Se espera que el Servicio de Pesca y Vida Silvestre de Estados Unidos decida pronto si incluye a la mariposa monarca en la lista de especies "amenazadas" de la Ley de Especies en Peligro de Extinción. La designación podría tener consecuencias importantes para uno de los insectos más conocidos del país. Las monarcas están divididas en dos colonias en cada lado de las Montañas Rocosas, y tanto las colonias orientales como las occidentales se han reducido en más del 90%. Rebeca Quiñonez-Piñón, del National Wildlife Federation, dice que si se incluye a la monarca en la lista, se implementarán reglas federales para ayudar a sus colonias.

"La ventaja es que el Servicio puede trabajar en regulaciones para la especie, que pueden ser muy específicas, para abordar las principales necesidades de la mariposa monarca, y así garantizar que podamos recuperarnos y aumentar el tamaño de su población," aseguró Quiñonez-Piñón.

Según ella, la pérdida de hábitat, los pesticidas y el cambio climático son las principales causas del declive de esta especie. Las mariposas monarca pesan menos que un clip y pueden recorrer más de 3,000 millas durante su migración. Al menos el 90% de las monarca migran a través de Texas.

Además de ser una de las migraciones más largas que cualquier especie, la monarca tiene un gran impacto ecológico. Mary Phillips, también del National Wildlife Federation, explica que la salud de las colonias de mariposas monarca a menudo indica la salud de otras poblaciones de polinizadores.

"Gran parte del hábitat de la monarca refleja también el hábitat de nuestros polinizadores nativos. Son una especie de canario en una mina de carbón, que han puesto de manifiesto el importante esfuerzo que supone la pérdida del hábitat, el cambio climático y las ramificaciones ecológicas por el uso de pesticidas en muchas de nuestras especies de insectos," insistió Phillips.

El cultivo de aguacate es una grave amenaza para los hábitats invernales de esta especie en México, donde miles de hectáreas de una reserva de la mariposa monarca han sido deforestadas para la producción de aguacate. Esto ha llevado a más de dos docenas de grupos ambientalistas a pedir al Departamento de Estado prohibir la importación de aguacates vinculados con la deforestación.

La clave para el resurgimiento de la mariposa monarca es el algodoncillo, que es la única planta que las orugas monarca pueden comer. Phillips enumera que plantar algodoncillo es una de las formas más útiles para que la gente puede participar en su conservación. Añade que no hay que olvidarse tampoco de las monarcas adultas.

"El algodoncillo es una planta absolutamente esencial. Si vas a tener un jardín de monarcas, es imprescindible que coloques algodoncillo nativo en la zona en la que te encuentres y equilibrarlo con otras plantas nectaríferas nativas que florezcan en tres estaciones," enfatizó también Phillips

Más de 1,300 especies en los Estados Unidos están protegidas por la Ley de Especies en Peligro de Extinción.

A small turtle made popular in the "Kung Fu Panda" movies could soon be added to the endangered species list. Iowa wildlife advocates are working to restore it to its native habitat and give the turtle a better chance for survival.

The Blanding's turtle is popularized in the long-running, lighthearted animated movies but its fate is anything but funny. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will decide in coming months whether to list it on the endangered species list. Officially, fewer than 3,000 Blanding's turtles are left in Iowa.

Karen Kinkead, Wildlife diversity program coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said they are a cryptic species and hard to count but are easy to identify when you spot one.

"They're kind of this drab, olive green-grey color. Their shell is shaped kind of like a helmet. They are sort of nondescript," Kinkead outlined. "But then you see this bright yellow chin and the way that their lower jaw is formed it makes it look like this is an animal that is always smiling."

Decades of habitat loss and predation have already put the Blanding's turtle on the threatened list in Iowa. A partnership between the state DNR, Iowa State University and the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines just hatched nearly five dozen baby Blanding's turtles researchers will raise until adulthood, then tag with telemetry gear to track them in the wild.

Kinkead pointed out the zoo is "head-starting" the turtles by hatching and keeping them in the zoo over the winter, instead of allowing them to hibernate.

