Wildlife

Researchers from the University of Granada and the Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) have found that hoophoes cover their eggs with a secretion produced by themselves, loaded with mutualistic bacteria, which is then retained by a specializad structure in the eggshell and which increases successful hatching. So far this sort of behaviour has only been detected in this species of birds, and it is a mechanism to protect their eggs from infections by pathogens. - Halil

That's so cool! - Jenny H.

The British Trust for Ornithology's latest report shows extremely worrying long-term declines in a quarter of Britain's commonest bird species. - Halil

“Information generated by ringing birds and monitoring their nests proved that the majority of farmland bird declines were driven by a reduction in food availability during the winter. Drivers of garden bird declines are more variable; reduced winter food availability and disease appear to have caused a fall in Starling and Greenfinch numbers respectively, while House Sparrows seem to be struggling to rear enough chicks. Data gathered by BTO ringers and nest recorders will help us to identify the mechanisms underlying declines of other species.” - Halil

"A coyote hunter shot and killed a federally protected gray wolf in southwestern Utah Sunday, probably the same wolf that had been spotted repeatedly around the North Rim of the Grand Canyon in recent weeks. According to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, the wolf was radio-collared near Cody, Wyoming a year ago. The state agency said the hunter voluntarily reported the kill when he noticed the radio-collar. The Grand Canyon wolf, named “Echo” in a children’s naming contest this month, was confirmed through genetic analysis to be a female originating from the northern Rocky Mountains, at least 450 miles away." - Jessie

:( - Heather

"Being able to mentally consider quantities makes sense for any social species. This skill is important during the search for food, for example, or to determine whether an opponent group outnumbers one's own. Scientists from the Messerli Research Institute at the Vetmeduni Vienna studied how well dogs can discriminate between different quantities and discovered that wolves perform better than dogs at such tasks. Possibly dogs lost this skill, or a predisposition for it, during domestication. The results were published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology." - Jessie

"This is the story of a beaver named Geronimo and a simpler time of ingenuity, when the rodents parachuted into Idaho’s backcountry. Yes, I just wrote that sentence, and every word is true. As the Idaho Department of Fish and Game has celebrated its 75th anniversary this year, a number of wild tales of wildlife management have surfaced, and none are better than Geronimo’s. His tale is from the 1940s, when an abundance of beavers in some areas prompted depredation concerns, according to an article headlined “Transplanting Beavers by Airplane and Parachute” by Fish and Game’s Elmo W. Heter. The article was published in 1950 in the Journal of Wildlife Management." - Jessie

The problem with trucks and mules, however, was that beavers died in large numbers because they weren’t suited for the heat of summertime travel. “Older individuals often become dangerously belligerent,” Heter wrote. “Rough trips on pack animals are very hard on them. Horses and mules become spooky and quarrelsome when loaded with a struggling, odorous pair of live beavers.” (Let me stop here and point out that the problem with present-day Fish and Game reports is that they don’t use enough words like belligerent, quarrelsome and odorous.) Heter didn’t explain how Fish and Game ultimately turned to parachutes — I picture a meeting of bigwigs with diagrams, a wading pool and model beavers — but in 1948, they became the preferred method for a backcountry beavers blitzkrieg. (I want to stop here again and ponder the thoughts of the elk and deer as they watched the aerial raid of ruffian rodents.) - Steve C, Team Marina

"Washington State University researchers have found that it is counter-productive to kill wolves to keep them from preying on livestock. Shooting and trapping lead to more dead sheep and cattle the following year, not fewer. Writing in the journal PLOS ONE, WSU wildlife biologist Rob Wielgus and data analyst Kaylie Peebles say that, for each wolf killed, the odds of more livestock depredations increase significantly. The trend continues until 25 percent of the wolves in an area are killed. Ranchers and wildlife managers then see a "standing wave of livestock depredations," said Wielgus. Moreover, he and Peebles write, that rate of wolf mortality "is unsustainable and cannot be carried out indefinitely if federal relisting of wolves is to be avoided."" - Jessie

