The Zambian government is investigating a chemical spill in its Copperbelt Province allegedly linked to Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), owned by U.K.-based multinational Vedanta Resources. Residents in Chingola district told Mongabay they observed discoloration of the Kafue River and fish die-off on Sept. 28, raising fresh concerns about the environmental and social impacts of mining operations in one of Zambia’s most important copper-producing regions. According to a statement by Gilbert Siame, Zambia’s minister of Green Economy and Environment (MGEE), the incident was caused by a leaking pipe at KCM’s tailings leach plant and an overflow from the company’s pollution control dam outside Chingola. “The pollution control dam was full, that’s why it spilled,” Eugene Mulenga, Chingola-based human rights activist and coordinator for caritas, told Mongabay. “The [chemical] discharge happens all the time, mostly at night, and the local residents consume this water because they don’t have another option.” Following the Sept. 28 spill, tests conducted by the Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), KCM and local water utility Mulonga Water Supply and Sanitation Company showed elevated levels of turbidity and conductivity downstream along the Kafue River. In a statement issued Oct. 1, KCM contested its responsibility in the spillage, saying that company officials reported the incident to ZEMA and asked for a fact-based investigation. Mongabay reached out to the company but did not receive a response by the time of publication. Siame noted in the statement shared with Mongabay that authorities are still testing water samples to confirm heavy metals and…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Humpback whales found in the Arabian Sea are likely a distinct subspecies, having evolved in isolation for tens of thousands of years, according to a newly published genetic analysis. “Arabian Sea humpback whales have long been an enigma to the scientific community,” lead author Rita Amaral, from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), said in a press release. “Their ecology is unlike that of any other known humpback whale population, and this new genetic work represents an important milestone in understanding how that uniqueness developed.” Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) are found throughout the world’s oceans, typically migrating from warm waters near the equator, where they breed, to the colder poles, where they feed. To date, scientists recognize three subspecies: the North Atlantic (M. n. novaeangliae), Southern Hemisphere (M. n. australis), and North Pacific (M. n. kuzira) humpback whales. Unlike most humpbacks, however, the population living in the Arabian Sea doesn’t migrate, remaining in tropical and subtropical waters all year. Researchers compared mitochondrial DNA, which mothers pass to their babies, collected from 2,285 humpback whales globally, including those from the Arabian Sea coast of Oman. The analysis showed considerable genetic differentiation between the latter population and the other subspecies. The researchers also found the Arabian Sea population had the lowest genetic diversity observed across any global ocean basin. The study estimates humpback whales in the Arabian Sea diverged from the other populations between roughly 43,000 and 113,000 years ago, suggesting a long history of isolation. Such isolation also makes them vulnerable to…This article was originally published on Mongabay

More than half of the world’s wild tulip species assessed so far are threatened with extinction, reports Mongabay’s Shreya Dasgupta. “For a flower this famous, it may surprise people how rare its wild relatives have become,” Brett Wilson, co-founder of the Wild Tulip Specialist Group at the IUCN, the global nature conservation authority, told Mongabay in an interview. Researchers have so far assessed the conservation status of 62 wild tulip species for the IUCN Red List, Wilson said. Of these, 32 are threatened with extinction. Most of the assessed species, 53, occur in Central Asia; five are critically endangered, seven endangered, 15 vulnerable, and 14 classified as near threatened. These at-risk wild tulips are concentrated in the massive Central Asian mountain systems of Tien Shan and Pamir-Alay, which Wilson calls the single richest region on Earth for tulip diversity. The biggest threats to most wild tulips are livestock overgrazing and climate change. Tulips grow underground as dormant bulbs in cold, harsh conditions, before emerging and flowering in spring. Grazing animals can trample tulip bulbs and eat the flowers before they produce seeds, Wilson said. Meanwhile, “a warming, drying climate is squeezing mountain species upslope with nowhere left to go while more unpredictable weather can lead to landslides and floods,” he added. Other threats including mining, infrastructure development, and overharvesting of bulbs from the wild, which affect specific species. The “classic victims of overcollection,” Wilson said, are the big, showy red-flowered species growing close to settlements. “Tulipa fosteriana in Uzbekistan and…This article was originally published on Mongabay