Study: Conservation Slowing Animal Extinctions

Each year there are animals that become more endangered and move closer to becoming extinct.  This is really becoming a huge problem with the world today.  But fortunatly over 190 nations are working to resolve this problem creating more conservation acts.  The fact that nations are protecting the endangered species is very good but its not stopping the downward spiral of a lot of species.  Amphibians are moving toward extinction the fastest with mammals close behind and eventually birds.  But thankfully there are about 68 species moving away from extinction due to the conservation acts.  Most of these species are mammals and birds, which means that we have to focus on amphibians more than we already do.  Most species on the endangered list would be moving a lot faster toward extinction if it weren't for these acts.  Researchers said that most species would be moving 20% faster to extinction without these acts.  But its just not enough to get them off the list.

Humpback Whales Make Record Migration

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,2025355,00.html

Recently a humpback whale broke the record for the longest journey by any mammal besides humans.  He started off the coast of Brazil and eventually ended up between Madagascar and Africa.  It was about a 6,200 mile journey.  But no one really knows why the whale swam all that way.  It was too long of a trip to find a mate and whales have specific breeding areas anyway.  Some other ideas are that the whale just wanted to explore or he just ended up getting lost.  The way people knew the whale made the journey was that photos of a whale off of Brazil were identical to photos off Africa a few years later.  But even though people can track them doesn't mean that they will know why they are going where there headed.

Cracking the Mystery of How Sloths Got Long Necks

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/science/19sloth.html?ref=science

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ndMKTnSRsKM
Sloths are very odd on so many ways.  They are half blind and half deaf and move extremely slowly.  Another strange thing is the fact that they have 10 vertebrae in there neck.  It is strange because normal mammals including giraffe's have only 7 vertebrae in there neck.  They have so many because they have some extra vertebrae on the bottom of there neck that are found mostly on the rib cage part of most mammals spines.        

Government Critizied on BP Oil Flow

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/science/earth/07spill.html?_r=1&ref=science

When the oil was flowing out of the well the government was giving false numbers on how much oil a day was flowing.  The original number that was given to the government was that 1000 barrels a day of oil was flowing out of the well.  The numbers were later calculated as 60,000 barrels of oil a day.  After they got the well plugged about 5 million gallons got into the gulf.  The reason so much oil got into the gulf was the fact that the government didn't know the amount of oil was flowing into the gulf each day.  They announced that they were sorry and should have calculated the numbers better.  They eventually sent thousands of vessels out into the gulf to clean it up.  They said that about 75% of the oil has been dissolved or collected from the gulf.  But the commission staff eventually came out and said that over half of the oil still remain in the gulf.  This is just another example of how not to trust the government and listen to there facts about the spill.