http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk News about World Extinctions Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:59:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Good news for frogs! As some may be aware, Chytridiomycosis has been devastating amphibian populations around the world for over 25 years now, and is believed a key factor in the extinction of as many as a third of amphibian species - 120 - during this time. However, scientists in New Zealand ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2007/10/30/chytridiomycosis-cured-by-chloramphenicol/ It's not often we see good news about endangered species being spotted, but it does happen - as recently demonstrated by sightings of what appears to be the South China Tiger: Rare China tiger seen in the wild A rare South China tiger has been seen in the wild for the first ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2007/10/29/south-china-tiger-spotted-in-wild/ Unfortunately, as always, bad news - as the Red List of Threatened Species for 2007 is released: Gorillas head race to extinction Gorillas, orangutans, and corals are among the plants and animals which are sliding closer to extinction. The Red List of Threatened Species for 2007 names habitat loss, hunting and climate change ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2007/09/17/red-list-of-threatened-species-2007/ Bones belonging to a mother gorilla, missing after a family of mountain gorillas slaughtered in July have been recovered. Her infant has not been found, but wildlife officials are not optimistic of the young gorilla surviving. The mother and infant were part of a 12 strong family of mountain gorillas, living in ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2007/08/18/bones-recovered-from-gorilla-slaughter/ It's not always bad news - while Extinction Watch may be a reminder of the problems of the loss of biodiversity, sometimes good news actually comes in of recent fauna discoveries. Usually these involve discoveries of new species, alongside warnings of their imminent disappearance - but this time it's the ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2007/08/08/new-mammals-discovered-in-congo/ A study aiming to find out more about the Baiji - a rare freshwater dolphin in the Yangtze river - has failed to locate any sign of the species. Last spotted in 2004, a six week acoustic survey at the end of 2006 was unable to find any trace of the ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2007/08/08/yangtze-river-dolphin-could-be-extinct/ It's been no secret that for the past few years - even decades - amphibians around the world have been in serious decline. Facing a doubly whammy of habitat destruction on a huge scale, coupled with a killer disease ravaging populations globally, it really is a serious situation for this entire ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2007/08/07/frog-killer-chytridiomycosis-airborne/ The Bonobo - a species of Chimpanzee made famous for the fact that their societies are founded on sexual relations - have been found shockingly absent from their major reserve, the Salonga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Where once they had been easily found and encountered, ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2004/12/12/shock-bonobo-extinction-threat/ The last known Po’o-uli, a very rare type of Hawaiian Honeycreeper, has died in captivity from avian malaria. Discovered only as recently as 1973, and given the scientific nomenclature Malamprosops phaeosoma, as few as 200 were recorded in the world - a figure that plummeted to just 3 by 1997. Despite ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2004/12/12/rare-hawaiian-bird-now-extinct/ A recent report highlights an important claim - that environmental change was primarily responsible for the extinctions of megafauna from the Ice Ages. Previously, some researchers had tried blaming very small numbers of humans for wiping out entire species, simply by the killing of a few choice animals from any population. A ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2004/11/26/bering-strait-humans-not-responsible/ It’s that time of year, when a few dedicated individuals and organisations sit down and work out how much qorse things have gotten since the previous year. Coming under the direction of the IUCN - the World Conservation Union - the 2004 Red List of Threatened Species managed to increase the ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2004/11/18/red-list-increases/ An interesting study by researchers at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch and the US Forest Service in Missoula, Montana, suggest that humans may not actually have been primarily responsible for the extinction of the Moa bird populations in New Zealand (Aotorea). Skeletal remains and other clues had previously put the ... http://www.extinctionwatch.co.uk/2004/11/11/moas-wiped-out-before-man/