Season’s Greetings!

Tags

Christmas, Donna Nook, Lincolnshire, seals

Wishing my friends and family (and anyone who happens to see this!) all the best for a happy and peaceful festive season and a wonderful 2012.

I photographed this grey seal pup at my local seal colony at Donna Nook, Lincolnshire. In November and December the seals haul out and pup amongst the dunes – right next to a footpath. It’s absolutely incredible to watch. More of my seal photographs, including a birth sequence, can be seen on my Flickr site (without silly hats…).

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2008 – Year of the Frog

Tags

amphibians, animals, frogs, nature, wildlife

http://www.amphibianark.org/yearofthefrog.htm

2008 has been designated the Year of the Frog.

Globally, amphibians are declining rapidly with species, genera, and even families going extinct at an unprecedented rate. One third to one half of all amphibian species are threatened with extinction, with probably more than 120 already gone in recent years.

Habitat loss is the major threat in terms of number of species affected but the rapid dispersal of amphibian chytrid fungus is of major and urgent concern because of its tendency to drive species to extinction quickly. Global climate change may have
exacerbated the problem.

Log on to Year of the frog to find out more and to sign a petition calling on support for amphibians by governments around the world.

It seems to me that if you wait until the frogs and toads have
croaked their last to take some action, you’ve missed the point.

~ Kermit the Frog

Medicinal leeches ‘are the wrong kind’

Tags

animals, health, leeches, medicine

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/04/11/nleech111.xml

Scientists have discovered that a case of mistaken identity means that ‘medicinal leeches’ which have been used by doctors for centuries are not officially approved for medicine.

In the US, at least, approval for medicinal uses of leeches and of their derived pharmaceuticals is limited to one species, but most of the products out there actually are from very similar but different species… as revealed by DNA analysis.

If you’re not squeamish, then this isn’t a bad news item. There are implications for conservation too.

 

Animal amour

Tags

animals, behaviour, biology, lizards

http://www.sciam.com/gallery.cfm?articleid=BBEE7CBE-E7F2-99DF-3DC297361BDCC618

A gallery featuring some of the elaborate courtship rituals engaged in by animals. No glittery hearts and cringeworthy verses of devotion here!

Male Green Anoles (small, agile lizards) possess a throat fan, known as a dewlap, which they use during territorial disputes and for courtship. When courting, a male will bob his head vigorously and may even perform an action that resembles push-ups. In response, a receptive female will bob her head in synchrony with the male. Definitely beats sprouting a beard…

This is one example – visit the gallery for more.

 

 

First-ever photo of wild rhino on Borneo

Tags

animals, borneo, conservation, nature, rhino

http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/displayPR.cfm?prID=288

“A motion-triggered camera trap set up in a remote jungle has captured the first-ever photo of a rhino in the wild on the island of Borneo…

The rhinos in Sabah spend their lives in dense jungle where they are rarely seen, which accounts for the lack of any previous photographs of them in the wild.

Conservationists hope that the population of at least 13 found last year is viable and will be able to reproduce if protected from poaching.”

 

Retired FSU professor captures a living fossil on video

Tags

animals, asia, living fossil

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-06/fsu-rfp061306.php

Laotian Rock Rat

“The first images of a live specimen of a small, furry animal once believed to have gone extinct more than 11 million years ago have been captured during a Southeast Asian expedition.”

I first came across this rock rat here: ‘Strange new rodent discovered as Asian snack‘. It was then found to be a ‘living fossil‘ – the relic of a group of prehistoric rodents once widespread in South East Asia and Japan.

 

Hero cat predicts epileptic fits

Tags

animals, cats, epilepsy, health

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/south_yorkshire/5076338.stm

“Tee Cee’s owner Michael Edmonds has complex epilepsy and can suffer seizures without warning. But now he is warned of an impending fit when Tee Cee sits close to him and stares at his face.

‘When he first did it I thought it was a one-off,’ Mr Edmonds said. ‘But ever since then he just seems to know.'”

Tee Cee is in line for the title of “Hero Cat” at the Rescue Cat of the Year awards.

I’m a sucker for these heart-warming ‘hero’ animal stories 🙂