Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

Big Cats 24/7 Livestream A live Q&A session from Okavango Delta, Botswana, where series two of Big Cats 24/7 is being filmed, featuring camera operators including Anna Dimitriadis, Gordon Buchanan and Brad Bestelink Catch up on BBC Earth YouTube channel Inside Science Prompted by the recent first civilian spacewalk, in the episode titled How Green is Space Travel? presenter Vic Gill explores the impact of the rapidly growing space industry on our climate and finds out how it compares to Earth-bound aviation Catch up on BBC Sounds Science in Action Valerie Trouet of the University of Arizona explains how tree-ring data has been used to show how the jet stream has shaped extreme weather in Europe for centuries, influencing harvests, wildfires and epidemics Catch up on BBC Sounds Keep in…

ANTARCTICA’S RAPIDLY SHRINKING SEA ICE could negatively impact seabirds breeding hundreds of miles away, according to a new study published in the journal Progress in Oceanography. Most of the world’s albatrosses and their close relatives, petrels, breed on islands in the Southern Ocean, whose waters surround Antarctica. The study, by Durham University and the British Antarctic Survey (BAS), found that these birds fly vast distances to parts of the ocean affected by sea ice – known as the ‘Antarctic seasonal sea-ice zone’ – where they are thought to feed. Using satellite technology, the researchers tracked the foraging journeys of seven species of albatross and petrel breeding on South Georgia, an important seabird stronghold. They recorded 2,497 trips made by 1,289 birds between 1992 and 2023, and found that all seven…

THE ENTRANCE OF ST. CLAIR CAVE ON the island of Jamaica is littered with bat wings. These appendages are, it seems, the least appetising part of the bat to the perpetrators of the carnage – feral cats. Situated north-west of Kingston, the cave is home to an estimated two million bats belonging to 10 species, and is the only roost of the Critically Endangered Jamaican greater funnel-eared bat. Reports of cats eating bats here date back to the 1970s, but now camera traps set up by a team from Bat Conservation International have captured the felines snagging bats out of the air. Bats at the much smaller Stony Hill Cave in Portland are also vulnerable. It is home to three species and is the only known roost of the Critically…

The broadcaster, naturalist and tour guide shares the most breathtaking seasonal events in the world WHILE ELEPHANTS AND ELEPHANT seals are taxonomically oceans apart, they both have size in common. African elephants are known to be our biggest terrestrial mammal and southern elephant seals are the portliest of pinnipeds. In fact, the latter are so stupendously large that a bull seal can reach a weight comparable to that of a fully grown bull African elephant, with both topping the scales at around four tonnes. It is worth noting, though, Did you know? Once pups are weaned and abandoned by their mothers, they gather in groups, making trips into the water to practise swimming and hunting in preparation for life as an adult at sea that the seal’s moniker doesn’t derive from…

The swarm of life Shane Gross, Canada Winner: Grand Title Winner: Wetlands, The Bigger Picture An underwater view of a mass of western toad tadpoles swimming beneath lilypads. Shane spent several hours snorkelling in Cedar Lake on Vancouver Island, careful to prevent any disturbance to the fine layers of silt and algae on the bottom, which would have reduced visibility. The tadpoles are moving up to the shallows to feed. They will start to become toads between one and three months after hatching, though about 90 per cent will not survive to adulthood. Practice makes perfect Jack Zhi, USA Winner: Behaviour, Birds Flying above its sea-cliff nest in Los Angeles, California, a young falcon practises its hunting skills on a butterfly. Jack had been visiting the area for the past…

When multi-millionaire Richie Moretti retired in the 1980s, he and his partner Tina Brown moved to the Florida Keys and bought the Hidden Harbor Motel. Richie and Tina would fish at tournaments and bring their catch back to the motel’s dock to photograph and weigh it, and the fish would die. But the motel had a natural, tidal, saltwater swimming pool, so Richie and Tina started to put the fish in there, and they survived. After a short time, this became an aquarium of sorts. The local school soon asked if they could bring pupils to visit and learn about local sealife. At the time, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were all the rage, and the children would also ask to see a sea turtle. So Richie went to the State…

