conservation Archives - Page 5 of 8

The FWP weekly digest of wondrous wildlife happenings
and other interesting items from the natural world

Creatures to meet | Things to learn
Things to do

Lisa S. French

1-minute read

Oh, the places they’ll go…

Every spring and autumn, one in five birds travel the byways and flyways of our planet between northern breeding grounds and southern winter sanctuaries. Some species migrate astonishing distances nonstop—no layovers, no in-flight movies—like the bar-tailed godwit, which flies 7,000 miles between Alaska and New Zealand, in just seven days.

So how do nature’s long-distance frequent fliers choose the best possible migration route and stay on course to reach their destination? Send over the video if we’re wrong, but we’re pretty sure that no one has ever seen a bird consulting a sat-nav app with an intensely focused look on its feathered little face. Through evolutionary adaptation, avian navigators have developed a special retinal flight guidance mechanism that helps them to perceive altitude and direction. To locate where they need to go to survive takes no more effort than the blink of an eye.

According to new research in Nature, migratory songbirds like the European robin have photosensitive proteins in the retina of their eyes that get activated by light and function as a compass that follows directional information from the Earth’s magnetic field. The birds’ brains automatically interpret the magnetic signals that guide them north to food resources and safe nesting grounds in the spring and south to warmer habitats in the fall. Because she’s smart like that, Mother Nature has equipped our feathered friends with precisely what they need to successfully manage life-sustaining comings and goings.

FYI – U.S. Bird Health Bulletin: Songbirds in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states are currently facing an unknown disease epidemic. Until wildlife researchers can determine the origins, the Audubon Society has up-to-date information and precautionary recommendations to prevent the spread of disease on your patch, how to report sightings and symptoms, and how to handle stricken birds. The pathogen is most common in young Blue Jays, European Starlings, Common Grackles, and American robins, so keep your eyes peeled out there for birds with vision problems, eye swelling, and neurological symptoms.

On a cheerier note, if at long last you’re planning on hitting the flyways and highways to do a bit of roaming of your own this year, whether you’re an old-school map-o-philiac or a sat-nav nomad, wishing you safe and very happy travels.

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Lisa S. French July 14, 2021

The Prophecy of the Manatee

2.5-minute read

What does the manatee, Florida’s beloved native marine mammal, have to teach us about the importance of maintaining healthy coastal ecosystems? As recent environmental events indicate, quite a lot. A keystone species, the gentle, slow-moving occupants of the Sunshine State’s rivers, marshes, and lagoons are sensitive to environmental stressors that impact the normal functioning of their underwater world. Although manatees have few natural enemies, harmful changes in water quality have become a matter of life and death for the iconic animals—alerting us to the fragility of marine ecosystems.

Manatees, a.k.a sea cows, need two things to stay comfortably in the swim: access to warm water (at least 68°F) and a whole lot of vegetation to eat. The 1,000-pound animals can consume up to 10% of their body weight a day in plant matter, primarily seagrass. Because manatees don’t have blubber to keep them warm like whales and dolphins, the colder the water, the more calories they need to survive. The seagrass that manatees depend on for the bulk of their diet, in turn, depends on sunlight for photosynthesis.

As reported in Science, 761 manatees wintering in one Florida lagoon died of starvation in 2021 due to a shortage of seagrass. Because massive algal blooms resulting from excess nitrogen and phosphorous in the water prevented sunlight from reaching carbon-storing seagrass beds, the plants that support manatees, as well as sea turtles, fish, crustaceans, and mollusks, failed to reproduce. Although Florida manatee numbers have doubled from 3300 in 2001 to close to 7000 in 2021 thanks to protective legislation, last winter’s die-off represents a gut-wrenching 10% loss of the marine mammal’s population.

In addition to struggling to survive the algal blooms that diminish life-supporting seagrass, manatees, and other marine life, are facing the environmental effects of toxic red tides that are increasing in size and duration due to rising ocean temperatures. Between 2017 and 2018, an estimated 200 manatees died from ingesting and inhaling the neurotoxic algae from a year-long red tide event.

