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		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/queensland/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
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	<title>Queensland environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/queensland/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>An Australian icon, the platypus is struggling — and scientists still lack answers</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/an-australian-icon-the-platypus-is-struggling-and-scientists-still-lack-answers/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/an-australian-icon-the-platypus-is-struggling-and-scientists-still-lack-answers/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 May 2026 02:16:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Paul Harvey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sharon Guynup]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/17224328/Image-6-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=319612</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Citizen Science, Climate, Climate Change, Conservation, Drought, Environment, Fires, Habitat, Mammals, Research, Wildlife, and Zoos]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The platypus is an evolutionary anomaly. This duck-billed, semiaquatic mammal is both unique and rare. It’s just one of five egg-laying mammals on the planet. It nurses its young. And it also has reptilian traits: It has a cloaca, maintains a low body temperature (32° Celsius, or 90° Fahrenheit) and males have venomous spurs. It [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The platypus is an evolutionary anomaly. This duck-billed, semiaquatic mammal is both unique and rare. It’s just one of five egg-laying mammals on the planet. It nurses its young. And it also has reptilian traits: It has a cloaca, maintains a low body temperature (32° Celsius, or 90° Fahrenheit) and males have venomous spurs. It prefers the lush rivers along Australia’s east coast, using electroreception, sensing electrical stimuli to detect favored food, which includes larvae, shrimp and small crayfish on the riverbed. The platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus) usually feeds during twilight at dusk and dawn, and is elusive,  spending much of its life submerged. Its true population remains unknown. The IUCN Red List estimates 50,000 and classifies the species as near threatened. But that listing was based on an assessment done in 2014, which even then noted it was a “best estimate” and the population was decreasing. Gilad Bino, who leads the University of New South Wales Platypus Conservation Initiative, said he doubts those numbers. Platypuses are hard to find and count. They face a host of challenges, including destruction of their riparian habitat and encroaching human development. New research shows that environmental “threat scenarios” are raising the platypus’s risk of extinction. More frequent and extreme weather events endanger platypuses when drought dries the waters they inhabit, wildfires blaze through or floods inundate burrows before the animals can escape. The research, published in the journal Australian Mammalogy, calls for a proactive response, based on habitat and risk. But effective conservation, the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/an-australian-icon-the-platypus-is-struggling-and-scientists-still-lack-answers/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/an-australian-icon-the-platypus-is-struggling-and-scientists-still-lack-answers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-319612</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Australia’s declining tree health is a slow-burning crisis (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/declining-australian-tree-health-is-as-big-a-problem-as-bushfires-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/declining-australian-tree-health-is-as-big-a-problem-as-bushfires-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>05 May 2026 00:31:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael ReidTed Alter]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Erik Hoffner]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/05/04193052/Image-1_fire-e1777923225283-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=318695</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Commentary, Conservation, Diseases, Fires, Forests, Health, Invasive Species, Plants, Rainforests, Trees, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Some of the most serious threats to our forests do not arrive with smoke or headlines. They move quietly, through bark and new growth, weakening ecosystems long before we notice. Without sustained attention, our unique flora and fauna remain vulnerable. Tree health is often treated as a niche technical issue, but it is also a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Some of the most serious threats to our forests do not arrive with smoke or headlines. They move quietly, through bark and new growth, weakening ecosystems long before we notice. Without sustained attention, our unique flora and fauna remain vulnerable. Tree health is often treated as a niche technical issue, but it is also a question of ecological resilience, public health, and how well communities adapt to a hotter, more disturbed world. Devastating bushfires are reshaping Australia’s landscapes and ecosystems, and climate change is accelerating species loss. But there is a quieter threat with ecological, economic and human consequences. Alongside fire and drought, microscopic pests and pathogens are spreading through forests and urban