San Francisco turns to AI to save whales from ship strikes as deaths soar
Ferries, cargo ships and tankers cut through choppy waters in the San Francisco Bay on Tuesday as a whale surfaced nearby, its spout barely visible against the white caps. Until now, whales could easily go unnoticed by mariners, but an AI-powered detection network launched this week is designed to track them day and night.
Salmon farm faces new cruelty claims as Trump seeks to supersize fish farming
The Trump administration is keen to do to fish what has been done to chickens—mass-produce them on an industrial scale to accelerate the U.S.’s output of seafood. But this “chickenification” of fish may come at a hefty cost to the environment and to the fish themselves.
Trump administration relaxing hunting restrictions in U.S. parks and refuges
Trump’s administration is quietly pushing national park, refuge, and wilderness area managers to dramatically scale back hunting restrictions, raising questions about visitor safety and the impact on wildlife.
Trump and his oil-and-coal oligarchy should face sanctions for their war on the environment
The ecological disasters of the US-Israel war with Iran are already bad enough. The noxious smoke from bombed oil facilities, spills in the Gulf’s waters, the contamination of farmland and groundwater with toxic chemicals unleashed by explosions and their debris, the millions of additional tons of CO2 spewed into the atmosphere.
Rewilding giants: captive elephants re-homed in Europe’s first sanctuary
Europe’s first large-scale elephant sanctuary, which is opening to offer a more natural environment for some of the 600 animals still held in captivity across the continent, is to receive its first arrivals. Portugal’s last circus elephant will be moved to the animal charity Pangea’s multimillion pound sanctuary in the Alentejo east of Lisbon close […]
‘Save Willy Act’ introduced in California to help save whales in Bay Area
In a move that will certainly tug on the heartstrings of anyone that grew up in the 90s, Representative Sam Liccardo (D-CA) and other co-sponsors have introduced the Save Willy Act, aiming to protect the whales who enter the San Francisco Bay. The bill’s appropriate name is inspired by the 1993 drama Free Willy, in […]
‘They know they’re safe’: beagles saved from US research facility after protests
Big Dog Ranch Rescue and the Center for a Humane Economy negotiated a confidential agreement to purchase the 1,500 dogs for an undisclosed price from Ridglan Farms, where police used teargas and pepper spray to repel activists trying to take beagles from the facility last month. Protesters also broke into the facility in March and […]
Plant-based diets cut climate impact by more than half, randomized clinical trial shows
As climate change accelerates and global temperatures continue to rise, a new randomized clinical trial provides compelling evidence that one of the most powerful climate solutions may be on our plates. A study published in Current Developments in Nutrition shows that adopting a low-fat vegan diet reduces diet-related greenhouse gas emissions by 55% and cumulative […]
At ‘Sloth World’ in Florida, wild sloths have died by the dozens
The animals, highly susceptible to illness when removed from their habitat, have been kept in a warehouse. More than 31 have died. On a busy tourist strip in Orlando, behind noisy bars and souvenir shops, 21 sloths in crates reached the end of a grueling international trip. Soon, they would all be dead.
Freshwater fish migrations are disappearing across the planet
Many people are familiar with the epic migrations of zebras and wildebeest across the Serengeti, but some of our planet’s most important migrations happen out of sight. The dorado catfish travels thousands of miles from the Andes to the Amazon. In the Mekong River, the 650-pound Mekong giant catfish once migrated hundreds of miles upstream. […]
Is the Galápagos damselfish extinct?
A recent paper by Jack Stein Grove and Benjamin Victor revisits the evidence and concludes that the species is now likely extinct. The paper, published in the Journal of the Ocean Science Foundation, assembles historical records, ecological context, and decades of unsuccessful searches to argue that the absence is no longer plausibly explained by oversight.
Meet the shrimp that creates shockwaves hotter than the sun’s surface
This shrimp is no bigger than your thumb, and it’s a master of physics. Here’s how it manages to create shockwaves and flashes of light hotter than the Sun. The pistol shrimp looks, at first glance, like nothing special. It’s no longer than a few centimeters, and it spends the majority of its life tucked […]