Albino Baby Turtle

A Thai Navy sailor holds a baby albino green sea turtle at a nursery for the reptiles, which are considered endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

About 15,000 green turtles and hawksbill turtles are hatched and housed at the navy's conservation center annually until the animals are old enough to be released into the sea.

French Pilot & a Flock of Cranes

French microlight pilot Christian Moullec shares the sky with a flock of cranes, which he has trained, during an air show in central Germany.

Moullec, 46, has spent ten years raising orphaned geese and cranes, which "imprint" on him as their parent and follow his microlight—a hang glider with an engine—the Daily Mailnewspaper reported.

LEOPARD PICTURES: Rare Snow Cats Caught by Camera Traps

Tail raised, a snow leopard, likely marking its territory, is caught in the act by a camera trap on April 14, 2009, in easternAfghanistan's mountainous Wakhan Corridor.

Four of five traps placed throughout the rugged region--a narrow strip that straddles Tajikistan to the north and Pakistan to the south--photographed different snow leopards on several occasions The relatively large number of sightings are promising for the animal, which is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Once found throughout the high altitudes of Central Asia, the cats are thought to number only about a hundred in Afghanistan, conservationists say.

Pig Poop Helps Power Netherlands

Methane-rich pig excrement on a large Netherlands farm is being turned into electricity and partially fed into the national power grid.   This man in The Netherlands is combining farming and science to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as generate extra revenue from these livestock.

He uses the waste from 2,700 pigs at Sterksel Research Centre to produce electricity.

 John Horrevorts, Manager of Praktijkcentrum Pig Farm: "At this moment we are producing enough electricity at our bio-gas installation for 1,500 households and for that we are using all the pig muck from our farm. So in total we produce about five-thousand mega watts a year."

Battling Termites? Just Add Sugar

If you've ever had to battle the tenacious termite, sweet revenge may be near.

A substance derived from glucose has been shown to weaken the insects' immune systems, making them vulnerable to infections from lethal microbes, a new study says.  The findings could give rise to a whole new class of safer pest-control treatments, the authors say.

"We wanted something environmentally friendly, biodegradable, and [that] does not play a toxic role," said study co-author Ram Sasisekharan, a biological engineer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Boat Alarm Could Save Manatees

Manatees can't hear the low sounds of boat engines, which is why the animals are frequently injured, a researcher says. A high-pitched alarm could solve the problem.

Giant Armadillo

The giant armadillo--snapped by a camera trap in northeastern Peru on June 8, 2008--can weigh up to 71 pounds (32 kilograms). The beasts use their enormous front claws to dig into termite and ant colonies.

Easily hunted for their meat, the gentle giants are now scarcely seen throughout most ofSouth America.

Seeing photographs of such rain forest animals is important, because the images can help "people to realize what's out there in a place where they'll likely never be able to go and see for themselves," the National Zoo's Kolowski said.

Rare bush dog

An image of two rarely seen bush dogs taken on April 14, 2008 is perhaps the "most exciting" of all the camera-trap photos recovered so far as part of the National Zoo's Peruvian Amazon Biodiversity Project, Kolowski said.

Almost nothing is known about this species, which is rarely seen even by indigenous people who live and hunt in the rain forest.

"It's fascinating how elusive these guys can be," Kolowski said, adding that it's unusual for a large dog species to go unstudied for so long.

How snakes move

june 9, 2009--A young Pueblan milk snake (pictured in an undated laboratory photo) uses its belly scales to achieve its trademark slither.

Scientists had previously assumed that the limbless reptiles move by pushing against objects, such as as twigs and rocks.

New research confirms that friction is indeed at work but instead at a microscopic scale: The snakes' overlapping belly scales react against uneven areas on the ground, said lead study author David Hu, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech.

The discovery, detailed this week in the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may inspire more efficient limbless robots, which could, for instance, slither into a person's body and assist in surgery.

Million-Year-Old Mammoth Skeleton Unearthed

June 4, 2009 -- A well-preserved skeleton of amammoth that is believed to be about one million years old has been unearthed in eastern Serbia, archaeologists said Thursday.

The discovery was made during excavation two days ago at an open-pit coal mine near Kostolac power plant, said Miomir Korac, from Serbia's Archaeology Institute.

The skeleton was found 27 meters (89 feet) below ground, he said. The mammoth was more than 4 meters (13 feet) high, 5 meters (16 feet) long and weighed more than 10 tons.

"Essence of Maggot" Ointment to Heal Wounds Faster?

Bandages and ointments infused with essence of maggot may soon be coming to a drugstore near you.

Battlefield medics hundreds of years ago were the first to notice that bloody wounds infested with maggots actually heal faster than "clean" wounds.

Pilot Whales Beach themselves

Cape Town, South Africa, May 30, 2009--Rescuers try to push one of about 55 pilot whales that mysteriously stranded themselves back to sea.

Though more than 20 of the mammals survived, the rest were euthanized by gunshots to the head

Galapagos Mosquitoes’ New Diet Threatens Giant Tortoise

The Galapagos form of the black salt marsh mosquito has changed its diet to prefer reptile blood instead of feeding on mammals and birds. This discovery has some scientists fearing the introduction of a new mosquito-borne disease which could devastate the Galapagos native wildlife.

A new rock quarry being excavated with explosives in Kenya's Amboseli National Park may endanger migration corridors of elephants and other wildlife, conservationists say.

The operation has continued despite a temporary stop order issued in May by Kenya's high court, they add.  The quarry, which will provide materials for the new Emali-Oloitoktok Road, is located in the 3,000-acre (1,214-hectare) Osupuku Conservancy.

The conservancy was created in 2008 as a result of an agreement between landowners from the Kimana community and the nonprofit African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). The conservancy protects a corridor linking Amboseli to Kenya's Chyullu Hills and Tsavo National Parks.