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Stunning Antarctic Sea Creatures Discovered after Iceberg Breaks Away

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Friday, March 21, 2025

Stunning Antarctic Sea Creatures Discovered after Iceberg Breaks AwayA calving iceberg exposed a region that never before had been seen by human eyes, revealing a vibrant, thriving ecosystemBy Ashley Balzer Vigil edited by Andrea ThompsonA large sponge, a cluster of anemones, and other life is seen nearly 230 meters deep at an area of the seabed that was very recently covered by the George VI Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Sponges can grow very slowly, sometimes less than two centimeters a year, so the size of this specimen suggests this community has been active for decades, perhaps even hundreds of years. ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean InstituteIn H. P. Lovecraft’s chilling science-fiction novella At the Mountains of Madness, a group of researchers uncovers the ruins of an ancient alien civilization while exploring beneath Antarctica. Now a real team has investigated what lies beneath some of the frozen continent’s floating ice, and its findings are certainly otherworldly.Scientists onboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too) sailed to Antarctica to study the nearby seafloor, the creatures that live there and the way climate change is affecting Antarctic ice and the ecosystems that evolved around it. But their plan was sidetracked after an iceberg the size of Chicago broke away from a nearby ice shelf in Bellingshausen Sea on January 13.The ice front left behind where the iceberg calved off in the Bellingshausen Sea.Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean InstituteOn supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.That event presented an opportunity that was too good to pass up: the chance to explore the seafloor below the iceberg’s original location—like overturning a rock or log in the woods to see what creatures lie hidden underneath. “There was a sense of going into a complete unknown,” says the expedition’s co-chief scientist Sasha Montelli of University College London. “We thought we might see some life there, but it was really surprising to see the degree to which life was thriving in such a hostile environment. And it wasn’t just existing there but had apparently been sustained for a very long time.”The researchers sent their underwater robot SuBastian into the deep and found an ecosystem filled with anemones that look like Dr. Seuss’s Truffula Trees, along with sea spiders, icefish, octopuses. Some of the creatures that are new species, and many may only be found near Antarctica. Beyond simply being remote, the continent has been isolated for millions of years by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which surrounds it like a moat around a castle.An octopus rests on the seafloor 1150 meters deep in the Bellingshausen Sea.ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean InstituteThe tentacles of a solitary hydroid drift in currents 360 meters deep at an area of the seabed that was very recently covered by the George VI Ice Shelf. Solitary hydroids are related to corals, jellyfish, and anemones, but do not form colonies.ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute“Because the Bellingshausen Sea is not much explored in terms of deep-sea biodiversity, we expect many new species from the expedition. And in fact, we have already confirmed some, including snails, polychaete worms, crustaceans and even fish,” says the expedition’s co-chief scientist Patricia Esquete of the Center for Environmental and Marine Studies and the University of Aveiro in Portugal.The researchers also encountered large vaselike sponges whose size hints at their age. “Based on the size of the animals, the communities we observed have been there for decades, maybe even hundreds of years,” Esquete said in a recent press release.The observations draw sharp contrast to previous studies of ecology below the ice, which either dropped cameras down through holes drilled in the ice or took place years after an iceberg calved. “Those studies indicated that the ecosystems seemed to be quite impoverished, with a limited number of species,” Esquete says. “Now we know that under ice shelves, at least in the first 15 kilometers from the front”––the newly exposed area the new expedition’s researchers were able to explore after the iceberg calved––“there are diverse, well-established ecosystems.”A squid eats a fish at a depth of nearly 950 meters in the Bellingshausen Sea.ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean InstitutePatricia Esquete inspects a suspected new species of isopod that was sampled from the bottom of the Bellingshausen Sea. It will take scientists years to describe all of the new species found during this expedition.Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean InstituteLess certain is how this vibrant ecosystem will fare now that the iceberg has broken away. Many deep-sea dwellers are adapted to unchanging conditions found in their environment, so they are highly sensitive to even small environmental shifts. For the life-forms uncovered in Bellingshausen Sea, the dramatic loss of their former iceberg ceiling may rock their ecosystem.Montelli says that the floating ice shelf that the iceberg broke away from has retreated inland by about 25 miles (40 km) over the past 50 years—just one example of accelerating ice loss on the continent. “The ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is a major contributor to sea level rise worldwide,” Montelli said in the recent press release. “Our work is critical for providing longer-term context of these recent changes, improving our ability to make projections of future change.”

