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Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon Down 22% in a Year

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 22.3% in the twelve months to July, the best result in four years, the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reported on November 9, 2023. MICHAEL DANTAS / AFP/File
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 22.3% in the twelve months to July, the best result in four years, the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reported on November 9, 2023. MICHAEL DANTAS / AFP/File
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Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon Down 22% in a Year

Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 22.3% in the twelve months to July, the best result in four years, the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reported on November 9, 2023. MICHAEL DANTAS / AFP/File
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 22.3% in the twelve months to July, the best result in four years, the government of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reported on November 9, 2023. MICHAEL DANTAS / AFP/File

Brazilian Amazon deforestation fell 22.3 percent in the year through July, hitting a five-year low, officials said Thursday, as President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's government fights to curb destruction of the world's biggest rainforest.

Satellite monitoring found 9,001 square kilometers (3,475 square miles) of forest cover was destroyed in the Brazilian Amazon from August 2022 to July 2023, according to national space agency INPE's annual deforestation tracking program, PRODES.

It was the first time the figure came in at less than 10,000 square kilometers since 2018, before the presidency of far-right ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022), who presided over a sharp increase in clear-cutting in the Amazon, AFP said.

Under Bolsonaro, there was "an explosion of crime, following a complete dismantling of the government's environmental structures," Environment Minister Marina Silva told a news conference.

Since taking office on January 1, the Lula administration has dramatically increased anti-deforestation operations and fines for environmental crimes.

However, Silva admitted the government faces a tough battle to fulfill Lula's committment to achieve zero deforestation by 2030, citing "a mix of drug- and arms-trafficking, land grabs, and illegal mining and fishing" that are fueling the destruction of the rainforest.

The Amazon is a key resource in the fight against climate change, with hundreds of billions of carbon-absorbing trees that help curb global warming.

But experts say it is increasingly fragile, and risks hitting a "tipping point" where large portions die off and turn to savanna.

"This is a forceful result that seals Brazil's return as a partner in the fight against climate change," Marcio Astrini, the head of the Climate Observatory, a coalition of environmental groups, said in a statement.

But conservationists urged the government to step up its crackdown on environmental crime.

"This is still a high rate" of deforestation, said Mariana Napolitano, of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Brazil office.

"The Amazon is suffering from a very high level of degradation, which makes the forest more susceptible to fires."

The figures came days after INPE reported more than 22,000 fires in the Brazilian Amazon in October, the worst in 15 years for the month, amid a severe drought in the region.

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Cute carnivores: Bloodthirsty California Squirrels Go Nuts for Vole Meat

This handout photo obtained from the University of California on December 18, 2024, shows ground squirrels eating voles in Davis, California. Sonja Wild / University of California, Davis/AFP
This handout photo obtained from the University of California on December 18, 2024, shows ground squirrels eating voles in Davis, California. Sonja Wild / University of California, Davis/AFP
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Cute carnivores: Bloodthirsty California Squirrels Go Nuts for Vole Meat

This handout photo obtained from the University of California on December 18, 2024, shows ground squirrels eating voles in Davis, California. Sonja Wild / University of California, Davis/AFP
This handout photo obtained from the University of California on December 18, 2024, shows ground squirrels eating voles in Davis, California. Sonja Wild / University of California, Davis/AFP

Squirrels might look like adorable, nut-hoarding furballs, but some are ruthless predators that hunt, tear apart, and devour voles.
That's the startling finding of a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of Ethology -- the first to document widespread carnivorous behavior in these seemingly innocent creatures.
"There is always something new to learn and wild animals continue to surprise us," lead author Jennifer E. Smith, an associate professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire told AFP.
"In a changing world with many technological advances, there is no replacement for direct observation of natural history, including watching the squirrels and birds that often visit our backyards."
The observations were made this summer, during the 12th year of a long-term study conducted at Briones Regional Park in Contra Costa County, California.
Between June and July, researchers recorded 74 interactions involving California ground squirrels and voles, with 42 percent of them involving active hunting of their fellow rodents.
Co-author Sonja Wild, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of California, Davis, admitted she was initially skeptical of the reports brought to her by undergraduate students who first witnessed the behavior.
"I could barely believe my eyes," said Wild. But "once we started looking, we saw it everywhere."
It was previously known that as many as 30 species of squirrels opportunistically consume meat, ranging from small fish to birds. However, it was unclear whether this behavior stemmed from scavenging or active predation.
The new study is the first to confirm that hunting is, in fact, a common behavior.
Researchers observed squirrels crouching low to the ground before ambushing their prey, though more often, they chased voles, pounced, and delivered a neck bite followed by vigorous shaking.
The study also found that the squirrels' carnivorous behavior peaked during the first two weeks of July, coinciding with a surge in vole populations reported by citizen scientists on the iNaturalist app.
Other animals, such as raccoons, coyotes, and spotted hyenas, have been known to adapt their hunting strategies in response to human-induced changes in their environments.
"In a changing world, it can be daunting to consider all of the challenges that human presence, habitat loss, and climate change impose on animals," said Smith.
"Our study offers an exciting silver lining, demonstrating the incredible flexibility that some animals possess."
Several questions still remain unanswered.
Researchers hope to investigate how widespread hunting behavior is among squirrel species, whether it is passed down from parents to pups, and how it affects their broader ecosystems.