Image from ARKive.org media library

Image courtesy of ARKive.org media library

Species: Giant otter (Pteronura brasiliensis)

Status: Endangered (EN)

Interesting Fact: The giant otter is also known as the ‘river wolf’.

The giant otter is one of South America’s top carnivores, and is the largest of the otter species. The giant otter generally lives in family groups of three to ten individuals, composed of a monogamous, breeding pair and their offspring born during previous years. These groups rest, play, travel, fish and sleep together. When cubs are born, they are cared for in a den by both the adult pair, and the older siblings. At two to three weeks of age, the cubs are taken to the water by the female, and at three to four months the cubs begin hunting and travelling with the family. The patch of cream coloured fur on the throat and chin is unique to each individual from birth. The diet of the giant otter is composed almost exclusively of fish, but it is also known to eat caimans, anacondas, other snakes and even the occasional turtle!

Up until the late 1970s the giant otter was excessively hunted for its valuable fur, with its naturally curious disposition making it a particularly easy target. Today, however, habitat destruction is the major threat to this species, with the areas in which the giant otter lives being destroyed and degraded by mining, logging, and damming.

For more information on the giant otter, visit the IUCN Otter Specialist Group.

View images and footage of the giant otter on ARKive.

Becky Moran, ARKive Species Text Author

Image courtesy of ARKive.org

Image courtesy of ARKive.org

Species: American burying beetle (Nicrophorus americanus)

Status: Critically Endangered (CR)

Interesting Fact: The American burying beetle buries a whole carcass to feed its young!

The largest carrion beetle in North America, the American burying beetle is an attractive species with bright orange markings. These beetles are named for their specialised mechanism of parental care that involves providing the growing larvae with carrion upon which to feed. At night, beetle pairs will locate a suitable carcass and then cooperate to bury it in the soil, thus protecting their find from competition with other species. Once the carcass is beneath the soil, the beetles strip away the fur or feathers and produce a compact ball; the female then lays her eggs in a chamber created above the carcass. Unusually for insects, the parents both remain to provide for the larvae after they have hatched, regurgitating food for the growing grubs until they are able to feed for themselves. Roughly a week later, the larvae pupate in the soil nearby, having consumed the entire food supply; they will emerge as adults around a month later and overwinter in this stage.

The American burying beetle has disappeared from much of its former range, with one of the major causes of the decline believed to be loss and fragmentation of available habitat. This species is now being monitored, with plans to breed it in captivity and reintroduce it in the future.

Find out more about the American burying beetle from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

View images of the American burying beetle on ARKive.

Becky Moran, ARKive Species Text Author

photo by Arthur Chapman (Flickr CC)

Alaska’s main animal predators are now at risk of being shot from helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. It is already legal to bait and snare bears in Alaska, a practice even some hunting advocates find inhumane.

In order to increase the hunting of caribou and moose in the state, Alaska’s Board of Game has lifted a ban on the aerial shooting of grizzly bears, a threatened species in most US states.

State wildlife officials may now cull grizzlies by shooting them Sarah Palin style – from the sky. But its not just the bears that are at risk. It is also state policy to exterminate wolves.

From the Los Angeles Times:

The controversial “intensive management” moves are the latest in a series of increasingly aggressive control methods targeting bears and wolves in Alaska. In some parts of the state, wolf pups can be gassed in their dens, bear cubs and sows can be hunted, and wolves shot from helicopters.

The National Parks Conservation Association has made their case by testifying against what they see as ‘objectionable’ practices of culling wolves and bears.

From the Environmental News Service:

The need for regulations against bear baiting, snaring, spotlighting and shooting bear cubs in national preserves, among other issues, were raised at the hearing. Backed by letters from nearly 1,700 NPCA supporters in Alaska and throughout the northwestern United States, the group presented its strongest case.

Is this simply a case of humans competing with predators for food sources or is there something more sinister at play?

Image courtesy of ARKive.org media library

Image courtesy of ARKive.org media library

Species: Adelaide pygmy bluetongue skink (Tiliqua adelaidensis)

Status: Endangered (EN)

Interesting Fact: The Adelaide pygmy bluetongue skink shelters in burrows created by spiders!

