Rwanda to name baby gorilla's for World Environment Day

The development board of Rwanda will name 11 rare baby gorillas as part of a traditional World Environmental Day.

The ceremony, called kwita izina, will take place on 5 June at the foot of the volcanoes deVirunga mountains in Rwanda's Northern Province.

The event will hopefully raise awareness for the conservation protecting endangered mountain gorillas.

Anette Tamara Mbabazi, Rwanda Development Board's media and events officer, said that the international year of the biodiversity would focus on raising awareness of the importance of biodiversity and its protection from underlying threats as well as the significance of establishing interconnections between biodiversity, conservation and climate change.

Mammal stamps

A new series of stamps have been launched to highlight the decline of UK mammals.

The Royal Mail have created a range of stamps showing animals that are under threat in the UK. Animals include water voles, hedgehogs, whales, dormice, bats, otters and polecats.

According to the Mammal Society, Britain is home to over 60 species of mammals and whilst some have thrived in recent years, others have seen their populations decline. A loss of habitat caused by factors such as pollution, a growth in house and road building and more intensively managed farmland are said to be the main contributors.

The series of stamps have been released to coincide with the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB), a United Nations conservation initiative.

Dr Robert Bloomfield, UK co-ordinator of the IYB, said "these stamps illustrate that even some of the most loved UK species, which we consider common or familiar, are under threat."