Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2016 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

Ten years ago the Planet Earth series opened our eyes to all manner of thrilling wildlife, some of it rarely, if ever, seen before. The sequence that stuck with the BBC Wildlife team over the years was the first sight of our cover star, the elusive snow leopard. So when we heard that the ‘Mountains’ episode of the new Planet Earth II series had revisited the snow leopards’ territory and that the camera team was revealing even more awe-inspiring footage of these beautiful big cats, we knew we had to base an article on their story. As you can read on p28, this time filming was a little more comfortable for the people whose patience and dedication brings such wonderful images to our screens. But the new filmmaking technology didn’t…

WHERE The Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall AREA RANGER Rachel Holder WHY YOU SHOULD VISIT November is a wonderful time to visit the Lizard National Nature Reserve, which covers 2600ha of heathland and coastal cliffs. Grey seals abound as females nurture their newborn pups. WHAT YOU CAN SEE One of the Lizard’s most vital habitats, Mediterranean temporary ponds, only hold water in winter, and are home to rare water beetles. Many botanical species make the most of the wet winter months, including land quillwort, which cannot be found anywhere else on UK mainland. TOP WILDLIFE SPOT Predannack Downs is an excellent spot to look out for short-eared owls, which spend the winter on the heathlands. JOIN ITS EVENT Help the rangers clear scrub from outcrops that support rare plants on Thursday 24…

The relationship between humpback whales and orcas is tense to say the least, which is unsurprising given the orcas’ taste for humpback calves. The humpbacks vigorously defend their calves from attacks, but they also extend that protection to other species of sea mammals. A new review of 115 historical observations of interactions between the two species reveals that it’s not uncommon for humpbacks to attack hunting orcas in much the same way that songbirds mob raptors. It makes perfect sense for humpbacks to drive off predators that threaten their offspring. But in only 11 per cent of observations was it a humpback calf that was being hunted. The rest of the time, the target was a seal, sealion, another whale or dolphins, or even, on one occasion, a sunfish. In…

EPISODE Mountains PRODUCER Justin Anderson HOW WE FILMED: SNOW LEOPARDS Snow leopards were an icon of the first Planet Earth series, so I knew that if we were to shoot these cats again we’d have to tell a fresh story. We decided to film from the animals’ perspective, at their eye level – incredibly difficult in such a vast open landscape. Cameramen Duncan Parker and Nick Guy built a whole ne w range of rugged, weatherproof camera-traps that could be left out for months at a time . We deployed up to 25; many were in position for over a year. I’ll never forget the excitement of receiving a memory card posted from India – and s crolling through to find a snow leopard scenting a rock or calling out…

YOU TALKIN’ TO ME? A Russian scientist studying bottlenose dolphins in a Crimean aquarium has evidence that they speak in sentences. Vyacheslav Ryabov found two dolphins emitted ‘pulse packs’ – with each pulse possibly representing a word – and that they seemed to be listening to each other. Steve Double, the Conservative MP for St Austell and Newquay, makes a contribution to a recent debate on badger culling. Badgers (as the MP now knows) are mustelids not rodents. CARIBBEAN VISITOR The first record of a red-footed booby in the UK was made when a bird was found on the beach at Hastings in September. It probably arrived from the Caribbean; the species is distributed around the tropics and has turned up in France, Spain and the Canary Islands. “AS WE…

“ANIMALS BRED IN CAPTIVITY WERE REINTRODUCED FROM THE EARLY 1980S ONWARDS.” The Arabian oryx is one of four species of oryx, and this one – as its name implies – is native to the Arabian Peninsula, and the smallest of the four. In the early 1970s, poaching for meat and sport precipitated its extinction in the wild. Luckily, there were still some individuals in zoos and private collections in Gulf countries and the USA, and what followed was one of the greatest conservation success stories of the last century. The remaining nine oryx were brought together in what became known as the ‘World Herd’, and a captive-breeding programme slowly increased numbers. Reintroductions of captive-bred animals took place from the early 1980s onwards. Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates…

Conservationists say there are 20,000 lions left in the wild but there is space for four times as many individuals if 1.2 million km2 of the best available habitat were brought up to its full carrying capacity. 38% The percentage of the land area that is protected in Zambia, a significant lion range-state. It compares with 25 per cent in the whole of the EU, 14 per cent in the USA and 5 per cent in India. 695,983 The number of mentions of Cecil the lion in 125 di erent languages on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube over a three-month period after his death. There were also 12,000 stories on Cecil in traditional media on one single day. 13 The number of surviving sons and daughters Cecil the lion had…

