Rewilding- Part One

Last month I went to a talk at the University of Leeds all about rewilding in the UK. The talks were given by George Monbiot and Alan Watson-Featherson.

George described how although there are many upland reserves in the UK, they are only maintained to have the lowest level of biodiversity. This is because many years ago, someone decided that heather and scrub should cover most of the land despite the fact that forests would have historically covered these areas. To prevent the regrowth of the forests, sheep were used to over graze the land along with burning and cutting. George found that this is a problem all over the country as in lowlands there are few trees, but, in the uplands, where they would naturally be more, there are even less.

For the love of Pangolins

Images from African Geographic

If you didn't already know, I have a soft spot for pangolins. I don't know whether this is because they defend themselves by curling up into a ball or if they are just so under appreciated in the animal world. The pangolin undergoes a heavy amount of poaching and to learn more about them click here.

The reason I have told you about my love for them, is because on the 23rd April the largest case in pangolin smuggling since 2008 was stopped before it could leave Sumatra where it was due to head to China. Along with the haul being stopped, the smuggler was also caught.

Good News For Some Ecosystems- Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka have become the first nation to comprehensively protect all of the mangrove forests.

This great news has even more importance than most people think. Mangroves sequester far more carbon than other forests and the carbon is sequestered for a much longer period of time compared to your normal forests. Along with this, the mangrove tree root system provide nurseries for many fish species that go on to populate coral reefs, a beautiful natural wonder. These fish also provide jobs to the local fisherman who require the fish to provide an income.

Lynx's roaming the UK

I have been dreaming of Lynx's being reintroduced back into the UK for around 4 years since I first heard about the project and the fact that it maybe come a reality in the not to distant future is really exciting.

The Lynx Trust UK wants to find out what the public's view on the matter is, before taking the idea to Natural England and Scottish Natural Heritage to ask permission to release between 4-6 collared individuals as a trial to into the wild. The released animals will then be fitted with GPS collars and closely studied to see how their activities effect the local environment.

Nature's A Bitch

This post was not one that I ever wanted to write, but sadly I felt I needed to.

We all know that nature is cruel, to those who don't think that, just consider that  only half of the new born gazelles born in Africa will survive their first year of life, or that many bird species have 2 chicks and leave the one that hatches second to die from starvation as that chick was only a back up (I saw this in the Galapagos Islands).

Knowing nature is cruel seems to just come with the territory but having sad news twice recently made me wish to tell you all.

Firstly 2 of the baby vervet monkey babies that I was following when in South Africa have died. I am so thankful not to have been there to discover this, because, from following them every day, you fall in love with their little personalities. It is not known what happened or when, just that one morning 2 were missing.

The more heartbreaking news is that on Tuesday afternoon our baby East Africa Rhino calf Fara at Chester Zoo also passed away.


Everything was done to try and save her when she started appearing ill in the morning but sadly there was nothing the team could do.

I am unbelievably honored to have been able to see such a rare part of nature, however sad at the outcome. From  the day that Fara was born until we were told the sad news, she brought a smile to everyone and excitement to many that have never gotten to see something so amazing and small.

Knowing that there really was nothing that anyone could have done to help her makes it harder in some ways, but, nature is a bitch and even a birth in captivity does not mean that the baby will survive.

image from ChesterZoo.org

To all those who sadly never got to see little Fara, its a great shame, but, it just means that we all need to work harder at preserving these species in the wild so that maybe in the future, you can be seeing them where they belong!

Love

The Pangolin

So Saturday was World Pangolin Day, and although I was unable to write this post on the day, getting the word out about this amazing species is really important for their conservation!

So I ask, how many of you know what a pangolin looks like? Where do they live? and how endangered are they?

Finally Some Good Tiger News- Part 2

So, last week it was finally released that Chester Zoo have some new arrivals in the form of 3 rare sumatran tiger cubs which were born the weekend before I started my placement at the Zoo on the 2nd Jan!

Now the cubs are already 3 weeks old and although they are not out and about yet, I expect they will want to be exploring a little more in the next month or so! So until I am able to capture some pictures of them once they are out of their den, here is the video of the cubs just after they were born released by the zoo.

Enjoy!

