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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
		<atom:link href="https://news.mongabay.com/feed/?topic=caves&#038;type=post" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/caves/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 25 Sep 2026 15:56:47 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<language>en-US</language>
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<image>
	<url>https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/05/16160320/cropped-mongabay_icon-32x32.png</url>
	<title>News on Caves</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/caves/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Study investigates how to prevent viral spread from bat guano in Southeast Asia</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/study-investigates-how-to-prevent-viral-spread-from-bat-guano-in-southeast-asia/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/study-investigates-how-to-prevent-viral-spread-from-bat-guano-in-southeast-asia/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>28 Jul 2026 13:55:30 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/25102859/Banner_Rhinolophus_coelophyllus_Croslet-horseshoe-bat-e1784975703551-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=324526</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, Southeast Asia, and Thailand]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Agrochemicals, Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Business, Caves, Coronavirus, Diseases, Environment, Fertilizers, Health, Mammals, One Health, Public Health, Research, Science, Supply Chain, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As humans encroach further into ecosystems, people and wildlife are brought into closer proximity. One potential consequence is an increased risk of pathogens jumping from animals to humans, prompting researchers to explore the dynamics of how viruses circulate in nature and how best to prevent the risk of this transmission. New research from Thailand identified [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As humans encroach further into ecosystems, people and wildlife are brought into closer proximity. One potential consequence is an increased risk of pathogens jumping from animals to humans, prompting researchers to explore the dynamics of how viruses circulate in nature and how best to prevent the risk of this transmission. New research from Thailand identified genetic material belonging to Betacoronaviruses, a genus of viruses that includes the strains responsible for Covid-19, SARS and MERS, within commercially available agricultural products, raising concerns over a general lack of safety protocols to protect harvesters and handlers from exposure. In the study, published in PLOS One, researchers screened 41 samples of bat guano fertilizers commonly sold in Thai markets for the presence of coronaviruses. While all the samples were from products bought in Thailand, the researchers couldn’t determine the exact origins of the guano contained in each product, which may have been from outside the country. Two of the samples tested positive for Alphacoronaviruses, another genus of coronaviruses, and one tested positive for Betacoronaviruses. Genetic analysis showed the Betacoronavirus sample was closely genetically related to the sarbecovirus subgenus, the group that includes the Covid-causing pathogen, SARS-CoV-2. Importantly, the researchers note the viral strains detected are not known to infect humans. Moreover, they only detected a fragment of viral RNA, the genetic blueprint of viruses, and did not fully isolate a live virus in the samples. As a result, they couldn’t definitively confirm the genetic material detected is capable of posing risks to human health.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/study-investigates-how-to-prevent-viral-spread-from-bat-guano-in-southeast-asia/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-324526</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>At dusk in Kenya’s caves, scientists study the hidden lives of bats</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/at-dusk-in-kenyas-caves-scientists-race-to-understand-the-hidden-lives-of-bats/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/at-dusk-in-kenyas-caves-scientists-race-to-understand-the-hidden-lives-of-bats/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Mar 2026 14:44:03 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sharon Muzaki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Terna Gyuse]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/03/17142523/Hildegardes-Tomb-Bat-2-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=315843</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa, East Africa, and Kenya]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Caves, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Infrastructure, Mammals, Protected Areas, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[As the afternoon fades at the Three Sisters Caves in Kenya’s Kwale county, David Wechuli’s team begins setting up nearly invisible nets along the hillsides in the coastal forest. “When dusk arrives, bats begin pouring out of the caves,” Wechuli says. “Some fly straight into the nets. We quickly remove them, carefully untangling each bat [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[As the afternoon fades at the Three Sisters Caves in Kenya’s Kwale county, David Wechuli’s team begins setting up nearly invisible nets along the hillsides in the coastal forest. “When dusk arrives, bats begin pouring out of the caves,” Wechuli says. “Some fly straight into the nets. We quickly remove them, carefully untangling each bat before taking morphometric measurements such as body size, weight and wing length.” The captured bats are carefully placed in small cotton bags, allowing them to breathe while preventing escape over the next two or three hours. The research team from Bat Conservation International (BCI) will work into the night, measuring each animal, determining their sex, and taking tissue samples to check for the presence of disease, before photographing each one and releasing it back into the night. Earlier in the afternoon, the team will have inspected the site, moving carefully through the dark cave filled with thousands of bats clinging to the cave’s roof and rock walls. “Some caves are deep tunnels, more than 100 meters [330 feet] long,” Wechuli tells Mongabay in a phone interview. “Others have bats roosting very high. You have to know the cave before you even start capturing anything.” Wechuli and other researchers are working to better understand how bats live, the role these flying mammals play in ecosystems, and how human activities are reshaping their habitats. His research and conservation work is focused on the coastal caves in the Shimoni region of Kwale county, as well as in volcanic&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/03/at-dusk-in-kenyas-caves-scientists-race-to-understand-the-hidden-lives-of-bats/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-315843</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Myanmar’s limestone hills, people and bats are often too close for comfort</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-myanmars-limestone-hills-people-and-bats-are-often-too-close-for-comfort/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-myanmars-limestone-hills-people-and-bats-are-often-too-close-for-comfort/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2026 07:28:08 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Carolyn Cowan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/02/25070646/Bat01_SaMyoZaw-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=314743</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Myanmar, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Caves, Conservation, Diseases, Environment, Habitat Degradation, Karst, Mammals, Research, Tourism, Wildlife, and Zoonotic Diseases]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Limestone karst is like an island. Each rocky formation rises distinctly out of the surrounding landscape. Over time, an array of highly specialized species, each adapted to that particular landform’s jagged forests and dark caves, have evolved. As a result, many karst species are endemic and perilously rare. Myanmar is home to Southeast Asia’s second-largest [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Limestone karst is like an island. Each rocky formation rises distinctly out of the surrounding landscape. Over time, an array of highly specialized species, each adapted to that particular landform’s jagged forests and dark caves, have evolved. As a result, many karst species are endemic and perilously rare. Myanmar is home to Southeast Asia’s second-largest area of limestone karst, after Indonesia; its rugged peaks cover a total of more than 80,000 square kilometers (31,000 square miles. The area hosts the entire global population of Popa langurs (Trachypithecus popa), one of the world’s most recently described primates, and scores of gecko species described only in the past decade. Scientists say countless others likely remain tucked away in obscurity, waiting to be discovered. Yet despite its biodiversity, less than 1% of Myanmar’s limestone karst is formally protected, prompting concerns from conservationists about fragile wildlife populations that are facing mounting pressure amid a boom in clandestine mining and deforestation across the country to meet rising demand for cement, minerals and timber. Now, a recent census of cave-dwelling bats in northeast Myanmar’s Shan state indicates many karst caverns are becoming increasingly inhospitable for the winged mammals due to human disturbance, posing risks to both bats and people. “Bats are natural reservoirs for many viruses, including coronaviruses,” said Thura Soe Min Htike, conservation officer at the Nature Conservation