Hedgehogs join 'protection' list

Hedgehogs join 'protection' list
Hedgehog (Image: Uist Hedgehog Rescue Centre)
Tidier gardens and urbanisation are blamed for hedgehogs' decline
Hedgehogs and house sparrows have been included on an updated list of species and habitats which need protection.

The new Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) has identified 1,149 species and 65 habitats in the UK as being in need of conservation and greater protection.

When the action plan was launched in 1997, it listed 577 species - half the number included in the updated version.

Wildlife experts said this was a result of wider research and not necessarily down to more habitat being destroyed.

Other animals added to the list for the first time include the grass snake and the garden tiger moth; while otters, bottlenose dolphins and red squirrels are deemed to remain in need of habitat protection.


BAP PRIORITY SPECIES
Birds - 59 species
Fish (freshwater) - 14 species
Reptiles/amphibians (herptiles) - 10 species
Lower plants and fungi - 337 species
Marine fauna and flora - 88 species
Invertebrates - 411 species
Terrestrial mammals - 18 species
Vascular plants - 212 species
(Source: UK Biodiversity Action Plan 2007)

'Tidy gardens' are hog threat
In pictures: Species at risk

But the latest BAP shows that a number of species have benefited from being featured on the original list 10 years ago. The numbers of ladybird spiders and lady's slipper orchids are at a 50-year high.

The BAP is considered to be one of the most authoritative reference sources for the state of the UK's wildlife.

The result of more than two years of research by more than 500 wildlife experts and a large number of volunteers, it brings together key scientific data on all the listed species in one document.

As well as outlining the state of British species, it also contributes to global conservation commitments, outlined in the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD).

Biodiversity Minister Joan Ruddock said the updated action plan would help shape the government's conservation policy.

"Conserving biodiversity is essential if we are to pass on a healthy environment to the next generation," Ms Ruddock said.

"The new list will help us target our resources and efforts where they are needed, and demonstrates our commitment to publish new priorities, targets and plans for halting biodiversity loss by 2010."

'Cause for alarm'

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) said that as well as the house sparrow, the starling was another familiar garden bird to feature on the BAP list of 59 bird species.

House sparrow (Picture Nigel Blake)
House sparrows are one of the new additions to the action plan

"The fact that the bird list now includes more than a fifth of all the UK's regularly occurring birds is a cause for alarm, " said Mark Avery, the RSPB's conservation director.

"We will have to act fast if we are to meet obligations of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010."

But Dr Avery added that the BAP had focused efforts on stemming the decline in a number of vulnerable species.

"To its credit, we have seen dramatic increases in key species, like bittern, stone-curlew, corncrake, nightjar, cirl bunting and woodlark."

A separate study, also published on Tuesday, also highlighted the decline in the UK's hedgehog population.

The study by the University of London for the People's Trust for Endangered Species and the British Hedgehog Preservation Society listed tidier gardens and urbanisation as key factors affecting the fall in the number of the small mammals.





Nigel Bourne, chairman of the Wildlife and Countryside Link's biodiversity working group, welcomed the updated list and called it a "major boost".

"The list will focus efforts on the real, shared conservation priorities in the UK.

"The conservation charities that make up Link... look forward to continuing to work in partnership with the government," Dr Bourne added.

"Together we can turn the list into targeted action to deliver the conservation of our very special habitats and species."

Mystery deaths hit Saudi camels
Camel train
Camels are traded for thousands of dollars
Nearly 2,000 camels have died in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia due to suspected poisoned animal feed.

So far this month 1,982 camels have died. Symptoms include sweating, excitability, vomiting and fainting.

The country's Agriculture Ministry has said tests suggested the deaths were caused by animal feed which was contaminated by insecticide.

Owners have been promised compensation by King Abdullah. Camels are big business in Saudi Arabia.

The animals began dying in the Dawasir Valley south of the capital Riyadh but other camel deaths have been recorded from Mecca to the border of Yemen.

Camels are traded by Bedouin tribes for thousands of dollars each. The animals are used for racing and are also eaten.

Agriculture Minister Fahd Bilghoneim told a news conference: "Veterinary experts say the symptoms indicate cases of poisoning and not an infectious disease, and this accords with what camel owners have said about animal feed they bought."

vidéo Terre réduite à 100 personnes

Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven'

Chernobyl 'not a wildlife haven'

By Mark Kinver Science and nature reporter, BBC News

Scientific opinion is divided on the impact of Chernobyl on wildlife

The idea that the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has created a wildlife haven is not scientifically justified, a study says.

