Modern giant pandas are a celebrated national symbol in China, and the idea their ancestors came from Europe is not welcome there.

A newly discovered species of giant panda named Agriarctos nikolovi that lived around 6 million years ago. Velizar Simeonovski

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/extinct-panda-ancient-europe-highlights-debate-animals-origins-rcna40209

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Aug. 1, 2022, 7:25 AM PDT

ByTom Metcalfe

The discovery of an extinct panda that roamed the forests and swamps of Europe millions of years ago could reignite debate about whether the ancestors of China’s iconic national animal actually came from Europe.

The only evidence of the newly-identified panda species — dubbed Agriarctos nikolovi — are two fossilized teeth found in a lump of coal in Bulgaria almost 50 years ago, according toa study published Sundayin the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. But scientists say they show pandas were living in Europe about 6 million years…

By NOAH BERGER and CHRISTOPHER WEBER9 minutes ago

https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-forests-california-fires-mckinney-ddb688b14e08de4f8f3a7fe8e2634a2c

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Paisley Bamberg and her family spend time outside a shelter for McKinney Fire evacuees in Weed, Calif., on Monday, Aug. 1, 2022. Bamberg said they have stayed there for several days while waiting to return home to Yreka. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

YREKA, Calif. (AP) — Two bodies were found inside a charred vehicle in a driveway in the wildfire zone of a raging California blaze that was among several menacing thousands of homes Monday in the Western U.S., officials said. Hot and gusty weather and lightning storms threatened to boost the danger that the fires will keep growing,

The McKinney Fire in Northern California near the state line with Oregon exploded in size to nearly 87 square miles (225 square kilometers) after erupting Friday in the Klamath National Forest, firefighting officials said. It is California’s largest wildfire of…

Posted: Jul. 31, 2022 10:05AM

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Atlantic puffins are seen on Machias Seal Island on Friday, June 24, 2016. The island is located in the lower Bay of Fundy, approximately 15 kilometres west of Grand Manan Island. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan

A celebrated annual initiative in Newfoundland to rescue lost baby puffins has been suspended after hundreds of dead seabirds have washed up along the island’s shores.

The local Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society’s puffin and petrel patrols in Witless Bay bring hundreds of eager volunteers from all over the province and the country to help scoop up the disoriented little birds from the town’s roadways. But with the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu making its way through Newfoundland’s wild seabird population, Suzanne Dooley, the organization’s conservation director, said it was just too risky to run the program…

43 million Americans could experience temperatures topping 100 degrees this week

ByMatthew Cappucciand

Jason Samenow

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2022/08/01/heatwave-northwest-lower48-us-plains/

UpdatedAugust 1, 2022 at 1:35 p.m. EDT|PublishedAugust 1, 2022 at 1:28 p.m. EDT

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Large parts of the Lower 48 are set to bake this week after a punishing, prolonged heat wave that set records in the Pacific Northwest edges east and south. Few regions will be spared as the heat expands into different areas each day, scorching the Northern Rockies on Monday, the central states Tuesday and Wednesday, and the Northeast by Thursday.

10 steps you can take to lower your carbon footprint

There will be no escape from the heat in Texas, which has already endured a historically hot summer. Temperatures there are projected to remain above normal — with highs mostly in the triple…

‘This is a signal to the world that the hunters don’t care about the opinion of their own people or the international community,’ says conservationist

Jane Dalton1 day ago

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https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/dolphin-hunt-faroe-islands-slaughter-b2134176.html

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Shocking footage shows 99 bottlenose dolphins killed in harbour

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Faroes islanders have killed 100bottlenose dolphinsin the face of growing international outrage at the hunts.

The victims included 98 adults, an unborn baby and a young calf, according to the Sea Shepherd conservation group, which said it was the largest hunt of bottlenose dolphins in more than 120 years.

It’s thought the creatures were killed with knives or other sharp…

Exclusive:Leadership contender pledges to champion bill that looked doomed, putting pressure on Liz Truss to follow suit

Jane Dalton2 days ago

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sunak-truss-ban-live-exports-hunt-b2134452.html

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Rishi Sunakhas promised to ban live animal exports as well as imports of hunting trophies.

In a move that delighted animal-welfare campaigners, the contender to be the next Tory leader and prime minister pledged to champion the Kept Animals Bill, which had appeared doomed under Boris Johnson.

His decision puts pressure on rivalLiz Trussto follow suit – although her record on animal welfare is considered unfavourable.

TheKept…

California’s fast-moving McKinney fire scorching went from 1sq mile to 62sq miles while Montana’s fire nearly tripled in size

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/31/california-montana-wildfires

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Sun 31 Jul 2022 11.47 EDT

Wildfires inCaliforniaand Montana exploded in size amid windy, hot conditions, forcing evacuation orders as they quickly encroached on neighborhoods.

In California’s Klamath national forest, the fast-moving McKinney fire, which started Friday, went from charring just over 1 sq mile (1 sq km) to scorching as much as 62 sq miles (160 sqkm) by Saturday in a largely rural area near the Oregon state line, according to fire officials.

The fire burned down at least a dozen residences and wildlife was seen fleeing the area to avoid the flames. At least 2,000 people were told to evacuate.

AdvertisementJoe Manchin hails…

BY DREW COSTLEY

Sun, July 31, 2022 at 5:07 AM·4 min read

https://news.yahoo.com/california-not-counting-methane-leaks-120748827.html

California claims to know how much climate-warming gas is going into the air from within its borders. It’s the law: California limits climate pollution and each year the limits get stricter.

The state has also been a major oil and gas producer for more than a century, and authorities are well aware some 35,000 old, inactive oil and gas wells perforate the landscape.

Yet officials…

tomtidgewell1 day ago

https://eminetracanada.com/newfoundland-puffin-rescue-patrol-pauses-as-bird-flu-kills-thousands-of-seabirds/604272/

st. JOHN’S, NL – An annual initiative to rescue missing baby puffins on Newfoundland was temporarily put on hold after hundreds of dead seabirds washed up on beaches around the island.

Suzanne Dooley, conservation director for a local chapter of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, said the organization’s decision to suspend its puffin and petrel patrols this year was, in some ways, an easy one. He said it was difficult in another way.

Dooley said it was easy because the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu was making its way through the state’s wild seabird populations and suspending the program would protect volunteers.

But the patrol is difficult because it means so much to the residents of NL’s Witless Bay, which sits across from a ecological reserve that’s home to more than 260,000 pairs of orange-billed birds. she said.

The state’s chief veterinarian, Beverly Dowe…

toddzimmerman6 hours ago

https://eminetracanada.com/un-conference-set-to-discuss-nuclear-weapons-as-russia-ukraine-war-raises-concerns-nation/605215/

When the major UN conference on the landmark Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty was originally scheduled to take place in 2020, there were already many issues to discuss.

The conference, postponed due to the pandemic, will finally start on Monday. Russia’s war in Ukraine has revived the horrors of a nuclear confrontation and heightened the urgency to strengthen the 50-year-old treaty.

“It’s a very difficult moment,” said Beatrice Finn, Nobel Peace Prize winner and executive director of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

read more:

How would Russia’s chain of command work in the event of a nuclear weapon launch?

An aggression with ominous references to Russia’s nuclear weapons would be “very important to the treaty and would put a lot of pressure on it,” she said. It will shape future nuclear policy.”

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The four-week meeting aims to generate consensus…