Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2019 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

As with most parents, Christmastime finds me looking back to my own childhood. And it surprises me how many of my memories relate somehow to my love of nature. Decorating the Christmas cake, for example, and the magic moment of pulling out the box of decorations, tiny hunks of white icing stuck fast from last Christmas. It wasn’t just snowmen and chimneys that adorned the fresh royal icing, but that most festive of birds – the robin. But why is our red-breasted friend so associated with Christmas? That’s one of the questions we asked Stephen Moss to answer for us in our cover feature on page 54. And as we lay this issue to bed, I’m struck by other childhood memories. Chae Strathie’s feature on page 70 brings to mind…

1 Hogganfield Park in Glasgow’s northeast is dominated by a large, shallow loch with a wooded island. Easily accessed by footpaths, the main attraction is provided by the wild whooper swans arriving from Iceland. 2 Sefton Park in Liverpool is a Grade-I listed park opened in 1872 “for the health and enjoyment of the townspeople”. It consists of footpaths, green spaces and watercourses, flowing into a man-made lake. 3 Derby Arboretum is one of Britain’s first public parks and contains a fine collection of unusual tree specimens from around the world. 4 Regent’s Park is one of eight Royal Parks in London and consists of formal gardens, shrubberies, sports pitches, grassland, a small wood and a large lake with several reedbeds. 5 Bute Park on the banks of the River…

Many plants close their flowers at night in South Africa’s Namaqualand semi-desert region. This behaviour is especially common in vibrant, ephemeral species that briefly carpet the landscape following spring rains. But the night is also abuzz with pollinating insects, so why do the flowers close-down and miss out? Studies by Jurene Kemp and Allan Ellis of Stellenbosch University, reveal that it’s got nothing to do with the night itself: by closing at night, flowers are also closed in the early morning and late afternoon. “This timing is key because these are the peak activity periods for flower-eating animals such as antelope and tortoises,” explains Ellis. Oddly, petal undersides are often green. But, when Kemp and Ellis compared the light spectra reflected by petal-undersides with wavelengths to which potential herbivores are…

The UK is officially one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world – ranking an abysmal 189th out of 218 assessed – so the frightening statistics in the latest State of Nature Report (The Current State of Nature, November 2019) come as no surprise. We may purport to be a nature-loving country, but our wildlife populations continue to decline. Sadly, the same is true around the world. We are witnessing an unprecedented decline in global biodiversity: our planet has lost 60 per cent, on average, of vertebrate animal populations, and nearly half of its natural ecosystems since 1970. Birds are a good example. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the skies are emptying. A recent comprehensive survey estimates that North America has lost a shocking 29 per…

WELL, RACCOONS ARE ALREADY HERE. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) has records of 10 sightings in the wild since 2005, ranging from the south coast of England to the north of mainland Scotland. Clever, adaptable animals, raccoons were taken to the Caribbean as early as the 17th century, and have been steadily making inroads into mainland Europe since at least the 1930s. And a study published earlier this year by Dr Vivien Louppe, from the French National Museum of Natural History, concluded that southern England – and, in time, Scotland – would provide ideal climate and habitat for the species. Raccoons have long been transported around the world, ostensibly for the fur trade or as pets. But the opportunities for them to become invasive in Britain come from another…

To quote the immortal words of Hot Chocolate’s Errol Brown, it started with a bear. OK, that might be paraphrasing a little, and it’s unlikely the song would have been as big a hit with that title, but it works for me. You see, when I was a nipper – and when I say nipper I mean foetus – I was introduced to a podgy bear and his woodland-based chums. It was down to my mother, who (so she claims at least – and I have no reason to disbelieve her) read Winnie the Pooh stories to me when I was but a bump in her belly. This literary ritual continued when I moved home from womb to room, and for the first few months of life I was swaddled…