I WAS WALKING DOWN A SANDY trail perforated by volcanic rocks – the sharp, pointy kind that ruin boots and twist ankles. The heat was making my feet heavy and had scorched the trees to skeletons. While I walked and talked with other members of the group, thirsty mockingbirds hopped between the surrounding thickets. I was on San Cristóbal, the easternmost island of the Galápagos, an archipelago born from volcanoes. Here, evolution takes place at such speed that scientists observe certain islands day and night. I was following in the footsteps of whalers and pirates, yet the animals here know no fear. Blue-footed boobies ignore you as they waggle their feet at prospective mates; spectacular marine iguanas glisten in the sun between swims. My destination was a volcanic crater. Two…

Email your questions to wildlifemagazine@ourmedia.co.uk Do wild lions only live in Africa? ASK PEOPLE TO NAME AN AFRICAN animal and it will probably be a close call between lions and elephants. Our own little survey turned up five lions, five elephants, two giraffes, a hippo, a zebra and a warthog. Aside from the fact chimpanzees and gorillas don’t get a mention, it is striking that the two animals apparently most closely associated with Africa are the only two of the bunch that are not unique to the continent. Elephants are as much Asian as they are African. Historically, so too were lions. The king of the beasts’ native range stretches from the southernmost tip of Africa, across the Arabian Peninsula, through Iran and Pakistan, to India in the east and…

Which country has the longest coastline? Coastlines are tricky to pin down. Do you measure them around every tiny inlet? Every jutting rock? At the high- or low-tide line? Estimates for any given country vary wildly. The coast of Norway, for example, is listed as the second longest (83,281km) by the CIA’s World Factbook, but only the seventh longest (53,199km) by the World Resources Institute (WRI). What is not in doubt, though, is that the longest coastline of all – 202,080km (CIA) or 265,523km (WRI) – belongs to Canada, a big country with very crinkly edges and many offshore islands. How do European eels reproduce? These eels lead double lives that are split between fresh- and salt-water, maturing in rivers and heading to the sea to breed. The lack of…

Day’s end Red crabs can be seen along the coast of West Bengal in India. The sun was about to set and I was lying half in the water and half on the sand to capture this perfect moment. Souvick Mukherjee, Burdwan, India Looking out A mother macaque cradles her baby in her arms, perched atop a sun-warmed rock. The baby, its curious eyes locked directly on the camera, embodies innocent wonder. Catalina Garoafa, Worcester Colourful character A gold dust gecko stretches between leaves on an agave plant in Honolulu, Hawaii. Michael Hughes, Streatley The boss This male Bengal tiger had recently claimed a new area of Ranthambore National Park, pushing the resident male out. Ghanshyam Singh Bharatpur, India Take cover During a break in a rainstorm, this collared aracari…

1. Texas blind salamander Found only in underground streams and deep pools in one region of Texas, this amphibian lacks pigment and is translucent-white as it has no need for protection from the sun. Functioning eyes are also obsolete in the complete darkness of its home, so they are reduced to small black dots covered by skin. Instead, it senses its prey through changes in water pressure. 2. Olm Another salamander, this time from Europe, the olm looks similar to the Texas blind salamander, with the same underdeveloped eyes covered by skin. However, it has a more serpentine body and can reach 40cm in length in comparison to the more diminutive 13cm of its Texan cousin. 3. Mexican tetra Found in Mexico and southern USA, this species of freshwater fish…

TARSIERS ARE AMONG THE WORLD’S SMALLEST primates, with large bulging eyes, tiny bodies and ET-like fingers. But their cute appearance has counted against them – they are poached for the pet trade and made to pose for selfies with paying tourists. Habitat loss and sound and light pollution are other key threats. One species facing a particularly severe decline is the Philippine tarsier – endemic to the archipelago that shares its name – as revealed by a survey in and around the tarsier sanctuary area of the Mount Matutum Protected Landscape. The research, carried out from 2023-24 by Endangered Species International (ESI), counted just five individuals, a significant decrease from the 33 counted in 2012-13 within the sanctuary area alone. No infants were spotted, whereas several were encountered in the…

