Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2025 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

This Natural Life In the first episode of this new Radio Four series, Martha Kearney meets actor Cate Blanchett at the Royal Botanic Gardens in Sussex and finds out why the wildlife of both the UK and her native Australia are so important to her. Catch up on BBC Sounds Expedition Killer Whale A one-off film offers a fascinating deep dive into the complex hunting methods and communication techniques of the world’s greatest predator. A team of experts travels to Antarctica armed with the latest technology. Coming soon to BBC Two The Earthshot Prize Join Prince William at a star-studded ceremony in Cape Town as he hosts the annual awards that recognise simple and ambitious ideas to repair our planet, from improving circular waste management to saving rare species. Catch…

GOLD RUSH A male golden-tailed sapphire shakes down in the Sumaco National Park, Ecuador. These shimmering hummingbirds inhabit the edges of humid forests and plantations, and tend to forage for nectar in the canopy, with males sometimes gathering in ‘quarrelsome assemblages’. SPINNING AROUND In the Pacific Ocean off Costa Rica a superpod of spinner dolphins relaxes between bouts of hunting. These acrobats can spin seven times in a single leap, launching themselves up to 3m into the air. This image won the Ocean Views category in this year’s Nature’s Best Photography International Awards.…

Dawn of prehistory A golden sunrise glow bathes a herd of eight musk oxen grazing in the mist in Dovrefjell-Sunndalsfjella National Park, south-central Norway. These shaggy herbivores – which, despite the name, are more closely related to goats than cows – lumbered throughout the Arctic tundra of Eurasia and North America during the last ice age. Long extinct in Europe, in the 20th century they were introduced into Dovrefjell. Norway is now home to around 300 musk oxen – one of the key species Florian tracked during his missions to photograph Scandinavian wildlife. Shaping shorelines Jagged pinnacles and ridges tear at the Arctic sky above Myrland Beach in the Lofoten Islands, a gnarled talon of an archipelago stretching west from Norway’s north coast. Powerful tides between the islands create eddies…

MARK NOWERS, TURTLE dove conservation advisor at the RSPB, always tells his volunteers not to go surveying in the rain. That’s because if you want to track down these shy, expertly camouflaged birds, you need to listen out for the male’s purring song – and they don’t sing in wet weather. Yet here we are, strolling through the drizzle at Wrabness Nature Reserve, run by the Essex Wildlife Trust, hoping that a turtle dove will turn up, against the odds, and justify my blurry-eyed 6am train journey from London. I’m here to learn about Operation Turtle Dove, the RSPB’s project (together with Natural England and the Pensthorpe Conservation Trust) to save this iconic farmland species from the dual threats of habitat loss and hunting. The turtle dove is the UK’s…

WE’RE FOLLOWING AN old Soviet-era map across the Kazakh Steppe when the first saiga break cover. Heads down, they charge through the knee-high grass reaching speeds of up to 120kph, a hard-wired legacy from the days when Asiatic cheetahs were the top predators on these central Asian grasslands. Following decades of conservation work, this strange-looking antelope, which wouldn’t be out of place on the set of Star Wars, is back, with more than 2.8 million individuals now roaming the landscape. But 20 years ago, the picture was quite different. A relic from the last ice age, the saiga once rubbed shoulders with the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros. It is incredibly tough, able to survive the worst extremes the steppe can muster. In winter, when temperatures plummet to -45°C, it grows…

Young mammals are entirely dependent on their mother’s milk for survival, so a female has little to gain by producing more offspring than she has teats. As a rule of thumb, a species’ maximum litter size is about equal to the number of teats, while the average is about half that. The tailless tenrec, a spiny shrew-like creature from Madagascar, has more teats (26) than any other mammal and also holds the records for average (18.4) and maximum (32) litter size. Females have been seen foraging with 32 weaned young, suggesting that they can survive even without a teat each. FACT. As many as 35,000 fish species have been discovered worldwide, which is more than the species of birds, mammals, amphibians and reptiles combined.…

How do spiders ‘fly’? Spiders don’t fly exactly; they ‘balloon’. To get airborne, a spider climbs to the top of a plant or rock and stands on tiptoe, pushing its abdomen into the air and releasing strands of silk from its spinnerets. These are caught by the breeze, pulling the spider up into the air. Lift is also provided by electrostatic forces (the same ones that can make your hair stand on end in a storm). Spiders account for one in every 17 airborne invertebrates and have been collected at altitudes of nearly 5km. Only small spiders are capable of ballooning, and it’s risky – many perish if they fall onto water. Is there a name for a group of snakes? Snakes are pretty unsociable animals, on the whole. Some…

