Major New Study Provides Route Map to Recovery in Just 30 Years
April 13th, 2020, By Nikki Harper,Staff Writer for Wake Up World

Of all the damage mankind has inflicted upon our earth, the depletion of marine life around the world has been some of the most heartbreaking – but a major new international study has set out a route map to recovery. If urgent action is taken, biodiversity in our oceans could be restored to healthy levels within just one generation, by 2050, researchers believe.

Using evidence from successful marine conservation projects around the world, researchers from four continents, ten countries and sixteen universities have been able to identify and narrow down the most crucial steps governments around the world must take if this narrow window of opportunity is to be taken. Although threats from climate change and over-fishing are becoming ever more acute, the marine life losses we saw in the 20th century have to some extent slowed in the 21st century so far – and in some cases, remarkable success has been achieved. Take the global population of humpback whales, for example – a species which was on the brink of extinction in 1968, but which now numbers more than 40,000. Northern elephant seals are another example of what the report terms “impressive resilience” – numbering just 20 breeding animals in 1880, today there are more than 200,000.

Such good news stories are important for individual species, but they’re also important for global marine management, provided that the lessons learned from them can be scaled up and applied quickly.

The new study states that marine life recovery can be accelerated by large scale interventions – to such an extent, if done well, that we may see substantial ocean life recovery within the next two to three decades. Researchers have identified broad themes necessary to support this recovery, such as the protection of species, wise harvesting, protected spaces, habitat restoration, pollution reduction and climate change mitigation. Each of these themes contains specific actions which should be brought to bear on nine integral elements of marine life, namely deep sea, megafauna, fisheries, oyster reefs, kelp, coral reefs, seagrass, mangroves and saltmarshes.

The entire article can be read here: https://wakeup-world.com/2020/04/13/hope-for-the-worlds-oceans-major-new-study-provides-route-map-to-recovery-in-just-30-years/

Ian Sample; The Guardian; 23 Mar 2019

A "mindblowing" haul of fossils that captures the riot of evolution that kickstarted the diversity of life on Earth more than half a billion years ago has been discovered by researchers in China.

Paleontologists found thousands of fossils in rocks on the bank of the Danshui river in Hubei province in southern China, where primitive forms of jellyfish, sponges, algae, anemones, worms and arthropods with thin whip-like feelers were entombed in an ancient underwater mudslide.

The creatures are so well preserved in the fossils that the soft tissues of their bodies, including the muscles, guts, eyes, gills, mouths and other openings are all still visible. The 4,351 separate fossils excavated so far represent 101 species, 53 of them new.

The fossilised organisms date back to 518m years ago when life on Earth experienced a massive burst in diversity known as the Cambrian explosion. The event, at the dawn of animal life, marked the arrival of all manner of unusual creatures. Many went extinct as evolutionary dead-ends, but others went on to form the first sturdy branches of the tree of life.

The rest of this article can be read here: https://www.sott.net/article/409722-Mindblowing-haul-of-fossils-over-500-million-years-old-unearthed-in-China

Bryan Nelson : Mother Nature Network ; 30 Jul 2016

Humans might not be the only creatures that care about the welfare of other animals. Scientists are beginning to recognize a pattern in humpback whale behavior around the world, a seemingly intentional effort to rescue animals that are being hunted by killer whales.

Marine ecologist Robert Pitman observed a particularly dramatic example of this behavior back in 2009, while observing a pod of killer whales hunting a Weddell seal trapped on an ice floe off Antarctica. The orcas were able to successfully knock the seal off the ice, and just as they were closing in for the kill, a magnificent humpback whale suddenly rose up out of the water beneath the seal.

This was no mere accident. In order to better protect the seal, the whale placed it safely on its upturned belly to keep it out of the water. As the seal slipped down the whale's side, the humpback appeared to use its flippers to carefully help the seal back aboard. Finally, when the coast was clear, the seal was able to safely swim off to another, more secure ice floe.

Another event, involving a pair of humpback whales attempting to save a gray whale calf from a hunting pod of orcas after it had become separated from its mother, was captured by BBC filmmakers. You can watch the dramatic footage here:

You can read the rest of this article here.

Over thousands of years, honey hunters in northern Mozambique have forged a relationship with wild birds to find the location of bees' nests.  But not only do humans seek out the small birds known as honeyguides, the birds also actively seek out humans ensuring both species benefit, a new study shows.

