Blogs & Ecology

Photo courtesy of Terry Mass

Photo courtesy of Daniel Belanger

There aren't too many good ol' artist/adventurer types around these days—ever notice that? Plenty of artist/graphic designer and artist/web consultants, but our generation could use a good solid artsy adventurer. You know, like Byron or Hemmingway or John Muir (okay, so he was more of an essayist/adventurer, but cut me some slack here). Perhaps with a little luck, we could find one in the intrepid photographer Daniel Belanger....

Axolotl's Last Stand?
We're saddened to learn that the alien-looking Axolotl salamander (Ambystoma mexicanum), aka Mexican walking fish or Mexican water monster, is seriously threatened with extinction because of habitat destruction and water pollution.

One of the coolest things about Axolotl - apart from their appearance - is they ability to regenerate most body parts. Read on for more details and photos....

Captain Paul Watson photo: Animal Planet

If you fancy your nature documentaries with a little grit, a sprinkling of subversion, and a couple extremely endangered apes, you’ll find VICE TV’s brief f...

photo: Gorilla.cd

It's the time of year for scary and spooky things, so I came up with a list to meet the requirement. Here are my:

"Ten Things That Scare Me More Than A Horror Movie"

1- John McCain mocking Barack Obama on nuclear power safety.
Senator McCain is very pro-nuclear power, and it gives me the heebie-jeebies that the safety of it is not important to him. Senator McCain's quote:

"You know, the other night in the debate with Senator Obama, I said his eloquence is admirable, but pay attention to his words. W...

Photos via Swell Foop

Secretary Kempthorne of the Department of the Interior's favourite scene from Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, where the official from the government explains how Arthur Dent had all the time in the world to view and comment on the plans for a bypass:

Official:"The plans have been available at the planning office for the last nine months"
Arthur Dent: On display? I had to go down to the cellar.
O: that's the display department.
A: with a torch!
O: the lights were probably out.
A: so were the stairs.
O: but you did see the notice, didn't you?

Image from Thomas Roche

3,000 sea turtles have washed up dead on the shores of Baja, California in the last five years according to a report published by UC Santa Cruz last week. More below the fold....

Photo Credit: National Geographic

Despite opposition from Governor Sarah Palin, last week the Bush Administration added Alaska's Cook Inlet beluga whales to the endangered species list. The population has decreased from around 1,300 in the 70s to the 375 or so present today. More below the fold....

The Holdridge’s toad is a small, black, deaf and mute toad that lived in Heredia’s Chompipe Mountain Range. After searching for the species with no luck, Barcelona’s Red List of Endangered Species, from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) declared the small toad extinct from the globe.

The United Nations Environment Program has gotten techy and partnered with conservation groups to put a database of protected areas online, along with Google map features for easy readability.