Wildlife
Dumb jokes, maudlin poems, top ten lists and chain letters are among the emails I let die a lonely death when they land in my inbox by way of some misguided friend or family member. Even when I actually find articles or links interesting, I don't usually feel compelled to pass them along.
The U.S. Geological Survey just released some heartening news for politicians who are chomping at the bit to allow an offshore drilling bonanza in the Arctic, including fragile places such as the Chukchi Sea (see "Polar Distress," May 2008). The results of a 4-year assessment released last week indicate that up to 1/5th of the world's unexplored oil and gas reserves lie north of the Arctic Circle, with most of this offshore.
It’s a turbulent time for the sex lives of wildlife Down Under. The other week, I blogged about New Zealand’s tuataras, ancient reptiles imperiled because warming temperatures may cause all of their offspring to be born male.
I spent Saturday on the beach, snapping photos of terns while they dive-bombed the intrepid Indu Nepal as she risked her head (literally!) for video footage of piping plovers. Our guide was Don Riepe, who after a 25-year career as a park ranger heads the Northeast chapter of the American Littoral Society and leads a variety of birding and ecology tours around New York, in conjunction with NYC Audubon (for more info, click here).
By "Tern" Jessica Leber--The tuatara, an ancient reptile in New Zealand, may soon become extinct, according to a new study. The culprit is climate change, but the way in which rising temperatures will kill off these creatures is unusually insidious.
By "Tern" Alexa Schirtzinger
"They call us guanacos," my Salvadoran friend Miguel once told me, "because we reproduce like crazy." I must have looked confused, because he went on to explain that a guanaco was a nondescript, furry South American animal that...um, reproduced like crazy.
By "Tern" Jess Leber
All over the east this month, nature enthusiasts are listening to their songs, mapping their sightings, and debating which species are where.
It's Cute, But Do We Really Need It? The Necessity of the Leatherback Turtle.
June 13, 2008, 1:45 PM“Does the world need leatherback turtles?
I was an imaginative kid, the kind who heard "Where is your brain?!" with a frequency that should have alarmed me more than it did. Instead, I kept my head safely in the clouds, dreaming about all the fantastic creatures I wished really lived on earth: elves and dragons, knights and fairies, and of course, the elusive, majestic unicorn.
There's a kid in us that wants to believe. And now, in the Tuscan countryside, there's a reason to.
