Positive Wildlife News 2023

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Critical 13,640-Acre Section of Western Maine Protected

Trust for Public Land, The Nature Conservancy and the State of Maine ensure outdoor access and climate resilience in Maine’s Western Mountains.

Two key properties totaling 13,640 acres in the Western Maine Mountains—Quill Hill and Perham Stream—have been permanently protected. All of the acreage will be open for public use, and a majority will continue to be managed with timber harvests. This conservation project was led by Trust for Public Land (TPL), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Maine and the State of Maine’s Bureau of Parks and Lands, with lead public funding from the U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Navy.

These lands are part of the traditional territory and of ongoing cultural significance to the Wabanaki People. They are also key parts of a priority landscape for enhancing carbon storage and ensuring species can adapt to a changing climate. Quill Hill and Perham Stream are vitally important to the region’s economy, outdoor recreation, forest products industry, climate resilience, wildlife habitat, healthy watersheds and quality of life. They are prominent in the landscapes visible from the Appalachian Trail, Mt. Abraham and the Rangeley Lakes Scenic Byway and are adjacent to the wilderness training facility operated by the U.S. Navy in Redington Township.

Critical 13,640-Acre Section of Western Maine Protected
 
Big Wins for Biodiversity, Wolves, Forests, and Climate this Legislative Session! 

The 2023 legislative session brought big wins for many of Conservation Northwest’s priorities, including protecting and managing state lands for carbon and biodiversity, increased capacity for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to protect the state’s natural heritage, funding and program improvements for wolf co-existence, spotted owl habitat restoration, clean energy siting that takes habitat connectivity into account, and improved multi-agency planning for recreation impacts to conservation.

Big Wins for Biodiversity, Wolves, Forests, and Climate this Legislative Session! 
 
Caspian Red Deer Captured on Camera Traps in Almaty Reserve (Video)

Caspian red deer, commonly known as marals, were captured on camera traps set in the Almaty Reserve, reports Telegram channel EcoMedia.

The animals were seen in the Right, Left, Middle Talgar and Monakhovo gorges, Logunov and Karabastau tracts, the Maly Klyuch river and at an altitude of 3,400 meters above the sea level in the Scythian Valley.

Approximately 75 marals live in the Almaty Reserve.

The video shows that the hooves are active at dawn and at dusk.

Earlier shots with steppe trotters from camera traps were published on the page of the Ustyurt Nature Reserve on Instagram. The rare animals got in front of the camera in the Altyn-Emel national park. Representatives of the national park also published a photo of a snow leopard, mountain goats, and camera trapped Himalayan brown bear, listed in the Red Book of Kazakhstan.

Caspian Red Deer Captured on Camera Traps in Almaty Reserve (Video) - The Astana Times
 
The World’s Newest National Park Protects 550-Million-Year-Old Fossils

The 148,000-acre Nilpena Ediacara National Park in South Australia is helping scientists unravel the mysteries of life’s evolution on Earth

The world’s newest national park is full of fossils—some dating back 550 million years—that help tell the story of how life evolved on Earth.

Australia’s Nilpena Ediacara National Park, located in the state of South Australia, opened to the public on Thursday. Situated roughly 300 miles north of Adelaide, the protected area spans 148,000 acres among the mountainous Flinders Ranges.

The World's Newest National Park Protects 550-Million-Year-Old Fossils | Smart News| Smithsonian Magazine
 
10 Singapore youths win recognition at inaugural awards for efforts in conservation, environmental causes
  • Ten Singaporeans, all under 35, received the inaugural 10 for Zero Awards for contributing to conservation efforts and environmental causes
  • The awards were given out by the Singapore arm of US-based non-profit Conservation International
  • Recipients included a social media channel co-founder involved in education on science and nature, and a first-year undergraduate who works in his spare time as a nature advocate
  • The recipients will get to join a youth network that offers mentorship and coaching from global conservation experts
  • The winners were judged based on the social benefit of their work, the environmental impact and influence on the community in working towards a zero-waste future
Ten Singaporean youths under 35, including a climate advocate who pursues environmental justice for the marginalised and a coral scientist who brought together 900 divers for reef clean-ups, received the inaugural 10 for Zero Awards that recognises the efforts of youth leaders who actively champion environmental causes.

Other award winners include the co-founder of a social media channel involved in education on science and nature, and a first-year Nanyang Technological University undergraduate who works in his spare time as a nature advocate lobbying to tackle climate change.

