geekosystem

Japan, we need to have a talk about your luxury dog snack market, because "endangered fin whale" is not an acceptable ingredient for dog treats. That's what one Japanese specialty pet food company has been selling, though, and they're now taking flack over the idea because for the love of all that is good, what kind of money-hungry deviant would do something like that? And Iceland, don't think you're off the hook for saying nuts to the international community and preparing to kill nearly 200 fin whales this year, many of which will be butchered and exported to become important items like "dog treats for the rich and monstrous." Not cool, you guys.

In a recent survey from across the pond that may dampen the Internet's unwavering devotion for funny felines, scientists have concluded that domestic cats in the United Kingdom are posing a serious threat to local bird populations, which has steadily declined over the years. Conservationists have since been trying to convince obstinate cat owners to be more mindful of their pet's hunting behavior and look into options that would prevent any more birds winding up dead on their doorsteps. If action to protect native bird species isn't taken soon, the U.K. is going to be known as the crazy cat lady of the world.

In news that would make for a solid first act of a Disney movie if it wasn't already the sad, horrible truth, Kenyan authorities are trying to find a team of poachers who killed an entire family of elephants in Kenya's Tsavo East National Park. In what's being described as the worst incident of poaching in Kenya's long history -- which isn't exactly short on horrific incidents of poaching -- a family of 11 elephants was slaughtered by what police believe to be a 10-person strong gang of poachers who escaped with the elephants' hacked off tusks, which will likely be shipped off to foreign markets to make trinkets, baubles, and pieces of jewelry from the ivory. Because human beings are terrible, that's why.

Customs agents in Hong Kong busted an ambitious smuggler carrying about $1 million worth of illicit cargo, including dried endangered seahorses and crocodile meat. Though it's an abhorrent crime and we hope the folks behind it are locked up for a good long time, as poachers should be, we can't help but grant the smugglers points for common sense. After all, if you're going to try and smuggle a crocodile into a place, it's really best to do so once someone more capable has already converted the creature into a series of steaks and fillets. Anything else just sounds exceptionally dangerous.

There are a lot of troubles facing endangered snow leopards in the Himalayan mountains that conservationists and others working to save the big cats can't really control -- habitat loss, poaching,  and Yeti rampages, just to name a few. In the interest of lighting a candle rather than cursing the darkness, though, Nepalese yak herders have decided to do something about one of the dangers to the cats: The herders themselves, who are known to shoot the animals to protect the lives -- or avenge the deaths -- of the yaks they depend on for their livelihoods. To do so, they've pooled their resources and worked with the University of Zurich to create a yak insurance fund that covers the loss of livestock to snow leopards, preserving farmers ability to feed their families and offering less incentive to hunt down snow leopards in the wake of the death of their yak, sheep, or goats.

Researchers have recognized several new species of Borneo's lemur-like primate, the mind-shatteringly adorable slow loris. Published this week in the American Journal of Primatology, the team's work officially splits the slow loris community into four distinct species, promoting two former subspecies to full species status in their own right, and recognizing one entirely new species, the kayan loris, pictured above.

Aan, an orangutan found in the Indonesian province of Central Kalimantan, is stepping back from death's door and recovering nicely after being found shot more than 100 times with an air rifle. Aan was found earlier this month with 37 pellet wounds to the head and another 67 in the body including pellets lodged in the heart and lung. While the wounds have taken Aan's left eye, the orangutan, who is being cared for in a Borneo rehabilitation center, is now expected to survive.

You read that headline right: Vladimir Putin is basically the little girl from Fly Away Home, except for how Anna Paquin has never had her political enemies locked away in a Russian prison for two years for playing guitar in a church. As far as we know. What we can be sure of is that Putin, the former head of the KGB, former Prime Minister and current President of Russia, took the helm of a powered hang glider and proved that his abilities as a leader are so great, even wildlife must follow his directives as he took point in the first stages of a migration of young Siberian cranes, who are due to leave on their annual trip to winter nesting grounds in Iran and India soon.

If you don't think of "being exceedingly reasonable about scheduling matters" as a trait generally shown by big cats who chase down and eat small, fluffy things, you're not alone. A group of tigers in Nepal, however, is demonstrating a degree of tact and diplomacy not usually seen in quarter-ton feline killing machines. The tigers of Nepal's Chitwan National Park have changed from their normal daytime feeding habits to make their living as nocturnal predators, seemingly in the interest of avoiding conflict with the humans who call the area home and share many of the same roads and trails used by tigers.

Researchers have sequenced the genome of the Tasmanian devil, an endangered species whose population is being decimated by a catchable cancer. This type of cancer is called Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD) and is transmitted through the population when the animals come into contact with affected individuals. The genome sequencing effort took a unique two-pronged species-preservation approach based on analyzing the whole-genomes of two Tasmanian devils and applying the data collected to the genetic history of the species. The data obtained from the genome sequencing effort was used to create a theoretical model to predict which individuals in the species should be kept in captivity to maximize the genetic diversity of healthy individuals, thus preserving the species for the future. The research will be used for at least one possible action plan for how to prevent the extinction of the Tasmanian devil, and could be applied to other endangered species.

Penny Palfrey has set a new world record for a solo unassisted swim, killing two endangered sharks in the process. The 48-year-old spent 40 hours and 41 minutes in the open water swimming the 67.25 miles between Little Cayman and Grand Cayman. During her swim, Palfrey crossed paths with four sharks, the crew following her by boat dispatched three of them by killing them with a machete. Two of the sharks that were killed were Oceanic whitetips, a species listed on the ICUN list as critically endangered in the Northwest and Western Central Atlantic areas.

The Oceanic whitetip shark's populations have dropped by as much as 99% in some areas of the ocean because it is popular with fishermen and is also sought after for its fins. It is also often caught during commercial fishing operations for other species. The Oceanic whitetip is known for being aggressive and unpredictable, and may have posed a threat to Palfrey while she was in the water. However, these sharks can be driven off by other means and the advice typically given to swimmers if they encounter one is to get out of the water, not kill it. Although, that's not really advice a marathon swimmer going for a record is going to heed now is it?

Just in time for Easter, pygmy rabbits that were bred in captivity are slowing being released into the Columbia Basin region of the American northwest. In 2001, with the wild population dropping quickly, 16 of the diminutive rabbits were gathered up in an attempt to save the species. And just in time, too, as no pygmy rabbits have been seen in the wild since 2004. Once in captivity, researchers discovered that inbreeding within the small community was preventing the pygmy rabbits from re-establishing themselves. Fortunately, a thriving community of rabbits existed in Idaho. Though fossil evidence showed that the two groups were separated for over 10,000 years and had become genetically distinct, interbreeding was still possible.

The Center for Biological Diversity exists to educate the public about the dangers -- including human overpopulation -- that are threatening endangered species the world over. The Center's latest effort, though, is encouraging people to keep the Earth's lamentably overcrowded state in mind the next time they, um, help make the problem worse. (By getting it on!)