extinction •

Study Reveals; Skin Eating Fungus can Annihilate Salamander

November 1, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Researchers found out a fungus while examining the massive decline in Netherland’s fire salamanders.

The fungus which basically belongs to East Asia traveled all the way to Europe. The researchers suggest that Bs reached Europe with the help of imported amphibians. It is originally from the family of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) .It was the chief reason behind the extinction of amphibians such as frogs, salamanders and toads. The fungus has nearly removed 40 percent of the amphibians in some particular areas.

An Martel, a researcher of Ghent University along with his colleagues analyzed around 5,000 species of amphibians. They accumulated these species from four different continents. The chief purpose of this study is to discover the danger Bs infection create for amphibians.

The study revealed that Bs infection is extremely deadly for salamanders. They have killed a large amount of salamanders in the past several years. However, it is not that hazardous for other amphibians like frog, caecilians and toads. They are commonly found in the Eastern North America and Pacific Northwest.

An Martel, the lead author informed that majority of the species which interact with Bs die in a short time period of two weeks. The mortality rate in salamanders increase up to 99 percent soon after this infection.

Unfortunately, the experts have failed to form any obstacle in order to stop the growth of this fungus in Europe.

The report is published in October 31^st edition of Journal Science.

African Lions Lists as the “Most Endangered Species”- U.S Wildlife and Service Report

October 28, 2014 By Germaine Hicks 2 Comments

U.S Wildlife and Service intends to add African lion in the list of most dangerous species. This step will allow U.S authority to provide protection to they big cats of Africa.

It is predicted that African Lion will annihilate from the planet Earth till 2050. Therefore, it is better to offer them more protection in order to stop them from extinction.

The suggestion is to list the African lions as threat which is considered as a level below endanger. this new alteration in the list would allow U.S authorities to offer some kind of training and help for their preservation. Moreover, it will permit U.S government to put a ban on the hunting and sale of lion parts.

The organization will give a time period of 90 days to public for vote cast. On the other hand, all the major establishments such as International Fund for Animal Welfare, Defenders of Wildlife, the Humane society of the United States has already granted permission in 2012.

As per the reports of International Union for Conservation of Nature, the number of African lion has decreased nearly 30 percent in the last two decades.

In Africa, the total population of lions reduced to nearly 50 percent in the past three decades. Presently, there are around 34,000 lions in the forests of Africa. The lions of West Africa are the ones that extinct in the past years.

The chief reason is the migration of human to the areas that are particularly occupied by the African lions.

Study Reveals; Extinction of Megalodon Shark Paved the Way for Whales

October 27, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee 1 Comment

The annihilation of Megalodon (60 foot long shark) is the chief reason behind the transformation in the size of whales.

Lately, researchers revealed that that Megalodon sharks helped the whales to grow in size. Megalodon is considered as the world’s largest shark, which wiped out from Earth nearly 1.8 million years ago. Even a single tooth of the ancient shark was approximately seven inches. Surprisingly, these sharks died out at the time of the appearance of the modern whales.

Afterwards, whales became the largest animal of the world. They are even larger in terms of size than the dinosaur

The Expers of University of Florida and University of Zurich struggled to find out the cause behind the extinction of sharks. They examined the data of 42 latest remnants in specially for this purpose. They accumulated the entire data from an online source of the fossils of ancient animals known as Paleobiology Database.

Moreover, they utilized the Optical Linear Estimation to discover the exact death date of that animal.

In the end the study revealed a significant information regarding the extinction of the top underwater predator. It disclosed that the Megalodon disappeared, probably 2.6 million years ago from this world. It was the era of Pliocene and Pleistocene when the whales turned into an enormous species.

Furthermore, researchers stated that the timings are a big evidence since marine mammals were the only source of their food.

The study is printed in the journal Plos One.

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