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

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.

Apes Have Feelings Too

Bonobos are one of the most human looking apes I feel. Scientific research has discovered emotional development similarities between children and Bonobos. This idea suggests that emotions in great apes are regulated in a human way to some extent. Tests were able to be performed to guess the response that they believed if human type emotions were present would take place and in this study it was proven correct. Bonobos were found to often give body comfort to though in distress such as hugging and kissing! Now it cant get much cuter than that.

This finding will enable scientists and researchers to study how behavior and social frameworks developed as well as proving to people that these beautiful and unique apes really are just like us in far more ways than you may have ever expected.

And a question to leave you pondering, if Bonobos are that similar to us, share so much in common and even feel and comfort each other as we do, how do people not only kill them but eat them? How do we feel that this is acceptable when all they really are are slightly underdeveloped humans. Hey we were like that 3.5 million years ago too!!

To give the paper a read click the link below,
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/10/09/1316449110
or just a little more detail
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131014155739.htm