Part of the Hidden Wonders collection The Russian Desman is a critically endangered insectivore, related to moles but suited to aquatic life. Population In the 19th and early 20th century, they were hunted for their coats. Two estimates put this hunting rate at 5000 – 20,000 skins per year, and 50,000 – 100,000 per year.Continue reading “The Russian Desman: A Relic from the Ice Age”
Tag Archives: Nature
One Health: Linking Habitat Loss and Disease Outbreaks
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the American essayist, once wrote that “life is a perpetual instruction in cause and effect”. I think this sums up the One Health approach, in that changes in the environment affect animal behaviour. This, in turn, affects disease spread. Through considering animal, human and environmental health as one system, we can moreContinue reading “One Health: Linking Habitat Loss and Disease Outbreaks”
Termite Mounds: Nature’s Ingenious Climate-Controlled Skyscrapers
Part of the Nature’s Architects collection Termite mounds are renowned for their height, but it’s their internal structure that makes them an impressive build. They are remarkable examples of natural engineering, designed to create a stable internal environment that supports the colony’s survival. The termite mound’s architecture is built to facilitate airflow, temperature regulation, humidityContinue reading “Termite Mounds: Nature’s Ingenious Climate-Controlled Skyscrapers”
The Vaquita: The Ocean’s Rarest Marine Mammal
Part of the Hidden Wonders: The Secret Lives of Earth’s Rarest Animals collection Sadly, the Vaquita is the most critically endangered marine mammal in the world. According to the IUCN Red List, there are just 10 individuals between them and history. Last week’s article was on the saiga antelope and was an example of effectiveContinue reading “The Vaquita: The Ocean’s Rarest Marine Mammal”
The Last Frontier: Exploring the World of the Saiga Antelope
Part of the Hidden Wonders: The Secret Lives of Earth’s Rarest Animals collection From the days of the woolly mammoth and sabre-toothed tigers, the saiga antelope has roamed the steppes since the last Ice Age. It almost joined the legendary duo in extinction (multiple times), but has recovered from Critically Endangered to Near Threatened. FunContinue reading “The Last Frontier: Exploring the World of the Saiga Antelope”
Bluetongue virus – A Transcontinental Disease
If you’ve read my previous posts, you might have noticed that I’ve previously mentioned bluetongue virus, and this post is solely dedicated to that particular arbovirus. Bluetongue is an excellent example of a disease that will likely benefit from climate change, increasing in both frequency and range. Part of the reason why the BTV-8 outbreakContinue reading “Bluetongue virus – A Transcontinental Disease”
Preventing The Next Pandemic
At the time of writing this, the total number of COVID-19 cases in the world stands are 201 million, with 4.27 million deaths. According to The Economist, the cost of the pandemic could amount to $10 trillion in forgone GDP over 2020-21. For reference, that’s enough money to buy 66 International Space Stations (at $150Continue reading “Preventing The Next Pandemic”
Disease in the UK – The Impact of Climate Change
Source: Baylis, M. (2017). Potential impact of climate change on emerging vector-borne and other infections in the UK. Environmental Health, 16(1), 45-51. You would have seen in my recent posts about the impacts of climate change on disease, however those have always concerned tropical regions. In the UK, we’ve always been relatively safe, due to our temperateContinue reading “Disease in the UK – The Impact of Climate Change”
Spotlight: Environmental variability supports chimpanzee behavioural diversity
Source: Kalan, A. K., Kulik, L., Arandjelovic, M., Boesch, C., Haas, F., Dieguez, P., … & Michael Fay, J. (2020). Environmental variability supports chimpanzee behavioural diversity. http://researchonline. ljmu. ac. uk/id/eprint/14322. This study identified that environmental variability had a more important effect on chimpanzee behavioural diversity, than climate or habitat stability. It suggests that the needContinue reading “Spotlight: Environmental variability supports chimpanzee behavioural diversity”
Effect of climate change on the Neotropics
Whereas my last posts have looked into the findings of a single paper, this post will include research from several. These will cover the effects of climate change (Korstjens & Hillyer, 2016; Ribeiro et al. 2020); including a deeper look into its’ effect on primate metapopulations (Wiederholt & Post 2010), and a case study lookingContinue reading “Effect of climate change on the Neotropics”
The Nature Folder 