"The gray wolf was federally listed as endangered in 1974. During much of its recovery in the northern Rocky Mountains, government predator control efforts have been used to keep wolves from attacking sheep and livestock. With wolves delisted in 2012, sport hunting has also been used. But until now, the effectiveness of lethal control has been what Wielgus and Peebles call a "widely accepted, but untested, hypothesis." Their study is the largest of its kind, analyzing 25 years of lethal control data from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services Interagency Annual Wolf Reports in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. They found that killing one wolf increases the odds of depredations 4 percent for sheep and 5 to 6 percent for cattle the following year. If 20 wolves are killed, livestock deaths double. Work reported in PLOS ONE last year by Peebles, Wielgus and other WSU colleagues found that lethal controls of cougars also backfire, disrupting their populations so much that younger, less disciplined cougars attack more livestock. Still, Wielgus did not expect to see the same result with wolves. "I had no idea what the results were going to be, positive or negative," he said. "I said, 'Let's take a look at it and see what happened.' I was surprised that there was a big effect."" - Jessie

"Wielgus said the wolf killings likely disrupt the social cohesion of the pack. While an intact breeding pair will keep young offspring from mating, disruption can set sexually mature wolves free to breed, leading to an increase in breeding pairs. As they have pups, they become bound to one place and can't hunt deer and elk as freely. Occasionally, they turn to livestock. Under Washington state's wolf management plan, wolves will be a protected species until there are 15 breeding pairs for three years. Depredations and lethal controls, legal and otherwise, are one of the biggest hurdles to that happening. Wolves from the Huckleberry Pack killed more than 30 sheep in Stevens County, Wash., this summer, prompting state wildlife officials to authorize killing up to four wolves. An aerial gunner ended up killing the pack's alpha female. A second alpha female, from the Teanaway pack near Ellensburg, Wash., was illegally shot and killed in October. That left three breeding pairs in the state. As it is, said Wielgus, a small percentage of livestock deaths are from wolves. According to the management plan, they account for between .1 percent and .6 percent of all livestock deaths--a minor threat compared to other predators, disease, accidents and the dangers of calving. In an ongoing study of non-lethal wolf control, Wielgus's Large Carnivore Lab this summer monitored 300 radio-tagged sheep and cattle in Eastern Washington wolf country. None were killed by wolves. Still, there will be some depredations, he said. He encourages more non-lethal interventions like guard dogs, "range riders" on horseback, flags, spotlights and "risk maps" that discourage grazing animals in hard-to-protect, wolf-rich areas. "The only way you're going to completely eliminate livestock depredations is to get rid of all the wolves," Wielgus said, "and society has told us that that's not going to happen."" - Jessie

"Federal biologists say that, based on a genetic analysis of scat, they’re now 100 percent sure that the wolf-like animal spotted near the North Rim of the Grand Canyon is in fact a wild Rocky Mountain gray wolf. The confirmation clarifies that this gray wolf is fully protected under the Endangered Species Act, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced. Biologists have been tracking the canid since early October and were able to collect scat samples in early November. USFWS biologists have also been trying to capture the animal to collect blood and replace the radio collar. Those efforts were unsuccessful and have been suspended due to cold weather, “as the primary concern is the welfare of this animal,” according to the agency. Any future capture efforts will be for collar and transmitter replacement, and the wolf will be released on site." - Jessie

:D - Jessie

\(^_^)/ - Jenny H.

"The cuteness factor is awwwf the charts in "Saving Harry," a two-minute animated film by Wildlife Aid U.K. that follows the journey of the titular hedgehog from suburbia back to the woods where he belongs. An adorable hedgehog puppet moves through an amazingly well-realized illustrated world. Every element is superbly crafted, from Harry's pale reflection in the puddle to the grimy, discarded food tins and liquor bottles in the alley, and ultimately, the soft sod of the forest floor and ringed bark of the towering trees. "I'm Seeing Stars," the piano-based tune on the soundtrack, performed by the Elephant Rooms, creates just the right mood—slightly somber, but hopeful, too. Some versions of the clip include the vocal track, and the singer sounds a lot like Kate Bush. You can buy the song on iTunes, with all proceeds supporting the cause." - Jessie