“I am not a housewife, I am a trained zoologist.” MARGERET MORSE NICE Ornithology has a long and glorious past, but to judge from the history books you might think that only men studied birds. This, of course, is far from the full story – there are many female ornithologists who deserve to be much better known. One early pioneer was Eleanor of Arborea (1340–1404), after whom Eleanora’s falcon is named. She was a much-respected Sardinian judge and in 1392 legislated protection for hawks and falcons in the Carta de Logu, one of the earliest-known bird-protection laws. Ornithology didn’t become a scientific discipline until much later. Nineteenth-century ornithology focused on evolutionary relationships using stuffed birds and skins, and was considered a ‘man’s world’. Some barriers were removed in the early…

What brought you to the Arctic? I’d been in academia for 10 years when I realised all I was doing was writing the obituary of the ocean. So I launched Pristine Seas , a project to protect unspoilt marine areas. The biggest threat to the ocean is loss of sea ice – this is what we were researching when Leo’s crew visited us. How well will Leonardo get the message across? We scientists have all the data, but we aren’t always great at communicating it. Leo is very popular and can reach millions of people. He is giving scientists a ‘megaphone’ to explain what is happening. How much has the planet warmed? The effects of global warming are varied. Some areas have warmed quickly, others have become drier or more…

SAFARI BROTHERS TV Nat Geo Wild Starts 1 November, 8pm If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to work for an African safari company, here’s a glimpse behind the scenes. Brothers Brent and Grant Reed work as wildlife guides in Botswana’s Okavango Delta, and this enjoyable six-part series reveals the graft and adventures that are part and parcel of showcasing the wildlife delights of their country to high-paying, high-expecting guests. Be ready for 4x4s being hauled out of rivers, venomous snakes creeping into camps, lovely encounters with elephants and too-close-for comfort encounters with hippos.…

1 BLACK HOWLER MONKEYS Iguazu Falls Iguazu Falls is perhaps Argentina’s most iconic landmark. Black howler monkeys can be found in the surrounding forests. 2 CABYBARAS Iberá wetlands The capybara is the world’s largest rodent, and the Esteros del Iberá are Argentina’s most extensive wetlands, equivalent in importance to Brazil’s better-known Pantanal. 3 ORCAS Peninsula Valdes There are some 30 resident orcas off Punta Norte, where these predators were first filmed beaching themselves to take sealion pups. This behaviour can still be seen during a brief window in March and April. 4 MAGELLANIC PENGUINS Cabo Virgenes The south-eastern tip of continental Argentina, Cabo Virgenes has some 130,000 breeding pairs of Magellanic penguins (as of the 2013 census), roughly 10 per cent of the global population. Listen out for the males'…

THE PHOTOGRAPHER MARK HAMBLIN Mark has been working as a freelance photographer since 1995, and is also an author, tour-leader and director of the Wild Media Foundation. He lives in the Cairngorms National Park in Scotland. “In winter, red deer in the Cairngorms National Park, Scotland, leave the windswept moor to seek shelter in the woodlands. One of the best places to see them is on the Alvie Estate, close to Aviemore, where I took this photo. I wanted a dramatic image, so I went out in extreme wintry conditions. The journey to the best spot in the forest involved a stomach-churning drive through deep snow on a 10 per cent gradient, avoiding the sheer gorge that fell away to one side. On my last visit, gales had blown three…

MARY BLANCHARD Mary has been fascinated by leaping lemurs for almost two decades. She says, “The unmistakable, haunting call of the indri lingers with you, even when the forest is far away” See p20 JULIA NEWTH Julia works for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust. “The Bewick’s swan migrates through 11 countries on its journey from the Russian Arctic to Europe, linking communities along the way” Julia says. See p40 JO WIMPENNY Jo writes about birds and behaviour. “Ornithology’s history is male-dominated. But women are equally committed to bird study and have significantly advanced our knowledge” she says. See p68…

EELGRASS I’m standing in the shallow, sunlit water of a sheltered bay on the British coast. Long, green, ribbon-shaped leaves are swirling around my ankles. Seaweed? No, this is something else, something extra-special; it’s eelgrass. Eelgrasses, in the genus Zostera, are flowering plants that spend their entire lives submerged in seawater. Other coastal plants, such as sea lavender and sea rocket, flaunt their flowers on the saltmarsh and strandline; Zoestra, however, has taken the plunge. Returning to the sea But an evolutionary transition into a marine environment presents a number of challenges to a terrestrial flowering plant, the biggest of which is reproduction. To understand why, we need to go back over 500 million years, when plant life first emerged from the sea. The earliest land plants were algae and,…