IMAGINE (OR MAYBE YOU DON’T NEED TO) that you hanker after the safari trip of a lifetime in sub-Saharan Africa. A 17-day tour beginning at the iconic Victoria Falls, passing through Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania, taking in some of the continent’s most wildlife-rich national parks, and ending on the lush island of Zanzibar. It’s just what you’re looking for – now you just need to raid the piggy bank or win the National Lottery. “90 per cent of rainforest offset credits approved by the world’s leading certifier were worthless” The tour is run by an adventure travel group called Intrepid, that offsets the carbon emissions generated by the trip. In this case, that’s 18kg of carbon dioxide (often called CO2 equivalent or CO2e) per person per day, so a…

ZEBRAS ARE MASTERS OF confusion. Their collective noun is ‘a dazzle’, which is fitting since their bodies and behaviour have been surprising scientists for centuries. Let’s start with their sassy stripes, which have been the subject of scientific debate since the time of Darwin. They were originally assumed to be a form of camouflage to protect these equine grazers against big predators. Others hypothesized that the pattern, which varies amongst individuals much like a thumb print, acts as a means of identity signalling. Some even considered the black and white stripes a form of wearable air conditioner to protect their owner against the fierce equatorial sun. It transpires that the zebras’ stripes evolved to confuse flies, not scientists. A team of British scientists dressed horses in zebra print to deduce…

1 PENÍNSULA VALDÉS, ARGENTINA The only mainland colony of southern elephant seals, with around 15,000 pups born each year 2 SOUTH GEORGIA It’s estimated that this remote island hosts about 54 per cent of the global population of southern elephant seals 3 KERGUELEN ISLANDS Around 80,000 females are believed to give birth annually on this archipelago, which forms part of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands 4 MACQUARIE ISLAND The seal population at this Australian outpost recovered after hunting ceased, but recently numbers seem to have been declining, with around 19,000 females giving birth…

1 1965 Tawny Owl By Clive Dowdeswell The competition’s inaugural year, with Clive’s portrait of a tawny owl feeding its young winning the first Grand Title award, presented by David Attenborough. Wildlife Photographer of the Year was initially a magazine contest launched by BBC Wildlife (then Animals). That first year, the contest had three categories aimed at a predominantly British audience, and drew 361 entries. 2 1988 Dune Oryx By Jim Brandenburg This spectacular image, depicting a gemsbok silhouetted against the stark, sweeping dunes of the Namib Desert, is one of the most iconic in the competition’s history. Jim, from Minnesota, USA, went on to become Chairman of the Judges in 2012, a position he held until 2014. 3 1990 Red Fox Cub By Wendy Shatill Wendy, from Denver, Colorado,…

CHUMBE ISLAND CORAL PARK, a private reserve off the south-west coast of Zanzibar, is managed by an NGO entirely funded by tourist income. You can visit the island for the day or stay overnight in one of the seven solar-powered eco-bungalows that use grey water and composting toilets. Packed with wildlife and dedicated to conservation, the retreat strides beyond the principles of ‘sustainable tourism’ – which essentially means ensuring that today’s resources are available tomorrow – to embrace ‘regenerative tourism’, which seeks proactive improvement and growth. In an otherwise overfished region, Chumbe’s coral garden is classified as an IUCN Category II protected area, as well as a Marine Conservation Institute ‘Global Ocean Refuge’ and ‘Blue Park’. Accordingly, there is exceptional snorkelling over pristine reefs. Chumbe’s protected coral-rag forest is also…

ON THE CARIBBEAN SEA IN NORTHwest Panama, the archipelago of Bocas del Toro offers outstanding wildlife-watching. Smile at golden-collared manakins putting on courtship displays, swoon at a three-toed sloth bairn clinging to its mother, watch a green iguana make like a punk-frilled dinosaur, gawp at strawberry poison dart frogs, or kayak in search of the rare snowy cotinga. All of this is possible at Tranquilo Bay Eco Adventure Lodge, set up by two families who emigrated from the USA at the turn of the century. When they arrived, tourism on Bocos del Toro was unregulated and risked causing environmental harm. Twenty years on, tourist income has created an 80-hectare private rainforest reserve boasting 250 bird species, helped develop a 200ha, community-run reserve, and provided extensive local employment.…

