NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Air pollution in New Delhi worsened again Sunday and officials warned of little relief in sight from the smog, which has even caused one airline to cancel flights to the world’s most polluted capital. The US embassy website Sunday showed levels of the smallest and most harmful airborne pollutants reached 676, about 27 times the World Health Organization’s safe maximum, after falling slightly late last week. Delhi authorities have halted […]
Environment
Rare Bornean clouded leopards caught on camera in Malaysian reserve
SABAH STATE, Malaysia (Reuters) — A Bornean clouded leopard and her two cubs were captured on camera strolling through a Malaysian forest reserve last week, a rare daytime sighting of the elusive animals in the wild. Found only on the Southeast Asian islands of Borneo and Sumatra, the big cat species is known to zoologists as Neofelis diardi, with just 700 estimated to live in a habitat shrunk by poaching and deforestation. The footage filmed […]
Striking Northern Light display over northern Finland
NORTH OF ROVANIEMI, Finland (Reuters) — Multicolored lights lit up the night sky in striking aurora displays over Finland earlier this week. The display took place on Tuesday (November 7) night and was filmed by travel magazine ‘All About Lapland’ in Rovaniemi, northern Finland. It was visible across a large swathe of the country and was also seen in southern parts of the country. The Northern Lights are a result of collisions between electrically charged […]
Developing world says rich nations shirking on climate
by Marlowe Hood Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — The failure of wealthy nations to deliver on short-term climate commitments could hinder the rollout of a landmark treaty, a bloc of 134 developing countries, including India and China, warned Thursday at UN negotiations in Bonn. The diplomatic spat has underscored the difficulty of reaching a consensus at the 196-nation talks. “If we do not respect decisions that we have made, then how can we build trust among the […]
Deep sleep: Even jellyfish need their slumber
CALIFORNIA, United States (Reuters) — A brainless, spineless, pulsating organism has a key behavior in common with humans: sleep. While sleep has been confirmed in other invertebrates such as worms and fruit flies, the jellyfish is the most evolutionarily ancient animal that has been shown to slumber. Jellyfish have thrived in the seas for at least 600 million years, longer than nearly any other animal. By comparison, dinosaurs appeared roughly 230 million years ago […]
Deadly heat from climate change may hit slums hardest
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — With sheet metal roofs, concrete floors, poor ventilation and spotty electricity, crowded urban slums in Africa can expect to get even hotter and deadlier due to global warming, US researchers said Monday. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University analyzed three informal settlements in Nairobi, including the largest, Kibera, home to nearly a million people. Along the settlements’ narrow alleyways, mud-walled homes and metal roofs, they found stifling temperatures, “between five and […]
2017 set to be hottest non-El Nino year: UN
by Marlowe Hood Agence France Presse BONN, Germany (AFP) — 2017 is on track to be the hottest year on record except for two warmed by El Nino phenomena, the UN’s World Meteorological Organization said Monday. Even if the cyclical weather events — which bump up global temperatures every three to seven years — are included, this year will still be one of the three warmest ever, the WMO said as it issued its […]
Endangered vaquita porpoise dies in captivity
MEXICO City, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico’s efforts to save the critically endangered vaquita, the world’s smallest porpoise, has suffered a major blow after one of just 30 creatures thought left in the wild died soon after being captured by authorities. The vaquita marina, known as the “panda of the sea” for the distinctive markings circling its eyes, has been pushed to the brink of extinction by illegal gillnet fishing. The Mexican government and conservation groups […]
For Amazon tribe, rainforest is a whole world
by Sebastian Smith Agence France-Presse Waiãpi, Brazil (AFP) — When Japarupi Waiapi looks into the dense foliage of the Amazon rainforest, he sees the equivalent of a supermarket, pharmacy, furniture store — and that’s just the beginning. Food like coconuts, roots and bananas grows plentifully. Animals and fish are readily available for hunting, and the bark of many trees has medicinal uses. Just in terms of different wood types, “we see thatch for our roofs, we see […]
Hundreds of parrots flock to southwest China city
YUNNAN, China (CCTV) — Hundreds of red-breasted parakeets, a species of parrot, have flocked to the city of Ruili in southwest China recently, attracting photographers across the country to capture the spectacular sights. Red-breasted parakeets would come in droves to Ruili in Yunnan Province’s Dai-Jingpo Autonomous Prefecture every autumn when the corn on the farmland by the Ruili River is ripe. Thanks to the sound local ecological environment, more and more red-breasted parakeets are coming […]
INFOGRAPHICS: November 5 is World Tsunami Awareness Day
Though it is rare, tsunami is one of the most destructive natural disasters in the world which can kill thousands of lives in just a spur of the moment. The deadliest tsunami in history happened on December 26, 2004 in Indonesia when the 9.1 magnitude earthquake struck the coast of Sumatra with an estimated depth of 30 kilometers and height of 50 meters, reaching 5 km inland. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the […]
WATCH: Newly discovered orangutan species is most endangered great ape: study
https://youtu.be/66jNt5KLWqI JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A new species of orangutan has been discovered in the remote jungles of Indonesia, immediately becoming the world’s most endangered great ape, researchers said Thursday. “It’s the first declaration of a new great ape species in about 100 years,” Ian Singleton, co-author of the study and director of the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme, told AFP. The species, called ‘Tapanuli orangutan’, lives in the Batang Toru forest on Sumatra island, and […]