A calving iceberg exposed a region that never before had been seen by human eyes, revealing a vibrant, thriving ecosystem

Stunning Antarctic Sea Creatures Discovered after Iceberg Breaks Away

A calving iceberg exposed a region that never before had been seen by human eyes, revealing a vibrant, thriving ecosystem

By Ashley Balzer Vigil edited by Andrea Thompson

Large ivory-colored sponge surrounded by smaller pastel-colored anemones

A large sponge, a cluster of anemones, and other life is seen nearly 230 meters deep at an area of the seabed that was very recently covered by the George VI Ice Shelf in Antarctica. Sponges can grow very slowly, sometimes less than two centimeters a year, so the size of this specimen suggests this community has been active for decades, perhaps even hundreds of years.

ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute

In H. P. Lovecraft’s chilling science-fiction novella At the Mountains of Madness, a group of researchers uncovers the ruins of an ancient alien civilization while exploring beneath Antarctica. Now a real team has investigated what lies beneath some of the frozen continent’s floating ice, and its findings are certainly otherworldly.

Scientists onboard the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s research vessel Falkor (too) sailed to Antarctica to study the nearby seafloor, the creatures that live there and the way climate change is affecting Antarctic ice and the ecosystems that evolved around it. But their plan was sidetracked after an iceberg the size of Chicago broke away from a nearby ice shelf in Bellingshausen Sea on January 13.

Remnants of a massive iceberg calving event

The ice front left behind where the iceberg calved off in the Bellingshausen Sea.

Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

On supporting science journalism

If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.

That event presented an opportunity that was too good to pass up: the chance to explore the seafloor below the iceberg’s original location—like overturning a rock or log in the woods to see what creatures lie hidden underneath. “There was a sense of going into a complete unknown,” says the expedition’s co-chief scientist Sasha Montelli of University College London. “We thought we might see some life there, but it was really surprising to see the degree to which life was thriving in such a hostile environment. And it wasn’t just existing there but had apparently been sustained for a very long time.”

The researchers sent their underwater robot SuBastian into the deep and found an ecosystem filled with anemones that look like Dr. Seuss’s Truffula Trees, along with sea spiders, icefish, octopuses. Some of the creatures that are new species, and many may only be found near Antarctica. Beyond simply being remote, the continent has been isolated for millions of years by the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which surrounds it like a moat around a castle.

Magenta-colored octopus curled up on seafloor

An octopus rests on the seafloor 1150 meters deep in the Bellingshausen Sea.

ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute

Wavy tentacles radiating underwater

The tentacles of a solitary hydroid drift in currents 360 meters deep at an area of the seabed that was very recently covered by the George VI Ice Shelf. Solitary hydroids are related to corals, jellyfish, and anemones, but do not form colonies.

ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute

“Because the Bellingshausen Sea is not much explored in terms of deep-sea biodiversity, we expect many new species from the expedition. And in fact, we have already confirmed some, including snails, polychaete worms, crustaceans and even fish,” says the expedition’s co-chief scientist Patricia Esquete of the Center for Environmental and Marine Studies and the University of Aveiro in Portugal.

The researchers also encountered large vaselike sponges whose size hints at their age. “Based on the size of the animals, the communities we observed have been there for decades, maybe even hundreds of years,” Esquete said in a recent press release.

The observations draw sharp contrast to previous studies of ecology below the ice, which either dropped cameras down through holes drilled in the ice or took place years after an iceberg calved. “Those studies indicated that the ecosystems seemed to be quite impoverished, with a limited number of species,” Esquete says. “Now we know that under ice shelves, at least in the first 15 kilometers from the front”––the newly exposed area the new expedition’s researchers were able to explore after the iceberg calved––“there are diverse, well-established ecosystems.”