"Conservation organizations on Wednesday sued the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to force it to complete a long overdue, legally required recovery plan for the Mexican gray wolf, the lobo of Southwestern lore. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona, aims to enforce compliance with rules the agency adopted 38 years ago to guide recovery of the federally endangered species driven to near extinction by wolf extermination campaigns of the 19th and 20th centuries. It asks the court to declare the agency in violation of the Endangered Species Act, and order it to “prepare and implement a scientifically based, legally valid” final recovery plan within a year of the court’s judgment. The Mexican gray wolf was reintroduced into a small area of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico in 1998 as part of a strategy to reach a population of 100 wolves, including 18 breeding pairs, by 2006. Today, the population stands at 83 wolves, and five breeding pairs. They are managed under restrictions that do not permit the mobile, clannish hunters to colonize new territory, increasing the likelihood of inbreeding, according to the lawsuit. The restrictions also allow excessive killing and removal of wolves that take livestock, the lawsuit says." - Jessie

"The Arctic fox stock in nature reserve Hornstrandir in the West Fjords nearly collapsed this past summer. A multitude of foxes were found dead and very few pairs managed to raise cubs, as stated in a report by the Icelandic Institute of Natural History (NÍ) released last week. This is the first time that foxes have decreased at such a scale since NÍ first started following the wild animal in Hornstrandir 16 years ago. Fox hunting has not been practiced in the nature reserve since 1995, ruv.is reports. The number of foxes is also declining nationwide for the first time since the initial count in 1979. In the autumn of 2007 their number peaked at eight times the stock size of 1979 after a 30-year period of continued growth. In 2013 their estimated number was 11,000." - Jessie

"The reason for this development is unknown but is believed to be connected to changes in the climate, food availability, animal health and even outside pollution, NÍ concludes. Hunters have reported an increase in sterile vixens in South Iceland, fewer burrows in North and South Iceland and variation in cub sizes in West Iceland, which indicates unstable or fewer food sources. The Arctic fox is the only wild terrestrial mammal native to Iceland, that is, the only mammal that arrived before man, approximately 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age." - Jessie

:-( - Jessie

I believe male artic foxes also commit infanticide at times; eg lack of food so killing off competition, so if there is evidence of this too then this is especially worrying. As for the comment by the hunters, seriously, they are listening to hunters, so clearly they are hunting foxes, even if they were hunting other things, how would they know a vixen is sterile?! Unless of course these hunters have been monitering the artic foxes and observed no cubs being born even after mating? - Halil

"Wolves from heavily hunted populations in northern Canada show elevated stress and reproductive hormones — physiological effects that could have evolutionary implications — according to a study published Wednesday in the scientific journal Functional Ecology. Hunting can disrupt a wolf pack’s complex social structure, alter normal reproductive behaviour and introduce chronic stress that “may have evolutionary consequences,” the study found. Hunting can also decrease pack size, resulting in altered predation patterns, increased time spent defending kill sites from scavengers and may lead to increased conflict with humans and livestock, the study added." - Jessie

" A collaboration of researchers from B.C., Alberta, and Israel studied hair samples from 103 tundra/taiga wolves from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories against 45 wolves from the boreal forests of Alberta and the Northwest Territories. The tundra-taiga wolves hunt primarily caribou and live in an open landscape where they are easily killed by hunters on snowmobiles. The boreal wolves eat primarily moose and live in a forest landscape where they are killed at a much reduced rate by traps and snares. Wolves have a complex social structure, with usually just the dominant pair in a pack having one litter of pups per year. Large-scale killing of wolves disrupts that structure, leading to increased reproductive rates and altered genetic structure and behaviour. Heather Bryan, who conducted the research as part of her PhD research at the University of Calgary, said the hormones are found in minute amounts in the hair, comparable to measuring 10 granules of salt dissolved in 30 Olympic-sized swimming pools. “Despite the low concentrations, our measurements on hair revealed that wolves from heavily hunted populations had higher progesterone, testosterone, and cortisol,” she said." - Jessie

