Posts by Patrick Kinsella

An eye-opening examination of those who survive 'off-grid'

Going off grid is a concept that means vastly different things to different people. For Charles Foster—Oxford don, barrister and author—it involved shunning work suits and spending extended periods of time living like various English animals, sleeping in bushes and holes in the ground, and feasting on live earthworms and raw plants. Despite his high-flying … Continued

Death on the steppes: The saga of the saiga antelope

This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of the Saiga Conservation Alliance. They are a network of researchers and conservationists that are working in several countries in the Saiga’s range to save this beautiful animal. With its distinctive, almost Muppet-like nose, the saiga has a face you can’t forget. But, as a mysterious mass … Continued

Obamacare Mk.II: US President sanctions world's largest ever ecologically protected zone

President Obama has just celebrated the centenary of the US National Park Service (NPS) by massively expanding a national marine monument in Hawaii, where he was born. The newly super-sized Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument now sprawls across 582,578 square miles of blue ocean around the uninhabited northwestern islands of Hawaii, making it officially the planet’s … Continued

Space explorers discover our nearest known exoplanet, and it's potentially inhabited

Sky scouring scientists have just announced the discovery of an Earth-like exoplanet in orbit around our own sun’s nearest stellar neighbour, Proxima Centauri. And, not only is this newly noticed world located on our galactic doorstep, it’s also positioned in the right proximity to its host star to make liquid water a possibility…so it could … Continued

The flawed reason why the UK is planning to kill even more badger

A controversial culling campaign targeting badgers is to be extended into five new areas of England over the next month, it was revealed yesterday, despite no evidence that previous targeted killing of the protected species has had any effect on controlling TB in cattle. Badgers, nocturnal omnivores that eat mostly earthworms and small animals, are … Continued

These incredible bird photos are beyond beautiful

A magically moody shot of a mute swan has nailed the top slot at the very first Bird Photographer of the Year (BPOTY) competition, a new initiative held by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in partnership with Nature Photographers Ltd. BTO President and competition head judge, Chris Packham, made the announcement during the awards … Continued

Britain is surrounded by sharks, but don't panic

The sudden onset of summer in Britain over the last few weeks has produced a familiar surge of hysterical claims with one common denominator: sharks surround the UK coast, just waiting to chomp those swimmers, surfers and paddlers with enough pluck to enter the chilly water. In the last week alone, a fishing charter operator … Continued

Crocodile-wrestling celebrity tiger dies in India

India is in mourning today after the death of a much-loved Bengal tiger called Machali in Ranthambore National Park, Rajasthan. Famed for her serene bearing and beautiful markings, Machali was one of the most photographed tigers in the world, and has even appeared on a stamp. But her beauty was every bit matched by her … Continued

Olympic weightlifter's funky moves highlight heavy issue: his country is drowning

As serious scientists sweat about news from NASA revealing that we’ve just experienced the hottest July since records began (also the warmest month ever recorded since 1880 and the 10th record-breaking month in a row), a dancing weightlifter at the Rio Olympics has just forced the climate change–related plight of his Pacific nation onto the … Continued

Meteor showers and alien megastructures, it's all happening above your head right now

A dramatic natural lightshow is happening nightly at the moment, as the Perseid meteor shower sends a deluge of shooting stars racing across the roof of the northern hemisphere. Named after the Perseus constellation (the direction from which it appears to shoot from), the phenomena is caused by debris from the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle, … Continued

Why the 'Wolf of the Water' is coming back to North America

A much-feared freshwater fish that grows longer than a horse and has a mouth like a crocodile is being embraced by biologists and ecologists in the US as the last hope of controlling a damaging invasion of Asian carp, which has swept up the country’s waterways towards the Great Lakes like an unstoppable tide. Once … Continued

Tales of love and loss among Borneo's Pygmy Elephants

In the midst of Malaysia’s sweaty Sabah jungle, on the island of Borneo, an incredible encounter take place. Flora, a young pygmy elephant, approaches Englebert ‘Bert’ Dausip, a local wildlife ranger, and extends her trunk. Lacking an elongated proboscis of his own, Bert mimics the action with his arm, and the two characters connect, shaking … Continued

Wilderness loving adventurer surfs around erupting volcano

Adventurer, environmentalist and wildlife advocate Alison Teal has just become the first person to surf and swim around the base of an erupting volcano. In extraordinary scenes captured by underwater photographer Perrin James, Teal rode her pink surfboard up to Hawaii’s Kīlauea Volcano as it spewed glowing red molten rock into the ocean, and then … Continued