Bite back In Keoladeo National Park, I’ve often seen rose-ringed parakeets attacking monitor lizards when they threaten a nest. This time one parakeet fetched a dozen others who all started biting the lizard’s tail. Hira Punjabi, Thane, India Waiting game Locals told me about a pack of Bengal foxes that regularly visit an area at the foot of Tilaboni Hill, Purulia. I waited in the dark for almost two hours and finally captured my desired image. Arghya Adhikary, Kolkata, India Hidden tiger After a day with no luck in Sanjay Dubri National Park, a rustle in the dried leaves revealed a Bengal tiger, staring at us. Sudhanshu Tiwari, Indore, India Berry picking Waxwings are rare visitors, but many will fly to the UK and Ireland to feed on rowan and hawthorn berries when…

IN RESPONSE TO JAMES FAIR’S ARTICLE ‘Can cattle help wildlife?’ (Special Report, October 2024), I agree that it is unbalanced to view livestock farming as solely detrimental to wildlife. In South West England, where I live, the landscape is dominated by sloping hills with high rainfall, and livestock farming on grassland is most prevalent. If these hills were to be cultivated for a plant-based diet, there would be huge soil and agricultural run-off, further polluting our rivers. According to Plantlife, converting grassland into arable farmland can cause a 59 per cent decline in soil carbon. The grasslands in the UK store over 2 billion tons of carbon, which can be greater than in some forests. Also, animal products are key sources of nutrition. It’s worth noting, however, that the consumption…

1. Proboscis monkey nose This strangely snouted primate is endemic to Borneo, living in swampy mangrove forests and along rivers. The pendulous nose belongs to the males and is thought to help attract females. A loud, deep roar advertises a male’s health and dominance to prospective mates and the nose acts as an echo chamber, allowing him to produce louder calls. 2. Aye aye finger A lemur from Madagascar, the aye aye uses its 8cm-long, almost skeletal-looking middle digit to tap on trees and locate cavities in the wood that house insect larvae. It then gnaws into the wood with rodent-like incisor teeth before extracting grubs with the same elongated finger. The primate has also been seen using this handy tool to pick its nose! 3. Burrowing asp fangs Instead…

Here at BBC Wildlife over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed how often we comment on an animal’s appearance in terms of how it makes us feel. We all cooed over the kiwi chick on p88, and wowed at the jaguar on p69, for example. And yet when we saw the proboscis monkey on p98, we couldn’t help but stare at its big nose. And I know I was guilty of calling the saiga (p72) “that weird-looking antelope that looks like something out of Star Wars”. It’s all subjective. But actually, how we view animals’ physical appearance can have a real impact on their survival. We’re hard-wired to find our own offspring adorable – it makes evolutionary sense. But how we view other species is a complex issue, as Jo…

NOBODY LOVES A DIRTY RAT, RIGHT? BUT what about an African giant pouched rat, a Goliath-sized rodent weighing 1.5-2kg (three to four times the size of our own brown rat) and native to the savannahs of southern Africa? Over the past 25 years, these giant rats – known as ‘hero rats’ by the people who train them – have been used to detect deadly landmines and tuberculosis pathogens in medical samples. Now, there’s even more reason to love these rodents – they could play an important role in fighting the illegal wildlife trade, thanks to their amazing sense of smell. Research carried out by scientists from the non-profit group APOPO has demonstrated that giant rats can detect samples of elephant ivory, rhino horn, pangolin scales and African hardwood, even when…

THE WALLIS ANNENBERG WILDLIFE Crossing, construction of which started in April 2022, is now standing in Liberty Canyon, in California’s Santa Monica mountains. This feat of sustainable engineering will reconnect habitats bisected by the 10-lane 101 Freeway, providing a living lifeline for the mammals and reptiles on either side. It’s hoped the crossing will also act as a global model for urban wildlife conservation. The bridge is being built mainly to protect California’s mountain lions (also known as pumas and cougars), whose gene pool has been restricted by habitat fragmentation, but will also benefit a range of other species, from bobcats, coyotes, mule deer and black bears to desert cottontail rabbits, skunks, American badgers, California bats, Pacific gopher snakes and crocodile lizards. And it’s not just for fauna. Some 5,000…