LANDSCAPE RESTORATION, popularly known as ‘rewilding’, is an exciting and increasingly widespread conservation strategy. A short drive from Rome, the dramatic Central Apennines offer a vital refuge for charismatic animals that formerly occurred widely throughout the Italian mountains – including the grey wolf, golden eagle, Apennine brown bear and Apennine chamois (a mountain goat unique to these mountains). Here, the NGO Rewilding Apennines is working with Rewilding Europe, local partners and communities to reduce threats to wildlife by developing 100,000ha of ‘co-existence corridors’ that integrate with three existing national parks. Across a varied week, visitors can observe wildlife, learn how rewilding interfaces with local people, scrutinise camera-trap footage, help to construct electric fences or remove barbed wire, and support the economy by staying locally. Holidays can be booked directly with…

Several species go by the name of ‘wolf’: red, grey, Ethiopian, African and maned. The biggest of these (and the biggest member of the entire dog family) is the grey wolf of North America and Eurasia. The heftiest males can reach about 80kg in the wild. However, some breeds of domestic dog (which are descended from grey wolves, or something very similar) can get even bigger. English mastiffs and St Bernards can weigh more and Great Danes may stand taller at the shoulder. Indeed, many of the biggest domestic dog breeds were originally used to defend livestock from wolves.…

WE FIRST ENCOUNTER metamorphosis through children’s books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, in which (spoiler alert!) the insatiable insect ends up turning into a beautiful butterfly. This process – a spectacular transformation in an animal’s form or ‘morphology’ – produces dramatic differences between larvae and adults. Which animals metamorphose? Metamorphosis is characteristic of insects and amphibians, but it’s also found in specific groups. Flatfish are a clear case among vertebrates: a fish starts with two sides to its body – bilateral symmetry – but the right eye migrates to the left side and its dorsal fin becomes shorter as it transitions from a free-swimming larva to a ‘benthic’ or bottom-dwelling adult on the seafloor or river bed. Similar phenomena occur in invertebrates. For example, adult echinoderms have a benthic…

How did your photography career start? I’ve been a nature geek ever since I was a child growing up in California – chasing insects with my butterfly net and learning everything I could about the natural world. Photography had been a hobby for years, but really took off when I moved to Borneo, where I found a treasure trove of incredible plants and animals. I took the plunge in 2003 to become a freelance wildlife photographer. What drew you to Borneo? I had always wanted to live and work in the tropical rainforest, so when a job opportunity arose on the island just as I was finishing my degree, it was simply too good to pass up. Borneo’s charm is not only in its super-biodiverse rainforests, but the friendliness of…

NICK BAKER “Bagheera kiplingi is cheating the system and stealing ‘loot’ from under the ants’ antennae” P.36 GILLIAN BURKE “Seeing the landscape and all life as deserving of legal personhood could feel like a homecoming” P.27 MARK CARWARDINE The frank conservationist on how best to deal with the rise of mass tourism in polar regions P.30 LUCY COOKE “The sisterhood of zebra friends evolved to protect foals from infanticidal stallions” P.29 MIKE DILGER The mating rituals of southern elephants seals are rather unseemly, as the naturalist explains P.32…

THINK OF FLORIDA AND YOU’LL LIKELY conjure up images of Miami Vice, David Beckham’s football club or theme parks like Walt Disney World and Universal Studios. “People here are witness to a world changing on their very doorstep” But drive an hour south along US Route 1 through the Everglades National Park, and you’ll hit the Florida Keys, an archipelago of tropical islands that stretches nearly 200km towards Cuba, forming a barrier between the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean. They are, in essence, parts of an ancient coral reef exposed when sea levels receded, and are today home to some 80,000 people. The third-largest barrier reef in the world has become intricately intertwined with the locals’ way of life. As well as the commercial and recreational fishing industries…

