Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2022 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

IMAGINE BIDDING THE HUMAN WORLD goodbye, donning your scuba-diving mask and plunging into the crystal-clear blue waters off southern Baja California. Gently treading water with your flippers, you watch, disbelieving, as a sparkling bait ball teeming with thousands of sardines is struck at by the pointed bills of migratory striped marlin – then local sealions tumble into view and join the feast. For most of us, it remains a dream. Or an unseen realm we can barely imagine. Which is perhaps why our oceans have silently slipped into such a sorry state – we don’t witness the beauty of the marine life at risk, just as we don’t see the effects of overfishing, plastic pollution and coral bleaching. World Ocean Day on 8th June acts as an important annual reminder.…

NEW RESEARCH SHOWS THAT SPIDER monkeys routinely feed on fermenting fruit, supporting the idea that humans inherited our proclivity for alcohol from our primate ancestors – the so-called “drunken monkey hypothesis”. Certain non-human primates enjoy a drop of the hard stuff. Chimpanzees are known to raid stocks of palm wine brewed by villagers, and feral vervet monkeys in the Caribbean are famous for stealing alcoholic drinks from bars. The new study, though, published in Royal Society Open Science, is the first to demonstrate that wild primates – black-handed spider monkeys in Panama – enjoy a tipple as a part of their natural diet. The monkeys’ attraction to the fermenting fruits of the jobo tree is not for mere amusement. Breakdown products of alcohol in their urine prove that they are…

1 DRAGALGE: leafy seadragon Aquatic character similar to the camouflaged marine fish 2 DROWZEE: Malayan tapir Body shape, blunt nose and coloration closely resemble a Malayan tapir 3 KROOKODILE: gharial Modelled on crocodilians in general but looks most like a gharial 4 DEWGONG: dugong Attributes of narwhal and beluga but said to be inspired by the dugong 5 MANKEY: Barbary macaque Apparently based on a Barbary macaque (excluding its prehensile tail) 6 PSYDUCK: platypus Semi-aquatic and found in freshwater habitats, like the platypus 7 CATERPIE: eastern tiger swallowtail caterpillar Inspired by a master of mimicry 8 POLIWAG: translucent tadpoles Looks like tadpoles that lack pigment 9 WOOPER: axolotl Like the aquatic, larval-looking axolotl 10 SHELLOS: Loch’s chromodoris Resembles a brightly coloured seaslug…

WHAT IS IT? One of 17 newly described millipede species found by researchers examining the taxonomy of twisted-claw millipedes in the wilsoni species group of the Nannaria genus. A key difference of Nannaria swiftae was the morphology of the male’s modified legs. The recent discovery brings the total number of Nannaria species to 78. The genus had 23 species before the scientists began studying them in 2015. In 2021, 37 species were added and a subspecies was given full species status. WHERE IS IT? The millipede Nannaria swiftae can be found in the USA but it only occurs in a few spots in the Appalachian Mountains in south-east Tennessee. WHAT IS THE MEANING BEHIND THE SCIENTIFIC NAME? The ‘swiftae’ in the scientific name honours the US singer and songwriter Taylor…

THE TERM ‘A BELLOWING OF bullfinches’ relates to a bird that, unlike many other finches, actually lacks a powerful flocking instinct, so must derive from its extraordinarily thick neck. After all, the name ‘bullfinch’ comes from the species’ bull-like appearance and compact, neck-less body. The bird emits its renowned song – a short, lowpitched whistle or fluted ‘phu’ note – using its short, deep bill.…

I ONCE STOLE A LION’S GIRLFRIEND. I WAS in the Maasai Mara, Kenya, experimenting with audio playback as a means of deciphering lion communication. This involved blasting the recording of a lion’s roar into another male’s territory and waiting for a response. This rather audacious line of scientific enquiry resulted in three lions – one female and two males – racing over to our Land Rover to investigate. The males quickly got bored when they failed to find a rival and padded off. The female, however, pinned us to the spot, legs akimbo, for over two hours. She was in oestrus and, in addition to mating with her consorts, she also wanted to mate with me. Apparently, this was nothing special for a lioness: females are known to mate one…

