July is upon us so here is a roundup of some of the nature related topics we covered on the Earth Times social media throughout June 2022. If you would like to see or learn more just follow our channels.
Global warming has already shocked the Northern Hemisphere this year. Mammals are among the threatened species, apart from ourselves. In Iraq, the most eastern population of the slender-horned gazelle, Gazella leptoceros, has been drastically reduced in just one month. Government funding is the basic need, but of course the lack of water and hence food supply for this desert animal has also become critical. The details are in phs.org. Credits to Iraqi's president who explains the problem and the unknown photographer/ Earth Times.
Latest bonobo research in phys.org; both illuminating about ourselves and tortured in that their extinction seems inevitable! Credit: Martin Surbeck/Earth Times.
The Eurasian whinchat migrates to central Africa for the winter, but just now needs Polish insects to supply its nest. Saxicola rubicola is severely challenged in Western Europe by intensive farming practices, but survives with "Least Concern" over much of its range. Credit The Guardian's Week in Wildlife/Darek Delmanowicz.
Back to more familiar birds, although is this an eagle, a hawk--- It's the most common European raptor you can spot in hilly areas. The buzzard, Buteo buteo, shocked Phil Gates when he spotted it in Durham at 10m. The animal looks equally disturbed, but the story is in The Guardian theguardian.com - Credit Phil Gates/ Earth Times.
The Guardian's Week in Wildlife revealed the only vertebrate endemic to Bali. Leucopsar rothschildi is the Bali mynah, and despite its colour and attractiveness, is Critically Endangered. Found in only 3 spots in Bali this is a group about to be released after captive breeding. Credits to Tatan Syuflana and The Guardian/Earth Times..
Yes it does flower. The Angiosperm sea grass of Western Australia - Posidonia australis - has been declared the biggest plant in the world. After its polyploid cloning for 4500 years, the area covered is now 180 sq km (70 sq miles). Read it up in phs.org or the paper from UWA. Credits for Rachel Austin/The University Of Western Australia/ Earth Times.