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wrathandgreed · 4 years

Note

(I hope requests are still open) So ive been thinking. How about the brothers reaction to MC taking a large step away from them when ever one of them raises their hand up. It could be as simple as a high five. MC used to be in a abusive relationship and is paranoid about getting hit

Note: (For the record, I don’t know if you sent me this on purpose - I’ve never done requests; I’ve literally just put out my very first OM headcanons. But I figured I could try. I’ve never been in an abusive relationship, but a number of my friends have. I really hope I can do this one respect - if anything about this is not on the level, please let me know! Also, if I missed a trigger warning in the tags, or tagged this wrong, let me know. Also, for the record, I tend to like soft!Brothers and I really wanted them to try and be better - not put the onus on MC to “get over it” or anything.)

Second note: After writing this, I’m not sure that most of these guys would be a good choice for an abuse survivor!

Third note: I am NOT good at keeping things short and, as usual, I went overboard with Asmodeus. Like, it should be its own fic at this point. But write what you want to read, right?

Warnings: references to domestic abuse, both physical and verbal. References to suicide baiting. Uncensored swearing.

~5K words

Lucifer

A strange choice; his perfectionism and exacting behavior sometimes make you remember how it was back in the human world; everything had to be JUST SO….or else.

And he’s threatened to kill you. Twice.

But there’s something inherently decent about him - and you live for the rare moments he laughs.

His perfectionism usually isn’t even about you, so you just kind of….ignore it.

You’re doing some of your RAD homework in Lucifer’s study.

It’s quiet there.

And, while he won’t do the work for you, he’ll definitely help when you’re stuck.

Also you can give him tea and soothing when he (inevitably) gets upset at his paperwork - Mammon’s bills, Asmo’s bills, Satan’s bills (hey, dark magic books are expensive).

You start hearing the shifting and muttering that herald the beginning of the rant.

You gather the tea and walk towards his desk.

“Devil’s sake!” Lucifer suddenly snaps out, slamming hand on his desk as he reads yet another ridiculous piece of paper.

It’s not at you, the anger isn’t at you, you KNOW it’s not at you, but you freeze anyway.

Slammed hands on desks, punched holes in walls, hands on you, always hands -

The cup of tea hits the floor and you’re out of the room before Lucifer can even look up.

He’s seen it all in your paperwork - the police reports, the restraining order, the lists of injuries - so he puts it all together before his study door closes behind you.

He knows better than to go after you immediately. You’ll want some solitude, some quiet on your own, to steady yourself a little.

If he goes after you now, it might frighten you more. Looks like hunting.

You need to know he’s calm, that he’s not acting or reacting out of emotion.

He takes his time cleaning up the spilled tea, straightening his papers.

When he shows up at your room, he has a mug of hot chocolate.

“I’m sorry,” you blurt out before he can say anything. You made a mess in his study, and he’s such a stickler for everything being neat. He was angry before, but he’ll be even more angry now.

“No, I’m sorry,” he returns, and offers you the chocolate.

(You blink once. Has the Avatar of Pride ever apologized before? If so, it was never in your hearing.)

The two of you talk quietly for a time. He insists that you don’t need to apologize - ever. He insists that, while he appreciates the tea-and-break routine, it’s 100% not your responsibility to control his anger. It’s his. He says that his anger isn’t good for him anyway (just look at Satan) and he needs to take a break when that hot feeling starts.

Maybe he should start scheduling breaks; setting timers on his D.D.D. so that he no longer works long enough at once to let it all get to him.

He doesn’t want you afraid of him.

Mammon

Mammon is pretty much the only demon who HASN’T threatened your life. He often sounds irritated, but he’s never even sounded angry at you.

If anything, he’s a mush and an abuse victim himself. So he gets where you’re coming from, and tries really hard.

So you shouldn’t be afraid of him.

But….he moves too quickly. He’s constantly jumping from one idea to another, one topic to another, one emotion to another. And that’s just emotionally.

You can’t trust where his hands will be. Ever. And that’s not a sex thing.

Sometimes, his protection of you makes you feel safe. If anyone hurts you, Mammon will hurt them a thousand times worse.

He’s funny, and his hands on you are gentle, and once you tell him about your past, he tries really hard not to go back to his “stupid human” habit, because it hurts your feelings.

But sometimes, his protection feels like obsession. Why were you talking to that guy? C’mere, you’re MY human.

Then, inevitably, the tug on your hand or arm or waist, pulling you closer.

It starts simply enough.

You’re playing video games in his room. He’s not as much of a gamer as Levi, but he enjoys them.

Especially ones where you can be competitive or drive cars really fast.

He’s been getting more and more excited, coiled like a spring. And it’s from enjoyment, not anger, but that level of energy, in your experience, explodes at some point.

You get quieter, but that only makes him more boisterous. He wants you to join in the fun! C’mon MC, did you see that?! It was awesome!

After a really impressive win, he shouts in triumph and suddenly his hand is in front of your face for a high-five.

You recoil and hit the floor, crab-crawling backwards before you can stop yourself.

His look of complete confusion, in different circumstances, might be funny. He actually looks at his hand like he doesn’t recognize it.

He drops to the floor too, “Babe? What’s wrong? Y’okay?” And he reaches out a hand towards you.

When you flinch, he gets it.

He sits on the floor, stuttering out apologies, not even finishing one sentence before starting another. He makes sure he’s cross-legged, leaning back on his hands - non threatening, leaning away, hands not hidden, but not prominent, and in a position it would take him time to move from.

When you start crying, he can’t maintain that pose and crawls towards you, pulling you into a hug.

If you resist, you know he’ll let you go. And that’s why you just curl into him instead, crying out on his shoulder while he holds you close - but not tightly.

“I jus’ need ya to talk to me….let me know if I’m gettin’ to be too much. I know I’m loud. Just….. jus’ remind me, I’ll never be mad.”

Leviathan

Boy already has anger problems.

Envy’s kind of prone to it, you know?

On the one hand, he literally attacked you over a piece of TSL memorabilia.

On the other, he’s generally harmless the rest of the time.

He’s meek and shy and terrified of touching you - so, 95% of the time, you feel super safe with him.

When you wake with a nightmare, when something jump-starts your fear response, he talks you through it, easily abandoning whatever game or anime he’s involved in.

He’ll only touch you when you ask, or when you reach for him first.

But then there’s the MMOs.

You know you should leave when he starts getting mad. Not in a victim-blame sense, but for your own mental health it’s probably not a good idea to be around him when he raids.

He ALWAYS gets mad.

You’re sitting in his room, so involved in your handheld that you forget it’s his raiding night.

(Usually you make study plans with Satan, or shopping plans with Asmo on his raiding nights. You don’t want him to give them up; he enjoys them, but it’s not good for you to be around.)

After finally completing a tough level, you pop your headphones off just in time to hear Levi swear loudly.

You go still as a string of swear-filled trash talk fills the room. Things you’d never expect shy, needy Levi to say.

You know it really is just trash-talk - the threats of violence are just too absurd. Rip off their arms and use their own fingers to bowl their skull like a bowling ball? Really?

Also this is LEVI. Levi? The demon who needed you to taunt Mammon about his credit card because he couldn’t do it himself? He might be Admiral of Hell’s Navy and all, but he’s not exactly threatening.

You get to your feet, a little shaken but ready to just walk out of the room. It’s raid night, and this is why you don’t hang out on raid nights. You’re not comfortable around other people’s anger.

You’re halfway across the room when Levi suddenly shouts in frustration and throws his controller on the floor.

And you’re out the door.

Levi just glimpses you as he’s reaching to pick up his miraculously-unshattered controller from the floor.

“Henry?” He calls out, just a second too late.

With only one moment of hesitation, he logs out of his raid and goes to follow you.

You had less than ten seconds head start, but it takes him almost twenty minutes to find you, sitting out in the garden, gazing at nothing.

“MC?” He calls quietly. He doesn’t want to sneak up on you.

A single blink, and the tiniest flash of fear - he left his game to follow you.

Calculation: extreme concern - or extreme anger.

Conclusion: Undetermined.

So you wait.

“Are you ok?”

Okay, so not mad. “Aren’t you raiding?” You ask, instead of answering. You’re not ok, but you’re also not in the mood to talk about it.

“I, uh, h-had a, uh, power outage?” Even he doesn’t sound convinced, and you snort. Levi only has three modes: simple, stuttering, and verbose. Thankfully he goes with simple. “You ran out. I was worried.”

You debate brushing his concern off, but he deserves better than that.

“I’m not good with anger. Even if it’s not directed at me.”

“Oh.” Levi pauses as he considers. He knows the basics of what’s happened. “I - I mean, I could, you know, NOT - “

“No,” you say quickly and lean in to kiss his cheek. “You don’t have to change anything. Do your raids, make stupid threats to stupid players. Just….warn me to leave first?”

Levi nods, but he skips the rest of his raid to stargaze with you in the garden, arms wrapped around you from behind as he points out different Devildom stars and constellations to you. You get a lecture on how Devildom stars are used in Devildom sailing. It’s actually kind of interesting.

Satan

Okay, seriously? The Avatar of Wrath? Author speaking here, I literally can’t picture a worse combination than an MC who’s still recovering from domestic abuse to date the AVATAR OF WRATH.

Like, yeah, he has good control over himself, but he also loses his temper in a moment’s notice.

