earth

Sequence of events of a male northern elephant seal retrieving a pup in distress at Point Reyes, California: (a) the female called towards her pup which was washed off the beach by waves and was being drawn out to sea; (b) the male used high energy to charge across the wet sand into the surf, and swam towards the pup; (c) while swimming, the male gently pushed the pup to shore with his head and body; (d) the male positioned himself on solid sand while in the wave wash to physically block the pup from being drawn back out by waves; (e) the female bellowed after reunion with her pup and the pair moved up the beach away from the waterline; and (f) the male trumpeted at the edge of the wave wash within seconds after the female bellowed. Credit: Marine Mammal Science (2024). DOI: 10.1111/mms.13105

https://phys.org/news/2024-02-altruism-bull-elephant.html

livestream on friendsofbigbearvalley.org

https://stories.sandiegozoo.org/zoonooz/kangaroos-in-the-trees/

• The population of critically endangered gharials in Chitwan National Park, Nepal’s stronghold for these crocodiles, increased by around 11% as of the start of 2024, totaling 265 individuals compared to 239 the previous year.
• While the increase is positive, a recently published study shows the critically endangered crocs are unevenly distributed throughout their range, with threats from fishing, changes in river flow, and infrastructure development deterring them from certain prime habitats.
• The study also flagged the low success rate of a raise-and-release program for captive-bred gharials: 404 gharials have been released under the program, but the overall population has increased by just 80.
• Juveniles released under the captive-breeding program are likely suffering high mortality rates in the wild or getting washed downstream to India; experts say a possible solution is to release them as far upstream as possible.

KATHMANDU — The start of 2024 has brought some good news, tempered with warnings, for Nepal’s critically endangered gharials, the fish-eating crocodiles with the comically bulbous snouts.

Officials at Chitwan National Park, the country’s prime habitat for gharials (Gavialis gangeticus), one of two crocodile species found in Nepal, say their population increased by around 11% compared to the previous year.

Park officials counted 265 individual gharials in the Rapti and Narayani rivers that flow through Chitwan, up from 239 the previous year.

“This is indeed encouraging news as we concentrate our efforts towards saving the crocodiles,” said Ashish Bashyal, a researcher with the organization Biodiversity Conservancy Nepal. “While it is nice to celebrate the achievement, we must not forget that the gains could be temporary and the population could decline at any time if threats are not addressed in time.”

full article

I usually don't like the “news goofs” genre of video but this one was genuinely funny

If I saw one of these coconut crabs in the wild I'd do a nope and 180

2024 BNEF Investment Trends report just dropped: https://about.bnef.com/blog/global-clean-energy-investment-jumps-17-hits-1-8-trillion-in-2023-according-to-bloombergnef-report/

EU absolutely fucking BODIED lmao

The US did double its investment since last year (141B), China was previously at 546B.

Canada not even mentioned. Embarrassing.