Nate Rott
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
The new study used ancient DNA from archaeological cat remains to find that domestic cats likely originated in North Africa thousands of years ago.
Lead author Marco De Martino, a researcher at the University of Rome Tor Vergata, says what was most surprising to him was how recently cats moved from there.
likely spread by traders and migrating people, either for utility, cats love killing rodents and mice, or companionship, or possibly, much like today, for both.
African forest elephants live in the dense, humid rainforests of western and central Africa, making them notoriously difficult to count.
The new assessment used genetic fingerprints of individual elephants found in dung samples to calculate population size, and it estimates there are just over 135,000 individuals left.
Poaching and habitat loss from mining operations, human infrastructure, and agricultural development have been the largest threats to the elephants.
The authors of the new assessment say the new data provides crucial information to help focus conservation efforts and give the species a chance to recover.
The rule changes announced by the Trump administration are similar to ones put in place during Trump's first term.
And the goal, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement, is to restore the Endangered Species Act to its original intent by protecting species and respecting the livelihoods of Americans who depend on land and natural resources.
Wildlife groups say the proposed changes to threaten species protections, to habitat protections, and a proposed cost-benefit analysis of listing a species will harm the country's already at-risk plants and animals and are just another giveaway to fossil fuel companies and other extractive industries.
They're promising to sue when the proposals are formalized.
For decades, courts, presidential administrations, and interest groups have argued about what specific waterways qualify for federal protection under the Clean Water Act.
Industry or individuals need federal permits to pollute a federally protected waterway, and many farming, ranching, and developer groups argue that the 1972 law has been too widely applied.
The Environmental Protection Agency says its new proposed definition of what waterways qualify should give those groups relief.
An analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council finds that 85 percent of the country's wetlands will no longer be protected under the new proposal.
And wetlands, the environmental group points out, provide drinking water, flood protection and wildlife habitat.