Populations of some of Australia's iconic birds -- including the laughing kookaburra, magpie and willie wagtail -- are in decline in parts of the country, according to a report released Wednesday, with habitat loss, feral cats and foxes among the likely threats.

The State of Australia's Birds report, published by Birdlife Australia, was compiled using data from 420,000 surveys collected by volunteers across the continent since 1998. 

Thousands of rare forest turtles have been rescued from horrifying conditions of captivity in the Philippines, saving the critically endangered animals from possible extinction, wildlife experts said Wednesday.

More than 4,000 live freshwater turtles and 90 dead ones were found in a pond inside a remote warehouse on the western island of Palawan four weeks ago in one of the country's biggest wildlife rescues, they said.

A simple camera adjustment has helped scientists illuminate the usually undetectable spots on black leopards -- a trick they say will help them tell individual animals apart and aid the animals' conservation. 

Scientists studying leopards on the Malay Peninsula, where most of the big cats are jet black, had difficulty telling the animals apart, an obstacle which was hindering research.

An unmanned NASA spacecraft whizzed by Pluto, beaming to scientists a message that it survived its historic encounter before sending back the closest look ever of the distant dwarf planet.

After a three-billion-mile (4.8-billion-kilometer) journey that took nearly 10 years, the nuclear-powered New Horizons -- about the size of a baby grand piano -- snapped pictures of Pluto as it hurtled by on auto-pilot.

An unmanned NASA spacecraft whizzed by Pluto on Tuesday, making its closest approach in the climax of a decade-long journey to explore the dwarf planet for the first time, the U.S. space agency said.

"The New Horizons spacecraft passes its closest approach mark at Pluto after a three billion mile journey," a NASA commentator said as spectators waved flags in a crowded room at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Center outside the U.S. capital, Washington.

Sri Lanka's largest safari park banned the use of cell phones Monday to stop leopards and other wildlife being killed by speeding vehicles which have been tipped off about their whereabouts.

Rangers have found the bodies of several animals in recent months that have been run over by vehicles in Yala park, home to the world's highest concentration of leopards and large numbers of elephants, bears and deer.

It's constantly hissing, fussing and belching, but every half hour or so Yasur volcano sends up a tremendous spurt of lava and a boom so loud it is deafening on the crater rim and can be heard for miles. At dusk, the explosions begin to resemble fireworks, the lava glittering as it falls from the sky.

At just 361 meters (1,184 feet) elevation, the volcano on the Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu is particularly accessible, and spectacularly active. Some have dubbed it the world's friendliest volcano, although its primal ferocity and occasionally dangerous eruptions of lava and gas would seem to defy that description.

A cluster of submerged volcanoes has been discovered off Sydney, scientists said Monday, with the potential to help unlock the secrets of the sea floor between Australia and New Zealand.

The four extinct volcanoes were found about 250 kilometers (150 miles) offshore from Australia's biggest city last month during a search for larval lobster breeding grounds.

Ten endangered Asiatic lions, 1670 blue bulls and 87 spotted deer were amongst hundreds of wild animals killed in the recent floods to hit west India's Gujarat, a government report said Sunday.

The flash floods that hit Saurashtra region of the state in late June also killed at least 55 people with thousands evacuating their homes for safer areas after heavy rains.

There's a near-perfect heart shape on Pluto's rusty red surface. The dwarf planet is dotted with bright points which may be ice caps, and a mysterious dark shape nicknamed "The Whale." 

Scientists are seeing all this for the first time as a piano-sized NASA spacecraft, called New Horizons, hurtles toward the distant celestial body on its way toward a historic flyby on July 14.