Why is masculinity, be it American or other, have to be defined with animal skins?

Illegal online trade in furs (click here) and specimens of endangered animal and plant species has been rampant, prompting police and related authorities to bolster surveillance.

Police have acted on a total of 23 cases since last year, but the number is believed to be only the tip of iceberg.

A specimen of a tiger auctioned on a major Internet auction site earlier in August carried such phrases as “rare” and “difficult to obtain.” But the item had no official certificate, which is required under law.
According to the Environment Ministry, trade in endangered species designated by the Washington Convention is basically banned in Japan unless sellers obtain official certificates. This exception was allowed under a legal revision in June last year.

According to Life Investigation Agency, (click here) a Nagano-based nongovernmental watchdog on illegal trade of endangered species, there are more than 50 cases of shady trade every year....

Conservationists find it better to celebrate their work in silence.

August 28, 2015
By Henry Gass

Allonautilus scrobiculatus off the coast of Ndrova Island in Papua New Guinea.

The rediscovery (click here) of the crusty nautilus in Papua New Guinea is one of several recent sighting's of animals thought to have disappeared forever.

From molluscs and monkeys to wolves and whales, a number of rare species thought to have gone extinct have been rediscovered, including a handful this year.

Researchers around the world have labored for months and years to find these “living fossils,” which they say can help scientists determine how species have evolved over milleniums, but with each new rediscovery and sigh of relief, they stress that none of these animals are out of the woods yet – at least not so long as humans keep destroying the woods or overfishing the waters they live in.

The most recent rediscovery came from Peter Ward, a University of Washington biologist, earlier this month. Professor Ward was part of the team that first found Allonautilus scrobiculatus – sometimes called the crusty nautilus – 31 years ago, and it hadn’t been spotted in nearly three decades until he found it again off the coast of Papua New Guinea....