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Chopping off the rhino’s horn and the war on wildlife crime
As the electric saw cuts into the base of the horn of the live rhino lying at my feet, I feel an uncomfortable guilt. The rhino shakes and judders and there is an unpleasant smell reminiscent of...
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Spy-cam rhinos to take on poachers with devices hidden in their horns
Franco Pecchio, CC BYThe war on wildlife crime is taking a new technology-driven direction. Rhinos are being fitted with GPS trackers, heart rate monitors and spy cameras – all embedded within their...
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Only a Jurassic Park-style intervention can now save the northern white rhino
It sounds like the plot of a Hollywood science-fiction movie. An alien species is dying. Their only hope is for a brood of artificially fertilised eggs created from the preserved DNA of some of the...
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Civil war among the mongooses ... and why it's all about sexual success
Say hello: The banded mongoose research group. Jason Gilchrist: www.jasongilchrist.co.uk/research, Author providedThe banded mongoose, a small social mammal of the African savannah, is known to be one...
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'Medical tourism' to South Africa will only drive rhino closer to extinction
White rhinos are threatened by poaching.Jason Gilchrist, Author providedThe next week or so could determine the future of the rhino. Delegates from 183 nations are heading to Johannesburg, South...
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Dawn of 'Trumpocene' era spells disaster for world's primates
The grey mouse lemur (_Microcebus murinus_): at 60 grams, nearly the smallest primate in the world. I studied this primate in Madagascar.Jason Gilchrist, www.jasongilchrist.co.uk, Author providedEight...
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In defence of the grey squirrel, Britain's most unpopular invader
Jason Gilchrist / jasongilchrist.co.uk, Author providedFurry, fast, occasionally chubby. Small, whiskered, bushy tailed. An expert climber. A nut eater. And grey.For those in the UK, everything was...
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The northern white rhino should not be brought back to life
A geriatric semi-captive rhino died in Kenya recently. “Sudan”, a 45-year-old northern white rhino was put to sleep as vets decided, after months of ill health, that his condition had deteriorated to...
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Hybrid embryos raise hope of resurrecting northern white rhino – but what's...
ShutterstockScientists have for the first time created hybrid embryos with DNA from the nearly-extinct northern white rhinoceros, an advance that could ultimately lead to the first resurrection of a...
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Scientists race to save the Sumatran rhino as last male in Malaysia dies
Rosa in the Sumatran Rhino (_Dicerorhinus sumatrensis_) Sanctuary, Way Kambas, Sumatra, Indonesia.Willem v Strien/Wikipedia, CC BY-SARhino die every day, so why is the world mourning the loss of Tam?...
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Para ilmuwan berlomba selamatkan badak Sumatra sejak kematian pejantan...
Rosa, dalam penangkaran Badak Sumatra (_Dicerorhinus sumatrensis_), Way Kambas, Sumatra, Indonesia.Willem v Strien/Wikipedia, CC BY-SADunia berduka atas kematian Tam, badak Sumatra jantan terakhir di...
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Have scientists finally killed off the Loch Ness Monster?
Jerryko/ShutterstockScientists claim to have finally found a “plausible theory” for sightings of the Loch Ness Monster. She’s not an aquatic reptile left over from the Jurassic era or a circus elephant...
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Rescued grey squirrels to be killed under new law – but Britain's 'invasive'...
Bruce MacQueen/ShutterstockIt’s illegal in the UK for anyone to release grey squirrels into the wild from December 2019. This means that wildlife rescue centres in England which previously took in,...
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Rhino horn must become a socially unacceptable product in Asia
Simon_g / shutterstockAt current rates of loss to poaching, rhino species will be extinct within our lifetimes. The big problem is demand for their horn from Asia. The market for rhino horn is moving...
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Giant panda conservation is failing to revive the wider ecosystem – new study
Clkraus/ShutterstockAt a time when we crave good news, the giant panda is a beacon of environmental optimism. Since becoming an icon for the conservation movement in the 1980s, 67 panda reserves and...
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Dinosaur egg bonanza gives vital clues about prehistoric parenting
Perhaps the most amazing thing about fossils is that they don’t just show us what extinct animals looked like, they can also reveal how those animals lived. Even a fossilised dinosaur egg can provide a...
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Monsters, movies, and biomechanics: celebrating Ray Harryhausen
It’s the early 1980s and I’m about ten years old. On the TV is a fantasy movie replete with swords and ships. And monsters: monsters of metal, monsters of bone. Creatures of the imagination. And they...
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Grey squirrels: is birth control the solution to Britain's invasive species...
Scooperdigital/ShutterstockThere are thought to be 2.7 million grey squirrels in the UK, versus only 287,000 red squirrels. The invasive greys, brought to Britain and Ireland from North America in the...
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Rhinos: scientists are hanging them upside-down from helicopters – here’s why
Each year, a selection of apparently weird and pointless scientific experiments receive the Ig Nobel Prize. Awarded by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the prize honours...
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Elephant ivory: DNA analysis offers clearest insight yet into illegal...
Plavi011/ShutterstockPoaching rare wildlife for teeth, tusks, fur, horns and other body parts is a crime which threatens many species with extinction, but the evidence which could incriminate...
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Primates colonised the Arctic during a period of ancient global warming --...
Researchers have found evidence that primates colonised northern Canada 52 million years ago.Kaca Skokanova/ShutterstockTwo new species of prehistoric primate were recently identified by scientists...
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Why we think that some extinct giant flying reptiles cared for their young
Pteranodon was a large-bodied pterosaur.YuRi Photolife / ShutterstockOur understanding of animal behaviour depends on observation. Researchers can study how animals are born, grow and develop. We can...
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Farmed rhinos will soon 'rewild' the African savanna
With all the terrible news on climate change, it’s easy to lose track of what’s happening with particular species. So, in case you missed it, a new report has bad news for Earth’s five surviving...
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