Despite the manatee’s status as a protected species, as with many living creatures, its capacity to adapt to adverse environmental and climate impacts is limited. The fate of the manatee and other marine animals rests on protecting and restoring life-supporting habitat. Changes to the population and well-being of the silent marine sentinels speak volumes about the health of coastal ecosystems and marine biologists and conservationists are paying close attention. They’re developing strategies to provide manatees with adequate food supplies and warm-water sanctuaries when temperatures drop and promoting policies that will help to improve water quality year-round in a rapidly warming world.

To find out how you can become a citizen scientist and help make coastal ecosystems user-friendly for the magnificent manatee and other aquatic creatures, check out this fact-sheet from the University of Florida, which includes tips on how to reduce nutrient runoff and the next right thing to do if you come across a manatee in distress.

Wherever you are in the world, if you’re looking for another great reason to head to the beach, the Ocean Conservancy has more bright ideas on how to participate in the global mission to combat water pollution by starting a local trash cleanup. And for ten simple ways to help power the pristine by reducing your plastic footprint stop by the World Wildlife Fund. Planet tidying—good for water, good for people, good for wildlife.

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Lisa S. French June 17, 2021

Zebras: Snazzy-Suited Insect Repellers

1.5-minute read

It would be understandable if the zebra’s fellow savanna dwellers experienced pelt envy. The wild horses’ intricate black and white coat patterning is an extraordinary sight to behold. According to researchers at the University of California at Davis, there is more to the snazzy fur of the African equine than meets the eye. After a century of stripe speculation, scientists studying how differences in color and pattern help species adapt to their natural environment have concluded that the zebra’s markings aren’t just good-looking—they’re functional, signaling pesky biting flies to bug off.

So how do zebra stripes repel insects? As it turns out, dreaded blood-sucking, disease-carrying tsetse, stable, and horse flies are fairly picky when it comes to landing sites. They are far less likely to land on black and white striped surfaces than either all white or all black surfaces. And the greater the number and the narrower the stripes, the fewer the insect attacks. Researchers discovered that zebras in regions of Africa with more flies had more and thinner stripes, especially on the vulnerable face and legs where flies bite while the animals graze.

You may be wondering why zebras, in particular, evolved to develop insect-repelling markings. Biologists believe that because zebras have shorter and thinner fur than many other horse species, nature may have equipped the African equine with the extra protection of stripes to help increase its odds of survival on the savannas.

Even with built-in bug protection, zebras will need ongoing assistance from their friends to keep prettifying the planet. There are currently three species of stripey-suited wild horses roaming the African continent: the plains, mountain, and endangered Grevy’s zebras. As a result of habitat loss, poaching, disease, competition for food, and lack of access to water, Grevy’s populations have declined from 15,000 in the 1970s to only 3,000 across Kenya and Ethiopia. You can find out how conservationists are working to prevent the extinction of one of Africa’s largest remaining land animals and how you can pitch in to help at Grevy’s Zebra Trust and Ol Pejeta Conservancy.

What else this week? June 4th and 5th, 2021, kick off the Virtual Launch Gala for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration—a global rallying cry to heal the planet. Can we get a determined woohoo for getting out there to reimagine, restore, and recreate healthy ecosystems? Generation restoration—heck yeah!

And on the local-to-FWP front, for the very first time, Cornell University scientists have recorded humpbacks singing in the waters off New York City. Have a listen to their haunting whale songs—goosebumps! Happy to have you, big fellas—be careful out there!

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Lisa S. French June 4, 2021

What on Earth is Tree Equity?

1.5-minute read

When we first heard the term tree equity, we wondered—what could it mean? Trees getting their fair share? Trees getting what they have coming to them? As it turns out, tree equity isn’t about what trees get; it’s about what they give and how they’re distributed. Trees are often sparse in socioeconomically disadvantaged urban neighborhoods. Achieving tree equity ensures that every community has enough trees to attain the highest level of life-enhancing health and climate benefits.

