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Jaguars are the largest native cat in the Western Hemisphere. They once flourished, but now are endangered thanks to centuries of hunting and habitat loss. The only protected jaguar reservation is in Belize, where they are thriving and drawing tourists, but those cats are separated from other jaguar populations that live (and are declining) in other countries. Jaguar expert Alan Rabinowitz, the CEO of conservation organization Panthera, has a plan to open up pathways to connect various jaguar populations.
Panthera’s Jaguar Corridor Initiative aims to connect 90 distinct jaguar populations across the Americas. It stems from an unexpected discovery. For 60 years, biologists had thought there were eight distinct subspecies of jaguar, including the Peruvian jaguar, Central American jaguar and Goldman’s jaguar. But when the Laboratory of Genomic Diversity in Frederick, Maryland, part of the National Institutes of Health, analyzed jaguar DNA from blood and tissue samples collected throughout the Americas, researchers determined that no jaguar group had split off into a true subspecies. From Mexico’s deserts to the dry Pampas of northern Argentina, jaguars had been breeding with each other, wandering great distances to do so, even swimming across the Panama Canal. “The results were so shocking that we thought it was a mistake,” Rabinowitz says.
Panthera has identified 182 potential jaguar corridors covering nearly a million square miles, spanning 18 nations and two continents. So far, Mexico, Central America and Colombia have signed on to the initiative. Negotiating agreements with the rest of South America is next. Creating this jaguar genetic highway will be easier in some places than others. From the Amazon north, the continent is an emerald matrix of jaguar habitats that can be easily linked. But parts of Central America are utterly deforested. And a link in Colombia crosses one of Latin America’s most dangerous drug routes.
An extensive article at Smithsonian tells of the jaguar’s life in the wild, how this plan came about, and how it might just work -if the many obstacles can be overcome. Link
(Image credit: Steve Winter/Panthera)
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Allie Brosh of Hyperbole and a Half made this video in support of her friends at the Huemul Conservation Project who are raising funds to study and protect the Humemul with the Wenger Patagonian Expedition Race. Link
Whooping Cranes began to die out in the 1800s when Americans settled in their nesting grounds. By 1940, there were as few as 22 cranes left. Since then, a major effort has made some progress in saving the whoopers from extinction.
The bird has become the emblematic endangered species, thanks in part to its fierce charisma. Standing nearly five feet tall, it can spy a wolf—or a biologist—lurking in the reeds. It dances with springing leaps and flaps of its mighty wings to win a mate. Beak to the sky, it fills the air with whooping cries. The sole wild flock, listed under the Endangered Species Preservation Act in 1967, has slowly expanded. At the same time, conservationists have hatched and bred the birds in captivity and reintroduced them to their former habitat, boosting the total—including captive stock—to more than 500.
However, the cranes are still under great risk. Jennifer S. Holland at National Geographic tells the story of how science and wildlife management brought the birds back from the brink of extinction. Link
(Image credit: Klaus Nigge)
Remember the heartwarming reunion between Christian the Lion and the men who raised him? A similar encounter happened when Damian Aspinall went looking for a gorilla, Kwibi, he had raised and released into the wild.
Kwibi grew up with Damian at his Howletts Wild Animal Park in England. When he was five, he was released into the forests of Gabon, West Africa as part of conservation programme to re-introduce gorillas back into the wild. Now Kwibi’s 10 years old, much bigger and stronger. Will Damian find him? Will Kwibi attack him?
Discover more about his work at The Aspinall Foundation. (via Bits and Pieces)
Londoners woke up to an elephantine surprise Tuesday when they were greeted with 258 multicolored scultpures of the animal dotted around the English capital. This, the biggest ever outside art event ever held in the city, was to draw attention to the plight of the Asian elephant, whose numbers have plunged by over 70% since the 1980s.
Each elephant is a work of art in its own right and they will be auctioned off once the event runs its course in June. It is hoped that once the elephants are sold that they will raise over two million pounds (that’s over three million US dollars) by auction. If you can’t stretch to the prices (many thousands of pounds for each) or simply don’t have the room there is also the opportunity to buy smaller versions of these delightfully colored sculptures.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by 
Before the "green" movement became trendy, there is a village in India that takes eco-conservation to the level of religion.
Bishnois, a community following the tenets prescribed by Jambeshwar in the 15th century, teaches its followers to respect nature, be kind to animals and not to cut trees. The followers are so principled as to lay down their lives to protect a tree.
Bishnois do not cut or lop green trees; instead they use dried cow dung as fuel. They do not cremate their dead as Hindus normally do, because it involves the use of firewood; instead, they bury them. Agriculture is the mainstay of the people; they also carve wood during the time they are not busy on their fields. The required wood comes from trees that have have fallen during storms. Each Bishnoi family creates a tank in their field to provide water for black bucks and antelopes
in the arid summer months. They maintain groves for the animals to graze and birds to feed. Solar energy is used to extract underground water to irrigate the groves. The region where they live is a desert (Thar desert), and these groves help to recharge rain water in the aquifers in the desert.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by ushankari.
The Conservation Fund recently featured this video on their Web site in a piece about their work saving land for the Greater Prairie-Chicken. Who knew this bird was so beloved in American culture? And so quirky!
“Many Native American tribes perform prairie chicken dances, Laura Ingalls Wilder mentions them more than once in her Little House on the Prairie series and then there’s the world’s largest prairie chicken—a 13-foot tall statue—in the town of Rothsay, the self-proclaimed prairie chicken capital of Minnesota. There’s a prairie chicken capital of the world, too: Cassoday, Kansas. Prairie chicken festivals are held throughout the Midwest, perhaps the biggest is the annual Central Wisconsin Prairie Chicken Festival.”
