World of Animals – August 2018

FR EE

SLOTH POSTER INSIDE THIS ISSUE! TM

SHARK MYTH BUSTED!

EXCLUSIVE OFFER RSPB WILDLIFE POCKET BOOK

What movies get wrong about these misunderstood predators

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SKUNK AND DISORDERLY

WEIRD WAYS ANIMALS KEEP COOL

BADASS BEETLES

SHOOTING SKIPPY

Meet the tiny bugs Is the kangaroo an with incredible powers Aussie icon or a pest?

KEEPING JAGUARS

Should a wild cat be raised by humans?

The truth about this smelly mammal

WILDLIFE OF THE FYNBOS

Explore this unique habitat

PLUS LADYBIRDS BABOONS IBERIAN LYNX JAYS HORSES

ISSUE 062

EUROPE’S HIDDEN WILDLIFE TREASURES

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Welcome

Zara Gaspar Editor

Follow us at…

Lauren Debono-Elliot

Senior Designer Animals have some pretty creative ways of keeping cool (page 12). With temperatures soaring, perhaps we could learn a thing or two – maybe not the spit bath though!

Charlie Ginger

Production Editor While the UK views kangaroos as harmless hoppers, many down under see them as pests.

We examine the plight of these marsupials on page 76.

IR

3 things we learnt this issu issue...

Kangaroos give themselves a spit bath when it’s hot.

Tiger iger beetles run so fas fast they temporarily go blind.

Thee gastric broo brooding frog ate its eggs to protect them.

@WorldAnimalsMag

worldofanimalsmag

Victoria Williams

Staff Writer Domestic cats can be quite a handful to look a er, so imagine sharing your home with a wild predator like the jaguar! Find out what it’s like by turning to page 34.

© Getty; Damocean

Sharks get a really bad rap! Did you know that an estimated y 100 million sharks are killed by humans every year, whereas on n average only six humans are killed by shark attacks? So who are the real blood-thirsty killers?

In this issue, we bust 10 shark myths and discover what the movies get wrong about these amazing apex predators (page 66).

It’s not only sharks that suffer from a negative reputation. Sloths are not as lazy as you may think (see page 42), there’s more to skunks than their stench (see page 54), and beetles are not just insects - they have incredible powers (see page 26).

Turn the page to uncover the truth about species big and small and let us know what surprises you!

Meet the team…

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What’s inside...

06 Amazing animals 12 Keeping cool From sweating to spit baths, when it comes to beating the heat, animals have it licked

20 Restoring South Georgia’s birdlife How an island overrun by rats for over 200 years was saved in only a decade

25 The lifecycle of the silkworm The life of these intriguing insects is always short, and it’s often brutally ended

26 Badass beetles Meet the bugs that make other insects look positively puny with their incredible powers

NEXT ISSUE ON SALE 30/08/18

54 Skunk and disorderly Does this critter really deserve its rotten reputation?

59 Bizarre: oilbird The noisy bird that acts remarkably similar to a bat

60 Fauna or flora?

The exotic plant species that look like animals

66 10 shark myths busted!

What the movies got wrong about these apex predators

76 Shooting skippy Is the iconic kangaroo really a national pest?

82 Explore the Earth: elephants 33 Lost forever: gastric The best places around the brooding frog globe to see these gentle giants The Australian amphibian that ate its own young to survive, but still went extinct

34 Keeping jaguars Is hand-rearing such a powerful predator the right thing to do?

38 Wildlife of the fynbos Meet the unique inhabitants of one of the world’s most biodiverse biomes

42 All about sloths Learn the truth about sloths, the not-so-lazy mammals that everyone has come to love

THE IUCN RED LIST Throughout World of Animals you will see symbols like the ones you see here. These are from the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, the most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of animal species in the world. Here’s what they mean:

EXTINCT EXTINCT IN THE WILD CRITICALLY ENDANGERED ENDANGERED VULNERABLE NEAR THREATENED LEAST CONCERN

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90 Nature diaries: Bears and bustards

Subscribe S ub bssc cri riib be to t WOA now

James Lowen’s guide to Europe’s best wildlife secrets

Head over to page 92 for great deals!

94 Meet the jays There are around 50 species classed as jays, but here are some of our favourites

96 Readers’ Q&A 98 Quiz Test your animal knowledge!

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Future PLC Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ

Editorial Editor Zara Gaspar

zara.gaspar@futurenet.com 01202 586220

Senior Designer Lauren Debono-Elliot Production Editor Charlie Ginger Staff Writer Victoria Williams Group Editor-in-Chief James Hoare Senior Art Editor Duncan Crook Photographer James Sheppard

COVER FEATURE Page 66

Contributors Matt Ayres, Rachael Funnell, Amy Grisdale, James Lowen, Laura Mears, Adam Millward, Mike Simpson, Sasha Wallen Cover images Alamy, Alex Bondarenko, Barcroft Media, Blickwinkel, EyeEm, Getty, NaturePL, Imagebroker, The Big Cat Sanctuary Photography Alamy, FLPA, Getty, Nature PL, The Art Agency, Peter Scott, Sandra Doyle, Shutterstock, James Lowen, Alan Batley All copyrights and trademarks are recognised and respected Advertising Media packs are available on request Commercial Director Clare Dove clare.dove@futurenet.com Regional Advertising Director Mark Wright mark.wright@futurenet.com Account Manager Jagdeep Maan jagdeep.maan@futurenet.com 01225 687 353 International World of Animals is available for licensing. Contact the International department to discuss partnership opportunities International Licensing Director Matt Ellis matt.ellis@futurenet.com Subscriptions Email enquiries contact@myfavouritemagazines.co.uk UK orderline & enquiries 0344 848 2852 Overseas order line and enquiries +44 (0) 344 848 2852 Online orders & enquiries www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk Head of subscriptions Sharon Todd Circulation Head of Newstrade Tim Mathers Production Head of Production Mark Constance Production Project Manager Clare Scott Advertising Production Manager Joanne Crosby Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson Production Manager Vivienne Calvert

“Sharks play a vital role in maintaining the health of marine ecosystems” Page 66

Editor’s pick Beetles are some of the most underappreciated animals on the planet. I mean, imagine being able to carry the equivalent weight to an elephant!

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Management Managing Director Aaron Asadi Commercial Finance Director Dan Jotcham Editorial Director Paul Newman Head of Art & Design Greg Whitaker Managing Director of Hobbies Alastair Lewis Printed by Wyndeham Peterborough, Storey’s Bar Road, Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, PE1 5YS Distributed by Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU www.marketforce.co.uk Tel: 0203 787 9060 ISSN 2053-7727 We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived from ȸƺɀȵȒȇɀǣƫǼɵ ȅƏȇƏǕƺƳً ƬƺȸɎǣˡƺƳ ǔȒȸƺɀɎȸɵ ƏȇƳ ƬǝǼȒȸǣȇƺ‫ٮ‬ǔȸƺƺ ȅƏȇɖǔƏƬɎɖȸƺِ The paper in this magazine was sourced and produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing paper mill holds full FSC (Forest Stewardship !ȒɖȇƬǣǼ٣ ƬƺȸɎǣˡƬƏɎǣȒȇ ƏȇƳ ƏƬƬȸƺƳǣɎƏɎǣȒȇ All contents © 2018 Future Publishing Limited or published under licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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The amazing world of animals

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The amazing world of animals

© Richard Austin/REX/Shutterstock

Swans will usually protect their nests and family fiercely, but this group of mute swans are so used to having people around them that visitors can get up close to newly hatched cygnets Abbotsbury Swannery in Dorset, England, is the world’s only managed nesting mute swan colony. For centuries over 100 pairs have flocked to the lagoon for breeding season, and every other year they’re rounded up for a health check by people in canoes.

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The amazing world of animals

Š Getty; Alan Tunnicliffe Photography

It looks like someone’s just told a great joke as this male cracks a smile, but being the silverback in a troop of gorillas is serious business Gorilla troops usually consist of females and their ospring led by a single adult male. At maturity, males develop a set of large canine teeth and the characteristic patch of grey hair down their backs. A silverback decides where the group goes and uses his size and strength to keep the troop safe from harm.

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The amazing world of animals

© S & D & K Maslowski/FLPA

Swallowing its own feathers, the horned grebe builds up a filter in its stomach that holds bones until they’ve been digested, allowing it to safely eat fish whole as it dives for food In winter the only colour on the horned grebe is its red eyes. Come breeding season, however, both sexes sprout a tu of yellow feathers behind each ear. Horned grebes catch insects flying over the water and use their large feet to swim down in search of fish and arthropods.

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The amazing world of animals

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When mums are away, the pups play, as proved by this cute young pair of sea lions keeping each other entertained by playing together in the sand while their mothers are off finding food in the ocean Galápagos sea lion pups are born between May and January and are fed by their mothers for around a year, so there are always youngsters on the islands. Pups play and nap together on the beach in groups known as rookeries until mothers and offspring reunite by barking to each other.

© Kevin Schafer/Minden Pictures/FLPA

The amazing world of animals

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Keeping cool While we can break out the fans, iced drinks and air conditioning, animals have had to come up with more creative ways of coping when they start feeling the heat Words Victoria Williams

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© Getty; Gilitukha

Keeping cool

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Keeping cool

Blood circulates through a butterfly’s wings, and the large surface area acts like an elephant’s ear to maximise heat loss on hot days.

Acting shady For many animals, the best way to cope with heat is simply to avoid it Some animals – known as ectotherms – are unable to regulate their body temperature internally. These species have to use the heat of the Sun to warm themselves up but then need to change their behaviour before they overheat.

Lizards, toads and salamanders will dig themselves into dirt, sand or leaves in search of cool patches, while butterflies and dragonflies can use dark patches on their wings to shade their bodies if they’re in a sunny patch. If that’s not enough, they’ll take off in search of shade, which brings the added benefit of a cool breeze.

As a mammal, the Cape ground squirrel is able to control its temperature to an extent, but it still folds its bushy tail over to use it like a parasol under the hot African Sun.

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Keeping cool

Getting sweaty It’s our main method of thermoregulation when we get too hot, but sweating is rare in the animal kingdom When we get too hot, we sweat. As the liquid evaporates from our skin heat energy is drawn away from our body.

Some animals, like cats and dogs, sweat a little between the pads of their feet, but heavy perspiration is something we only share with monkeys, apes and horses.

A horse’s primary method for cooling down is panting, and its long nose makes it an efficient mechanism when it’s at rest or moving slowly. When it’s galloping at high speed, however, panting is no longer effective and it starts sweating.

It’s thought that sweating allowed early humans to become endurance hunters, just as it lets horses travel at high speed over long distances. While we perspire for the same reason, the composition of our sweat is different. Human sweat is almost entirely made of water and salt, but a horse’s sweat glands secrete a mixture of water, fats and proteins – this protein-rich recipe seems to help it lather and flow past the animal’s thick waterproof hair to the surface where it can evaporate.

No sweat For those that don’t perspire, there are alternatives

Many animals wade, but few seem to relish their time in the water quite as much as the moose. Moose have been known to stand in water for hours at a time, enjoying the chance to cool down.

They don’t sweat, but kangaroos are able to produce a similar effect by giving themselves an elegantly named ‘spit bath’. They lick their forearms to cover them in saliva, which then evaporates in the heat of the Sun.

If you thought a spit bath was bad, you won’t like the alternative to sweating used by storks and turkey vultures. It’s called urohidrosis, and it involves the birds releasing their waste all over their legs.

© Getty; Stefan Meyers; Jami Tarris; Agencja Fotograficzna Caro / Alamy; Flower Garden and Spa

Just like us, horses have armpits packed with a high concentration of sweat glands.

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Keeping cool Sleeping through it Aestivation – the hot weather equivalent of hibernation – is just as critical in extreme heat

Playing it by ear Along with the elephant, several animals rely on their ears to help them keep their cool

Snails By sealing the opening of their shells with mucous and slowing their metabolism, land snails can avoid drying out when a hot spell arrives.

An elephant’s ears are one of its most famous features, but they’re not just there for decoration. Jackrabbits, fennec foxes and elephants all have highly sensitive hearing, but thermoregulation is likely to be the main reason they evolved huge ears.

These animals live in harsh climates, and their big ears provide a vital service in hot weather. The large, thin areas of skin are full of blood vessels running

close to the surface. If things start to get uncomfortably warm, the vessels dilate – muscles relax so blood flow near the surface increases, maximising the amount of heat lost from the blood to the air.

This tactic is especially useful in the desert as it doesn’t cost any valuable water. Elephants waft their ears back and forth and spray them with water to enhance the effect.

“Thermoregulation is likely to be the main reason they evolved huge ears” Fat-tailed dwarf lemur The fat-tailed dwarf lemur is the first primate found to aestivate, spending up to seven months avoiding hot weather in a dormant state in a small tree hole.

Water-holding frogs Filling their bladders with water, burrowing underground and secreting a mucous cocoon, this species can stay dormant for over five years.

West African lungfish The strange-looking lungfish has a primitive lung as well as the usual set of gills and survives heat by digging itself into mud.

Ladybirds Ladybirds in hot regions congregate and undergo summer dormancy as plants dry up and the number of sap-sucking insects drops.

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Jackrabbits are actually hares, not rabbits. The first part of their name comes from ‘jackass’, a reference to the similarity between their ears and those of a donkey

Keeping cool

To protect them from the burning hot sand, a fennec fox’s feet are covered in a layer of thick fur

© Getty; Fred Bruemmer; DeepDesertPhoto; Tambako the Jaguar; Oscar Sánchez Photography; Paulo Oliveira; Minden Pictures; Frans Lanting Studio; AfriPics.com

By combining water and flapping, elephants can cool the blood in the vessels of their ears by as much as ten degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit).

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Keeping cool

Breathing it out With all their exuberance and energy, dogs need a way of getting rid of heat as quickly as possible If you’ve ever been around a dog on a hot day or after an enthusiastic game of fetch, you’ll have seen it panting. Sticking their tongues out, dogs will pant quickly to expel hot breath and replace it with cooler air. It’s a behaviour they share with foxes, wolves and coyotes, but there are some surprising species that pant too, including cats, birds and rodents.

Lizards don’t exactly pant, but they do use their mouths to lose heat. From tiny reptiles up to huge crocodiles, all will sit with their mouths wide open in a behaviour called gaping.

Reptiles are ectotherms, relying completely on external factors to control their body temperature, so after basking in the Sun to warm up they can gape to stop themselves getting any hotter.

“Sticking their tongues out, dogs pant quickly to expel hot breath and replace it with cooler air”

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A dog normally takes around 20–40 breaths in a minute, but this can increase to 400 when they’re panting heavily.

Keeping cool

Having a flutter

Taking a mud bath From piglets to rhinos, some animals wallow to keep their bodies comfortable

They might not have big ears to flap, but these birds have a neat trick up their sleeves – or rather, down their throats – when the weather is warm

Warthog Some animals, like warthogs, will choose mud over a splash in clean water. The moisture in mud takes longer to evaporate from the skin, leaving the animals feeling cooler for longer.

Pig Pigs only have a few sweat glands, but they are not much use for dissipating heat, and they’re almost completely unable to pant. They can only cool down by finding shade and wallowing in mud.

Rhino Wallowing does more than just keep animals cool; a good coating of mud provides a natural sunscreen and deters parasites. Sumatran rhinos spend hours a day wallowing to keep their skin healthy.

Water buffalo Splayed hooves allow water buffalos to wade through mud in search of the best patch before they submerge themselves. Domestic buffalo are taken to wallows to rest during the hottest part of the day.

© Getty; Richard Theis / EyeEm

For some birds, panting just isn’t enough; species including owls, doves, nightjars, pelicans and herons ramp up their efforts to stay cool with a tactic known as gular fluttering.

Opening their mouths, the birds vibrate the muscles inside their throats. Similar to the flapping of an elephant’s ears, this movement exposes the moist membranes within to the air and encourages cooling by evaporation.