To make a case for urban forestry investment in areas with the greatest need, our planting partners at American Forests have developed the Tree Equity Score Project, enabling cities and towns of at least 50,000 people to calculate whether enough trees have been planted to positively impact all of their residents. This spring, American Forests will deliver Tree Equity Scores to all 486 Census-defined urbanized areas in the country—home to 70% of the U.S. population.

Mapping tree cover is the first step in addressing harmful environmental inequities and climate change-induced problems that affect everyone, but especially the most vulnerable. Planting trees to achieve neighborhood by neighborhood green equity helps create healthier, safer, more climate-resilient communities by:

Improving air and water quality
Lowering temperatures
Reducing heat related illness
Improving mental health
Enhancing cognitive function
Reducing stress
Reducing energy use
Reducing flooding
Increasing biodiversity
Increasing carbon storage

So far, American Forests has created pilot Tree Equity Scores for Rhode Island, Phoenix and Tucson, AZ, Detroit, MI, Houston, TX, Puget Sound, WA, San Francisco Bay, CA, and Miami, FL. You can find out how these urban areas stack up tree-wise at TreeEquityScore. We’ll keep you posted on new scores as they roll out. In the meantime, you can learn more about American Forests’ plan to maximize the health and climate benefits of urban tree planting to ensure everyone gets their fair share of nature from Vibrant Cities Lab.

Btw, it’s officially Earth Week! Exciting! You can find educational resources and activities to help teach K-12 students to nurture nature at WideOpenSchool. And from April 20-22, you can follow Restore Our Earth™ events at EarthDay. See you there!

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Lisa S. French April 19, 2021

Earth Month: One Nation Under Trees

2-minute read

If you’re a friend of Favorite World Press, you know that we’re tree people. We love trees for their beauty and solidity, their music, and their majesty. We love looking at them and listening to them, and most of all, we love planting them so that everyone can benefit from their leafy, green goodness. That’s why we have partnered with American Forests to plant one wildlands tree for every print or electronic book that we sell from our K-4 series Frankie and Peaches: Tales of Total Kindness. We’re investing in the future health of our planet by planting trees on behalf of our young readers—trees that will grow with them and for them.

As we celebrate Earth Month at Wild & Wondrous, we’re thinking about forests and how they bring us together—one nation under trees. Restoring our forests by planting trees helps us all by providing jobs, cleaning our air and water, and nourishing our bodies and minds. Plus, forest restoration is one of the most effective natural ways to combat climate change. Trees help to cool our warming planet by capturing 15% of U.S. carbon emissions. Forests and trees also provide critical food and shelter for wildlife. Vulnerable keystone tree species like the whitebark pine, found across the western U.S. and Canada, are essential to the health of biodiverse high-elevation ecosystems. Supporting American Forests helps to ensure that we can save our summits by protecting the struggling whitebark pine and all the creatures that depend on it for survival.

You can learn more about projects underway and plans in the works to reforest the U.S. from our planting partners. And you can explore American Forests’ participation in the World Economic Forum initiative to increase the number of trees on the planet and prevent the loss of trees that are already in the ground at the Trillion Trees Campaign. The global campaign brings together a like-minded community of people, governments, non-profit organizations, and corporations committed to stopping deforestation and forest degradation. As co-managers of the U.S. chapter of 1t.org, American Forests has pledged to plant 100 million trees in large forested landscapes and 1.2 million trees in cities.

Favorite World Press is proud to contribute to the growing movement to create healthy and resilient forests. We have planted thousands of trees thanks to thoughtful readers like you—we are so grateful for your ongoing support. And for new friends of FWP (well, hello there!), this Earth Month, we hope that you’ll consider branching out and joining us in our mission—one nation under trees for people, for wildlife, for the planet.

