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Paleontologists digging near the coast of Peru have uncovered the 12-million-year-old skull of a now-extinct species of sperm whale.
The skull, which measures nearly 10 feet across, belonged to a genus and species of sperm whale that may have been up to 57 feet long and includes the longest documented sperm whale teeth, measuring more than 14 fearsome inches.
Study members speculate that the creature was certainly a top predator, probably occupying the same ecological niche of the living killer whale. Modern sperm whales may grow to about the same size as Leviathan melvillei, but they dive deep into the ocean to feed on squid using suction. The older whale, on the other hand, may have used its sharp teeth to rip into mid-size baleen whales.
Read the full story in the LA Times.
During the last century, Africa’s black rhino population plummeted by more than 90 percent, reaching an alarming low of just 2,300, but five were recently returned to the Serengeti National Park as part of an ambitious initiative to boost the viability of Tanzania’s rhino population.
“Six flights to deliver the rhinos to Serengeti National Park are sponsored by National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, the Nduna Foundation and the Wildlife Without Borders program of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
“The rhinos’ safe arrival is a remarkable achievement for rhino conservation and for cooperation between nations, according to the USFWS. During the next two years, a total of 32 eastern black rhinos will be returned as part of the Serengeti Rhino Repatriation Project, more than doubling the number of rhinos in the Serengeti.
“The 32 black rhinos destined for Serengeti National Park are descendants of animals that were taken from Kenya to South Africa in the 1960s. Originally kept in the national parks’ estate, they were sold into private hands in the mid-1990s. Meanwhile, in Tanzania, illegal poaching of rhinos decimated the native wild black rhinos.
“In recent decades, increased security efforts on private and public lands have helped black rhinos recover in some parts of East Africa. In preparation for welcoming the returning black rhinos, the Serengeti National Park strengthened security throughout the park and created an elite rhino-protection force trained to safeguard the rhinos and their habitat for years to come.”
Learn more at AllAfrica.com.
For weeks we’ve been following the oil spill’s impact on wildlife along the Gulf coast, but there is also an endangered species known to feed in the murky depths right where oil is leaking: sperm whales. Audubonmagazine.org reports that an estimated 1,665 sperm whales in the northern Gulf of Mexico that may be at risk as oil continues to spew from Deepwater Horizon.
“Sperm whales are the largest toothed whales on earth. The whales eat mainly squid but will also hunt fish, skates and deep water sharks, feeding in depths from 1,000 feet to nearly 10,000 feet. In the Gulf of Mexico, the preferred feeding ground is along the continental slope, the margin several dozen miles offshore where the seafloor descends from shallow to very deep. This is exactly where the oil is leaking.”
Learn more at Audubonmagazine.org.
Just 1.5 million years before humans began taking leisurely dips in the ocean, the waters were home to an immense shark “Megalodon” (formally known as Carcharocles megalodon). Despite coming in at more than 60 feet long, young C. megalodons would still have been vulnerable to other predators of their time, much like young great whites are today. According to a new study published in PLoS One the “mega-toothed shark” may have protected its young by delivering them in nurseries.
“Over the years paleontologists have identified several sites relatively rich in juvenile C. megalodon teeth, including the 10 million year old (Miocene) Gatún Formation of Panama. The marine fossil site preserves a shallow habitat containing numerous C. megalodon teeth and a relative paucity of whale bones (prey for adult sharks that their young probably would not have fed on), and for the first time a team of paleontologists have tested the idea that his place was once a haven for the young predators.”
Learn more about these prehistoric shark nurseries.
The recent catastrophic explosion of BP’s Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico has put Florida, Mississippi, and our home state of Alabama on high alert. And even though we are an international adventure travel company, we are first and foremost Alabamians. Many of us vacation several times a year on the Gulf Coast and have friends and family living there who depend on the Gulf Coast’s perennial draw as a destination. However, not to overstate the obvious, but the toll goes well beyond the loss of lives, resources and billions of dollars spent on cleanup — hundreds of species of fish, birds and other wildlife living on the Gulf Coast will be threatened as the oil reaches shore.
The oil slick from the massive spill in the Gulf of Mexico has reached the mouth of the Mississippi River and is moving toward delicate ecosystems for birds and marine life. Although barriers were set in place to prevent oil from reaching grasslands and sandy beaches, five-foot swells are pushing oily water over the booms. With 200,000 gallons of oil leaking out of the underwater well each day, the spill is five times larger than first estimated, according to the New York Times.
The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began washing ashore this morning along the Louisiana coast, reaching the mouth of the Mississippi River delta.
It’s still way too early to tell what the long-terms risks to wildlife from this catastrophe will be, but the wildlife and environmental effects of the Exxon-Valdez oil spill are still evident in the Prince William Sound ecosystem today! In fact, when we posted a link to the New York Times piece on the IE Facebook page, one of our friends remarked, “I traveled to Valdez with IE several years ago and yes—you could find traces of oil if you dug in the sand.”
And in case you forgot (don’t feel bad because we did too)—the Exxon-Valdex happened in 1989.
Visit the NYTimes.com site to see all the wildlife at risk.
We’ll just come right out and say this: We’re a little late to the game, Dear Blog Reader, in responding to the International League of Conservation Photographers‘ list of “Top 40 Nature Photos of All Time” unveiled last week for Earth Day, but given the context of “all time,” a few days is trivial.
