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Looking back on 2011: Frozen Planet’s Polar Bear Cubs

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Kate

by Kate Booker

One of the most memorable events of 2011 for me was yet another magnificent piece of wildlife television from Sir David Attenborough: The Frozen Planet.

Since watching Life on Earth as a child back in the 1970s, I have looked forward to new David Attenborough programs like most children look forward to Christmas, except they come around even more rarely, and are perhaps even more exciting.

And The Frozen Planet certainly didn’t disappoint.

But after the series premiered to seemingly universal acclaim, there was controversy when the program’s own blog on the BBC website revealed that some extraordinary footage of newborn polar bear cubs in a den was not filmed in the wild but in a Dutch Zoo.  A media storm ensued and debate raged over whether this footage was therefore “faked”.

Polar Bear Cubs

Polar Bear Cubs, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

We all know that wildlife documentaries (as with other documentaries) are put together from material filmed over a period of hours, days or even months. And that therefore footage filmed on different days or in different areas or even showing different individual animals is often spliced together to tell a cohesive “story”.  I think most of today’s viewers are sophisticated enough to be aware of this, and that we accept it.

In fact, we all know it’s common practice in documentaries or news stories about people for situations to be re-created (even staged) for the camera to show how something happened, for example showing someone receiving a phone call which we know has already happened.

And of course a lot of footage always ends up on the editing room floor – we fully accept we’re getting an edited version of events.

Polar Bear and Cubs

Polar Bear and Cubs, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

With wildlife documentaries, especially those filmed with dangerous animals and in inhospitable climates, another element must be considered: the safety of the film crew and the animals themselves.

So documentaries – whether about humans or animals – don’t necessarily show reality as it actually happened, but a good documentary nonetheless reflects a truthful portrayal of reality, and I believe this one did just that: it showed the entirely natural denning behaviour of polar bears, and placed this in context of the polar bear’s life-story.

My own opinion is that filming this segment in a zoo was a legitimate way to obtain the footage, but there was unarguably an implication (if only through omission) that it was filmed in the wild, and on this occasion it would have been appropriate to mention this in the narrative.

Polar Bear and Cub

Polar Bear and Cub, by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

At the time that segment was shown, I genuinely assumed it was shot in the wild and admit I was tremendously curious.  My husband and I actually discussed how on earth they must have filmed it.  It would have been nice to know where and how such extraordinary footage was shot, if only to satisfy my (and no doubt others’) curiosity, and if I were the documentary maker, I do think I would have mentioned it was filmed in a zoo.

Does this slight shadow detract from the footage?  In my opinion not at all: the footage of those tiny cubs was magical in a take-your-breath-away kind of way, one of the most memorable of the whole series.

(If you haven’t seen it or would like to see it again,
the original polar bear cub footage is shown on the BBC’s website.)

I suspect this is a live-and-learn situation for the BBC, and documentary makers in general.  Yes, we’re a sophisticated audience, but we do make certain assumptions, and we expect transparency from our media.  Goodness knows as the phone hacking scandal which has erupted in the UK this past year shows, there’s little enough integrity out there.  And perhaps we expect more from the BBC and Sir David himself, and hold them to higher standards.

But let’s forget this detail for a moment and focus on the big picture.  Overall, The Frozen Planet was a superb piece of documentary film-making, with some of the most memorable footage ever shot.  Did it educate? Did it entertain? Did it inspire? You bet – we were enthralled!

Sir David Attenborough

Sir David Attenborough, by Nottingham Trent University, details below

I wonder how many adults today (like myself) have a fascination with or appreciation of the natural world or perhaps even work in the wildlife or conservation field because of Sir David Attenborough’s wonderful work?

And how many adults of tomorrow were similarly touched by seeing Sir David’s work for the first time on The Frozen Planet?

What a wonderful legacy.

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NB: the polar bear photos in this post are not from The Frozen Planet,
which are protected by copyright, but are taken by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service which are in the public domain

The image of Sir David Attenborough is by Nottingham Trent University
and is used under a Creative Commons Licence

Meet the Enchanting Eastern Quoll

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Eastern Quolls at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park, Tasmania, by Anna Tinker

Here’s one of those ‘lesser known’ animals. The sort that you may go your whole life without knowing about.