Photo credit: Timothy G. Lumley, Bugling Elk, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

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Lisa S. French April 9, 2021

Backyard Biodiversity: Making Your Yard a Home

2.5-minute read

In the race to protect and restore the rapidly dwindling natural world, we humans occupy the space between hope and healing, and we have the power to make that space both beautiful and life-sustaining. If you are an aspiring citizen conservationist motivated to show our home planet a little love in honor of Earth Month, you may be surprised (and excited!) to learn that one of the most impactful contributions that you can make to support nature is to turn your backyard into a haven for wildlife. By tending to your outdoor patch in a way that increases native species, contributing to both biodiversity and your local green infrastructure, you can help to shape healthy, stable ecosystems that support all living beings.

The good news is you don’t need to be an expert in horticulture or wildlife biology to nurture nature and become a champion for green connectivity—the linking of natural areas so that animals can safely move from one place to another. Wherever you are, city or suburb, and whatever the size of your outdoor space, you can create habitat stepping stones for birds, pollinators, and other wild ones. It all comes down to what you grow because what you grow determines which species can live on your patch. By learning which native plants are the best choices to support wildlife, you can help prevent the loss of precious flora and fauna and the resulting disruption of ecosystems. Over the last 50 years, biological diversity has diminished by 68% globally, and 1,000,000 species are currently at risk of extinction. Now, more than ever, it’s all green thumbs on deck.

To guide the transformation of your backyard, patio, or terrace garden into a wildlife-supporting habitat, we’ve pulled together some useful resources to get you growing in April:

Nature’s Best Hope/Douglas W. Tallamy: A New York Times Bestseller, Nature’s Best Hope offers engaging, expert insight into the need for and benefits of backyard conservation, the specialized relationship between plants and animals, as well as an easy-to-follow blueprint for choosing plants that increase biodiversity. It also features helpful FAQs such as why Monarch caterpillars only eat milkweed and why you should care that birds are disappearing—for the bird-indifferent.

The Wildlife Gardener/Kate Bradbury: This photo-filled gardening guide details step-by-step projects to help you bring nature home.

National Wildlife Federation Native Plant Finder: Just enter your North American zip code into this handy tool to find out which plants host the highest number of butterflies, moths, and birds in the place where you live.

National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Program: If you’ve decided to go all-in, you can have your garden officially certified as a habitat for wildlife. Fill out this application to let NWF know about your sustainable practices and how you provide food, water, cover, and places to raise young.

Audubon Native Plant Finder: The National Audubon Society offers another excellent location-specific planting tool. Enter your zip code into the Native Plant Finder to receive an emailed list of the best plants for your local birds, get tips on how to create a bird-friendly habitat, and track your contribution to Audubon’s goal of planting 1 million native plants for feathered friends.

Monarch Watch: A non-profit conservation, education and research organization dedicated to the preservation of the Monarch butterfly, Monarch Watch offers free milkweed plants to create a Monarch waystation, as well as tips on how to grow milkweed and monitor caterpillar growth.

Prairie Moon Nursery: This is one of our favorite native plant nurseries and the largest in the United States. With over 700 plants in stock, if you need it, they probably have it, including keystone plants like asters, milkweed, goldenrod, and sunflowers to get you started. And they are staffed by lovely, knowledgeable people to boot!

We hope that you’re feeling at least a bit inspired to dig in and explore ways that you can participate in the backyard biodiversity movement. By pitching in to nurture rather than diminish nature, we can help keep the planet that we depend on for survival functioning in top form, and that’s a wonderful and necessary thing. Grow native and they will come!

Happy gardening! Wishing every bunny a peaceful holiday!

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Lisa S. French April 1, 2021

Survival of the Friendliest

1-minute read

Much has been written about the stress-reducing, joy-inducing power of human friendship. In good times and in bad, positive social interactions can provide a life-affirming sense of community and belonging. In addition to being psychologically restorative, the company of trusted friends has also been proven to reduce the risk of health problems and increase longevity.

Researchers studying whether members of the animal kingdom experience similar benefits from sociability have determined that for adult female giraffes being friendly is also more than just a nice idea—it’s a lifesaver. Compared with other environmental factors (food sources and distance from towns), chewing cud and slurping savanna water in familiar and amiable company is critical to their survival.

