Temperate forests Temperate forests are found in eastern North America, northeastern Asia, and western and central Europe. The temperature of these regions ranges from -30°C to 30°C. The annual rainfall is about 150 cm and is even throughout the year. Most trees found here are deciduous, that is, they shed their leaves once a year (mostly in winter).
Temperate forests have well-defined winter and summer seasons.
Plants: Maple, oak, and elm.
Animals: Fox, bald eagle, mountain lion, bobcat, and black bear.

Cypress of Abarkuh in Iran The Zoroastrian Sarv also known as Sarv-e Abarqu or Cypress of Abarkuh, is a cypress tree in Central Iran, Yazd Province at Iranian National Movement. It is said to have lived for 4000 years, earning its title as the oldest living thing in the whole of Asia. JŌMON SUGI Jōmon Sugi is a large Cryptomeria tree of about 83-foot height and 53-foot girth, located on Yakushima, in Japan. It dates to the Jomon Period from which it gets its name. Calculated using tree’s growth ring, it is about 2000 years old, though some argue that the tree is over 7000 years old. LLANGERNYW YEW IN WALES Llangernyw yew is the oldest tree in Wales, as it is over 4,000-year-old.

Critically Endangered Northern Hairy Nosed Wombat. Scientists believe the number left in the world is about 200 – a slight increase from the mid 1980s when there were only 35 – but the northern hairy nosed wombats remain critically endangered, largely because of competition with cattle and sheep for food, as well as drought and dingo and feral dog attacks. Today, approximately 185 northern hairy nosed wombats reside at Epping Forest in Queensland, Australia, and another 15 live in the 105-hectare Richard Underwood Nature Refuge nearby, making these the only northern hairy nosed colonies in the world. Northern hairy nosed wombats can only be found in the wild; their shy natures making the nocturnal marsupials ill-prepared to cope with the stress of captivity. There are two other species of wombat, the common (or bare-nosed) wombat, which is not endangered and is found on the southeastern coast of Australia (in New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania) and the southern hairy nosed wombat, which is endangered and is found in arid, sandy pockets in the southern part of Australia (in South Australia and Western Australia). The Northern hairy nosed wombat is the largest of all the three species, weighing up to 40kg and measuring about 1m long (the females are slightly heavier than the males). Wombats are often referred to as the engineers of the mammal world. Their burrows can be up to 90m long and are essential for helping the animals regulate their temperature and hide from predators. Wombats generally live alone in their burrows, but sometimes there are more than one.

Spoon-billed sandpipers threatened by trapping in China

Endangered spoon-billed sandpipers arriving at their wintering grounds in China are being threatened by nets designed to trap shorebirds.

The spoon-billed sandpiper is one of the world's rarest birds. Recent sightings of the bird at several new sites along the coast of southern China indicate the species is more widespread than thought. But the study also found evidence of large-scale shorebird trapping using "mist nets" in some of these key areas. Last month four spoon-billed sandpipers were sighted at new wintering grounds in Fucheng, south-west Guangdong Province: the latest evidence that the bird is migrating to more widespread areas in China than previously known.

 
Wonderful waders

Members of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society discovered a group of the critically endangered birds in partially drained fishponds in Fucheng.