10 Singapore youths win recognition at inaugural awards for efforts in conservation, environmental causes
 
Biodiversity conservation efforts bear fruit

Wandering on snow, a North China Leopard quietly approached, gazed at the infrared camera and opened wide its mouth, exposing its sharp teeth.

These dramatic visuals were captured by the camera installed at the Tuoliang national nature reserve in north China's Hebei Province. From November 2022 to February 2023, the species were captured more than 10 times by the cameras in the reserve.

Biodiversity conservation efforts bear fruit
 
Record year for olive ridley turtles in Bangladesh as conservation work pays off
  • Bangladesh has recorded the highest number of olive ridley turtle eggs this nesting season, a conservationist group says.
  • The species’ main nesting grounds in Bangladesh are the various small islands off the southeastern district of Cox’s Bazar in the Bay of Bengal.
  • Extensive conservation action across the area and the awareness programs carried out among local communities are the key reasons behind the success.
  • However, the growth of the tourism industry and infrastructure development continue to pose major threats to the turtles and their nesting grounds.
Bangladesh has recorded the highest number of olive ridley turtle eggs laid on the country’s beaches this nesting season, thanks to extensive conservation actions.

A survey by the NGO Nature Conservation Management (NACOM) found 7,528 eggs at 58 spots on three different islands — Pachar, Shilkali and Shahpari — off the coastal district of Cox’s Bazar. That’s a 30% increase from the 5,763 eggs found in 54 spots in 2022, which in turn was a 22% increase from the 4,713 eggs recorded in 2021.

Of the seven sea turtle species, five occur in the waters off Bangladesh: the olive ridley turtle (Lepidochelys olivacea), green turtle (Chelonia mydas), hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata), loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and leatherback turtle (Dermochelys coriacea). Only the first three of these come ashore to nest in Bangladesh, predominantly the olive ridley turtle.

Record year for olive ridley turtles in Bangladesh as conservation work pays off
 
Huawei and Partners Announce First Confirmed Jaguars in Mexico's Dzilam State Reserve

A team of nature conservation experts announced that they have identified at least five jaguars in Dzilam State Reserve in Yucatan, Mexico.

Enabled by Huawei's cloud platform and AI, the team have identified two adult males, one adult female, and two cubs as part of a Tech4Nature project launched by IUCN and Huawei in Dzilam State Reserve in 2022.

Prior to the project, experts did not know whether the reserve was home to jaguars and if so, how many there were.

Huawei and Partners Announce First Confirmed Jaguars in Mexico's Dzilam State Reserve
 
Crane chicks born as bird returns to Willow Tree Fen nature Reserve between Bourne and Spalding

Cranes are once again back in the area… and thriving.

One reader captured the beautiful bird at Willow Tree Fen Nature Reserve this week, where two baby chicks have recently been born.

The return of cranes to the reserve – situated between Baston and Spalding – has been a well received success story.

Crane chicks born as bird returns to Willow Tree Fen nature Reserve between Bourne and Spalding
 
In the Colombian Amazon, Indigenous communities protect the sacred black caiman

  • In the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve, two communities are working to protect the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), a species that has been hunted for decades for its commercially valuable skin.
  • After 14 years of fighting to protect the caiman’s habitat, in January 2022, the communities carried out the first-ever survey of the species, recording 123 specimens of various ages.
  • Local leaders say the community’s children will soon be able to learn about the caiman not only in a new book with illustrations and information from the conservationists’ work — but also in real life.
For the Indigenous peoples of Colombia’s lower Caquetá River, the lakes of Puerto Caimán form a huge maloca, a cultural and spiritual hub. This watery habitat is home to the black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), a sacred animal in their culture. According to local elders, “grandfather caiman” was once a man who came down to Earth from a planet of clouds and became the creature that today rules over the water and the fish.

“He has remained a being of important value; he is sacred,” says Moisés Yucuna, an elders from the Borikada community. “That’s why, wherever he is, in the depths of streams or lakes — where there is no river current and where they can be left in peace — there is an abundance of fish. He is the master of everything, governing the other animals. The fish always follow their grandfather caiman; they surround them, keeping close to their grandparents.”

In the non-municipalized area of La Pedrera in the northeast of the Amazonas department, located along the border with Brazil and on the lower Caquetá River, is the Curare-Los Ingleses Indigenous Reserve. For years, those in the territory have been working to preserve and protect this reptile that, for decades, was hunted for its coveted skins, which almost led to it disappearing from the area.