Pioneering work by the Kenyan ecologist Hussein Isack in the 1980s confirmed honeyguides communicate reliable information to humans about the location of bees' nests, and this greatly increased honey-hunters' harvests, said the study's lead author Dr Claire Spottiswoode of the University of Cambridge in the UK and the University of Cape Town in South Africa. 

In return, the greater honeyguide (Indicator indicator), which feeds from bees' nests, eating eggs, larvae and beeswax, relies on their human partner to crack open the hive.  "It's a remarkable example of co-operation between humans and a free-living wild animal," Dr Spottiswoode said.

But in a new study of the Yao honey hunters from Mozambique's Niassa National Reserve, published today in Science, Dr Spottiswoode and her colleagues show the interaction has an extra dimension.  Not only do the Yao honey hunters follow the birds' call to guide them to the hive, the birds themselves seek out the specific call made by the hunters to initiate the hunt.  "Yao honey hunters searching for honeyguides, or wanting to maintain a honeyguide's attention as they follow it through the bush, give at intervals a loud trill followed by a grunt — 'brrrr-hm!'," Dr Spottiswoode said. "They make this sound only in this context, so it's a reliable signal to honeyguides that a human is looking for bees."

The whole story can be read here.

Evan Ackerman : IEEE Spectrum : 01 Feb 2016

No matter how many regulations are put in place, drones are cheap enough now that frequent misuse is becoming the norm. There's no good way of dealing with a dangerous drone: you can jam its radios to force it to autoland, or maybe try using an even bigger drone to capture it inside a giant net. In either of these cases, however, you run the risk of having the drone go completely out of control, which is even more dangerous. Or, you can be like the Dutch National Police, and train eagles to take down drones for you.

The Dutch police (like police everywhere) know that drones are going to become even more of a problem than they already are, so they've been testing ways of dealing with a drone in an emergency, like if a drone is preventing an air ambulance from landing. The police are looking into electronic solutions, but also physical ones, including both nets and trained eagles.

The Dutch police have partnered with Guard From Above, a raptor training company based in The Hague, to determine whether eagles could be used as intelligent, adaptive anti-drone weapon systems. The eagles are specially trained to identify and capture drones, although from the way most birds of prey react to drones, my guess is that not a lot of training was necessary. After snatching the drone out of the sky, the eagles instinctively find a safe area away from people to land and try take a couple confused bites out of their mechanical prey before their handlers can reward them with something a little less plastic-y. The advantage here is that with the eagles, you don't have to worry about the drone taking off out of control or falling on people, since the birds are very good at mid-air intercepts as well as bringing the drone to the ground without endangering anyone.

While the eagles are (unsurprisingly) very competent at taking out something the size of a DJI Phantom, for larger drones the safety of the bird seems like it should be a concern: my guess is that large carbon fiber props could do damage to a bird's legs or toes, and at least here in the United States, that would be a big problem, because eagles and many other kinds of birds are protected species. The video apparently mentions something about designing a protection system for the birds, which is good. Even so, I doubt that using attack eagles as drone interceptors will ever turn out to be a practical solution in most places, but since I got to write an article about using attack eagles as drone interceptors (!), as far as I'm concerned, it's been totally worth it.

According to the Dutch Police, these tests should last a few months, at which point they'll decide whether using the eagles in this way is an effective and appropriate means of preventing unwanted drone use.

The rest of the article can be accessed here.

© PhBasumata/flickr
The forest, called the Molai woods, is a safe haven for numerous birds, deer, rhinos, tigers and elephants — species increasingly at risk from habitat loss.

A little over 30 years ago, a teenager named Jadav "Molai" Payeng began burying seeds along a barren sandbar near his birthplace in northern India's Assam region to grow a refuge for wildlife. Not long after, he decided to dedicate his life to this endeavor, so he moved to the site where he could work full-time creating a lush new forest ecosystem.  Incredibly, the spot today hosts a sprawling 1,360 acre of jungle that Payeng planted single-handedly.

The Times of India recently caught up with Payeng in his remote forest lodge to learn more about how he came to leave such an indelible mark on the landscape:

It all started way back in 1979 when floods washed a large number of snakes ashore on the sandbar. One day, after the waters had receded, Payeng , only 16 then, found the place dotted with the dead reptiles. That was the turning point of his life.  "The snakes died in the heat, without any tree cover. I sat down and wept over their lifeless forms. It was carnage. I alerted the forest department and asked them if they could grow trees there. They said nothing would grow there. Instead, they asked me to try growing bamboo. It was painful, but I did it. There was nobody to help me. Nobody was interested," says Payeng, now 47.

