The birds have not been seen for at least a decade – some for more than 100 years – but the authors of a new list of missing species have not given up hope
The coppery thorntail and New Caledonian lorikeet are among the 126 birds “lost” to science, having not been seen for a decade or more, according to the most comprehensive list of missing species composed to date.
The new tally is based on millions of records collected by enthusiastic birders and amateur scientists documenting wildlife in some of the planet’s most remote locations. To be part of the dataset, the bird must not have a recorded sighting in at least a decade, and not be assessed as extinct or extinct in the wild by the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
06/17/2024 - 06:30
06/17/2024 - 02:49
With tickets doubling as public transport passes and recycled props, Hans Otto Theater is embracing a €3m federal project to make culture climate neutral
A handful of Spanish conquistadors fight through thick undergrowth to emerge in the ivy-clad ruins of a fallen civilisation during a rehearsal of Austrian playwright Thomas Köck’s Your Palaces Are Empty.
Premiered last month at the Hans Otto Theater in Potsdam, south-west of Berlin, the bleak and unforgiving drama probes the wounds of a shattered capitalist world that has exploited its people and the planet’s resources.
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06/17/2024 - 02:16
David Littleproud claims Australia doesn’t need ‘large-scale industrial windfarms’ like the planned offshore zone south of Sydney
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David Littleproud has claimed Australia doesn’t need “large-scale industrial windfarms” like the planned offshore zone south of Sydney, adding the Coalition will “cap” federal government investment into renewable energy if elected.
The Nationals leader visited Wollongong on Monday, where he promised the opposition would instead offer a “calm” and “methodical” energy pathway to net zero by 2050.
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06/17/2024 - 02:00
The founder of the Seahorse Trust explains how his life-long fascination with the enigmatic creatures helped us to understand and protect them
I saw a seahorse for the first time when I was 14. There is something very unfishlike about the way seahorses swim upright, and their constantly moving eyes – it made me feel completely in awe of them. Fifty-one years later, and that feeling has never gone away. Even now, if I’m on a dive and I see one, I find it amazing.
Seahorses are fish that don’t fit into any category; they seem like an amalgam of lots of different creatures. They have horse-like heads, kangaroo-like pouches and prehensile, monkey-like tails – which often seem to have a mind of their own – plus they can change colour like a chameleon. It’s quite remarkable.
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06/17/2024 - 00:00
Beavers’ dams have created more places for water voles to hide from predators and hopefully flourish, say experts
Beavers reintroduced to a Scottish rainforest 15 years ago may have created the right habitat for the area’s endangered water voles to flourish.
The voles, once abundant in Scotland but now one of the country’s most threatened native animals, could thrive in the “complex boundary between water and land” that beavers have created in Knapdale in Argyll and Bute since their reintroduction there in 2009.
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06/16/2024 - 22:28
The Australian Bureau of Statistics updated its methodology and says there are 4 million more cattle than previously estimated
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Official figures have underestimated the number of cows in Australia by about 20%, the Australian Bureau of Statistics has found, after researchers suggested there could be as many as 10 million unreported cattle in Australia.
ABS agriculture statistics, released on Friday, estimated there were 27.8 million beef cattle across the country in 2023, a significant increase on previous years.
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06/16/2024 - 18:18
Jordanians died in Saudi Arabia after suffering heatstroke, said officials, with temperatures reaching 47C in Mecca
At least 14 Jordanian pilgrims have died while on the hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia as temperatures soar in the kingdom.
Jordan’s foreign ministry said “14 Jordanian pilgrims died and 17 others were missing” during the performance of hajj rituals. It said its nationals had died “after suffering sun stroke due to the extreme heatwave” and that it had coordinated with Saudi authorities to bury the dead in Saudi Arabia, or transfer them to Jordan.
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06/16/2024 - 16:30
Party begins week of campaigning on economy under pressure to say if it will raise taxes to pay for £7.3bn plans
Labour will create more than 650,000 jobs with its green investment plans, Rachel Reeves has said, as the party kickstarts a week of campaigning on the economy.
The UK shadow chancellor has revealed new details about the £7.3bn green investment vehicle that Labour intends to create after the election, saying it will help create hundreds of thousands of new industrial jobs.
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06/16/2024 - 10:00
Exclusive: After months of speculation the fundraising giant has identified more electorates where independent campaigns meet its criteria for support
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Climate 200, the fundraising giant that bankrolled the teal independent wave at the last election, has thrown its support behind independent campaigns in nine more Coalition-held seats.
After months of speculation, the group said it would support independent campaigns in the Queensland electorates of McPherson, Moncrief, Fisher and Fairfax as well as the New South Wales electorates Cowper and Bradfield, and Casey, Monash and Wannon in Victoria.
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06/16/2024 - 09:39
Meteorologists warn that heat will spread east through the week, with ‘heat dome’ expected to trap high temperatures
Millions of Americans are facing “dangerously hot conditions”, the National Weather Service said, with a heatwave set to hit the midwest and north-east US from Monday.
Michigan, Ohio and western Pennsylvania were all under heat warnings starting Monday, with alerts in place until Friday evening. Meteorologists warned that the heat will spread east through the week, with a “heat dome” expected to trap high temperatures across New York, Washington DC and Boston.
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