Which is a pity because the enchanting Eastern Quoll is one of Australia’s smallest and most endearing marsupials. They have lovely little toes, pink button noses and are exceptionally dotty. Now here’s the bit we don’t like: over the last 40 years, it’s become extinct on the Australian mainland and is now found only on the island of Tasmania, where I photographed these little guys.

Traditionally, they’ve been threatened by habitat loss and predators such as feral cats- a huge problem in Australia. It’s thought that they survived in Tasmania because of its lack of dingoes and foxes. But since 2000 and despite conservation efforts, the European Red Fox has been present in Tasmania and poses a huge threat to the state’s unique and precious wildlife, especially its Quolls.

What Can I do?

Do a little research and learn about the often devastating impact that non-indigenous species can have on an environment. Have a look at this website: Parks and Wildlife Service Tasmania. And if you’re lucky enough to visit the unforgettable island of Tasmania, go and drop in on these friendly people and see what fabulous work they’re doing at the Tasmanian Devil Conservation Park.

Not in love yet? Watch this pair of munching marsupials crunch their lunch!

The Eastern Quoll (Dasyurus viverrinus) is extinct in mainland Australia but has a reasonably stable population in Tasmania where it is now listed on the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species as “near threatened“

Elephants: separating the girls from the boys

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Did you know you can tell the gender of an adult African elephant from the shape of its head?
female elephant

female elephant

male elephant

male elephant

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When viewed from the side, female elephants (cows) have a forehead which rises up almost vertically, then angles back at almost 90 degrees, giving it an angular, almost square appearance.

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Bulls’ foreheads, on the other hand, are much rounder and slope gently back.

Pretty cool, huh?

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Of course there are other ways to tell elephants apart – but not necessarily what you’d think.  Checking their genitals can be misleading because males have internal testes, but cows have mammary glands between their front legs, rather than their rear legs – the only mammal other than primates to have them here.

But the best way to tell male and female elephants apart, at least in the wild, is to look at who they’re hanging out with.  Females generally live in large, close-knit social groups called  ”breeding herds”, which generally will have one or more babies or youngsters.  Males on the other hand are either solitary or live in smaller, less close “bachelor” groups of adolescent and adult males – no babies.

The African Elephant (Loxodonta africana) is on the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species as “vulnerable”. Population trend: increasing

5 Reasons We Love the Southern Ground Hornbill

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Southern Ground Hornbill, Kruger National Park. We can tell this one is a girl because she has blue patches on her neck.

1. They have eyelashes to die for.

2. They smash windows! Upon seeing their own reflection in a window, a territorial male will mistake it for another male and proceed to destroy it with their great big bill. As you could imagine, this makes them deeply unpopular with humans.

3. The call they make is a tremendously bizarre deep booming sound. You’d be forgiven for thinking you were hearing a lion!

4. They spend their evenings up in a tree and their days on the ground – but they don’t always choose the best spots to land. I once watched a family of 4 land for the day… at the entrance of a hyena den. You could only imagine the chaos that ensued when 5 hungry hyenas thought they’d been handed an easy breakfast. Luckily, all birds survived. We can breathe a sigh of relief because…

Ground Hornbill gathering nesting materials to build a nest alongside Kruger's busiest stretch of road. By Anna Tinker

5.  …We can’t afford to lose even one Ground Hornbill. They live in small family groups with only 1 breeding female who has a chick every 9 years. Actually, she has 2 chicks, but they’re always born a few days apart, meaning the older one outcompetes its little sibling and the younger invariably dies. This makes their population painfully unsustainable.

We absolutely love these guys: the Mabula Ground Hornbill Conservation Project. One of the ways they help the hornbills is by hand-rearing the otherwise doomed ‘second’ chick. They also put up artificial nests, conduct vital ongoing research and work with local communities to educate, raise awareness, and explain why their windows are always being smashed. Visit their great site to find out what you can do for the Southern Ground Hornbill.

The Southern Ground Hornbill (Bucorvus cafer) is on the on the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species.  In 2010, it was re-classified from “least concern” to “vulnerable”. With an estimated 1,500 individuals in Southern africa, it’s population trend is decreasing.