WHILE THE ROBIN HOLDS THE MANTLE of ‘nation’s favourite’, surely our most loved owl must be the strikingly beautiful barn owl. Most often spotted when either flashing through car headlights or quartering rough grasslands at dusk, the ghostly spectacle of a hunting barn owl can perform the simple magic trick of lifting the gloomiest of spirits. One of the world’s most widespread bird species, with a presence on every continent bar Antarctica, the barn owl can also be encountered across much of lowland Britain. Following a number of difficult decades, when changes to farmland management presided over a perilous population decline, a thorough understanding of the owl’s needs has seen a marked improvement in its fortunes. Recent estimates suggest a breeding population of about 9,000 pairs, so with a little…

The perceived incandescence of male ghost moths is further enhanced by the microscopic nanostructure of their wing scales. Unlike the females, the scales of males are not actually pigmented, they are clear. The sheen comes from the reflective mesh structures found in their scales – these are precisely spaced to maximise and reflect all the light available to them during the lek.…

THE BIOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ARE too often summarized by one image: a polar bear stranded on a shrinking iceberg. Though iconic, this trope glosses over the rich story of struggle and adaptation that underpins all climate change scenarios. Because what matters is not so much the change itself, as the responses to that change. If every species was able to get along just as well in all conditions, then altering the weather wouldn’t matter in the slightest. But that’s not how nature works. Biodiversity stems from specialisation, a great accumulation of plants and animals adapted to particular environmental conditions. With those conditions now in flux, species must react in order to survive – changing locations, behaviours and even their bodies in profound and surprising ways.…

Kodiak Island, Alaska ON ALASKA’S KODIAK ISLAND, IT IS axiomatic that bears like salmon. Kodiak’s brown bears can grow to 700kg, bulking up on the abundant salmon that spawn every summer in the islands’ many rivers and streams. Yet a recent study of that relationship found a surprising change. At the height of spawning season, just as salmon numbers began to peak, the bears suddenly stopped fishing and disappeared from the streams. Researchers followed them uphill and immediately saw what had drawn the bruins away from their fishing grounds – berry season. There is certainly nothing unusual about bears eating berries. Autumn-ripening blueberries, crowberries and other tiny fruits are rich in carbohydrates and have always been an important source of late-season calories. But warming spring and summer temperatures have begun…

Western Pacific Ocean BUTTERFLYFISH ARE FAMOUSLY FEISTY, STAKING out territories on coral reefs and skirmishing constantly to defend their borders. Yet when a group of biologists fanned out across the western Pacific to study this behaviour, they witnessed something entirely different. In the midst of their project, a climate-driven marine heatwave caused the corals to expel their algal partners. Experts call this process ‘bleaching’ because it leaves oncecolourful reefs ghostly pale. But it altered the butterflyfish too, transforming aggressors into pacifists overnight. For this reason, butterflyfish have been called the ‘canaries of the reef’ and their behaviour change acts as an early indicator that reef fish are in peril. For butterflyfish, reef corals provide more than prime real-estate – they are also an essential source of food. Maintaining good territories…

Refuge in the range Many species thrive in Germany’s military training grounds as they are large, have no permanent human presence and are full of prey. There are 17 active sites in Germany, the largest of which covers 280km². They are big enough so that wildlife can retreat to quiet areas during exercises. Here are three species that, alongside the wolf, are doing well in these unintentional havens. White-tailed eagle These powerful eagles don’t just rely on the wetlands to hunt, they also like to eat carrion and benefit from the wolves’ prey remains. They can breed in high densities on the military training grounds. Red deer Red deer are strictly regulated in many regions of Germany, but there are large populations on military training grounds. The young animals in…

At its simplest, a lichen is a mutualistic association between a fungi (the mycobiont) and an algae (the photobiont, ie the organism that bring photosynthesis to the partnership). Sometimes the photobiont can be a cyanobacteria (a photosynthetic bacteria) and sometimes it can be both. A lichen is classified according to its fungal partner, which provides its physical body. The algae (and/or cyanobacteria) photosynthesise and so produce sugars, which the fungal partner utilises for energy. In Britain alone, there are 270 fungi genera that form associations with a photobiont to form lichens, but less than 40 algae genera worldwide that undertake these associations. It is less obvious what the algae gains from the partnership, as the fungi inhibits its reproduction. However, we do know that while algae prefer wetter conditions, in a…