And just how do giraffes configure friendships to increase their lifespan? Do the endearingly long-necked animals benefit more from having exclusive besties, or do they gain a greater advantage from mixing and mingling within a larger group? According to a January 2021 study, it appears that female giraffes that are more gregarious and form stable associations with at least three other group members, live longer. Similar to human friendship groups, giraffes that connect with other members of their community (known as a tower) may experience life as more predictable and less stressful. And faced with ongoing environmental change, compared to lone roamers, giraffes inclined towards sisterhood also benefit from cooperative calve care and the sharing of important knowledge about the location of food and predators. When it comes to survival in the Serengeti, it looks like sticking your neck out and being gir-affable results in a life-extending payoff.

As the world turns, if you’re feeling more sociable today, and you’ve got a bit of a spring in your step, it could be because March 20th marks the vernal equinox. Or perhaps you’re particularly chirpy this Saturday because it also happens to be World Sparrow Day. You can learn more about how to keep the little brown fellows flying from the Audubon Society. Now that’s something to tweet about, friends!

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Lisa S. French March 20, 2021

Movie Night with The Pollinators

1.5-minute read

It’s almost here! Spring! Sun, longer days, tender shoots and leaves, bright little flower buds, and the joyful appearance of the fuzzy, buzzy companions of delicate blooms—bees.

If you’re like us and inclined to geek out over anything bee-related, we’ve got just the thing for your next home movie night—The Pollinators. The award-winning documentary, directed by Peter Nelson, is a fascinating and informative look into the working lives of the industrious insects, and the dedicated beekeepers who help these brainy essential pollinators of fruit and veg do what they do best—maintain our food supply.

The Pollinators is now available for viewing worldwide. Wherever you are, you can watch it here. We’ll bring the popcorn, and with continued support from their friends, the bees will bring the apples, strawberries, cherries, avocados, potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, coffee beans, almonds… you get the picture.

After watching The Pollinators, you can learn more about how to befriend the bees from The Bee Conservancy. You can access free kids and classroom educational material and find out how to participate in Sponsor-a-Hive and business and corporate partnerships.

If you’re ready to help mason, leafcutter, and carpenter bees set up shop in your yard or garden, you can find bee huts at garden supply stores, and Amazon. We use the bamboo huts at FWP, and our city bees seem very happy with their digs.

Feeling motivated to go all in and become a beekeeper? The American Beekeeping Federation is an excellent all-around resource for beginners, with members in 18 countries.

In addition to helping to keep our food supply intact, we think bees are just delightful to have around. When change is the only constant, they remind us that whatever else may be going on in the world, nature is always there perking along in the background—a reassuring source of comfort and beauty. If you’ve been meditating on the calming simplicity of the natural world to help you manage the rolling stress of the pandemic, keep a lookout for the arrival of the first winged wonders and do bee zen.

Have a peaceful weekend.

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Lisa S. French March 5, 2021

Why the Big Brain, Octopus?

2.5-minute read

The world was a vastly different place when we posted our first entry dedicated to the beauty, mystery, and magic of nature in December of 2018. We can’t be sure what challenges lie ahead post-pandemic, but as long as the planet keeps going, so do we. And like Earth, we rely on a little help from our friends, so thank you very much for reading! We’re celebrating our 100th blog post with a title tweak from Weekly Wondrous to Wild & Wondrous, some insight on the intelligence of the octopus—and a mountain of cake. We hope you’ll join us!

Coming out of your shell has its benefits. For example, you might become smarter and grow lots of limbs—if you’re an octopus, that is. When the marine mollusk shed its shell about 530 million years ago, it got two anatomical upgrades: super flexible arms, and a bigger brain to coordinate them. While the octopus may resemble a vacuum bag with adjustable attachments, there is more to the weirdly wonderful animal than meets the eye. It has evolved to become one of our oceans’ most clever occupants.

