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This past October, I helped organize a symposium entitled “Carnivore conservation in human-dominated systems: Ecological, ethical and social dimensions” at the EcoSummit conference here in Columbus, Ohio. The purpose of the symposium was to bring together international scholars from several disciplines to examine the ecological, ethical and social dimensions of carnivore conservation in human-dominated landscapes. …
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Surprising growth in wildlife populations as land and water naturalizes, though there are some mutations- Twenty six years ago, on April 26, 1986 reactor number 4 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station in the now-defunct Soviet Union melted down and an explosion blew open the reactor. It released a cloud of radioactive materials that contaminated…
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The idea that wolves and other large carnivores cause a “trophic cascade” through their impact on elk has been challenged by a number of recent publications. Last week another study was released that puts a dent in the notion– it suggests human activities, not large predators, are primarily responsible for elk vigilance in human-dominated landscapes.…
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Here is the new (starting on Dec. 4, 2012) open comments thread on wildlife news topics that you think are interesting. You can access the previous “Interesting Wildlife News” here. Please post your new stories and make comments about wildlife topics in the comments section below.
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Because of the growing number of comments, The Wildlife News is going to put up a new “Have you come across any interesting wildlife news” page more frequently than in the past. Perhaps weekly. It will depend on the number of comments received. Any suggestions for further changes are welcome. So here is a new…
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Here is the new open comments thread (starting on October 27, 2012) on wildlife news topics you think are interesting. You can access the previous “Interesting Wildlife News” here. Please post your new stories and make comments about wildlife topics in the comments section below.
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SAGE GROUSE: PROXIMATE AND ULTIMATE CAUSES When I was in college, one of my favorite courses was animal behavior. One of the more memorable lessons I learned was the difference between proximate and ultimate causes of behavior. Proximate and ultimate causes of events are important to distinguish. For instance, say a researcher finds that sedimentation…
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Montana Dept of Fish, Wildlife and Parks maintains wolverine trapping. At their August 2, 2012 Commission meeting, the Montana Dept of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (MDFWP) commissioners voted to continue trapping wolverine, despite a petition from eight environmental groups and one individual George Wuerthner (me) to halt trapping. The groups– which included Friends of the…