Underwater gardeners work to restore B.C.’s crucial kelp forests

Underwater gardeners work to restore B.C.’s crucial kelp forests

In the chilly waters of Vancouver Island’s Barkley Sound, gardeners are at work on the sea floor. They are scientists from the University of Victoria (UVic) who are trying to regrow kelp forests, a crucial part of the marine habitat, amid threats from heat waves, climate change and voracious sea urchins. Julia Baum, a UVic … Read more

Woman charged with trying to smuggle $40K worth of turtles across Vermont lake to Quebec

Woman charged with trying to smuggle K worth of turtles across Vermont lake to Quebec

A woman from China has been arrested at a Vermont lake bordering Quebec for trying to smuggle 29 eastern box turtles, a protected species, into Canada by kayak, according to border patrol agents. Wan Yee Ng was arrested on the morning of June 28 at an Airbnb in Canaan, Vt., as she was about to … Read more

Check out the elephants at risk of extinction, and the wild cats that are bouncing back

Check out the elephants at risk of extinction, and the wild cats that are bouncing back

Over 45,000 species are now threatened with extinction — 1,000 more than last year — according to an international conservation organization that blames pressures from climate change, invasive species and human activity such as illicit trade and infrastructural expansion. The International Union for Conservation of Nature released its latest Red List of Threatened Species on … Read more

Montreal peregrine falcon chicks take first flights into a world full of danger

Montreal peregrine falcon chicks take first flights into a world full of danger

The world is full of dangers when you’re a falcon chick less than six weeks old and learning to fly — even if you’re a member of the fastest species on Earth. This week, three falcon chicks named Hugo, Polo and Estebane started to spread their wings around the nest site on the 23rd floor … Read more

Anaplasmosis is a tick-borne disease that’s on the rise in Canada

Anaplasmosis is a tick-borne disease that’s on the rise in Canada

Tick experts are warning Canadians to be on the lookout for symptoms of a tick-borne disease whose case counts have been steadily increasing over the past 15 years. Anaplasmosis is an infection contracted by humans and animals caused by the Anaplasma phagocytophilum bacteria and spread by ticks.  In the early 2000s, provinces and territories began reporting a handful … Read more

Scientists think they know why humans live so long: Moms

Scientists think they know why humans live so long: Moms

Why do humans live so long? A new study suggests a mother’s care could be a major part of it. The study, out of Cornell University, says that the reason humans and other primates live so long can be at least partly explained by the mother-child relationship. Maternal care leads to the evolution of “long, slow lives,” … Read more

Lyme disease might be more common, but this tick-borne disease is on the rise in Canada

Anaplasmosis is a tick-borne disease that’s on the rise in Canada

Tick experts are warning Canadians to be on the lookout for symptoms of a tick-borne disease whose case counts have been steadily increasing over the past 15 years. Anaplasmosis is an infection contracted by humans and animals caused by the Anaplasma phagocytophilum bacteria and spread by ticks.  In the early 2000s, provinces and territories began reporting a handful … Read more

Culling wolves alters the survivors and that could be ‘bad news’ for caribou, study finds

Culling wolves alters the survivors and that could be ‘bad news’ for caribou, study finds

When wolves are killed by bullets fired from helicopters during Alberta government culls, surviving members of the pack quickly learn to evade the threat, a new study has found.  For nearly two decades, Alberta has killed off hundreds of grey wolves each year in an attempt to bolster dwindling caribou populations, a practice critics have … Read more

Pharmaceuticals in our waterways affect wildlife. This researcher says it’s a big problem

Pharmaceuticals in our waterways affect wildlife. This researcher says it’s a big problem

The Current11:38How our discarded drugs are sparking sex changes in fish What do fish act like on anti-anxiety medication? According to Karen Kidd, “they get bolder” and don’t rely on their usual survival skills — and that’s part of a big problem. “Fish are swimming around in the soup of drugs … and a drug … Read more