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Kob
Found in central Africa, as well as parts of East and West Africa. They are generally found in wet places, particularly places like floodplains. In east Africa, the Ugandan Kob and the white eared kob (found in south Sudan and surrounding countries) both join in on migrations that happen in the areas around where they live.
Once found across much of equatorial Africa, it is also extinct in a few countries including the extreme east of the continent, in both Kenya and Tanzania.
Female kobs can live in herds of thousands, while male herds can number in their hundreds, and follow the female herds closely. One of the biggest spectactles of the natural world is the migration across South Sudan, of almost 1 million white eared kob along with various other species. Hopefully, one of these days, the situation in South Sudan will be stable enough for this area to become a tourist hotspot, and lift much of the country out of poverty.
The wolf disappeared from Holland around 1870, though their decline was rapid – in 1760 (just over 100 years before) people in Brabant talked of a wolf plague). In 2015, the wolf was first sighted in Holland, and while some people had said that Holland was to densly populated to allow the wolf to return, …...
The UK has been culling badgers since 2013, and since then over 230,000, yet a recent study has shown that vaccination is far more successful than culling. This trial in Cornwall, found that the rate of bTB in the study area fell to zero. Why is this important? One of the big shames of the …...
The beaked whale species are a family of rarely seen whales. Despite there being 22 species of beaked whale (which we know about) they are rarely seen, and some have only been described in recent years. Why are they seen so rarely? because they have a record breaking ability to hold their breath being able …...
Life is hard in the Indonesian rainforest – compared to Africa and South America, there is very little to be found to eat (except in specific areas. As a result, orangutans become solitary, with the only time they are seen together is a mother with young, or a courting couple. Another problem, is demonstrated here …...
Kahuzi-Biega National Park was established in 1937 by the Belgium colonial rulers and then expanded in 1975. It now covers 6000 square km or 2300 square miles. Roughly 13000 Batwa were cleared out of the area to make way for the park (along with other people who had settled more recently).
There are claimed to be 200 Arabian leopards remaining in the wild (most sources suggest the number is more like 120). This subspecies has suffered a decline in the last 120 years of between 90 and 98% (estimates on population size from the 19th century). This population is spread across 3 countries with Oman and …...
It would appear that chimpanzee medicine is quite a complicated field. This is a significant range of conditions that can be treated, though it should also be noted, that this knowledge is likely to be shared in the group, as no one individual will have seen their mother suffer from all these conditions. While gorilla …...
In 2020, wolf reintroduction into Colorado was agreed by the human population there, while this happened in December of 2023, the nearest wolf population lies around 400 miles north in Wyoming, and this is a distance that is easily covered by wolves. As a result, some wolves have turned up on their own. Around the …...
Bees across much of Europe have not had an easy time of things in the last few decades, and that has been caused by a variety of things, including: pesticides, climate change, disease, climate change, parasites and nutrition deficiency just to name a few. Should this new invader spread, it may well be the last …...
This is the place were beavers first appeared in 2008, though were only fully recognized in around 2013. A full study on the impact of these animals on the river, was launched in 2014 and after 10 years it has reported. The results are incredible, with much of the local environment totally changed. Space along …...
Cats are one of the families of species that perhaps show rare colourations relatively regularly. I say relatively, because naturally these can be very rare. Like a black leopard or a king cheetah, these can exist as a recessive gene. Having said this, a tiger with more black on it, may well be better at …...
I wrote, yesterday about the fears for the future of the polar bear species, and the problems that global warming are causing. Today, I am writing about another news subject from a few months ago – that of hybrids between brown bears and the polar bears. Polar bears as a species, are only though to …...
I am not going to pretend that this is not bad. Donald Trumps former term was bad for the natural world and the fight against climate change. Likely changes: The situation is serious. Having been president before, it is highly likely that trump will be more effective this time, as he knows more than last …...
Of the slightly over 8 billion humans on earth, 4.641 billion, or just under 60% live in Asia. While this is expected to grow to 5.25 billion people in 2055 it will only be 54% (due to increasing populations elsewhere in the world) of global population at the time. So, what is the problem? An …...
Polar bears are wild creatures. They roam widely, with some having been tracked to a home range of over 6.000,000 square km. One individual was found more than 4000km from where it was before. Its not even an issue of just giving them a large reserve, as they spend the cold winters roaming far and …...
Just under 500 permits have been granted for bear hunting, which would drop the countries population under 2000 across the whole country. This is 40% under the population that existed in 2008. This number of licenses gives the game away, it is a give away to the trophy hunting industry, and is not about controlling …...
So, when someone who is chairman of the car company which sells the most cars in the world says something, people listen. Toyota sold a total of 11.23 million cars in 2023, out of a market of around 92 million cars, or around 12% of global car sales. So perhaps he is right? Well a …...
We all know what Donald Trump is like. On climate change, he changes what he says on each time. However, his beliefs become clear, when we look at his behaviour. He took the USA out of the Paris climate accord, and made every effort to reverse all improvements on this front. There are many reasons …...
Why is climate change denial still not over? Because the amount of money that can be made by denying climate change. Has there been a change? Yes, but not necessarily for the better. For many people (generally with a financial motive) they have gone from outright climate denial, to climate doomism – we have already …...
Boki the bear (2 years old) was found to have a condition that I also have. It is known as hydrocephalus, and is caused when the liquid that is found around the brain does not drain away properly. This is often found in infants, but can also occur after a head injury. When this liquid …...