News – Page 16 – See Animals Wild

January 9, 2023January 9, 2023

Wild chimpanzee mother and baby sighted in Cameroon park Douala-Edea national park for the first time

It is unfortunately true, that in many of the reserves that have been formed, we do not know what lives within the park. In many places there has been so much poaching that animals keep well clear of any human visitors.

It is also true, that in parks with little or no tourism infrastructure, it is incredibly difficult to find animals. Never-the-less, while this makes it clear that when setting up national parks you need to give them some resources if you wish them to be a success tourism-wise, they can still have impressive conservation successes.

In this instance, clearly chimpanzee are still surviving and even breeding.

First Chimpanzee recorded in Douala-Edea national park, and its a mother with offspring

January 8, 2023January 9, 2023

Vast seagrass forest is discovered by strapping cameras to sharks, and extend the area of seagrass by more than 40%

Tiger sharks are incredibly fierce, and can grow to be more than 16 foot (nearly 5m long). However, by strapping cameras to these fascinating animals (researchers attached cameras and trackers to the dorsal fins of tiger sharks, giving them hours of footage each time.

seagrass meadows are incredibly biodiverse, incredible carbon sinks and a huge new one increase the amount by 40%

November 25, 2022November 24, 2022

Charities are meant to serve a public good, does it therefore follow that climate sceptic think tanks should loose charitable status?

In the UK, despite the vast majority of the population fully understanding what is happening to the climate as a result of emissions, there are still a number of high profile groups that are arguing against the status quo. The problem is when we give charitable status – which allows them to increase donations by reclaiming tax (among other benefits).

This is why it is so encouraging that a cross party group of MPs have added their voice to the call for the “climate sceptic thinktank” to be stripped of its charitable status. This claim has been put forwards by the “Good Law Project” which has put forwards an argument that this “thinktank” does not meet its aims as a charity and is simply a lobbying organisation.

November 24, 2022November 24, 2022

Wolves, Bears and white tailed eagles are making great comebacks across Europe and other species are also doing well

Wolf numbers have increased by 1800% since the 1970s with a total of over 17,000 now inhabiting the continent. Bears started from a less precarious place, but have still increased by 44% over the same period

While wolves were missing for some time from France, they are well and truly back and we who share the space must recognize that and adapt

Among herbivores, beavers are one of the big success story (and unlike many of the others are living in the UK once again in large numbers in a series of populations from Devon right up to Scotland.

November 23, 2022November 24, 2022

EU blocks uplifting the Hippopotamus to an Appendix 1 endangered animal from an Appendix 2

Hippopotamus populations have declined by 30-50% over the last decade. This is an animal which is moving fast in the direction of extinction, yet despite a plea from 10 african countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Gabon, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo) to move them to appendix 1 has been blocked.

Hippopotamus are often easy to find on Safari, as they are usually found in the few deep pools and rivers that exist. They can be very dangerous if you are between them and the water, and roam widely in and out of protected reserves. This is the most common view for people who visit a national park

November 21, 2022November 17, 2022

Emperor penguins listed as endangered by the USA

Under the Biden administration in the USA, science is not ignored. There were a handful of animals that were listed as endangered in the rest of the world, but the listing was not changed in the USA because of the political impact. Thankfully, that time is at least over at the current time. The Emperor penguins are obviously threatened by global warming given there uses of extreme areas of the Antarctic.

Emperor penguins face extinction by the end of the century, because of the destruction of their habitat

The population that was filmed for the popular film “March of the Penguin” has halved in size in the last 50 years. These sorts of issues are predicted to lead to a 99% reduction in population by the end of the century, should these changes not lead to the total extinction.

November 20, 2022November 16, 2022

Could we increase the yields of wheat 600 times through vertical farming?

Vertical farming is a new concept. By growing crops indoors under lights, the crops grow far faster and so can be harvested multiple times a year. Furthermore, by using artificial lights it is possible to have many layers of food.

At the current time, indoor vertical farms only work for expensive fast growing plants, but this will change if electricity prices fall significantly

November 19, 2022November 16, 2022

Indonesia has signed a $20 billion deal with the G7 to accelerate their clean energy transition

The clean energy transition is accelerating in some parts of the world. It is often cheaper to install solar or wind turbines, than to continue to buy coal to keep using the coal power plant, never-the-less this has not stopped developing countries from failing to make the change.

Coal power plants are a large source of carbon emissions

November 19, 2022November 16, 2022

If the UK only emits 1% of the worlds carbon emissions what can we do? well a lot

There is often an argument put forwards in the UK, that as the UK is just a small country we cannot do much when it comes to global warming. After all we only emit about 1% of the worlds emissions, right?

Well firstly, given the world has a population of 8 billion (roughly speaking) and we have a population of about 67 million, so we are only about 0.8% of the worlds population, yet are emitting 1% of emissions.

November 18, 2022November 16, 2022

OPEC the worlds biggest oil producers have decided to cut their oil output roughly in half – what is the result

The world is gradually transforming from a fossil fuel based energy system to a renewable system. We all know (I hope at least the readers here) that we need to stop using oil and gas.

Unfortunately at the moment, much of the system in the west is reliant on these resources. As a result, a move like this does hit us hard. Higher prices are going to hit us. This is going to happen because OPEC, a group of countries which have agreed to set quantities of output together. Including a variety of countries, from the middle eastern countries to places all over Africa.

Perhaps one of the good things that might come out of this, is the fact that it will be a slap in the face for much of the fossil fuel using countries. We need to see a point in investing in net zero industries that can cut our emissions until we reach zero. The aim is to cut oil available by 2 million barrels per day.

In the long run, obviously, OPEC does not want the world to move away from fossil fuels, as they will then have to find another source of revenue, but it is going to happen in the next few years either way.