canopies, thinning tree cover, weakening ecosystems, and leaving them more vulnerable to the next shock. Most of us appreciate the comfort of a shady tree on a hot day, and we’ve heard that the Amazon rainforests are the lungs of the planet. Yet many people underestimate the importance of healthy tree populations and how closely they are tied to our physical and mental health. The road to forest health, like this track through K’Gari rainforest, begins with vigilance, early detection, raising awareness, and working with those closest to the landscape to identify outbreak risks and track impacts over time. Image courtesy of Michael Reid. In his new book Nature and the Mind, Marc Berman, professor of psychology at the University of Chicago and director of the Environmental Neuroscience Lab, draws together evidence on how nature supports cognitive,&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/declining-australian-tree-health-is-as-big-a-problem-as-bushfires-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/05/declining-australian-tree-health-is-as-big-a-problem-as-bushfires-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-318695</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Tropical forests in Australia are emitting more carbon than they capture: Study</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tropical-forests-in-australia-are-emitting-more-carbon-than-they-capture-study/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tropical-forests-in-australia-are-emitting-more-carbon-than-they-capture-study/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Dec 2025 15:54:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/04/05113351/Lumholtz-tree-kangaroo-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=311960</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Environment, Forests, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to capturing carbon, trees have always been our go-to. But a sinister switch is underway. A study published in the journal Nature reveals that moist tropical forests in Australia are now emitting more carbon than they capture. Researchers examined nearly five decades of forest monitoring data from the far northeast of Queensland [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[When it comes to capturing carbon, trees have always been our go-to. But a sinister switch is underway. A study published in the journal Nature reveals that moist tropical forests in Australia are now emitting more carbon than they capture. Researchers examined nearly five decades of forest monitoring data from the far northeast of Queensland state. Between 1971 and 2019, they tracked roughly 11,000 tree stems across 20 rainforest plots, measuring changes in the carbon locked away in trunks and branches. Around the year 2000, the study reports, the rate at which these forests absorbed carbon slowed and reversed, making them net emitters instead. It&#8217;s the first documented case of tropical forest woody biomass making this flip. &#8220;We analysed this long-term data and found a clear signal: woody biomass switched from being a carbon sink to a carbon source about 25 years ago,&#8221; the authors of the paper write in The Conversation. The core problem? Tree deaths have doubled compared to earlier decades, and new growth isn&#8217;t keeping pace. A famous strangler fig (Cathedral Fig) in Queensland, Australia. Image by James Niland / Flickr – Creative Commons Before 2000, the forests pulled in approximately 0.62 metric tons of carbon per hectare each year. By the most recent decade studied, they were hemorrhaging 0.93 tons per hectare annually. What&#8217;s killing the trees? Climate change tops the list. These rainforest species evolved for warm, wet conditions, but they&#8217;re now facing temperature extremes and extended droughts that damage their tissues and stunt growth.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tropical-forests-in-australia-are-emitting-more-carbon-than-they-capture-study/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/tropical-forests-in-australia-are-emitting-more-carbon-than-they-capture-study/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-311960</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Whale shark hotspot discovered along the Great Barrier Reef</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/whale-shark-hotspot-discovered-along-the-great-barrier-reef/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/whale-shark-hotspot-discovered-along-the-great-barrier-reef/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>19 Aug 2025 16:45:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Edward Carver]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/08/19110910/6-2-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=304501</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Great Barrier Reef, Pacific Ocean, and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bycatch, Climate Change, Conservation, data, Ecosystems, Environment, Fish, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Pollution, Research, Saltwater Fish, and Whale Sharks]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The whale shark — a shark, not a whale — is the largest fish in the world, roughly the length of a city bus. Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), which live in warm seas, are known as majestic creatures. They’re covered in a mosaic of dots and stripes — groups of whale sharks are unofficially known [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The whale shark — a shark, not a whale — is the largest fish in the world, roughly the length of a city bus. Whale sharks (Rhincodon typus), which live in warm seas, are known as majestic creatures. They’re covered in a mosaic of dots and stripes — groups of whale sharks are unofficially known as constellations because of these “stars” on their back — and they glide through the water, seemingly unrushed, collecting food in their huge mouths. Part of their allure is their rareness: Finding and studying them is hard. They’re largely solitary creatures that roam great distances. Yet they do occasionally aggregate. There are about 30 known aggregation sites worldwide, mostly seasonal, and scientists have finally identified one along Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, a new study reveals. The study, published June 24 in the journal Ecology and Evolution, unveils a consistent seasonal gathering point for whale sharks, mostly juvenile males, in Wreck Bay, along the northern portion of the Great Barrier Reef. It’s the first known aggregation found in eastern Australia and in the entire southwest Pacific Ocean. Whale sharks in the region have been inadequately studied, so Wreck Bay could become a crucial research location, the study’s authors write. Globally, whale sharks are endangered and populations are declining. “It&#8217;s going to be quite significant for regional and global population assessments and conservation management,” Ingo Miller, a researcher at Australia-based Biopixel Oceans Foundation and first author of the study, told Mongabay. Ingo Miller puts a camera on&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/08/whale-shark-hotspot-discovered-along-the-great-barrier-reef/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-304501</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Two ferns presumed extinct found on remote Australian mountaintops</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/two-ferns-presumed-extinct-found-on-remote-australian-mountaintops/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/two-ferns-presumed-extinct-found-on-remote-australian-mountaintops/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Jul 2019 23:24:10 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/26084307/Whitei-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=220796</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Plants, Research, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On the remote mountaintops of Queensland, Australia, researchers have rediscovered two species of ferns last seen more than 50 years ago. One of the ferns, Hymenophyllum whitei, was first recorded by botanist Cyril Tenison White in 1937 on Thornton Peak, one of Queensland’s highest points, located in the Daintree rainforest. Since then, despite repeated searches, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On the remote mountaintops of Queensland, Australia, researchers have rediscovered two species of ferns last seen more than 50 years ago. One of the ferns, Hymenophyllum whitei, was first recorded by botanist Cyril Tenison White in 1937 on Thornton Peak, one of Queensland’s highest points, located in the Daintree rainforest. Since then, despite repeated searches, researchers didn’t find the fern — that is, until a group of botanists set out on yet another plant survey in August 2017. During this expedition, on the way to Thornton Peak, the researchers from the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney finally spotted H. whitei peeking out from a boulder on the side of the track, according to a new study. “At first we struggled to convince ourselves that ‘this was it,’ but upon closer examination, we knew it couldn’t be anything else, so we allowed ourselves to get completely ecstatic about it,” Matt Renner, a co-author of the study and one of the botanists on the expedition, said in a statement. The expedition team on Thornton Peak in northern Queensland’s Daintree rainforest. Image by Matt Renner/Royal Botanic Garden Sydney. In dry weather, the small fern completely desiccates and shrivels up, retracting into the surrounding flora like mosses, the researchers write, until it’s nearly undetectable. When moisture is available again, the fern re-expands. “This may in part explain the long period between collections of this species,” the researchers add. Renner and his colleagues say that because H. whitei occurs in a very limited area and is found&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/two-ferns-presumed-extinct-found-on-remote-australian-mountaintops/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-220796</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Stylish jumping spider named after late fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/stylish-jumping-spider-named-after-late-fashion-icon-karl-lagerfeld/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/stylish-jumping-spider-named-after-late-fashion-icon-karl-lagerfeld/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>04 Jul 2019 21:22:42 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/07/04093312/205093_web.