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Charlotte, a rust-colored stingray the size of a serving platter, has spent much of her life gliding around the confines of a storefront aquarium in North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains. And she hasn't shared a tank of water with a male of her species in at least eight years. Let's have some pups!” said Brenda Ramer, executive director of the Aquarium and Shark Lab on Main Street in downtown Hendersonville. There’s no way,” Ramer said. Southern California lifeguards encourage people to do the so-called stingray shuffle as they wade through the water, in large part because of round stingrays.

Persons: Charlotte, hasn't, ’, ”, Brenda Ramer, Kady Lyons, Lyons, “ I’m, ” Lyons, “, ” Ramer, ” Charlotte, Ramer, that's, “ I'm, “ It’s Organizations: California condors, Georgia Aquarium Locations: California, Hendersonville, Atlanta, North Carolina, Charlotte, Mexico, Southern California

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Antibodies found in early results of a historic new vaccine trial are expected to give endangered California condors at least partial protection from the deadliest strain of avian influenza in U.S. history. The so-called bird flu reached the U.S. in February 2022 after wreaking havoc across Europe. “We’re thankful that we’re getting any immune response,” said Ashleigh Blackford, the California condor coordinator for the U.S. Dr. Carlos Sanchez, the Oregon Zoo’s director of animal health, said wildlife officials faced questions about undertaking the bird flu vaccine study. She hopes the condor study will lead to bird flu vaccines for other endangered species.

Persons: ”, Hendrik Nollens, “ We’re, we’re, Ashleigh Blackford, wilding, Carlos Sanchez, Dr, Dominique Keller, what's, ” Blackford, Tiana Williams, Williams, Claussen, “ Organizations: ANGELES, California condors, California condor, condors, Los Angeles Zoo, San Diego, Safari, Oregon Zoo . Authorities, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, Authorities, U.S . Fish, Wildlife Service, California Gold Rush, LA Zoo, condor Locations: U.S, Arizona, Pacific Northwest, Baja California, Mexico, Europe, South Dakota, Utah, California, Oregon, Northern California

☆ Grand Canyon issues warning about ‘love locks’
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —“Love is strong, but our bolt cutters are stronger,” reads a new Facebook post from Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Many people believe that the locks are good luck for a relationship, and that throwing away the key symbolizes an unbroken love. However, while the locks themselves are considered “littering” and “graffiti” in the park, it’s the keys that can cause even more serious problems. When the city of Paris removed the locks in 2015, the weight of the 700,000 metal objects was the equivalent of 20 elephants. Once they were all removed, the city put glass partitions up on the bridge to prevent anyone from adding new locks.

Organizations: CNN, California condor, “, “ Condors, Paris ’ Pont des Arts Locations: Arizona, California, Paris

☆ We're losing the battle against bird loss. Scientists estimate North America's bird population is down 3 billion and dropping fast in other countries worldwide.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Emily Sohn | Knowable Magazine | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

In North America, more than half of 529 bird species have declined, according to one study. Another study of 378 European bird species estimates numbers fell by as much as 19% from 1980-2017. There are birds on mountains, birds in cities, birds in deserts, birds in oceans, birds on farm fields and birds in parking lots. Bird numbers are falling across a broad range of habitats, as these graphs from Europe and North America show. A recovery program has boosted the species' numbers to more than 500, with several hundred living once more in the wild.

Persons: —, Peter Marra, It's, Alexander Lees, Lees, Christopher Michel, Marra, we're, Lees et, Philip McGowan, Glenn Simmons, McGowan Organizations: Service, Penguins, Earth Commons, Manchester Metropolitan University, Cornell, of Ornithology, National Audubon Society, Survey, US Geological Survey, Environment Canada, European Union, International Union for Conservation, Environment, Resources, Newcastle University, IUCN, California condor, Recovery Initiative Locations: North America, Antarctica, ptarmigan, Everest, Georgetown, England, Canada, United Kingdom, Gould Bay, eBird, United States, Science, Costa, India, Europe, California, Arizona, Brazil

☆ Scientists Discover a Virgin Birth in a Crocodile
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-06 | by ( Veronique Greenwood | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In January 2018, a female crocodile in a Costa Rican zoo laid a clutch of eggs. While crocodiles can lay sterile eggs that don’t develop, some of this clutch looked quite normal. In this case, life did not, uh, find a way, as the egg eventually yielded a perfectly formed but stillborn baby crocodile. In a paper out Wednesday in the journal Biology Letters, a team of researchers report that the baby crocodile was a parthenogen — the product of a virgin birth, containing only genetic material from its mother. Here’s how a virgin birth happens: As an egg cell matures in its mother’s body, it divides repeatedly to generate a final product with exactly half the genes needed for an individual.

Persons: ” —, parthenogenesis Organizations: cobras, California condors Locations: Costa Rican, sawfish

☆ How a High-Tech Egg Could Help the Endangered California Condor
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Emily Anthes | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

For two months this spring, a pair of California condor parents carefully tended to a single, enormous egg. They took turns sitting on the egg to keep it warm, and they routinely rotated the egg, a behavior believed to promote proper chick development. The plastic shell, made with a 3-D printer, was stuffed with sensors designed to surreptitiously monitor conditions inside the condors’ nest. For weeks, the dummy egg tracked the nest temperature, logged the birds’ egg-turning behaviors and recorded the ambient sound. This strategy has several advantages, prompting some pairs to lay a second egg, enabling the zoo to monitor embryo development and protecting the fragile embryos from condor rowdiness.

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