LOXAHATCHEE NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE, Fla. – Like the insatiable plant from the musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” a verdant menace is eating the Everglades.

The Old World climbing fern, known to botanists as “Lygodium microphyllum,” spreads its asphyxiating fronds like fingers around the necks of native cypress and mangroves. It smothers the flora of the glades’ unique tree islands and starves out the endangered wood storks and other fauna..

“You can’t cut it because it grows right back. You can’t burn it without harming what it covers. You can’t kill it with water because it survives varying hydrologies,” said Bill Miller, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist. Read more

About 95% of the traditional waters of the river where John the Baptist was said to have christened Jesus are now sucked dry for drinking water and agricultural and industrial purposes before it can reach the Dead Sea. And the trickle of water that still flows into the Jordan below the Sea of Galilee has been badly contaminated by human waste, fertilizers and chemicals used for farming and fish farming.

Because the only tiny stretch of the Jordan that is still relatively clean is at Yardenit, which is in Israel about 80 kilometres from where Jesus was believed to have been baptized near Jericho, Christians from all over the world come by the bus full to be dunked in the waters at the exquisite oasis, which still teems with exotic plant and bird life. Read more

The western meadowlark is known for its complicated flute-like warbling and is the namesake for the annual South Okanagan Similkameen Meadowlark Festival that takes naturalists from one valley to the next exploring flora and fauna indigenous to the area.

Unlike the yellow, white and black bird which can be up to 10 inches in size, the festival hasn’t been around for over a century — but it has hit a landmark year.

Celebrating its 10th anniversary, festival organizers say there have been big changes since the festival’s inception.

“The festival originated when a small group of people got together nine years ago and thought it would be nice to host a small birding festival in this area,” said events co-ordinator Jacquie Likins, who has been with the festival for two years. Read more

A GROUP of students from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman’s (Utar) Photography Society went on an excursion to the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park recently to enhance their photography skills and learn more about birds.

The group was given a briefing by a park official on rules to be observed before exploring the aviary.

With the park having more than 2,000 birds, comprising 200 species, it was the perfect place for the young shutterbugs.

The students were able to snap some good shots of the birds at close range during feeding time. Read more

SCOTTISH travellers are unwittingly threatening species worldwide by bringing home souvenirs made from endangered animals and plants.

Customs officers at airports and docks across the country frequently find goods made from species facing extinction.
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The list of illicit artefacts includes ancient medicines made from rare tiger and deer, caviar, framed Amazonian butterflies, snakeskin shoes, seats made from the feet of elephants and ashtrays fashioned from wild crocodiles. Read more

MUSCAT, OMAN, May. 8 -/E-Wire/– Two new species of coral have been discovered off the Omani coast, as well as other existing coral species that had previously not been known to live in the area. There are now estimated to be approximately 130 species of coral off the coast of Oman, much more than was formerly thought to subsist in the region. Scientists believe there are probably at least twenty more species yet to be discovered, possibly including five more new to science.

The two new species, discovered by Dr. Michel Claereboudt, a coral reef biologist with the Sultan Qaboos University and a coral researcher associated with the Environmental Society of Oman, include the blue coral (Porites decussata) and the sixteen-finger flower coral (Calathiscus tantillus). The sixteen-finger flower coral is very rare and unusual, with short-lived colonies Read more

Big, black cat causes conservation flutter

The sighting of a “black panther” at the Pakke Tiger Reserve in Arunachal Pradesh has become the talking point in wildlife conservation circles. A team of experts from the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Dehradun, and forest officials of Arunachal Pradesh captured the rare animal last month, albeit only on camera.

Although the team is certain that the animal caught on camera is a black panther, the discovery has yet to be officially announced. Experts want to ascertain the exact species to which it belongs before making an announcement.

“Black panther is a term that does not denote any particular species of cat. Instead, it refers to any all-black feline that is large enough to be counted as a big cat,” said S.P. Goyal, a WII scientist. Read more