30/10/2022

Archive

Of amazing – and threatened – lemurs

In Recognition of world Lemur Day When I worked at Wellington zoo, in New Zealand, one of the nice things was to be able to interact with the superb and amazing Lemus… Lemurs are wet-nosed primates of the superfamily Lemuroidea, divided into 8 families and consisting of 15 genera and around 100 existing species. They are endemic to the island of Madagascar. Most existing lemurs are small, have a pointed snout, large eyes, and a long tail. ( wikipedia )...

Flooding in Australia – what’s the cause?

Floods have made headlines ( again ) this past week across Australia news media…. Flood warnings in place in Australia’s eastern states, with predictions the wet weather could persist until the middle of next week   So why does it flood in Australia? “The oceans north of Australia are warmer and that causes more moisture flowing from the Indian ocean to eastern parts of Australia,” ( Agus Santoso, senior researcher at the University of New South Wales Climate Research Centre...

Wildcheck – Assessing the risks and opportunities of trade in wild plant ingredients

Thousands of consumer products around the world contain ingredients obtained from wild plants. Wild harvest accounts for some or all the harvest of the great majority of plant species in trade (between 60-90 percent). Wild-harvested plants often come from the most biodiverse ecosystems on earth and many have been used traditionally or by local communities for generations. While these products have global markets and provide critical sources of income, they can also have deep ties to particular cultures and places....