Wait, little porcupine, don't go extinct!

Scientists have just identified a "new" species of tree-dwelling porcupine in Brazil, but its habitat is disappearing in the blink of an eye, and the coandu-mirim porcupine may soon disappear too. Learn more here. Photo by Antonio Rossano Mendes Pontes. 

Could captive chimps survive in the wild?

Captive chimp release is controversial because many scientists worry that releasing chimps into the wild could pose a variety of serious risks to the released individuals and wild populations as well.

Captive Chimpanzees to be Declared Endangered

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal on Tuesday to list captive chimpanzees in the United States as endangered.

Photo by Aaron Logan, www.lightmatter.net/gallery/Animals/chimp, via Wikimedia Commons

The new status would restrict medical experiments on chimpanzees as well as their exploitation by the entertainment industry.

Learn more about the proposed ruling here. 

Fossil Frog Found Alive

The Hula painted frog of Israel was declared extinct in 1996, five decades after the last frog was spotted in the drained wetlands that were once its home. But, in 2001, a Hula frog was found alive, kindling hope that the species, which is the only living species within the Latonia genus, can be restored to greater numbers. Learn more about the Hula painted frog here.

Photo by Mickey Samuni-Blank via Wikimedia Commons

 

 

The World's Most Endangered Tortoise

A couple of months agp, smugglers were caught transporting 54 live angonoka (or ploughshare) tortoises--nearly 13 percent of the entire remaining population--through the Thailand Airport. Mind you, this is the world's rarest tortoise species. Tortoise advocate Eric Goode told CBS last year that the tortoise "has an incredibly high price on its head. Asian countries love gold and this is a gold tortoise. And so literally, these are like gold bricks that one can pick up and sell."

Photo by Hans Hillewaert via Wikimedia

Learn more about the angonoka tortoise and efforts to save it from extinction here.