Conservation | The Guardian

But their habitat is threatened by bottom trawling in the region and Trump’s plan to expand seafloor mining Scientists have discovered nine new deep-sea sponge species off Alaska, offering new insights into the region’s largely unexplored marine biodiversity. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) announced the discovery on Thursday, saying the species were found in the Gulf o…

Scientists say good rainfall and growing resistance to viruses are to blame for increasing rabbit populations around the country Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Jojo the rabbit-detecting dog is working eight days on, two days off, running up to 20 kilometres a day chasing rabbits in the south-west of Bon Bon Reserve in South Australia’s arid centre. “She’s being kept …

Party will back plan to allow big industry to use a new koala national park in NSW to offset its climate pollution, but three senators will dissent Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A controversial plan to allow big industry to use a new koala national park in New South Wales to offset its climate pollution is expec…

Exclusive: State government delayed releasing major report into the health of the koala population for more than 12 months Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The Victorian government sat on a report for more than 12 months that found the state’s koala population was in chronically poor health. The review of the state’s koala populations, led by state science agency the A…

Numbers of the exquisitely graceful species are falling amid loss of food supply and habitat Few birds are quite as elegant as the blue crane. As I watched a pair feeding alongside a busy road in South Africa, against the rather incongruous backdrop of a herd of cows, I was struck by their sheer beauty. With a slender body, curved neck, long legs, elongated tail plumes and a subtle, dove-grey plu…

Man, who had arrived in Turin from Miami via Istanbul, under investigation for smuggling and faces fine or prison An Italian man is facing a hefty fine or possible prison term after the dried head of a critically endangered crocodile was found in his luggage at Turin’s Caselle airport. The man had arrived at the airport in the northern Italian city on a flight from Miami via Istanbul, the Turin u…

Anglers will help scientists investigate the porbeagle, tope and blue shark to boost knowledge and conservation ‘We have really cool sharks,” says Dr Lucy Hawkes. She is not referring to animals in the rich coastal waters of South Africa or Mexico, but instead talking about the species that live around Britain. Hawkes, an associate professor at the University of Exeter, is co-leading a new three-…

Investors in Emblehope Moor will get their financial returns – and then it will be given to community or charity owners It is difficult to find the most remote place in England. There is no public transport, no roads and no sign of any human habitation. Online route finders mistakenly direct cars up a grassy track. But miles along gravel forest roads in the far north of Northumberland is the larg…

Experts say invasive species are creating ‘pollinator deserts’ and could have serious impact on food security British beekeepers have called for a national awareness campaign about the impact of Asian hornets as they warned the invasive species was creating “pollinator deserts” and threatening food security. Native to south-east Asia, the yellow-legged hornet is thought to have arrived in Europe …

Museums have countless examples of the common fossils from these Lower Jurassic rocks, says the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre’s Phil Davidson The vast majority of the fossils revealed on this rapidly eroding part of the Jurassic Coast hold very little scientific importance and are not in need of protection or recording ( Letters, 28 August ). Museums around the world have countless examples of …

As graduates of an online training course gather from across the continent, the consensus is overwhelming: computers and saving animals go together On a bitingly cold night in Lapalala Wilderness nature reserve in South Africa’s Limpopo province, Duncan Kanyakera watches as instructor Jacques Viljoen deploys a thermal drone in search of a lone cheetah. Once the drone has disappeared into the inky…

Film-maker Ed Sayers’ project gathered footage from collaborators all over the world, cleverly edited to combine human and animal contributions This delightful, fleet-footed film represents a labour of love both for its writer-director-producer-editor, Briton Ed Sayers, and his many, many collaborators who shot the film’s footage on Super 8 all over the world. Between them they’ve used decades-ol…

Nevada-based Kingsbarn Realty Capital seeks to acquire land to construct private road to development outside park The Trump administration is reportedly pushing to give a parcel of land inside Yosemite, the country’s first national park and one of its most popular, to a Nevada -based private developer. Staff with the National Park Service have been exploring how the agency can give a quarter-mile…

Jill White responds to an editorial calling for fossils to be given legally protected national-treasure status I write this while sitting on Charmouth beach in Dorset with my required reading of the Saturday Guardian, as I do regularly. Your editorial ( The Guardian view on the export of fossils: they deserve national treasure status, 21 August ) produced a hollow laugh as – this being the centre…

State to offer up to 5,000 trappers chance to snare reptiles whose numbers have risen to 3m from fewer than 100,000 The first recreational alligator hunt in Louisiana in more than half a century is about to commence in the swamps of that state, with up to 5,000 hopeful trappers facing strict rules in order to snare a reptile. The state’s fish and wildlife commission banned alligator hunting in 19…

Woolston Eyes in Warrington, a dumping ground for canal dredgings, has become best place in UK for black-necked grebe A dumping ground for dredgings from the Manchester Ship Canal has become the best place in Britain for the rare and beautiful black-necked grebe, hosting 64% of Britain’s breeding population. Since 2021, Woolston Eyes in Cheshire has been restored, extended and turned into a mosai…

Bears killed 13 people in Japan last year, as a lack of forest foods increased conflicts. Yet some say the country’s controversial cull could threaten the endangered species Every summer, millions of people escape the heat and humidity of Tokyo by heading to the tranquil resort town of Karuizawa in Japan’s Nagano prefecture – just an hour by bullet train from the capital. Here, at the foot of Mou…

Bird eggs intercepted in homemade incubators at Johannesburg airport as officials try to halt wildlife trafficking South African police have arrested two Thai nationals in separate incidents for allegedly attempting to smuggle endangered parrot eggs out of the country as authorities try to stem the tide of wildlife trafficking. A 50-year-old Thai national was arrested at OR Tambo international ai…

Protests and petitions planned amid growing concerns over impact of climate crisis on numbers of Alpine rodent Animal rights campaigners are gearing up for protests and petitions aimed at persuading the French government to ban the hunting of Alpine marmots. Open season on the rodents, members of the squirrel and groundhog family, begins in September, a few weeks before they go into a long winter…

The Albanese government approved a proposal allowing the park to create carbon credits worth hundreds of millions of dollars, sparking a schism among environmentalists What qualifies as a win in environmental campaigning? Is it when a huge forest area that is home to a stack of threatened species, including koalas, and has been the focus of years and years of campaigning, is protected from loggin…