He has CANONICALLY tortured people for calling him strange.

He flips out with no warning and destroys parts of the house and his brothers just let him do it because he’s too powerful to control when he rages.

I can absolutely see MC falling for the quiet intelligence, the consideration, and so forth, but witnessing one (1) single rage should be enough to tell them that this relationship won’t be good for their mental health.

Let’s not even talk about the (again, canonical) desire for domination, power play, pet play, etc, that kind of defines our boy.

I mean, I love Satan. Out of all the bros, he’s the only one I could imagine legit dating in real life.

But I’m a little ball of rage myself, and I have no problem with anger, mine or anyone else’s.

And the fandom (including me) can totally play cute and love on their “soft little angy boi” all they want, and he definitely has soft, sensitive sides, and I may actively choose to ignore the whole domination/power play/etc when I fic or headcanon because I really love soft!Satan….. but he’s not.

I can’t even make a headcanon, because I cannot picture a situation in which this is actually GOOD for MC.

Because no matter how hard he’ll try and control it, and how much his rage probably won’t be directed at them, I just keep picturing “It won’t happen again” except it will, and it’ll just wind up being flashbacks to the number of times “It won’t happen again” ended in black eyes or an ER visit back in the human world.

And MC walking on eggshells for eternity to avoid setting him off, and how is that healthy?

Asmodeus

Another decent choice for MC, at least on the surface.

King of consent over here, at least how I picture him. Especially for someone he cares about.

Always accepts “no” about literally anything. Don’t want sex? We’ll cuddle. Cuddling a little confining? Holding hands is cool. Really don’t want to be touched at all right now? Gossip and tea!

You were coming to really care about the Avatar of Lust, and you believed what Simeon said about him - how much he desperately needed love and affection. You got it; you needed some, too.

I mean, even if he’d been a bit of a jerk, he’d warmed up significantly since the pact, so new that it still burned on your skin, was formed.

But even Asmodeus wasn’t without faults. However much he focuses on love, he can sometimes, really be….mean.

You’re standing on a balcony in Diavolo’s castle, having escaped for a few moments.

He’d always been catty, gossipy, filled with drama, but the genuine affection and likability of him sometimes made you ignore it.

His constant mocking of Luke you could put down to the whole angel/demon conflict.

His occasional snapping or poking at his brothers you could put down to being stuck in the same house with the same people for literal eons.

The only thing that might make up for your awful existence is if you just ended it.

The words haunt you as you stand looking up at Devildom’s endless nighttime.

How many times did you hear similar words yourself? How useless you were, how much of a burden, no way you’d survive on your own without him, and he didn’t even want you that much. Why didn’t you just go kill yourself?

Dammit, you think to yourself as Asmo steps out on to the balcony.

“Darling! Why are you out here all alone? Or are you waiting for some company?”

When he goes to put his arms around you, you just say “no.” Simply, quietly, emotionlessly.

Asmo circles around to look at you. “Something wrong, sweetness?”

You take a breath. Another. You consider swallowing it, again, don’t want to start a fight. Back down, put on a smile, ignore it.

But realize you can’t. You spent years dealing with this crap, and you’re not going to do it again.

“You’re mean, Azzy.” Your voice is quieter than you expected. You look up into the demon’s eyes. To his credit, he looks deeply confused and, as you take a step away from him, hurt. Before he can open his mouth, you continue, “How could you say that to Mammon?”

“Are you defending MAMMON?” He asks, torn between incredulity and anger.

“Right now? Yes. But also Luke, Lucifer, and everyone else you talk shit to. Or about. He’s your brother. Do you have any idea how much it hurts to hear that out of someone you love?”

Dismissively, “Oh, if it actually bothered him, he’d - “

“What? Beat you up? That’s not like him. So he takes it. And takes it, and takes it, until, because it’s all he hears, he believes it. And then why fight back? Why defend yourself, if you’re such a piece of shit? You deserve it, after all, right?”

You don’t even realize it, but you’re crying by this point. And you’re mad. All the mad you couldn’t fling at your abuser before is filling you now. You don’t even know if you’re talking about Mammon or yourself anymore. Maybe both of you.

“And even though he’s beaten down, you keep going. When he won’t respond to the usual anymore, when that doesn’t seem to hurt him, rile him up, you go worse. You told your brother, who you claim to love, to kill himself. We’re barely even friends. So what happens when I annoy you? Should I just go die now, save you the trouble of telling me to do it later?”

You step right up to him, into his personal space, almost nose to nose, and stare directly into his red-yellow eyes. “Is this who you are, Asmodeus?”

Asmo has gone from defensive; incredulous and angry, to baffled, hurt and worried in just a few minutes. But at your last, pointed question, he jerks his head back as though you slapped him. Not knowing what to say or do, he reaches for you again, but you dodge his hand and brush past him back into the castle.

You get Solomon, the only one who won’t ask questions, to switch rooms with you. (Luke is thrilled; teaching him to play gin rummy actually cheers you up a little.)

For a few weeks, you and Asmodeus pass each other in the House without speaking. Then, one evening, there’s a knock on your door and Asmo slides into your room.

He looks….well, not awful; he could never look awful. But the glow is gone from his skin and, unless you’re mistaken, he hasn’t bothered doing his hair. He looks like he’s missed some sleep.

You look up from your homework and watch him. Silently. It’s not your job to fill the silence anymore.

More than most of them, Asmo despises being vulnerable. But it’s fix this or not, and the pact is pushing him to be on good terms. At least, he blames the pact. It’s easier than acknowledging how much the weeks of silence have worn on him. How awful it was watching you walk to class with Mammon instead of him.

And no matter what, he values honesty in his relationships, no matter what kind of relationship. So he would be honest.

“I don’t know,” he says quietly.

Lean back in your chair, hands folded. Waiting.

“I don’t know….if that’s who I am. Maybe it is.”

“Why are you here, Asmo? What do you want?”

“I want you to stop ignoring me!”

Steady face. “I spent too many years having someone talk to me the way you spoke to your brother. The rest of it - the gossip, the side comments, the cattiness…. it’s not your best side. In fact, it’s pretty unattractive when it’s mean, but I could handle it. But I can’t handle cruelty. I don’t want to be around it anymore.”

A pause. “What is my best side then?”

Disgusted, you chuck a pen in his direction. “Fuck’s sake, Asmo. Get out.”

“No! Not, not that. If that’s my bad side, the **unattractive** part, then what’s the other half?”

You search his face, but he doesn’t seem to be fishing for compliments. If anything, he looks….lost. Confused. And you wonder if anyone’s ever said anything to him, good or bad, about who he was; not what he looked like or how he fucked.

It’s not your responsibility to psychoanalyze a demon, you think to yourself. But you’re not someone to walk away. You wonder how it’s possible for someone to be thousands of years old, and know less about themselves than you know about yourself in just a few decades. And you have nothing to lose by being kind.

“You can be wonderfully kind, Asmo, and generous. You want to see the beauty in everyone and everything. As nasty as you can be with it, I’ll give you points for honesty. You connect with people, and the times you’re actually genuinely interested in them is….charming.”

He’s silent for a few minutes. Then he nods, as if he’s made a decision. “Okay. Tomorrow, after RAD, do you want to go for bubble tea?” At your confusion, he just smiles and continues, “It’s like skin care, isn’t it? Attractiveness requires effort, darling, until it becomes habit. If I want to be attractive inside as well as out, I’ll have to practice the good things, so they outweigh the bad. I can’t do that alone. I need a practice partner who won’t tolerate failure, right? At least until it’s habit.”

You feel your entire brain have to reboot before you can give a coherent response.

“Tomorrow. One hour. I have papers due.” You wait until he leaves your room before you smile.

Beelzebub

Probably the best choice for this MC.

The most emotionally intelligent of his brothers.

Also the most sincerely kind and gentle.

But also, like Satan, prone to sudden outbursts and rages. They’re all food-related (or, rather, lack-of-food-related), but they’re there.

A smart MC always carries snacks while dating Beel. Phone, wallet, keys, fried bat wings.

Strangely, though, the food-induced rages don’t really bother you. It’s not anger, really, and it’s never once been directed at you. And, unlike back in the human world, there’s a concrete way to help: feed him.

Today you have a whole backpack full of snacks.

You’re with Belphie, watching one of Beel’s games at RAD.

(You’re not sure Belphie wants to be there, but you’re not allowed out alone, and Belphie decided to take you - keep you safe and support his brother. Two birds, one Belphie.)

Belphie tends to nap against your shoulder any time the ref goes to make a call, but he’s somehow always awake to clap for his brother.

(You stand on your chair and cheer, but that’s you.)

The game is a close one; double overtime. Even Belphie is too tense to sleep towards the end.

And at the end of double overtime, Beel manages the single extra goal that results in victory.

You cheer yourself hoarse for your demon boyfriend.

The whole stadium is crazy, so you hang back and wait. Belphie hates crowds and you’re not keen on them yourself. It’s going to take awhile for Beel to make it through the crowd to you anyway.

You’re standing in the aisle, scrolling through your phone, when suddenly there’s a loud shout and arms wrap around you from behind and lift you up.

You gasp, and your scream strangles in your throat so what comes out of you is nothing more than a squeak. Your phone goes flying.

You’re frozen for a moment as panic surges. You want to fight and you’re fighting your own brain to push the panic into your limbs so you can fight for yourself.

