#but its specifically about wildlife conservation

[itistimetodisappear]

Oh venomous lumpsucker was a very beautiful and very powerful book

[reasonsforhope]

"In 2021, scientists in Guelph, Ontario set out to accomplish something that had never been done before: open a lab specifically designed for raising bumble bees in captivity. 

Now, three years later, the scientists at the Bumble Bee Conservation Lab are celebrating a huge milestone. Over the course of 2024, they successfully pulled off what was once deemed impossible and raised a generation of yellow-banded bumble bees. 

The Bumble Bee Conservation Lab, which operates under the nonprofit Wildlife Preservation Canada, is the culmination of a decade-long mission to save the bee species, which is listed as endangered under the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation...

Although the efforts have been in motion for over a decade, the lab itself is a recent development that has rapidly accelerated conservation efforts. 

For bee scientists, the urgency was necessary. 

“We could see the major declines happening rapidly in Canada’s native bumble bees and knew we had to act, not just talk about the problem, but do something practical and immediate,” Woolaver said. 

Yellow-banded bumble bees, which live in southern Canada and across a huge swatch of the United States, were once a common species.

However, like many other bee species, their populations declined sharply in the mid-1990s from a litany of threats, including pathogens, pesticides, and dramatic habitat loss. 

Since the turn of the century, scientists have plunged in to give bees a helping hand. But it was only in the last decade that Woolaver and his team “identified a major gap” in bumble bee conservation and set out to solve it. 

“No one knew how to breed threatened species in captivity,” he explained. “This is critically important if assurance populations are needed to keep a species from going extinct and to assist with future reintroductions.”

To start their experiment, scientists hand-selected wild queen bees throughout Ontario and brought them to the temperature-controlled lab, where they were “treated like queens” and fed tiny balls of nectar and pollen. 

Then, with the help of Ontario’s African Lion Safari theme park, the queens were brought out to small, outdoor enclosures and paired with other bees with the hope that mating would occur. 

For some pairs, they had to play around with different environments to “set the mood,” swapping out spacious flight cages for cozier colony boxes. 

And it worked. 

“The two biggest success stories of 2024 were that we successfully bred our focal species, yellow-banded bumble bees, through their entire lifecycle for the first time,” Woolaver said. 

“[And] the first successful overwintering of yellow-banded bumble bees last winter allowed us to establish our first lab generation, doubling our mating successes and significantly increasing the number of young queens for overwintering to wake early spring and start their own colonies for future generations and future reintroductions.”

Although the first-of-its-kind experiment required careful planning, consideration, resources, and a decade of research, Woolaver hopes that their efforts inspire others to help bees in backyards across North America. 

“Be aware that our native bumble bees really are in serious decline,” Woolaver noted, “so when cottagers see bumble bees pollinating plants in their gardens, they really are seeing something special.”"

-via GoodGoodGood, December 9, 2024

[covid-safer-hotties]

Humans infecting animals infecting humans − from COVID-19 to bird flu, preventing pandemics requires protecting all species - Published Sept 4, 2024

I remember back in 2022, someone mocked me for worrying about zoonosis of new coivd strains. The science backs up my thoughts once again: We have to protect *everyone,* even critters, from disease to prevent future pandemics.

Authors Anna Fagre Veterinary Microbiologist and Wildlife Epidemiologist, Colorado State University

Sadie Jane Ryan Professor of Medical Geography, University of Florida

When the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11, 2020, humans had been the only species with reported cases of the disease. While early genetic analyses pointed to horseshoe bats as the evolutionary hosts of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, no reports had yet surfaced indicating it could be transmitted from humans to other animal species.

Less than two weeks later, a report from Belgium marked the first infection in a domestic cat – presumably by its owner. Summer 2020 saw news of COVID-19 outbreaks and subsequent cullings in mink farms across Europe and fears of similar calls for culling in North America. Humans and other animals on and around mink farms tested positive, raising questions about the potential for a secondary wildlife reservoir of COVID-19. That is, the virus could infect and establish a transmission cycle in a different species than the one in which it originated.

For example, spillback has been a long-standing threat to endangered great apes, even among populations with infrequent human contact. The chimpanzees of Gombe National Park, made famous by Jane Goodall’s work, have suffered outbreaks of measles and other respiratory diseases likely resulting from environmental persistence of pathogens spread by people living nearby or by ecotourists.

We are researchers who study the mechanisms driving cross-species disease transmission and how disease affects both wildlife conservation and people. Emerging outbreaks have underscored the importance of understanding how threats to wildlife health shape the emergence and spread of zoonotic pathogens. Our research suggests that looking at historical outbreaks can help predict and prevent the next pandemic.

Spillback has happened before Our research group wanted to assess how often spillback had been reported in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. A retrospective analysis not only allows us to identify specific trends or barriers in reporting spillback events but also helps us understand where new emergent threats are most likely.

We examined historical spillback events involving different groups of pathogens across the animal kingdom, accounting for variations in geography, methods and sample sizes. We synthesized scientific reports of spillback across nearly a century prior to the COVID-19 pandemic – from the 1920s to 2019 – which included diseases ranging from salmonella and intestinal parasites to human tuberculosis, influenza and polio.

We were also interested in determining whether detection and reporting bias might influence what’s known about human-to-animal pathogen transmission. Charismatic megafauna – often defined as larger mammals such as pandas, gorillas, elephants and whales that evoke emotion in people – tend to be overrepresented in wildlife epidemiology and conservation efforts. They receive more public attention and funding than smaller and less visible species.

Complicating this further are difficulties in monitoring wild populations of small animals, as they decompose quickly and are frequently scavenged by larger animals. This drastically reduces the time window during which researchers can investigate outbreaks and collect samples.

The results of our historical analysis support our suspicions that most reports described outbreaks in large charismatic megafauna. Many were captive, such as in zoos or rehabilitation centers, or semi-captive, such as well-studied great apes.

Despite the litany of papers published on new pathogens discovered in bats and rodents, the number of studies examining pathogens transmitted from humans to these animals was scant. However, small mammals occupying diverse ecological niches, including animals that live near human dwellings – such as deer mice, rats and skunks – may be more likely to not only share their pathogens with people but also to be infected by human pathogens.

COVID-19 and pandemic flu In our historical analysis of spillback prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the only evidence we found supporting the establishment of a human pathogen in a wildlife population were two 2019 reports describing H1N1 infection in striped skunks. Like coronaviruses, influenza A viruses such as H1N1 are adept at switching hosts and can infect a broad range of species.

Unlike coronaviruses, however, their widespread transmission is facilitated by migratory waterfowl such as ducks and geese. Exactly how these skunks became infected with H1N1 and for how long remains unclear.

Shortly after we completed the analysis for our study, reports describing widespread COVID-19 infection of white-tailed deer throughout North America began surfacing in November 2021. In some areas, the prevalence of infection was as high as 80% despite little evidence of sickness in the deer.

This ubiquitous mammal has effectively become a secondary reservoir of COVID-19 in North America. Further, genetic evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 evolves three times faster in white-tailed deer than in humans, potentially increasing the risk of seeding new variants into humans and other animals. There is already evidence of deer-to-human transmission of a previously unseen variant of COVID-19.

There are over 30 million white-tailed deer in North America, many in agricultural and suburban areas. Surveillance efforts to monitor viral evolution in white-tailed deer can help identify emerging variants and further transmission from deer populations into people or domestic animals.

Investigations into related species revealed that the risk of spillback varies. For instance, white-tailed deer and mule deer are highly susceptible to COVID-19 in the lab, while elk are not.

H5N1 and the US dairy herd Since 2022, the spread of H5N1 has affected a broad range of avian and mammalian species around the globe – foxes, skunks, raccoons, opossums, polar bears, coyotes and seals, to name a few. Some of these populations are threatened or endangered, and aggressive surveillance efforts to monitor viral spread are ongoing.

Earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the presence of H5N1 in the milk of dairy cows. Genetic analyses point to an introduction of the virus into cows as early as December 2023, probably in the Texas Panhandle. Since then, it has affected 178 livestock herds in 13 states as of August 2024.

How the virus got into dairy cow populations remains undetermined, but it was likely by migratory waterfowl infected with the virus. Efforts to delineate exactly how the virus moves among and between herds are underway, though it appears contaminated milking equipment rather than aerosol transmission, may be the culprit.

Given the ability of influenza A viruses such as avian flu to infect a broad range of species, it is critical that surveillance efforts target not only dairy cows but also animals living on or around affected farms. Monitoring high-risk areas for cross-species transmission, such as where livestock, wildlife and people interact, provides information not only about how widespread a disease is in a given population – in this case, dairy cows – but also allows researchers to identify susceptible species that come into contact with them.

To date, H5N1 has been detected in several animals found dead on affected dairy farms, including cats, birds and a raccoon. As of August 2024, four people in close contact with infected dairy cows have tested positive, one of whom developed respiratory symptoms. Other wildlife and domestic animal species are still at risk. Similar surveillance efforts are underway to monitor H5N1 transmission from poultry to humans.

Humans are only 1 part of the network The language often used to describe cross-species transmission fails to encapsulate its complexity and nuances. Given the number of species that have been infected with COVID-19 throughout the pandemic, many scientists have called for limiting the use of the terms spillover and spillback because they describe the transmission of pathogens to and from humans. This suggests that disease and its implications begin and end with humans.

Considering humans as one node in a large network of transmission possibilities can help researchers more effectively monitor COVID-19, H5N1 and other emerging zoonoses. This includes systems-thinking approaches such as One Health or Planetary Health that capture human interdependence with the health of the total environment.

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

Hello! Recently my family discovered a place called "Sustainable Safari" that promised people they could pet kangaroos and see exotic wildlife. It ended up being a store in a mall, with no windows and claustrophobic amounts of space. I don't know enough about kangaroos or the behavior of the other animals, but they seemed lethargic, one kangaroo was attacking another and had to be wrestled by an employee, and one weasel-like creature was running and pacing the length of his cage. Is there somewhere I could report this place to? Or some sort of welfare check?

Oh America why are you like this? Researching this place gave me psychic damage so I apologise for the long winded response.

What you've described sounds like an absolute nightmare. So I looked through their website... And it's... really bad. They boast over 100 species - they have a Coati! Binturongs! Capybaras! Thomson Gazelles! In a mall in very small enclosures! And they say they're getting even more species! What the heeckkkkkk

Most of them are species that have absolutely no business being in a mall under artificial light all day - including endangered and threatened species and nocturnal species (Bush Babies have eyes specifically for seeing the the dark but sure lets flood them with light all day). This facility is very much prioritising "exotic" encounters over practical and reasonable species with the welfare of the animals in mind.

Way too many hands on that Binturong - please give him some trees to climb omg

Not appropriate substrate for red kangaroos, no grazing/foraging, way too many animals (not surprising they're probably needing to breed a lot of them for the joey holding)

They also have a timed holding of wild animals (including a need to have a constant supply for kangaroo joeys for holding - just a new form of cub petting with a less regulated species), with nothing said about whether they're rotating multiple animals, if animals are getting breaks ect.

There's no informations about animal living conditions outside of the mall except that they rotated from "a farm" - big red flag for transparency.

I really hate what is essentially "conservation washing" with something like this. They claim this is all about education and conservation of species - but these animals aren't in anything that resembles their wild habitat to make those conservation message connections work. And there's just no way that nocturnal animals and animals that live in very isolated areas of the world - in jungles, rainforests ect. Are appropriate ambassador animals for conservation messages.

I'm actually shocked at this list: https://sustainablesafari.net/safari-species/ this is insane.

The emphasis on each holding being so cheap and only 4 minutes feels like a way to get as many people through the door holding animals. And you'd have to have *a lot* of Fennec Foxes and kangaroo joeys to make that sustainable and not just an animal that's forced to be touched for hours.

Every "Guided Safari" has about 5 time slots which all involve handling and interactions with "exclusive species". It honestly makes me physically ill seeing the species list.

Yeah no animals should be kept like this. Ambassador species should be appropriate for the environment they're brought out into. Not just the most exotic and rare species you can get (seriously how the hell did they get these animals this is insane, not even accredited zoos have some of these species)

Since they're licensed by the USDA, that would be the place to send a complaint. The fact they got a license for interaction programs with these animals is insane to me. USDA is.... not great at holding facilities accountable.

Maybe someone knows more about this facility and will say its fine but honestly I cannot ethically condone any sort of interaction program like this.

[bonefall]

Don’t know if this is the right place to ask, but could you talk more about zoos? I’ve seen many people say that zoos are inherently exploitative and that we should instead focus on advocating for wildlife preserves, etc., but I’m not sure what to think of that. You seem to know a lot about wildlife protection, so what’s your opinion on this?

There are folks faaaar better than myself to talk about the issues of zoos specifically and I'll try to toss in some sources so you can go and learn more, but let me try and explain my mindset here.

Summary of my opinion on this: BOTH of these things can be poorly managed, and I broadly support both. They should exist in tandem. I am pro-accredited zoo and am extremely sensitive towards misinformation. I also do think the best place for animals to be is in their natural environment, but nature "preserves" aren't inherently perfect. They can also be prone to the capitalist (and colonialist) pressures that less informed people believe they're somehow immune to.

Because of the goal of my project being to make the setting of WC accurate to Northwestern England, my research is based on UK laws, ecology, and conservation programs.

On Zoos

On Nature Reserves

An Aside on Fortress Conservation

On Zoos

The legal definition of a Zoo in the UK (because that is what BB's ecological education is based around), as defined by the Zoo Licensing Act of 1981 (ZLA), is a "place where wild animals are kept for exhibition to the public," excluding circuses and pet shops (which are covered by different laws.)

This applies equally to private, for-profit zoos, as well as zoos run by wildlife charities and conservation organizations. Profit does not define a zoo. If there's a place trying to tell you it's not a zoo but a "sanctuary" or a "wildlife park," but you can still go visit and see captive wild animals, even if it's totally free, it's a marketing trick. Legally that is still a zoo in the UK.

(for fellow Americans; OUR definition is broader, more patchwork because we are 50 little countries in a trenchcoat, and can include collections of animals not displayed to the public.)

That said, there's a HUGE difference between Chester Zoo, run by the North of England Zoological Society, which personally holds the studbooks for maintaining the genetic diversity of 10 endangered species, has 134 captive breeding projects, cultivates 265 threatened plant species, and sends its members as consultants to United Nations conferences on climate change, and Sam Tiddles' Personal Zebra Pit.

Sam Tiddles' Personal Zebra Pit ONLY has to worry about the UK government. There's another standard zoos can hold themselves to if they want to get serious about conservation like Chester Zoo; Accreditation. There are two major zoo organizations in the UK, BIAZA and EAZA.

(Americans may wonder about AZA; that's ours. AZA, EAZA, and BIAZA are all members of the World Association of Aquariums and Zoos, or WAZA, but they are all individual organizations.)

A zoo going for EAZA's "accreditation" has to undergo an entire year of evaluation to make sure they fit the strict standards, and renewal is ongoing. You don't just earn it once. You have to keep your animal welfare up-to-date and in compliance or you will lose it.

The benefit of joining with an accredited org is that it puts the zoo into a huge network of other organizations. They work together for various conservation efforts.

There are DOZENS of species that were prevented from going extinct, and are being reintroduced back to their habitats, because of the work done by zoos. The scimitar-horned oryx, takhi, California condor, the Galapagos tortoise, etc. Some of these WERE extinct in the wild and wouldn't BE here if it hadn't been for zoos!

The San Diego zoo is preventing the last remaining hawaiian crows from embracing oblivion right now, a species for which SO LITTLE of its wild behavior is known they had to write the book on caring for them, and Chester zoo worked in tandem with the Uganda Wildlife Authority to provide tech and funding towards breakthroughs in surveying wild pangolins.

