Cutting Off Horns Is the Best Protection for Rhinos, Study Finds
The analysis of poaching before and after the de-horning of almost 2,300 rhinos showed that removing the keratin-based protrusions cut the crime by 78%. The researchers are from three South African universities - Nelson Mandela, Stellenbosch and Cape Town — and the UK's University of Oxford.
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Forbes
8 hours ago
- Forbes
Unlocking The Mystery Of Mediterranean White Sharks Through Citizen Science
Most people don't realize that white sharks live in the Mediterranean Sea, let alone that they're on the brink of disappearing. Unlike their famous cousins off the coasts of California or South Africa, the Mediterranean white shark is elusive… rarely seen… and poorly understood. 'There's really not much known about them, and they are crucial to the ecological balance as apex predators,' says Jeremy Jenrette, a Ph.D. candidate studying fish and wildlife conservation, in a Virginia Tech News press release. In a race against time, a team of scientists and citizen volunteers are now using a rather unexpected tool to find them: DNA drifting in seawater. To fill in the gaps about these sharks, a team at Virginia Tech's SeaQL Lab is teaming up with the nonprofit International SeaKeepers Society and Virginia Tech's Genomics Sequencing Center, using a cutting-edge tool called environmental DNA, or eDNA. eDNA is genetic material animals leave behind in their environment (think saliva, skin cells, or feces) which can be collected from seawater without ever needing to see or catch the animal. Jenrette developed a simple $200 testing kit that citizen scientists, including volunteer boaters across 22 Mediterranean-bordering countries, can use to collect surface water samples. Once collected, the samples are then sent to Blacksburg, Virginia, where they are analyzed to detect the genetic traces of sharks. 'This is a great opportunity to boost awareness and scientific knowledge about the conservation status of these sharks by involving international boaters,' Jenrette explained. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, more than 50 percent of the region's sharks and rays are threatened with extinction, and over a quarter are considered data deficient (meaning we simply don't know enough to protect them properly). The White Shark Chase project, launched in 2020 and led by Assistant Professor Francesco Ferretti, is an ambitious attempt to reverse that. It combines eDNA with satellite tagging and other techniques to study and protect white sharks and other endangered species; in just the past year, the team has published research in Frontiers in Marine Science confirming white shark presence in the Mediterranean and documenting the first-ever satellite tag on a juvenile shortfin mako shark in the region. Ferretti calls the initiative unprecedented and hopes it will grow into a long-term monitoring program for the region. This would not only help preserve the genetically unique Mediterranean white sharks, but also protect other endangered sharks. The above findings wouldn't be possible without the help of the boating community. In 2023, the International SeaKeepers Society contributed over $3,500 in seed funding to scale up eDNA sample collection. In May 2024, SeaKeepers helped arrange an expedition aboard the TE STREEP, a large marine vessel, to collect eDNA samples in the Adriatic Sea, the northern part of the Mediterranean. 'By collecting eDNA samples as they travel, boaters are able to contribute valuable data and improve our understanding of elusive white shark populations in the Mediterranean Sea — a recreational boating haven,' said Vicky Neild, UK programme manager for SeaKeepers, in the same news release. 'The boating community is uniquely positioned to expand the project's data collection capacity, empowering all to have a profound impact on marine conservation.' During that 2024 expedition, Jenrette joined the expedition to demonstrate how the kits work and filmed a training video for other volunteers. Once collected, the samples go back to Virginia Tech's Genomics Sequencing Center, where this whole project becomes a family affair because it's Jeremy's mother, Jennifer Jenrette, who helps analyze them. A next-generation sequencing specialist, she's been involved since the project's start, even co-authoring the paper that detailed the success of detecting white sharks with eDNA with her son in 2023. 'Being listed as second author on his publication is pretty cool and rather unusual,' she said in the news release. 'Not many parents get to observe their child's higher education, growth, and maturity at this level.' Together, they have helped confirm white shark presence in the Sicilian Channel and the Adriatic Sea near Croatia. To date, the team has processed 50 eDNA samples from the Adriatic Sea, Sicilian Channel, and Sardinia, identifying 15 shark and ray species with over 95 percent genetic match accuracy. The most common species found? Shortfin mako sharks (Isurus oxyrinchus), white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias), porbeagle sharks (Lamna nasus), blue sharks (Prionace glauca), and blackfin guitarfish (Glaucostegus cemiculus, formerly Rhinobatos cemiculus). Six out of nine samples collected by citizen scientists showed sharks and rays with more than 99 percent match, proving that the method is easy-to-use, reliable, and effective. The success of eDNA sampling has encouraged the team to expand the project to include other rare and elusive species. 'By supplementing traditional techniques, eDNA fills crucial knowledge gaps, enabling more robust conservation and management decisions for vulnerable Mediterranean populations of rays and sharks,' Jenrette said. 'We need to utilize more innovative technological approaches to sniff out their remaining populations because they are so elusive and scarcely observed.' Despite the promise, the work comes with major challenges. Funding remains limited, often coming in small donations from philanthropic groups. But even with limited resources, the team has gathered important data that points to the North African coasts as the last stronghold for Mediterranean white sharks. 'We are incredibly close to tagging the first Mediterranean white sharks,' Ferretti said in the University news release. 'We now know where they are, we just need the means to reach them and begin monitoring before it's too late. Thus, every donation, no matter the size, or infrastructural support, helps move us forward on this critical conservation effort.'