Red and purple squid eating a fish

A squid eats a fish at a depth of nearly 950 meters in the Bellingshausen Sea.

ROV SuBastian/Schmidt Ocean Institute

Researcher inspects a small sea creature held above a white bucket

Patricia Esquete inspects a suspected new species of isopod that was sampled from the bottom of the Bellingshausen Sea. It will take scientists years to describe all of the new species found during this expedition.

Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

Less certain is how this vibrant ecosystem will fare now that the iceberg has broken away. Many deep-sea dwellers are adapted to unchanging conditions found in their environment, so they are highly sensitive to even small environmental shifts. For the life-forms uncovered in Bellingshausen Sea, the dramatic loss of their former iceberg ceiling may rock their ecosystem.

Montelli says that the floating ice shelf that the iceberg broke away from has retreated inland by about 25 miles (40 km) over the past 50 years—just one example of accelerating ice loss on the continent. “The ice loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet is a major contributor to sea level rise worldwide,” Montelli said in the recent press release. “Our work is critical for providing longer-term context of these recent changes, improving our ability to make projections of future change.”

Read the full story here.
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California wolves are on the comeback and eating cattle. Ranchers say, 'Enough!'

No matter how hard wildlife officials try to direct the wolves toward their natural prey, mostly deer and elk, they seem to find the bigger, slower, domesticated cows wandering through open fields a lot more appealing.

