimated at around 300 animals. Between 1997 and 1999, extensive surveys sighted only 21-23 dolphins.

Other cetaceans thought at extreme risk are the vaquita (the Gulf of California porpoise) and several local populations of whales and dolphins, all classed on IUCN's Red List as critically endangered.

Other endangered cetaceans include northern hemisphere right whales, the blue whale, Hector's dolphin, and the Ganges/Indus River dolphins. Some species still awaiting formal assessment are known to be in serious danger of extinction.

Hunting persists

William Perrin said: ""Some progress has been made, but... grave threats to the continued existence of many cetaceans still exist, and some threats are worsening.


"Cetacean diversity, like all biodiversity worldwide, is crumbling, so we must redouble our efforts."

Threats to cetaceans include the deliberate killing of some species for food and predator control.

Animals die after becoming entangled in fishing gear, or colliding with vessels. Some species are targeted to supply the demand from aquaria for live animals.

Glimmers of hope

Fishing depletes food sources, coastal habitats are damaged by development, and new types of military sonar can apparently cause lethal damage to deep-diving cetaceans.

But the CSG sees some signs for hope. It says: "Several populations of southern right whales, humpbacks in many areas, grey whales in the eastern North Pacific, and blue whales in both the eastern North Pacific and central North Atlantic have begun to show signs of recovery."

The plan includes recommendations for action to protect some of the most threatened species. These include modifications to fishing methods that would benefit the baiji, vaquita, and Hector's dolphin.

Rare gorillas slaughtered in mass killing

Juvenile gorilla in Bwindi (top) and a wildlife guide searching for gorillas in Bwindi (bottom).



At least four critically endangered gorillas have been killed in Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga National Park. National Geographic News reports they were shot "execution-style". Illegal charcoal harvesters are leading suspects in the slaying. Two other gorillas are missing and feared dead.

Park staff were stunned by the killing.

"We are deeply shocked," wrote Paulin Ngobobo, A Virunga ranger, wrote on his Gorilla Protection blog for Wildlife Direct. "There are no words for what we are feeling."

Wildlife Direct told National Geographic News they heard gun shots from inside the reserve around 8 p.m. on Saturday night. In the morning, rangers located the first three bodies.


"The gorillas were all quite close together. They had all been shot," National Geographic News quoted Emmanuel de Merode, director of WildlifeDirect, as saying.

Senkekwe, the silverback which headed the so-called Rugendo family of 12 gorillas, was found dead this morning.

The killings follow a similar shooting of two silverback gorillas from the same family group earlier this year. De Merode said that charcoal traffickers, who supply the nearby city of Goma, with were likely to blame.

Virguna National Park park, which sits near the border with Rwanda, supports roughly 360 of the world's remaining 700 mountain gorillas. Another 340 mountain gorillas are found in neighboring Uganda's Bwindi Impenetrable Forest National Park.

Gorillas haven't been only victims of strife in the region. WildlifeDirect estimates that since the beginning of the conflict in eastern Congo nearly a decade ago, some 150 park rangers have been killed on active duty.

Conservationists say gorillas can bring benefits to the local economy. In Uganda's Bwindi, well-trained guides lead small and carefully supervised groups of tourists who pay more than $300 each for a permit to see the gorillas. The efforts have provided some compensation for communities around the park who have had to give up their right to cut timber and harvest game from the protected forest.

10-20% of birds extinct by 2100 due to global warming, deforestation

Ten to twenty percent of the world's terrestrial bird species could be threatened with extinction by 2100 due to climate change and habitat destruction reports a study published in the June 5 issue of the journal PLoS Biology. The numbers are in line with estimates published last year in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Combining future projections on global warming, agricultural expansion and human population growth from the global Millennium Ecosystem Assessment with current geographic ranges of the world's 8,750 species of terrestrial birds, researchers Walter Jetz, David Wilcove, and Andrew Dobson estimate that 950 to 1800 species may be condemned to extinction by 2100.

"We found in our study that under certain assumptions by the year 2100, 950 to 1,800 bird species may be imperiled or even driven to extinction by climate change and habitat destruction," says Walter Jetz, an assistant professor of biological sciences at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) and the lead author of the study. "Most of these species are currently not recognized as imperiled."




The authors say that in the near term, deforestation and habitat conversion are a larger threat to terrestrial bird species than climate change, but that after 2050 climate will have an increasingly important impact of the survival of terrestrial birds.

