As with most primate species males are usually the dominant animal in a group setting. The one notable exception is bonobos which are a female led society.
First alpha female for 70 years in a Japanese reserve
I wrote in the past looking at consensus on human caused climate change – new study
There is a constant argument that we should not be acting on climate change because we have not reached consensus. This really is not the case.
A look at 90,000 studies which looked at the climate found that 99.9% of them agreed that humans were the cause. The degree of certainty is now the same as that on evolution or on plate tectonics -the debate is over.
It is true that you can still find supposedly learned men and women who will disagree, but we are now at the point where it is akin to arguing the world is flat. Yes there are thousands of “flat earthers” worldwide, but those denying climate change should be put in the same category as those who deny the shape of the earth (and think that the millions of people who would have to be in on it are all dutifully keeping quiet.
This study has been compiled by Cornell University and shows that the miniscule minority still fighting against this truth, is now just a small number of noisy voices.
This is terrifying! In the USA there are 30 US senators and 109 representatives who “refuse to acknowledge the scientific evidence of human-caused climate change”.
It is now time for Facebook and twitter to stop giving an unchallenged voice to purveyors of falsehoods. Denying the science of climate change is likely are more dangerous for the future of the human race than denying the obvious facts about vaccines.
A scheme earlier this year, which purportedly gave protected land to local residence has been shown to be a scam
The regulation that was issued earlier this year for Cambodias KohKong province supposedly took land from protected areas, and gave it to local people. Developments since, show that actually this was a scheme to benefit the political elite.
Politicians and companies have been grabbing the available land. In particular, a pocket has been bought by a company thought to be working for APP the huge palm oil company. They would clearly wish to raze this forest to the ground and replant with palm oil.
The area in question, accounts for around 500 square miles of land.
Papua New Guinea has some of the last pristine rainforests in the world, yet underhand behaviour may destroy them
Palm oil executives have been caught on camera admitting to bribery to be able to deforest an area of land. The company was also caught with the CEO describing a tax evasion scheme that they were running in India.
Despite having been filmed on camera saying such things, when contacted by Global witness and informed of the video, those responsible denied that it happened.
Senior politicians have admitted to corruption in similar areas over the last few years, but clearly, we are no where near solving this problem.
A new act in the US congress might have the capability to slow or halt deforestation, or at least force instigators to face financial penalties
The Forest ACT bill would make global suppliers responsible for the illegal deforestation that their products cause.
This is a long overdue issue. Currently, large companies will structure things in such a way, that small farmers and other land users are encouraged to deforest their land, knowing that the big company wishes this, and will buy all their resources.
It cannot work this way. If these companies are made legally responsible for any deforestation that occurs to provide their products, they will manage to put an end to illegal deforestation over night.
As well as enacting this process nationally, the bill would require USA trade partners to buy in on these new rules.
Will it work? Who knows, but it is likely to have a huge impact on deforestation, as if this rule is implemented, it will never pay to deforest.
It cannot be the be all or end all, but is a fantastic first step.
The website was hacked! nothing lost, and wildlife tourism to Africa can return
Hello everyone! We survive
So, the website was hacked. Nothing was stolen, from what I was told they were just able to delete the website. Thankfully we back up, so we have survived.
We have added a significant extra layer of protection which should make it impossible for the same problem to arise (it had nothing to do with the attack on Facebook and WhatsApp). While we do on occasion have sharing buttons, that is the extent of our link so we were safe.
Bigger news, many red list countries have been upgraded allowing travel. These countries include
Continue reading “The website was hacked! nothing lost, and wildlife tourism to Africa can return”A recent study has shown there are really two species of giant panda
Pandas, like many other mountain species, are liable to get marooned on islands in the sky, and recent genetic analysis has shown that there are really two species of giant panda which have not interbred for more than 300,000 years.
One of these populations is in Sichuan province, the other is in Shaanxi province. The latter population have a different look with their heads looking more like cats than bears. The Shanxi province pandas were only confirmed to exist in the 1960s and we’re recognised as a separate subspecies in 2005.
Both populations only exist in China, though this other population only has about 350 members. Perhaps the problem with this is that there are now two species that are more severely endangered. We just hope that China prioritises these two species – the vast national park that China has recently declared is likely to increase the number of the more numerous pandas, but clearly more work needs to be done on the cat-faced panda bear.
There are roughly 50 billion birds in the world but just a few species dominate
Just four birds have a population over a billion, house sparrows European starlings ring-billed gulls and barn swallows.
At the other end, there are over 1180 species with 5000 or less members left.
The last time this survey was done was 24 years ago, the estimate was 200 to 400 billion birds, though it is clear that some of this reduction in numbers will be down to a more accurate survey – still many birds are heading rapidly in the direction of extinction.
The first thing to be done in conservation is to understand the current situation, so this is a great first step. Now the world needs to work hard on conserving what is left – unfortunately this is a rather bigger task. However now we know what needs to be done we merely need to get on with it.
A logging company based in in Borneo taking a bizarre action
The company in question, which has no rights to do any logging, is now suing the longtime inhabitants and owners of land it wants to clear, for trespass.
This is obviously quite peculiar, and a case that should be laughed out of court. The community alleges the company has encroached on community land, has withheld key documents about the certification process, and failed to obtain free, prior and informed consent of affected communities during the certification process.
This should be very simple, if they have permission and they got it legally without dishonesty they will be able to prove it. All of the evidence would suggest that that is not going to be possible, and therefore they should be laughed out of court, unfortunately that is not likely to happen.
Delacour’s langur is a critically endangered monkey with just 300 of these remain in the wild, but now 80% are protected
Delacour’s langur is a severely endangered primate fewer than 300 of these remain in the wild
What is gratifying about this situation, is that more than 80% of the remaining langurs live within a community reserve that has been set up by the locals being supported by various conservation bodies particularly in Germany.
This reserve has been recognised in an international survey of protected areas that have done the best work for saving wild species.
Indeed it is a perfect example of what can happen with local conservation.
Indeed it is these sort of projects that we wish to support through the in the shadow of mankind project that we are running on the website.