The gradual decline of large carnivores such as lions, wolves or pumas is threatening the Earth's ecosystems, scientists warned Friday as they launched an appeal to protect such predators.

More than 75 percent of 31 large carnivore species are on the decline, and 17 of them now occupy less than half of their former ranges, says a study published in the American journal Science and dated January 10.

Indonesian officials said Friday they have rescued more than 8,000 baby pig-nosed turtles hidden in suitcases and thought to be destined for China and Singapore.

A total of 2,968 were discovered in four suitcases at the airport serving the capital Jakarta after arriving from the remote eastern Papua region, said Zaenal Abidi, quarantine official.

A prehistoric fish that inhabits the waters off southern Australia and New Zealand evolves even slower than the coelacanth, a famous "living fossil" whose DNA has barely changed over hundreds of millions of years, scientists said Wednesday.

The genome of the elephant shark "is evolving significantly slower than other vertebrates, including the coelacanth", they reported in the journal Nature.

The $100-billion International Space Station will be extended by four years, or until at least 2024, allowing for more global research and scientific collaboration, NASA said Wednesday.

The orbiting outpost, the largest space lab ever built, was launched to fanfare in 1998 and had been expected to remain in operation until 2020.

Great white sharks may live until their 70s, more than three times as long as previously thought, according to a new analysis of the marine predator's backbones out Wednesday.

Using radiocarbon dating technology, researchers analyzed vertebrae from four male and four female adult white sharks from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

An idea by the father of the H-bomb to slow global warming by sowing the stratosphere with light-reflecting particles could wreck the weather system in the tropics, a study said Wednesday.

The scheme may benefit northern Europe and parts of Asia, but around the equator rainfall patterns would be disrupted, potentially drying up tropical forests in South America and intensifying droughts in Africa and Southeast Asia.

The first regular contract flight of Orbital Sciences' unmanned cargo ship is poised for launch on Wednesday toward the International Space Station, NASA said.

The Cygnus spacecraft is set to take off from Wallops Island, Virginia atop an Antares rocket at 1:32 pm (1832 GMT), carrying 2,780 pounds (1,260 kilograms) of gear including science experiments, supplies and hardware.

A Chinese research vessel's escape from pack ice after evacuating 52 people from a Russian ship trapped in Antarctica has shone a spotlight on the Asian power's growing polar ambitions at both ends of the Earth.

In the Arctic, China's strategic goals include the opening up of a "Northeast Passage" shipping route Beijing hopes will shave days off the journey from China to Europe, its biggest export destination.

A Christmas swell on Oahu's North Shore damaged at least five oceanfront properties, rekindling a decades-old debate about how best Hawaii officials and homeowners should respond to beach erosion and the increasingly rising waters of the Pacific Ocean.

Some property owners want to be able to install a seawall or something similar to protect their property.

South African authorities revealed Tuesday that a phosphate mine spillage has caused "extensive pollution" to a river in the country's famed Kruger National Park.

Park officials said "highly acidic water" from a dam at the Palaborwa-based Bosveld phosphate mine spilled into a tributary of the Olifants River, killing thousands of fish.