Author: Tim

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Stored carbon dioxide ( the so-called Carbon dome) could become a giant battery, but will batteries kill it?

Huge carbon dioxide stores, with the gas held at high pressure (and therefore liquid, have been shown to be able to hold vast amounts of energy, and the ability to be released on demand.

Energy Dome’s CO2 Battery system has currently been show to be able to store and generate up to 24.5 megawatts (MW) of power (with 12 acres expected to be able to store up to 200MW), which sounds very impressive…. but…. current battery power means that 1 MW of battery can fit in a 20 by 40 foot container, which means that 1 acre could theoretically take 200MW of batteries.

When first thought of, it was thought that this would allow energy done to store energy at a cost of roughly $200 per kwh. At the time, lithium batteries cost $300 per kwh, however this has halved to just $150.

In other words, lithium batteries (and this assumes no breakthrough in sodium batteries or something else) are cheaper, smaller, simpler and safer – so why would you look to create another form of electricity storage, that is worse on so many levels.

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Our behaviour may be still pushing the Northern right whale to extinction – entanglements may use as much energy as rearing all young

The Northern right whale was hunted to the brink of extinction – with less than 500 left when hunting ended. To put this in perspective, only 300 Southern right whales were left when hunting stopped, it is thought that there are now 3000-4000 Southern right whales.

Now, it is true that historically the Southern right whale is thought to have numbered as 55,000-70,000 individuals, suggesting that the current population is 3-5% of historic numbers.

However, the current estimate for the Northern right whale population is 386. While has the Southern right whale population grown over 1000%, and in the same time, the northern right whale population declined?

What is different?

Continue reading “Our behaviour may be still pushing the Northern right whale to extinction – entanglements may use as much energy as rearing all young”
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The smallest elephant in the world is in danger of being lost

There has been much discussion about the history of elephants in Borneo, and whether their loss is a problem

The origin of elephants in Borneo is unknown. Known for hosting the smallest elephants in the world, there are 2 theories as to how the elephants got to the island. The first is that they were released by a ruler in the 17th century (The most rapid population growth ever seen was 7,1% after the end of poaching in a reserve in Tanzania, a population of 30 elephants could become 1000 in just 50 years) – if this was the case, then their loss would not be bad; and the second is that actually the elephants arrived on the islands hundreds of thousands of years ago (as high as 300,000 years).

It is increasingly agreed that the second one of these ideas is likely to be correct. Though having said this, genetic analysis suggests that the whole population started with just 28 elephants.

Just 1000 are found on the island at the current time.

All wildlife on Borneo is at threat, as the palm oil industry continues to demand increasing quantities of prime rainforest be cut down. As this happens, elephants are forced into human areas, in their search for food, and then into conflict.

The Borneo elephant has only recently been assessed by the IUCN red list as a separate subspecies, but it is hoped that this recognition might increase tourism on this species as well as conservation dollars to save this species from its slow slide towards extincion

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Monkey species in Egypt lived on fruit 30 million years ago

It is hard to believe that habitats like this could possible have previously held rainforest which produces enough soft fruit for monkeys like this. Just 10,000 years ago crops were a new thing, in the same way that cows and other livestock farming. Before this, we had to hunt for virtually everything.

The reason that they can work out what monkeys ate, is because they have seen the teeth, and they were not chipped at all, as a result of soft diet. There are thought to have been roughly 5 species of this small monkey family living at the time (30 million years ago). This is new, as formerly it was thought that early primates ate some fruit but also harder foods – clearly they specialized in fruit earlier than we thought.

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Australias environment could be fixed for 0.3% of GDP

Wentworth Group of concerned Scientists estimate that for just $7.3 billion a year for 30 years, most extinctions could be avoided as well as repairing soil and restoring rivers. That sounds like quite a lot? Well, invasive species cost the Australian government $24.3 billion a year now.

Recovery of some of the endangered species, could well save more than they cost to save, in reducing this invasive species bill. This would also improve agricultural output, as a result of improved soil health.

