New spider as big as your face found in Sri Lanka

A new species of venomous tarantula has been discovered - and as spiders go it's pretty big!

While some species disappear or are endangered, others are discovered or evolve. Maybe this means that the balance in Nature is constantly being reset by Nature itself.

The tarantula, named Poecilotheria rajaei, has legs that span 20cm.

It was tracked down in northern Sri Lanka, and it's thought to be one of several new species of tarantula discovered there.

The species is said to be related to the Goliath bird-eater, one of the world's largest spiders.

Habitat under threat

Peter Kirk, Chairman of the British Tarantula Society, told Newsround there are worries about the spiders' habitat.

You may have seen Peter on CBBC's Pet School where he was one of the Extreme Animal Experts.

"The tarantulas of Sri Lanka have been studied in some detail in the past by myself and other arachnologists (spider experts!)" Peter said.

"But we have never been able to visit the north or east of the island because of the civil war that was going on there."

"Now Ranil Nanayakkara - a researcher from Sri Lanka - has done just that. Unfortunately, Ranil has noted that much of this tarantula's natural habitat has been destroyed."

It means the spiders have had to move closer to human homes and villages, he added.

From CBBC

Fears for golden eagle eggs after fires

RSPB Scotland has said it is seriously worried about the effect of recent wildfires on the golden eagle, which nests in open moorland.

There have been more than 200 fires in parts of the Scottish Highlands in the past 10 days.

The charity has sent experts to the area to try and see how bad the damage has been.

There are also concerns for thousands of migrant birds that are due to nest in the area in the next few weeks.

Scotland is amazing for wildlife. The variety of species and habitats is outstanding – from golden eagles to otters, red squirrels to wintering geese and huge seabird colonies – all set among rugged mountains, moorland, ancient Caledonian pine forests and miles of coastline. The RSPB Scotland fights to protect them all.

What does the RSPB do?

The RSPB speaks out for birds and wildlife, tackling the problems that threaten our environment.

They are the largest wildlife conservation organisation in Europe with over one million members. Wildlife and the environment face many threats. Their work is focussed on the species and habitats that are in the greatest danger.

RSPB- Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
http://www.rspb.org.uk/scotland/

Landmark shark ban upheld at conservation meeting

Pro-shark fishing nations have narrowly failed to overturn a landmark protection deal struck at the Cites conservation conference in Bangkok.

Three varieties of hammerhead will now be regulated under Cites for the first time, a move that campaigners say will help save the species

Japan and China tried to block trade regulations on three critically endangered shark species by re-opening the debate in the final session.

But delegates refused the request by a wafer-thin majority and the shark ban was upheld.

The decision is being seen as a landmark win for animal conservation.

Campaigners say it is a truly historic day for the species, in which science triumphed over politics.

On Monday, the decision to increase protection for oceanic whitetips, porbeagle and hammerhead sharks had only scraped past the two-thirds majorities required by a handful of votes.

Campaigners had been extremely worried that China and Japan, the main opponents of the measures, would be able to muster the one-third support needed to re-open the debate and block the ban.

In a tense session here in the conference centre, they failed by just over 1%.

'Major step'

UK environment minister David Heath, who had just arrived in Bangkok, told BBC News that this was a great day for the Convention.

"I’m absolutely delighted. I think this is a major step forward today. What we saw was member states across the board say 'we are not going to be diverted from our path'," he said.

The proposals will not ban the fishing of these sharks but it will mean that for the first time, the international trade in them will be regulated.

Similar attempts at previous meetings of Cites had ended in failure. What seems to have made the difference here in Bangkok was the unity of Latin American nations, who all stood behind the proposals.

Hesiquio Benitez from the Mexican delegation told BBC News that this decision was good for sharks and for those communities that make their living from the sea.

"It's important to know that this is not prohibiting trade for domestic markets, it is not against the fisheries communities. It is to have more control, to have better assessments in the populations," he said.

Campaigners who had worked for decades to get these species listed inAppendix II of Cites said it was a landmark day.

The Appendix lists species which may become threatened with extinction unless trade is closely controlled.

"This is an historic day for marine conservation," said Glenn Sant from Traffic International.

"Shark populations are in freefall, but have been thrown a lifeline today - Cites has finally listened to the scientists," he said.