Although it might look like a lot of effort, the vibrations are small and don’t use much energy.

For birds that roost in the open and are constantly exposed to sunlight and high temperatures, gular fluttering is a lifesaver.

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Restoring South Georgia’s birdlife

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RESTORING SOUTH GEORGIA’S BIRDLIFE The South Georgia Heritage Trust and the Habitat Restoration Project team tell us how they were able to rid an entire island of invasive rats in just over a decade Words Rachael Funnell ground that at its peak played host to over 2,000 human residents.

From the arrival of Cook, predatory brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) began to exploit the groundnesting behaviours of the island’s native birds, causing devastation to their populations for over 200 years. Commercial whaling came to an end in 1966, but the threat posed to the island’s birds remained, with brown rats by now an established species on South Georgia.

In 2005, the South Georgia Heritage Trust (SGHT) was founded to conserve indigenous flora and fauna, as well as the island’s historic heritage.

As concern grew for the future of the Georgia pintail and South Georgia pipit, which doesn’t exist anywhere else on Earth, plans for an ambitious

© Getty

The island of South Georgia was once a haven for wildlife living on the edge of the harsh Atlantic waters. Untouched by humans, it provided shelter for fur seals, elephant seals, two species of endemic land birds and a wealth of seabirds.

All this changed in 1775 when the island was discovered by Captain Cook, the adventurous British explorer immediately recognising the sealing and whaling potential of the island. Soon, hunters from across the globe were flocking to South Georgia to exploit the abundant resources. Each boat brought with it a chance for opportunistic stowaways to invade, and soon the island was infested with rats. Once an uninhabited oasis, South Georgia was now a rich hunting

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Restoring South Georgia’s birdlife Habitat Restoration Project began in 2008 with the aim Rattus norvegicus of returning the ancestral Class Mammalia habitat to the island’s native wildlife. Mike Richardson, trustee of SGHT and chairman of the Habitat Territory Worldwide Restoration Project Steering Diet Omnivore Committee, explains.

Lifespan 2 years Adult weight 140–500g “The main culprit was (4.9–17.6oz) the brown rat, which is Conservation Status a nuisance and a vermin but also a very voracious predator. One of the most LEAST CONCERN adaptable and successful animals on the planet, it can live virtually anywhere and eat virtually anything. On the island of South Georgia, where there isn’t such a thing as trees, all the birds are either nesting on the ground or in burrows, meaning their chicks are very vulnerable to such predation.”

As the SGHT began planning Phase I of their fourstage approach, the first consideration was the unique geography of South Georgia. Long and narrow in shape, it is a mountainous and glaciated landscape consisting of two ranges – Allardyce and Salvesen – which form the backbone of the island. This protects the northern-facing habitats from adverse weather, which sweeps in from Antarctica to the south and Drake Passage to the west.

Three-quarters of the island is covered in glaciers and snowfields, which creates a geographical barrier meaning populations of rats, while prevalent, were isolated.

BROWN RAT

“The great thing about South Georgia is that it’s broken up by ice fields and glaciers, which act as a barrier to rodents going laterally along the island,” explains Mike.

“So, what we had to deal with was a number of islands within the island, which meant that we could sequentially bait in different phases or different areas confident in the knowledge that eradicated areas would not later be inhabited by rats from elsewhere.”

Unfortunately, these isolated habitats also meant monitoring the island would require a considered approach in order to transport the necessary fieldworkers and equipment to the remote and inhospitable locations.

Furthermore, remote teams would require specialist kit to withstand the gruelling conditions that can last for days at a time in South Georgia.

“It was an extremely audacious endeavour,” says Mike.

“We knew from the outset that it would be a huge project, far bigger than anything that had been attempted before.

The Australians had already achieved successful results in eradicating rats from Macquarie Island, but this was roughly an eighth of the size of South Georgia. We would also be dealing with a very hostile environment, and above all we knew we would need an awful lot of money.

Eradicating [rats from] an island the size of South Georgia does not come cheap.”

Phase I, the trial baiting phase, commenced in 2011 and required two helicopters and 50 tons of bait, which had to be imported from the United States. Each baiting phase would distribute a third-generation rodenticide across the island, executed using a similar technique to spreading fertiliser in agriculture. A hopper containing the bait would

South Georgia’s Habitat Restoration Project in numbers

200 600 302tn YEARS 10 HOURS years Time it took for the project to be completed.

Amount of bait used to eradicate rats from the whole island.

Amount of time rats were le to spread throughout South Georgia.

Total helicopter fly time in the largest baiting phase.

3

2,420km

Number of rodentdetector dogs needed.

Distance travelled by detector dogs (1,503.7mi).

“Three rodent-detector dogs traversed the equivalent distance of summiting Everest 12.9 times searching for signs of rats”

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£10 4,600

MILLION

Money raised to complete the project.

Total number of detector devices deployed.

The passive devices consisted of a wax tag, a chew board and chew stick and were laced with a delicious incentive of oils and peanut butter

Restoring South Georgia’s birdlife

South Georgia’s affected birds Ground-dwelling bird species were the worst affected by the invasion of non-native brown rats South Georgia pipit Anthus antarcticus is a small, groundnesting bird that produces just four eggs per year, meaning the predation of even one is a huge loss.

South Georgia pintail Anas georgica georgica is a duck endemic to South Georgia. It nests in tussock grass and is omnivorous, having been witnessed feeding on seal carcasses.

Why are rats so successful?

Throughout history rats have been associated with mass devastation, in part due to their sheer numbers. What makes these rodents so prolific?

Rapid reproduction Brown rats reach sexual maturity at five weeks, a er which they can have litters of up to 14 with a gestation period of just 21 days.

Lack of competition On South Georgia, brown rats were free from predation by other land species, meaning their numbers increased exponentially.

Fierce predators Omnivorous brown rats will eat anything, and their affinity for burrowing makes them particularly dangerous for ground-nesting birds.

Highly adaptable Rats are found in every continent except Antarctica, making them one of the most widespread mammals on Earth.

© Getty; Oli Prince; Tony Martin

Albatross There are four breeding species of albatross on South Georgia; the black-browed albatross, sooty albatross, wandering albatross and grey-headed albatross.

be slung beneath a helicopter with a spinner to project the bait. The width of the area covered in pellets could then be controlled by altering the helicopter’s height and speed.

Phase II began in 2013, this time covering a larger surface area and requiring 157 tons of bait. At this time, a workforce of 25 people made up ‘Team Rat’, comprising of four pilots, two engineers, three chefs, two doctors and field staff members.

In 2015, the final baiting season was completed. “Each phase was spaced two years apart, in part because we needed to find more money,” Mike explains, “but also to allow us to learn from the experience of the previous phase in terms of methodology and results. After three phases of baiting we knew we had to go back and make sure it had worked. We were on tenterhooks waiting to find out what had been found. Would there be signs of one rat? Would there be an enclave of survivors somewhere in the large area that we tried to eradicate? Or would in fact a whole area now be inhabited by rodents once more?”

To obtain the most accurate results, monitoring took place two years after the final baiting phase. In that period of time any small groups of rodents – even just one pregnant female – would have been able to breed up to huge population quantities. Brown rats can have multiple litters in a year, each one giving rise to more litters, which results in exponential population size growth.

“To find one rodent is very difficult, but after two and a half years, if

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ABOVE The brown rat first invaded the island of South Georgia as a stowaway on the visiting whaling ships

© freevectormaps.com; Paula O Sullivan; Oli Prince

BELOW South Georgia is also an important breeding site for fur seals, albatross and king penguins

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they were there, we were going to be able to find them,” says project director Dickie Hall.

The search for evidence of rats involved a combination of detection devices. Passive devices were deployed across the island, the most common of which was a combination of a wax tag, chew board and chew stick. Designed to be an attractant to rodents, they were laced with oils and peanut butter. A sub-sampling procedure was established to identify target areas for monitoring, with 4,600 devices deployed.

“Penguin colonies are a huge attractant to rodents for eggs, chicks and dead animals, so we focused on areas that would draw [them] in. If any were to have encountered [a monitoring device] there would have been very clear tooth marks.

“We also used more targeted tracking devices such as camera traps and ink boards, which leave footprints if the rodents walk through. Our camera traps captured plenty of footage of fur seals, but no rats.”

The active monitoring devices took the form of three ‘sniffer’ dogs trained to detect the presence of rodents and able to catch a scent from tens of metres away. Each dog walked a series of transects in search of signs of rodents, but after six months none were found.

The qualitative evidence of the success of the restoration project came in the form of the population boom of native species that followed as Dickie explains.

“When we began the eradication, anywhere where there

were rats present the South Georgia pipit generally wasn’t, as they couldn’t nest or breed successfully. Following the eradication, every single site we went to we found pipits – in many cases breeding successfully.”

“The sound of calling pipits was now drowning out the roaring of elephant seals,” adds Mike. “The eradication is complete, but this is just the start. As South Georgia begins to return to its natural state, other changes to its ecosystem mean precise change is very difficult to predict, and this should continue to be monitored.”

The landscape is changing, with glaciers and ice fields retreating further each year. The most marked difference has been observed in the Neumayer Glacier, which has retreated by a distance of 4.4 kilometres (2.7 miles) since 1957. The significance of this is that, should a rat infestation reoccur, it’s unlikely that a similar eradication effort would be successful again. The future of the native wildlife of South Georgia now rests in the efficiency of biosecurity measures put in place to prevent a reoccurrence.

Lord Gardiner, parliamentary under-secretary for the Department for Environment, Food, Agriculture and Rural Affairs, said, “The successful eradication has underpinned South Georgia’s reputation as a jewel in the crown of the British overseas territories, but the focus now moves to biosecurity measures to ensure the 10,000 visitors to the island each year preserve the legacy of South Georgia.

“Overseas territories contain 90 per cent of our wildlife, and invasive, non-native species continue to be one of the biggest threats. Enormous lessons need to be learned from what happened [here] and the example of what the SGHT have achieved must be taken advantage of. This restoration has taken South Georgia back to pre-Cook times and is a victory in proving our ability to reverse the effects caused by human interference.”

The Habitat Restoration Project: Baiting and monitoring The four-stage approach involved three baiting phases and a final monitoring phase spanning ten years and costing £10 million ($13.2 million).

Key Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Lifecycle of…

the silkworm DOMESTIC SILKMOTH Bombyx mori Class Insecta

Territory Originally from China Diet Mainly white mulberry leaves Lifespan 2–3 months Adult weight Up to 5g (0.2oz) Conservation Status

NOT EVALUATED

Natural silk has been produced from silkworm cocoons since around 4000 BCE. It’s a controversial industry because 3,000–6,000 silkworms are killed to produce a kilogram (2.2 pounds) of silk, but the process by which the caterpillars create the fibres is undeniably amazing.

Head - view from the bottom

4. Moth Cocoons not used for silk hatch to reveal pale moths. Unlike the wild species they were developed from, domestic silk moths are unable to sustain flight, so they’re introduced to their mates.

Antennae

Bottom view

3. Chrysalis

Simple eyes

Maxillary palps

The moth’s future wings cover the three pairs of legs

Top view

Antennae

Simple eyes

Spinneret (silk-spinning organ)

Because manufacturers need the silk threads to remain intact, around 99 per cent of silkworms are killed before they can break out of the cocoon and mate.

1. Eggs Female silkmoths lay up to 800 eggs before dying a few days later. The eggs hatch into small black larvae a er ten to 14 days.

2. Caterpillar Silkworms increase thousands of times in size over five instars (stages), shedding their skin between each one.

They eat leaves voraciously to fuel this rapid growth.

A er about two weeks a caterpillar uses its salivary glands to spin a cocoon from 300–900m (984.3–2,952.8 ) of raw silk.

First instar Weight: 0.0006g (0.0002oz)

The Chinese developed the silkmaking process thousands of years ago, and they’re still the world’s biggest producers, spinning the vast majority of the world’s silk. Around 150,000 tons of thread and edible waste products is produced in the country every year.

Interior anatomy Silk-producing glands Salivary glands produce and gather long silk fibres. They lie on either side of the body under the gastrointestinal tract.

Third instar Weight: 0.08g (0.002oz)

Fourth instar Weight: 0.5g (0.01oz) Head

Fibroin proteins are produced – these form the core of silk.

Sericin – a gluelike protein – covers the silk and helps to make it sticky.

Thorax

Abdomen

Fifth instar Weight: 5g (0.2oz)

© Sol90; Puttipong Bunon / Alamy

Silk fibres exit the body through a small tube.

The silk begins to take shape and form consistent fibres.

Second instar Weight: 0.007g (0.0002oz)

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From humble garden ladybirds to rainforestinforestdwelling titans, the beetle family includes some seriously impressive species – badass bugs that make other insects look positively puny Words Matt Ayres The rate at which the global human population continues to increase is a serious cause for concern to many scientists, but when it comes to sheer numbers, we are firmly put in the shade by beetles. To put it bluntly, the world is crawling with them – about 400,000 species and counting to be precise.

Accounting for around 25 per cent of all known life on Earth, each one is a member of the order Coleoptera, a name that is derived from the Greek words koleos, meaning ‘sheath’ and pteron, which translates as ‘wing’, and while they may be small, they make up for their size in a myriad of ways. These beetles put the ‘bad’ in ‘badass’.

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Badass beetles

Rhinoceros beetles are as tough as they look.

Proportionate to their size, these tough little creatures are ranked among the strongest animals on Earth, able to lift objects over 100 times their own weight. To put this in perspective, a human would need to lift a fully grown African elephant to even come close to matching it.

One of the secrets behind the rhinoceros beetle’s brawn is its body construction. Their exoskeletons mean they are built like tanks, with thick armour covering their muscles and bolstering their anatomies.

But it’s not just muscles and armour that make the rhinoceros beetle a force to be reckoned with – males have huge horns that are used for fighting in a similar manner to the mighty mammals they’re named after. They also use their horns for digging, burrowing themselves in the ground to hide from the few predators big and scary enough to eat them.

In Japan, gamblers often bet large amounts of money on rhinoceros beetle fights, in which two beetles try to push one another off a log.

HERCULES BEETLE Dynastes hercules Class Insecta

Territory Central and South America Diet Wood, bark, stems and fruit Lifespan Up to 3 years Adult weight 45g (1.6oz) Conservation Status

NOT EVALUATED

© NaturePL; Jen Guyton

Rhinoceros beetles possess super strength and fight with giant horns

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Badass beetles

Powered by poop, dung beetles roll impossibly heavy objects Like their rhinoceros relatives, dung beetles are seriously strong. A single dung beetle can roll a ball of animal faeces more than 1,000 times its own body weight – a human would need to drag six double-decker buses down the road to achieve a similar feat!

Despite their incredible strength, dung beetles are probably better known for their unsavoury habit of eating faeces. It may seem disgusting to us, but the unfussy insects are actually benefitting from undigested food that has previously been consumed by much larger creatures.

Outside their dung-based antics, these beetles perform impressive mating bouts, vying for a female’s attention by locking horns in violent bug-to-bug contact.

DUNG BEETLE Scarabaeus ambiguus Class Insecta

Territory Botswana, Namibia and South Africa Diet Mainly dung, but will eat mushrooms, fruit and leaves Lifespan 3–5 years Adult weight 21.3g (0.75oz) Conservation Status

LEAST CONCERN

© NaturePL; Jussi Murtosaari; Kim Taylor; Getty; Kristian Bell

“The unfussy insects are actually benefitting from undigested food”

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Badass beetles

Great diving beetles can survive underwater Great diving beetles are among the largest insects in the UK and boast a fierce set of fangs that they’ll fearlessly use on bigger creatures, including frogs and fish.

As its name suggests, the great diving beetle is a prolific swimmer that spends most of its time in water.

