Bird song drowned by busy
roads
Latest research suggest motorways and man roads
are drowning the songs birds use to attract their mates, and
that most species find it hard to breed within a 1.5 miles
busy roads. The result of a four year study, conducted at 55
different sites in the Netherlands, shows that birds such as
golden orioles, hawfinches and wood warblers are particularly
vulnerable.
Ornithologists used to believe that birds were
disturbed by roads due to passing cars, but they now believe
that the sheer roar of traffic is to blame. The noise creates
stress and interrupts their lovemaking. Chris Mead, of the
British Trust for Ornithology, says that under the European
Union's Birds Directive, road building might now be banned
next to important bird sites.
SOURCES
INCLUDE: Independent 29 October
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A survey
produced by the Cat Specialist Group, an advisory panel of the
world's leading cat biologists and wildlife managers, and
published by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), has shown
that tigers are not the only cat endangered by oriental
medicine.
Snow leopards and Asiatic golden cats are used
as substitutes for tiger bones and are in jeopardy. Lions,
leopards, jaguars, cheetahs and pumas are also vulnerable for
other reasons; they are not only losing their habitat and
their prey, but are being killed illegally because of their
threat to livestock and humans. The most endangered of all is
the Iriomite cat, numbering 100 individuals on a small
Japanese island 200 km east of Taiwan. Also in serious danger
is the Iberian lynx of which only 1,200 survive, scattered
through south-west Spain and Portugal. The survey concludes
that the Iriomite cat, the Iberian lynx and the tiger could
all become extinct in the wild early in the next century and
that lions might only exist in reserves.
SOURCES
INCLUDE: BBC Wildlife November
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A
rogue elephant in Malaysia, which had been causing chaos in
farmers' orchards, has been fitted with a radio transmitter
and is being tracked by satellite. The project is a joint
venture between the Smithsonian Institution and Malaysia's
Wildlife and National Parks Department and it is the first
time that satellite tracking has been used in this way in
Asia.
It is hoped that it will help to protect endangered
species like elephants, tigers and rhinoceros as population
growth and economic development threaten their habitat. The
satellite signals will show how quickly the elephant finds a
new herd, how much space it needs to survive, what time of the
day it travels and when it rests. The elephant population on
the Malaysian peninsula stands at 1,200, compared to 2,000 in
1975.
SOURCES INCLUDE: International Herald
Tribune 23 October
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Mystery disease strikes pilchards and
penguins
Vast numbers of dead blue pilchards were found
in Australian waters earlier this summer and now another batch
has been washed up or seen floating off the North and South
Islands of New Zealand.
In addition, 100 Little Blue
Penguins appear to have died from starvation on the north-west
coast. It is thought that a herpes virus is behind the deaths
but no identifiable environmental change appears to have set
it off.
SOURCES INCLUDE: BBC Wildlife
November
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A survey
conducted by the UK Government's Joint Nature Conservation
Committee (JNCC) may lead to oil companies being banned from
exploration and drilling in five areas off the west coast of
Scotland, in an effort to protect feeding grounds of seabirds
like the gannet and great skua.
The Department of Trade
and Industry (DTI) is also planning to restrict drilling and
seismic surveys on most of the 380 new exploration blocks off
the west coast to try and minimise seabird losses. The result
of 15 years work, the survey produced maps of seabird
concentrations throughout British waters, with the aim that,
in the event of an oil spill, the authorities will know what
numbers of birds and what types will be affected. The research
has also led to greater knowledge about where birds feed and
new discoveries of dense populations far out to sea.
SOURCES INCLUDE: Guardian 17 October
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Police
are investigating the killing of 25 new-born seal pups on the
island of South Ronaldsay in the Orkneys. Each seal had been
shot through the eye. A police spokesman said: "These pups
were new-born. They would have just been lying on the rocks
being fed by their mothers - it is a quite horrendous act."
Under the Conservation of Seals Act, fishermen are allowed to
shoot seals which stray close to nets, but police said that
none of the pups could swim and could not pose a threat to the
fishing industry. Geordie Costie, a spokesman for the Orkneys
Fisheries Association, said that fishermen were "deeply
frustrated" because seals were raiding lobster pots and fish
farms and called for a humane cull. Fishermen's leaders said
it would be "unfair" to presume it was a fishermen this time.
Police say that recovery of three of the bullets could lead
them to the killer.
SOURCES INCLUDE:
Independent 31 October
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