Don't get me wrong;

MOST zoos are not accredited,

nor is accreditation is REQUIRED to make a good zoo,

nor does it automatically PROVE nothing bad has happened in the zoo,

There are a lot more Sam Tiddles' Personal Zebra Pits than there are Chester Zoos.

That's worth talking about! We SHOULD be having conversations on things like,

Is it appropriate to keep and breed difficult, social megafauna, like elephants or cetaceans? What does the data say? Are there any circumstances where that would be okay, IF the data does confirm we can never provide enough space or stimulation to perfectly meet those species' needs?

How can we improve animal welfare for private zoos? Should we tighten up regulations on who can start or run one (yes)? Are there enough inspectors (no)?

Do those smaller zoos meaningfully contribute to better conservation? How do we know if they are properly educating their visitors? Can we prove this one way or the other?

Who watches the watchmen? Accreditation societies hold themselves accountable. Do these organizations truly have enough transparency?

(I don't agree with Born Free's ultimate conclusion that we should "phase out" zoos, but you should always understand the opposing arguments)

But bottom line of my opinion is; Good zoos are deeply important, and they have a tangible benefit to wildlife conservation. Anyone who tries to tell you that "zoos are inherently unethical" either knows very little about zoos or real conservation work, or... is hiding some deeper, more batshit take, like "having wild animals in any kind of captivity is unlawful imprisonment."

(you'll also get a lot more work done in regulating the exotic animal trade in the UK if you go after private owners, btw. zoos have nothing to do with how lax those laws are.)

Anyway I'm a funny cat blog about battle kitties, and the stuff I do for BB is to educate about the ecosystem of Northern England. If you want to know more about zoos, debunking misconceptions, and critiques from someone with more personal experience, go talk to @why-animals-do-the-thing!

Keep in mind though, again, they talk about American zoos, where this post was written with the UK in mind.

(and even then, England specifically. ALL UK members and also the Isle of Man have differences in their laws.)

(If anyone has other zoo education tumblr blogs in mind, especially if they are European, lmk and I'll edit this post)

On Nature Reserves

Remember how broad the legal definition of a zoo actually was? Same thing over here. A "nature reserve" in the UK is a broad, unofficial generic term for several things. It doesn't inherently involve statutory protection, either, meaning there's some situations where there's no laws to hold anyone accountable for damage

These are the "nature reserve" types relevant to my project; (NOTE: Ramsar sites, SACs, and SPAs are EU-related and honestly, I do not know how Brexit has effected them, if at all, so I won't be explaining something I don't understand.)

Local Wildlife Site (LWS) Selected via scientific survey and managed locally, connecting wildlife habitats together and keeping nature close to home. VERY important... and yet, incredibly prone to destruction because there aren't good reporting processes in place. Whenever a report comes out every few years, the Wildlife Trust says it often only gets data for 15% of all their registered sites, and 12% get destroyed in that timeframe.

Local Nature Reserve (LNR) A site that can be declared by a district or county council, if proven to have geographic, educational, biodiversity, or recreational value. The local authority manages this, BUT, the landowner can remain in control of the property and "lease" it out (and boy oh boy, landowners do some RIDICULOUS things)

National Nature Reserve (NNR) This is probably closest to what you think of when someone says "nature reserve." Designated by Natural England to protect significant habitat ranges and geographic formations, but still usually operates in tandem with private land owners who must get consent if they want to do something potentially damaging to the NNR.

Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) (pronounced Triple S-I) A conservation designation for a particular place, assessed and defined by Natural England for its biological or geographic significance. SSSIs are protected areas, and often become the basis for NNRs, LNRs, Ramsar sites, SACs, SPAs, etc.

So you probably noticed that 3/4 of those needed to have the private ownership problem mentioned right in the summary, and it doesn't end there. Even fully government-managed NNRs and SSSIs work with the private sectors of forestry, tourism, and recreation.

We live under Capitalism; EVERYTHING has a profit motive, not just zoos.

I brushed over some of those factors in my Moorland Research Notes and DESPERATELY tried to stay succinct with them, but it was hard. The things that can happen to skirt around the UK's laws protecting wildlife could make an entire season of Monty Python sketches.

Protestors can angrily oppose felling silver birch (a "weed" in this context which can change the ecosystem) because it made a hike less 'pretty' and they don't understand heath management.

Management can be reluctant to ban dogs and horses for fear of backlash, even as they turn heath to sward before our eyes.

Reserves can be owned by Count Bloodsnurt who thinks crashing through the forest with a pack of dogs to exhaust an animal to death is a profitable traditional British passtime.

Or you can literally just pretend that you accidentally chased a deer for several hours and then killed it while innocently sending your baying hounds down a trail. (NOTE: I am pro-hunting, but not pro-animal cruelty.)

The Forestry Commission can slobber enthusiastically while replacing endangered wildlife habitats with non-native, invasive sitka spruce plantations, pretending most trees are equal while conveniently prioritizing profitable timber species.

I have STORIES to tell about the absolute Looney Tunes bullshit that's going on between conservationists and rich assholes who want to sell grouse hunting access, but I'll leave it at this fascinating tidbit about air guns and mannequins which are "totally, absolutely there for no nefarious reason at all, certainly not to prevent marsh harriers from nesting in an area where they also keep winding up mysteriously killed in illegal snares, no no no"

BUT. Since Nature Reserve isn't a hard defined legal concept, and any organization could get involved in local conservation in the UK, and just about anyone or anything could own one... IT'S CHESTER ZOO WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!!

They received a grant in 2021 to restore habitat to a stretch of 10 miles extending outside of their borders, working with TONS of other entities such as local government and conservation charities in the process. There's now 6,000 square meters of restored meadow, an orchard, new ponds, and maintained reedbeds, because of them.

It isn't just Chester Zoo, either. It's all over the UK. Durrel Wildlife, which runs Jersey Zoo, just acquired 18,500 acres to rewild in Perthshire. Citizen Zoo is working with the Beaver Trust to bring beavers back to London and is always looking for volunteers to help with their river projects, and the Edinburgh Zoo is equipped with gene labs being used to monitor and analyze the remaining populations of non-hybrid Scottish Wildcats.

The point being,

Nature preserves have problems too. They are not magical fairy kingdoms that you put up a fence around and then declare you Saved Nature Hooray! They need to be protected. They need to be continuously assessed. They are prone to capitalist pressures just like everything else on this hell planet. Go talk to my boy Karl he'll give you a hug about it.

"Nature Preserves" are NOT an "alternative" to zoos and vice versa. They do not do the same thing. A zoo is a center of education and wildlife research which displays exotic animals. A nature preserve is a parcel of native ecosystem. We need LOTS of nature preserves and we need them well-managed ASAP.

We could never just "replace" zoos with nature preserves, and we're nowhere near the amount of protected ecosystem space to start thinking of scaling back animals in captivity. Until King Arthur comes out of hibernation to save Britain, that's the world we live in.

An Aside

My project and my research is based on the isle of Great Britain. The more I learn about the ecosystems that are naturally found there, the more venomously I reject the old lie, "humans are a blight."

YOU are an animal. You're a big one, too. You know what the role of big animals in an ecosystem are? Change. Elephants knock over trees, wolves alter the course of rivers, bison fertilize the plains from coast-to-coast. In Great Britain, that's what hominids have done for 900,000 years, their populations ebbing and flowing with every ice age.

Early farming created the moors and grazing sheep and cattle maintain it, hosting hundreds of specialist species. Every old-growth forest has signs of ancient coppicing and pollarding, which create havens for wildlife when well-managed. Corn cockle evolved as a mimic of wheat seeds, so farmers would plant it over and over within their fields.

This garbage idea that humans are somehow "separate" from or "above" nature is poison. It's not true ANYWHERE.

