Photo: ‘Yodabat’ found in Papua New Guinea jungle
An unknown species of tube-nosed fruit bat. Photo © Piotr Naskrecki/iLCP This fruit bat has been seen prior to this expedition, but remains undescribed. Although scientists have yet to name the species, the popular media has already dubbed it the ‘Yoda bat’ given its resemblance to the Jedi master character from the Star Wars series. Fruit bats are vital to rainforests as they disperse seeds. Photos: 200 new species...
Photo: the bee and the crocodile
In Laongo National Park in Gabon, a bee rests on a African-slender snouted crocodile (Cocodrilo hociquifino africano), also known as the false gavial. The species is considered Data Deficient by the IUCN Red List, but has not been evaluated for over 15 years. Photo by Rhett A. Butler, 2006. More photos of Gabon’s...
Mennonite sect drives massive deforestation in Paraguay – conservation links for Oct 5, 2010
Chaco deforestation by Christian sect puts Paraguayan land under threat The Guardian Hitler was said to have fled there, the Spanish conquistadores failed to penetrate it, and the only uncontacted tribe outside Amazonia lives within its borders. But now the vast Paraguayan wilderness of thorn trees, jaguars and snakes known as the Chaco is being transformed by a Christian fundamentalist sect and hundreds of Brazilian ranchers....
Photo: Mt. Kenya sunrise
Mt. Kenya sunrise. Photo by Rhett A. Butler in 2007 More pictures from Mount Kenya
Forests worth $5 trillion per year – conservation links for Oct 4, 2010
$5,000,000,000,000: The cost each year of vanishing rainforest The Independent British researchers set out the economic impact of species destruction – and their findings are changing world’s approach to global warming. Common sense and the tiger Himal Southasian Contrary to the recent hubbub over the ‘discovery’ of tigers living at high altitudes in Bhutan, a Nepali wildlife biologist made this finding almost a decade ago...
Photo: jabiru stork takes off
In the Brazilian pantanal, a jabiru stork take off. The pantanal, the world’s largest wetland, is threatened by commercial agriculture and livestock production. Photo by Rhett A. Butler, 2009. More photos of the...
Photo: Dani hunter in Indonesian New Guinea
Dani hunter in Indonesian New Guinea. Photo by Rhett Butler in July 2010.
Designing human landscapes for the full range of biodiversity
The ecological principles many landscape architects are applying to their habitat restoration projects may now be “outdated, or even misconstrued.” Increasingly, designers need to be mindful of the “full range” of biodiversity. Landscape architects, Beardsley argued, have been successful with plant diversity, but less so to date with other kinds of biodiversity.
Photo: Rainforest canopy platform in the Colombian Amazon
Rainforest canopy platform in Amacayacu National Park, in the Colombian Amazon. Photo by Rhett Butler 2010
