Andrew Carter

I remain an AI skeptic but Claude really is scarily good.

I wrote a paper with @ecoandrew.bsky.social
that included some of the policy changes around this and we ended up developing a grad student drinking game around assertions that shark feeding and freedom were synonyms.

A very good idea; even better would be for NOAA Fisheries to actually put in protections under the Endangered Species Act. It's already listed as threatened under the Act so it would not be a big lift.

Recovery Spotlight: Channel Island Foxes Rising like a miniature mountain range out of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California is an eight-island archipelago called the Cha

My new blog post on some Endangered Species Act success stories! 🦤

defenders.org/blog/2026/01...

Ok, that makes much more sense.

Are those self-sustaining introduced populations in Oregon and Canada?? I would assume they wouldn't be able to handle the cold in those places.

Academics in Assyria in the 7th c BC complain that admin is preventing them from doing research and teaching

Tip for iNaturalist users in the United States:
If a species is listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, you probably should not take a picture of you holding it for iNaturalist.

The thing though is if you look at how people approach these things the generations with art education (and civics training, etc.) don't seem any better and in many cases seem worse.

I have never been in a pre-air conditioning era home in the US that hasn't had some form of AC built in, even if it's just a window unit or two. Yes, we shouldn't dunk but it is bordering on the criminally negligent for the UK government to have not upgraded, say, hospitals, decades ago.

After a few days of travel, i walked into my office and something looked a bit off.

The strangest incongruity was the combination of leaving it alone but putting domesticated cattle in there first.

Agreed! See, e.g., the Oostvaardersplassen.

Published today by our team at Defenders of Wildlife's Center for Conservation Innovation on the Endangered Species Act's HCP program:

conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

🦤

Lead author is CCI's Heather Harl!

Similar to ongoing attempts in Congress to “count” captive populations when determining if a species needs to be listed under the Endangered Species Act. Don’t need to protect natural habitats if you have enough zoos.

Trump just weakened one of the nation’s oldest environmental laws The Interior Department suspended a legal opinion holding companies liable for accidentally killing ducks, cranes, pelicans, owls and other bird species.

Unfortunately the administration is setting it up to deny migratory birds protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Good article (and not just because they quote me!) on this:
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

90% of Americans accept the science on vaccines.

Because they save millions of lives.

Because they are safe and effective.

Because it's the least we can do for each other.

🧪

Score!

It is beyond annoying to get locked into an argument with a 4 year old then realize at the end that they are actually right about something.

Get more from Andrew Thaler on Patreon creating tools for ocean science, education, and conservation.

So, yeah, shameless plug: Back my Patreon. Patreon contributions absolutely made the OpenCTD possible. Patreon contributions keep Southern Fried Science running. Patreon contributions let me take time to work on our town's Smart Buoy for sea level rise monitoring.

www.patreon.com/Andrew_Thaler

I think the Mexican proposal is to delete it from appendix II completely (which would make a lot more sense) so not sure what they put that, unless maybe the Federal Register notice drafters are just distracted by the holidays and upcoming train wreck.

“Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis)—Transfer from Appendix I to Appendix II (Periodic Review Process by Mexico)”

Ummm guys….

Maps and graphs of range contraction over different dynasties

This is so cool - this study used Chinese poetry to reconstruct 1400 years of range change for the Yangtze finless porpoise, and showed that most of the range loss happened in the last century
papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

every truly quality poster i know treats this website like a dumping ground for the evil thoughts infesting their brain and posts like they're trying to get rid of their followers as quickly as possible

Lizard saliva from the Gila monster, a species that received state level protections across its range decades ago. A good example of why protecting biodiversity helps humans too.

My 4-year old referred to my job as "writing animals" and I guess that's kind of a good, punchy description.

defenders.org/newsroom/def...

Found on my office desk this morning…

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