Home to polar bears, caribou, and red fox, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is a 19-million-acre treasure that is often called the “crown jewel” in the U.S. refuge system.In collaboration with the Santa Cruz City Museum of Natural History, the UCSC Environmental Studies Department is bringing four experts on the refuge to Santa Cruz to participate in a series of public lectures and events entitled, “Endangered Treasure: Our Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.”

The museum is also sponsoring an exhibit on alternative energy called, “What’s the Alternative? Sustainable Energy Solutions.”
Dennis Takahashi Kelso, assistant professor of environmental studies and coholder of the Pepper-Giberson Chair in Environmental Studies, is a former commissioner of environmental conservation in Alaska and instructor of the UCSC Alaska field course.He invited four Alaskans to participate in the lecture series, which begins February 25 with a talk by Stanley Senner, executive director of Audubon Alaska. Senner’s talk, “Energy and Environment in America’s Arctic,” will take place in the Louden Nelson Community Center Auditorium at 7 p.m.

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Think of “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” as your dad’s old Ford Country Squire station wagon: It epitomized a breed, it was reliable and kids liked it.
But as you grew up, you realized it wasn’t as fun as you remembered, wasn’t quite so reliable as you thought and hoo-boy, a road trip was agony itself.
In a nutshell, that’s the third film in the successful “Ice Age” series: a mediocre standard bearer for a genre that kids love and adults tolerate. Doubtless it will make piles of money, but the Law of Diminishing Comedic Returns looms large, and the gags seem increasingly hollow in a basically weak product.

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A 60 million-year-old skull dug up in Morocco has been identified as the earliest form of what is now the earth's largest land mammal.
This creature was trunkless, measured less than 2ft (50 cm) from tip to tail and weighed just 9 to 11lbs (4 to 5kg), scientists revealed this week.The mini-jumbo had front incisors which jutted out of its mouth to form the forerunner of the modern tusks.
Called Eritherium azzouzorum, it would not have looked much like today's jungle giant yet it was definitely a forerunner of the familiar animal.
As only the skull remains, it is hard for the French-based team behind the find to accurately say what the rest of it would have looked like.

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Auckland Zoo is the main zoological garden of Auckland, New Zealand, situated next to Western Springs park not far from Auckland's central business district. It is run by the Auckland City Council with the Auckland Zoological Society as a supporting organisation.
Auckland Zoo opened in 1922 and experienced early difficulties, but by 1930 a large collection of animals was assembled and a zoological society formed. The zoo consolidated during the Second World War and was at that time under the leadership of one of its most important directors, Lt. Col. Sawer. The collection was expanded after the war, and in the 1950s chimpanzees were acquired to provide tea parties for the public's entertainment, but the parties ceased in 1964. In 1973 the zoo expanded into the adjacent Western Springs park. From the late 1980s to the present day, many old exhibits were phased out and replaced by modern enclosures.

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The Zoo is proud to announce the birth of a female dama gazelle calf November 2. The calf weighed ten pounds at birth and doubled in weight in just a few weeks. With this birth, the Zoo is now home to four dama gazelles. Five live at the Zoo’s Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Virginia.

About 24 hours after birth, the calf had an exam, which confirmed its sex as well as signs of nursing.The calf is healthy, very active, and thriving in her new environment. She and her mother are bonding and doing well. Before the weather got cold, she was going into her exhibit for a few hours each day, and getting acclimated to it and the Zoo's small herd of dama gazelles.

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I admit: I'm absolutely, completely, irrationally afraid of sharks. I even get spooked sometimes swimming in deep fresh water. It's so irrational that I wonder if it's not a neuron firing in the deepest, fishiest part of my brain.
That could just be an excuse for my only debilitating fear, but it's not completely impossible. Sharks are an old, old species. They existed before the last round of mass extinctions and before any land mammals.
So, while I might personally rejoice in an ocean completely free of the toothy stalkers, it would be awfully sad to see this successful, ancient species die out. Well, that, and their extinction would likely result in population explosions among rays and other scary sea creatures. (Read this post on the frightening population spike of jellyfish.)

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A BABY sea lion has been rescued after wandering onto a busy San Francisco Bay area freeway.

Drivers on I-880 started calling authorities early Monday morning after spotting the creature waddling along the centre divider near the Oakland Coliseum.California Highway Patrol Officer Peter Van Eckhardt said the sea lion may have come from a San Francisco Bay estuary nearby.

The pup was taken to the Marine Mammal Centre in Marine County, where spokesman Jim Oswald said the animal is active and alert but malnourished.A male sea lion was found on another highway in May, but died from malnourishment.

The koala who arrived here Tuesday night from San Diego is a first for Lowry Park Zoo.

It's also the first opportunity for the zoo to document an animal's trip on social networking Web sites, including Twitter and Facebook. Followers are excited to be involved, said Rachel Nelson, a Lowry spokeswoman.

A zookeeper for the Queensland koala posted to the zoo's Twitter feed ( twitter.com/LowryParkZoo ) Tuesday morning: "G'Day mates! Bundaleer the koala here. We're off to the airport and on our way to Tampa, FL!"The 10-year-old male will live in Wallaroo Station, Lowry's 4.5-acre Australian-themed area. His exhibit opens Monday after he gets a rest and transition period. He is on loan from the San Diego Zoo.

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A baby sea lion was rescued early Monday after wandering onto a busy San Francisco Bay area freeway.Drivers on Interstate 880 started calling authorities around 5:45 a.m. to report the animal "walking" in the center divider near the Oakland Coliseum, said Peter Van Eckhardt, an officer with the California Highway Patrol.He said the sea lion likely made it onto land from a nearby San Francisco Bay estuary and crossed the roadway in the middle of the night.

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A rare Przewalski's horse has been born at Taronga Western Plains Zoo in central New South Wales.
The filly, who was born on May 12, is the offspring of father Ronald and mother Kyakhta. She is the first foal for Kyakhta and both are doing well. "Kyakhta is a great first-time mum, she is very nurturing and doesn't like to let her foal out of sight," said keeper Jackie Stuart.

"The foal is very active and loves to go for a gallop around the exhibit in the morning, often kicking out and frolicking around after being let out of the night yard."

"This new arrival is an important addition to the breeding programme as in the future, when she is mature, she will be paired with an unrelated stallion at the zoo and continue to contribute to the genetic diversity amongst the captive population," she said.

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