Here's the real reason hammerhead sharks swim on their sides

A new study has revealed that great hammerhead sharks swim on their sides for up to 90 per cent of the time, and the unusual stroke is employed to conserve energy, not as a sign of distress, disease or injury, as previously thought. The behaviour, which has been noted many times around the world but … Continued

Parakeets have invaded Europe and it could all be Jimi Hendrix's fault…

Ring-necked parakeets from southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa have taken up roost in parks and gardens all around Europe, and are becoming so numerous and bold, that they’re likely to be regarded with little more curiosity by future generations than the common pigeon, according to Hazel Jackson, an evolutionary biologist and wildlife conservationist based at … Continued

Blood brothers: A family of cheetahs prove blood is thicker than water, even in the wild

All the best TV dramas revolve around themes infused with tension, conflict and resolution, as the main protagonists deal with life, love, loss and friendship, often against a backdrop of family feuds, turf wars, sex and violence. Cheetah Blood Brothers is no exception—except this is no Netflix drama, this is real life as it plays … Continued

Drunken Monkeys! Booze-loving primates proven to seek out high-alcohol nectar

Some primates actively seek out the booziest treats they can find, and tolerance to alcohol may even have given a few species an evolutionary edge over their lightweight cousins, according to a new study. In tests conducted by researchers at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, aye-ayes, a little loopy looking lemur species from Madagascar, … Continued

Supermarket giants dump John West tuna because its fishing methods kill turtles

The British supermarket leviathan Tesco has announced that it is dropping John West tuna from its shelves by the end of the month, because—despite misleading ‘Dolphin-safe’ labelling on many of their products—the firm still employs methods of catching the fish that also attract, net and kill loads of other species, including turtles, rays and endangered … Continued

Meet the 'aggressive' elephant saved from a life in chains, with a bit of help from Cher

An Asian elephant that has spent almost its entire existence chained to a concrete cage at a zoo in Pakistan will be sent to a sanctuary after a global campaign started by a tourist and championed by the singer Cher finally forced the issue to a head. Kaavan, a 32-year-old male elephant, has been living … Continued

Lobster lovers save Larry, the 100-year-old crustacean, from becoming lunch

A lobster believed to be over 100-years-old has been saved from the cooking pot by a coordinated effort in Florida. Larry, as the crustacean has been named (after the Lobster lifeguard at Bikini Bottom’s beach in Spongebob Squarepants), had been reserved for a family feast by customers at Tin Fish, a seafood restaurant on Sunset … Continued

Is this the world's saddest polar bear?

Heartbreaking footage of a polar bear being kept in bleak and lonely captivity in a Chinese shopping mall, purely so passersby can peer in and take selfies with it, has been released by the activist group Animals Asia, who are calling for people to sign a petition demanding the ‘facility’ be shut down. ‘Trapped in … Continued

The odd, the weird and the utterly unbelievable

Space travel and the search for extraterrestrial beings is all well and good, but really, we have all the amazing and awe-inspiring alien-like lifeforms that anyone could possible dream up right here on Earth. Especially in the wet bits. I challenge anyone to watch the mind-bending documentary Fish Life – The Odd, The Weird and … Continued

Queen asked to intervene after violent swan unleashes campaign of carnage on an English lake

A rogue swan living on a lake in Suffolk, England, has embarked on such a violent campaign of terror, attacking other animals and smashing up valuable model boats, that one local has written to the Queen, begging for her assistance. Mute swans are known for their capacity for aggression in defense of their nests and … Continued

Man in the Moon's right eye punched in by planet-sized asteroid

One of our moon’s most visible features, a vast crater known as Mare Imbrium (Sea of Showers) to serious sky scourers, but more commonly as the right eye of the ‘Man in the Moon’, was created by a massive asteroid more than 250km across, according to a new study. Multiple generations of children and adults … Continued

Hunting scandal erupts in Tanzania as safari snuff movie makers given new license to kill

A year after the killing of Cecil the lion by a wealthy American dentist prompted revulsion and condemnation around the world, trophy hunting in Africa is again in the news, with the Tanzanian government accused of leasing land to a disgraced safari company backed by a ultra rich member of Abu Dhabi’s royal family, for … Continued

Sheep shoot streetview vision on the islands Google forgot

Sick of waiting for Google to turn up with their Street View car, a Faroe Islands‘ inhabitant has instead employed the islands’ sheep to do the job for them. Welcome to SheepView360, the planet’s first and only (we’re fairly confident in saying) geo-spacial video project shot entirely by ovines. The concept, which has grabbed international … Continued