It contributes to an idea that our very presence is somehow damaging to natural spaces, and to "protect" it, we have to completely leave it alone. NO! Absolutely NOT! There are places where we have to limit harvesting and foot traffic, but humans ALWAYS lived in nature.

Even the ecosystems that this mindset comes from rejects it, but this shit doesn't JUST get applied to British people who become alienated and disconnected from their surroundings to the point where they don't know what silver birch does.

It's DEADLY for the indigenous people who protect 80% of our most important ecosystems.

It's a weapon against the Maasai people, stopped from hunting or growing crops on their own land. It's violence for 9 San hunters shot at by a helicopter with a "kill poachers on-sight" policy, as one of the world's LARGEST diamond mines operates in the same motherfucking park. The Havasupai people are kept out of the Grand Canyon that they managed for generations because they might "collect too many nuts" and starve squirrels, Dukha reindeer herders suddenly get banned from chopping wood or fishing, and watch wolves decimate their animals in the absence of their herding dogs.

It's nightmare after nightmare of human displacement in the name of "conservation."

That all ties back to that mindset. This idea that nature is pure, "pristine," and should be totally untouched. There are some starting to call it Fortress Conservation.

You can't begin to understand the criticisms of modern conservation without acknowledging that we are still living under the influence of capitalism and colonialism. Those who fixate on speaking for "animals/nature/trees who don't have a voice" often seem to have no interest in the indigenous people who do.

Listen. There's no simple answer; and the solution will vary for each region.

Again, my project is within the UK, one of the most ecologically devastated areas in the world. There are bad zoos that the law allows a pass. There are incredible zoos that are vital to conservation, in and outside of the country. There's not enough nature preserves. The best ones that exist are often exploited for profit.

I hope that my silly little blog sparks an interest in a handful of people to understand more about their own local ecosystems, and teaches folks about the unique beauty even within a place as "boring" as England.

But, my straightforward statement is that I have no patience for nonconstructive, broad zoo slander that lumps together ALL of them, and open contempt for anyone who tries to sell nature preserves like a perfect, morally superior "alternative." We need them BOTH right now, and we need to acknowledge that zoos AND preserves have legal and ethical issues that aren't openly talked about.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #5 – The Tusks of Extinction by Ray Nayler

I read Nayler’s The Mountain in the Sea last year and, despite thinking it was ultimately kind of a noble failure, liked it more than enough to give his new novella a try. It didn’t hurt that the premise as described in the marketing copy sounded incredible. I can’t quite say it was worth it, but that’s really only because this novella barely cost less than the 500-page doorstopper I picked up at the same time and I need to consider economies here – it absolutely lived up to the promise of its premise.

The book is set a century and change into the future, when a de-extinction initiative has gotten funding from the Russian government to resurrect the Siberian mammoth – or, at least, splice together a chimera that’s close-enough and birth it from african elephant surrogate mothers – to begin the process of restoring the prehistoric taiga as a carbon sink. The problem: there’s no one on earth left who knows how wild mammoth are supposed to, like, live- the only surviving elephants have been living in captivity for generations. Plop the ressurectees in the wilderness and they’ll just be very confused and anxious until they starve. The solution: the technology to capture a perfect image of a human mind is quite old, and due to winning some prestigious international award our protagonist – an obsessive partisan of elephant conservation – was basically forced to have her mind copied and put in storage a few months before she was killed by poachers.

So the solution of who will raise and socialize these newly created mammoths is ‘the 100-year-old ghost of an elephant expert, after having her consciousness reincarnated in a mammoth’s body to lead the first herd as the most mature matriarch’. It works better than you’d expect, really, but as it turns out she has some rather strong opinions about poachers, and isn’t necessarily very understanding when the solution found to keep the project funded involves letting some oligarch spend a small country’s GDP on the chance to shoot a bull and take some trophies.

So this is a novella, and a fairly short one – it’s densely packed with ideas but the length and the constraints of narrative mean that they’re more evoked or presented than carefully considered. This mostly jumps out at me with how the book approaches wildlife conservation – a theme that was also one of the overriding concerns of Mountain where it was considered at much greater length. I actually think the shorter length might have done Nayler a service here, if only because it let him focus things on one specific episode and finish things with a more equivocal and ambiguous ending than the saccharine deux ex machina he felt compelled to resort to in Mountain.

The protection of wildlife is pretty clearly something he’s deeply invested in – even if he didn’t outright say so in the acknowledgements, it just about sings out from the pages of both books. Specifically, he’s pretty despairing about it – both books to a great extent turn around how you convince the world at large to allow these animals to live undisturbed when all the economic incentives point the other way, a question he seems quite acutely aware he lacks a good answer to.

Like everyone else whose parents had Jurassic Park on VHS growing up, I’ve always found the science of de-extinction intensely fascinating – especially as it becomes more and more plausible every day. This book wouldn’t have drawn my eye to nearly the degree it did if I don’t remember the exact feature article I’d bet real money inspired it about a group of scientists trying to do, well, exactly the same thing as the de-extinctionists do in the book (digital resurrection aside). The book actually examines the project with an eye to practicalities and logistics – and moreover, portrays it as at base a fundamentally heroic, noble undertaking as opposed to yet another morality tale about scientific hubris. So even disregarding everything else it had pretty much already won me over just with that.

The book’s portrayal of the future and technology more generally is broader and less carefully considered, but it still rang truer than the vast majority of sci fi does – which is, I suppose, another way of saying that it’s a weathered and weather-beaten world with new and better toys, but one still very fundamentally recognizable as our own, without any great revolutions or apocalyptic ruptures in the interim. Mosquito's got CRISPR’d into nonexistence and elephants were poached into extinction outside of captivity, children play with cybernetically controlled drones and the president of the Russian Federation may or may not be a digital ghost incarnated into a series of purpose-grown clones, but for all that it’s still the same shitty old earth. It’s rather charming, really.

[spinnysocks]

Welcome to my Den! 🐾

*remakes pinned for the millionth time :3*

By: @/feathers-fins-and-fangs, @/batsbolts-andboards, @/phantompawz, @/timberbark, @/mollytoons, @/sweetpeauserboxes, @/lookineedsleep

Last updated: 25/09 🌙

Pronouns Page | Boundaries | DNI in bio

Rb'ing for Palestine: @iftheresanythingleft | Moodboard making: @poetryforcoyotes | TLG ask blog: @tlg-confessions

Some stuff about the blogger!

Hi, my name's Spinny! This is my Main Blog! :)

My favoured pronouns shift; in (bold) are my favoured atm! - he/him 🌿 it/its 🌿 they/them 🌿 xe/xem 🌿 ze/zim 🌿 sol/sols 🌿 star/stars 🌿 void/voids 🌿 coy/coyote 🌿 fox/foxs 🌿 yip/yips 🌿 croc/crocs

I prefer interchangeable use of those above, but generally answer to he/it and any of my neopronouns <3

Very queer!! I'm nonbinary, genderqueer, xenofluid, aroace and a fuck ton of other labels that I hoard at @foxsocksvoid :)

I'm an alterhuman, specifically a polymorph! Planning to make a post going into my identity more, but my strongest types are fox, crocodile, coyote and hyena

I am neurodivergent (suspected AuDHD), suspected APD and a maladaptive daydreamer with some other coping mechanism disorders. As a result, I find interacting etc hard so please bare with me. More info in my boundaries ^^

I am a gemini, my birthday is June 6th and I am pagan! Just a creature guy who loves movies and is going into wildlife conservation & management :D

Self-proclaimed Warrior Cats veteran and the #1 Whitestorm fan, but relatively new in the Lion Guard fanbase! Great to be here c:

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Blog Information!

I am an adult but my blog is SFW with strictly NO NSFW. Though I do swear.

Except for this post, I type almost entirely in lowercase!