Described as the single most important event in anyone’s life, gastrulation is the moment when a very early-stage embryo – a simple ball of cells – folds in on itself to produce a gut, a front and back end, and the basic tissue types. In vertebrates such as ourselves, but also acorn worms and echinoderms (including starfish), the initial dent in the ball’s surface eventually becomes the anus; in insects, molluscs and almost everything else, it becomes the mouth. This fundamental developmental difference points to an ancient branching of the animal family tree.…

WINTER SPICE CANDLE With a cinnamon and orange spice scent to conjure up memories of Christmases past, this candle is made from high-quality mineral wax, and comes in a reusable glass holder. £20, Cameron Bespolka Trust COCOA LOCO CHOCOLATE ROBINS Nothing says Christmas like stylised robins in confectionary form. The 100g box contains a mix of white, dark and milk chocolate treats. £4.99 from RSPB GENTLEMAN FOX SOCKS Socks may be the ultimate novelty present but, made from bamboo (making them super soft) and presented in a gorgeous box, these are definitely a luxury option. £25 for three pairs, Woodland Trust DUBE THE POLAR BEAR SLIPPERS These handmade, felted children’s slippers will keep tiny toes nice and toasty on chilly days. Sizes range from baby booties to 3–4 years. From…

ANTARCTICA In a nutshell Inhospitable is the word. With unrelenting winds and a mainland that’s 98 per cent ice, little can live in the bleakest southern reaches, while species pack the (relatively) mild island outposts. THE STATS ANTARCTICA Total land area: 14.2 million km› Human population: nil (no permanent residents) Population density: nil (visitors change with seasons) Number of countries: nil (8 nations with Antarctica territorial claims + 5 subantarctic island territories or dependencies) Region with the most threatened species: continent-wide, 60* Conservation threats: climate change, over-fishing, illegal fishing and invasive alien species *Includes IUCN Red List categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable.…

ASIA In a nutshell Intense tropical heat, severe Arctic cold, the wettest places, the highest mountains… Asia has vast areas undisturbed by humans as well as some of the planet’s most populous conurbations. THE STATS ASIA Total land area: 44.58 million km› Human population: 4.6 billion Population density: 103 per km› Number of countries: 48 (+ 3 dependencies) Country with the most threatened species: Indonesia, 1,472* Conservation threats: deforestation, habitat loss, human population increase and encroachment, poaching, invasive alien species, pollution and climate change *Includes IUCN Red List categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable.…

SOUTH AMERICA In a nutshell Intensely bountiful rainforests, arid deserts, lush savannahs and large ice fields make for a megadiverse powerhouse with over 30 per cent of the world’s species, many unique and highly adapted. THE STATS SOUTH AMERICA Total land area: 17.84 million km› Human population: 427 million Population density: 24 per km› Number of countries: 13 (+ 2 dependencies) Country with the most threatened species: Ecuador, 2,383 (unlike many countries, Ecuador has surveyed its wildlife in detail and so knows precisely what is threatened)* Conservation threats: habitat destruction, degradation and fragmentation, fires and grazing pressures, mining, diseases, over-hunting, pollution, and climate change *Includes IUCN Red List categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable.…

EUROPE In a nutshell A rich range of rivers, grasslands, forests, seas and mountains, Europe is home to an equally varied mix of species. But with 850 million people on the second-smallest continent, coexistence is the key to survival. THE STATS EUROPE Total land area: 10.18 million km2 (including European Russian Federation) Human population: 747 million Population density: 34 per km2 Number of countries: 50 (+ 6 limited recognition + 6 dependencies) Country with the most threatened species: Spain 738* Conservation threats: habitat loss and fragmentation, urban sprawl, pollution – especially pesticides and herbicides – invasive alien species, diseases, over-hunting and climate change *Includes IUCN Red List categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable.…

While filming polar bears hijacking beluga whales in Hudson Bay, the team had a day when things did not go to plan. A polar bear had picked up the anchor of their boat and was reeling them in when the boat snagged on a rock. John Shier was one of the crew. “Ask yourself this: what’s the worst thing that can happen to a small boat, surrounded by swimming polar bears, with four guys and about $800,000 worth of film equipment on board? I would say it’s running aground on a rock, with the tide dropping rapidly and a polar bear swimming a couple of hundred metres away. And, that’s exactly what happened. Gunning the motor didn’t budge the boat, and pushing off the bottom with oars didn’t help. There…