GREAT DIVING BEETLE Tiny hairs on the beetle’s Dytiscus marginalis body prevent water from Class Insecta reaching its respiratory openings, which are known as spiracles. Since its whole body is covered Territory Europe and northern in these hairs, the beetle Asia Diet Tadpoles and small fish is able to create a thin Lifespan Up to 5 years layer of air between Adult weight Up to 30g (1.1oz) its body and the water Conservation Status known as a plastron, which effectively allows NOT EVALUATED the clever insect to breathe underwater.

“It is able to create a thin layer of air between its body and the water”

Tiger beetles run blindingly fast to catch their prey Tiger beetles are master assassins. From infancy to adulthood, these carnivorous critters are focused on the pursuit of prey, and they use various methods to catch it.

As larvae, the tiger beetle hides in a deep burrow and waits for passing insects to wander by, grabbing at creatures much larger than themselves to secure a meal. The hardy grubs are incredibly patient – they can go for weeks at a time without eating and can even survive floods.

The adult tiger beetle is a speed demon, capable of running down prey at velocities so fast that it temporarily becomes blind. This is due to the fact that its eyes don’t TIGER BEETLE Manticora scabra have time to collect sufficient Class Insecta photons to create an image of the beetle’s intended victim.

Luckily, it has a handy pair of antennae to help it detect and Territory Mozambique, avoid obstacles. It will also stop Transvaal and Zimbabwe on occasions to reorient itself.

Diet Insects Lifespan Up to 4 years A member of the same (during larval stage) family, Cicindela hudsoni is Adult weight Unknown so fast that, once body size Conservation Status is considered, for a human to match it over 200 metres they would have to cover the NOT EVALUATED distance in under a second!

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Badass beetles

Fogstand beetles are one of nature’s most innovative survivors The fogstand beetle is one of the animal kingdom’s most resourceful survivalists. It lives in the Namib Desert in southern Africa, where water is incredibly hard to come by. But where most animals would die of thirst, this unassuming insect thrives, and it’s all thanks to an amazing evolutionary trait.

Fogstand beetles collect tiny water droplets from the wind and fog, catching them on their bumpy backs. The small protrusions on the beetle’s body are hydrophilic, actively attracting water to cling to the insect. Simultaneously, hydrophobic (water-

repelling) troughs next to the bumps prevent the collected water from escaping. By standing at a 45-degree angle the fogstand beetle adeptly rolls each miniscule droplet down its back and into its gaping mouth.

This phenomenal survival strategy has inspired scientists to look for ways to capture moisture from thin air. Mimicking the beetle’s combination of hydrophilic and hydrophobic bumps has allowed researchers to extract water from the air to create self-filling water bottles in arid regions.

FOGSTAND BEETLE Stenocara gracilipes Class Insecta

Territory Southern Africa Diet Vegetation Lifespan Up to 10 years Adult weight 0.37–1g (0.01–0.03oz) Conservation Status

NOT EVALUATED

Burying beetles perform bloody burials to benefit their babies Burying beetles are the undertakers of the animal kingdom, named after their habit of burying the carcasses of larger animals. But their burial service doesn’t come for free: the deceased animal becomes a valuable asset for the six-legged gravediggers, who use buried corpses to feed their developing – and utterly ravenous – larvae.

Upon finding a suitable carcass, beetles will battle it out to decide which pair gets to use the deceased animal. The triumphant duo will then begin to dig a hole beneath

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the body. During the burial, the beetles strip the corpse of fur and feathers and use the materials to line the crypt. The dead animal is also covered in an antimicrobial secretion that prevents the body from rotting and attracting other animals.

Eggs are laid in the soil around the body, allowing the beetle larvae to emerge and feed on it. Both parents stick around to take care of their young and protect them from competing creatures, a level of care that’s rarely seen among insect species.

Bombardiers mix deadly chemicals inside their bodies While you might think of chemical weapons as a human invention, insects have been using deadly substances to overwhelm their opponents for millennia. The bombardier beetle’s arsenal is a lethal testimony to this fact.

These carnivorous creepy crawlies use a noxious chemical spray to destroy any insect foolish enough to attack them. The weapon works by combining two chemical compounds (hydroquinone and hydrogen peroxide) stored in the bombardier’s abdomen. When the beetle

feels under threat it opens a valve to combine the two substances, causing a chemical reaction that raises the temperature of the mixture to near boiling point. It then expels it powerfully through the abdomen with a loud popping sound. The spray irritates the respiratory system and frequently kills predators.

Some African bombardier beetles have the ability to direct their chemical spray with incredible accuracy, swivelling their abdomens to aim their natural weapons at a potential threat.

“The spray irritates the respiratory system and frequently kills predators”

ABOVE The heat of the bombardier beetle’s toxic spray is so intense that one-fi h of the substance is vaporised

BOMBARDIER BEETLE Brachinus explodens Class Insecta

Territory Worldwide (except Antarctica) Diet Small insects Lifespan Around 6 weeks Adult weight Unknown Conservation Status

Ladybirds bleed toxic blood As insects go, ladybirds are pretty popular with humans. Most people enjoy seeing them, particularly gardeners, who revere this brightcoloured bug’s appetite for aphids.

Yet beneath the ladybird’s rosy carapace and apparently friendly demeanour lies a beetle that means business. Their red-and-black bodies aren’t merely for show – they’re a signal

to predators not to mess with them.

So why shouldn’t a bird eat this bug?

For one thing, ladybirds taste disgusting. Then there is the ladybird’s ability to emit a toxic fluid through the joints of its exoskeleton. When attacked by a predator the bugs squirt this foul alkaloid substance, sending their assailants flying in search of easier, tastier prey.

© NaturePL; Solvin Zankl; Alex Hyde; Stephen Dalton; Nature Production; Getty

NOT EVALUATED

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Badass beetles

This regal beetle is one of five species of giants Measuring up to 25 centimetres (9.8 inches) in Goliathus regius length, the Goliath beetle Class Insecta is one of the largest and heaviest insects on the planet. Despite its imposing size, this beetle is a gentle Territory Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria giant – it prefers to feed and Sierra Leone on tree sap and fruit rather Diet Wood, bark, stems and than other animals. fruit Lifespan 1 year The larvae of Goliath Adult weight 50g (1.8oz) beetles are particularly Conservation Status gargantuan, growing up to 100 grams (3.5 ounces) in weight. When a larva NOT EVALUATED reaches its maximum size it will construct a cell out of sandy soil in which to pupate, eventually transforming into an adult and emerging into the world once more.

In captivity, these protein-hungry insects are often fed commercial dog or cat food in order to attain the weight they need to reach before pupation. As adults, the beetles possess sharp claws, which they use to grip tree trunks while feeding.

GOLIATH BEETLE

“Goliath beetles prefer to feed on tree sap and fruit”

Titan beetles have jaws strong enough to tear into human flesh their enemies with a loud hissing noise before attacking.

Intriguingly, titan beetles don’t eat as adults. Instead, they use stored energy that they gained while feeding as larvae.

Titan grubs have never been seen, but they’re thought to be enormous – boreholes found on dead trees in their habitat suggest each baby bug could be up to a foot (0.3 metres) long!

“Titan grubs have never been seen, but they’re thought to be enormous” 3322

© blickwinkel / Alamy

Although they’re giants of the insect world, titan beetles are incredibly hard to find. That’s because these elusive bugs live deep in the thick rainforests of South America.

Titans possess a fearsome set of jaws, which are strong enough to snap a wooden pencil in half and tear into human flesh. Thankfully, they’ll only bite if provoked, and they do warn

Gastric brooding frog This Australian amphibian would eat its own young to keep them out of the mouths of hungry hunters Unique birth Froglets emerged from the mouth a er being expelled from the stomach.

Baby bump The stomach would become more and more bloated as the young grew inside it.

Skin colour Their upper bodies were mottled brown and green, with lighter underparts.

Australia

Hiding underwater They are thought to have preferred to sit on rocks with only their heads above the water.

end d up in i the th stomachs t h off predators. d t Female F l gastric brooding frogs, however, pre-empted fate by swallowing their eggs themselves shortly after laying them. Over the next six to seven weeks the developing tadpoles would grow in the female’s gut while she suppressed the production of digestive acids and went without food. Only around half of the offspring survived this process, but when it was time for them to emerge the juvenile frogs came into the world through their mother’s mouth.

Unfortunately, herpetologists didn’t have much time to study this behaviour because both species were gone by the mid-1980s. No one knows what caused them to die off, but possible culprits include logging, water pollution, fire and the chytrid fungus. This might not be the end of the story though, because if the Australian scientists achieve their goal the gastric brooding frog might become the first extinct species that isn’t lost forever.

Lastt seen…

L

Date: 1985 Location: Eungella National Park The speed with which southern gastric brooding frog populations declined is as surprising as the frog itself. The last recorded sighting in the wild was made in Queensland’s Conondale mountain range just seven years a er researchers found the species in 1972, while the last known captive specimen died in 1983. The northern species had a much more restricted range and was last seen in Eungella National Park in northeast Queensland in 1985, just a year a er it was discovered.

“Researchers believe they can resurrect the frog”

© freevectormaps.com; Alan Batley

The Jurassic Park-inspired idea of recreating dinosaurs from preserved DNA is a fantasy, but Australian researchers believe they can resurrect the more recently extirpated gastric brooding frog. Scientists have experimented with inserting genetic material from frozen tissues of the extinct frog into eggs of a related species.

If they succeed in producing an embryo it will be a fitting milestone in the natural history of an animal that had its own extraordinary reproductive habits.

The gastric brooding frog was first definitively identified in mountainous rainforests in southern Queensland, Australia, in 1972. Just 12 years later, a second species was discovered in similar habitats further north. Both southern and northern gastric brooding frogs, as the species were named, lived in rivers and pools and might have hibernated under rocks in winter.

In the classic frog lifecycle, the female lays her eggs in water and leaves to chance how many

33

KEEPING JAGUARS Maya the jaguar cub found a loving home when she came to the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, but is raising such a powerful wild predator by hand the right way to go?

Words Victoria Williams Maya the black jaguar stole thousands of hearts earlier this year when she appeared as the star of BBC documentary Big Cats About The House. Viewers followed every step of her journey as she was hand-reared by Giles Clark, director of the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent.

Giles has decades of experience raising and caring for big cats, so he was the obvious choice when another wildlife facility needed help with a struggling jaguar cub.

“By day five mum was paying less attention to little Maya, and they thought, combined with the fact that she was already showing signs of becoming dehydrated, for whatever reason mum was not as engaged as she should have been. Maybe she was aware that something wasn’t quite right with Maya at the time; what happens in the wild is that mums won’t invest energy and resources into a cub that wouldn’t make it anyway.”

When it became obvious that Maya wouldn’t make it if she remained with her mother, Giles made a big commitment by agreeing to provide the cub with roundthe-clock care for the next 12 weeks. She was tiny, but the little lady had big demands.

“When I’ve hand-reared cubs in the past, very rarely have I had one on its own – it’s either with siblings or I’ve

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© The Big Cat Sanctuary

Keeping jaguars

35

Keeping jaguars been able to introduce it to another cub of a similar age.

Jaguars are very intense anyway, and that’s even evident as a young cub, but being on her own as well meant if she was awake she demanded your undivided attention. It’s quite intense and somewhat repetitive making up formula and constantly meeting all of her health needs, but to look at her now, every second was ultimately worth it.”

Maya is now a year old and approaching her full size.

Although sharing a home with Giles for her first few months has created a strong bond between the pair, they’re going to have to spend less time together as she becomes a powerful, solitary adult.

“We’ve already started to implement a strategy where we are reducing the frequency with which she gets contact, and over the next four to six weeks we will go to completely protective contact with her the same way any other zoo or facility would. If we’d pulled back and stopped going in with her too soon I think it would have caused some anxiety and stress; I truly believe that all baby animals require that intensive level of affection and companionship. As she gets closer to when she would naturally disperse from her mum, hormonally she’ll go through that change anyway and you won’t get that stress. She’ll still have an incredibly close bond with the people that have been there while she was being handreared, but we will start to step up more of the traditional training and conditioning processes.”

While most of the responses to Maya’s story were positive, some people objected to the idea of a jaguar

36

being raised in captivity and believed she should have been in the wild.

Giles explained, “I’ve done hundreds of talks and presentations and one of my opening lines is exactly that – in an ideal world I would not want to see animals in enclosures. It’s only because at the moment it’s a complete necessity given the situations that many of these species face in the wild. The reason I chose to rear her in the house was because that’s where I could give her everything she needed, physically as well as mentally. But she’s a wild animal at the end of the day – she has her instincts and I would never want to take that away from her, nor would I be able to even if I tried. I would never suggest that wild animals make good pets.”

Since she first arrived at the sanctuary, Maya’s life has been shared with people across the world through social media. Her journey has been an unusual one, but the huge amount of interest she’s garnered could prove to be incredibly valuable for her wild relatives.

“What she’s done is help generate this interest by becoming a real ambassador for her species and the wider issues of cat conservation in the wild.

She’s far exceeded everyone’s expectations in terms of positive engagement. Thousands of children have been inspired because of her story and are now wanting to engage and further support us or conservation organisations. The amount of times I hear ‘Oh, we

JAGUAR Panthera onca Class Mammalia

Territory Central and South America Diet Jaguars prey on over 85 different species, including tapirs, deer, caimans, turtles, snakes, birds, porcupines, capybaras and fish Lifespan 11–12 years Adult weight 45.4–113.4kg (100-250lb) Conservation Status

NEAR THREATENED

Jaguars face many threats They might only be listed as Near Threatened, but life is certainly not easy for jaguars in the wild

Habitat loss There are currently still large areas of forest for jaguars to live in, but they’re being encroached on more and more as land is developed. If jaguars become isolated, they’ll be unable to find mates.

Living her life in the spotlight, Maya has launched a new wave of interest in jaguars and big cat conservation

for the better. “Being a conscious consumer would probably be one of the most important steps that people could make. Talk to people; the more that we can spread the word and create awareness that these species do matter and that they are teetering on the edge of extinction the better.

“If you have disposable resources you can support conservation organisations by making a donation or volunteering your time, getting on board and beating that drum.” That is certainly a beat that we at World Of Animals can march to.

“The good news for jaguars is that it’s by no means too late, and I think they could potentially represent one of the true success stories”

Reduction in prey As jaguars lose their habitat, so too do the species that they prey on, such as wild boars, capybaras and tapirs.

With smaller fragmented areas of forest and fewer animals, hunting becomes ever harder.

Conflict with humans As their range is reduced and their prey dwindles, jaguars will occasionally take livestock from local farms. To try and protect their animals, some farmers and ranchers harm or hunt down the cats.

Poaching The jaguar’s beautiful coat is one of its most captivating features, and sadly there are people who would rather see it as a rug decorating their home than on the animal, so poaching can be profitable.

© The Big Cat Sanctuary; Getty; Leonardo Prest Mercon Ro; Mint Images; Frans Lanting; Danita Delimont; EronZeni

didn’t know that jaguars were in that much trouble or big cats were in that much trouble’ and ‘We can’t let these animals disappear’ – that to me is a real testament and is really inspiring.”

For some species of big cat, the situation is becoming critical. It’s thought that the jaguar has a healthier population, but they’re still in danger.

“Out of the big cats, they are not faring too badly in terms of numbers. At the moment the jaguar is listed as Near Threatened, but that is under review and very shortly that could turn to Vulnerable in terms of their status. We hear numbers all the time and sometimes I think that’s dangerous. I think the true reflection is if you look at the habitat where they used to be in comparison to where they are now – the jaguar, for example, has lost over 40 per cent [of its former range].

“When we talk about saving some of these large carnivores we need to be protecting large-scale habitats, and that’s not easy because the population of humans is ever growing and the demand for resources that causes is also ever growing. A lot of the time jaguars are killed because of human-wildlife conflict, and that’s exacerbated because the population of people continues to climb, and at the same time the habitat is being fragmented and we are putting pressure on their natural prey. The challenge is twofold; we need to save large-scale landscapes that are connected across the range, while at the same time addressing the needs of the communities.