Love

Finally Some Good Tiger News- Part 1

So, in the past week there appears to have been some great tiger news starting with the fact that in the recent tiger census completed in India, it is believed that the populations of tigers has increased by nearly 30% in the past 4 years which is an amazing.

Wildcat and Tiger Trades Increasing

I haven't posted about nature in the news for what feels like forever but this story, just after I returned from Africa, really caught my attention.

It has been found that from a survey conducted over the past two decades, that the trade of tiger and wildcat parts from  Myanmar (Burma) into China in recent years is growing. The fact that the sale of these animals is still increasing is a dying shame because soon there really will be none of them left to sell.

Christmas Cuteness

As its Christmas Eve, I thought it was only fair that I give you all a little christmas joy. Here are some of my favourite festive animal photos I have found.

 Let the awwwwwwwwing begin

Man attacked and taken by a Tiger

Some of you may have heard this story, others may not have but it still holds an important message.

A few weeks ago a man, Sushil Manjhi, was fishing for crabs with his 2 children in the Sundarbans National Park when a Bengal Tiger leapt out and grasped the man in his jaws shaking him furiously before disappearing with the body into the mangrove swamp. The two 
children had tried to beat the tiger with sticks and a knife to no avail and the man was presumed dead.

Although this story is a sad one it is not uncommon, with this being the 4th tiger assault this year alone. Fishing in the national park is in fact illegal yet, because these crabs and other forest goods make good money at market, people risk their lives to enter the forest and fish in the rivers. In India, poverty is a national problem and it is the prospect of earning good money to feed their families which arrives individuals to run such risks.

With such a huge human population in India that continues to grow, conflict is likely to increase due to habitat reduction for the tigers,  as more and more people move into where the tigers were once able to roam freely. The National Park, where the attack happened is one of the largest reserves for the Bengal Tiger species with India having half of the global Bengal Tiger population which is sadly decreasing due to the despicable demand for tiger organs and bones in Chinese medicine.

This attack just shows how powerless humans really are against these animals who are only acting upon natural instincts to survive. It is humans that are entering the tiger's territory and as tiger habitat decreases, it is the national parks which will become crucial for the species survival.

These species deserve to survive and live away from humans, but, is the human race too selfish to care about other species ahead of their own? Although this attack may not seem large in the scale of things, it is the beginning of a major problem, if the human population keeps on growing  at the current rate, where are these people are going to live, and find work without causing conflict with the tigers. I guess only time will tell, all we can be certain of is this sadly won't be the last tiger attack in the Sunderbans National Park.

Safe haven for Scottish wildcat!

A new designated wildcat sanctuary has been placed in a remote location on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, which is located in the north west Highlands, Scottland, in the hope to be able to preserve the species.

Scottish wildcats numbers have dramatically reduced as they are able to mate with domestic cats and so, diluting the pure bred wildcat genes. This problem, along with habitat destruction and disease has now placed the species on the brink of extinction in the wild.

The new sanctuaries rural location means that the likelihood of domestic and wildcats mixing is very slim and all domestic cats, especially the feral individuals is the surrounding areas are being neutered to reduce the chance again.This is the first time feral cats have been controlled in a large area and it is likely that the population with die off in a few years preventing any cross breeding that would be detrimental to the project. The number of wildcats left in the wild is not known and could be as low as 35 which makes this project even more important to the species survival.

Let hope that this new plan allows wildcat numbers to increase and enables the species to be brought back from the brink of extinction in the wild. To help support or donate to this amazing project, please click on the first link below, their website also has loads more information about the area and the work underway.

To read more...
http://www.wildcathaven.co.uk/
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/environment/haven-to-save-the-wildcat-from-total-extinction.24748248
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-28315555

We are Family

It appears that even penguins can be gay and raise a family in harmony.

A same sex male penguin couple at Wingham Wildlife Park in Kent adopted an egg. The eggs father Hurricane, abandoned his partner Isobel immediately after impregnating her, and she refused to incubate the egg. The adoptive parents were given the egg which hatched a month ago. The park owner claims the gay couple are the best parents they have seen in a long time.

The loving couple named Jumbs and Kermit just prove that happiness can come in all shapes and sizes and that gay foster parents are just as good if not better at the parenting role.

