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The German toxicologist Dr Peter Clausing has accused the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) of committing scientific fraud by twisting scientific facts and distorting the truth, with the aim of concluding that glyphosate is not a carcinogen. EFSA and BfR thereby accepted and reinforced the conclusion proposed by the Monsanto-led Glyphosate Task Force (GTF). Clausing made this accusation in front of five judges at the Monsanto Tribunal, held in The Hague from 14–16 October.

After the Pink-headed Duck and the King Vulture, the magnifient White-bellied Heron (Ardea insignis) in Assam is all set to go the Dodo way. The absence or disappearance of the White bellied Heron is a matter of grave concern for conservationists. The White-bellied Heron is Critically Endangered in the IUCN list, with a population as low as 50–249 individuals. These birds exist in very low numbers over a large area comprising Bhutan, Yunan in China, northern Myanmar and northeast India.

Hawfinches (Coccothraustes coccothraustes) used to be regularly seen each winter in places with plenty of mature trees such as Studley Royal, Fountains Abbey, Woolley Woods, Bretton Country Park or Roche Abbey. A particularly good place was Duncombe Park, Helmsley where hawfinches used to be seen feeding on berries on the Yew Walk near the house. But hawfinches seem to have all but disappeared from these places with the trees around the chapel at Clumber Park, north Nottinghamshire and the nearby Rufford Country Park the nearest (fairly) reliable places to see them.

Ornithologist Dr Andrew Huggett, of Insight Ecology, studied 25 sites across the Willoughby LGA in December 2015 and August 2016. He said the two surveys, at breeding and non-breeding periods, were undertaken in the area’s remnants of native bushland, including H.D. Robb Reserve, Explosives Reserve, Gore Hill Cemetery and three local golf clubs. “The aim was to determine what bird species occurred in their bushland, reserve and parks, but also along the Gore Hill Freeway,” he said.

Initial assessments that considered these insecticides harmless to aquatic organisms may have led to a relaxation of monitoring efforts, resulting in the worldwide contamination of many aquatic ecosystems with neonicotinoids. The decline of many populations of invertebrates, due mostly to the widespread presence of waterborne residues and the extreme chronic toxicity of neonicotinoids, is affecting the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. Consequently, vertebrates that depend on insects and other aquatic invertebrates as their sole or main food resource are being affected.

Amphibians and reptiles are amazing creatures with clever adaptations that have allowed them to brave the millennia. Consider the Coachella Valley fringe-toed lizard (Uma inornata)’s scaly hind toes, which resemble snowshoes and keep the lizard from sinking into sand as it sprints away from predators; or the eastern diamondback rattlesnake (Crotalus adamanteus)’s heat-sensing pit organ, which helps it find the small, warm-blooded prey on which it feeds. Such diversity is vital to functioning ecosystems and enriches humankind’s enjoyment of the natural world.

For a quail (Coturnix coturnix), survival isn’t easy. That’s important to emphasize as we head into Missouri’s quail season, which runs from Nov. 1 through Jan. 15. The daily bag limit is eight and the possession limit is 16. It may seem ironic to discuss quail survival in the same story that talks about hunting these birds. However, quail hunting and the overall survival of the state’s quail population aren’t as closely related as some might assume.

It might not win a prize for the cutest animal on the block but, in some parts of the world, it is popular for its meat and eggs. The pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta), also known as the pitted-shelled turtle or Fly River turtle, is found only in northern Australia and southern Papua New Guinea. The freshwater turtle has paddle-shaped flippers like a marine turtle and a pig-like nose. Numbers have declined steeply in the past 30 years, with an estimated 50 per cent decline in the population since 1981 in Papua New Guinea.