You vaguely feel a tugging and you hear someone - Belphie? - insisting that you be put down and then your feet are on the ground but there’s no such thing as your legs and you start to fall before the same arms help you gently sit. The ground is gross, but you’ll only care about the damage to your skirt later.

Everything is fuzzy and confusing; you’re not even sure of what you’re looking at until your vision is filled with blue and violet.

You know that swirl of color. That’s a SAFE color, and you start feeling your poor brain start to work again.

You blink into your boyfriend’s blue-violet eyes; you realize he’s cupping your face with his hands and the weird underwater noises start to sound like his voice. You realize, very belatedly, that what probably happened was Beel lifting you up in a victory hug.

“M’okay,” you say, but it sounds robotic. It takes a few more seconds - you don’t know how many - for all of your senses and brain to actually begin working in sync again. You start hearing the sounds of the crowd departing the stadium, and you hear Beel continuing to say your name and trying to get you to answer questions. You almost smile; but smiling wouldn’t make any sense.

“I’m okay,” you say, and you must sound a little more convincing this time because Beel looks relieved. He shoots a few more questions at you, and you realize they’re the kinds of questions people get asked when someone thinks they have a concussion or head trauma.

Your answers satisfy him, so Beel helps you to your feet.

“What was that?” He asks. “Low blood sugar? Are you hungry?”

You have to smile at his very-typical diagnosis. A little sugar wouldn’t hurt, though. For some reason, eating grounds you after something like this. You dig a chocolate bar out of your Backpack of Snacks (Snackpack?) and hand the rest to him.

He impatiently takes a bag of chips out of it but doesn’t open it. He looks at you expectantly and you realize he won’t eat until you do. So you take a bite of the chocolate and he looks more relieved.

“So what the fuck WAS that?” Belphie asks as the three of you move towards the exit.

“Later.” You haven’t yet found a reason to really tell Beel (and, by extension, Belphegor) about everything. You do later that night.

Beel swears he’ll never surprise you like that again. He’s a lot more cautious about touching you for a few days, but eventually things go back to normal between you.

Belphegor

Author note: Dude fucking murdered you, deliberately, in cold blood, and taunted you for your gentleness and desire to help as you died. But let’s say you can get past that - or try to. Probably the second-worst choice, after Satan, for this reason.

You started dating Belphie for the strangest reason: you could trash-talk the shit out of him.

He kept trying to be around you after you made the pact (which, let’s face it, you made so you could MAKE SURE he never hurt you again). Until, after politely dodging him wasn’t working, you told him to take his emo-boy routine and fuck off somewhere else.

You flinched, waiting for retaliation, but he just blinked at you and told you to stop being a brat.

And he was smiling.

But it wasn’t a mean smile - it was a smile that shared the joke.

Your lips quivered into a returning smile, and you threw another insult at him.

He topped it, and hurled one back.

Before you knew it, the two of you were screaming obscenities at each other in the middle of the common room and laughing like hyenas.

For some reason, Belphie calling you a dumb bitch wasn’t an insult. It was a mark of endearment. And it didn’t hurt your feelings or make you afraid.

It was empowering to call him a dickhead if he did something you didn’t like and have him simply laugh and amend his behavior. Nothing bothered him.

He didn’t move quickly; in fact he didn’t move at all if he could help it.

But you would remember, sometimes, the way his hands felt on your throat, or how cold his eyes had been. And you couldn’t say it was a momentary madness, because he’d planned it. He’d been imprisoned because he wanted to kill humanity.

You put it out of your mind. It was something you were good at, after all.

Until the two of you sat down to watch a movie one evening. A simple plot hole sparked a discussion that wound up being….not an argument, but definitely a difference of opinion.

As usual, insults were flying fast and furious when suddenly Belphie laughed and smacked you with his pillow.

It wasn’t an angry move, and it wasn’t hard enough to hurt. It wasn’t a hard blow at all! But the surprise had you falling back on the couch. And the fear had you curling into a ball, arms wrapped around your head protectively, legs curled up to guard your middle.

There is dead silence.

“Hey, Brat?” Belphie asks. When you don’t answer, he calls your name instead.

You slowly, very slowly, begin to uncurl yourself from your position. It takes time for the residual fear to leave, but enough is gone to leave room for embarrassment.

“Sorry,” you mutter.

“I get it,” is the answer.

Cue awkward silence.

“I figured you were still afraid of me.”

“I’m not!” When he just stares blandly at you, you sigh. “Okay, a little. If you wanted to hurt me - again - you’ve had a ton of opportunities. So I don’t think you want to. But…..”

“It’s a hard thing to get over.”

“Yeah. And not just you.” Hesitantly, you start to tell him. You want to just give him the basics, but once you start talking, you can’t seem to stop. He doesn’t interrupt, barely seems to blink, just watches you. A blank vessel to help you empty the poison that fills you sometimes.

You see his jaw tighten as you go on, but you know the anger isn’t at you.

When you finish, he’s silent for a few moments. Then he gathers you up to him. “I’ll never hurt you,” he says.

You look up at him with the same bland look he gave you a moment ago.

“Again,” he amends. “I’ll never hurt you again.”

You let out a watery laugh and he hugs you a bit tighter.

“You’re still a brat, though.”

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sciencespies · 4 years

Text

Searching for the Invisible, Invincible Peruvian Tern

https://sciencespies.com/nature/searching-for-the-invisible-invincible-peruvian-tern/

Searching for the Invisible, Invincible Peruvian Tern

Smithsonian Voices National Zoo

Searching for the Invisible, Invincible Peruvian Tern

November 5th, 2020, 9:30AM / BY Ximena Velez-Zuazo

The Peruvian tern’s desert camouflage makes it almost impossible to track, but that’s exactly what our research team set out to do. (Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

Esta historia esta disponible en español aquí.

On Peru’s pacific coastline, where desert meets sea, lives one of the least studied and most at-risk birds: the Peruvian tern, known locally as “gaviotin Peruano” (Sternula lorata). The tern is nearly invisible in its native habitat, which looks more like a moonscape than anything you would expect to find on Earth. Its desert camouflage makes it almost impossible for scientists to track, but that’s exactly what our team set out to do. It would take us four months to survey more than 1,851 acres, battling sandstorms, stifling heat and impossible landscapes inside Paracas National Reserve — terrain that the Peruvian tern has mastered.

Peruvian terns are part of a small group of terns (Sternula) that are slender, with long beaks and short legs. They have white feathers with black “caps” that look like masks, and they lay their eggs in shallow depressions in the bare ground. They are found in Paracas National Reserve, Peru’s oldest marine protected area, where reports suggest they began nesting as early as 1920. One hundred years later, the Reserve treasures the largest nesting colony in the country.

But Peruvian terns are on a path toward extinction, and the population in Paracas is no exception. According to the IUCN’s Red List of Endangered Species, Peruvian tern populations are decreasing. A 2018 survey of Paracas’ nonbreeding terns reported fewer individuals than in the past, and the last survey of the Reserve’s breeding population was conducted nearly a decade ago. Our team wanted to find out how many terns still nest in the park and what threats they face. Locating them would be the hardest part.

It took our team four months to survey more than 1,851 acres, battling sandstorms, stifling heat and impossible landscapes inside Paracas National Reserve — terrain that the Peruvian tern has mastered. (Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

Paracas National Reserve is home to a myriad of species of all sizes, from sea lions and seahorses to foxes and geckos. Seabirds are common; many are residents and many more are migrants. Wildlife thrives in the intertidal zone — the zone where the Pacific Ocean meets the shoreline — but it’s a different story on land. The extremely dry landscape makes this habitat nearly impossible to occupy. “Paracas” means “sand rain” in Quechua, the Andean native language, and when it “rains,” it pours. During the sandstorm season, sustained winds of up to 62 mph (100 kph) unroll a thick curtain of sand. This extreme environment is unwelcoming to humans, but it’s an oasis for the Peruvian tern.

How has the tern thrived in this harsh environment? By being invisible. Although we are still learning about this species (there are just four studies on Peruvian populations), we know one thing: they are masters of matching their environment. When the wind blows, terns crouch close to the ground to disappear. They build nests that are nearly impossible for outsiders to spot and adorn them with tiny stones, shells and bones. These visual cues help the birds locate their nests in the homogeneous landscape. Masters of disguise, even their eggs and chicks are the same color pattern as the ground. It’s like the terns wear invisibility cloaks.

Peruvian terns are masters of disguise. Their chicks’ color pattern matches their surroundings. It’s like the terns wear invisibility cloaks. (Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

To find them, we would need help. So, our team at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute partnered with a private company, Terminal Portuario Paracas (TPP). TPP is leading the expansion of General San Martin Port Terminal, a port in Peru for the import and export of goods. The road to the port is also the only road that leads to an area where the Peruvian tern has historically nested. The paved and busy road was built in the 1950s before Paracas National Reserve existed.

Thus, the terns still live in the area, and we don’t know if the increased activity from the port will affect them. In October 2019, with the sandstorm season officially over, we established our base camp in El Chaco, the last urban area before the desert landscapes of the Reserve. Our goal was to cover 1,851 acres in just four months before the end of the reproductive season. We would study tern flight patterns and comb the area for nests.