To read more about the happy family:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-27405652
http://www.kentnews.co.uk/news/same_sex_penguin_couple_adopt_abandoned_egg_1_3599458

Happy Birthday Sir David Attenborough

As it is David Attenborough's 88th birthday today, I felt it was only fair for me to share some brilliant facts and favourite video clips of the man who has made everyone love nature.

• Sir David actually studied Geology not Zoology or Biology as many would have thought.
• Rats are one of the animals he actually doesn't like
• The Bird of Paradise is his favourite species (well, one of them I expect)
• Sir David does eat meat, he says that humans have evolved to be omnivores, not vegetarians
• In 2005 he was awarded the Order of Merit (OM) by Her Majesty the Queen
• His brother Richard is an actor and played a role similar to David in Jurassic Park
• The BBC boss thought Sir Davids teeth were too big and so was originally discouraged him, how wrong the boss was.

The 10 species Sir David Attenborough would take on his own personal Ark:

1. The black lion tamarin

2. The Sumatran Rhino

3. The Solenodon

4. The Olm salamander

5. The Marvellous Spatuletail humming bird

6. Darwin’s frog

7. Sunda pangolin

8. Priam’s birding butterfly

9. Northern Quoll

10. Venus’s flower basket

Sir David with a blind Rhino

Sir David making a sloth jump

Sir David commentating curling
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=777_1392789840

Sir David howling with wolves

Sid David Playing with Gorillas

Sir David strutting his stuff

And finally without him, we really wouldn't know all about our wonderful world

A Female with a Penis? A Male with a Vagina?

In caves, in Brazil, a new genus, Neotrogla, has been discovered and it is by far one of the strangest ones yet. In all species of the genus, the sex organs have been switched, so the males have a vagina and the females a penis. Now surely you would say that this just makes the boys girls, and the girls, boys, but no, there is a reason why the animals are still the same sex but with different genitalia.

The female's penis, known as a gynosome enters the male and inflates. The gynosome has numerous spines that attach the couple together, the gynosome then sucks out the male sperm and nutritious seminal fluids to fertilise the eggs inside the female and also to provide food. Once joined, as a researcher discovered, the male's abdomen can be ripped from the thorax without breaking the coupling. These sexual encounters can last from anywhere between 40-70 hours!!

 If like me you are struggling to imagine just how this is possible, here is a diagram for you.

The role reversal was likely to have been driven by poor resources available in the cave and so the female gains an important food source from the seminal fluid. This also means that it is advantageous for the females to copulate multiple times.

Right now they are trying to establish a healthy population in the lab to be able to study the animals further.

To read more:
http://www.nature.com/news/female-insect-uses-spiky-penis-to-take-charge-1.15064
http://www.cell.com/current-biology/abstract/S0960-9822(14)00314-5
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27056809

Prehistoric Shark Caught

Shrimp fisherman at Key West, Florida, accidentally caught themselves a Goblin Shark recently. Goblin sharks are a prehistoric species which haven't been seen in over 10 years! The species can be found all over the world but is believed to mainly live around Japan which makes this catch so rare! The fisherman took a few pictures and released the thrashing shark back into the ocean where it could dive back to its home, over 200m below water, and only reported their findings to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 2 days ago.

So what does a Goblin Shark look like?

The Goblin Shark, razor teeth and a extendable jaw

This species is huge. The one caught was 18ft long and they have unusual pink skin. In the deep water, where the animals live, only red light is visible. At those depths the species will actually appear black to the eye. The head of the shark has a very large snout, like a sword, which allow it to detect minute electrical fields and catch prey quickly with its extending jaw  and large razor sharp teeth. Their bodies also appear fairly flabby and they have smaller dorsal and ventral fins compared to those of other shark species. This means that these sharks are not able to move as quickly as some other species.


To read more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goblin_shark
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1656/1528-7092%282002%29001%5B0189%3AFROTGS%5D2.0.CO%3B2
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2619301/Thats-no-shrimp-Florida-shrimp-fishermen-accidentally-net-second-prehistoric-goblin-shark-thats-18-FEET-LONG-pink-pointy-teeth.html

Kew Gardens Under Pressure

For those of us with a passion for, and considering a career in conservation the news that Globally important conservation and science is under threat at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew due to government cuts is a bombshell. For those that don't know anything about Kew, you to should be interested to, as its taking away one of the strong platforms that the UK has in science!

