NEWSLETTER

WILDLIFE IN THE NEWS

A POSSIBLE COMEBACK FOR WOLVERINES IN CALIFORNIA AND COLORADO

Recently the state legislatures of California and Colorado have proposed reintroducing the wolverine, which is in serious decline in the lower 48, with only around 300 surviving individuals.

Wolverines, which were hunted to near extinction, face numerous threats, including habitat fragmentation and due to climate change, the loss of snowpack that they rely on for denning.

Two wolverines have been spotted in recent years in California, which is part of their historical range, as is Colorado.

Excellent wolverine habitat still exists in these two states, and reintroducing these incredible creatures could provide the edge they need to save off extinction.

You can read more about this here.

Photo by Kristin O Karlsen on Unsplash

SPECIES SPOTLIGHT

PANGOLINS

Pangolins are the only mammal on the planet covered in scales, and the earliest known fossil in their group dates back 56 million years. They are nocturnal and feed mainly on termites, ants, and other insects.

When threatened, they roll into a ball, which is where their name came from, a Malay word meaning “rolling over.”

Eight different species of pangolins exist today, yet all are in critical danger of extinction because of wildlife trafficking. In fact, they are the most trafficked mammal in the world. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) banned all trade of this species in 2016, yet it still continues illegally.

To read more about pangolins and what you can do to help them, please visit the World Wildlife Fund’s information page on them here.

Photo by Studio Crevettes on Unsplash

GREEN TIP

TURN OFF ENERGY-CONSUMING AI

Using AI consumes a staggering amount of water and energy. When a person asks ChatGTP to write an essay for them or complete some other task, they are consuming valuable resources. But often we are using AI without even realizing it.

For example, a simple internet search will usually produce an AI answer, even if we didn’t ask for one, and often it is fraught with errors. These AI answers appear at the top of the search results, preceding accurate results from reputable sources.

But there is a very easy way to avoid it. Simply type -AI after your search words. For example, type:

What is a spotted salamander? -AI

You can type -ai in lower case letters, too. This will bring up search results that don’t include an AI-generated answer. This works in most search engines, including Google.

If you use the awesome DuckDuckGo browser, you can completely turn off AI under Settings > AI Features.

No matter which search engine you use, leaving off the AI answer will cut down the carbon footprint of your searches.

Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY

CICADA SAFARI

It’s summer and the song of cicadas is buzzing through the hot afternoons. You can help researchers better understand the distribution of periodic cicadas by contributing to Cicada Safari!

Periodic cicadas, with their signature red eyes and reddish-orange wings, differ from annual cicadas, who have black eyes and black and green bodies.

Periodic cicadas emerge in broods every 13 or 17 years depending on the species, whereas annual cicadas emerge every 2-3 with overlapping years so that there are always some annual cicadas around. In fact, there are nearly 200 kinds of annual cicadas in North America alone!

Their buzzing is created by the males, who can sing as loud as 120 decibels!

To help researchers with Cicada Safari, simply use your phone to take pictures of periodic cicadas and upload them to the free app! Spend as little or as much time as you like.

To learn more about this project, go here.

Photo of periodic cicada by Ashlee Marie on Unsplash