Rewilding the World

SAVE THEM ALL: Today’s Endangered All-Star is on the brink of extinction, if not extinct already. Franklin’s Bumble Bee, once common, occupies a tiny area—an oval of around 190 miles—in southwestern Oregon and northern California, between the Pacific coast and the Sierra-Cascade mountains. Dr. Robbin Thorp, of the Department of Entomology  Read More 

The Guardian reports that the arapaima, a giant river fish of the Amazon and today’s Endangered All-Star, is believed to be in danger of extinction, owing to errors in classification. A new study from the Journal of Applied Ichthyology finds that there are four or more subspecies of the fish, rather than a  Read More 

TODAY’S ENDANGERED ALL-STAR: Darwin’s Comet Orchid is only one of many endangered plants and animals on the island of Madagascar, which contains a fabulously rich trove of endemic species. While never having been to the island, Darwin predicted that the Comet Orchid must attract a pollinator with a foot-long tongue, since the  Read More 

SAVE THEM ALL, especially the rodents: Today’s Endangered All-Star is the Texas Kangaroo Rat, once an essential part of the grasslands, working in conjunction with bison and prairie dogs to maintain the health of the prairie ecosystem. Over the past century, however, the rat has fallen victim to the use and abuse of  Read More 

IN MEMORY OF THE YANGTZE RIVER DOLPHIN: To commemorate the world’s loss of the Baiji or Yangtze River dolphin—believed to be functionally extinct—today’s Endangered All-Star is another freshwater dolphin in great peril: The Ganges River dolphin. The blind creature plies the waters of the some of the most heavily used  Read More 

SAVE THEM ALL: Today’s Endangered All-Star, the Polar Bear, is taking fire from all sides, its continued existence threatened by global warming and loss of sea ice. Now comes news that pollution, too, is a factor, with publication of an Environment International review of research spanning the last decade that suggests that industrial  Read More 

SAVE THEM ALL: Number 14—Today’s Endangered All-Star is the African Penguin, a bird that has been reduced to ten percent of its former population. Found off the southwest coast of Africa, living in coastal areas and on islands offshore, the species was devastated by egg-collection, overfishing, and the collection of guano as fertilizer,  Read More 

On January 12, 2010, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced that it would develop a recovery plan and set aside critical habitat for the jaguar in the U.S. Facing a deadline of last Friday, the USFWS asked for an extension until this past Tuesday, and their decision—coming after disappointing news for environmentalists  Read More 

SAVE THEM ALL: Today’s Endangered All-Star is perhaps the most endangered snake in America: the San Francisco Garter snake, with one or two thousand surviving in only two counties: San Mateo and a fragment of Santa Cruz. This subspecies of the common garter snake is a specialist, preferring to dine on a single  Read More 

SAVE THEM ALL: The Hyacinth Macaw, largest of all parrot species and today’s Endangered All-Star, retains a stronghold in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands with a population of a few thousand. But this tantalizingly gorgeous bird is considered endangered overall, due to burning of forests and the pet-trade. Three other blue macaws have virtually  Read More