It is estimated that there are 8 million animal and plant species worldwide. Of these, about 1 million are threatened with extinction – this affects, for example, a quarter of all mammals and every 8th bird species. There are many interrelated and mutually reinforcing drivers: habitat loss, pollution, climate change, the spread of invasive alien […]
In the history of our earth there have been 5 great species extinctions. The most well-known is the most recent one: the extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago. These mass extinctions were largely caused by natural disasters. In the case of dinosaurs, most likely wiped out by the impact of an enormous asteroid. […]
“Ganesh Pant worries about the future. While he delights in the stunning conservation accomplishment that has seen the numbers of greater one-horned rhinos in Nepal jump from 100 in 1965 to 752 in 2021, he wants to be sure that success will continue.” Source: The Guardian Image Credit: TBD
“Gandhinagar: As many as 283 Asiatic lions have died over the last two years, the Gujarat government has told the state assembly. In response to questions in the House on Monday, forest and environment minister Kiritsinh Rana said 159 deaths were reported in 2020 and 124 in 2021.” Source: Hindustan Times Image Credit: TBD
The Okavango Delta watershed is a pristine and biologically rich region; it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. ReconAfrica, a Canadian oil and gas exploration company has recently begun the 2nd stage of its seismic survey in the Delta, searching for oil and gas with the blessing of the Namibian Government. Elephant populations in […]
Scientists are still unraveling the COVID-19 origins story; initial analysis submitted that a bat was the likely reservoir host, and, while a pangolin has not been ruled out as the vector inducing “spillover”, the intermediate host or hosts remain undetermined in the absence of sufficient probabilistic accuracy. Whether the virus emerged at the Wuhan live […]
“The NGO Global March for Elephants and Rhinos noted that it was also vital for the carcasses to be guarded, that the tusks remain intact and that forensically viable blood, tissue and organ samples were in fact obtained. It was also important to know when they were obtained and where they are now.” Daily Maverick. […]
“China has been pushing for wider global acceptance of traditional medicines, which brings in some $50 billion in annual revenue for the nation’s economy. And in 2016 Margaret Chan, then the WHO director, praised China’s plans to do so. But while it’s a good idea to catalogue TCM and make health workers aware of treatments […]
“This donkey rush is driven by the annual 15-billion-yuan (US$2.2-billion) market for ejiao, a gelatin made by boiling donkey skins. It is a highly prized ingredient in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), believed to stop bleeding and fight coughs and cancer. Demand has surged over the past few decades as China’s wealthy population has grown: a […]
