In 2012, Tasmania moved 15 devils to Maria Island to protect the species from facial-tumour disease; after 28 were released by 2013, a 3,000-pair penguin colony disappeared
The facial tumour had severely affected devil populations in many parts of Tasmania In 2012, 28 Tasmanian devils were brought to Maria Island off Tasmania’s east coast as an “insurance population” when facial tumour disease was severely affecting the…
In 1967, Guy Savy and a partner bought a degraded Seychelles island; after restoring nesting habitat, its sooty tern colony rose from under 20,000 pairs to about 700,000
Guy Savy and a partner bought a degraded Seychelles island A tiny coral island on the northern edge of the Seychelles Bank was once close to ecological collapse. Years of commercial farming, habitat destruction and wildlife exploitation had badly damaged…
In 2022, bird flu caused an entire Sandwich tern colony in England to be abandoned; four breeding seasons later, the birds have returned in record numbers, creating one of the country’s largest colonies
Four breeding seasons after a deadly bird flu outbreak forced a colony of Sandwich Terns to leave their nesting ground, the seabirds have returned in record numbers, creating one of England’s largest breeding sites. Monitoring reports published by…
In 1885, New Zealand released European hedgehogs as garden pest killers; 140 years later, DOC calls them a major threat to native wildlife and one can empty an endangered tern colony of nesting birds
European hedgehog (Image Credit: Canva) What was once seen as a useful garden helper in New Zealand has become an unexpected threat to some of the country’s most vulnerable wildlife. European hedgehogs were deliberately introduced to New Zealand in…
In 1923, wardens began protecting a 35-acre Texas island where the state’s last reddish egrets survived; one family lived there full time in a two-room hut, and today it holds the world’s largest nesting colony
Welcome to the Island Where Egrets Rule A century after wildlife wardens began protecting a small island in Texas, the 35-acre site has become the world’s largest nesting colony for Reddish Egrets. Green Island sits in the Laguna Madre, a coastal lagoon…
More than 99% of California’s sunflower sea stars vanished, now scientists have found a mysterious colony that could help revive dying kelp forests
A decade ago, more than 99% of sunflower sea stars vanished from the depths of the ocean. Now, the discovery of a long-lost colony of these organisms is offering new hope for the region’s kelp forests.Sunflower sea stars, known as Pycnopodia…
Scientists have found that Japanese horseshoe bats living in crowded colonies get around noisy sonar problems by gradually changing their echolocation calls to match each other’s frequencies
If many bats emit similar sound waves at the same time, their signals may overlap. (National Geographic photo) Bats rely on echolocation to move in the dark and hunt insects. They emit high-pitched sound waves that bounce off nearby objects and return as…