The large blue butterfly (Phengaris arion), the largest and rarest of the UK’s blue butterflies, has a remarkable lifecycle. It relies entirely on a single species of red ant (Myrmica sabuleti) to survive. In the third episode of the BBC TV series Wild Isles, Grasslands, David Attenborough narrates a chilling chain of events. “This caterpillar is one of the very few in the […]
Tag: carnivores
Electric fences help farmers and elephants coexist in Zambian borderlands
LUNDAZI, Zambia — “It’s not possible [to coexist with elephants], because they are animals and we are human beings — they should have their own home,” says Esnart Banda, a Zambian farmer whose maize and tobacco fields lie 5 meters, just 16 feet, from the boundary of Malawi’s Kasungu National Park. Just two thin strands […]
“Females can afford to be choosier in their social relationships because of their higher ranking…”
One of the four species highlighted in David Attenborough‘s Dynasties II series, female spotted hyenas are one of nature’s most interesting matriarchal societies. Back in 2018, scientists from Michigan State University studied a group in the Masai Mara, Kenya and found that spotted hyenas practise a group dynamic that’s as complicated as many primate species. The sex and rank of […]
Defying drought and invasives, a feisty Australian marsupial makes a comeback
The ampurta, a blond or brown guinea pig-sized marsupial, is distinctive for its short, fat tail that becomes a black mohawk at the tip. This micro-predator, also known as the crest-tailed mulgara, was once abundant in the arid, sandy landscapes of Central Australia as well as Western Australia. But by 1994, it had been listed […]
Asian wild dog spotted in Vietnam for the first time in 20 years
Recent research has confirmed the first sighting of a dhole in more than two decades, a reddish-brown wild dog native to Asia. Before the sighting, the predator was believed to be extinct in Vietnam. The dhole (Cuon alpinus), historically one of the most widespread large carnivores in Asia, was seen on camera-trap footage. The single adult […]
From endangered to invasive: Rare ocelot spotted on Mexico’s Cozumel Island
In 2016, when biologists in Mexico reviewed their photo traps from Cozumel, a Mexican island in the Caribbean, they were surprised to see an ocelot, a wildcat considered endangered in the country. But curiosity soon turned to alarm: ocelots are effective predators of endemic species on the island, which have no experience or natural defense […]
Huge carnivores are roaming the streets of this Ethiopian city. What they’re doing could be saving people $100,000 USD per year
Climate change has an unlikely new ally. In Ethiopia, urban scavengers, such as hyenas and hooded vultures, are preventing over a thousand tonnes of carbon emissions every year, just by eating rotten meat. The findings are reported in Ecological Solutions and Evidence. Scavenging animals are a common feature of large Ethiopian cities, where they live in the […]
Predators in peril: Protected areas cover just a fraction of global carnivore ranges
Slinking beneath the greenery of the Amazon is a cat whose territory far exceeds its stature. Despite weighing less than the average housecat, scientists say the northern tiger cat (Leopardus tigrinus) stalks a territory of up to 50 square kilometers (around 20 square miles). And this small, spotted feline is not alone — carnivores around […]