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As animal seed dispersers go the way of the dodo, forest plants are at risk

As animal seed dispersers go the way of the dodo, forest plants are at risk

By Sharon Guynup - MongaBay Many plants rely on animals to reproduce, regenerate and spread. But the current sixth mass extinction is wiping out seed-dispersing wildlife that fill this role, altering entire ecosystems.Thousands of species help keep flora alive, from birds and bats to elephants, apes and rodents.Animals give plants the ability to “move,” with the need for mobility rising alongside warming temperatures and more frequent extreme weather events. Transported elsewhere, plants may be able to “outrun” a warming climate.There are growing efforts to restore these critical ecological...

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Game changer: How Sam Wasser became the ivory detective

Game changer: How Sam Wasser became the ivory detective

By Dean Paton - The Christian Science Monitor When Sam Wasser was a young biologist studying baboons in Tanzania, he never imagined he would one day lead an international force cracking down on the smuggling of illegal goods, from elephant ivory to pangolins and timber. Yet fighting transnational criminal organizations, or TCOs in law enforcement parlance, is exactly what he’s doing today, all because of his passion for animals. And because he discovered how to extract DNA from elephant poop. Today, Dr. Wasser is a professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. But in 1989 he was...

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The silent threat to Africa’s wildlife

The silent threat to Africa’s wildlife

By Cyril Zenda - Fair Planet While the world is seized with protecting iconic African wildlife from being poached to extinction, a silent threat is ravaging these animals in record numbers: a worsening water shortage linked to erratic rains and increasingly hotter temperatures. This year, many parts of southern Africa are once again experiencing severe droughts. These arid conditions have become more common in the recent years as the region - which is home to elephants, rhinoceros, lions, cheetahs and other endangered wildlife species - is not spared the effects of climate...

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Uproar over plan to litter Botswana’s Chobe National Park with lodges

Uproar over plan to litter Botswana’s Chobe National Park with lodges

By Don Pinnock - Daily Maverick Chobe National Park’s goose that lays the golden egg of Botswana tourism is under threat of being killed by eight 75-bed lodges planned for its prime riverfront. If it goes ahead, wildlife people pay to see will most likely have fled. After entering Chobe National Park from nearby Kasane, you’re soon in one of the most iconic places in Africa — a wide, lazy river lined by classic savanna woodland. Towards evening, the elephants arrive without fail, sometimes hundreds at a time, to drink and frolic in the cool water. It’s a 50km wildlife corridor of viewing...

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