A recent paper by Brewin et al. 2015 in PLOS looks at "the Potential of Surfers to Monitor Environmental Indicators in the Coastal Zone". In short, they demonstrated that by using the abundant surfer population in the south west United Kingdom (UK), they could generate ~40 million data points per year, overcoming the current inadequate sampling methods. This data would be invaluable for costal monitoring and management.
A recent scientific paper published in PLoS Biol by provided some rather amazing results... Humans are not the only species that can talk!
Image of Babblers taken from wikipedia many thanks Avcida.
A decree earlier this month by the ecology and agriculture French ministerial spells bad news for the French wolf population. The decree is about the organisation of wolf hunting for the 2015/2016 season (Official Journal of 2 July 2015).
~60% of the worlds population of the endangered asian elephant (elephas maximus) is found in India, with Karnataka state haralding the largest population. Scientists at NCF collated data to form a distribution map of elephants in Karnataka.
Photography Johan Georget spent 7 hours waiting for this amazing image of this black rhino at sunset. This is a prime example of creating an image. He put in the effort and time to source location, observe the behaviour of the rhinos going to this watering hole, and waiting for right time. Fantastic pic!
Forest officials have reported a wild tiger in the fringes of Bannerghatta National Park in the south of Bangalore. This is barely 10km away from city.
The coming of the monsoons in India is associated with good news, particularly with regards to the wildlife after long and difficult dry seasons. However, that is not always the case, and Assam is an example.