Wild & Wondrous - Favorite World Press

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

Blue Jays on snow in the winter wilderness

1.5-minute read

It’s almost here—the 25th annual Great Backyard Bird Count! Wherever you are on the planet, from February 18th through the 21st, the GBBC is your chance to get out and about and let the world know how many of our feathered friends can be found on your patch.

If you’ve got 15 minutes to spare this weekend, you’ll find everything you need to add to the global critter count, courtesy of Audubon, The Cornell Ornithology Lab, Birds Canada, and eBird:

Free Webinar: On Wednesday 16th at 2 pm EST, avian aficionados of all ages and experience levels can get pro tips on identifying creature features and how to do an official count, bird by bird.

How to Participate: You can download a printable checklist to find out who’s who in your area, access the Merlin ID app that covers bird species on seven continents in 12 languages, and find tools to upload your tally to eBird via your mobile or desktop.

Global Live Map: You’ll be able to keep tabs on sightings around the world as birdwatchers upload their observation lists. If you get bird envy when the Southern Hemisphere goes online, we can relate. It’s a bird-a-palooza down there.

In case you need more of an incentive to bird watch your way out of the winter gloom, according to a new study, in addition to being important pollinators, the winged songsters improve our well-being—and the more birds in our environment, the better we feel. So, grab your field glasses, head on out, and give birds and your mood a boost! In anticipation of endorphin elevation, let’s do a practice count together—bird, bird—bird, bird, bird. Don’t you feel better already!

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Lisa S. French February 15, 2022

Happy Owlentine’s Day

From The Owl, by Louise Driscoll:

If it were not for you and your long cry
I might forget
How very old the world is, and how long
Song after song
Has gone like a silver arrow toward the light
Tinted with rose and purple at the breaking
Of the day and night.

Did you know that
the endearing, heart-shaped face of the barn owl
helps the nocturnal bird
to pick-up and amplify sounds
as it silently flies
over the night landscape?

For the love of nature

– XO –

LSF • WW • FWP

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Lisa S. French February 14, 2022

$Frankie and Peaches - Math Magic$

International Day of Women and Girls in Science

7th Anniversary of the Global Movement:
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Here’s to the strivers:
the inspiring idea generators,
the persistent problem solvers,
the brainy, brave, big-hearted
thinkers and doers
working every day
to make the world
a better place.

Favorite World Press &
Frankie and Peaches
Salute You!

Illustration: The Pancake Girl

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Lisa S. French February 11, 2022

Do Ewes Remember You?

1.5-minute read

How would you rate your facial recognition skills—excellent, or fair-to-middling? Perhaps you’re in the rare category of super-recognizers that can memorize and recall thousands of faces after a fleeting glance. Or maybe you’re more of an out-of-sight, out-of-mind observer of your fellow humans. And how do you think your facial recall abilities stack up against members of the animal kingdom?

According to neuroscience researchers at the University of Cambridge, most people can recognize familiar faces within milliseconds and identify unfamiliar faces after repeat viewings. We share our ability to remember familiar faces of our kind with chimpanzees, rhesus macaques, cattle, pigeons, goats, honeybees, and sheep. Some animals, including dogs, horses, and sheep, can also distinguish familiar faces from other species. You may be interested to learn that when it comes to remembering unknown faces, our wooly farmyard friends have advanced facial recognition abilities that rival those of humans and non-human primates.

While sheep were known to have the ability to identify faces of flock members and familiar people from photographs, the Cambridge research found that female Welsh Mountain Sheep could also learn to recognize unfamiliar faces in photos. After repeat exposure, the sheep in the study were able to identify Barack Obama, Emma Watson, Jake Gyllenhaal, and newsreader Fiona Bruce from a two-dimensional image. Unless they were covertly flipping through tabloids back at the barn, the cloven-hoofed herbivores’ recall of people they’d never interacted with is pretty darn impressive. The clever creatures were also able to recognize a familiar or unfamiliar face in a photograph even when presented from a different perspective, an ability that was previously only known in humans.

So, the next time you come across a flock of sheep in your travels, don’t let their placid faces fool you. There’s more going on behind those cud-chewing exteriors than meets the eye. Do ewes remember you? Don’t be surprised if they do.

Btw, if you never forget a face—any face—and think you may have exceptional recognition abilities, you can take this Scientific American quiz to find out if you qualify as a super-recognizer.

