Wildlife Conservation Society

Conservationists have found what they describe as a real-life "Planet of the Apes' in the Republic of Congo. More than 125,000 western lowland gorillas have been discovered living in a small area of the northern parts of the country ... only 50,000 were previously thought to exist worldwide. Experts say the area 'Ntokou-Pikounda zone', should now be set up as a protected area. The critically endangered species occur in seven Central African nations and the Wildlife Conservation Society say... Read Full Story

The newly discovered Kipunji has recently been reclassified as a new genus, making this the first new monkey genus discovered in over 83 years. Found only in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania, the Kipunji is extremely rare, with only 500 individuals estimated in the wild. (Credit: Copyright Tim Davenport/WCS ScienceDaily (Aug. 2, 2008) — Just three years after it was discovered, a new species of monkey is threatened with extinction according to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which... Read Full Story

Gathering Tree Seeds One of my favorite things to do at this time of year is gathering tree seeds. I love to find seeds from native trees that we don't have growing on our property and add them to "our collection". The easiest way to go about gathering tree seeds is to study up on the specific tree you are wanting to collect seeds from. Find out their good and bad points. And most importantly, for the sake of this post, find out when the seeds are mature for harvesting and what the seeds... Read Full Story

Svalbard Global Seed Vault Our distant offspring may have to fight polar bears to get to an Arctic seed storage, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, that is being built on the Svalbard Archipelago, 300 miles north of Norway. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is being built to house seeds from around the world in case of global disaster; such as nuclear war, plant epidemics, or even another Ice Age. The Global Crop Diversity Trust is assisting developing countries in the preparation, packaging and... Read Full Story

A wonderfully ironic piece in the paper this morning (I read it in the Ottawa Citizen but it originated in the London Times) says the long-beaked echidna is close to extinction. It was last seen in 1961 and conservationists who were out searching for it were told by a tribesman that he knew it was still around because he'd just eaten one. "It was delicious" he said. It must have given the researchers a sickly-sweet feeling, not unlike the one the tribesman probably got. Tim The photo was... Read Full Story