The release of the movie The Shallows is unlikely to restore the reputation of great white sharks, which has barely recovered since Jaws. But even nature documentaries can generate unnecessarily negative emotions in viewers depending on the background music used. Researchers have been playing footage of sharks accompanied by various soundtracks. After seeing the clips, viewers reported a more negative attitude to the predators if the music had been ominous compared to when a more uplifting score was used – or no music was played at all. The researchers argue that using the wrong sort of music could hamper shark conservation efforts. “Given that nature documentaries are often regarded as objective sources of information, it’s critical that filmmakers and viewers are aware of how the soundtrack can affect the interpretation…

BATESIAN MIMICRY Predators soon learn that they’re likely to be stung, bitten or poisoned by yellow-and-black-striped prey, and will avoid species with similar markings in the future. Wasps, bees, cinnabar caterpillars and other distasteful species gain mutual protection by relying on a similar warning pattern. Such Müllerian mimicry can be contrasted with the Batesian variety, in which harmless species such as hoverflies copy the markings of dangerous ones to gain protection by association, without going to the bother of producing costly defences.…

• Indris can be observed all year, but avoid the damp, cold winter. They are easy to see around Andasibe village, four hours’ drive from the hectic capital Antananarivo. Hotels here suit every budget, including Vakona Forest Lodge and the Feon’ny Ala, where you’re likely to hear indris calling from nearby trees. • From Andasibe, walk around Analamazoatra Special Reserve, which has five habituated groups; sightings guaranteed. Or drive to the wilder primary rainforest at Mantadia or Mitsinjo Reserve: each have two habituated (though sometimes harder-to-locate) groups. • UK tour operators that specialise in Madagascan wildlife include GreenTours (01298 83563, www.greentours.co.uk), Naturetrek (01962 733051, www.naturetrek.co.uk), Origins Safaris (www.originsafaris.com), Rainbow Tours (020 7666 1250, www.rainbowtours.co.uk), Reef & Rainforest (01803 866965, reefandrainforest.co.uk), Tracks Safaris (01386 830264, www.trackssafaris.co.uk) and Wildlife Worldwide (01962 302086,…

“YOU NEED TO MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU HAVE VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH GETTING THOSE FANTASTIC SHOTS.” Snow leopards star in both Planet Earth series – are they the ultimate challenge for a wildlife film-maker? In Life on Earth [broadcast in 1979] there was a shot of a snow leopard filmed in a zoo – that was all you could get then. But for Planet Earth [2006], cameraman Mark Smith captured a complete snow leopard hunt, after two years of trying. How did he have the patience? I’d have given up after three days! Do you watch your programmes? Not really. By the time they go out, if you’ve not already watched them 50 times then you’ve not done your job properly! But I do watch other people’s programmes.…

“CITES HAS MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE. SINCE ITS RATIFICATION ONLY ONE SPECIES IS KNOWN TO HAVE BECOME EXTINCT AS A RESULT OF TRADE.” WHAT IS CITES? CITES – the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora – is an agreement between governments designed to ensure that international trade in wild animals and plants does not threaten their survival. It entered into force on 1 July 1975 and now has near-universal support: 183 countries (known as ‘Parties’) are signed up. The CITES Secretariat is administered by the UN, in Geneva, Switzerland. Funding comes from Parties and external sources such as the European Union. WHY IS IT NEEDED? Illegal international trade in wildlife is big business worth tens of billions of dollars every year and is run…

How many species of British freshwater fish can you name? You’ll know the famous ones – trout, perch, carp and so on – but what about the rarer ones? Could you pick out a vendace, powan or twaite shad? Even keen naturalists might not realise that we have an incredible 55 species of freshwater fish in the UK. Partly, that’s a matter of the elements. Fish live in the water; people don’t. We will see a grebe pootling about in a misty lake but we don’t see the fish below. We will search the skies for a hobby while ignoring the slinking of an eel. We marvel over the rainbow carapace of a tansy beetle without noticing the glittery iridescence of a stickleback nearby. We may be a nation of…