Society–Myanmar and a co-author of the study. “Understanding how bats interact with their environment, and how humans interact with bats, is an important first step in preventing&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/02/in-myanmars-limestone-hills-people-and-bats-are-often-too-close-for-comfort/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-314743</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Protecting Vietnam’s vast caves may have sparked a wildlife comeback</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/protecting-vietnams-vast-caves-may-have-sparked-a-wildlife-comeback/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/protecting-vietnams-vast-caves-may-have-sparked-a-wildlife-comeback/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>13 Nov 2025 03:23:18 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Joshua Zukas]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/11/11060141/Maze-cave-3-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=309239</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Caves, Conservation, Ecotourism, Environment, Environmental Law, Exploration, Sustainability, Tourism, Travel, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Thirty-five years ago, a Vietnamese hunter stumbled across the biggest cave on the planet — then promptly lost it. Hồ Khanh was deep in the 400-million-year-old karst limestone landscape that straddles central Vietnam and Laos. Beneath Hồ’s feet lay wet cave systems that spanned hundreds of kilometers, but his focus was on the tangled jungle [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Thirty-five years ago, a Vietnamese hunter stumbled across the biggest cave on the planet — then promptly lost it. Hồ Khanh was deep in the 400-million-year-old karst limestone landscape that straddles central Vietnam and Laos. Beneath Hồ’s feet lay wet cave systems that spanned hundreds of kilometers, but his focus was on the tangled jungle above. Here he hunted slow lorises, which he hawked as pets, and pangolins, whose scales are used in traditional medicine (and which perhaps helped spread COVID-19 from bats to humans). What he prized most, however, was agarwood, a rare, valuable and fragrant heartwood that could be carved into ornaments or burned as incense. When a sudden storm broke, Hồ slipped into a cave for cover. The hammering rain blurred the world into noise, yet it couldn’t drown out the blustering chambers from the cave’s dark depths. When the skies cleared, Hồ resumed his hunt. With time, the memory of this small crack in the mountain dimmed, and Hồ returned to his primary income source: looting the jungle. “Back then, we barely saw any wildlife,” recalls Howard Limbert, who began exploring the wilderness’s caves with his wife, Deb, in the 1990s. After several expeditions with the British Caving Association (BCA) in what became Phong Nha-Kẻ Bàng National Park in 2001, the Limberts were convinced that the region concealed vast, unknown caves. In 2007, when they heard Hồ’s story of a narrow opening that led to howling chambers, their curiosity was piqued. The three struck up a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/11/protecting-vietnams-vast-caves-may-have-sparked-a-wildlife-comeback/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-309239</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat finally confirmed in Bangladesh</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/great-himalayan-leaf-nosed-bat-finally-confirmed-in-bangladesh/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/great-himalayan-leaf-nosed-bat-finally-confirmed-in-bangladesh/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Dec 2024 11:32:43 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mohammad Al-Masum Molla]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abu Siddique]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2024/12/26152418/H.-armiger-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=292387</guid>

					
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Caves, Conservation, Environment, Mammals, New Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA — Scientists have published the first record of the great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat in Bangladesh, dropping another pin on this wide-ranging species’ distribution map across Asia and highlighting the importance of continued biodiversity surveys in Bangladesh. The species, Hipposideros armiger, was found in a cave in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh during [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[DHAKA — Scientists have published the first record of the great Himalayan leaf-nosed bat in Bangladesh, dropping another pin on this wide-ranging species’ distribution map across Asia and highlighting the importance of continued biodiversity surveys in Bangladesh. The species, Hipposideros armiger, was found in a cave in the Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeastern Bangladesh during field surveys between July and December 2023, according to a newly published study. “We were thrilled to confirm this species in Bangladesh,” said lead researcher M. Abdul Aziz, a professor in the Department of Zoology at Jahangirnagar University. “It’s an exciting moment for both local and global bat conservation efforts, as this discovery not only adds to the national fauna but also provides a deeper understanding of the species’ distribution across South Asia.” H. armiger, among the larger of the leaf-nosed bats, has a wide distribution stretching from India in the west to China in the east, and as far south as Malaysia. Until last year’s discovery, however, its presence in Bangladesh had never been confirmed by scientists. H. armiger, among the larger of the leaf-nosed bats, has a wide distribution stretching from India in the west to China in the east, and as far south as Malaysia. Image by M. Aziz. How it was identified The species is a high-altitude cave dweller known for its distinctive nose-leaf structure, a crucial part of its echolocation mechanism that helps it navigate in the dark. The cave in which Aziz and his team found it is a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2024/12/great-himalayan-leaf-nosed-bat-finally-confirmed-in-bangladesh/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-292387</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>‘Grumpiest cat’ leaves its calling card on the world’s highest mountain</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/grumpiest-cat-leaves-its-calling-card-on-the-worlds-highest-mountain/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/grumpiest-cat-leaves-its-calling-card-on-the-worlds-highest-mountain/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 Jan 2023 10:04:11 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhaya Raj Joshi]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Isabel Esterman]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/02/17114440/12-Pallass-cat-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=265116</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Nepal, and South Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Cats, Caves, Climate Change, DNA, Grasslands, Mountains, New Discovery, Rodents, Scavengers, Small Cats, Snow Leopards, Species Discovery, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — If you were a grumpy cat, you’d probably want to avoid company. And if you were the world’s grumpiest, as David Attenborough once described the elusive manul, what better place for solitude than the slopes of the world’s tallest mountain? This appears, at least, to be the newest-known haunt of the manul, or [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[KATHMANDU — If you were a grumpy cat, you’d probably want to avoid company. And if you were the world’s grumpiest, as David Attenborough once described the elusive manul, what better place for solitude than the slopes of the world’s tallest mountain? This appears, at least, to be the newest-known haunt of the manul, or Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul), a cold-adapted species about the size of a domestic cat. Its range is already known to include other parts of the Himalayas, stretching east to Siberia and west to the Iranian Plateau. Habitat where Pallas&#8217;s cat scat was collected. Image courtesy of  Anton Seimon/National Geographic A recent study published in the journal CATnews that analyzed scat samples in the region around Sagarmatha (also known as Mount Everest) found evidence of at least two of the cats living in the region, going undetected for many years by the tourists and mountain climbers who pass through. “When we found a scat, we didn’t know which animal it belonged to. We just collected the samples and brought it to our lab,” Tracie Seimon, who led the study under the 2019 National Geographic and Rolex Perpetual Planet Everest Expedition, told Mongabay. Collecting scat wasn’t the primary objective of Seimon’s team, who worked in the Khumbu Valley on the southern flank of the mountain for more than four weeks. They were actually collecting water samples to analyze environmental DNA, or eDNA — trace amounts of genetic material shed by living organisms — that would provide clues&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2023/01/grumpiest-cat-leaves-its-calling-card-on-the-worlds-highest-mountain/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-265116</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environment award stokes urge to save Indonesia’s karst landscape</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/environment-award-stokes-urge-to-save-indonesias-karst-landscape/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/environment-award-stokes-urge-to-save-indonesias-karst-landscape/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 May 2022 15:49:55 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Donny IqbalWarief Djajanto