Category Archives: endangered species

New England Bunny Hop

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New England cottontail in MaineLast autumn, nine New England cottontails bred in captivity at the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Rhode Island were released inside a predator-proof fence enclosing one acre of the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge, also in Rhode Island.

You can read all about the New England cottontail captive breeding program in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums blog wildexplorer.org. Find the article here.

In Massachusetts, MassWildlife has been collecting roadkilled cottontails and cottontail skulls since 2010 to figure out how many and where the two species of cottontails are in the state. Out of the 500 specimens received, about 10 percent have been New England cottontails and several new populations have been uncovered.

MassWildlife would like to have more samples from the western part of the state, and hopes to reach sportsmen, highway department workers, animal control officers, and other interested citizens with their plea.

More info about the program is available in the April 2012 edition of MassWildlife News, which was not on line at press time. But do check for it here.(Info from the program from last year is available here.)

New England cottontails look an awful lot like Eastern cottontails. Sometimes even the experts need a DNA test to tell them apart for sure. But New England cottontails are the only one of the pair native to New England, although the Eastern cottontail is taking over its territory.

New England cottontail numbers have plummeted, earning the species an Endangered Species Act listing as “warranted but precluded.”

For Better Genetics, Use Habitat Clusters

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by Louise HuntHabitat clusters can improve the genetics of rare species, such as the Florida scrub jay, says a recent paper in Biology Letters.

The research focused on the genetics and available habitat for the Florida scrub jay, but the findings are applicable to other rare species, the paper says.

“We present a detailed case study of one highly fragmented, endangered species (Florida Scrub-Jay) showing the importance of keeping habitat gaps as narrow as possible, in order to maintain gene flow among populations,” says John Fitzpatrick, director of Cornell Lab of Ornithology and one of the authors of the paper. “Habitat gaps greater than a few kilometers separating two populations reduce movement of jays across them sufficiently to cause genetic isolation of the two populations. This highlights the importance of maintaining or restoring habitat ‘stepping stones.'”

Read the paper here — with subscription or fee.
Read the Cornell Lab of Ornithology press release here.
Read the Cornell Lab of Ornithology blog on the topic here.
Read the Volusia County (Florida) web page about the research, while it was in progress, here.

Photo: Florida scrub jay by Louise Hunt, courtesy of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology

New State (And National) Listings of Endangered Species

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Gray petaltail, endangered in New JerseySix species of dragonfly are among the newly listed threatened and endangered species in New Jersey, according to a press release from the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The changes to the list focused on flying species. Most of the animals were birds, and in addition to the dragonflies, the Indiana bat was added to the state endangered species list. (It was already on the federal endangered species list.)

Non-breeding bald eagles were moved from endangered to threatened, reflecting their continued recovery in the state. Other bird species whose status was changed to reflect improved numbers are the non-breeding bird populations of osprey, peregrine falcon, red-shouldered hawk, northern goshawk, short-eared owl, and vesper sparrow, and the breeding population of Cooper’s hawk.

The black rail, golden-winged warbler and red knot were listed as endangered and American kestrel, cattle egret and horned lark were listed as threatened.

The ruling, which took effect Tuesday, also created a new category: “species of special concern.”

Read the press release here.
Read an article in the Asbury Park Press or
the Atlantic Highlands Herald.

The press release did not include the name of the dragonfly species listed, so here they are:

Endangered
Petaltail, gray (dragonfly) Tachopteryx thoreyi

Threatened
Baskettail, robust(dragonfly) Epitheca spinosa
Clubtail, banner (dragonfly) Gomphus apomyius
Clubtail, harpoon (dragonfly) Gomphus descriptus
Jewelwing, superb (dragonfly) Calopteryx amata
Snaketail, brook, (dragonfly) Ophiogomphus asperses

Earlier this month the state of California provided coverage to two species of yellow legged frogs under the California Endangered Species Act, according to a press release from the California Department of Fish and Game.

Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog (Rana sierrae) was listed as a threatened species and the southern mountain yellow-legged frog (R. muscosa) as an endangered species, the press release reports.The frogs have disappeared from 75 percent of their historical habitats because of chytrid fungus and because they are being eaten by non-native trout.

Read a brief article on the listings in the San Jose Mercury News, here.
Read the state’s Notice of Findings here. (Very brief.)

Finally, Canada has moved to list three bat species, the tri-colored bat (AKA eastern pipistrelle), the little brown myotis (AKA little brown bat), and northern myotis (AKA northern long-eared bat) as endangered species because of white nose syndrome. Read an article in the Edmunton Journal here.

Photo: Gray petaltail by Eric Haley

Skunk Witness Relocation Program Raises a Stink

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This fall the town of Avalon, NJ moved some 80 problem skunks, but they are not telling where, reports the Press of Atlantic City. The Press quotes the town’s mayor as saying: “We’re trapping them and putting them in the witness protection program.”

While that’s a sound bite worthy of both Jersey Shore and Boardwalk Empire, neither local communities nor the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife are happy. They don’t want Avalon dumping its skunks elsewhere.

Read the full article in the Press of Atlantic City here.

No mention in the article of the federally endangered piping plover, which nests on area beaches and is threatened by (among other things) predation by skunks, raccoons, gulls and other creatures that have adjusted a little too well to development on the New Jersey shoreline.

To answer one of the commenters on the Press of Atlantic City article: Aren’t there more serious things to talk about? Absolutely. But the quote is funny and how serious can you be on the last working day of the year? Best wishes for 2012.

Paper Says US 531 Short on ESA Listings

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The International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Red List of imperiled species is merely informational. The United States’ Endangered Species Act (ESA) is regulatory; it can compel (or forbid) action to save species from extinction.

