Wildlife

Monitoring populations of Asian elephants has long been recognized by biologists and government agencies as critically important to conservation and management, but continues to suffer from a number of shortcomings related to poor survey design and field practices, inappropriate application of analytical approaches and a critical mismatch between the focus of monitoring programs and the spatial scale at which these have been attempted.

The researchers studied corals along 1,000km of coastline in the southern PAG, a region where the world’s warmest coral reef habitats are separated from the wider Indian Ocean by the narrow Strait of Hormuz. With rising ocean temperatures anticipated to cause a loss of most warm water reefs within the next 100 years, it has been discussed whether heat tolerant corals adapted to hot environments, such as PAG, could be used to replenish reefs damaged by global warming elsewhere.

Bats need to use the fast timing of the left hemisphere to distinguish communication sounds from each other, because their communication sounds have rapid changes in frequency. Otherwise, they cannot communicate with other bats, and bats are even more social than humans.

Till now, more than a dozen Chilesaurus specimens have been excavated, including four complete skeletons -- a first for the Jurassic period in Chile -- and they demonstrate that this dinosaur certainly combined a variety of unique anatomical traits.

Lionfish are voracious eaters that indiscriminately eat anything small enough to fit in their mouths — large quantities. This might spell danger for the local reef communities over a period of time when lionfish establish a population in Brazilian waters

India became the world’s first country to adopt an agro-forestry policy, last year. Experts are now paving pathways to gather policy-relevant scientific data to benefit both biodiversity as well as agro-forest practitioners.

Two primatologists working in the forests of the Republic of Congo have returned from the field with a noteworthy prize: the first-ever photograph of the Bouvier’s red colobus monkey, a rare primate not seen for more than half a century and suspected to be extinct by some,

Save the Tiger at what or whose cost? The Jamunagarh villagers have been told that their rehabilitation package would not include any agricultural land, as no such land is available. This means that if they are evicted they will have no livelihood and no means to feed their families.

Is captive breeding the final resort for the Sumatran rhino? No more than 75 Sumatran rhinos remaining in wild

Almost on the verge of losing its native species New Zealand is beginning to realize the environmental implications of 60 years of indiscriminate aerial application of toxic pesticides and chemicals like 1080 (sodium fluoroacetate) in its forest ecosystem. Secondary poisoning due to rat poison is posing a big threat for the birds of prey and insectivores. Though no one wanted it that way, birds are being poisoned when the insects eat the poisonous rat bait and the birds then eat the insects.

Felines have a tremendous sense of smell and vision, but a new study for the first time suggests that they prefer to use their sight more than smell.

A total of 223 giant pandas living in the wild in China are at high risk for survival, an official survey said Saturday. According to...