Wildlife

"A morning mist filled the valley near Hatgal, a small village at the southern tip of Lake Khovsgol in north central Mongolia. Glancing at the figures between the fragrant pines and larches, I could hardly distinguish the silhouettes of the reindeer from those of their herders."

"Heads up: There's an unwelcome visitor in Pennsylvania and officials are urging residents to take caution. The spotted lanternfly has been moving in and threatening agriculture and trees, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture."

"Scientists are now increasingly looking at animal vaccines as a means of saving wild populations of threatened species."

"President Joe Biden’s administration is sticking by the decision under former President Donald Trump to lift protections for gray wolves across most of the U.S. But a top federal wildlife official on Friday told The Associated Press there is growing concern over aggressive wolf hunting seasons adopted for the predators in the western Great Lakes and northern Rocky Mountains."

"Numbers of the country’s carrion-loving birds dropped by over 97% in the 1990s. Now, a successful breeding scheme is giving them a boost".

"Governments should take advantage of the third postponement of a United Nations biodiversity summit tasked with striking a global deal to protect nature by boosting ambition and finance for conservation and restoration, environmentalists said Thursday."

"At the peak of the whaling industry, in the late 1800s, North Atlantic right whales were slaughtered in their thousands. With each carcass hauled on to the deck, whalers were taking more than just bones and flesh out of the ocean. The slaughtered whales had unique memories of feeding grounds, hunting techniques and communication styles; knowledge acquired over centuries, passed down through the generations, and shared between peers. The critically endangered whale clings on, but much of the species’ cultural knowledge is now extinct."

"The policy-setting board for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources approved a wolf harvest quota of 300 wolves for this fall’s wolf hunt."

"Conservationists are accusing federal land managers of illegally withholding information about environmental assessments used to justify plans to create fuel breaks to slow wildfires by clearing forests and shrubs across six western states with little if any public oversight."

"The oil industry will be able to continue working around polar bears on the North Slope for the next five years, thanks to a renewed authorization from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service."