The iconic marine reptiles are swimming farther to find food--and into harm's way. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. The Galapagos Islands are home to at least 11 subspecies of iguanas. Marine biologists are sounding the alarm on behalf of the Galápagos Islands ' marine iguana (). Without tightened regulations on the often abused exotic pet trade, researchers warn that a recent "strange uptick" in illegal animal trafficking combined with this season's Super El Niño is further endangering the already vulnerable reptiles living on the Eastern Pacific archipelago .

Environment Animals Wildlife Endangered Species North America's tiniest mammals are living at a Marine Corps training area. Pacific pocket mice are about the size of a human thumb. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. The Pacific pocket mouse weighs as much as three pennies. An endangered mouse is slowly returning to the Golden State. Pacific pocket mice () are about as large as a human thumb and about as heavy as three pennies.

Rare'pumpkin spice' baby sea turtle spotted in Florida'This little one, surprisingly, had an earthy tone of autumn.' More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. The orange color is cute and festive, but bad for camouflage. While fall officially began only a few weeks ago, many of us have come to expect pumpkins and Halloween decorations in stores as early as August. And this year, an adorable baby turtle joined in on the early autumnal festivities. In August, Florida native Michael Landress spotted a loggerhead turtle () hatchling making its way toward the water.

Since 2024, the Aquarium of the Pacific has cared for over 3,600 rescued trafficked animals. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. The rescued animals included fish, invertebrates, and sharks. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. By signing up, you confirm you are 16+, will receive newsletters and promotional content and agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy .

The colorful tropical birds are highly prized in the illegal wildlife trade. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. A male rehabilitated toucan in Bronx Zoo World of Birds. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. Over a dozen keel-billed toucans () that were found stuffed inside of a vehicle's dashboard officially have a clean bill of health.

It helps to hold it like a hamburger. More information Adding us as a Preferred Source in Google by using this link indicates that you would like to see more of our content in Google News results. A common snapping turtle crosses the road after laying eggs. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. This time of year, new flowers and animals are everywhere.

Is it illegal to own an axolotl? A recent pet seizure at Chicago's O'Hare Airport illustrates ongoing confusion. Many pet axolotls are crossbred with other salamanders to create their unique coloration. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent six days a week. The axolotl () is a confusing creature, and not simply because it looks like a real-life Pokémon .

The endangered baby Komodo dragons were recently born at ZooTampa. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Though Komodo Dragons () live only on a few Indonesian islands --including the aptly named island of Komodo--they're pretty famous reptiles . That's because they are the largest and heaviest lizards in the world, growing up to eight to ten feet long and weighing between 100 and 150 pounds on average. With a forked tongue, long claws, and a strong venomous bite, they certainly live up to their mythological name.

Natural language processing (NLP) practitioners are leveraging large language models (LLM) to create structured datasets from semi-structured and unstructured data sources such as patents, papers, and theses, without having domain-specific knowledge. At the same time, ecological experts are searching for a variety of means to preserve biodiversity. To contribute to these efforts, we focused on endangered species and through in-context learning, we distilled knowledge from GPT-4. In effect, we created datasets for both named entity recognition (NER) and relation extraction (RE) via a two-stage process: 1) we generated synthetic data from GPT-4 of four classes of endangered species, 2) humans verified the factual accuracy of the synthetic data, resulting in gold data. Eventually, our novel dataset contains a total of 3.6K sentences, evenly divided between 1.8K NER and 1.8K RE sentences. The constructed dataset was then used to fine-tune both general BERT and domain-specific BERT variants, completing the knowledge distillation process from GPT-4 to BERT, because GPT-4 is resource intensive. Experiments show that our knowledge transfer approach is effective at creating a NER model suitable for detecting endangered species from texts.

The video above represents one of the first times that a pangolin, one of the world's most critically endangered species, was detected in real time using artificial intelligence. A U.K.-based nonprofit called Conservation AI made this possible with the help of NVIDIA technology. Such use of AI can help track even the rarest, most reclusive of species in real time, enabling conservationists to protect them from threats, such as poachers and fires, before it's too late to intervene. The organization was founded four years ago by researchers at Liverpool John Moores University -- Paul Fergus, Carl Chalmers, Serge Wich and Steven Longmore. In the past year and a half, Conservation AI has deployed 70 AI-powered cameras across the world.