High intelligence typically occurs in long-lived species like elephants, apes, whales, and dolphins that have to manage interdependent social bonds. Although octopuses only live about two years, are usually loners, and don’t nurture their young, the invertebrates developed a very sophisticated nervous system that rivals vertebrates in size and complexity.

So, why the big brain? Researchers at the University of Cambridge believe that once the octopus emerged from its protective housing, the increase in intelligence and growth of flexible limbs enabled the shell-less mollusk to survive in a much wider range of environments. The 300 species of octopus have adapted to diverse marine habitats all around the world. Plus, the vulnerable, soft-bodied animals needed more developed sea-smarts to protect themselves from predators.

Just how smart are they? Problem solving and tool use are two hallmarks of advanced cognitive abilities in animals, and octopuses are able to do both, which means they’re pretty darn clever. Octopuses use stones and shells as armor against sharks and to block the entrance of their dens. When hiding places are hard to come by, they haul around coconut shells to use as makeshift mobile homes. And if they are caught between a den and a coconut shell, to discourage attacks, octopuses can change their skin color to mimic advancing predators. The masters of multi-tasking are also skilled at finding and extracting food from hard-to-reach places. Not only do they use their big brains to figure out how to pry open clams, mussels, and oysters, they can fetch food from a maze, open boxes, and remove lids from jars.

If you’re wondering if all octopus limbs are created equal, each of the eight arms can bend, lengthen, shorten, and turn clockwise and counter-clockwise in all directions. Scientists at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory observing ten wild-caught octopuses have recorded 16,563 arm movements in 120 minutes of video. Top that!

Similar to an elephant’s trunk, the octopus’ exceptionally flexible arms are primarily made of muscle and connective tissue and rely on internal pressure to create movement. Although they have a wide variety to choose from, octopuses prefer to use specific arms for specific tasks, like rear arms for walking versus front arms for exploring, and some are lefties and some are righties.

It’s obvious that the octopus is not your run-of-the-mill mollusk. Aiming to pass on the sea creature’s big brain benefits to humanity, scientists and engineers are continuing to study its cognitive ability and complex arm movements to help develop bio-inspired soft robots for use in medicine and industry. All we can say to that is, we’re glad you came out of your shell, octopus!

If you’re also feeling inspired by the marine animal’s amazing maneuverings, you can download giant Pacific octopus wallpaper from the Monterey Bay Aquarium for your daily viewing pleasure.

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Lisa S. French February 21, 2021

Wildlife Love Action Alert

1-minute read

If you’ve been busy meditating on the possibility of potentially contemplating a plan to consider thinking about eventually exercising in 2021, we’ve got just the thing to help you separate from the sofa and combat the midwinter slumpies—love!

This Valentine’s Day, you can show your passion for the wild ones by participating in the World Wildlife Fund’s virtual Race for Love on Sunday, February 14th. Whether you’re a treadmill warrior or a cross country champion, thanks to the miracle of technology, you can run a socially distanced 5K, 10K, or half-marathon and experience the vibe of a live race in real time. Running solo or as part of a team, every step you take will help to protect and preserve some of our planet’s most precious inhabitants—and the places they roam. You can register for the WWF Race for Love here.

And if you need some inspiration to shake a leg, or two, channel the cheetah! Built for speed, the beautiful, fleet-footed feline is able to accelerate from zero to 60 mph in three seconds and run as fast as 70-75 mph in short bursts. Now, don’t be discouraged if you can’t match the stride of the fastest land animal on Earth. The cheetah’s competitive advantage is due in part to its small head, long limbs, super-flexible spine, and oversized heart and lungs.

Sadly, the cheetah is Africa’s most endangered big cat. Extinct in 25 countries, there are currently only 7,100 left in the wild. By supporting WWF, you can take action to help keep them on the move! For the love of the cheetah and all of the feathered and furry, we hope you’ll join us on February 14th and get up out of your seat and run around.

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Lisa S. French January 25, 2021