Bloomberg
10 hours ago
- Bloomberg
African Union Back Campaign to Adopt More Realistic World Map
The African Union has thrown its weight behind a campaign to adopt a world map that more accurately reflects the continent's relative size than the one currently adorning most geography-class walls. The so-called Mercator projection, in use since the 16th century, makes Africa look comparatively small as it inflates the size of land masses further away from the equator. As a result, the continent appears to be roughly as big as Greenland, though it's about 14 times as large.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Geological report taken out of context to claim that new ocean has emerged in East Africa
Last May, a US magazine reported on a geological change taking place in Africa that could be very slowly splitting the continent apart. A video post recently circulating on Facebook uses a screenshot from the report to claim that a new ocean has emerged in East Africa, uniting Ethiopia and Djibouti. However, this is misleading: The report explains that geological processes in northeast Africa, which could form a new ocean over millions of years, are gradually creating a separate tectonic plate for Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea. It does not state that a new ocean has already formed, nor that Ethiopia and Djibouti are uniting. The post shared on Facebook on August 5, 2025, in Amharic claims: 'Ethiopia and Djibouti are uniting. Scientists have announced amazing findings.' 'The new ocean has been formed,' adds the post. The post contains 90 seconds of footage showing images of volcanoes and rifts in northeastern part of Africa. Photos of Ethiopian and Djiboutian leaders are also displayed. The video begins with a male narrator repeating the headline of the story. 'Ethiopia and Djibouti unite. Scientists have announced tantalising findings. The scientists say that the Red Sea is expanding to the East African countries, which has created a new ocean,' he adds. As the speaker talks, a screenshot of a report appears on the screen with the headline 'This Continent is Splitting and Might Create a New Ocean on Earth". He goes on to claim that scientists confirm that the earthquakes that have occurred in Ethiopia, Turkey and Egypt are creating a new ocean in Ethiopia. 'It is confirmed that Ethiopia and Djibouti are the birthplace of the new ocean,' he further claims, adding, 'The event will dramatically change the shape of the earth'." As he speaks, East African maps, volcanoes, earthquakes and bodies of water are again shown on the screen. In 2005, a dramatic fissure more than 35 km long suddenly opened in Ethiopia's Afar Depression. Scientists said this was a vivid example of rapid crustal deformation and provided real-time evidence of a rift taking place over millions of years (archived here). However, neither the report nor other studies confirmed the emergence of a new ocean. No new ocean Using keyword searches, AFP Fact Check identified the screenshot used in the video. It was taken from a Travel + Leisure magazine article published on May 14, 2025, and titled 'This Continent Is Splitting and Might Create a New Ocean on Earth.' The article explains that tectonic activity in northeastern Africa — particularly in Djibouti, Ethiopia and Eritrea — is very gradually causing the land to pull apart (archived here). The article clearly states that it would take millions of years for such an ocean to develop. It cites the London Geographical Society's website: 'In the future, as extension continues along the rift, the rift valley will sink lower and lower eventually allowing ocean waters to flood into the basin. If rifting continues, new basaltic oceanic crust may form along the centre of the rift producing a new narrow ocean basin with its own mid ocean ridge between the Nubian and Somalian plates.' The article does not claim that a new ocean already exists in East Africa, nor that Ethiopia and Djibouti are uniting as a result. No study supports these claims. What scientists have documented is an ongoing tectonic rifting process that is not yet complete and will continue over a vast timescale.
