For anyone visiting, I have not gone anywhere. Unfortunately the website has been having a number of issues. We have employed someone to work out what is going on, so we are hoping to be back to normal (or indeed far better than normal) in the near future. Time will tell how well this will work.
There is a well known rift between Prince William and Prince Harry, but it is based on an important aspect of conservation
Unfortunately, this disagreement, is not restricted to within the royal family, quite to the contrary.
There are many species that it is hard to live alongside – I am not thinking of animals like elephants or rhino or buffalo, which will also be dangerous to life, but provided you behave in the right way, you can live in close proximity with and rarely have a problem. Indeed, there are populations who succeed to live in the close proximity with big cats such as lions and leopards. However, in many other places, lions and leopards can turn to man-eating, or indeed livestock eating. These reserves, seem best to be kept as so called fortress reserves, where people live outside (though bushmen still live in these areas, and having passed down information for thousands of generations, so can live with big cats). A large number of these huge reserves were set up while the land was held as parts of empires, and as such may not be the best way to do things, though in many of these places, it is the way things are set.
On the other hand, William believes that you should be community led schemes which focus on locals and allow them to benefit from the wildlife. I would argue that these are not incompatible. My experience of the Kruger, was that many locals did very well from their proximity to the Kruger national park – not to the extent that perhaps they should, but those willing to learn can become guides, while the rest can work in hospitality and the like. Even beyond this, there is the ability for artisans to sell their products on the way in and out of the park.
Personally, I believe that the path falls somewhere between the two. It is essential, that were possible, migration routes between reserves are created before these become built over.
Our website aims to allow both – we have a space on this website (called Wild places) for listing large reserves, and chances to see the wildlife they contain. Alongside this, we offer our area called “in the shadow of mankind” which is aimed at all of the other wildlife, often found alongside where people live, or where their livestock lives. To a large extent, to allow the natural world to truly thrive, we need both ends of this spectrum.
Website update
I am well aware, that I have been quiet for some time. I am hoping that, that is, coming to an end. I have been working on the members areas, and trying to find a way for those to “blog” important news from their wilderness areas, as well as those areas of interest for other people.
We hope that this is going to arrive within the next few days, but, I am hoping that I will be available to write more regularly in the near future.
As ever, our aim is educate about the natural world and the threats that hurt it, and to create an increasingly complete list of wildernesses around the world, and opportunities to see the wildlife that live within it.
Do get involved, as members (as we move forwards) and in other ways.
Male dominance is perhaps less the default than thought amongst primates, a new study has found
Given our assumption that on male dominance, it is perhaps surprising, that only 58% of primate species have dominant males. Perhaps not surprising, as a result, every major primate group had at least one species which was female (or co-dominant) structures.
Indeed, with the gibbons (or lesser apes on this website, to check them out, click here to visit the home page, and then expand the species database, and click on lesser apes) all 5 species examined (there are a total of 20) have been classed as non-male dominant.
Amongst primates, this likelihood is (according to Lewis, the head of the study) relatively easily predicted, as tends to occur in the species, where there is little difference between the size of male and female members.
An example here, is clear: while a male gorilla can weigh twice that of a female, siamang gibbons only have males a couple of kg heavier than females – not surprisingly, while male gorillas are dominant, this is not the case with siamang gibbons.
It should be noted, therefore, that while 4 out the 5 species of great apes are male dominated (we assume this in humans as well, though, in the modern day, it would be hard to argue that we are not more of a co dominant species. Given that likely all the lesser apes (the gibbons) are more or less co-dominant, it follows, that even just looking at the apes, more are female dominant or co-dominant.
Continue reading “Male dominance is perhaps less the default than thought amongst primates, a new study has found”Toyota was a climate hero in the 1990s, why is it now to exact opposite?
I have spent a great deal of time, recently, working on a variety of areas of the website that I hope to become important in the near future (including members areas). During this time, I miss writing on these subjects, so I would open tabs on news articles that had caught my eye – when I turned my attention back, there were more than 1000 tabs. Several hundred are wildlife news, which I will deal with in the near future, but the rest have been grouped. There is a long video embeded in the bottom of the page, which gives similar information but in more detail, if you would prefer (produced by the electric viking)
This grouping is stories about Toyota, and its various moves which appear to clearly show their moves to make the climate worse not better.
