London - The London Zoo is looking for female specimens of a critically endangered species of tropical freshwater fish to initiate a captive conservation program using three males which may be the last surviving representatives of their kind.

London - An egg, belonging to an extinct elephant bird is going up for auction in London. The rare egg is anticipated to fetch up to $45,000 when it goes on sale.

Bangkok - Representatives of 177 countries gathering in Bangkok for the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, (CITES), received support, yesterday, from Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, second in line to the British Crown.

Sydney - It’s the Holy Grail for the Earth sciences. An ancient micro continent has been found. The Seychelles are believed to be the modern remains of this continent, submerged during the breakup into modern continental land masses.

In a ceremony held today, Sunday, at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI created seven new saints, one of whom, Kateri Tekakwitha, is the first Native American to be canonised.

Hyderabad - More than 400 additional plant and animal species have joined the list of endangered species, the so-called ‘Red List,’ it was revealed at the UN conference on biodiversity held this week.

Kimberley - South African side Mamelodi Sundowns ran riot in a weekend cup match televised live throughout the African continent. They beat hapless division four club Powerlines FC 24-0 and the Sundowns were the away team.

A sister ship of the doomed Costa Concordia is adrift powerless off the coast of the Seychelles following a fire, believed to have started in a machine room.

Antananarivo - German zoologists have discovered in a small island off the coast of Madagascar a new species of chameleon that can be considered as the smallest vertebrate in the world; the tiny reptile measures only 29 mm from the nose to the tip of the tail.

The island of Madagascar, situated off the east coast of Africa, was hit by Cyclone Giovanna overnight on Feb.13 with high winds of up to 195km causing damage to buildings. So far five people have died but the death toll is expected to rise.

Geneva - Originally meant to be built in Waxahachie, Texas, under the nickname of Desertron, Switzerland-France's CERN states it has seen "tantalizing hints" of the elusive Higgs boson, also called the "God particle," in two of their experiments.

France’s reputation for influence-peddling and widespread corruption in Africa is nobody’s secret, but Nicolas Sarkozy's reactions to the current electoral deadlock in the Ivory Coast indicate that France's shadowy African era may be coming to an end.

A new carnivore species has been discovered in the marshes of the Lac Alaotra wetlands in central eastern Madagascar. The small, cat-sized, speckled brown mammal has been named Durrell’s vontsira (Salanoia durrelli) by scientists.

Environmental crimes are booming in a Madagascar, plunged in political chaos. Ten or more carts filled with around 100 terrestrial tortoises each are leaving the Mahafaly Plateau in south Madagascar every week, a WWF survey has found.

The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands and Madagascar's Ministry of the Environment and Forests have declared the Nosivolo River as the country's seventh Ramsar site. It is the first river in Madagascar to receive this designation.

Antananarivo - BirdLife International announced today, in the 2010 IUCN Red List update for birds, the official extinction of the Alaotra Grebe, a bird endemic to Madagascar no seen for the last 25 years.

Phoenix - The Arizona State University released its top 10 new species on May 20. Found in different locations around the world, the 2010 list includes a minnow with fangs and a deep sea worm that flings "bombs" when threatened.

Tampa - Busch Gardens is celebrating the birth of two baby lemurs. The births, the first at the park, were greeted with much excitement. The lemur's survival is threatened in their native habitat of Madagascar and are listed as an endangered species.

Despite readily available vaccines, death rate of sickle-cell anemia in African children remains to be a growing concern, researchers said Thursday.

Disaster management authorities on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar report at least 8 people are dead and more than 3,300 are homeless in the wake of tropical cyclone Jade, according to international aid agencies.