Tootfinder

Evaluating Large Language Models for IUCN Red List Species Information
Shinya Uryu
https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.02830 https://arxiv.org/pdf/2510.02830…

Evaluating Large Language Models for IUCN Red List Species Information
Large Language Models (LLMs) are rapidly being adopted in conservation to address the biodiversity crisis, yet their reliability for species evaluation is uncertain. This study systematically validates five leading models on 21,955 species across four core IUCN Red List assessment components: taxonomy, conservation status, distribution, and threats. A critical paradox was revealed: models excelled at taxonomic classification (94.9%) but consistently failed at conservation reasoning (27.2% for s…

Recently reminded of another bit of ridiculous childhood lore: the species of "ooo creatures" who emitted "ooo waves" any time they made the "ooo" sound, which were extremely harmful to another species ("Pets", basically Scooby-Doo complete with the accent) were was constantly being terrorized by the ooo creatures.
Apparently ooo waves were emitted by some kind of resonance in the ooo creature's nose hairs, and pulling their nose hairs would …

"Mexico adopts protections for Atlantic sharks"
#Mexico #Sharks #Animals

Mexico adopts protections for Atlantic sharks
Mexico recently adopted national regulations protecting several threatened shark species in the Atlantic from being caught or retained as bycatch. Shark conservationists welcome the protections but say they are long overdue, coming years after the country’s commitments to a multilateral fishery regulator. Mexican fisheries catch a significant number of various shark species in the Atlantic […]

On an island in the Arctic Ocean, in a region that is warming as much as seven times as fast as the rest of the planet, the food chain is being turned upside down.
Underwater kelp forests are surging into once-frozen waters, replacing other native species.
Reindeer, cut off from traditional foraging routes over vanishing sea ice, now graze on seaweed when they cannot reach inland grasses and lichen.
And polar bears, deprived of the ice platforms they once used to hunt seals, …

Curious Reindeer and Charging Polar Bears: The Changing Wildlife at the Top of the Earth
Climate change is transforming ecosystems in the far north. An international team of scientists has made some surprising discoveries.

"Rachel Reeves, boasted to corporate executives that she has “unblocked” a large housing development in Sussex being held up by “some snails … a protected species or something … microscopic snails that you cannot even see”. .. The very rare little whirlpool ramshorn snail, by no means microscopic, is an indicator of fresh water not affected by sewage pollution"