Surprisingly, the tongue of this skink is not blue as the name suggests, but is instead a rose pink colour. The mottled mixture of browns on the rest of its body enables this species to blend in perfectly with its surroundings in its native Australian habitat. During the heat of the day, the Adelaide pygmy bluetongue skink shelters in holes that, rather than being excavated by the skink itself, are quarried by wolf spiders and trapdoor spiders. From here, the skink can hide from predators as well as ambush passing prey. The diet of this skink consists mainly of a wide range of invertebrates, such as spiders, grasshoppers, cockroaches and ants, but it will also feed on plants. The female Adelaide pygmy bluetongue skink does not lay eggs, but gives birth to live young.

The Adelaide pygmy bluetongue skink is one of the rarest of Australia’s reptiles, and was presumed to be extinct for 33 years. Extensive habitat destruction is thought to be to blame for its decline, and a recovery plan has been introduced with the overall objective of achieveing down-listing of the species from Endangered to Vulnerable within 10 years.

Learn more about the conservation of the Adelaide pygmy bluetongue skink from the Australian Government.

View images of the Adelaide pygmy bluetongue skink on ARKive.

Becky Moran, ARKive Species Text Author

photo by Jeremy Good (jmgmusic519 on Flickr CC)

We depend on honeybees to pollinate some 70 crops. Due to a phenomenon known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), honeybees, mainly in North America, are dying off at a shocking rate – 30% every year since 2006.

In the US, bee die-offs have qualified some beekeepers for disaster relief from the Department of Agriculture.

Though the exact cause, or causes, of CCD are murky – it has been attributed to parasites and satellite communication – the most obvious culprits are pesticides, specifically insecticides.

From the Guardian:

Of particular concern is a group of pesticides, chemically similar to nicotine, called neonicotinoids (neonics for short), and one in particular called clothianidin. Instead of being sprayed, neonics are
used to treat seeds, so that they’re absorbed by the plant’s vascular system, and then end up attacking the central nervous systems of bees that come to collect pollen. Virtually all of today’s genetically engineered Bt corn is treated with neonics. The chemical industry alleges that bees don’t like to collect corn pollen, but new research shows that not only do bees indeed forage in corn, but they also have multiple other routes of exposure to neonics.

The US EPA is apparently loath to regulate or ban the manufacture of pesticides, even those insecticides that have elicited strong warnings from scientists concerning their risk to honeybees.

The connection between pesticides and CCD would seem to put beekeepers at odds with growers, yet the fact is these industries depend on each other – and growers’ usage of pesticides may ultimately lead to their own failure.

Take the case of an Australian beekeeper Darren Thompson who lost some 80 hives containing 100,000 bees.

Thompson is quoted in Australia’s Sunday Mail:

The bees were actively foraging when the chemical was applied and the bees would have brought that back to the hive. As bees start grooming themselves back in the hive, the chemical can be spread from bee to bee. One affected bee can kill 10 bees. It has a domino effect. When you’ve been nursing bees throughout the year to build them up to full strength, well, it’s gut-wrenching.

Despite this, Thompson is reluctant to take legal action against the growers, whom he works closely with.

One bright light peeking out from the honeybee plight is the rise of amateur and urban beekeeping.

The Nebraska Radio Network reports that beekeeping is on the rise in the state. A $300 initial investment and a course in beekeeping are all you need to launch your own hobby or business, while at the same time contributing to local ecology, flower and food production.

Image courtesy of ARKive.org

Image courtesy of ARKive.org media library

Species:

(Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus)

Status: Endangered (EN)

Interesting Fact: The hyacinth macaw is the world’s largest species of parrot!

At up to a meter in length and with striking cobalt blue feathers, the hyacinth macaw is certainly a stunning parrot. This species lives in the forests and grasslands of South America, mainly in Brazil, where it feeds mainly on the nuts of native palms. While its powerful bill might make short work of most of these, the acuri nut is so hard that the parrots cannot feed on it until it has passed through the digestive system of cattle. The hyacinth macaw nests in tree cavities or cliff faces, usually laying two eggs, although only one chick will usually survive to maturity. The male tends to the female while the egg is incubated, and the chicks remain dependent on their parents for food until they are around six months old.

The hyacinth macaw population has undergone a dramatic decline due to the destruction of its habitat and also over-collection for the illegal pet trade. In the 1980s it is estimated that at least 10,000 birds were taken from the wild. This species is now protected by law in Brazil, with a number of long-term conservation initiatives established to research and conserve this amazing bird.

Find out more about the hyacinth macaw with the World Parrot Trust.

View images and videos of the hyacinth macaw on ARKive.