At 6 a.m. on Dec. 2, 2019, at the onset of the Austral summer, we headed into the already hot desert. One hour later, we were in the middle of nowhere feeling more on the moon than on Earth. The terrain changed abruptly from hollows to hills, with bizarre sculptures that resembled giant puff pastries.

The terrain in the park changed abruptly from hollows to hills, with bizarre sculptures that resembled giant puff pastries. (Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

Between the dunes and hills of the northern side of the park is Cequion Bay — the largest flat terrain in the Reserve. It took us six hours to find the first active nest. Trained eyes and determination helped us detect the subtle circular depression in the ground. Inside were two tiny eggs, each with spotted coloration that matched the ground.

Our next challenge was to set up sound recorders and camera traps. We deployed our recorders along the road, at increasing distances from the road, and near active nests. The lifespan of each recorder was about 12 days. They were set to record one minute of sound every 10 minutes until their batteries ran out. Our camera traps were camouflaged under sand and gravel. We placed them about 9 feet from nests located near the road, to capture both the adult terns and the road traffic. The cameras were set to take a picture every 5 seconds until the batteries ran out.

It might be difficult to imagine the full scope of our work, so let’s compare it to something most people are familiar with: football (soccer).

Between December 2019 and March 2020, we inspected the equivalent of 1,050 soccer fields in search of nests.

We analyzed 40,000 1-minute sound recordings, the equivalent of 444 soccer games.

We analyzed 500,000 images from camera traps, which is about the number of photos a professional photographer would capture during 143 of the most amazing soccer games.

Between the dunes and hills of the northern side of Paracas National Reserve is Cequion Bay — the largest flat terrain in the part of the Reserve. (Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

This enormous effort was well worth it. We suspect that, after 70 years, Peruvian terns have learned to manage the road that disrupted and likely fragmented their habitat. We identified 20 active nests and 26 past activities, including two new nesting areas adjacent to the road that were previously unreported. Noise can have a major impact on bird populations, so the fact that some terns are still nesting near the road is encouraging for their long-term conservation. It tells us that they are both resilient and adaptable.

The sound recorders and cameras told similar stories. Images showed adult terns undaunted by road traffic. Sounds near the road were loud and covered a large sound spectrum, but about 656 feet (200 meters) away, the road noise was nearly undetectable. Most of the nests we found were located far from the road, where our sound recorders detected only the birds’ morning calls.

When we started our study, we wondered what could threaten this tiny bird that looks like an avian Batman with its “mask” of black feathers and has evolved to survive desert predators and sandstorms alike. Surveying such a big area gave us unexpected information that portrays a complex scenario for their conservation. Inside the park, we found lots of garbage, dogs tracks and illegal roads. The garbage pollutes the terns’ nesting habitat, but dog tracks and illegal roads are another story. Domestic animals are predators of wildlife and could pose a threat to the terns.

A Peruvian tern nest containing two tiny eggs, each with spotted coloration that matches the ground. (Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute)

Illegal roads were the most unexpected and worrying discovery. Their existence is subtle, but this landscape has memory (and a particularly good one for tracks made by cars). No matter how strongly winds blow, the roads are still visible. We mapped each one and saw a tangle of existing illegal roads traversing the terns’ nesting area, and two new roads appeared during our study. With few paved roads, it’s tempting for park visitors to take old short-cuts or make new ones. The terns cannot avoid the destructive effects of visitors searching for hidden beaches or exclusive sunset views, or local fishermen looking for the daily catch.

At the beginning of September 2020, after wrapping up months of data analyses, we stood in front of the Peruvian environmental authorities to tell the evidence-based story of Peruvian terns, share our findings, and make recommendations for their long-term conservation. Our research made the Peruvian tern visible. Peru and Chile are now joining forces to recover the tern’s depleted populations. With our data and lessons learned, we are developing an ambitious, integrated monitoring program to stop the Peruvian tern from taking a one-way detour to extinction. As we work on this rescue plan, I am reminded of the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute’s mission: We save species. We do. And for this work, we must try to be just like the Peruvian tern, invincible.

#Nature

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alexsmitposts · 5 years

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American Foreign Policy: Populism’s Racist Roots America’s military adventures, domestic and foreign, have had racist components, with frightening consistency for well over two centuries. Ethnically cleansing the continent of its indigenous population of up to 10 million, allowed America to spread from Atlantic to Pacific. Once on the Pacific shore, the drive to make that ocean an “American lake” began. War with Spain in 1898, with Japan in 1941, followed by Korea and then Vietnam, America’s military history was strewn with racist stereotypes, polluting the language with terms best forgotten. The only exception has been Germany and Russia, nations of origin for much of America’s white population. There programs of demonization created a century of conflict. Though controversial, an examination of America’s role in nurturing two world wars and a half century Cold War is more than supportable, once one looks behind the fabricated historical narrative foisted on the public. With these exceptions, a major component of global policy has been not just racist propaganda. It goes much further, dehumanization of a majority of the world’s population of color and vilification of an increasingly comprehensive list of ethnicities, nationalities and religions. Trump, it seems, has taken it all to a new level, but he didn’t invent racism, not in America. He simply tapped, under the guise of “populism,” something long instilled into the psyche of a nation that was created by ethnic cleansing. One might note that the world had already been divided by the colonial powers of Portugal and Spain, in accordance with the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. You see, after Columbus returned from the New World, it was necessary for the Catholic powers to come to agreement or descend into conflict. It was Rodrigo Borgia, known as Pope Alexander IV, who established a meridian, dividing the planet between the two small Iberian nations. By 1580 the two nations became one and in 1588, with the destruction of the Spanish Armada, world conquest had slipped away. Still, Latin America, with the exception of Portuguese Brazil, would remain Spanish, a Latin America that included Florida, Texas, California and the entire Southwestern United States. As an aside, Spain’s northern neighbor on North America’s Pacific Coast was Russia. On March 31, Fox News, owned by Rupert Murdoch, whose real background as one of the crown princes of the Deep State known only by a very few, flashed a bizarre headline on the screen during one of their broadcasts. The show was “Fox and Friends,” where Donald Trump is a regular guest. The headline, even by Fox News standards was a serious gaff, goes as follows: “Trump Cuts US Aid to 3 Mexican Countries” Trump didn’t say this, but he had said worse. The nations referred to, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, are and have been politically unstable for decades, mostly due to American interference in their governments. In 1933, Major General Smedley Butler, two-time winner of the Medal of Honor, made the following statement during a speech: “War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses. I believe in adequate defense at the coastline and nothing else. If a nation comes over here to fight, then we’ll fight. The trouble with America is that when the dollar only earns 6 percent over here, then it gets restless and goes overseas to get 100 percent. Then the flag follows the dollar and the soldiers follow the flag. I wouldn’t go to war again as I have done to protect some lousy investment of the bankers. There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. There isn’t a trick in the racketeering bag that the military gang is blind to. It has its “finger men” to point out enemies, its “muscle men” to destroy enemies, its “brain men” to plan war preparations, and a “Big Boss” Super-Nationalistic-Capitalism. It may seem odd for me, a military man to adopt such a comparison. Truthfulness compels me to. I spent thirty- three years and four months in active military service as a member of this country’s most agile military force, the Marine Corps. I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle- man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I suspected I was just part of a racket at the time. Now I am sure of it. Like all the members of the military profession, I never had a thought of my own until I left the service. My mental faculties remained in suspended animation while I obeyed the orders of higher-ups. This is typical with everyone in the military service. I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefits of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912 (where have I heard that name before?). I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested. During those years, I had, as the boys in the back room would say, a swell racket. Looking back on it, I feel that I could have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.” Butler may have been the only 20th century military commander ever to speak out openly with the exception of General George Patton. Crushing the military careers of each became a major goal of Washington’s “fat backside” ruling order. Butler was, at one time, put under arrest for citing an incident where Italy’s Fascist leader Benito Mussolini ran down a child with his automobile, thinking little or nothing of it. You see, Mussolini was quite popular in Washington as was Adolf Hitler, Time Magazine’s “Man of the Year” in 1940. Patton, sharing the title of “America’s Greatest General” with Robert E. Lee, was repeatedly removed from command and, in all probability assassinated, most likely for his open defense of the German people who he was ordered to starve to death under American occupation. With Mexico, South and Central America, the air of racism that now floods Washington, wildly inaccurate stories about massed assaults on America’s Southern border, are little more than a distraction from America’s targeting of nation after nation in that region, a follow up to America’s dismal failures in Afghanistan and Syria. When we add this to fake reports of “no go zones” in America’s cities where imaginary Sharia Law is enforced by an Islamic population made up largely of business owners and highly educated professionals, the majority of whom are conservatives with ties to Trump’s own party, and the newfound war on, well whom? One might ask why the continual focus on transsexuals. In 70 years, I haven’t knowingly met one yet I am warned, on a daily basis, of the threat they pose to my moral wellbeing. For those of us, the “baby boomers,” born during or after the Second World War, born in an America that was over 90% “whites only,” few accurately remember the highly charged atmosphere of our youth, race hatred and fear permeated everything. “Good negroes” swept our floors, cleaned our homes, those of us, and I was hardly one of “those,” who could afford such things. The “rest,” were purported to be “layabouts” or violent criminals. Few of us ever met these criminals who did exist, but not in the numbers or under the circumstances alleged. In fact, the most radically racist states, Montana, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, I could add a dozen more to the list, had no African American population whatsoever. What residents of these Red States knew then and know now is based on what they see on television. A reminder, much of what is on television or even the print media, is made up by people working for Rupert Murdoch. In fact, Donald Trump watches nothing that isn’t Rupert Murdoch approved. Donald Trump doesn’t read anything at all, ever. Conclusion A question, can we look back to 9/11 as a watershed event, replacing the hatred of African Americans with fear and hatred of Muslims? Was this done to polarize a sector of America voters, one sector motivated by fear and hate, while other sectors drown in ambivalence and hopelessness? Is this how America is ruled, though fear and racism fed “populism?”

