Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2019 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

For many of us, a love of nature began as children, when we became smitten by kittens such as those indisputable leaders of the gang on our cover this issue (p52). But a passion for the natural world isn’t all about watching animals, and this month we’ve turned our attention to a number of the more pressing issues. In Colombia, shade-grown-coffee producers are tackling the impact of farming on precious habitats (p66); closer to home, Bristol Zoological Society is exploring new ways to care for animals in captivity (p40); the ivory trade rears its ugly head again, with hippos increasingly becoming the victims (p32); while the mental health benefits of a love of nature are the focus of this month’s Talking Point (p48). Please do write in to let us…

1 Kimmeridge Bay, in Dorset, has an interactive marine centre, where you can learn about the wildlife along the Jurassic Coast before venturing down to sample the strandline. Don’t miss the fossil collection at the museum, too. 2 Herne Bay, in Kent, has a shingle beach that has been awarded European Blue Flag status for its safety and cleanliness. At low tide, look out for the fossilised shark teeth washed ashore, as well as ancient bones and twigs. 3 Redcar, in North Yorkshire, has a flat shingle beach adjacent to the town, with a cafe nearby. It is easy to access, so a great place for young people to begin their first shell collection. Look out for the many bivalves that wash up here. 4 Cardigan Bay, in Wales, contains…

There is nothing like a big spider to get a pulse racing. And while I appreciate this is often for the wrong reason, for me and many other arachnophiles, this group of creatures provides infinite avenues of fascination. The purse-web spider is one of my absolute favourites. While it may not be Britain’s biggest spider, it is certainly one of its more interesting. Found mainly in the south of the country, this nationally scarce spider, Atypus affinis, is a real oddball. It often surprises folk to learn that we share our islands with a member of the mygalomorphs; a group that also includes the spiders we like to refer to as tarantulas, as well as other much maligned and misunderstood species, such as mouse, funnel-web and trapdoor spiders. Purse-web spiders…

All but one of the 16 rhino ray species is Critically Endangered. Human activity is continuing to drive many species towards extinction, according to the latest update to the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Seven primate species, the rhino ray family, a deep-sea mollusc and more than 5,000 trees are among those considered most at risk. The survey includes assessments for 105,732 species and reveals that 28,338 are threatened with extinction. Six of the seven Red Listed primates occur in West Africa, where they face hunting for bush meat and development-related deforestation. The roloway monkey is one of the worst affected, with fewer than 2,000 surviving individuals. “Maintaining the amazing primate diversity of this region will require the creation of new protected areas, better management of existing ones, more…

“If there is one country where you could get data on how things are changing, it’s the UK.” Britain’s amateur naturalists can now contribute to scientific research via social media. For Pettorelli, grassroots experts are providing the first line of evidence on how species are shifting their ranges in response to climate change. During these times of constitutional crisis, it’s rather nice to hear something positive being said about one’s country. “Britain is the best place to do citizen science,” says conservation biologist, Nathalie Pettorelli. “There’s nowhere else like it. The British love their nature.” Seventeen years after leaving her native France and 13 years after moving to the UK (“I’m probably more British than French now”), Pettorelli is harnessing the grassroots expertise of Britain’s amateur naturalists – weekend birders,…

COMMON HIPPOPOTAMUS Said to be harder than elephant ivory and easier to carve into trinkets, it is the hippo’s two big lower and upper canines that are mainly used. The vast majority is exported to or through Hong Kong. NARWHAL They are primarily hunted by indigenous Arctic people for their meat (under tight restrictions), but the tusks provide an additional source of income. Imports into the UK are already banned. WALRUS Ostensibly hunted for their meat; the ivory – derived from the two protruding upper canines – is a byproduct. The curious marbled appearance of the inner dentine layer makes walrus ivory distinct. WOOLLY MAMMOTH The elephant ivory trade ban has led to a boom of mammoth ivory sales, which is mainly dug up in northern Siberia. Some say it…

