Fish and Amphibians

Pengmen Wetland in Jiabei Country Park is due to open to the public in March after a renovation program that began in August, the Jiading forestry authority said. An application to renovate the 60,430-square-meter wetland, the size of 8.6 soccer fields, was made in March last year as it had been heavily polluted by pesticides and fertilizers from nearby farmland. “In the future we will see birds nest here after the ecological system of the area has recovered,” said Cui Rongxiang, an engineer from Jiading Forestry Station. The area has had its terrain reconstructed and water quality has been improved. “We have reshaped the bottom of the river and set up some islands in the lake to make a better environment for the wetland,” Cui said. To increase regional biodiversity, five species of terrestrial plants, such as dandelion, marguerite, wild chrysanthemum and foxtail, and 13 species of aquatic plants have been introduced. The plants will make the area more livable for birds and serve...

A newly-discovered fly fossil has been named after the Korean pop hit 'Gangnam Style' for its resemblance to the popular accompanying dance move. The fossilised insect, named Buccinatormyia gangnami, was discovered in Jinju City, South Korea . It looks a lot like a modern wasp or hoverfly - with a black and yellow 'yellowjacket' pattern  - but is twice as large as a common house fly. It displays the distinctive crossing of the arms in the so-called 'Gangnam Style', as popularised by South Korean pop star PSY in 2012. The finding suggest that PSY can't lay claim to this move – at least as far back as 100 million years ago.  The Buccinatormyia gangnami was doing it 'Gangnam Style' before PSY even released his first demo WHAT ARE THE THREE GEOLOGIC ERAS?  The Mesozoic Era is a the name given to the period from 250 million to 65 million years ago. The era is divided into three major periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. The new sp...

A U.S. judge moved not to revoke the bond against a Conway man accused of illegally smuggling endangered salamanders after he reportedly killed a snake he was ordered to re-home. Jackson Roe, 25, was federally indicted earlier this month on three charges after he “willfully and knowingly” imported six Chinese giant salamanders, which are protected both under the Endangered Species Act as well as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITIES), according to federal court documents. Federal prosecutors had requested Roe’s bond be revoked after he reportedly killed one of the snakes he was ordered to regime before U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Brandon L. Bland was able to take it to a facility in Kentucky. Per the conditions of his release, Roe was previously ordered to find new homes for two his two venomous snakes – a green mamba and a Gaboon viper. According to recent court documents, Little Rock Zoo officials agreed to take in the viper ...

A primitive lizard that lived 309 million years ago has been unearthed in Canada  with its tail wrapped round its young. It is the earliest example uncovered of parental care in the animal kingdom, shedding light on the evolution of love. The fossilised remains include a juvenile positioned belly-up behind the mother’s hind limb and snugly encircled by her tail. Download the new Indpendent Premium app Sharing the full story, not just the headlines Download now The pair died suddenly in a swamp-like forest in Nova Scotia , where the adult had built a den to raise its family, experts say. Their final embrace was captured in time. The new species, which resembled today’s monitor lizard, has been named Dendromaia unamakiensis – after the Greek words for “tree” and “caring mother”. left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. 1/16 Triceratops A ceratopsian, meaning 'horned face', the triceratops lived be...

309 million years ago an animal that resembled a lizard wrapped its tail around a younger member of its species. Charles Q. Choi, Contributor (Inside Science) -- Bones of a reptile-like beast curled around a younger member of its species may be the most ancient fossil evidence yet of a parent taking care of its progeny after birth, a new study finds. Parental care of offspring after birth, also known as prolonged parental care, is common among many vertebrates today, including birds, reptiles, fish and amphibians and especially mammals, but is absent in other groups. Analyzing the evolution of this behavior is challenging because it is rare to find the remains of parents and infants preserved together. Previous research suggested the earliest example of prolonged parental care involved South African fossils from the extinct animals known as varanopids. These particular fossils of creatures resembling modern-day monitor lizards were more than 260 million years old . In 2017, the re...

A unique fossil that is "literally a black piece of coal" found in the dump of an 18th-century coal mine is revealing new insights about life before the rise of dinosaurs. It has also unseated a fossil found by a P.E.I. boy as the oldest known species of an ancient group called the "parareptiles." The new species, Carbonodraco lundi, was a small, lizard-like predator that scampered about an ancient swamps, snatching and stabbing insects and other prey with a sharp pair of fangs. The animal, which was about 25 centimetres long from nose to tail, lived more than 306 million years ago during the Carboniferous Period in what is now Linton, Ohio, according to a new study by researchers at Carleton University in Ottawa  published recently in the journal Royal Society Open Science . The first part of its name, given by Emily McDaniel, an undergraduate student and co-author of the paper, means "coal dragon," because of the fossil's unique form and its pro...

