The year 2006 brought with it a wide range of wildlife headlines.
April 30, 2006. Protecting birds can be a complicated matter when the habitats they migrate through span thousands of miles and are located in multiple countries. Now a unique partnership between New Jersey's D & R Greenway Land Trust and the Friends of Calakmul, a land trust in Yucatán, Mexico, aims to tackle the challenges of protecting a migratory flyway.
May 1, 2006. Each May in Florida, sea turtle nesting season begins as female sea turtles emerge from the ocean to dig a nest in the sand where they lay their eggs. Nesting season continues throughout the summer and ends in early fall. Florida's beaches provide critical nesting grounds for threatened and endangered sea turtles.
Photo © Qldian / iStockphoto.May 9, 2006. Scientists from the University of St Andrews have revealed that dolphins communicate using names to identify each other. Scientists recorded the vocalizations made by wild dolphins in Sarasota Bay, located on Florida's west cost. The researchers then generated computer imitations of the recordings and played them to the back to the dolphins.
May 17, 2006. BirdLife International reports that of the world's estimated 9,799 bird species, 2,005 are classified as threatened or endangered. The most critically endangered species include Peru's Purple-backed Sunbeam Hummingbird (Aglaeactis aliciae) and Tanzania's Uluguru Bush-shrike (Malaconotus alius).
May 23, 2006. Scientists have discovered evidence for complex cooperative behavior in side-blotched lizards. Side-blotched lizards have three different color variations for their throat patch, orange, blue, and yellow. Scientists have shown that the behavior pattern of a side-blotched lizard can be predicted by the color of its throat patch. Lizards with orange throat patches tend to be agressive, those with blue throat patches tend to be cooperative, and lizards with yellow throat patches are crafty. Through cooperation, the color variations in the lizards are maintained.
June 15, 2006. President Bush today announced the establishment of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Marine National Monument. Stretching a distance of more than 1,200 miles, the new sanctuary encompasses scores of miniature islands, atolls, and shoals. The protected zone also includes the wildlife-rich coral reefs surrounding the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.
July 4, 2006. An injured panda was discovered by a group of tourists visiting the forest valley in the north-central Chinese province of Shaanxi. The group's tour guide informed forest park staff of the panda, who then transported the animal to a nearby wild animal rescue center for examination. Specialists treating the panda determined that it had sustained no serious injuries.
July 14, 2006. The IUCN's African Rhino Specialist Group undertook an expedition to northern Cameroon recently to identify how many West African black rhinos remained in the region. In 2002, a similar survey had shown that the number of black rhinos had dwindled to only 10 individuals that were spread out over a large area. At such low population level and density, the risk of extinction was very high.
August 14, 2006. Orangutans are fighting for survival in their native lands of Sumatra and Borneo. Habitat loss is the main cause of their decline—orangutans spend their lives in the treetops and as forests are felled, they are left with nowhere to go. Conservationists are now trying to relocate orangutans to protected areas, but they are fighting a battle against time, as illegal logging and hunting erodes the wild population of orangutans.
August 15, 2006. A drought in southeastern Georgia has lowered the water levels in Okefenokee Swamp, forcing alligators to crowd into the remaining pools of water that are deep enough to still hold water. Fluctuations in water levels is part of the natural cycle of the swamp and alligators respond to these fluctuations by moving to deeper waters and tolerating higher population density.