A recent paper in the journal Conservation Letters says that there are a lot more US species listed on the Red List as the equivalent of endangered or threatened than actually appear on the US’s ESA list. In fact, there are 531 more species on the Red List than listed under the ESA, the paper says.

The paper cites an inadequate budget US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) budget and the existance of a “warranted but precluded” catagory as the major road blocks to a complete listing.

What about politics? That’s where USFWS places the blame, says Scientific American’s on-line news site.

Read an international perspective from Asian Scientist, here.

Read the abstract in Conservation Letters, here. (The full article requires a fee or subscription.) See the whole article on the Center for Biodiversity website, here.

Photo: The New England cottontail is on the IUCN Red List, but not listed under the US Endangered Species Act. Photo by David Tibbetts, courtesy USFWS

Jaguar and Ocelots: Seeing Spots in Arizona

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What happens when an exciting wildlife sighting gets national media attention? Increased reports of rare wildlife? A sudden interest in that creature? Leave a comment to let us know what reactions you commonly get in your state.

The exciting wildlife sightings of this week are jaguars and ocelots in Arizona. There has been plenty of national coverage, including this article in the New York Times. The Times article dutifully notes that the Arizona Game and Fish Department has reassessed one of those ocelot sightings, and now believes it was a serval (Leptailurus serval), an African cat popular in the pet trade, or possibly a serval hybrid.

Here’s AZGFD’s press release on the jaguar sighting. And here’s a backgrounder on jaguars in Arizona.

Here’s AZGFD’s press release on the most recent ocelot sighting. And here’s the press release reassessing the ID.

Photo: An Arizona Game and Fish Department wildlife manager investigates a jaguar sighting. Courtesy of Arizona Game and Fish Department

“Profound Setback” in Whooping Crane Recovery

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A pair of teenagers shot two of the 10 whooping cranes released in Louisiana, hampering an attempt to establish a third population of the endangered bird, says an article in the Montreal Gazette.

The article gives the details of the whooping crane recovery program, which spans the United States and Canada, with an emphasis on Canadian contributions. It includes the fact that there were just 22 whooping cranes in 1941. The population has now rebounded to about 400 of the cranes in the wild.

The article says that state wildlife officials had created an education campaign before this fall’s goose and duck hunting season in an attempt to prevent hunters accidentally shooting the whooping cranes. The article doesn’t mention what the teenagers’ motives were.

Read the article in the Gazette here. 

Whopping cranes had a happier visit to Missouri last week. A hunter, believing he heard someone in distress, investigated and found instead a pair of migrating whooping cranes. The cranes stayed in the agricultural field long enough for a Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staffer to arrive on the scene and confirm the sighting. Local bird-watchers were able to get a glimpse of the radio-tagged adult-and-juvenile pair too.

Read the MDC press release here.

Photo: Whooping cranes. Courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation

“Profound Setback” in Whooping Crane Recovery

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A pair of teenagers shot two of the 10 whooping cranes released in Louisiana, hampering an attempt to establish a third population of the endangered bird, says an article in the Montreal Gazette.

The article gives the details of the whooping crane recovery program, which spans the United States and Canada, with an emphasis on Canadian contributions. It includes the fact that there were just 22 whooping cranes in 1941. The population has now rebounded to about 400 of the cranes in the wild.

The article says that state wildlife officials had created an education campaign before this fall’s goose and duck hunting season in an attempt to prevent hunters accidentally shooting the whooping cranes. The article doesn’t mention what the teenagers’ motives were.

Read the article in the Gazette here. 

Whopping cranes had a happier visit to Missouri last week. A hunter, believing he heard someone in distress, investigated and found instead a pair of migrating whooping cranes. The cranes stayed in the agricultural field long enough for a Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) staffer to arrive on the scene and confirm the sighting. Local bird-watchers were able to get a glimpse of the radio-tagged adult-and-juvenile pair too.

Read the MDC press release here.

Photo: Whooping cranes. Courtesy Missouri Department of Conservation

Calif. County to Ban Bullfrogs

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Bullfrogs are invasive outside of their native habitat in the northeastern U.S. They are also bred for food in China, and, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times, the conditions of commercial food production are ripe for the growth and spread of chytrid fungus, which has been plaguing amphibians worldwide.

What can a state do? California is being asked to ban the import of bullfrogs, which is a tough sell because of the state’s high percentage of Asian-Americans, for whom eating frogs (as well as turtles and shark fins) is as culturally significant as steak-and-kidney pie, kielbasa and manicotti are to other ethnic groups.

Nationally, Defenders of Wildlife has proposed that only frogs proven to be disease-free be allowed in the country. But more locally, one California county, Santa Cruz, plans to take the big leap and ban bullfrogs to protect its imperiled amphibians, which include the California tiger salamander and the California red-legged frog.

Read all the ins and outs of this complex topic in the Los Angeles Times.

Because of the Thanksgiving holiday, this will be the last State Wildlife Research News post this week. We’ll be back on Monday, Nov. 28th with more wildlife research news.

Don’t forget: Endangered species habitat grants

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The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now accepting applications for its Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund grants. The deadline for submitting proposals is January 27, 2012. The grant pays for land or planning to protect rare species. The funds can be used for projects for species that are candidates, proposed, or listed under the Endangered Species Act.


Your state will have to kick in some of the funds, though. The grants cover 75 percent of the project cost for single state or territory; and 90 percent for two or more states or territories implementing a joint project.

Visit the US Fish and Wildlife Service Endangered Species Program page for a press release announcing the grants, a 45-page document describing the grants in detail, a press release announcing the last cycle’s winner, plus a report on the winning projects. The page also includes other federal grant resources.

Photo of the endangered bay checkerspot butterfly, by John Clecker, courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service.