In the Colombian Amazon, Indigenous communities protect the sacred black caiman
 
A Guarani community brings native bees back in the shadow of São Paulo
  • The Guarani living in the Jaraguá Indigenous Territory in the northwestern corner of the mega city of São Paulo have managed to recover nine species of native bees that had died out in the region, today thriving in 300 hives.
  • Unlike the better-known Africanized honey bees, native Brazilian bees have no stingers and are less aggressive.
  • Native bees are sacred to the Guarani, who use the wax to keep bad spirits away and honey and propolis to cure a range of ailments.
  • These bee species are also important pollinators: some Brazilian plants can only be pollinated by native bees.
Márcio Werá Mirim, chief of the village of Tekoá Yvy Porã, shares his people’s sacred story in a mix of Portuguese and Guarani as he walks along a path in the rainforest.

“The name we use for sacred, untouched forest is Ka’agüy poru ey. These are places where people should never interfere,” says the Indigenous Guarani leader as he moves deeper into the forest until the sound of cars, just 2 kilometers, or a little more than a mile away in the city, can no longer be heard.

But the Jaraguá Indigenous Territory, where we’re talking, is anything but untouched. Located just 16 km (10 mi) from downtown in the northwestern corner of São Paulo, the most populous city in the Western Hemisphere, this place has been the stage for land ownership disputes and invasions since the first Europeans arrived here in the 16th century: it was one of the first sites where gold was mined in Brazil, was later used for coffee farming, and in recent decades has been subject to invasions and real estate speculation.

Surrounded by polluted rivers, noise, traffic jams and deforested land, not to mention the constant struggle with one of the world’s largest cities for every square centimeter of land, the 125 Indigenous families living in the six villages inside Jaraguá decided in 2017 to join forces in planting native Atlantic Rainforest seedlings and bringing back indigenous bees, which are important pollinators.

After six years of work, the Jaraguá Guarani proudly sustain a meliponário, a collection of Indigenous beehives, with 300 hives that house nine native bee species. These are the uruçu-amarela, tubuna, mandaçaia, mandaguari-amarela, borá, mirim, jataí, arapuá and marmelada.

A Guarani community brings native bees back in the shadow of São Paulo
 
Community effort protects rare fish species found only in Vancouver Island watershed

Morrison Creek Headwaters, home of the western brook lamprey, now a protected area.

Almost two decades ago, young Carly Palmer first found a rare and mysterious fish species on a family outing to the wetlands at Morrison Creek, in the Comox Valley.

When the family discovered that the fish was a unique and endangered form of freshwater lamprey, found nowhere else in the world, they began a lifelong mission to protect the Morrison Creek Headwaters.

Now, almost 20 years later, thanks to the remarkable support and generosity of a coalition of partners, private donors, and the public, the 275-hectare (680-acre) natural sanctuary in the Morrison Headwaters is protected, forever.

Community effort protects rare fish species found only in Vancouver Island watershed - Vancouver Island Free Daily
 
In pictures: Shishou Milu Deer National Nature Reserve in Central China

This photo taken on April 28, 2023 shows milu deer at Shishou Milu Deer National Nature Reserve in central China's Hubei Province.

About 150 milu deer fawns have been spotted recently at Shishou Milu Deer National Nature Reserve in Hubei, according to the reserve's management and protection authority.

Milu deer are nicknamed "sibuxiang," or "animal like none of the four," as they have a horse-like face, a donkey-like tail, cow-like hooves, and stag-like antlers. They inhabit marshland and feed on tender grass.

China has established three reserves, including the Shishou Milu Deer National Nature Reserve in Hubei Province, to enlarge the population of milu deer. In the 1990s, the Shishou reserve introduced 64 milu deer from abroad in two batches.

Close to the Yangtze River, the area has a complete wetland ecosystem and vast pastureland, which is an ideal habitat for milu deer.

In recent years, advanced techniques such as drones and infrared cameras facilitate observation and conservation of the deer.

The number of milu deer in the reserve has grown from 64 in the 1990s to around 2,500 over the past three decades. (Xinhua/Wu Zhizun)

In pics: Shishou Milu Deer National Nature Reserve in C China
 
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Pine marten has 'phenomenal resurgence' across Northern Ireland

The presence of pine martens in Northern Ireland has almost doubled in five years, according to a new survey.

Ulster Wildlife said the priority species is undergoing a "phenomenal resurgence".

