Tag: settlements

Golden Jackal

European golden jackal

Golden Jackal

The Golden jackal is a species found across the south eastern part of Europe as well as throughout much of southern Asia. It is the animal which the African wolf was confused with, and the reason that it was described as a species so recently.

 

Despite its name, the Golden jackal is not closely related to the African Black-backed jackal or Side-striped jackal, which are part of the genus Lupulella, being instead closer to wolves and coyotes. The ancestor of the Golden jackal is believed to be the extinct Arno river dog that lived in southern Europe 1.9 million years ago. It is described as having been a small, jackal-like canine. Genetic studies indicate that the Golden jackal expanded from India around 20,000 years ago, towards the end of the last Last Glacial Maximum. The oldest Golden jackal fossil, found at the Ksar Akil rock shelter near Beirut, Lebanon, is 7,600 years old. The oldest golden jackal fossils in Europe were found in Greece and are 7,000 years old.

Golden jackals live eight to nine years in the wild and up to 16 in captivity.

Living nearby human settlements, Golden jackals are strictly nocturnal. However, those living in other areas can be partly diurnal. They generally live in pairs or as a family unit. Living in pairs, the jackals share most of their activity with their partners. By hunting together they are three times more successful, than hunting alone. Jackal families hunt on a territory of about 2-3 sq. km. all year round. Looking for shelter, they frequently use caverns, dug by other animals. Golden jackals can also dig caverns themselves as well as use crevices in rocks. They are very friendly to their partners. Scratching one another all over their bodies is a common activity between mates. Nevertheless, once strange jackals encounter each other, their behaviour shows subordination, domination, and even readiness to attack.

Flat-headed cat

Flat-headed cat

Flat-headed cat

Found on the Malay peninsular, as well as Borneo and Sumatra, the flat-headed cat is (like so many cats on this list) threatened with extinction, mostly as a result of habitat, which is being turned into farmland, palm oil plantations and human settlements.

Little is known about the wild behaviour of this cat – while it is thought to be nocturnal, in captivity it proved to be crepescular (that is active in early morning and late afternoon.

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Large thriving network of settlements thrived in Columbian Amazon before European settlers

Both the Amazon and the Congo have been given the status of totally virgin rainforest, without any human impact. What is becoming increasingly clear is that this is not the case.

Instead it is the case, that the communities which lived here -sometimes in large numbers, lived in balance with the environment.

Pre Columbian settlement evidence in the Amazon

Archaeologists have found vast network of settlements in the Columbian Amazon, spanning hundreds or even thousands of square km, consisting of a main settlement with huge platforms, and smaller settlements spread out around. All are linked by causeways, and canals and reservoirs dotted the land to make agriculture possible.

To be sure, these settlements were low density, but they successfully lived in harmony with the rainforest for centuries.

Oddly, while these communities prospered for 1000 years, they disappeared before Columbus arrived, and it is not clear why.

How should this impact work these days? I am not sure. There are no large groups of modern people who have learnt to live in harmony with their environment, but clearly bush people have. Perhaps we need to follow their example – though the current indigenous people of the Amazon do not live in settlements of large size, otherwise we would have know about these centuries ago,

Alps (including Julian and Balkan extension)

The Alps as well as the Julian, and the Dinaric Alps

A vast mountain range in central Europe, covering almost 300,000 square km (115,000 square miles). This place would naturally have been a wildlife haven. However lying at the center of Europe, the wildlife populations have been extirpated (a word for local extinction) from different sections of this range over the centuries. Importantly, the Alps have also had human settlements dating back a very long way (indeed, there is traces of Neanderthals in the alps 40,000 years ago. As such it is essential that as the wildlife populations are allowed to recover, this happens in a way that benefit the local human population.

One of the best-known and largest range of mountains in Europe, the Alps are a large mountain range that is shared between France, Switzerland, Monaco, Italy, Liechtenstein, Austria, Germany, and Slovenia. Measuring around 1200 km wide and 250 from top to bottom, this mountain range is huge. It includes Mont Blanc the tallest mountain in Europe. The part of the range covering Italy and Slovenia are also sometimes called the Julian Alps. Beyond this, with almost no gap, the Dinaric Alps, which lie in the Balkans continue this chain, stretch from Southern Croatia through Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and on into Kosovo and Albania in the Southeast. 

As with other mountain ranges in Europe, there are a number of mountain specialists such as alpine marmot and chamois, as well as ibex. Due to the relative isolation of mountain ranges, generally each has its own subspecies of animals such as ibex and therefore there are often not that many making them prone to local extinction. Below you will find links for each European Alpine country, this will go into more detail on each countries success at preserving the big 3 – bear, wolf and lynx; the smaller creatures can generally be seen throughout the alps, though many are altitude specific. 

French Alps in the summer

The Alps have a small but growing population of all of the 3 big predators of Europe wolf, bears and lynx. As in other parts of Europe there ride has been bumpy, however they appear to now be starting to do far better. Mountain ranges such as this, can often supply a last refuge of various wildlife due to the difficulty of hunters and Poachers from getting into the mountains often enough to eradicate them completely. A large mountain range like this which struggles so many countries can provide highways between different countries to allow the animals to recolonize.

There are currently about 100 wolves, split between the French and Italian Alps, with around 40 on the German side. It is thought that eight have crossed the border into Switzerland, though most of these are individuals so it is not thought there have been many successful raising of young. A Swiss wolf protection group estimates that there are now 300 wolf packs roaming the Alps. Now given the number of countries that it covers, this is not a high number, though it does suggest that recovery is well on its way.

There is a population of about 30-40 bears in the Italian Alps, though these are sparsely populated, and continue through the Apennine mountain range along the center of Italy (it is thought that there are around 60 of these bears in total). Lynx spread throughout parts of the Alps there are areas where they are not present. There is a good number in the west Alps where they are thought to be spreading nicely. Also exist in the east, in places like northern Croatia.

Obviously this is a large area, and therefore although the places you can go to increase your odds of seeing wildlife. I will attempt to build a network of pages to help in this search, though as with any wildlife watching nothing is guaranteed. 

Mountains are less used by humans so when wildlife returns it can thrive
Lynx are shy, and rarely seen, they are highly important for the ecosystem
Italian bear in the Alps Copyright VOLODYMYR BURDYAK

The Alps are spread across France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. These countries can be well split in two as far as their wildlife watching prospects. France Italy Germany and Slovenia all have populations of wolves bears and lynx, while these are usually small they are established either naturally or through reintroduction. 

Liechtenstein is too small to have a permanent population of any of these animals that is sustainable on its own in the long term, though from time to time animals are likely to wander across the border. Switzerland has no bears, though it does host about 80 wolves and about 100 lynx split into 2 populations (one of those is in the alps). Austria is thought to have two wolf packs , and also has a small number of bears that have returned from neighboring countries.

However, all countries in the Alps have healthy herbivore populations, including alpine marmots, chamois, ibex and even the Alpine Salamander is wide spread. This means that a hike in the Alps should lead to animal sightings, and children are likely to be fascinated if they are quiet enough to see any of the wildlife around you. While the predators are returning, there are still parts of the Alps where sightings are highly unlikely, and even in high density areas, expect to spend much time sitting quietly in order to get lucky. Having said that, the Alps are full of vantage points from which you can sit with binoculars or a telescope and keep watch over a large area – your best chance of seeing these charismatic but shy animals.

Below is a link to each of the countries, with more localized information and places to stay.

See Animals Wild