AFRICA In a nutshell Home to a quarter of global wildlife and the greatest numbers of large mammals, beyond well-known safari ‘stars’, many species face pressure from rapid human encroachment. THE STATS AFRICA Total land area: 30.37 million km2 Human population: 1.3 billion Population density: 43 per km› Number of countries: 54 (+ 4 dependencies and 2 disputed) Country with the most threatened species: Madagascar, 2,373* Conservation threats: deforestation, habitat loss, degradation and destruction, human population increase and encroachment, poaching, civil unrest, invasive alien species, diseases and climate change *Includes IUCN Red List categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable.…

JODIE CRANE Helping to save a Critically Endangered bird in New Zealand is all in a day’s work for senior ranger Jodie. “Though kakapo conservation has come a long way, there are still massive challenges.” she says. See p28 NIKI RUST Environmental social scientist Niki takes a detailed look at this year’s fires in the Amazon rainforest. “The fires not only affected wildlife in the area but the indigenous peoples who live there,” she says. See p32 CHAE STRATHIE The importance of wildlife in literature aimed at younger readers is all too clear for award-winning children’s author Chae. “Along with cuddly toys and family pets, books are often a child’s first introduction to wildlife,” he says. See p70 MARK CARWARDINE Conservationist Mark explains the science behind uncovering little-known cetacean species.…

You’ve seen them for sure but have you even wondered what they are? These hard, black, hemispherical lumps stuck to dead wood? The various common names don’t really help much: cramp balls, King Alfred’s cakes, coal knobs. They are in fact a fungus, but unlike those productions of damp, mouldering mulches, they are specially adapted to exploit a very different kind of habitat. Like most fungi, Daldinia concentrica are not obvious to the eye for much of their lifecycle. Living primarily inside dead or dying ash trees, when conditions are right and they are ready to set spore, their multitudinous and microscopic filaments, called hyphae, come together. Like strands that make up a twist of rope, they knot up and form the distinctive stroma: the body of the fungus that…

In 2019, the kakapo population rose from 147 to 213 individuals. Dr Jodie Crane discusses the biggest breeding season on record, and prospects for these Critically Endangered birds. Kakapo are huge, nocturnal, flightless parrots, and in 1995 just 51 individuals existed in the world – their numbers decimated by introduced predators and habitat loss. Kakapo Recovery formed to conserve the birds on New Zealand’s predator-free islands to which they are now confined. Jodie Crane joined the team in April 2018. She’s no stranger to bird fieldwork, having completed her PhD on Australian babblers, worked as ornithological warden on the Calf of Man and tracked seabirds with the RSPB. This is a new challenge: “With species work, a year is usually enough to get your head around everything. But this project…

Fast-moving species such as birds and large mammals can escape fires, but slower-moving species like some amphibians and insects may perish. Even once the fire has gone out, the remaining animals can suffer as their homes and food sources have been destroyed. Scientists from wild cat conservation charity Panthera estimate that at least 500 jaguars have died or been left homeless by fires in Brazil and Bolivia in 2019, a number that’s likely to rise. Wild animals that are moved out of their natural habitat may encounter humans more frequently and be killed for meat or illegal wildlife trade.…

There are only three types of animals in Britain that are true hibernators: dormice, hedgehogs and bats. It isn’t a very long list and there are some omissions that might surprise people – mice and voles, for example, are active and alert all winter, and squirrels don’t just stay awake, they breed in January. Shrews should be perfect candidates – small and fast-moving, with bodies that lose heat rapidly, a high metabolic rate and an insectivorous diet. In the winter, they sleep for longer, hunt mostly underground, yet rarely (if ever, depending on the species) go torpid and they don’t hibernate. In the autumn, all the breeding adults die off, so that the year’s youngsters are left to carry on the generations. At the other end of the scale, the…

