NEWS AND COMMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: John Hume is a controversial figure. He breeds rhinoceroses on his farm. The Times reports that he has 2,000 on his 8400-ha farm in north-west South Africa. He de-horns his rhino and keeps the horns which he wants to sell because …
Plastic rings can find their way into the habitats of many wild species where they can do damage and kill animals. The picture on this page is very illustrative of the dangers to wildlife of plastic rings. The very minor inconvenience of cutting a ring …
World Frog Day means a chance to celebrate this amphibian and its existence on the planet. It’s today and it’s a time to put the frog in the forefront of people’s minds – temporarily. Quite a lot of people have frogs as pets because they …
Animal advocates will be delighted to hear that Enfield County Council are going to reintroduce the beaver to their London borough as part of their aim to challenge climate change and bolster ecosystems. Beavers were present in London no less than 400 years ago so …
You didn’t realise, and neither did I, that whale excrement is so important to the oceans’ ecosystem. And of course, because humans have been mercilessly killing whales for the past century, the amounts of whale excrement have been reduced dramatically to the point where the …
The experts are going to clone the Tasmanian tiger (Thylacine). They are convinced that they can do it using Crispr gene-editing. In layperson’s terms and employing a very general description; firstly, they’re going to produce the complete genetic code for the Tasmanian tiger. Then they …
NEWS AND COMMENT – ICELAND: The Times has reported that Iceland has announced it will stop hunting whales by 2024 because of a decline in demand for whale meat. The fisheries minister, Svandís Svavarsdóttir said: “There is little proof that there is any economic advantage …
NEWS AND COMMENT: For me this is an utterly bizarre and distressing story but, that said, it is predictable as the world appears to be descending into a kind of chaos. And often the victim is wildlife, individual animals and certain wildlife species such as …
Hippos mark territory with poop. It reminds me of cats actually. But hippos only mark territory by spraying poop with their tail when they are confronted with a hippo that is a stranger. When they hear the wheeze-honk of a hippo they have not heard …
