Scientists have shed light on the vast distances traveled by vultures—with several birds regularly commuting over 1,200 km in week-long excursions. These epic journeys were observed by scientists using specialized GPS tags to track the movements of African white-backed vultures in Tanzania. One bird was tracked visiting eight countries as part of a “grand tour” […]
Tag: pesticides
How birds of prey are exposing a toxic time bomb
Rui Lourenço first started collecting eagle-owl feathers because they were beautiful. Below the birds’ cliff-side nests in rural Portugal, he would find their shed feathers and bring them back to his ecology lab at the University of Évora. “It was just the typical curiosity of a naturalist,” he says. “Especially the flight feathers, they’re large, […]
Farmers in England to be allowed to use ‘lethal force’ on beavers
Farmers in England will be allowed to shoot beavers if they threaten their crops, the government has revealed. Conservationists have opposed the move, saying the animals are an “ally to farmers”, helping conserve water in times of drought, and are an endangered species that should be treasured. The rodents became extinct in the UK 400 […]
Warming Waters Challenge Atlantic Salmon, Both Wild and Farmed
Whether roaming wild or enclosed in floating feedlots on the ocean, Atlantic salmon are cold-water fishes. But as the climate crisis warms the world’s oceans and waterways, cold water is becoming harder to find, which means these long-endangered fish are facing perhaps their biggest challenge yet. Atlantic salmon are anadromous, moving between freshwater and saltwater […]
Tiny new tree frog species found in rewilded Costa Rican nature reserve
Nestled in a valley between two volcanoes, Donald Varela-Soto heard something unfamiliar. For six months, he searched for the source of a shrill frog call along the edge of a wetland in Tapir Valley Nature Reserve, a former cattle ranch in northern Costa Rica. “I kept hearing this different sound in the wetland but was […]
Get to Know the Good and Bad Garden Reptiles (and How to Humanely Handle Them)
For some sad reason, many people shiver at the thought of reptiles. Some have fear of snakes, tagging all of them as dangerous. Others’ minds go to prehistoric assassins like crocodiles and alligators. My mom is screaming, stand-on-something afraid of lizards, regardless of how small they are. Then, there are gardeners, and reptiles are more […]
Ants can be better than pesticides for growing healthy crops, study finds
Ants can be more effective than pesticides at helping farmers produce food, according to new research. They are better at killing pests, reducing plant damage and increasing crop yields, according to the first systematic review of ants’ contributions to crop production. Ants are generalist predators and hunt pests that damage fruits, seeds and leaves, leading […]
Earth: Muted review – bees go missing in China despatch from the eco-apocalypse file
This Swedish-produced documentary about China’s Hanyuan valley is nominally another dispatch from the eco-apocalypse file, so the final harmonious impression it leaves behind suggests it hasn’t done its job properly. Located in Sichuan province, the valley is a place where bees are on the verge of extinction, the consequences of which we see in the […]