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morganbelarus · 7 years

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Before the Massacre at the School Named In Her Honor, Marjory Stoneman Douglas Was There When the Brady Bill Was Signed

The Florida school where an expelled student murdered 17 people with an assault rifle on Valentines Day was named after a champion of environmentalism, womens suffrage and civil rights who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom when she was 103, thereby proving what you can accomplish if your life is not cut short by a bullet.

The same day in 1993 when Marjory Stoneman Douglas received the medal from President Bill Clinton at the White House, she was invited to witness the signing of the Brady Bill, which established a federal background check for those seeking to purchase firearms.

One eventual result was that Nikolas Cruz was handed an ATF Form 473 when he asked to purchase an AR-15 assault rifle at Sunrise Tactical Supply in Coral Springs, Florida, on Feb. 11, 2017.

The form posed 13 questions to be answered by checking boxes marked YES and NO. Cruz checked a NO box again and again where he was asked if he was an illegal alien and if he had never been indicted or convicted of a felony or of even misdemeanor domestic violence or been the subject of an order of protection or used illegal drugs.

There was also this, Question 11f:

Have you ever been adjudicated as a mental defective OR have you ever been committed to a mental institution?

Cruz is said to have just ended 14 months of voluntary treatment as an outpatient at a mental health facility. He had a long history of behavior problems. He went through a phase of killing small animals. His neighbors had repeatedly called the police about him for such anti-social acts as smashing a car with a golf club. He was known at school to be fascinated with guns. And he had been expelled for fighting and being generally disruptive just three days before he came into the gun store.

Even so, Cruz was able to check the NO box next to Question 11f as well as beside all the other queries for which a YES would have disqualified him. The proprietor of the gun shop submitted the form to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System that had been established by the Brady Bill a quarter century before.

The database contained nothing to contradict all the NO answers and cleared Cruz to go ahead and buy the AR-15.

The weapon came with one magazine and he acquired numerous others elsewhere, the going price for one with a 30-round capacity being around $15. He also obtained at least 150 rounds of ammunition, at around 20 cents a bullet.

On Jan. 5, 2018, someone whom the FBI would describe as close to Nikolas Cruz contacted the Bureaus tip line to report concerns about him.

The caller provided information about Cruzs gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media posts, as well as the potential of him conducting a school shooting, the FBI would subsequently acknowledge in a statement.

The FBI would further allow, Under established protocols, the information provided by the caller should have been assessed as a potential threat to life. The information then should have been forwarded to the FBI Miami Field Office, where appropriate investigative steps would have been taken.We have determined that these protocols were not followed.

One month and nine days latersurely not just coincidentally Valentines DayCruz arrived by Uber at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School at the edge of the vast wetlands she had helped save with her book River of Grass. The effort had earned her the nickname Grand Dame of the Everglades. She had also been a fierce advocate for womens rights and a stalwart foe of racial discrimination, organizing social action and writing a newspaper column along with numerous short stories and plays.

Cruz began doing what the FBI tipster warned he might do. He murdered 17 people while firing more than 100 but less than 150 shots. It cost him under $30 in bullets to kill three uncommonly brave adults and one teen after another after another who were still years from the age when Douglas had first embarked on her many endeavors. Had Douglas been murdered in her teens, the world would have never known of her genius and spirit.

At least one of the victims showed a flash of absolute greatness at the age of just 15. Peter Wang was in study hall when the shooting started. He was a member of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps and was wearing his grey uniform. Nobody could have honored it more than he did as he stood holding the door so everybody else could flee ahead of him.

He is so brave, his cousin Lin Chen later told the Sun-Sentinel. He is the person who is genuinely kind to everyone. He doesnt care about popularity. He always liked to cheer people up. He is like the big brother everyone wished they had.

Wang had planned to celebrate Chinese New Year with his family on Thursday. He might well have been alive to do so had the FBI acted upon that tip last month. Somebody had seen something and said something and yet the FBI had done nothing at all. You have to figure that the agents would have followed through if the tip been about a jihadi bent on a terrorist attack.

There remains the question of why Cruz was able to acquire the AR-15 in the first place. The background check instituted by the bill signing that Douglas witnessed back in 1993 was unquestionably right in principle. The problem is that the present criteria and the mechanics of the screening too often fail to prevent the deeply disturbed from acquiring even the deadliest weapons.

We might take a step toward preventing future horrors by requiring prospective gun buyers to be affirmatively certified by a mental health professional and by the police as psychologically fit. Japan does that and averages some 15 gun murders a year, or two less than were shot to death on Valentines Day in Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

The schools namesake died in 1998 at the age of 108. That was five years after she received the Presidential Medal for Freedom, largely for environmental work she did not begin in earnest until she was 79.

Wang had 93 years less of life. But he was so magnificent in his final moments that it seems only right he, too should be honored.

So, this year a Presidential Medal of Freedom should go to a 15-year-old who showed a flash of greatness in uniform before his great potential was cut short by a 20-cent bullet.

And while at the White House, the Wang family should be able to then watch President Trump sign into law a new version of the Brady Bill. This one should have a screening process that would have kept the likes of Cruz from getting his hands on an AR-15.

First we need the new bill.

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torixus · 5 years

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Novel coronavirus: Your questions, answered

The current outbreak of infections with a novel type of coronavirus has sparked global anxiety and concern that the virus might spread too far and too fast and cause dramatic harm before health officials find a way to stop it. But what are the realities of the new coronavirus outbreak? We investigate. What are the realities of the new coronavirus outbreak? This article was updated on March 19, 2020 In December last year, reports started to emerge that a coronavirus that specialists had never before seen in humans had begun to spread among the population of Wuhan, a large city in the Chinese province of Hubei. Since then, the virus has spread to other countries, both in and outside Asia, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare this as a pandemic. To date, the novel coronavirus — currently dubbed “severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2,” or SARS-CoV-2 for short — has been responsible for 209,839 infections globally, causing 8,778 deaths. In the U.S., the virus has affected 7,087 people and has so far caused 100 deaths. But what do we really know about this virus? And how is it likely to affect the global population? Medical News Today have contacted the WHO, used the information that public health organizations have offered, and looked at the newest studies that have featured in peer-reviewed journals to answer these and other questions from our readers. Stay informed with live updates on the current COVID-19 outbreak and visit our coronavirus hub for more advice on prevention and treatment. 1. What is the new virus? SARS-CoV-2 is a coronavirus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Coronaviruses, in general, are a family of viruses that target and affect mammals’ respiratory systems. According to their specific characteristics, there are four main “ranks” (genera) of coronaviruses, which are called alpha, beta, delta, and gamma. Most of these only affect animals, but a few can also pass to humans. Those that are transmissible to humans belong to only two of these genera: alpha and beta. Only two coronaviruses have previously caused global outbreaks. The first of these was the SARS coronavirus — responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) — which first started spreading back in 2002, also in China. The SARS virus epidemic primarily affected the populations of mainland China and Hong Kong, and it died off in 2003. The other one was the MERS coronavirus — or Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus — which emerged in Saudi Arabia in 2012. This virus has affected at least 2,494 people since then. 2. Where did the virus originate? When humans do become infected with a coronavirus, this typically happens via contact with an infected animal. Some of the most common carriers are bats, although they do not typically transmit coronaviruses directly to humans. Instead, the transmission might occur via an “intermediary” animal, which will usually — though not always — be a domestic one. The SARS coronavirus spread to humans via civet cats, while the MERS virus spread via dromedaries. However, it can be difficult to determine the animal from which a coronavirus infection first starts spreading. In the case of the new coronavirus, initial reports from China tied the outbreak to a seafood market in central Wuhan. As a result, local authorities closed down the market on January 1. However, later assessments have since suggested that this market was unlikely to be the single source of the coronavirus outbreak, as some of the people infected with the virus had not been frequenting the market. Specialists have not yet been able to determine the true source of the virus or even confirm whether there was a single original reservoir. When MNT contacted the WHO for comment, their spokespeople emphasized: “We don’t yet know [what the specific source of SARS-CoV-2 was]. Researchers in China are studying this but have not yet identified a source.” 3. How is the virus transmitted? While it likely originated in animals, the transmission of the new coronavirus from person to person can occur, though some questions about its transmission remain unanswered. According to the WHO spokespeople who responded to MNT queries, “[r]esearchers are still studying the exact parameters of human-to-human transmission.” “In Wuhan at the beginning of the outbreak, some people became ill from exposure to a source, most likely an animal, carrying the disease. This has been followed by transmission between people,” they explained, adding: “As with other coronaviruses, the transmission is through the respiratory route, meaning the virus is concentrated in the airways (nose and lungs) and can pass to another person via droplets from their nose or mouth, for example. We still need more analysis of the epidemiological data to understand the full extent of this transmission and how people are infected.” In a press briefing from February 6, WHO consultant Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove said that, for now, “[w]e do know that mild individuals shed virus, we know that severe individuals shed virus. […] We know that the more symptoms you have, the more likely you are to transmit.” In their “Q&A on coronaviruses,” the WHO state that “[t]he risk of catching COVID-19 from someone with no symptoms at all is very low. However, many people with COVID-19 experience only mild symptoms. […] It is therefore possible to catch COVID-19 from someone who has, for example, just a mild cough and does not feel ill.” In an interview for the JAMA Network — also broadcast on February 6 — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said that based on data that they have received from Chinese specialists, the new coronavirus’s “incubation period is probably between 5 and 6 — maybe closer to 5 — days.“ That is, the virus likely takes about 5–6 days to give rise to symptoms once it has infected a person. Although the WHO note that experts estimate that the new virus’s incubation period may last anywhere between 1 and 14 days, they suggest in their coronavirus Q&A section that the most likely duration is about 5 days. 4. How does it compare with other viruses? Researchers from Chinese institutions were able to use state-of-the-art genome sequencing tools to identify the DNA structure of the novel coronavirus. It has emerged that SARS-CoV-2 is most similar to two bat coronaviruses known as bat-SL-CoVZC45 and bat-SL-CoVZXC21 — its genomic sequence is 88% the same as theirs. The same study shows that the new virus’s DNA is about 79% the same as that of the SARS coronavirus and approximately 50% like that of the MERS virus. Recently, a study by researchers in China suggested that pangolins may have been the initial propagators of SARS-CoV-2, as its genomic sequence appeared to be 99% like that of a coronavirus specific to these animals. Since then, however, other specialists have cast doubts over this idea, citing inconclusive evidence. CORONAVIRUS NEWS Stay informed about COVID-19 Get the latest updates and research-backed information on the novel coronavirus direct to your inbox. 5. What are its symptoms? Like previous coronaviruses, the novel coronavirus causes respiratory disease, and the symptoms affect respiratory health. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the main symptoms of COVID-19 are fever, cough, and shortness of breath. “Current information suggests that the virus can cause mild, flu-like symptoms, as well as more severe disease. Most patients seem to have mild disease, and about 20% appear to progress to more severe disease, including pneumonia, respiratory failure, and, in some cases, death,” WHO spokespeople told MNT. In their press briefing from February 27, WHO officials also pointed out that a runny nose is not usually a symptom of COVID-19.

