Category Archives: Animals

Sound of the city: monkeys shown to prefer traffic over jungle noise

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Experiment let the primates choose what they wanted to hear, with rumbling vehicles thought to mimic elements of their own communications

They may be naturally suited to swinging in rainforests, but monkeys in a Finnish zoo have demonstrated a “significant” preference for traffic sounds instead of the noises of the jungle, researchers have found.

As part of an experiment to see how technology could improve the wellbeing of captive animals, researchers installed a tunnel fitted with sensors in the enclosure of the monkeys at Helsinki’s Korkeasaari zoo, giving the primates the chance to choose to listen to the sounds of rain, traffic, zen sounds or dance music.

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Travel to UK from Denmark to be banned amid worries over Covid in mink

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Chris Whitty, chief medical officer for England, understood to be concerned by new strain

All travel to the UK from Denmark is being banned amid mounting concern over an outbreak in the country of a mutation of coronavirus linked to mink, the Guardian understands.

Downing Street had already taken action to remove Denmark from the travel corridor, forcing arrivals to quarantine for two weeks from Friday at 4am.

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Gimme shell-ter: Thai hermit crabs face housing crisis

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Population of crustaceans at one national park has exploded amid drop in tourist numbers

Hermit crab numbers in southern Thailand have boomed as foreign tourists have stayed away – so much so that the national park authority are appealing for the public to donate extra shells for them to live in.

The population of the crustaceans, which protect themselves by wearing and living inside the discarded shells of other animals, has exploded on some islands in the Mu Koh Lanta national park, and marine biologists believe the lack of tourists could be a factor.

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Danish Covid mink cull and future disease fears will kill fur trade, say farmers

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Mutation that led to government order fuels debate about future of fur and safety of farms

John Papsø is devastated. You can hear it in his voice over the phone from Jutland. Like every other fur farmer in Denmark, he has 10 days to kill his mink.

“It’s horrible. I’m not even sure it’s dawned on me how grave the consequences will be for us. We are shellshocked. I was up at 4am because I couldn’t sleep. I’ve been pacing up and down the floor, and I’ve cried. It’s a state of shock,” said Papsø, who has more 30,000 mink on his farm.

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Two new greater glider species discovered: ‘Australia’s biodiversity just got a lot richer’

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One of the world’s biggest gliding mammals, Australia’s greater glider is actually three separate species, according to new research

One of the world’s biggest gliding mammals, Australia’s once-common and unique greater glider, actually comprises three separate species, according to new genetic research.

Researchers said the findings should prompt urgent work to better understand the three species which are under pressure from rising temperatures, bushfires and land-clearing.

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Denmark tightens lockdown in north over mink Covid outbreak

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Twelve people infected so far with new strain against which vaccines may be ineffective

An outbreak among farmed mink of a mutant form of Covid-19 with the potential to be resistant to future vaccines has led to the Danish government bringing in tougher lockdown measures in parts of the country.

The measures were announced following the discovery of a new strain of the disease in animals bred for fur in the country’s northern regions.

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Race to save 100 whales in Sri Lanka’s biggest mass beaching

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Navy joins forces with rescuers and volunteers in effort to push pilot whales back into ocean

Rescuers and volunteers were racing to save about 100 pilot whales stranded on Sri Lanka’s western coast in the country’s biggest mass beaching.

The short-finned pilot whales began beaching at Panadura, 15 miles (25km) south of Colombo, shortly before dusk. Within an hour their numbers swelled to about 100, a local police chief, Sanjaya Irasinghe, said.

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Voting opens in New Zealand’s beloved Bird of the Year competition

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What started 15 years ago as a modest promotion to draw attention to native birds, many of which are endangered, has become a phenomenon

Normally on a post test-match Monday in New Zealand, the talk is all about the national rugby team’s latest performance. But this week, while the All Blacks’ destruction of the Wallabies was on everyones’ lips, there was another topic of conversation: birds.

Voting began on Monday in the hotly contested and brutal election of New Zealand’s Bird Of The Year.

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‘They give me the willies’: scientist who vacuumed murder hornets braces for fight

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Chris Looney helped dismantle the first nest of Asian giant hornets in the US. Now he’s preparing for the next step

The eradication of the first nest of Asian giant hornets on US soil somewhat resembled a science fiction depiction of an alien landing site. A crew of government specialists in white, astronaut-like protective suits descended upon the hornet nexus to vanquish it with a futuristic-looking vacuum cleaner, to the relief of onlookers.

The nest of the fearsome invasive insects, notoriously known as “murder hornets”, was found in a tree crevice near Blaine, in Washington state, via a tracking device attached to a previously captured worker hornet. The Washington state department of agriculture (WSDA) confirmed the nest had been successfully removed, with dozens of live captives taken back for inspection.

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Chameleon last seen a century ago rediscovered in Madagascar

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Scientists find several living specimens of Voeltzkow’s chameleon during expedition

Scientists have found an elusive chameleon species that was last spotted in Madagascar 100 years ago.

Researchers from Madagascar and Germany said on Friday they had discovered several living specimens of Voeltzkow’s chameleon during an expedition to the north-west of the African island nation.