 The Royal Botanical Gardens also know as Kew Gardens is a large area of gardens and botanical glasshouses and the largest collection of living plants in the world (over 30,000 species) and the largest herbarium in the world holding 7 million preserved species. The gardens are internationally important in botanica research and have a large role in the education institute with around 700 staff and attract nearly 2million people to the site every year.

 The government are due to cut funding for Kew Gardens again by 2016. The Gardens, which are 40% funded by the government have been told that by 2016 they will have had £1.5 million cut, which is a huge amount of money. Because Kew are already £5 million in deficit this means that they will have to cut 120 jobs and most of these jobs are in science and research, a crucial area. Cutting this many jobs means that you are removing a 1/7 of the working body at Kew a HUGE proportion.

If you still don't feel like it's that important, this is what David Attenborough has said about the gardens...
"Kew has an absolutely crucial role in looking after our botanical heritage and our botanical future. The important thing to remember is that it is the premiere botanical gardens in the world scientifically. People who think it is just a place to go to look at pretty flowers and flower beds are mistaking the importance of Kew Gardens. The Seed Bank is of world importance and it should be supported by the Government like a proper institution or university and the continuing idea that Kew Gardens is merely a playground and that you just put up the prices to look after it is a misguided assessment of the value of Kew. The Government and the scientific departments should recognise that and support it properly." 

There is currently a petition on Change.org which is trying to stop the government from following through with the proposal. To sign please visit http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/globally-important-conservation-and-science-under-threat-at-royal-botanic-gardens-kew-due-to-uk-government-cuts-5m-deficit-will-lead-to-loss-of-over-120-posts?utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_facebook_mobile&recruiter=47412431

Whaling Ban!

Finally Japans 'experimental' whale hunting has  been banned!! After nearly 4 years since the case was first brought to light, the International Court of Justice ruled that the Japanese government must halt the whaling programme that they claim is for research in the Antarctic.

The ruling is binding and the Japanese are apparently feeling like Australia are trying to impose their cultural normality on the country and still argue that they have done nothing wrong.
In 1986 Japan signed up to the moratorium on whaling but continued  to whale in both the north and south Pacific claiming that they were undergoing scientific research. The whales being hunted are found in the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary, a 50 million square km area round the Antarctic which is against commercial whaling but does allow scientific research. The scientific output from the whaling in Japan has been minimal though, and many people feel like the government has been using the idea of research for illegal hunting. This became even clearer to some, as the slaughtered whales meat has been found to be commercially sold in Japan.

This ban is great news for whale conservation and will mean that species such as the Minke whales will be able to continue to grow in numbers and thrive in the ocean, but it doesn't ban whaling in North Pacific, so the Japanese can still sadly use the same loophole. If they are also able to find a better research proposal they maybe allowed back into the Southern Oceans eventually, but for now, and the near future, at least ocean giants are safer than they have been in a long time.

To read more ...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-26818863
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/mar/31/does-japans-research-whaling-help-conserve-whales

Who knew Knitting was useful

In Australia the penguin foundation has a campaign to knit sick penguins jumpers!

Yes this is a real thing. Penguins that have been in oil spills loose their waterproofing and also their insulation so they are unable to retain heat. The Foundation came up with the idea that whilst the animals are being cared for, to provide them with knitted jumpers to keep them warm.

The best part about this is anyone can get involved. If you can knit then you can help knit a jumper with the pattern available from
http://penguinfoundation.org.au/assets/Wildlife-rehabilitation/penguin-jumper-pattern-2014.pdf

To find out more info on such a brilliantly fun scheme see...
http://penguinfoundation.org.au/about-the-penguin-foundation/wildlife-rehabilitation/

http://www.captureyournite.com/culture/latest-news/wanted-volunteers-to-knit-little-woolly-jumpers-for-poorly-penguins/

Reading Week

Worried that you aren't doing enough reading on your reading week or some half one that I appear to be on? At least you have the comfort in knowing that these beautiful animals are doing enough for all of us...

And just like you they sometimes just want to give and take a nap to!