Anyone who has ever owned an axolotl can tell you that they are voracious eaters! Axolotls in the wild eat worms, insects, and small fish, sniffing out their prey and sucking it into their mouths along with anything in the surrounding water. This is why pet axolotls should never be kept on gravel; it is far too easy for the animal to suck up small stones and accidentally swallow them.
However, one of the problems facing wild axolotls is starvation. Introduced species of predatory fish such as tilapia and carp eat the same things as axolotls, and are rapidly out-competing the little amphibians. To add insult to injury, these fish will also feed on juvenile axolotls, as well as their eggs.
A conservation fund has been set up in memory of Harambe, the majestic young male Western lowland gorilla who tragically lost his life on May 28, 2016. While the unfortunate set of circumstances surrounding his passing cannot be reversed, his story has brought the desperate plight of his wild counterparts and their habitat in the African north-western Congo Basin into the public eye.
In Kenya, the word “harambee” is “a rallying cry.” In Swahili, “harambee” means “pull together.”
In order to best remember Harambe’s iconic presence, it seems fitting that the rallying cry be sounded on behalf of wild Western lowland gorillas.
A lot of people feel helpless after the Cincinnati tragedy. The best thing we can do right now is support their conservation – anything donated to this fund goes directly to Mbeli Bai Study, which is the largest extant western lowland gorilla research project.
“Mbeli Bai is a 13 ha large swampy (natural) forest clearing in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park with minimum levels of disturbance. Since 1995, researchers of the Wildlife Conservation Society have been continuously monitoring the wildlife visiting Mbeli Bai from an observation platform overlooking the clearing with the goal to ensure the long-term protection of gorillas and other forest mammals via several research and conservation based objectives.
In particular the Mbeli Bai Study (MBS) aims to enhance our knowledge of western gorillas (and other elusive large mammals) and improve their conservation status in the Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, the Sangha Tri-National and elsewhere through applied research, capacity building of nationals, local community outreach programs, support of ecotourism activities and international awareness raising. The MBS aims to inform conservation strategies by increasing our understanding of and highlighting the importance of forest clearings (bais) and determining the ecological factors influencing large mammal density around Mbeli Bai.”
Perhaps because the saiga gathers into such large groups to migrate and give birth, they are extremely vulnerable to disease. Between 1980 and 2014 there have been multiple mass die-offs of saiga herds due to disease, showing a contrast to their high reproductive rate. In the summer of 2015, another mass die-off occurred, this one taking the lives of over 120,000 saiga, or nearly half the world population. The cause of this devastating occurrence has still not been determined
Say hello to Conolophus marthae, a Fairy/Ground type.
Native to the Galapagos Islands, the pink iguana is extremely rare. It can be found on one mountain and one mountain only- Wolf Volcano- and it’s pink for some reason.
This species is critically endangered- not because of human encroachment but because it lives on one mountain. There’s only about a hundred individuals and the species was only defined in 2009 (and noticed by park rangers in 1986) because somehow we’ve gone generations without noticing a pink lizard roaming around.
They’re also mysterious. We know next to nothing about them. We’ve never seen a juvenile.
So, to recap: A mysterious pink creature living in one spot on a remote island. There’s no way Team Rocket doesn’t want this thing.
HIGH IN THE VINE-ENTANGLED HILLS of western Puerto Rico’s Rio Abajo State Forest, Ricardo Valentin
sits amid the parrot cages of José L. Vivaldi Memorial Aviary and
complains of an “egg tsunami.” The aviary faces “an unexpected problem,”
he says with mock despair. “We have been too successful at breeding
them. We are bursting at the seams with birds.”
It’s an odd complaint about one of the world’s 10 most rare and critically endangered birds.
But after decades in which the Puerto Rican parrot hovered at
disastrously low numbers, conservation measures suddenly have succeeded
beyond anyone’s wildest hopes: Two captive populations now number more
than 200 birds each. Increasing annually, the number of wild birds—only a
dozen a few years ago—has climbed to perhaps more than 100. And for the
first time in decades, wild pairs are nesting without the aid of nest
boxes. On a recent visit to the field, “I took a photograph of 48
parrots,” says Valentin, an aviculturist with the Puerto Rico Department
of Natural and Environmental Resources. “That is the largest group of
Puerto Rican parrots ever photographed.”
After sightings of a leopard-like animal by the locals in a town in
North Khorasan Province, the provincial Environment Department sent some
experts to the area to gather information about the unknown animal.
The search produced photos of a Pallas’ cat (Otocolobus manul) with its four kittens which are rare in Iran’s wildlife.
PiraticOctopus 