While it's taken years for Payeng's remarkable dedication to planting to receive some well-deserved recognition internationally, it didn't take long for wildlife in the region to benefit from the manufactured forest. Demonstrating a keen understanding of ecological balance, Payeng even transplanted ants to his burgeoning ecosystem to bolster its natural harmony. Soon the shadeless sandbar was transformed into a self-functioning environment where a menagerie of creatures could dwell. The forest, called the Molai woods, now serves as a safe haven for numerous birds, deers, rhinos, tigers, and elephants — species increasingly at risk from habitat loss elsewhere.

Despite the conspicuousness of Payeng's project, Forestry officials in the region first learned of this new forest in 2008 — and since then they've come to recognize his efforts as truly remarkable, but perhaps not enough.  "We're amazed at Payeng," says Assistant Conservator of Forests, Gunin Saikia. "He has been at it for 30 years. Had he been in any other country, he would have been made a hero."

© CEN : Nina feeds Shavi

A dog injured in a hit-and-run accident is believed to have walked almost 200 miles to find the Russian woman who nursed her back to health.

Shavi was left to die by the side of the road after the crash, in southern Russia's Rostov Oblast region last winter.  She had been living on the streets as a stray when the driver hit her and then just drove away, Russian media reported. He left Shavi to die in agony with two broken legs by the side of the road, where she was shivering and freezing, but luckily, two passersby saw the animal and took her to the vet, before appealing online for someone who could care for her as she recovered.

26-year-old Nina Baranovskaya was the only person who replied to the appeal, it was reported.She picked up Shavi as soon as she'd had an operation on her hind legs and took her back to her small flat in Rostov-on-Don where she lives with her young daughter and several other pets. Then she helped the dog learn to walk again, teaching her basic commands and playing with her every day.  Shavi needed a lot of care and attention because of the lasting trauma from the crash, and Nina had to buy nappies for her and comfort her whenever she saw cars in the street or a stranger.

But Nina couldn't look after Shavi in the long term because she has a small flat and family commitments so she found her pet a loving home with friends 185 miles away.  However, just a few days later the dog went missing and Nina had a phone call from her friends in a panic.  Two weeks later, Shavi still hadn't reappeared and Nina was pretty worried.

But then, Shavi turned up in an unexpected place.  As Nina walked down the road last week she felt something brush her leg.
It turns out Shavi had walked almost 200 miles back to Rostov across unfamiliar terrain to be reunited with Nina, who burst into tears when she realised what had happened. Experts think it must have taken more than a week to make the trek, the Komsomolskaya Pravda reported.

Nina isn't going to let Shavi go again, and she's now looking for a bigger flat so they can stay together.
Source

© YouTube/MIA Russia
Moscow's police department has officially adopted a tiger cub it rescued from the clutches of a gang of poachers in Russia's Far East.

The 4-month-old feline was named Stepa, after Uncle Stepa the Militia Man - a fictional law enforcement officer from a popular children's book. The name was selected by Moscow residents in an online poll.  "Our Stepa is not adapted for living in the wild, so we took him under our patronage," said Moscow Deputy Police Chief Gennady Golikov, according to a statement posted on the Interior Ministry's official website. "We'll be responsible for his well-being and will provide for him."

The tiger cub was rescued from a group of poachers and animal smugglers in Russia's Far East and was transported to a specialized facility near Moscow for recuperation. The feline was apparently captured only days after being born and spent about three months in captivity.  The grizzled Moscow police veterans refused to abandon the poor animal and decided to adopt little Stepa.

Freya Noble : Daily Mail, UK : 17 Sep 2015

Ms Malcolm said this was not the only interesting interaction she had with whales recently. Last Saturday we were 'mugged' by the biggest group of humpbacks I have ever seen, who were happy to play with us for a while.'

What expert Geoff Ross told Daily Mail Australia to see a seal riding on a whale was extremely unusual, and only knew of one other case. 'It's very very rare, I've only heard of one of other occurrence and that was a seal that had climbed up on a whale to escape a killer whale,' he said.

A 90-percent intact steppe mammoth skeleton dating back 126,000 years has been discovered in northern Russia. The find could mean the species existed for much longer than previously thought. It is the first steppe mammoth to be found in Yakutia in Northern Russia. It's in better condition than the five other skeletons discovered in other parts of Russia. Although scientists estimated the animal's height as a little below average at just over 3 meters, the male specimen had giant tusks - each 2.5 meters long and weighing 75 kilos.

