Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2025 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

MALE BABOONS FIGHT TOOTH AND NAIL TO become alpha – the coveted position at the pinnacle of the social hierarchy that will enable them to sire the most offspring. But a recent study in Amboseli, Kenya, has found that life at the top isn’t easy. By measuring specific hormones, scientists revealed that alpha males face greater energetic challenges than their lower-ranking counterparts. The researchers assumed that the two main challenges of being alpha – guarding females against the advances of other males and fighting rivals vying for their position – would be equally taxing. Surprisingly, they discovered that guarding females appeared to be much more energetically costly than maintaining the position of alpha. This could be because, by the time males become alphas, they don’t have to do much fighting…

More than 10 years ago, a number of high-profile retailers were caught up in an animal-welfare scandal that involved the unlikely combination of coffee, dung and a small animal that most people in the UK, or indeed the rest of the world, had never heard of: the civet. Kopi luwak, as the coffee is known, is made from beans extracted from a civet’s dung. Though classed as carnivores, most civets (which are part of the family that also encompasses genets – there are some 17 species spread across Africa and Asia) are omnivores or even frugivores. They eat coffee cherries as part of a semi-natural diet – semi-natural, because coffee is not native to Asia, where kopi luwak is produced. “Kopi luwak, as the coffee is known, is made from…

LAST MARCH I RECEIVED an unusual email from an Indian taxonomist asking to utilise my name for a brand new species of wasp: Hadronotus cookeae. Being indelibly associated with one of the most despised creatures on the planet may not be everyone’s idea of an honour, but I couldn’t have been more delighted. I’ve always dreamed of being immortalised in nature and couldn’t have wished for a more fascinating, if misunderstood, namesake. Many claim not to see the point of wasps. But females belonging to species such as mine have the power to revolutionise farming and protect the environment from toxic pesticide pollution. It was fitting that this invitation should land in my inbox on Mother’s Day, as my wasp’s extraordinary value centres on her innovative approach to motherhood. Hadronotus…

How do birds fly in a V formation? ASKY-FULL OF GEESE IN TRANSIT between their feeding and roosting grounds is a honking good spectacle. It’s not just the numbers that impress, or the noise – there’s also an exquisite geometry to it all. The striking V formations adopted in flight by geese, swans, ducks, pelicans, cranes and storks are the result of each bird flying slightly behind and to the side of the one in front. It’s an arrangement that increases the flock’s energy efficiency. Each wingbeat generates swirling vortices of air that roll off the tips. These create a downward movement of air directly behind the bird but, to the left and right, they force air upwards. Experiments show that by positioning itself in an uplift zone, a trailing…

Going upstream I was delighted to see a pink salmon run in Whittier, Alaska. After lowering my waterproof phone into the water, I snapped away blind. Nothing could have prepared me for the result. Best of all, the phone survived too! Simon Kirk, Newcastle upon Tyne Storyteller Mallards and their chicks are a common sight on the River Nith in Dumfries. On this particular day, a mallard mum and her chicks had decided to take a rest on a log that had been washed downstream. Christopher Stones, Dumfries Viewpoint I saw this rare golden monkey in the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda. Only 4,000-5,000 remain due to habitat destruction. Amish Chhagan, Barcelona, Spain In its own world While searching for insects to photograph in Bhadrak, India, I noticed this garden tent-web spider. I was…

I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THE ARTICLE ON big cats in the UK in the February issue. It is a topic that has fascinated me for years and, as an animal management lecturer, it often crops up in my wildlife lessons. Big cats were almost certainly released after the Dangerous Wild Animals Act 1976. The fact that releases around World War II may have occurred due to rationing is one I hadn’t considered, but seems logical. But one would imagine old age would have killed off any 1940s releases by the 1960s, and 1970s releases would have died off by the 1990s at the latest. Were enough animals released to find each other to breed for all of that time? Plus, no one has produced a carcass of a big cat in…

WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY has traditionally been a male-dominated industry, but change is afoot. Many women across the globe are now forging successful careers as wildlife and conservation photographers, helping to redress the balance and inspiring a whole new generation of natural-history storytellers. To mark this year’s International Women’s Day, we’ve asked nine renowned female photographers – many of whose work has featured in previous issues of BBC Wildlife – to share one of their most meaningful images and the story behind it. The watch By Jen Guyton, USA “It was soon after dawn in the Lemek Conservancy, Kenya, when these spotted hyenas arrived at a pond to drink. Hyenas are widely misunderstood, yet are highly intelligent and social, living and hunting as members of matriarchal clans. I captured this close-up with…

ASHIPPING CONTAINER WITHIN earshot of roaring lions, with a nearby rollercoaster twisting through the sky, is perhaps not the location you’d expect for a crustacean conservation project. But then these are not normal times for the white-clawed crayfish (Austropotamobius pallipes), the UK’s only native crayfish species. It’s an invertebrate under severe pressure, with its plight very much a tale of the age. There’s the familiar story of a threat to native wildlife from an invasive species, but also a vast mobilisation of experts and laypeople to come up with creative solutions against steep odds – enough to warm the heart a little amid gloomy biodiversity narratives. “It’s a bit crazy, the amount of people working on one animal, but I think that’s because it’s such an important part of the…

ANIMALS CAN GO FOR DAYS WITHOUT water and weeks without food, but a continuous supply of oxygen is vital for survival. This is why vertebrates have evolved a variety of respiratory systems, with organs such as lungs or gills, to extract oxygen from air or water, which have enabled them to occupy diverse habitats. What’s the difference between breathing and respiration? Respiration describes two linked yet distinct processes. The first is aerobic cellular respiration, a series of metabolic reactions within living cells that uses oxygen (O₂) molecules to generate energy while producing carbon dioxide (CO₂). Most animals must constantly absorb O₂ and get rid of excess CO₂. That’s handled by the second process, breathing or physiological respiration. Breathing is the exchange of gases between the body and external fluid –…

When did your interest in wildlife start? India is very biodiverse, home to about 8 per cent of the world’s species. I grew up in the foothills of Matheran, exploring the forest with my magnifying glass and binoculars. Every weekend I would go with my dad to our local wetlands, where we would spend hours observing lesser flamingos. Every adventure left me wanting more. What’s been your most memorable encounter with wildlife? I was with a team filming leopards in Jhalana, Rajasthan, when we got a call from our producer that a leopard was attacking an Indian blue bull. Blue bulls are three times the size of a leopard, so I thought he was pulling my leg. Arriving at the location, I could see the bull with its head bent…

Naturalist and BBC Wildlife columnist Mike Dilger fulfils a childhood dream, travelling to the remote central highlands of Papua New Guinea in search of arguably the world’s most flamboyant avian group – the birds of paradise. Embarking on the “toughest birding you’ll ever do”, he recounts his adventures with these vibrant and highly elusive forest wonders. ON SALE 3rd APRIL…

RESEARCHERS IN SAUDI ARABIA HAVE discovered a surprising new method for locating seagrass meadows, as reported in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The scientists satellite-tagged 53 green turtles between 2018 and 2021 to track their movements while foraging. The turtles led the researchers to 34 previously unknown seagrass meadows in the Red Sea, increasing the region’s known area of seagrass by 13 per cent. The turtles were about 20 times more reliable at identifying the sites than the Allen Coral Atlas – a conservation tool that uses high-resolution satellite imagery to map global coastlines. Seagrass meadows play a vital role in the capture and storage of carbon. Together with mangroves and saltmarshes, they are more effective carbon sinks than rainforests. However, according to the study, ‘blue carbon’…