Becky Moran, ARKive Species Text Author

photo by Derek Bakken (Wikimedia Commons)

Last month I mentioned a ‘celebrity wolf’, who has been making a solo journey of hundreds of miles (over 1,000 km) throughout the American State of Oregon – the great state in which I was born if anyone cares… didn’t think so.

Anyway, the lone Gray Wolf, until now known by the clinical moniker OR-7, has made his way – like so many disillusioned loners in search of stardom – into California. He’s the only wild wolf known to set foot in the state in over 80 years.

OR-7 has also got himself a new, infinitely more marketable, celebrity name: Journey. The name comes from the 80’s band and was picked by a couple of kids who participated in an effort by the conservation group Oregon Wild, with the goal of making Journey, unlike his father, too famous to kill.

From the Associated Press:

OR-7 left the Imnaha pack in northeastern Oregon last September, shortly before the state put a death warrant on his father and a sibling for killing cattle. He is a descendant of wolves introduced into the Northern Rockies in the 1990s, and represents the westernmost expansion of a regional population that now tops 1,650.

Seems the sins of the father shall not be visited on this son. Maybe Journey knows a bit of California state law?

From the Los Angeles Times:

Last fall, gray wolves in other areas of the U.S. were delisted from Endangered Species Act protection after enormous political pressure from hunters and ranchers. However, any wolf naturally dispersing into California, where wolves have been extinct since a trapper in Lassen County killed the last one in 1924, would be protected under the law.

Despite being a unique lupine phenomenon in California, Journey may run into plenty of coyotes in the state. California’s Department of Fish and Game has launched a website in response to the lone wolf, including a page which describes the differences between wolves and coyotes. Wolves are about twice the size as coyotes, with rounder ears, squarer faces and are light gray to black as opposed to the light gray to brown of their canid cousins.

photo by Gilles San Martin (Wikimedia Commons)

Ladybird, or ladybug as the Yanks call it, is a collective term for the family of beetles with the scientific name Coccinellidae. We know ladybirds as cute, round, flying insects that usually have a bright red shell with black polka dots.

Harlequin ladybugs were introduced in North America from their native Asia to combat aphid infestations, but are now the most common ladybug species there. The same is now occurring in Europe, including the UK.

Harlequin ladybirds eat all 46 of the UK’s native ladybird species. They also leave orange stains on curtains and wallpaper. This is a particular problem now in the UK, after an unusually wet summer, which saw harlequin populations explode. The ‘interloping’ ladybirds now escape the cold of British winter by taking shelter inside people’s homes.

While the two-spotted and seven-spotted varieties are emblematic of the British countryside, the larger harlequin, first seen in the UK in 2004 and now numbering billions, has become the nation’s most abundant species. Rather than feasting on aphids and greenfly, the harlequin also eats lacewings, hoverflies and even other ladybirds.

–Independent

I’m not too sure what the big deal is about the ladybugs, save that they are proving to be a bit of a nuisance in some homes and the fact that their cannibalism is a little disturbing from a human perspective. There is also something unsavory about invasive species driving natives to extinction, but perhaps this is just a bit of (albeit human assisted) Darwinism.

Read more on the ladybug situation, including more info on different ladybird species, in the Independent and Telegraph.

Image courtesy of ARKive.org media library

Species: Saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica)

Status: Critically Endangered (CR)

Interesting Fact: The large proboscis-like nose of the saiga antelope is thought to help with body temperature control.

The strange looking saiga antelope has an extremely distinctive appearance, with an enlarged nose that hangs down over the mouth. This impressive nose is thought to warm and moisten inhaled air during the winter, and act as a filter against dust during the dry summer. Saiga antelope feed by grazing on various plants, and are usually active during the day. They are nomadic, and undertake long seasonal migrations of up to 1,000 kilometers. During the mating season, male saiga antelopes will aggressively defend a group of females. Fighting between males can be violent, often ending in death. Males also tend not to feed during this time, and the mortality rate can reach 90 percent due to exhaustion. Females usually give birth to two young, and these remain concealed in vegetation for the first part of their lives. The saiga antelope can be found in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Mongolia.

In the early 1990′s, Saiga antelope  were thought to have numbered over a million. However, habitat loss and poaching over the past 20 years have resulted in a population crash, with only around 50,000 individuals remaining. Hunting is now banned throughout the saiga’s range, and a captive breeding programme has been established with further research needed in order to understand how to best conserve the fascinating saiga.

