Whilst I love this time of year, spare a thought for your pets with all the fireworks and bonfire night festivities.
The RSPCA have some great advice to make sure your pets don’t have a frightening Autumn, including using pheromone diffusers which a few people in my office have tried to great effect!
Brilliant news for the gorillas at London Zoo. First-time Mum, Mjukuu, gave birth to a healthy boy on October 26th. The keepers will now start the sensitive process of introducing the youngster to his step-father Kesho.
This weekend it’s the RSPB’s Feed the Birds day. Join in on 30th October as they help remind us why these feathery friends are so special. Go to their website to find out some useful tips and advice on how you can help them and other wildlife through the cold Winter season.
The IUCN has reported to the Nagoya summit that one species of vertebrate is added to the endangered list every week. The Evolution Lost report shows that mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish species have declined by an average of 30% in the last 40 years.
The results could have been a lot worse without the introduction of nature reserves and breeding plans which have helped 64 species to recover from the brink of extinction. The sobering report calls for world leaders to raise their efforts to conserve biodiversity.
Scientists have discovered just how intelligent New Caledonian crows are! Their young form ‘schools’ where they learn how to use tools by watching their parents. Birds in the crow family, or corvids, are renowned for their intelligence and ability to solve problems (and the ones near me are extremely clever in deciding when to walk across our busy road!) But this species has been found to improve tools over time, even creating left handed or right handed tools!
Incredible photos from East Timor’s first Scuba Photography competition. This tiny state, found North West of Darwin Australia, was hoping to encourage tourism and awareness of the diverse range of life found off their shores.
Hot on the heels of yesterday’s walking dolphins…dancing lemurs!
Every morning these beautiful Sifaka lemurs make their way across clearings to get to their foraging ground in the forest. To avoid predators, they hop sideways using their hind legs making them look like they’re dancing across the forest floor. All lemurs are only found on the island of Madagascar and unfortunately these Sifaka lemurs are threatened and remain on the conservation endangered list.
Many thanks to Jez for another top heads up!
Scientists have discovered that the intelligent dolphin may have learnt how to walk on water ‘just for fun’! River dolphins have been followed ‘walking’ over the water using their tail fins along the water surface. It’s thought the mammals in the Port Adelaide area learnt the skill from one remarkable dolphin Billie, who spent a short time at a tourist attraction. Even though the skill has no discernible purpose, being ‘just for fun’, it is similar to humans dancing or doing gymnastics, and so shows an important link between the two species’ behaviour.
Scientists have discovered that dogs rely on seeing their owners’ faces to recognise them. Dogs easily preferred their ‘best friend’ over strangers but when the owner’s face was covered they had difficulty recognising them.
This seems to show that although wild dogs rely on body signals and cues from their social group, domesticated dogs are more atuned to human social groups and are able to read some of our facial expressions.
Last night, the Natural History Museum announced their Veolia Wildlife Photographer of the Year winners, including this amazing shot of leaf-cutter ants in a Costa Rican rainforest by Bence Mate.
This and more than 100 other incredible wildlife photographs will be in the exhibition that opens tomorrow, Friday 22nd, at the Natural History Museum, before going on tour. And if you can’t catch it near you, a book with all the winning shots will be available for £25.