The broadcaster, naturalist and tour guide shares the most breathtaking seasonal events in the world THE BALD EAGLE’S IMAGE HAS LONG been celebrated on the USA’s dollar bill. But despite the American plains bison having arguably made a greater contribution to the continent’s history, it has, until recently, only garnered a fraction of the publicity afforded the eagle. This oversight was belatedly corrected in 2016, when President Barack Obama signed the National Bison Legacy Act, making this charismatic beast the United States’ official ‘national mammal’. The American bison once dominated North America’s vast grasslands, with as many as 30 million roaming the Great Plains. So numerous was the continent’s largest mammal that the sound of their collective hooves pounding the earth was likened to that of rolling thunder. The bison…

There’s nowhere else on earth like the Americas. This vast supercontinent divides our two greatest oceans, and its head and toes reach towards both poles. It has the tallest trees, the longest continental mountain range, the biggest rainforest… the list goes on. While many parts of the Americas have been covered in countless natural history series, no one has yet told the story of the supercontinent as a whole. As a film-maker, that was an incredibly exciting prospect – but a daunting one, too. Spanning 10 episodes, this production – a collaboration between the BBC and NBC Universal – would be epic in every sense of the word. In fact, The Americas has been pretty much unprecedented in terms of its scale and ambition. The series has been almost five…

NESTLED IN THE HEART of the Indonesian archipelago, Komodo island is a small but extraordinary landmass reminiscent of something out of Jurassic Park. A sanctuary for the largest extant lizard species, the endangered Komodo dragon (Varanus komodoensis), it offers a glimpse into an era dominated by reptiles. Komodo is not only a haven for more than 5,000 Komodo dragons, a species found nowhere else in the world, it’s also been the ancestral home of the Ata Modo people for some 2,000 years. The Ata Modo boast a rich history and culture, skilfully adapting their ways of life to coexist with their enormous reptilian neighbours. Yet, despite their contribution to Komodo dragon conservation, Ata Modo culture and history have scarcely been documented. Friends say I have a knack for never taking…

IF YOU’VE WATCHED DISNEY’S THE LION King, you’ll be very familiar with a loveable animated warthog called Pumbaa. Warthogs are grazers that live in woodlands, open bushlands and savanna grasslands across sub-Saharan Africa. They play a vital role in the ecosystem, promoting plant growth by aerating the soil with their snouts while they look for food. These members of the pig family Suidae are also important prey for African carnivores, including leopards, hyenas, lions and wild dogs. Why are they called warthogs? The warthog can be easily recognised by its distinctive features, including two pairs of tusks, a large head, stocky body, rough mane, and long tail with a tuft of hair at the end. Its common name, though, comes from the prominent, wart-like bumps on its face. Males have…

The crossword ACROSS 7 No longer domesticated but not fully wild (5) 8 Yellow wildflower in the buttercup family (9) 10 ___fly, insect whose aquatic larvae construct protective cases (6) 11 Firecrest and goldcrest, say (8) 12 Migratory woodland songbird (8) 13 Wild ___, plant in the Allium genus (4) 15 ___ hairy bat, mammal of south-west Africa (7) 17 Subtly patterned grey duck (7) 20 Crustacean that may be shore or hermit (4) 22 Roly-polies (8) 25 Vibrantly coloured marine polyp colony (3,5) 26 US state, home to the Kodiak bear (6) 27 Saturated prairie habitat (3,6) 28 Raccoon-like mammal of Central and South America (5) DOWN 1 Whales and porpoises, for example (9) 2 Andean tanager (8) 3 Large, fork-tailed bird of prey (3,4) 4 Ancient genus of…

1. Caribbean box jellyfish Though these tiny jellyfish don’t possess a central brain – having only a few thousand neurons clustered around their eyes instead – they are avid learners. A 2023 study found they were able to learn to avoid objects in a laboratory experiment, quickly adapting their behaviour based on new information. 2. Beadlet anemone A study at the University of Nottingham examined the extent to which the behaviour of these tentacled sea creatures can change in response to different stimuli. It found that, while they are normally very territorial, they are able to habituate to those that are genetic clones of themselves. 3. Portuguese man o’ war If you consider cooperation to be a sign of cleverness, look no further than one of the deadliest animals in…