The Prized Pangolin

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Anna

by Anna Tinker

I’ve seen the ‘Big 5′. That’s easy. I’ve seen some of Africa’s most fantastic nocturnal creatures too. The wildlife I’m privileged to see never fails to amaze me, from everyday impalas to things obscure and quirky, like Golden Moles and Giant Land Snails. Each is unforgettable and life-changing. But the geeky checklist I secretly keep is missing something. An animal so impossibly cool that if I do see one, I may just retire and die happy… or spend 20 years searching for the next one.

Pangolin. (I can’t even type the word without getting all goosebumpy.)

How can I even begin to describe a pangolin? Well, imagine a big, long pinecone wandering about on the African savanna, on its hind legs. It’s a mammal, and certainly the only one to have scales. It walks on its hind legs because its front nails (adapted for digging) are too long, an inconvenience best understood by ladies whose long, manicured nails render their hands entirely useless for day-to-day use.

When a pangolin feels a little uneasy, it bunches itself into a tight ball, tucking its head and feet inside an impenetrable wall of razor-sharp scales. Perhaps it wrongly believes that if it can’t see you, then you can’t see it.  More likely though, it is using its very best survival strategy: confusion.

Because what do you do if you’re a lion and you come across a pangolin? Poke at it? Roll it around a little? Push it down a sand dune to see if it cracks? It seems that pangolins make their way by simply being confusing.  Confusing things are generally unappetising. It’s like facing a plate of blue pancakes. You could… but you probably wouldn’t. And remember when they tried to introduce green ketchup? Same thing.

Lion and Pangolin (image by Kibuyu)

The pangolin feeds on ants and termites and hunts by night. It has an epic long tongue, capable of probing unexpectedly up to 16 inches into an ant hole or termite mound. It’s also sticky, like fly paper, so best of luck escaping it.  But ants? Termites? Really? I feel that one of Earth’s most elusive animals should be a little more eccentric in its tastes.

So is the pangolin’s survival tactic (eat ants, avoid daylight, be confusing) working? Sadly, it would appear not. While the IUCN currently lists southern Africa’s pangolin as “least concern”, its population is decreasing, and several of Asia’s pangolin species are already endangered.

The pangolin’s wacky scales are made from keratin, but are used by humans as love charms and medicine. Try biting your nails? It’ll have the same effect. And there’s at least one case of an entire coat of armour being made from pangolin scales. I can assure you they look better on the pangolin.  When they aren’t being worn, pangolins are also eaten. The bushmeat trade in Africa is cited as one of the pangolin’s biggest threats.

Pangolins, NHM London (by Anna Tinker)

Will I ever have my chance to see this vanishing species? There are game reserves that will almost guarantee a leopard sighting, but no where in the world you can go and expect to see a pangolin in the wild. They’re seen entirely on their own terms, and while that keeps them away from me, it draws me to them all the more.

Have you been lucky enough to see a pangolin? Please share your stories and photos with us!

The southern African pangolin, Temminck’s Ground Pangolin (Smutsia temminckii)
is on the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species as “least concern”.
Population trend: decreasing

There are 7 other species of pangolin, scattered throughout Asia and Africa.
All are included on the IUCN Red List, ranging from
“least concern” to “near threatened” and “endangered“.
The population trend for every species of pangolin is decreasing.

(Photo of pangolin and lion by Kibuyu, used under a Creative Commons licence)

6 Conservation Successes and Failures to ponder on…

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Emma Hawkins

by Emma Hawkins

1. SUCCESS!!!: Wildlife reserves now account for over 10% of land on Earth. The IUCN calls this one of the world’s greatest conservation accomplishments. BIG THUMBS UP!

 2. FAILURE: Sharks are declining. These top predators are facing big problems. The reality is they are often caught in fishing lines and now are being fished purely for their fins. To avoid excess weight on the fishing boat and to allow higher yields, the fin is slashed off and the shark’s remains are thrown back in the sea.  All in the name of a delicacy called shark-fin soup

What can I do?  Don’t eat shark-fin soup, and avoid Chinese restaurants that serve it.  Check their menu online, or phone and ask.  And be aware of eating fish more ethically.  The good fish guide is a good website to check the sustainability of fish from the UK.