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Lisa S. French February 8, 2022

Banking on Seed Hunters

1.5-minute read

A breath of fresh air, a drink of clean water, a cool patch of shade, a safe home for hatchlings—the planetary perks provided by forests and trees are undeniable. Across the United States, there is a potential to reforest 133 million acres. Planting just half of that acreage by 2040 would require an astronomical 34 billion tree seedlings. Getting from seedling to sapling to reaping full forest benefits requires an essential first ingredient—seeds; and right now, there is a nationwide shortage. As a result of record-breaking fire seasons and climate change-induced drought across the Western states, including Texas, California, Oregon, and Washington, seed banks are almost empty.

To help meet national reforestation goals, our planting partners, American Forests, are launching the Seed Collection Corps to replenish seed banks and ramp up seedling production. By training people how to collect, process, and store native tree seeds, American Forests is making a critical investment in the planet so that forests that nurture the health and well-being of people and wildlife have a fighting chance at survival.

Big bucks for regreening
There’s even more tree-mendous news for 2022. Thanks to the REPLANT Act becoming law, America’s forests will get their fair share of funding: $425 million for post-fire recovery, $200 million for a national seed and seedling strategy, $100 million for the Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, $1.5 billion for state and private forestry, and $200 million for tribal restoration priorities.

At Favorite World Press, we’re beyond pleased to support national reforestation projects by planting one tree for every print or e-book sold from Frankie and Peaches: Tales of Total Kindness. Thanks so much for reading with us. Thanks so much for planting with us.

And a few quick ease-into-Monday items
According to a new study out of the University of Michigan, there are close to 73,000 tree species on Earth, including about 9,200 yet to be discovered. Who knew? Now you do!

If you need even more green goodness in your life, you can now green your Wordle. Fill in the environment and climate change-related blanks here.

Would you like to soothe yourself with some creature-cam toing and froing? Courtesy of Audubon, you can get a bird’s eye view of a puffin burrow complete with a freshly hatched puffling. They’re a chatty bunch of seabirds!

And one more thing, good people, Plastic-free February kicks off this week. If you’d like to try to cut down your use of the indestructible stuff for one month, you can get tips and support from Clear Community right here. Challenge accepted? Challenge accepted!

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Lisa S. French January 31, 2022

Mountain hare (Lepus timidus) with white fur in snowy landscape

These Feet are Made for Hopping

1.5-minute read

Whales, wolves, and wildebeest do it. Butterflies, bats, and birds do it. What do they do? Migrate—traveling hundreds and sometimes thousands of miles every year to secure food, water, and family-friendly habitat. While some animals have the natural capacity for long-distance movement, Arctic hares are not known to travel far afield. Despite what may seem like a big-footed advantage, the hopping herbivores typically shift their seasonal location by less than six miles. But in the autumn of 2019, one determined female decided to cover new ground and go the distance—and go, go, go she did.

According to Canadian researchers tracking the movements of 25 Arctic hares, the lone ranger known as BBYY traveled 241 miles over 49 days—the longest recorded journey for her species. Because traveling great distances requires a lot of energy, staying local increases the odds of survival in smaller land animals like rabbits and hares. So, what compelled BBYY to thump across the tundra and boldly go where no hare had gone before? Scientists studying the movement of the Arctic animals conjecture that the intrepid hopper may have been motivated to go those extra miles by the slightly warmer microclimate and more abundant plant life at her lakeside destination.

And why on Earth does Arctic hare mobility matter? Like conservationists tracking the movements of elephants in Africa, researchers are keeping tabs on when, where, and why Arctic critters move. Understanding how the animals adapt to environmental change and what it will take to keep northern food webs and ecosystems healthy and functioning will benefit both people and wildlife in a warming world.

In case you were wondering, FYCI (For Your Creature Information), hares and rabbits are two different kinds of hoppers. Rabbits are typically smaller, have shorter ears and legs than hares, and are born without fur. A group of hares is known as a down, a band, a husk, or a warren, and a group of wild rabbits is known as a colony or a… fluffle. No, not making it up—fluffle. And that’s our perfectly soothing word of the week. Fluffle on, fellow travelers!

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Lisa S. French January 24, 2022

Herd of Elephants in Africa walking through the grass in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania

African Elephants Walk this Way

1.5-minute read

As you chart your course for 2022, whether you choose the road less traveled or the path of least resistance, to get to your best there from wherever your current here is may require a few rounds of trial and error. For many of our friends in the animal kingdom, when it comes to fulfilling their creature-life destiny, picking the right path comes naturally. They instinctively follow patterns that meet their needs for food, water, space, family, and safety. So, when conservationists working in Kenya set out to pinpoint and protect the most critical habitat and travel corridors to help ensure the survival of African elephants, they let the perceptive pachyderms lead the way.

