Biodiversity

"The return of sea otters and their voracious appetites has helped rescue a section of California marshland, a new study shows. Sea otters eat constantly and one of their favorite snacks is the striped shore crab. These crabs dig burrows and also nibble away roots of the marsh grass pickleweed that holds dirt in place."

"A deadly type of bird flu has been found in gentoo penguins for the first time, according to the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR), stoking concern that the virus could spread among Antarctica's huge penguin colonies."

"The megalodon went extinct 3.6 million years ago, and is thought to be the largest shark that ever swam the Earth. But there's debate over what it looked like."

"Suriname’s Saamaka Maroons still grow rice from seeds an ancestor escaping from a plantation carried in her hair. Now a gene bank seeks to widen use of the rare species to help fight the climate crisis".

"With confirmed or suspected cases in two Antarctic penguin species, researchers fear highly contagious virus could rip through colonies".

"Nine species could soon find themselves on federal threatened or endangered species list, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says."

"With wingspans over a metre and an insatiable love for fruit and nectar, grey-headed flying foxes have settled in massive numbers across South Australia".

"On a warm day last spring, dozens of protesters gathered outside a shopping center on the west side of Hawaii’s Big Island. They weren’t there to boycott a store or a pipeline or to deride a politician. They came to revolt against a new ban on feeding cats in the parking lot. “Stop starving the cats,” the protesters chanted, according to a local newspaper."

"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Thursday finalized their strategy on the protection of endangered North Atlantic right whales in the offshore wind power development process."

"Scientists have made history by successfully transferring a rhinoceros embryo for the first time, conservationists announced Wednesday, an achievement that could help save the embattled species from the growing threat of poachers."