Continue reading “Toyota was a climate hero in the 1990s, why is it now to exact opposite?”Website update
HAPPY NEW YEAR! I decided to stop writing over the Christmas period this year, however, we are back and there is much going on. We have spent the down time working on our members areas, and we are hoping to have people join us on these in the near future.
I have also been reading, and have a large number of articles waiting to be written (though as the members area grows, I hope to be able to write a smaller proportion of the articles in question.
Apologies for the different look today
One of our systems is not working as it should be, hence the wrong look today. It has been disabled, which is allowing the website to run, but will run slower and not quite right until we fix, sorry for the interruption
We will put out more articles, while we try to fix the underlying issue
Flamingo and Grebe Species
Flamingoes and Grebes
At the top of the page is an image of every species of flamingo, below you will find some information on each species. Below this, you will find the same for the grebes.
As always, should you work in tourism or conservation of any of these species, do get in touch, we are keen to help people find you. Click on list your wild place on the homepage main menu.
American Flamingo
Found in the West Indies, northern South America (including the Galápagos Islands) and the Yucatan Peninsula. It was considered cospecifc with the greater flamingo, but they are now recognized as separate species (it is also closely related to the Chilean flamingo).
Formerly it was a culture icon in Southern Florida, but was largely extirpated by 1900. Having said this, there are vagrant flamingos in Florida, and these now often stay in the country worldwide.
There are 80,000-90,000 left in the wild, and there are 4 breeding colonies: in South America (in the Galápagos Islands of Ecuador, coastal Colombia and Venezuela, and northern Brazil), in the West Indies (Trinidad and Tobago, Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), The Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, and the Turks and Caicos Islands), and tropical and subtropical areas of continental North America (along the northern coast of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico, and formerly southern Florida in the United States).
Andean Flamingo
Found in the Andes mountains
of South America, it is in the same genus as the James Flamingo. Indeed, the Chilean Andea and James flamingo often share nesting sites and are relatively closely related.
It is considered vulnerable to extinction with roughly 34,000 remaining in the wild, but declining over time.
As with other flamingos they are filter feeders, though what they filter can vary from algae to small fish – which they look for in shallow salty water.
They migrate between salt lakes in the summer and lower wetlands in winter – with the capacity of covering 700 miles a day.
The threat that this species faces, is generally due to human activity of mining and other changes to their habitat.
Chilean Flamingo
Closely related to 
the American and greater flamingo, it is listed as near threatened in the wild with a wild population of about 200,000. Population declines are due to habitat loss and degradation, harvesting and human disturbance.
While they are only currently listed as near threatened, there is a great deal of concern about falling populations, and as such they are relatively common in zoos and there is an active breeding program..
Greater Flamingo
The greater
flamingo has the greatest of ranges of any species (as you can see from the map. While it is found down the East coast of Africa, it is also found on the northwest coast and the northern coast. It is also present in the middle east, and throughout much of Sothern Europe. Its range also extends into India. It is listed as least concern with a population between 550,000 and 680,000 with between 45,000 and 125,000 living in Europe – the Camargue is the most famous in Southern France
They are listed as least concern
James Flamingo
The James flamingo is also found on the high Andean plateau, and is closely related to the Andean Flamingo. It was thought extinct until a population was rediscovered in 1956, and the current population is thought to be around 106,000.
It is currently listed as near threatened, and on CITES appendix 2.
Lesser Flamingo
Found in Sub-Saharan Africa and India. While the smallest species, it still stands 80-90cm tall. The easiest way to tell this and the greater flamingo (with overlapping range) apart is that the greater flamingo has more black on its bill.
Estimates on the number of this species range from “above” 2 million to as much as 5 million.
They generally breed in highly caustic lakes of the great rift valley in Africa, though there are places in India and a few other places as well.
They are classed as near threatened. While their choice of nesting site protects from many predators, it is still true that many flamingos are killed. From fish eagles to baboons and big cats, there are many species who will eat a flamingo if they can get hold of it.
It is well worth seeing this animal in the wild. Seeing 750,000 lesser flamingos on lake nakuru in kenya is a site that is hard to forget.
Visits to see flamingos are well worth it, and while some live in remote places, it is usually a species which is reliable. Please get in touch if you work in tourism or conservation of this species. Click on list your wild place on the home page of the website.
Tiger leaves reserve and is found on someone’s bed
Africa and India set up their nature reserves very differently. In Africa reserves that house lions and leopards, and animals such as this, are very large, often covering more than...