The 140 acre estate on which the Wild Place Project stands was bought by Bristol Zoo in 1966 from the family of the aviation pioneer George White, who founded the Bristol Aeroplane Company. When George died, he wanted Bristol Zoological Society to build a zoo on the land rather than sell it for development. Animals have been held here ever since, including okapi, a species native to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These endangered ‘forest giraffes’ have been bred here since the 1970s, which has had a huge impact on the captive European population. The site was also used during the foot-and-mouth outbreak in 2001, when animals that were deemed vulnerable to catching the disease at Bristol Zoo were moved here. It continued to be a holding or safe…

It’s not just migratory birds that may be on the way out – coffee itself is in trouble, say botanists at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Of 124 species of wild coffee plants, 60 per cent are now threatened with global extinction. These include one of the two cultivated species, Coffea arabica ( below ) – with disease, pests and climate change all taking their toll. Research published in January found conservation measures to be inadequate for wild coffees. “The worst-case scenario is that wild arabica could be extinct by 2080,” says Kew’s Justin Moat.…

Tell us about Turning the Boat for Home I wanted to put together a collection of pieces from the last 20 years that summed up a life’s work. The pieces I chose were ones that had an autobiographical aspect to them – to simultaneously map out the field in which I have worked and to reveal a bit about the situations in which various events and books happened, so they had a context. Some of those were political – I write about how I discovered Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring just after the Cuban Missile Crisis. When I read it, it was the dawning of understanding that ecological crises were political as well – people caused them, they weren’t just accidents of fate. As a genre, should nature writing do more…

iRecord Sign up to the site to share your wildlife sightings with the recording community and find out more about nature in your area. brc.ac.uk/irecord The Church of England Discover how you can encourage wildlife in your churchyard and draw up an action plan. bit.ly/biochurch Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland For budding botanists, there are a range of opportunites to help you learn how to record and identify plant life. bsbi.org…

NATHALIE PETTORELLI Conservation biologist Nathalie looks at the role of social media in keeping an eye on the expanding ranges of various species in Britain. “The UK is such an incredible nation for citizen science,” she says. See p28 JOE HARKNESS Author of Bird Therapy, Joe explores the benefits of birdwatching for our mental health. “Birds are consistent in a way that people rarely are, and we can all learn from their freedom and simplicity,” he says. See p48 KARINE AIGNER Wildlife photographer Karine followed a family of bobcats for several months on a Texas ranch. “I became a fixture to them,” she says. “This was an extremely weird and unique opportunity.” See p52 DEBORAH MEADEN Dragon’s Den businesswoman Deborah talks about her affection for adders. “As a child, I…

The purse-web isn’t the only oddball spider with a big bite. Another spider, slightly easier to find – with a bit of nocturnal exploration – is the woodlouse spider. It hides away by day in a silken cell, but at night it is on the prowl for woodlice. They have very long and highly mobile chelicerae, which are used as armour-piercing callipers. These can almost be rotated, in order to get under a woodlouse’s domed, protective carapace.…

Cambodia has become the latest country to ban the use of diclofenac, the drug that has caused the near extinction of vultures in Asia. Diclofenac is used as a veterinary painkiller for livestock, but is highly toxic and completely fatal to vultures that feed on carcasses treated with it. Though the drug is only known to have been on sale in Cambodia since 2018, the country’s vultures have suffered a 50 per cent decline in recent decades. However, this is mainly due to deliberate poisoning and habitat loss. As a result of concerted campaigning by BirdLife and other conservation groups, India, Pakistan and Nepal banned the sale of diclofenac in 2006, Bangladesh in 2010 and Iran in 2015. But Italy and Spain – where four species of vulture regularly occur…

Preserving prints Jurassic sites on Skye have been granted a Nature Conservation Order with the aim of protecting the dinosaur bones and footprints for future generations. Fossil evidence can be found housed at Staffin Dinosaur Museum. Porpoise in trouble Numbers of the vaquita may have dropped to less than 10, according to a report in Royal Society Open Science. The small cetacean only lives in the upper Gulf of California and is caught in illegal gill nets. Coached eggs Nature Ecology & Evolution reports that yellow-legged gull embryos that hear their parents’ alarm calls will become more vigilant chicks. They can also alert their unhatched siblings to danger by vibrating their egg. Food of love The ‘love hormone’ oxytocin stimulates strange feeding behaviour in starfish, reports BMC Biology. It causes…