The accelerating loss of roaming room is one of the greatest threats to the iconic, endangered mega-mammals. To determine which areas and pathways are vital to supporting the species, from 2001 to 2019, researchers from the Cooperative Wildlife Research Laboratory and Save the Elephants used GPS tracking to monitor the movements of 138 elephants whose environment was under pressure from rapid infrastructure development. They mapped the nearly two decades of movement information using Artificial Intelligence to identify the elephants’ preferred pathways and habitat—dubbed the movescape.

Like most living beings, African elephants can’t survive in just any old place. The AI-enhanced elephant expertise can help determine conservation area carve-outs based on what the elephants have shown us they need to exist in the natural world. Preserving wildlife habitat is not just essential to saving endangered species; protecting and restoring the wild also helps keep humanity on the right path by providing valuable environmental, social, educational, and economic benefits—free of charge.

Exercise Your Grey Cells
FYI, today, January 14th is World Logic Day. Exciting! What are we celebrating? Logic and reason! Why are we celebrating? We’ll let you draw your own conclusions—or you can read about the thought behind the commemoration here.

If you’re keen to give your grey cells a workout in between bouts of COVID dodging, you can take a crack at the hardest logic puzzle ever—no peeking at the solution. Or here are some kinder, gentler nature riddles for you and your budding in-house brainiacs. If you don’t have the energy to tackle any of those, how about some soothing animal cams from the Bronx Zoo—no active thought required. From our perspective, logically speaking, leaping lemurs equals blissful brain!

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Lisa S. French January 14, 2022

So far, so good!

Happy, Shiny New Year!

Heartening words to guide you through 2022
from the late, very great naturalist and biologist
E. O. Wilson: 1929-2021

“You are capable of more than you know. Choose a goal that seems right for you
and strive to be the best, however hard the path. Aim high. Behave honorably.
Prepare to be alone at times, and to endure failure. Persist! The world needs all you can give.”

Onward,

LSF • WW • FWP

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Lisa S. French January 1, 2022

Adult polar bear walking away over a flat snow covered landscape

Looking back, moving forward

I am a book of snow,
a spacious hand,
an open meadow,
a circle that waits,
I belong to the earth
and its winter.

Pablo Neruda

As the peaks and valleys of 2021 recede in the rear-view mirror, we’d like to express our absolute appreciation to our dear readers for making room for Wild & Wondrous in the space in between. Whether you’re a regular visitor or just passing through on your internet travels, we’re glad to have you with us as we explore the wonders of the natural world.

With your support of the Favorite World Press read-and-plant partnership, you’ve helped create a more sustainable future by empowering us to plant trees that nurture our planet. Trees that turn down the heat, purify air and water and provide habitat for our furry and feathered friends. Well done, and thanks very much, tree people!

In 2022, we’ll be focusing more of our efforts on a new sustainable development project also aimed at protecting and preserving the world’s remaining forests and biodiversity.

Wild & Wondrous will be back with more creatures to meet, things to learn, and things to do. Until we meet again, wishing you a healthy, happy, light-filled New Year, chock-full of leaps from peak to peak.

xo Favorite World Press

The W & W

60-second
Year in Rear-View

Networking giraffes,
your fair share of trees,
a snowy owl in the city,
plastic-free seas

Moths that jam sonar,
a blue bird that trills,
leafy seadragons
flaunting their frills

The rarest of rhinos,
chimps that have heart,
the plight of the manatee,
urban bird art

Tree-planting readers
putting down roots,
wild African horses
in bug-zapping suits

Big bison feelings,
a yard habitat,
the return of cicadas,
an award-winning bat

Night lights for lions,
blinking bug love,
bird feeder smack-downs
won by a dove

A headcount for walrus,
disease-busting bees,
traveling wildebeest,
fish that don’t freeze

A shout-out for science,
the songs of the Earth,
a month celebrating
what the planet is worth

Running for wildlife,
how whales keep us cool,
movie star bees,
why brainy girls rule

A hairy-nosed wombat,
the last bird of its kind,
a plan to save forests
to restore peace of mind

A remembrance of sorrow,
the pure magic of snow,
hope for our oceans,
a sea creature’s glow

The prettiest pictures,
lunar fox feet,
reducing emissions
to turn down the heat

Bringing back monarchs,
green roofs for birds,
a big meeting in Scotland
where they said lots of words

A built-in eye compass,
how mollusks got clever,
and gratitude for our readers
that goes on forever.

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Lisa S. French December 31, 2021

So Much Like Stars

“Snow was falling,
so much like stars
filling the dark trees
that one could easily imagine
its reason for being was nothing more
than prettiness.”

Mary Oliver

May the beauty of the world
fill your heart this season
and always.

Wishing you joyful holidays,

with love,

Favorite World Press

PS: And jingle all the way – FWP Holiday Playlist.

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Lisa S. French December 20, 2021