Wildlife

Lions Poisoned in Kruger National Park

Two lions and over 100 vultures in the Kruger National Park died after eating the poisoned carcass of an elephant, officials said Wednesday, suggesting a new poaching trend in the heavily-guarded reserve.

"It seems poachers have resorted to wildlife poisoning in the national parks and other protected areas in Southern Africa," Glenn Phillips, the park's managing executive, said in a statement.

It was unclear when the poisoning occurred, but the animals' carcasses were discovered by rangers at the weekend.

Initial investigations showed the elephant was shot in the head, its tusks removed and its carcass laced with poison. Two lions, 110 white-back vultures and two jackals then died after feeding on the poisoned carcass.

In Zimbabwe, more than 370 elephants have died after being poisoned over the past two years, with the deaths blamed on poachers.

Last year, an elephant, four African lions and 46 vultures also died from poisoning in the Kruger National Park.

The park, which is faced with a poaching crisis targeting rhino, is one of the most heavily-protected in the country.

Rangers are equipped with infra-red binoculars to try and catch poachers who normally operate at night.

Wildlife

For Rare-Species Poachers, Scientific Journals Are Treasure Maps

Recently, commercial collectors have been using reports of such new species in scientific journals as tools to track down the newbies so they can sell them for a profit on the exotic pet trade market.

Since being scientifically described in the 1990s, the Indonesian turtle Chelodina mccordi and another cave gecko (Goniurosaurus luii) fetch pet trade prices ranging from $1,500 to $2,000 apiece, the researchers said. The demand is so high that C. mccordi is almost extinct in the wild, and G. luii has gone locally extinct.

Likewise, the salamander Paramesotriton laoensis in northern Laos costs between $170 and $250 each on the black market, the researchers said. Smugglers often offer villagers less than $1 to collect the black-and-yellow Laotian newt (Laotriton laoensis), and then turn around and sell each one for as much as $200.

Despite the risks of revealing a newfound animal's location, many researchers still publish that information. This data can help researchers understand how a previously unknown species fits into the ecosystem and the size of its habitat range.

Researchers chose not to publish the location of the newly identified cave gecko species Goniurosaurus kadoorieorum for fear that exotic pet trade poachers would wipe them out.

California Songbird Die-Off

Following the death of hundreds of pine siskins, a small songbird that inhabits California's forested areas, state wildlife officials are asking that people empty their birdbaths and take down their bird feeders.

Since early December there have been reports of at least 300 pine siskins found dead in the Redding area, as well as in the Central and South Coast regions. Scientists from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) believe that Salmonellosis -- a fatal disease caused by Salmonella bacteria -- is largely to blame, and that infected bird feeders and birdbaths are partly responsible for the epidemic.

Based on the number of reported deaths, officials estimate more than 1,000 pine siskins have died this winter from salmonella bacteria. The disease is easily spread when birds ingest contaminated food or water, or come in contact with objects, such as bird feeders, perches or soil that have faeces left behind from infected birds. A similar outbreak occurred last winter, officials say.

Wildlife

Importance of Female Elephants in Social Structure

When older members of an elephant family are killed, younger female elephants assume the roles once held by their mothers, maintaining the networks that keep extended families together, a new study has found.

Over a 16-year period, researchers evaluated the changing social dynamics in groups of elephants in western Kenya as mature matriarchs were killed by poachers who hunt elephants for the ivory in their tusks. Not only did younger female elephants take up new social positions when an older matriarch died, but the links they forged with other elephant daughters mirrored connections once held by their mothers.

The scientists paid especially close attention to mother-daughter relationships. Female elephants are known to hold important leadership roles in elephant social groups, and the researchers were curious to discover how mother elephants might prepare young females to forge their own connections and assume adult social responsibilities.

