The Daily Croissant

"Nearly extinct in the Middle East, the rare Sand Cat has finally been bred in captivity.  
After 63 days of gestation, a rare Sand Cat Kitten was born at Israel’s Zoological Center Tel Aviv Ramat Gan – Safari. Once plentiful in numbers in the dunes of Israel, the Sand Cat has become extinct in the region. This is Safari Zoo’s first successful Sand Cat birth and it is hoped this kitten will join Israel’s Sand Cat Breeding Program in order to help reintroduce the species into the wild.

Three weeks ago, the kitten’s mother Rotem refused to go into the night chamber at the end of the day. Keepers let her stay outside and the next night she gave birth to a tiny baby in the den in the outdoor enclosure. Keepers first saw the kitten when it poked it’s tiny head and looked out from the den."

"Striking" Damselfish" photograph courtesy G.R. Allen, WWF

"The damselfish Chrysiptera cymatilis is one of 1,060 new species found on or near the island of New Guinea (see map) between 1998 and 2008, according to a new report. Earth's largest tropical island is divided between Indonesia in the west and Papua New Guinea in the east.  

The "striking" blue fish, found in 1999, lives in the pristine Coral Triangle, a region that supports the most diverse marine ecosystems on Earth, according to the report Final Frontier: Newly Discovered Species of New Guinea (1998—2008), by the conservation organization WWF.

"If you look at New Guinea in terms of biological diversity, it is much more like a continent than an island," Neil Stronach, program representative for WWF Western Melanesia, said in a statement.

"Scientists found an average of two new species each week from 1998 [to] 2008—nearly unheard of in this day and age." (See pictures of more new species found in Papua New Guinea, including a "Yoda bat.")

However, poorly planned and unsustainable development on New Guinea—for example, logging and agriculture—is jeopardizing the future of many of these species, the report emphasized."

Photograph courtesy Patrick Schonecker, WWF Madagascar

"Speckled with what looks like glam rock makeup, the chameleon Furcifer timoni was recently discovered on the species-rich African island nation of Madagascar..."