For more information on the saiga antelope, visit the EDGE website.

View images and footage of the saiga antelope on ARKive.

Becky Moran, ARKive Species Text Author

photo by NASA (public domain)

Leave it to ITN to come up with some short and (sometimes) sweet videos with which to catch up on some of the week’s environmental news.

We’ve gathered three (yes, three) bite-sized eco-news reports in one place. Why? Because, like the Mouseketeers, we like you!

First, check out Italy’s Mount Etna as she spectacularly spews forth molten lava and ash into the Sicilian sky.

Next there’s a report on antipodean wildfires raging across New Zealand and Australia.

Finally, Sea Shepherd and Japanese whalers fight for both whale rights and whaling rights on the high seas. Guess who fights for which.

Image courtesy of ARKive.org media library

Species: Spotted handfish (Brachionichthys hirsutus)

Status: Critically Endangered (CR)

Interesting Fact: The spotted handfish has hand-like ‘paired fins’ that enable it to ‘walk’ along the seafloor!

The unusual looking spotted handfish is one of the world’s most endangered marine fish. It has an extremely distinctive, almost pear-shaped body which is marked with a myriad of dusky brown to yellow-brown spots, the pattern of which is unique to each individual. During the spawning season, the male spotted handfish entices the female with a courtship display. The female then produces around 80 to 250 eggs, and these are often positioned around the base of a jelly-like invertebrate known as a sea squirt. The female guards the eggs for seven to eight weeks until the fully-formed juveniles hatch, and these tiny young then move straight to the bottom of the seabed. The spotted handfish is endemic to the lower Derwent River estuary in Tasmania.

The spotted handfish was common in the lower Derwent River estuary until the mid 1980s, when the species underwent a catastrophic decline. Although unproven, it is thought that the introduction of the northern Pacific seastar (Asterias amurensis) to Tasmania at this time may be the key to the decimation of the handfish population. These seastars are voracious predators of shellfish and it is thought that they may also eat the eggs of the handfish or the sea squirts upon which the eggs are attached. In 1996, the Spotted Handfish Recovery Team formed to conserve this species. Research into existing wild populations and the development of captive breeding techniques are some of the priorities in order to save this unique species.

Find out more about the Australian Government’s conservation plans for the spotted handfish.

View images and videos of the spotted handfish on ARKive.

Becky Moran, ARKive Species Text Author

photo by sara y tzunky (Flickr CC)

A combination of individuals and corporations, along with local, regional and national governments, has raised enough cash to temporarily halt the drilling of oil from the Yasuní National Park in Ecuador.

The collection of money is being facilitated by the UN Development Group in a ‘crowdfunding’ project called the Ecuador Yasuní ITT Trust Fund. So far $116m (€89.5m) has been raised to help preserve this 722 square mile area of Amazonian rainforest.

From the Guardian:

The park, which is home to two tribes of uncontacted Indians, is thought to have more mammal, bird, amphibian and plant species than any other spot on earth. Development of the oilfield, which was planned to take place immediately if the money had not been raised, would have inevitably led to ecological devastation and the eventual release of over 400m tonnes of CO2.

National governments contributing to the fund include Australia, Chile, Colombia, Georgia, Peru, Spain and Turkey, with Italy forgiving $51m of Peru’s external debt and Germany contributing $48m in the name of ‘technical assistance’. Regional governments in Belgium and France also made sizable contributions.

The Ecuadoran Amazon has already seen its share of injustice and pollution at the hands of big oil, resulting in a long drawn-out legal battle.

From a forthcoming piece in the New Yorker:

During the decades when Texaco operated there, the lawsuit maintained, it dumped eighteen billion gallons of toxic waste. When the company ceased operations in Ecuador, in 1992, it allegedly left behind hundreds of open pits full of malignant black sludge.

Ecuador is a poor country with 35% of its population living below the poverty line. The Amazon covers half the country, but under this rainforest lays perhaps $7bn in oil reserves. Ecuador’s government is willing to accept half of this sum ($3.5bn) in order to preserve its Amazon, a treasure trove of biodiversity, a natural carbon sink and the ‘lungs of the Earth’.

photo by meiaponte farm (Flickr CC)

The original Green Revolution was essentially a Cold War tactic of the United States to win over Third World countries by supplying them with agricultural technology, thereby dramatically increasing their food production. The main recipients of Green Revolution techniques were India, Mexico and the Philippines, as well as some African countries (with markedly less success).