We are still learning about bird vision but know it to be more complex than our own. Birds share the three types of colour-detecting cone cells found in human eyes, which perceive red, blue and green. Many birds, however, have a fourth type that allows them to see ultraviolet light. This helps them identify ripe fruits and distinguish plumage differences between male and female that are invisible to us. Birds’ cone cells also contain tiny oil droplets thought to sharpen the image they see and enable them to differentiate between similar shades. So even if we avoid wearing bright clothes when birdwatching, their superior colour discrimination and sensitivity to ultraviolet means birds could still see us a mile off!…

If there were a prize for the best impression of a grumpy toad doing an impression of a broken twig, this spider would surely be in the running. Bark spiders are remarkable not only for their exquisite camouflage, but also for the size and strength of their webs. A species discovered in Madagascar builds the biggest orb webs known – slung across rivers on supporting threads up to 25m long, to catch mayflies. The toady face pictured is the spider’s backside, which makes the impression even more impressive.…

EARTH HAS EXPERIENCED FIVE EVENTS when at least 75 per cent of species died out over a short amount of geological time. The most recent of those Big Five mass extinctions occurred 66 million years ago (MYA). While famous for killing the dinosaurs, the fifth mass extinction also shaped wildlife we see today. What caused the event? While there are several controversial explanations, the leading theory for the actual ‘kill mechanism’ is that a 10km-wide asteroid smashed into Earth, leaving a crater 180km across at Chicxulub in Mexico. A thermal pulse from heated debris spread across the globe, while the force of the collision – equivalent to millions of atomic bombs – created shockwaves that triggered earthquakes, then tsunamis and wildfires. The impact launched a vast dust cloud into the…

It’s orchid season! Some of these flowers can be difficult to identify at species level, so we’ve picked out three distinctive orchids to look out for this summer. For more ID guides, head to our website: discoverwildlife.com/identify-wildlife BEE ORCHID Although the flowers of this orchid mimic bees, this species is self-pollinating in the UK. BURNT-TIP ORCHID The top of this orchid looks like it has been burnt – with a pink-purple tip and white flowers beneath. PYRAMIDAL ORCHID With a very distinctive flower spike, the colour of pyramidal orchid flowers can range from pink to white.…

As I believe I’ve mentioned before on this page, I feel very lucky to have my job. My time is spent talking to hugely passionate and knowledgeable experts about every kind of life on Earth. I love hearing these people explain the unique adaptations of whichever species it is we’re discussing. No matter what the obstacles to life, nature always somehow finds a way. Isn’t that what makes wildlife so endlessly fascinating? But let’s not kid ourselves here. The climate emergency threatens wildlife in all its magnificence – and we’re no longer talking about an event we may have to face in a few decades’ time. How nature responds will determine the future of life on Earth, which is why we asked Thor Hanson to report on how various species…

THE STAG BEETLE ‘RUTTING’ SEASON kicks off in May and is in full swing until early July. Males do battle with fierce-looking serrated mandibles as they try to shove their rival aside, or even better, flip him upside-down. You’re more likely, however, to spot these magnificent 6–7cm beetles (Europe’s largest) as they clumsily buzz around in search of females. Both sexes are lured to light and have a tendency to clang into lit windows or outside lights after dusk. Like many adult insects, they don’t live long, so you may also find their spent bodies. Most of their living, and most of their eating, took place underground as wood-munching grubs. Stag beetles are restricted to southern England in areas with old broadleaf trees and warm, sandy earth for the females…

WATER CROWFOOT IS ONE OF THE home-grown stars of the BBC’s epic The Green Planet, in which Sir David Attenborough takes to a boat to explore the crystal-clear waters of the River Avon in Wiltshire. He visits in June, peak flowering season for this pretty plant, a white-petalled member of the buttercup family. Its floppy stalks create a lush tangle of foliage just beneath the surface, but as Sir David points out, this poses a problem: how will the flowers be pollinated? Water crowfoot’s solution is to become both a water plant and a plant of the air. Masses of stiff flowering stalks appear, which lift the carpet of blooms clear of the river. The display can be spectacular on chalk streams such as the River Avon, though these are…

