BBC News - Sea eagles given more protection

 

Good news that (White-tailed) Sea Eagles, Haliaeetus albicilla, are to be given more protection.  The Sea Eagle was reintroduced into Scotland in 1975 having become locally extinct.  Gradual recovery has occurred but this magnificent bird, one of the greatest wildlife sights in Scotland, is not out of danger quite yet.  For all the details see BBC News - Sea eagles given more protection

Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience

WHAT’s IN A NAME? 

This LiveScience article ”Texas Pumas Rescue Florida Panthers | Big Cat Endangered Species, Wild Cats & Inbreeding | LiveScience” is quite interesting but for a while I was wondering which animal was being referred to.  The talk, as shown by the title, was of panthers.  But I didn’t think there were any wild panthers outside of Asia and Africa so the bit about panthers in Florida had me a bit bemused.  So some Wiki Work was called for.

Turns out there are (at least) three wild big cats that wear the label Panther:

• Melanistic leopards (Panthera pardus), found in Africa and Asia;
• Black Panthers which are melanistic Jaguars (Panthera onca), found in the Americas; and
• Florida Panthers which are a blue-eyed subspecies of of the Puma [also known as a Cougar] (Puma concolor), also found in the Americas.

The one thing they all have in common is being big black cats.  So when you say Panther it depends on who you are as to what you mean. That’s exactly why scientific names are so important because each one is specific and unique.

In any event all big cats, with the possible exception of lions, are in trouble so the substance of the article is good news.

South Atlantic becomes more seabird-friendly

Great progress has been made in ensuring the safety and survival of seabirds in the south-east Atlantic.  As BirdLife International reports changes in fishing practices have helped to curb the decline of seabirds such as the Black-browed Albatross Thalassarche melanophrys:


South Atlantic becomes more seabird-friendly: "BirdLife International and WWF South Africa recently achieved a major conservation success by improving the methods used by commercial fishermen in the south-east Atlantic Ocean to avoid killing seabirds."

These very positive developments auger well for similar ventures in other parts of the world.  Albatrosses are magnificent birds that are in great peril and every step in ensuring their survival is vital.

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The Mighty Mo Returns

The USS Missouri has returned to Pearl Harbor after a three-month refit looking like new.  It is of course an incredibly historic battleship having hosted the signing of the surrender of Japan at the end of WW2 and fought in the  Korean and First Gulf Wars. In 1993 the Missouri was decommissioned and preserved as a museum ship at Pearl Harbor. There are no preserved Royal Navy battleships.  A pity really.

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