From BBC News- Science/ Environment

Ban pesticides to save bees, MPs say

They're a familiar site in gardens and parks up and down the UK, but there are worries that bee numbers are being hit by chemicals used by some farmers.

A group of MPs is calling on the government to ban a number of these pesticides, which are used to protect crops from insects.

Some of the sprays contain chemicals that have been linked to the deaths of bees.

The European Union has called for a ban on these chemicals too.

So far, though, the UK has refused to back the EU ban, saying the impact of pesticides on bees isn't clear.

Bees are really important for the environment, because they help trees and plants to reproduce.

Researchers reckon wild species such as honey bees are responsible for pollinating around a third of the world's crops, helping humans grow enough food to eat.

from CBBC News/ Animals

Oceans: Blue heart of the planet

Earth is a blue planet.

Almost three quarters of the earth’s surface is covered in water and around 90% of all the living space on Earth is contained in the oceans.

These vast reserves cradled early life and continue to be home to a wealth of extraordinary creatures. At least 230,000 unique species have been documented, although as humans have only explored a small fraction of the depths, there may be as many as two million.

As well as being home to everything from whelks to whale sharks, the oceans offer a range of critical services, including acting as a source of food and regulating the atmosphere.

In particular, the oceans are also vital as sponges for green house gases, taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere through two processes - dissolving straight into the water column and also through photosynthesis by phytoplankton.

Today, the oceans soak up around one third of all of human carbon emissions

But this comes at a terrible cost. The composition of the oceans is changing to become more acidic, threatening the tremendous diversity  of creatures that call them home.

In this film, veteran wildlife cameraman Doug Allan, sustainability advisor and author Tony Juniper, British Antarctic Survey scientist Dr Emily Shuckburgh and ecological economist Dr Trista Patterson reveal not only the huge diversity of life in the ocean but also the great contribution they make to cleaning our atmosphere.

From BBC

Almost three quarters of the earth’s surface is covered in water and around 90% of all the living space on Earth is contained in the oceans.

These vast reserves cradled early life and continue to be home to a wealth of extraordinary creatures. At least 230,000 unique species have been documented, although as humans have only explored a small fraction of the depths, there may be as many as two million.

As well as being home to everything from whelks to whale sharks, the oceans offer a range of critical services, including acting as a source of food and regulating the atmosphere.

In particular, the oceans are also vital as sponges for green house gases, taking carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere through two processes - dissolving straight into the water column and also through photosynthesis by phytoplankton.

Today, the oceans soak up around one third of all of human carbon emissions

But this comes at a terrible cost. The composition of the oceans is changing to become more acidic, threatening the tremendous diversity  of creatures that call them home.

In this film, veteran wildlife cameraman Doug Allan, sustainability advisor and author Tony Juniper, British Antarctic Survey scientist Dr Emily Shuckburgh and ecological economist Dr Trista Patterson reveal not only the huge diversity of life in the ocean but also the great contribution they make to cleaning our atmosphere.

From BBC

Exxon Mobil oil spill subject to Arkansas investigation

The US state of Arkansas has launched an investigation into the rupture of an Exxon Mobil oil pipeline that spilled thousands of barrels of crude.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel asked the company to keep all documents pertaining to Friday's spill.

The rupture in Mayflower prompted the evacuation of 22 homes, with police enforcing a blockade around the spill.

The spill has renewed debate over a proposal to build another pipeline from western Canada to the US Gulf Coast.

Also on Tuesday, the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration issued an order preventing Exxon Mobile from restarting operations on the affected segment of the pipe until it had signed off on the repair work.

In the wake of Friday's release of between 3,500 and 5,000 barrels of oil from the Pegasus pipeline, black crude was seen soaking lawns and streaming down residential streets in the community north of the state capital, Little Rock.

'Future litigation'

"This incident has damaged private property and Arkansas's natural resources," Mr McDaniel said. "Homeowners have been forced from their homes."

He said the request that Exxon Mobil keep records on the spill was the "first step in determining what happened and preserving evidence for any future litigation".

The oil company has said it will co-operate with any investigation.

Exxon Mobil says it plans to dig up and replace the broken part of the 65-year-old line that runs from the state of Illinois to Texas.

