Galapagos: New hope that giant tortoise ‘Lonesome George,’ last of species, could procreate

September 4th, 2009 NY researchers give ladybugs a birds-and-bees talkITHACA, N.Y. — A year after they launched a nationwide search for dwindling native ladybugs, New York researchers are breeding colonies of them from insects found by citizen scientists in Oregon and Colorado.

September 1st, 2009 SYDNEY - Scientists have uncovered the remains of a giant hippo-like creature near Alcoota, a find that will shed new light on the territory's prehistoric past. For 25 years, palaeontologsts from the Northern Territory (NT) Museum and Flinders University have been painstakingly extracting the remains of giant flightless birds, wombat-like creatures and crocodiles from a nearly seven million-year-old fossil site near Alcoota.

August 28th, 2009 Feds to consider protections for desert tortoiseFLAGSTAFF, Ariz. — The federal government has agreed to consider whether the Sonoran desert tortoise, a Southwest icon whose population has declined by half in the past 20 years, warrants protection under the Endangered Species Act.

July 29th, 2009 TORONTO - Botanists have identified a pair of genes which can help catalogue plants worldwide, using a technique known as DNA bar coding. "Bar coding provides an efficient means by which we can discover the many undescribed species that exist on earth," said Spencer Barrett, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Toronto (U-T), who led the study.

July 27th, 2009 SYDNEY - Like animals, trees can camouflage themselves too, a new study has found. One tree even kept changing the colour of its leaves to protect them from a giant flightless bird.

July 24th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has come up with the strongest evidence yet that noise pollution negatively influences the nesting habits of birds. The study also indicates that at least a few species opt for noisy areas over quiet ones, perhaps because of their vocalisation pitches, a reduction in nest predators and less competition from other song birds that prefer quiet environments.

July 22nd, 2009 Multiplying like bunnies? Not this jackrabbitALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Rabbits are certainly known for their propensity for multiplying, but one species of jackrabbit is having trouble keeping up.

July 19th, 2009 Circus tortoise found after escape from Wis. showMADISON, Wis.

July 15th, 2009 TORONTO - In the plant world, bigger isn't always better, says a new study. "Until now most of the thinking has suggested that to be a good competitor in the forest, you have to be a big plant," said Queen's University biologist Lonnie Aarssen.

June 30th, 2009 Protection sought again for giant, spitting wormsSPOKANE, Wash. — Fans of the giant Palouse earthworm are once again seeking federal protection for the rare, sweet-smelling species that spits at predators.

June 2nd, 2009 Attempt to smuggle 120 tortoises foiled in PolandWARSAW, Poland — Polish customs at the Ukrainian border Tuesday found 121 Central Asian tortoises, a threatened species, bound so tightly in black tape that their heads could barely squeeze out from their shells. Customs spokeswoman Malgorzata Eisenberger said officers arrested a 34-year-old Ukrainian man allegedly attempting to cross the border with the animals.

June 2nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - The loss of endangered species sends alarm bells ringing among conservationists, but what happens to the parasites they host? Although most people would side with the panda over the parasite, which group should we worry about more? North Carolina State University (NCSU) biologist Rob Dunn and colleagues examined the concept of co-extinction, the loss of one species upon the extinction of another. "Decline in host species could drive parasite species to switch onto alternative hosts, which could escalate the rate of emerging pathogens and parasites both for humans and our domesticated animals and plants," Dunn said.

May 17th, 2009 QUITO - Scientists have fitted videocameras on three giant tortoises in Galapagos National Park in Ecuador to understand the behaviour of these ancient animals. The project 'consists of attaching a videocamera, known as Crittercam, to the shells of three giant tortoises', park officials said in a statement Saturday.

May 14th, 2009 Group says 3 more birds close to extinctionGENEVA — An Ethiopian lark, a Galapagos finch and a spectacularly colored hummingbird only recently discovered in Colombia have been added to the list of the world's most threatened species, an environmental group said Thursday. The International Union for Conservation of Nature — the producer each year of a Red List of endangered species — said the Sidamo lark could soon become Africa's first known bird extinction as the Ethiopian savanna becomes overgrown by bush, farmland and overgrazing.

March 18th, 2009 PUERTO AYORA - Britain's Prince Charles and wife Camilla visited the 120-year-old tortoise known as Lonesome George, the only one left of its subspecies, at the Charles Darwin Research Station on the Galapagos island of Santa Cruz. Accompanied by station director Gabriel Lopez, Ecuadorian Environment Minister Marcela Aguinaga and the director of Galapagos National Park, Edgar Munoz, the prince visited the breeding ground of the giant Galapagos tortoises where he became the godfather of a recently hatched specimen that he decided to call William after his eldest son.