" Stress and reproductive hormones accumulate in growing hair from the blood vessel that supplies the hair follicle and surrounding glands. There was no significant difference between wolves with dark and light-coloured fur. Elevated levels of the reproductive hormone, testosterone, in both male and female wolves are thought to be linked to hunting. Increased levels of progesterone, a hormone produced during pregnancy, likely reflects an unusually higher proportion of breeding females. States the study: “When social structure is disrupted, multiple litters per social group become more common, in part because dominant individuals can no longer prevent subordinates from breeding.” Participants included University of Calgary, Raincoast Conservation Foundation, University of Victoria, Hakai Beach Institute, and Israel’s Bar-Ilan University. Paul Paquet, adjunct geography professor at the University of Victoria, noted: “The effects of stress are often subtle, but the resulting harm can be acute, chronic, and permanent, sometimes spanning generations.” A study of a smaller population of 30 boreal wolves subject to a predator-control program to protect endangered mountain caribou farther south in Alberta also showed elevated levels of cortisol, a stress hormone." - Jessie

"French authorities say a young tiger is on the loose near Disneyland Paris, one of Europe's top tourist destinations, and have urged residents in three towns to stay indoors. The town of Montevrain sent out a news alert on its Facebook page Thursday saying a young tiger was spotted in the brush behind some tennis courts and a soccer field. The field is about 9 kilometers (5 1/2 miles) from Disneyland Paris. Around 60 police, fire and other security forces were trying to track the tiger, said Cedric Tartaud, chief of staff for the Montevrain mayor. The tiger is estimated to weigh around 70 kilograms (154 pounds), Tartaud said." - Jessie

"The Parc des Felins, a wild cat animal park about 18 miles from Montevrain, said in a statement on its web site that all of its animals were accounted for and the escaped tiger didn't come from there. EuroDisney, the operator of Disneyland Paris, said it has no tigers in the theme park, so the errant cat could not have come from them either. It wasn't immediately clear if any extra precautions had been taken inside the park." - Jessie

Ooops. - Kirsten loves you

Anyone missing a kitty? - Jessie

"With both wolf proposals shot down by Michigan voters on election day, the debate over managing and hunting wolves is far from over. A Michigan State University study, appearing in a recent issue of the Journal of Wildlife Management, identifies the themes shaping the issue and offers some potential solutions as the debate moves forward. The research explored how different sides of the debate view power imbalances among different groups and the role that scientific knowledge plays in making decisions about hunting wolves. These two dimensions of wildlife management can result in conflict and stagnate wildlife management. The results indicate that tension between public attitudes about local knowledge, and politics and science can drive conflict among Michiganders' stance regarding wolf hunting, said Meredith Gore, associate professor of fisheries and wildlife and co-lead author of the study. "Given the trend in wildlife management toward increased stakeholder input, finding solutions that approach science and politics as complementary, rather than competing, approaches may aid the public participation processes," she said." - Jessie

That seems pretty consistent with data on wolf predation of livestock in general. I remember stats for some recent periods showed greater losses of livestock to stray dogs and lightning strikes compared to wolves, yet according to ranchers wolves are a huge problem and must be culled. Huh. - Jessie

"In some areas rewilding is up and running. In 1995 Yellowstone Park reintroduced the wolves 70 years after they had disappeared. A herd of bison (Europe’s largest mammals at 1,400lb per beast) has been established in the Romanian Carpathians in a project led by WWF Romania. It might be biologically desirable, but rewilding lacks enthusiasm from farmers worrying about land used to grow food being turned over to beasts that may kill livestock. While ramblers don’t want tracts of land fenced off. The rewilders would like us to chill out, pointing out that while California has a cougar population of 4,000-6,000, interaction with humans is rare – and that many wolves run up and down Italy without incident." - Jessie

"Federal officials said Thursday they are trying to determine whether a wolf-like animal that has been repeatedly spotted in an area north of the Grand Canyon is an endangered gray wolf, as environmental groups believe. The animal, first spotted by a visitor to the area on Oct. 4, would be the first gray wolf in that part of the state since the 1940s, if officials can confirm its species. “It would be premature to say whether it is a gray wolf, a wolf hybrid or, least likely, a Mexican gray wolf,” said Jeff Humphrey, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service office in Phoenix. “That’s where our immediate course of action is, to ascertain what type of animal it is,” Humphrey said." - Jessie

"The animal, wearing what appears to be an inactive radio-tracking collar, has been photographed several times since it was first spotted. But Humphrey said his agency needs to collect and analyze scat from the animal, to be able to narrow its species through the process of elimination. “Based on photographs, it does not appear to be a Mexican wolf and its collar is similar to those used in the northern Rocky Mountain wolf recovery effort,” Fish and Wildlife officials said in a statement." - Jessie

How awesome would that be?! - Jenny H.