Large Blue butterfly

Large Blue butterfly

3. SUCCESS!!! After extinction from the UK in the 1970s, the Large Blue butterfly is back, having been successfully reintroduced.  This is fantastic news, as the presence of butterflies indicates a healthy environment and a thriving ecosystem.  Great news for British habitats.

4. FAILURE: Amphibians are declining. Since doing a project about amphibians when I was 10, they still fascinate me. But due to habitat loss and fragmentation, climate change and disease, these captivating critters are declining.

What can I do? One of the main threats to amphibians is loss of habitat.  You can create a safe habitat for local amphibians in your own garden: build a pond to allow breeding and leave rough and undisturbed areas around the pond for foraging amphibians.  (Make sure you stock the pond with local fish only)

5. SUCCESS!!! The beautiful Great Barrier Reef is showing short term signs of improvement. Having established ‘no take zones’ a region where fishing is prohibited fish stocks have now doubled. This also could allow the reefs to recover from ocean acidification. This is great news as this shows a small act can have a profound effect.

Orangutan

Orangutan

6. FAILURE: Orangutan numbers are still decreasing. Both the Sumatran and Bornean species have fallen to critical numbers. Palm oil plantations, deforestation, poaching and the illegal pet trade are all causes for this tragic decline.

What can I do? avoid products containing palm oil as the forests which are the orangutan’s home are being logged to make room for palm oil plantations.  Switch to palm-oil free products with buying guides like this one for New Zealand from Auckland Zoo and this one for Australia from Adelaide Zoo.

Sometimes it feels like environmental news is all bad, but as this shows, we’ve had a lot of successes too and (as the Barrier Reef story shows) sometimes it’s small acts that have big effects.   Our message here at Vanishing Species?  Take heart from the successes, and meanwhile keep doing what you can in the areas we’re failing in.  If you’ve got other ideas for how individuals can help, other links to ethical shopping lists, etc, please let us know in the comments section below.

(Photo of Large Blue butterfly by PJC&Co, and photo of orangutan by David & Becky.  Both photos used under a Creative Commons licence)

Population Control: the last great environmental taboo?

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Kate

by Kate Booker

“There cannot be more people on this earth than can be fed” – Sir David Attenborough

It seems so obvious.  With world population hitting 7 billion this week and concerns about the environment at an all-time high, there is surely not a single environmental problem facing us today which would not be easier to address if there were fewer human beings on this planet.

Yet when it comes to environmental solutions, we talk about carbon offsets, going carbon neutral, food miles, electric cars, recycling, composting – in short, pretty much everything except the one thing which is unequivocally making each and every one of the environmental issues we face worse: creating more humans.

Why is it such a sensitive issue?  I suppose the suggestion of population control brings to mind punitive regimes such as China’s One Child Policy.  However if we act now, and focus on educating people and allowing them to make their own choices, I believe we can do it voluntarily.

Attenborough himself is the patron of Populations Matters, which raises awareness about over-population and encourages people to choose to have two or fewer children.  Population Matters also believes we can bring our population under control without forcible strategies.  If successful, this strategy will result in a stabilisation, then gradual reduction in the world’s population.

Attenborough proposes each country develop a population policy and suggests it could be as simple as making family planning freely available to every one, and empowering and encouraging people to voluntarily use it.

And an interesting correlation exists between girls and education levels.  It is well documented that where women have higher levels of literacy and access to birth control, they themselves choose to have smaller families and the birth rate falls naturally.

Focusing on ensuring that girls in poorer countries have access to free education and learn to read may therefore have as much of an impact on slowing or reversing global population growth as it does on lifting those young girls out of poverty, empowering them and improving their overall quality of life. In addition to being the key to addressing our population issues, girls are more likely than boys to suffer from malnutrition, be forced into an early marriage, be subject to violence, be sold or coerced into the sex trade or become infected with HIV (Source: Plan International).

Did you know: When a girl in the developing world receives seven or more years of education, she marries four years later on average and has 2.2 fewer children AND each extra year of secondary schooling a girl receives boosts her future wages by 15-25% (source: Idealist)

For these girls themselves, as well as for the planet, education is the way out.  A true win-win!

What can you do?

1. Have fewer children: would you choose to have fewer children – or perhaps even none at all – for the long-term future of our planet?  Take the Population Matters “Two or Fewer” pledge here.

