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Nature in the News

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  • #902
    _Tombstone_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,006 ✭✭✭_Tombstone_


    Horses recognise human emotions

    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/10/horses-can-recognise-human-emotion-new-study-shows


  • #903
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,080 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    _Tombstone_ wrote: »
    that's a stupid report. Ireland can take feck all out of them waters having given away the rights years ago.

    25% increase on not alot for the irish. Nothing about all the other countries coming in first and clearing the place out.

    We didn't need a stupid report to tell us its over fished.

    Jaysus, its like the climate change reports for the last 30 years this fish stuff.

    To quote the article: "It is aimed at uncovering the EU member states most responsible for setting fishing quotas above scientific advice."

    Thats pretty clear cut. I acknowledge the importance of fleet size, area fished and total catch in overfishing, but it essentially all starts with countries (and the EU overall) setting targets that are above scientific advice. With regards that, we're seemingly the worst! No getting around that. We can't say "it'd be grand if every country set their limits below the scientific advice and we kept ours at 25% above".

    Ireland's quotas were set 25% above the level that scientists have evaluated will allow for that food source to continue to sustain itself, not to mention for jobs in fishing to be sustainable past the short-term. We should be ashamed of that. I for one am delighted its getting coverage, especially by the national broadcaster.


  • #904
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    OpenYourEyes wrote: »
    Ireland's quotas were set 25% above the level that scientists have evaluated will allow for that food source to continue to sustain itself.
    Or you could say that Ireland was originally allocated 25% less than its fair share of the total EU sustainable catch. Not enough to allow its fishermen to survive.

    We are the ones living on an island in the Atlantic. We don't look for a share of whatever EU quotas/grants there are for olive oil, tobacco or oranges.


  • #905
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    recedite wrote: »
    Or you could say that Ireland was originally allocated 25% less than its fair share of the total EU sustainable catch. Not enough to allow its fishermen to survive.

    We are the ones living on an island in the Atlantic. We don't look for a share of whatever EU quotas/grants there are for olive oil, tobacco or oranges.

    Did you just make that 25% up?


  • #906
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    25% was the figure mentioned.
    Suppose for example, Britain left the EU. The EU territorial waters would shrink.
    We could keep fishing at the exact same rate as before, but suddenly we would be informed by Brussels that we were fishing at 30% (or 40%, or more) over "our" sustainable limit.

    The point is, if the fish stocks need conserving, then those boats who are chugging thousands of Km to claim "their share" of our fish should be the ones being told to cut back.


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  • #907
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,080 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    recedite wrote: »
    Or you could say that Ireland was originally allocated 25% less than its fair share of the total EU sustainable catch. Not enough to allow its fishermen to survive.

    We are the ones living on an island in the Atlantic. We don't look for a share of whatever EU quotas/grants there are for olive oil, tobacco or oranges.

    25% above the quota that scientists have found would be sustainable. Unsustainable is unsustainable. Whether you think we should be unsustainably fishing a bigger area than we're already unsustainably fishing isn't the point.


  • #908
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,080 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    A new study has just been published about Greenland White-fronted Geese in Ireland, specifically finding that:
    Survival estimates for juvenile and adult birds at Wexford and adult birds elsewhere fluctuated over the 29-year study period, but were not identifiably different. However, per capita recruitment rates at Wexford in later years (post-1995) were identifiably lower than in earlier years (pre-1995). The observed persistence of the Wexford subpopulation was only possible with high rates of immigration, which exceeded emigration in each year. Thus, despite its apparent stability, Wexford has functioned as a sink over the entire study period.

    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12481/abstract


  • #909
    Capercaillie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Capercaillie


    OpenYourEyes wrote: »
    A new study has just been published about Greenland White-fronted Geese in Ireland, specifically finding that:



    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.12481/abstract

    bad news:(


  • #910
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,080 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    ‘Star Wars’ and Skellig Michael

    !Ecologically significant incidents during filming on the Unesco World Heritage site were played down, according to an expert guide with decades of experience!


    http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/film/star-wars-and-skellig-michael-1.2532753#.Vr7GpKMCqgM.facebook


  • #911
    keps
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,324 ✭✭✭keps


    a mere 53m yrs ago


    https://www.theguardian.com/science/2016/feb/13/gastornis-flightless-bird-arctic-ellesmere-island


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  • #912
    Chisler2
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 438 ✭✭Chisler2


    recedite wrote: »
    Or you could say that Ireland was originally allocated 25% less than its fair share of the total EU sustainable catch. Not enough to allow its fishermen to survive.