PEACOCK FLOUNDER Flatfish might not have taken the most obvious path to an unobtrusive existence on the seabed, but they surely took the most innovative. While the skates and rays went about slowly flattening themselves in a sensible top-to-bottom kind of way, the ancestors of the flatfish – such as this peacock flounder – took to laying down on their sides. This simple innovation would have produced immediate results, but it required some tricky refinements. An eye pointing down into the sand isn’t much use to anyone, so the skull had to be remodelled drastically and lopsidedly, so that both eyes point ‘upwards’. The result is a face that only a mother could love – had she not simply cast her eggs on the currents to fend for themselves.…

DOCUMENTARY Weasels: Feisty and Fearless From ferrets and stoats to honey badgers, learn more about the wily weasel family. BBC iPlayer, until September NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CLIP World’s Weirdest: Bird Mimics Chainsaw, Car Alarm and More Discover the impressive vocal talents of the superb lyrebird, in less than three minutes. bit.ly/NatGeoLyrebird DOCUMENTARY Panorama: Climate Change, What Can We Do? A look at the factors influencing global warming, as a family tries to reduce its carbon footprint. BBC iPlayer, until September…

CATERING FOR ALL Leave a variety of food in different locations to suit a range of garden birds. While some may be happy eating from bird feeders, others such as robins prefer to dine from flat surfaces. LET IT GROW Reduce waste by buying a living Christmas tree that can be repotted, left in the garden and brought indoors again each festive season. QUENCHING THIRST While extra food will be welcomed by garden animals, providing fresh water is another way to help several species during cold, icy spells.…

I wondered whether any other BBC Wildlife readers were experiencing a similar problem to me with their bird feeders. This was the fifth baby goldfinch this year that had become trapped by the neck in the same lower hole on this feeder. Fortunately, I managed to save two of the birds as I saw them in distress and was able to extract and release them. This problem seems to be caused by badly designed bird feeder entry points, and only occurs when there are just a few seeds left in the bottom, and the birds get trapped while trying to reach them. Unfortunately, it is not always possible to refill the feeder as soon as it becomes empty, but I believe this fault could be easily rectified by manufacturers making…

Why is the pygmy three-toed sloth Critically Endangered? It is only found on one tiny island called Escudo off the Caribbean coast of Panama. Their population is unknown but thought to be very small, and their main threat is from tourism and development. Panama is changing at an alarming rate – the sound of chainsaws fills the air – because the sloths’ home has lovely white beaches that are coveted by developers. What do we know about the species? My favourite fact about pygmy sloths is that they may well be the world’s only stoned sloths. When the biologist Bryson Voirin studied their sleep patterns he noticed they resembled those of animals that had been given sedatives. He hypothesised that this could be down to their diet. Some mangrove leaves…

NORTH AMERICA In a nutshell Wild temperature fluctuations, swingeing changes between seasons, tornadoes, wildfires, drought – it’s tough for wildlife, and several species migrate in search of better conditions. THE STATS NORTH AMERICA Total land area: 24.71 million km› Human population: 427 million Population density: 24 per km› Number of countries: 23 (+ 9 dependencies) Country with the most threatened species: United States, 1,818* Conservation threats: habitat destruction, degradation and fragmentation, invasive alien species, diseases, over-hunting, pollution and climate change *Includes IUCN Red List categories: Critically Endangered, Endangered and Vulnerable.…

Bush craft enthusiasts might know this fungus by yet another epithet: tinder balls. This isn’t simply because of its similarities to a piece of lumpwood charcoal but because its desiccated nature makes it an excellent bed for the sparks from a flint and steel. A less proven use is to clutch one in your armpit to relieve the pain of menstrual cramps –hence the name cramp ball. While it’s inedible to us, the fungus is feasted on by the tiny, rare concealer moth Harpella forficella.…