“The good news for jaguars is that it is by no means too late, and I think they could potentially represent one of the true success stories when it comes to big cat conservation because they still have that vast chunk of habitat available in South America. In theory, the vast majority of jaguars across their range are still potentially connected via habitat to one another, whereas when you look at a map of a tiger or a lion range you’ll see just how incredibly fragmented that [population] is.”

It’s easy to feel helpless hearing that big cats are in such trouble, but Giles believes everyone can make a change

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The wildlife of the fynbos Found only in a narrow belt on South Africa’s Cape Peninsula, this shrubland is one of the most biodiverse biomes in the world Words Victoria Williams

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The wildlife of the fynbos

live with the frequent fires that tear through the region. In fact, many plant species here actually rely on fire to add nutrients to the soil and to help kick-start seed germination.

Despite the huge diversity of plant life, fynbos isn’t especially rich in insects; for many plants, small birds and even rodents are the most important pollinators. Large mammals like leopards and black-backed jackals occasionally stalk through the fynbos, but smaller animals like mice and lizards are much more common.

“Over 9,000 plant species grow here, more than 6,000 of which can’t be found anywhere else on Earth”

© Cathy Withers-Clarke / Alamy

Fynbos makes up a large part of the Cape floral kingdom, one of just six floral kingdoms in the world. Over 9,000 plant species grow here, more than 6,000 of which can’t be found anywhere else on Earth; this small area at the tip of Africa is more botanically diverse than the Amazon Rainforest, known for its lush greenery.

Three types of plant – the proteas with their huge blooms, the ericas (heathers) and the grass-like restios – are characteristic of this biome.

Residents of this unique habitat have evolved to

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The wildlife of the fynbos

Flourishing fynbos The fynbos is absolutely teeming with all manner of animal and plant life, meaning it’s just as busy and bustling as the city of Cape Town below it

Cape sugarbird Unmistakable thanks to the yellow patch under its tail and the incredibly long feathers of the males, the Cape sugarbird is a favourite sight for visitors to the fynbos. It’s one of the six species found only in this biome as its diet mainly consists of the nectar of proteas. Long tongues help the birds reach the sweet liquid, and sharp claws enable them to hang on in strong winds.

Chacma baboon Chacma baboons are one of the world’s largest monkeys and are a common sight in southern Africa. Troops sleep in trees for safety, descending in the morning to forage. At the Cape they eat everything from seeds and fungi to small vertebrates and shellfish, and some troops raid homes and bins for food.

Protea

Cape rain frog The Cape rain frog aerates the soil in the fynbos as it burrows under the ground with its strong legs, venturing out just before rain arrives.

Unlike other frogs, this species doesn’t breed in water – in fact, it can’t even swim. When distressed, this angry-looking amphibian swallows air to inflate its body and make itself look bigger.

Monkey beetle

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Black-backed jackal Striped mouse Striped mice are unusual among small rodents because they’re active in the morning and evening. These omnivores can go without drinking as they get enough water from their food; their ability to adapt allows them to live throughout southern Africa.

Restio

Rock kestrel Rock kestrels are a danger to many animals, from insects to rodents. A er scanning the area from a perch, they can hover over their prey until the time is right to drop and strike. The cunning predators have also been spotted trailing baboons and catching the insects they flush out of the fynbos.

Rock kestrel

Mountain pride butterfly

Erica Orangebreasted sunbird

Cape grysbok

Cape skink

Geometric tortoise It would be easy to overlook this tortoise were it not for its brightly patterned shell, because it’s only 15 centimetres (5.9 inches) long. The geometric tortoise is restricted to lowland fynbos in one corner of South Africa’s Western Cape Province, and it’s estimated that there are only a few thousand le , making this one of the most endangered tortoises on the planet.

© The Art Agency/Peter Scott

Hottentot mole-rat Less famous than their naked relatives, Hottentot mole-rats share the same insect-like social structure; they live in an underground colony with a single breeding pair. Using their talent for digging, the mole-rats feed on geophytes – the underground storage organs of plants – and modified underground stems called rhizomes.

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the sloth All about sloths

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Sloths

All About o

sloths These charismatic creatures have a reputation as nature’s laziest animals, but their slow approach to life helps to keep them safe in a dangerous world Words Laura Mears

BROWN-THROATED THREE-TOED SLOTH Bradypus variegatus

Territory Central and South America Diet Fruits, leaves, twigs and flowers Lifespan 30–40 years Adult weight 2.3–6.3kg (5–13.9lb) Conservation Status

LEAST CONCERN

© NaturePL; Lucas Bustamante

Class Mammalia

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Keeping a constant body temperature costs energy, so sloths let theirs vary with the air temperature.

Low temperature

Sloths have enormous stomachs with four separate chambers.

The organ takes up most of the space in their abdomen. Bacteria ferment their food, which can take up to a month to digest.

Chambered stomach

Sloth teeth don’t have enamel and continue to grow throughout the animal’s lifetime. They emerge as cylinders and get their shape as they wear against other teeth.

Radius Ulna

Sloths have sheets of fibrous tissue that link their liver and stomach to their ribs and their kidneys to their hips. This stops the organs pressing on their lungs when they’re hanging upside down in trees.

Upside-down adaptation

A series of clever adaptations minimise the amount of energy sloths use and maximise the amount of energy they take in. Life in the slow lane would not be possible without their unusual body plan.

Inside a three-toed sloth Feet for dangling

Sloths have around 30 per cent less muscle than other animals, helping them to save energy.

Low muscle

Depending on the species, sloths have two or three toes, which form hook-like structures adapted for hanging from trees. The ends of their toes and their claws are rigid, so they rely on their flexible wrist joints for movement.

Sloths have large eyes but poor eyesight.

They are most active at night.

Large eye sockets

All about sloths

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Pelvis

High-fat milk 0–4 weeks Sloth milk is around seven per cent fat, providing all the nutrition an infant needs.

© The Art Agency/Sandra Doyle; NaturePL; Roland Seitre

Aerial birth 0 days Sloths give birth upside down. The baby clings to its mother’s stomach.

INFANCY

Sloths only go to the toilet once a week. Up to 30 per cent of their body weight is food and waste, which is stored up between trips to the ground.

Colon and rectum

It can take up to a week for a sloth’s food to move through its intestines. This helps it to extract as much nutrition as possible from the leaves.

Long intestines

Femur

Tibia Fibula

Parasite defence

Going upside down 3–4 weeks A er around four weeks the infant sloth is ready to try hanging upside down.

JUVENILE Reaching for leaves 1–6 months For the first six months baby stays on mum and grasps at nearby leaves.

Sloth fur is dense and fine on the inside and long and cracked on the outside.

Antibacterial fungi live in the outer layers, providing protection against disease.

Independence 6 months–2 years Sloths can reach independence from six months to two years.

MATURITY Ready to mate 3–5 years Females reach sexual maturity at three. Males follow suit at four or five.

Armadillos Like anteaters, these armour-plated animals use their tongues to trap insects. They have a bony covering that protects them, but despite their reputation only one species – the threebanded armadillo – can curl into a ball.

Raising young 3–10 years Sloths mate throughout the year, having one baby around every 15 months.

Anteaters These incredible animals don’t have any teeth. Instead, they rely on a massive tongue and lashings of sticky saliva to trap ants, which they swallow whole. They dig into nests using large, curved claws and lap up the insects that are inside.

First pregnancy 2+ years Pregnancies last between six and 11 months. The female raises her young alone.

The green colouring on a sloth’s fur isn’t dirt or pigment – it’s living algae. The organism thrives in the damp, sheltered environment and helps keep the sloth camouflaged.

Algae

Death 10+ years Sloths can live for between ten and 40 years in the wild.

Ground sloths All the sloth species alive today live in trees, but thousands of years ago there were dozens of species that hung out on the ground instead.

Ground sloths shared the huge claws of their tree-dwelling relatives but were around the size of elephants.

Sloths are part of the Xenarthra superorder

Closest family

Lots of organisms live in sloth fur, including moths, beetles and fungi. Birds, like brown jays, use sloths as a moving buffet, landing on their backs to eat the insects.

Mobile ecosystem

Ribs

Humerus

Sloths

All about sloths

Sloths in danger Life in the rainforest is far from easy Don't let their laid-back attitude fool you – life for sloths is hard.

All six species live high among the leaves of Central and South American rainforests, where harpy eagles rule the skies. These birds are some of the most powerful in the world, with legs thicker than bananas and claws larger than a bear’s. Almost silent in spite of their size, they sit stock still on branches and, with a wingspan the length of an adult man, they swoop under the canopy at speeds of up to 80 kilometres (49.7 miles) an hour. When they strike, their talons clamp shut with a force that can even shatter bone. To counter this threat sloths rely on camouflage to remain hidden from predators. They keep incredibly still during the day, using the algae in their fur to blend in with the leaves.

It’s not unusual for a sloth to spend its whole life in the same tree. They prefer wide, overlapping canopies and tend to choose places where lianas grow up from the forest floor. These woody vines tangle among the foliage, linking the trees together. Not

Where to find them Pygmy three-toed sloth Maned sloth Pale-throated sloth Brown-throated sloth Linnaeus’ two-toed sloth Hoffman’s two-toed sloth

In our culture They might be known as lazy, but sloths have worked their way into our hearts Movie stars From Ice Age to The Croods, extinct giant ground sloths have been making a name for themselves as lovable cartoon characters on the silver screen.

Meme generators With a relatable sleepiness matched by no other animal, sloths o en find their way into Monday morning memes that can brighten up your week.

Nature’s YouTubers These slow movers make for unlikely YouTube stars, but their smiley faces, cuddly looking fur and clumsy movements have taken the Internet by storm.

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only do they provide highways in the air, they also give the sloths much-needed cover, shielding them from view.

However, there’s only so long a sloth can spend hidden in the leaves before it needs to make a trip to the toilet. This involves an arduous trek to the ground. Travelling down makes an eagle attack less likely, but a different set of predators lie in wait on the floor. Central and South America are the hunting grounds of ocelots, pumas, jaguars and anacondas, which can grow to the length of a bus. Sloths don’t move well on all fours, so outpacing an agile cat is impossible.

Mother sloths spend around six months preparing their young for the challenges of forest life, but there’s one threat that’s hard to train for – us. We cut down trees, build farms and roads and take young sloths from their homes to sell as bush meat. Sloths are independent animals, but they need joined-up forests so that they can find one another when it’s time to mate. To ensure their survival, we need to protect their trees.

Sloths Nearest neighbours The cloud forests of South America are bursting with life

Howler monkey These gregarious primates are one of the largest monkeys in South America and they aren’t shy when it comes to communication. Named for their whooping cries, they howl together at daybreak and nightfall.

Resplendent quetzal A smooth coat of iridescent green feathers makes this bird one of the world’s most admired avians. Males are easily recognised by their long, delicate streamers that trail behind their tails during the breeding season.

Sloths and humans Baird’s tapir These enormous animals stand over a metre (3.3 feet) tall at the shoulder and measure up to two metres (6.6 feet) from nose to tail. Despite their size they can be hard to find, preferring to hide in the undergrowth.

Ocelot These small spotted cats can climb, jump and swim, using their powerful legs to move gracefully among the trees. They hunt on the ground, using a combination of leaf cover and shadow to sneak up on their prey.

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© Seaphotoart / Alamy; Getty; freevectormaps.com

Sloths and humans have a history that dates back thousands of years, back to a time when giant ground sloths roamed the Earth. The largest species – the megatherium – was six metres (19.7 feet) tall and weighed more than an African elephant. They disappeared towards the end of the last Ice Age around 11,000 years ago, and our ancestors may have been responsible for their demise.

The sheer muscle power of these animals would have made them a challenge to kill, but traces in the fossil records reveal that humans may have tried. Fossilised footprints uncovered in New Mexico in 2017 show the outline of human feet inside sloth tracks. This means that people followed behind while the mud was still wet. There aren’t any sloth bones with cut marks le by human tools, so we can’t know what happened for sure, but it’s possible that hunters were on the beast’s trail.

All about sloths

The life of a sloth Sloths might move slowly, but there is more to these fascinating animals than meets the eye Sloths spend their lives high in the trees, travelling from branch to branch in search of buds and leaves. Two-toed sloths sometimes like to add some dietary variety in the form of fruit and flowers, but they’re in no hurry to find the perfect meal.

Sloths take life at a slow pace, and when they’re not eating they’re usually resting. They move so little that each individual only needs around 0.02 square kilometres (0.007 square miles) of forest to survive. It’s rare to find more than one sloth in a tree, unless they’re getting ready to mate.

Sloths wake up after the Sun sets, slow down over night and then become active again before dawn, but they aren’t as lazy as they first appear. A study monitoring brain activity in captive three-toed sloths found that

© Alamy; Suzi Eszterhas/ Minden Pictures

Why do sloths poop on the ground?

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Sloths spend their lives in the trees, but once or twice a week they make the slow, dangerous journey to the floor. The reason? They need to poop. Three-toed sloths even dig a hole in the ground with their tail before covering it over again when they’re done. This unusual behaviour puts sloths at risk, bringing them close to ground-based predators like cats and snakes, but they make the trek up and down the tree trunks anyway. Scientists are unsure of the reason, but they have a few possible explanations. One of the most convincing is that sloths can’t get all the nutrients they need from leaves alone. Scientists think that they eat soil when they're on the ground, supplementing their diet with essential salts.

they snoozed for two thirds of the day, but wild sloths were different. They only slept for between nine and ten hours, just a little more than humans.

When it comes to reproduction, the males put in extra effort, travelling away from their home range to find a female. Scientists have even spotted them fighting for the chance to mate. They use the hooked claws on their front legs as weapons, sometimes leaving scars on the face of their opponent. For the most part though, the life of a sloth is quiet and solitary.

The air in the branches can be cool, and the higher up sloths live, the thicker their fur is. The coat of a sloth has two layers: a warm, fuzzy undercoat close to their skin, and a long, shaggy outer coat that grows upside down and hangs towards the floor. This outer coat

traps water, attracting a whole ecosystem of insects, which use it as a home and therefore depend on the sloth for their survival.

One animal can have nearly 1,000 critters living in its fur. These include common parasites like mosquitoes, sandflies and ticks, and an unusual community of beetles and moths. Sloth fur provides a ready-made habitat for these insects, and they’ve evolved together over generations. Scarab beetles burrow into the fur at their elbows and knees, while moths make homes all over their bodies.

The insects even lay their eggs in sloth dung.

During the wet season sloth fur is often coated with algae, which grows in the cracks on the hair shafts. This may provide a source of nutrition for the insects and even for the sloths themselves.

Love in the air Sloths do almost everything in the branches, including mating and giving birth. Females let other sloths know they’re in the mood for love by making loud calls that attract males from nearby trees.

Ready to go Life in the trees can be hard for a newborn, so sloths are born ready to take up the challenge.

They keep a tight grip on mum’s fur and emerge with open eyes and sharp teeth. They start to eat leaves in their first month.

The slow lane Sloths take life’s challenges at a leisurely pace

Having a swim Sloths are most at home in the trees, but they are surprisingly agile in the water. Cameras even captured threetoed sloths swimming during filming for Planet Earth II, revealing that their long limbs make excellent paddles.

Staying safe Sloths don’t have many predators in the trees, so they aren’t well equipped to defend themselves.

The biggest threat is the powerful harpy eagle. Sloths keep hidden by staying very still, disappearing from view among the leaves.

© The Art Agency/Peter Scott

Just resting Sloths do most of their moving at night, travelling at the breakneck speed of about 0.2kph (0.15mph).

During the day they rest, hanging quietly from the branches without moving at all.

