ANGOLA
The giant sable antelope has been rediscovered after 20 years. 杏吧原创s had feared that the country鈥檚 protracted civil war had driven the creature to extinction. But a recent expedition from the University of Pretoria in South Africa has found a viable breeding population in the Cangandala National Park.
PUERTO RICO
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A public safety commission is to investigate whether the wreck of a US Navy ship used in nuclear tests is emitting radioactivity. The USS Killen was used in tests at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands in the late 1950s, then as a target ship for Navy bombing exercises off the Caribbean island of Vieques before being sunk in 1963.
CANADA
Prime Minister Jean Chr茅tien has promised to create 10 new national parks and five marine conservation areas, increasing the area of protected wilderness by 50 per cent.
INDIA
India鈥檚 endangered blind river dolphins may have pulled themselves back from the brink of extinction. Conservationists working to save the animals say the 2000-strong population appears to be stabilising in some areas, although they caution that pollution and degradation of habitat are still a major threat.
UNITED STATES
Diesel exhaust fumes can cause cancer, a 10-year study by the Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed. The finding supports those of numerous other studies by health organisations, but is significant because the EPA is responsible for enforcing levels of diesel emissions under the federal Clean Air Act.
BRITAIN
The number of hedgehogs in some parts of Britain has fallen by half in the past 10 years. A survey conducted by volunteers and funded by the Mammals Trust UK and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee has found that hedgehog numbers are down by 20 to 30 per cent nationally and by almost 50 per cent in East Anglia. Intensive farming and pesticides are thought to be the main culprits.