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‘We do not get a chance at happiness’: the Bangladeshi fishermen caught by debt

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Hilsa fishermen must borrow to buy equipment but have to sell their catch at a low price to moneylenders – creating a generational debt trap

Kalam Sheikh’s life revolves around the few months when he goes in search of Bangladesh’s prized hilsa fish. When he gets a good catch, he can make enough money to live on for the rest of the year. He can pay off some of his debts and even improve his home.

But this fragile annual cycle has been broken this year, with bad catches bookended by months off the water by the coronavirus pandemic and government restrictions to stop overfishing.

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Doe your bit: Japan invents bags deer can eat after plastic-related deaths

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To keep animals safe from rubbish discarded by tourists, a bag has been devised made from milk cartons and rice bran

The famed deer that roam the city of Nara, in Japan, no longer face discomfort – or far worse – after local companies developed a safe alternative to the plastic packaging discarded by tourists that often ended up in the animals’ stomachs.

Last year several of the 1,300 deer that wander around the ancient capital’s central park were found dead after swallowing plastic bags and food wrappers, prompting calls for tourists not to leave their rubbish behind. One of the dead animals had swallowed more than 4kg of rubbish.

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Ricardo’s ark: Mexican man opens his home to 300 dogs in path of hurricane

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Ricardo Pimentel’s menagerie also included cats, rabbits, chicks, sheep and a hedgehog evacuated from his animal shelter

As Hurricane Delta closed in on Mexico’s Yucatán peninsula, Ricardo Pimentel opened his home – to about 300 dogs.

Related: Tens of thousands flee as Hurricane Delta lashes Mexico's Yucatán peninsula

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UK brands act to cut catch of ‘near-threatened’ yellowfin tuna

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Voluntary action of companies including Tesco and Princes aims to put pressure on regulatory body to tackle overfishing

British supermarkets and brands, including Tesco, the Co-op and Princes, are stepping up action to cut yellowfin tuna catches in the Indian Ocean, amid warnings the stock is in a “critical” state.

The effort, by companies reliant on healthy fish stocks, represents a counterintuitive effort to force regulators to act, rather than the other way around.

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‘Not just a dog bite’: why India is struggling to keep rabies at bay

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The government is being urged to dispel myths and ensure drugs are available – and take responsibility for the millions of stray dogs

By the time the patient, a young man, reached Dr Ramesh Masthi at a Bengaluru hospital, it was too late to save him. After being bitten by a pack of stray dogs as he went out to buy some milk, his family had applied a paste of green chillis, then lime juice and finally, when the wound looked gruesome, turmeric.

“He came about a week after he was bitten. The wound was serious, and we couldn’t save him. There is so much ignorance about dog bites and myths. A rabies shot in time would have saved him,” Masthi says.

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Tardigrades’ latest superpower: a fluorescent protective shield

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Scientists identify a species that appears to absorb potentially lethal UV radiation and emit blue light

The might be tiny creatures with a comical appearance, but tardigrades are one of life’s great survivors. Now scientists say they have found a new species boasting an unexpected piece of armour: a protective fluorescent shield.

Related: Tardigrades: Earth’s unlikely beacon of life that can survive a cosmic cataclysm

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Image of tiger hugging tree wins 2020 wildlife photographer award

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Sergey Gorshkov left a hidden camera in a Russian forest for 11 months to capture the big cat

An image of a clearly ecstatic tigress hugging an ancient Manchurian fir tree in a remote Siberian forest has won one of the world’s most prestigious photography prizes.

It took Russian photographer Sergey Gorshkov 11 months to capture the moment using hidden cameras. His patience led to him being named 2020 wildlife photographer of the year by the Duchess of Cambridge at a ceremony at London’s Natural History Museum.

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‘Jet fighter’ godwit breaks world record for non-stop bird flight

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Bar-tailed godwit flies more than 12,000km from Alaska to New Zealand in 11 days

A bird said to have the aerodynamic build of a “jet fighter” has been tracked flying more than 12,000km (7,500 miles) from Alaska to New Zealand, setting a new world record for avian non-stop flight.

The bar-tailed godwit set off from south-west Alaska on 16 September and arrived in a bay near Auckland 11 days later, having flown at speeds of up to 55mph.

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Purrfect match: cats and their human doubles

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We all know someone who looks like their dog, but what about our feline friends? Photographer Gerrard Gethings set out to match moggies with their lookalikes – with uncanny results. By Kathryn Bromwich

If you’ve spent much time on the internet over the past decade, chances are you’ve seen some cats on there. Cats chasing their own tails. Cats attempting ill-judged jumps from one piece of furniture to another. Or, in the case of Gerrard Gethings, a cat who looked exactly like the actor David Schwimmer. “There’s something about the shape of Schwimmer’s face that’s quite interesting,” says the London-based photographer, “and the cat had exactly the same face. That pushed me over the edge, into thinking there was something in it.”

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HS2 may be guilty of ‘wildlife crime’ by felling trees illegally, say lawyers

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Reports of rare bat species in ancient woodland being cleared for high-speed rail line

Lawyers have warned HS2 it might be felling trees illegally, after an ecology report found evidence of one of the UK’s rarest bat species in an area of ancient woodland being cleared for the high-speed rail line.

Legal firm Leigh Day has written to HS2 Ltd urging the company to halt activity at Jones’ Hill wood, near Wendover in Buckinghamshire, as it does not have a licence to carry out work that could disturb rare barbastelle bat roosts. They say to continue doing so could be a criminal offence.

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