The broadcaster, naturalist and tour guide shares the most breathtaking seasonal events in the world It may be the world’s largest and most biodiverse ecosystem, but it can be surprisingly difficult to see much in the Amazon. The majority of species are placed firmly in the ‘shy and secretive’ category, and even spotting birds is tricky, given the dense nature of the forest foliage. However, if you like your fauna to put on a show, worry not. Select sites along the western reaches of the Amazon basin host a dazzling phenomenon that is the ornithological equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel. Did you know? Macaws feed large amounts of clay, through regurgitation, to their chicks. The youngsters need the sodium in the clay for the development of bone, muscle…

THINK OF THE BBC series Big Cats and the rusty-spotted cat might spring to mind, a kitten-sized felid whose prowess for murder did nothing to detract from his ridiculously adorable appearance. The little predator captured hearts worldwide, and a two-minute video of him on YouTube now has more than 62 million views. A quick skim of the 83,000 comments reveals a common theme. “This is literally the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” says one. “I want to get this little kitty… sooooo cute,” writes another. His large eyes, round face and petite size are all key traits of what we perceive as cute, and while they’re typically associated with baby animals, they needn’t be restricted to the natural world. Hello Kitty, Japan’s monumentally successful global ambassador of…

IN SOUTHERN BELIZE, IN THE district of Toledo, lies the wonderfully named Maya Golden Landscape. This 275,000ha swathe of forest is as magical as it sounds, connecting mountains to coast and sheltering a vast array of wildlife, from the harpy eagle to all five of Belize’s big cats. Nestled at the very foot of the country, Toledo is an undeveloped and sparsely populated corner of Belize. Tourists, most of which hail from the USA, tend not to venture this far down, heading instead for the white-sand cayes of the country’s famous barrier reef. Indeed, gazing down over the landscape from a tiny, eight-seater plane, the view reveals no high-rise developments nor sprawling resorts; just acres of greenery, broken up by clusters of dwellings, the occasional shrimp farm and one main…

Kazakhstan is the only country in the world planning to reintroduce tigers. The big cat has been extinct in the country for more than 70 years, but in September 2024, two captive Amur tigers were translocated from a sanctuary in the Netherlands to a special 3ha enclosure in Ile-Balkhash Nature Reserve, south-east Kazakhstan. Any resulting offspring will be released into the wider reserve, which features a mixture of wetlands and forest, and favoured prey species such as Bukhara deer and Kulan. The tigers’ reintroduction is the first of several planned over the coming years, with the goal of building a population of up to 50 wild tigers by 2035.…

CARBON IS THE CHEMICAL ELEMENT that allows life to exist, the core component of molecules in our cells and bodies. It eventually returns to the environment when we die, however, and the element must be recycled – via the carbon cycle – so it can be used again and again by living things. What’s special about carbon? The element forms strong chemical bonds with others and produces many important molecules. One atom combines with two oxygen atoms to make carbon dioxide (CO2), for example, while long chains of carbon with added hydrogen atoms (hydrocarbons) or water (carbohydrates) form molecules whose bonds contain the energy – as fuel or food – that powers everything from petrol cars to the biochemical reactions in living cells. Where does it come from? Carbon ultimately…

How did your career start? I learned to dive aged 14 and started taking pictures underwater shortly afterwards. There were some easily accessible dive locations on the east coast of Australia where I grew up, with reefs and ledges adorned in a living veneer of macro and invertebrate life. I instantly fell in love with its natural beauty, and the sense of exploration that comes from spending time underwater. Which of your images means the most to you, and why? My image entitled A Diet of Deadly Plastic won ‘Oceans: The Bigger Category’ in this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition. It shows a record-breaking 403 pieces of plastic removed from the digestive tract of a flesh-footed shearwater. It is a horrible picture, but I’m grateful to have been…

NICK BAKER The minibeast-lover dives down into the deep sea to uncover a woodlouse the size of a cat P.36 GILLIAN BURKE “We have always been fascinated by the self-organising efficiency of social insects” P.27 MARK CARWARDINE “Why are conservationists still being ignored, as if saving life on Earth is an optional extra?” P.30 LUCY COOKE The zoologist shines a light on the dolphins that pass on the skill of ‘sponging’ P.29 MIKE DILGER “The dazzling phenomenon is the ornithological equivalent of shooting fish in a barrel” P.32…

IN THE ORKNEY ISLANDS, A SPRINGER SPANIEL and a black labrador are part of the team that is successfully removing stoats as part of a project to help wildlife. The dogs’ remarkable sense of smell has helped conservationists from the Orkney Native Wildlife Project to track down more than 6,500 of the small predators, which are not native to the Scottish archipelago. Stoats arrived in Orkney around 2010 – it’s not known exactly how or from where. The islands are a haven for ground-nesting birds, including hen harriers, curlews, lapwings and oystercatchers, in part due to the lack of native terrestrial mammalian predators. Stoats were impacting the birds’ reproductive success. Stoat removal began in 2019, and is already having a positive impact, says RSPB Scotland. For example, hen harrier nesting…

