Biodiversity

"A study at the University of Zurich in Switzerland shows that a large proportion of existing medicinal plant knowledge is linked to threatened Indigenous languages. In a regional study on the Amazon, New Guinea and North America, researchers concluded that 75% of medicinal plant uses are known in only one language."

"The lions and tigers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo have tested positive for coronavirus, according to a Friday announcement from the zoo. Initial results from fecal samples have come back positive, but the zoo is waiting on final results to be confirmed with a national lab."

"Even the staunchest defenders of traditional whaling in the Faroe Islands have condemned the “cruel and unnecessary” massacre on Sunday of a superpod of nearly 1,500 dolphins, which were driven into shallow waters of the Skálabotnur beach on the island of Eysturoy and left writhing for hours before being killed."

"The capture of wild animals for domestic consumption not only poses a threat to protected migratory species but also significantly increases the risk of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19, according to a United Nations report released Wednesday."

"The Biden administration said Wednesday that federal protections may need to be restored for gray wolves in the western U.S. after Republican-backed state laws made it much easier to kill the predators."

"Using recovered DNA to "genetically resurrect" an extinct species — the central idea behind the Jurassic Park films — may be moving closer to reality with the creation this week of a new company that aims to bring back woolly mammoths thousands of years after the last of the giants disappeared from the Arctic tundra."

"The drought, along with man-made impediments, has placed the state’s wild Chinook population at grave risk."

"If we are to successfully restore the natural world, we’ll need to focus on some of the smallest creatures in the ecosystem, says the author of the new book, Rebugging the Planet."