Seriously! That would be an amazing recovery. - Jessie

Species, such as Whinchat, Common Nightingale, Tree Pipit and Spotted Flycatcher, which winter in the humid zone of Africa – stretching across the continent from southern Senegal to Nigeria and beyond - show the most dramatic declines: the indicator for this group of species has dropped by just over 70% since the late 1980s. This contrasts with species, such as Sand martin, Common Whitethroat and Sedge Warbler, wintering in the arid zone (just below the Sahara desert). These species have fluctuated considerably since 1970, but show a less than 20% decline overall. - Halil

One of the most dramatic declines is that of the European Turtle-dove with a decline of 88% since 1995. The following species have also declined over the same period: Wood Warbler, 66%; European Pied Flycatcher, 53%; Spotted Flycatcher, 49%; Common Cuckoo, 49%; Common Nightingale, 43%; and Yellow Wagtail, 43%. - Halil

If wildlife crimes are at the root of this, ie birds being caught in nets during their migration and then sold off as either pets or food delicacies, then the root cause is most likely poverty as some wildlife crimes are driven by poverty. So the question is how do you address that issue, but I'm only speculating that the birds are being trapped during their migratory paths. - Halil

This is extremely worrying wildlife experts are warning. Quagga mussels have been described as 'ecosystem engineers' because their vast capacity to filter water upsets the natural balance throughout the food web. They eat some pollutants, but they turn it into concentrated toxic faeces which can poison drinking water for people and wildlife. - Halil

The Wildfowl & Wetland Trust’s head of conservation policy, Jeff Knott said: “This is a worrying, but entirely predictable, development that could be devastating to British wetlands. Quagga mussels are likely to indirectly cause suffering and death for hundreds of thousands of native animals, fish and plants and cost millions of pounds in tax and water bills to protect drinking water supplies. - Halil

:( - Halil

... - piikummitus

Now, University of California, Davis, researchers have for the first time investigated ancestry across the red fox genome, including the Y chromosome, or paternal line. The data, compiled for over 1,000 individuals from all over the world, expose some surprises about the origins, journey and evolution of the red fox, the world's most widely distributed land carnivore. - Halil

The new genetic research further suggests that the first red foxes originated in the Middle East before beginning their journey of colonization across Eurasia to Siberia, across the Bering Strait and into North America, where they eventually founded the North American population. "That small group that got across the Bering Strait went on to colonize a whole continent and are on their own evolutionary path," Statham said. - Halil

"Much higher levels of radioactivity than normal have been found among Norway's grazing animals, especially its reindeer population, a study revealed on Monday. Almost 30 years after the nuclear plant explosion in Chernobyl, this autumn, more radioactivity has been measured in Norwegian grazing animals than has been noted in many years. Lavrans Skuterud, a scientist at the Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority (Statens strålevern), said: “This year is extreme.” In September, 8200 becquerel per kilo of the radioactive substance Caesium-137 was measured in reindeer from Våga reinlag AS, in Jotunheimen, central Norway. In comparison, the highest amount at the same place was 1500 becquerel among the reindeer in September 2012. The research also measured radioactivity in Norwegian sheep this year. Both in Valdres in southwest Norway and Gudbrandsdalen in southeast Norway, 4500 becquerel per kilo meat from sheep was measured at most. 600 becquerel per kilo is the safe limit allowed for sheep meat to be sold for human consumption." - Jessie

" The Radiation Protection scientist is quite certain about the cause. Lavrans Skuterud said: “This year, there has been extreme amounts of mushroom. In addition, the mushroom season has lasted for a long time. And the mushroom has grown very high up on the mountains.” Especially the gypsy mushroom (Cortinarius Caperatus) has been a problem. This is a good food mushroom, both for people and animals. But it has one bad trait: It can absorb a lot of radioactivity. Skuterud is still surprised by the high levels this year. He reminds that: “The Chernobyl accident happened in 1986. It is nearly 30 years ago.” The nuclear reactor of Chernobyl was made to be cheap and effective in its operation, but was regrettably also basically unstable, and one day in spring of 1986, everything went wrong. Caesium-137 has a physical half-life of 30 years. This means that in two years, half of the radioactive dust that came in over Norway after the dramatic spring night in 1986, will be gone. Skuterud explained: “The level of [radioactivity] in the environment still decreases faster than this. Some of it is washed out and most of it is bound to the soil. Only a small part of it is in circulation throughout the food chain. When we watch the values in the grazing animals in autumn, it bounces up and down, and it seems to be everlasting. But the winter values in reindeer luckily show a stable decrease.”" - Jessie

Even though we're far away from caribou country, I can vouch for the insane amount of mushrooms growing in the forests here. You can't take a step without hitting one. Also, biomagnification is a bitch. :-/ - Jenny H.