Basorie]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Philip Jacobson]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2022/05/16153420/1-Highline-an-outdoor-activity-as-well-as-a-conservation-effort-in-the-Karst-Citatah-area-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=255870</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Indonesia, Southeast Asia, and West Java]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Caves, Community-based Conservation, Conservation, Conservation leadership, Degraded Lands, Environment, Illegal Mining, Karst, Land Conflict, Mining, NGOs, Pollution, and Protected Areas]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[“Recover Citatah Karst, Make People Prosper.” That’s the call printed in red letters on a huge white banner pinned on a limestone cliff in Indonesia’s West Java province. “We put up the banner so that anyone could read it — citizens, cliff climbers, the government — as a means of our campaign,” says Deden Syarif [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[“Recover Citatah Karst, Make People Prosper.” That’s the call printed in red letters on a huge white banner pinned on a limestone cliff in Indonesia’s West Java province. “We put up the banner so that anyone could read it — citizens, cliff climbers, the government — as a means of our campaign,” says Deden Syarif Hidayat, founder and head of the Citatah Karst Care Youth Forum. The environmental advocacy group operates to conserve a limestone-based karst landscape in four villages in Padalarang subdistrict, West Bandung district. Citatah is one of the four villages. What sparked Deden to start his conservation drive was the unsightly environmental damage in the area: mountain destruction, groundwater depletion, air and noise pollution, land erosion, animal extinction, and farmland loss. The vicinity was under threat from unsupervised mining and a confusing proliferation of permits. Aerial photo of karst conditions in Padalarang, West Java, some time ago. The vicinity was under threat from unsupervised mining and a confusing proliferation of permits. Image by Donny Iqbal/Mongabay. Much of the mining activity is illegal and ignores the impact to the environment, says Deden, 37, who works as an Islamic studies instructor at Bandung State Polytechnic, a local higher education institute. Last year, the group received a special recognition for its efforts: the Kalpataru Award, given by Indonesia’s Ministry of Environment and Forestry to honor individuals or groups for service in conservation. Karst is a limestone landscape easily dissolved by rainwater, often making formations of ridges, towers, fissures, caves and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/environment-award-stokes-urge-to-save-indonesias-karst-landscape/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2022/05/environment-award-stokes-urge-to-save-indonesias-karst-landscape/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-255870</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Monks and wildlife come under pressure from Malaysian cement company</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/monks-and-wildlife-come-under-pressure-from-malaysian-cement-company/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/monks-and-wildlife-come-under-pressure-from-malaysian-cement-company/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Jun 2021 12:30:26 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sheryl Lee Tian Tong]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/06/30111154/Sakyamuni-Protest-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=244299</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Malaysia and Peninsular Malaysia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Biodiversity Hotspots, Caves, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Deforestation, Ecology, Endangered Species, Environment, Environmental Law, Forestry, Forests, Insects, Land Rights, Protected Areas, Tropical Forests, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[On Dec. 28 last year, a Monday, a group of representatives from a local cement firm arrived at the foot of the Mount Kanthan limestone hills in Perak, Malaysia. The day was hot and relatively windless, and the sheer white cliffs with their craggy summits and dark-green foliage stood with their faces to the sun. [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[On Dec. 28 last year, a Monday, a group of representatives from a local cement firm arrived at the foot of the Mount Kanthan limestone hills in Perak, Malaysia. The day was hot and relatively windless, and the sheer white cliffs with their craggy summits and dark-green foliage stood with their faces to the sun. Hidden to the casual observer, their nooks and crannies brim with rare and delicate life: snow-white orchids, thumb-sized trapdoor spiders, bent-toed geckoes, and tiny snails found nowhere else. At the bottom of the hills is a monastery nestled in limestone caves, where Buddhist statues and carvings sit serenely under a ceiling of stalactites. Home to some 15 monks and visited by more than 2,000 devotees yearly before the pandemic, the Dhamma Sakyamuni Caves Monastery has, over the last century, become a local tourist attraction. When the representatives from Associated Pan Malaysia Cement (APMC) reached the monastery, they found themselves locked out of a gated compound. Undeterred, they climbed over the gates and marched in. The shocked monks and devotees “adamantly” refused to accept the legal letter the group had come to serve, the local plant manager, Sekar Kaliannan, noted in his affidavit. The document, a letter demanding the monks tear down the monastery and leave the land, was eventually left at a post box at the gates. “It never crossed our minds that this would happen to us. We had vowed to safeguard the caves monastery,” a monk representing the monastery told Mongabay. “But we&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/monks-and-wildlife-come-under-pressure-from-malaysian-cement-company/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/06/monks-and-wildlife-come-under-pressure-from-malaysian-cement-company/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-244299</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In the International Year of Caves and Karst, Brazilian caves are at high risk (Commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/in-the-international-year-of-caves-and-karst-brazilian-caves-are-at-high-risk-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/in-the-international-year-of-caves-and-karst-brazilian-caves-are-at-high-risk-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>31 May 2021 15:17:07 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Enrico Bernard | Rodrigo Lopes Ferreira | Francisco W. Cruz | Luís Piló | Allan Calux]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Willie Shubert]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/05/31151157/Enrico-Bernard-Gruta-do-Janela%CC%83o-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=243164</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Caves, Commentary, Environment, Environmental Policy, Mining, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Brazil is internationally known for its astonishing biodiversity. Nevertheless, there is another natural heritage for which Brazil should also be recognized: its caves. As a continental-sized country, with a rich geological history, Brazil harbors an estimated 310,000 caves – some of them among the most spectacular in the world. Like for biodiversity, cave protection in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Brazil is internationally known for its astonishing biodiversity. Nevertheless, there is another natural heritage for which Brazil should also be recognized: its caves. As a continental-sized country, with a rich geological history, Brazil harbors an estimated 310,000 caves – some of them among the most spectacular in the world. Like for biodiversity, cave protection in Brazil was always challenging, considering most of the country&#8217;s economy depend on sectors with known and persistent environmental conflicts, like agribusiness and mining. Presidential Decree 99556 of 1990 stated that all natural caves in Brazil should be treated as a national cultural heritage, and, as such, should be preserved and conserved. But in 2008, after pressures from the Brazilian mining sector, the new Decree 6640 was published stating caves should be then classified as having maximum, high, medium or low relevance, but only those classified as having maximum relevance would be fully protected from the very beginning. Although Decree 6640 was more technical than its predecessor, establishing, for example, a legal definition for a cave, it also made explicit that only caves classified as having maximum relevance would be fully protected. Via an environmental licensing process, other caves could suffer irreversible negative impacts, including total destruction. Decree 6640 established a compensation system: two similar caves should be protected for each high relevance cave destroyed. For caves of medium relevance, financial compensation could be made, giving priority for research and conservation in maximum and high relevance caves. Decree 6640 also boosted cave inventories in Brazil: 70%&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/in-the-international-year-of-caves-and-karst-brazilian-caves-are-at-high-risk-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/05/in-the-international-year-of-caves-and-karst-brazilian-caves-are-at-high-risk-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-243164</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>The riddle of Madagascar’s megafauna extinction just got trickier</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/the-riddle-of-madagascars-megafauna-extinction-just-got-trickier/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/the-riddle-of-madagascars-megafauna-extinction-just-got-trickier/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Nov 