Fight to save fish tells story of how European food preferences clashed with tribal systems, shaping what we choose to protectPerry Chocktoot remembers the last time he ate a C’waam suckerfish. It was 1984. The fish was canned by a Klamath Tribes membe…
Feeding birds in our gardens is a joy – but it may be harming weaker species | Alexander C Lees
By boosting dominant species such as great tits, human-provided food can make life harder for many woodland birdsFeeding birds is hard-wired into our national psyche. The apocryphal Victorian “tuppence a bag” for seed for the Trafalgar Square pigeons h…
Beavers to make ‘cautious’ return to England with legal protection
The government is launching a consultation on more reintroductions to the wild after a successful trial in DevonBeavers will be released into the wild under government proposals to support a “cautious” return of the semi-aquatic mammals to English rive…
Tropical invaders: the Med’s warming seas put native species in hot water
A host of fish species arriving via the Suez canal look set to stay – with perilous consequences for ecosystemsPasquale Tuccio docked his small, blue and white wooden boat at the old pier on Linosa, one of Italy’s tiny Pelagie islands in the strait of …
Venomous sea snakes may attack divers during mating season, study suggests
Acts of aggression likely because of ‘mistaken identity during sexual interactions’, researchers writeHighly venomous and sexually aroused sea snakes may attack human divers after confusing them with other snakes during breeding season, a new study sug…
Geronimo’s owner says she has global support in fight for alpaca’s reprieve
Helen Macdonald says animal, which tested positive for bovine TB, has defenders in New Zealand, Malaysia and EuropeThe owner of Geronimo the alpaca has welcomed the support she has received from around the world as she continues the fight to stop her a…
Attack of the giant rodents or class war? Argentina’s rich riled by new neighbors
Hordes of capybaras have taken up residence at a gated community, sparking a debate on the environment and inequalityNordelta is Argentina’s most well-known gated community: an enclave of spacious homes for the rich amid a dreamy landscape of lakes and…
Ratty comes home: water voles thrive again on Hertfordshire riverbank
Having suffered a 90% drop in population, they still face extinction in Britain – but a new initiative offers a glimmer of hopeA hundred and fifty water voles were last week settling into new homes on the riverbanks of Hertfordshire. The animals had be…
Hello hawthorn! £10m sand dunes project brings plants back to life
Traditionally, scrub has been allowed to swamp England and Wales’s sand dunes, but now they are being set freeA few dark clouds, remnants of the storm that whipped up the North Sea the night before, still hang in the big Lincolnshire skies, above a coa…
Spain prosecutors launch inquiry into mystery fish deaths
Hundreds of dead fish have appeared along shores of one of Europe’s largest saltwater lagoonsProsecutors in the southern Spanish region of Murcia have launched an investigation after hundreds of dead fish began washing up along the shores of one of Eur…