But African elephants face a stress that can devastate even the strongest social networks: poaching. According to the World Wildlife Fund, tens of thousands of elephants are poached each year. African elephant numbers have plummeted from 5 million in the last century to an estimated 470,000 in 2015, with 40,000 killed in 2011 alone. Elephants' tusks — extended incisor teeth — are greatly prized for their ivory, and growing demand for ivory products in the Far East fuels the poaching, despite a 1990 global ban on international ivory sales, according to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

The bigger the tusks, the more valuable they are to poachers, so older elephants with the biggest tusks are poachers' favourite targets, the study reported. Older female elephants are also likely to occupy important roles within the "connectivity hub" of the group's social network, the scientists found. Poaching not only dramatically reduces elephant populations, but could also be destroying the bonds that hold groups together.

After 16 years, scientists reported that an estimated 70 percent of the individual elephants occupying important social roles in the group had been replaced. They found that they could predict which younger elephants would step into vacant roles, based on whose mother had previously held that position, establishing connections to other young elephants whose mothers had interacted closely with their own mother, even if these young elephants had not previously been seen to spend much time together.

Elephants' social flexibility in spite of poaching provides a ray of hope for the sustainability of their populations.

Wildlife

Elephant Tramples Poacher in Zimbabwe

In a grim karmic twist, a suspected poacher illegally hunting African elephants was trampled to death by his prey in Charara National Park near Lake Kariba in northwestern Zimbabwe.

Populations of forest elephants have plummeted by 62 percent over the past 10 years, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Wildlife

Poaching Pushes 2 Madagascar Tortoises to Brink

Illegal poaching is "raging out of control" and pushing radiated and ploughshare tortoises to the brink of extinction, according to a statement from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

More than 1,000 of the animals have been confiscated from smugglers in the first three months of 2013 alone, the environmental group reported. A total of 54 ploughshare tortoises were intercepted in Thailand, and the species is "now the most common tortoise for sale in Bangkok's infamous Chatuchak wildlife market," according to the statement.

The ploughshare tortoise was once common in northern Madagascar but as of 2008 it was estimated that there were only 400 individuals left in the wild, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. These reptiles can grow up to 19 inches (47 centimeters) long and weigh up to 42 pounds (19 kilograms).

The radiated tortoise lives in the country's south. Its dark brown or black domed shell is covered with bright yellow or orange starlike patterns and can grow up to 16 inches (40 cm) long. They can live for an estimated 100 years, according to the IUCN.

"These tortoises are truly one of Madagascar's most iconic species," James Deutsch, executive director of the Africa Program at WCS, said in the statement. "This level of exploitation is unsustainable. Unless immediate action is taken to better protect the wild populations, their extinction is imminent."

Wildlife

Well over 100,000 migratory birds are killed for food or to be sold on the black market each year in far northeastern India, according to Conservation India. During the peak of migration, 12,000 to 14,000 birds are captured each day on their passage over Nagaland, a remote, mountainous state that borders Burma.

One of the more disturbing examples of the poaching is the capture of raptors, using nets set up near lakes and reservoirs to trap the birds when they come to roost at night or as they leave in the morning.

Conservation India urges Nagaland officials to enforce laws protecting the birds, and to work with local populations to prevent the killings.

Wildlife

The rhino population at Kaziranga National Park in India, has taken a serious hit because of the two waves of floods and a spurt in poaching activities. The park, a Unesco World Heritage site, has lost 39 rhinos in less than 10 months.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storm Nadine continues to spin in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Nadine just won't give up. The storm has been spinning in the eastern Atlantic Ocean in varying stages of intensity, since September 11.

In the Western Pacific:

- Super Typhoon Jelawat is located approximately 430 nm south-southwest of Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, Japan. Expected to make landfall in Honshu, Japan. All models now track across Japan and into the Sea of Japan, but historically storms are not able to cross Japan's mountainous geography.

- Tropical storm Ewiniar - was located approximately 345 nm south-southeast of Yokosuka, Japan. No threat to land.

A tornado has been reported Tuesday evening near the town of Okawville, just outside Saint Louis, Illinois, USA.

Poachers killed two rhinos and chopped off their horns as they had strayed out of flood-hit Assam's Kaziranga National Park in northern India to escape floodwaters on Wednesday.

Poaching

281 endangered rhinoceros have been killed by poachers in South Africa in the first 6 months of this year to satisfy the demand for the horn in the Far East where it is used as an aphrodisiac.