• There is a distinction between the ivory trade within countries (governed by national legislation) and that between countries. The latter is currently banned under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), a treaty to which all major nations of the world are signatories. • Under CITES, trade in products from most African (and all Asian) elephants, including ivory, is banned. • Some trade may be permitted for elephants in Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. At present, however, there is a zero quota for these populations, so there’s not a legal trade. • Under CITES, ivory obtained before 1976 (1975 in the case of Asian elephants) can still be legally traded. • A number of countries have banned domestic ivory trade, most recently the Netherlands this year.…

1 DETERMINE THE TYPE Ancient woodland has developed naturally – it is composed of native trees and shrubs, though it may have been previously managed. Plantations are woods that were felled and planted with non-native trees after the world wars. 2 RECOGNISE INDICATOR SPECIES Over hundreds of years, ancient woodlands have evolved into complex communities of trees, plants, fungi, microorganisms and insects. Species to look out for include herb-paris, black hairstreak butterfly and tree lungwort. 3 STUDY TREES CAREFULLY Ancient trees have lots of hollows, niches and deadwood to support other species. They are in the third and final stage of their life (a process of decline and decay), have a wide trunk and can have a small canopy as they shrink with age. 4 LOOK FOR HISTORICAL FEATURES There…

In a career spanning four decades, Doug Allan has made a name as one of the world’s top wildlife camera operators, with credits on many of the BBC Natural History Unit’s series. He is best known for filming in extreme environments, including in polar regions, mountains and underwater. From polar bears and walruses to emperor penguins, gorillas and great white sharks, his work has won five BAFTAs, not to mention several Emmys. In the words of his old collaborator and friend David Attenborough: “Wildlife cameramen don’t come much more special than Doug.” Doug was born in Dunfermline, Scotland. His assignments are usually about three to six weeks, or longer in remote locations such as the Antarctic. Some years, he’s spent as much as 230 days away filming. Features editor Ben…

In a nutshell, this is the difference between species with a single or multiple reproductive cycle. Few mammals are more semelparous than the northern quoll. The males of these cat-like marsupials pour everything into a single breeding season, and the effort literally kills them. In contrast, the iteroparous albatross knocks out a chick per year for up to 40 years, while the rest of us come somewhere in between. The botanical equivalents are annuals and the hardiest of perennials, which may produce progeny over centuries.…

Dates: 7 to 14 March 2020 Costs: £1,675 per person for eight days. Single-room supplement £165. Non-refundable deposit £500 per person. Balance to be paid by 6 December 2019. To book: email wildlifetravel@wildlifebcn.org or call 01954 713575 and quote BBC Wildlife reader holiday. A full itinerary for this holiday can be found at discoverwildlife.com/moroccoholiday Please note: the trip requires a minimum of 6 persons to run. Deposits are taken either by bank tranfer or by cheque. A maximum of 14 spaces are available for this trip. wildlife-travel.co.uk Organised by BBC Wildlife Magazine in partnership with Wildlife Travel. Exact details of the reader holiday may be subject to change.…

HIDDEN FROM VIEW As trees shed their leaves and the evenings get darker and cooler, don’t forget to be aware of small animals, such as hedgehogs, among leaf piles and bonfire stacks. PERFECT PONDS Place netting across ponds to prevent leaves falling into the water. Autumn is an ideal time to clean ponds, too, as many creatures are less active. FEED THE BIRDS Let seed heads form on your flowers (and weeds) to provide an extra source of food for birds. Holly, elder and crab apple will also give avian visitors a good supply of food in winter.…

