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One of the main causes of these increased storms, is the fact that now the forest has been removed, there is a huge difference between the daytime temperature between the land and the sea.
This temperature gap is obviously causing winds, and so this is feeding storms.
Many lives have been lost over the last 20 year as a result of this. Unfortunately this coastal loss of forests is typical of where deforestation starts, however the climate impacts may hit us all over the next century.
It is essential that tourists do not damage the places that they visit! I would think that this is obvious, but this is something that often does not occur to the majority of people, to do a quick search and work out if their visit will damage the area.
For most of us, whaling is distasteful. What has become clear is that whales are essentially swimming trees in terms of their positive impact on carbon emissions.
It is therefore quite frustrating that several nations continue to demand the ability to hunt whales.
Thankfully there is now so little demand for whale meet, that Iceland is going to end its hunt.
Continue reading “Iceland to end commercial whaling in 2024 as demand for the meat has disappeared”The first analysis of the genome of the Straight-tusked elephant (a long extinct species) may well rewrite the elephant family tree – while at the current time there are 3 species of elephant (African forest, African bush and Asian Elephant) there are many more long extinct species.
It also suggests that the straight tusked elephant, long thought to be closely related to the Asian elephant, is actually an African elephant species. It does perhaps give another warning, to not classify animals by how they look but by their genes – convergent evolution can often mean species that look similar have little recent genetic links at all.
There has been much argument about whether the African forest is indeed a separate species. This debate must now be over. 2/3 of the African forest elephant has been lost in the last 15 years, we must stop arguing about its genes and get down to the work of saving this species.
Just 2500 years ago, the never-ending forests of west Africa was made up of fragments of forest, with areas of open land between them. This fragmentation was down to a change in the environment occurring which meant that the dry season started to loosing far longer.
It seems that this changed because of seed disposal animals – including chimpanzees, which helped by leaving heavy seeds behind with a healthy dollop of fertilizer, allowing these slow growing trees to have a good start in life. Unfortunately, now as we are destroying the rainforest, there are also human hunters that are killing these seed dispersers in great numbers, making sure that the forests cannot regenerate.
Are we making sure that forests cannot recover? Not only are we destroying them, but also removing the natural gardeners that helped it return last time it was threatened. My fear is that it may become necessary for humans to replant vast areas by hand. Should it become necessary and recognized, then I am sure we would rise to the occasion, but far better to recognise it before it is too late.
Trade of wild cheetah from east Africa (including the horn of Africa) to be kept as status symbols in the Arabian peninsula has thankfully declined, but has not been eradicated. Indeed, this decline may well be more down to better policing on the smuggling route and less down to a change in circumstance. All of the problem countries have laws banning the keeping of these animals yet these are not effectively enforced – when a cheetah or other exotic animal arrives in the Middle east it is likely too late, they are probably never going to be able to be returned to the wild. If as is usually the case, it is a cub, it is highly likely that the mother was killed in the cubs capture.
Reports of cheetahs for sale occur almost every week in the gulf states. In many states, keeping cheetahs as pets only became illegal in recent times UAE for instance only banned cheetahs as pets in 2017.
The problem is that (as readers of this blog will know) cheetah live in small and isolated populations – as a result, taking just 10 cheetah from a reserve could lead to the local extinction of the animal.
Other animals including chimpanzees orangutans and gibbons also enter these countries. It is essential that proper education of populations in countries like this is undertaken, so that they know these animals were not bred in captivity. Many of the owners would be horrified to learn that their action is causing these animals to be wiped out in the wild.
Global work on wildlife smuggling is far from over, and becomes only more and more urgent. There are many species that could be wiped out if we fail.
If you have friends looking for exotic animals as pets do encourage them not to, or we will find that our children will never be able to see cheetah in the wild where they belong.
Rhino poaching is devastating rhino populations across Africa and Asia. Many species such as the Indonesian species are already lost or on the brink. African species are not far behind.
If you have a strong constitution, do look up images. They are not nice particularly if you have seen this animal alive, as such I have not included a picture.
Currently there are about 16,000 wild rhinos in South Africa, out of a worldwide population that might not number more than 30,000.
9 people have been arrested for this poaching. Now it is clear that the rhino poaching is down from its peak, never-the-less what is necessary is to kill the demand for rhino horn. Currently, an Asian rhino horn can be worth $400,000 with an African rhino horn being worth $20,000. Given that the average annual salary in South Africa is $2000, even $20,000 can be a life changing amount.
It is highly likely that the end of ecotourism during the epidemic is responsible for the uptick in rhino poaching, as people become desperate with their income having vanished.
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
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.
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.
Continue reading “The manned wolf is being seen increasingly often in the Amazon rainforest”
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