SISKIYOU COUNTY, Calif. — In far Northern California, beneath a towering mountain ridge still covered in April snow, one of the state’s last cowboys stood in the tall green grass of a pasture he tends describing what he sees as the one blight on this otherwise perfect landscape: wolves.“I hate ‘em,” said Joel Torres, 25, his easy smile fading as he explained what the apex predators do to the cattle in his care at Prather Ranch, an organic farm in Siskiyou County dedicated to raising beef in a natural, stress-free environment. “They’ve just been tearing into our baby calves, mostly our yearlings.”Unlike predators that go for the throat and kill prey relatively quickly, wolves often attack from behind and rip victims apart while they’re trying to flee. Once they bring a cow to the ground, the pack will “kind of pick around a little bit, eat the good stuff” — particularly the rectum and udders — “and then just leave them and go on to the next one,” Torres said.That’s how he has found dozens of mortally injured young cows, trembling and in shock, after wolf attacks. “It’s crazy, the endurance of these animals. They’ll just take it,” Torres said. There’s no saving them. Their intestines often spill out through their hindquarters, and Torres shoots the cows to put them out of their misery.He’d like to shoot the wolves, too, at least a few, to teach the pack that there are “consequences to coming around here and tearing into our cattle.” But the predators remain on the state’s endangered species list, and aggressive measures to control their behavior are strictly forbidden.Instead, all Torres can do is grit his teeth and deal with the grisly aftermath. VIDEO | 00:05 A wolf howling in Northern California A February video shows a wolf howling in Northern California. (Courtesy of Patrick Griffin) Torres and many other ranchers in California live where two very lofty and environmentally satisfying ideas collide: all natural, free-range ranching and the government-assisted return of a predator our ancestors hunted to near extinction.No matter how hard officials try to direct the wolves toward their natural prey, mostly deer and elk, they seem to find the bigger, slower, domesticated cows wandering through well-kept, wide-open fields a lot more appealing.Things have gotten so bad so quickly — wolves have been back in California for only a bit more than a decade — that officials in Modoc and Sierra counties have declared emergencies. Leaders in Siskiyou and Lassen counties are calling on the state to do something about the devastating economic toll the wolves are taking on ranchers. And while wolf attacks on people are almost unheard of, many in those counties are worried about potential risks to children and pets as the wild predators wander ever closer to houses and show signs of becoming accustomed to humans.In response, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife has approved what it calls increased “hazing,” which includes firing guns toward the sky, driving trucks and ATVs toward wolves to shoo them away and harassing them with noise from drones — but nothing that might injure the wolves.Ranchers are skeptical. Other hazing methods approved by the department in recent years, such as electric fences with red flags attached that flutter in the wind, have done little to keep the wolves from their herds.“The wolves just jump over those fences,” Torres said. “They do no good.” Wolves are preying on cows at Jim and Mary Rickert’s Siskiyou County ranch. They want more options to deal with the predators than banging pots and hanging flags. Mary Rickert, who owns the Prather Ranch with her husband, Jim, said the obvious solution is to let ranchers shoot problem wolves. “We’d just pick off a few of the bad actors, so the others would go, whoa, and back off,” she said.A century ago, wolves in the United States were almost wiped out by ranchers who regarded them as lethal enemies. The last wolf legally shot in California was in 1924, and by 1930 they were gone from almost the entire country, except for a small pack in northern Minnesota.But in 1973, then-President Nixon signed the Endangered Species Act, and his administration added wolves to the list the following year. In the decades that followed, wolves began a slow recovery, mostly in the northern U.S.Then, in 2011, a wolf from Oregon known as OR7 — monitored by government biologists via an electronic collar — crossed the border into California and became the first known wild wolf to inhabit the state in almost 90 years. Like other notable transplants to the Golden State, he found pop culture stardom, becoming the heroic subject of a children’s book and a 2014 documentary.Environmental advocates and cheerleaders for biodiversity were overjoyed that the wolves — who in their best moments look a lot like big, cuddly dogs — were making such an astonishing comeback. The hope was that they’d mostly eat other wild animals. VIDEO | 00:08 Wolves feed on a cow in Northern California A video shows a wolf pack feeding on a dead cow in August. (Courtesy of Patrick Griffin) But ask any rancher living in wolf country, and they’ll tell you that’s not what happened — and recent science backs them up.In 2022-23, researchers from UC Davis analyzed more than 100 wolf scat samples collected in northeast California from the so-called Lassen pack. They found that 72% of the samples contained cattle DNA, and every wolf had at least one sample that contained cow, said Kenneth Tate, one of the researchers.What’s more, there were 13 wolves in the pack, nearly twice as many as state wildlife officials believed at the time.“These packs are not in the wilderness. They’re not up on Mt. Shasta or Lassen peak,” Tate said. “They’re establishing themselves down in the valleys, where the summer cattle graze.”And they are thriving. In just 14 years since OR7 crossed the border, seven separate packs have established themselves in the state. They’re mostly in the north, but one pack has been confirmed in the southern Sierra Nevada, 200 miles from Los Angeles.None of those packs has done as much damage to livestock as the “Whaleback” pack (named after a nearby mountain) that stalks the Prather Ranch in the remote Butte Valley. VIDEO | 00:09 A group of wolves in Northern California A January 2022 video of a group of wolves in Northern California. (Courtesy of Patrick Griffin) That’s because Prather’s lush pastures back up against a secluded mountain ridge running from nearby Mt. Shasta north to the Oregon border. That land belongs to the U.S. Forest Service, and it’s covered in mature pine trees that provide nearly perfect cover.From the top of the ridge, where the wolves are believed to make their den, there’s a commanding view of Prather Ranch to the east and of another ranch, Table Rock, to the west. At any given moment in summer, when thousands of free-ranging cattle are scattered across those pastures, the wolves can gaze down from their protected perch and take their pick.