Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2025 i BBC Wildlife Magazine

Britain could be getting a new ecosystem engineer: in the wake of the ongoing and now legal reintroductions of beavers into watersheds around the country, two Wildlife Trusts now want to bring back the elk. Also known as moose in North America, it is the world’s largest species of deer. A bull can stand 2m high at the shoulder and weigh up to 700kg. The huge, palmate antlers make it instantly recognisable. Elk are also native to the British Isles, though they went extinct, probably as a result of hunting and habitat loss and fragmentation, some 3,000 years ago. In Europe, they are found over large parts of Scandinavia and Russia, and are slowly recolonising areas as far west as the Poland-German border. Now, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trusts say…

It’s 9pm in late april in an area of the Isle of Man known as the Ballaugh Curragh, and a most unusual nocturnal migration is taking place. As darkness descends on a 2km² area of wet woodland, an estimated 600 rednecked wallabies are emerging to feed on the surrounding grasslands. You’d think that 600 wallabies would be easy to spot as they awake from their daytime slumbers, especially since the island has no large native land mammals to confuse them with. But as the Manx Wildlife Trust’s head of conservation David Bellamy points out, they blend in well with the tangled, swampy forest of grey willows. “Instead of dozens of wallabies as had been believed, 870 individuals were counted in the north alone” “The fact that four of us, who…

This is my final column and I’ve loved introducing you to the extraordinary diversity of the female experience. But I have saved the most badass till last: the spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta). Few animals have been more misunderstood than the hyena – historically described as a cowardly, grave-robbing brute, of indeterminable sexuality. According to Pliny the Elder, the Roman author of the world’s first animal encyclopedia, the hyena is “male during one year, and a female the next”. Pliny’s sexual mythologising is a result of the female hyena’s unconventional genitalia – a near-perfect facsimile of the male’s. The Crocuta’s clitoris extends 17cm and is shaped and positioned exactly like a penis. She even gets erections, which form an integral part of her greeting displays. Females also sport a false scrotum,…

When experiencing change in life, it’s wise to turn to nature for guidance. With billions of years of trial and error behind it, nature offers wise lessons on how we can adapt to new and unforeseen circumstances and events. As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said more than 2,500 years ago, “Change is the greatest constant in nature.” And few creatures do change quite like butterflies. In a world where global warming, habitat loss and degradation, and biodiversity declines are quickly shaking things up, these colourful, wild pollinators remind us what transformation really looks like. Through their life-cycle – from crawling caterpillar to hidden chrysalis to adult winged wonder – butterflies offer a masterclass in change, growth and renewal. My relationship with butterflies began in 2018 when I read an…

Leap of faith To get this shot, I built a feeding station in my friends’ garden that red squirrels could reach by jumping. I like the determined expression on this individual’s face. Red squirrels are amazing – I love watching them. Nathalie Serieys, Chédigny, Loire Valley, France Snout joust During breeding season, two male gharials fight for dominance in the Chambal region of India. They make hissing sounds, climb on each other’s backs, and use their long, bulbous snouts to tackle and beat each other. Viraj Athalye, Ratnagiri, India Exotic escapee I never knew ring-necked parakeets resided in Suffolk so it felt surreal to see them. It’s the UK’s only naturalised parrot. Carly Culmstock, Bury St Edmunds A little reward After hours in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park in Uganda tracking…

Further to ‘the great zoo debate’ (April issue), I’m in full accord with your three correspondents (Letters, May and June issues): today’s good zoos are invaluable repositories for the future, crucial treasuries and safeguards against extinction. Jersey Zoo and the much missed spirit behind it, Gerald Durrell, is an exemplary example. We must treasure and nurture good zoos, which are light years away from the dispiriting menagerie ‘pens’ of old, to help guard against the loss of wild species. Additionally, they confer on their first-time child visitors an irreplaceable opportunity to learn to treasure wildlife and animals. Léna Godsall Bottriell, via email The article discussing zoos said that we would never sanction the sacrifice of our own species to be displayed in such a way. This is an unfortunate misrepresentation…

“TWENTY METRES UP, THE CANOPY looks like a highway. Different shades of green, yellow and grey leaves fuse, creating the illusion of an endless rainforest. I spent most of 2013 in the canopy of a cloudforest in Colombia, collecting insects and arachnids from inside bromeliads and mosses. I was studying how their availability influences the diet of the Colombian woolly monkey. Despite being one of the largest monkeys in the Americas, this species invests almost one-third of its diet budget foraging for insects. In contrast, large primates such as chimps invest about 4 per cent of their diet budget looking for this sort of protein. During the course of my research, I sighted the monkeys from the ground every day, and they likewise saw me following them. In time, I…

Flamingos make swirling ‘tornadoes’ in the water to efficiently collect invertebrates, according to a new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. By analysing Chilean flamingos at Nashville Zoo, USA, lead author Víctor Ortega Jiménez discovered that “individuals created circular, concentric waves at the surface of the water”. Flamingos prey on small creatures such as brine shrimp, which move around in the water and tend not to be concentrated in a single place. The researchers observed the birds using their floppy, webbed feet to churn up mud, and jerking their heads up and down in the water like plungers, to create underwater tornadoes that suck prey animals into their mouths. Keeping their heads upside down and chattering their beaks, the birds also formed many small water funnels…

