Friday, March 22, 2013 at 15:56 
A feral cat with its prey of a Major Mitchell's cockatoo. (Credit: Lisa Wilson) MANY OF US LOVE CATS. I love cats. But has the time come to break our addiction to them? They have been great companions since their domestication in the Middle East 10,000 years ago, and today they number more than 500 million worldwide. But the partnership is one we need to reconsider.
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 14:29 
Monk parakeets in the Chicago snow. Image by Miller ProsserSo many of Aleksandar Hemon's reasons he'll never leave Chicago are familiar to me, as they'll be to even those who are fairly new in town. But one in particular resonated with me, since it was one of the first things I saw in Chicago, and one of the things that helped get me through to spring:
Tuesday, March 19, 2013 at 0:32 
Yellow-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) part of the introduced population present at Hong Kong Park, Hong Kong. Image by Darren.The West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) chapter of the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) reports that the effective population of Yellow-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) in the province is at a critical low due to rampant illegal hunting and trade.
Monday, March 18, 2013 at 4:49 
Kakapo are unique among the ~ 400 parrot species (Psittaciformes) for being flightless, nocturnal and extremely long-lived (up to 100 years!). Additionally, they are herbivorous (seeds, fruits, polen, plants), males can weigh up to 2-4 kg (40% heavier than females), and females lay their eggs on the ground or cavities – i.e., 3 eggs in a single clutch annually, although 2 clutches might occur if the nest fails at the beginning of the reproductive season or if the eggs are taken for artificial incubation.Native to New Zealand, kakapo once inhabited the subalpine fringes of forest and scrub. Polynesians (1000 years ago) and Europeans (mostly in the XIX Century) arrived in the archipelago accompanied by dogs, cats, rats and mustelids that cornered kakapo populations in the Fiordland region (south-west of the South Island) where it was declared extinct in 1989. In 1977, a population of some 200 individuals was found on Stewart Island - this population was already in decline to the claws and jaws of feral cats. By the 1980s, the failure of captive breeding programs prompted the transfer of 60 individuals from Steward to carnivore-free islands. The global (known) population ‘rocketed’ from 50 individuals in 1999 to 126 in the 2012 censuses and, consequently, the kakapo’s IUCN status changed in 2000 from ‘Extinct in the Wild’ to ‘Critically Endangered’. Under the management of the Kakapo Recovery Programme, kakapo are now present on the islands of Codfish, Anchor and Little Barrier.
Inbreeding, system shocks caused by fire or cyclones (for example), or demographic stochasticity (by which two or more outcomes are possible) such as how many males and females will be born in a single year, are all factors that threaten the persistence of small and fragmented populations. They can, however, be reverted by conservation actions.
Strigops habroptilus - Kakapo | in Conservation, Research Friday, March 15, 2013 at 15:51 
The Carolina parakeet (Conuropsis carolinensis) was the only native species of parrot in the eastern United States, having ranged from southern New York to the Gulf of Mexico, and as far west as Wisconsin. Photo by Julie DermanskyIt sounds like a scene from Jurassic Park: molecular biologists, ornithologists, and a bioethicist came together at a private meeting at Harvard Medical School in February of 2012 to discuss bringing back the passenger pigeon.
