Biodiversity

"Good news, whale lovers: A new analysis suggests that there are as many blue whales living off the coast of California as there were before humans started hunting them to near extinction 110 years ago."

"A coalition of environmental and food-safety groups is asking the Fish and Wildlife Service to grant endangered species protection to the monarch butterfly, whose U.S. population, the groups say, last year fell to 90 percent below its 20-year average."

"The federal government is protecting 20 types of colorful coral by putting them on the list of threatened species, partly because of climate change."

"The law, Ordinance 960, which was enacted last year, bitterly divided the normally idyllic island and also captured global attention. Hawaii’s year-round growing season had made the state a hub for the development of genetically engineered corn seeds that are then planted throughout the United States and in other countries. Corn stalks now sprout where pineapples and sugar cane once grew."

"U.S. wildlife managers on Tuesday denied federal protections for rare wolverines, outraging conservationists but pleasing Western states that opposed adding the reclusive but feisty member of the weasel family to the endangered and threatened species list."

"GOP lawmakers are 'betraying the party's mascot' with legislation that would roll back protections for endangered African elephants, animal rights activists say."

"The House passed legislation Tuesday that would modify the Endangered Species Act."

"June 1, 1988, the day everything changed for the Great Lakes, was sunny, hot and mostly calm — perfect weather for the young researchers from the University of Windsor who were hunting for critters crawling across the bottom of Lake St. Clair."

"A tour of the Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury, Vt., includes a stop at the "Flavor Graveyard," where ice cream combinations that didn't make the cut are put to rest under the shade of big trees."

"MEXICO CITY -- Bean grower Manuel Alvarado is part of the majority of producers in Mexico who consider it unnecessary to introduce genetically modified varieties of beans, as the government is promoting."