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The Nature Conservancy have announced the finalists of their 4th Annual Digital Photo Contest. In an email to members, the Nature Conservancy said:

Thank you to everyone who submitted an image for consideration. Your love of nature has inspired us and continues to remind us of the magnificent lands, waters and wondrous species we work to protect and preserve, every day.

The support of members like you has allowed us to protect and restore over 119 million acres of land and 5,000 miles of river and is the reason that we are the leading conservation organization working around the world today.
There are 15 finalists in total, and it’s now up to you to vote for your favorite. Voting is open until Monday, February 8, 2010 at 10am EST. The Grand Prize Winner will be announced on February 15, 2009.
The winning photo will be featured on The Nature Conservancy’s website, which is visited by more than 3 million people annually.
So, place your vote now.
You can also check out all submitted photos at the Nature Conservancy’s Flickr page.

A new study has found that loud sonar can cause deafness in dolphins.
The study found that loud, repeated blasts of sonar caused dolphins to temporarily lose their hearing for 20 to 40 minutes.
Published in the British journal Biology Letters on Wednesday, the findings could provide further evidence that human made noises can be attributed to dolphin and whale deaths.
The study, led by Aran Mooney Marine Biologist at the University of Hawaii, exposed an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin to progressively louder pings of mid-frequency sonar. The dolphin was born in captivity and was trained.
A suction cup was fitted to the dolphin’s head, with a sensor attached that monitored the animal’s brainwaves.
“What we found was if you play sound you can cause temporary hearing loss. The sounds have to be surprisingly loud and they have to be repeated over an extended period of time – two to three minutes.” Mooney said. “In that time you would expect them to swim away as fast as possible. They have to be within 40 metres of a ship, but when you have certain oceanographic conditions it’s hard for the animals to get out of the way.”
Many people believe that human made noises, also referred to as acoustic smog, has been the cause of whale and dolphin beachings around the world.
Mooney acknowledges that, given the study was undertaken in a lab with a captive-born dolphin, it does not provide proof that military sonar is to blame for mass strandings.
“We definitely showed that there are physiological and some behavioural effects [from repeated, loud sonar], but to extrapolate that into the wild, we don’t really know,” Mooney told AFP.

You may have heard about the “ozone hole” that’s located somewhere above us, in the Earth’s atmosphere. You may also have heard that it’s not really a good thing for us here on Earth. If you’ve heard this, you heard right.
But what exactly is the ozone hole?
The ozone hole is an area of extremely depleted ozone in the ozone layer above the Antarctic. The ozone hole is not present all year round though. It only occurs during the beginning of the Southern Hemisphere spring - between August and October.
The problem with the ozone hole is that, it allows harmful ultraviolet (UV) rays from the sun to reach Earth. These UV rays are usually filtered out by the ozone layer, but when the ozone has been depleted (as is the case with the ozone hole), the UV rays are no longer filtered out.

Why are UV Rays Harmful?

Although in small doses, UV light can be beneficial, overexposure can cause sunburn and some forms of skin cancer. Prolonged exposure to UV rays can also cause other problems for the skin, eyes and even the immune system.
UV rays don’t only affect humans. Studies have shown that hundreds of species of plants and animals display a negative reaction to increased UV rays. There are however, some species that react positively to an increased exposure to UV light. 

What Causes the Ozone Hole?

Here are the main factors that contribute to the ozone hole:

• Stratospheric sulfate aerosols - In other words, volcanic eruptions
• Stratospheric winds
• Greenhouse gases
• Sunspot cycle - an 11 year cycle that causes variation in the UV radiation produced by the sun
• Stratospheric chlorine - coming mainly from man-made halocarbons

While we generally have little control over natural occurrences, we do have control over the man-made ones. You may have heard that chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) are causing the ozone hole to grow bigger. CFCs are a group of chemical compounds that consist of alkalines such as methane or ethane. They also have one or more halogens linked, such as chlorine or fluorine.
CFCs find their way into the atmosphere from refrigeration and propellant devices and processes.
Basically, man-made products are contributing to the increasing size of the ozone hole.

What’s Being Done About It?

Many countries have banned the use of most CFC-emitting aerosol products, such as fly spray, deodorants, and hair spray. The bans generally require that those types of products are produced in a way that doesn’t result in CFCs being emitted.
Such a ban was introduced in the U.S. in 1978, and although most CFC-emitting products were banned long ago, there are still some that are being phased out. For example, albuterol metered dose inhalers (MDIs) will not be available in the U.S. after 31 December 2008.
There is also an international environmental treaty called the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. At present, 191 countries are involved in this agreement, which is designed to phase out substances that lead to ozone depletion. There is also a belief that, as long as the treaty is adhered to, the ozone layer will recover by 2050.

The tuatara is the only survivor of a group of reptiles that roamed the earth at the same time as dinosaurs - about 225 million years ago.
There are two species of tuatara, both of which are endemic to New Zealand. The scientific name for the two species are Cook Strait Tuatara (scientific name: Sphenodon punctatus) and Brothers Island Tuatara (scientific name: Sphenodon guntheri).

Appearance

The tuatara is a greenish, brown reptile that grows to between 50 cm and 80 cm long.
It has distinctive soft spines along the top of its head and down its backbone. Although it looks much like a lizard, tuatara is actually the only surviving member of the order Sphenodontia.
Tuatara don’t have external ears but they are able to hear.
The tuatara is famous for its “third eye” or pineal or parietal eye located in the middle of its forehead. The eye has a small lens and retina, but it becomes covered by a thin layer of opaque scales about 4 to 6 months after birth.
The purpose of this parietal eye is unknown, but some scientists have suggested that it is used as a light sensor as opposed to forming visual objects.