But rain forecast for Tuesday afternoon could hamper the clean-up by carrying oil sheen towards nearby Lake Conway, a popular destination for bass, catfish, bream and crappie fishing.

Local responders have built barriers of rock and dirt to stop the oil from contaminating the lake, and Exxon Mobil put booms into the lake as a precaution.

The oil company said it was putting together a plan to enable residents return home. Until then, Mayflower police were accompanying them as they retrieved personal belongings from their houses.

Separately, Canadian oil company TransCanada has proposed building a 1,700-mile (2,735km) pipeline called Keystone XL to carry crude from Alberta, Canada's tar sands region to refineries in Texas.

The project has encountered stiff opposition from environmental groups.

From BBC News -Sci/ Environment

New home for orphaned polar bear cub

An orphaned polar bear cub has made its temporary home at the Anchorage  zoo in Alaska, USA.

It was rescued after the bear's unfortunate mother was killed by a hunter who hadn't realised she was with a cub. 

The three to four-month-old cub's mother was killed by a hunter near Point Lay, situated on Alaska's north west coast.

The hunter brought the cub, who has been named Kali, for care. Kali was then transferred to Anchorage and the Alaska Zoo.

Zoo officials said that when the cub first came to their care it weighed just over 18 pounds, but is now thriving, weighing 31.5 pounds. The polar bear will be sent to Buffalo Zoo later this spring.

The little animal's been named Kali and is thought to be three or four months old.

Later this spring Kali will move to another zoo to be raised alongside four-month-old polar bear cub named Luna.

It's hoped allowing them both to play together will help make sure the cubs don't get too attached to their human keepers.

Alaska law allows native tribes who reside in Alaska to harvest polar bears and the hunter said he unwittingly shot the mother and didn't know she was with a cub.

From CBBC and The Telegraph

Melt may explain Antarctica's sea ice expansion

Climate change is expanding Antarctica's sea ice, according to a scientific study in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Antarctic sea ice shows a small but significant expansion, in contrast to the trend seen in the Arctic

The paradoxical phenomenon is thought to be caused by relatively cold plumes of fresh water derived from melting beneath the Antarctic ice shelves.

This melt water has a relatively low density, so it accumulates in the top layer of the ocean.

The cool surface waters then re-freeze more easily during Autumn and Winter.

This explains the observed peak in sea ice during these seasons, a team from the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI) in De Bilt says in its peer-reviewed paper.

Climate scientists have been intrigued by observations that Antarctic sea ice shows a small but statistically significant expansion of about 1.9% per decade since 1985, while sea ice in the Arctic has been shrinking over past decades.

The researchers from the KNMI suggest the "negative feedback" effect outlined in their study is expected to continue into the future.

They tried to reproduce the observed changes in a computer-based climate model.

The sea ice expanded during Southern Hemisphere autumn and winter in response to the development of this fresh, cool surface layer, which floated on the denser, warmer salty sea water below.

This fresh water is ultimately derived from enhanced melting at the base of the Antarctic ice shelves.

"Sea ice around Antarctica is increasing despite the warming global climate," said the study's lead author Richard Bintanja, from the KNMI.

"This is caused by melting of the ice sheets from below," he told the Reuters news agency.

But there are other plausible explanations for Antarctic sea-ice expansion.

Paul Holland of the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) stuck to his findings last year that a shift in winds linked to climate change was blowing ice away from the coast, allowing exposed water in some areas to freeze and make yet more ice.

"The possibility remains that the real increase is the sum of wind-driven and melt water-driven effects, of course. That would be my best guess, with the melt water effect being the smaller of the two," he told the London Science Media Centre.

The study in Nature Geoscience also asserts that the cool melt water layer may limit the amount of water sucked from the oceans that falls as snow on Antarctica. Cold air can hold less moisture than warm air.

From BBC News/ Environment

'Psychedelic' tulips on show in the Netherlands

The long, cold British winter has not been kind to horticulturalists in the UK - but there is a British theme to a new display that has opened in the Netherlands.

Beautiful flowers on display just for about 2 months, so hurry up!

Enjoy the video

The flower show is mostly indoors at Keukenhof gardens in Lisse- Netherlands