Amazing images taken by our readers Enter our Your Photos competition at discoverwildlife. com/submit-your-photos 1 Holding on During a breeding event, three male gliding tree frogs fought so hard over a female that the whole group was dislodged, leaving the female dangling by her hind legs. Brandon Güell, Peninsula de Osa, Costa Rica 2 Thanks for all the fish My wife and I travelled to Mull in Scotland specifically to photograph white-tailed sea eagles in April. The adrenalin was high as this huge bird came in to catch the fish thrown into the water by the tour operator. Paul Nicholson, Lewes 3 Leap of faith I was on safari in the Maasai Mara when I spotted this leopard strolling towards her cub. I was lucky enough to photograph her leaping.…

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The chance discovery of a peculiar ancient tree stump in New Zealand that really should have been dead, but wasn’t, has led to new research that suggests that some trees provide care for their elderly neighbours. The stump in question was that of a kauri tree, a conifer endemic to New Zealand’s North Island. It was stumbled upon by two Auckland University of Technology biologists, Sebastian Leuzinger and Martin Bader, who were out for a hike. “It was odd, because even though the stump didn’t have any foliage, it was alive,” says Leuzinger. Without leaves, a tree can neither manufacture food by photosynthesis, nor pump water and nutrients around its tissues (powered by evaporation from the foliage). And yet the biologists found that the apparently lifeless stump was well fed…

“The Trump administration is squeezing the last few bucks out of a dying planet.” Until a few months ago, the US had the enviably successful Endangered Species Act, credited with saving the Florida manatee, bald eagle, American alligator, grey wolf and many other species from extinction. Now, instead, it has the ‘Trump extinction plan’. Just a few months ago, the UN reported that the world’s wildlife is declining at rates unprecedented in human history, with about one million animal and plant species imminently threatened with extinction. Warning that the crisis will, very soon, put humanity at risk (it doesn’t get much more serious than that) it strongly urged all nations to strengthen and accelerate their conservation efforts. So, what does the Trump administration do? The amendments finalised by the US…

Suicide. It isn’t a dirty word. Yet in the comfortable world of wildlife watching and conservation, it hasn’t been a topic that we discuss often, preferring undergrowth to overdose. But that all changed when Chris Packham published his searingly honest memoir, Fingers in the Sparkle Jar, and in it described his own personal suicide attempt. Chris candidly discussed his experience again in the foreword to my own book, Bird Therapy, and we were filmed for BBC Two’s Winterwatch in January this year. A taboo subject started to feel less awkward to talk about, and I made it my mission to continue sharing my own story in the hope that it may help others feel less alone. In 2017, an astonishing 5,821 people in the UK took their own lives. I’ve…

This month’s panel ZOOLOGY Is it true that guanacos can spit? It is. Guanacos (and their domesticated descendents, the llamas), found in the uplands of South America, are able to spit a distance of nearly 2m for the purposes of self-defence and communication. The spray, directed at their targets with great accuracy, comprises the rather unsavoury mix of saliva, digestive juices and the undigested contents of the stomach. Other spitting stars from the animal kingdom include, obviously, the spitting cobra (blasts venom from its fangs); the archerfish (fires jets of water to topple bugs from riverside vegetation); and the walrus (also fires jets of water – to dislodge clams from the seabed). Sarah McPherson BRITISH BIRDS Do predators take roosting songbirds at night? Yes. Roosting birds are known to fall…

There aren’t many animals that are taller than they are long, and the longfin spadefish, which occurs on coral reefs and among mangroves in the Indo-Pacific, is a rare exception from the underwater world. While the adults are indeed rather spade-like, the juveniles are more over-ripe banana than garden tool. As they grow, those exaggerated dorsal and anal fins will become proportionately shorter until they reach more orthodox piscine proportions. The juveniles are prone to gather beneath floating vegetation, like flies under a lampshade.…

Why champion the adder? A lot of people have an intrinsic fear of snakes and can only see a slithery creature capable of delivering a venomous bite. I see a shy animal that wants to be left alone. When I was a child, my mother would always warn against running in the long grass because there were adders. I was desperate to see one and when I finally did I was struck by how beautiful and enigmatic it was. Tell us an adder fact... The word adder comes from the Old English word for the species: naeddre. Over time this became ‘nadder’ and ‘a nadder’ soon became ‘an adder’. Why should we value wildlife? Nature is trying very hard to share this planet with voracious humans – it works for…