At least 20 trains cancelled after swan stopped at site of another’s death near Fuldatal
Police and firefighters in Germany were forced to intervene to move an apparently “mourning” swan that was blocking a high-speed railway line, according to a statement released by the rescuers on Monday.
The swan was pictured blocking the line near Fuldatal, causing at least 20 trains to be cancelled, after a second swan was killed when it flew into the overhead line above the tracks.
Continue reading...Excitement as DNA barcoding technique leads to unmasking of new species tempered with fear that some are already at risk of extinction
A growing number of “cryptic species” hiding in plain sight have been unmasked in the past year, driven in part by the rise of DNA barcoding, a technique that can identify and differentiate between animal and plant species using their genetic divergence.
The discovery of new species of aloe, African leaf-nosed bats and chameleons that appear similar to the human eye but are in fact many and separate have thrilled and worried conservationists. Scientists say our planet might be more biologically diverse than previously thought, and estimates for the total number of species could be far higher than the current best guess of 8.7 million. But cryptic discoveries often mean that species once considered common and widespread are actually several, some of which may be endangered and require immediate protection.
Continue reading...From digging ponds to planting pollinators, Guardian readers have been bringing out the best in nature
Inspired by the story of the hedgehog highways in an English village and impressed by the contributions to our urban wildlife gallery, we asked Guardian readers to tell us what they have been doing to help wildlife in their gardens in 2020. Gardens are important habitats for small mammals, songbirds and insects and gardening in a wildlife-friendly way can make a massive difference in counteracting biodiversity loss. As always, the response was amazing, with readers from the UK, Australia, the US and Mexico sharing their innovations. Here are the best of them.
Continue reading...Canadian government’s speed restrictions are not enough to prevent deaths of endangered animals, researchers say
For North Atlantic right whales, collisions with large cargo vessels are one of the deadliest threats to an endangered population. But new research from Canada has found even under the government’s current maritime speed restrictions, strikes are likely to be fatal.
In a new paper published in Marine Mammal Science, biologists found that collisions between large vessels and whales at a speed of just 10 knots had an 80% chance of producing a fatality.
Continue reading...Our 20 favourite pieces of the year
What links an eccentric Oxford classics don, billionaire US evangelicals and a tiny, missing fragment of an ancient manuscript?
Continue reading...Off-duty rescue worker Mana Srivate was on a road trip in the Thai province of Chanthaburi when he was called into action to save the life of an unlikely road accident victim – a baby elephant. The calf had been struck by a motorbike as it attempted to cross a road with its herd. Srivate performed two-handed compressions until it was able to get back on its feet 10 minutes later. 'When the baby elephant started to move, I almost cried,' Srivate said. Neither elephant nor rider suffered serious injuries and the calf was later reunited with its mother.
Continue reading...World faces huge wildlife losses by 2050 unless what and how food is produced changes
The global food system is on course to drive rapid and widespread ecological damage with almost 90% of land animals likely to lose some of their habitat by 2050, research has found.
A study published in the journal Nature Sustainability shows that unless the food industry is rapidly transformed, changing what people eat and how it is produced, the world faces widespread biodiversity loss in the coming decades.
Continue reading...The discovery that bilbies, bandicoots, Tasmanian devils and echidnas emit bio-fluorescence under UV light has sparked the burning question. Why?
Dr Kenny Travouillon turned off the lights and headed straight for the shelf holding the stuffed platypus, armed with an ultraviolet torch to test something out. Would the monotreme glow?
“All the platypuses were glowing,” says Travouillon, the mammals curator at the Western Australian Museum in Perth. “We went through with other mammals and we found they were glowing too.”
Continue reading...A flatback sea turtle has been filmed defending itself from a tiger shark attack off the Western Australia coast. A team of researchers at Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute and Western Australia’s Department of Biodiversity, Conservation & Attractions captured the vision after mounting a camera on the turtle's shell during a project at Roebuck Bay. Despite the mismatch in size, the turtle uses aggressive biting lunges at the shark before making a hasty escape to safety
Continue reading...Wildlife photographer Lee-Anne Carver is trying to share Carrot’s plight in hopes of saving injured deer
The Canadian winter can be tough for deer, as temperatures plummet and food becomes scarce. But Carrot, a whitetail buck living in northern Ontario, faces an additional challenge: he has an arrow sticking out of his head.
“It’s been really tough to see,” said Lee-Anne Carver, a wildlife photographer in the city of Kenora, who named the young animal. “I’ve been photographing animals for years and there’s something special about Carrot. He’s unlike any deer I’ve ever met.”
Continue reading...Study shows animals with no long history of domestication show patterns of interaction with humans similar to that of dogs or horses
The classic TV show Skippy, about a child speaking with a highly intelligent kangaroo, might not be as fictional as we once thought, according to Australian and UK researchers.
A study from the University of Sydney and the University of Roehampton in London suggests that kangaroos are capable of intentionally communicating with humans, suggesting a higher level of cognitive function than previously thought.