ON THE SOUTH-EAST COAST OF New Zealand’s South Island, the city of Dunedin considers itself the country’s wildlife-watching capital, offering an impressive range of natural-history activities on nearby Otago Peninsula. Even better, your steps along the tourist trail contribute to protecting globally threatened birds. “Almost all of our wildlife tourism operators use the proceeds from admissions to advance their conservation efforts,” explains James Hall of Dunedin City Council. From the Royal Albatross Centre, run by the Otago Peninsula Trust, visitors can admire the world’s only mainland breeding colony of the globally threatened northern royal albatross – which has a 3m wingspan – plus the Stewart Island shag and New Zealand fur seal. Meanwhile, visiting the Otago Peninsula’s largest little blue penguin colony enables the managing charity, Pukekura Trust, to continue…

TRACKING AN HABITUATED group of mountain gorillas through Volcanoes National Park in the mist-cloaked rainforest of Rwanda’s Virunga Mountains is a bucket-list experience. Though tracking permits are now eye-wateringly expensive, costing $1,500 per person, they are worth every cent to visitors and gorillas alike. Across all Rwanda’s national parks, tourist income exceeded $35 million last year. Much of Volcanoes National Park’s income is pumped back into managing the protected area or distributed to local communities. The acid test, though, is whether tourism has increased gorilla numbers. In the 1970s, there were just 250 Virunga gorillas but by 2018, 604 individuals were censused – a welcome rise that downlisted the subspecies’ IUCN status from Critically Endangered to Endangered. (Read more on pages 18 and 66.)…

KNOWN AS THE ‘OSCARS OF wildlife art’, Wildlife Artist of the Year celebrates how art can be used as a platform to spark challenging conversations about the incredible species that share our planet. A passion project of celebrated wildlife artist David Shepherd, it and his legacy are now stewarded by David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation. This year was the 15th of the contest, with 1,297 entries received from more than 801 artists representing 46 countries. It’s a truly international competition that inspires both amateur and professional artists to engage audiences on crucial themes of conservation through a variety of mediums and concepts. This year’s overall winner was Sarah Lake, for her stunning papercut of an elephant’s trunk (see overleaf). All income from entry fees and a minimum of 50 per cent…

HIGHLY CHARISMATIC CHAMELEONS aren’t just associated with a catchy 1980s pop hit, they’re famous for being masters of colour change and snatching their prey with super-long tongues. More than 200 species of chameleon exist and are mainly found in rainforests and deserts. They are solitary creatures that vary in size, from the tiny Brookesia nana (females only reach up to 2.8cm in length) to Parson’s chameleon and Oustalet’s chameleon (both species can reach up to 69cm in length). How do chameleons catch their prey? Insects and plants are on the menu for chameleons, but some species also eat small birds and other lizards. Chameleons capture prey by projecting their tongues at high acceleration using powerful muscles. A chameleon’s tongue can extend to reach approximately twice the length of its body.…

ACROSS 1 Plant known as Queen Anne’s lace (3,7) 6 Vipers of south-west Europe (4) 9 Plant in the genus Bromus (10) 10 Oak or ash, say (4) 12 Streaky songbird of southern Africa (7,5) 15 Plant known as stinking nightshade (7) 16 Long-horned cetacean (7) 17 Upper part of a 10 Across (7) 19 Moth of woods and moors, Eulithis testata (7) 20 Pond insect sometimes called a backswimmer (5,7) 23 Angle between leaf and stem (4) 24 Mutually beneficient, as in co-operation between animals (10) 25 Female sheep (4) 26 Grass with edible seeds, sometimes grown as animal feed (7,3) DOWN 1 Baby bears, say (4) 2 Many 10 Acrosses, collectively (4) 3 Subarctic seabird (8,4) 4 10 Across, also known as a sorb (7) 5 ___ bluebird,…

AN EXCELLENT AND VERY TIMELY article by conservationist Mark Carwardine (September 2024) on the senseless slaughter of badgers by UK governments since the badger received protected status. The Tory government extended the badger cull and they have been cruelly and callously killed across the country. Brian May’s informative BBC Two documentary, Brian May: The Badgers, The Farmers and Me, really shone much-needed light on just how flawed this government policy is. Clearly, killing badgers never did (and never will) work in the effort to tackle bovine TB. Bovine TB is in the herd, not the clan, and it’s imperative that our Labour government follows the science and recognises the abundantly clear fact that badgers are being scapegoated, and that dairy farmers have effectively been conned by Tory leaders for more…

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