“It’s like they’re deciding between McDonald’s and Burger King,” said Patrick Griffin, the “wolf liaison” for Siskiyou County, whose job is to try to mitigate conflict between the predators and ranchers. “Wolves are beautiful animals, they’re just beautiful,” says Patrick Griffin, the wolf liaison in Siskiyou County. “But what they do? That isn’t so beautiful.” There’s a “good-sized” elk herd ranging just north of the ranches, Griffin said, and he keeps hoping that the department’s nonlethal hazing tactics will persuade the wolves to turn their attention to their natural prey. But he doesn’t think the odds are very good.“An elk is a lot more intimidating than a cow,” Griffin said. “Which would you pick?”The bigger problem, Griffin said, is that the Whaleback pack is teaching its young to hunt cows. And when they head off to claim their own territory and start their own packs, they’ll take those lessons with them.While other states, including Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, have allowed wolf hunts to resume, California still forbids ranchers from taking aggressive measures to stop the predators.In addition to the nonlethal hazing, the department encourages ranchers to hire “range riders,” essentially cowboys, to sleep in the pastures with the cows. But that costs money, and the state doesn’t help with the added expense, Griffin said.And even when people are present to harass the wolves, these ranches are so large that it’s impossible for them to be everywhere at once. One night, a “government guy” rode around Prather Ranch in his pickup with a spotlight, and the wolves still “tore into two cows that I had to put down,” Torres said.Each cow the wolves kill represents thousands of dollars in lost revenue, so in 2021 the state set up a pilot program with $3 million to reimburse ranchers. When they found a dead or dying cow with telltale signs of wolf “depredation,” ranchers could alert the state and a representative would come out to investigate. If the investigator concluded wolves were to blame, the rancher would get a check, about $5,000 on average.But that money ran out in a hurry, state records show, with the majority of it, 67%, going to ranchers whose wolves were killed by the Whaleback pack. Fladry — bright colorful flags hung from wire — are among the nonlethal methods the state recommends for warding off wolves. And while the fund covered confirmed wolf kills, it did not compensate for all of the animals — especially newborn calves that are easier to carry — that simply disappeared into the forest.Griffin, who investigates suspected wolf kills in the region for the Department of Fish and Wildlife, acknowledged that the 80 or so kills attributed to the Whaleback pack is an undercount. He cited studies from other states that estimate only about 1 in 8 wolf kills are ever confirmed.“I know we don’t find most of them,” Griffin said.And there’s no money to compensate for the damage that the mere presence of wolves does to cow herds. The cows lose a lot of weight from stress and from trying to stay away from the wolves. Tate, the UC Davis researcher, said GPS data from trackers attached to cows show some of them being chased around the pastures all night long. “Cows don’t usually run 10 miles over four hours in the middle of the night,” Tate said. “That’s just not what they do.”But wolves are persistence hunters. Weighing about 100 pounds each, they might struggle to take down a yearling cow that’s pushing 1,000 pounds. So they spook the cow and get it running, following behind at a comfortable trot until the cow is exhausted. Then they attack.“It’s fun for [the wolves]; it’s like an adrenaline rush,” said Torres. “You can tell it really excites them.”But it’s a nightmare for the herd, and not just the cows that get singled out. Researchers have found elevated levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, in herds exposed to wolves. Not only do the cows lose weight, but they abort pregnancies at increased rates, researchers found. More than 40 cows have been killed on this ranch, hunted down by wolves who scout their prey from lookouts on Goosenest Mountain. “Cattle actually react to wolves very differently, and in a much more extreme way, than they react to other predators,” Rickert said.“We have bears around the ranch, and they’ll go and swim in the water troughs, and the cattle will just watch,” she said with a laugh. And the occasional mountain lion will stop by, maybe kill a calf, and then move on.But the wolves set up shop and torment the cattle.The UC Davis researchers estimated that, over the course of one summer, each wolf in their study cost ranchers between $70,000 and $163,000. All of which has left Griffin, the Siskiyou County wolf liaison, with deeply mixed feelings about the return of the predators.“There are a lot of people in California who love wolves,” he said, “but not very many of them live close to wolves.”Griffin said he enjoys tracking the predators, climbing ridges to see how they use the landscape to their advantage, setting up cameras in the mountains to catch breathtaking images of them playing with their young or howling in the snow on a moonlit night.But on a recent afternoon, walking through a pasture in the shadow of Mt. Shasta with puffy white clouds drifting across a cobalt blue sky, Griffin recalled one of his worst days on the job.He’d seen buzzards on the hillside just ahead, where the terrain turns steeply upward and the forest begins. When he arrived to see what the birds were eating, he found a dead cow, its rectum and udders torn away — classic wolf kill. Mixed with all the blood, he noticed a substantial amount of mucus. His heart sank as he followed the trail of bodily fluids about 60 yards downhill to the half-eaten remains of a newborn calf.He figured the wolves had waited until the cow was in labor, straining so hard with the contractions that she couldn’t run, at least not very far.“Wolves are beautiful animals, they’re just beautiful,” Griffin said, gazing up at the ridge where the predators parade in front of his cameras, sometimes with fresh kill in their mouths. “But what they do? That isn’t so beautiful.”

