The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, built into a hillside in the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard far above the Arctic Circle, is often described as humanity’s last hope against extinction after some global crisis. While there are more than 1,700 gene banks around the world that keep collections of seeds, all of them are vulnerable to war, natural disasters, equipment malfunctions, and other problems. Except the Svalbard vault – or so we thought. It has been dubbed the “Noah’s Ark” of seeds and a last chance for the world to regenerate if the worst should come to pass. It’s mission is to keep the world’s seeds safe.
A new study has revealed that the global population of the world’s fastest land animal – the cheetah – is down to only 7,100, a drop of 50% over the past 40 years. The dramatic decline in cheetah population could soon lead to the extinction of the species unless urgent conservation efforts are made.
The majestic great white shark has been around for a very long time. Its evolutionary origin dates back 14 to 16 million years. And while great whites still enjoy decent populations off the coasts of Canada, Australia, and the United States, the same can’t be said for South Africa’s great whites.
The conventional wisdom is that invasive species are bad news and we constantly hear about the dangers of foreign plants and animals moving into new territories.