2020 06:10:20 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[africa]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/17044835/ostrich-and-elephant-bird-eggs-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=236925</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Conservation in Madagascar]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Africa and Madagascar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Caves, Climate Change, Extinction, Impact Of Climate Change, Mass Extinction, Research, Saving Species From Extinction, and Solutions]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The growing consensus that the earth is in the throes of a sixth mass extinction has focused attention on a centuries-old ecological puzzle: why do species suddenly disappear by the droves? Madagascar could hold some lessons, but scientists are still debating what happened there. The vast tropical island in the southwest Indian Ocean experienced a [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The growing consensus that the earth is in the throes of a sixth mass extinction has focused attention on a centuries-old ecological puzzle: why do species suddenly disappear by the droves? Madagascar could hold some lessons, but scientists are still debating what happened there. The vast tropical island in the southwest Indian Ocean experienced a megafauna crash relatively recently, about 1,000 years ago. Yet we still do not know for sure what doomed the gorilla-sized lemurs, towering elephant birds, and grand tortoises that once roamed the island. Humans and climatic changes are scientists’ favored culprits when explaining megafaunal collapses worldwide, especially since human arrival on islands has almost always ushered in dramatic biodiversity losses. But disentangling the importance of each is still a ripe area for research. A recently published paper in the journal Science Advances complicates the widely held understanding that humans in Madagascar were solely to blame, by drawing attention to climatic disruptions. The authors constructed a climatic record spanning 8,000 years. During this period, the island&#8217;s inhabitants experienced several stretches of arid conditions. Madagascar was in the grips of one such megadrought when megafaunal extinctions swept the island, their analysis shows. A map showing Madagascar on the left and Rodrigues on the extreme right. &#8220;Whether you look in Mauritius, Rodrigues, or Madagascar, we have records of megafauna surviving right through all those climate changes,” said study co-author Ashish Sinha, a climate scientist at California State University, Dominguez Hills. “So, the question is, why do they not survive&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/the-riddle-of-madagascars-megafauna-extinction-just-got-trickier/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/the-riddle-of-madagascars-megafauna-extinction-just-got-trickier/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-236925</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Nail paint helps researchers estimate numbers of rare Cuban bat species</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/nail-paint-helps-researchers-estimate-numbers-of-rare-cuban-bat-species/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/nail-paint-helps-researchers-estimate-numbers-of-rare-cuban-bat-species/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Sep 2019 11:34:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/09/09083153/Cuban-greater-funnel-eared-bat-%C2%A9CarolinaSotoNavarro_ZSL-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=222241</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Caribbean and Cuba]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Bats, Biodiversity, Caves, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Mammals, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[One of the world’s rarest bats, the Cuban greater funnel-eared bat, is known from just a single remote cave in the island’s west. The bat was in fact thought to be extinct until researchers rediscovered several individuals in the cave, locally known as Cueva la Barca, in 1992. Nearly three decades later, very little remains [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[One of the world’s rarest bats, the Cuban greater funnel-eared bat, is known from just a single remote cave in the island’s west. The bat was in fact thought to be extinct until researchers rediscovered several individuals in the cave, locally known as Cueva la Barca, in 1992. Nearly three decades later, very little remains known about the species. But now, following a survey that involved nail paint to mark individual bats, researchers have estimated that there are fewer than 750 Cuban greater funnel-eared bats (Natalus primus) in the cave. This is the first ever scientific estimation of the species’ population size, researchers say. “It was previously believed, based on visual sightings, that there were less than a few thousand Cuban greater funnel-eared bats in the cave,” Jose Manuel De La Cruz Mora, a bat specialist at Cuba’s Natural History Museum of Pinar del Río and a Segré-EDGE Fellow at the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), told Mongabay in an email. Overall, though, there is very little research on the species, De La Cruz Mora said, likely because there are very few researchers specialized in the ecology of bats in the region. There’s also the added challenge of counting and studying the last known population of a species. But there was an urgent need to figure out how many bats lived in the cave as a first step, De La Cruz Mora added. The Cuban greater funnel-eared bat is currently listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, and the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/09/nail-paint-helps-researchers-estimate-numbers-of-rare-cuban-bat-species/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-222241</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>In Vietnam, cable car plans continue to threaten important cave system</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/in-vietnam-cable-car-plans-continue-to-threaten-important-cave-system/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/in-vietnam-cable-car-plans-continue-to-threaten-important-cave-system/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>24 Jul 2018 15:59:04 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Kit Humphrey]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/07/24152707/Butterfly-on-the-way-to-Son-Doong_edigt-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=208568</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Southeast Asia and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Caves, Conservation, Ecotourism, Forest Destruction, Forests, National Parks, Rainforests, Tourism, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[GLO-4060 QZA-16/0047.3]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHONG NHA, Vietnam &#8211; Since 2014, one of the world’s largest cave systems has been under threat from developers planning to construct a cable car that would carry thousands of tourists every day. Some are pointing out that this could also irreparably damage the area’s primary forests. A movement to stop the cable car reaching [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHONG NHA, Vietnam &#8211; Since 2014, one of the world’s largest cave systems has been under threat from developers planning to construct a cable car that would carry thousands of tourists every day. Some are pointing out that this could also irreparably damage the area’s primary forests. A movement to stop the cable car reaching the area known as Son Doong cave spearheaded by Vietnamese environmentalist Huong Le has gained traction over the last 3.5 years. Huong has been involved in efforts to garner what is now up to over 170,000 signatures on a petition against the proposed development. The caves in question, which feature some of the world’s largest stalactites and cave pearls, are truly remarkable. Located in a UNESCO’s World Heritage site called Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, Son Doong cave is so large it contains a fast-flowing, subterranean river, two jungles, a beach that visitors can camp on overnight, and seven endemic species that don’t exist anywhere else in the world. It has the largest cross section of any cave &#8211; twice that of its nearest rival &#8211; and is tall enough to fit in a 40-story building. Tetracoral fossils within the cave. (Photo courtesy Professor Phuong Ta) Currently, a sustainable eco-tour brings fewer than 800 people to Son Doong annually. In comparison, the proposed cable car would bring about 1,000 people every hour, a shift that would threaten the pristine ecosystems within the cave. Many also fear the construction needed for the cable cars would damage&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/in-vietnam-cable-car-plans-continue-to-threaten-important-cave-system/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/07/in-vietnam-cable-car-plans-continue-to-threaten-important-cave-system/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-208568</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Son Doong Cave: Tourism and conservation coexist in one of Vietnam’s largest national parks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/son-doong-cave-tourism-and-conservation-coexist-in-one-of-vietnams-largest-national-parks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/son-doong-cave-tourism-and-conservation-coexist-in-one-of-vietnams-largest-national-parks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 May 2017 03:33:15 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Michael Tatarski]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Genevieve