Click on the image for the page to open in a new tab. It is a useful list to read to, particularly if you are hesitating on buying your first EV.
In 2024, for the first time, Tesla sold more cars than Audi – for many years, there were a large number of suggestions (from so-called experts) that Tesla was not a serious car company. Does this make Audi not a serious car company, or is Tesla finally a serious car company. Shares in Tesla fell last year as a result of the fact that they sold a small amount fewer cars than the year before, though Audi sales fell by 12% – while Tesla sales fell by 1%.
Suggestions that Tesla is in danger, seem far over stretched. It is true that it delayed its next car (the tesla model 2) but this delay is not likely to be long.
They are currently concentrating on the Robo taxi – it seems that share prices are ignoring the Robo taxi. In 2016 there was an estimated 18 million taxis on the road – given the smaller form factor, these are only expected to cost around $25,000-30,000. If they manage to revolutionize the production line (with their unboxed line) they are likely to be able to make huge numbers a year. It does require FSD to be cracked, so timelines could slip, but once cracked it is estimated that owners could make $40,000 a year (or more than initial investment)
For any readers who do not know what a pine marten is, the above will give you an idea. It is an arboreal predator (that is, it hunts in the trees). There are a total of 8 species of marten across the world. Historically, this was the second most common predator in the UK, with only the fox being more common.
Unfortunately, its habit of taking chickens lead to it being hunted ruthlessly. At the current time, it hangs on in Wales, and has a significant population in Scotland. In Ireland, the recovery is far further along.
In the UK, one of the reasons that we miss this little predator, is its impact on grey squirrels. Unlike the pine marten, the grey squirrel is not native to the UK, and its presence does much damage, from its impact on trees, and other plants, to the fact that it carries a disease which wipes out the reds rapidly (so they are incapable of living alongside each other). This is a species which I have followed closely, and while other matters have stopped me blogging on this species as often as I would like, it has not stopped me from reading about it, so you will find summaries of a variety of stories below.
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Reintroduction project in Dartmoor: 15 pine martens were released in secret locations within Dartmoor in September. A total of 7 conservation organisations have been involved in this translocation. It is a total of around 150 years since pine martens were last in the area, but the translocated individuals are settling and slowly dispersing across the landscape.
To the right you will find a tiktok video which will give you details on this reintroduction.
While there is no idea where the pine martens came from, they appear to be doing well, and as the video shows, are breeding. While they have not been there long, so there is little evidence yet, it is highly likely that the pine marten arrival will be bad for local grey squirrel populations (a non-native squirrel which does much damage to UK woodland). This is an area of excitment and should be followed closely.
Pine marten spotted on Longleat estate
Pine marten caught on camera trap in Longleat estate in Wiltshire. It is unclear where this individual came from, lying half way between the forest of dean and the new forest (but far from both), but it is thought it has arrived naturally. While red squirrels would not be able to reappear in this part of the country, without help, as all surrounding areas have grey squirrels, should the pine marten survive, it is likley to greatly impact the local popualtion, and create an island, into which red squirrels could eventually return.
Pine marten in the forest of dean
Pine marten were translocated from Scotland into the forest of dean, beginning in autumn of 2019, when 19 were introduced, and a further 35 joined them in the next 2 years. Last summer, there was an estimate of 60 living in the forest, which while not a big increase, it has not fallen.
While the forest of dean covers just over 200 square miles, it is thought that 60 is roughly the carrying capacity. That suggests that the pine martens in the forest of dean need roughly twice as much space as elsewhere, so time will tell if the population can grow beyond this level. Still, it seems likely that this number of pine martens should be able to eradicate the grey squirrel, or at least greatly reduce its number in the area.
The below video shows 3 cubs from around 4 years ago.
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Pine marten in the forest of dean
Research is being done on whether pine martens can live in timber forests – which account for a lot of forest in Scotland
Some simple changes may well allow timber and pine martens to flourish alongside each other. Across 1 woodland, a number of nest boxes have been added, which appears to be helping. The plantations are also looking at letting some older trees stay standing, as these are where cavities appear, which is the pine martens natural home. This research is being carried out in the forest of Ae and around Castle O’er.
Pine martens have turned up in a London cemetery, in area of England where they have not been seen for 150 yearsÂ
The Zoological Society of London ZSL (London Zoo)Â already had a project in the area with remote cameras, as it is a stronghold for the hedgehog (unfortunately, another species with a horrific decline in the last 20-30 years). It was just one (and this was in 2022, so may well be gone), but it is exciting that such a small area can house an animal like this.
The Forest of dean, is 80 miles away, which is the nearest population, so it is thought that this might have to be the result of an illegal translocation (they are being translocated, but should be done by professionals, with checks and more.
Pine marten recovery is further along, and helps understand how it will work in England, particularly in cities (not the safe zone once thought)
 Once almost extinct, for similar reasons in the UK (habitat destruction, and persecution) in 1976 they were given legal protection, and at the same time, forestry started to expand once again. The pine marten is how living in around 45% of Ireland.
