Environment

Spectacular iceberg drifts off Canada shore

NEWFOUNDLAND, Canada (Reuters) — Residents off the coast of the South Shore of Newfoundland, Canada have recently been treated to a view of the first iceberg and sea ice drift of the season. The massive chunks of floating ice have been witnessed off the coast of the towns of Middle Cove Beach and Ferryland, both in Newfoundland. The region is commonly referred to as “Iceberg Alley” and delighted a number of residents over the holiday […]

Mystery of mosquito flight solved

ENGLAND, United Kingdom (Reuters) — Scientists have solved the mystery of mosquito flight using super-high speed cameras and computer analysis to understand the unique mechanisms the insect uses to stay airborne. Despite solving the bumble bee paradox some time ago, which stated the bumble bee should not be able to fly under normal rules of aerodynamics, until now science has been unable to explain how mosquitoes managed to flap their wings through such a short […]

Key leopard population ‘crashing,’ study warns

by Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The leopard population in a region of South Africa once thick with the big cats is crashing, and could be wiped out within a few years, scientists warned Wednesday. Illegal killing of leopards in the Soutpansberg Mountains has reduced their numbers by two-thirds in the last decade, the researchers reported in the Royal Society Open Science journal. “If things don’t change, we predict leopards will essentially […]

Japan volcanic islands may hold key to coral survival

by Ursula Hyzy Agence France-Presse TARA, Japan (AFP) — The key to the survival of the world’s threatened coral reefs may lie in the waters surrounding a small volcanic island off the coast of Japan, scientists say. The seabed of Shikine island is a “living laboratory” for researchers aboard the schooner Tara, a French-led scientific expedition, who are looking for clues to help protect coral from the damaging effects of climate change. While coral reefs […]

Parrot named Gary could advance drone flight capability

CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — Researchers at California’s Stanford University are studying how birds morph their wings during flight in the hopes of engineering more versatile drones in the future. The scientists use a projector to beam patterns of overlapping light on the bird, a parrotlet. A camera, synced with the projector, then records its flight. Using a set of algorithms, the researchers can then create a 3D reconstruction of the bird’s movement. Already the […]

Whale cams reveal secret Antarctic feeding habits

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Whale cams have revealed the secret feeding habits of the giant mammals in frozen Antarctica, details on their social lives, and even how they must blow hard to clear sea ice to breathe. Scientists attached tiny cameras and electronic tags to humpbacks to better understand what they do underwater as they study how shrinking sea ice caused by warming sea temperatures linked to climate change may impact them. “Once we have […]

Permafrost more vulnerable than thought: scientists

by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Frozen, sub-Arctic wastelands loaded with planet-heating greenhouse gases are more susceptible to global warming than previously understood, scientists warned on Monday. Even stabilising the world’s climate at two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels — the daunting goal laid down in the 196-nation Paris Agreement — would melt more than 40 percent of permafrost, or an area nearly twice the size of India, they reported in […]

WATCH: Giant panda cub’s naughty moments caught on camera

CHENGDU CITY, Sichuan Province, southwest China (CCTV) — It may be an easy life for panda cubs at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in southwest China’s Sichuan Province as they tease their handlers day in and day out. One such cub, named Qiyi, did exactly that in the latest video from the base. In the video recorded last Monday, Qiyi’s handler tried hard to persuade it to return to the room after […]

Rare one-horned rhino killed by poachers in Nepal

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) — Poachers have shot dead a one-horned rhinoceros at a national wildlife park in Nepal, officials said Sunday, spotlighting the threat faced by the rare animals. Officials on Saturday found the male rhino with its horn gouged out in Chitwan National Park, the country’s biggest rhino conservation area. “We performed a post-mortem and found that it had been hit by a bullet on its head,” the park’s spokesman Nurendra Aryal told AFP. Aryal said […]

‘Zero recovery’ for corals in back-to-back Australia bleaching

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Coral bleached for two consecutive years at Australia’s Great Barrier Reef has “zero prospect” of recovery, scientists warned Monday, as they confirmed the site has again been hit by warming sea temperatures. Researchers said last month they were detecting another round of mass bleaching this year after a severe event in 2016, and their fears were confirmed after aerial surveys of the entire 2,300-kilometre (1,400-mile) long bio-diverse reef. Last year, the […]