Pine martens are now present in all six counties, marking a significant expansion beyond their traditional stronghold in County Fermanagh.

It is hoped their recovery will boost the red squirrel which has held its population numbers.

Considered one of Northern Ireland's rarest native mammals, the pine marten is a cat-sized carnivore related to the stoat.

https://www-bbc-com.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-65758914.amp
 
India’s Tiger Protection Avoids Over 1M Tonnes of CO2 Emissions

India’s efforts in protecting its endangered tigers have resulted in avoiding over 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions by preventing deforestation, according to a study.

A study published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution has found a significant link between tiger protection and reduced carbon emissions, suggesting the potential for integration into carbon credit schemes.

India's Tiger Protection Avoids Over 1M Tonnes of CO2 Emissions
 
New results show dramatic improvements to soil quality at Isle of Wight Rewilding Project

Dramatic new results from an Isle of Wight rewilding scheme have been hailed as “very significant” in the fight against pollution in the Solent.

Specialists from Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust say the scheme, which saw 40 hectares of former farmland returned to nature, has far exceeded expectations and demonstrates the effectiveness of its rewilding project.

The results are the first in the UK to show such a significant decrease in soil mineral nitrogen at a rewilding project, with a drop of 47% in just under two years at Wilder Little Duxmore.

HIWWT Chief Executive Debbie Tann said: "These are extremely encouraging results that we were just not expecting after such a short amount of time."

"This is a new realm of science for the UK as other rewilding schemes are underway, but we are the first to undertake such rigorous monitoring. These results are very significant for the fight against pollution here on the south coast."

The Trust purchased Little Duxmore in 2020, previously an arable farm that was subject to high levels of fertiliser inputs, growing mainly maize for anaerobic digestion.

New results show dramatic improvements to soil quality at Isle of Wight Rewilding Project | Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
 
A pair of Waldrapps has bred in the city of Zurich in Switzerland, on the building of... an Harley Davidson retailer !!!
It's the "first wild" case of breeding for this species in Switzerland for 4 centuries !
media on Instagram: "Un couple d’Ibis chauves a construit son nid au printemps 2023 sur le bâtiment d’un concessionnaire Harley-Davidson près de Zurich (Suisse) ➡️ Visitez notre site web Ornithomedia.com pour en savoir plus. Ce retour spontané, qui est certainement lié à la réintroduction de l'espèce en Allemagne, est le premier cas de reproduction en Suisse depuis près de 400 ans. Photographie de Martin Meier : Ibis chauve (Geronticus eremita) en juin 2023 sur son nid construit sur le rebord d’une fenêtre du bâtiment du concessionnaire de motos Harley-Davidson dans une zone industrielle près de l’aéroport de Zurich (Suisse). #oiseaux #ornithologie #suisse #ornithomedia Waldrappteam @waldrappteam"
 
‘They could disappear overnight’: rare Italian deer make long journey to survival

Under an ambitious conservation plan, 60 Mesola red deer are being moved from northern Italy to Calabria, where it is hoped they will thrive and multiply.

In a meadow in northern Italy, the fog engulfs a forklift truck putting long, narrow boxes inside a green mounted police transporter. Small openings in the crates reveal the fearful looks of stocky deer, their antlers sawn off to prevent injury during transport. It will be a long trip, more than 1,000km (620 miles) and almost 20 hours of driving to Calabria in southern Italy, where they will be released.

The 20 animals in the crates are some of the 300 remaining Italian or Mesola red deer (Cervus elaphus italicus), a unique and endangered subspecies.

https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...talian-deer-make-long-journey-to-survival-aoe
 
Abu Dhabi increases protection of wildlife and natural habitats

Environment Agency policy places controls on projects and activities in some of emirate's most fragile ecosystems

Wildlife and natural habitats in Abu Dhabi are getting an extra layer of protection through a new Environment Agency policy.

Al Saadiyat Marine National Park and Mangrove Marine National Park are two of the areas covered in the Protected Areas Policy, issued on Tuesday by Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed, the Ruler's Representative in Al Dhafra Region and chairman of the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi.

Houbara Protected Area in Al Dhafra and the coral reefs of Al Yasat Marina Protected Area are also included.

Projects and activities in or near the areas will require environmental impact studies and a licence from the agency under the new policy.

The aim is to protect the natural reserves that form the Sheikh Zayed Protected Areas Network and preserve the cultural and natural heritage of the emirate.

Abu Dhabi increases protection of wildlife and natural habitats
 
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