These nature photos, eons in the making, are truly captivating and visually accomplish what they set out to achieve: to serve, elevate and glorify the stunning colors and forms of the natural world. No doubt the ILCP members had their work cut out for them having to cull down from thousands of pics to this amazing top 40 selection. (The ILCP is a fellowship of the top professional conservation photographers working today.) Members of the ILCP were encouraged to keep in mind several compositional qualities when picking the top ones. Considering “factors such as aesthetics, uniqueness, historical and scientific significance, or contribution to conservation efforts,” all played an important part of the decision making process.
One of our favorites was Frans Lanting’s Galapagos Island “Tortoises at Dawn,” yet, the Crimson Tide fans couldn’t help but be compelled by “Twilight of the Giants,” also by Lanting. Of course, our selections were not made with the sort of criterion in mind that ILCP members had to go by — our responses were purely visceral.
Below are the photos, along with the photographers’ commentary. To see all of the Top 40 Photographs, visit the ILCP Flickr page.
“During the year I spent living in the Okavango Delta of Botswana, I worked at night for periods of time, waking up at sunset to follow animals through the hours of darkness. I often started the evening at a favorite water hole where I hunkered down by the edge and made myself a fixture in the landscape. Elephants moved around me in the waning light like shadowy forms. One evening a herd of bulls gathered across the water from me, rising above their reflections under an October moon, in a primeval scene of ancient Africa” – Frans Lanting
“The Galapagos Islands provide a window on time. In a geological sense, the islands are young, yet they appear ancient. The largest animals native to this famed archipelago are giant tortoises, which can live for more than a century. These are the creatures that provided Charles Darwin with the flash of imagination that led to his theory of evolution. Today their populations are reduced on most islands. But inside the Alcedo volcano on Isabela Island I experienced a world where giant tortoises still roamed in ancient abundance. One misty morning When the tortoises were asleep in a pond, I was able to create an image that evokes the era when reptiles dominated life on land.” – Frans Lanting
It’s been well-documented that invasive species are threatening the Galapagos Islands’ native flora and fauna, with alien or exotic species making up as much as 23% of the archipelago’s insect fauna. One of these insect invaders, the sap-sucking cottony cushion scale, is being brought under control by the lady bug beetle.
“‘Populations of cottony cushion scale in 2002 were so high and spread across so many islands that several endemic and native plant populations were thought to be going into decline because of heavy infestations,’ said Hoddle, a biocontrol specialist.
“Combating the cottony cushion scale was a joint effort between the Charles Darwin Research Foundation and the Galapagos Islands National Park Service
“‘Soon after release, the lady bug beetle readily established and spread,’ Hoddle said. ‘Subsequent monitoring indicated that it was having the desired effect on the cottony cushion scale populations, which were collapsing because of feeding by larval and adult lady bug beetles. Our project was to follow up to see whether the lady bug beetle is still exerting high levels of control over the cottony cushion scale and whether the project was safe as predicted by lab studies.’”
Read the complete story on ScienceDaily.com
Malaysian conservationists working in conjunction with the World Wildlife Fund captured a photo of a critically endangered Sumatran rhinoceros thought to be pregnant, raising hopes that the species on Borneo island may be breeding in the wild. The Sumatran rhino – once widespread on Borneo – is now confirmed to exist only in the northeast state of Sabah, where the photo was taken, and is possibly extinct from its former habitats in Sarawak (Malaysia) and Kalimantan (Indonesia).
A remotely controlled camera set up in a forest in Sabah state on Borneo captured a still picture of the rhino, and another 50 cameras have been set up in the area to gather more information on the females.
It is the first such image in the wild of a female thought to be pregnant, providing cheer to conservationists after the initial failure of a breeding-in-captivity program for the Borneo Sumatran rhino.
Read More
Researchers in Peru have recently filmed the long-whiskered owlet, one of the world’s rarest birds, at La Esperanza, Peru. How rare is this six-inch owlet? It’s estimated that fewer than 15 people have ever seen this bird in the wild.
“The owlet was originally discovered in 1976, but not seen again until 2002. It was seen in 2008 at Abra Patricia where it has also been heard subsequently. This new sighting was at the main research area for the organization Neotropical Primate Conservation — the area is also home to one of the world’s most endangered primates, the yellow-tailed woolly monkey.
“The researchers counted five individuals, making this the largest grouping of owlets ever recorded.”
For video and to read more, visit the American Bird Conservancy
Thought to have disappeared in the 1970s, the yellow-spotted bell frog (Litoria castanea) was rediscovered in late-2009 in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales. Since then, tadpoles have been taken to Sydney’s Taronga Zoo to boost populations through a captive breeding program.
“The Yellow-spotted Bell Frog (Litoria castanea) had not been seen in the wild for almost 30 years and so many people had written the species off as extinct. That was until Luke Pearce spotted what he thought might be one in a small stream on the Southern Tablelands of NSW.
“The Global Amphibian Assessment by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) found that 30-50% of amphibians are now threatened with extinction. International scientists such as Dr Kevin Zippel have described the combined threats of loss of habitat, climate change and Chytrid fungus as the perfect storm which could lead to the biggest mass extinction since the dinosaurs.”
Learn more at www.wildlifeextra.com or read about 30 new frog species discovered in Ecuador.