2. Educate girls (and boys) better: Support programs, especially those for girls, such as those run by Plan International.  Plan International is a long-established child-centred development organisation with no religious, political or governmental affiliation.

3. Get talking and ask those in charge to take action: Sir David Attenborough himself asks us to break the taboo and raise the issue, especially with the government, relevant NGOs or the church (especially the Catholic church).  Write a letter and ask these bodies to do more about the issue of population:

Need some facts to include in your letter?  Some great facts and statistics here.

See Sir David’s speech to Population Matters here.

The Rhino and The Roadsign

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Anna

by Anna Tinker

I’m looking at the rhino and she’s looking back at me.  Well, she’s not really looking back at me – to do that she’d have to see me – and she can’t.  Just like me, the rhino is exceedingly near-sighted.  But unlike me, she hasn’t been to Specsavers.  She wouldn’t fit through the front door.  And she probably wouldn’t want to anyway.

Her ear twitches awkwardly, telling me that she can hear me, and that despite her size, she’s nervous about the vehicle.  She’s pretending to eat some grass but she isn’t really.  It’s like eating M&Ms when you’re nervous and they miss your mouth and fall down your shirt.

The rhinos in Kruger make me smile.  Every time I’m in their presence, I still have to blink a few times.  How privileged we are that something looking so fantastically clumsy and prehistoric can live alongside us.

White Rhinos, Kruger Park, South Africa

Once, I was watching a rhino when suddenly a leopard casually walked in front of it, just inches from the rhino’s face. Neither bothered to look up and not the slightest glance was exchanged. How many of us could pull off an act of such utterly cool indifference? I certainly couldn’t.

Each rhino here is wild and beautiful.  Each in its own way, with its own character. The ones who pretend to eat. The ones who bolt a short distance and then turn back towards you to check if you’re still there. And the ones who just sleep out in the open, while Africa happens all around them. I’ve fallen hopelessly in love with them all. And every now and then, something happens which secures their super-fuzzy place in my heart.

For the past few months, I’d noticed the road signs in Kruger were often lying flattened on the ground. Although never ruling out frustrated tourists, I assumed this to be the work of elephants. After all, elephants push everything else over.

But a few weeks ago, I watched a big, rough-looking bull laden with mildly confused Oxpeckers, casually wander up to a speed limit sign. He proceeded to bash it over with his horn before stomping on it and peeing on it.  A most undignified death for a road-sign.  This rhino didn’t care.  He simply strolled off down the road looking for the next ill-fated sign in his territory.

Mystery solved.  I can stop blaming the elephants.

It’s fair to say that rhinos absolutely rock my socks.

So can you believe that there are people who want to hurt my rhinos?

Did you think poaching was a thing of the past?  The guests I take out on safari often do, and it’s left to me to shock them with some bad news.

Just in the last 3 years, rhino horn has become one of the most valuable commodities on earth.  And what for?  It isn’t bone, and it certainly isn’t ivory.  It’s not much more than keratin, like our own hair and fingernails.  Ridiculous rumours of its ability to cure just about anything have pushed demand to the most extreme levels imaginable.  The only thing a rhino horn can do effectively is sit atop a rhino’s head where it can be used to smack other rhinos and knock over the occasional road sign.

IUCN Status

In Africa:

The Black Rhino (Diceros bicornis) is on the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species  as “critically endangered”. The latest population estimate is 4,180 (December 2007)

The White Rhino (Ceratotherium simum) is on the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species  as “near threatened”. The latest population estimate is 17,480 (December 2007)

Wollemi Pine: the living dinosaur

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Kate

by Kate Booker

In 1994, National Parks & Wildlife Officer David Noble was bushwalking in the Wollemi National Park, some 200km west of Sydney, Australia, when he stumbled across an extraordinary sight: one of the world’s oldest and rarest trees, thought to have gone extinct some 2 million years ago.

Wow!

The oldest fossils of the Wollemi Pine date back some 90 million years, placing it firmly in the age of the dinosaurs, which died out some 65 million years ago.  In fact, Professor Carrick Chambers of Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens described it as “the equivalent of finding a small dinosaur on Earth.”

So what does it look like?