World Health Organization (WHO) ✔ · Feb 27, 2020 Replying to @WHO "Are we ready to treat patients with severe or critical #COVID19? Do our hospitals & clinics have the right procedures to prevent & control #coronavirus infections? Do our people have the right information? Do they know what the disease looks like?"-@DrTedros

World Health Organization (WHO) ✔ @WHO "It’s not usually a runny 👃. In 90% of #COVID19 cases it’s a 🤒 & in 70% of cases a dry cough. Are we ready to fight rumours & misinformation with clear & simple messages that people can understand?"-@DrTedros #coronavirus

In an official WHO Q&A session, Dr. Van Kerkhove explained that as the symptoms of COVID-19 can be very generic, it can be difficult to distinguish between them and the symptoms of other respiratory infections. To understand exactly what a person is dealing with, she said, specialists test viral samples, checking to see whether the virus’s DNA structure matches that of SARS-CoV-2 or not. “When someone comes in with a respiratory disease, it’s very difficult — if not impossible — initially to determine what they’re infected with. So, because of this, what we rely on are diagnostics [molecular tests],” said Dr. Van Kerkhove. 6. What is its impact? The WHO officially changed their classification of COVID-19 from a public health emergency of international concern to a pandemic on March 11. In a declaration, WHO’s director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that: “WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction. We have therefore made the assessment that COVID-19 can be characterized as a pandemic. Pandemic is not a word to use lightly or carelessly. It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death. Describing the situation as a pandemic does not change WHO’s assessment of the threat posed by this virus. It doesn’t change what WHO is doing, and it doesn’t change what countries should do.” The global implications have been severe. Many countries have closed schools and are recommending that people work from home where they can. Some international borders have been completely locked down and in many places travel is being discouraged unless it is deemed essential. In the U.S., the White House is advising that people avoid social gatherings of more than 10 people, while individual states have introduced their own measures to try and deal with the situation Many questions also remain about how SARS-CoV-2 compares with other viruses in terms of its rates of infection and mortality. In response to questions about this, the WHO spokespeople told MNT that “[t]his is a new disease, and our understanding is changing rapidly. We will continue to analyze information on both current and any new cases.” “We don’t yet know many details about the mortality rate from SARS-CoV-2, and studies are ongoing now. With MERS, we know that approximately 35% of reported patients with [MERS coronavirus] infection have died. For SARS, WHO estimated that the case fatality ratio of SARS ranges from 0% to 50% depending on the age group affected, with an overall estimate of case fatality of 14% to 15%.” – WHO spokespeople So far, the number of infections and deaths that COVID-19 has caused is also smaller than the number resulting from recent outbreaks of particularly harmful influenza viruses, such as swine flu (H1N1). “On H1N1, From April 12, 2009, to April 10, 2010, the CDC estimated there were 60.8 million cases, 274,304 hospitalizations, and 12,469 deaths in the United States due to the (H1N1)pdm09 virus. Additionally, the CDC estimated that 151,700–575,400 people worldwide died from (H1N1)pdm09 virus infection during the first year the virus circulated,” the WHO spokespeople told MNT. According to recent assessments, SARS-CoV-2 seems to be more infectious than other coronaviruses — such as those that cause SARS and MERS — but less likely to lead to death. Some estimates suggest that the death rate of the new coronavirus is in the range of 2–3%, but there are no official numbers in this regard, as it is hard to tell how the outbreak will develop. The WHO reports that the two groups most at risk of experiencing severe illness due to a SARS-CoV-2 infection are older adults, defined as “over 60 years old”, and individuals who have other health conditions that compromise their immune system. The report also notes that “[t]he risk of severe disease gradually increases with age starting from around 40 years.” Other reports note that very few children have become infected with the new coronavirus. However, a recent preliminary study — not yet peer-reviewed or published in a journal — claims that children face the same risk of infection as adults. Among adults, some reports suggest that men might be more at risk than women. While there are currently no published scientific reports about the susceptibility of pregnant women, the CDC notes that: “Pregnant women experience immunologic and physiologic changes which might make them more susceptible to viral respiratory infections, including COVID-19.” The CDC also recommend that infants born to mothers with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 are placed in isolation as a “person under investigation.” The WHO reports that pregnant women with COVID-19 symptoms should receive priority access to diagnostic tests. 7. How can we prevent infection? Official WHO prevention guidelines suggest that to avoid infection with the coronavirus, individuals should apply the same best practices for personal hygiene that they would to keep any other virus at bay. This includes maintaining “at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing.” According to the WHO spokespeople who replied to MNT queries: “Standard recommendations to prevent infection spread include regular hand washing, covering [the] mouth and nose when coughing and sneezing, [and] thoroughly cooking meat and eggs. Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms of respiratory illness, such as coughing and sneezing.” As for wearing protective masks, WHO guidelines recommend that people should wear masks if they are coughing or sneezing. Healthy people need only do this if they are caring for someone who has COVID-19. Masks should cover the nose and mouth and be tightly secured. People should thoroughly wash their hands before putting on a new mask, make sure that they dispose of used masks appropriately, and clean their hands once again after removing them. 8. How is the virus treated? There are currently no targeted, specialized treatments for infections resulting from the new coronavirus. When doctors detect a SARS-CoV-2 infection, they aim to treat the symptoms as they arise. In the WHO Q&A, Dr. Van Kerkhove explained that “[b]ecause this is a new virus, we don’t have specific treatments for that virus. But because this virus causes respiratory disease, those symptoms are treated.“ “Antibiotics won’t work against a virus,” she also emphasized. 9. What steps are researchers taking? In the same Q&A, Dr. Van Kerkhove noted that “there are treatments that are in development” for the new coronavirus. Over the years, she said, “many treatments [have been] looked at to treat other coronaviruses, like the MERS coronavirus.” “And hopefully, those treatments can [also] be useful for the novel coronavirus,” she continued. There are currently clinical trials underway to find a treatment and a vaccine against the MERS coronavirus, which, if successful, could lay the groundwork for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine and COVID-19 treatment. Some scientists are also experimenting with using antiretroviral therapy, which is a treatment for HIV, against the new virus. But why might these kinds of treatments hold any promise when it comes to fighting off this coronavirus? According to some studies, the combination of antiretroviral drugs that scientists are experimenting with — lopinavir and ritonavir — is able to attack a specialized molecule that HIV and coronaviruses both use to replicate. Another allegedly promising avenue is using baricitinib — a drug that doctors use to treat arthritis — against the new coronavirus. The researchers who came up with this idea explain that it is likely that SARS-CoV-2 can infect the lungs by interacting with specific receptors present on the surface of some lung cells. But such receptors are also present on some cells in the kidneys, blood vessels, and heart. Baricitinib, the researchers say, may be able to disrupt the interaction between the virus and these key receptors. However, whether or not it will really be effective remains to be seen. In a press briefing from February 5, WHO officials explained investigators’ preference for experimenting with existing drugs in fighting off the new coronavirus. Such drugs, they said, have already gained official approval for use against other specifications, meaning that they are largely safe. As a result, they need not go through the extensive series of preclinical trials and clinical trials that new drugs require, which can take a very long time indeed. 10. Where can I find out more? To get more information about the new coronavirus outbreak and for extensive guidelines about best practices when dealing with the virus, here are a few international resources that you can access: WHO info hub CDC info hub European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) info hub Australian Government Department of Health resources BMJ latest news The Lancet resource center Nature article collection

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kristablogs · 5 years

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Is it loud in the ocean?

