Wildlife News Roundups - 2008

In the December 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, we find out about the effects rising carbon dioxide levels have on large marine life, the northward expansion of the range of European butterflies, and the Old World origins of the world's large cats. There is also news of a surprising tendency for snowy owls to spend their winter on Arctic sea ice and the disturbing news of poaching and habitat destruction in Zimbabwe.

In the November 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, we learn that seabirds in the UK and Iceland have had a poor breeding season this year, turtle populations along the Mississippi are breeding earlier in response to climate change, and an endangered fruit bat fights its way back from the brink of extinction. There is also news of a Supreme Court decision that fails to protect whales off California's southern coast and a new wildlife sanctuary has been created to help protect Russia's rare Amur leopards.

In the October 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, we find out about the evolutionary origins of bats, the social life of sabertooth cats, and the purpose of the first feathers. There's news that climate change poses grave threats to penguin populations in the Antarctic and that as many as one quarter of all mammal species in in danger of extinction. This month has also brought news of the effects hurricanes have on ants and the natural high zebra finches get from singing.

In the September 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, there's news of whale songs reverberating through the waters just outside of New York Harbor, the rediscovery of a supposedly extinct frog in the rain forests of Honduras, and the naming of over 100 new species of sharks and rays. The WWF also issued a somber report this month indicating that the year 2008 may see the lowest levels of Arctic sea ice in recorded history. There are also several discoveries including insights into the evolutionary history of ostriches, emus, and cassowaries, and the eating habits of wolves (it turns out they prefer salmon to deer, given the choice).

In the August 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, we learn of two new species of giant clam, the remarkable agility flies exhibit when taking-off, and the discovery of the world's tiniest known snake. There is also news of how cows use the Earth's magnetic field to align themselves when grazing and resting as well as the astonishing discovery of a 125,000-strong western lowland gorilla population in the Republic of the Congo.

In the May 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, there's news of the discovery of tens of millions of brittle stars atop a seamount off the coast of Antarctica, the reintroduction of the European Beaver to the wilds of Scotland, and the return of a Panda to its home in Wolong National Nature Reserve, an area affected by the May 12 earthquake in China. Also this month, the WWF announced that so far this spring there have been five American bison calves born within Montana’s American Prairie Reserve.

In the April 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, there's news of a delay in the polar bear listing decision, the possible origin of Borneo's pygmy elephants, and a rapidly evolving lizard on an island off the Croatian coast. There's also headlines about the threat a toxic drug poses to vultures in Asia, the restoration of a military arsenal site in Colorado, and the genetic diversity of captive tigers.

In the March 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, we find out how rooks are teaming up to solve problems, how the Bush Administration is under pressure to evaluate a backlog of candidate endangered species, and how humpback whale calves communicate with their mothers. There is also news of the rediscovery of the Beck's Petrel after a 79-year absence and of the surprisingly rapid evolution rate experienced by tuataras, a group of reptiles from New Zealand.

In the February 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, we learn of the discovery of a giant fossil frog in Madagascar and a giant elephant shrew in Tanzania. There is also news of a decline in India's wild tiger population and reports that invasive predators could be closing in on Antarctica's native species. On the more positive front, the Indonesian government is taking significant steps to deter the illegal trade of turtles within their country while the WWF sets up online resources to foster a reduction in bycatch.

In the January 2008 issue of Wildlife News Roundup, there's news of a Japanese island that's gradually being eaten away by crustaceans, the birth of two black rhino calves in a Kenyan wildlife sanctuary, and a generous donation by California taxpayers to help sea otters. As has been the case for several months now, polar bears and the threats they face are hitting headlines, but this time the polar bear news coincides with the US Government's delay of the ruling to list the species under the Endangered Species Act. Meanwhile, another endangered species, the gray wolf, is making progress, as the first wolf returns to Oregon since the 1930s.