There’s also a video of a Native American prairie chicken dance and information about why the prairie chicken’s numbers have fallen to near extinction. And if you fall in love with this bird, as apparently many people have, you can even get a desktop wallpaper! Link
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by 
Marine biologist and blogger WhySharksMatter presents the latest in his award-winning "ethical debate" series, showcasing a "hot topic" from the environmental movement, presenting both sides, and asking readers to argue it out in the comments. Since his readership includes scientists, politicians, and leaders from the environmental movement, these discussions are always interesting, and this one is sure to generate some strong opinions.
WhySharksMatter is claiming in this ethical debate that North Atlantic Right Whales, one of the most endangered animals on Earth, are going to go extinct whether or not we help them, and therefore we should stop wasting so much of the environmental movement’s limited resources on protecting them.
“For the sake of this debate, I will concede the following points (i.e. there is no need to debate them any further).
* Right whales are a unique and interesting animal. They, like us, are mammals.
* Without our protection, they will certainly go extinct
* It is undeniably, 100% our fault that they are so endangered in the first place”
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whysharksmatter.
Usain Bolt, who holds the world record for both the 100- and 200-meter sprint, adopted a cheetah named Lightning Bolt, but he isn’t going to make the cheetah into a house cat. Bolt paid $13,700 for adoption rights, and has pledged $3,000 a year for the cat’s upkeep at a wildlife center in Nairobi. The money helps to support the Kenyan Wildlife Services and their efforts to protect endangered species.
The world record holder appeared more comfortable later while handling his baby cheetah, which was the size of a fully grown domestic cat. He cradled the fuzzy-headed cub while feeding it bottled milk as cameramen snapped away.
When asked if he was afraid of cheetahs, Bolt said: “Yes, I was, but not anymore.”
Lighting Bolt is among three cubs rescued by KWS officials after their mother abandoned them in a game park.
(image credit: AP/Karel Prinsloo)
Efforts are underway to revive damaged Pacific coral reefs by actively gardening them (propagating and transplanting the coral).
This video was directed and produced by Jonathan Clay for the BBC’s Natural History Unit as part of their “South Pacific” documentary. The resolution is high enough to make the video enjoyable at full-screen magnification.
Marine biologist and blogger WhySharksMatter presents the latest in his "ethical debate" series, picking a hot topic from the field of conservation biology, presenting both sides, and letting his readers argue it out. Since his readers include scientists, conservationists, students, and laypeople from around the world, these conversations are always interesting.
This week’s ethical debate… in order to let depleted stocks recover, should we pay fisherman to not fish the same way we pay farmers to not grow certain crops? Is it right to blame fisherman for overfishing?
Anyone concerned about the origin of their seafood dinner or the future of our planet’s threatened oceans has a stake in this… join in the discussion!
“If the Federal government is telling people that they aren’t allowed to earn a living anymore, should the government in some way compensate these people for lost wages? If not for this government decree, these people would be earning money to feed their families and pay their bills. Does the government not owe them something in return for cutting off their source of income?”
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whysharksmatter.
Marine biologist and blogger "WhySharksMatter" has created a list of four things everyone needs to know about sharks. Full of thought-provoking facts and cool pictures of sharks, this post will be interesting to the ocean lover in all of us.
“Human beings are better off with sharks than we are without sharks, and we are in danger of losing them forever… but you can help!”
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by whysharksmatter.
The Blood Lamp only works once, and you need to add of a drop of your blood to activate it! The idea is to stop and think about how badly you need light before you use it. Designer Mike Thompson created the lamp in order to draw attention to how much energy we waste. Link -via Dark Roasted Blend
Scientists have found a new way to track colonies of penguins in the Antarctic by satellite. Normal satellite imaging doesn’t show penguins well because of their natural camouflage. So instead, British penguin-trackers are looking at penguin poop.
“We can’t see actual penguins on the satellite maps because the resolution isn’t good enough,” said mapping expert Peter Fretwell. “But during the breeding season the birds stay at a colony for eight months. The ice gets pretty dirty and it’s the guano stains that we can see.”
The method helped scientists identify 38 penguin colonies — of those, 10 were new. Of previously known colonies, six had re-located and six were not found.
Link -via Simply Left Behind
(image credit: Flickr user Carles-FlashOnTheBlog)
Previously at Neatorama: Penguin Poop.
Great-grandmother Josephine Mandamin, an Anishinabe elder from Thunder Bay, Ontario has seen the decline of the Great Lakes due to pollution, and decided to do something to bring the world’s attention to the problem. She began walking around the lakes six years ago, and has covered 17,000 kilometers so far.
In the Anishinabe tradition, women fetch the water. So, in 2003, when Mandamin was “moved by the spirits” to speak out for the Great Lakes, it was natural for her to pick up her copper pail and start walking. She decided to circle the lakes and tell people that “the water is sick … and people need to really fight for that water, to speak for that water, to love that water.”
Every spring since, Mandamin and a small band of followers have walked around one of the lakes. Next weekend they depart from the Katarokwi Native Friendship Centre here to walk up the St. Lawrence River. Their mission will end where the lakes’ water pours into the Atlantic Ocean (bearing so much poison that a quarter of the male beluga whales in the Gulf of St. Lawrence have cancer).
At every tributary, Mandamin stops and talks directly to the water, offering prayers, tobacco and thanks. “I’ve heard so many times, `You’re crazy…’” she says. “But we know it’s not a crazy thing we’re doing; we know it’s for the betterment of the next generations.”
The Great Lakes provide drinking water to 35 million people. Link to story. Link to Mother Earth Water Walk website. -via Nag on the Lake
Illustration by Brian Hughes.