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=220193</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Arachnids, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Research, Species Discovery, Spiders, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[If there’s an iconic image of the late Karl Lagerfeld, the creative director of Chanel and Fendi, it’s his signature black-and-white style: white ponytail, black sunglasses, black-and-white suit with high, detachable white-collared shirts. That’s also the look being sported by a tiny black-and-white jumping spider species from Australia, according to a new study. The arachnid, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[If there’s an iconic image of the late Karl Lagerfeld, the creative director of Chanel and Fendi, it’s his signature black-and-white style: white ponytail, black sunglasses, black-and-white suit with high, detachable white-collared shirts. That’s also the look being sported by a tiny black-and-white jumping spider species from Australia, according to a new study. The arachnid, named Jotus karllagerfeldi after the style czar, has large black eyes that resemble sunglasses, and short black-and-white appendages called pedipalps next to its jaw, which resemble a Kent collar. “Karl Lagerfeld inspired us with his unique sense of design and this new spider with big black eyes and white kent collar reminds us of his later looks — a fashion icon in black and white,” researchers write in the paper. A newly described brushed jumping spider species, Jotus karllagerfeldi. Image by Mark Newton/CeNak. In addition to Karl Lagerfeld’s jumping spider, Barbara Baehr, an arachnologist at Queensland Museum, and her colleagues described four more new-to-science species of jumping spiders, including J. albimanus, J. fortiniae, J. moonensis and J. newtoni. The specimens of all five species were drawn from museum collections. All five newly described species belong to a group of miniscule spiders called brushed jumping spiders. The males of these spiders can be black-and-white or extremely colorful, with iridescent turquoise and orange patterns, and are known to perform elaborate mating dances using a brush of long, colorful bristles, known as setae, on their legs to wave to the females. “The males perform unique dance rituals with their&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/07/stylish-jumping-spider-named-after-late-fashion-icon-karl-lagerfeld/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-220193</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Cars and STDs killing koalas in Queensland</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/cars-and-stds-killing-koalas-in-queensland/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/cars-and-stds-killing-koalas-in-queensland/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Mar 2017 04:42:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/03/30124524/koala-LP1-768x510.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=193554</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Forest, Australia, and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Habitat Loss, Marsupials, Research, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Koalas, the eucalyptus-loving cuddly marsupials found only in Australia, are declining rapidly. In some areas, their numbers have plummeted by more than 80 percent, with koala populations in the state of Queensland being some of the worst hit. Now, a new study suggests that cars and a sexually transmitted disease, Chlamydia, are to blame for their decline [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Koalas, the eucalyptus-loving cuddly marsupials found only in Australia, are declining rapidly. In some areas, their numbers have plummeted by more than 80 percent, with koala populations in the state of Queensland being some of the worst hit. Now, a new study suggests that cars and a sexually transmitted disease, Chlamydia, are to blame for their decline in south-east Queensland. By analyzing more than 20,000 hospital records of koala disease and death from 1997 to 2013, researchers found that trauma due to collisions with cars was the most frequent cause of death in these animals. Nearly a quarter of the koalas (Phascolarctos cinereus) hit by cars were otherwise in good health, the researchers report in the study published in Scientific Reports. This is worrying, they say, because it suggests that car accidents are removing healthy, breeding animals from the local populations. Koala with a joey on her back. Photo by Benjamint444. Source: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. The second most frequent cause of death among Queensland&#8217;s koalas appears to be Chlamydia, a sexually transmitted disease that also affects humans. The strain of Chlamydia that infects koalas can have devastating effects. The disease affects both male and female koalas, and their babies can also get infected while suckling from their mothers in the pouch. Chlamydia can cause the animals to become blind, infertile, or develop urinary and respiratory infections, making it difficult for them to avoid predators or find food. The disease is believed to be prevalent across half the koala populations in Australia. Koalas in Queensland are also frequently&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/cars-and-stds-killing-koalas-in-queensland/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-193554</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New species of extinct, kitten-sized marsupial lion named after David Attenborough</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/new-species-of-extinct-kitten-sized-marsupial-lion-named-after-david-attenborough/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/new-species-of-extinct-kitten-sized-marsupial-lion-named-after-david-attenborough/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>26 Aug 2016 06:35:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/08/01192341/Extinct-marsupial-lion-440x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=188909</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Environment, Extinction, Fossils, Lions, Mammals, Marsupials, and Species Discovery]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in north-western Queensland, Australia, scientists have discovered the fossil remains of a new species of marsupial lion that went extinct about 18 million years