JONATHAN AND ANGIE SCOTT HAVE been documenting the lives of predators in Kenya’s Masai Mara since the late 1970s, with shows such as Big Cat Diary popularising the ecosystem and its world-famous wildebeest river crossings. There have always been tourists that break safari protocols, they say – standing on top of vehicles to get a better view of a big-cat kill or getting out of the Jeep at a river crossing to snap a selfie. “There are videos of people flying drones around the heads of giraffes. The minority spoil it for everyone.” But two things have exacerbated the impact of this behaviour. One, the sheer numbers visiting the Mara every year; and two, our smartphones and how we use them. “Social media is turning us all into paparazzi,” says…

To sponge or not to sponge? That is the question for the bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) living in Shark Bay, Western Australia. These super-smart cetaceans have learnt a crafty trick when foraging for grubfish, which hide away on the seabed. To locate this cryptic prey, they use their snouts to probe the sand and encourage the fish to reveal themselves. A dolphin’s snout, or rostrum, is packed full of nerve endings and extremely sensitive to touch. So, sifting through grit must be an irritating occupation. Which is why some dolphins have started wearing marine sponges for protection. This functional fashion was first recorded in 1995 in five dolphins. It caused a scientific stir as the only known instance of tool-use by dolphins in the wild. Since then, ‘sponging’ has spread…

Talaud bear cuscus Endemic to a few Talaud Islands in Indonesia, this secretive marsupial faces threats of habitat loss and hunting Pennant’s red colobus Found only on Bioko Island in Equatorial Guinea, this tree-dwelling monkey has four long fingers and a powerful grip Tamaraw Also called the Mindoro dwarf buffalo, this diminutive animal, with its distinctive V-shaped horns, is found only on the island of Mindoro in the Philippines African wild ass This ancestor of the donkey lives in arid regions around the horn of Africa. A keen sense of hearing is enabled by those huge ears. Pygmy or Cozumel raccoon The smallest raccoon species is endemic to Cozumel Island off Mexico’s Yucatan…

Email your questions to wildlifemagazine@ourmedia.co.uk IT SEEMS UNFAIR TO SINGLE OUT particular animals for praise here, because every species has its own particular needs. A deer, for example, with its eyes on the sides of its head, has a very wide field of view (for spotting danger), but poor perception of distances, while a wolf’s forward-pointing eyes judge distances well, but view a narrower slice of the world. Can we really say one has better vision than the other? If we’re going to make it a competition, we need to be specific. Birds of prey have great eyes for detail – known as visual acuity. Wedge-tailed eagles came out top in a study of 94 bird species, picking out details a 30th of the size of those detectable by Anna’s…

WATIVE TO NEW ZEALAND, kiwis are flightless birds that are considered ‘honorary mammals’ due to their physical characteristics and behaviour. Iconography of these national treasures features widely across this island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, even though the birds are rarely seen. Kiwis are shy, nocturnal animals that are (for the most part) in decline, but conservation efforts are ongoing. What sound do kiwis make? The kiwi is said to be named after the distinctive, shrill call of male kiwis, which sounds like “kee wee, kee wee”. These loud, piercing noises are used to attract a mate and mark territory. Female kiwis have deeper, raspier calls. How big are they? Kiwis are pear-shaped birds that are about the size of a chicken. The largest species of kiwi is the…

The crossword ACROSS 1 ___ worm, invertebrate in the phylum Nemertea (6) 4 Cross-shaped, like a mustard flower (8) 9 ___ alkaligrass, plant native to far north-eastern North America (6) 10 Biting fly and malaria vector (8) 12 Slender fish-like filter feeder (8) 13 WWT reserve on the Ouse Washes (6) 15 Very small branch (4) 16 Deciduous species that may be honey, black or water (6,4) 19 Migratory warbler (10) 20 Long-billed wading bird (4) 23 Month in which most UK swifts depart for Africa (6) 25 Widespread succulent plant (4,4) 27 Pheasant-like bird of Asian mountain regions (8) 28 Folk name for a green woodpecker (6) 29 Malabar ___, arboreal amphibian (4,4) 30 Fig tree subspecies (6) DOWN 1 Widespread brown butterfly (7) 2 Flightless bird that may…

ON SALE 9th JANUARY…