50 Pale-throated sloth

Meet the sloths

Linnaeus’ twotoed sloth

Pygmy three-toed sloth

All about the sloth

Brown-throated sloth

Hoffmann’s two-toed sloth

Maned sloth

Sloths

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© The Art Agency/Peter Scott

© Suzi Eszterhas/Minden Pictures/FLPA

SKUNK AND DISORDERLY Although renowned around the world for their stupefying stench, there’s far more to these misunderstood mammals than meets the nose‌ Words Adam Millward

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Being known as the ‘King Pong’ of the animal kingdom is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, having such a redolent reputation protects you from many dangers. Often, just the sight of that black-and-white coat and bushy tail is enough to send a potential predator packing in the opposite direction!

On the other hand, skunks’ noxious notoriety has also led to their vilification. For many pest controllers they are enemy number one, and people will go to great efforts to deter these creatures from entering their neighbourhood or even eliminate any deemed to have ventured too close to their homes.

There are 12 different species in the extended Mephitidae family, which fall into five distinct groups: striped, spotted, hooded, hog-nosed and ‘stink badgers’. All of these are based in the Americas, bar the last group; stink badgers (definitely skunks rather than badgers, despite their name) reside on tropical islands in Southeast Asia.

Skunks are adaptable creatures, living in a range of habitats including woodland, grassy plains, scrubland, streambeds, ravines and even rocky mountain slopes. Many skunks seem to favour ecotones – areas where two types of biome meet, for instance, where a

forest edges onto marshland – most likely because such zones offer a greater variety of food sources.

The entire family is, of course, distinguished by its back-end bio-weapon, a pungent secretion that they can fire with surprising range and accuracy to defend themselves against predators. Another family trait are distinctive markings, which, while coming in different patterns and shades, all serve as a clear warning to stay away. For anyone who’s had the misfortune to have been on the receiving end of a skunk attack, you can’t say they didn’t try to warn you!

© Don Johnston_MA / Alamy

Skunk and disorderly

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Skunk and disorderly

What is that smell?

How stink helps skunks to stay alive From armour in the form of shells and spikes to weapons such as poison and claws, self-defence is crucial to the survival of many animals on the lower rungs of the food chain. However, few have evolved a strategy quite like the skunk to keep enemies at bay – but that’s not to say it isn’t effective. Quite the contrary!

The skunk’s foul spray is a potent cocktail of volatile sulphur-hydrogen compounds, known as thiols and thiocyanates. While the former generate the initial astringent stench that can

induce nausea, tears and even temporary blindness (thiols are also present in raw onion and rotting organic matter), it’s the latter that makes a skunk’s musk so enduring. This is because contact with water in the days – or even weeks – after its release animates thioacetates, converting them into the more pungent thiols. The odour is so pervasive it can be detected more than a mile away. Couple this noxious substance with a precise deployment system and you’ve got a serious weapon.

Anatomy of a skunk

DID YOU KNOW?

Discover how these mammals’ bodies have adapted to keep them safe

Not everyone can smell skunks’ funky bio-weapon. In fact, around one in 1,000 people are immune to it. The serendipitous condition, known as specific anosmia, makes a person unable to detect a particular odour.

STRIPED SKUNK Mephitis mephitis Class Mammalia

Territory North America Diet Birds, small mammals, amphibians, reptiles, fish, eggs, carrion, insects, seeds, grains, nuts and fruit Lifespan 6–7 years Adult weight 1.2–5.3kg (2.6–11.7Ib) Conservation Status

Scent glands The skunk’s odoriferous bio-weapon is stored in two glands in its rear end. Surrounding muscles enable the stinky secretion to be fired over several metres or released as a mist.

LEAST CONCERN

Markings Bold black-and-white colouration is an immediate warning to any passers-by to keep on passing. A skunk’s stripes o en point straight to its back-end, further emphasising the danger zone.

Eyes Many nocturnal animals have superior vision, but shortsighted skunks can only see about 3m (9.8 ) ahead. They rely instead on their senses of smell and hearing.

Sharp teeth A set of 34 teeth, including four particularly pointy canines, means that wild skunks are definitely not for stroking!

Claws Skunks use their strong front feet and elongated claws for digging in search of prey such as grubs and worms.

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The musk is stored in two glands at the base of the skunk’s tail. Muscles surrounding these glands give the animal a great degree of control over how the liquid is released; it can either be fired as a stream towards a specific target as much as three metres (9.8 feet) away with unerring accuracy or diffused over a larger area as a mist. Passing through this stink-bomb cloud generally puts off even the most persistent of predators, which range from the great horned owl to wolves, foxes and badgers.

Skunk and disorderly Stink isn’t their only defence…

Skunks are one of a handful of mammals to evolve built-in anti-venom Given their formidable spray, most predators, understandably, give skunks a very wide berth. The main threats they face come from above, from the likes of eagles and owls, which have a fairly weak sense of smell. However, skunks have some additional biological aces up their sleeve that help them to capture prey of their own: namely, a very high tolerance of venom.

It’s not uncommon to see skunks scratching at the nests of honeybees to lure out the angry occupants. Unlike most beehive burglars they’re not a er the sweet honey inside, but rather the bees themselves. They can chew through hundreds in a night and barely seem to bat an eyelid at the insects’ stings.

Even more impressive, toxic serpents are also on a skunk’s menu. In a battle between a skunk and a rattlesnake, it’s generally the former that will come out on top thanks to a natural resistance to the snake’s own chemical weapon.

There’s been little research into how skunks specifically endure bites that could be lethal to much larger animals, but in fellow venom-resisting species – such as mongooses, opossums and hedgehogs – there are two main explanations.

Either their bodies naturally produce proteins that neutralise the effects of venom, or their cells have adapted to prevent venom neurotoxins from binding.

“In a battle between a skunk and a rattlesnake, it’s generally the former that will come out on top”

It’s not all black and white Here are three skunk myths that need busting Skunks are purely pests Okay, so they do have their not-so-good points, but it’s important to remember that these animals will only use their spray in self-defence. What o en gets overlooked are the benefits that skunks offer: they eat many unwanted critters, including nuisance insects and rodents, as well as carrion and fallen fruit.

Tomatoes eliminate the odour Juice from tomatoes or citrus fruit may temporarily mask the offending smell that skunks give off, but they don’t get rid of it. You’d be better off using a combination of baking soda, washing liquid and a little hydrogen peroxide to combat the odour with chemistry if you haven’t managed to avoid it.

© Getty; GlobalP; Getty; hkuchera

They spray with impunity There’s a common perception that skunks are ‘trigger happy’ when it comes to firing their whiffy weapon.

However, they give plenty of signals, including raising their tails, stamping their feet, growling, making minicharges and even doing ‘handstands’ in the case of spotted skunks.

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Reeky relations

RIGHT A natural resistance to venom means that skunks aren’t afraid to take on intimidating animals such as rattlesnakes

Hog-nosed skunks Hog-nosed skunks, of which there are four species, are so-named for their distinctive broad snouts. The striped hog-nose (pictured) is native to Central and South America.

Hooded skunk Similar in colouration to the striped skunk, hooded skunks are distinguished by longer fur around the neck, resembling a ruff. They also tend to have longer, bushier tails.

RIGHT Hollow logs are a favourite hidey-hole for skunks to make their den

© Minden Pictures / Alamy; Rolf Nussbaumer Photography; John Cancalosi / Alamy

Spotted skunk Easily identified by a white spot on their forehead and a more complex pattern of broken lines and patches of black and white, spotted skunks live throughout the Americas.

Albino skunk Sometimes, due to genetic mutations, there are skunks whose pigmentproducing cells are ‘switched off’, resulting in a white coat and red/pink eyes. They are not their own species.

Stink badger Stink badgers are New World skunks’ closest relatives and part of the wider Mephitidae family. The Sunda stink badger (pictured) is found on several islands in Indonesia and Malaysia.

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Skunks are serial squatters Why have one home when you could have ten?

While skunks are equipped with the tools to dig their own burrow, including strong front feet and elongated claws, they’d much rather move into an abandoned home or a pre-made shelter. Their favoured haunts include holes dug by foxes and groundhogs, hollow logs and log piles, and in more urban areas, the gaps beneath decking or inside accessible outbuildings.

Most skunks will have multiple dens – occasionally as many as ten and sometimes even more. This means

they have several options should they need a safe place to bolt during a night forage. Certain dens are better suited to particular seasons, so they will often have different winter and summer homes. In winter burrows skunks have been known to share their residence with their own kind and even other species, such as raccoons and rabbits. These communally minded animals gain the mutual benefit of social thermoregulation during the colder months.

“Their favoured haunts include holes dug by foxes and groundhogs, hollow logs and log piles, and in urban areas, the gaps beneath decking and inside buildings”

Bizarre!

SS

The noisy bird that acts remarkably similar to a bat Known for its eerie shrieking calls, the nocturnal oilbird lives its life in darkness and clings to the walls of caves when it’s not out flying

It’s not just bats that echolocate

They rarely touch the ground

OILBIRD Steatornis caripensis Class Aves

Territory Central and South America Diet Oil palm and tropical laurel fruits Lifespan Up to 12 years Adult weight 350–475g (12.3-16.8oz) Conservation Status

LEAST CONCERN

The oilbird is one of just two species of bird known to echolocate, emitting rapid clicks to help it fly at night and navigate dark caves. While bats produce calls too high for us to hear, oilbirds click at a frequency audible to humans.

Because they’re either flying or roosting, oilbirds have small feet that can grip onto cave walls but aren’t much use for standing or walking. When the birds are in the air they’re very agile, twisting between obstacles, and they are even able to hover.

They produce unsettling calls

Their chicks get dangerously fat Young oilbirds gain so much weight before fledging that they end up considerably bigger than their parents. Because a lot of their diet consists of regurgitated oil palm fruit, indigenous people used to catch the plump squabs to render oil from their fat.

They never get to see sunshine Oilbirds live their lives in darkness. They’re the world’s only nocturnal, fruit-eating flying bird, travelling many kilometres each night in search of food for themselves and their young. When dawn arrives the birds return to communal roosts in caves and remain there until nightfall.

They build unusual nests in caves In a communal roost there’s no shortage of droppings. Oilbirds make use of their situation by using the accumulated waste to build their nests. Females lay two to four small white eggs, and chicks remain in their dropping nests for about four months after hatching.

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© FLPA/Bob Gibbons/REX/Shutterstock

The oilbird’s Spanish name is guácharo, which means ‘whining’, and in Trinidad it’s sometimes referred to as ‘diablotin’, French for ‘little devil’ – these are in reference to the bird’s eerie shrieking and screaming calls that carry far through the trees.

Flora or fauna?

From parrots to primates, nature has produced some intriguing plants that look remarkably like members of the animal kingdom Words Victoria Williams

This orchid has some familiar features The aptly named monkey orchid only grows wild in the mountains of Peru and Ecuador. It belongs to the genus Dracula, named for the cape and two ‘fangs’ surrounding its face. You’d hope that a flower so closely resembling a monkey would smell of bananas, but it’s said to have a strong orange scent.

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Š Danita Delimont / Alamy; Getty; Andrew Smith / EyeEm

Flora or fauna?

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Flora or fauna?

Fįŵā įś¦āĆ¹š ā ƟÅ éįƠĤ into people’s hearts © imageBROKER / Alamy; Getty

Around 60 species make up the moth orchids, one of the most popular orchid groups. This plant is native to Southeast Asia and northern Australia, and its blooms bring colour to shady parts of the forests. The flowers are said to resemble both birds and moths, and their bright petals attract all sorts of flying pollinators.

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© Shisanu Tongchim / Alamy; Getty; Ger Bosma

This rare plant is staying put The parrot flower, or parrot balsam, is a rare Southeast Asian plant that was first discovered in Burma at the end of the 19th century and initially named the cockatoo balsam. You’re unlikely to come across this flower in anyone’s greenhouse because the Thai Government has banned its export to protect the species.

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© James Peake / Alamy; Getty

Flora or fauna?

gāÅ éƦĆĤô ¹Ɔ¦Ē įś¦āĆ¹ ĆšĤŘŵ just appealing to us Caleana major, or the flying duck orchid, has an astonishing flower that to human eyes looks like a duck on the wing. Apparently that’s not what insects see – flying insects like sawflies pollinate the orchid when they mistake if for a member of their own species and attempt to mate with the flower.

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Flora or fauna?

The white egret flower often shares its habitat with the bird it’s named after. Although it’s admired for its unusual frilled flower, the species is in trouble; overcollection by horticulturists and traders and the development of its marshland habitat into rice paddies have greatly reduced its wild population, and it’s a difficult flower to grow.

© John Glover / Alamy; Getty; Zen Rial

This plant’s status is as delicate as its petals

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10 things the movies got wrong

With their dark eyes, sharp teeth and fearsome reputation, all sharks are ruthless killers‌ aren’t they?

Words Victoria Williams

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Shark myths The Meg

© Getty; Barcroft Media

The shark film set to terrify cinemagoers this year is The Meg. Inspired by Steve Alten’s novel of the same name, it employs the common theme of a man-eating shark but with one big difference: the villain in question is 23 metres (75.5 feet) long!

The megalodon is probably the largest shark ever to swim the oceans. While the film exaggerates its size, it could still reach 18 metres (59 feet) in length – three-times bigger than the largest recorded great white shark.

Fossil records suggest megalodons roamed Earth’s waters chomping on adult whales with 17.8-centimetre (seven-inch) teeth until around 1.6 million years ago. Most scientists believe the species was completely wiped out, but some people believe it could still be lurking in waters too deep for us to explore.

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Shark myths

The world’s biggest fish, the whale shark, lives on a diet of plankton.

1. Sharks will target swimmers, divers and surfers Thanks to the movies, sharks are thought of as ruthless killers targeting any human foolish enough to get in the water. You might find it reassuring to know just a few of over 400 species are considered dangerous, and you’re far more likely to be killed by a cow than a shark. There are around 16 shark attacks each year in America, but just one fatality every two years.

The Shark Trust believe the ‘monster’ image is not one sharks deserve. Conservation officer Cat Gordon says, “Sharks need to be treated with respect, like any wild animal. Even a typically ‘harmless’

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filter feeding shark like a basking shark is capable of breaching clean out of the water, so it’s wise not to get too close.

“When humans are bitten, these incidents are inevitably high profile due to their traumatic nature, but they are usually the result of an exploratory bite to see if the target would be suitable prey. The number of reported shark bites is relative to the number of people entering the marine environment each year, with increased popularity of ocean-based recreational pursuits and technology allowing people to remain in the water for longer.”

Shark myths 2. You can hide from sharks among jellyfish In the 2016 thriller The Shallows, the main character finds herself stranded in water with a great white shark determined to eat her. The film follows her efforts to escape from the giant predator, including hiding among a group of jellyfish.

If you ever come face to face with a shark, don’t waste your time looking for jellyfish. Sharks have really thick skin covered in tooth-like scales, so stings would be no more than a tickle. The only vulnerable parts are their eyes, but membranes can be lowered to protect them.

If you’re heading to British beaches this summer, the Shark Trust stresses that you’re extremely unlikely to get into a situation that requires outsmarting a shark in the first place, as Cat explains.

“White sharks stalking British beaches stories have almost become an annual fixture of the summer.

There has never been enough evidence to confirm the presence of white sharks in British waters, yet certain sections of the media o en run with sensationaliststyle reporting when dorsal fins are glimpsed or a dolphin strands on a beach.

“Facts are ignored and unnecessary public concern is o en created - far from informing the public, this style of journalism has a detrimental impact on sharks and shark conservation.”

“Sharks have really thick skin covered in tooth-like scales, so stings would be no more than a tickle”

A swimmer scratches their hand and a single drop of blood falls into the water. A few bars of ominous music later, a hungry shark appears to claim their free meal. It’s a classic image, but is a shark’s sense of smell really that good?