ago. The lion was tiny, weighing only about 600 grams, scientists write in a new study published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica. In contrast, the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In the Riversleigh World Heritage Area in north-western Queensland, Australia, scientists have discovered the fossil remains of a new species of marsupial lion that went extinct about 18 million years ago. The lion was tiny, weighing only about 600 grams, scientists write in a new study published in the journal Palaeontologia Electronica. In contrast, the last surviving marsupial lion that went extinct about 100,000 years ago, Thylacoleo carnifex, was lion-sized, weighed more than 100 kilograms. The team has named the new species Microleo attenboroughi, both for its miniature size and in honor of Sir David Attenborough for “his support for the Riversleigh World Heritage Area, which he has described as one of the four most important fossil areas in the world”, the authors write in the paper. “Microleo attenboroughi would have been more like the cute but still feisty kitten of the family,” lead author of the study, Anna Gillespie of the University of New South Wales (UNSW), said in a statement. “It’s likely that Microleo scampered amongst the tree-tops, gobbling insects as well as small vertebrates such as lizards and birds while simultaneously trying to avoid becoming a prey item for its larger relatives.” Reconstruction by palaeoartist Peter Schouten of Microleo attenboroughi prowling along the branches of rainforest trees in search of prey. Image credit: Peter Schouten Size differences between Microleo attenboroughi and the three other genera of marsupial lions, Priscileo, Wakaleo and Thylacoleo. Image: UNSW. The researchers recovered Microleo&#8217;s fossil remains — parts of skull and teeth — from a limestone&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/new-species-of-extinct-kitten-sized-marsupial-lion-named-after-david-attenborough/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-188909</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Watch how corals &#8216;violently&#8217; bleach as sea temperatures rise</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/watch-how-corals-violently-bleach-as-sea-temperatures-rise/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/watch-how-corals-violently-bleach-as-sea-temperatures-rise/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Aug 2016 07:32:41 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/08/01192731/Screen-Shot-2016-08-22-at-12.44.25-pm-492x330.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=188782</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Climate Change, Coral Bleaching, Coral Reefs, Ecosystems, Environment, Marine, Marine Animals, and Oceans]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Corals around the world are bleaching. Australia&#8217;s Great Barrier Reef, for example, suffered widespread bleaching this year due to rising sea surface temperatures caused by a combination of global warming and a strong El Niño. Bleaching occurs because warmer-than-normal sea waters disrupt the mutual relationship between corals and the algae that reside in their tissues. These algae give the corals food and their distinct vibrant [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Corals around the world are bleaching. Australia&#8217;s Great Barrier Reef, for example, suffered widespread bleaching this year due to rising sea surface temperatures caused by a combination of global warming and a strong El Niño. Bleaching occurs because warmer-than-normal sea waters disrupt the mutual relationship between corals and the algae that reside in their tissues. These algae give the corals food and their distinct vibrant colors. So when sea surface temperatures rise above normal average, the heat-stressed corals spit out the algae, turning pale or ghostly white. If elevated sea temperatures continue for prolonged periods, the heat-stressed corals can starve to death. Now, for the first time, scientists have caught a coral&#8217;s bleaching on camera. Researchers from Queensland University of Technology (QUT) placed individuals of the solitary coral, Heliofungia actiniformis, into a 10-litre aquatic tank, and began heating the water up from 26oC to 32oC over 12 hours to see the effect of elevated water temperature on the corals. The corals remained at 32oC for up to eight days. Then by using microscopes, digital camera and smart tablets, the team created detailed time-lapse videos of the coral&#8217;s reaction to the heat-stress, according to the study published in Coral Reefs. &nbsp; Within the first two hours of raising the water temperature, the H. actiniformis began expelling Symbiodinium, the tiny algae that lives inside its tissues, in a process called pulsed inflation. In the video, the coral first rapidly expands, then contracts to release a green plume of algae, becoming paler over time. The intensity and magnitude of the expansion-contraction pulses also increased with time, with the coral inflating to up to 340&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/08/watch-how-corals-violently-bleach-as-sea-temperatures-rise/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-188782</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Photos: ‘Extremely rare’ baby albino turtle spotted in Australia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/photos-extremely-rare-baby-albino-turtle-spotted-in-australia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/photos-extremely-rare-baby-albino-turtle-spotted-in-australia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>11 Feb 2016 04:29:17 