the drop » Animal Rights

Recycle Your Cell-Phone, Save a Gorilla

Adopt a gorilla at the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International

Zoo Atlanta and The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International are working together with a company called Eco-Cell to recycle cell phones, help the environment and raise money for gorilla conservation. Cell phones and other electronics contain a number of hazardous substances that can have a serious impact on the environment. Donating your phone and having it recycled will ensure that they will be reused or properly recycled. For each cell phone received, a donation will be made to The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International.
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Reef Encounter

The scene today on the Great Barrier Reef Â© WWF-Canon / JÃ¼rgen Freund

The bizarre death of Aussie naturalist and showman Steve Irwin has focussed attention on a section of the Great Barrier Reef off Australia’s north eastern coast, near Port Douglas. In 2004, after four years of steadfast campaigning by the WWF, the Reef was transformed into the world’s largest network of “Marine Protection Areas”: the zone covered increased from 4.6 per cent to 33 per cent, or 11,000,000ha.
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Online Dating for Endangered Orangutans

Small gestures of traumatised orangutangs indicate interest. (AP)

The Orangutan’s natural habitat on the indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo has become fragmented or has disappeared altogether. In the protected Sebangau National Park, located in the southern part of Borneo, orangutans are brought in on a daily basis. The apes in the rescue center, who are considered traumatised, have been short of entertainment. A zoo in the Netherlands has come up with a plan to set up a webcam connection to the rescue center that will allow communication between orangutans in Holland and Borneo.
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The Politics of Going Back to Nature in Europe

Bruno the Bear shortly before his demise (DDP © from Spiegel On Line, 2006)

The European Commission has clashed with Poland again over a scheme designed to protect wildlife and habitats in member countries. The Natura 2000 programme already protects 18% of the territory in the pre-2004 EU, and is now working out which areas to bring under its wing in the new, enlarged Union. Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski complained that:

“Natura 2000 has expanded so much that it is practically impossible to build anything.”

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“Never Underestimate a Butterfly”

Most of the Adonis Blue's natural habitat was lost 50 years ago

The Adonis Blue, one of Britain’s rarest butterflies, has been spotted in a site where it hasn’t been seen for 40 years. The insect is classified as a priority conservation species on the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and its return to areas other than southern England may be a result of a National Trust campaign to restore its natural habitat: chalk grassland.

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Exotic Fish Lured to UK Seas by Heatwave

The sunfish is the world's largest bony fish.

The recent heatwave and warmer sea temperatures are attracting a record number and range of exotic sea life to Britain’s coastline. Last month, a shaol of massive sunfish was spotted off Cornwall. The sunfish is a warm-water species. Its sighting in Britain’s waters suggests a rise in temperature of the UK’s seas.
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Satellite Tag Tracks Turtles Online

Watch this turtle's migration route online.

The Hawksbill turtle gets its common English name from its sharp beaklike mouth. It is a rare marine turtle found around tropical reef areas in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The Hawksbill turtle has been enlisted as ‘Critically Endangered’ (facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild in the immediate future) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources since 1996.
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112 Free Voices: Dr. Homero Aridjis, ambassador of the written word

“I like to be in the right place at the right time, and sitting down at this banquet of contemporary global knowledge could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

Homero Aridjis has been called “one of Latin America’s leading writers” and Mexico’s “green conscience“. The American author Kenneth Roxreth described him as “a visionary poet of lyrical bliss, crystalline concentrations and infinite spaces”.
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Wild Tigers We Have Known

The majestic wild tiger is roaming just seven percent of its historic range, according to a new report, ‘Setting Priorities for the Conservation and Recovery of Wild Tigers: 2005-2015’. Produced jointly by researchers at the World Wildlife Fund, the Wildlife Conservation Society, the Save The Tiger Fund and the Smithsonian’s National Zoological Park Conservation & Research Center, the survey comprises the most comprehensive scientific study of tiger habitats yet conducted, and concludes that wild tigers now reside in 40 percent less territory than they did two decades ago.
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Animal Rights

Recycle Your Cell-Phone, Save a Gorilla

Reef Encounter

Online Dating for Endangered Orangutans

The Politics of Going Back to Nature in Europe

“Never Underestimate a Butterfly”

Exotic Fish Lured to UK Seas by Heatwave

Satellite Tag Tracks Turtles Online

112 Free Voices: Dr. Homero Aridjis, ambassador of the written word

Wild Tigers We Have Known