Continue reading...‘Ecological Swat team’ discovers 20 unknown species in Bolivia including viper and butterfly
An “ecological Swat team” has discovered 20 previously unknown species in the misty cloud forests and cascading waterfalls that flank Bolivia’s Zongo valley.
Among the animals found were a minuscule 10mm-long frog, a pit viper, two metalmark butterflies and an adder’s-mouth orchid. The pristine forests are just 30 miles (48km) from the capital, La Paz, but the expedition also rediscovered the devil-eyed frog, seen just once before, and a satyr butterfly not seen for nearly a century. Alongside these were threatened species including the spectacled bear and the channel-billed toucan.
Continue reading...At 94, what has the world’s most-travelled naturalist learned? He talks garden birds in lockdown, the eerie silence of Chernobyl – and tackling the climate crisis
Before the stay-at-home orders of 2020 kept him in one place for months on end, David Attenborough had never sat in his garden and listened to the birds. Not properly, he says, not determinedly “swotting up with a notebook and keeping a bird list”. The foremost figure in natural-world broadcasting (so admired by naturalists around the planet, he has three types of plant as well as a spider, snail, grasshopper, frog, lizard, marsupial lion and shark-like fish named after him) hardly paid attention to the wildlife on his doorstep until lockdown forced his hand. From spring through to autumn, he says, he sat outside with a pencil and made a determined effort to identify every species he could hear. Blackbirds. Thrushes. Jays. Blue tits and great tits. Swifts.
“Actually, I couldn’t really hear the swifts,” the 94-year-old admits. Something to do with their pitch, and his failing ears. “My hearing,” Attenborough growls, using the breathy, mournful voice that often accompanies footage of an ageing alpha getting supplanted by a younger fitter animal, “is not what it was.”
Continue reading...With unique access to remote communities in the snow-capped landscape of Norway, this film follows characters on either side of a fierce debate on whether to cull the wolf population. For decades the topic has split political parties, families and communities across the country, with environmentalists world-wide criticising Norway for how it handles its tiny population of critically endangered wolves. Here, a group of hunters await news from the government on whether their yearly hunt will be permitted, while the environmentalists anticipate the worst. With angry threats on both sides, the film takes a deep dive into what’s at stake for both groups, as well as the wider world
Continue reading...Analysis shows invertebrates are overlooked in favour of mammals and birds despite vital role in healthy ecosystems
Money made available for wildlife conservation by the EU is based on a popularity contest, with vertebrates getting nearly 500 times more funding for each species than invertebrates, according to a new report.
Brown bears, wolves, bitterns and Eurasian lynxes are the Hollywood stars of European conservation and receive almost the same amount as all invertebrates put together, according to analysis of funding under the EU’s Habitats Directive. This leaves little for less charismatic creatures such as spiders and crustaceans, many of which are crucial to ecosystem health and at greater risk of extinction, the study found.
Continue reading...Greenpeace report warns against granting licences to ‘deeply destructive’ industry with opaque oversight, and calls for global ocean treaty
Private mining firms and arms companies are exerting a hidden and unhealthy influence on the fate of the deep-sea bed, according to a new report highlighting the threats facing the world’s biggest intact ecosystem.
An investigation by Greenpeace found a handful of corporations in Europe and North America are increasingly dominating exploration contracts, and have at times taken the place of government representatives at meetings of the oversight body, the UN’s International Seabed Authority (ISA).
Continue reading...Man, 29, says shark bite at Kangaroo Island’s D’Estrees Bay was ‘like being hit by a truck’
Paramedics have hailed the “remarkable” survival story of a South Australian surfer who swam back to shore alone and walked 300 metres for help after suffering “extraordinary” injuries from a shark bite at a remote beach.
Paramedic Michael Rushby said the man had “serious” lacerations on his back, backside and leg “consistent with quite a large shark bite”, but managed to haul himself to safety.
Continue reading...Residents warned to be watchful after sheriff’s office says 28-year-old died from wild animal attack, possibly a mountain lion
A 28-year-old man found dead in a wooded area in rural Texas was killed by a wild animal, possibly a mountain lion, according to local county officials.
The Hood county sheriff’s office said on Saturday that deputies found Christopher Allen Whiteley’s body on Thursday, a day after he went missing near Lipan, located 50 miles (80km) south-west of Fort Worth.
Continue reading...When the McCormicks came home on Wednesday, the Christmas tree in their Adelaide house had acquired a new ornament
The McCormicks went for a silver, pink and blue theme on their Christmas tree. The old plastic leaves were worn but looked beautiful with baubles on each branch and twinkling lights.
But this year the family tree included one very unexpected ornament: a wild – and somewhat confused – juvenile koala.
Continue reading...Increase in conflict between species and drought prompt sale of animals that are at risk of extinction due to poaching
Namibia has put 170 “high value” wild elephants up for sale due to drought and an increase in elephant numbers, the southern African country’s environmental ministry has said
An advertisement carried by the state-owned daily New Era said an increase in incidents of human-elephant conflict motivated the sale of the large mammal that is at risk of extinction due to poaching and ecological factors.
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