Zoos have taken many forms since they first appeared thousands of years ago. What started as a collection of animals purely for the sake of royal entertainment has gradually evolved into a public source of education, conservation, and entertainment. When you ask someone to picture a zoo, they no longer picture an animal behind bars. However, it’s taken a long time for zoos to become bastions of conservation from their starting point as hallmarks of animal cruelty.
In February 2022, a British swimmer was killed by a great white shark (Carcharadon carcharias) near Sydney, Australia. Unsurprisingly, this gained significant media attention. State authorities launched a search for the culprit, with the aim of culling/relocating it away from people. This plan would seem, on the surface, to make perfect sense – shark ate human, make it go away. Yet this logic is largely based on a widespread misconception, and an outdated theory that science has long since abandoned.
Let’s face it, IPCC reports are never a fun read. They’re a damming assessment of our ability to take care of the only planet we’ve got. Piecing through them to find the key takeaways is likewise a tough task, but since the final report (for this round) has now been submitted, I thought I’d reflect on what I’ve learned going through each step of the report over the last year.
What is mass extinction? We often hear about the concept of a mass extinction, and the question of whether we’re currently in the sixth mass extinction is constantly thrown around. So let’s have a quick look at exactly what extinction itself means, what a mass extinction is, and why it’s increasingly obvious that we’re in one.
Using results to generate more results? That seems weird… at first. But think about how science progresses. We build on other studies all of the time! Sometimes we use others’ findings as a jumping off point. Other times, studies invite us to see if we can reproduce their findings under new conditions or with respect to our own study site or species of interest.
Solvin Zankl has been a full-time wildlife photographer for over 20 years. Read about how he became a photographer, how he specialized in deep-sea photography, and what his favorite animals to photograph are.
Every year after I am finished with Europe’s largest ecology conference I write a summary of my most memorable thoughts and experiences. Truth be told,
How does hunting impact disease dynamics within carnivore populations? Today’s author’s studied data from puma to understand just that.
Perspectives on science, wildlife, travel and all things fascinating on our little blue dot
The Fisheries Blog: Your weekly spot for fun and engaging articles written by fish scientists from around the globe.
Boldly going where no forest ecologist has gone before
Discovering Dynamic Distributions - The virtual lab around Jonas Lembrechts
Don't need to be cool to be kind.
Bridging the gap between researchers, practitioners and policymakers
The Plankton and Policy Research Group at Plymouth University. PI: Dr Abigail McQuatters-Gollop
Ecology for the Masses 