There are few, if any, places on Earth that are free of microplastic pollution. But when scientists from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia looked at the microplastic content of the Red Sea, they found much less than they expected. And now they’ve found where some of the missing plastic ends up – in the shells of giant clams. These molluscs are specialist filter-feeders, sucking in vast quantities of seawater and sieving out the solid matter. Laboratory experiments performed by Silvia Arossa and colleagues have shown that clams remove 66 per cent of plastic particles added to the water. It turns out that the clams are not simply eating the particles: “At the beginning, we were focused on ingestion, but then we realised that most of…

Bad news for bears Romania’s Senate has recently passed a bill under which, for a period of five years, hunting brown bears is no longer restricted to the annual quotas approved by the Ministry of the Environment, breaching the EU Habitat Directive. Gin-credible success Juniper, the plant behind one of our favourite tipples, has been steadily declining over the past few decades. Charity Plantlife reports it is recovering at 13 sites in southern England as a result of ongoing conservation efforts. Bitterns are booming Britain’s loudest bird is enjoying its best year since records began. Bouncing back from the brink of extinction, bitterns have increased from only 11 males in Britain 20 years ago to 198 this year, according to an RSPB survey. Partners in protection A new partnership between…

Fires are a natural part of some ecosystems, such as the savannahs of Africa. Not so the Amazon. “Tropical forests do not naturally burn,” says Alexander Lees, senior lecturer in conservation biology at Manchester Metropolitan University. “The species that occupy them have no evolutionary adaptations towards fire.” In fire-dependent ecosystems, trees have much thicker bark as a protection against fires, but this is not found in Amazonian trees, where half of the trees may perish. Lees explains that “once these trees die and fall over, they open up the forest canopy, causing the understorey to dry and become more fire-prone. This starts a vicious cycle of more fires and more degradation.” The Amazonian biome could take many, many years to recover – if it ever does.…

At this time of year, every other Christmas card seems to feature a robin. Occasionally it’s a pair of robins – even though, as most people know, this species is notoriously territorial. By nature, robins are woodland birds. They evolved to follow wild boars around primeval forests, to feed on the worms and other invertebrates brought up to the surface when the animals dug for food. But, until recently, wild boars had been absent from Britain for many centuries, so robins found a suitable substitute: us. Our gardens – and our national obsession with gardening – provide everything a robin needs: plenty of food, shelter and a place to breed. In some ways it’s rather odd, given the robin’s justified reputation for fighting its rivals. As a result, the robin…

While hibernation is well known as an avoidance mechanism for adverse winter weather conditions, it also has another benefit. It reduces predation and thus boosts lifetime reproductive potential. Dormice have a significantly increased chance of overwinter survival compared to non-hibernators of the same size, and overall the figure is around 50 per cent. On the whole, hibernators also have longer lifespans compared to similar-sized equivalents. Bats may live 20 years or more in the wild, and a dormouse can live five or six years in the wild, as opposed to just one or two.…

1 ANTARCTIC MINKE WHALE Balaenoptera bonaerensis Declared a new species in 1998, when it was formally split from the slightly smaller common minke whale (though we now know that the two species diverged sometime around 4.7–7.5 million years ago). 2 DERANIYAGALA’S BEAKED WHALE Mesoplodon hotaula Currently known from only 11 confirmed specimens and a handful of tentative sightings at sea, this poorly known beaked whale was originally described in 1963 but wasn’t formally accepted as a separate species until 2014. 3 NORTH PACIFIC RIGHT WHALE Eubalaena japonica 4 NORTH ATLANTIC RIGHT WHALE Eubalaena glacialis The so-called northern right whale was split in 2000 into the North Atlantic right whale and the North Pacific right whale, due to genetic differences between both the whales and their lice.…

What’s your most memorable encounter with a hare? I’ve seen hares ‘box’ in moonlight, I’ve held a hare in my arms, but my standout meeting with a hare happened when I was seven, and lived in a house cut into the hillside. One morning, while washing my face, I looked out of the bathroom window – and there, directly outside, was a hare looking in, washing its face. Why did you choose the hare for your third species in this illustrated series? The hare is one of the defining, immemorial British animals. It evokes our countryside as perhaps only the oak can. If we have hares, we still have our British nature. So, the hare is an environmentally and culturally important species. Also, isn’t the hare just plain wonderful? It…

