Science & Health Aug 28, 2013

Dolphin deaths, linked to virus, worst in years

Marine scientists said Tuesday that a die-off of bottlenose dolphins along the U.S. Atlantic coast is the largest in a quarter-century and is almost certainly from the same cause as a 1987-88 outbreak: cetacean morbillivirus, which is spreading throughout the population. From New York ...

Environment Aug 15, 2013

Tons of smuggled pangolins found

Vietnamese customs officials have found over 6 tons of live, protected pangolins inside a shipping container sent from Indonesia. The rare creatures, known as “scaly anteaters” for their unusual appearance and prized in China and Vietnam as an exotic meal, were discovered last week ...

Science & Health Aug 8, 2013

Dolphins show memory of 20 years plus, longest in the animal world

Bottlenose dolphins can remember each other’s signature whistles for more than 20 years, a new study says — the longest social memory ever observed in an animal. Elephants have long been credited with the animal kingdom’s best memory, but evidence for that was anecdotal, ...

Environment Jul 15, 2013

Russian activist pays high price for actions

After three men in this heavily polluted city west of Yekaterinburg beat Stepan Chernogubov unconscious, fracturing his skull and knocking out three teeth, criminal investigators took him, still bleeding, to a police station where they questioned him for four hours and then threatened to ...

Environment Jul 5, 2013

Rare dwarf crocs die from eating poisonous toads Down Under

Australia’s noxious cane toad is wiping out populations of a unique miniature crocodile, researchers warn, with fears the toxic warty creature could extinguish the rare reptile. A team from Charles Darwin University studying the impacts of the foul toad in upstream escarpments found “significant ...

Environment Jul 1, 2013

U.S. plans first tribal national park to protect buffaloes

Buffalo stroll undisturbed, pausing occasionally to wallow in the grass and caked dirt, while prairie dogs yip intermittently as they dive into their holes and pop out again to survey the landscape. This northern stretch of Badlands National Park, known as Sage Creek Wilderness, ...

Science & Health Jun 25, 2013

Asia demand making ginseng in U.S. scarce

The long tradition of ginseng hunting in the U.S. can be traced from Daniel Boone, the folk hero frontiersman, to Glenn Miller, a retired concrete inspector. Ginseng, a medicinal herb long revered in China, has become a hot energy-drink ingredient and a trendy remedy ...

Travel Jun 3, 2013

Historic garden hidden in Italy

Rare plants, enchanting ruins and the tinkle of waterfalls: The English-style botanical oasis of Ninfa near Rome is a secret idyll billed as “the world’s most romantic garden.” The exquisite garden dates back to the late 19th century when the aristocratic Caetani family took ...

Environment Apr 29, 2013

World's fastest land animal in race to survive

The cheetah, the world’s fastest land animal, survived mass extinction during the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But it has taken just the last few decades for man to place the hunter on the endangered species list, with experts warning it could disappear ...