Belmaker]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/05/15065549/20170311-DSC00410_edit-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=195720</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Southeast Asia, and Vietnam]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Caves, Conservation, Deforestation, Ecotourism, Forests, Geology, and Happy-upbeat Environmental]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[PHONG NHA, Vietnam &#8211; Deep in the forests of central Vietnam, home to rare flora and fauna and the world’s most spectacular system of caves, tourism is benefiting the local environment. While other parts of the country have seen severe environmental degradation at the hands of tourism development &#8211; for example, two tons of garbage is [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[PHONG NHA, Vietnam &#8211; Deep in the forests of central Vietnam, home to rare flora and fauna and the world’s most spectacular system of caves, tourism is benefiting the local environment. While other parts of the country have seen severe environmental degradation at the hands of tourism development &#8211; for example, two tons of garbage is dumped into world-famous Ha Long Bay every day &#8211; the opposite has been the case here. UNESCO-certified Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park, located in Quang Binh province, is one of the country’s largest national parks. Established in 2000, Phong Nha-Ke Bang spans a strictly regulated core zone of 123,326 hectares (over 304,500 acres) surrounded by a protective buffer zone of 220,055 hectares, including one of the largest areas of intact primary forest in Vietnam. According to UNESCO the park is home to over 800 vertebrate species, including multiple endangered or threatened species of primates, birds and bats. Large mammals such as the Asiatic black bear (Ursus thibetanus) and sun bear (Helarctos malayanus) also call the area home. Though Indochinese tigers (Panthera tigris corbetti) are considered functionally extinct in Vietnam by conservation organizations like the WWF, it is possible that a few of the animals remain in this region. Going underground Among the caves in this area is the mammoth Son Doong, currently considered the largest cave in the world. Son Doong’s main passage is 3.1 miles long, 660 feet high and 490 feet wide, large enough to accommodate a Boeing 747 with room to spare.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/05/son-doong-cave-tourism-and-conservation-coexist-in-one-of-vietnams-largest-national-parks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-195720</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New cave catfish threatened by deforestation, mining, pollution</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/new-cave-catfish-threatened-by-deforestation-mining-pollution/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/new-cave-catfish-threatened-by-deforestation-mining-pollution/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>23 Mar 2017 17:45:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Morgan Erickson-Davis]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2017/03/30123733/journal.pone_.0171309.g009-768x431.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=194267</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Caves, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Fish, Forest Loss, Forests, Habitat Degradation, Habitat Loss, Mining, Pollution, Protected Areas, Rainforests, Research, Species Discovery, Tropical Forests, Water Pollution, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered the first entirely cave-dwelling armored catfish of the Callichthyidae family in South America. But big human pressures around its restricted habitat mean it may already be highly threatened with extinction. In 2007, researchers at Brazilian institutions were surveying the Anésio-Russão cave system, which is part of the upper Tocantins River basin in [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered the first entirely cave-dwelling armored catfish of the Callichthyidae family in South America. But big human pressures around its restricted habitat mean it may already be highly threatened with extinction. In 2007, researchers at Brazilian institutions were surveying the Anésio-Russão cave system, which is part of the upper Tocantins River basin in the state of Goiás, Brazil, when they found a population of strange subterranean catfish. The new catfish was &#8220;clearly different&#8221; than other Callichthyidae catfish in South America, the researchers write in a study describing their find published earlier this month in PLOS ONE. For instance, it has several adaptations that indicate it spends its life in caves, including a reduction in pigmentation and tiny eyes. Because of its differences, the researchers assigned the catfish to a new species: Aspidoras mephisto. Dorsal (a), lateral (b), and ventral (c) view of Aspidoras mephisto. Image from Tencatt and Bichuette, 2017 Aspidoras mephisto in its cave habitat. Image from Tencatt and Bichuette, 2017 Aspidoras mephisto prefers slow, shallow water, and &#8220;forages calmly close to small submersed roots,&#8221; the study states. These roots, the authors explain, may be a source of food and shelter for the fish. They note that the species&#8217; breeding period did not seem to coincide with the rainy season, which is different than other cave-dwelling animals that tend to breed when rains wash more food into their underground ecosystems. When the researchers visited the region again to look for more A. mephisto individuals, they made another discovery – this entire species&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/new-cave-catfish-threatened-by-deforestation-mining-pollution/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2017/03/new-cave-catfish-threatened-by-deforestation-mining-pollution/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-194267</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Pollution from fossil fuels decreased rainfall in Central America</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/pollution-from-fossil-fuels-decreased-rainfall-in-central-america/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/pollution-from-fossil-fuels-decreased-rainfall-in-central-america/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Feb 2015 17:34:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2015/02/pollution-from-fossil-fuels-decreased-rainfall-in-central-america/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Belize and Central America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Agriculture, Air Pollution, Caves, Climate Change, Disasters, Drought, Environment, Food, Fossil Fuels, Global Environmental Crisis, Global Warming, Green, History, Industry, Pollution, Precipitation, and Science]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Jungle in Belize. New research finds Belize has been drying out for over a century, likely due to pollution from burning fossil fuels in the northern hemisphere which has left to a shift in the a vital precipitation belt along the equator. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Fossil fuel pollution may have caused a southern [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Jungle in Belize. New research finds Belize has been drying out for over a century, likely due to pollution from burning fossil fuels in the northern hemisphere which has left to a shift in the a vital precipitation belt along the equator. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Fossil fuel pollution may have caused a southern shift in a vital rainfall belt across Central America, according to a new study in Nature Geoscience, potentially leading to drier conditions and droughts in some northern tropical countries. Using data from a single stalagmite in a Belizean cave, the researchers were able to create an accurate record of both rainfall and temperature for the last 450 years and show a likely change in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, a precipitation belt around the equator. &#8220;The research presents strong evidence that industrial sulfate emissions have shifted this important rainfall belt, particularly over the last 100 years,&#8221; said lead author, Harriet Ridley, from Durham University. According to the research, the shift began around the time of the Industrial Revolution in the northern hemisphere. The Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), known to sailors as the doldrums, girdles the planet near the equator. However, it likes heat best. This is important, because when industry in the northern hemisphere ramped up in the mid 19th Century, it spewed tons of sulfate emissions into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels. Sulfate emissions have a regional cooling effect by reflecting light back into the atmosphere and increasing cloud cover. Scientists believe that when&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/pollution-from-fossil-fuels-decreased-rainfall-in-central-america/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-24118</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New species has its anus behind its head</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/new-species-has-its-anus-behind-its-head/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/new-species-has-its-anus-behind-its-head/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>09 Jun 2014 15:54:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/06/new-species-has-its-anus-behind-its-head/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Caves, Endangered Species, Environment, Fellows, Fish, Freshwater, Green, Species Discovery, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An image of the new species showing the lack of eyes. This specimen had its flesh cleared and researchers stained the bones to show the skeleton. Photo courtesy of: Chakrabarty et al. In the dark caves of southern Indiana in the United States, scientists have discovered a