Recent studies said rare species had thrived despite raised radiation levels as a result of no human activity.

But scientists who assessed the 1986 disaster's impact on birds said the ecological effects were "considerably greater than previously assumed".

The findings appear in the Royal Society's journal, Biology Letters.

In April 1986, reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded.

After the accident, traces of radioactive deposits were found in nearly every country in the northern hemisphere.

The paper's authors, Anders Moller of University Pierre and Marie Curie, France, and Tim Mousseau from the University of South Carolina, US, said their research did not support the idea that low-level radiation was not affecting animals.

"Recent conclusions from the UN Chernobyl Forum and reports in the popular media concerning the effects of radiation from Chernobyl has left the impression that the exclusion zone is a thriving ecosystem, filled with an increasing number of rare species," they wrote.

Instead, they added: "Species richness, abundance and population density of breeding birds decreased with increasing levels of radiation."

The study, which recorded 1,570 birds from 57 species, found that the number of birds in the most contaminated areas declined by 66% compared with sites that had normal background radiation levels.

It also reported a decline of more than 50% in the range of species as radiation levels increase.

Photos showing normal (left) and partial albino barn swallow Enlarge Image

The findings build on a previous study of barn swallows in the affected area, which showed that the number of the birds declined sharply in contaminated areas.

The birds' decline was probably the result of depressed level of antioxidants after its long migration back to the area, making it more vulnerable to the low-level radiation, the researchers concluded.

"It suggests to us that barn swallows are not alone; there are many other species that appear to be affected in a similar way," Professor Mousseau told BBC News.

"This paper also suggests that birds feeding on insects that are living in the upper surface of the soil, where contaminates are highest, seem to be most likely to be missing or depressed."

He added that they were currently carrying out research to find out whether the decline was a result of the birds eating contaminated insects, or whether it was a result of fewer insects living in affected areas.

"We are also looking for funding to expand the range of ecological studies to include invertebrates, as well as plants and animals."

Radioactive retreat

A recent paper published in the American Scientist magazine suggested that plants and animals were better off in the exclusion zone than specimens outside the 30km radius surrounding the site of the destroyed nuclear reactor.

How wildlife is coping inside the exclusion zone

One of the paper's co-authors, Robert Baker from the Texas Tech University, said that the benefits for wildlife from the lack of human activity outweighed the risks of low-level radiation.

Writing on his university web page, Professor Baker said: "The elimination of human activities such as farming, ranching, hunting and logging are the greatest benefits.

"It can be said that the world's worst nuclear power plant disaster is not as destructive to wildlife populations as are normal human activities."

Professor Mousseau acknowledged Professor Baker's description: "It is true that the Chernobyl region gives the appearance of a thriving ecosystem because of its protection from other human activities.

"However, when you do controlled ecological studies, what we see is a very clear signature of negative effects of contamination on diversity and abundance of organisms.

"We clearly need to be applying scientific method to ecological studies before we can conclude, based on anecdotal observations, that there are no consequences."

Now Danes test claim on Pole

There is a lot of prestige and vast resources at stake Oystein Jensen , maritime law expert

Expedition seeks proof underwater ridge is connected to their Greenland territory

Aug 11, 2007 04:30 AM

OSLO, Norway–Danish scientists head for the Arctic ice pack tomorrow seeking evidence to position Denmark in the race to claim the North Pole region's potentially vast oil and other resources.

Canada has been making its own moves to strengthen its territorial claims in the Arctic, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper announcing northern initiatives on a three-day swing through the region that ended yesterday.

The month-long Danish expedition will seek evidence that the Lomonosov Ridge, a 2,000-kilometre underwater mountain range, is attached to the Danish territory of Greenland, making it a geological extension of the Arctic island.

That might allow the Nordic country to stake a claim, under a United Nations treaty, that could stretch all the way to the North Pole, although Canada and Russia also claim the ridge.

"The preliminary investigations done so far are very promising," Helge Sander, Denmark's Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, told Denmark's TV2 on Thursday.

"There are things suggesting that Denmark could be given the North Pole."