Aquatic life has enough to worry about dealing with nature’s bluster alone. (Eric Nyquist/)

For 24 hours each march, a hush falls over the Indonesian island of Bali in observation of Nyepi, a compulsory day of silent reflection that marks the Hindu new year. Businesses close, streets clear, and beaches empty. Even air travel and shipping stop.

In March 2017, oceanographers used this rare moment of tranquility to drop six hydrophones into the water and spend a few days trying to assess what the big blue sounds like without human interference. They clearly heard the snap of shrimp claws and the grunts and groans of fish crescendo into a nightly chorus.

People imagine the ocean as serene, but the deep has never been the silent world that conservationist Jacques Cousteau once called it. Data suggests most of the 34,200 species of fish can hear, and there’s plenty to listen to. Whales aren’t alone in singing; at least 800 species of fish click, hoot, purr, or moan. A healthy coral reef sounds like corn popping. Storms and earthquakes add to the score. But the industrialization of the sea over the past 70 years has generated enough din to make hearing anything else difficult. For years, few worried about it, because what did it matter in all that water? Yet mounting evidence shows that our racket profoundly impacts marine creatures great and small—and could shorten their lives.

Aquatic life has enough to worry about dealing with nature’s bluster alone. The 9.0 temblor that hit Japan in 2011 registered 230 decibels off the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. That’s equivalent to a Saturn V rocket and might be the loudest natural event recorded underwater. As Hurricane Irma battered Florida with 75 mph winds after making landfall in 2017, a hydrophone in Sarasota Bay recorded a 30-decibel increase in background noise. That’s eight times louder than the 76 measured before the storm.

Even in calm seas, though, the dynamic aural environment has given way to cacophony in many places. Shipping remains the biggest offender; its groans and rumbles increased 3 decibels (a doubling in intensity) each decade between 1950 and 2007. Acoustic energy travels farther through water than air, so few places escape the blare. “If you have a hydrophone in the middle of the open ocean and really listen, it will sound like you are near a freeway,” says ocean acoustician Rex Andrew of the University of Washington Applied Physics Laboratory. “You don’t hear individual ships but a constant distant roar.”

That’s only part of the sonic assault. The pneumatic blasts of a seismic air gun, fired at the seafloor to locate oil and gas, are louder than a jet and can carry for 2,500 miles. The thunderous output of a dredger tops 160 decibels—akin to a shotgun blast but sustained for hours. A control mic placed near the airport during the Nyepi study found that planes increased ambient furor beneath the waves by 6 to 10 decibels—up to a tenfold spike—when they resumed flying.

All of this impacts marine life in several ways. Much of it clutters the frequencies sea creatures rely on to communicate, hunt, and find their way. Short, intense bursts above 200 decibels can injure their hearing, and persistent background droning greater than 120 (chainsaw territory) can alter their behavior.

Cetaceans show the most obvious reactions. They may dive or ascend suddenly or swim vast distances to flee sonar pings, which can exceed 215 decibels and travel nearly 100 miles. Some species even beach themselves. One study identified 121 strandings by beaked whales between 1960 and 2004; such events were rare before sonar became prevalent 60 years ago. Necropsies revealed hemorrhaging and damage to their ears, brain, and kidneys. Researchers also found signs of nitrogen bubbles in their blood, which suggest the animals suffered decompression sickness, aka the bends, an incapacitating condition caused by surfacing too quickly.

Looking beyond marine mammals, dozens of fish studies show noise impairs the animals’ ability to listen, which is critical for hunting, mating, and avoiding predators. Smaller creatures face risks too. Researchers who fired a seismic air gun off the coast of Tasmania collected two to three times as many dead zooplankton within the mile-long test zone than before they started, implying that the din can devastate creatures at the base of the oceanic food web.

Scientists know less about the impact of chronic noise, most of which comes from shipping. Worse, they cannot fully assess the problem because they lack a baseline, or even models, of ambient sound. U.S. Navy recordings from the 1950s offer only snapshots.

Still, some evidence implies that human-caused distortion poses a constant, if sublethal, threat. Hydrophones revealed that Canada’s Bay of Fundy was 6 decibels quieter after U.S. officials shut down domestic airports and shipping ports following 9/11. Fecal samples from North Atlantic right whales in the area revealed a decrease in the metabolites of stress-related hormones that can stunt growth, damage the heart, and impair the immune system. That suggests our influence might take a toll on their longevity.

Investigators rarely get to eavesdrop on hushed waters because shushing the sea for even one day is nearly impossible. Studying aquatic behavior typically means adding to the clamor by, for example, subjecting whales to controlled sonar exposure. “We never treat these animals with silence,” says Christine Erbe, an Australian geophysicist who worked on the Bali study. She is among 100 scientists involved in the International Quiet Ocean Experiment, which plans to use scheduled lulls in, say, offshore construction and other occasions to create a benchmark of natural sound.

Their findings could help answer the most pressing questions: Just how noxious is all this noise, and what are the long-term implications? In December 2018, the United Nations expressed an urgent need for additional research to find out. Others aren’t waiting. The European Union decreed that our fracas must not adversely affect sea life, and the shipping industry is redesigning propellers and taking other steps to pipe down. Perhaps inhabitants of the world’s oceans might soon enjoy a bit more peace and quiet.

This story originally published in the Noise, Winter 2019 issue of Popular Science.

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scootoaster · 5 years

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Is it loud in the ocean?

Aquatic life has enough to worry about dealing with nature’s bluster alone. (Eric Nyquist/)

This story originally published in the Noise, Winter 2019 issue of Popular Science.

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benjamingarden · 7 years

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What’s Stalking Your Flock (and How to Protect Them)

What’s stalking your flock? Probably more than you realize! There are so many dangers lurking out there day and night from animals that would like to make a tasty meal out of your chickens. Here’s some ways to identify the dangers and protect your flock.

Lately I’ve been hearing about people losing their entire flock in a night by a variety of different predators. Some of these people have been raising chickens for a very long time, so it’s not just some kind of newbie mistake. (One of the hens lost recently was nine years old!) One family I know has been raising chickens in the same location for over 20 years without a single problem, and then lost their whole flock in one night. Another friend lost six hens during the day, while she was home, when some coyotes came into the yard and hauled her chickens off.

I’m not trying to scare you. Not really (only sort of). But predators do pose a serious threat, even in the city. There are all sorts of animals (wild and domestic), many of whom you’ve probably never noticed or given thought to, that would love to have a nice, fresh chicken dinner from your yard.

If you’d rather not be the local animal diner, there are ways to help keep your hens safe. And most of them aren’t even very hard to put into place. While there are a host of animals that pose a threat to chickens, I’m going to focus mainly on the ones more commonly found in the areas where urban flocks live. Many of the precautions are general and work for all predators, but some animals have specific things that will deter them better, so I’ll talk in generals as well as specifics.

Here are some general guidelines:

Secure the Coop and Run

Use hardware cloth on your coop and run. Although it’s more expensive than chicken wire, it’s worth the added expense. (Chicken wire basically only helps keep chickens in. It’s not strong enough to do a very good job of keeping other animals out. (Even little animals like rats can chew through it.) Attaching the hardware cloth to your coop and run using washers and screws also helps keep the hardware cloth from being pulled off the coop/run walls. Don’t forget to cover the coop windows with hardware cloth as well. Window screen is essentially useless (except to keep bugs out).

When adding hardware cloth, bury it about a foot deep, down around the chicken run. This will help discourage animals from tunneling down under to get inside your coop. You can also fill this trench up with concrete for added re-enforcement.

Another way to do this is run the wire out about two feet from the bottom of the chicken run wall and then cover it. This also helps discourage digging.

(I built my first coop and run on top of an old RV pad—I added dirt into the chicken run for padding for the girls, but kept animals from digging down under the walls because the asphalt stopped them.) A similar kind of thing would be to use pavers under the walls of the chicken run, to help keep digging in check.

Adding a metal or wood apron around the bottom part of the run will help secure the most vulnerable part of the chicken run. Some animals won’t try to dig under with an apron in place because they need to be able to see their prey as they dig. Providing a visual barrier helps deter them.

Cover the chicken run with wire or a roof or both. Netting will keep birds out from above, but other animals can easily rip through netting and climb inside.

A chicken yard fence (or backyard fence–some containment) is a good deterrent for stray dogs (this is one biggest killers of urban chickens but we’ve still had a fair share of stray dogs even on the farm). The fencing also helps keep your free ranging chickens in the areas you want them in and away from other areas.

Keep the Chicken Area Clean

Dirty, cluttered, food strewn places attract all the wrong things. Rodents love to live and hide in piled up wood, bricks, brush, etc. and are drawn to dirty coops. All animals are attracted to food and scraps. Keeping the chicken coop, run and yard area picked up and less attractive to animals will cut the traffic down.