new species of cavefish that are blind, pinkish, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An image of the new species showing the lack of eyes. This specimen had its flesh cleared and researchers stained the bones to show the skeleton. Photo courtesy of: Chakrabarty et al. In the dark caves of southern Indiana in the United States, scientists have discovered a new species of cavefish that are blind, pinkish, and have their anus behind their heads. This peculiar new cavefish is the first to be described in North America in 40 years, and researchers have named it Amblyopsis hoosieri or Hoosier cavefish, after the Indiana University&#8217;s men&#8217;s basketball team and a common name for any resident of Indiana. It all began when Matthew L. Niemiller, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Kentucky, was studying the Northern cavefish (Amblyopsis spelaea), in Indiana and Kentucky. He found that the fish on either side of the Ohio River seemed to belong to two genetically different groups &#8211; one in the north in Indiana, and one in Kentucky in the south. Could these two groups be two different species? To find out, he teamed up with Prosanta Chakrabarty and Jacques A. Prejean from Louisiana State University. After several hours of crawling through muddy dark caves in wetsuits, they collected 30 fish specimens from Indiana and 11 from Kentucky. A detailed examination revealed that the ones from Indiana were indeed a new species of Amblyopsis, the researchers report in a new study published in Zookeys. The Hoosier cavefish. Photo by: Chakrabarty et al. The Hoosier cavefish and the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/new-species-has-its-anus-behind-its-head/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/06/new-species-has-its-anus-behind-its-head/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25113</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Olinguito, tinkerbell, and a dragon: meet the top 10 new species of 2013</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/olinguito-tinkerbell-and-a-dragon-meet-the-top-10-new-species-of-2013/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/olinguito-tinkerbell-and-a-dragon-meet-the-top-10-new-species-of-2013/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 May 2014 06:55:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2014/05/olinguito-tinkerbell-and-a-dragon-meet-the-top-10-new-species-of-2013/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Antarctica, Australia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Ecuador, Europe, and Spain]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animal Behavior, Animals, Biodiversity, Caves, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Lizards, Mammals, Marine, Marine Animals, Microorganisms, Oceans, Plants, Rainforests, Reptiles, Species Discovery, Strange, Trees, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko (Saltuarius eximius) is one of the top ten new species from 2013. Photo by: Conrad Hoskin. Out of around 18,000 new species described and named last year, scientists have highlighted ten in an effort to raise awareness about the imperiled biodiversity around us. Each species&#8212;from a teddy-bear-like carnivore in the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The Cape Melville leaf-tailed gecko (Saltuarius eximius) is one of the top ten new species from 2013. Photo by: Conrad Hoskin. Out of around 18,000 new species described and named last year, scientists have highlighted ten in an effort to raise awareness about the imperiled biodiversity around us. Each species&#8212;from a teddy-bear-like carnivore in the Andes to a microbe that survives clean rooms where spaceships are built&#8212;stands out from the crowd for one reason or another. The top ten list is an annual event by the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry&#8217;s (ESF) International Institute for Species Exploration (IISE). &#8220;The majority of people are unaware of the dimensions of the biodiversity crisis,&#8221; said Quentin Wheeler, founding director of the IISE and ESF president. &#8220;The top ten is designed to bring attention to the unsung heroes addressing the biodiversity crisis by working to complete an inventory of Earth&#8217;s plants, animals and microbes. Each year a small, dedicated community of taxonomists and curators substantively improve our understanding of the diversity of life and the wondrous ways in which species have adapted for survival.&#8221; As of 2009, scientists have described nearly two million species (exactly 1,941,939 species), a process that began with Carolus Linnaeus in 1735. Yet despite some 275 years of discovery, scientists believe there are many more species remain undescribed on Earth than described. Estimates of Earth&#8217;s total species range from three million to 100 million, but more recent estimates have put the number in the seven to ten million&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2014/05/olinguito-tinkerbell-and-a-dragon-meet-the-top-10-new-species-of-2013/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-25205</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare animal species and Buddhist monks in danger of losing their home to cement quarry</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/rare-animal-species-and-buddhist-monks-in-danger-of-losing-their-home-to-cement-quarry/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/rare-animal-species-and-buddhist-monks-in-danger-of-losing-their-home-to-cement-quarry/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Jul 2013 20:56:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Tanya Dimitrova]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/07/rare-animal-species-and-buddhist-monks-in-danger-of-losing-their-home-to-cement-quarry/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Malaysia, and Southeast Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Arachnids, Caves, Corporate Environmental Transgressors, Critically Endangered Species, Endangered Species, Environment, Extinction, Green, Human Rights, Invertebrates, Religions, Spiders, Threats To Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[An international cement company Lafarge, winner of a Green Initiative award, is considering quarrying a cave in Malaysia which is the sole home of a critically endangered species. The proposed operations also threaten a Buddhist monastery near the cave where monks are facing eviction. Kanthan cave in Peninsular Malaysia is located in a limestone hill, [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[An international cement company Lafarge, winner of a Green Initiative award, is considering quarrying a cave in Malaysia which is the sole home of a critically endangered species. The proposed operations also threaten a Buddhist monastery near the cave where monks are facing eviction. Kanthan cave in Peninsular Malaysia is located in a limestone hill, already extensively quarried for the production of cement by Lafarge. The cave, just as most karst caves in Southeast Asia, harbors a unique ecosystem. One of the rare endemic organisms is the Kanthan Cave trapdoor spider (Liphistius kanthan), which was just designated as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List. It is found nowhere else in the world. Lafarge Malayan Cement has placed warning signs at the Kanthan cave entrance and around the hill. Photo by: Liz Price. One reason why few people care about threats to cave-dwelling animals is that most of them are not exactly cuddly: spiders, snails, snakes, millipedes. According to Liz Price, an expert on caves of Malaysia, few people are concerned about endemic fauna on the hill. &#8220;It&#8217;s almost impossible in Malaysia to save anything! Even big mammals are suffering from poaching, so of course no one cares about &#8216;creepy crawlies&#8217;,&#8221; says Price. Another potential loser from this quarry would be the monks from a Buddhist monastery located at the base of the hill, near the cave entrance. If the project goes through, the monastery, as well as nearby Taoist and Hindu temples will be completely destroyed. Monks and worshipers&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/rare-animal-species-and-buddhist-monks-in-danger-of-losing-their-home-to-cement-quarry/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/07/rare-animal-species-and-buddhist-monks-in-danger-of-losing-their-home-to-cement-quarry/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-26640</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Two new arachnids discovered in Brazilian caves  (photos)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/two-new-arachnids-discovered-in-brazilian-caves-photos/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/two-new-arachnids-discovered-in-brazilian-caves-photos/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>29 May 2013 15:50:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/05/two-new-arachnids-discovered-in-brazilian-caves-photos/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Brazil, Latin America, and South America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Arachnids, Caves, Environment, Green, Invertebrates, Photos, Species Discovery, and Strange]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered two new species of short-tailed whipscorpions (in the order Schizomida) in limestone caves in Brazil, according to a new paper published in PLoS ONE. The new species&#8212;dubbed Rowlandius ubajara and Rowlandius potiguara&#8212;add new knowledge to a group of arachnids that is little known in South America outside of the Amazon. &#8220;Schizomids occur [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Scientists have discovered two new species of short-tailed whipscorpions (in the order Schizomida) in limestone caves in Brazil, according to a new paper published in PLoS ONE. The new species&#8212;dubbed Rowlandius ubajara and Rowlandius potiguara&#8212;add new knowledge to a group of arachnids that is little known in South America outside of the Amazon. &#8220;Schizomids occur mostly in poorly sampled habitats, like the soil leaf litter, termite and ant nests, and caves,&#8221; the researchers write, noting that these habitats are under-explored in South America. &#8220;Subterranean habitats in particular can harbor large schizomid populations, and are a promising source of undescribed species.