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/02/02180307/Albino-turtle-1-496x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Herps, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Oceans, Reptiles, Turtles, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[In Australia, a group of volunteers have spotted a rare albino green turtle hatchling. On Sunday, volunteers from the Coolum and North Shore Coast Care group were at Castaway beach on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast monitoring turtle nests, when some of them spotted an albino hatchling, still sitting on his nest. Normally, green turtle hatchlings are [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[In Australia, a group of volunteers have spotted a rare albino green turtle hatchling. On Sunday, volunteers from the Coolum and North Shore Coast Care group were at Castaway beach on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast monitoring turtle nests, when some of them spotted an albino hatchling, still sitting on his nest. Normally, green turtle hatchlings are shiny black above with a whitish underside, and have white margins around the shells. The albino hatchling however, had a white shell and pink flippers. The volunteers nicknamed the turtle baby &#8220;Alby&#8221;. “We were just in the process of collecting our data and we removed the top of the surface of the sand, and there was little Alby,” Sherida Holford told Brisbane Times. “In our nine years of monitoring the marine turtle nests on the Sunshine Coast, we’ve never seen anything like this, and we may never see it again. So we were all very surprised and thrilled.” A group of volunteers spotted an albino green turtle hatchling on Queensland&#8217;s Sunshine Coast. Photo courtesy of Coolum District Coast Care Group. The volunteers measured Alby, took his photos, and let him walk into the ocean and swim away, Holford said. Albino hatchlings such as Alby are extremely rare, according to Dr Col Limpus, chief scientist of Queensland Government&#8217;s Threatened Species Unit. They probably occur at the rate of one in many hundreds of thousands of eggs that are laid, he told ABC news. During summer months, Queensland’s coast is home to Green turtles (Chelonia mydas) and Loggerhead&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/02/photos-extremely-rare-baby-albino-turtle-spotted-in-australia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-178574</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Adorable echidna babies boost hope for critically endangered cousins</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/adorable-echidna-babies-boost-hope-for-critically-endangered-cousins/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/adorable-echidna-babies-boost-hope-for-critically-endangered-cousins/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>01 Oct 2015 07:03:05 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2015/10/03151747/Echidna-baby1-443x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Queensland]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Captive Breeding, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, and Happy-upbeat Environmental]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There’s an echidna baby boom in Australia. In the last five years, an echidna captive breeding partnership between the University of Queensland and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Australia has produced 14 cute short-beaked echidna puggles (or babies). “This is by far the most successful captive breeding program for echidnas,” Michael Pyne, general manager of life sciences [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An echidna puggle at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. Photo courtesy of University of Queensland and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. There’s an echidna baby boom in Australia. In the last five years, an echidna captive breeding partnership between the University of Queensland and Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary in Australia has produced 14 cute short-beaked echidna puggles (or babies). “This is by far the most successful captive breeding program for echidnas,” Michael Pyne, general manager of life sciences and senior veterinarian at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary, told Mongabay. Echidna, also called the spiny anteater, is one of the most primitive mammals on earth. It is also one of the only two living mammals that lays eggs, the other being the duck-billed platypus (Ornithorhynchus anatinus). For a long time, scientists have had a limited understanding of echidna reproduction and biology. So getting them to breed in captivity has been difficult. According to Pyne, other zoos have bred short-beaked echidnas in the past, but the successes were mostly accidental, and not reliable. “But we’ve been researching echidna reproduction for 15 years now, and we’ve really cracked the secret of breeding them successfully and consistently,” he said. Short beaked echidna in Mount Field National Park, Tanzania. Photo by JJ Harrison, Wikimedia Commons. The short-beaked echidna is one of the only four living species of echidnas in the world. It is also the only echidna species that is currently not considered to be threatened by extinction. Its remaining three cousins — the long-beaked echidnas found in New Guinea — are all critically endangered. These include the Western&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/adorable-echidna-babies-boost-hope-for-critically-endangered-cousins/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-148466</doi>				</item>
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