Please tag me if responding to a comment/any mention, otherwise I don't see it! :c

I repost stimboards which may have auto-playing gifs and art that may contain minor blood or animal death (warrior cats or other art)! I tag these under #tw blood, #tw gore, #tw death, #tw cat death and #tw implied death. I do not tag auto-playing gifs.

IF something ever happens to Tumblr, I'm “spinnysocks” or “ricoofdoom” on everything. I'd probably migrate to discord as well as pillowfort or cohost but Tumblr is my everything so hopefully not!!

This post will likely be updated on a near-daily basis due to pronouns shifting and general forgetfulness.

Other info can be found on my boundaries post / just ask! ^^

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Asks!

Send me asks!!! (/nf) They are always open and I love getting any asks or mentions about anything at all! Send me or tag me as much as you'd like <3

I have character opinion bingo asks that are always open too! Check out the tag for who I've been asked about already ^^

I am also always open for the character ask game! That has a tag too :)

I'm also completely happy to participate in tag games of any kind! They're so fun!!

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Interests!

Current fixations: Warrior Cats, Clangen, The Lion Guard!

Other fandoms: Madagascar, Watership Down, Night At The Museum, Guardians Of The Galaxy, Space Jam/The Looney Tunes, Ice Age, Kung Fu Panda, Sonic, Shakespeare and Dead Poets Society. Mada and Ice Age are my oldest and I'm very fond of them c:

Games I like: RDR2, WolfQuest, Endling, Stray, Shelter Generations, The Isle, Jurassic World Evolution, Planet Zoo, Minecraft, Roblox and Rain World. I own RDR2, WQ, Endling, JWE, PZ, Minecraft and Roblox while the others are interests (aka my pc is shit and/or I can't afford them lmfao)

General: indie/rock music, kids/fantasy movies, cinema, writing, drawing, more to add :3

Basically, I love creatures, fantasy and animated movies! Please talk to me about any of the above interests if you'd like to, or even ask me if I've seen a specific media! I don't bite!! <3

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My “Random Shit” links!

Watership Down uquiz (my first post :D)

What Species Would You Choose To Be Reincarnated As (poll)

Warrior Cats mass animations playlist

Favourite Character Bingo 2023

The Lion Guard stuff!

Royal Mjuzi! Nduli AU

Young crocs headcannons

Christmastime headcannons

RDR2/Wild West AU

Jumanji AU

Scar's Guard AU fanfic & the Scar's Guard AU post

Warrior Cats AU

TLG Pride Month 2024 (see tag for all posts)

Outlanders Hunger Games sim (see tag for all posts)

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That's all! Thank you very much for reading <3 🐾

[amenvs3000f24]

Unit 02 Blog Post

My ideal role as a nature interpreter would be sharing the aspects of nature that are personally important to me and incorporating my passions into my work. One of the main focuses of nature interpretation is conveying a captivating topic to audiences. I find that the most captivating lectures I attend are delivered by those who clearly care deeply about their research and what they are teaching. I imagine this is difficult to accomplish fully, since it’s not easy taking the ‘job’ aspect out of being an interpreter. Despite this, a topic you are interested in learning can alleviate this small problem.

I have a strong interest in entomology and would love to be able to experience the handling of exotic insect species. My ideal location would be at a conservatory or zoo, similar to the Cambridge Butterfly Conservatory or the Victoria Bug Zoo. Incorporating Genius loci into sites like these would be interesting due to their unique characteristics unlike those of national parks and conservation areas. While a museum/zoo site may have been built on land with rich cultural history of its own, it also gives us the opportunity to touch on the architectural and geographical details of each exhibit. Incorporating pressing issues such as endangered species and climate change into interpretation would be important to me as it is usually at the forefront of my studies. When many think of wildlife rehabilitation, I feel that they are generally more drawn to mammalian or bird species. I imagine this is due to their similarities to house pets and how we perceive ‘cuteness’ and empathy. This can even be seen among insects, with the beloved monarch butterflies and honeybee’s gaining large amounts of traction for their endangerment. Yet it seems that the critically endangered burying beetle – more of a creepy crawly, has seen much less traction!

Communicating with a wide array of audiences can be challenging, but I would like to interact with a diverse audience to educate a wide array of people. Receiving feedback from such a range is valuable for interpreters as the discussion of difficult issues can arise. This is just one of the many communicative skills needed as a nature interpreter. While dealing with children is an important skill, understanding how people of all ages learn and process information is an important aspect of interpretation. Working in a conservatory or zoo would require the application of Piaget’s cognitive development stages through sensory activities, concentrated ideas, direct experiences, and problem solving for children and youths. Anatomical diagrams of certain insects, sensory activities through dirt, rocks, and sand, life cycle outlines, and common bugs children may have already come across are some examples of application. For all audiences, the theory of multiple intelligences is also something I find very interesting and would love to incorporate into my work. I understand how frustrating it can be to have trouble comprehending certain concepts when you have yet to learn your specific learning style. Engagement in various styles is the best method for people of any age or background to actively participate and learn.

[fantasy2reality-things-blog]

It Started with Crows

I live in an apartment by a park, and in that park there’s a pond. It’s a small pond that didn’t have anything but geese, ducks, some turtles and catfish. No plants around the edge outside of an errant tree or two with a trunk no thicker than your index finger. It bothered me, that and how much trash would come around it, but I was sort of dejectedly accepting of it, because that’s what all ponds are like around here. My focus was on the crows at the park. I had heard you could gain their trust with peanuts, so I went and got unsalted in the shell peanuts, because I had been told they were a favorite. I didn’t have the patience for it though, and so I gave up rather quickly. So, instead I went and sat by the only part of the pond that was more shore than ‘sudden drop into mud’, and I started opening up the peanuts and tossing them out for the geese. As it turns out, its far easier to get geese to like you. I named the specific goose Matthew for no real reason. Matthew realized that I had the bag of peanuts in my messenger bag, so they started coming up and trying to take food from the bag. I realized he wasn’t entirely scared of me, so little by little I coaxed him into eating from my hands over the next few weeks. It was a habit after a while - I would fill a jar with bird food and take it out to the pond around sunset, feed the geese, and then just sit there with them while they were eating, even after I had run out of food. It got to the point that I was actually able to pet Matthew, and two others (Micah and Ridge) were coming close and eating from my hands (Ridge was named after a chip on the ridge of his beak - he was also greedy and bit me a lot before I started closing my hand when he did and stopped him from getting to the food). 

I got into the habit of picking up trash around the pond, because at some point during the process of goose friendship I started to see the pond as my own sort of territory. I was there often enough that I felt like I should have a say in things, you know? At some point someone dumped a shopping cart into the pond. That Bothered me - its a very specific feeling where it doesn’t leave my mind until I fix it, so I grabbed some thick twine (originally meant to be used for fixing my cats’ scratchers) and a large stick that I’ve had since I was a kid (called only “My Stick”) and I went out, using my Stick to nudge the twine around the axles of the cart so I could pull it out of the water, and then I rolled it over to the park trashcans for lack of better options. Something else had caught my attention in my time living here: There weren’t any frogs. I had lived here for two years and saw no frogs, no snakes, no minnows... Nothing. I noticed the way algae grew and overtook the pond for a few days before dying off then coming back, and when I looked into it I learned about toxic algae blooms, and how they could kill off wildlife in the ponds while feeding off of the runoff fertilizer that ended up in the pond.

And slowly that went from just being something I was disappointed about to something that Bothered me. So I decided I had to fix it. I couldn’t just find wildlife and drop it in, of course, but I decided to make it friendlier for animals to move into: I needed plants around that pond. I emailed our conservation society in my county, and got a small list of some plants which I took as permission to plant things. I started to get seeds for native wildflowers and spread them over the pond’s shoreline back in November, and I understood that it was too late in the season and I was likely not going to get any progress.

But I was wrong. This is what my pond looks like as of a week ago, where before it was nothing on the shore by the water there are flowers and plants, and that’s not all! This summer, there have not been any noticeable blue-green algae blooms that I have seen, and there are snails around the plants in the water, just there on their own! I have to say, I am so much happier now than I think I would have been if I had actually managed to just befriend crows. Thank goodness that they’re far more patient than I ever was.