“THEIR SURVIVAL IS SYMBOLIC IN THE RACE TO PRESERVE WILDLIFE.” Why did you get involved with Remembering Elephants? Elephants – and indeed all animals – have a right to live their lives, and their survival is especially symbolic in the race to preserve wildlife. I’ve enjoyed photographing them for many years and the longer you do so, the more you become aware of their nature, their sentience and their vulnerability to mankind. It’s been a privilege to learn more about elephants over the years and then to be invited to participate in Remembering Elephants. I donated my work for the book, as did the other photographers, in order to celebrate these amazing animals and raise awareness of their plight, as well as raise funds to fight poaching. Why do elephants…

OUR EXPERTS SARAH MCPHERSON edits the monthly Q&A pages. Send her your questions. STUART BLACKMAN is a science writer who is mildly obsessed with evolution. KARIM VAHED is professor of entomology at the University of Derby and is particularly fond of crickets. CRAIG SHUTTLEWORTH has been studying red squirrels for 20 years. MIKE TOMS is associate director at the British Trust for Ornithology. Q MAMMALS Are pandas and red pandas closely related? A No. Both pandas have a jumbled taxonomic history, and their rightful branches in the tree of life have been hotly debated for many years. The red panda, when it was discovered by western science in 1825, was noted for its resemblance to a raccoon, but also for characteristics that were shared by bears and cats. So did…

What does the project do? We encourage people to understand, conserve and restore the landscapes and habitats of the royal hunting forest of Wychwood, Oxfordshire. How do you work directly with wildlife? We work to conserve barn owls, we support a Bird Aid project running 10 feeding stations on local farms and we help to monitor seven nationally rare wildflower species. What do your volunteers do? A range of practical tasks, such as hedgelaying, coppicing, pruning and drystone walling. They also collect seeds, remove invasive plants, maintain birdfeeders, conduct barn owl and wildflower surveys, lead walks, give talks and help at events. How much time do you request from volunteers? Practical work parties typically run from 9.30–3pm twice a month; other projects such as drystone walling are ongoing until the…

EMAIL US wildlifeletters@immediate.co.uk FIND US ON FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/wildlifemagazine FOLLOW US ON TWITTER www.twitter.com/WildlifeMag WRITE TO US BBC Wildlife, Tower House, Fairfax Street, Bristol BS1 3BN Quite a mouthful After reading Amy-Jane Beer’s feature on weasels (August), I thought you might like to see this photo I took of a stoat and its kill while walking between Overy Staithe and Holkham Gap in Norfolk. Also while cycling near King’s College in Cambridge recently I heard a strange bird call and looked up to find a peregrine falcon sitting on a building. I thought it was a gargoyle until it moved. Margaret Gilmore, Cambridge Limited protection I contributed in a very small way to the Vision for Nature Report (Agenda, September) and it’s great to see the views…

“THERE IS SOMETHING INESCAPABLY PRIMEVAL ABOUT THE CORMORANT’S APPEARANCE.” With most of its body still submerged, a cormorant reappears on a London park lake, beads of water spilling o its reptilian-looking head and neck. Its bill is empty this time, but after the briefest of pauses the bird dives again, and again, spending far more time chasing fish underwater than it does at the surface. This familiar yet often overlooked behaviour is enhanced by the dramatic ‘black-velvet’ background to Oscar Dewhurst’s stunning photograph, shortlisted in the portrait category of the inaugural Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) competition launched by Nature Photographers Ltd and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). Since the early 1980s cormorants have undergone a 53 per cent range expansion in Britain, driven by an increase in…

• Britain’s coasts have three Zosteraspecies: Z. marina (eelgrass); Z. angustifolia (narrow-leaved eelgrass); and Z. noltei (dwarf eelgrass). • Zostera is one of 11 seagrass genera. Tropical seagrass beds are vital food sources for green turtles, manatees and dugongs. • Mattresses stuffed with dried eelgrass were used in French barracks in WWI. • Eelgrass beds offer a refuge for long-snouted seahorses (left), which grip the grass with their tails. • One colony of Mediterranean eelgrass (genus Posidonia) o the Ibiza coast is said to be 100, 000 years old.…

WHAT Our life with birds WHEN 2pm on 12 November WHERE North West Bird Watching Festival, WWT Martin Mere Renowned bird specialist Lloyd Buck has, along with his wife Rose, dedicated his life to caring for birds. Over the course of his fascinating career he has become a world expert at filming them in flight and has worked with celebrated naturalist Sir David Attenborough. In this talk at North West Bird Watching Festival Lloyd will share the story of his incredible career. “By filming birds, we hope to inspire people from all walks of life and all ages to appreciate the natural world” he says. Collect a free ticket at the event to confirm your space at the talk. Normal WWT Martin Mere admission fees apply, adult £11.45, child £5.45.…