Tiger leaves reserve and is found on someone’s bed
Africa and India set up their nature reserves very differently. In Africa reserves that house lions and leopards, and animals such as this, are very large, often covering more than...
Tiger leaves reserve and is found on someone’s bed
Africa and India set up their nature reserves very differently. In Africa reserves that house lions and leopards, and animals such as this, are very large, often covering more than...
Next the Grebes
Clark's grebe Found in west North America Least Concern,
western grebe
Black necked grebe
Great crested grebe
Great grebe
Hooded grebe
Horned grebe
Junin grebe
Red-necked grebe
Silvery grebe
pied-billed grebe
Hoary-headed grebe
New zealand grebe
Titicaca grebe
White-tufted grebe
Australasian Grebe
Least Grebe
Little grebe
Madagascar Grebe
Tricolored grebe
While some sites claim 22 species, my list has found that some of these were extinct (indeed, according to my list there were 3 species that have gone extinct. If there are any experts out there who notice one missing, let me know
We are eager as always to help people find places to see these birds. Do let me know if you work in wildlife tourism or run a place to stay where these birds are regularly seen. Click on list your wild place on the front page of the website.
Birds
Birds
Birds are defined as warm-blooded vertebrates. They have feathers, toothless beaked jaws, a high metabolic rate, a 4 chamber heart, a strong and lightweight skeleton and the laying of hard-shelled eggs.
Now, within these constraints, the birds vary a great deal.
The smallest bird is the bee hummingbird, which has a wingspan of 6.8cm. The largest bird has a wingspan of 3.5m (40 times large). In terms of weight, the bee hummingbird is also the lightest at just 1.95 grams, the Kori bustard weighs as much as 19kg, which is almost 10000 times heavier (heaviest flying bird). The heaviest bird is the Ostrich, which can weigh over 100kg, though these can not fly.
Looking at it in a different way, there are roughly 10,000 species of birds in the world. Now, while this may change as this website grows (both with other authors, and assistance from readers) at the current time, it would be absurd to think that I could build a page for each of these many species. What this page will try to do, is to build a page for each group of birds. Of course, the other point of this website, is that this is to assist in people travelling to see these species in the wild. As such, while I am fully of the opinion that every bird matters, we will concentrate- to begin with, on birds which are popular and/or are interesting to see.
To start, below you will see the initial 2 clades (it should be noted that there was at one time 7 clades, which include clades like Diosaruia), and each clade has two families.
Palaeognathae (ratites and Tinamou) Neognathae
Struthionimorphae
This contains just 1 species the Osterich (alongside many extinct species). The male is black, the female is brown
As this is all of the Struthionimorphae family, you will be able to visit the Osterich page by clicking on either image.
Notopalaeognathae
This contains Rheas, Cassowaries, Emus, Kiwis and Tinamous (as well as the extinct Moas and Elephant bird)
This family includes a number of species so as we build pages, they will be linked to images below (the pictures for these species in directly below here)
Pangalloanserae
There are two subgroups in this group, though Asterionis is extinct. The only other group is Galloanserae or fowl – containing
180 water-fowl (Anseriformes) species
290 Land-fowl (Galliformes) Species.
Neoaves
This contains the rest of the birds not already included in another group. This is roughly 95% of birds.
Now, Understandably, this group covering 95% of birds, we will not be listing every species. However, we will endeavour to list groups of interest down to a lower level- I know that there is a great deal of interest in birds, and I will rely on this website taking off to a greater degree in order to push this further
This family is large and varied. We are going to start with currently agreed “magnificent seven” supraordinal clades, as well as the three orphaned orders.