Not quite, according to the Shark Trust. “Sharks have a highly complex and acute sense of smell.

Their highly evolved olfactory organs allow them to detect the blood of potential prey, pheromones from a potential mate or the scent of a predator from a great distance - one part of blood to one million parts of water. That’s equal to one teaspoon in an average-sized swimming pool,” adds Cat. For blood to reach the shark’s olfactory system it first has to dissolve and travel through the water, which would take more than seconds. As we’re not their normal prey, sharks following the scent of blood aren’t targeting humans – they’re either investigating or, in the case of ocean whitetips and silky sharks, following their instinct to look for thrashing wounded animals.

© Getty; Leopoldo Palomba / EyeEm; torstenvelden; National Geographic Creative / Alamy

3. Sharks can smell a drop of human blood

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4. Some sharks go rogue and get a taste for human flesh Many films, from Jaws to The Reef, feature a single ‘rogue’ shark as their villain. The book Jaws was written at a time when some people believed sharks could develop a taste for humans and choose to hunt them instead of their natural prey. This theory has largely been dismissed but, as Cat explains, the rogue shark concept gripped film fans and refused to let go. “Shark films have morphed into a new film genre, with sharks filling the sort of ‘villain’ slots occupied by aliens and zombies.”

5. Sharks leap from the water to attack boats The glimpse of a fin sliding through the waves, then the huge creature launching itself at people on a beach or a boat – it’s a common theme in movies with sharks as antagonists. Of the hundreds of species, just a few come close enough to the surface to expose their fin, and most people claiming to have seen a great white off the coast of the UK were actually looking at a basking shark, dolphin or porpoise.

As for the idea of a shark leaping from the ocean a er a human, it’s not something that’s ever been seen in the real world. The great white shark can jump 2.4 metres (eight feet) out of the water to grab seals and birds, but a boat doesn’t look like prey. It will sometimes wait in the shallows for seals as they head out to sea, but launching onto land is the speciality of the orca.

One shark that does (accidentally) land on boats is the shortfin mako. As well as being the fastest species, this shark is capable of leaping nine metres (30 feet) above the surface, and these record-breaking jumps sometimes put them on a collision course with passing vessels.

Peter Benchley, the author of the novel Jaws, felt terrible about the repercussions of his story and has been promoting shark conservation for decades.

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For a carnivorous shark to switch to a diet of humans would make very little sense at all. Not only are we far less common in the oceans than fish, seals and seabirds, but we also provide much less energy than an insulated animal like a sea lion. Given the low percentage of people who are actually killed in attacks, some scientists even argue that we taste bad to sharks; most bites to humans are exploratory, and the sharks move on when they realise they’ve mistaken a swimmer for a seal.

Shark myths

Small sharks The big sharks might get all the attention, but about half of the species are under a metre long

Dwarf lanternshark The world’s smallest shark is just 21 centimetres (8.3 inches) long when fully grown. They live off the coast of Venezuela and Colombia and use bioluminescence to catch their prey.

Smalleye pygmy shark Just a centimetre bigger than the shark above, the smalleye pygmy shark is another tiny species. It spends its days in deep water, migrating towards the surface when the Sun goes down.

Pocket shark Pocket sharks have large pocket glands behind their pectoral fins.

Their purpose isn’t understood, but they might release pheromones or a luminous fluid into the water.

Spine pygmy shark To avoid being eaten, spined pygmy sharks have bioluminescent organs on their undersides, making it hard for predators below to see them against the light from the water’s surface.

© Getty; USO; Fuse

Granular dogfish Very little is known about this dogfish shark. It’s only ever been found around the Falkland Islands, and practically nothing has been observed of its life.

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Shark myths

6. Sharks live for thousands of years Investigating the deaths of the great white’s victims in Jaws, police chief Martin Brody reads that sharks can live for 2,000 to 3,000 years.

He should probably have checked a different book, because no shark species has a lifespan even close to that. Although it’s been found to live longer than previously thought, the great white shark’s average life is still a modest 70 years long.

It may not meet movie expectations, but one shark does claim the record for longest-living

vertebrate on the planet. Greenland sharks, residents of the cold waters around the Arctic Circle, have been found with up to 400 years already behind them. It’s thought that their large size combined with the low temperatures they live in result in a slow metabolism and a drastically reduced ageing rate.

These sharks are still something of a mystery; their long lives were only discovered a few years ago, and little is known about what they do with their centuries in the sea.

7. Sharks have tongues As a great white shark launches at its potential victim in Jaws 3-D, a huge pink tongue flaps in its gaping mouth. But while sharks do have something similar to a tongue, it doesn’t look anything like ours.

The shark equivalent of a tongue is called the basihyal, and it’s something they share with the other bony fish. While four-limbed vertebrates have long, flexible tongues used for tasks like manoeuvring food,

the basihyal is the front section of a bar of cartilage running from the chest to the mouth. Its primary function is to support the bones associated with the gills, so it’s pretty rigid.

In a few species, including bullhead and carpet sharks, the basihyal is bigger and more flexible, and it can be teamed with strong throat muscles to help suck prey into the mouth. The cookiecutter shark, a small dogfish shark, makes the best use of its ‘tongue’, earning its name by taking cookie-shaped chunks of flesh out of its prey with its sharp teeth and then vacuuming them up.

“The shark equivalent... the basihyal’s primary function is to support the bones associated with the gills” 72

Shark myths

8. Sharks can swim backwards

ABOVE Sharks swim slowly to avoid detection before darting forward when they get close to their prey

© Getty; Alessandro De Maddalena; Getty; Image Source; Steve Bloom Images / Alamy; imageBROKER

Jaws 3-D, the third instalment in the Jaws franchise, centres on a pair of great whites that sneak into SeaWorld. In one sequence, the larger shark backs out of a filtration pipe at enough speed to break through the grille trapping it there.

That really should have been the end of the story for the man-eating shark, because sharks can’t swim in reverse.

They’re propelled by their tails and use their pectoral fins for balance and turning, and their anatomy simply doesn’t allow them to go in any direction other than ahead.

While many sharks are able to pump oxygen-rich water through their bodies using their pharynxes as they lie on the seabed, some species – including the great white – lack this ability and have to swim forward constantly to keep water flowing over their gills.

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Shark myths

9. Sharks seek revenge The great white shark in Jaws: The Revenge is so determined to wreak havoc on the Brody family that it follows them from the northeast coast of America to the Bahamas. As perfect as it would be for filmmakers, sharks aren’t really capable of holding grudges – their main motivation is always just getting enough to eat.

Sharks are intelligent fish, and it’s been shown that they’re capable of learning. When tour boats repeatedly feed them they begin to associate people with food, but vengeance doesn’t enter their minds.

If sharks were capable of revenge, it would arguably be justified; we’re much more dangerous to them than they are to us. While they kill less than one person a year, in the same amount of time 100 million sharks are killed by humans. Many of these are victims of the shark fin trade, their fins cut off for soup and traditional medicine and their bodies thrown back into the sea, but others are killed in the hope that it will make the oceans safer. Not long after the release of Jaws shark hunting became popular, and in 2014 the Australian Government began a controversial (and short-lived) cull of sharks around the west coast.

Spare some love for sharks

As apex predators, sharks control the populations of fish, seals and seabirds, helping to keep the delicate ecosystem in balance.

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With some help from The Shark Trust, here are six reasons sharks deserve our admiration

“Sharks have been around for over 400 million years, longer than dinosaurs and even existing before trees.”

Studying sharks inspires inventions like swimsuits to reduce drag and renewable energy mechanisms based on their tails.

Shark myths

10. Sharks can roar

Sharks pick old, weak prey, and deepwater species scavenge dead animals on the seabed, clearing up the ocean and reducing disease.

evolved bodies for stealth. Not only do they produce no vocalisations, their scales are the ideal shape for sliding silently through the water.

The only exceptions come in the form of the draughtsboard shark and the swell shark. These species quickly force water into their stomachs if they’re threatened,

puffing up to several times their normal size in an attempt to deter their assailant.

If they’re successful, the sharks relax and the water rushes back out. If fishermen accidentally catch either of these sharks, they gulp air instead of water – they can’t hold on to the air for long, so it gets expelled with a loud bark.

“Sharks play a vital role in marine ecosystems and are valuable for both tourism and wellbeing, as they provide enjoyment for many.”

After decades of being feared, persecuted and overfished, it’s about time we began to respect and appreciate the magnificence of sharks.

© Getty; Rodrigo Friscione; Franco Banfi; cuppyuppycake; Brendon Thorne / Stringer; Matt Jelonek; wildestanimal; WaterFrame; Credit: Dr. Klaus M. Stiefel - Pacificklaus

As they launch their attacks, sharks in several movies let loose huge lion-like roars. The ocean is no stranger to loud noises, from cheery dolphin clicks to haunting whale song, but there’s no risk of ever coming across a roaring shark; they lack the vocal chords needed to produce such a sound. Sharks have

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Shooting Skippy

Seen the world over as emblematic of the land down under, Australia’s love of kangaroos is far from universal, with many regarding them as nothing but pests. A controversial new film has stoked the fires of a national debate Words Charlie Ginger Australia. Land of beaches, Neighbours, Vegemite and, of course, kangaroos. In fact, nothing quite says Australia like the sight of these loping marsupials bounding across the outback. Any country would be proud to call these imperious jumpers their own. Well, not quite.

While many Australians do indeed cherish their national animal (of which there are reported to be between 47 and 50 million), a film that is currently premiering across the globe has lifted the lid on one of the country’s darkest secrets: kangaroo culling. Simply titled Kangaroo, it has proved to be the spark that has ignited a national debate now raging from Geraldton to the Gold Coast. We spoke to the film’s directors, Kate McIntyre Clere and Michael

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McIntyre, prior to attending the London premiere in early June, and we started by asking them why they decided to focus on the plight of kangaroos in the first place.

“Kangaroos are one of the most recognisable symbols in the world and have always held a fascination for us. No film had explored this icon before. We set out to make a story that celebrated this magnificent animal but soon discovered that the kangaroo was at the heart of a bitter, complex and divided situation in Australia. We were shocked to learn that millions of kangaroos are shot each year as so-called pests and sold for profit.

“To find out where it started and why it still happens today, we needed to investigate the origins of an industry

RIGHT At the time of this feature going to print, Kangaroo has been screened 94 times in locations including London, Berlin, Rotterdam, Wellington and Sydney

Š Hopping Pictures; Radius Images / Alamy

Shooting Skippy

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Shooting Skippy

ABOVE Directors Kate McIntyre Clere and Michael McIntyre get up close and personal with a young roo during filming at a kangaroo sanctuary

and government partnership that has become the largest wildlife slaughter in the world. Where had the ideology come from that a native animal that has lived in Australia for millions of years could be a national problem? How and when did Australians start believing kangaroos were a pest and therefore must be eliminated?”

Incredibly, this wide-scale culling has, until now, remained largely in the shadows, with the general public seemingly unaware of what has been happening, a view reinforced by the McIntyres.

“When we started work on the film, an early interview with a government scientist revealed that the killing of kangaroos in Australia was the largest terrestrial wildlife slaughter in the world. As Australians we found this alarming and had never heard this mentioned before across any media. As storytellers we wanted to find out what was going on.” Yet this would prove no mean feat.

“One of the biggest issues we faced in making this film was examining the population figures that the Australian Government publishes every year about how many kangaroos there are,” explained McIntyre. “So we unpacked the survey methodology that the government uses to get those numbers. To our surprise we discovered how flawed the methodology is, and so we got expert testimony on how inflated the Government estimates are.

“On the subject of how many are killed, we discovered that with the growth of the commercial kangaroo industry, so-called pest mitigation, recreational and illegal shooting, as well as road-kill and other accidental/collateral death, there is no data collected on the number of kangaroo deaths that occur daily and how many kangaroos remain.

Some scientists and conservationists are reporting both local and regional extinctions.”

While the film has certainly uncovered many talking points that are now rightly being discussed across

ABOVE Able to clear 7.6m (25 ) in a single leap and reach a height of 1.8m (6 ), red kangaroos are perfectly built for navigating the Australian outback RIGHT In a bid to reduce the kangaroo population some females are given a contraception, which to date has proved 100 per cent successful

Kangaroos by numbers A$ 27 The value of a 30kg (66.1Ib) kangaroo at 90c per kilo (equivalent to £15).

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2 to 1 3,000 TN

Kangaroos outnumber the Australian population of 24.9 million by almost two to one.

The amount of kangaroo meat produced annually in Oz.

3m Height a red kangaroo can jump (equivalent to 10 ).

5 million Roos killed annually according to a Government source.

70 KPH

The top speed a red kangaroo can reach (equivalent to 43.5mph).

One big hoppy family

Red Standing at up to 2.1 metres (6.9 feet), the red kangaroo is the largest marsupial in the world. O en seen bounding through the deserts and grasslands of the outback, this powerfully built mammal can deliver a kick estimated at 850psi.

Australia and in parts of the wider world, it has also come in for some stiff criticism from those in the kangaroo meat industry who feel it is too one-sided in its approach. And although the directors spoke to a wide range of people while shooting the film, it would be fair to say that it does not lend much screen time to the other side of the argument, which seems like an oversight given the lengths the directors went to in order to gather a host of opinions.

“We knew we would have to immerse ourselves in all aspects of the story, and we worked to get interviews from the many differing stakeholders,” said McIntyre.

“We interviewed indigenous Australians, scientists, commercial shooters, farmers, politicians, artists, wildlife carers, chefs and activists so we could unpack this cultural paradigm.

“Most people were keen to get their side of the story heard. As the issue is so polarised in Australia there has been lots of shouting and resistance on social media and across the press since the film’s release. The film certainly struck a nerve.”

Many of the nerves on which this film is getting belong to the people who rely on the kangaroo meat

trade for a living, some of whom have labelled the film a ‘beat up’ on the industry and point to the monetary reasons behind keeping wild populations in check.

Kangaroo farming is estimated to generate $200 million (approximately £150.7 million) annually for the Australian economy and creates over 4,000 jobs, including 2,000 kangaroo harvesters. In 2010, kangaroo meat was exported to 55 countries around the world, a number that has since risen to over 60. These figures help (in the eyes of many) to form a robust economic argument for the continuation of culling, and this is before the environmental benefits of doing so are considered.

Research conducted in 2014 suggests that reducing the number of roos may well help other members of the outback. Published in the scientific journal PLOS One, the findings revealed that in areas of low kangaroo grazing reptiles were three times more abundant: in territories that are heavily cropped by these marsupials no reptile of any kind was prevalent. Then there is the damage to agriculture that kangaroos cause. While some may argue that they were there first, the fact that roos will often trample over crops and rival livestock for water and grazing cannot be ignored when Australian farmers export

“Some who rely on the meat trade have labelled the film a ‘beat up’ on the industry and point to the monetary reasons for keeping populations in check”

© Hopping Pictures; Stephanie Jackson - Australian wildlife collection / Alamy Juniors Bildarchiv GmbH; Rafael Ben-Ari

Shooting Skippy

Eastern grey Shorter than its red cousin at 1.3 metres (4.3 feet), this roo lives in mobs of up to ten and prefers to graze in scrubs and forests. If threatened it will emit a loud, guttural cough.

Antilopine Occurring in the savanna woodlands of Australia’s tropical north, these considerate creatures perform allogrooming, with both males and females tending to each other’s fur.

Overseeing a range of up to one kilometre (0.4 miles) square, males will hiss and stamp their feet before engaging in a brawl.

© Picture credit

Western grey Also known as the black-faced kangaroo, this western subspecies is actually widespread throughout southern Australia. Known for its finely haired muzzle, male western greys have a distinctive curry scent.