[1863-project]

hi! i recently went to visit NYC with my friend (it was fun!! veeery crowded but fun) and she mentioned that 1) there are a lot of abandoned rail lines around NYC, some of which have been reopened and 2) there's apparently an event in grand central where they put a lot of the old trains out on display???

i didn't have time but i'd love to check both of those out if i ever visit again - i was wondering if you knew any more about them? + also if you have any other recommendations for what else to see around the city 👉👈 tysm!!!

Hey, I'm so glad you had a great time in my city! NYC is really a wonderful place, even though we're packed like sardines in here.

There are definitely a lot of rail lines that aren't currently in use in and around NYC, as well as some that are only used for freight. We used to be a pretty dense railroad hub (before cars fully took over). The proposed Interborough Express would run on the Bay Ridge Branch of the LIRR, which hasn't carried passengers since 1924 and has been exclusively used for freight since. If you go into neighborhoods that once contained shipping warehouses, like Industry City in Brooklyn, you can find railroad infrastructure if you know where to look still. A bit further afield, they're looking to hopefully someday return rail service to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western's old Lackawanna Cutoff, which would allow New Jersey Transit trains to go non-stop between Hoboken, New Jersey and Scranton, Pennsylvania. And of course, we have a myriad of abandoned subway stations, which you can look for as you pass through on your way to other destinations! (City Hall is the one I recommend trying to see the most - just stay on the 6 Train until it loops around after its last stop and you'll pass through as it gets set up to go back uptown. Or you can become a member of the New York Transit Museum and go on a tour, like I did.)

Actually, visiting the aforementioned New York Transit Museum makes getting into an abandoned station easy as pie. You pay $10 to get in and you're in the old Court Street Station. If you like trains (or trolleys or busses!) on any level I highly recommend it.

RE: Grand Central, that was an old event done for National Train Day, and I don't know if they still do it but it would generally be in early May if they bring it back. I know they've been known to roll out the Hickory Creek for that - it's an observation car that used to be on the 20th Century Limited, the New York Central's flagship service between NYC and Chicago. The Hickory Creek is maintained by the United Railroad Historical Society of New Jersey and it tends to be in their yard in Boonton, NJ when it's not running on private charters.

For other recommendations - oh my God, if you haven't been to the American Museum of Natural History, you have to go. It's my favorite place in the entire world. I'll also recommend the Bronx Zoo, the Wildlife Conservation Society's headquarters, as they do a lot of work towards the conservation of endangered species and education. If you like baseball, Citi Field (where my useless Mets play) has significantly better food options than Yankee Stadium, and I'm not saying this out of bias - Yankees fans agree with me.

Avoid Times Square. It may be geared towards tourists, but everyone who actually lives here hates it because it's too crowded and you can't get where you're trying to go. If you really have to go to Raising Cane's or Junior's Cheesecake there are locations in Brooklyn that are so much less crowded.

If you have questions on anything specific I'm happy to help! I love sharing my city with other people!

[akenvs3000f24]

BLOG 2: My Dream Role as an Interpreter

My ideal role as an environmental interpreter would definitely be something where I can actively contribute to conservation efforts while also helping people understand the delicate balance within various habitats– as both preservation and awareness is crucial to keep the world that we have now.

Working at a wildlife rehabilitation center or sanctuary is particularly appealing to me. The idea of caring for injured or orphaned animals, helping them recover and return to the wild, aligns perfectly with my passion for nature. In this role, I’d be able to directly impact wildlife preservation while raising awareness about the challenges these species face, specifically emphasizing how human actions affect ecosystems and biodiversity. While many animals may be injured or orphaned from natural causes such as an encounter with a predator, humans have just as much of an effect through urbanization, hunting and more. Habitat loss through deforestation and cars pose a large threat towards wildlife like deer, rabbits, and birds. I believe in letting nature take its course, however with the ever-steep decline of populations all over the world, I also believe that we hold a certain responsibility to help nature when it’s in need. Being a wildlife rehabilitator will allow me to help the environment directly, and equips me with the skills and requirements to educate others on the topic and raise awareness.

In my opinion, it’s important for an environmental interpreter to be able to adapt, to stay open minded, to be knowledgeable and know how to communicate with others to share that knowledge. Interpreters should be able to inspire and provoke others to broaden their horizons. To be open-minded gives them the ability to engage with a diverse audience from different backgrounds, cultures and perspectives and ensure that everyone feels included and understood. It is also necessary for an interpreter to be able to adapt not only to a variety of situations, but also to their audience.Every individual has a unique learning style, and I am no exception. As a tactile-style learner, I can most definitely say that one of my eye-opening experiences was when a wildlife rehabilitator came into school with creatures that couldn’t be released back into the wild due to human-caused injuries. Being able to interact and gain that experience with the animals extends to my reasoning that part of being an effective interpreter is being able to recognize the differences between individuals and their audiences, and tailor the experience accordingly. Some people may connect more deeply with hands-on experiences, while others prefer stories or scientific explanations. By understanding and adapting to those needs, interpreters can foster a deeper connection between people and the natural world, helping them see the value in preserving and protecting it.

Above all else, however, an interpreter must have passion. Having a passion for your subject can make all the difference when it comes to delivering a message to the audience. Environmental interpretation should give the desire to sense the beauty in their surroundings and to encourage the preservation of what’s around us.

These are skills I believe I possess. Ultimately, my goal as an environmental interpreter would be to make meaningful connections between people and the environment, helping them understand the complexities of ecosystems and the impact humans have on the planet. 

[reasonsforhope]

— Recent giant anteater sightings in Rio Grande do Sul state indicate the species has returned to southern Brazil, where it had been considered extinct for more than a century.

— Experts concluded that the giant anteater ventured across the border from the Iberá Park in northeastern Argentina where a rewilding project has released around 110 individuals back into the habitat.

— The sightings emphasize the importance of rewilding projects, both to restore animal populations in specific regions and help ecosystems farther afield.

— Organizations across Brazil are working to protect and maintain current giant anteater populations, including rallying for safer highways to prevent wildlife-vehicle collisions that cause local extinctions.

Playing back hours of footage from a camera trap set in Espinilho State Park in the south of Brazil in August 2023, Fábio Mazim and his team banked on possible sightings of the maned wolf or the Pantanal deer and had their fingers crossed for a glimpse of a Pampas cat (Leopardus pajeros), one of the most threatened felines in the world.

What they didn’t expect to see was an animal long presumed extinct in the region. To their surprise, the unmistakable long snout and bushy tail of a giant anteater ambled into shot.

"We shouted and cried when we saw it,” the ecologist from the nonprofit Pró-Carnívoros Institute told Mongabay. “It took a few days to grasp the importance of this record. A sighting of a giant anteater was never, ever expected.”

Last seen alive in the southwest of the Rio Grande do Sul state in 1890, the giant anteater (Myrmecophaga tridactyla) has since been spotted 11 times since August 2023, although the scientists are unsure whether it’s the same one or different individuals. However, the sightings confirm one clear fact: The giant anteater is back.

It's a huge win for the environment. Giant anteaters play an important role in their ecosystems, helping to control insect numbers, create watering holes through digging and are prey for big cats such as jaguars and pumas.

The habitat of the giant anteater stretches from Central America toward the south cone of Latin America.

Its conservation status is “vulnerable,” although it is considered extinct in several countries, including El Salvador, Guatemala and Uruguay, as well as specific regions such as the states of Rio de Janeiro, Espirito Santo, Santa Catarina and (until now) Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil and the Cordoba and Entre Rios regions in Argentina.

‍In the last six months, the giant anteater was spotted on camera 11 times in the Espinilho State Park in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil. It was the first time in 130 years that the species has been seen alive there.