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Microplastics found in human ovary follicular fluid for the first time

Peer-reviewed study’s findings raises fresh question on the toxic substances’ impact on fertilityMicroplastics have been found for the first time in human ovary follicular fluid, raising a new round of questions about the ubiquitous and toxic substances’ potential impact on women’s fertility.The new peer-reviewed research published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety checked for microplastics in the follicular fluid of 18 women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment at a fertility clinic in Salerno, Italy, and detected them in 14. Continue reading...

Microplastics have been found for the first time in human ovary follicular fluid, raising a new round of questions about the ubiquitous and toxic substances’ potential impact on women’s fertility.The new peer-reviewed research published in Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety checked for microplastics in the follicular fluid of 18 women undergoing assisted reproductive treatment at a fertility clinic in Salerno, Italy, and detected them in 14.Follicular fluid provides essential nutrients and biochemical signals for developing eggs. Contaminating that process with bits of plastic quite likely has implications for fertility, hormonal balance and overall reproductive health, the authors wrote.The findings represent a major step toward figuring out how and why microplastics impact women’s reproductive health, but are also “very alarming”, Luigi Montano, a researcher at the University of Rome and study lead author, said.“This discovery should serve as an important warning signal about the invasiveness of these emerging contaminants in the female reproductive system,” the study states.From the top of Mt Everest to the bottom of the Mariana Trench, microplastics and smaller nanoplastics have been detected throughout the environment. Food is thought to be a main exposure route: recent studies found them in all meat and produce products tested.Microplastics are particularly dangerous because they can contain any number of 16,000 plastic chemicals. That includes highly toxic compounds like PFAS, bisphenol and phthalates that are linked to cancer, neurotoxicity, hormone disruption or developmental toxicity.Microplastics have been found throughout the human body and can cross the brain and placental barriers.Montano’s latest paper is part of a larger project he’s leading for which he has also detected microplastics in human urine and semen, and examines the impacts on fertility. He said he suspects microplastics are among chemicals driving plummeting sperm counts and a drop in overall sperm quality.“We have proven this decline, especially in areas where pollution is bad,” Montano said.Though men are more susceptible to the substance’s toxic effects, he added, women are also possibly impacted. Animal research has linked the presence of microplastics to ovarian dysfunction and health problems, like reduced oocyte maturation, and a lower capacity for fertilization. Another study on mice showed alterations to ovarian tissue.The paper notes a “possible presence of correlation between the concentration of microplastics” and reproductive health in the women who participated in the new study.Montano added that the bisphenol, phthalates, PFAS and other highly toxic chemicals that use microplastics as a “trojan horse” to get into the body, and into the ovaries, are “very dangerous”. The chemicals are already well-known for disrupting hormones and harming women’s reproductive health.The follicular fluid paper offers a “very important finding”, said Xiaozhong Yu, a University of New Mexico microplastics researcher, but he added that more work is needed to determine the dose and level of exposure at which adverse effects start to happen.“This is the work in the next phase – we need to quantify,” Yu said. His team is also attempting to answer some of those questions with broader epidemiological research.Montano’s team is doing similar work, and he’s spearheading research that is trying to determine how much reducing the use of plastic in the kitchen and eating an organic diet, will reduce the level of microplastics in the body.The substances’ ubiquity makes it difficult to avoid, but reducing the amount of plastic used in the kitchen – from packaging to storage to utensils – can likely reduce exposures. Pesticides can contain microplastics, or in some cases are a form of microplastics, so eating organic may help.Experts also advise that people avoid heating plastic, or putting hot food and liquid in plastic.Single-use paper coffee cups, for example, can shed trillions of bits of plastic when hot liquid is added. Similarly, tea bags can release billions of particles, and microwavable plastic is also a problem. Plastic utensils that briefly come into contact with hot pans can also leach chemicals, and wood and stainless steel alternatives are better.