The red squirrel is recovering as a result. There was a fear that grey squirrels would survive within cities, as pine martens are generally to shy to venture into even large parks within cities. However, what has been found, is that the abundance of squirrels in cities is a mirage – there are only sustained by populations outside the city, therefore, should places like the green belt around London get settled by pine martens, it is likely that the London squirrels would disappear within a few years.
Similar to elsewhere, pine martens have now also been introduced to the Lake district.
Cattle in a newly deforested area on the edge of more Amazon rainforest – threatened in the future? photo credit Alice Mitchel
The problem with stopping deforestation, is that for the majority of the world we are far removed from rainforests (from where I sit in the UK, I would have to travel 3250km (over 2000 miles) to the nearest rainforest, which is an area on mainland India). Indeed, rainforest is generally something that only survives in developing countries.
This means that, for most people, they either live far removed from the rainforest, and so cant see it impacting them, or they live near a rainforest, but are struggling to provide for their family and those around them. It is quite true that many people in both the first and third world would like the rainforest to survive – indeed, should you talk to people in the west, many are very worried about the survival of the great apes, who are rapidly loosing land.
The problem is simple. Those living in the third world are living hand to mouth, so unless they work in tourism, the rainforest is often an inconvenience that makes life harder.
In 2023 a total of 6.4 hectares of forest were destroyed – more than 25,000 square miles. However, more concerning is the fact that 62.6 million hectares of forest (almost quarter of a million square miles) was degraded – for road building, logging, and forest fires. Degraded land is often less good for carbon storage, as well as conservation of the worlds wild species. It is often, then not long, before someone comes along a removes the rest of the plants so that the land can be used for something else.
And what was this deforestation for (other than logs)? Beef, soy, palm oil paper and nickel.
The Brazilian Amazon is one of the bright spots, where since the election of Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, deforestation has fallen 62%. Unfortunately, in the same time period, Indonesia’s deforestation is up 57%
It seems hard to see how the world will meet its goal of cutting deforestation to zero by 2030 as most countries have pledged. Also, despite reductions in deforestation, the Amazon has had one of the hardest years in terms of forest fires – something that only gets more likely as rainforests are lost, and climate change increases the temperature in many parts of the world. It is a sad fact, that there is often not a great deal of temperature difference between a rainforest which is functioning, and one that dries out and becomes a fire hazard.
Having said all this… a study in Indonesia has found that controlled low-intensity logging doesn’t have to negatively impact a forest in terms of carbon storage or food availability – this in turn means that much wildlife can survive.
The problem often is that if the land is in private hands, then low- intensity logging is not going to happen. If the landowner has decided to deforest, they will raze the land. In national parks, in theory low intensive logging would be possible, but this would require people to control the logging, and this is the issue that we have in the first place. Unfortunately, despite the pledge by 140 countries, deforestation is coming back.
In a related subject, the Indonesian president Prabowo Subianto has stated that palm oil expansion won’t deforest because palm oil has leaves. There are many issues with this, but perhaps primarily amongst them, when forests are cut down, they are usually replaced with grass lands for grazing cattle – these are also covered in leaves. This is obviously stupid – it may well be a better thing, that the rainforest is going to be replaced with plantations, but it has been shown that palm oil plantations take up a tiny proportion of the carbon that rainforests take up.
In another article, there was a finding that macaques living in palm oil plantations have an alarming infant mortality. Unfortunately, these macaques are not unique in being threatened by palm oil, but others include orangutans, elephants, tigers, pangolins, bonobos, and Irrawaddy dolphins.
While palm oil may be a better vegetable oil than other crops, it still looks like it will lead to us loosing most of our rainforests, unless a grip on this is found.
I have spent a great deal of time, recently, working on a variety of areas of the website that I hope to become important in the near future (including members areas). During this time, I miss writing on these subjects, so I would open tabs on news articles that had caught my eye – when I turned my attention back, there were more than 1000 tabs. Several hundred are wildlife news, which I will deal with in the near future, but the rest have been grouped. There is a long video embeded in the bottom of the page, which gives similar information but in more detail, if you would prefer (produced by the electric viking)
This grouping is stories about Toyota, and its various moves which appear to clearly show their moves to make the climate worse not better.
Coastal Australia is having another flare-up where locals are suggesting that wind turbines are killing whales. If this were the case, it would mean that those who want to save the planet would need to choose between climate change and conservation of whales.
Pictures put up, include images of whales on fire, among others – paid for Newcastle adn Port Stephens Game Fish Club. They suggested that the posters highlighted risks that were known for the whales, but there is no credible evidence that wind turbines have any impact on whales (except during building, but as the picture shows this is short-lived). Indeed Quentin Hanich who is the editor of the academic journal Marine Policy recently had to spend a week debunking a fake article that purported to come from his publication, which claimed that 400 whales would die a year, if a proposed wind farm went ahead. While the facebook post where it originated was taken down, the fake articles can be written far faster than they can be taken down. This offshore wind farm in New south Wales, is opposed by everyone from locals to MPs from outside the region – usually because the are opposed to renewable energy development.