Yet not only is it a triumph for conservationists to see these animals returning to Brazilian biomes, it’s also a surprising mark of success for a rewilding program about 150 kilometers (93 miles) away in neighboring Argentina.

‍Rewilding Argentina’s biomes

‍Iberá National Park in Corrientes province in northeastern Argentina is a 758,000-hectare (1.9 million-acre) expanse of protected land comprising a part of the Iberá wetlands with its swaths of grasslands, marshes, lagoons and forests. The region was once home to just a handful of giant anteaters after habitat loss, hunting and vehicle collisions decimated the population.

Since 2007, the NGO Rewilding Argentina, an offspring of the nonprofit Tompkins Conservation, has been reintroducing the species back to the area, most individuals being orphaned pups rescued from vehicle collisions or poaching.

So far, they have released 110 giant anteaters back into the wild. Nowadays, several generations inhabit the park, transforming it from “a place of massive defaunation to abundance,” Sebastián Di Martino, director of conservation for Rewilding Argentina, was quoted as saying in an official statement.

The project has been so successful that the giant anteaters appear to be venturing farther afield and moving to new territories beyond national borders, such as Espinilho State Park in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul region...

Experts now hope that a giant anteater population can reestablish itself naturally in Espinilho State Park without the need for human intervention.

“The giant anteater returning to Rio Grande do Sul shows the success of the work done in Argentina and how it’s viable, possible and important to do rewilding and fauna reintroduction projects,” Mazim said. “It is also an indication that the management of conservation units and also the agricultural areas of the ecosystems are working,” he added. “Because if large mammals are coming from one region and settling in another, it is because there is a support capacity for them. It is an indication of the health of the environment.”

-via GoodGoodGood, via May 25, 2024

[arifursblog]

The Fascinating World of Foxes: Clever Creatures of Nature

Introduction

Foxes are often praised for their cunning and agility, and have captivated the human imagination for centuries. Their sleek fur, sharp senses, and clever behavior have earned these animals a reputation as mythical creatures in folklore and as highly adaptable survivors in the wild. Foxes are members of the canine family, closely related to wolves, dogs, and coyotes, but with unique characteristics that set them apart.

Different Types of Foxes

There are about 37 species of foxes, but the most well-known is the red fox (Vulpes vulpes). The red fox is found throughout most of the Northern Hemisphere and is known for its rust-colored fur, bushy tail, and white belly. They are adaptable creatures that thrive in a variety of environments, including forests, grasslands, mountains, and even urban areas. Other species, such as the Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), are particularly adapted to cold climates and have thick, white fur that blends in with the snow. In contrast, the fennec fox (Vulpes zerda), which lives in the deserts of North Africa, is small in size and has large ears that help dissipate heat.

Adaptability and Behavior

Foxes are often described as opportunistic omnivores, which means they have a flexible diet. They eat a wide range of food sources, from small mammals, birds, and insects to fruits, berries, and even human food scraps. This diverse diet allows them to survive in a variety of environments, from remote wilderness to the outskirts of cities. They usually hunt alone, using stealth and perseverance to catch prey. They have also been known to hide and bury food for later when resources are scarce.

What makes foxes particularly fascinating is their ability to adapt to landscapes altered by humans. Red foxes in particular thrive in urban environments and are often found in city parks and suburban areas. Their ability to adapt to human presence while still maintaining their wild instincts is a testament to their survival skills. Foxes are good at finding shelter and building dens in tree hollows, caves, and even under buildings.

Communication and social structure

Foxes are not always alone. They exhibit social behavior, especially during the rutting season. Males or "dogs" court females or "cows" with different calls and displays. They communicate with each other through a variety of sounds, including barking, screaming, and growling. Each sound has a specific purpose, such as a warning of danger or a sign of attack. The most famous of these sounds is the high-pitched cry that is often heard at night and sends chills down the spine of anyone who hears it.

Although foxes are usually solitary animals, they do form family groups. A typical fox family consists of a mother, a father and their children, or cubs. The young are born in the spring and the parents jointly care for them, providing food and shelter until the young are old enough to fend for themselves. Species Conservation and Challenges

While foxes are not generally endangered, certain species, such as the Chilean Darwinian fox, are under significant threat from habitat loss and predation by invasive species. Efforts are underway to protect these species, including habitat restoration and invasive predator control. In urban areas, foxes can be at risk from road hazards, poisoning, or accidentally setting traps for other animals.

Conclusion

With their adaptability, intelligence, and beautiful appearance, foxes are one of the most fascinating animals in the animal kingdom. Whether as mythical creatures or as real survival artists roaming the forests, foxes embody the spirit of the wild: clever, resilient, and free. As urbanization encroaches on natural habitats, foxes remind us of the adaptability of nature and the importance of maintaining a balance between wildlife and human development.

[thecpdiary]

Biodiversity Loss Concerns

The diversity of life on Earth continues to face ongoing challenges and threats that include the ecosystems, species and genetic diversity that support the planet's balance. By understanding these issues, we can better appreciate what’s needed to protect and sustain our natural world.

Experts' Warning

Experts worldwide are increasingly warning us about the alarming rate of biodiversity loss and its cascading impacts on ecosystems, economies and human health. Biodiversity, the variety of life on Earth – including plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms – is essential for ecosystem stability, agricultural productivity and the overall health of our planet. However, rapid habitat destruction, climate change, pollution, invasive species, and over-exploitation of natural resources are driving a sharp decline in biodiversity, prompting urgent calls for action from scientists and conservationists.

University of Surrey Research

New research from the University of Surrey highlights a significant disconnect between national biodiversity policies and the crucial behavioral changes needed at the individual and community levels to drive real progress. The study reveals that while many countries have policies aimed at conserving biodiversity, 90% of these policies do not outline specific actions for individuals or small groups to adjust their behaviour in ways that support conservation goals.

According to researchers, this oversight could be a critical factor in the continued shortfall in meeting global biodiversity targets. By bridging this gap, policies could more effectively mobilize citizens and communities, making conservation efforts more achievable and impactful at a grassroots level.

These concerns can be summarised as follows:

Key Points of Concern

Accelerating Extinction Rates

Species are currently going extinct at rates estimated to be 100 to 1,000 times higher than the natural background rate due to human activities. For instance, recent studies indicate that around 1 million species are at risk of extinction, some within the next few decades, if current trends continue. The loss of species can disrupt ecosystems, weaken food chains, and reduce nature’s resilience against climate extremes.

Ecosystem Services at Risk

Biodiversity is critical for the ecosystem services that humans rely on, including clean air and water, pollination of crops, soil fertility, and carbon storage. For example, bees and other pollinators, whose populations are declining, are essential for the pollination of about 75% of global food crops. The decline in biodiversity weakens ecosystems' ability to provide these services, posing risks to food security and the global economy.

Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss

Climate change amplifies biodiversity loss by altering habitats, weather patterns, and migration routes, which some species cannot adapt to quickly enough. For instance, coral reefs, home to 25% of marine species, are severely threatened by ocean warming and acidification. These reefs are in decline globally, and their loss would have enormous consequences for marine biodiversity and for communities reliant on fisheries and tourism.

Human Health Implications

Biodiversity loss is linked to an increased risk of zoonotic diseases—those that transfer from animals to humans. As habitats shrink and humans encroach further into wild areas, contact with wildlife increases, raising the risk of disease transmission, as seen with Covid-19. Additionally, the decline of species used in traditional medicine and the loss of genetic resources that contribute to medical research jeopardise human health advancements.

Biodiversity concerns refer to the various threats and challenges facing the variety of life on Earth, including the ecosystems, species, and genetic diversity that make up our planet.

These concerns can be summarised as follows:

Habitat Loss

Urbanisation, deforestation, agriculture, and infrastructure development lead to the destruction and fragmentation of natural habitats, endangering species that depend on them.

Climate Change

Alterations in temperature and weather patterns disrupt habitats and migration patterns, affecting species' survival and reproduction.