(I learned the hard way with my compost bin that having non-enclosed bins will attract rats in a big way. And rats multiply at astonishing rates. In every short order, we had a full blown issue that took professional services to eradicate. It was a big mess!)

Don’t forget picking up fruit as it falls off the trees. Think like an animal needing to forage for their next meal when looking around your yard. What would attract you if you were hungry? Get rid of it or lock it up so they can’t get to it.

In the same way, picking up extra feed at night (or covering it with a rodent guard) helps keep rodents at bay.

Add Safe Places

If you have free range birds, adding shrubs or strategically placed branches, etc. will give hens a place to run under to gain protection, especially from airborne predators. (This also gives them shade protection in the summer heat, so it’s an added bonus.)

My hens adore a scruffy rhododendron bush in the chicken yard. I’d actually love to cut the sad thing down, but I don’t have the heart to do it because it’s my girls favored place to hang. And I’ve seen it in action as a protection as a hawk as stalked them from above. So, sigh. It will stay, eye sore or not.

All of these general security measures will help keep your flock safer, as well making your property less attractive to hang in. But there are other, specific things you can do when you know which kinds of animals you’re dealing with.

Here are some animal specific guidelines:

So cute, but so dangerous to the flock!

(The following are ideas to use in addition to the ones above, not instead of.)

Raccoons: They’re very smart animals that can open latches, dig tunnels, climb over gates and up walls, and even reach into a run (even a run they can’t break into) and grab chickens. Adding latches that are raccoon proof is a good idea. This means, a latch that takes more than ONE step to open (or adding a padlock to the latch). I’ve actually had a raccoon reach into a secured and covered chicken run and grab one of my hens, ripping her head off. They have ‘hands’ similar to ours that can do amazing things.

Possums: They don’t like noise and light. Wind chimes, Christmas lights, strobe lights, turning on a radio, etc. are all things that can help keep them away. (And now you have a legitimate reason for keeping your Christmas lights up year round!)

Hawks, owls and other birds: Many of the same things used for possums work also for birds. Add to that, metallic ribbons and CD’s hanging by a string (they glisten in the sunshine). Owls are smart, though. If you just use lights, they’ll eventually figure it out. Keep them guessing. (Here’s what happened with my flock the day a Cooper’s Hawk flew into the chicken run!)

Rats, mice, squirrels and other tiny rodents: Collect your eggs regularly as these types of animals are more likely to feast on eggs than chickens (although they also like chicks and could occasionally take on a smaller hen). Some people set up squirrel feeders on the opposite side of the property to give squirrels a reason to congregate in areas away from the coop.

Coyotes and dogs: They love dog food and garbage. Keep those both picked up. A high fence might help, but some could still jump over. Adding 18-24” of wire, flat on the ground (buried a bit) all around the run can help discourage digging. If the dog belongs to you, make sure he is ‘chicken safe’ before allowing him to be with your flock unsupervised. Some dogs are great with chickens, even protecting them. Others see them as a distraction from boredom and attack them.

Snakes: Keep the yard mowed and hiding places removed as snakes don’t like to be out in the open.

Other hens: Yes, sometimes the flock needs to be protected from each other, or from things (illness, mites, etc.) that infest them. This, however, is a topic unto itself. Read more about that here.

Of course, taking every precaution available doesn’t guarantee 100% safety for your hens. However, if you put some simple things into place, both you and your girls should sleep better at night. And that keeps everyone happy (except for the wild animals having to look elsewhere for their next meal).

Everyone is into selfies these days…cats can potentially cause threat to a flock, but generally only to chicks. I’ve never had a problem with the many cats that come in and out of my backyard.

PS Thanks to my brother, CJ for these photos. He captured these pictures outside his coop up in central Washington the night he lost 5 hens to these predators.

What’s Stalking Your Flock (and How to Protect Them) was originally posted by My Favorite Chicken Blogs(benjamingardening)

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tragicbooks · 8 years

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These 14 photos of beautiful American wildlife remind us why we need to protect them.

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When you think of an endangered species, what comes to mind?

African elephants or wild tigers in India? What about pandas in China?

But the truth is, we don’t have to look that far away to find endangered and vulnerable animal species. We have a bunch right here at home in the U.S. And a lot of them are threatened with extinction because of the things that we do to them, like build roads through their habitats or pollute the places where they live.

A Florida panther in a tree. Photo by Mark Lotz/Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/Flickr.

Since 1973, these animals have enjoyed some protections thanks to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Over 1,600 vulnerable plant and animal species in the United States are covered by this federal law, which provides for their conservation and protection by restricting human activities that threaten them and making it a crime to harm or kill one of the species on the list.

Since it was signed into law, the ESA has helped several species recover — including the bald eagle, which was removed from the endangered species list in 2007 because its population had sufficiently recovered.

Photo via the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Midwest/Flickr.

The law also benefits people because when it protects animals and their habitats, it helps provide us with clean air and water too.

So, what are some of the North American animals under threat today and what is being done to help protect them?

Here are just a few of the animals on that list:

1. The gray wolf was mostly exterminated from the lower 48 states because humans hunted and killed them out of fear or to protect livestock.

Photo via Dan Stahler, Yellowstone National Park/Flickr.

Today, conservationists are working to help wolf populations recover in a few places — reintroduction projects have helped return wolves to some of their former homes.

2. Loggerhead sea turtles are the most common marine turtle species seen in U.S. waters, but they're threatened by pollution, shrimp trawling, and development in their nesting areas.

Photo via iStock.

3. The black-footed ferret is the only ferret native to North America but there are only about 370 left in the wild.

Photo via U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

They are one of the most endangered carnivore species in the world because of disease, lack of habitat, and because humans poisoned their number one prey — prairie dogs. Once thought to be completely extinct, they were brought back with captive-breeding efforts.

4. The Florida panther once lived in the woodlands and swamps of the Southeast. Today, it is one of the most endangered mammals on Earth with only 100 left in the wild.

Photo by Connie Bransilver, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service/Flickr.

The panther's population was decimated after European settlers arrived in the 1600s because they destroyed and fragmented its habitat. The Florida panther is considered an "umbrella species" because protecting this apex predator also keeps its ecosystem healthy and balanced.

5. The North Atlantic right whale gets its name because it was once considered the "right" whale to hunt.

Photo via Georgia Department of Natural Resources, Permit 15488, National Department of Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

This whale species lives along the Atlantic coast of North America and is still one of the most endangered whale species in the world, even though it has been protected from whaling since the 1930s. Today, it is threatened by ship collisions, entanglement in fishing nets, and ocean noise.

6. The San Joaquin kit fox is a tiny fox — about the size of a domestic cat — and it is one of the most endangered animals in California.

Photo via B. Peterson, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service/Wikimedia Commons.

They were once relatively common in California, but after a lot of their grassland habitat was converted into farms and orchards, their population declined. Today, only about 7,000 remain.

7. The piping plover is a small shore bird that lives along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, as well as in the northern Great Plains.

Photo via iStock.

Piping plovers are very sensitive to the presence of humans and too much disturbance on the beach can cause them to abandon their nests. They are also threatened by habitat loss and predators.

8. The Columbia Basin pygmy rabbit is found only in the state of Washington, where its sagebush habitat has been mostly converted to agricultural land or destroyed by human developments.

Photo by H. Ulmschneider and R. Dixon/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

9. Pronghorns have the longest land migration in North America but this migration is endangered. They are also the fastest land animal on the continent but they are experiencing increasing run-ins with humans and property developments. And two subspecies of pronghorn are already listed on the ESA.

Photo via iStock

10. California condors are the largest bird in North America, with average wingspans of nine-and-a-half feet. For most of the 20th century, their population declined so quickly, they almost went completely extinct.

Photo via iStock.

Many of the birds were killed by poison ingestion and illegal egg collection — which can be devastating because they only lay one egg every two years. At the lowest point, in 1987, their numbers dropped to only 10 birds. Today, thanks to captive breeding, there about 127 birds in the wild — but their fate is still uncertain.

11. The whooping crane is the tallest bird in North America and it is critically endangered.

Photo via iStock.

In the 1800s and 1900s, the species was almost wiped out by habitat loss and hunting — and by 1941, only 15 birds remained. Conservationists worked with local, federal, and international governments to try to save the species, and while they aren't out of the woods just yet, their numbers are slowly growing.

12. Monarch butterflies spend most of their lives migrating across North America, and this journey has become more dangerous for them over recent years.

Photo via bark/Flickr.

Illegal logging, deforestation, agriculture, forest fires, climate change, and increased development all pose threats to this butterfly's migration. Despite the fact that the population of monarch butterfly has declined by 80%, it is not currently protected by the ESA — though the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is in the process of determining whether that will soon change.

These are just a few of the many endangered or threatened wildlife species in North America — and if they are going to continue to survive, they need our help.

They need laws, like the ESA, to protect them, they need scientists working on conservation efforts to keep them alive, and perhaps most importantly, they need support and engagement from people to help work toward their recovery.

There has been a lot of pressure lately to weaken federal wildlife protection laws like the ESA or to de-list animals before they are fully recovered. If laws are weakened, if conservation budgets are cut, or if policy falls short, it will become even more important for us to step up and take preservation into our own hands to make sure that these animals stay safe. After all, without us, they could go extinct.

But with an engaged and informed public, we can keep fighting the good fight to protect these species for generations to come.

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socialviralnews · 8 years