Your weekly roundup of wildlife news from across the country
World’s oldest seabird lays an egg! – At age 66, Wisdom is the world’s oldest known breeding bird in the wild. She is a Laysan albatross and has made Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge her home for almost seven decades. It was announced this week that Wisdom has laid another egg – her 41st! It is not clear exactly when she laid her egg but staff at the refuge noticed her incubating earlier this week. She will continue to incubate until her mate, Akeakamai, returns to take her place so Wisdom can return to sea to feed. Wisdom’s movements were first recorded in 1956 when an aluminum tracking band was placed on her ankle and she has reportedly traveled over three million miles in her lifetime!
Confirmed: New jaguar in Arizona! Last week, we shared some pretty exciting news: Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZFGD) disclosed that a second wild jaguar may have been spotted in a southern Arizona mountain range. On Wednesday, AZFGD announced that an independent analyses of trail cam photos confirmed that the big cat is in fact a new, solitary male jaguar, which has not been seen previously in the state. This could be one more sign that jaguars are migrating farther north into their historic range in the U.S. Southwest. A draft recovery plan for jaguars could be more important now more than ever to protect a wide-ranging species that has been racing extinction in the U.S. for decades.
Panther Progress is Bittersweet: Florida panthers had a big month in November: for the first time, definitive evidence was found that a female panther crossed the Caloosahatchee River, expanding into territory that hadn’t seen a female in forty years. But this month, Florida panthers reached a far less sunny milestone: a record-breaking number of these rare big cats have been hit by cars this year, the number now reaching 32 panthers killed by vehicle strike. Defenders of Wildlife is committed to reducing panther deaths on roads, and our Florida team has helped to put in place many wildlife crossings on Florida roads that assist panthers and other wildlife in avoiding a tragic fate in this rapidly developing state.
Calling for action and accountability: Defenders of Wildlife released its Wildlife Conservation Agenda to the Trump transition team yesterday, which includes eight important actions for conserving wildlife in the coming years. We’re calling on the administration to protect and restore our endangered and threatened plants and wildlife and to defend and responsibly manage our federal public lands. The report also emphasizes investing in responsible renewable energy development and protecting wildlife from the impacts of climate change. We encourage initiatives by private landowners, states and tribes to conserve imperiled species and habitats. Finally, we want the president-elect to strengthen our nation’s role as an international conservation leader, help our youth connect with our federal public lands and wildlife conservation heritage and commit to science-based conservation policy. If the new administration fails to meet our standard for responsible wildlife stewardship, we will hold them accountable.
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