Pollution

Chemicals, plastic waste, and other pollutants degrade ecosystems, harm wildlife, and disrupt food chains.

Over-exploitation

Unsustainable hunting, fishing, and harvesting deplete populations of certain species, reducing biodiversity and disrupting ecosystems.

Agricultural Practices

Mono-cultures and industrial farming reduce genetic diversity in crops and livestock while increasing vulnerability to pests and diseases.

Soil Degradation

Loss of soil fertility and health impacts plant life and the entire food web.

Human Population Growth

Increasing human demand on resources leads to greater pressure on natural ecosystems.

Invasive Species

Non-native species can outcompete, prey on, or introduce diseases to native species, leading to declines or extinctions.

Economic Consequences

Economies, especially in developing nations, are highly dependent on biodiversity. The World Economic Forum has estimated that more than half of the world's GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature and its services. This includes industries like agriculture, fishing, and forestry, which are already experiencing the effects of biodiversity loss. The degradation of these resources can lead to job losses, increased costs, and greater poverty in vulnerable regions.

Urgent Calls for Action

Experts emphasise the need for transformative changes to prevent further biodiversity loss, including:

Protection of Natural Habitats: Expanding protected areas, particularly in biodiversity hot-spots, and enforcing sustainable land-use policies are critical. Goals like the "30x30" initiative, which aims to protect 30% of land and oceans by 2030, are gaining international support.

Sustainable Resource Management: Shifting towards sustainable farming, fishing, and forestry practices can help reduce pressure on ecosystems.

Climate Action: Integrating biodiversity conservation with climate action is essential, as these issues are closely linked. Efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, restore natural carbon sinks (like forests and wetlands), and promote renewable energy can support both biodiversity and climate resilience.

Global Cooperation and Policy Change: International agreements, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and frameworks like the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), provide a roadmap for global action. Strengthening these policies and ensuring accountability is vital for meeting biodiversity targets.

Conclusion: Public Awareness and Education

Raising awareness about biodiversity's importance and the impact of its loss is becoming even more crucial. Educating communities about sustainable practices and encouraging lifestyle changes can contribute significantly to conservation efforts. Biodiversity concerns refer to the various threats and challenges facing the variety of life on earth, including the ecosystems, species and genetic diversity that make up our planet. It is important to take it seriously and commit to it.

Addressing these biodiversity concerns continues to be crucial for maintaining ecosystem services, promoting resilience against environmental changes, and ensuring the wellbeing of future generations. Conservation efforts, sustainable practices and international cooperation are essential in mitigating these threats. (Source: physorg)

For more relatable, inspirational and lifestyle blogs, please check out my site https://www.thecpdiary.com

[plethoraworldatlas]

More than 30 wildlife conservation groups today urged the U.S. Forest Service to prohibit Idaho from paying private contractors to shoot wolves from aircraft in national forests in central and southeastern Idaho. The Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board recently approved the controversial predator control measure.

Specifically, today’s letter asked the Forest Service to grant a 2023 petition from the Center for Biological Diversity. The petition explained that gunning down wolves from helicopters risks harm to other wildlife like grizzly bears and Canada lynx, as well as public safety and wilderness values.

If the Forest Service fails to promptly grant the petition, the groups may consider legal action in federal court.

“Recreationists should not have to worry about their safety while enjoying our public lands,” said Christine Gertschen, co-director of the Conservation Connection Foundation.

“Aerial gunning is dangerous for all concerned, especially for our native wildlife.”

The Idaho Wolf Depredation Control Board is funded primarily by tax dollars. The proposals approved for funding could allow aerial gunning across much of Idaho, including lands in the Caribou-Targhee National Forest, Boise National Forest, Salmon-Challis National Forest, Sawtooth National Forest and Payette National Forest.

“Aerial gunning prioritizes wolf killings over the health and safety of our shared forests,” said Sasha Truax, presidents of Teens Restoring Earth’s Environment. “It is a twisted abuse of public funding and its continuance exposes the brutality of wolf management on public lands. It must be stopped.”

[potroasttheghostdog]

Being on the spectrum, and having weird interests is actually crazy sometimes. Just scratching an itch leads you down an hours long rabbit hole of discovery and wikipedia pages. For me, one of my more mundane interests is fruits, plants, and botany.

I was eating an orange. Just chilling, while feeding my dog. I wondered what my favorite orange (cara cara) was a crossbreed from (it's *gotta* be blood and navel right it's so tasty but distinct from other oranges, can't be a valencia the color's not right!)

So I looked it up. Turns out, there's like 600 of these bastards. Well let's fucking read about all of them.

Oh Ermelo's orange. That sounds weird. What's that.

Oh it's just called that because takes its name from 'Ermelo', a parish in Arcos de Valdevez Municipality, Portugal. It was introduced to the region by Cistercian monks in the 12th century, but it is sweeter than the average orange. Oh, but it's on The Ark of Taste.

What the fuck is that.

Well, turns out it's kinda like the Endagered Wildlife registry, but for sustainably sourced heritage foods and local cuisines. They see local foods as tantamount to cultural landmarks that should be preserved and foods go on the list if they are either impotant orbrelevant to a specific culture or ethnoregion, or are in danger of dying out whether from extinction or a fading cultural relevancy. They urge the perpetuation of their existence by encouraging their continued consumption. This includes foodstuffs like fruit from extremely specific regions, breads, cheeses, and even certain breeds of livestock that meat comes from.

Here's some fun ones: classic mortadella of all things (because it originates in Italy and has been a staple of their cuisine for centuries) cuccalar (a specific type of italian bread) casu marzu (a gross kind of cheese, do not google if you have a weak stomach) carosello (an italian melon), Lake Michigan Whitefish, Gravenstein Apples, Mayhaw jelly, bogong moths, and bunya nuts. They have things on the list from all over the world and it's actually really gratifying knowing that someone somewhere can see whatever random little thing you have and see everywhere, is valued, because it represemts a culture that not everyone has. I've had Lake Michigan whitefish. I consider it just a fish. But it's on a list of important culture for the US that should be conserved for the sake of culture, and that's kind of eye opening.

The Ark of Taste is run by Slow Food.

Ok. What the fuck is that.

Turns out it's an international org dedicated to preserving cultural foodstuffs that also emphasizes sustainability by supporting eating, growing, and traditional cooking local foods. Think Audobon but for cheese.

What was I reading about? Oh right, oranges. Oh the chocolate orange has a 12 Brix.

Ok.

What the fuck is a Brix.

Turns out Degrees Brix (°Bx) is the measure of dissolved solids in liquids and aqueous solutions, but is used to measure sugar content in foods and juices in common. So like Scoville scale but for sugar. Honey, soda, wine, sugar, fruit juice, fruits, and maple syrup use it to measure their sugar content. There's also some other scales that are used for sugar measuring. The Plato Scale (°P) is used in brewing, The Oechsle Scale used on german and swiss wine, and the Balling Scale, which is the oldest and not commonly used anymore.

What was I reading about? Oh yeah oranges.

Oh Smith Red Valencia. Sounds sultry.

It's a pigmented bud sport of the valencia orange tree.

K.

What's a bud sport.

Turns out a bud sport is any kind of sudden morphological difference growing from a plant caused by genetic mutation. Like when a dwarf pine starts growing foliage branches that are morpholigically identical to a regular pine. You ever notice how sometimes your christmas tree, if you get a live one, has irregular branches where they grow out longer than normal, and the needles are a bit different than the rest of the tree? Bud sport. Neat. Oh it's night time.

What was I reading about? Oh yeah. Oranges.

Yeah turns out I was right, cara caras are the hybrid of blood and navels. Knew it. Also, apparently oranges aren't even the original thing. They started out as a hybrid between pomelos and mandarins. Also, also, apparently fruit genomes have "moms and dads", i.e. the chloroplast genome is considered the "maternal line" of a fruit's ancestry. The orange's chloroplast genome comes from pomelos, meaning pomelos are the orange's "mother".

Also---