SCIENCE & OPINION: This is a worrying development for conservationists and I would argue for anybody living on the planet. 😢 There are various signs of global warming like the many more hottest days in history (on average, globally) and the hottest July ever last year for example. The UK’s weather has changed dramatically with warmer and wetter winters and some extraordinary hot summer days last year for instance. Horrendous forest fires in the US come to mind and ‘heat domes’ in Canada with extraordinary temperatures.
Lake Mead in America is drying out and if it drops below a certain level millions of people will be affected. There’s lots to discuss but in this instance, we have a mountain goat that has decided after very warm days and when the nights are lighter to forage at night, to be a nocturnal animal, which is risky because wolves are around at night preying on mammals like Ibex. The Ibex is a daytime-active animal normally.
So, this mountain goat has decided that it is better to graze at night when it’s cooler and risk being killed by a wolf than suffering the high temperatures when grazing during the daytime.
These are the findings of a study by an Italian group of scientists working out of the University of Sassari in Sardinia and the University of Ferrara in northern Italy – see citation below.
They followed the activities of 47 Alpine Ibexes between the months of May and October for 14 years. They tracked their movements and used motion sensor data from GPS collars.
And as mentioned they discovered that they have become more nocturnal. To quote the summary of these scientists,
We found that ibex increased nocturnal activity following warmer days and during brighter night. Males and females demonstrated consistent responses to heat in both predator-present and predator-absent areas [demonstrating] shifting activity towards nighttime [which] may be a common strategy adopted by diurnal endotherms in response to global warming.
Francesca Brivio, the lead author of the study.
“Diurnal endotherms” are animals active during the day that maintain their bodies at a metabolically favourable temperature (warm bloodied).
World leadership
The study is yet one more piece in the jigsaw which signals that climate change is with us now and it is time for all the world’s leaders to work together in unison to fix the problem with bold and dramatic action and interventions. Less talk and more action please.
This will mean spending a lot more money rather than being defensive about spending money. The argument is that if money is not spent now – and it will be in the trillions of dollars – more will have to be spent later when the full impact of global warming takes effect on the planet.
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The study
Seeking temporal refugia to heat stress: increasing nocturnal activity despite predation risk. Link: https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2023.1587. Scientists: Francesca Brivio, Marco Apollonio, Pia Anderwald, Flurin Filli, Bruno Bassano, Cristiano Bertolucci and Stefano Grignolio.