Wollemi folliage with cones

Wollemi folliage with male cones

(Photo by “peganum” used under a Creative Commons licence)

caged Wollemi

in botanic gardens, young Wollemis were originally kept in cages as they were so rare

I’ve seen a few Wollemi now, first in the Botanic Gardens in Sydney, encased in a cage to protect it in the early days before they were more widely propagated and every tree was incredibly precious.  I’ve since seen them in botanic gardens in other countries, where it’s immediately recognizable, and now I know it and recognize it, it feels a bit like bumping into an old friend.

I’m the first to admit I don’t know much about plants and trees, but even to me, it’s an unusual-looking tree, not quite like anything else I’ve ever seen.

(Photo by mikkelz used under a Creative Commons licence)

At a glance, it’s a fairly unassuming conifer that grows to a majestic 40 metres high with a trunk diameter of over one metre, but look closer and it really is very different from other trees. It has unusual foliage with light apple-green new tips in spring / early summer which become a dark blue-green as it matures.

Mature foliage features two rows of leaves on the branches, not unlike the spines on a Stegosaur’s back and its bark is also very distinctive and has been described as looking very much like bubbling chocolate. (It does!)

Wollemi bark

Wollemi bark looks like bubbling chocolate

(Photo by Tony Rodd used under a Creative Commons licence)

There are fewer than 100 mature Wollemi Pines in the wild and the exact location of the few remaining wild trees is a well-guarded secret, but since 2007, they have been available to members of the general public to buy and grow at home, with royalties from sale going to support conservation of both the Wollemi Pine itself as well as other rare and endangered plants.

IUCN Status

The Wollemi Pine (Wollemia nobilis) is on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as “critically endangered”

Where can I see a Wollemi Pine?

There are now a number of Wollemis in botanic gardens, not just in Australia but around the world, including Canada, the UK, Ireland, Brussels, The Netherlands, Austria, Germany, Japan and Taiwan

For a more comprehensive list, click here

What can I do?

Grow your own! As with most endangered species, the greatest threats to the tree’s survival are due to humans: bushfires, the introduction of weeds and plant disease.  The good news is horticulturalists believe one of the best forms of insurance is to grow Wollemi in pots, gardens and parks everywhere!  In addition, royalties from sales of Wollemi Pines will fund ongoing conservation research.

They are available to buy in Australia, the UK, mainland Europe and Japan, click here to order one.

Spektacular Spekboom!

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by Anna Tinker

Spekboom is a sprawling shrub found in South Africa, especially in the Eastern Cape where it pretty much dominates everything else. In Addo Elephant Park, Spekboom covers 80% of the landscape, so the elephants are literally up to their necks in it all the time, which works well because they love the stuff.

‘Spekboom’ translates to ‘pork bush’, but it’s rather a reference to the fat leaves on the plant. It’s very gooey and aloeish and if done properly, you can make the little rounded leaves pop, which is extremely satisfying.

And it’s delicious! Double win! One of its quirks is that it tastes much more acidic in the morning than it does in the evening. I have tested this. The leaves taste a lot like acidic peas. Nobody likes acidic peas, but when you’re out in the bush, the leaves are like chocolate. Chocolate that grows on trees. This is so wonderful that my mind can’t process it. I once sat at the Addo hide with two plain pieces of bread, which I proceeded to fill with Spekboom leaves that I had plucked from the bush beside me, as onlookers gasped in horror. I can assure you that it’s quite good in sandwiches… and as a result, I had the hide during prime viewing hours, all to myself!

Spekboom also works well as natural fencing. It effectively blocks views, but doesn’t dampen the sound of your elderly campsite neighbours playing swing music and generally being rowdy. And the walls don’t stop monkeys from stealing kitchen utensils, like Sporks.

It’s wonderfully adapted to living in Addo and it has to be. Addo has a lot of elephants. And I mean A LOT. They eat a lot of Spekboom. Fortunately, Spekboom has the ability to grow without having to plant seeds anywhere. A branch gets snapped off by an elephant, falls on the ground and a new Spekboom bush starts growing. Beautiful. This feature makes it very beneficial to the environment, because it can grow from nothing in horribly unfavourable conditions. Useful when you have a patch of arid land you need to regenerate. Love.