Although the Green Revolution increased food production, it has its drawbacks and criticisms: unsustainable population growth – leading to mass starvation; genetically weak and less biodiverse monoculture farming – meaning crop failures are more likely, requiring more chemical pesticides to compensate for this risk. Monoculture is also a profit-driven, industrial farming model. It is dependent on trade, industrial fertilizers and chemicals, intensive water usage, transportation and even globalization. Traditional polyculture, on the other hand, evolved to serve the complete needs of local populations.

Brazil is currently in the throws of its own Green Revolution, with monocrop agriculture taking over vast amounts of biodiverse regions such as the Amazon and the Cerrado. The Cerrado accounts for 21% of Brazil’s land and whopping 5% of the Earth’s entire biodiversity, yet it is rapidly being converted into industrial soya and eucalyptus plantations.

From the Telegraph:

The Cerrado is rich in biodiversity and yet, alarming[ly], it has almost halved in size since, because of wild fires and the demand for agricultural products. If we’re going to stop the loss of biodiversity, we need to protect our forests – which house the majority of the world’s wildlife. We won’t succeed in tackling climate change unless we deal with deforestation.

–Caroline Spelman, UK Environment Secretary

The Green Revolution, whether as an American anti-communist measure or as a method of ‘economic growth at all costs’ in Brazil, is by no means ‘Green’. While its economic benefits are clear – albeit short-sighted – pollution, human rights issues, biodiversity loss, the loss of carbon sinks and risks of sustainability, in terms of population and local communities’ ability to feed themselves, make it seem like a very bad bargain in the long run.

Watch photographer Peter Caton’s excellent audio slideshow ‘Disappearing Cerrado: Brazil’s untold environmental disaster’ in the Guardian for more.

Image courtesy of ARKive.org media library

Status: Critically Endangered (CR)

Interesting Fact: The axolotl has the ability to re-grow whole limbs!

Image courtesy of ARKive.org media library

While the bizarre axolotl may look like it comes from another planet, it is actually a type of salamander. This fascinating amphibian exhibits a trait known as neoteny, where, instead of transforming from the juvenile form to an adult as in other species of amphibian, it retains some of its juvenile features. The most obvious of these is the branch-like gills projecting from the neck on each side of the head. These allow the axolotl to remain permanently in water. However, if conditions become unfavourable, the axolotl can metamorphose into a fully-adult salamander and leave its aquatic habitat, using lungs to breathe instead. The axolotl is active during the day, feeding on algae when young and preying on aquatic invertebrates as an adult. It is only found in Mexico.

Although there are large numbers of the axolotl in captivity, its numbers in the wild are low, with collection for international trade and for food having threatened this species in the past. Currently, the most significant threat to wild populations is the level of pollution in its native lakes and canal systems. The axolotl is now protected in Mexico and work is underway to restore the axolotl’s habitat.

Find out more about the axolotl from EDGE.

View images and footage of the axolotl on ARKive.

Becky Moran, ARKive Species Text Author

photo by Rainforest Action Network (Flickr CC)

In Kalimantan (Indonesian Borneo) orangutans are being hunted and driven into possible extinction.

Indonesia, which is home to 90% of the world’s orangutan population, is also home to rampant unregulated and illegal palm plantations, deforestation and logging. Loss of habitat has pitted villagers against the orangutans, who may venture into gardens for food. Locals are known to kill great apes for food and out of fear.

But the real culprits are the industries who see orangutan conservation as a threat to their business. These firms are not only destroying the orangutans’ habitat, but have allegedly paid villagers to hunt and kill orangutans.

From the Guardian:

Erik Meijaard, who led a team carrying out the first attempt to assess the scale of the problem in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, said the results showed that between 750 and 1,800 orangutans were killed as a result of hunting and deforestation in the 12 months to April 2008.

Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil, with some 75% of the current organgutan population living trapped on palm plantations.

For more on this story see the following Al Jazeera English report.

photo by weesam2010 (Flickr CC)

According to a UN report an increase in global temperatures puts up to 1/3 of all Earth’s animals at risk of extinction.

The gorillas of Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains in central Africa are already at risk from rising temperatures. Changes in rainfall and hotter weather mean the vegetation the gorillas depend on changes growth patterns, moving up the mountain into higher altitudes.