They're going to get glowing noses and be able to fly soon. - April Russo (FForever!)

Derived from a naturally occurring insecticide, emamectin benzoate (EMB), and its means of deployment, known as tree micro-injection, it is currently being assessed by the Chemicals Regulation Directorate. - Halil

He said: "We tested for wound closure as well as leaf chlorophyll content and fluorescence - these weren't affected. We can inject it at quite high levels without burning the tree." O'Callaghan added: "One application lasts two years, with signs of effect in three-to-four weeks." - Halil

The population of the Norfolk boobook declined with the clearance and modification of its forest habitat, especially the felling of large trees with suitable hollows for nesting in. There was also competition for nest hollows with feral honey bees and introduced crimson rosellas.[5] By 1986 the population had been reduced to a single female bird, named "Miamiti" after a matriarch of the Norfolk Island people.[6] As part of a program to attempt to conserve at least some of the genes of the insular subspecies, two male Southern boobooks (moreporks) of the nominate New Zealand subspecies, Ninox novaeseelandiae novaeseelandiae, were introduced to the island as mates for the female. The males were sourced from the New Zealand subspecies rather than one of the Australian subspecies as it was discovered that it was more closely related to the Norfolk Island taxon.[7][8] Nest boxes were also provided. One of the introduced males disappeared a year after introduction but the other successfully mated with the female with the pair producing fledged chicks in 1989 and 1990. The original female disappeared in 1996 but, by then, there was a small hybrid population of about a dozen birds. These birds and their descendants continue to exist on the island. - Halil

"A female wolf that’s become too comfortable hanging around homes and domestic dogs near Ione will be captured and put in a Western Washington wildlife park, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife officials said Wednesday. The capture, which is planned for this week, would be the first time wildlife officials put one of the state-listed endangered species into captivity as the wolves are reintroducing themselves into the state. The wolf had been captured and fitted with a radio collar in July 2013 and eventually found another female companion to form the Ruby Creek Pack. When biologists suspected the other wolf had been bred by a domestic dog that had joined them last winter, they captured the wolf, spayed it and turned it loose. That wolf was later killed in a vehicle collision, leaving the Ruby Creek wolf on her own again." - Jessie

Well, and you figure that if she's playing with local dogs, she's too interested to stay away from people even if they move her. At least in that environment she can interact with other wolves, and her lack of fear about human settlements is a slight bonus. - Jennifer Dittrich

"He builds it. They tear it down. He rebuilds it. They tear it down again. That back-and-forth defines the battle being waged between county road crews and a very determined beaver. "They're workers, you know. They're busy all the time, I appreciate that about the animals," said Kitsap County Roads Superintendent Jacques Dean. "But at some point what they're doing is compromising public safety, and we can't let that happen." Dean says his crews have had to dismantle a beaver dam beneath a bridge on Long View Road three times since August. Each time, the beaver returns to the same spot and starts over. At one point the dam was 40-feet long and 3-feet tall. "It's costing us a lot of time to keep sending our people out to haul away all the wood, brush and mud," Dean said. "We've decided we need to catch the animal."" - Jessie

Have they considered laser treatment? - Eivind

But the farmers aren’t to blame, said Håkansson. ”The way the rules work today, when a farmer transforms land into a more nature-friendly area, he is punished. He receives no compensation for earnings lost by not farming the nature-friendly land,” Håkansson said. - Halil

"With minimal loss in power production—and hence revenue—and with the aid of the bat shield, First State Marine Wind was able to realize a significant reduction in bat fatalities," Firestone said. A great advantage of the bat shield is that "we can program in changes to the cut-in speed that are tied to atmospheric conditions and time of year and time of day so that turbines can be easily adjusted to protect bats," he said - Halil