A ruminant’s stomach THE MULTI-CHAMBERED STOMACHS OF cattle, deer and other ruminants are dedicated to releasing the considerable energy contained in the complex sugars that form the structural bulk of plants. The magic happens in the rumen, a fermentation chamber containing an ecosystem of microbes with biochemistry skills lacking in mammals. The resulting cud is regurgitated and chewed again ready for a more conventional digestive process.…

WHEN SONAM LAMA READ A NEWSPAPER STORY that featured the red panda research of American Brian Williams, it changed his life. “The article pushed me to know more about the species and work for its conservation,” he says. When Brian founded the Red Panda Network (RPN), Sonam was recruited. “I was responsible for generating awareness of the red panda and mobilising the community to monitor the species.” “When I was a child, I played with a stuffed red panda pelt that was killed and brought home by my dad (he now regrets this a lot). I didn’t know what animal it was or anything about its conservation status,” exclaims Sonam. “I decided to work to protect red pandas by teaching people about the value of the species.” “Nepal’s red panda…

THERE’S SOMETHING ICONIC ABOUT those record-breaking ocean wanderers, the albatrosses. Many disperse north from the southern oceans to the tropics in winter and one species, the black-browed, occasionally shows up on British coasts during land-based seawatches, often in inclement weather, yet otherwise highly unpredictable and rarely seen on more than two or three occasions in any one year. Usually notoriously difficult to catch up with, some individuals have summered in isolated island gannet colonies over the years, inspiring only the intrepid to visit. But in recent years one bird has been roaming the North Sea. Initially spending its summers on the German coast, it visited the English east coast to flirt with the gannetry at Bempton Cliffs, Yorkshire, with odd flybys and sometimes a quick rest on the cliff face.…

PUFFINS AND KITTIWAKES ARE AMONG the wildlife winners following the government’s decision to protect the biggest sandbank in the UK, Dogger Bank, from damaging fishing practices in a move welcomed by campaigners. Dogger Bank lies in the southern North Sea and provides a crucial habitat for a wide range of marine life including hermit crabs, flatfish and starfish, as well as commercial species such as cod and sandeels. Despite being designated one of the UK’s 76 Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Dogger Bank has been subjected to increasing levels of bottom trawling, a controversial fishing technique that causes widespread damage to wildlife and the seabed. Environment secretary George Eustice says: “Outside the EU, we are using our new freedoms to protect our marine environment. We will be stopping trawling and dredging…

IMAGINE FOR A MOMENT THAT THE UK was breeding wild wolves with poodles and selling their hybrid puppies on the internet. Sound a bit ‘off ’ for a nation of animal-lovers aspiring to be world leaders in animal welfare? Yet here we are in the 21st century with a growing legal trade in breeding exotic wild cats with domestics to create ‘trophy’ pets. Savannah cats are a cross between a serval (a wild felid found in Africa) and a domestic cat. They sell for vast sums of money, but owning such an animal comes with a host of challenges that can result in harm to children, native wildlife, and to the cats themselves. The story of the savannah cat started back in 1986, in Pennsylvania, USA, when a male serval…

THIS STORY IS A PLEA FOR the small things, those forms of life that prop up so much of our natural world, yet that we seldom notice. This is a story about lichens, mosses and liverworts. We may be aware of these lower plants in the vaguest sense, yet for few of us do they become the focus of our attention. They came to the fore for me one day when I stood on the moors of my native Peak District and looked out on the blue-grey-green of the drystone walls stretching far into the distance. A closer inspection of the wall beside me revealed that the blue-grey-green was not the colour of the stone at all, but of lichen. I wasn’t looking at a stone wall, I was looking…

Amid the Covid-19 crisis, billions of people stayed indoors while other animals enjoyed new-found peace and quiet. Wildlife responded in many ways to the drastic slowdown in human activities – named the ‘anthropause’ – including record numbers of nesting sea turtles. On the Thai island of Phuket more leatherback sea turtles came to nest than in the last 20 years. Similar stories played out along many other beaches that are normally busy with tourists and illuminated with bright hotel and resort lights, scaring female turtles and confusing hatchlings. This brief pause is unlikely to have substantial effects on turtle populations, but it did highlight the problems of disturbance on nesting turtles and may persuade people to make beaches more turtle-friendly. There are also signs of a long-term increase in some…

