Synthetic materials like plastic, abundant since their invention, are generating a new ecological community: the neopelagic. Here, coastal and pelagic species converge, thriving on rafts of litter in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Though usually damaging in nature, plastic offers a rare stable substrate in the open sea, leading to a complex and unprecedented ecological system.
The Caribbean island of St Kitts is home to an unusual primate. With a typical pelage of floral shirts, loose shorts and open sandals, this animal can be found wandering aimlessly through the mountains or lounging on the sand. For much of the day, they may be seen clutching potent libations and falling into pickled …
We're often told to think big, dream big, see the big picture, but small should not be underestimated. Small things can have a big impact, and it turns out this is especially true for mongooses. Once given the scientific name Herpestes auropunctatus, the small Indian mongoose has been moved to the genus Urva. This is …
People find great satisfaction in labels: being able to refer to something as something, a type of something and a member of the set of somethings. Thus we find ourselves with the number google, the colour peacock, and identity crises over being a Millennial or a Zoomer. But when it comes to organisms, the need …
Updated 18/06/2023 It is a tendency of we British to enjoy complaining about trivialities. Our culture nurtures the paradoxic ability to celebrate concepts by lightly slandering them: to take the time to make an item a source of habitual grumble, to put it on a pedestal of deprecation, is to show that it is in …
Continue reading Bee-Eaters Among the Beefeaters: A New British Bird?
Novel Ecology 