And likely (small) birds too! - Halil

"The Kenting National Park Administration Office said it is aware that the population of Formosan Sikka Deer released into the park might have grown too large after discovering a decrease in the number of saplings and other plants, as well as trampled ground near Sheding Nature Park (社頂自然公園). The administration said the diversity of flora and fauna in the region might have been seriously impacted. The office released 233 Formosan Sikka Deer to live wild in the park in 1984, but the office estimated that the population has grown to 1,500, with the majority of the herd clustered in the Shueiwaku (水蛙窟) area of Sheding. The once dense vegetation covering the mountains of Sheding is now nearly barren, showing the impact of the Formosan Sikka Deer’s return to the wild, the office said." - Jessie

Deer are evil - MoTO Boychick Devil

WHY DO YOU HATE BAMBI, MOTO?! WERE YOU THE HUNTER THAT KILLED HIS MUM?! *j'accuse!* - Soup in a TARDIS

Release the wolves! - rønin

The oleander hawk-moth was recently recorded in the Cotswolds by Jean Booth, who found it near to her tobacco flowers – a known food plant of the giant moth. - Halil

“When I realised it was an oleander, all I could think was ‘Wow’! It was so big and had the most beautiful markings. I’ve only been recording moths for just over a year and still can’t believe this rare migrant made its way to my garden.” - Halil

Started to follow me and figured I'd share their stream as it will appeal to many of you. Sorry can't embed photos, so click on link and check out them out! - Halil

But the vultures don't just follow the eagles to their next meal. They also use the sharp-beaked eagles as a way to better access food, letting them tear open tough carcasses - a talent that vultures lack - before swooping in and taking it all for themselves. - Halil

"Vultures were once the most abundant birds of prey in the world, but their numbers have been hammered in recent decades by habitat loss, inadvertent poisoning, and hunting," said Andrew Jackson, who supervised the research. "Our study shows, as is often the case in the tangled web of ecology, that it is important to consider other species when trying to conserve vultures. In this case, conserving early rising raptors may help to boost the chance that vultures find enough food to survive." - Halil

Sometimes we have a dozen vultures circling the ridge in front of our house, surfing the warm air as it rises up and away. Gorgeous to watch. - Todd Hoff

Extra news: July of last year, roughly 500 vultures died after they ate the pesticide-laced carcass of an elephant that had been killed by poachers in Namibia. It was an example of one poaching technique in Africa that seems to be on the rise: the poisoning of vultures so that authorities won’t be alerted to the location of the crime. http://raptorpolitics.org.uk/2014... - Halil

"A new study led by the Wildlife Conservation Society reveals that in India's human dominated agricultural landscapes, where leopards prowl at night, it's not livestock that's primarily on the menu -- it is man's best friend. The study, which looked at scat samples for leopards in India's Ahmednagar's district in Maharashtra, found that 87 percent of their diet was made up of domestic animals. Domestic dog dominated as the most common prey item at 39 percent and domestic cats were second at 15 percent. Seventeen percent of the leopard's diet consisted of assorted wild animals including rodents, monkeys, and mongoose, and birds." - Jessie

Man-eating leopard kills 12 as it targets drunks staggering home http://metro.co.uk/2014... - Halil

Photographer Oliver Hellowell has Down's syndrome, which his mother says means he sees the world differently to most other people. Oliver's unique way of capturing the natural world has recently gained him a lot of fans. Just over a year ago his mother Wendy O'Carroll set up a Facebook page for the eighteen-year-old's photography. That page now has over ten and a half thousand followers. "It's not just the numbers that have surprised the family, it's the range of people," says Wendy. The page has fans from Brazil to Alaska. Oliver hopes that photography - particularly of birds - can become his full-time profession. - Halil

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/OliverH... - Halil

But rather than lament the changes, he urged everyone to act. “We know climate change is happening. It is regretted by some but it is also to be embraced. It is causing great changes in the distribution of animnals and birds in the countryside. We must take advantage of that. It is very important that we accept there are things coming in ... We must recognise that new animals and plants are coming in. Others are moving north. We ought to be giving thought to wildlife corridors ... and not think that every new arrival is to be repelled. - Halil