Springwatch On BBC2 from 30th May SPRING HAS TRULY SPRUNG, AND wildlife-lovers all know what that means – Springwatch is back! This award-winning institution of the BBC and British television returns to our screens for three weeks in late May and early June. Chris Packham, Michaela Strachan and Iolo Williams are back, and Megan McCubbin is stepping in for Gillian Burke. Chris and Michaela will be presenting from Wild Ken Hill in West Norfolk again, watching marsh harriers, lapwings, beavers and bees. Iolo has been sent up to the Isle of Mull, off the western coast of Scotland, to find eagles, otters and seabirds such as guillemots and razorbills. Megan will be setting off on a road trip across northern England, visiting Kielder Forest to seek out ospreys, voles and…

When did you get into photography? In 1999. I was part of a crew of four filming a BBC documentary on the tigers of Ranthambore National Park in India. We needed some behind-the-scenes stills, and the cinematographer was too busy. The fact that I was the only assistant able to read the English camera manual made me the photographer. If you weren’t a photographer, what would you be? Probably an organic farmer… it’s something I’d love to do. You’re known for tigers. What’s the best thing about photographing them? I love land predators – the bigger the better – and tigers fit the bill perfectly. I now know many generations of tigers in Ranthambore. For me, the most exciting shoots are when I can photograph a new litter of cubs.…

ACROSS 1 ___ pipistrelle, small European bat (7) 5 Uninhabited North Atlantic islet often used by resting seabirds (7) 9 Name given to the world’s tallest living tree, a coast redwood in California (8) 10 Main body cavity in an animal (6) 11 African bird known for taking insects from the skin of large mammals (8) 12 Plant genus that includes the Siberian or wood squill (6) 14 Old World passerine noted for its elaborate stitched nest (10) 18 Many-legged arthropod (10) 22 Small herbivorous mammal with long ears and a white tail (6) 23 Large African bird also called the whale-headed stork (8) 24 Critically endangered Hawaiian songbird (6) 25 Parrot known for its strong pair-bonding (8) 26 ___ plover, now scarce in the UK (7) 27 Bright-coloured, fruit-eating…

ZEKREET, QATAR When the mackerel tuna started to lay their eggs in the shadows of the oil and gas rigs in the hot, salty waters of the Arabian Sea, the huge metal structures afforded the eggs protection, acting as artificial offshore reefs. But the off-limits waters around the rigs also gave protection to a much bigger fish – the whale shark. Humans may have unwittingly created a feeding station for a hundred or so sharks. In the delirious heat of the desert bordering the Arabian Sea, Qatar has a hard, rocky terrain where only the strong survive. In the summer, most animals burrow themselves into the ground to avoid the mirage-making heat, which edges up to 50°C. But in spring, when temperatures are in the ‘cooler’ mid-thirties, the reptiles bask…

NICK BAKER “The lek period for ghost moths is defined by the period after sunset when light intensity drops” P.36 GILLIAN BURKE The Springwatch presenter says we must believe in the ability of humans to do good P.17 MARK CARWARDINE We need to get out of our conservation bubbles and into the real world,” says our frank columnist P.29 LUCY COOKE “Lionesses are known to mate one hundred times with multiple males during their fertile period” P.2 MIKE DILGER The broadcaster and naturalist tells us about barn owls’ clever flight adaptations P.32…

FIRST SIGHTED IN THE EVERGLADES National Park, Florida, in the 1990s and not recorded as breeding there until 2000, Burmese pythons have since caused major declines in birds, mammals and other reptiles. These huge snakes compete with native wildlife for food and eat creatures such as raccoons and opossums which – like pythons – often forage at the water’s edge in Florida’s subtropical swamps. Import of Burmese pythons as exotic pets to the US was banned in 2012 and Florida has removed restrictions on hunting them, but as pythons can produce large clutches, their population continues to grow. That makes trail camera footage of a native bobcat taking eggs from a python nest potentially very significant. The event was captured by a US Geological Survey team last summer. It showed…