"It's clear that both climate change and habitat destruction pose grave threats to many of the world's birds and, by analogy, to other species as well," says David Wilcove, a professor of ecology, evolutionary biology and public affairs at Princeton University and a co-author of the study. "Neither problem can be addressed in a vacuum."

"The most intense climate change is expected at higher latitudes, where birds are relatively species-poor and have large ranges," added Jetz. "Dramatic levels of deforestation and other forms of land conversion are projected to continue or even increase in much of the tropics. There birds and most other taxonomic groups are especially diverse and tend to have small ranges, making them particularly vulnerable to extinction."




"This is akin to killing two birds with one stone," explained Wilcove. "Deforestation drives tropical species to extinction and also contributes to global climate change. Climate change, in turn, drives temperate species to extinction. The good news is that by halting deforestation we can protect both tropical and temperate birds."

Humans have already caused the extinction of around 1,000 bird species over the past millennium, especially in the South Pacific. Places like Hawaii and modern-day French Polynesia lost more than 80 percent of their endemic species.

The scientists warn that even under the most optimistic scenarios of slowing climate change and protecting critical habitats, at least 400 bird species are likely to become imperiled by the year 2050 due to reductions in their geographic ranges of greater than 50 percent, assuming that birds will not dramatically shift their geographic ranges in response to a changing climate.

The researchers say the best to minimize extinctions is to significantly expand protected areas while aggressively cutting greenhouse gas emissions and reducing deforestation.


"The tragic irony here is that the protection of tropical forests is also one of the strongest buffers against future climate change," said Andrew Dobson, the third author of the paper and a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at Princeton. "It is crucial that international environmental policy be swiftly developed to focus both on climate change and on habitat loss; the two are not only intimately related, but are arguably the greatest threats not only to birds, but also to human welfare and economic well-being."

"These hundreds of bird species headed toward extinction are like thousands of dying canaries in coal mines," Dobson adds. "It's time we paid attention to them."

Africa's lion population is falling

The lion is Africa's best known carnivore. Once widely abundant across the continent, recent surveys show that lion populations have plunged from over 100,000 individuals to around 23,000 over the past century. The reason for recent declines? Lions are poisoned, shot, and speared by locals who see them as a threat to livestock. While lion populations in protected areas remain relatively healthy, conservationists say that without urgent measures, lions may disappear completely from unprotected areas.

Wild Orangutans On The Verge of Extinction

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Habitat destruction by illegal loggers could mean the extinction of orangutans within 10 to 20 years, a Harvard researcher studying the apes said.

Logging has been increasing in recent years, moving away from the river edges into the interior of the forests where the orangutans live, Cheryl Knott said in a telephone interview on Monday.

Knott studies orangutans in Indonesia's Gunung Palung National Park, home to about 2,500 of the animals, about one-tenth of those in the world.

Orangutans live only in Indonesia and Malaysia, said Knott, whose work is sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

While the government of Indonesia has a commitment to protect orangutans, sending in national police periodically, the loggers return when the police leave, she said.

Knott said she hopes to raise awareness internationally "that we really do have a crisis here.... We could wake up in 20 years and they would be extinct."

Orangutans, like other great apes, are close relatives to humans. Researchers have learned a lot about them in recent years.

Knott said one colony was observed to use primitive tools, a skill passed on to their offspring. And she said the group she studies makes unique sounds under some circumstances.

Orangutans are almost totally arboreal, living in the trees, traveling through the trees and eating fruit from the trees, she said.

She said several hundred trees have been removed in her study area. Loggers cut them into manageable logs with chain saws, drag those logs to a nearby river and float them to market.

Asia's tigers could get big boost from small changes

Small changes to the management of wildlife reservers in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal could dramatically boost endangered tiger populations, reports a new study published in the journal Biological Conservation.

Examining 157 reservers throughout the Indian subcontinent, the study found that 21 protected areas meet the criteria needed to support large healthy tiger populations. The research suggests that these protected areas could potentially support 3,500 to 6,500 tigers, up from the current estimate of 1,500 to 4,000 cats.

"We were happy to find that the most important reserves identified in the study already have made tiger conservation a priority," said the lead author Dr. Jai Ranganathan of the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis.


The study recommends increased funding and staff support, restoring tiger habitat, and cracking down on poaching of tigers and their prey. It notes that conservation efforts within the 21 most suitable reserves "should focus primarily on the reserves themselves" while "tiger conservation in the remaining reserves can succeed only with additional management of the unprotected landscapes that surround them."

Conservationists estimate that around 5,000 tigers exist in the wild today--down from 100,000 a century ago.