Continue reading “Australias environment could be fixed for 0.3% of GDP”
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Near-extinct Siamese crocodile making a recovery

The Siamese crocodile is recovering in Cambodia, with 60 hatched babies this year – more than at any time this century. Five nests were found by locals at the end of June with the eggs that resulted in these crocodilians. Thought extinct, until being rediscovered in Cambodia they have made an impressive recovery since 2012 when the project started, with 196 of this species returned to the wild in the last dozen years.

Local community wardens regularly cross the mountainous area, to check on them. In recent times, they have been observed in new territory, suggesting that their population is growing again naturally.

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It is becoming increasingly clear: humans are responsible for the loss of mega fauna that we can see in the past

The skeleton above is the closest we can get to a real mammoth, as a result of their extinction. However, it is not the only missing large species – indeed, the elephant family alone, is thought to have around 30 extinct members. Aside from these, there are 2 known extinct species of the woolly rhino, cave lions and sabre-toothed tigers, and various species of bear, among many others.

If you go back 50,000 years, there were 57 species of megaherbivores (herbivores weighing over a ton), yet just 11 of these survive today – these include the elephant species, the rhino species the hippo and the giraffe.

Continue reading “It is becoming increasingly clear: humans are responsible for the loss of mega fauna that we can see in the past”
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The island where the feral species is an elephant

Around the world, there are invasive species – from grey squirrels in the UK, to Macaques on Gibraltar, however, all these pale on comparison to having to live with wild elephants.

The elephants were bought to the Andaman islands in the late 19th century, to work in the timber operation, which continued until the last few decades. Thankfully, much of the forest in the islands survives – with some islands retaining almost 90% forest cover. This means that the elephants might well be able to thrive into the future.

The islands lie 850 miles from the coast of India, which means that while elephants would not have existed natively on the islands, there are many species which would be found in the same area.

Interview Island and North Andaman hosts these elephants – though they need to be watched, as a population of 100 elephants is already small, but if split between 2 islands, humans may well have to be helped to remain genetically varied enough to survive long-term.

While some have suggested that the elephants have damaged biodiversity, with some species having become less common, this ignores the impact of the timber extraction – it is far more likely that this is an impact of the many decades of pulling specific trees out of the forest.

Given the endangered status of the Indian elephant, this population is precious, but whether it can be left where it is long-term is something we do not know. There are still roughly 30,000 elephants in India, but the Andaman island elephants are going to need to be watch, long-term, to make sure that they do not damage species only found in their new home.

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Hundreds of giant tortoises have returned to the wild across the Galapagos

It is thought that the Galapagos housed a population of roughly 200,000-300,000 giant tortoises, before humans arrived. This compares to a population of around 15,000 at the current time. Rangers have been trying to boost the rate of recovery, by taking eggs from the wild, raising the tortoises in captivity and releasing them, when their survival is more likely – with 560 animals returned to the wild in 2023 (it should be noted, that wild this is an impressive number, at that rate, it would take several centuries for the population to fully recover).

The project (Iniciativa Galapagos) aims to rewild 15 species across the range, including the giant tortoise, iguana and wandering tortoise.

Continue reading “Hundreds of giant tortoises have returned to the wild across the Galapagos”
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America is following in Europe’s footsteps, with their recovering brown bears – now they are moving into human areas

This is a video of one of the clashes that I am talking about. The Grizzley bear population in 1975 ( in the lower 48 states) was just 700-800 (this excludes Alaska, where the current figure is 30,000) . The lower 48 states population has grown to around 1000 or an almost 50% increase.

There is a problem with this. Both in and out of Alaska (as well as Canada) these bears need space, and so are colonizing land that they previously roamed. Unfortunately, people rapidly forget how to live with animals like grizzly bears, so it is taking some significant work to live alongside these large animals once again.

The problem is, that when those encounters spike, generally authorities panic, and this generally leads to them looking to allow hunting once again. THIS IS DESPITE THE FACT THAT THE POPULATION IS NO-WHERE NEAR RECOVERED AT THE CURRENT TIME.

Continue reading “America is following in Europe’s footsteps, with their recovering brown bears – now they are moving into human areas”
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