NEW RESEARCH ON FISH PROVES YOU don’t need fingers to learn to count or even to perform simple addition and subtraction. Biologists at Germany’s University of Bonn have been training cichlids and stingrays to count up to five by presenting them with a selection of shapes on card and rewarding them if they swim through a door marked with the correct number. Their latest research in Scientific Reports requires the fish to perform simple sums before they are rewarded. Blue shapes mean they must add one to the total; yellow ones mean they must subtract one. “When they are shown the blue-two [two blue shapes], they pick the blue-three, and for the yellow-two, they pick the yellow-one,” says Vera Schluessel, who led the work. “Either they are learning the rule…

THE UK EDUCATION SECRETARY Nadhim Zahawi has announced that there will be a new natural history GCSE, which will be developed and introduced into schools by 2025. “We are delivering a new natural history GCSE, which will, I hope, inspire young people and empower them, give them that agency, not to just be anxious and distressed about climate change, but actually to make a difference,” says Nadhim Zahawi. The idea of a natural history GCSE was the brainchild of conservationist and author Mary Colwell 11 years ago. Since then, she has worked with the government and the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA examination board to make it a reality, describing it as a “game-changer for the nature of Britain”. The GCSE aims to connect students with the natural world and teaches…

Croc comeback The biggest ever release of 25 captivebred Siamese crocodiles into the wild as part of a national reintroduction programme has been completed by Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and its partners in Cambodia. It represents a massive boost to the survival chances of this critically endangered reptile. The crocs have been fitted with transmitters so they can be tracked. Mountain hare numbers at a low England’s last mountain hare population in the Peak District is now at low densities across most of the uplands, according to the first detailed population assessment for 20 years. The research estimated the population density is 10 mountain hares per km2 – there are just 3,500 hares throughout the National Park, putting the population at risk of extinction.…

This rare rhino lives in dense rainforests on the Indonesian islands of Sumatra and Borneo, feeding on the leaves of plants including Ficus and jackfruit trees. “Fresh poo is a brown bolus that is on average 8–12cm in diameter,” says Christopher Whitlatch from the International Rhino Foundation. “It turns yellow and changes shape as it breaks down.” Sumatran rhinos are listed as critically endangered, with less than 80 left.…

Gimme shelter Juveniles of many fish species at risk of predation in open water seek protection among the stinging tentacles of jellyfish. Magnus photographed this young driftfish as it flitted through the darkness in search of a suitable host in Balayan Bay off the south of Luzon in the Philippines. Great shakes Ribbonfish are commonly believed to appear after major tremors, hence their nickname ‘earthquake fish’. Magnus encountered this juvenile scalloped ribbonfish while the Philippines’ Taal volcano was erupting nearby, sending vibrations through the water. Its slender appendages, like lengths of delicate bunting, possibly mimic drifting seaweed. Cling-on octopus “It’s a sad fact that aggregations of plastic often occur at the best spots for pelagic [open sea] underwater photography, typically where two or more currents meet,” says Magnus. So it…

Franz Josef Land, Russia POLAR BEARS ARE NOT THE ONLY CREATURES that depend on Arctic sea ice – tiny seabirds known as little auks (or dovekies) feed in the plankton-rich waters along the edges of the ice floes. It’s a strategy that worked well until the ice began to dwindle in places where the little auks breed, such as Russia’s Franz Josef Land archipelago. Scientists have long predicted that such nesting colonies would be early casualties of climate change – as the ice retreated, the birds would have to fly further and further to locate food for their chicks, leading eventually to starvation, breeding failure and population collapse. But when a team of researchers visited Franz Josef Land and attached radio tags to the birds, there was a surprise in…

IT’S 2009 AND I’M SITTING IN A HIDE ON A MILITARY training ground in Saxony, close to the Polish border, overlooking a wide, open sandy area. It acts as a firebreak between where I am and the dark forest beyond. The croaking of a raven echoes through the quiet air and a light wind rushes through the leaves. There are no animals to be seen, yet the sandy ground is pitted with the tracks of roe and red deer, wild boar, foxes – and wolves. It may not be total wilderness, yet I am still in the heart of Germany’s wolf country. I wait for some time, unmoving in the hide, and then suddenly it happens – the moment I’ve been waiting for. A wolf steps out of the trees…

