Dec 9th, 2010 at 3:00PM:
In the latest in a spate of good news about wildlife conservation in Africa, BBC Earth reports that mountain gorillas have increased their numbers on Virunga Massif, their core habitat stretching across Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From a population of only 250 thirty years ago, their population has almost doubled to 480 today. Another 302 live in Uganda's Bwindi ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
conservation posts
Mountain gorillas making a comeback
Dec 9th, 2010 at 3:00PM:
In the latest in a spate of good news about wildlife conservation in Africa, BBC Earth reports that mountain gorillas have increased their numbers on Virunga Massif, their core habitat stretching across Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From a population of only 250 thirty years ago, their population has almost doubled to 480 today. Another 302 live in Uganda's Bwindi ...Yet another wall collapses in Pompeii
Dec 9th, 2010 at 2:30PM: Here we go again.
In the fourth incident in a little more than a month, a wall in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii has collapsed, Discovery News reports.
The garden wall surrounding the House of the Moralist, a popular stop for visitors, has toppled. Site managers say heavy rains caused the terrace around the wall to slide down, pushing over the walls. These walls were completely restored ...UNESCO studies Pompeii troubles
Dec 4th, 2010 at 12:00PM:
A UNESCO team has arrived at Pompeii to investigate the recent collapses of ancient walls and buildings, All Headline News reports.
Two Roman walls collapsed earlier this week, and in November the House of Gladiators fell down. Authorities blame heavy rains but there's a growing controversy over the lack of maintenance at the site.
The Roman city was buried in ash during an eruption of Mt. ...Controversy rages as Pompeii continues to crumble
Dec 2nd, 2010 at 12:00PM: More bad news from Pompeii. The famous Roman city, preserved by volcanic ash from an eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD, is starting to fall apart.
The BBC reports that two ancient walls have fallen down this week in separate parts of the city.
Officials say the problems are due to heavy rainfall, but the site has been underfunded for years. A recent cash injection was so badly managed that ...One in five vertebrates face extinction
Nov 13th, 2010 at 12:30PM:
The bad news: One in five vertebrates could go extinct within our lifetime, and the number may rise even higher than that.
The good news: It would be a lot worse if it weren't for conservation efforts.
That's the verdict of a global study of 25,000 threatened vertebrate species presented to the 10th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Nagoya, Japan. It ...Controversy over development near Victoria Falls
Nov 13th, 2010 at 9:00AM:
Environmentalists are complaining that the tour company Shearwater Adventures has violated national and international law by expanding their luxury resort into the rainforest near Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe.
Shearwater has constructed a new restaurant, bar, kitchen, and information center next to the public entrance to the World Heritage Site. A lawyer for Shearwater insists the development is ...Favorite lion shot in Namibia
Nov 8th, 2010 at 2:00PM:
A black-maned lion nicknamed "Old Boy" has been shot in Etosha National Park, Namibia. This is the second lion to be killed in the park in the past five months. Both lions were collared, meaning park rangers were studying and protecting them.
"Old Boy" had been a favorite among visitors for years because he lived near Hobatere Lodge. Conservationists believe he was the most frequently seen ...House of Gladiators in Pompeii collapses
Nov 8th, 2010 at 1:30PM:
Italian Archaeologists are enraged at Saturday's collapse of the House of Gladiators in Pompeii. The 40 ft. wide structure had recently undergone reconstruction work on its roof, which might have contributed to its total collapse during heavy rains early on Saturday morning. An even greater culprit may turn out to be the Italian Arts Ministry. The ministry's secretary general, Roberto Cecchi, ...Oldest human footprints will soon be on public view
Nov 4th, 2010 at 3:00PM: History buffs love to see the places where famous people walked, but how about the thrill of seeing where some of mankind's earliest ancestors strolled by? Footprints dating back 3.6 million years were discovered at Laetoli in Tanzania by the famous paleontologist Dr. Mary Leakey back in 1976. The prints of three individuals and several animals had been pressed into a layer of ash deposited by a ...You can help save an ancient Egyptian palace
Nov 2nd, 2010 at 4:30PM:
The palace of Egypt's most enigmatic pharaoh needs your help. Akhenaten ruled from c. 1351-1334 BC and is famous for his devotion to the god Aten, an aspect of the Sun. His worship became more and more exclusive over the years and while he wasn't a monotheist in the strict sense of the word, he certainly alienated the priests of other temples. He also left the traditional capital and built his ...Scandal as hundreds of historic treasures go missing
Oct 31st, 2010 at 2:00PM:
An audit of the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission has revealed that more than 1,800 historic artifacts can't be found. Officials aren't sure what happened to them but assume many have been stolen and others misfiled.