The starling, aka the common starling or, in the USA, the European starling, is a familiar bird. But you never see one hanging out by itself – they’re always out and about in flocks, swarming over lawns or on rooftop aerials. Even during the breeding season, flocks of brown youngsters, so different to the smart spangled adults, form crèche flocks, learning all about being a starling. Starlings were one of the first birds that I noticed as a fledgling birder. At the tender age of five, and without a field guide, let alone a pair of binoculars, I recognised them in my north London back garden. Back then I named birds as I saw them, so starlings were christened ‘mummy birds’, while blackbirds I deemed to be ‘daddy birds’. I…

Looking up For years, Theo Bosboom had longed to photograph wildflowers from the viewpoint of the tiny insects that live among them. His dream finally became reality when a long, narrow, wide-angle macro lens (the Laowa Periprobe) came on the market. Theo spent the next two springs and summers in meadows, verges, forests and parks, mostly in his native Holland, capturing an extraordinary bug’s-eye view of a miniature understorey. Here, a crab spider and fly rest atop an oxeye daisy, transformed from dainty bloom into towering parasol. “The fly seems unaware of the predator, giving the image a certain tension,” says Theo. Eyes on the orange An orange-tip butterfly perches on a cuckoo flower, one of the species’ main foodplants. An orange egg is also visible on one of the…

NASEERUDDIN ALI TAKES great pride in his home village of Madanpura, nestled in the northern reaches of the state of Uttar Pradesh in India, as it is one of the few locations where the world’s tallest flying bird, the sarus crane, has chosen to settle and the only place where it is thriving. Ali, a traditional farmer who sells his produce in the nearby town, often sees sarus cranes. He is excited when a pair suddenly appears. Flying with their necks outstretched and long legs trailing behind, these non-migratory waders cut a dramatic figure. Their heads, throats and upper necks are conspicuously crimson, set against white neck bands and dusky-grey breast and wing plumage. The duo gracefully descends on to Ali’s half-a-hectare plot, flapping their mighty 2.5m-long wings and settling…

The guam kingfisher – also known as the sihek – has been extinct in the wild since 1988 but was successfully introduced to Palmyra Atoll last year. However, they aren’t native to the island (which is roughly one-third of the way between Hawaii and American Samoa). With the invasive brown tree snake responsible for their decline still at large on Guam, the most feasible way to restore them to the wild was by moving them to an entirely new home. Though the project is young, it’s a high-profile example of a controversial conservation technique known as assisted migration. Assisted migration is the process of moving a species outside of its native range – usually because that range is too depleted for long-term survival as a result of climate change, fragmentation…

BEYOND THEIR ODD appearance and ancient history, there is another thing that makes horseshoe crabs stand out from the crowd: their bright blue blood. The blue colour is caused by the protein haemocyanin, which is their equivalent of haemoglobin (the molecule that carries oxygen in human blood). Rather than being iron-based, as haemoglobin is, haemocyanin is copper-based. When the blood is oxygenated, the copper means it takes on a blue appearance – but little or no colour when it’s not exposed to oxygen. Horseshoe crabs aren’t the only animals with blue blood. Molluscs including octopuses, squids and snails, and arthropods such as scorpions, lobsters and crabs are blue-blooded for the same reason. But there’s something else special about horseshoe crab blood: it contains cells that clot in the presence of…

How did you get into wildlife photography? It started with a love of travel photography but I’m not really into cities or beaches – I prefer being away from the crowds, in nature, where animals tend to hang out. I found them more exciting and rewarding to photograph than landscapes or architecture. I visited the Galápagos, Antarctica and Tanzania, and I was hooked. Which of your shots is most important to you, and why? In Kibale Forest, Uganda, I photographed a chimpanzee posing beautifully on a log in perfect light. It was one of my first wildlife photos to be published and has since become my most stolen image. Just about every chimpanzee trekking operator in Uganda has it on their website. It still makes me quite ragey but I’ve…

Get ready for a deep dive into life’s greatest adventure with Parenthood, the breathtaking new series for BBC One, narrated by David Attenborough. Series director Jeff Wilson shares filming firsts, unmissable moments and behind-the-scenes stories, revealing some of the mind-blowing feats animals great and small will undertake to protect their young. ON SALE 24 th JULY…

“BACK IN MAY, AFTER WINTER AND the slow creep of early spring, I took myself along a disused railway line near Lewes, Sussex, to be consumed by the month’s riot. This barely used path was somewhat overgrown – nettles and cow parsley brushed my legs, while fresh growth in the canopy stole the bluest sky. Birds shouted from every branch, butterflies spilled from every flower. There were scurrying beetles, hungry nestlings and rustles of larger things in the undergrowth. There were nibbled leaves, mining bees and pollen-loaded bumblebees. The first cuckoo. Clouds of flies hanging languidly on the sticky air. It was too warm for the time of year, of course, but it felt magical. For a moment, surrounded by all this life, I felt abundance. Standing tall over this…

