Animals & Pets News

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thousands of animal species thrive in the ocean depths beyond the reach of sunlight, between 200 to 5,000 meters below the surface, an international team of scientists has reported after nearly 10 years of research.

GENEVA (AFP) - Flooding in the world's major port cities caused by melting icecaps could cause up to 28 trillion dollars (18 trillion euros) in damage in 2050, environmental group WWF said in a report Monday.

NEW ORLEANS - The creatures living in the depths of the ocean are as weird and outlandish as the creations in a Dr. Seuss book: tentacled transparent sea cucumbers, primitive "dumbos" that flap ear-like fins, and tubeworms that feed on oil deposits.

KATHMANDU (AFP) - Thousands of Hindu devotees have flocked to a village in Nepal ahead of the planned sacrifice of more than 300,000 animals in a ceremony condemned by animal rights activists, including French actress Brigitte Bardot.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia said it was "deeply disappointed" after a fleet of Japanese whaling ships set out to kill hundreds of the giant ocean mammals on their annual hunt.

KATHMANDU (AFP) - The legendary French movie star turned animal rights campaigner Brigitte Bardot has written to Nepal's president urging him to stop a mass animal sacrifice from going ahead next week.

That tuna in your sushi might be an endangered species, a new study finds.

BILLINGS, Mont. - A judge says the government must keep Yellowstone-area grizzly bears on the list of threatened and endangered species, denying an attempt by federal officials to reverse an earlier court ruling.

TOKYO (AFP) - Japanese whaling ships left port Thursday for Antarctic waters for their annual hunt of the ocean giants, Greenpeace said, setting the stage for high-seas confrontations with anti-whaling activists.

VIENNA - A 2-year-old panda who charmed his way into the hearts of Austrians is headed to China.

SRINAGAR (AFP) - Wildlife experts in Indian-controlled Kashmir have fitted black bears with satellite-tracking collars to study their behaviour and help conserve the endangered animals, officials said Wednesday.

VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) - Consumer campaigns to protect threatened fish species have failed, researchers warned Tuesday in a report underscoring the need for alternative ways to save threatened marine species.

SAN DIEGO - Out of 6,300 suggestions, San Diego Zoo managers have chosen a name for a baby panda born this summer.

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - More than six years after the U.S. invasion left Iraq's main zoo a wasteland of starving animals and deserted cages, the park in central Baghdad is enjoying a vigorous revival and needs to grow.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Sweeping from lush mountain rain forests to pristine beaches, a corridor of land protected by Puerto Rico's last governor hosts dozens of rare and endangered species and was championed by celebrities who helped fight off resort proposals.

PARIS (AFP) - Brigitte Bardot, one-time French screen goddess turned animal rights activist, wants the European Union to institute a "Vegetarian Day" as part of the battle against global warming.

SALT LAKE CITY - Federal officials say they'll look into complaints by the animal rights group PETA about the treatment of animals at University of Utah research facilities.

SYDNEY (AFP) - An Australian scientist has paid an unusual tribute to late conservation star Steve Irwin by naming a rare species of snail "crikey steveirwini".

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Environmental groups are suing the federal government to return a type of flying squirrel to the endangered species list.

VIENNA (AFP) - Fu Long the panda, Europe's first to be conceived naturally while in captivity, is to leave his home town of Vienna for China next week, the Schoenbrunn Zoo in the Austrian capital said Thursday.

SINGAPORE (AFP) - Low-lying and impoverished Asian coastal cities such as Dhaka, Manila and Jakarta are vulnerable to "brutal" damage from climate change without global action, environmental group WWF warned Thursday.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Nearly 40 years after it was pushed to the edge of extinction by pesticide use, habitat loss and hunting, the brown pelican was Wednesday taken off the endangered species list, US officials said.

WASHINGTON - Much like its death-defying dives for fish, the brown pelican has resurfaced after plummeting to the brink of extinction.

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - China will give Singapore two giant pandas to mark 20 years of friendly ties between the two countries, Chinese President Hu Jintao said Wednesday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - A huge dinosaur discovered in South Africa is a previously unknown species that sheds light on the evolution of the largest creatures ever to walk the earth, a scientist said Wednesday.

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - A new species of dinosaur that roamed the Earth 197 million years ago, likely an ancestor of the enormous brontosaurus, has been discovered in South Africa, scientists said Wednesday.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's koalas could be extinct in 30 years, conservationists warned Tuesday, calling for the iconic creatures to be declared an endangered species.

SELDEN, N.Y. - Dozens of concerned pet owners have contacted authorities following the gruesome discovery of more than 20 animal carcasses in the backyard of a Long Island home, a scene described by one veteran SPCA official as something out of a horror movie.

Helpful acts, such as grooming or foster parenting, are common throughout the animal kingdom, but accounts of animals rescuing one another from danger are exceedingly rare, having been reported in the scientific literature only for dolphins, capuchin monkeys, and ants. New research shows that in the ant Cataglyphis cursor, the behavior is surprisingly sophisticated.