    We are the ones living on an island in the Atlantic. We don't look for a share of whatever EU quotas/grants there are for olive oil, tobacco or oranges.

    Hmmm. Then there is also the original EU contract. "We shall finance your road building and modernisation, buy your milk, beef and butter......in return for which we get......." Signed, sealed and delivered on a referendum, if I recall! It is payback time.


  • #913
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Narco-Hippos doing well in Columbia. They seem to like South America.


  • #914
    _Tombstone_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,006 ✭✭✭_Tombstone_


    Climate change causing bird eggs to hatch early






    COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL Vine that Mimics it's Host, it can copy lots, Its versatile leaves can change their size, shape, color, orientation, even the vein patterns to match the surrounding foliage. They think it's to avoid getting ate by Caterpillars or the like, this is called Batesian mimicry, when a harmless species tries to look like a very bad meal.

    And it doesn't even need to be in contact with it's host! It can pick up "something" we know not from it and change.

    http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2016/02/19/the-sneaky-life-of-the-worlds-most-mysterious-plant/


  • #915
    _Tombstone_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,006 ✭✭✭_Tombstone_


    70,000 Starlings in English Countryside.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLuEwFblaN4

    Starling numbers have declined alarmingly over the last few years. And since the mid-1970s the UK population has fallen by 66%. The starling is now red listed as a bird of high conservation concern. The cause of the starling decline in the UK is unknown.

    http://laughingsquid.com/the-hypnotic-flight-pattern-of-over-70000-starlings-flying-together-over-the-english-countryside/


  • #916
    _Tombstone_
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,006 ✭✭✭_Tombstone_


    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fAz0bOI3KE


  • #917
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,080 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    'Falcon injured in shooting released back into the wild after eight months'

    http://www.breakingnews.ie/discover/falcon-injured-in-shooting-released-back-into-the-wild-after-eight-months-723415.html

    Some great work being done by some wildlife rehabilitators in Ireland!


  • #918
    Hotei
    Closed Accounts Posts: 506 ✭✭✭Hotei


    OpenYourEyes wrote: »
    'Falcon injured in shooting released back into the wild after eight months'

    http://www.breakingnews.ie/discover/falcon-injured-in-shooting-released-back-into-the-wild-after-eight-months-723415.html

    Some great work being done by some wildlife rehabilitators in Ireland!

    My local animal rehabilitation centre does brilliant work, and with very little (if any) financial support from the Government.
    Unfortunately, the idiot who shot her is still out there and is likely to do it again. I was in a well known Nature Reserve four weeks ago and watched incredulously as two gob***tes brandishing shotguns were running a dog through the scrub trying to flush out whatever was there. One of them went skulking into the undergrowth when I let out a holler, and the other eejit stood there looking back which gave me the ideal opportunity to get a couple of photos of him. On my way back to the car, they had disappeared, but I could hear shots being fired from another area of the reserve. :mad: I contacted the NPWS.


  • #919
    feargale
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,636 ✭✭✭feargale


    Page 12, today's London Times : Chimpanzees in West Africa engage in ritualistic practices which seem to serve no practical purpose.

    Religious chimpanzees! That's one in the eye for A&A! :D


  • #920
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,080 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    "A new study suggests that dabbling ducks may be a major dispersal pathway for a far broader spectrum of plant species than previously considered."

    http://birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=5547


  • #921
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    feargale wrote: »
    Chimpanzees in West Africa engage in ritualistic practices which seem to serve no practical purpose...Religious chimpanzees! :D
    There is a synopsis and some pics here. The scientists are calling it some kind of shrine. I'm guessing something significant to the troop happened there at one time, maybe the silverback died there, or something. So the place is significant in their folk memory.
    Migrating elephants are known to make a detour to visit the bones of relatives, and crows can pass on a dislike of certain people down through the generations, so there is evidence of folk memory/traditions in the animal kingdom. This is an interesting new one though. The rock-flinging habit is peculiar.