This seems short-sighted- while Australia does have a large coal industry, most is exported (only around 30% is used in the country, and coal in electricity generation is now so much more expensive than almost any renewable generation, that its days are numbered) and of Japan,South Korea, Taiwan,and India which takes the majority, only India does not have a 2050 pledge of zero carbon – so if those promises are to be kept, the market for most of the coal will disappear within the next 25 years.
Opposition has been fanned by the coalition, and people like Baraby Joyce (a renewable energy opponent and climate change denier) have been loudly stating that support for renewables was a cult and the people should fight back.
Amanda De Lore is also fighting against it, and suggest that the 3 month consultation period was rushed and hidden (it was not) and that offshore wind is “not clean, green energy”. She stated that the project was not taking her groups concerns into consideration. However, when concerns are raised which do not conform with reality (like suggesting that offshore wind turbines are not green) they should be ignored. Importantly, when you compare the death toll of offshore wind turbines to a coal power plant, the numbers are stark with thousands more species killed by coal power.
This is part of the issue with public consultation. When opponents lace the population with falsehoods, you find yourself having to engage in a years-long effort to correct, before you can even have an intelligent conversation.
Scientists and researchers have been able to watch the introduction of a new skill, but this one arrived very fast, on some of the islands within Thailand. This perhaps shows the intelligence of the Long-tailed macaques in question rather than being any sudden change. The requirement to develop the skills occurred because the arrival of COVID meant that tourists, who often give food to the monkeys, dried up almost overnight.
While many of these tourism activities were (and likely are) labelled as eco-tourism, clearly there needs to be a big change, if humans had such a big impact on these monkeys wild behaviour.
As the temperature rises in the Amazon, Amazonian dolphins are struggling to survive. Several hundred have died in and around lake Tefe where the temperature has reached 39 degrees Celsius – for reference, a hot bath is anything above 37 degrees (at 44 degrees, people start to scald).
Their bodies along with many thousands of fish, are floating on the surface. The lake is particularly hot, as a drought has led to much of the water drying up, allowing the remaining water to take the temperature of the air more quickly. While disease and sewage contamination are being checked, the hugely high temperature has a huge impact on the bodies of everything living in the water, so even if the eventual death is caused by something else, the heat would likely have killed the dolphins in the near future anyway.
Brazil is not the only country which is struggling in this way, it is happening world wide. It is true that the world has just left the El nino period, which always has higher temperatures, but still, many species like the Amazon dolphins (which is already endangered) cannot face this pressure for long, without being pushed far closer to extinction.
Spotted quoll (same species) picture taken by Sean Mclaod
Australia has had a horrific time since the arrival of Europeans, in terms of extinctions. Much of these have been caused by introductions of stoats and weasels, as well as domestic cats. A wide array of species have been pushed to extinction, while many more are gone from the Australian mainland, but survives on island life rafts off the coast.
In this instance, Pao Ling Tsai, a South Australian farmer, thought that their chickens were being taken by cats, but instead had been hunted and taken by a spotted (or tiger) quoll, an animal last seen in the area 130 years ago. It should be noted that there have been multiple reported sightings, though this is the first time it has been successfully photographed.
Having checked that the quoll was healthy, it was released back into the area it was found, and many camera traps have been set up, in order to see if there are any others in the area.
Scientists claim to have had a 20 minute conversation with a humpback whale named Twain. By playing a recorded contact call, they encouraged Twain to approach the boat and circle it, responding to the contact call in a “conversational way”. Twain repeatedly matched aspects of the recorded call, in his response.
It seems odd that this would not be a regular part of their research, but at the current time it is not, and is thought to be the first communication of this sort between humans and a humpback whale.
It is thought that this behaviour supports our current way of looking for alien life of intelligence – like the humpback whale, aliens will be inquisitive enough to come and see what the species is that is making so much noise (the project is known as WHALE SETI). The project is using sensitive equipment to record whale sounds, and then using AI to analyse it.
Some discoveries include the identification of certain repetitive pattens and variations, which suggests an intent in the communications. We have already noted high levels of intelligence in animals like whales and dolphins, quite different to intelligence in humans. Unfortunately, the whales were not the aim of the research, and while the work may well be built on, in perhaps one day understanding more of what whales say, this project was to give insight into future attempts to communicate with aliens, not a current attempt to actually communicate with whales on earth.
Stable glaciers are very effective carbon sinks, though if they then melt, they tend to loose all their stored carbon
The problem with carbon offsets, entirely depends on how they are used. When carbon offset money is given to a local project, but many try to buy an area from locals entirely. Kenya currently hosts 11 glaciers within Mount Kenya national park.
The problem is that, many of these projects require a rainforest to be left standing or something similar. Without buying from locals, and an income from the carbon offset to support the people who will loose access to the resource, it is highly unlikely that the deforestation rate will fall at all.
Much of these offset programs are being set up in Africa, on a continent which has the least responsibility for climate change, and yet local people are loosing the rights to land that they have lived on for millennia.
