American Samoa is banning shark fishing in its waters in hopes of stopping the population's decline.

American Samoa is among a number of Pacific islands to record a dramatic drop in shark numbers. Sharks are often harvested for their fins, which typically end up in restaurants as shark-fin soup.

Scientists in Brazil will try cloning endangered animal species like the jaguar, a researcher said Wednesday.

"The idea is to start with an animal that is endangered, or where species numbers have gone down sharply, such as the jaguar, the maned wolf or even the local deer," said Carlos Frederico Martins, a researcher with Embrapa Cerrado.

Austrian experts say melting glaciers have been the single greatest cause of rising sea level over the past century.

Scientists at the respected University of Innsbruck say that between 1902 and 2007, glaciers contributed 11 centimeters (4.33 inches) to a total sea level rise of about 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches).

Astronomers on Wednesday reported they had detected a planet that had strayed from its star system and was wandering alone in deep space.

Object CFBDSIR2149 is believed to be a cold, young world that for unknown reasons has pulled free of the gravitational pull of its mother star, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) said.

From boats bobbing on the Great Barrier Reef, to hot air balloons hovering over the rainforest, and the hilltops and beaches in between, tens of thousands of scientists, tourists and amateur astronomers watched as the sun, moon and Earth aligned and plunged northern Australia into darkness during a total solar eclipse Wednesday.

Stubborn clouds that many feared would ruin the view parted — somewhat — in north Queensland, defying forecasts of a total eclipse-viewing bust and relieving spectators who had fanned out to glimpse the celestial phenomenon.

A critically endangered Sumatran tiger has given birth to three cubs at an Indonesian zoo, a veterinarian at the facility said Wednesday.

"She gave birth naturally, without human intervention. The three cubs are all healthy. Two are male, while we haven't been able to get close to the other to identify it," Suci Terawan, a vet at Medan Zoo in northern Sumatra, told Agence France Presse.

A group of Tasmanian devils will be transferred to a small Australian island to start what is hoped will be a self-sustaining population, free from the facial tumor that has devastated their species.

Tasmania's Environment Minister Brian Wightman said 14 of the marsupials, carefully selected from captive breeding programs across Australia, would be released Thursday on Maria Island, a nature sanctuary off the state's east coast.

Scientists in China said on Tuesday they had sequenced the DNA of the wild bactrian camel, a threatened species with an extraordinary ability to survive in extreme conditions.

The genetic code of Camelus bactrianus ferus -- a two-humped camel that now numbers less than 900 in the wild -- reveals 20,821 genes, many of them providing the metabolic tools to cope with days without food and water and a diet based on tough desert vegetation.

South Korea has urged Russia to send rocket parts as soon as possible so it can go ahead with an already-delayed satellite launch this month, an official said Tuesday.

Seoul wants to make another attempt to send the satellite into space between November 9 and 24 after last month's rocket launch was canceled because of a defective part.

Animal rights group PETA offered a $1,000 reward Tuesday for information on the killing of three critically-endangered Sumatran elephants near palm oil plantations in Indonesia.

The carcasses of three female elephants, including a year-old calf, were found rotting at the weekend in the jungle on Sumatra island outside the Tesso Nilo National Park, which is surrounded by palm oil plantations.