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The filter in cigarettes is packed with plastic fibres, big tobacco are flooding the world with microplastics

It is hard to believe it, but the most common source of plastic pollution we throw into the environment is cigarette ends. Worldwide 800,000 metric tonnes of cigarettes are burnt each year.

The butts contain 7000 toxic chemicals and take a decade to degrade. Also 70% of seabird stomachs examined and 30% of sea turtle stomachs contained at least one cigarette butt.

Given the quantity of single use plastics in a cigarette, they should be banned like every other type of single use plastic.

Tobacco companies have pledged to stop selling cigarettes yet worldwide 6 trillion are produced every year. It is quite simple – an industry which creates 800,000 tonnes of cigarette butts a year cannot be classed as sustainable.

If governments required tobacco companies to clean up all cigarette butts at the end of life – this would hammer home how difficult it is.

Biodegradable filters already exist, but until these either become legally required or the companies are forced to pay to clean up all their mess they have little reason to do the right thing.

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Swedish firm deploy crows to pick up cigarette butts

Sodertailje, a city in Sweden is turning to an unlikely litter picker in an attempt to tidy up after smokers who cant be bothered to dispose of their cigarette ends properly.

What does it say, that we can teach crows to pick up cigarettes butts but cannot teach people to stop dropping them

Wild birds do the clean up, there is a bespoke machine which dispenses a little food for every butt end that it is given. in other words they are voluntarily assisting in the cleanup for payment.

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Researchers may have found overlooked section of our DNA that could explain why humans are so different to Chimpanzees

In many ways humans are incredibly similar to the other great apes – Chimpanzees, Bonobos, gorillas and orangutans.

Stem cell researchers released a paper in late 2021 (In cell stem cell) that might explain. A previously overlooked section of the DNA – non-coded DNA may explain why our brain and that of other great apes works so differently.

Their study suggests that chimpanzees and humans use a part of the DNA stream in different ways, and this has a considerable effect on the way our brains form.

Perhaps unfortunately (or fortunately) this suggests that the data held outside of the protein-coding genes (which has up to now been labelled junk DNA) has greater importance. This of course means that there is still a great deal to de-code (never mind understand).

Roughly 2% of our genes are thought to be genetic, the other 98% (overlooked till now) is likely to have many hidden secrets that might give us a better idea if what it is to be human (at least from a genetical point of view.

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Amazon researchers have created a huge photo database including more than 150,000 images from camera traps

Increasing amounts of research in wilderness habitats is done by camera traps. These can be left taking pictures for days or weeks or even years. As the Camera is silent it often does not get noticed at all (unless it needs to illuminate the scene.

150,000 pictures is a huge amount of data and it is entirely possible that analysis will identify more useful information that has not as yet been noticed.

A wide variety of wildlife is represented from jaguars to spectacled bears. indeed 317 birds mammals and reptiles are represented in this treasure trove. Collaboration and sharing of collected pictures and similar will only become more important as the ability and tools to analyse the data improves. Collaboration has greatly improved over time but still needs to get better.

In places like the Amazon, we also have significant issues – Jair Bolsonaro the current president of Brazil has been against established science throughout his term. If he is re-elected (and if he is it is likely the end of the Brazilian rainforest) then this information is likely to be horded, as it will show how stupid many of his statements are

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The Swedish government has decided to cull as much as half of the wolf population – why?

Wolf numbers in Sweden started to fall after a law in 1789 allowed commoners to hunt moose and deer, led to a lack of food for the wolf population. It is thought that there were no wolves in the South of Sweden by 1800, and they had vanished from the north by no later than 1900.

However, unlike the UK, Sweden is on mainland Europe. This means that countries bordering Sweden can have very different wolf policies – allowing wolves to naturally return. This happened in 1980s when 3 Finnish-Russian wolves crossed over the border and migrated to the south. These 3 (with occasional new migrants( has grown to 480, mostly in central Sweden.

Conservationists have argued that 300 wolves is the bare minimum for a healthy population. Those who study wolves suggest that wolves have a density of between one every 4.6 squire miles (12 square km) and one every 46 square miles (120 square km). Sweden has an are of 173,000 square miles suggesting a carrying population of between 3700-37000 wolves.

200 is therefore roughly 5% of the minimum carrying capacity of Sweden. Remember that most of Sweden remains heavily forested, and therefore perfect habitat for the wolf. These forests are also shared by 3000 bears.

What these numbers show, is that the current number of wolves in Sweden – 480 spread across roughly 40 packs, is absolutely fine.

The government minister did not give a figure as to how big she thought the population should be, but said that while Sweden must meet its EU obligation to not eradicate the wolf, she supported people “who live where wolves are, who feel social anxiety, and those who have livestock and have been affected”. Now it should be noted that these two policies are not compatible. For many farmers, the only number of wolves that they will be happy with is zero – they will always feel nervous with any wolves still staying wild.

It should be noted that the countries hunting lobby is powerful, and have argued that the wolves eat moose (which they want to be able to hunt) and kill their dogs if they get close enough.

I have experience of the wilds of Sweden. There is a Swedish bear hide listed on this site. Our visit gave us 6 bear sightings and a wolf, and when we went south to the centre of the wolf range we also saw some elk (moose) being harried by a wolf – exciting, even if the sighting was very brief. There is a great deal of money that flows into Sweden for ecotourism, and the potential of this is far higher than the money gained from hunting

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Spotted hyenas in the Serengeti are changing their behaviour as the rain patterns change

Spotted hyena mothers are finding that they have to travel further to find food. The hyenas are having to travel long distances, more and more regularly as the rain changes mean that the huge migration herds arrive later.

What is fascinating is that researchers have found that they are spending no less time with their cubs.

Now it should be noted, that many of the remaining wild hyenas live in far more fragmented habitats, and in these places the issue may be more serious. Never-the-less, for the time being what is clear is that these highly adaptable animals are currently adapting to changes bought about by climate change with relative ease.

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Global Warming Policy Foundation is being challenged for its charity status – it is not a charity, it is a lobby group for fossil fuels

For those of us who are sane, the Global Warming Policy Foundation is an embarrassment to the UK.

Its stated aims are aims are to challenge “extremely damaging and harmful policies” envisaged by governments to mitigate anthropogenic global warming.

This challenge seems highly justified.

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A new whole earth image is taken, first in decades. Why this is not suspicious

The blue marble is a famous image that was taken of the earth as the lunar craft made its way back. Why does this matter? Whole earth photos are taken rarely as you have to get a great distance from earth to be able to take them (see calculation below). Yet in 2015 the first was taken for quite some time by the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR).

Image was taken by NASA
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The manned wolf is being seen increasingly often in the Amazon rainforest

The manned wolf that looks rather like a fox on stilts. It is found throughout South American Savannahs

Not actually a fox or a wolf, the manned wolf exists in its own genus.

Living on open savannahs the manned wolf is unfortunately facing the loss of most of its habitat. Though we hear about the loss of the Amazon rainforest the most, all other ecosystems in South America are also under threat.

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