The Danes plan to set off from Norway's remote Arctic islands of Svalbard aboard the Swedish icebreaker Oden, which will be assisted by a powerful Russian nuclear icebreaker to plow through ice as thick as five metres, north of Greenland.

"No one has ever sailed in that area. Ships have sailed on the edges of the ice but no one has been in there," said expedition leader Christian Marcussen of the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen. "The challenge for us will be the ice."

The team includes 40 scientists, 10 of them Danish, and the crews of the icebreakers, which will use sophisticated equipment, including sonar, to map the seabed.

"We will be collecting data for a possible (sovereignty) demand," Marcussen said. "It is not our duty to formulate a demand of ownership."

A team of Swedish researchers studying glacial history in the Arctic is also part of the expedition.

Canada, the United States, Russia and Norway have competing claims in the vast Arctic region, where a U.S. study suggests as much as 25 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil and gas could be hidden.

Russia sent two small submarines to plant a tiny national flag under the North Pole two weeks ago, a move Canada ridiculed.

"The Russians sent a submarine to drop a small flag at the bottom of the ocean. We're sending our prime minister to reassert Canadian sovereignty," said one senior government official earlier this week as Harper was set to begin his northern swing.

The race for sovereignty in the Arctic is heating up partly because global warming is shrinking the polar ice, which could one day open up resource development and new shipping lanes.

The pressure is also on the Arctic nations because of the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which gives them 10 years after ratification to prove their claims under the largely uncharted polar ice pack. All but the United States have ratified the treaty.

"The Russians, Canadians and Danes all have overlapping claims in the polar region. It is unclear how this can be resolved," said maritime law expert Oystein Jensen, of Oslo's Fridtjof Nansen Institute. "There is a lot of prestige and vast resources at stake."

China building more power plants

China building more power plants

By Roger Harrabin BBC Environment Analyst

China is building two large power stations every week

China is now building about two power stations every week, the top climate change official at the UK Foreign Office, John Ashton, has said.

He said there was no point blaming China for rising global CO2 emissions.

Rich nations had to set an example of low-carbon development for China to follow, Mr Ashton told the BBC.

His statement came as a new report suggested that China may have already become the world's biggest polluter - much earlier than expected.

The Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency said China's CO2 emissions had risen by 9% last year, compared with 1.4% in the US.

Carbon footprint

"It is a massive challenge," Mr Ashton told the BBC following a recent trip to China.

"We need to convince China that they don't have to make a choice between prosperity and protecting the climate. We need to help them towards a low-carbon future.

"There is also a moral case. Most of the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have been put there by developed countries without the constraint of having to worry about the climate. That means we should bear the leading edge of responsibility.

Mr Ashton added that the Chinese had put out their first climate strategy, in an effort "to get to grips with their emissions and use energy efficiently".

He pointed out that much of China's emissions growth was being driven by consumers in the West buying Chinese goods, and noted that China's emissions per person were still well below those of rich nations.

Profile: John Ashton

It is estimated that the average American still pollutes between five and six times more than the average Chinese person.

Climate sceptics in the UK have been asking why Britons should switch off lights, turn down central heating and avoid foreign flights in order to save carbon when the Chinese are increasing emissions at their current rate.

"Responsibility for China's soaring emissions lies not just in Beijing but also in Washington, Brussels and Tokyo," said Greenpeace UK director John Sauven.

"All we've done is export a great slice of the West's carbon footprint to China, and today we see the result.

"Let us not forget that the average Chinese emits just 3.5 tonnes of CO2 per year, whereas Britons emit nearly 10 tonnes and Americans 20 tonnes.

"The West moved its manufacturing base to China knowing it was vastly more polluting than Japan, Europe or the US," he added.

"No environmental conditions were attached to this move; in fact the only thing manufacturers were interested in was the price of labour.

"This trend kept the price of our products down but at the cost of soaring greenhouse gas emissions. Long term, this policy has been a climate disaster.

"We should export clean energy technology to China to increase low carbon and renewable energy take-up so the products we import have a smaller carbon footprint."

Godzilla

Godzilla' croc hunted in Ukraine

By Helen Fawkes BBC News, Kiev

A photograph appears to show Godzilla on a rusting boat (pic: Gazeta Priazovsky Rabochy)

Emergency workers are hunting a crocodile which has escaped from a travelling circus in southern Ukraine.

