On April 2, 2015, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) announced that it would be listing the northern long-eared bat as threatened , rather than endangered, as it had originally proposed in October of 2013. The listing gives the bat new protections... Read More
Coal, oil and gas, timber, and multiple other activities within the Guyandotte and Big Sandy watersheds in West Virginia, Virginia and Kentucky will be subject to new restrictions if the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) proceeds with its... Read More
Masses of small red tuna crabs have been washing up along San Diego, California area beaches from Ocean Beach to La Jolla. The species, Pleuroncodes planipes, is unique in that it can live its entire life cycle, from larva to adulthood, in the water column... Read More
What makes an animal a mammal? Well, in school we all learned the characteristics that determine what is a mammal: "warm blooded" (endothermy), body hair, three middle ear bones, live birth, and functional mammary glands in mothers with young... Read More
A recent post noted that viruses from bush meat can jump from one species to the next, and that as such bush meat poses a major health threat. The mobility of prions has also been underestimated. (For a general description of prions, see Prion .) Researchers... Read More
Prior posts have noted how in the recent past the perceived wisdom was the 1% of the human genome was responsible for what happens (the making of proteins), and the balance (99%) was "junk." Over time the amount deemed relevant has grown and... Read More
A keystone species is one that "influences the ecological composition, structure, or functioning of its community far more than its abundance would suggest." (See http://glossary.eea.europa.eu/terminology/concept_html?term=keystone%20species... Read More