Every winter, Australia’s “humpback highway” hums to life. Thousands of humpback whales migrate from Antarctic feeding grounds to tropical breeding areas along Australia’s east and west coasts. Dr Vanessa Pirotta, a Sydney-based whale scientist, says that peak “blubber to blubber” traffic on the highway occurs between mid-June and early July. That is when crowds will […]
Author: Supertrooper
You Won’t Believe How Amazing Elephants Are at Playing Soccer! [VIDEO]
Most of us have seen performing elephants forced to unnaturally balance on a ball, but it’s much more fun watching them play a ball game freely with their friends. In this video, elephants at the Elephant Nature Park play with supporter Dani Globetrotter’s gift of a red rubber ball. Watch as they kick the ball […]
Lovelorn Tortoise Found a Year After it Escaped in Search of a Mate at 0.00012mph
Ginger was a lonely female tortoise who escaped from her home one year ago to try and find love. Single for the first time in years, Ginger dug under the garden fence and made a slow getaway across countryside fields following the death of her longtime companion, Fred. Her dancing days might have been behind […]
Australia’s critically endangered alpine tree frogs use sex to fight killer fungus
The number of critically endangered alpine tree frogs, found only in the Australian alps, has crashed by about 80% since the 1980s. Populations have been hit by chytrid fungus, a disease that has devastated amphibian populations globally. But a new study has found a surprising silver lining that – for now – is helping the […]
Birds Have Best Friends Too, Study Shows
In a discovery that challenges long-standing ideas about animal behavior, a new study has revealed that African superb starlings form long-term social bonds strikingly similar to human friendships. According to a recent article by Jay Kakade for New Atlas, this 20-year study is one of the first to provide strong evidence of non-family cooperative relationships […]
Birds vs. Wind Turbines: New Research Aims to Prevent Deaths
Wind energy is an important tool for reducing carbon emissions. Hundreds of thousands of wind turbines now operate globally, and despite recent challenges in some countries, analysts predict that wind power capacity could grow tenfold by 2050. But wind turbines can have significant environmental impacts, particularly on birds. In 2021, the American Bird Conservancy estimated […]
Dehorning rhinos reduces poaching by 80%, study finds
Cutting the horns off rhinos causes a large reduction in poaching, according to a new study, which raises questions about the effectiveness of expensive anti-poaching techniques used to protect the African mammals. Poaching for horn is a significant threat to the world’s five rhino species. The substance, which is similar to human fingernails, is commonly […]
Man jailed after exotic animal trafficking gang exposed
Noticing a strange smell, officials opened a package from overseas to discover snakes, iguanas, turtles and tarantulas – many of them dead. Two years later, a sweeping investigation into an illegal wildlife trafficking ring has led to a Queensland man being sentenced to jail. Jesse Sayeg pleaded guilty to three offences related to smuggling exotic […]