Notopalaeognathae
Neoaves
1. Telluraves (landbirds) This photo Red-tailed hawk, photo credit Rhododentrites
australavians (passerines, parrots, seriemas, and falcons) as well as the afroavians (including the Accipitrimorphae – eagles, hawks, buzzards, vultures etc. – owls and woodpeckers, among others), photo credit Rhododentrites
2. Aequornithes (Waterbirds) Shy albatross Photo credit JJ Harrison
3. Eurpygimorphae (tropicbirds, Kagu and Sunbittern) White-tailed tropicbird photo credit Yooshau
4. Otidimorphae (Turacos, Bustard and Cuckoos) Purple-crested Turaco - Bernard Dupont
5. Strisores (night birds - Nightjars, Nighthawks and Allies, Potoos, Oilbirds, Frogmouths, swifts and hummingbirds, Owlet-nighthars)
6. olumbimorphae (Pigeons and doves, Sandgrouse, Pin-tailed_sandgrouse, Mesites, this image Pin-tailed sandgrouse photo credit Francesco Veronesi
7. Mirandornithes (flamingo and grebes) this image flamingoes lake nakuru national park
8. Opisthocomidae Hoatzins_in_Brazil Photo credit Claudio Dias Timm
9. Gruiformes cranes and rails (and a few more) this image Grey_Crowned_Crane_at_Zoo_Copenhagen photo credit Jepsen
10, Charadriiformes - shorebirds (wadesr, gulls, Auks)photo credit MathKnight
Hyrax
Hyrax
The Hyrax is a family of species. All falling in the Order Hyracoidea, and the family Pracaviidae. While their look would not suggest it, this family is very closely related to the elephant
Within this family, there are 3 Genus, 2 with just one species, and one with 4. You will see labeled pictures below. Click on any to find out more.
Heterohyrax Dendrohyrax
Procavia
It should be noted, that the Benin tree hyrax was only decided in recent years, as such it is still debated as to whether it is a separate species, or just subspecies.
As many as 50 subspecies have been described. As destinations for these different species start to get added, I will add these to the grid above. As with all species on this website, we are eager to work with people on the ground, to allow tourism to see this species. given how well hyraxes do outside reserves, it may well be a species easier seen in areas of local population. Get in touch if you have a destination to list (link at the top of the main page. While fascinating to watch (we watched one eat a whole banana skin) they are often overlooked. They have less status than lions and elephants, but can also be found in more places
Yellow-spotted hyrax, has
a recognized 25 subspecies, though given the vast range of this species, this is perhaps not a surprise. They generally live in rocky areas and rock Kojes, that can be seen littered across savannah
It is (in some areas) hunted by humans, which has caused local problems. They are browsers, eating leaves twigs and other edible things it comes across (I have seen one eat a banana skin.
It is listed as least concern
Southern tree hyrax It is
found in temperate forests, subtropical or tropical dry forests, subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests, subtropical or tropical moist montane forests, moist savanna, and rocky areas.
It may be found at elevations up to 4,500m across a wide range of countries. It is largely nocturnal. The males call is an alarming series of shrieks.
It is listed as least concern.
Western tree hyrax, also known as the western tree dassie or Beecroft tree hyrax,
Western tree hyraxes tend to be solitary, and only occasionally are found in groups of two or three. They are nocturnal and generally feed at night. It has been noted that this species is an especially adept climber. The gestation period is about eight months with a litter size one or two young.
It is listed as least concern
Rock or cape hyrax has 5 recognized subspecies, again, unsurprising given its vast range. Generally having a hide within a natural rock cavity, Rock hyraxes are social animals that live in colonies of up to 50 individuals. They sleep in one group, and start the day, warming up in the sun
They are also listed as least concern
Eastern tree hyrax is the most localized of the tree hyrax species, only found in places within a narrow band of lowland and montane forests in Kenya and Tanzania and close-by islands. A solitary species, it lives in tree cavities, and communicates with others, through scent marking and high pitched calls.
They are classed as near threatened by the IUCN, with poaching being a big threat, particularly on Mount Kilimanjaro and throughout the Eastern arc mountains.
Benin tree hyrax is found in the region between the Niger and Volta Rivers in West Africa, hence the name.
It can be distinguished from neighbouring Dendrohyrax dorsalis by its night-time barking vocalizations, its shorter and broader skull, and its lighter pelage.
This is a species that is not currently agreed. However, if/when it is, it has been assessed by the IUCN as being least concern
A tiny reserve in Nigeria has been shown to be full of wildlife
Afi mountain wildlife Sanctuary is tiny, covering only 38.6 square miles, yet analysis has shown that this reserve has a whole host of wildlife.
A tiny reserve in Nigeria has been shown to be full of wildlife
Afi mountain wildlife Sanctuary is tiny, covering only 38.6 square miles, yet analysis has shown that this reserve has a whole host of wildlife.
A tiny reserve in Nigeria has been shown to be full of wildlife
Afi mountain wildlife Sanctuary is tiny, covering only 38.6 square miles, yet analysis has shown that this reserve has a whole host of wildlife.
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