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  • #922
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,080 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    "...confirmed that the increasing extent of mature forest in upland breeding areas is a significant driver of decline in the hen harrier population in Ireland," said lead project ecologist Ryan Wilson-Parr.

    http://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcnews/winter16articles/protecting-irelands-endangered-birds-of-prey


  • #923
    Capercaillie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Capercaillie


    OpenYourEyes wrote: »
    "...confirmed that the increasing extent of mature forest in upland breeding areas is a significant driver of decline in the hen harrier population in Ireland," said lead project ecologist Ryan Wilson-Parr.

    http://www.esri.com/esri-news/arcnews/winter16articles/protecting-irelands-endangered-birds-of-prey

    Expect DAFM/IFA/Fine Gael/Fine Fáil to conveniently dismiss this finding.


  • #924
    keps
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,324 ✭✭✭keps


    Feathers

    today's Washington Post


    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2016/03/03/the-hidden-language-of-bird-feathers/?hpid=hp_no-name_photo-story-d%3Ahomepage%2Fstory


  • #925
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    keps wrote: »
    Feathers
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/in-sight/wp/2016/03/03/the-hidden-language-of-bird-feathers/?hpid=hp_no-name_photo-story-d%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
    That nerdy collection of sandpiper feathers from 1911 reminds me of an egg collection they have on display in Dublin Zoo at the moment (in the education centre) It must have taken the guy thousands of hours to put it together, and now he's dead, but the family didn't want to throw it out. Yet it has no place in a 21st century house really. That's the kind of thing people did in their spare time before the internet ;)
    Fascinating to look at briefly, wonder at it for a moment, and then you just move along.


  • #926
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    recedite wrote: »
    That nerdy collection of sandpiper feathers from 1911 reminds me of an egg collection they have on display in Dublin Zoo at the moment (in the education centre) It must have taken the guy thousands of hours to put it together, and now he's dead, but the family didn't want to throw it out. Yet it has no place in a 21st century house really. That's the kind of thing people did in their spare time before the internet ;)
    Fascinating to look at briefly, wonder at it for a moment, and then you just move along.

    I'm not sure what you mean there. I have a very large collection of Irish and foreign bird's egg dating back to the days when we collected such things. It's in a large display case in the house and generations of kids have marvelled at it, learned from it, and went on to find out more about the birds and wildlife in general as a result.
    It was in egg collecting that we learned so much, back then, about the natural history of birds. Of course it's, quite rightly, banned now bit the huge educational benefit of 'antique' collections should not be underestimated.


  • #927
    OpenYourEyes
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 3,080 Mod ✭✭✭✭OpenYourEyes


    Moses Faithful Slime wrote: »
    I'm not sure what you mean there. I have a very large collection of Irish and foreign bird's egg dating back to the days when we collected such things. It's in a large display case in the house and generations of kids have marvelled at it, learned from it, and went on to find out more about the birds and wildlife in general as a result.
    It was in egg collecting that we learned so much, back then, about the natural history of birds. Of course it's, quite rightly, banned now bit the huge educational benefit of 'antique' collections should not be underestimated.

    Not to mention that both egg and feather collections have had huge scientific value for things like examining the levels of toxic chemicals in the environment at the time, and for feathers I think they're also used to examine the diet of birds like seabirds at the time - hugely valuable! Nothing short of a time machine can provide that kind of information!


  • #928
    recedite
    Closed Accounts Posts: 13,989 ✭✭✭✭recedite


    Moses Faithful Slime wrote: »
    I'm not sure what you mean there. I have a very large collection of Irish and foreign bird's egg dating back to the days when we collected such things...
    Well I didn't mean to offend anyone, I'm sure it is an eggcellent collection.
    I just don't think people will ever have the patience again to continue such hobbies into the future, even if they were legal.


  • #929
    Capercaillie
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Capercaillie


    recedite wrote: »
    Well I didn't mean to offend anyone, I'm sure it is an eggcellent collection.
    I just don't think people will ever have the patience again to continue such hobbies into the future, even if they were legal.
    Unfortunately egg collecting still prevalent, especially of rare species.


  • #930
    philstar
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 2,986 ✭✭✭philstar


    apparently there's been a rise in dolphin strandings on irish shores....

    http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/scientists-alarmed-by-rise-in-dolphin-strandings-on-irish-shores-1.2088628


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  • #931
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    philstar wrote: »
    apparently there's been a rise in dolphin strandings on irish shores....

    http://www.irishtimes.com/news/environment/scientists-alarmed-by-rise-in-dolphin-strandings-on-irish-shores-1.2088628

    And most showing signs of having been downed in trawler nets.


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