When a wildfire tears through a landscape, there can be little left behind. A new study, though, suggests that beavers may be protecting life around streams, thanks to their signature dams. Satellite images from five major wildfires in the United States revealed that corridors around beaver habitat stayed green even after a wildfire. Millions of beavers live in forests across North America, and they make their homes in a particular way: By stacking piles of branches and rocks in a river’s path, they slow its flow and create a pool of calm water to call home. They even dig little channels radiating out from their pools to create “little water highways,” said Emily Fairfax , an assistant professor at California State University Channel Islands who led the study. Fairfax wondered whether beaver dams would insulate riparian vegetation, as well as the fish and amphibians that live there, from wildfire damage. Wildfires course through landscapes naturally, but blazes will become more fre...

MAPLE RIDGE (NEWS 1130) – If you’re thinking of giving a tree frog or salamander as a gift this Christmas, think again. Dr. Adrian Walton with Dewdney Animal Hospital in Maple Ridge says without fail, every new year, there is an increase of unwanted exotic amphibians and reptiles, like bearded dragons, and leopard geckos. Exotic amphibians, like this frog, don’t make good Christmas gifts, warns the Dewdney Animal Hospital in Maple Ridge. (Courtesy Adrian Walton, Dewdney Animal Hospital) While some exotic amphibians are legal, others are not, and Walton says in the last few years, the province has been more concerned about what they may be carrying. “A lot of these animals could potentially bring in a very nasty disease called chytrid fungus that can actually impact our native species,” Walton says. “If somebody brings in a wild caught frog from say, Southeast Asia and has that fungus and it gets into our water system because they were doing a water change on their fish ta...

Madrid, 11 December 2019 – On the eve of a critical year for environmental decision-making, Colombia, Germany and UN Environment Programme (UNEP) today announced that Colombia will host World Environment Day 2020 in partnership with Germany and that it will focus on biodiversity. World Environment Day takes place every year on 5 June. It is the United Nations’ flagship day for promoting worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Over the years, it has grown to be the largest global platform for environmental public outreach and is celebrated by millions of people in more than 100 countries. Making the announcement on the margins of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP25) in Madrid, Spain, Ricardo Lozano, Colombia’s Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Jochen Flasbarth, Germany’s State Secretary for Environment, and Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, stressed that with one million plant and animal species facing extinction, t...

Scientists have uncovered a new species of lice preserved in 100 million-year-old amber, together with the partially damaged dinosaur feathers it fed on.  The amazing discovery of the Mesophthirus engeli species suggests feathered dinosaurs were plagued by lice-like bugs – just like modern birds today. The damaged feather and the bug's sharp teeth reveal the tough-feeding behaviours of the new species, according to a team of American and Chinese researchers. Mesophthirus engeli feeding on dinosaur feathers in mid-Cretaceous amber WHAT ARE THE THREE GEOLOGIC ERAS?  The Mesozoic Era is a the name given to the period from 250 million to 65 million years ago. The era is divided into three major periods: Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous. The new species discovery dates back to the Cretaceous period – 145 million to 66 million years ago. Mesozoic was the age of the dinosaurs and lasted almost 180 million years. The Mesozoic Era followed the Paleozoic Era, during ...

News 1. Stadium A woman hails a cab from the middle of the proposed Shannon Park stadium. David Fleming is an economist who has worked with the Greater Halifax Partnership and the North End Business Association, and is now working on PEI. He reviewed the case for public financing of a stadium, and found it wanting. Click here to read “There’s not a good financial case for a publicly funded stadium.” At the end of his article, Fleming raises a point that we probably haven’t considered deeply enough: What happens if the Schooners blackmail us? For another relevant example, you can check out a January 8th, 2018 issue of Morning File where Tim Bousquet outlines SSE founding partner Anthony Leblanc’s history with the city of Glendale, Arizona and leveraging the prospect of leaving to get a new arena deal. That should worry Halifax residents greatly. The reality is if you think having a professional CFL sports team is part of what makes your city “world class” — this despite the ...