South africa’s sardine run might just be the greatest wildlife spectacle you’ve never heard of. So large is this annual fishy movement that in biomass terms alone it has been estimated to rival the epic wildebeest migration across the East African plains. But, as it mostly occurs underwater, it only receives a fraction of the publicity. South African sardines, also known as Pacific pilchards, are small, silver, torpedo-shaped members of the herring family, which reach up to 25cm long. As the southern winter approaches around June, huge shoals migrate between the coastal waters of Cape Town and Durban. This, of course, is only a part of the attraction – as waiting in the wings to cash in on this vast, moveable feast is a huge array of marine predators, including…

Do you remember cecil the lion, the bold, wild and archetypally handsome big cat at Zimbabwe’s Hwange National Park? With a glorious flowing mane and a royal swagger, Cecil was the star attraction at the reserve for more than a decade. He was also a dominant male and established three prides, one of them 22-lions strong. “Cecil’s death lit a touchpaper, sparking an unprecedented global response to a wildlife story” But in July 2015, Cecil, who was named by a University of Oxford research team studying him and his pride, was lured outside the safety of Hwange’s border and killed by a trophy hunter. Some weeks later, US comedian Jimmy Kimmel, with tears in his eyes, spoke about Cecil’s death on his popular TV chat show. This lit a touchpaper,…

OVER CENTURIES, WE’VE PROFOUNDLY CHANGED Scotland’s rivers – pacifying them and bringing them under our control. We’ve felled native woodlands to ‘tidy’ riverbanks, disconnected watercourses from their floodplains, and dredged and straightened river channels. For most people today, these simplified riverscapes are normal, and reflect their expectations of nature. As a society, we are blind to ecological loss and celebrate neat, orderly landscapes, where nature’s inherent dynamism is put in a box. But things are changing. Responding to a free fall in wild salmon numbers, coupled with the growing frequency of major flood events, river scientists and land managers are increasingly embracing natural river processes. ‘Stage zero’ is a concept being applied to rivers and watercourses that have been straightened or otherwise modified. It recognises that rivers don’t naturally follow…

Mass extinctions are a widespread and rapid loss of life on Earth, typically in response to some kind of global catastrophe or change in climate. These events have occurred throughout Earth’s history and have played pivotal roles in shaping both its past and current biodiversity. While they may be best known for destroying life, mass extinctions also promote the evolution of new species, levelling the playing field for groups who, prior to a mass extinction, may have lived in the shadows of more dominant species. Take mammals, for example – they prospered and rapidly diversified after non-avian dinosaurs were wiped out 66 million years ago. There have been five major mass extinction events. Together, these events are known as the ‘big five’. The Late Ordovician mass extinction, which took place…

The heavy rainfall that powers rainforests is caused by the complex interaction of multiple geographic and climatic factors, including mountain ranges, ocean and wind currents, and the intensity of solar exposure. The forests themselves contribute to rainfall, with evaporation from plant biomass contributing significantly to the water cycle. Disruptions to any of these factors can lead to drought – altering the delicate balance that sustains them. Periodic droughts are normal in rainforests but they regenerate in short order once the rains return. However, they are increasingly stressed by decreased rainfall resulting from climate change and deforestation. When the rain doesn’t come, a cascade of harmful effects ensues. Trees become stressed and close their stomata – pores in their leaves that facilitate gas exchange – thus reducing intake of carbon dioxide…

FLYING FOXES ARE BIG TROPICAL BATS that tend to roost in large numbers and mainly feed on fruit, pollen and nectar. They play a crucial ecological role as pollinators (when they eat, pollen sticks to their fur) and seed dispersers (via excretion), and are responsible for maintaining high plant diversity in the primary forest habitats that they live in. Why are they called flying foxes? They have heads that resemble a fox, with pointed ears and large eyes. They belong to the genus Pteropus (considered to be ‘true’ flying foxes), which is part of the megabat family Pteropodidae. Pteropus means ‘winged foot’, from the Greek words pteron (winged) and pus (foot). Acerodon species are also often referred to as flying foxes and are part of the Pteropodidae family. Where do…

ACROSS 5 Lemur that may be silky or crowned (6) 7 Insect in the family Sialidae, usually found near water (5,3) 9 Insect that emits noxious smells in self-defence (5,3) 10 Somerset cliff habitat noted for orchids and butterflies (6) 11 Large, long-legged grassland bird (5,7) 13 Part of a stag’s headgear, perhaps (6) 15 Fish with the ability to breathe air (6) 18 Waterbird noted for its ornate breeding plumage (8,4) 21 ___ flycatcher, bird in the world’s largest avian family (6) 22 Member of a Viper subfamily (8) 23 Plant of dry fields, also called ground apple (8) 24 Formed of flat projections, like an oak leaf (6) DOWN 1 Precipitation (8) 2 Iconic African tree (6) 3 Large, predatory African stork (8) 4 Flowering plant that might…