Wildlife

Polar Birthday

About 5,000 polar bear cubs were born in the Arc- tic around New Y ear’ s Day, according to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). The end of December is typically when the bears give birth — a time when the northern polar region is blanketed by some of the coldest and darkest conditions of the year. WWF celebrates the polar bears’ birthday on Dec. 29 and estimates the global population of the iconic animal is between 20,000 and 25,000. The bears, which can typically live to be about 25 years old, are threatened by poachers, global warming and pollution. They have become the “poster animal” for climate change and the resulting melt of their Arctic ice cap homes.

Locusts Devour Yemen's Crops: Hunger Looms

Starvation looms for some residents of the Arab nation of Yemen as a plague of desert locusts has devoured vast tracts of crops there.

Unusually heavy rainfall during the past several months has created perfect breeding conditions for the insects, according to agriculture officials.

About 75 percent of Yemen’s population relies on agriculture for a living, and many farmers may not have any crops left to harvest in the aftermath of the swarms.

The Food and Agriculture Organization says that ground spraying has been conducted along Yemen’s Red Sea coast, where new generations of the insects were emerging.

The U.N. agency says that the insects can lay waste to entire farming regions within days.

Yemen's last severe locust swarms arrived following heavy rainfall in 2007.