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Shooting Skippy

“The killing of kangaroos in Australia is the largest terrestrial wildlife slaughter in the world”

ABOVE A powerful voice on Australian wildlife and the owner of Australia Zoo in Queensland, Terri Irwin (wife of the late Steve Irwin) features in the film

RED KANGAROO Macropus rufus

© Hopping Pictures

Class Mammalia

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Territory Australia Diet Grass, shrubs, flowering plants and foliage Lifespan 20–30 years Adult weight Females: 18–40kg (39.7–88.2Ib) Males: 55–90kg (121.3–198.4Ib) Conservation Status

LEAST CONCERN

77 per cent of what they produce, a fact that generated $60 billion (£45.3 billion) for the Australian economy in 2016–17.

While the idea of shooting these beautiful animals understandably upsets many people, it is worth noting that in order to kill a roo one must be in possession of a permit – downing a kangaroo without one can result in a A$10,000 (around £5,500) fine. It is also important to consider exactly how many kangaroos are culled annually. According to Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud just three per cent of the kangaroo population is harvested, which, if true (the directors do not agree with this figure), does seem to punch a serious hole in the film’s claim that kangaroos are in danger of disappearing.

Even so, this may not have been the main point that the McIntyres were driving at when filming, as is perhaps revealed in their answer when we asked what they hoped their film would achieve.

“With breathtaking footage of kangaroos in the wild, we hope this film will give the audience an up-close experience of this unique species and bring to the table a conversation that Australians seem reluctant to have. It’s time people in Australia and across the world know what is going on and ask the question: why is no one responding to the barbaric treatment of this magnificent wildlife?”

Other hard-hitting documentaries Blackfish This 2013 documentary focused on the tragic plight of Tilikum, a male killer whale kept in captivity at SeaWorld Orlando who killed three of his trainers as a result of the stress brought about by his incarceration.

A er the film’s release SeaWorld experienced a huge profit loss of 84 per cent.

The Cove This controversial documentary won an Oscar in 2010 for its hard-hitting expose of dolphin hunting in the town of Taiji in southern Japan. Although generally received positively, the film was accused of portraying the Japanese as a brutal people. Either way, this film makes for a difficult watch and brings to the surface an industry that has o en remained in the depths.

Earthlings Known as the ‘vegan maker’, this utterly harrowing film was released in 2005. Presented in five chapters (pets, food, clothing, entertainment and scientific research) and narrated by three-time Oscar nominee Joaquin Phoenix, this documentary pulls no punches in exposing humanity’s hideous treatment of animals.

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Explore the Earth

ENCOUNTER

WILD ELEPHANTS Magnificent in every way, the world’s largest land mammal is also one of the animal kingdom’s most intelligent creatures, and you can see it with your very own eyes Words Amy Grisdale

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Travel expert

Justin Francis is the co-founder of Responsible Travel and is one of The Timess 50 most influential infl people in travel

The experience of seeing these huge, intelligent and untamed creatures in their natural habitat is breathtaking, and you’ll learn far more in just a few minutes with a wild herd than you would from days with a captive elephant as you observe their [natural] behaviour.

Seeing one of the world’s largest land mammals move across the African savannah or shuffle through an Asian forest is

unforgettable; the way an entire herd protects a tiny baby, the care with which desert elephants treat the scant vegetation, or the heart-stopping mock charges if your vehicle separates a herd crossing the road.

Another option is to volunteer, for instance, working with elephants rescued from logging or riding and given sanctuary in large enclosures rather than those that offer rides or performances.

Borneo pygmy elephant

Map key 1 Karnataka Elephant Reserve 2 Kameng Elephant Reserve 3 David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust 4 Elephant Jungle Sanctuary

300,000 years of evolution separate this species from other elephants, leaving it as the smallest elephant in Asia. It roams Borneo’s forests, and there are only around 1,500 remaining.

Sumatran elephant

African bush elephant

There are now less than 3,000 of these elephants in the wild, and 85 per cent of their habitats are outside of protected areas.

Found on the open savannah, this is the species safari-goers are most likely to spot wandering in large family groups or gathered near water.

Sri Lankan elephant African forest elephant These animals are smaller and darker in colour than their plain-dwelling relatives and navigate Congo’s dense forests in groups of around four.

This subspecies of the Asian elephant has suffered from colonisation and is now mostly found in just a handful of pockets of land.

Indian elephant This elephant’s range is not limited to the country after which it is named – Indian elephants graze on over 100 different plant species throughout parts of mainland Asia.

Travel guide When to go Elephants may be easiest to locate during or shortly after the wet season as their footprints will be most visible then.

How to get there You’re most likely to need to fly to see elephants in the wild, and it’s best to travel with a responsible tour company.

What the weather will do Wherever you go, it’s going to be very hot. If you visit during rainy season prepare to get wet on a daily basis. © freevectormaps.com; Getty; Tamara Malesevic / EyeEm

What to take Sun cream, insect repellent and a good hat for protection are the most essential things to take on an elephant trek.

When the babies arrive Elephants are year-round breeders, so there’s no set time to visit to see newborn calves. It’s down to pure luck.

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Explore the Earth

5

elephant l ffacts you’ll never forget

Blaring noise An elephant’s trumpet sound can travel over ten kilometres (6.2 miles). It denotes aggression, distress or excitement to other animals in the not so local vicinity.

Witness unbreakable bush elephant bonds Elephants experience perhaps the strongest relationships on Earth, and herds stay together for their entire lives. African bush elephant families comprise of up to 50 females of several generations, and the closely bonded animals graze, travel and search for water together. Males are expelled from the group once they reach sexual maturity to avoid inbreeding.

Adult males were once thought to be solitary, but in fact they form their own herds of bachelors when not in season.

Males ready to mate will impregnate females before resuming their lives without the ladies.

Incredible incubation Elephant pregnancies last 22 months, just eight weeks shy of two years! This means elephants calves are advanced and can walk within ten minutes of birth.

Long friend lists Like humans, elephants can recognise other individuals from their voices alone. Each animal can distinguish over 100 different friends by the sounds they make.

Staying sober Elephants don’t eat fermented fruit to get drunk as they don’t search for food in the same areas in which rotting marula fruit lies on the ground. Even if they did it would take almost 1,500 pieces of the fruit to get an elephant drunk.

Delicate touch An elephant’s trunk is so dextrous it is able to pick up a single grain of rice. The trunk’s tip is around as sensitive as human lips.

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Ride denied Elephants are enormous, but they aren’t the loadbearers one might think. Elephant spines are comprised of sharp, angular bones that protrude upwards and the tissue between the vertebra and the outer layer of skin is extremely vulnerable to excess weight. Pressure from above can cause the animal extreme discomfort, and over time this can result in permanent spinal injury. If seeing wild elephants really isn’t enough for you, there are walking and washing interactions at rehabilitation centres that don’t involve riding or deviating from natural elephant behaviour at all.

Related elephants babysit for their siblings, and all the herd’s adults pitch in to help raise the calves. The oldest and largest female takes charge, and her hard work strengthens the family unit. She defends the younger members of the group from predators and makes decisions about where to search for food and water.

When looking for elephants on safari, it is worth noting that they are often heard before they come into view. Adults crash through dense vegetation to allow the youngsters to follow and they produce lowfrequency rumbles in order to communicate over distance.

© Getty; Alain Mafart-Renodier/Biosphoto/FLPA

Encounter wild elephants

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Explore the Earth

Revere a real-life Indian deity The elephant Hindu god Ganesha represents intellect and wisdom and is said to remove obstacles. Indian elephants embody these values and have become an intrinsic aspect of Indian life. Elephants have been domesticated over centuries and live alongside humans. This has been known to cause conflict between farmers and hungry heffalumps, but planting particularly fragrant crops or locating beehives around fields is enough to get elephants to look elsewhere.

Elephants are used in celebrations and festivals in India, but those wishing to see elephants in their natural surroundings are in luck. Around 60 per cent of Asia’s wild elephants are in India, and they are most densely populated in the southern tip of the country. However, their population has reduced by 50 per cent over the last three generations due to human land use. If you can stand the heat, see these massive mammals in their native habitat before their home ranges shrink any more.

Watch Sri Lankan elephants taking a dip Whether it’s the salty sea or an inland reservoir, water is extremely important to elephants. There have been cases where elephants taking a dip in the ocean have had to be rescued 16 kilometres (9.9 miles) from shore after getting caught in a current – thankfully these animals are able to breathe through their long trunks just like a builtin snorkel.

When they aren’t riding the waves, Sri Lankan elephants can often be seen squelching around in muddy ponds and coating their skin with Sun-repelling clay to cool down. This allows the animals to spend maximum time foraging in grassland under the hot Sun. It’s important to avoid supporting elephant captivity masquerading as rehabilitation. Tourism is an extremely lucrative industry in Sri Lanka and a great number of visitors are satisfied with paying for an elephant selfie. Animal welfare advocates stress the importance of watching elephants in the wild rather than so-called ‘orphanages’ that exist purely to make money.

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Encounter wild elephants

Glimpse Sumatran elephants gardening Indonesia’s island of Sumatra is home to a huge array of endangered species, including tigers, orangutans and the Sumatran elephant. As a huge herbivore, these giants are responsible for depositing seeds around this fragile ecosystem.

Not only do plants get to spread their roots as a result, but dropped seeds are mixed into a readymade fertiliser in the form of elephant droppings.

Elephant dung also supports countless species of insects, providing a food source and a safe place for creepy crawlies to lay their eggs. Every animal in the food chain is extremely important,

and allowing just one species to disappear could have huge repercussions for those that remain.

Sumatra has seen a human population surge in recent years, accompanied by a high demand for palm oil. This ‘miracle’ ingredient makes its way into thousands of products on Western supermarket shelves, but procuring it requires clearing native trees to make way for animalunfriendly oil palm trees. Along with supporting ethical tourism to see wild elephants in Sumatra, you can help out at home by avoiding products with palm oil or ensuring they are sustainable.

The origin of this subspecies is the subject of some debate, but it is generally accepted that captive elephants were introduced to Borneo by the Sultan of Sulu in the 18th century. As a result of descending from domesticated animals, they are much tamer than other wild elephants, yet they still like to venture far and wide.

While they would usually range across a territory spanning up to 400 square kilometres (154.4 square miles), in fragmented areas of jungle they can be forced to wander across 600 square kilometres (231.7 square miles) of terrain to find food.

Visitors to Borneo should travel with experienced guides. The island has overwhelming biodiversity that not everybody will be fortunate enough to encounter, but it’s no walk in the park. Trekking the Bornean jungle is an exhausting and dangerous pursuit that should not be taken lightly. It’s also very important to keep your distance from the friendly animals in order to prevent the elephants from losing their fear of humans entirely.

“Pygmy elephants are much tamer than other species of wild elephant” 87 87

© FLPA; Jurgen & Christine Sohns; Nicolas Cegalerba; Getty; JMWScout

Trudge through the jungle with pygmy elephants

Explore the Earth

Spy forest elephants through the trees The straight, white tusks of this magnificent species help uproot trees and strip bark from trunks. These are both important food sources for this elusive elephant, along with leaves and various fruit. All of this roughage wears down their tough teeth, so these elephants grow six replacement sets throughout their lives.

Though concealed within thick woodland, predation is still a problem for elephants. Lions and hyenas will target a young calf that has strayed away from the family, and they will even attack a sickly adult. However, aside from these threats, forest elephants coexist with other species peacefully and provide important services for other woodland creatures.

Elephants dig for water when it is scarce, benefitting a great number of other animals, and their propensity to charge through vegetation creates corridors for the rest of the forest’s inhabitants, disperses seeds and fertilises the environment with their immense piles of dung.

Even elephant footprints are useful to Africa’s ecosystem, with divots driven into swampy soil being able to hold up to 200 litres of water.

Up to 61 different species have been recorded occupying these little lakes, which elephants provide simply by existing.

This species occupies four west African countries and can be spotted by the lucky few adventurous enough to explore the forests. This should only be attempted with reputable guides, as armed rangers patrol the woods to protect the animals from illegal poaching.

Who to travel with

These tours are tried and tested to provide an unforgettable elephant experience

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Warning signs Chains Elephants should never be shackled. If an elephant poses a danger to another animal or a human when it is not chained it should not be in captivity.

Don’t hand over money to a facility that chains up its animals.

Rides It’s best to avoid tour operators that offer rides, even if you choose not to take a turn. Make a statement with where you put your cash, and don’t reward anyone taking advantage of endangered elephants.

Touching Wild elephants should be just that – wild. Elephants are perfectly capable of injuring or even killing a human if one strays too close. Touching wild elephants also sends the message that all humans are harmless, which is definitely not the case.

Feeding Elephants spend up to 16 hours a day finding food, and being the middleman robs the animal of its daily drive. Nature provides everything an elephant needs, and while it may be an enjoyable experience for you, the animal won’t thank you for feeding it.

Concrete The wilderness is a place free from human-made objects, and there is no room for hard cement in an elephant’s life. Stamping those giant feet is a form of elephant communication that the animals rely on to stay in contact.

Travelling to a country to see elephants sends a strong message to the nation’s policy makers. Your money is an economic incentive to protect elephants from poaching and provide a sustainable future for endangered animals.

It is our responsibility to prove that species like elephants are much more valuable alive than dead.

The ivory trade is still a threat. When a resource is scarce it becomes more coveted. Laws will tighten and eventually private collections of ivory will make their way into the hands of authorities.

It’s simply a matter of time. Hopefully elephants will survive long enough to bounce back.

© Ariadne van Zandbergen; FLPA

Why elephant tourism matters

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Bears and bustards:

EUROPE’S BEST WILDLIFE EXPERIENCES Not flush enough to go on safari? Haven’t got time to explore the Amazon? No problem says the author of a new guidebook; Europe’s packed with spectacular animals Words James Lowen Gargantuan walruses lounging on Arctic icebergs. Barbary apes peering towards Africa from atop the Rock of Gibraltar.

Rare Azores bullfinches singing on forested volcanoes in the mid-Atlantic Ocean. Brown bears lolloping through Italian mountains. How rich, how varied, how thrilling is Europe's wildlife? And in such spectacular landscapes too!

Ah, yes, brown bears. This was the creature that arguably inspired my nature-oriented journey throughout Europe – from Italy to Iceland, from Trujillo to Tallinn.

Having written guides about the glamorous wildlife of Antarctica and South America, I returned to the UK and immersed myself in penning books starring British animals and plants, but wanderlust eventually bettered me, beseeching that I again expand my horizons. With a young child, months photographing Africa's ‘Big Five’ or escorting people around polar regions were impractical options. Short breaks within a few hours flight, however, were eminently feasible. So what amazing creatures might it be possible for me – or you – to see on a wildlifewatching weekend somewhere in Europe?

And so, properly this time, to those brown bears. Why travel to Alaska to see grizzlies when Europe offers so many different ways to experience half a ton of ursine heft? It was during a May dusk in Romania’s Transylvania, the gloaming bristling with anticipation, that I finally clasped eyes on a brown bear. Failing light made for frustrating photography, but such modest disappointment was more than outweighed by the ease of travel. In three days – barely a long weekend – we watched bears and

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enjoyed the wondrous water world of the Danube Delta.

This got me thinking… where else could you see brown bears in a weekend?

In several places, it transpired. A night in a comfy hide in the Finnish taiga would provide near guaranteed views, with the added bonus of grey wolves. During a spring evening in a spartan Estonian construction, raccoon dogs provided complimentary excitement. But why not shun hide-based observation altogether in favour of sitting in the open? In Spain's Somiedo or Italy's Abruzzo you can easily scan favoured hillsides for bears exploiting autumn’s berry bonanza. And it's not just Ursus arctos that you can see in an easy weekend. Thanks to the advent of low-cost flights and ever-improving information about where to see special creatures, you can enjoy ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ wildlife experiences all over Europe – every weekend of the year.