OLD SHARK Greenland sharks may be the longest-lived vertebrates on Earth. Radio-carbon dating of their eyes, published in Science, reveals that these giants, which can reach five metres in length, can live for at least 400 years, and they don’t even reach sexual maturity until they’re about 150. VEGAN CARNIVORE The cave bear, a bigger relative of the brown bear, that roamed Europe until about 25,000 years ago, was a strict vegan, according to a study published in the Journal of Quaternary Science. The species’ inflexible diet might have led to its extinction, while its omnivore relatives persisted. SHELL SHOCK The box-like skeletons of turtles and tortoises may have evolved originally for burrowing, not protection. Current Biology reports that the plank-like ribs of a 260-million-year-old ancestral turtle provided a rigid…

Indris are the largest living lemurs (one species that died out 2,000–500 years ago had similar proportions to today’s adult female gorillas), so size alone protects them. But that doesn’t stop predators from trying their luck with indris. Fossas (pronounced foo-sahs), the largest mammalian predators in Madagascar, are known to target indris. Joyce Ann Powzyk, who observed indris in the same forest as I did some years before me, watched two fossas unsuccessfully try to hunt her study group. As for aerial predators, Anja Deppe, a researcher who studies predation on lemurs, confirms that birds of prey can also be a danger to baby indris. Indeed, I once watched a Madagascar buzzard fly low over the head of the infant in my indri family. Fortunately, the mother leapt to its…

One conservationist has chosen a very unusual way to champion Bewick’s swans. Sacha Dench, whose day job is being part of the WWT’s media team, is immersing herself in the lives of the swans by following them during their migration. She aims to fly at roughly the same speed and height as the birds in order to better understand the challenges they face. Christened the “human swan” by the media, Sacha is using a paramotor. She dangles from a fabric wing and is powered by a propeller strapped to her back. It gives her the ability to take off and land without a runway – crucial for crossing 1,000km of remote and mostly people-free tundra north of Arkhangelsk. Sacha set off on 19 September and, during her flight south and…

Asiatic black bears are legally farmed in China in order to supply the Traditional Chinese Medicine market with bear bile. This a ects wild populations because animals are taken from the wild to stock the farms. Every animal at the China Bear Rescue Centre, near Chengdu, has experienced unimaginable trauma from years spent confined in a small cage at a bile farm. The method of extracting bile from the bears is horribly cruel. A hole is cut in the abdominal wall to reach the gallbladder and bile is drained o daily by inserting a rod into the gallbladder. The animal’s wound remains permanently open. By the time surviving bears are rescued, they are usually in shocking condition and have diseases, traumatic injuries and display abnormal behaviour patterns. The centre has…

The wildlife essay is an excellent addition to your magazine. I found September’s essay on de-extinction particularly interesting and thought-provoking. Generally I’m in favour of using the latest scientific techniques to try and stem or reverse the decline in biodiversity, so the concept of de-extinction is certainly exciting. To those questioning whether it’s wise to use such synthetic processes, or to ‘play God’, I would argue that fire should be fought with fire. The human race’s ability to damage Earth’s climate and landscape requires a drastic response if we wish to avoid disaster for both the planet and ourselves. That said, the potentially detrimental effects of de-extinction need to be carefully considered if harmful, unintended consequences are to be avoided. Reintroductions of species are rarely simple, and if that species…

MONKEYS MAY SEEK SHELTER FROM THE RAIN BUT TO CIARA’S SURPRISE, IT BRINGS WORMS OUT TO PLAY. THIS ONE WAS ANOTHER TYPE OF BEAST ENTIRELY. IT WAS DEEP BLUE, AS THICK AS MY WRIST AND ALMOST TWO METRES LONG. WHO? CIARA STAFFORD is studying the primates of Sumaco Napo-Galeras National Park for her PhD at Manchester University WHAT? GIANT EARTHWORMS WHERE? ECUADOR It was our third day on the slopes of the volcano and, once again, the rain was lashing down on our cabin. We were there to study monkeys in Sumaco Napo-Galeras National Park but, being sensible creatures, they tend to shelter during torrential downpours. Staying put makes them almost impossible to find – bad news for anyone trying to collect data on them. We were due to…