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Endangered sea turtle populations racing to recovery

A new global survey finds that endangered sea turtles show signs of recovery in a majority of places they are found worldwide.

Endangered sea turtles show signs of recovery in a majority of places where they’re found worldwide, according to a new global survey released Thursday.“Many of the turtle populations have come back, though some haven’t,” said Duke ecologist Stuart Pimm, who was not involved with the research. “Overall, the sea turtle story is one of the real conservation success stories.”A hawksbill turtle underwater in Indonesia.APThe study looked at 48 populations of sea turtles around the world. Scientists measured the impacts of threats such as hunting, pollution, coastal development and climate change to the marine animals. In more than half of the areas studied, threats are declining overall, the study found.But there are some exceptions. Sea turtle populations in the Atlantic Ocean are more likely to be recovering than those in Pacific waters. And leatherback turtles are not faring as well as other species.Leatherback sea turtle on a beach in Trinidad.APGlobally, leatherbacks are considered vulnerable to extinction, but many groups are critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.All seven of the regions where leatherbacks are found face high environmental risks, said study co-author Bryan Wallace, a wildlife ecologist at Ecolibrium in Colorado.Leatherback turtles are famous for making the longest known marine migrations of any animal — with some individuals swimming as many as 3,700 miles (5,955 kilometers) each way. That feat moves them through a wide swath of regions and may expose them to unique risks, he said.A leatherback turtle in Trinidad.APMeanwhile, green turtles are still considered endangered globally, but their populations show signs of recovery in many regions of the world, researchers found.“By ending commercial harvests and allowing them time to rebound, their populations are now doing really well” in coastal waters off many regions of Mexico and the U.S., said co-author Michelle María Early Capistrán, a Stanford University researcher who has conducted fieldwork in both countries.A loggerhead turtle underwater in Belize.APSea turtles were protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, and Mexico banned all captures of sea turtles in 1990. But it took a few decades for the results of these actions — alongside efforts to protect nesting beaches and reduce accidental bycatch in fishing — to show up in population trends, she said.Around the world, the problem of sea turtles dying after accidentally becoming entangled in fishing gear remains a major threat, said Wallace. New technologies are being developed to spare turtles, but they must be accepted and used regularly by diverse fishing communities to be effective, he added.A young olive Ridley turtle in Costa Rica in 2018.APThe survey was published in the journal Endangered Species Research and is the first update in more than a decade.-- Christina Larson / Associated Press

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Endangered Sea Turtle Populations Show Signs of Recovery in More Than Half the World, Survey Finds

A new global survey finds that endangered sea turtles show signs of recovery in a majority of places where they’re found worldwide

WASHINGTON (AP) — Endangered sea turtles show signs of recovery in a majority of places where they’re found worldwide, according to a new global survey released Thursday. “Many of the turtle populations have come back, though some haven’t,” said Duke ecologist Stuart Pimm, who was not involved with the research. “Overall, the sea turtle story is one of the real conservation success stories." The study looked at 48 populations of sea turtles around the world. Scientists measured the impacts of threats such as hunting, pollution, coastal development and climate change to the marine animals. In more than half of the areas studied, threats are declining overall, the study found.But there are some exceptions. Sea turtle populations in the Atlantic Ocean are more likely to be recovering than those in Pacific waters. And leatherback turtles are not faring as well as other species. Globally, leatherbacks are considered vulnerable to extinction, but many groups are critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. All seven of the regions where leatherbacks are found face high environmental risks, said study co-author Bryan Wallace, a wildlife ecologist at Ecolibrium in Colorado. Leatherback turtles are famous for making the longest known marine migrations of any animal – with some individuals swimming as many as 3,700 miles (5,955 kilometers) each way. That feat moves them through a wide swath of regions and may expose them to unique risks, he said.Meanwhile, green turtles are still considered endangered globally, but their populations show signs of recovery in many regions of the world, researchers found.“By ending commercial harvests and allowing them time to rebound, their populations are now doing really well” in coastal waters off many regions of Mexico and the U.S., said co-author Michelle María Early Capistrán, a Stanford University researcher who has conducted fieldwork in both countries.Sea turtles were protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973, and Mexico banned all captures of sea turtles in 1990. But it took a few decades for the results of these actions – alongside efforts to protect nesting beaches and reduce accidental bycatch in fishing – to show up in population trends, she said.Around the world, the problem of sea turtles dying after accidentally becoming entangled in fishing gear remains a major threat, said Wallace. New technologies are being developed to spare turtles, but they must be accepted and used regularly by diverse fishing communities to be effective, he added.The survey was published in the journal Endangered Species Research and is the first update in more than a decade. The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Feb. 2025