"The skeleton was discovered in an anatomical position and was extracted mostly intact. Even the smaller bones of the feet were complete. It lacked the right hind leg. Evidently it had been torn off during the mammoth's lifetime," says Yevgeny Mashchenko, senior research scientist at the Paleontological Institute in Moscow. Locals found the remains of the animal on the bank of the river Suola in the Sakha Republic, Russia's coldest region. As the bank thaws it erodes and yields a mix of sand and ice, where many specimens have been discovered over the years. This find is unique, however.

It is believed that steppe mammoths lived in Siberia during the Pleistocene era some 600,000-370,000 years ago and were ancestors of the more commonly found woolly mammoths. But this skeleton appears much newer at about 126,000 years old. 
"It is thought that during the mid-Pleistocene period, the climate in Yakutia was relatively warm. However this skeleton was buried during permafrost. Apart from that, we discovered traces of animals near the skeleton that were previously thought to have lived in the area much later. How does that go together with a warm climate?" asks Albert Protopopov from the Sakha Academy of Science. "Next year we plan to start larger scale research in the area," he said.

In comparison to the more common woolly mammoth, the steppe mammoth was taller and the length of its body shorter. On average they were 4 meters tall and weighed up to 10 tons. Earlier this year scientists found the remains of a steppe mammoth in the Perm region. They have only managed to pull out 50 bones so far due to difficult conditions on the site. The team hopes to resume the dig next summer. Other cases of steppe mammoth skeletons discovered in good condition include one in Serbia, where a female specimen was found with 90 percent of its bones, and in England, where an 85-percent complete male mammoth skeleton was found.

A group of volunteers from Vashon Island, Washington, have managed to rescue two missing dogs, with the sole reason being that one of the canines stayed for a week near its trapped friend and scouted for help. One of the dogs, which are said to be "inseparable," guarded the other after it fell into a cistern filled with water, hidden deep in the woods. Tillie, a reddish setter, left Phoebe, a basset hound, for no more than 10 minutes each day only to seek help and then run back to her friend. "For nearly a week Tillie stayed by her side with the exception of the few minutes of each day when she went for help,"Vashon Island Pet Protectors, a non-profit organization that deals with the specific type of emergencies in the area, wrote on their Facebook page.

The best buds went for a walk on September 7 when the front door of the house they lived in happened to be open since there was a party, the dog owner B.J. Duft told ABC News. "Tillie would never leave even if the gate was left open, but she's best friends with Phoebe, and so when Phoebe follows her little Basset Hound nose, Tillie always goes with her to make sure she's OK," Duft explained.

The dogs had been lost for a week until Amy Carey of VIPP, which had helped the owner with searching, received a call from a local resident September 14, who said he may have spotted the reddish dog on his property. It had turned up there several times but rushed back to the woods before the caller could do anything to help. "It turned out the dog was Tillie trying to get help for Phoebe, who had gotten stuck,"Carey said, ABC News reports. The search group quickly located the missing friends with one of them sitting on a pile of concrete rubble at the bottom the cistern and the other lying not so far away.

Vets said that both dogs, despite having been cold and hungry for a week, are perfectly fine. They came back home to a "hamburger" grand dinner, hung out on a couch, and then got some long-needed sleep, the owner said.

"A round of applause to the awesome and amazing Miss Tillie. A true friend and a humbling example of the power of love,"Carey concluded in the Facebook post.

'Immediately I got my wide angle lens. I knew enough about the animal's behaviour to know it was possible to get very close.
I was very excited since it is something I always seek with my photography - to produce images capable of demonstrating the strong link between species and their environment. I jumped out of the jeep and got very close. The animal then assumed the defensive posture for a minute. It was enough for five or so pictures.  According to Mr Candisani, of Ilhabela, Brazil, the animal's strategy is to look big as a defensive response to something bigger than itself.

He never felt threatened during the short encounter with the adult-sized Southern Anteater.  He added: 'The anteater is making itself bigger in a defensive display in response to the much larger photographer who is perceived as a threat.  It was using this strategy in order to looks bigger and stronger.  I did not feel threatened. All they do is stand up. The only potential danger is physical contact, like trying to hold the animal.  In this case they can embrace the attacker with force, using their powerful nails like knives. There is a Brazilian popular expression known as an 'anteater hug' for bad intentioned hugs. After few minutes, the animal moved away.'