The gorillas provide Rwanda with tourist revenue and the rainfall in the Virunga Mountains feeds rivers and provides hydro electricity for the already poor and vulnerable African nation.

From Reuters:

Many ecosystems have already been stressed by increasing population, historical and recent deforestation, unsustainable management practices and even invasive species.

­–Eduardo Rojas-Briales, assistant director general, FAO forestry department

For more on climate change and Rwanda’s gorillas watch this 7-minute video report from Deutsche Welle and the below report from Reuters.

photo by Jim Clark (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service)

On Wednesday United States federal wildlife managers shot and killed one of only around 50 remaining wild Mexican Wolves living in the respective southwest and southeast portions of the US states of New Mexico and Arizona.

The female wolf was raised in captivity and had only been released into the wild earlier this year as part of a government effort to reintroduce Mexican wolves into their former habitat.

From the Associated Press:

Numerous attempts were made to dart the wolf so she could be returned to captivity, but wildlife managers were not able to get close enough, said agency spokesman Tom Buckley. The decision was made to shoot the wolf.

The same wolf mated with domestic dogs earlier this year, producing a litter of 5 mixed wolf-dog puppies, 4 of which were killed by authorities, while the 5^th has not been found, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times. Killing or ‘euthanizing’ wolf-dog hybrids is standard practice.

The decision to kill the female Mexican Wolf was made because she had taken to socialize with domestic dogs and was hanging around on a ranch in Arizona. She was considered a risk to public safety.

The Mexican Wolf is the rarest subspecies of Gray Wolf with an estimated population of only about 340, mostly living in captivity in the US and Mexico.

Another wolf making waves in local US media is a (probably) lone male Gray Wolf, named OR-7, who has traveled some 730 miles (1,174km) across the state of Oregon.

From the Oregonian:

OR-7 is the first wolf in more than 60 years to officially take up residence in Oregon’s Cascades. He left Wallowa County’s Imnaha pack Sept. 10, spent weeks zigzagging across the state and now rambles across 100 square miles north and east of Medford. He’s one of 24 known wolves in Oregon, but the only one in the Cascades.

Image courtesy of ARKive.org Media Library

Image courtesy of ARKive.org media library

Species: Ethiopian wolf (Canis simensis)

Status: Endangered (EN)

Interesting fact: The Ethiopian wolf is the only species of wolf in Africa.

Similar to a coyote in appearance, the Ethiopian wolf is a long-legged species with a long, pointed muzzle. It lives in the mountains of Ethiopia where it forms close-knit territorial packs numbering between 3 and 13 adults. Individual pack members tend to forage alone, hunting for small mammals such as the big-headed mole rat. They skilfully stalk their prey before pouncing or digging them out of their burrows. All the adults gather to patrol and mark the territory at dawn and dusk, and rest together during the night, usually curled up in the open. Male wolves seldom disperse, whereas many females leave their natal pack at maturity to seek a breeding opportunity elsewhere.

The Ethiopian wolf has been reduced to a handful of mountain ranges due to pressures on the habitat, particularly conversion to agriculture. Rabies and distemper transmitted from domestic dogs further threatens the survival of this species. The Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP) is working to conserve this species, with conservation efforts so far including a vaccination programme to protect the Ethiopian wolf from rabies.

Find out more about the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme.

View images and footage of the Ethiopian wolf on ARKive.

Becky Moran, ARKive Species Text Author

Reuters/Romeo Ranoco

Several dozen men ran naked around the University of Manila. They wanted to draw attention to the need for greater environmental protection. Bare runs have become a tradition at this Filipino University.

Every year a group of students meet to fight in defense of the environment. The tradition started over 40 years ago. Then, the students were running around in protest against President Ferdinand Marcos. This year, runners fought for purification of the local rivers.

Although the message was not clear for all, this year’s event has been watched by hundreds.

“Whatever their advocacy was, I think it will definitely be heard and exposed,” said a student Mariel Abao.

“Even though they have a weird way of expressing it, at least the issue is given light.”

Watch the bare butts here!

Image still from YouTube video

Another endangered fellow deserves some attention today. Check out the below video of a Giant Weta, a cricket-like insect with a wingspan of nearly 18 inches. The animal is almost exclusively found in New Zealand.
Although New Zealand is a perfect habitat for this insect, rats introduced by Europeans in the region hunt the Giant Weta to a point it’s now facing extinction.

The Giant Weta in the video weights almost as much as three mice. Incredible!