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Watch These Elephants Form an 'Alert Circle' as an Earthquake Shakes San Diego, Protecting Their Young at the Center

Footage from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park shows the large mammals huddling together around the herd's calves

Watch These Elephants Form an ‘Alert Circle’ as an Earthquake Shakes San Diego, Protecting Their Young at the Center Footage from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park shows the large mammals huddling together around the herd’s calves Sara Hashemi - Daily Correspondent April 17, 2025 11:14 a.m. Elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park huddled together, facing outward, in a behavior called an "alert circle" after an earthquake hit. Screenshot via San Diego Zoo Safari Park When a 5.2 magnitude earthquake shook their enclosure on Monday, a group of African elephants at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park instinctively sprang into action to protect each other. The moment was caught on the camera as the quake rocked Southern California, offering a rare glimpse at how elephants react to danger. In the footage, the large mammals run around initially, then older elephants Ndlula, Umngani and Khosi move to form a ring around calves Zuli and Mkhaya, in what experts call an “alert circle.” Zuli tries to stay on the outside with the adults, in an apparent attempt to act courageously. His mother and another elephant who helped raise him pat him with their trunks, as if to say: “Things are OK,” and “stay back in the circle,” as Mindy Albright, a curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, tells Julie Watson at the Associated Press. Elephants are highly social animals, says Joshua Plotnik, an animal behavior researcher at Hunter College, to NPR’s Rebecca Rosman. Their instinct to band together is clear in the formation of the circle. “They bunch together, the adults on the outside facing out, and then they’ll push the younger individuals into the middle,” he says. Such a behavior is “a natural response to perceived threats that helps protect younger elephants and the herd as a whole,” writes the San Diego Zoo Safari Park on social media. “It’s so great to see them doing the thing we all should be doing—that any parent does, which is protect their children,” adds Albright to the AP. Research indicates African elephants can sense vibrations through their ears and feet. The massive animals create low-frequency seismic vibrations in the ground as they walk and vocalize. Other elephants may pick up on these signals, offering a long-distance form of communication. This ability likely helped them react to the quake. “For them to just be so in tune with their environment and paying attention to the environmental cues, it’s really something that you want to see them still hone in on,” Albright says to Kasha Patel at the Washington Post. “It’s a measure of their health to see them respond like this.” The footage is also a reminder of how much we still have to learn about the animals, adds Plotnik to NPR—and the importance of protecting them. African elephant populations have seen a drastic decline over the last 50 years. Asian elephant numbers, meanwhile, have dropped by half in three generations. “The Asian and African elephants are in imminent danger of going extinct, and it’s crucially important that we continue to learn more about their behavior and cognition if we’re going to come up with ways to protect them and conserve them in the wild,” Plotnik says to NPR. The behavior recently caught on video can offer scientists insight into elephants’ social responses to threats. An aftershock hit San Diego about an hour after the video was taken, and the animals repeated the behavior, according to the AP. But they went back to their daily lives once everything seemed safe. After the quake, the zoo writes, it was “business as usual” for the elephants again. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Animals
Business
Extinction

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