AFP - A giant panda cub whose rare birth by artificial insemination led to rejoicing in Japan died on Friday after just three days, zoo officials said.

LiveScience.com - Changes that the Bush administration is proposing to make to Endangered Species Act regulations just aren't sound science, various scientists and conservation groups say. They're concerned that the loss of scientific oversight resulting from the changes will leave some species vulnerable to federal projects that could damage habitats. The Endangered Species Act (ESA), signed into law by President Nixon on Dec. 28, 1973, does more than just provide for the creation of the Endangered Species List. ...

AFP - A giant panda cub has been born at a Japanese zoo, the first to be successfully bred in Japan through artificial insemination in two decades, officials said Wednesday.

LiveScience.com - Some zoos in the U.S. offer an exotic way to fertilize their gardens through a unique method of recycling waste from zoo animals.

AFP - Three giant pandas have been born in southwest China, bringing the total number of new arrivals of the endangered species this year to at least 19, state media reported.

AP - The Bush administration is providing insufficient time for public comment as it seeks to loosen rules protecting endangered species, representatives of more than 100 conservation groups charged Friday.

AFP - Japanese whaling ships will start arriving back back home Saturday after catching 211 whales during their three-month voyage in the northwest Pacific, the fisheries agency said.

LiveScience.com - A man-sized grouper that trolls the tropical waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean for octopuses and crabs has been identified as a new fish species after genetic tests.

Reuters - An baby whale which has been desperately trying to suckle from a yacht in a Sydney bay in a futile bid to find its missing mother is to be humanely destroyed, Australian wildlife officers said on Thursday.

AFP - New Zealand's mysterious colossal squid, the largest of the feared and legendary species ever caught, was not the T-Rex of the oceans but a lethargic blob, new research suggests.