The Telegraph reports bears should be reintroduced into the British countryside one day, the new head of the Wildlife Trusts has said, as he argues the loss of the species is as significant as if we lost the works of Shakespeare.
Dr Craig Bennett, who was previously the CEO of Friends of The Earth, now starts as the chair of the wildlife charities and has been enlisted to turn the nature reserves into a campaigning force.
Photo by cloudtail the snow leopard uncer creative commons.
The Guardian reports the clearing of ancient woods for HS2 is to proceed this month after the high court refused an emergency injunction and judicial review of the government’s decision to proceed with the high-speed railway.
HS2’s felling of woodlands in spring when birds are nesting has been widely condemned by wildlife charities but the conservationist Chris Packham’s attempt to halt “enabling” works was rejected after the court decided there was “no real prospect of success” for a judicial review.
Photo by Birmingham Friends of the Earth under creative commons.
The Times reports more than a century ago Charles Darwin broached the idea that animals could display emotions as plainly as people do. The notion has been controversial. Does a hang-dog expression really show that a canine is ashamed? Will a cockatoo in a state of ennui look crestfallen? Researchers have offered support for Darwin’s proposal by training a computer to decipher expressions in mice.
In a paper published in Science, they showed that the countenance of a mouse can be read like that of a human. Mice grimace in pain and look forlorn when nauseous. It is also possible to tell if they are afraid or delighted.
Nadine Gogolla of the Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, who led the study, said: “A happy mouse tends to move every part of their face towards the stimulus, towards the front. Their face looks almost a bit squished. Their ears lay down and point forward; their nose moves towards the mouth. And they stick their tongue out and smack their lips.”
Photo by Fenners1984 under creative commons.
The Times reports the cheering chirruping of house sparrows, once common in gardens, has declined drastically over the past four decades. A generation after numbers plummeted, however, there is hope.
At the 41st annual birdwatching weekend held in January an average of 4.7 house sparrows were seen, prompting hopes that they have turned the corner. Almost 1.3 million house sparrows were seen over the weekend. Experts believe the mild winter may have helped smaller birds, which are susceptible to cold conditions.
The Guardian reports as rivers and wildflower meadows in the UK struggle to recover from repeated flooding, the ecosystems they support are collapsing.
The damage flooding does to humans has been well-documented, but wildlife populations are unseen casualties, with some ecosystems taking decades to recover. “It is frightening to think that we have only just begun to see what might be ahead with our climate. The losses could be profound,” says James Hitchcock from Herefordshire Wildlife Trust.
Photo by willi_bremen under creative commons.