Missing treasures include a Kentucky rifle like those pictured above, an Ottoman ring that's almost 800 years old, one-of-a-kind paintings and photographs, and ...New World Heritage Site for Malaysia?
Oct 30th, 2010 at 4:00PM: A cave that sheltered early humans in Malaysia more than 40,000 years ago is being proposed as a new World Heritage Site.
Niah Caves are several large limestone caves that have attracted archaeological interest since the 1950s. Excavations have turned up the earliest human remains in eastern Malaysia, as well as artifacts from various periods from early prehistory down through the Iron Age. One ...Nuts about Peru's Tambopata National Reserve
Sep 8th, 2010 at 3:00PM: Nuts--if you think about these things, which evidently I do--evoke blustery fall afternoons, or wintery evenings before a roaring fire. You bust out the nutcracker, and get to work. At least, that's what my family did when I was a kid, even though I grew up in Southern California where, let's face it, the weather is seldom blustery. Anyways, we always had a lot of Brazil nuts in the communal bowl, ...Big game hunting means big money in South Africa
Jun 19th, 2010 at 11:00AM: It sounds like a throwback to a colonial age of pith helmets and native porters, but big game hunting is still popular in South Africa. In fact, it's on the rise.
A recent study by a South African professor says that some 200,000 South Africans engage in the sport, plus an unknown number of tourists. This translates to millions of dollars in revenue every year and thousands of jobs. There are ...Airport survey reveals huge trade in bushmeat
Jun 19th, 2010 at 9:00AM: Researchers studying customs seizures at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris have discovered that smuggling of illegal meat is a huge problem.
Up to 270 tons of illegal meat may be coming into Europe from Africa every year. The study made its estimate based on customs searches over a 17 day period involving 134 passengers from 14 African countries. Nine people were caught with bushmeat weighing ...Ritz-Carlton to put environmentally-friendly water bottles in hotel rooms
Jun 16th, 2010 at 4:30PM: There's a human element to hotels that often goes unnoticed by its guests. Beyond the check-in desk and past the steel "Staff Only" doors are employees with real feelings and concerns about the communities in which they live, and those emotions are apparent in the social efforts made both inside and outside the hotel. From clean-up programs to rescue efforts, hotels have consistently offered ways ...Tanzanian official urges beauty queens to boost tourism
May 5th, 2010 at 2:00PM: An official at Tanzania's Ngorongoro Conservation Area is encouraging contestants in the National Miss Utalii pageant to use their assets to boost tourism.
Public relations manager Adam Akyoo said that beauty pageants would attract more tourists to a region already famous for its wildlife.
The dozen contenders for the Miss Utalii pageant are all university or college students from Tanzania's ...Bowermaster's Adventures -- Political conflict in the Galapagos
Dec 13th, 2009 at 11:00AM:
Street protests are not a common occurrence in Galapagos, but a recent decision by the Ecuadorian government to fight over fishing and illegal fishing by giving fishermen tourist permits – over other residents, who've been waiting patiently themselves, many for years – sent locals into the streets armed with pots for banging, loudly. Virtually everyone who's moved to the Galapagos ...Bowermaster's Adventures -- Sea Shepherd Conservation in the Galapagos
Dec 11th, 2009 at 9:30AM:
While Sea Shepherd's chief cheerleader and trouble-inspirer Paul Watson is holding forth from his ship, The Farley Mowat, continuing its chase of Japanese whale hunters off Antarctica and (recently) being arrested on a thirty-year-old warrant in Portugal (where he had gone to attend a meeting of the International Whaling Commission) ... the Washington state-based environmental group's ...5 Places to See Wild Turkeys
Nov 26th, 2009 at 9:00AM: The quintessential American bird is typically spotted on your dining room table, naked and headless, with a plastic thermometer thingy stuck in its butt--but, such was not the case with our early pilgrim ancestors who first laid eyes on these magnificent fowl in 17th-century Massachusetts. Real wild turkeys are truly a site to behold, so this Thanksgiving, why not step away from the TV and go find ...