&#8221; Species in the Schizomida order are generally quite small (under one centimeter) and are identified by their short tails, known to scientists as flagellum. Males of each species posses distinct tails, which the females grip during mating. While both the new species were discovered in limestone caves, the scientists believe they may survive outside caves as well. Even the absence of eye-spots&#8212;found in both the new species&#8212;does not mean they are cave dependent, since many short-tailed whipscorpions lack eye-spots. More research, however, is needed before their full distribution can be determined. Male of new species Rowlandius ubajara. Arrows show size differential of pedipalps (appendages) in males and females. Photo by: Santos et al. Female of new species Rowlandius ubajara. Arrows show size differential of pedipalps (appendages) in males and females. Photo by: Santos et al. Female of new species Rowlandius potiguara. Photo by: Santos et al. CITATION: Santos AJ, Ferreira&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/05/two-new-arachnids-discovered-in-brazilian-caves-photos/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-28942</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rise in 1.5 degrees Celsius likely to spark massive greenhouse gas release from permafrost</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/02/rise-in-1-5-degrees-celsius-likely-to-spark-massive-greenhouse-gas-release-from-permafrost/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/02/rise-in-1-5-degrees-celsius-likely-to-spark-massive-greenhouse-gas-release-from-permafrost/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>25 Feb 2013 20:26:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/02/rise-in-1-5-degrees-celsius-likely-to-spark-massive-greenhouse-gas-release-from-permafrost/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Russia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Emissions, Caves, Climate Change, Climate Science, Energy, Environment, Fossil Fuels, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Methane, Permafrost, and Pollution]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Frost crystals at the entrance of Ledyanaya Lenskaya Cave. Photo by: Vladimir V. Alexioglo. While nations around the world have committed to keeping temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial era, new research published in Science suggests that the global climate could hit a tipping point at just 1.5 degrees [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Frost crystals at the entrance of Ledyanaya Lenskaya Cave. Photo by: Vladimir V. Alexioglo. While nations around the world have committed to keeping temperatures from rising 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial era, new research published in Science suggests that the global climate could hit a tipping point at just 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.5 degrees Fahrenheit). Studying cave stalactites and stalagmites in Siberia, scientists found that at about 1.5 degrees Celsius the Siberian permafrost melts, potentially releasing a greenhouse gas bomb of 1,000 giga-tonnes, according to some experts. Turning to cave formations&#8212;stalactites and stalagmites&#8212;to reconstruct past climates in Siberian Russia, the scientists found that Russia had little permafrost around 400,000 years ago when the world was about 1.5 degrees warmer than the past 10,000 years (or the length of human civilization). &#8220;The stalactites and stalagmites from these caves are a way of looking back in time to see how warm periods similar to our modern climate affect how far permafrost extends across Siberia,&#8221; lead author Anton Vaks of Oxford University&#8217;s Department of Earth Sciences explains. The stalactites and stalagmites do not grow under permafrost conditions, but only when ice melt or rain is available. Therefore these cave formations act as signals for what past climate looked like. According to the study, the only time the permafrost melted in the last half million years was between 424,000 and 374,000 years ago when temperatures globally hit the 1.5 degree Celsius mark. So far global temperatures have risen 0.8 degrees&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/02/rise-in-1-5-degrees-celsius-likely-to-spark-massive-greenhouse-gas-release-from-permafrost/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29514</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Botanists discover cave-dwelling plant</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/01/botanists-discover-cave-dwelling-plant/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2013/01/botanists-discover-cave-dwelling-plant/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>07 Jan 2013 15:36:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Alex Hatheway]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2013/01/botanists-discover-cave-dwelling-plant/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and China]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Botany, Caves, Conservation, Endangered Species, Environment, Green, Plants, Species Discovery, and Strange]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Flowers of a new species from the nettle family known only from caves, Pilea cavernicola, where it grows in very low light conditions. Photo by: Alex Monro. The South China Karst region resembles a lost world with its stone forests and towering limestone formations that look like petrified skyscrapers. Standing at the edge of one [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Flowers of a new species from the nettle family known only from caves, Pilea cavernicola, where it grows in very low light conditions. Photo by: Alex Monro. The South China Karst region resembles a lost world with its stone forests and towering limestone formations that look like petrified skyscrapers. Standing at the edge of one of the region’s many vine-covered gorges, you could picture an apatosaurus lifting its head above the mist that blankets the gorge floor. Of course, that would be impossible, but what botanists recently found in the region was only slightly less surprising (to botanists). Near the back of a limestone cave, pink flowers bloomed on a newly discovered nettle that could survive on just a tiny fraction of the sunlight other plants receive. As Ian Malcolm in Jurassic Park said, &#8220;life will find a way.&#8221; When botanist and nettle expert Alex Monro heard about the cave nettles from his Chinese colleague Wei Yi-Gang, he didn’t believe it. &#8220;I thought that he was mis-translating a Chinese word into English,&#8221; Munro says. &#8220;When we stepped into our first cave, Yangzi cave, I was spell-bound. It had an eerie moonscape look to it and all I could see were clumps of plants in the nettle family growing in very dark condition.&#8221; The botanists dubbed the new species Pilea cavernicola after the Latin for cave-dweller. In its subterranean lair, Pilea cavernicola only receives .04-2.78% the amount of full daylight. This feat of survival speaks to life’s tenacity and the endless&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2013/01/botanists-discover-cave-dwelling-plant/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-29799</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Velociraptor spider discovered in Oregon cave (pictures)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/velociraptor-spider-discovered-in-oregon-cave-pictures/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/velociraptor-spider-discovered-in-oregon-cave-pictures/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>17 Aug 2012 16:23:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2012/08/velociraptor-spider-discovered-in-oregon-cave-pictures/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[California, North America, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Arachnids, Caves, Environment, Forests, Green, Invertebrates, Species Discovery, Spiders, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Close-up of the remarkable, raptor-like claws of Trogloraptor. Photo by: Griswold CE, Audisio T, Ledford JM. Scouring the caves of Southwest Oregon, scientists have made the incredible discovery of a fearsome apex predator with massive, sickle claws. No, it&#8217;s not the Velociraptor from Jurassic Park: it&#8217;s a large spider that is so unique scientists were [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Close-up of the remarkable, raptor-like claws of Trogloraptor. Photo by: Griswold CE, Audisio T, Ledford JM. Scouring the caves of Southwest Oregon, scientists have made the incredible discovery of a fearsome apex predator with massive, sickle claws. No, it&#8217;s not the Velociraptor from Jurassic Park: it&#8217;s a large spider that is so unique scientists were forced to create a new taxonomic family for it. This is the first new spider family to be discovered in North America in over 130 years. &#8220;This is something completely new,&#8221; lead author of a paper on the species, Charles Griswold with the California Academy of Sciences, told SFGate. &#8220;It&#8217;s a historic event.