It went missing in the sea at Mariupol, close to Ukraine's border with Russia.

There have been a number of sightings of the animal, including a photo in a local newspaper, but all attempts to capture it have so far failed.

The crocodile, named Godzilla, was being paraded on a beach in Mariupol on the south coast of Ukraine when it suddenly ran into the Azov Sea.

But despite its name, the creature has been keeping a low profile.

Elusive creature

Godzilla, who is only is one metre long, is said to be scared of humans.

More than two months after its escape, a local newspaper in southern Ukraine has printed a picture of what it says is Godzilla.

The photo appears to show a small crocodile resting on a rusting boat.

Emergency workers are now trying to catch the animal.

But Godzilla is proving elusive and has not been temped by slabs of meat left on the shore.

A Russian news agency has claimed that the team is planning to use live guinea pigs to lure the crocodile out of the water.

However, a spokeswoman for Ukraine's emergency ministry denied this and said the workers are just going to sit and wait for Godzilla to wander onto the beach.

video battle lions v buffalos

Animal battle video becomes hit

The footage has already been watched by nearly 9.5m people

An amateur video of an amazing animal confrontation on the African savannah is fast becoming one of the biggest hits on video-sharing website YouTube.

The footage first shows how several lions attack a group of buffalo, snatching a buffalo calf.

As the lions wrestle with a calf by a watering hole, a crocodile joins in the battle, pouncing on the buffalo.

The lions win the tug-of-war, but then the buffalo herd returns, chasing away the lions and freeing the calf.

'Battle at Kruger'

The eight-minute-long footage - filmed in South Africa's Kruger National Park - shows how a big buffalo from the herd gores one of the lions and tosses it in the air.

The buffalo calf is then seen running away to rejoin the herd, while the lions are forced to retreat.

It remains unclear if the calf survived the ordeal.

Almost 9.5m people have already watched the video, dubbed the Battle at Kruger, which was filmed by US tourist Dave Budzinski while he was on a guided safari.

The footage is the envy of professional wildlife snappers, who might be marvelling at Mr Budzinski's luck.

He told ABC News that he used his video camera "once a year" and was not "adept at this sort of thing".

"I'm not a camera person. I'm just lucky to have it!"

His safari guide Frank Watts told ABC: "I have never seen anything like that in my life before".

Adolphin found only in China is now "likely to be extinct"

The researchers failed to spot any Yangtze river dolphins, also known as baijis, during an extensive six-week survey of the mammals' habitat.

The team, writing in Biology Letters journal, blamed unregulated fishing as the main reason behind their demise.

If confirmed, it would be the first extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years.

The World Conservation Union's Red List of Threaten Species currently classifies the creature as "critically endangered".

We have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet Dr Sam Turvey, Zoological Society of London

Sam Turvey of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), one of the paper's co-authors, described the findings as a "shocking tragedy".

"The Yangtze river dolphin was a remarkable mammal that separated from all other species over 20 million years ago," Dr Turvey explained.

"This extinction represents the disappearance of a complete branch of the evolutionary tree of life and emphasises that we have yet to take full responsibility in our role as guardians of the planet."

If confirmed, it would be the first extinction of a large vertebrate for over 50 years.

'Incidental impact'

The species (Lipotes vexillifer) was the only remaining member of the Lipotidae, an ancient mammal family that is understood to have separated from other marine mammals, including whales, dolphins and porpoises, about 40-20 million years ago.

The white, freshwater dolphin had a long, narrow beak and low dorsal fin; lived in groups of three or four and fed on fish.

The team carried out six-week visual and acoustic survey, using two research vessels, in November and December 2006.

"While it is conceivable that a couple of surviving individuals were missed by the survey teams," the team wrote, "our inability to detect any baiji despite this intensive search effort indicates that the prospect of finding and translocating them to a [reserve] has all but vanished."

The scientists added that there were a number of human activities that caused baiji numbers to decline, including construction of dams and boat collisions.

"However, the primary factor was probably unsustainable by-catch in local fisheries, which used rolling hooks, nets and electrofishing," they suggested.

"Unlike most historical-era extinctions of large bodied animals, the baiji was the victim not of active persecution but incidental mortality resulting from massive-scale human environmental impacts - primarily uncontrolled and unselective fishing," the researchers concluded.

a couple

top ten endangered species!