This is the precise conceit of my new book, 52 European Wildlife Weekends. It proposes a year’s worth of superb, animal-and-plant-packed short breaks, each carefully timed and packaged to maximise efficiency for the timepoor traveller. So shun the New Year blues and head to Poland to watch herds of European bison browsing in the snow. Escape the winter by gawping at houbara bustards prancing around a desert in the Canaries. Alternatively, embrace the snow by venturing north of the Arctic Circle to be mesmerised by Varanger's ‘king eider vortex’.

You could treat the family to a weekend break to Sardinia for remarkable cave-dwelling amphibians, or head

“Enjoy ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ experiences all over Europe”

Europe’s best wildlife experiences

52 European Wildlife Weekends: a Year of Short Breaks for Nature Lovers Celebrating Europe’s European abundant Wildlife Weekends wildlife riches, this novel book highlights 52 brilliant wildlife-watching weekends, one for each week of the year, which encompass 21 European countries.

With practical information including places to stay, GPS co-ordinates to aid navigation and ideas to extend each weekend into a wildlifefilled week, this guide has something for experts and novices alike.

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A Y E A R O F S H O RT B R E A K S F O R N AT U R E L OV E R S

James Lowen

to Corsica for endemic birds and flowers. If you’re feeling romantic, why not escape on a city break to an Italian hilltop town that throngs with lesser kestrels. And so on across the year until you spend Christmas in the Camargue watching shockingly pink greater flamingos and being astonished by wallcreepers, a cliff-hugging creature that appears to be half-bird, half-butterfly.

So what of the other cover stars from the book? Can you really see such exotic creatures (Arctic foxes, twotailed pashas, little bustards and sperm whales) in just a weekend? The answer is short and unequivocal: yes.

For Arctic foxes, head to Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen.

Even in the outskirts of this frontier town this carameland-chocolate-coated canid sniffs the ground for barnacle goose eggs. While you are in the Norwegian Arctic you can take a trip to marvel at walruses and bearded seals.

With a multitude of vibrant colours adorning massive wings, two-tailed pashas looks like a butterfly that would be more at home in tropical rainforests than in Europe, and that wouldn't be too far from the truth. This winged wonder is a largely African species that scrapes into Mediterranean Europe. To find it, try Extremadura in central Spain in late May: Monfragüe Castle – which also has vultures floating overhead and white-rumped swifts careering past – is as good as anywhere.

On your Extremadura weekend it would be rude not to pop to the grassy plains of Cáceres and enjoy another cover star. Male little bustards attract females by making a call that sounds like someone blowing a raspberry. Shortly after dawn, they accompany this delightful sound with an eye-catching display of dance – their own salute to the Sun – flashing white wings above crimson poppies.

People often think they have to travel thousands of miles to go whale watching – to New Zealand's Kaikoura, for example. Few realise you can have a thrilling oceanic excursion closer to home. Take a boat trip off southern Ireland in late autumn for fin whales, or snorkel with orcas in Norway, with the aurora borealis as a support act. All of which brings me to our final cover star, the sperm whale.

Perhaps no animal illustrates more clearly why we would be daft to shun Europe in favour of far-flung destinations.

Sperm whales are Kaikoura's main draw, yet you can easily gasp at this giant much closer to home on a weekend in the Azores or Madeira, or in Norway's Versterålen, or even by taking a ferry ‘mini-cruise’ from Portsmouth to northern Spain. It’s never been easier to witness Europe’s wildlife.

So, what are you doing next weekend?

© Winfried Wisniewski/Minden Pictures/FLPA; Frederic Desmette/Biosphoto; J.-L. Klein and M.-L. Hubert; Arik Siegel/Nature in Stock

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From the humming-bird Hawk moth to the False Deathcap Fungi, spot common British animal, plant and fungi species with this pocket-sized guide. Maps show you what animals, plants and fungi to ďŹ nd where and species are categorised so you can plan your spotting and make the most of your surroundings, whether you are on a holiday browse or serious quest.

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Meet the family

Jays Although not all closely related, there are around 50 species classed as jays, and they have loud voices, bright colours and impressive intelligence in common

Florida scrub jay The local celebrity As its name might suggest, this jay is native to Florida – in fact, it’s lived there for at least 2 million years and is the only bird endemic to the state.

Because it can’t be found anywhere else, keen birdwatchers travel long distances for a glimpse of the jay among Florida’s sand pine scrub.

These birds live in flocks, and helpers assist breeding pairs with their offspring. Like other corvids,

these jays are intelligent and inquisitive and have sometimes been seen approaching and flying off with shiny objects.

Living in such a small area has its downsides though. The Florida scrub is under threat as development continues in the state and large trees have been allowed to take over some areas, and the jay is now the focus of several conservation projects.

FLORIDA SCRUB CRUB B JAY

STELLER’S JAY Cyanocitta stelleri Class Aves

In many anim animal species features like crests are exclusive to one sex, but both male m and female tall black Steller’s jays have h feathers on their th heads.

Aphelocoma coerulescens Class Aves

Steller’s jay Stel

Territory Western North America Diet Seeds, nuts, fruit, invertebrates, eggs, rodents, reptiles Lifespan Up to 16 years Adult weight 100–140g (3.5–4.9oz) Conservation Status

LEAST CONCERN

The sh shady species This distinc distinctive bird occupies the forests along America’s northwest c coast, where its dark blue plumage helps it to blend into tthe shadows. Outside of the breeding season Steller’s jay jays live and forage in flocks, and they can be spotted travelling ac across clearings and glades in neat single file.

Using the their strong beaks, these jays smash open hard seeds and nuts an and crunch invertebrates like beetles and wasps.

In spring and an summer they’ll also tuck into berries, eggs and fruit, with males m feeding their partners while they incubate clutches of eggs in nests made from twigs, grass, pine needles and a even paper. Steller’s jays have a wide repertoire of sounds, soun n including imitations of other birds, and they become beco om especially loud if any animal gets too close to their the ei brood.

Territory Florida, da, US Diet Seeds, fruit, uit, nuts, grains, insects, reptiles, es, frogs, mice Lifespan 4.5 years Adult weight 66–92g (2.3–3.2oz) Conservation Status

© Getty; Panther Media GmbH / Alamy; Mike Truchon; Robert C. Paulson; age fotostock; GlobalP

VULNERABLE

Juvenile Florida scrub jays can easily be distinguished uished from the adults because their heads are brown – the bluee cap appears as they mature.

BLUE JAY Cyanocitta cristata Class Aves

Territory Canada, US and Mexico Diet Nuts, seeds, fruit, invertebrates and small vertebrates Lifespan 7 years Adult weight 65–110g (2.3–3.9oz) Conservation Status

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LEAST CONCERN

Blue jay The bold blue bird As they dart through the forests of Canada and the US hiding acorns ready for winter, blue jays produce flashes of colour between the trees.

The bright blue doesn’t come from a pigment; it’s caused by the complex inner structure of the feathers scattering the light reflecting off them.

The small crest on the blue jay’s head lies flat when the bird is feeding and resting but becomes raised when it’s excited or agitated. This jay is known for being loud and bold, fighting viciously with rivals and screaming when it spots a predator. It’s worth trying to ward off an attacker, because blue jays aren’t very fast flyers and are easy to catch for swift birds like hawks.

Because the colour of the blue jay’s feathers comes from the structure and air spaces within them, a crushed feather would appear black.

Jays

Inca jay The parents with their nests full INCA JAY Cyanocorax yncas Class Aves

There are several subspecies of Inca jay, each with different length bristles over their beaks.

SIBERIAN JAY Perisoreus infaustus Class Aves

Territory Northern Europe and Asia Diet Seeds, berries, invertebrates, eggs, lizards, mammal carcasses Lifespan 7 years Adult weight 75–95g (2.6–3.4oz) Conservation Status

LEAST CONCERN

Siberian jays are awkward fliers in the open, but in their preferred habitat of dense forest they can hide and dodge between trees to avoid predators.

Territory Andes Mountains, South America Diet Seeds, fruit, insects, small vertebrates Lifespan 10–11 years Adult weight 66–110g (2.3–3.9oz) Conservation Status

LEAST CONCERN

Once thought to be a subspecies of the green jay, the Inca jay is now often classed as a separate bird. This tufted species lives in the Andes in South America. Breeding pairs build nests in dense bushes and work together to care for their chicks. Offspring often remain with their parents for several years, helping to raise their siblings.

Unfortunately, all of this effort can be exploited by giant cowbirds; these brood parasites have been seen laying their own eggs in Inca jay nests so that the hardworking teams will raise the planted chicks alongside their own.

Siberian jay The jay dressed for winter Smaller than other corvids and more similar in shape to songbirds, you’d be forgiven for not identifying this species as a jay. The Siberian jay lives throughout coniferous forests in Scandinavia, Russia and some northern parts of Asia, where fluffy plumage helps it to cope with the extreme winter temperatures.

Siberian jays live in small groups with a single breeding pair, some of their offspring and some unrelated birds. They’re monogamous and will stay in the same territory with their partner for life.

They mostly eat seeds, berries and small invertebrates.

Eurasian jay

1. Smallest Dwarf jay At just 40g (1.4oz), the dwarf jay is the smallest of all the corvids. It’s endemic to the montane forests of Mexico, where its population is threatened.

2. Fanciest Black-throated magpie-jay Over half of its length comes from its ornate tail feathers. In case that didn’t make it striking enough, it also has a curving black head crest.

3. Most endangered White-throated jay

4. The original Eurasian jay

According to the IUCN this species, which is threatened by habitat loss, potentially has the smallest remaining population.

This was the first species to be named ‘jay’.

First described in the 18th century, its Latin name references its loud call and love of acorns.

Not a jay...

Black magpie The black magpie, native to Southeast Asia, was long classified with the jays. Closer analysis later revealed that it didn’t belong in this group and, confusingly, nor was it a magpie. It finally found its home with the treepies, a group of long-tailed Asian corvids that spend almost all of their time in the trees.

The oak tree’s assistant EURASIAN JAY Garrulus glandarius Class Aves

Territory Western Europe, northern Africa, Asia Diet Seeds, fruit, invertebrates, eggs, young birds, bats and rodents Lifespan 5 years Adult weight 140–190g (4.9–6.7oz) Conservation Status

LEAST CONCERN

Eurasian jays occupy a huge range from Western Europe to Southeast utheast Asia. Across this vast area of highly varied conditions there are multiple subspeciess that have evolved to look quite different from m one another. In the UK there’s no confusion; n; the Eurasian jay is the only jay to inhabit the country, so this species is simply known as the jay. y.

Eurasian jays hoard up to 1,000 acorns a year and inevitably forget get about some; before people started planting g them the birds were the most important distributors utors of the English oak.

However, it’s not only y the oak that the Eurasian jay has a special ial relationship with. In order to keep their feathers thers free from parasites the birds lie down on anthills nthills so that the startled residents spray y them with formic acid.

The 33 subspecies of Eurasian jay vary hugely in colour, pattern and crest, but they all share the characteristic black ‘moustache’ markings and blue wing patches.

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Animal answers

The coyote’s Latin name of Canis latrans translates as ‘barking dog’, a nod to its repertoire of vocalisations

Send your animal questions to us at:

questions@animalanswers.co.uk Do coyotes chase roadrunners in real life?

Both coyotes and roadrunners share their habitat, being prevalent in northern America, the Canadian deserts, Mexico and northern California. Despite this, the concept of coyotes chasing roadrunners (derived from Looney Tunes) is a highly unlikely predator-prey situation. There is minimal documentation of such an event in the wild; instead, coyotes show a preference for other prey, such as bison, rabbits, deer, lizards, insects and fish.

Roadrunners are also surprisingly opportunistic predators, known to hunt small mammals, reptiles, insects and even rattlesnakes.

Even so, considering that a coyote can reach speeds of to 64.4 kilometres (40 miles) per hour, while a roadrunner can only achieve a speed of 32 kilometres (19.9 miles) per hour, if a chase did occur the coyote would catch its target easily. Such speed can be attributed to their differing sizes, with an adult coyote reaching up to 22.7 kilograms (50 pounds) and a roadrunner only reaching 230–430 grams (8.1–15.2 ounces).

Why do some animals have webbed feet?

LEFT Dog breeds including the Newfoundland (pictured) and dachshund all have webbed feet

An array of species have webbed feet – toes connected through a piece of skin. This interlinking structure has primarily evolved for aquatic locomotion, allowing an animal to swim efficiently to capture prey or flee predators. The webbing structure increases the surface area of the foot, therefore pushing against a greater amount of water, aiding speed and navigation.

Such a structure is equally as important above water, as webbing eases walking on unstable surfaces, preventing sinking or loss of balance.

Most aquatic animals have webbed feet, including ducks, frogs, penguins and puffins.

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Puffins reach depths of up to 61 metres (200 feet) when hunting fish, using their webbed feet as a rudder to navigate, whereas swans simply use their webbed appendages to swim while feeding at the surface.

Some mammals have also evolved with this structure, including beavers, capybaras and even canine species. For example, Newfoundlands were bred to work in the cold waters of Canada, relying on their webbed feet, muscular build and thick, water-resistant fur.

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Animal answers Why do squirrels chase each other? will give chase to determine the reproductive state of a female, which is indicated through her scent. This behaviour can be witnessed throughout the year, as mating can occur between December and February and between June and August depending on the species of squirrel.

A final explanatory factor is simply that scuttling a er each other is fun; juveniles will chase as a form of play-fighting, as is also seen in puppies and kittens.

© Mike Raabe / Design Pics; Getty; Jon Boyes; Chris McLoughlin; PeskyMonkey; Adam Hester

Squirrels chasing each other can be attributed to three factors: dominance, reproduction or fun. Most commonly, the behaviour is associated with establishing territories, as squirrels will chase others to assert their dominance. Territorial species include American red squirrels. However, this territorial trait is not displayed by some species, an example being the grey squirrel.

Another reason for chasing is reproduction.

Studies have indicated that male squirrels

A er eating the egg whole this snake will regurgitate the eggshell

What kind of animals eat eggs?

Ovivores are animals that consume eggs as part of their natural diet due to their high nutritional value. Examples of these animals include snakes, birds, squirrels, deer, cougars, lynx, baboons and skunks.

This dietary choice is fundamental to survival, which is reflected in species expending ample energy to locate eggs.

Baboons scavenge by the ocean while the tide is low to hunt for shark eggs; snakes swallow reptile eggs whole; and gull-like birds known as skuas steal penguin eggs.

While many animals will strive to protect their eggs from such predators, cuckoos will lay their eggs in another bird’s nest, discarding the nurturing responsibility.

Q. Do cows fart methane?

Find o out ut a at… t…

animalanswers.co.uk

Animal trivia

Test your animal knowledge 1. BATTY BIRD

3. KEEPING COOL

What is the Spanish name for the oilbird?

How does this animal stay cool in the heat?

2. MEET THE JAYS Name the smallest, fanciest, most endangered and original jay?

a.

b.

a.

c.

d.

b.

4. HOW MANY ARE ROO? How many kangaroos are there in Australia?

c.

d.

a. Around 50 million

b. Around 500,000

c. Around 50,000

d. Around 5,000

5. BADASS BEETLES b.

©Alamy; Getty; NaturePL

“I can lift objects over 100 times my own weight.”

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Tiger beetle

“I am the ultimate desert animal.”

Bombardier beetle

“I run blindingly fast to catch my prey.”

Rhinoceros beetle

“I use a chemical spray to destroy enemies.”

Ladybird

e.

“I bleed toxic blood to deter predators.”

Fogstand beetle

Answers 1. Guácharo 2 a. Dwarf jay b. Black-throated magpie jay c. White-throated jay d. Eurasian jay 3. a. It sweats b. Its big ears help it thermoregulate c. It uses a technique called gular fluttering d. It wallows in mud 4. a. Around 50 million 5. a.

Rhinoceros beetle b. Fogstand beetle c. Tiger beetle d. Bombardier beetle e. Ladybird

a.

Match the bug to the correct phrase c. d.

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