EDGE’s programme is helping to conserve the pygmy sloth through a long-term monitoring scheme. We’re also involved in education with local  indigenous communities. By collaborating with schools, government bodies, local NGOs and research centres in Panama, we are devising a plan to ensure land use regulation is implemented in order to better protect the species. Davi Teles is Latin America projects manager at EDGE of Existence, ZSL (Zoological Society of London).…

Episode producer Fredi Devas on the perils of filming under the ice. “One major problem was to not get lost whilst diving below the ice in McMurdo Sound,” says producer Fredi Devas. “A large hole was cut in the ice to enable the divers to enter the water, but they didn’t have ropes to help them find their way back. A tangle could have been fatal, so the topside team scraped arrows in the ice that were backlit by the sun and so could be seen from below. In this way, the underwater cameramen could follow the arrows and find their way back safely.”…

“I had not seen a whale shark in the wild before,” reflects Lucy Wells, “so, when I saw our first one, I was like a kid at Christmas. They look beautiful from the surface, but underwater they were something else. I was as big as their tail fin – nobody can prepare you for that! They generally ignore you when in the water with them. With eight of these giants swimming around, you inevitably get bumped. But it was not only the shark that made this film trip special. I spent some time on the bagans [sea fishing platforms] getting to know the fishermen. They were incredibly gentle and lovely men of various ages, who spent almost their entire lives on these platforms. Though we didn’t share a language, most…

“These days,” says John Shier, “a lot of filming can be done from vehicles, either for convenience or because the local wildlife might eat you. But not in Patagonia. You drive to where you think the cats might be and then start hiking, with 30kg of camera and tripod on your shoulder. I love it, but sometimes I hate it; like when you’ve already hiked 10km up and over a mountain, only to see the puma stalk a guanaco up and over the next steep hillside. The legs and lungs burn, your back aches, your body screams ‘stop’, but your mind screams even louder that if you quit now, the cat is going to make a kill and you’ll miss it. So, you pick up pace and get up one…

“A visit to the Daintree is like going back in time,” says Lucy,“and the cassowary we had come to film was almost like a dinosaur. Our star was Crinkle Cut, named for the crinkly shape of his casque. These birds are so rare to see in the wild that I waited with baited breath. Then I saw him and his chicks for the first time. He caught me unawares and the beady look he gave me was humbling. This bird was very much letting me hang out in his forest. He was an incredibly caring and gentle father, and it was wonderful to watch his chicks grow, but tragedy struck. When they died, and this happened once more, we were devastated. It’s always tough when your subject has setbacks like…

One day, while checking out camera-traps to locate Iberian lynx in Spain, Charlotte Bostock found that wild lynx Farron had snuck up alongside her. “We sat, just the two of us, for about 30 minutes under the shade of a tree. I felt in that moment we were equals, just two animals existing in the same space at the same time. There was complete trust on both sides. He would turn away from me or close his eyes. It really was something to be in the presence of such a majestic and rare cat, whose near extinction was our responsibility. It was a gentle reminder to me that we need to do everything possible to protect what remains of the wildlife that we have.”…

“We were camping on a raised platform at Mbeli Bai, Republic of Congo, filming gorillas and forest elephants,” recalls assistant producer Jo Haley, “and had been warned never to come down at night because the elephants can be dangerous. One day, we were filming at sunset, when we heard very loud and close gunshots. It was quite a shock as we were miles from civilisation. ‘It must be poachers,’ we thought. Were they warning shots aimed at us, or had they killed an animal? Either way, we were sitting ducks. We were faced with staying put, knowing armed poachers were close by, or break the one rule we had been given and escape through the jungle. We had a quick team meeting and decided to make for the nearest village…