&#8221; The discoverers, who published their description paper in the open-access journal Zoo Keys have named the new species Trogloraptor, which translates loosely to &#8220;cave robber,&#8221; and they have dubbed a new spider family&#8212;Trogloraptoridae&#8212;to accommodate what they believe is a primitive spider. The full species name is Trogloraptor marchingtoni after one of its discoverers. Male Trogloraptor in the lab. Photo by: Griswold CE, Audisio T, Ledford JM. Spanning four centimeters with extended limbs, the spider spins sparse webs on cave ceilings. The researchers consider it is most closely related to goblin spiders, but more primitive still. Almost nothing is known about the new species&#8217; behavior; even what it eats remains a mystery. In fact, the researchers have tried feeding captured spiders various foods, but to date the arachnids have refused the offerings and perished. Still, its sickle claws suggest that Trogloraptor marchingtoni is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/velociraptor-spider-discovered-in-oregon-cave-pictures/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-30416</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>&#8216;The lion of the cave:&#8217; new predatory, swimming cricket discovered in Venezuela</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/the-lion-of-the-cave-new-predatory-swimming-cricket-discovered-in-venezuela/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/the-lion-of-the-cave-new-predatory-swimming-cricket-discovered-in-venezuela/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>06 Aug 2012 13:50:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2012/08/the-lion-of-the-cave-new-predatory-swimming-cricket-discovered-in-venezuela/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Latin America, South America, and Venezuela]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Arachnids, Caves, Environment, Green, Insects, Mountains, Species Discovery, and Strange]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Tepui, or flat-topped mountain, in Venezuela. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Scientists have discovered what is likely a new species of cricket that is the top predator of its lightless world: a cave in a Venezuelan tepui. The fauna of cave was documented by BBC filmmakers as researchers uncovered not only a large, flesh-eating cricket [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Tepui, or flat-topped mountain, in Venezuela. Photo by: Rhett A. Butler. Scientists have discovered what is likely a new species of cricket that is the top predator of its lightless world: a cave in a Venezuelan tepui. The fauna of cave was documented by BBC filmmakers as researchers uncovered not only a large, flesh-eating cricket but a new species of catfish. &#8220;There is an animal perfectly adapted for life as a hunter in pitch darkness. It&#8217;s got everything it needs,&#8221; entomologist George McGavin with Oxford University says in the BBC footage. &#8220;This is the lion of the cave. This is something you don&#8217;t want to meet if you&#8217;re a bug.&#8221; The new cricket, which hunts both in land and water, has not been formerly described yet, so it doesn&#8217;t have a name. Scientists also discovered a new species of catfish and a new harvestman, a type of arachnid, in the cave as well. The discoveries will be highlighted in BBC&#8217;s upcoming The Dark: Nature&#8217;s Nighttime World, although video of the cricket can now be seen on their website. Related articles 3000 new species of amphibians discovered in 25 years (07/31/2012) The number of amphibians described by scientists now exceeds 7,000, or roughly 3,000 more than were known just 25 years ago, report researchers in Berkeley. New Malaysian snail named after late conservation mentor (07/30/2012) Researchers have discovered a new snail, which is so unusual that it has been granted its own genus: Kenyirus. To date, the mysterious forest snail, found&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/08/the-lion-of-the-cave-new-predatory-swimming-cricket-discovered-in-venezuela/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-30478</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Scientists discover world&#8217;s deepest terrestrial animal</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/02/scientists-discover-worlds-deepest-terrestrial-animal/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2012/02/scientists-discover-worlds-deepest-terrestrial-animal/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>22 Feb 2012 21:40:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2012/02/scientists-discover-worlds-deepest-terrestrial-animal/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia and Central Asia]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Caves, Environment, Extremophiles, Green, Insects, Invertebrates, Species Discovery, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It&#8217;s not the prehistoric monsters from the Jules Verne&#8217;s Journey to the Center of the Earth or the human-bat hybrids of The Decsent, but it&#8217;s an astonishing discovery nonetheless: intrepid scientists have discovered the world&#8217;s deepest surviving terrestrial animal to date, a small wingless insect known as a springtail. Explorers discovered the new species, Plutomurus [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It&#8217;s not the prehistoric monsters from the Jules Verne&#8217;s Journey to the Center of the Earth or the human-bat hybrids of The Decsent, but it&#8217;s an astonishing discovery nonetheless: intrepid scientists have discovered the world&#8217;s deepest surviving terrestrial animal to date, a small wingless insect known as a springtail. Explorers discovered the new species, Plutomurus ortobalaganensis at a shocking 1.23 miles (1.98 kilometers) below the surface. The species was discovered by the Ibero-Russian CaveX Team Expedition in Krubera-Voronja Cave, the world&#8217;s only known cave to go deeper than 2 kilometers. Eyeless, primitive, and surviving off fungi, Plutomurus ortobalaganensis lives an extreme existence in temperatures at the edge of freezing: from 32.9 to 41 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 to 5 degrees Celsius). Three other new springtail species were discovered on the expedition, though Plutomurus ortobalaganensis dwelled the deepest, according to a paper published in Terrestrial Arthropod Reviews. One of its discoverers, biologist Sofia Reboleira with the University of Aveiro in Portugal, told LiveScience that the expedition survived off snow at base camp and risked hypothermia while spending hours searching for life in the cave. Notably, Plutomurus ortobalaganensis retains pigments meaning it could be a recent colonizer to these depths. Krubera-Voronja Cave is located in the remote southwestern Caucasus in the disputed region of Abkhazia. CITATION: Jordana, R. et al. Reviews of the genera Schaefferia Absolon, 1900, Deuteraphorura Absolon, 1901, Plutomurus Yosii, 1956 and the Anurida Laboulbène, 1865 species group without eyes, with the description of four new species of cave springtails (Collembola)&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2012/02/scientists-discover-worlds-deepest-terrestrial-animal/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-31282</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New species is eel-equivalent of the coelacanth</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/08/new-species-is-eel-equivalent-of-the-coelacanth/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2011/08/new-species-is-eel-equivalent-of-the-coelacanth/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Aug 2011 18:07:00 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">http://news.mongabaydev.co.uk/2011/08/new-species-is-eel-equivalent-of-the-coelacanth/</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Pacific Islands, Pacific Ocean, and Palau]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Caves, Environment, Fish, Green, Marine, Marine Animals, Oceans, Species Discovery, Strange, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Protoanguilla palau: &#8216;first eel&#8217;. Photo by: Jiro Sakaue. The ocean holds endless surprises still. In an underwater cave off the Pacific island nation of Palau, reachers have made an astounding discovery: an eel species unknown to science that harkens back 200 million years. The new species, described in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[Protoanguilla palau: &#8216;first eel&#8217;. Photo by: Jiro Sakaue. The ocean holds endless surprises still. In an underwater cave off the Pacific island nation of Palau, reachers have made an astounding discovery: an eel species unknown to science that harkens back 200 million years. The new species, described in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B as an &#8216;enigmatic, small eel-like fish&#8217;, sports anatomical features that differentiate it from the over 800 known species of eel surviving today. &#8220;The equivalent of this primitive eel, in fishes, has perhaps not been seen since the discovery of the coelacanth in the late 1930s,&#8221; says Dave Johnson, ichthyologist at the Smithsonian&#8217;s National Museum of Natural History and lead author of the team&#8217;s research, in a press release. Before its discovery in the 1930s, the coelacanth was only known from fossils dating back 70 million years. However, even the eel fossil record has never shown anything quite like this. The new species, named Protoanguilla palau, sports a second upper jaw bone and less than 90 vertebrate. These two features have only been seen in fossil eels going going to the Cretaceous. But another feature breaks all the rules: the animal has a complete set of &#8216;rakers&#8217; in its gill arches, which has only been seen in bony fish, never before in eels either alive or fossilized. To determine its truly relationship to eels and bony fish, the researchers analyzed the animal&#8217;s mitochondrial DNA and found that it is a &#8216;true eel&#8217;. The animal likely appeared&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2011/08/new-species-is-eel-equivalent-of-the-coelacanth/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-32123</doi>				</item>
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