"They keep them awake and keep feeding them so they grow larger," Kinkead explained. "Then when they're released into the wild the next summer, they're a bigger size."

Kinkead added being bigger and more mature makes the turtles less vulnerable to predators once they are released.


get more stories like this via email

People are probably happy to hear two orphaned mountain lion kittens have been rescued and will find new homes at the Oregon Zoo but sharing space with them in the wild is a different story.

While the kittens are safe, there are different ideas about how much to protect wild mountain lions.

Brent Lyles, executive director of the Mountain Lion Foundation, said although they are often feared, the large cats should be protected for the role they play in maintaining healthy ecosystems.

"The carnivores that are at or near the top of the food chain have been shown, again and again over the decades, to be critically important to the vibrancy and long-term stability of food webs in any environment," Lyles pointed out.

Mountain lions, like other keystone predators, help maintain balance in an ecosystem by controlling herbivore or plant-eating populations, which benefits plant growth and overall biodiversity. Lyles noted the deer and elk carcasses they leave behind also provide food for hundreds of other species.

However, not everyone is prepared to live in proximity to mountain lions. By the 1960s, Oregon's cougar population was nearly wiped out. Protections have since allowed their numbers to rebound but by how much remains unclear.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife permits killing up to 970 cougars annually, a quota some biologists believe is excessive. Lyles argued killing too many actually undermines safety, as stable mountain lion populations are less likely to create problems.

"It's a very common misconception that the best response to human-wildlife encounter is to get rid of the cougar," Lyles contended. "If you get rid of it, things can get ugly and you've just made the community less safe, not more safe."

Lyles explained when a dominant lion is removed, multiple young males could move into the territory, prompting more human and livestock encounters. Though encounters are rare, Lyles added if they happen, you should make yourself look larger and make noise to scare the animal away. Maintain eye contact, avoid running and back away slowly.


get more stories like this via email

With manatee season in full swing, Florida's gentle marine mammals gather in warm waters to escape winter's chill. But these iconic creatures face growing challenges from habitat loss, water pollution and boating collisions.

A new proposal from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service aims to address these threats by revising critical habitat protections for the first time in nearly 50 years.

The agency proposes protecting more than 1.9 million acres of critical habitat for Florida manatees and more than 78,000 acres for Antillean manatees in Puerto Rico, marking the first update since 1976.

"It's a long-overdue revision of looking at what is vital habitat for manatees to find warm water, to be able to feed, to travel, to give birth and safely raise their young," said Elizabeth Fleming, a senior Florida representative for the nonprofit Defenders of Wildlife.

Previously, critical habitat was designated based solely on areas where manatees were known to congregate. The proposed changes now incorporate scientific research, identifying areas based on the physical and biological features essential for their conservation.

The updated habitat proposal is open for public comment until Jan. 24.

Katherine Sayler, a southeast representative for Defenders of Wildlife, said the loss of warm-water habitat is a major threat to manatees, many of which now depend on power-plant outflows for warmth. The updated habitat proposal includes natural springs such as Manatee, Fanning and Silver Springs, which stay at 72 degrees year-round and are crucial for their winter survival.

"They need travel corridors to get between these areas of warm water," Sayler explained, "and that's where we think we need to really allow for the public to engage and really make comments on where are these travel corridors."

Seagrasses are vital to the health of marine ecosystems. For more than a decade, the Indian River Lagoon has experienced extensive seagrass meadow loss because of algae blooms associated with nutrient runoff and degraded water quality from septic overflow leaching into the environment.

Fleming added that the proposal is a first step. Still, much more must be done to address concerns, especially in an area known as Mosquito Lagoon, which she described as a critical habitat for manatees.

"This area of the Indian River lagoon that has had some regeneration of seagrass isn't included in the new manatee-critical habitat," she said. "So, we see that as a big omission."

Anyone can comment on the proposed habitat changes via mail or electronically on regulations.gov. Conservationists hope increased awareness during manatee season will strengthen safeguards for Florida's iconic marine mammal.