Environment
Conservation
Lonely Neil the Seal now in danger of being loved to death
The 700-kilogram seal pup has grown into an international viral celebrity, but authorities fear he could become a victim of his own popularity.
- by Bianca Hall
Latest
Demand for steak fuelling deforestation and extinction in NSW
The NSW biodiversity outlook suggests the state is set lose nearly a quarter of all known plant and animal species in the next 100 years, and habitat loss from land clearing especially in the agricultural industry is the biggest cause.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Exclusive
Brumby cull
Cassandra adopted a brumby. What happens when you rehome a feral horse?
Brumby advocates remain opposed to culling and argue rehoming should be the future of feral horse management. Environmentalists say it’s “tinkering at the edges”.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
The gold-flecked American lothario who got lost in a sewage plant
The off-course plover, covered in golden flecks that indicate his readiness to take a mate, should have landed in the Arctic for his species’ breeding season.
- by Bianca Hall
Is this the first animal to become extinct on Tanya Plibersek’s watch?
The Yalmy galaxias – a fish the length of an adult’s finger – has spurred seven environment groups to unite in a last-ditch rescue mission.
- by Bianca Hall and Mike Foley
‘Forest gardening’: Stoush over Aboriginal corporation’s land management
Wombat State Forest near Daylesford has sparked a new chapter in Victoria’s forest wars, pitting Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation against a renowned ecology professor and his publisher.
- by Bianca Hall
‘I found I was more comfortable in the forest’: The scientist who took on the logging industry
Professor David Lindenmeyer looked neater than you’d expect for a man who has spent years in Australia’s oldest forests, locked in political battles with the industries that depend on cutting them down.
- by Nick O'Malley
Rock snot to spiky crawling fish: Pests threatening to reshape Australia
The wood-boring beetle wreaking havoc on Perth’s grand Moreton Bay figs is just one of many invasive species keeping experts up at night.
- by Nick O'Malley
Kristy worked on flood rescue all night. When she got home her town was covered in coal
Coal mines in the Illawarra struggled with last weekend’s deluge, sending coal deposits into residential areas and the Royal National Park where the platypus live.
- by Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Exclusive
Fossil fuels
‘Sheen’ in water: Ageing oil pipeline off Gippsland coast shut off as leak probed
A pipeline linking two oil platforms is being investigated as the source of a suspected hydrocarbon spill in Bass Strait.
- by Bianca Hall
Split inside conservative green group over new nuclear agenda
Former NSW energy minister Matt Kean is among supporters who have jumped ship from the green group since it began to back federal Peter Dutton’s nuclear policy.
- by Nick O'Malley