There are many species associated with temperate rainforest and some are considered key ‘indicators’, which will vary depending upon location, tree species, woodland structure and topography. Alison Smith from Plantlife highlights four to seek, pointing out that “a site may lack the indicators, but have other members of those communities and still be an important site”. Wilson’s filmy fern Hymenophyllum wilsonii A delicate and translucent fern that often grows amongst mosses and liverworts, and is characteristic of temperate rainforest – though in southwest England, the Tunbridge filmy fern (Hymenopyllum tunbrigense) is more likely to be encountered. Greater whipwort Bazzania trilobata A distinctive liverwort with forked stems, tiny, three-toothed leaves and ‘whips’ that hang from the underside of the stems. It forms large cushions in humid river valleys – on wet…

Despite their apparently docile nature, mallards are fascinating to observe. Their prenuptials are often quite aggressive and can involve several males chasing and forcing themselves upon a female. These are usually males that have missed out on pairing up the conventional way and instead choose to hang out in bachelor gangs. Ducks are one of the few birds with an external penis – most other bird species have a sensory opening known as the cloaca. So it can’t be much fun for the poor female. However, recent research has shown that female ducks have the last word. These include internal adaptations that force the male down cul-de-sacs that prevent fertilisation. Effectively, she only allows the males that she likes to fertilise her.…

The call of the blue whale can reach 180 decibels, which is as loud as a jet plane, making it a world-record holder. Baleen whales (of which the blue whale is one) sing and communicate to each other with low frequency moans and growls that also travel further than any other call in the animal kingdom – thousands of kilometres across the oceans. FACT. Bats are the only mammals capable of flight. ‘Flying’ squirrels and lemurs can just glide or parachute. Crucially, bats digest and excrete food very quickly in order to stay light enough for take-off!…

Does a quiver tree ever quiver? No – this member of the aloe family, which grows in southern Africa, is so called because the San people would hollow out its tubular branches to use as arrow quivers. The tree’s Latin name, Aloe dichotoma, from the Greek dikhotomia, which translates as ‘a cutting in two’, refers to its forked branches. SM Can scorpions survive without a tail? Some South American scorpions lose their tail when threatened, and though they can still survive for up to eight months, this brings big changes. In shedding its tail, the scorpion lays down not just a key weapon, but also part of its digestive tract, including its anus. Post-tail, it can no longer defecate, is less able to defend itself or tackle sizeable meals and…

Why is it called Springwatch when it’s filmed in summer? Although a lot of the presenting is live, there are a lot of inserts that will have been filmed during spring. Whereas if the programme aired in April, a lot of the prerecorded films would be from winter. So it makes sense that it’s on the cusp of spring going into summer. And whilst it’s summer for much of England, it’s very much still spring up on Mull where I’m presenting. How much of the show is scripted and how much is on-the-fly? Most of it is kind of half and half really. We don’t have a script as such, what you have is a running order. You might be coming off the back of an insert, such as a…

ALONGSIDE RUNNING HER OWN DANCE business, Tani Gill enjoys engaging visitors with the collection at her local zoology museum in Cambridge. Where do you volunteer? I am a visitor engagement volunteer at the David Attenborough Building at the Museum of Zoology, Cambridge University. We are encouraged to choose and specialise in discussing our favourite animal, which for me is the Asian elephant. Recently I have been involved with the Discover Incredible Insects at Trumpington Meadows Museum Of Zoology events. We showed members of the public an exciting range of insects – my personal favourite was the sphinx moth. Why do you volunteer? To answer this, I need to go back to my childhood. My father worked for a tea company in India, and one time during the monsoon season, when…

APPRECIATE MARK CARWARDINE’S OPINION pieces, but I do take issue with his take on the Insulate Britain protestors as “annoyingly sanctimonious” and the protests as useless (March 2022). In fact, the very unsexy yet important subject of insulating the UK’s leaky homes has been discussed on the airwaves and in the papers infinitely more as a result. With the massive fuel price rises now threatening many people with choosing between heating their home or eating, the campaign appears quite prescient. After all, nearly 15 per cent of Britain’s total carbon emissions comes from heating homes. Non-violent civil disobedience is a time-honoured way to effect positive change and some disruption is unfortunately inevitable. We do well to remember that both the suffragettes and Martin Luther King were greatly disliked at the…